Articles
September 2, 2010
10 reasons Ph.D. students fail
Being in the middle of my dissertation this spoke to me...
10 reasons Ph.D. students fail
Blocking the Future
Some educators see these types of events as principled stands against the shortcomings and hassles of digital technologies. Others see them as rejections of the dehumanization of the education process by soulless machines. Perhaps we ought to view them instead as examples of school organizations that are desperately and inappropriately blocking the future.
Welcome to the iPod & iPad User Group Wiki
We welcome you to our wiki and blog for supporting iPod & iPad devices in education. Although our focus is K-12, many of the techniques should work for you at any level and with any number of devices. On the wiki side of this site are the deployment and management articles, and on the blog side, you will find the classroom activities (written primarily by teachers) where iPods are supporting achievement improvement for our students. We are posting as many help and how-to articles here as we can and as quickly as we can so you can continue to be successful using iPod devices in your classroom. Please let us know if there are more or different things that you would like to have included here.
Welcome to the iPod & iPad User Group Wiki
August 31, 2010
'Race to the Top's' 10 false assumptions
"Race to the Top? National standards for math, science, and other school subjects? The high-powered push to put them in place makes it clear that the politicians, business leaders, and wealthy philanthropists who've run America's education show for the last two decades are as clueless about educating as they've always been.
If they weren't, they'd know that adopting national standards will be counterproductive, and that the "Race to the Top" will fail for the same reason "No Child Left Behind" failed--because it's based on false assumptions.
The Answer Sheet - Educator: 'Race to the Top's' 10 false assumptions
August 30, 2010
The Future is Now...Educational Adventures in Cyberspace
Before I could answer the question of what is the future of education, I needed to dig deeper and ask myself more fundamental questions: What is the purpose of education and what is our job as teachers?. My inspiration came in the form of a pint sized hiring committee of one who asks "Do you think you are preparing me for the world I live in? Do you think I'm going to be ready? Because THAT'S your job!"
The Future is Now...Educational Adventures in Cyberspace
Fredrik Karlsson Mah on Vimeo
This gentleman uses "You can't be my Teacher" in his lecture at the 6:00 minute mark...I am not sure what he said about it and it is very interesting to see it being used for what it was designed...
Loving Sermon from former student
Education & Technology Brazil: 10 basic reasons why technology MUST be used in class
Many educators are still rather reluctant when it comes to the use of technology in class. Some say it can easily distract stutends and therefore they lose focus ruinning their precious classes. Some claim that its cost is not in sync with its benefits. And even worse: some teachers are empowered with high-tech and they simply don't know what to do with it (!).
Education & Technology Brazil: 10 basic reasons why technology MUST be used in class
10 ways data is changing how we live
The availability of new sets of data has changed the way we live our lives: here are 10 examples of data which have changed everything from how we assess wars to how companies deliver milk.
10 ways data is changing how we live - Telegraph
Daxtin Travel Journal
So far there are nine classrooms from four different countries that are going to follow Daxtin's tour. If you would like to follow drop him a comment and he will add you to his list.
Classrooms Following
Ms. McConaughay (North Carolina, USA)
Ms. Reh (Colorado, USA)
Ms. Callfas (Lloydminster, Saskatchewan Canada)
Ms. Caruthers
Mr. Pryor (Atlantic City New Jersey, USA)
Mr. Lovegrove (London, United Kingdom)
Ms. Varna ( Greece)
Ms. Maines (Illinois, USA)
Mr. Dowling (Iowa, USA)
Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without
I have to tell you that it was a tough call to make these decisions, especially when we're talking every teacher no matter what grade level or subject, but I hope that you find a couple of gems to put away in your virtual treasure box. You may have others you'd like to add to the list. Please post them in the comments for all of us to explore.
Top 20 Websites No Teacher Should Start the 2010-2011 Year Without
Back to School Ideas
So, it's the first week of school - you're anxious to meet your students and begin the school year, but you're looking for great lesson plans and ideas to get everyone off to a good start. This is the web page for you!
These internet sites have links to great links to help you and your students begin the school year in style:
September Resources
It's the first week of school and you are anxious to meet your students and begin the school year. You are looking for great lesson plans and ideas to get everyone off to a good start. This web site for you! Here you will find links to great sites to help you and your students begin the school year in style:
August 29, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
August 25, 2010
The need for educational reform
A simple little video created for a (school?) staff, but shared online with the whole world. The YouTube culture infiltrates the school culture! :-)
The need for educational reform - @datruss' pair-a-dimes un-post-ed
August 24, 2010
The ivory towers are crumbling
A blog post I read recently reported that one US professor is now considering preventing his students from making notes during his lectures, because this action infringes his intellectual property! How ridiculous. What do their course fees entitle them to then? A glimpse of him on the stage every so often and the chance to sit occasionally at his feet to hear the pearls of wisdom? It never ceases to amaze me how arrogant and remote some academics can make themselves.
Learning with 'e's: The ivory towers are crumbling
August 23, 2010
Teachers asked to 'unfriend' students on Facebook
A school district in Florida is advising teachers not to "friend" students on social networking sites, claiming that teacher-student communication through this medium is "inappropriate."
Earlier this week, Lee County school officials issued a list of guidelines to teachers suggesting they don't correspond with students through sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The guidelines for the 2010-2011 academic year also warned teachers to be careful when using communication to prevent legal or workplace issues that could surface.
"It is inappropriate for employees to communicate, regardless of the reason, with current students enrolled in the district on any public social networking website," the guidelines said. "This includes becoming 'friends' or allowing students access to personal web pages for communication reasons."
We spend 80% of our classroom time on the skills needed
The factory model high school as we now call it was designed in about 1910 or 1920. The idea of that comprehensive high school was to cream off about 5% of the kids for specialized knowledge work. They would go off to college and fill the very small number of jobs that required that kind of thinking. The rest of the kids were supposed to be prepared for the farm, the factory, the mills - for you know, fairly rote kinds of learning. And over time vocational programs were put in place and other kinds of general programs.
We spend 80% of our classroom time on the skills needed for 10% of our jobs | Dangerously Irrelevant
August 22, 2010
Teachers Without Technology Strike Back
"My classes are very small--I have at most 24 students, and it just seems impersonal to put up a question and use a clicker," she said. "I can just have a raise of hands, and I can call on them and say why do you think this and why do you think that."
Still, she remembers professors from her undergraduate days who put little effort into teaching--and she doesn't want to end up like that. "One would tell a joke that was way, way, way out of date," she said. Others' idea of a technological upgrade was taking their old transparencies and using them in the same way as PowerPoint slides.
So who's right? Fans of both old and new teaching approaches say they that have the students' interests at heart. Perhaps a better question is why there is a digital divide at all when it comes to teaching.
College 2.0: Teachers Without Technology Strike Back « eLearning News
My Generation!
People try to put us d-down (Talkin '' bout my generation)
Just Because we get around (Talkin '' bout my generation)
Things They do look awful cc-cold (Talkin '' bout my generation)
I hope I die before I get old (Talkin '' bout my generation)
So sang The Who and we need to think about what we teach to our students. Is that what they need or is it what we needed ...
En IKT-pedagogs fundringar: My Generation!
August 21, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
August 20, 2010
Four Ways the Kindle Browser Helps Educators
or today's students who are acclimated to high speed browsing, the experimental Kindle browser will seem impossibly awkward and slow. Longer web pages are displayed and accessed using the "next page" button, and sites with sidebars or any kind of fancy formatting will display in a seemingly helter skelter way on the Kindle browser. (It is somewhat amazing but only fair to note that the current situation is quite a bit better than it used to be!) And I have heard good things about the move to a better browser platform with the 3rd generation Kindle, but we will have to wait to see.
EduKindle » Four Ways the Kindle Browser Helps Educators
The internet: is it changing the way we think?
Every 50 years or so, American magazine the Atlantic lobs an intellectual grenade into our culture. In the summer of 1945, for example, it published an essay by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineer Vannevar Bush entitled "As We May Think". It turned out to be the blueprint for what eventually emerged as the world wide web. Two summers ago, the Atlantic published an essay by Nicholas Carr, one of the blogosphere's most prominent (and thoughtful) contrarians, under the headline "Is Google Making Us Stupid?".
The internet: is it changing the way we think? | Technology | The Observer
Using Test Scores To Out Ineffective Teachers
One plus of the newspaper analysis is that the data question the conventional wisdom of what is a "good" teacher. Consider third grade teacher Karen Caruso and her colleague down the hall, Nancy Polacheck at the Third Street Elementary School. The principal considers 26-year veteran Caruso one of the best teachers in the school. Caruso also prepares future teachers at UCLA, is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and parents express satisfaction with her. But the newspaper's analysis of test scores puts her in the lowest 10 percent of teachers in raising student scores.
Nancy Polacheck a veteran of 38 years teaching in the same school without Caruso's credentials and using different teaching approaches-according to the journalists that observed her classroom-ranks in the top 5 percent of the 6,000 teachers for raising student test scores.
Using Test Scores To Out Ineffective Teachers « Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D
Related to Malcolm Gladwell's "10,000 hours to become an expert" rule, Matt Might is helping the visual learners of the world with his Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.
Swift Kick Central: The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D
Educational Stylings - "You Can't Be My Teacher"
As students are continually being exposed to the Internet and technology at a younger and younger age, it is important that as teachers and educators, we have the knowledge and experience that is necessary to help them use these tools in the best way possible. Kids are getting smarter and they know that in order to succeed in the world and in their future, they are going to need to know how to properly use the technology that surrounds them.
In this video, a child offers many thought-provoking questions and comments towards educators and teachers. Appropriately named "You Can't Be My Teacher", this video was made with intent to start a discussion, which it should with any group of educators. There are two major viewpoints on this video. Books and traditional resources that we use in classrooms still remain important and relevant, but the addition of technology is necessary.
Educational Stylings - "You Can't Be My Teacher"
Am I Preparing Students For My Age Or Theirs?
Or, let's move to another scenario. Have you ever sat in a classroom with a handful of adults - far less than the typical 25 students - for a period of an hour or two? The adults are about to go batty by the time the hour hand moves and most often blame it on the "small chairs".
Or, have you shadowed a typical school or a group for a full week? Day after day, no sneaking out mid-class for a phone call . . .only allowing the breaks a student would get? (I know, I know, students "get into trouble with too much free time" . . . hmmm).
Am I Preparing Students For My Age Or Theirs? - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.
August 19, 2010
Blogging About Generational Differences
Blogging About Generational Differences « Virtual School Meanderings
August 18, 2010
A Teacher's Influence
I have come to a frightening conclusion.
I am the decisive element in the classroom.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
As a teacher I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.
-Haim Ginott
Schools are NOT required by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) to block all web 2.0 sites
As I mentioned above, the e-discovery amendments for the first time introduced into the FRCP explicit provisions regulating the disclosure and production of electronically stored information. Since then, a misconception has developed among some public education practitioners that institutions using such information must therefore now archive all electronic information in case it is later needed in discovery, despite their prior practices and despite the lack of any anticipated litigation concerning the information in question.
CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA
Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
August 17, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schools
Blogging About Virtual Schools « Virtual School Meanderings
We talk with Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Administrator Darren Cannell
Administrator Darren Cannell is with us today. Darren works with the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School, an online k-12 school which delivers accredited classes to Canadian students. Darren also writes frequently about education on his blog Tado. He is here with us today to talk about education and technology.
We talk with Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Administrator Darren Cannell | academy of u
August 14, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
August 12, 2010
Video - You Can't Be My Teacher
Unfortunately, too many teachers only know what is on the Internet through the nightly news that often portrays the Internet as a scary place. Helping teachers answer the question, "do you know what is on the Internet?" is why I write this blog.
Free Technology for Teachers: Video - You Can't Be My Teacher
Now We Know How To "Fix" Schools -- Fire 80% Of All New Teachers
In May, Newsweek came out with a cover story proclaiming that "the key to saving American Education was...we must fire bad teachers" (see my post, Did You Know That THE Key To Saving American Education Is Firing Bad Teachers?).
Now, a study has come-out claiming to quantify how many "bad teachers" there are -- it says 80% of all new teachers need to be fired after two years probation.
August 11, 2010
37 Really Cool Statistics About Social Media
The following are 37 really interesting stats about social media.
37 Really Cool Statistics About Social Media - Digital Landfill
Making Meetings Meaningful
As a teacher, I sat through endless staff meetings where information was relayed and the same teachers commented and gave their donated 'air time'. As a principal, one of my main goals was to make staff meetings meaningful. Just like a teacher designs his/her lessons with the students in mind, staff meetings need to be designed with the staff in mind!
Making Meetings Meaningful | Connected Principals
Can college students learn as well on iPads, e-books?
Oklahoma State University professor Bill Handy has big plans for the Apple iPad this fall. If the text messages he has received since the school announced he would test the tablet-style e-reader in some courses are any indication, students are eager to get their hands on the devices, too.
Can college students learn as well on iPads, e-books? - USATODAY.com
August 9, 2010
Who Will Benefit From National Education Standards? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
Twenty-seven states have said they will adopt the recently unveiled national education standards, and several other states are expected to sign on in the next two weeks.
The Obama administration has pressed hard for the speedy acceptance of the so-called common core standards, arguing that the establishment of centralized norms replacing those in 50 states will raise the achievement of students who most need help. The opponents say that a system created in Washington will become captive to the education establishment, and that the standards, as currently written, will promote mediocrity across the board.
Who Will Benefit From National Education Standards? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
So-Called 'Digital Natives' Not Media Savvy, New Study Shows
In Google we trust." That may very well be the motto of today's young online users, a demographic group often dubbed the "digital natives" due their apparent tech-savvy. Having been born into a world where personal computers were not a revolution, but merely existed alongside air conditioning, microwaves and other appliances, there has been (a perhaps misguided) perception that the young are more digitally in-tune with the ways of the Web than others.
So-Called 'Digital Natives' Not Media Savvy, New Study Shows - NYTimes.com
August 8, 2010
Increasing Tech Integration
For the last two years, one hour each month has been dedicated to increasing teachers' technology skills. I usually start with a range of ideas, ask teachers for their priorities and interests, then schedule "classes" that each person can choose from to broaden their horizons.
Increasing Tech Integration | Oh the Places!
Is Teaching Just a Young Person's Game?
Is it any wonder that veteran teachers feel a bit threatened these days? They keep hearing the message that they're so darn expensive. Unless their students' test scores get better and better every year, many pundits are ready to dismiss them as a mere liability on the books. That kind of rhetoric can have a corrosive effect on the teaching profession. The notion that teaching is a young person's game seems jarring in a profession where the demand for new teachers can quickly outstrip supply.
Is Teaching Just a Young Person's Game? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights
August 7, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
Why Online Education Needs to Get Social
Education is the second largest industry in America behind health care, and it too is experiencing a similar shift as it struggles to adapt traditional design and delivery models to the demands of modern audiences who are accustomed to digital interactivity.
The challenge to transition successfully is especially pressing for online higher education. The Sloan Consortium reports that two-thirds of post-secondary educational institutions are seeing an increase in online courses and programs, so it's a market that education providers simply cannot afford to ignore.
Why Online Education Needs to Get Social
How can you cope when people steal your online stuff?
One other thing - pat yourself on the back if your material is stolen. People only want to steal good stuff...!
08-07-2010 - How can you cope when people steal your online stuff?
August 6, 2010
Want to be a great teacher? Don't go to PD.
As a professional development (PD) provider for a Public Ed Department in Australia, I lead and coordinate the strategic delivery of PD to support the use of tech in schools in all its different forms and flavours. If feedback counts for anything, I am very good at what I do. I have been in this position for 3 years and have seen countless teachers and schools improve their practice.
However, one thing I have noticed when it comes to integrating information communication technologies (ICT), is that the teachers and the schools that really fly, the high performing schools...they don't come to my PD. They don't go to any PD. They understand that they, and their professional networks, are their own PD.
The Innovative Educator: Want to be a great teacher? Don't go to PD.
Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web
"Five years from now on the web for free you'll be able to find the best lectures in the world," Gates said at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA today. "It will be better than any single university," he continued.
He believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it's an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that.
Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web
Is it time for schools to scrap summer vacation?
An interesting story in the news today about a pilot project which found kids did better in a year-round school than those receiving a traditional two-month summer vacation. That's not a huge surprise: there's a growing body of research that suggests traditional summer breaks set kids back academically and that year-round schools -- with more short breaks instead of one long one -- could be the answer.
Is it time for schools to scrap summer vacation? - Parenting: Curious Dad
August 5, 2010
School ICT lessons a 'turn-off', says Royal Society
Information technology lessons in UK schools are so dull they are putting pupils off the subject and careers in computing, the Royal Society warns.
BBC News - School ICT lessons a 'turn-off', says Royal Society
August 4, 2010
10 ways to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning...
10 ways to encourage students to take responsibility for their learning... « What Ed Said
August 3, 2010
Top 70 eLearning Articles
Top 70 eLearning Articles - Hot Topics: iPad Adobe Captivate - July 2010 » eLearning Learning
Seven Search Engines for Students
A major concern that teachers, parents, librarians, and school administrators have whenever their students search for information on the Internet is having the students stumble across inappropriate materials. One way to alleviate that fear is to create your own search engine using Google Custom Search, but that could become very time-consuming. Another option is to have students use search engines intended for academic and or child use. Here are seven search engines for students of all ages.
Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Search Engines for Students
August 2, 2010
7 Videos All Educators Should Watch
7 Videos All Educators Should Watch| The Committed Sardine
July 31, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
July 30, 2010
Don't get stuck in Edu 2010
The National Education Technology Plan (pdf) gets to the heart of this, calling for "revolutionary transformation rather than evolutionary tinkering." The plan outlines models and specific recommendations for learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure, and productivity. It offers the U.S. Department of Education a vivid sketch of education powered by technology and shaped by the learning sciences. A careful read reveals a deeply informed picture of teaching and learning that is both aspirational and achievable and that is grounded in the most current capabilities that technology has to offer.
Don't get stuck in Edu 2010 - O'Reilly Radar
The Best Applications For Sending Online Video Messages
I haven't posted about many webcam-related activities because it's a bit problematic for many teachers to install webcams on school computers. But I figured that some are successful in getting that allowed and, even for those of us who can't, students can use their own at home, so I decided to make this "The Best..." list. In addition, it might be handy just for our own personal use.
Most of these are pretty simple and sweet -- record and then email. Plus, in order to be on this list they have to be free-of-charge. I've noted where there might be small differences.
The Best Applications For Sending Online Video Messages | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
Why Summer is the Perfect Time for eLearning
And if you're one of those enjoying your own vacation this summer, I always find a little self-development can be a great way to ease the transition back to work. Why not pick out a course or book that you've been hoping to work on and have it ready for when you come back to work? We can all use something to look forward to besides an inbox full of e-mail when we return to the office. Why not make it something to jumpstart your personal development plans?
Why Summer is the Perfect Time for eLearning - learning re-imagined
July 28, 2010
The Manaiakalani Project
In practice, this vision intends that every student from Years 5 to 13 within the Tāmaki catchment will have a wireless-enabled net device and the ability to access school-based internet services from their home and school. This approach will support families to achieve their aspirations for their children by enabling engagement with their children's learning whilst encouraging knowledge and experience-sharing locally, nationally and internationally.
It strengthens the school cluster approach and fosters knowledge sharing by
establishing collaborative work spaces through technology that link schools and their community in a way that is not currently possible.
July 27, 2010
Educational Hope vs. Teenage Reality
MIDDLE SCHOOL students are champion time-wasters. And the personal computer may be the ultimate time-wasting appliance. Put the two together at home, without hovering supervision, and logic suggests that you won't witness a miraculous educational transformation.
Digital Domain - Computers at Home - Educational Hope vs. Teenage Reality - NYTimes.com
July 24, 2010
Every Teacher's Must-Have Guide To Facebook
You can't swing a stick in social media without hitting something on Facebook. Same goes for education. You can't talk about how technology is revolutionizing education without mentioning Facebook. It's a simple service to figure out but what about once you become a regular user?
EduDemic » Every Teacher's Must-Have Guide To Facebook
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
July 23, 2010
Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter
What's the point of Twitter? Why should educators get involved? What difference does using Twitter make?
Here are some answers that you might like to share.
Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter | Laura Walker
Feds to create an Online Learning Registry
In a move to help rural schools keep pace with more developed districts, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) said it will create an Online Learning Registry that will provide access to historical, artistic, and scientific primary-source materials.
Feds to create an Online Learning Registry | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com
July 22, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schools
Blogging About Virtual Schools « Virtual School Meanderings
Acceptable use policy wiki
In an era when student missteps can linger on the internet for years, and stories of predators and cyberbullies dominate the news, there are plenty of reasons for schools to tighten their firewalls. But is banning really a viable response? How do we help students learn to leverage the powerful new tools that are available to them? What policies do we set that ensure that learning and safety go hand in hand? See how some districts have embraced new technologies while still maintaining high standards and keeping their students safe.
July 21, 2010
Top 10 Roadblocks to Change
I have been able to identify common roadblocks to the change process. If identified and addressed appropriately these roadblocks can be overcome.
A Principal's Reflections: Top 10 Roadblocks to Change
NOOKstudy--Barnes & Noble Breaks into the Lucrative Elearning Textbook Market
NOOKstudy, announced July 12, is Barnes & Noble's (BN) bold new effort to gain a foothold in the nascent etextbook market. The product was pre-released to a small group of college campuses this summer. BN expects the general release of the product for free, open use in August-to coincide with the beginning of the new school year. The software application promises to enable students "to manage all their digital content-etextbooks, class materials, and notes-on the computing device they rely on most, their PC or Mac."
Two days after this announcement came word of another significant alliance for BN. Blackboard and BN will collaborate on a system of flexible access to etextbooks and other courseware within Blackboard Learn. This move is intended to integrate BN more centrally into the learning platforms of online courseware of higher education and potentially K-12 and other learning markets-a multi-billion dollar industry today, and growing.
NOOKstudy--Barnes & Noble Breaks into the Lucrative Elearning Textbook Market
Does Spelling Matter Anymore?
If a few misspellings don't prevent the transfer of knowledge then maybe we shouldn't worry about it so much.
So what do you think...are a few typos ok? What about 10 years from now...will anyone care about spelling? Do younger generations care as much as their parents and grandparents? Is correct spelling really directly related to a person's IQ?
Does Spelling Matter Anymore? | eLearning Brothers
July 20, 2010
New Virtual Schooling Blogger - Virtual Learning Academy Teacher Blog
Essentially this is the blog to support teachers working in the Virtual Learning Academy being run by the Jefferson County Educational Services Center in Ohio. They have been blogging since May of 2008 - mostly focused on issued that the teachers at the Virtual Learning Academy may be having or things that they would find useful (in much the same way that Darren uses Teaching and Developing Online to support the teachers at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School.
New Virtual Schooling Blogger - Virtual Learning Academy Teacher Blog « Virtual School Meanderings
Bill Gates Promotes E-Learning
Bill Gates is a fan of online learning, so much so that it is among the nine innovations to receive funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the next several years, according to the second annual letter by the Microsoft chairman outlining his vision for tackling the most pressing challenges facing the United States and the world.
Bill Gates Promotes E-Learning - Digital Education - Education Week
Bill Gates Promotes E-Learning
July 19, 2010
Amazon Says E-Books Now Top Hardcover Sales
Monday was a day for the history books -- if those will even exist in the future.
Amazon.com, one of the nation's largest booksellers, announced Monday that for the last three months, sales of books for its e-reader, the Kindle, outnumbered sales of hardcover books.
Amazon Says E-Books Now Top Hardcover Sales - NYTimes.com
The Gender Pay Gap in e-Learning by Temple Smolen
Recently, The eLearning Guild published the 2010 e-Learning Salary and Compensation report. Among other findings, one topic that generated much discussion in social networks online is the 14.5% gap in gender pay in e-Learning. Janet Clarey started a blog carnival with Cammy Bean, Julie Dirksen, and Kelly Garber to explore the subject.
