Group items tagged

Looks like lessons on digital footprints are in order here.

An important overview for any one using Moodle, especially useful for those contemplating an upgrade to 2.0 .  (I'll make the move when we have 2.1 or 2.2.)  

"Dumpster diving and dollar stores. Purse-shaped post-it's and animal lubricant. When you're building a makerspace on a budget, you learn that resources are everywhere-and they aren't always what you expect.  Dumpster diving and dollar stores. Purse-shaped post-it's and animal lubricant. For three years I and my fellow cofounders Kim Martin and Beth Compton, have created, developed, and run Canada's first mobile makerspace-the MakerBus. As an entirely community-driven (pun intended) makerspace, we have had to master doing a lot with very little. As we have learned, while money is extremely useful, no amount of it can replace the value of an engaged, creative community. Below I share some ideas for creating makerspaces at various price points, offering advice for building a $100 and a (nearly) $0 community makerspace."

"A new survey commissioned by Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) found that young girls in Europe become interested in so-called STEM subjects around the age of 11 and then quickly lose interest when they're 15. "Conformity to social expectations, gender stereotypes, gender roles and lack of role models continue to channel girls' career choices away from STEM fields," said psychology professor Martin Bauer of the London School of Economics, who helped coordinate the survey of 11,500 girls across 12 European countries. The survey also found that girls' interest in humanities subjects drops around the same age but then rebound sharply. Interest in STEM subjects does not recover. "This means that governments, teachers and parents only have four or five years to nurture girls' passion before they turn their backs on these areas, potentially for good," Microsoft said."

"From a bloody battle in George RR Martin to a sensual scene from Jane Austen, Waterstones has been recreating setpieces from great literature in toy bricks to coincide with the release of The LEGO Movie. Take a child's eye view of classic books here"

"Marie Curie, Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein, Sir Alexander Fleming, Mother Teresa; all of these amazing individuals have one thing in common - winning the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is one of the most highly regarded awards given to people working in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics. But the Nobel Foundation is more than just an award giving Foundation, and has branched out into creating educational content related to the hard work done by Nobel Prize winners. Not only does their website contain video clips, documentaries, literature and history related to the winners, but it has over 29 interactive educational games for students to learn about key scientific, economic, literature and peace concepts."

"I cringe when people ask me, "Are you handy?" Partly because I don't consider myself to be the best with tools, but also because it is asking me to judge whether or not I'm capable of fixing, making, or crafting something. Here's the thing, I didn't know how to put new shower tiles in and patch up my existing dry wall with cement board when we had a leak last year…but I had a friend help get me started, I watched a few DIY Youtube videos, looked at some articles online, and now I know how to do that (although not too well). The same thing happens in high schools all the time. The "handy" kids go to shop class, the "artsy" kids go to art class, the "business" kids go to business classes, the "techy" kids go to web design classes and so on… It's got to stop. We can't continue labeling kids as one thing or another thing. What we know about the future workforce is that creativity, making, and innovating will be at the center of most jobs…and that will require students to be all of the above: 'Experts predict that 50 per cent of occupations today will no longer exist by 2025 as people will take up more creative professions,' said Martin Chen, Chief Operating Officer of Genesis."

Welcome to the 2008 Comment Challenge! Challenging bloggers to become better blog citizens. Challenge runs from May 1 - 31, 2008. Coordinated by Sue Waters, Silvia Tolisano, Michele Martin and Kim Cofino Sponsored by coComment and Edublogs We would like to challenge participants to be better blog citizens tracking who is the commenter with: * The most comments on a wide range of blogs (not just the "top" edubloggers) * The most high quality comments that thoughtfully reflect on the topic * The comments that provoke and promote the most learning

"Due to Khan Academy's popularity, the idea of the flipped classroom has gained press and credibility within education circles. Briefly, the Flipped Classroom as described by Jonathan Martin is: Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and then use your precious class-time for what previously, often, was done in homework: tackling difficult problems, working in groups, researching, collaborating, crafting and creating. Classrooms become laboratories or studios, and yet content delivery is preserved. Flip your instruction so that students watch and listen to your lectures… for homework, and then use your precious class-time for what previously, often, was done in homework: tackling difficult problems, working in groups, researching, collaborating, crafting and creating. Classrooms become laboratories or studios, and yet content delivery is preserved (http://www.connectedprincipals.com/archives/3367)."

