Differences in the wiring of the brain appear after age 13, according to an article in the Guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-brains-wired-differently

This newspaper article reports on differences between males and females in the wiring of the brain...


Interesting quote:

The scans showed greater connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain in women, while the connections in men were mostly confined to individual hemispheres. The only region where men had more connections between the left and right sides of the brain was in the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in motor control. "If you want to learn how to ski, it's the cerebellum that has to be strong," Verma said. Details of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Male and female brains showed few differences in connectivity up to the age of 13, but became more differentiated in 14- to 17-year-olds.

For educators:  Does this information suggest that personal learning plans for teenagers need special attention to be sure we educators take into account these differences?


Here are some links

BRAIN article

Curation article        go ahead:  download the article      

My CV


here is an excerpt from an article

What makes a good curator?

"You need to have the eye of an editor, a sense of taste like a chef, and your own unique Point of View. It is this Point of View – your taste – that can lead to authority and influence".

Jan Gordon:

Curators who are driven by passion and purpose will be very important to the business community in their chosen niche - it's crucial that we preserve this information for the future. That is why the future of curation is definitely evergreen.

Here are some highlights that caught my attention:

The amount of content is growing exponentially, but our time is limited. Curators are our filters for information overload – the editors of chaos.

The slew of content curation tools that emerged gave way to algorithms. Can a machine have a Point of View? Machines can influence your Point of View. The danger is they can also create a filter bubble.

It is human insight coupled with machine results that can define the very best information edited from a trusted curator’s Point of View.

Evergreen posts, such as “Curating Content for Thought Leadership”,, written by Angela in 2010 are important in that they stand the test of time.  All good blogs need some such articles.

The above, along with all of Angela's posts on the now defunct Postereus, have evergreen links due to a new tool for archiving the web  – Permamarks.

http://www.scoop.it/t/content-curation-social-media

==================  for my students to study (below)  ------------------------------

Here's an excerpt from 2010 by Angela Dunn https://twitter.com/blogbrevity
So, how do you curate content for Twitter and become a "Thought Leader DJ"?  

1.  First, realize that you ARE a subject matter expert. Narrow your topic or topics to what you know well.  What do you want to focus on and share?  

2.  Know your market. Who is talking about these topics?

3.  Search via hashtags and alerts.  Use Twitter Search to find your topic, i.e., #healthcare, #innovation, #leadership, #hockey, #knitting.   Social bookmarking sites like digg and delicious have their own unique communities. 

4.  Know the "Power of Three" to effectively engage.  Join a conversation when two people are already talking about a topic. 

5. Know that how you write your tweets is just as important as what you are tweeting. Oftentimes, the original headline or tweet may not be catchy. 

6.  Elevate your peers.  Successfully curating content is not about you. Remember, you are not broadcasting.  When you share news or content, add your spin about others' tweets or posts, but do it because you genuinely want to promote them and share learning. Keep a ratio of tweets of 1 to 12, one tweet about you or your post for every 12 tweets in your stream.

7.  Develop good taste!   Less is more when it comes to tweets. Don't just parrot what everyone else is tweeting or retweeting. Find your own special nuggets. Dig deeper!

8.  Become a valued resource to your community. 

9.  Be the good news channel. 

10.  Know "when" to tweet.  When are most people in your industry engaging in a conversation?  The best curated content is also timely and posted when the majority of the target market is engaging in conversations.

11.  Become part of a bigger conversation. Participate in the Twitter Chats related to your industry. 

12.  Follow industry conferences.  Make a list of the conferences in your industry to follow along with their hashtag.  See "Conferences & Speakers: A Hashtag is Now Part of Your Brand."   

13.  Understand there are differences if you curate for a global audience.

14.  Content Curators need to follow a lot of people. 

15.  Curate Twitter lists that others will want to follow. 

16.  Become a trusted resource.  

17.  Track your results. 

The previous selection is by Angela Dunn   https://twitter.com/blogbrevity

THE FULL ARTICLE by https://twitter.com/blogbrevity