The Gender Pay Gap in e-Learning by Temple Smolen : Learning Solutions Magazine
The eLearning Salary Gender Gap
*sigh* It's a brand-new field, so why is there already a gender gap in e-learning; why are women paid less? It makes no sense, and you certainly cannot write it up mas 'historical factors'. "There continues to be a consistent gender gap in pay between men and women.
The eLearning Salary Gender Gap ~ Stephen's Web
July 17, 2010
Education As We Know It Is Finished
School is out, and for most students enjoying their midsummer pleasures, class time is a distant memory. Changes are underway that make it likely to stay that way. The schools students return to in the fall will look quite different from those they left behind.
Education As We Know It Is Finished - Forbes.com
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
We don't need no education
cut down school content, start school later, end it earlier, focus on growing the mind, building teamwork and other "21st century" skills, enabling our children to become responsible and knowledgeable citizens with a global perspective, reshape the assessment tools and frameworks that we have today to evaluate richness and variety of expression in our young minds, build new avenues and focussed curricula to strategically align with what we really need, get industry to recognize vocational education on par with regular degrees - basically - give our children a break, they don't need this education
We don't need no education « Viplav Baxi's Meanderings
July 15, 2010
Powerful Videos every teacher needs to watch!
I am very proud to have my video included..
July 14, 2010
Series: Cyber School Videos VIII
Another edition of the videos that Darren posts at Teaching and Developing Online concerning the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. Thanks again for the post.
Series: Cyber School Videos VIII « Virtual School Meanderings
TADO Blogging « Virtual School Meanderings
Virtual School Meandering continues to follow the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School and it's growth and we thank him greatly for the interest.
TADO Blogging « Virtual School Meanderings
July 13, 2010
Greatest Benefits Of K-12 Online Learning And Visible Learning
A couple of months ago I posted a poll asking What Do You Believe To Be The Greatest Benefit To K-12 Online Learning? In response, I received the following totals:
Individualized instruction - 23% (6 votes)
Being able to access learning at any time - 31% (8 votes)
Learning catered to student's learning style - 19% (5 votes)
Access to highly qualified teacher - 15% (4 votes)
Ability to progress at any pace - 8% (2 votes)
Other (please add additional responses to the poll comments) - 4% (1 votes)
The other in this instance was no bus ride and no school lunch.
A short while later, my good friend Darren - over at Teaching and Developing Online - asked his students at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School the same question and reported the results at K-12 Online Learning Benefits. Essentially they broke down like this:
Greatest Benefits Of K-12 Online Learning And Visible Learning
July 10, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
Would a Teacher from 1910 Be Comfortable in Your Library/Classroom?
I totally buy what this guy is talking about-- be relevant to your students, use technology, etc. There are so many of these messages out right now, but I could really use a class or a series of tutorials in what a progressive K-8 library program might look like. I have a hazy idea of having the library become a workshop with each kid working on a project that follows their particular interest, but how to realistically do that, and keep kids working meaningfully, and being able to assess them, feels a little overwhelming.
Bib 2.0: Would a Teacher from 1910 Be Comfortable in Your Library/Classroom?
Cloud Computing Will Surpass the Internet in Importance
Cloud computing will top the Internet in importance as development of the Web continues, according to a university professor who spoke Friday at the World Future Society conference in Boston.
Cloud Computing Will Surpass the Internet in Importance - PCWorld Business Center
July 9, 2010
Series: What Constitutes Quality in Virtual Schooling?
Essentially, the first entry saw Bill arguing in favour of using K-12 online learning in a greater capacity to provide parents with school choice and allowing more players into that online learning space. To ensure the quality of those new (and I suppose the existing) online learning players, we could consider some kind of accreditation process - similar to what is found in higher education.
Series: What Constitutes Quality in Virtual Schooling? « Virtual School Meanderings
eLearning Update: The Rise of Credit Recovery
Still, one of the biggest hurdles to online credit recovery, and online learning in general, are state policies that require students to complete a certain number of hours, or "seat-time" in each course. Online learning advocates are urging state policy makers to move to a proficiency-based, rather than time-based way of earning credits, but not all states have embraced this shift, Zehr reports.
eLearning Update: The Rise of Credit Recovery - Digital Education - Education Week
Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning
This Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning (HETL) has been designed as a resource for educators planning to incorporate technologies in their teaching and learning activities.
Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning - K12 Education News
Students as 'Free Agent Learners
There's a significant disconnect between students and educators when it comes to perceptions of technology in K-12 education, according to Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. Evans discussed results of the latest Speak Up Survey Thursday afternoon at the FETC Virtual Conference & Expo. Among the findings: There's a trend toward students using technology to take hold of their own educational destinies and act as "free agent learners."
Students as 'Free Agent Learners' -- THE Journal
July 8, 2010
An elearning cautionary tale
Another fundamental and extremely common error was going to the IT Manager for an opinion about elearning. Some orgs even go so far astray as to class elearning as an IT project, giving more emphasis to the "e" than to the "learning".
An elearning cautionary tale I: What went wrong with the online training scheme
Teachers walking tightrope in social media links with students
In a digital age where everyone is tweeting, blogging and messaging, school districts across the country face a conundrum: is it appropriate for teachers to be "friends" with students on Facebook and other social networking sites?
The consensus among education leaders appears to be that teachers should avoid communicating with students using social media -- or that they should at least tread very carefully. Once you start engaging students online, you blur the lines between a professional and personal relationship, they say.
Un-friendly: Teachers walking tightrope in social media links with students
July 7, 2010
The Future of Tech According to Kids
If we were to ask you to name one thing you wish your computer (or another Web-enabled device) could do, but doesn't now, what would you say? How about the ability to "touch the things that are in the screen, to feel and move them." That's what 7-year-old Daniela* wants. Matthew, 6, wishes he could play 3D games on his computer, and Jenna, 7, would like a solar-powered laptop. Cristina, 12, thinks it'd be great to travel more - to experience new, far-away places with the help of virtual reality.
The Future of Tech According to Kids: Immersive, Intuitive and Surprisingly Down-to-Earth
Tips for Letting Your Personality Shine When Teaching Online
Do you have a fear of teaching an online course? Do you think that your personality will not shine through on the web? Has this stopped you from teaching online in the past? If you answered yes to one or all of these questions then you need to know that there is nothing to fear. Teaching online does not mean that you have to lose the personal touch with your students.
Tips for Letting Your Personality Shine When Teaching Online
Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Videos All Educators Should Watch
Summer is a time when many of us are thinking about and planning professional development workshops for our schools and for other schools. I've always found that a short 3-5 minute video can be a good introduction to a PD sessions and or make for a nice thought-provoking break during a PD session. Here are seven videos that I think serve those purposes well.
Free Technology for Teachers: Seven Videos All Educators Should Watch
July 5, 2010
Fighting boredom in the classroom - a priority
The study recently published by HSSSE (High School Survey of Student Engagement), conducted by the Center for Evaluation and Education Policy (CEEP) at Indiana University in the USA, has served as a basis for schools to identify the problems that confront students Schools in order to meet their needs.
INTERACT interactive whiteboard in the classroom: Fighting boredom in the classroom - a priority
Don't use the Patriot Act as an excuse
Canadians are quick to use the U.S.A. Patriot Act as an excuse to avoid cloud computing, but they might not know many of the same laws already exist in Canada. Privacy lawyer David Fraser highlights the similarities at an OPC-hosted event
Don't use the Patriot Act as an excuse - Page 1 - Government
Teachers Face New Financial Pains
No one ever went into teaching to get rich. But lured by the promise of a rewarding job with enviable retirement benefits, a stream of young college graduates routinely opt for the classroom over more lucrative positions in the private sector.
Those days may be coming to an end. With tax receipts down across the nation and funds from the federal stimulus plan drying up, school districts in a number of states are expected to lay off thousands of teachers this summer.
Teachers Face New Financial Pains - ABC News
What makes a great teacher?
In the end, what makes a great teacher? I wish I had a magic eight-ball that allowed me to figure this one out, but it's something I've really given a lot of thought to... and I think what follows are at least some interesting ways to think about the profession.
I've been on the hiring committee at Beacon for several years, and I've seen us make some amazing hires, and I've seen us make some less than amazing hires. I know what are the things I look for, but finding the right mix, the right person can be so difficult.
What makes a great teacher? - Practical Theory
Why educators must become hackers
In our fast-paced and media-saturated milieu, we are constantly prodded to consume information without much critical reflection. This reality of the new information society has had a transformational impact on various higher education institution's ways of doing things. A clear and significant exception has been how we do things in the classroom.
Why educators must become hackers | Social Media in Higher Education
The Role of the University in a Changing World
While she celebrated the expansion of education globally, she warned of the rising pressures threatening to undercut that trend. While she lauded the career-defining role of higher education, she defended the ongoing importance of the humanities.
July 3, 2010
20+ Must-Read Education Technology Blogs
Over the past decade the information technology revolution has drastically changed education. Never before has so much information been available, with new technologies popping up daily to help us make sense of it. The dedicated bloggers featured in this post are your best bet for keeping up with the cutting edge of e-learning.
20+ Must-Read Education Technology Blogs | AceOnlineSchools.com - Online Education
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
July 2, 2010
Would a Teacher from 1910 Be Comfortable in Your Library/Classroom?
Bib 2.0: Would a Teacher from 1910 Be Comfortable in Your Library/Classroom?
Twitter Tips: for Teachers & Educators
Once people have found out I've been using Twitter for all of about 4 months now they think I'm an expert (I'm not, and do not profess to be) and keep asking me; what is it all about, then?
Twitter Tips: for Teachers & Educators | eLearning Blog Dont Waste Your Time
The End of Email?
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg sparked a firestorm this week with her bold assertion that email "is probably going away."
But she's not the first to make this claim. Just do a quick Google search, and you'll find plenty of bloggers warning of email's demise. (You'll also find loads of puns saying we should "Google Wave" goodbye to email--so much for that.) Even the Wall Street Journal published an article last year arguing that Facebook and Twitter were now king among online communication tools ("Email has had a good run...but its reign is over"), echoing Sandberg's beliefs.
Is email really finished?
Open Thread: The End of Email? | Fast Company
Finland makes broadband service basic right
Finland on Thursday became the first country in the world to make access to a broadband service a basic right, ensuring that a high-speed Internet connection is available to all Finns, a government official said.
"Today, the universal service obligation concerning Internet access of one megabit per second has entered into force," said Olli-Pekka Rantala of the communications networks unit at the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
"It is our understanding that we have become the first in the world to have made broadband a basic right," he added.
Finland makes broadband service basic right
July 1, 2010
Students Not Being Encouraged To Use Technology
Students insist that technology is important to them them now and will be in their future, and about half think their schools are preparing them adequately for college and career; but, according to a new report released Monday at the ISTE 2010 conference in Denver, CO, schools are still in need of some improvements.
Based on a survey of 1,004 students, teachers, and school IT professionals, the report found that students do not think their schools are adequately incorporating technologies into their classrooms or into their learning activities, despite the fairly deep penetration of technologies in schools. Sixty percent of students surveyed said their teachers regularly use technology to teach, but only 26 percent reported that they are "encouraged to use technology throughout the day."
Students Not Being Encouraged To Use Technology -- THE Journal
June 30, 2010
Reboot Education
Innovation is the new black. If you ever had a radical idea to improve your schools, now is the time to try it.
Reboot Education | Scholastic.com
Educational change challenge
Lots of quotable quotes in the video above. But my favourite has got to be:
Teachers need to exist in the space the students exist... understand their culture. You have no credibility if you're not where they are.
Educational change challenge « Another dot in the blogosphere?
The challenge of educational change
Ο Darren Cannell έφτιαξε μία πολύ ωραία video - παρουσίαση για να μιλήσει για την αναγκαιότητα της αλλαγής του εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος. Μέσα από το video αυτό αναφέρεται σε αρκετά πράγματα όπως τα εξής:
The challenge of educational change
A Challenge to Change - Importance of Technology Education
Over the summer months, many teachers and educators may be taking a break from the classroom and finding new tools or tips to use with their students, but there are plenty of people in the field that are continuously working to improve the ways we will soon be teaching and learning in the classroom.
This video highlights how important it is to work to incorporate technology into the classroom.
A Challenge to Change - Importance of Technology Education
2010 Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - Exemplary Courses
The Blackboard Exemplary Course Program began in 2000 with the goal of identifying and disseminating best practices for designing engaging online courses. Using a rubric instructors and course designers are able to evaluate how well their own course conforms to best practices for Course Design, Interaction & Collaboration, Assessment and Learner Support.
2010 Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School - Exemplary Courses - Confluence
June 29, 2010
Research dispels common ed-tech myths
Contrary to popular opinion, newer teachers aren't any more likely to use technology in their lessons than veteran teachers, and a lack of access to technology does not appear to be the main reason why teachers do not use it: These are among the common perceptions about education technology that new research from Walden University's Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership appears to dispel.
Research dispels common ed-tech myths | Featured on eSchool News | eSchoolNews.com
Educational Change Challenge
I understood the video from Free Tech for Teachers entitled "Educational change challenge" about how we as teachers must stay "relevant". In my young class of active minds, it is so vital to understand the culture of the students as well as the amount of information that they are exposed to on a daily basis. If we want our jobs to stay important, we must continue to change with the culture.
Increased Use of Technology by K-12 Teachers Has Positive Effects
An increased use of technology in the classroom by K-12 teachers yields a perceived positive impact on student learning, engagement and the development of 21st century skills, according to the study Educators, Technology and 21st Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths. The report was released today by The Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Walden University during the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference and exposition (formerly known as NECC) in Denver.
Cloud computing: Pitfalls and advice for avoiding them
Enterprises inevitably will build private clouds to coexist with public clouds in a hybrid environment, experts said. Being aware of some of the snags CIOs might encounter when they build such environments will help them manage executives' and users' expectations. Here are three private cloud computing pitfalls to avoid:
Private cloud computing: Pitfalls and advice for avoiding them
100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers
Teachers have one of the most difficult jobs out there. As an educator, you have to manage a classroom of boisterous students, organize heaps of data, stay up-to-date with current events and plan lessons day in and day out. In today's technologically linked world, the ability to use web applications is at your advantage as an educator, and we are here to tell you the best tools to use. Here is a collection of 100 web and iPhone applications that make the grade for tech-savvy teachers:
100 Apps for Tech-Savvy Teachers
Games en Serious Games
The video Educational Change Challenge been posted on this website as well.
Games en Serious Games » Docent, ben je nog van deze tijd?
Urban Mathematics in the 21st Century Classrooms
I just viewed an awesome video how the schools are still operating like the old school house model, while we are living in the 21st Century, while is one of the reasons while there is a major disconnect with some classroom teachers and their students.
Thing 5: Getting Started with RSS | Urban Mathematics in the 21st Century Classrooms
Free Technology for Teachers: Educational Change Challenge
Here's a good video that would be appropriate to share at the beginning of a workshop/ presentation/ conference about teaching with technology in the 21st Century. The video has me excited about the conversations already taking place at ISTE 2010 and the conversations still to come.
Free Technology for Teachers: Educational Change Challenge
June 28, 2010
Five Emerging LMSs to Watch
New learning management systems arrive on the scene almost daily. These technologies include both key functionalities and features you expect to find as well as additional capabilities that, in some cases, go above and beyond those found in some of the best-known pre-existing systems. Here are five up-and-coming LMS providers to watch.
Five Emerging LMSs to Watch - Chief Learning Officer magazine
The Best 210 Websites To Help Teachers Make Learning Fun
Teaching is hard. Learning is even harder.
There are thousands of websites devoted to helping both. Below is a somewhat boiled down list of the best websites that are working to make education better.
EduDemic » The Best 210 Websites To Help Teachers Make Learning Fun
Report: Optimizing The Effectiveness Of E-Learning For First Nations
This report looks at how to optimize the effectiveness of e-learning to improve the educational outcomes of First Nations people living on a reserve.
Report: Optimizing The Effectiveness Of E-Learning For First Nations « Virtual School Meanderings
Computer programs replace foreign language teachers in N.J. classrooms after budget cuts
This is the first example I have run across of computers replacing teachers. This is something I hoped would never happen, but it has...
Computer programs replace foreign language teachers in N.J. classrooms after budget cuts | NJ.com
Why do you use technology in a lesson?
When you use a technology tool for a lesson, do you have a good reason to use that technology or are you just using it because it is "technology" and you feel like you are supposed to use it? I remember learning about a "new" technology tool and then going and figuring out what lesson I could teach so that I could use or show that technology. I quickly came to realize that an educational topic should drive a lesson, not the use of a technology tool.
In Touch: Why do you use technology in a lesson?
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
June 27, 2010
What I want them to know - Cyberlife
I am preparing a series of lessons on 'cybersafety' for 10-12 year olds. There is a plethora of amazing resources on the subject - heaps of interactive resources, on-line lessons, free speakers, activities etc etc. I have tried to filter the available resources, but keep coming back to the simple question "What do I want them to know?"
What I want them to know - Cyberlife | Celia's reflections
Schools Factor E-Courses Into the Daily Learning Mix
Educators say 'hybrid' approach is taking off because it offers academic classes not otherwise available to many students.
Education Week: Schools Factor E-Courses Into the Daily Learning Mix
June 25, 2010
Educators Weigh Benefits, Drawbacks of Virtual Spec. Ed.
After watching her son struggle in traditional and alternative public school settings, Ladona Strouse decided to try something new for the 11th grader: cyber schooling.
"To be honest, it was not our first choice," she says, but Kyle, who struggles with bipolar disorder as well as a brain injury, was disruptive in school and was not getting the support he needed to be successful in a traditional education setting.
Education Week's Digital Directions: Educators Weigh Benefits, Drawbacks of Virtual Spec. Ed.
June 21, 2010
'How are you going to grade this?': Evaluating Classroom Blogs
No matter how the evaluation criteria is spelled out on the syllabus and reiterated throughout the course itself, students are likely to continue to ask "how are you going to grade this?" Jeff notes he also receives this question frequently from other professors when they hear about his blog-related assignments.
Kindle and Nook Prices Reduced to Less Than $200
We are now entering a brave new world of e-reader price wars: Amazon has slashed the price of its Kindle to $189 from $259, and Barnes & Noble's Wi-Fi-only version of the Nook will retail for $149.
Kindle and Nook Prices Reduced to Less Than $200
The Littlest Schoolhouse
Brainy but easily distracted, the author barely made it through high school and dropped out of college. Would a program like New York's new School of One, which uses technology to tailor learning to each student's style and pace, have made all the difference?
The Littlest Schoolhouse - Magazine - The Atlantic
The Hybrid Education Model
The Hybrid education model is still in its infancy but brings significant promise to traditional schools struggling with providing students relevant breadth and depth of choices in courses while facing significant funding pressure. I define the Hybrid model as a traditional school that contains a room(s) with multiple computers connected to the internet with a teacher or teacher's assistant monitoring students where they are afforded the opportunity to take approved online classes. By implementing this model, students are able to choose from a wide variety of courses with highly specialized teachers that otherwise would not have been available. Schools are able to save money by reducing headcount and instead offering online courses which generally are less. There is a better way.
The Hybrid Education Model « Giant Campus Blog
Technology Trends Transforming Higher Education
Higher education institutions find themselves having to rethink almost everything they do in today's highly-connected, highly competitive digital age to ensure they maintain their pivotal role of advancing the opportunities of individuals worldwide by providing a productive, efficient learning environment.
Technology Trends Transforming Higher Education - O'Reilly Broadcast
Districts Embracing Online Credit-Recovery Options
Interest in online credit-recovery courses continues to surge, prompting some policy experts and educators to consider whether traditional rules requiring students to spend a certain number of hours in the classroom, rather than simply demonstrate their proficiency in the subject matter, are increasingly outdated.
At least three large urban school districts--New York City, Chicago, and Boston--have recently rolled out or soon will roll out programs for online credit recovery. That means that students who have failed courses in high school can earn credits for those courses by making them up through online coursework. District policies vary in whether the students take the classes at an actual school or can do the coursework at home or in another setting.
Education Week: Districts Embracing Online Credit-Recovery Options
No Stuffy Classrooms This Summer
The first impression is that summer is finished before it has even begun. Don't despair, you can still get your missing credit this summer without feeling confined to a classroom. In fact, you can get your credit while you're on holidays, sitting at home or just relaxing up at the cottage. "No way," you say. It's true, through Ottawa Carleton E-School you simply register and take the missing course online.
No Stuffy Classrooms This Summer - eSchool Travels With You! « Virtual School Meanderings
European History e-Learning Project
The World Wide Web has given teachers and students of history access to an 'information superhighway' previously unparalleled. However, whilst there are obvious advantages in terms of the resources now available on the Internet, this has not necessarily been translated into the effective teaching and learning of history. This paper will look at the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a teaching tool. It will highlight the benefits of using webquests as a method for ensuring the use of higher order thinking skills when using the Internet.
e-Help: European History e-Learning Project - Seminars - Dan Lyndon
June 20, 2010
How do Apple and Google see the future of mobile?
Two of technology's biggest names, Apple and Google, are becoming increasingly aggressive as they stake out their claim to the future of mobile - the most important battleground in technology. A recent acquisition by Apple hints at its increased focus on specialised search for mobile - despite repeated denials by chief executive Steve Jobs that Apple is developing search. So what is being developed, and why?
How do Apple and Google see the future of mobile? | Media | The Guardian
Universities need radical overhaul
England's university system needs a radical overhaul to give more value to students and taxpayers, the universities minister has said.
BBC News - Universities need radical overhaul, says David Willetts
Everything you need to know about the internet
In spite of all the answers the internet has given us, its full potential to transform our lives remains the great unknown. Here are the nine key steps to understanding the most powerful tool of our age - and where it's taking us
Everything you need to know about the internet | Technology | The Observer
Ban computers from schools until children reach age 9
Children should be banned from using computers in schools until they are nine-years-old because the early use of technology is destroying their attention spans, a leading expert said yesterday.
Expert in what?
Ban computers from schools until children reach age 9, says expert - Telegraph
June 19, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
June 18, 2010
100 Incredibly Useful & Free iPad Apps
If you just dropped a few hundred dollars on an iPad, you might not have much left in your budget to fill it up with apps. Fortunately, app developers have already stepped up and created a huge collection of completely free iPad apps.
Below you'll find over 100 free iPad apps to help you get started. Many of them are only free for a limited time as an introductory special so you'd better grab them fast!
100 Incredibly Useful & Free iPad Apps | iPhone.AppStorm
School Acceptable Use Policies
RSS feeds from popular social bookmarking sites. The left column holds sites tagged with aup & sample by Warlick on Diigo. You can contribute sites to the right column by tagging pages bookmarked to Del.icio.us with aup & sample.
School AUP 2.0 | Main / SampleAUPs browse
June 16, 2010
We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research
Everybody agrees that scientific research is indispensable to the nation's health, prosperity, and security. In the many discussions of the value of research, however, one rarely hears any mention of how much publication of the results is best. Indeed, for all the regrets one hears in these hard times of research suffering from financing problems, we shouldn't forget the fact that the last few decades have seen astounding growth in the sheer output of research findings and conclusions. Just consider the raw increase in the number of journals.
We Must Stop the Avalanche of Low-Quality Research - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education
Reasonable People Disagree about Connectivity
Text messages at the breakfast table, conference calls on family vacations, emails from bed, Facebook in class. Is technology's power to connect bringing us closer or rending us apart?
Dalton Conley and Natalie Jeremijenko are experts with different views on that question. To Conley, our gadgets and online identities are prying away our attention from meaningful exchanges, while popping the all-important bubble of private space. To Jeremijenko, technology can make the world a better place, if we're strong enough.
Did we mention they're married? Yup. With two kids.
Reasonable People Disagree about Connectivity - Reasonable People Disagree - GOOD
Social Networking Goes to School
Educators are integrating Facebook, Ning, and other sites into K-12 life despite concerns about privacy and behavior.
Education Week's Digital Directions: Social Networking Goes to School
Why I Returned My iPad
A little more than a week after buying the iPad, I returned it to Apple. The problem wasn't the iPad exactly, though it has some flaws. The problem was me.