"If you're familiar with multi-level books, you'll want to check out Books That Grow. Books That Grow is a free digital reading platform with a library of books that range from myths and folktales, to primary source documents and informational texts. Whether you want to teach the Greek myth "Arachne" or Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter From a Birmingham Jail," Books That Grow has you covered."

"Often the idea of creativity is put in a special box that is limited to only certain kinds of people. This is one of our great myths. I am sure that Albert Einstein, Gandhi, David Bohn, Martha Graham, Wendell Berry, Aristotle, Pablo Picasso, Billie Holiday, Steve Jobs, Vincent Van Gogh, Mozart, Socrates, Leonardo Da Vinci, Martin Luther King, Beethoven, Charles Dickens, Carl Jung, Tesla, Galileo, Thomas Edison, Ben Franklin and Michelangelo all came from different backgrounds, cultures and ways of life. What they did have in common was the ability to see or feel the dynamic interconnectedness of the flow of life."

"On October 1st, 2015 the very first class entered our STEM lab/Makerspace and it was truly magical. The kids were engaged, they were learning, exploring and discovering the entire time they were in there. It was the moment we had worked so hard when we created this innovative learning space. It was a long journey that our little Makerspace/STEM lab team took to get there and we learned a lot along the way! The lab was originally Wendy Townlin's (@wtownlin) idea. She wanted to create a dedicated science lab for our school. It evolved into a STEM lab, then (with a little help from twitter) we decided to add in the element of a makerspace. With the support of our awesome principal Kris Martin-Meyer, four of us, Wendy, Amanda Young (@ajyoung53), Claire Simon (@MissSimon246) and I put our heads together, researched, reflected then began building. Here are some things we learned about along the way."

"Katie Martin is one of BIE's Directors of District Leadership, and she's also a blogger, speaker, and author. Her new book, being released today, is Learner Centered Innovation: Spark Curiosity, Ignite Passion, Unleash Genius. As you can tell from this excerpt, it's got a great message for PBL practitioners and for the whole field of education:"

"When it comes to productivity, humans don't come close to robots. Machines don't need sleep, won't slack off or ask for a raise and generally don't need vacation days so they can sunbathe in Bali. According to a study from Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School, 47% of jobs in the United States are "at risk" of becoming "automated in the next 20 years." PwC has similar findings, estimating that 38% of U.S. jobs are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence in the next 15 years. And while two-thirds of Americans believe robots will take over most of the workforce in the next 50 years, they're also in denial: 80% say their job will "probably" or "definitely" be around in five decades. Here are five robots that are coming to take some jobs from unsuspecting humans: "

""People don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." This is the mantra of leadership expert Simon Sinek in one of the most popular TED Talks of all time (Watch: Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action). In his talk from TEDxPugetSound, Sinek looks at Apple, Martin Luther King Jr. and the Wright brothers - and examines why they were so successful at getting people to follow them. Who were the thinkers that inspired Sinek on his own path to leadership? Below, find five books (and two documentaries) that made a difference in his life."

"No matter your position in education, you have gone through some form of professional development. In many cases, the act of being "developed" comes in a variety of standard types such as workshops, mandated PD days, presentations, conferences, book studies, or keynotes. Many of these are often the one and done variety or conducted in a drive-by manner. Now, don't get me wrong; some educators find value in the experiences I have outlined above and have gone on to change their respective practice for the better. However, I would say an equal amount have found little to no benefit. The bottom line is that all educators yearn for quality professional learning as opposed to development that leads to sustained improvements in teaching, learning, and leadership. The image below from Katie Martin sums up nicely what educators want out of professional learning.  "