STUDENT TRENDS: Spring 2015 Edition

Hey Trendsetters.

 It’s been awhile, but the next installment of Student Trends are in: Spring 2015 Edition. (Click here to see web version) 

Since you’ve been gone, there have been loads and loads of new viral stories, music, apps, movies and more. So grab a drink (preferably of the caffeinated variety), kick your feet up and get into the student spirit. Enjoy! 

Apps 

Last year, apps like Snapchat and Instagram/Twitter add-ons like “Hyperlapse” and “Vine” took the cake for most popular apps. With time-limitations and timelapse sequencing, these apps provided the masses to curate more visually interesting and engaging content. 

So what’s changed? The direction of the most popular apps this year leans in favor of increased instant gratification and anonymity. Check out these apps to find out more. 

Magic

From groceries to take out to plane tickets—whatever you can think of (that’s legal), Magic can get it for you. It’s not actually an app, but a text message delivery service, though in this day and age, that’s putting it simply. So, how does it work? You simply text “Magic” to this phone number (83489) to get whatever you want on demand with no hassle. They’ll provide pricing, with a % markup for their services and delivery included, but what’s extra cost over convenience? 

From their website:

Want ot know more? Check out thse articles: http://gizmodo.com/ordering-500-of-random-crap-by-text-message-with-magic-1689025823 http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/23/magic-is-a-startup-that-promises-to-bring-you-anything-if-youre-willing-to-pay-for-it/ http://www.businessinsider.com/text-magic-to-get-anything-you-want-delivered-2015-2 Shyp 

Shipping on Demand: Pickup, Packaging and Delivery Tracking. Touted as the “easiest way to ship anything”, Shyp takes the thought out of really doing anything but tapping a button. (Think of it as your personal shipping assistant/elf.) Whether it’s returning an online purchase or sending a box of cookies, all you have to do is take a picture and request a pickup, and they’ll do the rest: wrap the package, provide a shipping label and send it on it’s way. 

The cost: $5 flat rate for anything + the cost of postage, which they offer at the lowest retail rate. No more working around post office hours, waiting in lines, or trying to figure out how to wrap that funky shaped package—Shyp will do it for you. Sure, you could just as easily do it yourself with a little effort, but why bother when you can pay someone $5 bucks to do it for you? 

Want to know more? Read more: http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/4/8143989/shyp-easy-online-returns 

After School  

This anonymous posting app aimed at High School students allows students uses location and Facebook data to determine what school the user attends, and shows a feed of posts from classmates. It’s meant for students to post “funny, anonymous school news for confessions and compliments”, similar to the Whisper app, but among your known peers (though still anonymous). Think of it as the “Burn Book” via Mean Girls. 

It gained popularity quickly…but probably too quickly, as developers failed to include a filter that reported inappropriate content. It’s been pulled from the App Store at least twice, citing two violations of its guidelines: • 14.1 — Any App that is defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited, or likely to place the targeted individual or group in harm’s way will be rejected. • 16.1 — Apps that present excessively objectionable or crude content will be rejected. Bullying and threats of violence have occurred and developers are working to bring back the app with filters in place to prevent it from reoccurring. 

Read more here: http://recode.net/2014/12/11/after-school-banned-from-apple-app-store-again/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/11/after-school-app-again-pulled-by-apple-after-more-school-shooting-threats/ 

YikYak

Similar to After School, Yik Yak is an anonymous social app that allows users to post to a location based feed. Although it’s had its fair share of problems, similar to After School (bullying, threats of violence), Yik Yak has taken steps to report harmful posts, and the app even took steps to prevent its use on school campuses (since it uses physical location data versus Facebook information, like After School). It’s a good way to waste some time—I’ve found myself browsing the University of Notre Dame Yik Yak when I’m feeling nostalgic, or more recently, seeing what people are saying about the weather in the north east to get a real update on what things are like. As for students, they probably have more creative ways to use the app (i.e. Who’s going to the game tonight? How do I ask this girl out? Or general musings like “Bored as hell.”) 

Music Uptown Funk | Bruno Mars 

Thinking Out Loud | Ed Sheeran  Click to Listen Fun fact: Ed Sheeran actually hired a dance coach to go on the road with him so he could learn how to dance for this music video. 

Sugar | Maroon 5  True story, Maroon 5 actually crashed real weddings for the making of the music video. 

Style | Taylor Swift  Click to Listen

Elastic Heart | Sia Click to Listen If you’re not sure what Austrailian singer/songwriter Sia looks like, then you’re probably most people. The artist makes a point to disguise her face, choosing to put focus on a doppelganger (most notetably, Dance Mom’s star 12 year old Maddie Ziegler, seen in the video here.) Her reasoning? So people will focus more on her music than what she looks like. 

I Really Like You | Carly Rae Jepson Click to Listen This may be CRJ’s break out of the One-Hit-Wonder Club cuz this song is really really really really catchy. 

FourFiveSeconds | Rihanna, Kanye, & Paul McCartney When this song, along with Kanye’s other collaboration with Paul McCartney, “Only One” came out, most kids’ responses were the same: “Whoever this Paul guy is, working with Kanye is gonna make him pretty famous.” 

Earned It | The Weeknd  Click to Listen

Shut Up And Dance | Walk The Moon

Sledgehammer | Fifth Harmony Click To Listen

Lips Are Movin | Meghan Trainor Click To Listen

Viral Videos

Lady Gaga's Sound of Music  If you have not see this, stop everything and watch this right now. (I mean it) Click here to watch. 

"Stay Weird"  This was one of the most talked about speeches from the Oscars. The message: It gets better. A powerful message for students and adults alike. Read it and then watch it. 

Celebrity Jeopardy SNL 40th  Saturday Night Live celebrated 40 years of its show in February, reviving classics like "Celebrity Jeopardy". For students today, SNL is The Lonely Island and Stefon on Weekend Update. However, with a long list of celebrity hosts and classic sketches, oldies like Celebrity Jeopardy, Cowbell and Wayne's World are ones only the cool kids would know. Watch it HERE. 

Sergei Polunin Dances to "Take Me To Church"  Impossibly beautiful. 

Guys Read Each Other's Texts To Their Girlfriends  You should definitely watch this. Click here to watch. 

100 Years of Beauty  This time lapse video shows  a model getting her hair and makeup done to match every decade from 1910 to 2010. An interesting look at the evolution of beauty over the years. Click here to watch. 

Mentos & Coke Zero Bathtub  This, my friends, is the internet in 2015. Unfortunatly, this is exactly what it sounds like. A Japanese viral YouTube star tapes Mentos to his body and jumps into a bathtub full of Coke Zero. I can't tell you why this is news. Only that after posting this, I'm betting you can't resist watching. 

Click here to watch. 

Disney's Frozen Fever  WHAT THERE'S A NEW FROZEN SHORT FEATURE FILM?! Yep, it's true, and you can only see it in theaters with the new Cinderella live-feature film. It's only a short, but people (obviously) are going nuts. Watch it here. 

#DearMe  This viral video movement is part of YouTube's celebration of International Women's Day. The gist? Post a #DearMe video answering "What advice would you give your younger self?

From its YouTube Page: 

#LikeAGirl 

What does it mean to do something like a girl? The Always campaign, whose ad premiered on Super Bowl Sunday asked just that. Aimed at empowering girls to redefine doing things "like a girl." 

From their website: 

Movies  Check out the new movies that your students are watching with my one-line synopsis. Click the title to see the trailer!

Out Now

Big Hero 6 - DIY Super Hero kids beat bad guy robots with better robots.  50 Shades of Grey - Twilight fanfiction, but without vampires and with lots of sex instead. (Inappropriate for students, but that probably won't keep them from seeing it if they want to.) Mockingjay - Third installment of the Hunger Games franchise where eventually, Katniss picks Gale or Peeta (and the world is saved, probably.) The Wedding Ringer - Cool best man for hire is hired by awkward groom with no friends.  The Lazarus Effect - Modern take on Frankenstein, but instead they do a horrible job and Frankenstein ends up trying to kill them all.  The Duff - The Designated Ugly Fat Friend (DUFF) decides to get a new title--one that's particularly less offensive, with the help of her hott guy friend. Focus -Not as cool as Oceans 11, as clever as Catch Me If You Can or as good as Am  Spongebob Movie - Sponge Bob Square Pants in a movie instead of television. 

Coming Soon Cinderella - You know, like the cartoon, but with real people.  erican Hustle, but its got scam artists, hot girl and Will Smith in a movie that's NOT Men in Black or Bad Boys.  Insurgent - The second installment of the Divergent series where they now have to figure out how to intro the third movie.  Pitch Perfect 2 - American acapella group goes international with Austrailian girl as their anchor.  Unfinished Business - That funny "if conference calls were real life" YouTube video, but in movie form with Vince Vaughn. 

Viral Trends That Are Worth A Read

#TheDress 

The #dress that launched a thousand tweets. What color is it, you ask? It's black and blue (IRL). But, to some, you may see white and gold.  Wired wrote this explanation, that seems to help clear things up: 

Articles have been published about how what color you see can reveal hints  about who you are really are, brain science, why no one agrees--it even has it's own Wikipedia page now. (And someone got a tattoo of it). Okay internet. We got it, now lets move on. 

Student Lunches Around the World  via Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/school-lunches-around-the-world_n_6746164.html

Check out some of the images below and more HERE. 

#relationshipgoals 

From Twitter, to Instagram, to Facebook and Tumblr (and every social media app that utilizes hashtags in between), you'll find the ever-popular #relationshipgoals. Here, you'll find several different interpretations of relationship goals that couples or singles aspire to have. 

Here are a few:

The Nauseatingly Thoughtful

The Excessive Use of (Social) PDA

The "We Do Things Our Way" 

Being Disgusting In Front of Each Other and It Not Mattering

And "just because I love you"

Diverse Emojis 

Emoticons are going to start looking like all of us now, not just some of us. Starting in July 2015, developer Unicode announced a new range of skin tones that will be available in its Unicode Version 8.0. Woo!

Weasel-Woodpecker Meme

On the internet, a baby weasel riding a woodpecker is never JUST a baby weasel riding a woodpecker. Check out some more favorites here. 

#oscarmoments 

While the 2015 Oscars had its fair share of usual happenings--photobombing, awkward speeches, fashion dos and don'ts, this year's Oscars (and Grammy's for that matter) was used as a platform for voices to be heard and messages to be delivered, on women's, civil and human rights. Messages like "stay weird" and that the "struggle for freedom and justice is real" were just some that were given, along with other great performances. Check out the best and worst moments here: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/oscars-2015-s-20-best-worst-and-wtf-moments-20150223/best-everything-is-awesome-20150223

#Zendayagate 

As you may or may not know, you should always think before you speak. One of the most recent Hollywood flubs comes from Fashion Police's Giuliana Rancic, who commented that Disney star Zendaya's dreadlocks smelled like "patchouli oil" and "weed" at the Oscars. Zendaya posted this response on Instagram: 

She apologized, and it was accepted, but even when you're on a show whose main purpose is to trash people's looks, you gots to be careful. 

Things We Can Learn From Tumblr  And lastly, if you know me, then you know my reverence for Tumblr. It's an ethereal social gateway into the minds of students, and at times, it's gloriously genius if not just simply groundbreaking. I'll share with you my recent favorites in hopes that you may glean some insight into student life through these posts. 