Why I Returned My iPad - Peter Bregman - Harvard Business Review
Series: SCCS Teacher Survey
Thanks again to Virtual School Meandering for taking and interest in our school
Series: SCCS Teacher Survey « Virtual School Meanderings
June 15, 2010
U.S. Ed Secretary Seeks to Improve Testing
In far too many states around the country, we are lying to children. You tell a child that they are on track to meet an arbitrary benchmark, and in fact they are woefully underprepared. We do them a grave disservice.
VSM Newsletter - June 2010
After many months of false starts, the first edition of the VSM Newsletter has been published today. If you haven't signed up for it, visit http://groups.google.ca/group/vhsm and sign up there (and you can access the edition that was e-mailed out a few minutes ago).
VSM Newsletter - June 2010 « Virtual School Meanderings
June 13, 2010
Would You Hire Your Own Kids?
With a clearer picture of the skills young people will need, I then set out to learn to what extent we are teaching and testing the skills that matter most. And because we already know that many of our nation's urban schools are failing, I chose to observe classrooms in some of our most highly regarded suburban schools in order to understand whether our "best" was, in fact, good enough for our children's future. What I discovered in this journey may come as a surprise to many.
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
June 11, 2010
Geography Does Make a Difference
In the Breckinridge case, Author David Waters states "How long would it have taken the entire community of Breckinridge County, Kentucky to run the coach and the superintendent out of town on a rail if they had taken players to a mosque or a Hindu temple or a Wiccan magic circle?"
My advice to anyone who reads this is two fold. You never know what is going to "blow up" in the public eye and become a huge issue. The second piece of advice is if you are not sure what is going to happen and the issue involves religion at all, stay away or tread with extreme caution.
Ed Tech Man: Geography Does Make a Difference
June 10, 2010
The 21st-Century Digital Learner
I give presentations to educators at every level, all around the world. All of the teachers are earnestly trying to adapt their educational system to the twenty-first century. During my talks, however, I typically look out at oceans of white hair. Never -- I can't even say rarely -- is a kid in sight or invited to the party.
It is a measure of the malaise of our educational system that these old folk -- smart and experienced as they may be -- think they can, by themselves and without the input of the people they're trying to teach, design the future of education.
The 21st-Century Digital Learner | Edutopia
10 Coolest Laptops
I would like one of each please...
10 Coolest Laptops - Oddee.com
June 9, 2010
Wal-Mart University To Offer Education To All Employees
Great news for thousands of workers around the country. Education is now within reach. Wal-Mart has just announced that it is funding an online school designed to offer low-cost education to its employees.
EduDemic » Wal-Mart University To Offer Education To All Employees
June 7, 2010
Google Forms: how to create a quiz or a test that automatically grades itself in Google Docs
Using forms in Google docs lets anyone create forms quickly and share those forms via email, embed them into a webpage or blog. If you are a teacher, you can create formulas that allow you to have these forms graded in minutes. The formula part is a bit challenging, so I wrote this article to talk about how I recently created a final for one of my classes.
Technology's Toll - Impatience and Forgetfulness
Has high-speed Internet made you impatient with slow-speed children?
Do you sometimes think about reaching for the fast-forward button, only to realize that life does not come with a remote control?
Technology's Toll - Impatience and Forgetfulness - NYTimes.com
Here Are Ten Rules to Create Engaging Elearning
At the recent ASTD conference, I was asked how to create engaging elearning. If you've been reading the Rapid E-Learning Blog for a while, then you know I've tackled this subject before. I decided to pull ten ideas that are fundamental to building good elearning courses.
Here Are Ten Rules to Create Engaging Elearning » The Rapid eLearning Blog
100 Ways To Use VoiceThread In EDU
100 Ways To Use VoiceThread In EDU - Voicethread for Educators
June 5, 2010
Does the Internet Make You Smarter?
Digital media have made creating and disseminating text, sound, and images cheap, easy and global. The bulk of publicly available media is now created by people who understand little of the professional standards and practices for media.
Instead, these amateurs produce endless streams of mediocrity, eroding cultural norms about quality and acceptability, and leading to increasingly alarmed predictions of incipient chaos and intellectual collapse.
Does the Internet Make You Smarter? - WSJ.com
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
June 4, 2010
Classrooms going virtual
Although often used for credit recovery, Hank Deslaurier, a virtual school instructor, said nowadays students for various reasons are opting to take online courses -- from jumping ahead in school, scheduling constraints or an alternative to learning in a classroom setting.
With more students choosing to take online courses, Deslaurier supports the eschool plan.
"Hernando County is smart to jump on this and partner with the Florida Virtual School Program, which is a leader in that field," Deslaurier said. "It's a great opportunity because this is where we're heading in education."
June 3, 2010
Schools working to protect students from online dangers while embracing technology
"We're trying to decide where we want to go with Internet usage, filters and what we allow in the classroom," said Ondrey, a committee member. "Parents are sort of afraid of the new technology, but in a controlled setting, it's really valuable. Saying 'Shut it down!' 'Turn the filters on!' -- that's not gonna work.
The Digital Divide - are you a native or an immigrant?
Which side of the Digital Divide would you place yourself? Are you a digital native, or an immigrant, or do you find yourself straddling both sides, suspecting this divide is as arbitrary as daylight savings time, and as meaningless as The Pepsi Generation?
The Digital Divide - are you a native or an immigrant?
Kentucky Department of Education Chooses Microsoft Live@edu
The Kentucky Department of Education has selected Microsoft Live@edu to bring 21st century communications and collaboration tools to more than 700,000 students, faculty and staff statewide. The cloud-based service has already been rolled out to more than half a million people in one of the largest cloud deployments and fastest migrations of all time. The state expects to avoid $6.3 million in operational costs over four years by moving to the cloud with Live@edu.
How should we teach our future teachers?
It's complicated in the United States because we don't as a country agree that teachers need much preparation," said Suzanne Wilson, chair of teacher education at Michigan State University. "We're deeply divided on this as a country.
How should we teach our future teachers? - Yahoo! News
June 2, 2010
How Bringing Up Objections Reduces Email Ping-Pong
Ever feel like your emails are endlessly going back and forth?
You send your email.
It comes back over to you.
Over to them.
Over to you.
Over to them.
Over to you.
To them.
To you.
To them.
To you.
Really? Teachers are unevaluable? Who's buying it?
Cleveland Teachers Union leaders say that they "fear giving too much authority to principals who might make unjust, arbitrary decisions, or tying their futures to test scores that urban districts struggle to raise."
Really? Teachers are unevaluable? Who's buying it? | Dangerously Irrelevant
Innovation in Higher Education: It's Not the Technology
Faculty and technology support staff, academic leaders, CIOs, even presidents, trying out one technology whiz-bang after another, believing/hoping each one will make enough of a difference to justify the cost, or will make parents happy when they tour the campus with prospective students, or will keep the institution current, or--the real chimera--lower the cost of teaching.
Many technology implementations did have a positive impact, of course--sometimes not the expected impact but perhaps, instead, another unexpected but worthy impact, such as faculty members being able to use a course management system to post a syllabus on the Web before registration starts so students can make wiser decisions as they register for courses.
Innovation in Higher Education: It's Not the Technology -- Campus Technology
June 1, 2010
Why Education Research Is Failing Us
Since holding teachers responsible for student performance is now all the rage, from the White House to the political right, let us do a simple thought experiment. Imagine an amateur baseball league in which team owners dictate which bats players use. The owners try to choose the best, but the research on bats is so poor, they have to rely on anecdotes--"Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs with maple!"--and on manufacturers' claims. As a result, some teams wind up using bats that are too heavy, too fragile, or no better than a broomstick. Does it make sense to cut players who were forced to use ineffective equipment?
Why Education Research Is Failing Us: Begley - Newsweek
Year End Ideas / Projects
It's the last three weeks of school and the year will come to an end soon. You have done your best and your students have done their best. Classes are winding down but you don't want the learning to stop until the year is over. Your hard work has paid off and your students will graduate on to the next grade! Here are some fun ways to finish out the year with your class! We hope you find an idea or two you can use in your classroom to make the end of the year fun & educational for your students.
10 Free Audio Programs to Use for E-Learning
I'm no audio engineer. And odds are that neither are you. So I won't get into all of the nitty gritty details of audio editing. If you want more details, one of the community MVPs shared some tips on how to improve your audio quality. It's a good post and worthy reading.
Today I want to share some free or inexpensive ways to work with the audio in your elearning courses. Let's start with narration.
10 Free Audio Programs to Use for E-Learning » The Rapid eLearning Blog
Letters of Note: The worst is to come...
From the Laboratory of Thomas Edison comes this brief letter to William Le Roy Emmet, an award-winning engineer who began working at GE back when it was still known as Edison General Electric and then stayed with the firm for many years. In 1926 Emmet's success caught Edison's attention, and, as seen in the following note, provoked a congratulatory remark from the company's founder, followed by a warning about the road ahead.
Letters of Note: The worst is to come...
Schools must be data informed: NOT data driven
Our schools cannot be improved by blind worship of data. Data are only as good as the measures used to create the numbers and as good as the underlying activities. If the measures are shoddy, then the data will be shoddy. If the data reflect mainly the amount of time invested in test-preparation activities, then the data are worthless. If the data are based on dumbed-down state tests, then the data are meaningless. A good accountability system, whether for schools, teachers, or students, must include a variety of measures, not only test scores. To use a phrase I first heard from educator Deborah Meier, our schools should be "data informed," not "data-driven."
Schools must be data informed: NOT data driven « Moving at the Speed of Creativity
May 29, 2010
Don't Just Rebuild Schools--Reinvent Them
Who seriously believes that locking 25 students in a small room with one adult for
several hours each day is the best way for them to be "educated"?
Don't Just Rebuild Schools--Reinvent Them
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
May 27, 2010
Crossing the Digital Divide
Patrick Coniway grew up with technology. The Skyline High School junior designed his first website when he was 12 years old. At 16, he writes his own software programs and runs a site to share his work.
Now he's part of a team that will help other students navigate new technology.
For the Students, By the Students -- or FTSBTS -- is a new program that turns tech-savvy students into teachers.
Crossing the Digital Divide...The Longmont Times-Call
May 26, 2010
Apple passes Microsoft in valuation
As of trading near the end of the day on Wednesday, Apple has passed Microsoft in terms of market capitalization, with a value of roughly $222 billion--about $3 billion ahead of Microsoft. Apple had been flirting with the milestone for days and had already passed Microsoft by another measure--a valuation known as enterprise value, which adds in debt and other factors.
Apple passes Microsoft in valuation | Beyond Binary - CNET News
May 24, 2010
Many not ready for college, costing Texas $200M a year
It has been the dirty little secret of higher education for decades: Tens of thousands of college students can't do the work.
Developmental education -- reteaching basic skills in reading, writing and math -- is a $200 million-a-year problem in Texas, funded by taxpayers, colleges and the students themselves. Private groups also spend millions of dollars on the issue.
But relatively few students who need the classes go on to earn a degree, raising questions about whether money spent on developmental education is a wise investment.
May 20, 2010
100 Best Free iPhone Apps for Educators
Being an educator of any kind, from teaching kindergartners to adults, often requires great organization, hours spent outside of the classroom writing lectures and devising lesson plans, and, in today's world, the ability to use technology to your advantage. Your iPhone can be a helpful tool in inspiring you with new ways to teach, helping you keep your information organized and ensuring that you're the best possible teacher you can be. Try out these apps to see what they can offer you and your students.
100 Best Free iPhone Apps for Educators | Online Colleges
May 19, 2010
Education vs Employment
A look at education and employment in the United States: Putting jobs in perspective.
Blogging About Generational Differences
Blogging About Generational Differences « Virtual School Meanderings
May 18, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schools
Blogging About Virtual Schools « Virtual School Meanderings
Education futures, teachers and technology
In supporting positive outcomes for children and young people, teachers1 have a special interest in the future. Their pupils' lives will unfold over coming decades of change and teachers must support them in becoming prepared to live and shape the world outside of the classroom. As society and technologies change, so the image of education is reshaped to prepare people for new ways of working and living in the 21st century and
teachers' own practice will necessarily change to take account of this.
Education futures, teachers
and technology
At five years, two billion views per day and counting
Five years ago, after months of late nights, testing and preparation, YouTube's founders launched the first beta version of YouTube.com in May, with a simple mission: give anyone a place to easily upload their videos and share them with the world. Whether you were an aspiring filmmaker, a politician, a proud parent, or someone who just wanted to connect with something bigger, YouTube became the place where you could broadcast yourself.
YouTube Blog: At five years, two billion views per day and counting
May 17, 2010
Top 10 Websites to Convert Text to Speech Online for Free
Like to convert some text to speech in MP3 or other audio formats? Check out below top 10 websites, which will let you do that online for free, nothing to be installed.
Top 10 Websites to Convert Text to Speech Online for Free
Timeline: Five Years of YouTube (infographic)
Happy Birthday YouTube! This awesome graphic is a time-line of major events that have occurred at Youtube since it started in 2005 up until the present day.
Timeline: Five Years of YouTube (infographic) | zubeta.com
Why iPad owners need a Kindle, too
When I first opened Winnie-the-Pooh on my iPad's iBooks app, my first thought was: "Oh, man. The Amazon Kindle is in trouble." My second thought was to sell my Kindle. This impulse was strengthened after I installed the Kindle app on my iPad, which gave me access to all of my Kindle books.
But now that I've used an iPad for a month and a half, I've come to realize that I still want, need and love my Kindle.
In a nutshell, the e-book reading on the iPad is generally great. But the list of things the iPad does badly is identical to the list of things the Kindle does well. And vice versa.
Here are 13 reasons why I think every reader who owns an iPad also needs a Kindle:
Why iPad owners need a Kindle, too | E-Readers | Playlist | Macworld
Teach. Facebook. Now.
From the "We Continue to Bury Our Heads in the Sand Department" comes the question (once again) why are we blocking Facebook instead of teaching it?
I mean really, if you're on the board of ed, sitting in the superintendent's chair, serving as principal, or even "just" a parent, how can the following reality not cause you to call a meeting and get Facebook into the currciulum:
Upwards of 75% of the kids in your high school use Facebook.
Weblogg-ed » Teach. Facebook. Now.
8 Big Mistakes Online Students Make
Teachers of online courses say students often fall victim to these common mistakes, which can cost them lots of money and hurt their academic records:
8 Big Mistakes Online Students Make - US News and World Report
May 16, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
May 14, 2010
Why Don't Teachers Adopt Technology?
Public education is compulsory in Cyprus and is under the auspices of the country's Ministry of Education and Culture (MOEC). The majority of re-service teacher education is provided by local universities, while in-service public school teacher training is provided by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute and other public and private agencies. The Cyprus secondary school curriculum is developed and supervised by the MOEC, which also makes certain all the Republic's public schools conform to federal standards. The Pedagogical Institute also oversees teacher professional development, including all information and communication technology (ICT)-related professional development.
eLearn: Case Studies
- Why Don't Teachers Adopt Technology?
May 12, 2010
Do We Really Need "Educational" Technology?
Unfortunately, the requirements haven't changed in a decade and generally conform to what a college advisor called the "inoculation theory of professional development": you need it, you get it, you never have to bother with it again.
AssortedStuff » Do We Really Need "Educational" Technology?
Technology linked to happiness, study claims
There are positive links between access to technology and feelings of well-being, a study claims.
BBC News - Technology linked to happiness, study claims
10 internet technologies that educators should be informed about
There are so many different tools and technologies available on the internet today, and so many associated terms and concepts. As I think about topics to focus on here in the coming months, I want to make sure we're touching on the most important ones. What are the most important internet technologies for educators to be aware of, and informed about?
Consultant tells educators to embrace e-learning
An international e-learning specialist says universities and colleges need to do more in the area of online teaching and distance education.
Tony Bates, who has written nine books on distance education and served as a consultant on the topic in more than 35 countries, said the post-secondary education system needs to adapt to the changing needs of its students.
"If you look at traditional university, it's a one size fits all where everyone goes to campus to the same classes for the same exams," Bates said during his visit to Fredericton on Monday.
"That traditional model is the industrial model, but we're not in an industrial world now. We're in a more flexible world and people are more flexible in when they work and the way they work.
May 11, 2010
Canada Looking To Adopt DMCA Copyright Rules In Six Weeks
I don't normally make posts of this nature here on this blog, but...
Copied verbatim from Michael who Copied verbatim from Darren who copied verbatim from Clarence who copied verbatim from Michael Geist. Please keep this going; repost. Especially if you're Canadian. This is really important. You're going to want to be able to tell your kids and grandkids "I tried to stop it. Really. I did everything I could." It'd be even better if we were able to say: "We didn't let it happen."
"Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister's Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill. The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a new bill. As I reported last week, Moore has argued for a virtual repeat of Bill C-61, with strong digital locks provisions similar to those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a rejection of a flexible fair dealing approach. Consistent with earlier comments on the need for a forward-looking, flexible approach, Clement argued for changes from C-61.
With mounting pressure from the U.S. - there have repeated meetings with senior U.S. officials in recent weeks - the PMO sided squarely with Moore's vision of a U.S.-style copyright law. The detailed provisions will be negotiated over the coming weeks by the respective departments, but they now have their marching orders of completing a bill that will satisfy the U.S. that comes complete with tough anti-circumvention rules and no flexible fair dealing provision.
The bill is not expected until June, but it will have dramatic repurcussions once introduced. First, the bill represents a stunning reversal from the government's seeming shift away from C-61 and its commitment to a bill based on the national copyright consultation. Instead, the consultation appears to have been little more than theatre, with the PMO and Moore choosing to dismiss public opinion. Second, after adopting distinctly pro-consumer positions on other issues, Moore has abandoned that approach with support for what may become the most anti-consumer copyright bill in Canadian history. Third, the bill will immediately impact the Canadian position at the ACTA and CETA negotiations, where the bill's provisions on anti-circumvention and ISP liability will effectively become the Canadian delegation position.
For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required - be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again."
This is an utter disaster. Thousands of Canadians responded to the recent Tory inquiry on copyright law, overwhelmingly speaking out against the DMCA disaster being brought to Canada. And yet, once again, the Conservatives show their contempt for the opinions of average Canadians. Please write your letters, make your phone calls. Even if you have done this all before, it needs to happen again.
Again, no stamps are required for letters addressed to parliament in Canada and that address is:
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6
May 10, 2010
Canada - More Canadians surfing the net
Eighty per cent of Canadians age 16 and over used the internet for personal reasons in 2009, up from 73 per cent two years earlier, Statistics Canada reports.
People living in Alberta and B.C. reported the highest internet usage rates, at 85 per cent in each province. Calgary and Saskatoon topped the list for internet use by city, each with 89 per cent.
CBC News - Canada - More Canadians surfing the net
Six Ways to Manage a Virtual Work Force
Thanks to improved technology and the high price of gasoline, working remotely has become an increasingly popular--and less expensive --option for both large and small work forces. Since 2006, the number of U.S. employees who worked remotely at least one day per month increased 39% to 17.2 million in 2008, according to the latest survey available from WorldatWork, global human resources association in Washington, D.C.
Six Ways to Manage a Virtual Work Force - WSJ.com
Productivity. Cloud. And the iPad - NetBooks - Tablets era.
As we are very seemingly moving away from the concept of hard disks, the cloud is making more and more sense as the world of network and internet folds in front of our eyes just about everyday. Devices such as iPad/NetBooks/Tablets are just a medium for us to connect to the world where the whole office box lies. Ah well. Not so fast though.
Productivity. Cloud. And the iPad - NetBooks - Tablets era. - Techvibes Blog
Beginning of Long Slow Death of Flash
Earlier this year I questioned why there was Still No Flash on the iPhone and iPad. It's become quite clear that Apple (Steve Jobs) is going to block putting Flash on these platforms.
Beginning of Long Slow Death of Flash : eLearning Technology
May 9, 2010
Digital Tools and Social Responsibility
I remember when I was growing up sneakily watching TV shows or listening to music my parents didn't approve of - good thing my mom doesn't use the Internet, she won't see this, I'm safe :-). That's about as complicated "digital tools" were back in the day. Fast forward to today and it's a whole different world with the Internet, devices of all shapes, sizes, and capabilities, in the hands of most kids. The opportunity for kids to misuse digital tools is huge. Who's going to guide them?
Shift to the Future: Digital Tools and Social Responsibility
Thinking today's college eTextbooks are cheaper? Maybe not
eBooks and eTextbooks SHOULD offer not only greater accessibility and functionality for students as well as instructors, they should also offer better VALUE. Apparently some textbook companies don't "get" that idea yet. Perhaps it will take more professors and instructors writing and publishing openly licensed textbook materials, as some are doing through Flat World Knowledge and other digital publishers, to move this train.
Thinking today's college eTextbooks are cheaper? Maybe not « Moving at the Speed of Creativity
100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media In the Classroom
Social media may have started out as a fun way to connect with friends, but it has evolved to become a powerful tool for education and business. Sites such as Facebook and Twitter and tools such as Skype are connecting students to learning opportunities in new and exciting ways. Whether you teach an elementary class, a traditional college class, or at an online university, you will find inspirational ways to incorporate social media in your classroom with this list.
100 Inspiring Ways to Use Social Media In the Classroom | Online Universities
Elearnity Research Summary - LMS
Elearnity Research Summary - LMS
May 8, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
May 7, 2010
Ten Best Practices of Online Engagement
Congratulations! You have entered the world of social media and are actively listening, monitoring, reading, and dipping your toes into engaging in conversations. You are monitoring social media mentions and measuring sentiment of yourself and your competitors. Moreover, you are tracking larger industry trends, trying to understand what customers want, and listening for purchase intent. But as you know, listening is only the beginning stage of what you should be doing as part of your social media approach; engagement will make or break your efforts - after all, if no one talks to you online, the whole thing is a failed attempt. If you know what to listen for and how to separate signal from noise, it should propel you towards action and engagement the right way. If social media is a blend of art and science, engagement is definitely the art of it. If you approach it in a heavy-handed or inauthentic way, you may scare people off and mar your reputation. All too often we see companies and brands use these "new media" channels with "old media" mentality: in a race to amass the most Twitter followers regardless of their engagement with the brand, or broadcasting a message one-way instead of a two-way conversation. Here is a quick list of Do's and Don'ts to help guide your engagement efforts. Below are items 1-5 of my top 10 practices.
Ten Best Practices of Online Engagement
University to Provide Online Reputation Management to Graduates
Syracuse University has purchased six-month subscriptions to Brand-Yourself.com's online reputation management platform for all 4,100 of its graduating seniors. The platform will help students monitor and shape their online presence during the job search process.
According to a recent study by Cross-Tab Marketing services, 75% of HR departments worldwide are required to screen job candidates online. Seventy percent of recruiters and HR professionals in the U.S. clam they have rejected potential hires based on information surfaced online, and nearly half say that a strong online reputation influences their hiring decisions to a "great extent." A similar study conducted by CareerBuilder last year found that 45% of HR professionals screen job candidates on social media sites
University to Provide Online Reputation Management to Graduates
What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? - WSJ.com
High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.
What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? - WSJ.com
Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions
The results from a recent survey on education technology suggest that schools are making progress on integrating technology into the curriculum--but the survey also reveals key disparities in how students, educators, administrators, and even aspiring teachers think of various technology tools.
Survey reveals gaps in school technology perceptions | Research | eSchoolNews.com
May 6, 2010
How Can Teachers Have a Bigger Influence on Education Reform?
We knew Paula White, our guest blogger this week, would be amazing after reading her blog post called Do It From the Classroom. With equal parts fire and heart, Ms. White is not only passionate (and funny!), but she also has both feet firmly rooted in reality. We're proud to present her commentary on this week's topic, "How Can Teachers Have a Bigger Influence on Education Reform?"
Guest Blog: How Can Teachers Have a Bigger Influence on Education Reform? | Edutopia
May 5, 2010
Social Media Reading List for School Leaders
This is a must-watch video by Hans Mundahl, Director of Experiental Learning and Technology Coordinator at the New Hampton School in New Hampshire. Not only does Hans have a cool title (how awesome would it be if every school had a 'director of experiential learning?'), he makes a mean video.
