Group items tagged

"It is a common view that "if only someone could break this down and explain it clearly enough, more students would understand." Khan Academy is a great example of this approach with its clear, concise videos on science. However it is debatable whether they really work. Research has shown that these types of videos may be positively received by students. They feel like they are learning and become more confident in their answers, but tests reveal they haven't learned anything."

Google's engineers are brewing in their cauldron of awesomeness applications that can make user experience better. Over the years they have come up with several useful applications like Google Reader, Google Maps, and Google Trends to name a few. Although most of the applications are still experimental and are still faulty, major features are truly groundbreaking.

"Did you know that your tweets have an expiration date on them? While they never really disappear from your own Twitter stream, they become unsearchable in only a matter of days. At first, Twitter held onto your tweets for around a month, but as the service grew more popular, this "date limit" has dramatically shortened. According to Twitter's search documentation, the current date limit on the search index is "around 1.5 weeks but is dynamic and subject to shrink as the number of tweets per day continues to grow."

Henrico County Schools System has adopted the TPACK as the Framework for professional development and 21st Century Learning in the Henrico County Schools System.  Henrico County is one of the largest and earliest districts to pioneer and implement a one-to-one initiative.  They have adopted this model as its conceptual framework to guide their progress towards the 21st Century Learning. The following video will set the stage to provide insight into how this school district uses technology for relevant and real-world learning.

Games based learning is supposed to be the next big thing. So when I revamped a unit of work for Year 10 based on designing scientific investigations, I decided to "gamify" the unit of work. I was inspired by a YouTube video by Seth Priebatsch on gamification, where elements of gaming can be added to education. After also seeing presentations by Dean Groom and Ben Jones I have  come up with my first "gamified" set of learning experiences.

"Game-based learning (GBL) is a seemingly simple concept - learning through the use of games. But wait, let's look a little closer. Most people see the term "game-based learning" and think of students playing some sort of educational computer game. But, there's more to GBL than just that. Let's take a look at GBL in terms of the game and pedagogical considerations:"

"Every teacher is taught that back up plans are a must. Things change constantly in education and there are a variety of factors that can make plans change - computer breaks, internet goes out, file is corrupted, forgot your flash drive at home, you finish a lesson early with a class, your class has very low attendance due to a school activity or event (like AP testing, prom, etc), lesson runs long, students don't understand the material, class is interrupted by a fire drill. To deal with these issues, teachers must have back up plans ready to go and be flexible and organized. Here are some tips and resources for backup plans."

"Tomorrow Microsoft is launching Office 365. Many of you have asked for our perspective, so we thought we'd share some thoughts to help you make an informed choice. Technology inevitably gets more complicated as it gets older. Upgrading platforms and adding features results in systems that are increasingly difficult to manage and complex to use. At times like these, it's worth considering a clean-slate: an approach based on entirely modern technologies, designed for today's world. Here are some things to think about as you compare Google Apps and Office 365:"

"We're excited to announce the Grand Prize of the 2011 What's Your Story? Internet safety video contest!"