Ugly Renaissance Babies 

21 Reasons Tumblr Is Better Than Public School 

The Science of Tumblr 

17 Times Tumblr Explaing A Thing Better Than School 

15 Tumblr Posts That Accurately Describe The Struggles Of School

Thanks for trending with me :) 

- Michelle

Articles That Will Help You Understand Students

via Instagram @taylorswift

Long gone are the teen days of waiting by the corded phone to find out what your weekend plans are. We all know teens today are different--they way they socialize, communicate, express themselves and how they expect to be engaged. In lots of ways, it's like trying to tame individual blades of grass. There's so many of them, and while they all look somewhat alike, they sprout and grow based on the conditions they're in. 

So what are those conditions? I've compiled a few articles that I've come across that provide a window, albeit small, to the things that are important to students, what engages them, or simply, someone's best guess. Enjoy!

Don't know the difference between emoji and emoticons? Let me explain

51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences In Literature 9 GIFs That Explain Responsive Design Brilliantly

The Secret Language of Girls on Instagram

Better Ways To Learn

Magic Is A Startup That Promises To Bring You Anything — If You’re Willing To Pay For It

Top 10 Student Trends of Fall 2014

  Fall is one of my favorite seasons. Even in Florida, it brings cooler weather, it smells like cinnamon and best of all, some great trends tend to emerge this time of year. A change in the seasons always sets the stage for new and different things, and this fall doesn’t let us down.

I’ve compiled the Top 10 Student Trends we’ve seen this Fall and they are definitely worth a look, read and listen. Enjoy!

So what’s a Basic girl? This non-trend sprouted up early this fall as a way to describe, well, basic girls. It’s someone who, well, likes everything that basically everyone else likes or has liked.  I’ve put together a profile of a Basic Girl for you here:  Default Outfit: Ugg boots, leggings as pants, North Face jacket, Ray Ban sunglasses Phone: iPhone (DUH).  Favorite Social Media: Snapchat Favorite Thing to Instagram: Food. And Selfies.  Favorite Drink: Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes (or PSLs) Favorite TV Show: Pretty Little Liars Guilty Pleasure: Putting Nutella on everything Favorite Store: Forever 21 or Aeropostale. But mostly Forever 21.  Favorite Movie: Pitch Perfect For more information on the elusive Basic Girl, see: http://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/things-youll-find-at-every-basic-girls-house http://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/things-all-basic-white-girls-do-during-the-fall http://www.buzzfeed.com/laraparker/texts-only-basic-girls-would-send  http://www.pinterest.com/explore/typical-white-girl/  And to find out how Basic Girl you are: http://www.buzzfeed.com/chelseamarshall/how-basic-are-you

      4. Halloween Costumes

So what are the most popular Halloween costumes this year? Here are some pretty comprehensive lists from the major players:

Most Popular on Pinterest: Gumball Machine

Loofa

Hipster Ariel

Most Popular on Amazon: Banana. Ninja Turtle. Maleficent. 

Most Googled Costume by State: (Marvel’s Deadpool wins Florida)

(Click for larger)

        5. MUSIC Here’s a sampling of Trending Fall Music below, but you can hear the whole playlist with video here: http://bit.ly/1wOBv8K

One Direction – Steal My Girl 

I’m Not The Only One – Sam Smith

Lips Are Movin – Megan Trainor

Blame – Calvin Harris ft. John Newman

                         6. TV this Fall This Fall brought tons of new and returning shows that our students can’t get enough of. Have you seen any of them?

Here’s a run down of some of the new shows this fall: Jane the Virgin: Religious Latina girl vows to stay a virgin until marriage…and then gets accidentally artificially inseminated. (FOX)

 Gotham: Show based on the origin story of Batman, focused on Detective Gordon’s early days in Gotham City. (CW)

 The Flash: The super speedy super hero of DC comics. (CW).

Selfie: Basically the “Basic Girl” of television.  The modern-day adaptation of “My Fair Lady”, only replace lack of social grace with self(ie)-obsession (oh wait, that’s also “lack of social grace”).  (ABC)

 Blackish: Upper middle-class African American family struggling to maintain their roots and culture. (ABC)

Red Band Society: Glee, only without singing, and everyone lives in a hospital. (FOX)

 A to Z: Typical rom-com, only it sitcom form. Andrew meets Zelda, and the chronicle of everything that happens in between.

How To Get Away With Murder: Let’s call this “hands-on” law school.

              7. Movies Want to see the best and worst movies out this fall? Check them out HERE.  What should you see? Guardians of the Galaxy

The Book of Life

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

What you should skip? (Or at least wait to Redbox or Netflix) Ouiji The Best of Me Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

      8. The Back-To-School-Articles You Should Read

Wonder what’s it like to be a student these days? Give these articles a once (or twice) over and learn a thing a two about what life is like for a student. Top 15 Things Your Middle School Kid Wishes You Knew 28 Ways To Ask Your Teens “How Was School Today” Without Asking Them “How Was School Today?” 21 Times Tumblr Knew What You Were Going Through At School

33 Things Everyone Who Went To High School Will Understand

              9. Emojis

It’s about time you up your emoji game. These will help: 23 Creative Emoji Masterpieces

21 Emoji Comebacks That Will Leave You Speechless Quiz: What Type of Emoji Are You?

10. Viral Videos Check out this fall’s most viral videos here: http://bit.ly/1wOM8IE But disclaimer, there is offensive language that may, well, offend you. But that’s the internet, so yeah. Thanks for stopping by and reading, listening and watching this Fall’s Student Trends! Until next time! - Michelle

The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014

TIME Magazine recently released the list of 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014. From Malala Yousafzai to Kylie & Kendall Jenner, this list includes individuals that may have had the largest impact on our students today. 

See the original post at: http://time.com/3486048/most-influential-teens-2014/http://time.com/3486048/most-influential-teens-2014/

Check it out! Share your thoughts in the comments.

The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014

Teens today might have a mixed reputation, but there’s no denying their influence. They command millions of fans on Twitter and Vine, start companies with funds they raised on Kickstarter, steal scenes on TV’s most popular shows, lead protests with global ramifications, and even—as of Friday—win Nobel Peace Prizes. But which ones rise above the rest? We analyzed social-media followings, cultural accolades, business acumen and more to determine this year’s list (ordered from youngest to oldest).

Mo’ne Davis, 13

Sasha Obama, 13, and Malia Obama, 16

Kiernan Shipka, 14

Jazz Jennings, 14

Flynn McGarry, 15

Erik Finman, 15

Nash Grier, 16

Rico Rodriguez, 16

Ciara Judge, 16, Émer Hickey, 17, and Sophie Healy-Thow, 17

Shawn Mendes, 16

Jaden Smith, 16

Becky G, 17

Salma Kakar, 17

Lorde, 17

Lydia Ko, 17

Chloë Grace Moretz, 17

Kylie Jenner, 17, and Kendall Jenner, 18

Malala Yousafzai, 17

Rachel Fox, 18

Bethany Mota, 18

Joshua Wong, 18

Austin Mahone, 18

Tavi Gevinson, 18

Megan Grassell, 19

Troye Sivan, 19

So whether they are actors, activists, scientists or Kardashians, you can't argue that each of these teens IS influential to our student generation. Who do you think is the most influential?

The Millennial That Marketers Are Targeting Does Not Exist

Some great insight on the Millennial Generation that we are constantly trying to understand. 

Originally published by Business News Daily:  http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7222-adweek-marketing-to-millennials.html

By Nicole Fallon, Business News Daily Assistant Editor

For the TL;DR version:

Why You Shouldn't Market to 'Millennials'

IMAGE: FLICKR, DRRISS&MARION

"There's no such thing as millennials." This bold proclamation by ad intelligence firm Exponential Interactive at Advertising Week yesterday will likely elicit scoffs and outrage from marketers who have made careers out of targeting Generation Y over the past decade. Of course millennials exist — just not in one neat, unified demographic.

In his presentation "Marketing to Millennials? You're Doing It Wrong," Bryan Melmed, vice president of insights services at Exponential, explained that most marketers fail to effectively target millennials by relying too heavily on stereotypes about this generation as a whole.

"People who want to target [millennials] have no idea how," Melmed said. "They're using preconceptions … and not getting at the underlying values of the millennial generation. Demographics are simplistic and patronizing, [especially] because millennials are more diverse and heterogeneous than any [generation] before. The millennial experience is so vastly different" from person to person.

To study these differences, Exponential analyzed data collected from 4 million millennial "poster children" to discover significant trends in behaviors, interests and lifestyles among members of Generation Y. The company's research revealed that three major forces have shaped the millennial experience: the economy, globalization and social media. These forces define important millennial populations, and within each of these categories are several subgroups, each with its own specific needs and preferences. While there is some overlap across categories, it's important that marketers know which groups they want to target, and how to appeal to each one individually. [How to Capture Gen Y Consumers]

Economy: A millennial's economic status is perhaps the most important consideration for marketers, since the millennial individual's career and income level sets the stage for the other subgroups he or she may fit into. Ambitious go-getters, which Melmed described as "boss babes" and "brogrammers," have steady careers and relentlessly push themselves to get ahead. Women in this group are very aware of their self-brand: They are more likely to care about projecting a professional image with the right clothes and makeup, and to purchase home décor items and accessories to match their ideal lifestyle. Men tend to embody the "frat boy" culture, and are heavily invested in technology, gaming and sports.

Many Gen Y stereotypes are based on this subset of millennials, but Melmed noted that this is not the norm for most of the generation. Many of them are stuck in "economic purgatory," and unable to secure jobs that allow them to use their full potential. Overeducated, underemployed millennials who haven't achieved their career goals typically avoid risk and economize by living with multiple roommates and using coupons. Millennials who couldn't afford to attend college often end up living with their parents, and don't earn enough money to make the nonessential lifestyle purchases their peers make. The one exception is technology, which even low earners consider a necessity.

Globalization: As technology continues to shrink the world, the millennial generation has gained access to global, local and even temporal cultural experiences that shape their goals and aspirations. Nostalgia is a strong force among members of Generation Y, and many of them seek refuge from the harsh realities of modern life in either their own childhoods or past decades that they never could have experienced themselves. "Nostalgics" are interested in crafting and DIY projects, and enjoy using modern technology like photo-editing apps to mimic past aesthetics.

Many millennials also want to take in everything the world has to offer, but there are two very distinct ways of achieving these global experiences. Millennial "foodies" go out to restaurants that serve exotic cuisine like Korean, Japanese, Middle Eastern and Indian, and view dining out as an event. Other millennials prefer to actually travel to these locales and immerse themselves in foreign cultures to truly experience them. Surprisingly, Melmed said that underemployed millennials who are less invested in their careers are more likely to travel, while higher earners prefer the more vicarious foodie experience to avoid the career risks associated with taking time off.

Social media: Thanks to the rise of social media, Gen Y has essentially grown up under a microscope. With every tweet, photo and status update, millennials open themselves up to public observation, for better or for worse, and this has had a tremendous psychological and sociological impact on the way they live their lives, Melmed said.

Most millennials' social media use falls into one of two categories: "Exuberants," active users who take pictures of and blog about everything and are constantly projecting themselves and their experiences out into the world, and "collectors," the 80-plus percent of social media users who passively take in the vicarious experiences of others. While collectors are the most receptive to marketing messages, their lack of engagement means they're less likely to spread your brand message. A hybrid of these two groups, which Melmed called the "millennial Marthas" (i.e., YouTube star Bethany Mota) are the generational trendsetters who collect items, experiences, etc. and then tell others what to buy and do. These millennials have widespread influence among their peers, making them great targets for marketers.