Video - Social Media Reading List for School Leaders | Dangerously Irrelevant
May 1, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
April 30, 2010
The Power of Twitter « The Principal of Change
If you don't believe in the power that Twitter has, hopefully this story will change your mind.
Wanting to show my staff the effectiveness and power of connections through social networks, I decided to place a bet. The bet was that if I sent out a form over document, the educators in the Twitter community would step up and prove to me that they would help, showing my own staff the power of this social network. Little did I know that it would go beyond my wildest dreams.
The Power of Twitter « The Principal of Change
Flash Is No Longer Necessary
In short, Steve Jobs claims Flash drains the battery of mobile devices; it's not very good for multi-touch operation; and its performance, reliability and security are all shoddy. It's also a proprietary system, and while Jobs admits that their mobile OS is also proprietary, he claims that web standards should be open, like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript.
Steve Jobs: Flash Is No Longer Necessary
Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter
What's the point of Twitter? Why should educators get involved? What difference does using Twitter make?
Here are some answers that you might like to share.
Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter - Laura Doggett
April 29, 2010
Discussing The Advantages As Well As The Disadvantages
Elearning is growing in popularity everyday. Companies are able to utilize it for corporate training solutions among many other uses. It has also been a great boon for the academic industry. One can find all the benefits of elearning online everywhere. However, there are not many who would admit to the disadvantages of electronic learning. Here is a list of both the advantages and disadvantages just to show a more balanced perspective.
You can't be my teacher
A really scary video is posted to YouTube and placed at the bottom of this article. It doesn't feature ten-story-tall monsters, flesh eating zombies, or demonic slashers. It features one very cute, very intense, in-your-face, young boy.
April 27, 2010
The Classroom Isn't The "Real World"
It drives me crazy when people say things to kids like "you know, in the real world..." as though it is some far-off place that requires the indoctrination of 13 years of boring, irrelevant schooling to enter.
The Classroom Isn't The "Real World" - Synthesizing Education
E-Learning 2010
Our new special report from the technology team at Education Week Digital Directions aims to highlight the progress made in the e-learning arena, as well as the administrative, funding, and policy barriers that some experts say are slowing the growth of this form of education.
Education Week: E-Learning 2010
Predicting the Future is a Risky Business
Part of my day job involves following trends and predicting what might happen in the future of online education. Pretty risky business - I remember ten years ago when one article predicted that all colleges would one day have at least one class delivered online through AOL. A-O-Who? Do they still exist?
EduGeek Journal » Blog Archive » Predicting the Future is a Risky Business
April 26, 2010
Who Should Fund Cyber Schools
For more than 175,000 students in 25 states, going to class is as simple as turning on a computer. Many more students attend traditional schools but take some of their classes online. If current trends continue, half of all high school courses will be taught on the Web in 10 years.
Go vote on the poll in this story...it is worth it.
Who Should Fund Cyber Schools | Parade.com
It Goes Both Ways
The days of using the internet as merely a one-way supplier of news are over. With social media tools encouraging a back- and-forth exchange of information, parents, alumni, and other stakeholders can participate directly in the life of their school.
It Goes Both Ways -- THE Journal
April 24, 2010
Traditional Schools Aren't Working. Let's Move Learning Online.
Deep within America's collective consciousness, there is a little red schoolhouse. Inside, obedient children sit in rows, eagerly absorbing lessons as a kind, wise teacher writes on the blackboard. Shiny apples are offered as tokens of respect and gratitude.
The reality of American education is often quite different. Beige classrooms are filled with note-passers and texters, who casually ignore teachers struggling to make it to the end of the 50-minute period. Smart kids are bored, and slower kids are left behind. Anxiety about standardized tests is high, and scores are consistently low. National surveys find that parents despair over the quality of education in the United States--and they're right to, as test results confirm again and again.
But just as most Americans disapprove of congressional shenanigans while harboring some affection for their own representative, parents tend to say that their child's teacher is pretty good. Most people have mixed feelings about their own school days, but our national romance with teachers is deep and long-standing. Which is why the idea of kids staring at computers instead of teachers makes parents and politicians extremely nervous.
Traditional Schools Aren't Working. Let's Move Learning Online. - Reason Magazine
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
April 23, 2010
Growing Success
The Ontario government is committed to enabling all students to reach their potential, and to succeed. Our challenge is that every student is unique and each must have opportunities to achieve success according to his or her own interests, abilities, and goals. We have defined high expectations and standards for graduation, while introducing a range of options that allow students to learn in ways that suit them best and enable them to earn their diplomas.We are proud that our students regularly place among the world's best on international standardized tests.
Assessment, Evaluation and Reporting in Ontario Schools
Why Change?
What many do not get is that Technology in Education is no longer a topic of Should we? or Could we?, but rather, " How do we make it happen?" It is not a question of "How do we control it? but rather "How do we educate kids to use it effectively and responsibly?" How do we develop today's literacy, so that students can use these skills beyond the classroom and apply them to life? How do we enable them to use these skills to be productive and successful and safe?
New Study: Students Totally Addicted To Social Media
The study is called "24 Hours: Unplugged." 200 students were asked to go one day without any media (social, tv, radio, etc.). The short answer of what happened? It wasn't pretty. After going that relatively short period without social media, students were acting like junkies looking for a fix from Facebook and Twitter. Some of the words used: In withdrawal, Frantically craving, Very anxious, Extremely antsy, Miserable, Jittery, Crazy.
New Study: Students Totally Addicted To Social Media | EduDemic
April 22, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schools - Part One
Blogging About Virtual Schools - Part One « Virtual School Meanderings
Dissertation Research Ideas?
I always advise folks to look at the literature... If you look at the main literature reviews over the past decade, you find:
Dissertation Research Ideas? « Virtual School Meanderings
April 21, 2010
Students and Schools Not on the Same Digital Track
Although many of you reading this won't be surprised to learn what I'm about to share, there seems to be a gap between what students and teachers think about the role of technology in the classroom.
SimpleK12 » Blog Archive » Students and Schools Not on the Same Digital Track
April 20, 2010
Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom
A recent 93-page report on online education, conducted by SRI International for the Department of Education, has a starchy academic title, but a most intriguing conclusion: "On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction."
Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
Kindle study
In the fall of 2008 Reed College met with some fifteen other colleges and universities to discuss the possibility of evaluating a new eReader (later identified as the Kindle DX) in a higher education setting. Reed was subsequently selected by Amazon as one of seven institutions to participate in a pilot study. The other schools were: Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, Pace University, Princeton University, the University of Washington, and Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
April 19, 2010
Educationally speaking: Facebook and education
This is one of my favorite blogs because it encourages the use of technology in education. Here he is experimenting with using Facebook but ran into some issues. However he is looking for a way to solve the problems rather then simply dropping the idea.
Educationally speaking: Facebook and education
April 17, 2010
Tony Danza goes back to school
The laptop acted up. Few students were ready to present their projects, and the group was restless, giggly, distracted. A few snickers erupted when the new reading assignment, the classic novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," was passed out.
"Turn around. Turn around. Put your feet this way," the first-year teacher urged one of his sophomore English students, motioning to the front of the room.
Last year, actor Tony Danza arrived in Philadelphia with Hollywood credentials and a long-ago college education degree but no teaching certificate. With the blessing of city and Philadelphia School District officials, he became a first-year English teacher at Northeast High School and the star of an A&E reality show called "Teach," telecast date as yet unknown.
Tony Danza goes back to school - latimes.com
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About
There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week's 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore's Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks.
That is, of course, unless we tell them all about the good old days of modems and typewriters, slide rules and encyclopedias ...
100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About | GeekDad | Wired.com
Should the web be allowed in class?
There's a fantastic discussion on metafilter about whether college students should be able to use the web during class time.
A fascinating thread ensued (about 120 comments), where various professors and former college students chime in with a wide array of opinions, tactics and philosophies. It's some thoroughly interesting reading if you have any opinion on this at all.
Should the web be allowed in class? « Scott Berkun
April 14, 2010
A Tick List of 21st Century Digital Skills for Teachers
I've just been brainstorming digital skills that I believe are required by teachers in the 21st Century. So far I've come up with 45 of them.
What's striking for me about this is:
- few of these skills will have been taught to anyone who trained as a teacher longer than 5 years ago.
- few of these skills are being taught to teachers training now.
- the 21st century teacher needs to be a pretty amazingly skilled professional.
Please look through the list and tick on the ones you believe you have.
Nik's Learning Technology Blog: A Tick List of 21st Century Digital Skills for Teachers
Horizon Report K-12 2010
These trends and challenges are having a profound effect on the way we experiment with, adopt, and use emerging technologies. These aspects of the world that surround and permeate education serve as a frame for considering the probable impacts of the emerging technologies listed in the sections that follow.
April 13, 2010
SITE 2010: Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School On-line PD And Learning Communities, Connecting Us All!
Online education « The Reality-Based Community
For my sins, I guess, I'm a member of the Berkeley faculty Committee on Courses of Instruction. Things are looking up for this gig, though, because there's growing interest on campus and at the university level in online instruction, and the committee is starting to seriously deliberate this very interesting issue. Not surprisingly, I guess, a lot of the action is going on in the wrong arena, looking for ways to cut costs "without reducing educational outcomes", and this approach will assuredly wind up cutting costs and only reduce quality somewhat. But it's almost certain that we could actually teach more, better, and cheaper with technology if we go at it wisely.
How would we think about online education if we were focused on quality and value instead of penny-pinching?
Online education « The Reality-Based Community
eLearning Innovation 2010 - Top 30
But I also thought I'd cheat and use what eLearning Learning is telling me the hotter topics are for the first 3 months of 2010. What are these? These are topics that are coming up in the participating blogs more during this time than they have in the past and that have good social signals. So, I pulled the top 30 terms. I've grouped them and commented on what I'm seeing.
eLearning Innovation 2010 - Top 30 : eLearning Technology
April 12, 2010
Milan judge: The Internet is not a lawless prairie
A Milan judge Monday explained the reasoning behind his decision to convict three Google executives of violating Italy's privacy law by allowing the posting of a controversial bullying video, saying the Internet is not a lawless prairie and the executives are criminally responsible because their company benefitted financially from the offense.
Milan judge: The Internet is not a lawless prairie | Web | Macworld
Problem With Cyber Charter Schools - PA & NJ Edition
I say interesting for a number of reasons, but one is due to the location. Cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania (and Ohio for that matter) when they were first created did suffer from many of the problems described in these articles (e.g., lack of oversight, fraud in terms of funding provided for students that didn't actually attend the cyber charter school, lack of participation in state testing regimes, etc.). While I believe in both instances (i.e., Pennsylvania and Ohio) that things have gotten much better, I do still believe that within the traditional public education community this early "Wild West" mentality gained them a reputation that they still haven't been able to shake (and that has followed cyber charter schools to other jurisdictions). Problem With Cyber Charter Schools - PA & NJ Edition « Virtual School MeanderingsVirtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School MeanderingsNew Program To Recognize Online Teacher Of The Year
New Program To Recognize Online Teacher Of The Year « Virtual School MeanderingsIf Instructional Designers Ran The World
Did you ever wonder what it would be like if instructional designers ran the world? Imagine the contributions instructional designers would make to society if they were in charge. In fact, imagine if training in Instructional Design were a prerequisite for any executive, legislative or leadership position.
Ah, what a wonderful world it would be.
If Instructional Designers Ran The World: The eLearning Coach
TEDxSaskatoon
This is a very cool. I love TED.
April 9, 2010
The biggest barrier to moving schools forward.
Unfortunately, most educators, parents, and policymakers have no idea what it truly means to prepare students for this kind of world.
Don't believe me? Go ahead and ask 'em.
The biggest barrier to moving schools forward.
March 29, 2010
Students Learn by Vigorously Doing, Digitally
It's not about the computer; it's about the learning. Our students today both want and need to be active, engaged, collaborative, on-line, vigorous, empowered, creative, solvers of real-world problems. They need to be skilled and informed to do so, but they need to be challenged,
In Schools of the Future, Students Learn by Vigorously Doing, Digitally « 21k12
What Does Internet Blocking Suggest to Students?
This morning, a student sent me a link to an article describing the Internet crackdown occurring as official China has 'prepared' for the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
"Looks like schools aren't the only place Facebook is blocked," read the text across my inbox.
What Does Internet Blocking Suggest to Students? | ISTE Connects - Educational Technology
Don't blame the technology!
Sometimes I wonder why people want to use technology in their practice. Is it because it's a recognised trend in their professional sphere/discipline? Is it because others are doing it? Is it because it makes them look cool and modern? ...maybe it is a bit of all...?
Learning Journey » Blog Archive » Don't blame the technology!
Where Learning Comes Alive
Educators and Students Speak Out and beyond the textbook.
Discovery Education - Where Learning Comes Alive
Teachers are learning Economic Reality 101
Big wins at the bargaining table used to be the norm for the region's public school teachers, no matter how bad the economy was or how much those victories pained taxpayers.
But lately, teachers are learning a new, unpalatable lesson:
Reality bites.
Teachers are learning Economic Reality 101 : City & Region : The Buffalo News
March 28, 2010
Mourning the Death of Handwriting
I can't remember how to write a capital Z in cursive. The rest of my letters are shaky and stiff, my words slanted in all directions. It's not for lack of trying. In grade school I was one of those insufferable girls who used pink pencils and dotted their i's with little circles. I experimented with different scripts, and for a brief period I even took the time to make two-story a's, with the fancy overhang used in most fonts (including this magazine's). But everything I wrote, I wrote in print. I am a member of Gen Y, the generation that shunned cursive. And now there is a group coming after me, a boom of tech-savvy children who don't remember life before the Internet and who text-message nearly as much as they talk. They have even less need for good penmanship. We are witnessing the death of handwriting.
Mourning the Death of Handwriting - TIME
March 27, 2010
'Teach Naked' Effort Strips Computers From Classrooms
College leaders usually brag about their tech-filled "smart" classrooms, but a dean at Southern Methodist University is proudly removing computers from lecture halls. José A. Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts, has challenged his colleagues to "teach naked"--by which he means, sans machines.
I'm not a Digital Native
It's tough to ignore differences between generations. It's also generally poor form to generalize people lumped together by any one trait, like age. Still, many of us (myself included) are guilty of doing so.
We generally describe Millenials, Generation Y, Generation Next, etc -- anyone born past 1982 as "Digital Natives."
I'm not a Digital Native | Aaron Silvers
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual School Meanderings
March 26, 2010
A simple fix for Internet censorship in schools
Schools and libraries are hurting students by setting up heavy-handed Web filtering software that block access to potentially educational sites. Instead, educators should trust teachers and librarians to oversee schools Internet access, says Craig Cunningham, a professor at National-Louis University.
A simple fix for Internet censorship in schools - Computerworld Blogs
March 25, 2010
Pupils 'must manage online risks'
Pupils given a greater degree of freedom to surf the internet at school are less vulnerable to online dangers in the long-term, inspectors say.
BBC News - Pupils 'must manage online risks'
Stagnation threatens education system
Could we improve our "first attempt" graduation rate? Yes. But when I say that the system is not failing, our public school system might face a greater danger. We might have stalled. We might have reached a flat spot, a plateau in the necessary climb into the 21st century and if we do not yet recognize why that is potentially a bigger problem our kids soon will.
Stagnation threatens education system
Blogging About Generational Differences
Blogging About Generational Differences « Virtual School Meanderings
March 24, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schools
Blogging About Virtual Schools « Virtual School Meanderings
Whose Learning Is It?
Our educational system has been based, right or wrong, on authority and passing of information. The idea of sharing the creation of "how" and "what" to learn with those who are learning is discomforting to many. I myself worked to relinquish power throughout my last four years in the classroom; there is no denying students rise to the occasion when asked to be responsible.
A Vanilla Education
The focus of schools today really isn't learning. The focus is standardizing the student population. What we are left with is an educational system that is vanilla. Don't get me wrong, vanilla has its place in the world. Vanilla makes an excellent base, you can add almost anything to it and it is only enhanced. But we aren't really enhancing it with anything are we? We are stopping at vanilla.
A Vanilla Education « Dreams of Education
What are public school students entitled to?
This is just one of many tweets that have come from educators about how budget cuts are affecting public schools. I've heard of school building closures (Kansas City!), teacher layoffs, four day school weeks, and program cuts like Paul shares as "fixes" for district budgets strained by plummeting state and local revenues.
Science Education on the Edge » Blog Archive » What are public school students entitled to?
10 Gaps in Education (that don't get enough press)
The Achievement Gap gets the most press and seems to have the most leverage. But there are a host of others. Read on for a handy dandy guide to 10 Gaps in Education, and then add your own in the comment section.
10 Gaps in Education (that don't get enough press) | Ecology of Education
March 23, 2010
Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?
dear parent
teacher
administrator
board member
don't teach your kids to read
for the Web
to scan
RSS
aggregate
synthesize
don't teach your kids to write
online
pen and paper aren't going anywhere
since when do kids need an audience?
no need to hyperlink
make videos
audio
Flash
no connecting, now
no social networking
or online chat
or comments
or PLNs
blogs and twitter?
how self-absorbed
what a bunch of crap
and definitely, absolutely, resolutely, no cell phones
block it all
lock it down
keep it out
it's evil, you know
there's bad stuff out there
gotta keep your children safe
don't you know collaboration is just another word for cheating?
don't you know how much junk is out there?
haven't you ever heard of sexting?
of cyberbullying?
a computer 24-7? no thanks
I don't want them
creating
sharing
thinking
learning
you know they're just going to look at porn
and hook up with predators
we can't trust them
don't do any of it, please
really
'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids
can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two
can you?
Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please? - Dangerously Irrelevant
High Schools Make Digital Connections With Tech-Savvy Students
High schools are changing the way they teach, knowing their "digital native" students have unprecedented access to Internet use and have acquired a host of related skills. Schools are buying or building their own curriculum programs and using the connectedness of the digital age to try to reach -- and graduate -- more students than ever.
March 22, 2010
Six Principles of a Successful Course Redesign
This course redesign changed the roles of the instructors and teaching assistants significantly. "They used to spend their time lecturing, writing assignments and exams, and grading. Now they focus on guiding students through the course via the weekly meeting in the lecture room and then working with students individually in the learning center. The greater emphasis on individual instruction and one-on-one interactions with students is a change that most instructors find very rewarding."
Six Principles of a Successful Course Redesign
Making Student Achievement Public in the Digital Age
If you've been following public discourse in education over the last couple of years, you have likely witnessed the emergence of a new, ubiquitous catch phrase: "21st century skills."
After some time and considerable debate within and among organizations like ISTE/NETS, enGauge, and The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a general consensus has emerged on definitions of the term. Many for-profit and not-for-profit organizations advertise their curricula to potential school and district clients, touting the alignment with 21st century skills with whatever they are pitching. The vast majority of these, from the traditional "drill and kill" to the more reformed, constructivist and project-based approaches, have adopted the rhetoric (if not the practice) of the new millennium.
What is still lacking in the landscape of 21st century education, however, are examples of 21st century student work.
While there is no shortage of discourse around the term or end to the lists qualifying the kind of work that students need to be engaged in as part of their 21st century education, there are precious few examples of actual 21st century work.
eLearn: Feature Article
- 21st Century Skills
Making Student Achievement Public in the Digital Age
Skype Connects Classrooms Around the World
A fictional Englishman's quest to circle the globe in 80 days inspired technology integration facilitator Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano to take her students on a similar adventure, without physically traveling to different countries.
That's where Skype comes in. The Internet-based software allows her to make video and voice calls from her Florida school to other schools, and she uses the tool to help her students learn.
Skype Connects Classrooms Around the World
The Complete Guide to Ripping and Converting Flash Videos
Whether you want to save and watch a Flash video offline, convert a Flash music video for your MP3 player, or do something else entirely, learning how to rip and convert Flash videos is a useful skill. Here's how it works.
The Complete Guide to Ripping and Converting Flash Videos - Ripping - Lifehacker
Q&A With Student from King's College
As a professional in the field of Computer Mediated Communications, when did you first realize the massive potential of new technology? How did you initially go about utilizing the technology?
Kapp Notes: Q&A With Student from King's College
The Future of E-Learning Is More Growth
By virtually every measure, electronic learning is experiencing unprecedented growth and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. A new analysis and forecast released this month by research firm Ambient Insight bolstered previous research in this area, showing that electronic learning, by dollar volume, reached $27.1 billion in 2009 and predicting this figure will nearly double that by 2014, with academic institutions leading the way.
The Future of E-Learning Is More Growth -- Campus Technology
Firing Bad Teachers, Teacher Professional Development, and Educational Technology
This is NOT an anti-teacher rant. I was a teacher, my parents were teachers, my sister was a teacher. I love teachers. If I weren't doing what I love and am doing now, I'd be a teacher. In addition, the following represents my thoughts and mine alone -- they do not necessarily reflect the position of the company behind me, this blog, or this site.
Something is going on in education and I've been thinking about how several, somewhat disjointed, things fit together.
Maybe it's just part of my own aging process, but life in education just seems to be moving much faster than it normally does these days. Lots of good -- and disturbing -- stuff going on.
Lots of changes. And, a ton of potential for huge, disruptive, gargantuan-size changes possibly ahead.
I don't pretend to be a seer, forecaster, or anything like that.
What are the key competencies for learning professionals?
What are the skills and competencies needed by the lifelong learning sector now?
During the day I put out a quick Twitter poll on this, as it seemed odd to be discussing Learning 3 in a room without pulling in the wider learning community. Jane Hart did the same.
The learning Twittersphere was engaged: we generated quite a few replies....
Learning 3 - what are the key competencies for learning professionals? « Donald H Taylor
Court: Student can't sue over 'Ave Maria' ban
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to let a high school student sue over school officials' refusal to let her play an instrumental version of "Ave Maria" at her graduation, a decision one justice says could lead to wide-ranging censorship of student speech.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Kathryn Nurre, a former student at Henry M. Jackson High School. Nurre, who was a senior in 2006, wanted to play "Ave Maria" -- Hail Mary in Latin -- with the band's wind ensemble at the graduation.
Court: Student can't sue over 'Ave Maria' ban - Yahoo! News
Census time heightens privacy concerns
When a census worker visited Oliver Sarle's home in Warwick, R.I., the crusty farmer refused to answer a series of questions, including how much revenue his crops had generated the previous year and how many gallons of milk his cows had produced.
Sarle was charged with a misdemeanor: not answering questions posed by an official representative of the census. A Rhode Island judge sided with the government, ruling that the "information required by the statute to be collected must be assumed to be important and necessary for the public service."
Census time heightens privacy concerns | Politics and Law - CNET News
Weekly Internet Usage Overtakes Television Watching
For the First Time, Weekly Hours Spent Online (18.1 hours) is Higher Than the Number of Hours Spent Watching Television (16.9 hours)
Weekly Internet Usage Overtakes Television Watching | Ipsos
March 19, 2010
Can we move beyond Integrating Technology as a tool?
Now, I am proud to say that I have helped many teachers and student's improve their learning through creating projects with technology that expand upon their knowledge in a variety of curriculum.
Can we move beyond Integrating Technology as a tool? - (SM)eech - SMeech.net
10.5 Million PreK-12 Students Will Attend Classes Online
More than 2 million preK-12 students take some form of schooling online right now--whether attending a virtual school for all their classes or just taking one or more courses via the Internet. But while the vast majority of students will continue to take all of their courses in physical classrooms over the next five years, the number of students taking courses online will jump to more than 10 million by 2014.
10.5 Million PreK-12 Students Will Attend Classes Online by 2014 -- THE Journal
Unique Needs and Challenges of K-12 Online Teachers
The findings in this report represent Phase II of the Going Virtual! research series. In this report, we posed the question, "What are the unique needs and challenges of K‐12 online teachers?" The first phase of the Going Virtual! research series, conducted in 2007, addressed the need to investigate the national status of professional development for K‐12 online teachers.
