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"Regardless of whether you think every infant needs an iPad, I think we can all agree that technology has changed education for the better. Today's learners now enjoy easier, more efficient access to information; opportunities for extended and mobile learning; the ability to give and receive immediate feedback; and greater motivation to learn and engage. We now have programs and platforms that can transform learners into globally active citizens, opening up countless avenues for communication and impact. Thousands of educational apps have been designed to enhance interest and participation. Course management systems and learning analytics have streamlined the education process and allowed for quality online delivery. But if we had to pick the top ten, most influential ways technology has transformed education, what would the list look like? The following things have been identified by educational researchers and teachers alike as the most powerful uses of technology for learning. Take a look. 1. Critical Thinking In Meaningful Learning With Technology, David H. Jonassen and his co-authors argue that students do not learn from teachers or from technologies. Rather, students learn from thinking-thinking about what they are doing or what they did, thinking about what they believe, thinking about what others have done and believe, thinking about the thinking processes they use-just thinking and reasoning. Thinking mediates learning. Learning results from thinking. So what kinds of thinking are fostered when learning with technologies? Analogical If you distill cognitive psychology into a single principle, it would be to use analogies to convey and understand new ideas. That is, understanding a new idea is best accomplished by comparing and contrasting it to an idea that is already understood. In an analogy, the properties or attributes of one idea (the analogue) are mapped or transferred to another (the source or target). Single analogies are also known as sy

"Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not

"3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim

joevans · My Wikis · My Mail · My Account · Help · Sign Out · wikispaces *This page can only be edited by organizers of this wiki.homeProtected * pagesubmenu o print o what links here? o rename o delete o redirect o unlock o view source * discussion * history * notify me Protected Welcome to our resource wiki for: Personal Learning Networks: The Power of the Human Network Judith Epcke (@jepcke) and Scott Meech (@smeech) Locations of visitors to this page Bold Italic Underline Color and Style Ordered List Unordered List Horizontal Rule Insert Link Remove Link Insert Images and Files Embed Widget Insert Table Insert Special Character Insert Code Cancel none Optional: a note about this edit for the page history log Optional: tags for this page, separated by commas Cancel Note that the content you create on http://creatingapln.wikispaces.com is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License. Please only submit content that you write yourself or that is in the public domain. Learn more about our open content policy. Insert a File Double click an image or file to insert it into the page. Show: please wait... Page: Jump: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Double clicking a file: inserts the file links to the file Upload New File notUploading Insert External Image by URL Enter an external image address, click "Load", then double click the image to insert it into the page. * Wikispaces Wikispaces * Video Video * Audio Audio * Calendar Calendar * Spreadsheet Spreadsheet * Document Document * Polls Polls * RSS Feed RSS Feed * Chat and IM Chat and IM * Slideshow Slideshow * Map Map * Bookmark Bookmark * Other HTML Other HTML Choose the category of application you would like to embed from the list on the left. Choose the kind of content you would like

Buy Negative Google Reviews In today's digital world, online review play a crucial role in shaping consumer decisions. Positive reviews can help businesses attract new customers and build a solid reputation, while negative reviews can have the opposite effect, potentially driving potential clients away. In an attempt to combat this, some businesses have resorted to unethical practices, such as buying negative Google reviews for their competitors. This devious strategy aims to tarnish a competitor's reputation and gain an unfair advantage in the market. In this article, we will delve into the controversial practice of buying negative Google reviews, exploring its implications for businesses and consumers alike, and discussing the ethical concerns surrounding this nefarious tactic. What are negative Google reviews? In today's digital age, online review have become an integral part of our decision-making process. Whether we're searching for a local restaurant, a reputable plumbing service, or a new product to buy, we often turn to platforms like Google to read what others have said about their experiences. Positive reviews reassure us, while negative ones raise concerns and prompt us to reconsider our options. Negative Google reviews are user-generated testimonials that reflect a poor experience or dissatisfaction with a particular business or service. These reviews typically express frustration, disappointment, or anger towards the company, its products, or its customer service. While some negative reviews are constructive and provide genuine feedback, others may be exaggerated or even fabricated. To understand negative Google reviews, it is important to recognize that they serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they offer a means for customers to voice their opinions and share their experiences with others. For many people, leaving a negative review can be a form of catharsis or a way to warn others of potential pitfalls. It also holds businesses ac