One broader subgroup that ties all of these categories together is the millennial mom, which represents nearly half the women in the generation. Following the panel, Exponential released a whitepaper that detailed the specific interests and habits of this group, with further advice to help marketers understand the way parenthood changes millennial trends.

Originally published on Business News Daily

Guide to the Student Brain

Thanks to everyone who came to our session, "Guide to the Student Brain" this last week at Momentum! We're so excited to be able to share the work that we do with all of you. 

For those of you who were unable to come to our break-out session, I've condensed it into a brief overview below, and included the slide deck at the end. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! (Email at the end of the slide deck). 

Guide(lines) to (understanding) the Student Brain

Our presentation focused on understanding who our audience is—the student. What do they like and why do they like it? And most useful for us—how do we use this information? Let’s break this down:

1. Why is it important?

Understanding your student audience will help you make better choices. Simple. When you make a purchase or even decide what to eat for lunch, there are at least a few factors you consider: Have I looked at reviews? Researched costs? When was the last time I ate Chinese? Is it healthy? Sure, there are times when we’re impulsive, but we often end up regretting those decisions. When you’re more informed, you make better decisions, whether it’s how often to call a student, when to give support or how to provide remediation.  

2. Students today are different.

When we look at education today, much of it looks similar to how it did 50 years ago. The difference may be that content is now delivered on an iPad rather than a text book, but the experience of education is much different, simply because the world is different.

Take television for example. 50 years ago, watching TV was a different experience: families gathered together in the living room, turned on their favorite program, and watched—it was a communal event, accompanied by conversation and discourse. Today, TV happens riding on a train, ear phones in, streaming from Netflix on a smartphone. It occurs in between events, rather than being an event itself. The objectives are the same—watching a favorite program and being entertained, but the entire experience has changed. Education is the same—we can’t expect to repeat the same experience when everything around it has evolved.

3. Emojis

Let’s look at emojis.

Glass of wine. Silly smiley face. Pile of poo. We know what they are, but do we really know how our students use them? While we might sprinkle them in our texts, students are using them as a complete form of communication. Emoji speak mimics characteristics of this student generation—shortened attention span, hyper-visual and a need for instant gratification.  I’m not saying we should be teaching with emojis, but understanding the reason behind why they are so sticky will give us information we can use.

Try some of these Emoji fluency tests and see how you stack up.

Can You Match The Emoji With Its True Meaning? - Buzzfeed Are You Fluent in Emoji? - NY Times How Fluently Do You Speak Emoji? - TIME Magazine

4. Reaction or Rejection

The next generation of students, like art, is a reaction or a rejection to the previous genre. Quick art history lesson: Think about classical art, specifically Michelangelo’s David. He’s still, thoughtful, rational—a true renaissance man. Fast-forward 100 years to the Romantic era and you have Barouche art, characterized by everything opposite to Classicism. They wanted nothing to do with the static, straight-lined art that characterized Classical art. In comes Bernini, who also sculpts David, however he is twisted, dynamic and in-movement. When you look at the two side by side, you can begin to understand the influence one had on the other, and the reasons behind it.

The same goes for the millennial generation. Many have called them the Peter Pan generation—for never wanting to grow up, or the “entitled” generation. But have you ever thought why they are like this? The Boomer generation—their parents, raised them with the notion that “they will have a better life” and “more opportunity” than they did. They wanted to provide, to give them everything they didn’t have, and as a result, we have millennials. 

Look at every trend, likes and dislikes or our student audience and ask yourself “What are they reacting to or rejecting?” There’s usually an answer, and figuring it out will get you that much closer to getting inside the student brain.

 5. Reading In Between The Lines

When a student says, “I hate collaboration”, we tend to take that statement and try to find a solution. But what if we’re trying to find a solution to the wrong problem?

The thing to know about kids is that generally, they’ll say they hate or love something. They’re not often “super okay” with things—at least that’s not what they’ll say. They either love or hate Miley Cyrus. They either think a viral video is stupid or awesome. It’s great to know what they like or dislike (or what they say they like or dislike), but most of the time, it takes a little more effort to find out what they’re really thinking.

When a student says “I hate exercise”, they could really be saying, ”I hate running”. These two problems are different and thus, require different solutions. It’s much easier to tackle a more specific problem, so in many cases, we have to read in between the lines. How do we do this?

First, understand what the student generally likes and dislikes. Knowing basic background information like what they like to do in their spare time or what type of music they listen to can tell you more about the problem you’re trying to solve. (i.e. Are they a gamer or an athlete? Do they like country music or EDM?) Next, you’ll want to dig. Ask them questions. Is it really exercise that they hate, or is it just one type of exercise? Finding your real problem statement and building a solution is much more effective for you and your student.

6. Mythbusters

Often, when building courses, we run into tough concept areas. This is content that is either difficult to teach in a virtual environment, or where we know students have struggled in the past. Usually, the solution to these tough areas are reimagined in some common engagement mythbusters:

It’s not to say that these never work, but often we lean on these practices as templates to simply insert content without pulling out the sticky. You know—the part that makes them really interesting for students. Here’s an example.

Gamify My FLVS

Earlier in the year, the Reinvention Team decided to develop a prototype around gaming. We surveyed over 4,000 students and found that an overwhelming 98% play games and own a mobile device. We set out to develop a gaming dashboard that incorporated tons of gaming mechanics—points, badges, levels, newsfeed, social integration, a leaderboard, student profiles and trivia. Sounds awesome, right?

Not so much.

We ran a pilot with students and found that many lost interest. They weren’t motivated or intrigued by the gaming elements, but rather felt it was a mask for more work they needed to do. You see, what we did was create a solution for a problem we did not define.

Like our mythbusters, we assume difficult content needs to be put in a video or an interactive, or housed within a theme to make it interesting. The problem we run into with that is what we have dubbed The Basketball Room Effect.

Picture Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. He’s going to rebuild a family’s home and talks to Tommy, the 7 year old and it goes something like:

Ty:  Tommy, what do you really like? Tommy: I love basketball! Ty: Okay!

And then Ty proceeds to build Tommy an extreme basketball room, ala:

Awesome, right? Yes…until a week passes and Tommy decides he doesn’t like basketball anymore, as kids do. But now he has this basketball room. When we focus too much on the engagement and forget about what really matters, we get the Basketball Room Effect.

On the flip side, we also find ourselves simply asking students what they want. We’ll survey them. Ask them questions. While this is extremely useful, we can’t forget to read in between the lines. A student will say what sounds best for them, but it may not actually be what is best for them. If you asked a kid what he wanted for dinner, he’d probably say “ice cream!” because ice cream is delicious. But we know that’s probably not the best thing for him, so likewise when you’re teaching or building courses, avoid the Ice Cream For Dinner Effect  as well.

7. Connecting the Dots

So how do we make this work? We found a few examples of other people in other industries using this same approach: understanding their audience, reading in between the lines, defining a problem statement and building a solution around that. Check out these links and see if you can find the sticky:

Redesigning the Bible With Usability In Mind

LACMA Snapchat

To learn about some of the ways we’re using this approach to build prototypes of our own, (or if you are interested in helping us build prototypes), email me at [email protected].

Thanks again for reading through my post, and enjoy the slide deck below!

SUMMER 2014 STUDENT TRENDS

The beauty of virtual school is that you don't necessarily have to put away the beach chairs and pack away your bathing suits now that summer is coming to a close. (Especially if you live in Florida!) Back to school is just around the corner, meaning Summer is coming to an end, but not without bringing with it all the trends that made summer summer. 

Take a look at this Summer's trends and get to know your student audience a little bit better. New artists, some amazingly awesome Kickstarters and other viral worthy trends are here for your reading pleasure!

Click here for larger. 

I'm going to post some of my favorite "bits' from this Summer's trends, but take some time and check out all the new music, viral videos and trends!

Word Crimes Weird Al makes the comeback of all comebacks with his 14th album "Mandatory Fun" and it hit #1. "Word Crimes" went viral as a surprisingly educational take on Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines." Totally worth a watch. And take note(s). 

What Are Memes and Virality?

How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?

Sadie Doesn't Want Her Brother to Grow Up Goes to show that the most viral things on the internet usually have to do with adorable kids/babies. Or animals. (Baby animals are a given). 

Things You Can't Do When You're Not A Toddler Ditto from above, except kind of opposite. In every way. 

Are You Fluent In Emoji?

Can you translate this?:

The NY Times just released a new quiz (and it's super legit because it's the NY Times and NOT Buzzfeed) that asks you to interpret a series of emojis and test your fluency. It's quite possible that "Emoji" is the new slang of the millennial generation. If you want to know how kids communicate, well, it's very simple. Try the quiz out for yourself: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/25/style/emoji-quiz.html

11 Things That Would Happen If Teenagers Ruled The World 

Some highlights:

1. All disputes would be solved with video game battles.

6. The food pyramid would be revised.

food-gifs.com

7. (Maybe a lot.)

gnarville.tumblr.com

8. Pants would become totally optional.

recklesskid.soup.io

See the full list HERE. 

Summer Reading List

Check out some of the most popular reads this summer!

The Fault In Our Stars We Were Liars   City of Heavenly Fire Since You've Been Gone The Tyrant's Daughter The Here And Now   The Strange And Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender Grasshopper Jungle   If I Stay   Noggin 

For more great teen summer reads, check out Good Reads Summer Book Lists and 25 Must-Read Summer Books. 

April 2014 Student Trends

Can you believe April is GONE? Yep, the year is coming to an end...well, the school year anyways. This can mean a lot of things, but importantly, prom, summer, lots of Netflix and oh yeah SUMMER. The end of the [school] year is a good time to reflect on all that has changed, past to present, so this month's trends is dedicated to the old and the new--new technologies, new slang, new music, new videos...(okay, so it's mostly new stuff, but we can't have new stuff if it doesn't eventually become old and make way for newer, better stuff...roast on that for a minute.) Enjoy!

Click HERE for larger.                          

  Out with the OLD, in with the NEW

The first part of my trends this month was inspired by a Mashable post I came across: 8 Obsolete School Supplies and the Tech that Replaced Them. I incorporated some of it, but then started to think--there's a lot out there that's not necessarily become obsolete, but definitely changed with new technology. Our student audience looks at phones, not as a tool for actually placing phone calls, but being generally "connected" to as many people as possible. If you want to stay in touch, you don't look someone's "contact" information...you "follow" them. Something isn't something until you #hashtag it, and your relationship is a "status" first, and then a relationship. Don't believe me? Check out this horrible break up via the hashtag #TransformationTuesday

Read more about it HERE. 

The NEW Teen Glossary

Not sure what most of these words mean? Don't beat yourself up too much. Teens tend to have a language of their own, and if you feel like being in the know, keep reading. Here are some of the more recent developments in the Teen Glossary:

1. Shelfie - The new "self portrait" of the digital teen generation. Rather than taking just a "selfie", a shelfie, typically taken with a smartphone, and of a collection of "things" that represent yourself, or at least yourself in that moment. It could be a Starbucks coffee in a busy shop that you got for free. It could be your work station, artfully arranged in an interesting way. Basically, inanimate objects craftily arranged and filtered. Other definitions include a "sharable selfie" or a "selfie taken while on the toilet".

2. Derp - The new word for "idiot" or an exclamation after doing something idiotic. Ex. Ugh, he lost my keys again, such a derp."

3. Turn Up - Getting loose, getting wild and getting the party started. Ex: Turn up for what?! or This party is about to turn up. 

4. I Just - Usually combined with "can't" in "I just...can't". The expression itself is meant to communicate exasperation, with fewer words and with less description. 