We conducted a national survey during fall 2008, and had 884 total respondents representing online teachers from virtual schools, supplemental online programs, and brick and mortar programs offering online courses. The investigators used an interpretive research design to begin identification of the unique needs and challenges of K‐12 online teachers, as both 1) aligned to an emerging synthesis of professional standards for K‐12 online teachers, and 2) as described by the teachers in their own words. This methodology provides very practical information for policymakers seeking to establish national and state standards for K‐12 online teachers, and for trainers designing professional development programs. It also allows for the identification and creation of constructs of understanding not currently existing in the literature that researchers can study at a later date using more structured research approaches.
Unique Needs and Challenges of K-12 Online Teachers
Ontario universities to adopt e-learning
Learning about Socrates through Facebook forums and chatting with a professor through Skype is the reality for students as e-learning claims a more dominant role in higher education.
Ontario is the latest jurisdiction to jump in with plans to launch the province's first fully online university, and that has educators urging students to weigh their options carefully before deciding to turn their computer into a classroom.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/windsor/story/2010/03/17/e-learning-ontario-universities.html#ixzz0iezFsVs2
CBC News - Windsor - Ontario universities to adopt e-learning
The Ten Pillars of Successful Technology Integration in K-12 Schools
The Ten Pillars of Successful Technology Integration in K-12 Schools
TIME TO START TAKING THE INTERNET SERIOUSLY
"In short: it's time to think about the Internet instead of just letting it happen."
TIME TO START TAKING THE INTERNET SERIOUSLY
March 17, 2010
Cloud-Based, Open-Source Future For Teachers?
A computing device for every teacher and student so they can access the Internet at school or at home? That, along with an embrace of cloud computing, Creative Commons, and open-source technologies is part of a new set of recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education.
Cloud-Based, Open-Source Future For Teachers?
Colleges of Education Are Urged to Focus More on Online Learning
"Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology," released this month by the Department of Education, is a draft of the National Educational Technology Plan 2010. It calls for an increased role for online learning in kindergarten through 12th grade and says colleges of education must include online learning in their curricula as well.
10 Things to Consider Before Your E-Learning Course Goes Live
It's amazing how fresh eyes can find things you might have overlooked during production. So, before launching your elearning course, it's a good idea to have others review it. You want to discover any hidden issues before the big launch.
10 Things to Consider Before Your E-Learning Course Goes Live » The Rapid eLearning Blog
March 16, 2010
iPad vs Kindle vs Netbooks vs Books: What's Best for Students?
With the introduction of Apple's iPad in January, questions abounded regarding its potential impact on digital education. Could the iPad revolutionize how students learn? With textbook publishers jumping on board to develop iPad-compatible versions of their books even before the product was available for sale, the Apple product seemed to take the lead in next-generation educational technology. But what about Amazon.com's popular book reader the Kindle, or the recent glut of affordable, stripped down laptop computers dubbed "netbooks"? Can any of them compete with good old-fashioned books? Here's a rundown of what each has to offer.
March 15, 2010
What Is E-Learning 2.0?
"There's an important point that is easy to miss in the frenzy of change. Web 2.0 is not about technology, and neither is e-Learning 2.0. The human element is what makes the new Web work. Without user-generated content, the new Web would be an empty shell of fancy technologies."
What Is E-Learning 2.0? by Brent Schlenker : Learning Solutions Magazine
Your Brain on Google: Interview with Dr. Teena Moody
This is the full transcript from my interview with Dr. Teena Moody from UCLA's Semel Institute about the Your Brain on Google Study. Today's Just Behave column on Search Engine Land has more commentary and analysis of the findings.
Your Brain on Google: Interview with Dr. Teena Moody
Top Ten Free Technology Tools for Young Learners
All of the tools in this list are freely available online and useful for working with primary age students.
Top Ten Free Technology Tools for Young Learners
Playing games in Google Earth
Since Google Earth was first released, a variety of people (including myself) have looked for ways to use it for gaming. While it will never be a true gaming platform, there are still some fun choices out there to play with. Here are a few of the best:
Playing games in Google Earth | Google Earth Blog
Empower Student to Be Lifelong Learners NOT Dependent Learners
We have to stop spoon feeding kids curriculum tests and homework. They need to be self directed. They need to be life long learners., which means they need to be empowered to manage more and more and more of their own learning.
Langwitches Blog » Empower Student to Be Lifelong Learners NOT Dependent Learners
March 14, 2010
Beyond virtual schools
A child sits at home in front of his computer screen, working through a virtual-school lesson by mindlessly clicking through the multiple choices, never talking to a teacher or a fellow student or even glimpsing the great outdoors and interacting with the real world.
This static, impersonal, anti-social school experience is the image that many parents, teachers and school administrators continue to have in mind when they picture the world of online learning, even as more and more brick-and-mortar school districts explore full- or part-time virtual education.
eSN Special Report: Beyond virtual schools | eSchoolNews.com
Why Web Won't Be Nirvana? 1995
After two decades online, I'm perplexed. It's not that I haven't had a gas of a good time on the Internet. I've met great people and even caught a hacker or two. But today, I'm uneasy about this most trendy and oversold community. Visionaries see a future of telecommuting workers, interactive libraries and multimedia classrooms. They speak of electronic town meetings and virtual communities. Commerce and business will shift from offices and malls to networks and modems. And the freedom of digital networks will make government more democratic.
Clifford Stoll: Why Web Won't Be Nirvana - Newsweek.com
March 12, 2010
How safe is cloud computing?
"There are many motivations for why an individual or a company would want to engage in cloud computing," said Thomas Parenty, managing director of Parenty Consulting, a Hong Kong-based information security consulting firm. "None of them have to do with enhanced security."
How safe is cloud computing? - CNN.com
Ebooks in Classrooms Aren't an Option: They're Inevitable
The use of ebooks in education is not more widespread because school systems are afraid of change.
Paradise Tossed - Blog - Ebooks in Classrooms Aren't an Option: They're Inevitable
Publishing: The Revolutionary Future
The transition within the book publishing industry from physical inventory stored in a warehouse and trucked to retailers to digital files stored in cyberspace and delivered almost anywhere on earth as quickly and cheaply as e-mail is now underway and irreversible. This historic shift will radically transform worldwide book publishing, the cultures it affects and on which it depends. Meanwhile, for quite different reasons, the genteel book business that I joined more than a half-century ago is already on edge, suffering from a gambler's unbreakable addiction to risky, seasonal best sellers, many of which don't recoup their costs, and the simultaneous deterioration of backlist, the vital annuity on which book publishers had in better days relied for year-to-year stability through bad times and good.
Publishing: The Revolutionary Future - The New York Review of Books
No Ink, No Paper: What's The Value Of An E-Book?
"There will be no inventory. There will simply be digital files and they'll be available world wide at the click of a mouse. This makes much of what publishers now do irrelevant: creating inventory, putting it in the warehouse, keeping track of it, selling it, shipping it. All that's going to go," Epstein says.
No Ink, No Paper: What's The Value Of An E-Book? : NPR
Strategies to recruit, train instructors to use technology
As community college leaders consider the costs of restructuring the academic curriculum and student services to incorporate technology in ways that meet the learning needs and desires of diverse students, they must also consider the recruitment and development of instructors.
Strategies to recruit, train instructors to use technology
March 11, 2010
Four Things Every Student Should Learn
Schools are missing out on important opportunities if they fail to teach these lessons, says ed-tech consultant Alan November.
An awareness of the views of those in other countries, an understanding of how Google ranks the results of a web search, a knowledge of the permanence of information posted online: These are some of the lessons that every student should be learning in today's schools, says education technology consultant Alan November--but not every middle or high school is teaching these lessons.
Four Things Every Student Should Learn ... But Not Every School Is Teaching | The Committed Sardine
Improving Education Through Better Teachers
But what they ignored was the elephant in the room -- if the teacher sucks, the students suck. Or, as the Times more eloquently puts it: 'William Sanders, a statistician studying Tennessee teachers with a colleague, found that a student with a weak teacher for three straight years would score, on average, 50 percentile points behind a similar student with a strong teacher for those years.
Slashdot News Story | Improving Education Through Better Teachers
A Technophobe's Guide to Managing Online Courses
True confession: I've never been a big fan of online courses. My favorite thing about teaching has always been the direct interaction with students and the energy that it generates--what some might call the "performance aspect" of teaching. I'm not sure how that translates over the Internet.
And no, before you ask, I've never taught online. I've never gone bungee jumping, either, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it.
Darren Googles On
Over the past two months I have posted a series of Google-related entries that Darren has posted at Teaching and Developing Online.
Darren Googles On « Virtual High School Meanderings
Series: Cyber School Videos VI
Another edition of the videos that Darren posts at Teaching and Developing Online concerning the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School.
Series: Cyber School Videos VI « Virtual High School Meanderings
You can't be my teacher!
I am the father that you have been talking about, I am an administrator at an online high school. I did video my son to create a video to start a discussion about the use of technology by teachers. It was directed at my staff who work at the cyber school and it seems to have hit a nerve with a lot of others since it has had close to 10000 hits, some love it, some find it very threating, some think I have abused my son. He is fine, respectful student in a classroom without a computer and I hope that the 20 minutes of feeding him lines did not scar him for life. It is quite obvious that it has worked to start discussion. Thanks all for the comments.
You can't be my teacher! « TeflTecher : Tasks, Videos and Opinions for Tefl Teachers
Tanker: Stenge, stenge eller stenge?
An interesting perspective...it does include one of the TADO videos.
Tanker: Stenge, stenge eller stenge?
March 10, 2010
But Where Are The Kids?
One of the big absences at most educational conferences, as far as I'm concerned, is children and young people. Let's be honest: you would have no idea, walking into most conferences, whether you were attending an event about education or one about how to improve the market share of widgets.
But Where Are The Kids? - Articles - Educational Technology - ICT in Education
March 9, 2010
Shame on You, Newsweek
I was appalled, however, to unfold this week's cover as I pulled it out of my mailbox. The Key to Saving American Education with We must fire bad teachers written over and over on a blackboard like the intro to a Simpsons episode. (When was the last time a teacher actually used this method of punishment, I wonder?)
Philly Teacher: Shame on You, Newsweek
5 Emerging Social Media Sites to Watch in 2010
Just as marketers are getting a handle on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, a fresh group of social media networks are poised to make a splash in 2010.
These networks have not reached mass adoption yet, so it's not necessary to get active on all of them immediately. But remember, Facebook only took 6 years to reach 400 million registered users. You should keep an eye on these five upstarts to see if their innovative services attract large audiences in the near future.
5 Emerging Social Media Sites to Watch in 2010 | Social Media Examiner
10 Big Ways Bill Gates Wants to Change Education
Bill and Melinda Gates put a hefty portion of their billions into philanthropic efforts involving development, healthcare, and - of course - education. The foundation that bears their name sponsors a number of amazing opportunities for impoverished or otherwise marginalized individuals to thrive academically and vocationally, whether they be accessible inside the walls of a classroom or a library. Here are at least 10 of their current projects and strategies that they have in place to ensure that more students across the world obtain the education they need in order to thrive and help build and reinforce their communities.
March 8, 2010
As a teacher, I've realised Twitter has real potential
I signed up to bury Twitter. Not to praise it. The idea was to complete a trilogy of columns I had entitled the "wind up a spod" series, and deliberately elicit spluttering outrage about Twitter from educators who have been blogging about its noodle-boggling goodness.
As a teacher, I've realised Twitter has real potential |
Education |
The Guardian
The status quo no longer suffices
The Ames (IA) Community School District - my kids' district - is hiring both a new superintendent and a new high school principal for next year. Below is the letter I just sent the school board members. I thought some of you might be interested.
Why not fire all the teachers?
Finally, a school system has decided to fire all of the educators at an ailing school.
Why didn't we think about this sooner?
Firing some of them hasn't really proven effective in turning around schools, has it? So why not get rid of all of them and start over?
The Answer Sheet
- Why not fire all the teachers?
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Success Stories
The correspondence school was closing and Celeste Ulrich's options were becoming limited. As a student who prefers working on her own and at her own pace, Celeste was looking for options that allowed her to still enjoy the independent learning environment she preferred. SCCS was an option she came across and decided to register for a class. That was roughly two years ago and, now six classes later, she is still enjoying the on-line experience with Cyber School.
Welcome to the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School
March 7, 2010
Education - A Simmering Pot Close to a Boil
Those teachers were the only means by which the administration could figure out how best to get their school back on its feet. Those teachers spent every day with their students in the classroom; they knew the ins and outs of the whole situation far better than an external suit could. Now the administration has lost the opportunity to learn from this situation, and alienated all other teachers who might have stepped in with innovative ideas. What teacher, when asking for adequate compensation for their services and given a flat out 'no' in the form of a pink slip, is going to want to try again? That school has closed all its doors, possibly literally. Those kids don't have any recourse now. It's unfair and downright ridiculous.
Education - A Simmering Pot Close to a Boil « Solinitae Theory
Can web 2.0 tools be legally used for education in Canada?
I have recently been researching some web-based resources for our faculty, who teach exclusively online, but who do not venture much outside the limited set of tools provided by our LMS. To this end I was pleased to read on Tony Bates' web site .... about Learning in Hand and the many resources you have collected therein.
One of the issues that has come to my attention as I read about cloud computing and web applications (an area I am specifically looking into) is privacy and copyright. I would like your take on what I have found to be a pervasive component of many agreements that I see between the user and the web application when they sign that EULA. Here is a section, for example from the agreement with PaperRater, which you (Tony Vincent) have at the top of the list of recommended web apps:
Can web 2.0 tools be legally used for education in Canada? « Tony Bates
March 6, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
Top 50 Education Technology Blogs
Bummer...TADO did not make the list.
Top 50 Education Technology Blogs
National Education Technology Plan (U.S.A.)
Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology
National Education Technology Plan (U.S.A.)
March 5, 2010
Teacher centered technologies do not transform education!
A January article in Teacher Magazine by Bill Ferriter entitled Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards is a good read for anyone making technology decisions for a district. The intent of this post isn't to knock interactive whiteboards, although I must confess that I'm not a big fan of them. Instead, my goal for this post is to help educators think about the purpose of their technology purchases. Currently, there are many types of technology that claim to benefit education by making things easier.
Teacher centered technologies do not transform education! - 1 to 1 Schools
Six Ingredients for a Good Online Comment
In my last post, I asked commenters to volunteer their theories about why some business ideas take off and others don't, and promised to reward the winner with a copy of my new book Analytics at Work. There were lots of comments, and I have read them carefully. (The process was painfully similar to grading student papers!) I'll reveal the winner below, but reading all the comments made me reflect on what makes for a good online comment. The ingredients are:
Six Ingredients for a Good Online Comment - Tom Davenport - Harvard Business Review
March 4, 2010
Boosting Teacher Morale
Much big news in the education world of late. While fifteen Race to the Top finalists were just announced, both higher ed and K-12 educators across California and other cities are protesting layoffs, fee hikes, cuts, and the re-segregation of schools in March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education. Meanwhile, many teachers continue to be cut, with more to come.
It's a rough time for teachers, to say the least.
Guest Blog: Boosting Teacher Morale | Edutopia
Larger Classes, Older Textbooks
Parents may not like what they see at their kids' schools in the next year or two -- larger classes and more tattered textbooks. It's a very real possibility, and it's not by accident.
March 3, 2010
School system not sustainable
His main argument was that schools in US have to be redesigned radically because they are not sustainable. More and more money is invested in it but it doesn't deliver better returns. If the schools were businesses, they were declared therefore bankrupted. Schools need to shift from a business model that is based on standard batch processsing to personalized mass customization.
Building a Better Teacher
But what makes a good teacher? There have been many quests for the one essential trait, and they have all come up empty-handed. Among the factors that do not predict whether a teacher will succeed: a graduate-school degree, a high score on the SAT, an extroverted personality, politeness, confidence, warmth, enthusiasm and having passed the teacher-certification exam on the first try. When Bill Gates announced recently that his foundation was investing millions in a project to improve teaching quality in the United States, he added a rueful caveat. "Unfortunately, it seems the field doesn't have a clear view of what characterizes good teaching," Gates said. "I'm personally very curious."
Magazine Preview - Building a Better Teacher - NYTimes.com
March 2, 2010
Facebook vs Twitter (A Comparison)
With over 40,000 tweets per minute and new-user registration growth rate of 1500%, you would expect Twitter to give a close fight to the social networking giant Facebook.
Facebook vs Twitter (A Comparison) «
Textbooks Are Finished
There was a time when textbooks added value to K12. In the old days, (1) content was truly scarce, and age-appropriate content was scarcer still; (2) teachers came to rely on the instructional resources such as the lesson plans and assignments that accompanied textbooks; and (3) students spent a significant portion of the school day, upwards of 50 percent, with their noses in textbooks, absorbing content.
But in the Internet era, the first and third of those three value propositions are no longer true. First, content is readily available on the Internet. "I do not use the textbook in my class, because everything I would use from the textbook I can find online," says Derek Burtch, a high school English teacher from North Union, Ohio. Second, in classrooms engaging in projectbased/ problem-based learning, students spend no more than 5 percent of their time absorbing content; rather, they are using their computing devices nonstop, creating and sharing content.
Who Is The Best Teacher You Ever Had? Why?
Katherine Schulten recently wrote an article for The Learning Network in the New York Times, "Who is The Best Teacher You Ever Had? Why?". I found the comments to this post tremendously interesting.
MikeArsenault.net Blog: Who Is The Best Teacher You Ever Had? Why?
Obama angers union officials with remarks in support of R.I. teacher firings
President Obama voiced support Monday for the mass firings of educators at a failing Rhode Island school, drawing an immediate rebuke from teachers union officials whose members have chafed at some of his education policies.
Obama angers union officials with remarks in support of R.I. teacher firings - washingtonpost.com
When learning is done well, the technology becomes transparent
think the greatest power of the iLearn model is in its modeling. Teachers are taught within big concepts and take that with them to their classroom. They understand the importance of reflection in learning because they have experienced it, and they in turn expect it of their students. They gained valuable insights by collaborating with their peers in other geographical regions through a wiki and are keen to have their students experience the same richness. They have discovered the value of social networking and are open to their students using these tools in their learning.
Atomic Learning: When learning is done well, the technology becomes transparent
100+ Signs That You Are Addicted to Twitter
Twitter, one of the most popular social networks in the world. Are you addicted? Maybe? No? Ask yourself this, "Are you really being honest with yourself?" I think the answer might come as a no. I don't blame you. Something is really fascinating about viewing 140 character messages rolling up on your screen every minute of the day. Besides there are thousands and thousands of articles sifting through tweets each and every day. Now coming back to the actual question, "Are you addicted?"
100+ Signs That You Are Addicted to Twitter | Creativeoverflow
March 1, 2010
Now that we have selected the curtain colour, let's build a new house
Society itself is essentially a series of interlocking systems. Because we have an education system that takes care of young students for eight hours a day, both parents can work. Because we have some level of centralization of government in most countries, education systems are subject to governmental curricular and structural mandates. The book made the library. Society's systems make the schools. More than any other element, this systemic inertia is responsible for limited innovation in education. All ideas are vetted by how they integrate with the system.
Now that we have selected the curtain colour, let's build a new house « Connectivism
How to Fix Our Education System
The problem is well-known: The U.S. lags far behind other developed countries at the K-12 level in terms of measured performance in math and science courses.
How to Fix Our Education System - WSJ.com
A Parents' Guide to Choosing the Right Online Program
Online learning is a solution for expanding educational opportunities for students. This guide is designed to help explain these new learning opportunities. It is written primarily for parents contemplating a full-time online school for their children, although many of the issues discussed are appropriate considerations for supplemental online courses as well. It describes key elements of online education programs and how they may vary from school to school, and provides checklists to compare online schools side-by-side as parents search for the best options.
A special report on social networking
Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better, says Martin Giles
A special report on social networking: A world of connections | The Economist
What Baby Boomers Want From Technology
In 2011, approximately 30% of the U.S. population will be over the age of 50. Yet, in 2010, they are expected to outspend younger adults by $1 trillion. Boomers are not going away quietly into the sunset.
As Steve Lohn reported in The New York Times, Boomers show a great deal of interest in purchasing consumer electronics, more than any other age group. Focus groups, aged 50-60, and organized by the AARP and Microsoft, gathered together in San Francisco, Phoenix, Chicago, and New York to discuss the issue of future trends in technology. Contrary to many public and media perceptions, Baby Boomers have a real interest in continuing adoption of technology.
What Baby Boomers Want From Technology | Psychology Today
Teaching profession 'under-rated'
Many final-year students and members of the public think teaching offers slow career progression and limited chances of promotion, a survey suggests.
An ICM survey of 1,075 members of the public in England and a High Fliers poll of 1,000 UK finalists found many also underestimated teachers' salaries.
BBC News - Teaching profession 'under-rated'
February 25, 2010
5 Ways To Work With Resistant Teachers
Contrary to what some believe out there, I don't 'like' everyone. There are people who make it very difficult at times to achieve the goals I have for inspiring and supporting teachers and learners in my school. However, as much as there are difficulties with them, those who are challenging to our best efforts often provide an opportunity for us to put forward better and more effective work. It may not always be apparent to us in the moment, but adversity inspires creativity and encourages alternative perspectives. With that in mind, here are some of the ideas I utilize in working with some of my peers who may not always be 'on the same track' as I am.
5 Ways To Work With Resistant Teachers {Professional Learning} « Adventures in Teaching and Learning
The Five eLearning Components
There are five eLearning Components that are essential for all successful online courses. Understanding these components will help you design and develop a course that meets computer-based training objectives. The diagram above illustrates how these components are connected. Each elearning component plays an important role in designing an online course. Among all of the components, none plays a larger role than the Audience.
Catholic schools to allow gadgets
Rather than creating a blanket ban, the new policy anticipates that students will want to use to their own personal computer devices -- such as iPhones, net-books, BlackBerrys, laptops and tablet computers -- and will want to access the school's Internet networks, she said.
Catholic schools to allow gadgets - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA
Why Are Online Degrees So Freaking Respectable?
If you are thinking about online learning courses, you may be surprised to find the large variety of programs and courses that are now being offered. The available programs range from short certificate courses to full accredited masters and doctoral degree programs. But exactly what changes can acquiring an online education bring to your life and how does the availability of online education give you the chance to further your education?
Elearning - Why Are Online Degrees So Freaking Respectable?
Cuts force schools to drop science subjects
GOVERNMENT plans for the smart economy have been dealt a serious blow as secondary schools are dropping physics and chemistry.
One in five principals say they have already given up physics or are considering dropping the subject, while one in seven have said the same about chemistry.
Cuts force schools to drop science subjects -
Latest News, Education - Independent.ie
Google facts and figures (massive infographic)
Google has perhaps more than any other company become "The Internet Company." It's grown hand in hand with the internet and its entire business model has from the start been totally focused on the internet as a delivery platform.
And let's face it, Google is a pretty interesting company. In fact, we think it's so interesting that we put together this infographic with a ton of facts and figures about Google. We've been digging through Google's SEC filings, news articles and the trusty old Wikipedia to get plenty of interesting data to include. We hope you like it!
Google facts and figures (massive infographic) - Self Generated Content
FCC survey shows need to teach internet basics
FCC survey shows need to teach internet basics, 46 percent of Americans without broadband access think the web is too dangerous for children
FCC survey shows need to teach internet basics | eSchoolNews.com
February 24, 2010
Social Media
Optimisation and social media are all buzz words within the online marketing media. Social networking has been in the news markedly of late. Some have even been lead to remark do people socialise in reality any more or is it all done online? You Tube, Facebook, Del-icio.us, Twitter, My Space the list goes on. All of these give you a 'presence' in the virtual world. More and more people are using the social media route to optimize and advertise their presence through the internet.
Executive Virtual Consultancy Ltd - Social Media
A Vote to Fire All Teachers at a Failing High School
A plan to dismiss the entire faculty and staff of the only public high school in this small city just west of the Massachusetts border was approved Tuesday night at an emotional public meeting of the school board.