Teresa Penedo posted this item in the #change11 Facebook group. The one-hour video tells us "most of what we think we know about technology in general is false." According to Andrew Feenberg, "Our error stems from the everyday conception of things as separate from each other and from us. In reality they belong to an interconnected network the nodes of which cannot exist independently qua technologies." This leads to ten 'paradoxes of technology': "1. The paradox of the parts and the whole: The apparent origin of complex wholes lies in their parts but in reality the parts find their origin in the whole to which they belong. 2. The paradox of the obvious: What is most obvious is most hidden. 3. The paradox of the origin: behind everything rational there lies a forgotten history. 4. The paradox of the frame: Efficiency does not explain success, success explains efficiency. 5. The paradox of action: In acting we become the object of action. 6. The paradox of the means: The means are the end. 7. The paradox of complexity: Simplification complicates. 8. The paradox of value and fact: Values are the facts of the future. 9. The democratic paradox: The public is constituted by the technologies that bind it together but in turn it transforms the technologies that constitute it. 10. The paradox of conquest: The victor belongs to the spoils." from Stephen Downes OL Daily

"With so many Raspberry Pi projects to choose from, it can be tricky to find the one you really want to build. Our advice is to find a way to marry the Pi with something you really love. One great example is TV and movie robots - iconic characters from popular sci-fi that can be rebuild at home with a Raspberry Pi built in. Once constructed, your robot might be able to utter commands when a condition is met (perhaps a sensor detects motion). Or it might move around, learning about its surroundings, or reading information to you from Wikipedia. Whatever you have in mind, it should be relatively straightforward to plan and execute. It may take some time, however. Here are five example projects that show how you can combine a Raspberry Pi 2 or later with your favorite fictional robot. 5 Things Only a Raspberry Pi 2 Can Do 5 Things Only a Raspberry Pi 2 Can Do The latest edition of the pint-sized computer is awesome. So awesome, in fact, that there's 5 things you can only do on a Raspberry Pi 2. READ MORE 1. R2-D2 We've all wanted our very own astromech droid, haven't we? Sure, no one on earth is (currently) operating a light speed drive, but Star Wars droid R2-D2 has far greater abilities than onboard spacecraft maintenance. For instance, he can hold torches, carry a tray of drinks, and launch lightsabers across pits in the desert. Okay, it's unlikely you'll manage to get your own R2-D2 robot to do that… but don't let that put you off. Check out this little guy, controlled by a Raspberry Pi. While this project was based on an existing R2-D2 toy, that shouldn't limit your ambition. You'll find plenty of R2-D2 builds on YouTube. There's a massive R2-D2 building community online. Finding one that has a drive unit should be ideal for integrating a Raspberry Pi (and perhaps an Arduino, which you can use the two together) and developing a more realistic R2-D2 experience. Arduino vs Raspberry Pi: Which Is The Mini Computer For You? Arduino vs Rasp

" PreviousNext The True Meaning Behind 50 Flower Types By Janelle | source:HereDec 31st, 2019 Whether or not you realize it, you see flowers every day. A joyful budding bloom peeking through your window, rich and lavish arrangements perched on pristine vases, freshly cut stems ready to be sold in the market. But though you may admire the colors and fragrances of these flowers, do you ever stop to ponder past their beauty? What do they mean, and what do they symbolize? The etymology of flowers has indeed survived, shifted, and grown throughout thousands of years. Arisen from this is the term of floriography or 'the language of flowers'. This is defined as a cryptological communication through the arrangement or use of these flowers that can be seen as you trace through history. Though the term was first introduced in the seventeenth century, there is no arguing that the symbolism of flowers was well reflected through means of art, literature, and mythology at an even earlier age. There is a beautiful correlation between a flower's physical attributes and the meaning it takes possession of. For instance, the taraxacum-commonly known as a dandelion-comes from the French dent de lion, literally translating into 'lion's tooth'. If you have seen and touched an actual dandelion, you might be aware of the fact that its leaves are rather coarse, poking out like little teeth, yet with its sunny yellow hue, it is said to be a flower of hope and joy. Thus is the strange and amusing nature of the monikers and the meaning of flowers. As you grasp a better understanding of the soul of these petaled wonders, perhaps you may take an extra moment to stop and consider their beginnings. Whether you are choosing flowers for your wedding, picking a bouquet for your loved one, or simply gazing at a lone bloom, remember how they sprung from the fertile grass of our lands."

""If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve," Debbie Millman counseled in one of the best commencement speeches ever given, urging: "Do what you love, and don't stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…" Far from Pollyanna platitude, this advice actually reflects what modern psychology knows about how belief systems about our own abilities and potential fuel our behavior and predict our success. Much of that understanding stems from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, synthesized in her remarkably insightful Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (public library) - an inquiry into the power of our beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, and how changing even the simplest of them can have profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives. One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can't change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness."