5. Emoji - The visual language of texting. <insert winky face> <insert piece of sushi> <insert thumbs up>

6. FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out. The idea that you always want to be present when something awesome happens, and fear that you'll miss out when something does happen. Ex. I can't leave now...I totally have FOMO. 

7. Because ________. - The use of "because" as a preposition has happened because internet. This sort of "meme" language has become a more prevalent as a way to communicate, in shorter, more concise words. Literally, "It means something like 'I'm so busy being totally absorbed by X that I don't need to explain further, and you should know about this because its' a completely valid incredibly important thing to be doing'"). Read more about it here: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/english-has-a-new-preposition-because-internet/281601/

8. Internet of Things - The internet of things is a an idea, scenario, universe where all objects on earth--people, things, animals...everything is connected to the internet. Each are provided with unique identifiers with the ability to transfer data over a network. 

9. Merked - Anything from being drunk, high, tackled, knocked out or just general next day regret. Ex. Did you see the Raptors get marked last week? We suck."

10. Rachet - Something totally annoying, rude or act of being ghetto. Also trashy. "She's so rachet..who goes out on Mondays?"

11. Yute - Another word for "youth". "All these yutes think they're so cool."

Other words that have been added to the actual Oxford Dictionary include: defriend, flash mob, geekery, live blog and mouseover. Look 'em up. Also check out 23 Words Teenagers Love To Use And What They Really Mean.  and Slang Words: What Are Young People Saying These Days?

MUSIC

In the interest of time, I'm not going to embed videos this time around (I have every faith in every one of you in your ability to Google things). Do consider taking the time to watch the trending viral videos...In the interest of YOUR time, I've devised a 5-star asterisk rating to let you know which ones you should REALLY watch :)  

1. La la la - Naughty Boy ft. Sam Smith****

2. She Ain't You - New Hollow***

3. Classic - MKTO****

4. Empire - Shakira****

5. Fancy - Iggy Azalea*****

6. Sleeping With A Friend - Neon Trees***

7. She Looks So Perfect - 5 Seconds of Summer*****

8. The Big Bang - Katy Tiz**

9. Find You - Zedd ft. Matthew Koma & Miriam Bryant***

10. Sing - Ed Sheeran*****

Videos & Trends

Okay, I lied. Some of these videos I HAVE to post because they're so stinkin' good.

1. Do You Want to Build a Snowman - Live Kristen Bell

For those Frozen fanatics out there (don't pretend you DON'T sing "Let It Go" in the shower), this live version of Kristen Bell singing is awesome. 

2. Brian Williams Raps "Gin and Juice"

3. "Powerful" Apple Ad - "You're more powerful than you think."

4. SWA Flight Attendant Makes Safety Fun

5. #Promposals - Promposals are just what they sound like...only now they have a hashtag. Asking someone to prom nowadays isn't just the most important thing to do come Springtime at your Highschool...it is now the most important thing EVERYWHERE. Like most #hashtags, students are constantly trying to outdo, outperform and out-prompose one another. Check out some pretty awesome ones below:

1. The History Buff Promposal

2. The Treasure Hunt Promposal

3. The Locker full of "Flowers" Promposal

4. "When Pigs Fly" Promposal

5. The "Ima Do This In Front Of Everybody So You Can't So Nah" Promposal

For more promposals, check out these awesome lists:

http://mashable.com/2014/03/21/instagram-promposals/ http://time.com/88002/promposals-prom-high-school/ http://news.distractify.com/people/promposals/

Or check out the Promposal Twitter!

6. Instagram Survivor Pic After the school stabbing at Franklin Regional Senior High School in Pennsylvania, this picture went viral on Instagram and other social media of a victim. Nate Scimio posted this selfie after he was admitted with other wounded to let his followers know he was okay. "Chillin at Children's Hospital". 

7. 23 GIFs That Will Actually Teach You Something This is for sure my Buzzfeed list of the month. If I could take an entire online course via gifs, I probably would. And so would most students. Take note---how many teachable things can we "gif"?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/gifs-that-will-teach-you-a-damn-thing-for-once-in-your-li?bffb

How a Beanstalk finds support:

What a cracked egg looks like underwater:

How dogs drink water:

8. Lip Sync Battle with Emma Stone

Hope you've enjoyed the trends this month! *So not rachet*. 

March 2014 Student Trends

This month's student trends are in just in time for Spring, and there's tons to know! There's a new #whaling craze on Vine and 2048 is the "new" Flappy Bird. SXSW came and went, and there's the best argument for cupcakes for dinner that anyone has ever made, in the history of the world. Check out this month's trends below, and get engaged!

Click for larger view. 

       GAMES & APPS

I'm kicking off this month's trends with brand new apps that you should know about if you don't already. There's something for everyone, so please, no shoving.

Little Alchemy - http://littlealchemy.com/

Little Alchemy starts off pretty basic. You've got a few elements that you combine, easy enough. (Example: Drag Water over Fire and you get Steam. Add Earth, and you get a Geyser. 

However, what's starts as simple combinations get as complex as your imagination can stretch. Beginning with 8 simple elements, as you combine different elements, you create new ones. For example, Water + Air = Rain, and bam, now you have Rain. After several combinations, you create more and more "elements".

Later combinations like Bird and Metal will give you a Plane, and a Star plus Pressure will give you a Black Hole. Try it out and see how many combinations you can make! Official Guide Here. 

2048 - http://gabrielecirulli.github.io/2048/

                         Developed by 19-year old Italian web developer, Gabriele Cirulli, the objective is simple: slide the tiles on a 4x4 grid to combine them and create a tile with the number 2048. In the first week, his game site got over 4 million hits, and what started out as a weekend project has turned quickly into the new "Flappy Bird". The game runs on open-source code and is free. Crazy simple and addictive seem to be the the formula for wildly successful apps these days. 

Vocabulary.com - http://www.vocabulary.com/app/

The practice of "gamifying" most everything we teach now is becoming common practice (check out this cool infographic for The Future of Games in Education), and that includes existing educational tools. Vocabulary.com released a new app recently that gamifies the experience of word-smithing. 

                   Rather than just a "word look-up" resource, Vocabulary.com's new app seeks to pull in users by creating an addictive game out of their content. Like most addictive app games, you complete a task, and get points. Here, you define words within 7 different questions types (fill in the blank, straight define, context, etc.). Something like virtual flashcards or reminiscent of FreeRice.com, the sleek interface and addictiveness of gaming creates an app that you won't feel bad playing with at work, since it's really teaching you. Complete with leaderboards and level achievements. 

Read Rooster - https://readrooster.com/

          While still only available "by invitation only" (click the link above to sign up), the Read Rooster app may very well define what "reading" looks like in the millennial age. Touted as "The book club for busy people", Read Rooster curate a recommended book list for you based on your interests or previously read books, and sends excerpts to your mobile app in timed installments. Responding to peoples' excuse of "I wish I had time to read", the digital publishing startup, Plympton, created Read Rooster to combat just that. Waiting in line at Starbucks? Have a little time to spare during your train commute to work? The app divides books into small, manageable chunks of text (15 minute segments), and users can schedule installments to be sent out to them throughout the day. 

MUSIC

1. #Selfie - The Chainsmokers #Selfie is probably this month's, if not this generation's anthem. Mostly comprised of DJ mixed electronic house music overlaid with commentary by a bored sounded teen/twenty-something laboring over taking a #selfie. It's both bad and good. You'll hate it and love it at the same time. (Note: X-Pro and Valencia are Instagram filters.) #thatssorachet

2. Best Day of My Life - American Authors

3. G.U.Y. - Lady Gaga (Song only--Artpop film below in VIDEOS)

4. Not A Bad Thing - Justin Timberlake

5. Ain't It Fun - Paramore

6. Birthday - Katy Perry

7. Wild Wild Love - Pitbull ft. G.R.L.

8. Headlights - Eminem ft. Nate Ruess (Explicit)

9. Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon (Explicit) For warning, this video may frighten the faint of heart. Lots of explicit twerking that will probably make you uncomfortable...fair warning. Click here for Audio Only. 

10. This Is How We Roll - Florida Georgia Line ft. Luke Bryan

VIDEOS

First Kiss This short film by Tatia Pilieva went viral in March, asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time. It went viral, starting on Style.com, then posted on YouTube and Vimeo, shared across social media with 600,000 views the first day, over 5 million views by the next morning, and now with over 74 million views and counting (just on YouTube). After it's first day success, skeptics questioned the "realness" of the video, which turned out to be less "happenstance" and more "recruited beauty". The short film's objective was to promote WREN's Fall 2014 Fashion collection, though it wasn't explicit in the film. The caveat soured many viewers, but you can't deny that it's still a beautiful film. In a "behind the scenes" story on the film, the filmmaker talks about why she thought it was a viral success (read more here), saying "While one can't be sure, it was probably the human vulnerability that touched people--watching the possibility of love play out in front of their eyes." See for yourself. 

I should also mention that this virility of this video was also supported by the many parodies that followed. Most of them are NSFW, but here are a couple that are:

First Sniff First Raspberry

Stranger Danger Cuteness overload. That's all you need to know. 

One Girl, 14 Genres Adaptability is key, people.

"Between Two Ferns" with President Obama Uploaded on March 13, 2014, just weeks before deadline to sign up Obamacare, President Obama used the internet and Zach Galifianakis to achieve exactly what we wanted. Funny or Die, who produces "Between Two Ferns", a comedy/parody sketch with Zach Galifianakis as host landed the ultimate guest when President Obama decided to appear, but not without ulterior motives. This video, which went viral after it was uploaded, caused a spike in healthcare enrollments, and making FunnyorDie.com the top referral site to Healthcare.gov. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius says that the decision to have Obama appear on "Between Two Ferns" was a way to reach an audience in "the language they most understood."

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: President Barack Obama from President Barack Obama 

The Best Argument for Cupcakes for Dinner

"Linda, Linda, listen! Linda listen! Linda, but listen to me!" Most of it is unintelligible garbled toddler-speak, but regardless, I'd give this kid a cupcake. 

When the Dog Stays Home Alone Rules are meant to be broken, right? Ahhh, and it feels so good. 

G.U.Y. - An Artpop Film This full length, 11 minute and 47 second ARTPOP film has raked in over 26 million views. But like most things Gaga, it's chock full of cultural references that most of us really didn't even notice until Buzzfeed made a list out of it, so here it is: http://www.buzzfeed.com/azafar/lady-gaga-guy-video-deconstruction

Kevin Bacon Explains the 80s to Millennials "You can't swipe away the hurt." Kevin Bacon creates "80's Awareness" by addressing Millennials directly and telling them how life was in the 80s. Or, I mean, you could Wikipedia it. 

What Does The World Eats For Breakfast Probably my favorite video of the month, this short, playful and extremely informative video gives you a visual of the weirdness of the world...and it's actually pretty beautiful. I'm Vietnamese and I'VE never even had Pho for breakfast, but it's cool to know that somewhere, they do. 

TRENDS

Grandma with Cancer Rocks Instagram Meet Grandma Betty. She's 80 and has terminal lung cancer. She's too old and frail to undergo any sort of treatment, so her great grandson made her an Instagram account. The social media has worked like medicine, not healing her cancer, but lifting her spirits each day, as half a million followers give her words of love and support everyday. This is a viral story worth seeing. Betty, you rock!