A Vote to Fire All Teachers at a Failing High School - NYTimes.com
Blogging About Virtual Schools
Blogging About Virtual Schools « Virtual High School Meanderings
February 23, 2010
21st Century Learning: You can't be my teacher.
I love the comments,
It amazes me that many teachers have skipped the message and talk about how rude it is for a student to think they have a right to evaluate them as teachers. Any teacher that does not think they are being evaluated by their students have never been in a large school where students have the ability to change their course schedule based on who is teaching what courses. The days of automatic respect from students for teachers is gone, teachers must earn the students respect. In the future students are going to be more and more mobile due to the way distance education has the ability to remove the barrier of distance and offer a wider number of options. Options which students will choose if their current educational environment does not provide them with what they need. Whether it being the use of technology, delivery technique or style student will choose the education of their choice. The video was scripted by myself and the actor used is actually very respectful of formal education and of his teachers. The video was designed to start a discussion, unfortunately many teachers rather than discussing the message or accepting the challenge talk about the way the message was delivered...interesting...I wish I knew why it was so hard for education to change????
From the number of sites that has linked this video I would say that it has served it's purpose of starting discussion.
21st Century Learning: You can't be my teacher.
You Can't Be My Teacher - Summit PD
You Can't Be My Teacher « technoLanguages
Educational Technology Blot Spot: Are you my teacher?
You can't be my teacher. « Malcolm Bellamy's Learning Blog
Nancy Adamson Cavanaugh -: Listen to the voice of a digital native
You can't be my teacher. - Missouri Educator Community
February 21, 2010
The safe use of new technologies
This report is based on evidence from a small-scale survey carried out between April
and July 2009 in 35 maintained schools in England. It evaluates the extent to which
the schools taught pupils to adopt safe and responsible practices in using new
technologies, and how they achieved this. It also assesses the extent and quality of
the training the schools provided for their staff. It responds to the report of the
Byron Review, Safer children in a digital world.
Teachers post with care on Facebook
And just in case they need reminding of the possible consequences of inappropriate postings on Facebook or Myspace, she says administrators and principals will bring up cases from other counties. "We use those as examples of what can happen," she says.
Teachers post with care on Facebook | Salisbury, NC - Salisbury Post
February 20, 2010
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
February 19, 2010
The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution...
ust published in February 2010 -- this excellent 9-page brief titled, "The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education" is written by Governor Bob Wise of the Alliance for Excellent Education and outlines the ways online learning is a solution to the major challenges in K-12 education today and looking ahead.
Webcams gone wrong: School sued for remote activation
Here's one from the "Seriously, you didn't think this was a bad idea?" files: the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, has been accused of remotely activating the webcams in its students' laptops issued through their 1:1 program without the students' knowledge or consent. While the case has yet to see a courtroom, it looks to be ugly for the school district and potentially detrimental to other 1:1 programs nationwide.
Webcams gone wrong: School sued for remote activation | Education IT
| ZDNet.com
February 17, 2010
First School System In Idaho To Require Online Learning
First school in Idaho history to require online learning
Sugar-Salem puts priority in 21st century learning
Madison County, ID - In a historic move, the Sugar-Salem School District becomes the first in Idaho to mandate online learning as a requirement for high school graduation.
Beginning next school year, in partnership with Idaho Digital Learning (IDLA), all students graduating in 2013, or later, must complete one online credit to graduate.
The Fears of Abolishing Grading
Even if you can rationalize why we must abolish grading and how we replace grading with something far more supportive of student learning and school improvement, there are some fears you must face before moving forward.
For the Love of Learning: The Fears of Abolishing Grading
February 16, 2010
Facebook gripes protected by free speech
A former Florida high school student who was suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher is protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate ruled.
U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber's ruling, in a case viewed as important by Internet watchers, denied the principal's motion to dismiss the case and allows a lawsuit by the student to move forward.
Facebook gripes protected by free speech, ruling says - CNN.com
Series: A Feel Good Survey
In the meantime, another series from Darren and the folks at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School that he posted at Teaching and Developing Online. Essentially, Darren asked the students at SCCS to finish a series of sentences and then posted the results:
Series: A Feel Good Survey « Virtual High School Meanderings
A Roadmap for Building an E-Learning Course » The Rapid eLearning Blog
When we're new and just getting started with elearning, we need templates and project plans to guide us. On the other hand, experienced developers rely less on those resources because they have more experience and a deeper understanding of what it takes to create an elearning course.
A Roadmap for Building an E-Learning Course » The Rapid eLearning Blog
February 15, 2010
Five "Honorees" of Bunkum Awards
State education agencies and local school districts are increasingly asked to make evidence-based decisions about school reform initiatives, often assuming that all evidentiary claims are the result of high-quality research. Unfortunately, much of the evidence offered in policy debates is based on research reports that have bypassed the quality control mechanisms of academic research.
In an effort to help education policy makers separate the wheat from the chaff, expert third party reviews are provided by the Think Tank Review Project, a collaboration of the Education and Public Interest Center (EPIC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University. Each year the reports identified by experts as the worst of the worst are awarded a "Bunkum." The Think Tank Review Project today announced five "honorees" for 2009.
do we have to teach naked?
Call them the gamer generation, millennials, or digital natives, but computer-savvy (or at the very least, connected and techno-curious) kids in higher educational classrooms today use, and expect their profs to use, digital technology to communicate and teach. And for the most part, they are underwhelmed with the low levels of edtech uptake and digital literacy of their profs. The feeling goes both ways of course, professors claiming that, beyond facebook and texting, students are not digital wizards with mad skillz, far from it in fact, despite many claims to the contrary.
Wi-Fi-Equipped School Bus
Putting a mobile Internet router on a yellow school bus has transformed a crowd of rowdy, bored teens into a quiet and well-behaved flock of studious students. That experiment at the Empire High School outside of Tucson, Arizona may soon replicate itself in school districts all across the nation, the New York Times reports.
Characteristics of a Master eLearning Leader
An eLearning leader must not be the typical 'corporate' type. His/her expertise is not founded on the principles others in management may have; rather, his/her expertise is founded in education. Click to see the others
Characteristics of a Master eLearning Leader « baldTrainer: New Beginnings
February 14, 2010
Tech-savvy 'iGeneration' kids multi-task, connect
Move over, Millennials. You're not the younger generation anymore.
For the past decade, you were the ones to watch. But now, as the eldest among you are fast approaching 30, there's a new group just begging for some attention. They're still kids, and although there's a lot the experts don't yet know about them, one thing they do agree on is that what kids use and expect from their world has changed rapidly.
And it's all because of technology.
Tech-savvy 'iGeneration' kids multi-task, connect - USATODAY.com
February 13, 2010
Trends and Changes in Education
The education industry is entering into a time of unprecedented change brought on in-part by the tight economy, demands of the consumer, and a growing awareness for the need to educate youth to be 21st century learners that compete in a global economy. Here is a short list of some changes that I believe are undeniably taking place:
Sevenstar News Brief « Virtual High School Meanderings
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
Predictors of Success for Adult Online Learners
As an adjunct professor for an online-only graduate school course, I have found myself contemplating the retention rate of adult e-learners.
What are the predictors of adult students' success in online learning environments? Is there a difference in undergraduate versus graduate online learners and their motivations? Does age play a factor? Do the course's characteristics have an impact on performance and learner satisfaction? What are the implications of these findings for online instructors, and how could that affect their practices and approaches to retaining students in the future?
Here, I examine what the literature says about these questions.
February 9, 2010
The New School of Google
Our parents could never have guessed what kind of world our generation would encounter; the fate of our children is even less certain. We don't know what answers they will need to seek out -- those facts might not even exist yet. We don't even know the questions they will have to ask. There is no worksheet or textbook that will prepare them for what lays ahead.
The Tyee -- The New School of Google
Are You An Internet Optimist or Pessimist?
The impact of technological change on culture, learning, and morality has long been the subject of intense debate, and every technological revolution brings out a fresh crop of both pessimists and pollyannas. Indeed, a familiar cycle has repeat itself throughout history whenever new modes of production (from mechanized agriculture to assembly-line production), means of transportation (water, rail, road, or air), energy production processes (steam, electric, nuclear), medical breakthroughs (vaccination, surgery, cloning), or communications techniques (telegraph, telephone, radio, television) have appeared on the scene.
Are You An Internet Optimist or Pessimist? The Great Debate over Technology's Impact on Society
February 7, 2010
What is the Future of Teaching?
According to the New York Times Bits blog, a recent study funded by the US Department of Education (PDF) found that on the whole, online learning environments actually led to higher tested performance than face-to-face learning environments. "On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction," concluded the report's authors in their key findings.
The report looked at just under one hundred studies that compared the performance of students in online learning environments (or courses with an online study component) to those who were given strictly face-to-face instruction for the same courses. What they found was that students who completed all or some of their coursework online tested on average in the 59th percentile, compared to the 50th percentile for those who received only classroom instruction, and that the results are statistically significant.
What is the Future of Teaching?
February 6, 2010
LMS = Losing My Smile
Every time I see a report that shows what an organization can expect to spend on an LMS (learning management system), I lose my smile. Worse, I want to hang my head and weep.
LMS = Losing My Smile « aLearning Blog
10 Ways To Learn In 2010
Wow. There are so many cool ways to learn online now. The whole world is a school. This list is meant for continuous learners and for procrastinators looking for distractions in the coming year.
10 Ways To Learn In 2010: The eLearning Coach
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
February 5, 2010
Attention, Gates: Here's What Makes a Great Teacher
So, Bill and Melinda, listen up. Here are 10 qualities of a great teacher: (1) has a sense of humor; (2) is intuitive; (3) knows the subject matter; (4) listens well; (5) is articulate; (6) has an obsessive/compulsive side; (7) can be subversive; (8) is arrogant enough to be fearless; (9) has a performer's instincts; (10) is a real taskmaster.
Education Week: Attention, Gates: Here's What Makes a Great Teacher
Kids' heavy use of technology undermines learning
BlackBerrys, iPods, texting, high-definition TV, Kindle book readers and MP3 players. All of these were virtually unheard of just a few short years ago and now they are commonplace. It shows just how quickly technology changes and the extent to which it can dominate, and interfere with, our lives.
Guest column: Kids' heavy use of technology undermines learning
February 4, 2010
State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic [PIC]
The focus is on exactly who uses the Internet, and how often. It breaks things down by gender, age, income level, and nationality. It even serves up average broadband speeds for both landline and mobile users at the bottom. Some of this stuff surprised us a bit -- For example, desktop computers are still much more common than laptops. You wouldn't guess that in day-to-day life in the developed world -- at least not when it comes to personal use.
State of the Internet Explained In One Giant Infographic [PIC]
Public Art Lands Photog in Hot Water
In February 2008, Seattle-based photographer Mike Hipple received a letter from the lawyers of sculptor Jack Mackie that one of his stock photographs infringed upon Mackie's copyright. Shown above, the photograph includes a portion of Mackie's "Dance Steps on Broadway", a public art piece created in 1979 with public funds.
Public Art Lands Photog in Hot Water
Supporting Online Faculty - Revisiting the Seven Principles (A Few Years Later)
Since 2005, the landscape of online teaching and learning has changed as well as the landscape of the academy, and continues to transform before our eyes. These changes are not only a product of technological innovation, but also a result of new and reconceptualized values of higher education, and so we must reexamine what changes to faculty role, position and perspectives best support these new values. Drawing on the Seven Principles of Good Practice, this article visits the need for effective faculty support and development in online education. Online education has forever transformed higher education, and we are learning that quality requires flexibility and the ability to adapt to the changing demands of learners, the new promises of technology, and the new competitive landscape of higher education. If higher education is to remain competitive, we must refocus and redesign our paradigms, as well as design business processes that integrate with quality assurance models.
Supporting Online Faculty - Revisiting the Seven Principles (A Few Years Later)
Adults ruined blogs for kids, study shows
A study released this week by the the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project shows that teens have pulled back on their blog use in the past couple of years, while use by adults has remained steady. The numbers break down like this: In 2006, 28 percent of teens said they blogged regularly. In 2009, by comparison, that number dropped to 18 percent.
Adults ruined blogs for kids, study shows / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
50 Brain Facts Every Educator Should Know
The brain is perhaps the most fascinating organ in the human body. It controls everything from breathing to emotions to learning. If you work with children, here are some facts that you might find helpful, from how the brain affects learning to facts about memory to interesting facts about the brain that you can share with your students.
50 Brain Facts Every Educator Should Know | Associate Degree - Facts and Information
Social Media and Young Adults
Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.
Social Media and Young Adults | Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
February 3, 2010
Evaluating the Effectiveness of e-Learning
We generally assume that technology enhances education, and often have anecdotal evidence in support of this. But how much concrete evidence do we have? Given the costs associated with acquiring and using educational technologies, I think this is a question worth asking.
RSC Wales Teaching and Learning Blog
February 2, 2010
Colleges See 17 Percent Increase in Online Enrollment
Colleges saw a 17 percent increase in online enrollment, with more than one in four students taking at least one online course in the fall of 2008, according to the findings of an annual survey published on Tuesday by the Sloan Consortium.
Wired Campus - Colleges See 17 Percent Increase in Online Enrollment
Why E-Learning is So Effective
E-learning is hot. And for good reason. If done right, it can produce great results by decreasing costs and improving performance. Also, unlike a one time classroom session, the elearning course is available for others. This includes the static elearning course as well as any ongoing conversations in networked communities.
Recently, I had a conversation with someone new to elearning and it struck me that she didn't fully understand the value of elearning. I think this is common as more people are joining the world of elearning. Understanding elearning's value helps you make the best decisions about when and why to use it.
Why E-Learning is So Effective » The Rapid eLearning Blog
Virtual School Received $2 Million Donation
The thing that I like most about this donation is that it was given to an online program that focuses upon Canada's aboriginal population. For those of my readers not familiar with Canadian history, while we did not treat our native population quite as poorly as the United States treated their Native Americans, Canadian aboriginals were treated quite bad. Many of the problems that exist in the aboriginal community today are a directly result of government mistreatment and misguided policies.
February 1, 2010
2010 Horizon Report
In each edition of the Horizon Report, six emerging technologies or practices are described that are likely to enter mainstream use on campuses within three adoption horizons spread over the next one to five years. Each report also presents critical
trends and challenges that will affect teaching and learning over the same time frame. In the seven years that the Horizon Project has been underway,more than 400 leaders in the fields of business,industry, technology, and education have contributed to this long-running primary research effort.
January 30, 2010
10 Favorite Quotes on Unlearning
Unlearning 101: 10 Favorite Quotes on Unlearning
What is the Future of Teaching?
"On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction," concluded the report's authors in their key findings.
What is the Future of Teaching?
Cameco gives $2M to virtual school
Initially, the school started as a pilot program to strengthen the delivery of math and science high school courses to remote First Nations and community schools in the province that often had a difficult time attracting qualified teachers for the disciplines, said Hill. Now, Credenda has expanded its course offerings and has branched out to offer business college office administration courses.
Cameco gives $2M to virtual school
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
January 29, 2010
What's on your kids` cell?
Many adults tend to glamorize their childhood days. Selective memorization has a way of recalling only the best of times, often leaving out the emotional struggles, the hurt and heartaches, the lack of being accepted, and the peer-pressure and angst that accompanied our long lost adolescence. Growing up was tough back in the day. News flash: it's no easier for today's youth, especially considering the technology available at every teen's fingertips.
From cyber bullying to sexting (stats and videos): What's on your kids` cell?
The Changing Face of Education in Iowa
The paired statements, by themselves, can generate very quality conversation, but there are a couple of other takeaways from the process of this discussion that I find interesting. I'll touch on those in another post.
Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom
A Winnipeg mother is outraged that her daughter has been labelled a cyberbully and suspended from school after creating a Facebook page about a fellow student.
"This has been blown all out of proportion," the mother said Thursday. "It was not a bullying web page. It had no comments made by the child (her daughter) who created it."
Girl not a bully, shouldn't have been suspended, says mom - Winnipeg Free Press
January 28, 2010
Educators Inclined More Toward Digital Content
PreK-12 teachers throughout the United States are making significant progress in the adoption and integration of digital media and Internet use in their curricula. "Digitally Inclined," a research report and survey compiled for PBS by Grunwald Associates, showed a number of encouraging trends in the use of digital content to make classroom instruction more engaging while making individualized instruction more effective.
Educators Inclined More Toward Digital Content -- THE Journal
Most College Students To Take Classes Online by 2014
Nearly 12 million post-secondary students in the United States take some or all of their classes online right now. But this number will skyrocket to more than 22 million in the next five years, according to data released recently by research firm Ambient Insight.
Most College Students To Take Classes Online by 2014 -- Campus Technology
E-learning: Where do we start? Where is it going?
Is your district considering moving courses to an online format? If you are considering online or blended courses, I would like to offer some tips and suggestions for best practices for transitioning a face to face course to an online course.
E-learning: Where do we start? Where is it going? « Kyle B. Pace
ELearning Isn't What You Think It Is - Not Yet
When you say you're doing elearning what are you doing? The big names talk about how web 2.0 is turning courses on their heads.
Cammy Bean's Learning Visions: Allison Rossett: ELearning Isn't What You Think It Is - Not Yet #tk10
4 Reasons iPad Will Kill the Kindle, 4 Reasons It Won't
"Uh-oh," is the reaction we can imagine Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had when watching today's unveiling of the eagerly awaited Apple iPad tablet. The new Apple device looks, at least upon first glance, like it will completely eat Amazon's lunch. In fact, Steve Jobs even eulogized the Kindle in his unveiling.
4 Reasons iPad Will Kill the Kindle, 4 Reasons It Won't
January 27, 2010
21 Things That Will Become Obsolete
Last night I read and posted the clip on '21 Things That Became Obsolete in the Last Decade'. Well, just for kicks, I put together my own list of '21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020'.
TeachPaperless: 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020
Apple - iPad - The best way to experience the web, email, & photos
I want one...I want one.
Apple - iPad - The best way to experience the web, email, & photos
January 26, 2010
Educators Must Be Professional
What is a professional? A professional is someone with expertise in a specialized field. It is an individual who not only has pursued advanced knowledge to enter the field but who expects to remain current in their evolving knowledge base.
Educators Must Accept the Challenge
to Be Professional
U.S. school bans the dictionary
A Southern California school board has pulled the Merriam-Webster dictionary off its shelves after a parent complained about the entry "oral sex."
The collegiate-level dictionary was being used in grade four and five classrooms. The school now promises to begin a thorough scouring of the dictionary for other offensive entries.
U.S. school bans the dictionary - thestar.com
Tapscott: Digital natives need tech-rich education
The nation is at a turning point, Tapscott said, and many institutions that have served us well for decades or even centuries--including education--have come to the end of their life cycle and must be "rebooted" or reinvented for a new age.
Tapscott: Digital natives need tech-rich education | eSchoolNews.com
January 22, 2010
Blogging About Virtual Schooling
Beginning once again with the thematic entries. Virtual High School Meanderings includes in this article... News, Opinions commentaries, Teacher Preparation, Virtual School symposiums and then Regional news...check it out.
Blogging About Virtual Schooling
January 17, 2010
Test your brain
Below you have our selection of the Top 50 Brain Teasers and Games that people have enjoyed the most in our blog. It is always good to learn about our brains and to exercise them!.
January 15, 2010
15 Ways to Promote eLearning Programs
This is exactly what the title says.
All About Contents of Internet: 15 Ways to Promote eLearning Programs
January 13, 2010
10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success
Distance learning students must take a far more active role in learning and accessing information than traditional students in face-to-face classrooms. Written messages or posts from the professor and classmates replace other means of direct communication, and course materials are posted online. Rather than simply sitting through a class and jotting notes, you must take the initiative to download and read lectures and course materials.
As a distance learning student, you will find that being pro-active and engaged in your personal learning experience will pay off in good grades and depth of learning.
eLearn: Best Practices
- 10 Ways to Ensure Distance Learning Success
Walnut school adds iPod touch to three Rs
With their headphones and iPod Touch machines on, Beatrice Azanza's 20 third grade students were geared up for an afternoon of reading and math.
Textbooks haven't gone away in her class, but high-tech gadgets like the iPod Touch are making Azanza's teaching life at Oswalt Academy a little easier.
Walnut school adds iPod touch to three Rs - SGVTribune.com
Today's kindergartners, tomorrow's workforce
Today's kindergartners will retire around 2075. They will likely look back at 2010 as a quaint time, the way many of us remember the time before VCRs, color television and the Internet. Now is an important time for us to think about their future: What kind of education will be meaningful to them and ensure they can adapt and succeed right up to their retirement?
Education Insights : Today's kindergartners, tomorrow's workforce
Microsoft And HP Invest $250 Million In Joint Cloud Computing Venture
Yesterday, Microsoft and HP announced a joint call to discuss a significant partnership. Now we know what it is. According to another announcement issued today, the two tech giants are jointly investing $250 million in a cloud computing venture.
Microsoft And HP Invest $250 Million In Joint Cloud Computing Venture
January 12, 2010
Can learning online be a more 'human' experience
Let me start by saying "I definitely think so"!
Well, I have started this blog to hopefully generate some interesting discussion about the issues surrounding the design, implementation and management of innovative, successful and appropriate online learning and teaching strategies for teachers today. This is my first post!
I have been teaching collaborative design related courses online for about 8 years now, and it has been a constant learning curve. However I have to say that my most rewarding teaching and learning experiences have been online, and if my students are telling the truth, the same can be said for many of them.
21st Century Learning
I like the comments, the goal behind any posting is to start discussion and this one was interesting... Thanks
The Internet « 21st Century Learning
January 11, 2010
The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s
But these are also technology tools that children even 10 years older did not grow up with, and I've begun to think that my daughter's generation will also be utterly unlike those that preceded it.
The Children of Cyberspace: Old Fogies by Their 20s - NYTimes.com
Computers are dumb - make smarter e-Learning
Computers are dumb, which can make your e-Learning dumb. What can you do about it?
Computers are dumb - make smarter e-Learning « The Usable Learning Blog
Technology Leadership: Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change, an Article Summary
The body of evidence shows that the existence of scalable and sustainable effects from educational changes, innovations, and reforms - technological or otherwise- although frequently assumed remain an unrealized goal within education. - Weston & Bain, 2010, p.9
In the article, "The End of Techno-Critique: The Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change," the authors present key themes that have emerged from criticism regarding 1:1 laptop initiatives over the last decade based on arguments presented by Larry Cuban (Weston & Bain, 2010). One of the "naked truth" arguments in the article refers to the results from 1:1 initiatives and how these results fall short of the expectations for increased student achievement and better teaching and learning. Another naked truth is that "innovative teaching is the best source for sustainable and scalable achievement gains" (p.7).
Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven
Here and across the country, the traditional chalkboards that have been teachers' primary tool for presenting content for more than two centuries are quickly being erased from classrooms. As educators look for ways to present subject matter in more engaging ways that also develop some of the technical skills students need to succeed in the high-tech workplace, more and more administrators and parent-teacher organizations are purchasing interactive whiteboards for their schools.
Education Week's Digital Directions: Whiteboards' Impact on Teaching Seen as Uneven
The 'seven deadly sins' of e-learning
Twitter, Moodle and Ning get you excited about learning, and blogs, wikis and RFIDs are common terms in your vocabulary. Visiting a virtual world is the norm, and you can't understand why your colleagues don't jump on board the e-learning super highway immediately.
Well, according to Dr Karen Becker, a lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology with a PhD in 'Unlearning in the Workplace', many people need to unlearn past behaviours before they can accept that e-learning is a powerful teaching and learning tool.
Unlearning involves breaking down what you think you know, opening up your mind to new concepts and then relearning over time. And it's something many people find difficult to do.
One of the biggest issues with introducing e-learning in education and training is the manner in which it is debated, applied and evaluated within the learning environment. Here, Dr Becker tells us how to avoid committing the 'seven deadly sins of e-learning'.
