"Teachers should use the hugely popular children's digital game Minecraft to help teach maths, design, art and geography, research from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) shows."
In a move that could bolster the growing popularity of e-books, Google said Thursday that the 1.5 million public domain books it had scanned and made available free on PCs were now accessible on mobile devices like the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1.
“We are excited to make Kindle books available on a range of mobile phones,” said Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Amazon. “We are working on that now.”
Unlike the version of Google Book Search for PCs, which displays scanned images of book pages, the mobile version simply displays text, allowing users to download printed material more quickly over wireless networks.
But just as camera phones have not replaced digital cameras, smartphones are not likely to replace dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle or the Reader from Sony, analysts said.
I think that the technology in projects like this is amazing, but it is meant to help us see beyond our current ideas of what technology is and can be. I think we need a new term that isn't so tied up with corporations and politics and which concentrates more on learning.
The word edtech concentrates too much on the technology and the teaching. I think we need something new. I'm thinking "edinfo" (education for an information based society) or "ednet" (education for a networked society) or even "create-ed" (education concentrating on creativity).
To be a school “reformer” is to support:
* a heavy reliance on fill-in-the-bubble standardized
tests to evaluate students and schools, generally in place of more authentic
forms of assessment;
* the imposition of prescriptive, top-down teaching
standards and curriculum mandates;
* a disproportionate emphasis on rote
learning—memorizing facts and practicing skills—particularly for poor kids;
* a behaviorist model of motivation in which rewards
(notably money) and punishments are used on teachers and students to compel
compliance or raise test scores;
* a corporate sensibility and an economic rationale for
schooling, the point being to prepare children to “compete” as future
employees; and
* charter schools, many of which are run by for-profit
companies.
Almost never
questioned, meanwhile, are the core elements of traditional schooling, such
as lectures, worksheets, quizzes, grades, homework, punitive discipline, and
competition. That would require real reform, which of course is off the
table.
This paper focuses on changing reading characteristics and presents a study among a group of expert readers. Considering technological bases of reading and applying corporeal and material perspectives, this study examines manners in which proficient readers handle printed and digital texts, attempting to explain differences in digital and paper–based reading. Based on findings, this paper reflects on how long–form text can be productively transferred into the digital reading space.
The future of blended learning is about choice and personalisation. Ashridge’s online learning platform, called Virtual Ashridge, lets students home in on certain interests and choose a style of learning that fits their personality without information overload.
Blended learning is also evolving to combine online and in person teaching, leading to simulated face-to-face solutions. For example, Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE), has developed an online induction game with one of its clients. New employees have to deal with an unhappy customer played by an experienced person in the organisation. The game is overseen by an instructor and peers can watch and listen to the session.
The government has approved the continuation of e-Governance initiative MCA21, related to compliance of companies with various laws, till July 2021.An initiative of the Corporate Affairs Ministry, MCA21 is designed to fully automate all processes related to enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved continuation of MCA21 project for its second cycle from January, 2013 to July, 2021. It will be implemented as a non-plan scheme with an outlay of Rs 357.81 crore, including Rs 54.42 crore for independent project management and certification over the eight-and-a-half year period, according to an official release.
A workshop on urban governance was organized in Kolkata on Tuesday where chairpersons and mayors of several municipalities and municipal corporations of the state were present.
The progress of schemes that was discussed in the meeting were the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JNNURM) scheme, Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rojkar Yojona scheme, the urban livelihood mission scheme, housing for urban poor, national social assistance programme and the BSUP schemes.