SXSW

South By South West is one of the biggest conference around, held in Austin, Texas each year in the Spring. It's Music, Film and Interactive components draw out the best of the best in start ups, innovators and seasoned professionals. Grumpy Cat was there, Lady Gaga gave a keynote, and Tyler the Creator incited a riot. See photos of the conference HERE and read more about it HERE! 

Return of Flappy Bird

Before you get too excited, this is really all we know. This month "Flappy Bird: New Season" was release, seemingly by the original creator, Dong Nguyen, but it seems to be another clone, albeit a pretty good one. New Season is at the top of the app charts, and while strikingly similar to the original, many are still calling flappy "foul", wanting the ORIGINAL original version to come back. 

Selllotape Selfies I will only indulge you with 2 photos, as this is pretty self-explanatory. #Sellotapeselfies became a thing this month. It's good to see some peopling using the trend to do good!

Okay one more: 

#Whaling #Whaling is the new Vine meme, and literally everybody is doing it. The premise? Get behind something, like a desk, a couch, a wall...anything, and then breach like a whale. Don't ask my why trends happen. I can only tell you what they are. My only guess: imitation is the highest form of flattery and whales are super awesome. See more #whaling HERE. 

TMNT Movie I was a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan as a kid (I was always Donatello because I liked purple and thought I could wield a bo staff easier than daggers). Everyone's pretty hyped for the TMNT movie, but it kinda looks like Transformers with turtles. (It's a Michael Bay film AND it has Megan Fox..)

Kim Jong Un Haircuts Nothing loves a rumor like the internet. This month, a rumor was reported that Kim Jong Un passed an order that all male university students in the capital were to get a KJU buzz. It was later learned to be untrue, but this is what the internet did with that:

Crowdsourcing for MH370

From Time.com:

Around 2.9 million areas of interest have been tagged by internet users scouring satellite data as investigations continue into the crew of the missing Boeing 777-200. Three million Internet users have joined search teams from 26 nations hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines airliner, in what could be the largest crowdsourcing project ever.

Read more HERE: http://time.com/28332/missing-jet-crowd-sourcing-project/  Other interesting resources on the crowdsourcing: http://irevolution.net/2014/03/15/analyzing-tweets-on-malaysia-flight-mh370/

             HuvRTech Hoax, or no? You decide :)

That's all folks! Hope you've enjoyed this month's trends as much as I have. This month marks a particularly happy milestone, as it now a full year that I've been collecting and sharing out Student Trends. Thanks for reading and staying engaged!

(via How Students and Teachers See Social Media Infographic | e-Learning Infographics)

FEBRUARY 2014 STUDENT TRENDS

February Student Trends are here, and ICYMI, a lot went down. The Olympics. Jimmy Fallon. The Waffle Taco. Oscars (okay, that was March, but how can I not include the Ultimate Selfie?) Take a load off and get into some Student Trends....like now.

MUSIC 1. Happy - Pharrell

2. All of Me - John Legend

3. Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo

4. Let It Go - Idina Menzel

5. Young Girls - Bruno Mars

6. Animals - Martin Garrix

7. Drink a Beer - Luke Bryan

8. If You Say So - Lea Michele

9. Midnight - Coldplay

10. The Man - Aloe Blacc

VIRAL VIDEOS Alex Boye Let It Go (Africanized Tribal Cover) ft. Once Voice Children's Choir

Let It Go w/ Classroom Instruments

Evolution of Hip Hop Dancing

Freezing Child Social Experiment

What would you do if you saw a freezing child?

A hidden camera was set up and placed Johannes, the young boy, at a bus stop, in Oslo, Norway. This is what happened. The film is made to raise awareness of the situation for children in Syria, and to raise funds to SOS Children's Villages is their winter-campaign. Children in Syria are freezing and you can help by dontating. For more information: www.sos-barnebyer.no/Mayday/Syria

Say Something - Penatonix

History of Rap 5

School Officials Rap Ice Ice Baby

NEW MEMES

Business Baby

Olympic Memes

Remember the Makayla Maroney "Not Impressed" meme from the Summer Olympics? The Winter Olympics had a contender with figure skater Ashely Wagner.

After being awarded a low score for her short program, Ashley Wagner's "Angry Face" meme suddenly became the face of disappointment at Sochi Olympic Games. See for yourself!

APPS

BroApp

Ever wish you could just spend more times with your bros, but keep your lady happy as well? You're in luck, there's BroApp! This new Android only app helps you pre-schedule cutesy messages to your beau, showing you're a good boyfriend, so you can spend your time hanging out with your bros. Does it work? Check out the video below and read this first hand account. 

#Pop

On the surface, #Pop will look familiar to users of Vine, Instagram or other photo- and video-sharing apps. But what sets #Pop apart is the way users interact with their feeds. Instead of simply uploading a single photo or video, users upload two photos, videos or GIFs that are then combined into a single (and often hilarious) “pop" that’s revealed when users tap on the image. #Pop is available on iOS.

Flappy Bird Parody Apps

Over 60 Flappy Bird parody apps have popped up all over the web since creator Dong Nguyen pulled it from the app store. The game was released on May 24, 2013 but received a sudden rise in popularity in early 2014. It was criticized for its level of difficulty and alleged plagiarism in graphics and game mechanics, while other reviewers found it addictive. At the end of January 2014, it was the most downloaded free game in the iOS App Store. During this period, its developer claimed that Flappy Bird was earning $50,000 a day from in-app advertisements. 

Even though it's been pulled, that hasn't stopped others from creating their own: 

These are just a few that made it to the top of the app charts this last month. But it doesn't stop there, you can even code and MAKE YOUR OWN Flappy Bird game HERE. Check it out. 

Themer

Possibly the greatest customization app on Android, Themer ran into some controversy earlier this week when Apple had the app removed from Google Play because the Cupertino, Calif. company thought one of its themes looked a little too similar to iOS 7. But luckily for fans, Google soon reinstated the app. Themer lets users personalize the look and feel of their devices by choosing from dozens of elegant customizable themes for their home screen and menus. Themer is available on Android.

TimePIN

TimePIN is a security and ease of use enhancing application. TimePIN sets your lockscreen PIN code to the current time or date resulting in an ever changing PIN that can not be shoulder surfed or repeated due to fingerprints on the screen. Modifiers allow you to morph the PIN, to further enhance security. 

Swiftkey Note

SwiftKey Note is touted as the fastest way to take notes on iOS. This app, packed with prediction power technology, suggests words as you type that are uniquely tailored to your writing style. It also includes our hallmark next-word predictions, letting you speed through your notes. Is this the beginning of us turning into robots? Possibly so. Short cuts and hints are part of today's tech culture...should we fight it or join it?

NEWS

The End of Flappy Bird

Game Over. Literally. Claiming the game was "too addictive", Flappy Bird creator Dong Nguyen pulled the game from app stores just a month after it became massively popular. As the most downloaded game in February, Flappy Bird isn't quite dead yet. It's being reported now that every 24 minutes, a Flappy Bird clone hits the app stores. 

Dumb Starbucks is Physically Viral

Crowds flocked to the opening of "Dumb Starbucks" in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles last month. Citing "fair use", the owners justified using the Starbucks logo, decor and menu (and adding "dumb") as legal. People lined up for more than 3 hours for a chance to get in. 

As virals stories do, this one quickly faded, as Dumb Starbucks was closed just days after it opened, by the Health Department citing a lack of permit. This came just after it was revealed that the brains behind the operation was comedian Nathan Fielder from Comedy Central. He even spoke about opening a "Dumb Starbucks" branch in Brooklyn. 

You know what they say--the highest form of flattery is imitation. 

Waffle Taco @ Taco Bell

Taco Bell announced last month that it would introducing a breakfast menu, creating a media storm behind a coveted new item--the Waffle Taco. Admit it, you want one. #waffletaco

Olympics Snowflake Mishap Death Viral Hoax

When the 5th Olympic ring failed to open during the Sochi Opening Ceremony, it was laughable. We commiserated--humans make mistakes. But then we thought, "uh oh. This is Russia." Shortly after, the Olympic Engineer Death Hoax hit the web, and tons of people fell for it. The viral news story went something like:

Other variations of the hoax include commentary from the police that state that "the multiple stab wounds could easily be explained by Avdeyev simply falling on his own knife." Reasonable, right? Remember, don't buy everything you read on the web. Chances are, if it sounds hokey, there's a good chance it is. Check your sources. And take the Social Media course!

@SochiProblems

Of all the media and attention that the Winter Olympics received last month, from memes, gifs, mishaps and selfies, possibly the most viral of them all was @SochiProblem. The popular hashtag #SochiProblems began when media arrived in Russia prior to the games to a less than prepared Sochi. From "danger water", and lack of plumbing, to missing hotel lobbies and broken door handles, all was documented and tweeted to the world using Twitter. Similar accounts were created, such as @SochiProblems2014 and @SochiFails 

The Ellen Oscar Selfie that Broke Twitter

Now known as the most popular tweet in the the history of tweets, Ellen's Oscar Selfie Tweet not only broke the previous record of President Obama's "Four More Years" tweet, which barely had 800,000 retweets, but broke Twitter itself. It gained over a million retweets, being the first to do so, in just a few hours, and has continued to break the 2M and 3M retweet mark. 

What's best about this story is the power of social media. While everyone loves tons of celebrities crammed together taking selfies just like you and I (so relatable, right?), it's about what you can do with that momentum. Samsung committed to give a dollar to Ellen's designated charity for every re-tweet of her now-famous selfie. She's now directed $1.5 million of that total to The Human Society of the United States (HSUS). Awesome much? Yeah. 

So that's it! Hope you've enjoyed this month's trends and feel a little more "in the know" when it comes to students. Knowledge is power, so now go and use it! Until next time!

THE SIX THINGS THAT MAKE STORIES GO VIRAL WILL AMAZE, AND MAYBE INFURIATE, YOU

                POSTED BY MARIA KONNIKOVA, The New Yorker Magazine

When Jonah Berger was a graduate student at Stanford, in the early aughts, he would make a habit of reading page A2 of the Wall Street Journal, which included a list of the five most-read and the five most-shared articles of the day. “I’d go down to the library and surreptitiously cut out that page,” he recalls. “I noticed that what was read and what was shared was often different, and I wondered why that would be.” What was it about a piece of content—an article, a picture, a video—that took it from simply interesting to interesting and shareable? What pushes someone not only to read a story but to pass it on?

The question predates Berger’s interest in it by centuries. In 350 B.C., Aristotle wasalready wondering what could make content—in his case, a speech—persuasive and memorable, so that its ideas would pass from person to person. The answer, he argued, was three principles: ethos, pathos, and logos. Content should have an ethical appeal, an emotional appeal, or a logical appeal. A rhetorician strong on all three was likely to leave behind a persuaded audience. Replace rhetorician with online content creator, and Aristotle’s insights seem entirely modern. Ethics, emotion, logic—it’s credible and worthy, it appeals to me, it makes sense. If you look at the last few links you shared on your Facebook page or Twitter stream, or the last article you e-mailed or recommended to a friend, chances are good that they’ll fit into those categories.

Aristotle’s diagnosis was broad, and tweets, of course, differ from Greek oratory. So Berger, who is now a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, worked with another Penn professor, Katherine Milkman, to put his interest in content-sharing to an empirical test. Together, they analyzed just under seven thousand articles that had appeared in the Times in 2008, between August 30th and November 30th, to try to determine what distinguished pieces that made the most-emailed list. After controlling for online and print placement, timing, author popularity, author gender, length, and complexity, Berger and Milkman found that two features predictably determined an article’s success: how positive its message was and how much it excited its reader. Articles that evoked some emotion did better than those that evoked none—an article with the headline “BABY POLAR BEAR’S FEEDER DIES” did better than “TEAMS PREPARE FOR THE COURTSHIP OF LEBRON JAMES.” But happy emotions (“WIDE-EYED NEW ARRIVALS FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE CITY”) outperformed sad ones (“WEB RUMORS TIED TO KOREAN ACTRESS’S SUICIDE”).