"ome widely held ideas about the way children learn can lead educators and parents to adopt faulty teaching principles Jan 1, 2015 Credit: Kiyoshi Takahase segundo MYTH HUMANS USE ONLY 10 PERCENT OF THEIR BRAIN FACT The 10 percent myth (sometimes elevated to 20) is mere urban legend, one perpetrated by the plot of the 2011 movie Limitless, which pivoted around a wonder drug that endowed the protagonist with prodigious memory and analytical powers. In the classroom, teachers may entreat students to try harder, but doing so will not light up "unused" neural circuits; academic achievement does not improve by simply turning up a neural volume switch. MYTH "LEFT BRAIN" and "RIGHT BRAIN" PEOPLE DIFFER FACT The contention that we have a rational left brain and an intuitive, artistic right side is fable: humans use both hemispheres of the brain for all cognitive functions. The left brain/right brain notion originated from the realization that many (though not all) people process language more in the left hemisphere and spatial abilities and emotional expression more in the right. Psychologists have used the idea to explain distinctions between different personality types. In education, programs emerged that advocated less reliance on rational "left brain" activities. Brain-imaging studies show no evidence of the right hemisphere as a locus of creativity. And the brain recruits both left and right sides for both reading and math. MYTH YOU MUST SPEAK ONE LANGUAGE BEFORE LEARNING ANOTHER FACT Children who learn English at the same time as they learn French do not confuse one language with the other and so develop more slowly. This idea of interfering languages suggests that different areas of the brain compete for resources. In reality, young children who learn two languages, even at the same time, gain better generalized knowledge of language structure as a whole. MYTH BRAINS OF MALES AND FEMALES DIFFER IN WAYS THAT DICTATE LEARNING ABILITIES FACT Diffe

"For as long as I've been aware of makerspaces, I haven't quite understood them. I have seen plenty of photos on social media, with the towers made of marshmallows and toothpicks. I've walked through exhibit halls at conferences where the coding and robotics displays cause me to stop, stare, and try to look like I have some idea of what I'm looking at. I even stumbled into a Twitter chat one night where a group of school librarians was throwing around some pretty great ideas about building makerspaces in their libraries. And yet, I still feel like I don't get it. I have this picture in my mind of kids kind of messing around with Legos instead of, I don't know, reading primary source materials that would shed light on some period in history. Or taping together some cardboard strips to make them into a car. Or attaching some kind of wire to a banana. I don't know…the more traditional, stodgy, control-freak part of me says it looks like a bunch of hooey. But some of the smartest people I know are pretty into makerspaces, and the part of me that's not a stodgy control freak, the part that knows there's a lot about tradition we need to question, that part of me wants to find out once and for all what's so great about makerspaces."

"The process of combining more primitive pieces of information to create something more meaningful is a crucial aspect both of learning and of consciousness and is one of the defining features of human experience. Once we have reached adulthood, we have decades of intensive learning behind us, where the discovery of thousands of useful combinations of features, as well as combinations of combinations and so on, has collectively generated an amazingly rich, hierarchical model of the world. Inside us is also written a multitude of mini strategies about how to direct our attention in order to maximize further learning. We can allow our attention to roam anywhere around us and glean interesting new clues about any facet of our local environment, to compare and potentially add to our extensive internal model."

"July 16, 2014 While searching for some resources on a paper and writing on  the 21st century learning skills I came across this skills checklist created by the university of Toledo. This checklist is meant to help students build powerful resumes outlining all the skills they master. I spent some time going through the components of this sheet and found it really sharing with you here.  You can use this sheet with your students as an explanatory guide of some of the important skills ( I said some because some other important skills particularly those related to digital citizenship and digital literacy are missing) they need to work. Below is a round-up of the 9 most important skills which I selected from the entire list. You can acccess this list from this link. 1- Research skills Know how to find and collect relevant background information Be able to analyze data, summarize findings and write a report 2- Critical Thinking skills Be able to review different points of view or ideas and make objective judgments Investigate all the possible solutions to a problem, weighing the pros and cons 3- Organizational skills Be able to organize information, people or thins in a systematic way Be able to establish priorities and meet deadlines 4- Problem-solving skills Be able to clarify the nature of a problem Be able to evaluate alternatives, propose viable solutions and determine the outcome of the various options 5- Creative thinking skills Be able to generate new ideas, invent new things, create new images or designs Find new solutions to problems Be able to use wit and humour effectively 6- Analytical/ logical thinking skills Be able to draw specific conclusions from a set of general observations of from a set of specific facts Be able to synthesize information and ideas 7- Public speaking skills Be able to make formal presentations Present ideas, positions and problems in an interesting way 8- Oral communication skills Be able to present information and ideas clearly a

