Literacy with ICT

"Over the years, Google has left its humble origins behind to become one of the largest companies in the world, offering a wide range of devices and services.

To keep those services free, Google records data about you and uses it to display targeted advertising-their main source of revenue. As the debate around online privacy ramps up, many people are looking for an alternative.

Fortunately, DuckDuckGo might be the privacy-focused search engine you've been looking for."

"You've heard of it before. You're probably curious about what it is. But chances are, you're still on the edge about the whole thing.

We're talking about the dark web-the mysterious part of the internet that isn't for everyone. At least, that's what you've probably heard.

There are many rumors about what it is and why people go on the dark web. However, it's worth learning a thing or two about it. Who knows, maybe you'll even find some of your new favorite sites there. Stick around and we'll share some of the cool websites we've discovered in the hidden corners of the dark web."

With good reason, much is made of learner agency but the concept of teacher agency is important too. If we hope to build a profession in which we are all self-navigating life-long learners, we must acknowledge the role that teacher agency plays. 

"Math matters for computer science because it teaches students how to use abstract language, work with algorithms, self-analyze their computational thinking, and accurately modeling real-world solutions."

"FOLD, the Festival of Literary Diversity, tweeted out the names of several Indigenous authors you should know. Many readers got in the spirit and shared their own recommendations. We've highlighted their suggestions here."

"The Finns are pretty bemused by Americans' preoccupation with whether to put iPads in every classroom. If a tablet would enhance learning, great. If it wouldn't, skip it. Move on. The whole thing is a little tilting-at-windmills, anyway.

That was the gist of the conversation one recent morning at the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C., where diplomats and experts gathered to celebrate the country's education accomplishments as Finland turns 100. And Americans could stand to take notes. (Yes, from Finland-again.)

Coding and programming are now part of the curriculum in the Scandinavian country, and they're subjects kids tackle from a young age. But unlike in some parts of the United States where learning to code is an isolated skill, Finnish children are taught to think of coding and programming more as tools to be explored and utilized across multiple subjects."

"Teaching financial literacy in the classroom is one promising way to improve financial capacity for today's young people.
Today's young people face an overwhelming number of complex financial decisions. However, many are unprepared to make informed financial choices as they move into adulthood. In fact, three out of four young adults cannot answer basic financial questions.

Teaching financial literacy in the classroom is one promising way to improve financial capacity for today's young people. Research shows that by the age of 12, students will develop an economic understanding that researchers describe as "essentially adult". By including lessons on smart money habits early in their cognitive development, we can encourage young people to save money, foster family conversations, a"

"I hope you'll agree with me that we have a serious lack of female engineers, software developers, architects, and mathematicians. Women are painfully underrepresented in the industries and fields responsible for making the products we all use on a daily basis.

Women are under-represented in creating the software that makes everything from fridges to turbines "smarter."
Women are under-represented in engineering products including those that help us live healthier & safer lives.
Women are under-represented in leading research and experimentation.
The problem is significant & complex. Many governments & businesses including Apple & Google are actively working to root-cause why the results are so dramatic, and what business, governments and individuals can do to reverse the tide.

"

"Storytelling may be as old as the hills but it remains one of the most effective tools for teaching and learning. A good story can make a child (or adult) prick up their ears and settle back into their seat to listen and learn.

But despite the power a great story can have, storytelling has an endangered status in the classroom - partly due to a huge emphasis on "active learning" in education. This is the idea that pupils learn best when they are doing something - or often, "seen to be doing" something.

Any lesson in which a teacher talks for 15 or more uninterrupted minutes would be regarded today as placing pupils in too passive a role. Indeed, even in English lessons teachers now very rarely read a whole poem or book chapter to pupils, something which now worries even OFSTED.

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"When Joanne Atlee was an undergraduate student in computer science, more than a third of her class was made up of women. In graduate school, those ranks began to thin out, a decline that has continued through much of her career as a professor at the University of Waterloo.

"All of a sudden I am an instructor at Waterloo and 10 per cent of the class is female and it's 'Oh no, what happened?'""