Just how arousing each emotion was also made a difference. If an article made readers extremely angry or highly anxious—stories about a political scandal or new risk factor for cancer, for example—they became just as likely to share it as they would a feel-good story about a cuddly panda. (In this particular study, certain pieces were coded as eliciting arousing emotions; in a follow-up, arousal was further measured physiologically.)

Berger and Milkman went on to test their findings in a more controlled setting, presenting students with content and observing their propensity to pass it along. Here, too, they found the same patterns. Amusing stories that had been chosen specifically because they were positive and arousing were shared more frequently than less amusing ones. Anger-inducing stories were shared more than moderate takes on the same events. When the researchers manipulated the framing of a story to be either negative (a person is injured) or positive (an injured person is “trying to be better again”), they found that the positive framing made a piece far more popular. The findings have since been replicated by several independent research teams, who have found that videos that shock or inspire are more likely to be shared on Facebook and more likely to gain viral traction.

Positivity and arousal go a long way toward explaining the success of Web sites like Upworthy, which started in 2012 and is known for using headlines designed to make you laugh, cry, or feel righteous anger (for example, on the site right now, “A Hilarious Stand-Up Routine About How Commercials for Black People Actually Sound” and “The Struggles of Being a Woman in a Male-Dominated Field Summed Up in a Short Comic”). Even the site’s tearjerker content has a positive message: “Watch a Teenager Bring His Class to Tears Just by Saying a Few Words,” reads one. Despite launching less than two years ago, the site has steadily climbed the ranks of Internet popularity, ranking third in aDecember rating of Facebook shares, right behind BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post. Its posts are like the infamous cat videos on YouTube—funny, positive, and arousing—but taken to a new level. Still, as Berger points out, “There are lots of cat videos that don’t get shared”—and lots of would-be Upworthys that never quite make it. So what characterizes the ones that do?

Since his initial foray into the nature of sharing, Berger has gone on to research and test a variety of viral-promoting factors, which he details in his new book, “Contagious: Why Things Catch On.” Almost ten years in, he feels he’s discovered a formula of sorts: as sites like Upworthy or BuzzFeed would likely put it, The Six Things You Need to Know to Make Your Voice Heard. While emotion and arousal still top the list, a few additional factors seem to make a big difference. First, he told me, you need to create social currency—something that makes people feel that they’re not only smart but in the know. “Memes like LOLcats, I think, are a perfect example of social currency, an insider culture or handshake,” Berger told me. “Your ability to pass it on and riff on it shows that you understand. It’s the ultimate, subtle insider signal: I know without yelling that I know. When your mom sees an LOLcat, she has no idea what it is.” When Upworthy first started, not everyone knew what it was, and the videos seemed fresh. Now they are being derided as link bait and mocked. Other sites, including the Washington Post, are copying their formula.

The presence of a memory-inducing trigger is also important. We share what we’re thinking about—and we think about the things we can remember. This facet of sharing helps explain the appeal of list-type stories (which I wrote about in detail last month), as well as stories that stick in your mind because they are bizarre. Lists also get shared because of another feature that Berger often finds successful: the promise of practical value. “We see top-ten lists on Buzzfeed and the like all the time,” he notes. “It allows people to feel like there’s a nice packet of useful information that they can share with others.” We want to feel smart and for others to perceive us as smart and helpful, so we craft our online image accordingly.

A final predictor of success is the quality of the story itself. “People love stories. The more you see your story as part of a broader narrative, the better,” Berger says. Some cat lists are better than others, and some descriptions of crying teen-agers are more immediately poignant; the best underlying story, regardless of its trappings, will come out on top. That, in fact, is what the Upworthy editors have argued in response to their critics: the headlines may seem like link bait, but the stories, the curators promise, are worthwhile. “Coming up with catchy, curiosity-inducing headlines wasn’t the reason Upworthy had those 87 million visitors,” they write. “It was because millions of members of the Upworthy community watched the videos we curated and found them important, compelling, and worth sharing with their friends.”

Some of these features, of course, are incompatible: a list, for the most part, isn’t going to tell much of a story, and a LOLcat video or other meme isn’t usually informative. But, taken together, especially with the underlying principles of arousal and positivity in mind, the guidelines can help. “I see it as a batting average,” Berger says. “No one is going to hit a home run every time, but if you understand the science of hitting your batting average goes up.”

The irony, of course, is that the more data we mine, and the closer we come to determining a precise calculus of sharing, the less likely it will be for what we know to remain true. If emotion and arousal are key, then, in a social application of the observer effect, we may be changing what will become popular even as we’re studying it. “If everyone is perfectly implementing the best headline to pass on, it’s not as effective any more,” Berger says. “What used to be emotionally arousing simply isn’t any longer.” Those in search of evidence for this should look no further than Viralnova.com, a site that was started just eight months ago and is already the seventh most popular site on the Web, at least as measured by Facebook shares. As I type, the lead story on its front page is “Her Little Boy Has No Idea His Mother Is About To Die. What She’s Doing About That Is Amazing.”

Illustration by Adrian Tomine

January 2014 Student Trends

It's here! It's here! I know you've been waiting ALL YEAR for this. January student trends marks a brand new year with brand new trends. Epic new games & apps, all new music and videos that you could waste an entire day watching...just because. Check it out and spend some time and see what you're students are seeing, sharing and liking. Enjoy!

MUSIC

1. Dark Horse - Katy Perry

21412622443 by YardieGoals

2. Team - Lorde

3. Hey Brother - Avicii

4. Drunk In Love - Beyonce

5. Midnight Memories - 1D

6. Happy - Pharrell Williams

7. Timber - Pitbull ft. Ke$ha

8. Adore You - Miley Cyrus

9. Neon Lights - Demi Lovato

10. Can't Remember to Forget You - Shakira ft. Rihanna

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Beyonce @ the Grammys

Caution, this may get a little toasty. The web exploded with joy and love for Bey (or Queen Bey, as they like to call her) after her opening Grammy performance with boo Jay-Z. The "IT" couple of the music industry..well, people love them. That's all. 

Let It Go - Frozen

With over 75 millions views since December, I'd say it's safe to say FROZEN IS AWESOME. If you haven't seen this, I'd highly recommend. This was written and made for Broadway, so I'm super excited to see it when they decide to do it. 

Bad Lip Reading NFL Rd. 2

You know you can't help yourself. I won't judge you if you watch it twice. 

P&G Thank You Mom

"For teaching us that falling only makes us stronger." (Make Growth Mindset connection HERE). 

The Fault In Our Stars Trailer

Have tissues on hand, people. Also don't forget, it was a book, first!

Kid President Letter

We can always learn something from Kid President.

It's hard being a person sometimes. Some days you get ice cream, some days you don't. Also, giving high fives is like hitting someone who is your friend. Take brain pictures. Love is louder. 

Devil Baby Attack

Take caution. This is terrifying (but fake). Another prank stunt promoting a new movie. Effective. Sure is. 

GIFs with Sound

Why has nobody thought of this yet? With GIFs being so incredibly popular all over the internet, the only logical thing to add to them to make them even  better HAD to be sound. And not even the sound they were originally made with. Get creative. 

A Conference Call in Real Life

If you've ever been on a conference call in your life, you can probably relate. 

Apple 30 Years of Innovation

Superbowl 2014 Commercials

There are tons of other noteworthy ads--Doritos, Cheerios, weird hugs for Honda with Bruce Willis, a Full-House Oikos reunion, Muppet Road trips and more bad lip readings..but check these out, and watch all of them here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/adblitz/adblitz?feature=inp-yo-az1

or some of them here:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/the-only-super-bowl-commercials-worth-watching

TRENDING

Apple Turns 30

In 1983, Apple debuted its first model, the Apple Lisa. The computer took more than three years to make, and around $50 million to develop. Named after Steve Jobs' daughter, the computer was quite pricey, clicking in at nearly $10,000 (about $25,000 by today's standards). The high price tag repelled most consumers, and the computer sold poorly.

Though not technically a Mac, the Lisa nonetheless influenced the first Macintosh, which Jobs debuted on Jan. 24, 1984. 

Thinner and larger than past models, the modern iMac features a slender screen and a detached keyboard and mouse. The most recent 27-inch version sports a lighting-fast Intel processor and Fusion Drive data storage, which combines a traditional hard drive with Flash storage.

Read more and see the full slideshow HERE. 

Facebook Turns 10

The new year brought in lots of milestones for big companies, Facebook included. Unless you've found a way to avoid your Facebook feed (or just don't have Facebook), you've seen the "Facebook Movie" everyone's been posting, in celebration of Facebook turning 10. Reminisce on when you joined, your most liked posts, photos you've shared, all bundled up into a 1 minute short of nostalgia. Find yours here: 

https://www.facebook.com/lookback

Also, if you don't remember or know what Facebook, or "thefacebook" looked like when it first launched, take a look! Gotta start somewhere, right?

Bieber Arrested

Yes, it's true. Justin Bieber was arrested in January 2014 for driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and driving with an expired license. The best part? Miami Beach Police tweeted his mugshot (as they do many others, so he's not getting preferential treatment or anything)...check out how the internet reacted HERE.

Winter Olympics

Want to stay on top of the Sochi Olympics and get an inside look at what it's like to be an Olympian? Check out these 33 awesome Instagrams. 

APPS & GAMES

Flappy Bird This game is so stinkin' simple and sticky, you could waste hours of your life having finger spasms on your smartphone/tablet and not even realize it. The premise? Tap Flappy Bird to make him fly in between the green, Mario-looking tubes, else die a sad and angering death. Maybe it's the simplicity of the game that makes you want to keep playing...I mean...it's soooo simple, how can you not master it? It's much harder than you think, but 

Scrap Tank

This endless runner game has you fighting enemy robots with your tank, playing to just survive. Survive countless waves of missiles, kamikaze bots, airstrikes, tank waves and more. Destroy enough to last another round!

Mindie

This addictive new app is Instagram meets Vine meets Youtube Vevo. Create your own custom music videos and share. Read on: 

http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/16/from-a-failing-product-to-a-successful-video-sharing-app-mindie-raises-1-2-million/

Bad Hotel

In this fun little time waster you must build a hotel that can sustain damage from all of the terrible things that are trying to destroy it. You essentially start with a core and must build around it to protect it from such things as birds that have bombs. Quick and fun...Mindcraft-esque? I think so. 

Jelly

Jelly is a brand new social network from one of the same minds that brought us Twitter. In this network you take pictures of things, ask questions about it, and other people answer if they know. The app itself could use some work as the interface is whatever the opposite of intuitive is but it is free and we assume they’ll update things to make it more enjoyable eventually.

Introducing Jelly from Jelly Industries, Inc. on Vimeo.

Quick Fit

One of the latest crazes to come to the fitness fore is the 7 Minute Workout, which is basically a short and snappy high-intensity session spanning 12 exercises of 30 seconds each, interjected with a series of 10 second breaks. These can be done anywhere, including the home, and require no special equipment. Check out the web app and try it out: http://7minuteworkout.us/

            5by

Acquired by StumbleUpon, 5by service lets you start watching videos by making suggestions based on certain factors, including the time of day and what mood you’re in (videos for… ‘Entertaining You’, ‘Showing Your Friends’, ‘In Transit’ etc), it’s also possible to filter video suggestions by length – so if you only have time for a two minute video, it won’t suggest something that’s 10 minutes long.