Handing Assessment Over to Students I have been giving a lot of thought about how to give my students more of a voice in their learning and in our classroom. Initially, I was focused on increasing their presence on our classroom blog through podcasts, videos, and blog posts. I even gave thought to asking my district IT to unblock Twitter so that we could create a class account (which I am still going to do). But never would assessment have crossed my mind. Fortunately, I took my thoughts to my PLN. Janine Campbell (@campbellartsoup) responded to my tweet about amplifying students' voices with rich insights and a couple articles that got the cerebral wheels turning. If you like what you read here, be sure to follow Janine on Twitter. Assessment for learning is a pedagogical golden nugget. No one ever said that the teacher had to do it alone. Why not give your students a voice in how they are assessed? It might tell you more about where they are at than assessing your class conventionally. Rubrics are my favorite way to assess student projects. I'm even pretty good at creating them. By doing so, I completely understand the assignment and learning outcomes for any given project. But do my students? Is there a way to better utilize rubrics as assessment of learning where students' voices are intensified. Yes! Allowing students to create the criteria for assessment does just that. It doesn't just serve the purpose of better summative assessment. Student-created rubrics also provides a medium for formative assessment as well. If my assignment is for students to analyze the effects of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on post-war America, I will be able to formatively assess the class' understanding of the main points of this event by the criteria that they suggest this assignment should be graded on. I will know that I need to reteach aspects of this event in American history if students believe that including a description of John Wilkes Booth's escape from Ford's The

"Unfortunately, the way computer science is currently taught in high school tends to throw students into the programming deep end, reinforcing the notion that code is just for coders, not artists or doctors or librarians. But there is good news: Researchers have been experimenting with new ways of teaching computer science, with intriguing results. For one thing, they've seen that leading with computational thinking instead of code itself, and helping students imagine how being computer savvy could help them in any career, boosts the number of girls and kids of color taking-and sticking with-computer science. Upending our notions of what it means to interface with computers could help democratize the biggest engine of wealth since the Industrial Revolution."

"I must confess: I am a coder. I like to create and build through computer programming. I find it engages a special part of my brain and calms me when I need a break of administrative or educational work. In fact, I used to code for Microsoft. I also teach coding and I love that coding teaches them to grow as analytical thinkers and problem solvers. In short, I am a big proponent for learning how to code. What has struck most of late is just how universal coding has become as a connector of people. When I first played around with the topic for this post, I considered titling it as, "Coding is a Universal Language," but a set of colleagues corrected me. Coding does not follow the rules of common languages; it exceeds them. Coding ties people together from all backgrounds and ages with the universal concepts of planning, creativity, design, and development. It is both constructive and destructive, fueling collaboration in some and isolation in others. What I challenge readers to think about is finding any part of modern society that is not touched in some way by coding? Think of any social or political event of the past 25 years that didn't have some connection to coding. Think of one nation of people on earth that haven't been influenced in some way by coding. I am sure you can find some, but those outliers are vastly overwhelmed by the examples of coding being tied to the central fabric of contemporary digital society."

" This Copyright Decision Tool was developed by the Copyright Consortium of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) . The CMEC Copyright Consortium is composed of the ministers of education of the provinces and territories, with the exception of Quebec. (For further background on copyright and education, you can visit the CMEC Web pages on copyright. ) This Copyright Decision Tool is a supplement to the Fair Dealing Guidelines , created to help teachers determine whether their use of a copyright-protected work is fair dealing. The tool helps teachers assess whether fair dealing permits them to use a copyright-protected work for students without permission or payment of copyright royalties. Fair dealing is only one of several users' rights provided to educational users in the Copyright Act. For a description of other educational users' rights, see Copyright Matters! Every school board or school district should have a staff member who is familiar with copyright law. For more information, contact the ministry or department of Education Copyright Officer for your province or territory, listed here. CMEC wishes to acknowledge that the Copyright Decision Tool is liberally adapted, with permission, from the University of Ottawa's Fair Dealing Decision Tree ."

"One undeniable fact about teaching is that teachers not only need to be masters of content within their subject area, but they must also be masters of education as a subject. Another undeniable fact is that neither of those subject areas looks the same as when any teacher first mastered them. One effect of the integration of technology into our society is that change in almost everything is happening at a pace never before experienced by mankind. As much as some people may yearn for the simpler times of the past, life will continue to move forward as the natural order of society requires. The influence of additional information on any subject often affects how we deal with that subject. Once we had more information on the effects of smoking, smoking habits of millions of people changed. Once we learned what we now understand about the benefits of physical activity, several sports related industries were spawned. Once we learned what we now know of communication, music and print industries disappeared while being replaced with better in many ways."

"The art of animation - a series of related images that depict movement - is arguably several thousand years old. The use of equipment that could display animated images in rapid succession to create the illusion of motion is a more modern phenomenon that gained wide popularity with the development of motion pictures. Cartoons and animated movies from the studios of companies such as Disney, Warner Brothers, Nickelodeon and others have had a tremendous impact on modern culture. Production of an animated movie requires skilled artists, expensive equipment and an investment of countless hours of labor. No longer. Mobile devices with built-in cameras such as the iPad enable budding animators to use a variety of easy to use animation apps to capture and stitch together photos of characters and objects into seamless, fluent animated movies. Further, the process of designing, scripting and staging animations has tremendous educational potential. Animation can be a wonderful mix of art, science, collaboration and problem solving."