Group items tagged

"It took 200,000 years for our human population to reach 1 billion-and only 200 years to reach 7 billion. But growth has begun slowing, as women have fewer babies on average. When will our global population peak? And how can we minimize our impact on Earth's resources, even as we approach 11 billion?"

"New scientific research is quietly rewriting the fundamentals of economics. The new economic science shows decisively that the age of endlessly growing industrial capitalism, premised on abundant fossil fuel supplies, is over. The long-decline of capitalism-as-we-know-it, the new science shows, began some decades ago, and is on track to accelerate well before the end of the 21st century. With capitalism-as-we-know it in inexorable decline, the urgent task ahead is to rewrite economics to fit the real-world: and, accordingly, to redesign our concepts of value and prosperity, precisely to rebuild our societies with a view of adapting to this extraordinary age of transition."

"... Soil is the bedrock of civilization (Perlin 1991, Ponting 1993). Biofuels are not sustainable or renewable. Why would we destroy our topsoil, increase global warming, deplete and pollute groundwater, destroy fisheries, and use more energy than what's gained to make ethanol? Why would we do this to our children and grandchildren? Perhaps it's a combination of pork barrel politics, an uninformed public, short-sighted greedy agribusiness corporations, jobs for the Midwest, politicians getting too large a percent of their campaign money from agribusiness (Lavelle 2007), elected leaders without science degrees, and desperation to provide liquid transportation fuels (Bucknell 1981, Hirsch 2005). ..."

""Every action and decision we take - or don't - ripples into the future. For the first time we have the capability, the technology, and the knowledge to direct these ripples." Jacque Fresco Music: Protect Life, Human Nature, Koolen, Leelo - Eric Serra"

"How to make your very own Hydraulic Arm! This project focuses on the principles of hydraulic movements. To do that we made a small scale demonstration of a Robotic Hydraulic Arm. We managed to do some pretty cool tasks with our ''Arm'', do check out the video down below for a better understanding! This project is entirely made with cardboard and a couple of syringes, all the plans and blueprints are available."

"The time is now. For decades, scientists have been raising calls for societal changes that will reduce our impacts on nature. Though much conservation has occurred, our natural environment continues to decline under the weight of our consumption. Humanity depends directly on the output of nature; thus, this decline will affect us, just as it does the other species with which we share this world. Díaz et al. review the findings of the largest assessment of the state of nature conducted as of yet. They report that the state of nature, and the state of the equitable distribution of nature's support, is in serious decline. Only immediate transformation of global business-as-usual economies and operations will sustain nature as we know it, and us, into the future."

"EdX is a nonprofit online initiative created by founding partners Harvard and MIT and composed of dozens of leading global institutions, the xConsortium. EdX offers interactive online courses and MOOCs from the world's best universities and institutions. Open edX is the open source platform that powers edX courses. Through our commitment to the open source vision, edX code is freely available to the community. Institutions can host their own instances of Open edX and offer their own classes. Educators can extend the platform to build learning tools that precisely meet their needs. And developers can contribute new features to the Open edX platform. Our goal is to build a thriving worldwide community of educators and technologists who share innovative solutions to benefit students everywhere. We invite you to explore Open edX and participate in our growing movement. Frequently Asked Questions What is Open edX? The Open edX platform is a free--and open source--course management system (CMS) that was originally developed by edX. The Open edX platform is used all over the world to host Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as well as smaller classes and training modules."

"EdX is a nonprofit online initiative created by founding partners Harvard and MIT and composed of dozens of leading global institutions, the xConsortium. EdX offers interactive online courses and MOOCs from the world's best universities and institutions. Open edX is the open source platform that powers edX courses. Through our commitment to the open source vision, edX code is freely available to the community. Institutions can host their own instances of Open edX and offer their own classes. Educators can extend the platform to build learning tools that precisely meet their needs. And developers can contribute new features to the Open edX platform. Our goal is to build a thriving worldwide community of educators and technologists who share innovative solutions to benefit students everywhere. We invite you to explore Open edX and participate in our growing movement. Frequently Asked Questions What is Open edX? The Open edX platform is a free--and open source--course management system (CMS) that was originally developed by edX. The Open edX platform is used all over the world to host Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as well as smaller classes and training modules."