Caribu

Caribu is a new video-calling app for iPad that lets you read e-books to your little ones in real-time. Read more about it: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/01/23/caribu-bedtime-reading-app-youre-away-kids/#!uABsG

Outread

A new, mobile take on speed reading, Outread takes a slightly different approach to other similar apps, displaying a full page of text and guiding your eyes by highlighting which part you should be reading at the moment.

NEW IN 2014

Blog - LOL MY THESIS

This new Tumblr takes a new approach on breaking down scholarly works, and simplifying them into terms everyone can understand. Harvard University senior Angie Frankel created "LOL My Thesis," an outlet for the not-so-academic, and much more brief, ways you wish you could get your paper's point across. Check out some great ones below and check the blog for more: http://lolmythesis.com/

1. The Internet

2. Kafka

3. Rats

4. Beyoncé

5. Tyrannosaurs

6. CSI

7. Amish Romance Novels

8. Acting

9. Climate

10. Love

Via Wired.com:

The viral meme #SelfieOlympics has elevated the selfie from its previous primary appeal of voyeurism and aesthetic slumming and made it a hotly contested competition. Participants are vying to outdo each other with the sheer elaborateness or weirdness of their selfies. The popularity of the hashtag has reached fever pitch.

Aside from the hashtag, the Twitter handle @SelfieOlympics has been posting any relevant selfies it can find, submitted or otherwise. It’s worth looking through all the images (of course some are NSFW), but here are our 10 favorites selected from those pictures whose owners we could identify.

So far there are two main approaches to the photos. One consists of cramming oneself into an awkward and physically demanding position in front of the bathroom mirror. Take for example the girl who is brushing her teeth and appears to be reaching up with her leg to press the shutter button on her phone, which is on top of the door:

As the official first new meme of "2014", the selfie olympics continue to challenge youth across social networks to push the boundaries beyond the duck face.  

The New Virality of 2014

Upworthy: 10 Ways To Win The Internets from Upworthy

http://www.forbes.com/sites/pascalemmanuelgobry/2014/01/03/9-big-trends-for-2014-you-wont-believe-whats-9/

So in doing some research for the new trends of 2014, I came across this Forbes article that echoed a transition I’ve been noticing for awhile now. With Facebook turning 10, Apple turning 30…social media, the internet and technology are now fully cemented in our everyday livelihoods. Unless you live under a legitimate rock, it’s difficult not to see what’s going on—with your friends, in your community, your country, and the world. Now more than ever, we have access to see, hear and read first hand accounts of anything and everything. The Millennial generation has adopted this activist mentality, with more stories than ever being shared of young people being humanitarians, standing up for their beliefs and shouting their voice across social media to be heard. Forbes predicts that we’ll see fewer listicles, a-la Buzzfeed, whose popularity bursts from the seams of the web over the last year, and more focus on viral websites like Upworthy, who promote their posts on the trifecta of being awesome, visual and meaningful. With an emphasis on the “meaningful”. The virality of morality may be something that we see more often than not, with social media working to help people self reflect, express and become better people (or at least people who share things that can make the world better.) We’ll always have cat videos, silly Vines and “Which Harry Potter Character Are You Quizzes”, but there may be a shift that you’ll notice…we’ll see!

Facebook Paper

Like Apple, Facebook strives to be the most innovative of its kind. In this case, it's social media. Facebook Paper was just released and gives users an all new experience using this social network they know and love. Creating a full-image flip-book look and feel, Paper focuses your newsfeed into individual stories, similar to the FlipBook app. Check it out below. 

Introducing Paper from Facebook on Vimeo.

theChive

Adopting a pretty large following, theChive.com isn't necessarily new, but had gained traction and popularity over the last year. Think Imgur meets Buzzfeed with parts of Reddit. Mostly, it's a photo entertainment site, which large collections of photos within categories that can serve up hours of entertainment. 

That's it! All done! Hope you enjoyed it, now go, be engaged!

Thanks!

-Michelle

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s triennial international survey compared test scores from 65 countries. Happiness was ranked based on the percentage of students who agreed or disagreed with the statement “I feel happy at school.” Test scores were ranked based on the combined individual rankings of the students’ math, reading, and science scores.

Source: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jakel11/where-in-the-world-you-can-find-the-best-schools-and-the-hap?bffb

This Is What Happens When A Kid Leaves Traditional Education

Logan Laplante is a 13 year-old boy who was taken out of the education system to be home schooled instead. Not only was he home schooled, but Logan had the ability to tailor his education to his interests and also his style of learning, something traditional education does not offer. As Logan has mentioned, when he grows up he wants to be happy and healthy. At a TEDx talk in 2013, he discussed how hacking his education is helping him achieve that goal.

A great TED video and great article worth reading. Key take away: Have a hacker mindset. Everything is worth being hacked. 

Original Source: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/this-is-what-happens-when-a-kid-leaves-traditional-education/

Logan’s story can be seen in a similar light as Jacob Barnett‘s story who was first put in Special Ed by his school until he was pulled out of standard education and is now seen as an incredibly intelligent young person who is on track to winning a Nobel Prize one day.

More on Education & Homeschooling

Education is often considered the foundation for creating a well rounded and productive society, but this belief usually stems from being sure that those coming out of the education system are able to keep the cogs of society turning in order to maintain profit margins of large companies in a system that requires constant growth. Instead of having creative and out-of-the-box-thinking people, the current style of education creates more submissive, obedient and trained graduates so the current system is always maintained.

What this means is that standard education is focused less on each individual and their growth and more on creating a supply of worker bees that can go out into the world and follow within the confines the system sets out. Sir Ken Robinson gave a famous TED talk in 2007 where he discussed his beliefs about how education kills creativity. This TED talk is one of the most viewed TED talks of all time and  has inspired many to re-think the way we are educating our children. Since traditional education is still taking its time with adjusting, many are turning to homeschooling as a solution as it allows children to explore education much like Logan did.

Currently about 3.8% of children ages 5 – 17 are home schooled in the US. In Canada, that number drops to about 1%. This is a number that is expected to continue growing in both countries as more see the limitations of our current education system. Also, studies done in the US and Canada show that home schooled children out perform their peers from both private and public schools.

In my view, home schooling is much more likely to create a creative, adaptive, and forward thinking person who is less conditioned to think only within the small confines of a crumbling system. Does this mean it is for everyone and that one can’t turn out that way through standard education? No, I simply feel the chances are far greater with homeschooling.

My decision to leave school behind when I was in college came from the same beliefs I hold today about education. I felt confined within the system and I felt it wasn’t going to lead me somewhere I wanted to be. It didn’t matter whether I was studying business, engineering, marketing or music, I did not enjoy the methods and couldn’t see a way to change things except by leaving. Aside from what society would make us think, leaving education and a diploma behind was one of the greatest decisions I have ever made as I was then able to explore and learn anything I wanted without having to worry about a rigid structure which promotes memorization and useless testing. I believe we will be OK if we leave the current education system behind and choose other methods. This isn’t to say homeschool is for everyone, but I truly believe that a drastic, and I mean drastic, change in the way our education system functions needs to happen, and soon.

Does Education Kill Creativity?

Top Things That Happened in 2013 Ever.

Since this is a short month full and I officially start my holiday break tomorrow, I thought, in lieu of the “Student Trends of the Month”, I’d give you one better. From the Harlem Shake, iPhone 5s and the Royal Baby, to Nelson Mandela, Batkid and the government shutdown, here’s a TON of lists that recap 2013. The good, the bad, the even worse…but really, it’s all the best of the best. Because internet. Enjoy, and I’ll see you all in 2014!

Google Zeitgeist 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/17/google-2013-zeitgeist-highlights/

  YouTube Rewind: What Does 2013 Say? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jtC8vjXw8

  TRENDING

45 Most Powerful Photos of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/the-45-most-powerful-photos-of-2013

 Top 10 Memes of 2013: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/04/pop-culture-and-social-media/slide/top-10-memes/

 The Most Painfully Awkward Things That Happened in 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-most-painfully-awkward-things-that-happened-in-2013

 18 Breakout Stars of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ellievhall/18-breakout-stars-of-2013-according-to-the-internet

 The World’s Most Powerful People in 2013: http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinehoward/2013/10/30/the-worlds-most-powerful-people-2013/

The 40 Most Adorable Baby Animal Photographs of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-40-most-adorable-baby-animal-photographs-of-2013

Top Food Crazes of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/09/food-crazes-2013/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Best Memes of 2013 http://knowyourmeme.com/blog/meme-review/best-memes-of-2013-editorial-choices

Top Fails of 2013 http://cheezburger.com/7952226816

Top 10 Things People Wanted to Learn in 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/17/top-things-to-learn-2013/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Top 10 Things People Didn’t Understand in 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/17/things-to-understand-2013/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

20 Best TV Moments of 2013: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/20-best-tv-moments-of-2013-20131203

Most Loved Retail Brands of 2013: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferrooney/2013/12/16/most-loved-retail-brands-2013/

The Hottest Startups of 2013: http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2013/12/16/the-hottest-startups-of-2013/

The Most Unforgettable Ad Campaigns of 2013: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/12/17/the-most-unforgettable-ad-campaigns-of-2013/

20 Best Lists of 2013: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/20-best-lists-of-2013-20131213

  SOCIAL MEDIA

 45 Best Tumblrs of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/hnigatu/the-45-best-tumblrs-of-2013

  Pinterest’s Top Pins of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/19/top-pins-of-2013/

  Best Vine Videos of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/11/28/best-vine-videos-2013/

  16 Legendary Selfies of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/11/2013-the-year-of-the-selfie/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

  The 24 Most Important Selfies of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/video/hillarylevine/the-24-most-important-selfies-of-2013

5 Biggest Social Media Lessons of 2013: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-16/five-biggest-social-media-lessons-of-2013.html

  The 18 Biggest Social Media Fails of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/scottybryan/the-18-biggest-social-media-fails-of-2013

    MUSIC

   The Top 100 Top 10 Singles of 2013: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_top_10_singles_in_2013

  Best Music Videos of 2013: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/vevo-best-music-videos-2013-2900850

  The Data Behind the 2013 YouTube Music Awards: http://youtube-trends.blogspot.com/2013/11/data-behind-2013-youtube-music-awards.html

   NPR’s 100 Favorite Songs of 2013: http://www.npr.org/blogs/bestmusic2013/2013/12/11/249734685/npr-musics-100-favorite-songs-of-2013?utm_content=socialflow&utm_campaign=nprfacebook&utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook

  The Top 50 Albums of 2013: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9293-the-top-50-albums-of-2013/

  50 Best Albums of 2013: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/50-best-albums-of-2013-20131202

    TECHNOLOGY/GAMING

The Games We Loved in 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/josephbernstein/the-games-we-loved-in-2013

  The 10 Best Games of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/18/games-of-the-year-2013/

   Why 2013 Marked a New Era for Gaming: http://mashable.com/2013/12/19/the-year-in-gaming-2013/

  12 Best Mobile Games of 2013: http://mashable.com/2013/12/12/best-mobile-games-2013/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

  Top iPhone iPad apps of 2013 http://mashable.com/2013/12/17/top-iphone-apps-2013/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link

Top Memes of 2013: http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/04/pop-culture-and-social-media/slide/top-10-memes/

    EDUCATION

The 23 Most Breathtaking Science Photos of 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/kellyoakes/the-23-most-breathtaking-science-photos-of-2013

  21 Science Fictions that Became Science Facts in 2013: http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/science-fictions-that-became-science-facts-in-2013

  The Best Education Posts of 2013: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/2013-in-review-vicki-davis

  80 of the Best Infographics: http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design-tips/information-graphics-1232836

Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics

Read the original post here: http://the-toast.net/2013/11/20/yes-you-can-even/view-all/

Note, I did not write this, but I really wish I had. If you have 15 uninterrupted minutes, I highly suggest this article. It deserves more than just a skim to really understand the growth of internet linguistics and what it means for the English language as students, and humans today know it. 