The 'seven deadly sins' of e-learning | Australian Flexible Learning Framework
3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology
The modern American school faces rough challenges. Budget cuts have caused ballooning class sizes, many teachers struggle with poorly motivated students, and in many schools a war is being waged on distracting technologies. In response, innovative educators are embracing social media to fight back against the onslaught of problems. Technologies such as Twitter and Skype offer ideal solutions as inexpensive tools of team-based education.
3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology
January 10, 2010
Practice what you teach
Walt Saito, who taught math at Burlingame High School for over thirty years, took the train to work every day so he could "do problems" as he said at his retirement some years ago. He did the problems "just for the fun of it." He apparently also spent the weekend creating--and solving--more problems. Nothing was more fun to him.
Jim Burke: The English Teacher's Companion: Practice what you teach
A Charter for Change in Education
This Charter has been written by educational researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is a response to the momentous and turbulent changes of our time--a time when we need more education, everyone agrees, but as we will argue here, not more of the same.
Introduction - New Learning: A Charter for Change in Education
January 9, 2010
Twitter in Action
I was reminded a couple of times this week of the power of collaboration that makes teachers part of such a special group. With the connections that Twitter provides, and the innate desires of teachers to be helpful, Twitter can really be a powerful tool.
Twitter in Action « doug - off the record
Teachers Should Be Seen and Not Heard
I am a fly on the wall sitting at a table. Seated at a round table are three state governors, one state senator, a Harvard professor and author, and a strange little man who assumes the role of group moderator. The strange little man asks the group to talk about their experiences at the education conference. The ex governor from the South begins to talk about how the traditional school model is not working and the problem of too many teachers who do not understand what they teach. Teachers, he complains, are not prepared to teach in 21st century classrooms because they possess, in his words, "only 20th century skills." He does not provide specific examples or elaborate upon his theory but the other guests at the table nod their heads in agreement.
Teachers Should Be Seen and Not Heard - Road Diaries: Teacher of the Year - Education Week Teacher
Virtual Schooling In The News
Virtual Schooling In The News « Virtual High School Meanderings
January 7, 2010
The End of Techno-Critique:
This analysis responds to a generation of criticism leveled at 1:1 laptop computer
initiatives. The article presents a review of the key themes of that criticism and offers
suggestions for reframing the conversation about 1:1 computing among advocates and
critics. Efforts at changing, innovating, and reforming education provide the context for
reframing the conversation. Within that context, we raise questions about what classrooms
and schools need to look and be like in order to realize the advantages of 1:1
computing. In doing so, we present a theoretical vision for self-organizing schools in
which laptop computers or other such devices are essential tools.
The End of Techno-Critique: The Naked Truth about 1:1 Laptop Initiatives and Educational Change
Top Fifteen Virtual Schooling Books
I got the inspiration for this feature from Dangerously Irrelevant - who about a month ago posted entries on Top 10 K12 Online 2008 podcasts for busy school administrators and Top 20 TED Talks podcasts for busy school administrators. Based upon this, and since it was kind of similar to the Top 5 Virtual Schooling Must Reads that I have done from time to time, I thought it might be nice to have a monthly "Top #" posting.
Top Fifteen Virtual Schooling Books « Virtual High School Meanderings
January 6, 2010
Answering the Socialization Question
Over the years I have discovered that some advantages of virtual learning are easier for people to grasp than others. Personalized learning, challenging and diverse curriculum, specialized teachers, and alternative scheduling--most people can understand these benefits. The socialization factor, however, draws many blank stares and more questions.
Virtual Learning Connections > Answering the Socialization Question
How different should 21st century learning be?
The heart of Mcleod's argument is that this kind of teacher-directed learning was born in an age where knowledge was concentrated in the hands of a few and where those few had to impart that knowledge through these traditional means to students. Now that information is ubiquitous, and literally everyone has access to means of communicating with potentially thousands, even millions of people, we need to change schools, curricula, and teaching to adapt to the changing technology and ease of access to information of all kinds.
Flypaper: Education reform ideas that stick, from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Teachers Becoming More "Digitally Inclined"
According to a new report, "Digitally Inclined," released by PBS, teachers are making significant progress in adopting digital media and Internet use. These findings clearly signal widespread changes in both early childhood and K-12 education, including more effective individualized instruction.
Teachers Becoming More "Digitally Inclined"
Schools addressing cyber, traditional bullying
Bullying has taken on a new face in schools across America in recent years. The availability of cellular phones, and laptop and desktop computers have opened up a generation of students to a whole new form of abuse -- cyber bullying.
Schools addressing cyber, traditional bullying
January 5, 2010
The Advantages of eLearning
In the 21st century, people have to learn more than ever before. Especially for global organizations, live classroom-based training is becoming too costly and cumbersome. Even if employees had the time to attend all the courses and seminars and to read all the books and reports they should to remain up-to-date in their area of work, the cost of such learning would be prohibitive. The need to transform how organizations learn points to a more modern, efficient, and flexible alternative: eLearning. The mission of corporate eLearning is to supply the workforce with an up-to-date and cost-effective program that yields motivated, skilled, and loyal knowledge workers.
The Advantages of eLearning | eLearning Brothers
What Makes a Great Teacher?
For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can't. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data.
What Makes a Great Teacher? - The Atlantic
(January/February 2010)
Why Schools Should Learn To Use Online Services Like Facebook & YouTube Rather Than Banning Them
So it's nice to see a sensible opinion piece in Slate arguing that rather than ban or block social online services like Facebook and YouTube, schools should be embracing them and looking for ways to incorporate them into the learning process. There are a variety of strong arguments for why this makes sense, but two that stick out:
"you were born ugly and youl die ugly too"
Cyber-bullying increasingly is becoming a problem for students, educators and policy makers. In this paper, we consider cyber-bullying as a form of relational aggression; that is, behaviour designed to damage, harm or disrupt friendship or inter-personal relationships through covert means. We draw on the findings from a study of students in grades 6 through 9, conducted in five schools, in a large ethnically diverse metropolitan region of British Columbia, Canada, to demonstrate the inter-connection between cyber-bullying and relational aggression. Consistent with the relational aggression framework, girls were found more likely than boys to participate in these behaviours. We conclude that intervention strategies should consider gender differences and also aim at changing the trajectory of relational aggression to providing relational support and care.
"you were born ugly and youl die ugly too": Cyber-bullying as relational aggression | in education
January 4, 2010
Why Teachers are Reluctant to Use Technology
There's no doubt that education without technology is unthinkable in today's world, so when we come across teachers who are still reluctant to use technology in the classroom to augment and add to their teaching experience, we wonder why. But if you think a little harder and try to understand why their reluctance comes to the fore, you'll know that it is because:
Why Teachers are Reluctant to Use Technology
10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling
Just as it says...neat.
10 Words You Need to Stop Misspelling - The Oatmeal
Five New Year's resolutions for Google
In general, most New Year's resolutions tend to last as long as the NFL playoffs. But those who enter the year working for the world's most ambitious technology company won't have that luxury.
Google enters its 12th year as an information and financial powerhouse, holding claim to perhaps the most enviable position on the Internet and worming its way into all sorts of businesses that Internet companies have traditionally avoided. The company shows little sign of slowing down its innovation engine, but as a result of that pace faces competitive threats like never before from other giants of the technology and media worlds.
What should Google leaders Eric Schmidt, Sergey Brin, and Larry Page focus on in 2010? Here are five suggestions:
Five New Year's resolutions for Google | Relevant Results - CNET News
What Every Teacher Needs to Know About Google
Almost every teacher is aware of Google; however, its power rests in its use as a search engine for text-matching techniques when searching the Internet. Of even more importance is all the tools available for use in educational settings to support teaching and learning. As with all online tools the key to success is when teachers are aware of a few tips and tricks to maximize a tool's potential.
My Top 20 Education Quotes from 2009
These quotes have been valuable to me and I hope they will be to other innovative educators as well. I don't recall where I heard most of them (or even if it was me who said some of them), so I cited none of them. Oprah, The Element, Geoff Canada, and Alan November's BLC conference in Boston were inspirations for several. Feel free to Google if you are trying to locate the source, or leave a comment with a source you know.
The Innovative Educator: My Top 20 Education Quotes from 2009
16 Apps That Make Sharing Large Files A Snap
So why would you use an file-sharing app anyway? Actually for many reasons: for larger files, for privacy, multiple files, file format support, and more.
In this post, I compare 16 file-sharing services. I took three main issues under consideration when creating the comprehensive app list below: Free, Fast, and Useful . .
16 Apps That Make Sharing Large Files A Snap
3 Ways, Other Than Skype, to Bring Experts Into Class
Bringing experts into your classroom via video conferencing can be an excellent enhancement to your students' learning experiences. Video conferencing can also be used to connect classrooms in a 21st century version of penpal exchanges. Skype is the most common tool for making these connections and for good reason Skype is the most popular video conferencing application. It's easy to use and free for most uses. The only drawback to Skype is that you and the person you want to talk with must have Skype installed on the computers you are using. The following are three other ways to video conference without using Skype.
Free Technology for Teachers: 3 Ways, Other Than Skype, to Bring Experts Into Class
10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About
Youtube - You know that site with videos and all. Yeah! It turns out that its quite popular and you happen to visit and use it quite often. Instead of just searching and playing here are some top Youtube URL tricks that you should know about:
10 Youtube URL Tricks You Should Know About
5 Ways to Reduce Your Anxiety in 2010
Looking back on 2009, we've written quite a bit on the topic of being overwhelmed and anxious. It's no surprise given the current economic climate and the exponential expansion of anywhere-anytime information feeds - Twitter, Facebook, etc - that make sure we have always have more, more, more to process and respond to.
So what to do? We've rounded up five of our favorite pieces on pushing back against anxiety-inducing approaches to workflow, over-analyzing your web analytics, over-committing yourself, and under-nourishing your body.
5 Ways to Reduce Your Anxiety in 2010 : Managing :: American Express OPEN Forum
January 3, 2010
The Replacements
This has nothing to do with elearning, but having spent time in the classroom I found it interesting...
Over the next two years, I would learn -- as I subbed once a week for a variety of classes, including kindergarten, sixth grade, middle-school social studies, high-school chemistry, phys ed, art, Spanish, and English as a second language.
Op-Ed Contributor - The Replacements - NYTimes.com
December 29, 2009
10 reasons why e-readers make sense in the enterprise
In case you haven't heard, e-readers are making an impact. They've been around for some time, but only now (thanks, in part, to Amazon's Kindle) are they being taken seriously. The e-readers' biggest fan is the avid reader, but this doesn't have to (and most likely won't) be the case for long. Enterprises should start deploying e-readers to certain staff/users. Why? There are many reasons -- several of which directly affect the bottom line.
But why, exactly, should your company adopt e-readers? Here are 10 good reasons for the switch.
10 reasons why e-readers make sense in the enterprise | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com
December 18, 2009
50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation
As your organization gears up for 2010, here are 50 ways to ensure that it's culture is conducive to innovation. Commit to a few of these today and begin to work your magic.
The Heart of Innovation: 50 Ways to Foster a Culture of Innovation
What You Watched and Searched for on YouTube in 2009
This year has been the biggest yet for online video, and for the first time we're sharing our official Most Watched lists and some of the fastest-rising search terms on YouTube. Some moments were big (President Obama's inauguration), some small (a Minnesota wedding party erupts into dance), some expected ("New Moon"), some surprising (Susan Boyle) -- but all of them inspired, entertained and connected millions of people around the world via YouTube.
YouTube Blog: What You Watched and Searched for on YouTube in 2009
December 17, 2009
Heads in the Cloud
Over the last couple of years, the term "Cloud Computing" has been buzzing around in the techie world. Inevitably, it buzzes into the education world at some point. And yes, it's starting to cause a bit of a stir. Today a principal from Co. Meath impressed me greatly when he suggested that another of his colleagues try it out. So what is cloud computing and why should Irish schools care?
Heads in the Cloud | anseo.net
Sir Ken Robinson and Thinkers Vs. Doers
Many times, I feel like I hear "great minds" talk about all of the problems with education. They point out the deficiencies in the system and where schools and bureaucracies are screwing up. Very seldom do I hear a practical solution.
Sir Ken Robinson and Thinkers Vs. Doers « Epic Epoch
December 16, 2009
A day in the Internet
Some of us never realize how huge the internet really is. Let's take a look at a few statistics for an average day on the internet and see how big these numbers really are...
social-media-count_full.jpg (1111×3608)
December 14, 2009
Google Teacher Academy DC Overview
Ten Things Google Has Found to Be True...
- Focus on the student and all else will follow.
- It's best to teach a few things really, really well.
- Fast is better than slow.
- Democracy in the classroom works.
- You don't need to be at school to need an answer.
- You can teach without doing evil.
- There's always more information out there.
- The need for information crosses all borders.
- You can be serious without a suit.
- Great just isn't good enough.
Mark Wagner, Ph.D., CUE told us this at the Google Teacher Academy Washington DC.
December 11, 2009
Brain Rules: worth a thousand words
When it comes to memory, researchers have known for more than 100 years that pictures and text follow very different rules. Put simply,the more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognized--and recalled. The phenomenon is so pervasive, it has been given its own name: the pictorial superiority effect, or PSE.
Brain Rules: worth a thousand words
December 7, 2009
Four Quadrants of Innovation
Building on that, I wanted a framework for delineating innovations based on their technology and business impacts. Because they're not necessarily the same. The four quadrants below describe the dynamics for innovations according to their technology and market impacts:
Blogging Innovation: Four Quadrants of Innovation - Latest innovation articles, videos, and insights
Grim Google
"Well, did you 'Google' your symptoms?" I asked with sincerity.
His female companion jumped in and answered for him. "Yeah, he did. Yesterday. And since then that's all I've heard about--'I'm dying,' 'I'm not gonna see my kid be born,' 'Why me?'."
Learning From Online
Most professors agree that more work goes into designing an online course than a face-to-face one. But if those professors are interested in improving their teaching skills, it might be worth the extra effort.
So say researchers at Purdue University at Calumet, who believe that learning how to do distance education properly can make professors better at designing and administering their classroom-based courses.
"Most of the professors who teach at the university level have had no experience with pedagogy or instruction in general," says Janet Buckenmeyer, chair of the instructional technology master's program at Calumet. "They're content experts, not teaching experts."
News: Learning From Online - Inside Higher Ed
December 4, 2009
Study: Children Who Blog Or Use Facebook Have Higher Literacy Levels
A research by The National Literacy Trust on 3,001 children from England and Scotland showed that schoolchildren who blog or own social networking profiles on Facebook have higher literacy levels and greater confidence in writing.
Study: Children Who Blog Or Use Facebook Have Higher Literacy Levels
December 3, 2009
Series: Time To Quit Assuming
Here is another series from Darren and the folks at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School that he posted at Teaching and Developing Online. I'm pretty sure that Darren started to post this series shortly after I provided some initial thoughts on Darren's initial dissertation idea
Series: Time To Quit Assuming « Virtual High School Meanderings
December 2, 2009
Free CyberSmart! Student Curriculum -- Scope and Sequence
Free CyberSmart! Student Curriculum -- Scope and Sequence
Free CyberSmart! Student Curriculum -- Scope and Sequence
December 1, 2009
Series: Cyber School Videos V
He does such a good job of summarizing our videos at the Cyber school
Series: Cyber School Videos V « Virtual High School Meanderings
November 26, 2009
Not enough school administrators are visionaries? - Dangerously Irrelevant
I wonder if this is the issue with P-12 school leadership. Are most of our school administrators just 'steady-as-she-goes functionaries?' Are they too bland, concerned more with not rocking the boat than they are with facilitating meaningful organizational change? Do we have too many managers and not enough visionaries? If so, is it possible to foster more visionary leaders within our current P-12 organizational and higher education preparation systems or is there no hope unless our systems change? Thoughts?
Not enough school administrators are visionaries? - Dangerously Irrelevant
Developing a Professional Online Presence
Before you make any decisions about your online presence, you should be very clear about your goals: why are you online? Who is your audience, and what do they need to know? Collect and/or list all materials you think are relevant to your online presence and the needs/expectations of your audience. After collecting or listing these materials, decide exactly what you want to illustrate about yourself and select materials that do this. In a
teaching portfolio, this process can be interwoven with writing a teaching statement in which you reflect on and make claims about your teaching and then provide evidence to support your claims. You can write other statements (e.g., research) similarly.
Developing a Professional Online Presence
November 23, 2009
100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom
Facebook isn't just a great way for you to find old friends or learn about what's happening this weekend, it is also an incredible learning tool. Teachers can utilize Facebook for class projects, for enhancing communication, and for engaging students in a manner that might not be entirely possible in traditional classroom settings. Read on to learn how you can be using Facebook in your classroom, no matter if you are a professor, student, working online, or showing up in person for class.
100 Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom | Online College Tips - Online Colleges
E-reader textbooks and students
As Sony's e-book devices vie with the Kindle to win over readers, the real showdown may come later, when a shift to electronic textbooks at schools threatens to eclipse the current market for the products.
Textbooks will be the next frontier for e-reader sellers | StarTribune.com
The benefits of digital textbooks are numerous: they're potentially cheaper, they're better for the environment (at least so long as you don't continually need to upgrade your electronic book reader), they weigh less, they can be updated more easily, and they're more easily searched. But for all that, a number of hurdles still exist.
Digital Textbooks: 3 Reasons Students Aren't Ready
Is there a difference in the way the brain takes in or absorbs information when it is presented electronically versus on paper? Does the reading experience change, from retention to comprehension, depending on the medium?
Does the Brain Like E-Books? - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com
November 22, 2009
Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning
Keeping Pace has several goals. First, it strives to add to the body of knowledge about online education policy and practice and make recommendations for advances. Second, it serves as a reference source for information about programs and policies across the country, both for policymakers and practitioners who are new to online education and for those who have extensive experience in the field. Third, because there has been so much online education activity in the past year, the report attempts to capture new activity.
Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning
November 20, 2009
Teachers discover new ways to ignite love of reading
Penn-Trafford students soon will be scrolling through the electronic pages of a novel rather than flipping through the pages of a printed book.
The district plans to order nearly 100 Kindles, Amazon's handheld electronic reading device (or e-reader) for use in its READ 180 classes, a course for struggling readers in grades three through 12, said Matt Harris, Penn-Trafford's head of student proficiency.
Teachers discover new ways to ignite love of reading - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Parents, teachers share education responsibility
How would your child react to the following statements?
My school offers a quality education.
My community is proud of our school.
I feel I have good communications with my teachers.
I feel like I belong here. I feel safe and liked.
My parents are involved with my teachers and communicate with them.
When children have these attitudes, they have better grades, better school attendance and fewer behavior problems.
Parents, teachers share education responsibility | INFORUM | Fargo, ND
November 13, 2009
A State-by-State Report Card on Ed Innovation
Two years ago, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Center for American Progress, and Frederick M. Hess of the American Enterprise Institute came together to grade the states on school performance. In that first Leaders and Laggards report, we found much to applaud but even more that requires urgent improvement. In this follow-up report, we turn our attention to the future, looking not at how states are performing today, but at what they are doing to prepare themselves for the challenges that lie ahead. Thus, some states with positive academic results receive poor grades on our measures of innovation, while others with lackluster scholarly achievement nevertheless earn high marks for policies that are creating an entrepreneurial culture in their schools. We chose this focus because, regardless of current academic accomplishment in each state, we believe innovative educational practices are vital to laying the groundwork for continuous and transformational change.
Unleash the students
Empowering students to become more responsible for their own learning can boost their confidence and raise the morale of the whole school community with the sharing of new skills and resources.
We are starting to see signs that indicate within five years, students will expect as much control over their online learning environment as teachers.
However, questions may be asked about whether students are being given too much control too soon. While schools should be implementing initial plans now, a step-by-step approach is imperative to ensuring a successful cultural shift in the long term.
It is a journey that Ninestiles School, a secondary school in Birmingham with 1,500 students on roll, has already embarked on with its learning platform.
SecEd | Features | Unleash the students
November 12, 2009
How Web 2.0 has changed the face of education
Young people are reported to spend almost as much time online as they do watching TV, and they are particularly attracted to many Web 2.0 developments, finding the social aspects of easy communication, co-ordination and online expression of personal identities appealing. The speed at which the internet has developed is phenomenal, and the rapid way that young people have taken to Web 2.0 can be challenging to comprehend for those who haven't grown up with it. However, it is vital for teachers, lecturers and parents to really take the time to understand the way students are using the latest technology, and the various unique features of these new services.
Young people regard many Web 2.0 applications, such as social networking, as just another part of their social life, and they are more likely to have learnt these skills from their peers than from parents or teachers. However, these tools, used correctly, could bring huge benefits and support learning in more creative, social and participatory ways.
How Web 2.0 has changed the face of education
November 11, 2009
Lest We Forget
Remembrance Day is the kind of holiday D and I try hard to observe. We decided if the weather was nice we would take the kids to an outdoor service in our old neighborhood. We awoke to the temperature on the + side, so away we went.
In our old neighborhood, the streets are all named after places like Dieppe and Normandy or after war heroes like Merritt. The area was established for war veterans after WWII and so most families who grew up there have a relative who went overseas. For me it was my Step-Dad's father.
When you are young and you learn about the wars, it cannot possibly register unless you have lived through one. The reason why we are so oblivious in our youth is because we are living the peaceful life these men and women fought for us to have.
Why it Doesn't Take a Heartless, Multinational Corporation To Raise a Child.: Lest We Forget
Gritty Teachers
The Journal of Positive Psychology recently put out an article called Positive Predictors of Teacher Effectiveness. In it, the authors suggest that novice teachers working in poor public schools do better if they have certain traits like grit. One of the authors of the paper, UPenn psychology professor Angela Lee Duckworth, has researched the "grit factor" quite a bit and even has a grit scale. So what is grit? Think diligence, ambition, perseverance, an affinity for hard work and high achievement, and an unwillingness to give up or fail.
Gritty Teachers « The Quick and the Ed
November 10, 2009
Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today
Allen has concluded that our urge to protect teenagers from real life - because we don't think they're ready yet - has tragically backfired. By insulating them from adult-like work, adult social relationships, and adult consequences, we have only delayed their development. We have made it harder for them to grow up. Maybe even made it impossible to grow up on time.
Why Teenagers Are Growing Up So Slowly Today - NurtureShock Blog - Newsweek.com
Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself?
There's the growing divide between kids who have access to technology and those who don't; kids who participate in creating content with technology at home and school, and those who can't; and the kids who know a lot about technology, and the parents who fear them.
Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
Sevier principal subscribes to educator's idea to encourage students to turn in homework » Knoxville News Sentinel
Wonder if this concept could be applied to online education?
If you can't use technology get out of teaching!
Teachers should focus on information and learning, not on the technology and simply getting ICT into their classrooms, believes David Warlick.
NZ Interface Magazine | If you can't use technology get out of teaching!
November 9, 2009
Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning?
There's a "disconnect" between school administrators and parents. While more than half of America's school principal's said they think they're "doing a good job" preparing students for the 21st century, only a third of parents of middle school and high school students agreed, according to research released by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard.
Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning? -- THE Journal
Top 12 Ways to Increase Student Participation
Call it "active learning," or "classroom participation" -- every teacher wants more involved students and fewer apathetic ones. With a little extra planning, that is possible. Below are four common reasons students don't participate and techniques to solve those problems and spice up your lessons.
Education News Archive :: Top 12 Ways to Increase Student Participation
November 7, 2009
Give Obama A+ for school reform ideas
President Obama deserves an A+ for his agenda for education reform. His decision to nominate Arne Duncan as U.S. education secretary was inspired, and his comments on holding the system accountable are honest, refreshing and insightful.
Give Obama A+ for school reform ideas - CNN.com
November 5, 2009
Military Tries Out Virtual Schools
It awarded a $6.2 million contract to UNLV's Division of Educational Outreach to develop 33 courses that would encompass the virtual high school.
Officials say students should no longer run into problems about missing courses. The virtual courses will stay on track with the courses in the actual schools.