Your Ability to Can Even: A Defense of Internet Linguistics by Tia Baheri

The first time I consciously realized that there was something unique about how we speak on the Internet was when a friend’s post popped up on my newsfeed. It was a link to something awesome and it was captioned: “I have lost all ability to can.”

I’ll be honest. I don’t remember what the link was. It’s statistically likely that it was either a wittily executed “How the Hetero Capitalist Able-Bodied White Patriarchy Ruined the World” article or yet another set of Mean Girls gifs explaining the most topical event of the time. Regardless, it was the phrase that gave me pause.

“I have lost all ability to can.”

A playful riff on the more frequently used Internet expression: “I can’t even.”

Loose translation: “This link is so amazing that I have lost my ability to express my appreciation for it in fully formed sentences. All speech has been reduced to this ill-formed sentence. Thus is the depth of my excitement about this. Click on it. Click on it if you too would like to experience this level of incoherent excitement.”

How did I get all of that from one sentence? My immersion learning of Tumblr-Internet-speak was so gradual that I hadn’t even noticed it was happening. One day, scrolling through Facebook I happened to notice that this phrase, a fairly non-standard sentence, was itself a variation of another Internet expression. I was only able to understand it because of a wealth of reference points from other places on the Internet. The friend who posted the comment was tapping into a shared cultural knowledge that I understood. I was fairly certain that someone lacking this shared reference point would not only find the sentence jarring but also mildly confusing.

To confirm this, I asked a non-Internet-obsessed friend what he thought the phrase meant. I even showed him the original post.

“Ummm…like canning? Canning food items? She can’t can things? Is that article about canning something, maybe?”

So I explained the phrase and he seemed fairly disgusted in a what-are-these-people-doing-to-our-language way. My first instinct was to agree with him, until I realized: Isn’t this what language is supposed to do? Isn’t it supposed to flex and shape itself to convey what we mean to say as directly and efficiently as possible?

There is just something about “I have lost the ability to can” that can’t be captured by “this is so great, it’s driving me crazy” or any variation thereof. Internet language does this all the time. Sometimes “AODEHwhddhwdwebw” is far more eloquent than saying “I’m so overtaken with emotion, I can barely type so I smashed the keyboard with my forehead.” The phrase “right in the feels” may, in fact, express more than “wow, [insert name of most popular BBC show of the day] made me so sad that I felt the pain as one would a physical blow.”

That’s when you know something interesting is happening linguistically. When the new grammatical structures and phrases express something that conventional language simply cannot. Sure, this new grammar-bending, punctuation-erasing, verb-into-noun-turning, key-board-smashing linguistic convention doesn’t dominate the whole Internet. While it is mostly Tumblr that generates this language, let’s remember that there are only virtual borders on the Internet. Users of one social media platform are likely to be users of several and they take the language with them across Internet borders. So language generated on Tumblr is is now becoming Facebook and Twitter language and influencing language everywhere from Buzzfeed to Autostraddle.

As with all other things, once I noticed the effects of the Internet on language use around me once, I noticed it all the time. It was there in day-to-day vocabulary people use, vocabulary that would be impossible without the Internet: “She was trolling that entire conference.” I caught myself emailing friends links to articles that I agree with, providing only the simple explanation: “THIS.” It was in the way my friend said about her coworker’s incomprehensible desire to wake up at six in the morning to play golf: “what even though, you know?” Author and Tumblr-parental-figure John Green has noticed this phenomenon, as have other Tumblr users, leading to somegreat tongue-in-cheek jokes about Internet Language.

The linguistic study of the Internet is a very young field but it does, in fact, exist. A quick search confirmed that I was (of course and alas) not the first to look at what is happening and think: Internet linguistics. David Crystal, one of the notable linguists working on this topic may, indeed, have penned the term. Crystal, along with Deborah Tannen, has jumped to the defense of the Internet community, fighting against the notion that the Internet isruining the English language. Conventional wisdom portrays this form of linguistic flexibility and playfulness as the end of intelligent human life. The Internet has been blamed for making children illiterate, making adults stupid and generally tarnishing the state of modern discourse.

Not only are these allegations not true. David Crystal’s research actually points to the opposite. Those who use technology read more on a day-to-day basis than non-tech users and are, therefore, faster and better readers. For all the stereotypes that tech-language is ridden with incomprehensible abbreviations and misleading punctuation, Crystal actually finds that less than 10% of texters abbreviated any words at all. A remarkable number of people are simply using technology to communicate more quickly without altering the rules of language.

Other critics don’t quite accuse the Internet of making us illiterate but question its use of language nonetheless.  Critics such as Robert McCrum of The Guardian, recognize that language is normative, subject to change and that it cannot be policed but still warn us: “To paraphrase Orwell, the English of the world wide web – loose, informal, and distressingly dyspeptic – is not really the kind people want to read in a book, a magazine, or even a newspaper… The violence the Internet does to the English language is simply the cost of doing business in the digital age.”

Critics of Internet language owe a letter of apology to George Orwell, who (along with Ayn Rand, Ronald Reagan, and Jesus Christ) belongs to an exclusive club of people who are conveniently reanimated whenever someone wants to win an argument without actually being clever. If we’re going to drag Orwell back from the grave, then let it be noted for the record that it sounds like he would have quite enjoyed some of the liberties that the Internet has taken with English. In fact, he took issue, not with language being flexible or non-standard, but with language that did not communicate efficiently:

It is important to note the backlash against Internet Language because it confirms that: yes, something is going on, something big enough to make technophobes take up their pens (or their keyboards?) against it. The backlash confirms the emergence of Internet Language as a fairly serious development, if not a very small and vibrant written dialect. Dialects are characterized as deviations from the “standard” version of a given language and are often dismissed due to their lack prestige by standard users of the language. Internet speech, when not viciously attacked for fueling the hatred of our enemies and weakening the resolve of our allies, has been dismissed as a passing fad or simply poorly developed slang. Even linguists such as Crystal, who defend the development of Internet Language, note that it is limited in its grammatical and structural contribution to language.

Yes, the type of very flexible and linguistically creative Internet speech that I’m referencing here, is limited if we consider the English speaking population as a whole but the effects are overwhelming large if we narrow our sample population. Within the population of Tumblr-loving, blog addicted, tech-savvy, avid Internet users the influence of this language cannot be ignored. The fact is, the type of language that is being created online is affecting day-to-day speech patterns and writing styles of most young adults. Internet-speak, Tumblr-speak, blog-speak or whatever you want to call it allows us to associate expressions of opinions and feeling with gifs, pictures and visually stylized texts. It enhances our visual thinking and makes us more creative with the use of verbal language. It allows us to subvert standard grammar constructions and experiment with changing verbs to nouns and vice versa.

The most interesting aspect of this sociolinguistic development is that there is a somewhat post-modern element of self-consciousness and playfulness present in its construction. Taking Tumblr as a “home base” for the construction of this dialect, we see self-conscious musings on the state of Tumblr language quite often. The speakers of Chicano English or Yinglish did not stop midway through the creation of their new dialect to say: “Hey? Do you think we’re, like, making a new language here or what?” The development of most dialects is often gradual and utilitarian. Dialects develop when people with a distinct cultural and linguistic heritage run up against a rigid and unfamiliar system, usually by immigrating to a new country. It becomes necessary to develop a way to retain old linguistic features while adopting new ones in order to able to communicate. While the participants in this process are certainly cognizant that there is a linguistic development, they are not consciously trying to develop a new language. The process happens over time without any conscious effort.

Let’s compare and contrast that with Tumblr-speak: we’re taking a group of people who have insider knowledge of the English language (or at least a good grasp of it) and placing them in a new, unfamiliar, virtual space. This space introduces visual aids to language in the form of photos and gifs, the ability to comment on someone else’s text in a reblog and the ability to communicate a lot of information in very few words using hashtags. We also see the creation of tone in a toneless medium. In order to simulate conversational patterns in writing we SHOUT WHEN WE’RE SUPER EXCITED or *psssst whisper when we’re pretending to tell someone a secret while perfectly aware that anyone on the internet can read what we’re saying.* slash the coolest bit tho is that u can like ironically forgo all capitalization and punctuation just write in a weird speech pattern its ok everyone will still understand maybe it even helps read the text more quickly because nothing is interrupting the flow of words

In short, this dialect results when people who already share a language are given new tools. The result isn’t a butchering of English language but a creative experiment with it. Am I claiming that the Internet as a whole is operating on a level of postmodernism that would make Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut and Thomas Pynchon seem like novices? maybe i am maybe im not u punk wut of it like who r u to tell me otherwise

Dr. Tannen does the interesting work of examining gender and tech language. In studying sample text messages, she found that women were much more likely to use enthusiasm markers like exclamation points and add emphasis via capitalization. Most linguists emphasize the lack of understanding that can take place between men and women as a result of the different value that each gender places on conveying emotions. Supposedly, women perceive men’s lack of enthusiasm markers and capitalization as coldness and men perceive women’s use of them to be unnecessary.

However, what I find most fascinating about the Internet Language is that it is making language less, not more, gendered. Men and women on the Internet use many of the same tropes, enthusiasm markers and emphasizers in order to communicate. In the world of blogging and Internet writing, women are the creators of language. It is a realm in which women are not being socialized with already existing language but are doing the work of socializing and creating a community. Women dominate every important social media platform. Women outnumber men on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and account for 72% of all social media users. On Tumblr, where the number of men and women is roughly equal, women dominate the conversation.

There is so much shared language and comfort with different gender expressions that it is not uncommon for people to mistake a poster’s gender. Instances like this Tumblr post are not uncommon on the Internet. Because gender presentation is not immediately apparent on the Internet, writers have agency to play with language and expression of gender through writing. That is not to say that gender no longer matters; it does. But this new linguistic tradition allows users to create the rules of language together instead of being bound by pre-existing conditions.

On the one hand, linguists like to remind us that this is more of the same old stuff, just another development in communication, much like the advent of the typewriter and the telegram: it will change how we communicate but it will have a limited effect on the way we speak with one another.

On the other hand, the Internet could be something on the scale of the invention of the printing press, it might forever alter the way we think about language and relate to one another. Increasingly, Internet Language is not just a phenomenon restricted to the computer screen and we don’t simply disconnect from this dialect when we log out of Tumblr. Admittedly, language moves quickly on the Internet and it’s hard to talk about one definite “Internet Language” when it’s continuously changing.

And, of course, it isn’t perfect: there are, as there have always been, those determined to treat language rather poorly. But the Internet Language phenomenon is just as much sociological as it is sociolinguistic: we are just as shaped by language as it is shaped by us. Internet language requires participation and imagination. It requires you to be able to convey excitement and frustration and sarcasm using only words and symbols—if you don’t think that’s cool…well, then, I don’t even.