Military Tries Out Virtual Schools - Las Vegas Review-Journal « Virtual High School Meanderings
Technology not causing social isolation
Contrary to popular belief, technology is not leading to social isolation and Americans who use the Internet and mobile phones have larger and more diverse social networks, according to a new study.
"All the evidence points in one direction," said Keith Hampton, lead author of the report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project released Wednesday. "People's social worlds are enhanced by new communication technologies.
"It is a mistake to believe that Internet use and mobile phones plunge people into a spiral of isolation," said Hampton, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania.
AFP: Technology not causing social isolation: Pew study
More Schools Opening Door to Technology
In the span of three years, Holy Cross has joined the increasing number of schools in the region that are in the process of supplying all their students with portable computers for use at school and at home.
The programs, called one-to-one initiatives, are the vanguard in technology and education. High schools in Lower and Upper Merion Townships, and Springfield, Delaware County, this fall became part of the growing contingent, which has distributed laptops, netbooks, and tablet PCs.
"It will become even more widespread as computing and computing tools become more ubiquitous and less expensive," said Holly Jobe, an educational consultant affiliated with the Pennsylvania Department of Education. "A computer is a thinking tool. You wouldn't send a student to school without a pen and paper."
Education Week: More Schools Opening Door to Technology
November 4, 2009
Seventeen Interesting Ways* to use Voicethread in the Classroom
This is a great collection of ideas...check it.
Seventeen Interesting Ways* to use Voicethread in the Classroom
Ten Twitter Mythconceptions
Poor Twitter! It may be the hottest service on the Web, but it's also profoundly misunderstood. Lots of people cheerfully admit they don't get it. Others emphatically believe things about it that aren't true. I encounter confusion over Twitter every day, especially in the real world as I chat with folks who have either never used it, or have tried it and then walked away.
Ten Twitter Mythconceptions | Technologizer
Teach Your Teachers Well
ARNE DUNCAN, the secretary of education, recently called for sweeping changes to the way we select and train teachers. He's right. If we really want good schools, we need to create a critical mass of great teachers. And if we want smart, passionate people to become these great educators, we have to attract them with excellent programs and train them properly in the substance and practice of teaching.
Op-Ed Contributor - Teach Your Teachers Well - NYTimes.com
The Search for Thirsty Teachers
Many times, I've been asked by colleagues: "Why do you use the World Wide Web to connect with other teachers?" My response has always been: "It's where the learners are!"
The Clever Sheep: The Search for Thirsty Teachers
November 3, 2009
Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning?
The research also showed that only 40 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 think their schools are doing a good job preparing them for the future.
"The disconnect between educators and parents reveals the need for schools to improve the integration of technology into the learning environment and students' learning experiences," said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow. "Parents do not feel that schools are effectively preparing students for the jobs of the 21st century, and view technology implementation as essential to student success."
Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning? -- THE Journal
Welcome To The Revolution
The prediction, as we now know, was spot dead on. The technology has transformed our relationships, how we are able to collaborate, how we now define communities, what constitutes a network, and what kinds of work we are able to do.
Education Innovation: Welcome To The Revolution: The Professional Networked Learning Collaborative
November 2, 2009
Schools' zero-tolerance policies tested
Parents and elected officials across the USA are demanding that schools slacken zero-tolerance policies that are meant to reduce violence because strict adherence has lead to some students being forced out of school for bringing items such as eyebrow trimmers and a Cub Scout's camping tool to campus.
Schools' zero-tolerance policies tested - USATODAY.com
Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy
Although the current generation of students may have never known life without the Internet, they are not necessarily "net savvy." Exposed to huge quantities of information on the Web--in text, audio, image and video formats--sorting valid information from misinformation is a constant challenge. Beyond the quantity and variety of information, students are now creating information, not just consuming it. This white paper explores the challenges of functioning in an information-rich environment where students must blend skills in finding information, using technology, and thinking critically.
EDUCAUSE
Ensuring the Net Generation Is Net Savvy
Young Canadians in a Wired World - Phase II
Young Canadians are more connected than ever, and at a surprisingly early age. The second phase of the Young Canadians in a Wired World (YCWW) research project reveals that an astonishing 94 percent of young people access the Internet from home, with students as early as Grade 4 beginning to rely on the Internet to explore social roles, stay connected with friends and develop their social networks.
Young Canadians in a Wired World - Phase II | Introduction
20 Ways to Use Comics In Your Classroom
Through Josh Allen's Tech Fridge blog I recently learned about this slideshow created S. Hendy who writes Digital Tools for Teachers. The slideshow, Tap Into the World of Comics, presents a series of comic creation tools followed by twenty suggestions for using comics in your classroom.
Free Technology for Teachers: 20 Ways to Use Comics In Your Classroom
9 Resources for Website Evaluation Lessons
Therefore, I've compiled a list of nine resources that teachers can use as part of lesson plan about evaluating the quality and reliability of a website.
Free Technology for Teachers: 9 Resources for Website Evaluation Lessons
October 30, 2009
Autistic artist draws 18ft picture of New York skyline from memory
This astonishing 18ft drawing of the world's most famous skyline was created by autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire after he spent just 20 minutes in a helicopter gazing at the panorama.
The unbelievably intricate picture was drawn at Brooklyn's prestigious Pratt Institute from Stephen's memory, with details of every building sketched in to scale.
Landmarks including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building can be seen towering above smaller buildings after just three days in his spellbinding creation.
Autistic artist draws 18ft picture of New York skyline from memory
| Mail Online
The New Diagnostics - Inside Higher Ed
The Arizona community college, where more than half of the 64,000 students pursue their degrees online, has devised a system of predictive modeling that officials believe can forecast, with 70 percent accuracy, how likely it is that a student will achieve a "C" grade or higher (the threshold for transferable credits) in a given course. The tool -- one of several of its kind -- is intended to help instructors to identify at-risk students early enough that they can intervene.
News: The New Diagnostics - Inside Higher Ed
Why Teach? Teacher Motivation and ED 2.0
We think about teaching primarily as school teaching. This can make it hard to understand why teachers would want to contribute voluntarily to ED 2.0 projects. But when we broaden our view of teaching we unlock this mystery.
ED 2.0 Report: Why Teach? Teacher Motivation and ED 2.0
Math's Too Hard for a Parent's Help
Numbers have never been my strong suit, and as it happens I couldn't really help with math and science homework sometime in middle school. Not only was whatever I once knew rusty, but it was also out of date. "They don't teach it like that any more" I was told, and then dismissed.
Math's Too Hard for a Parent's Help - Motherlode Blog - NYTimes.com
October 27, 2009
Internet Access in Canada Reaches All Time High
A new study released by Ipsos Reid shows that more than eight in ten Canadians (82%) have Internet access at home. That's a six per cent increase from Q2, 2008 and a four per cent increase from Q4, 2008.
Internet Access in Canada Reaches All Time High - 10/27/2009
October 26, 2009
Many teachers 'face false claims'
Nearly 30% of school staff have been the subject of a false allegation of misconduct by a pupil, a survey by a teaching union suggests.
BBC NEWS | UK | Education | Many teachers 'face false claims'
October 23, 2009
The end of teacher sameness and solidarity
[I]n American education, policy making is not guided by what is best for children or the larger public. It is a political process driven by power. And the most powerful groups in that process are special interests, led by the teachers unions, with a stake in keeping the system as it is. . . . Reforms of real consequence are vigorously resisted and watered down. (p. 149)
The end of teacher sameness and solidarity - Dangerously Irrelevant
How to Remake Education
The single biggest problem in American education is that no one agrees on why we educate. Faced with this lack of consensus, policy makers define good education as higher test scores. But higher test scores are not a definition of good education. Students can get higher scores in reading and mathematics yet remain completely ignorant of science, the arts, civics, history, literature and foreign languages.
Why do we educate? We educate because we want citizens who are capable of taking responsibility for their lives and for our democracy. We want citizens who understand how their government works, who are knowledgeable about the history of their nation and other nations. We need citizens who are thoroughly educated in science. We need people who can communicate in other languages. We must ensure that every young person has the chance to engage in the arts.
But because of our narrow-minded utilitarianism, we have forgotten what good education is.
How to Remake Education - NYTimes.com
Getting Students More Learning Time Online
Online courses increase equitable access to quality educational opportunities by bringing flexibility to the course calendar, expanding the course catalog, and offering individualized instruction.
October 22, 2009
Telecourses losing out to online options - News
Telecourses were the first distance education programs at TJC. However, what was once considered high-tech is losing ground to online options.
Telecourses losing out to online options - News
October 21, 2009
We Have to Stop Doing This to Teachers
Being an administrator in a cyber school in Saskatchewan, I feel the building pressure in my teachers as well...we are in interesting time. I am not sure I have an answer.
We Have to Stop Doing This to Teachers | Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech
But I Don't Want to Teach My Students How to Use Technology
For some teachers, the technology revolution of the last 30 years was and is an epiphany, but for most faculty it remains an enigma, at best a fad and at worst a threat. A person responding to one of my recent articles in Web 2.0 told me that, "Come on!, I don't want to teach my students how to use the technology but just do pure teaching." He missed the point: Adapting to information technology does not necessarily mean using technology at all, but it does require an understanding of how education has been irreversibly altered.
But I Don't Want to Teach My Students How to Use Technology -- Campus Technology
Tweet Wrap talked about my posting...
It is always cool to see your posts listed in other sites around the world...thanks Tweet Wrap.
Scholarly post asks if online model is beginning of long overdue evolution in education.
Technologically Externalized Knowledge and Learning
Let's take a step back and consider how well we are using learning technology in contrast with what is possible given advances over the last decade. Ideologies influence design, then design constrains future options. We don't have to look very far to see examples of this simple rule: classrooms, design of organizational work activities, politics, and the operation of financial markets.
What we create to survive during one era serves as neurosis for another. In education - particularly in technology enhanced education - a similar trailing of ideologies from another era is observed.
Technologically Externalized Knowledge and Learning « Connectivism
October 19, 2009
Teens and the internet
In 2002 the Pew Research Institute conducted a study of teenagers and how they are using the internet in education. Below are some excerpts from the 37 page report. It's an interesting read for educators and community members.
Teens and the internet - 180 Free Technology Tip #29
Online, teachers walk a fine line
Five years ago, social networking sites weren't on the list of items that Palm Bay Elementary Principal Lori Migliore talked to her staff about. But they are now.
"What I say is, 'Don't put anything on Facebook or MySpace that you wouldn't want on the front page of FLORIDA TODAY,' " Migliore said. "When you take this job, whether you agree with it or not, teachers are held to a higher standard."
Online, teachers walk a fine line | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY
The Facebook Generation's Impact on Learning
What is the Facebook generation (a.k.a. Generation F)? This is the new generation of people who live, learn and laugh using social networking sites. Facebook is one of the more well known social networking communities where people are connecting, sharing and exchanging knowledge all around the globe.
Connecting Redefined » Post Topic » The Facebook Generation's Impact on Learning
Education Week: State of Mind
Two out of five of America's 4 million K-12 teachers appear disheartened and disappointed about their jobs, while others express a variety of reasons for contentment with teaching and their current school environments, new research by Public Agenda and Learning Point Associates shows.
State targets student-teacher communication
Beginning next month, Louisiana public schools will be required to document all electronic communication that occurs between teachers and students. The new law will even require tracking exchanges initiated by students to teachers via personal devices the schools don't own.
Top News - State targets student-teacher communication
If you can't use technology get out of teaching!
Technology has done a lot but what's really impacting on teachers is how information is changing. A number of years ago I wrote a book called Redefining Literacy. It started out being a technology book but the more I researched the more I realised it wasn't technology I wanted to talk about, it was information. The nature of information has changed and, as a result, so has what it means to be literate.
For instance, an increasing number of teachers are getting students to blog. When they used to write an assignment on paper the teacher was the only person who was going to read it... and the students knew it. So, they write what they think the teacher wants to read. However, when they're writing to a blog they know that their classmates are also going to read it... and respond. It takes the assignment to a whole new level where it becomes less 'I'm proving to you that I understand what was in the chapter' to a conversation within the class where the students are reacting to each other's insights, and are learning more in the process.
NZ Interface Magazine | If you can't use technology get out of teaching!
October 18, 2009
The Positive Impact of eLearning
Studies indicate that ICT-enhanced learning can benefit students, teachers, families, societies, and economies.
The Positive Impact of eLearning
October 15, 2009
Five myths about paying good teachers more
Education Secretary Arne Duncan says paying public school teachers based on their performance is his "highest priority," and he plans to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars to states and school systems that embrace the idea. In the District of Columbia, Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee has made such reform a cornerstone of her agenda -- and a backdrop to her recent move to lay off 229 teachers in response to budget cuts. But school reformers have been trying unsuccessfully to introduce performance pay in public education for decades. If today's reformers want to break the deadlock, they're going to have to let go of several myths hanging over the debate:
Five myths about paying good teachers more | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Why Online Schools are Popular
We've always been taught that necessity is the mother of invention, but, in the case of the Internet and its rapid growth, invention and innovation have contributed greatly to satisfying the needs and demands of online education. The number of online schools and degrees have proliferated to an extent that there are too many of them now, some of which are barely legal and others that don't bother to even put up a front of respectability. But, in spite of diploma mills all the other ills that plague the world of online education, the degrees they offer still have more than a few takers. Online schools enjoy their popularity because:
Why Online Schools are Popular
October 14, 2009
Facebook threat disrupts Charlottetown school
Charlottetown Rural High School operated under heightened security Wednesday, a day after a shooting threat appeared on Facebook.
CBC News - Prince Edward Island - Facebook threat disrupts Charlottetown school
Sluggish Results Seen in National Math Scores
Scores on the most important nationwide math test increased only marginally for eighth graders and not at all for fourth graders, continuing a six-year trend of sluggish results that suggest the nation will not come close to bringing all children to proficiency by 2014, a central goal of the Bush-era federal education law, No Child Left Behind.
Sluggish Results Seen in National Math Scores - NYTimes.com
October 12, 2009
Setbacks In Online K-12 Education
It's something of an anomaly that while adult online education has taken off like a rocket, its K-12 counterpart is still dragging its feet and trying to find wings to fly. Not much progress has been made when it comes to using technology to teach kids who are still in school, because of a number of reasons. It's not that schools are not capable of getting the technology or implementing it; more often than not, it's the finances and effort that throw a spanner in the works. If we take a closer look at online K-12 education, we see that the setbacks to its success are:
Guest Blogger - Setbacks In Online K-12 Education « Virtual High School Meanderings
October 5, 2009
Optimizing Pictures for Web Pages
I wish people did this in our cyber school courses it would make it so much easier to back up courses.
Optimizing Pictures for Web Pages
October 2, 2009
COUNTING ON GRADUATION
Among industrialized nations, the United States is the only country in which today's young people are less likely than their parents to have earned a high school diploma. Reversing this trend could hardly be more urgent.
September 28, 2009
How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles
It has everything, under education there is a description on how to slap fat....I have seen it all.
eHow | How To Do Just About Everything! | How To Videos & Articles
By 2040 you will be able to upload your brain... - Science, News - The Independent
Mine will need a fairly small sized hard drive.
By 2040 you will be able to upload your brain... -
Science, News - The Independent
The Ten Commandments of eLearning
We discovered 'The Ten Commandments of eLearning" as elucidated by Cath Ellis and Clive Shepherd. We've decided to follow in the same vein and list our commandments. First off, we thought ten is too many to remember, so we cut it down to five. There are some similarities to Cath and Clive's commandments but that is to be expected given the nature of this post.
The Ten Commandments of eLearning | Upside Learning Blog
Three Future Directions of E-Learning
When asked about the trends in e-learning, the contributors to the E-Learning Handbook: Past Promises, Present Challenges, saw a similar dichotomy. On the one hand, almost everyone thought the quality of e-learning would improve and become more responsive to learners. On the other hand, nearly everyone saw the emergence of less expensive, less thoughtful e-learning. In addition, the contributors saw one other trend that might help to reconcile this dichotomy: e-learning as a way of life. The following describe their insights.
Three Future Directions of E-Learning - 2009 - ASTD
September 24, 2009
Unmuzzling Diploma Mills: Dog Earns M.B.A. Online
Sure makes me proud to have my Masters.
September 23, 2009
Real-time Web keeps social networkers connected
Such is life in the post-Web 2.0 world. The latest iteration of the Internet -- deemed the "real-time Web" by some analysts, is exemplified by the obsessive use of PCs or cellphones for quick interactions and dips into the online information stream. This hyper-connectedness is fueled by the rise in social media and distinguished by quick, short communication and, increasingly, an absence of privacy.
Real-time Web keeps social networkers connected - USATODAY.com
Teachers Learn Too: Developing a PLN
This summer I have learned so much about technology and teaching. Almost all of my learning has come from the internet and the connections I have made online. One of the most important things I have learned is how to develop a PLN. My PLN is still very much in development, but I add new contacts everyday.
Reflections of a Classroom Teacher: Teachers Learn Too: Developing a PLN
Blogging About Generational Differences
Next in the series of blogging about entries... Generational differences.
Blogging About Generational Differences « Virtual High School Meanderings
September 22, 2009
Interactive, animated scenarios using motion paths in PowerPoint 2007.
Screenr - @elearning:
Interactive, animated scenarios using motion paths in PowerPoint 2007.
September 20, 2009
If You Printed The Internet
If you printed the internet, stupid tree killing idea, but just in case you wanted to...here is what it would be...
If You Printed The Internet ... | CreativeCloud
Best Search Tools Chart
All on one table nice, very nice.
Best Search Tools Chart - Infopeople.org
September 18, 2009
Student "Learning Styles" Theory Is Bunk
The prediction is straightforward: Kids learn better when they are taught in a way that matches their learning style than when they are taught in a way that doesn't.
That's a straightforward prediction.
The data are straightforward too: It doesn't work.
The Answer Sheet
- Willingham: Student "Learning Styles" Theory Is Bunk
Do Students Cheat More in Online Classes? Maybe not.
A new study contradicts the perception that cheating is more widespread in online classes, finding that students in virtual courses were less likely to cheat than their face-to-face peers.
Teacher Starting Salary vs. Annual Amount Spent on Inmates
Not only are there several states that pay significantly more for prisoners per year, but also in total, nearly half of the states either pay more for prisoners or have a minimal difference between the two. Maine, believe it or not, spends over $17,000 more per inmate than they do per teacher.
Teacher Starting Salary vs. Annual Amount Spent on Inmates at Educator® - Educational News
Bob on Medical Device Software
I am not sure what he is talking about with the .net application but he did use one of my cartoons and I am honoured...:)
A .NET Application that Never Dies | Bob on Medical Device Software
September 16, 2009
Interesting Facts About the Internet and Social Web
This is a great collection of charts and videos that we have used in the past but all in one place...check it out.
Interesting Facts About the Internet and Social Web - 'Did You Know' Video Series
Series: Cyber School Students' Learning Styles
Virtual High School Meandering continues to be a friend to TADO and the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School, we do appreciate the continuing support that is shown by displaying our blog entries in an organized fashion...
Thank you again.
Series: Cyber School Students' Learning Styles « Virtual High School Meanderings
September 15, 2009
Why Don't Students Like School?
After all, students are born as naturally curious creatures, so why are they turned off by education, even when they are paying to attend? Why can they remember the most trivial detail from a TV show or the words to a popular song, but not remember the answers on our tests? Willingham submits nine principles that he states explain this disconnect. Through these nine principles, he first attempts to explain how the minds of students work and then relate how to use that knowledge to improve teaching.
Why Don't Students Like School? | Learning In a Flat World
Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up
I'm roughly quoting Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, who said, "We don't need to reform the system; we need to replace the system."
Reshaping Learning from the Ground Up | Edutopia
September 14, 2009
Social Media is BIGGER than you think? Are educators lagging behind?
What are educators doing? Are we using Facebook, Wikipedia, and YouTube in our classes? If not, are we lagging behind?
e-Learning Acupuncture: Social Media is BIGGER than you think? Are educators lagging behind?
10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online
When I first started to think about teaching online, I realized I had a lot to learn. I had never been an online student, nor did I know much about distance education. I just knew I wanted to be a part of something I felt would benefit those students who--for whatever reason--could not come to a traditional classroom setting. I wanted to help create quality courses for these students that would incorporate the kinds of activity and discussion that typically took place in a classroom-based course.
I wanted to share some of the lessons I've learned over the years about online teaching with other online instructors who are just starting out. There is so much I wish I had known when I first got started, and I can only hope some of my reflections will be helpful to those who might be questioning whether online teaching is right for them.
eLearn: Best Practices
- 10 Things I've Learned About Teaching Online
Philadelphia's Public Libraries : kaput.
It's not just the books. Granted, the books are important. But what else do libraries provide? The Philadelphia libraries operate GED, ESL, and ABE programs. They bring books to schools, day care centers, and retirement homes. They teach computer courses, help small business owners, and host community meetings. Libraries are one of the few places in major cities where the internet can be accessed freely. In short, this is a travesty.
Philadelphia's Public Libraries : kaput. | RVA Magazine | Richmond, VA
September 11, 2009
Innovation in educational technology. Why not?
The size of the global education industry, defined as all the money spent by governments, individuals, and corporations on education and training, is almost three times the size of the global entertainment industry, and double the size of the global telecommunications industry.* Education is bigger, in fact, than entertainment and telecom combined.
So why do education's technical innovations feel like hand-me-downs?
PolivkaVox: Innovation in educational technology. Why not?
Charter Schools Go Cyber
I wanted to make everyone aware that the most recent issue of TechTrends is a special issue focused on cyber charter schools. For those not familiar, TechTrends is a publication of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology.
TechTrends Special Issue: Charter Schools Go Cyber « Virtual High School Meanderings
Swine-Flu Preparations Spur E-Learning Plans
Last school year, many educators were caught unprepared when schools closed in response to cases of swine flu. This time around, both the federal government and school districts are putting specific online-learning measures in place to get ready for possible closures or waves of teacher and student absences because of a flu outbreak.
Education Week: Swine-Flu Preparations Spur E-Learning Plans
September 9, 2009
Memory prowess linked to gaming
Video war games could enhance a key element of intelligence that is vital to success in life, an expert has claimed.
Spending time on the Facebook networking site and solving Sudoku may have the same effect, according to psychologist Dr Tracy Alloway.
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Tayside and Central | Memory prowess linked to gaming
September 8, 2009
Facebook 'enhances intelligence' but Twitter 'diminishes it'.
Spending time on the Facebook networking site could enhance a key element of intelligence that is vital to success in life, a psychologist has claimed, but using Twitter may have the opposite effect.
Facebook 'enhances intelligence' but Twitter 'diminishes it', claims psychologist - Telegraph
September 4, 2009
A library without the books
Cushing Academy has all the hallmarks of a New England prep school, with one exception.
This year, after having amassed a collection of more than 20,000 books, officials at the pristine campus about 90 minutes west of Boston have decided the 144-year-old school no longer needs a traditional library. The academy's administrators have decided to discard all their books and have given away half of what stocked their sprawling stacks - the classics, novels, poetry, biographies, tomes on every subject from the humanities to the sciences. The future, they believe, is digital.
A library without the books - The Boston Globe
e-Learning Programs Come in All Shapes and Sizes
Here's a sample of online learning programs serving very different populations: a small district spread over a vast area, a large inner-city school district, and a statewide program serving numerous districts.
ISTE | e-Learning Programs Come in All Shapes and Sizes
The future of libraries, with or without books
The stereotypical library is dying -- and it's taking its shushing ladies, dank smell and endless shelves of books with it.
Libraries are trying to imagine their futures with or without books.
Books are being pushed aside for digital learning centers and gaming areas. "Loud rooms" that promote public discourse and group projects are taking over the bookish quiet. Hipster staffers who blog, chat on Twitter and care little about the Dewey Decimal System are edging out old-school librarians.
The future of libraries, with or without books - CNN.com
September 1, 2009
Engage me Or Enrage me.
Anyone who has taught recently will recognize these three kinds of students:
The students who are truly self-motivated. These are the ones all teachers dream
about having (and the ones we know how to