"Back in the 1980s, a group of social workers in Jamaica visited low-income homes one hour a week for two years, bearing age-appropriate toys for the kids and advice on child rearing for the parents. Researchers tracked the outcomes, and a generation later, the results are in. The children whose homes were visited by social workers became adults who earn wages that are 25 percent higher than those earned by peers who had not been visited. Their I.Q.s are an average seven points higher, and they are less likely to resort to crime or suffer from depression. Other studies, including several recent ones in the United States, have shown similar results, contributing to a consensus on the importance of early childhood development that has led governments around the world to increase spending on the first five years of life. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a region of longstanding social and economic inequality, several countries have been especially ambitious. Brazil and Chile doubled the coverage of day care services over the past decade, while in Ecuador they grew sixfold. These investments build on historic gains in child nutrition and health. But while Latin American children are now healthier and more likely to attend preschool, they still lag far behind in learning, particularly in the areas of language and cognition, when compared with their counterparts in wealthy countries. What are we doing wrong? ..."

"Back in the 1980s, a group of social workers in Jamaica visited low-income homes one hour a week for two years, bearing age-appropriate toys for the kids and advice on child rearing for the parents. Researchers tracked the outcomes, and a generation later, the results are in. The children whose homes were visited by social workers became adults who earn wages that are 25 percent higher than those earned by peers who had not been visited. Their I.Q.s are an average seven points higher, and they are less likely to resort to crime or suffer from depression. Other studies, including several recent ones in the United States, have shown similar results, contributing to a consensus on the importance of early childhood development that has led governments around the world to increase spending on the first five years of life. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a region of longstanding social and economic inequality, several countries have been especially ambitious. Brazil and Chile doubled the coverage of day care services over the past decade, while in Ecuador they grew sixfold. These investments build on historic gains in child nutrition and health. But while Latin American children are now healthier and more likely to attend preschool, they still lag far behind in learning, particularly in the areas of language and cognition, when compared with their counterparts in wealthy countries. What are we doing wrong? ..."

OLDaily: Publishing Paradigms of the Future: Where are We Headed?

"As a learning strategy, inquiry-based learning is all about learners constructing their own understanding and knowledge through asking questions. Unlike traditional learning methods that focus primarily on drills, memorization and rote learning, inquiry-based learning is essentially student-centered. It starts with posing questions and directly involves students in challenging hands-on activities that drive students to ask more questions and explore different learning paths. In today's post, we have assembled a collection of some useful web tools and apps that support the ethos of inquiry-based learning. Using these tools will enable students to engage in a wide range of learning tasks that are all driven by a sense of inquiry and questioning."

"As a learning strategy, inquiry-based learning is all about learners constructing their own understanding and knowledge through asking questions. Unlike traditional learning methods that focus primarily on drills, memorization and rote learning, inquiry-based learning is essentially student-centered. It starts with posing questions and directly involves students in challenging hands-on activities that drive students to ask more questions and explore different learning paths. In today's post, we have assembled a collection of some useful web tools and apps that support the ethos of inquiry-based learning. Using these tools will enable students to engage in a wide range of learning tasks that are all driven by a sense of inquiry and questioning."

"there is no live teacher engagement... Currently, just 10 percent of MOOC registrants complete their courses. Where Will MOOCs Be Just Two Years From Now? Within the next two years, MOOCs will quickly evolve from lacking teacher engagement to having a lot of teacher engagement. Right now, it's essentially a model where computers are teaching students. This model is simply not sustainable in the long run without live student-teacher engagement. Teachers are the key that unlocks learning in these courses. They help students resolve issues and problems. Will the biggest change in online education moving forward be putting live teachers at the center of the MOOC (not just on video)? We will know the answer very soon."

"there is no live teacher engagement... Currently, just 10 percent of MOOC registrants complete their courses. Where Will MOOCs Be Just Two Years From Now? Within the next two years, MOOCs will quickly evolve from lacking teacher engagement to having a lot of teacher engagement. Right now, it's essentially a model where computers are teaching students. This model is simply not sustainable in the long run without live student-teacher engagement. Teachers are the key that unlocks learning in these courses. They help students resolve issues and problems. Will the biggest change in online education moving forward be putting live teachers at the center of the MOOC (not just on video)? We will know the answer very soon."

We're not making moral judgments about countries. What we mean by a Good Country is something much simpler: it's a country that contributes to the greater good of humanity. A country that serves the interests of its own people, but without harming - and preferably by advancing - the interests of people in other countries too.

We're not making moral judgments about countries. What we mean by a Good Country is something much simpler: it's a country that contributes to the greater good of humanity. A country that serves the interests of its own people, but without harming - and preferably by advancing - the interests of people in other countries too.

"The cryptocurrency uses as much CO2 a year as 1m transatlantic flights. We need to take it seriously as a climate Bitcoin's electricity usage is enormous. In November, the power consumed by the entire bitcoin network was estimated to be higher than that of the Republic of Ireland. Since then, its demands have only grown. It's now on pace to use just over 42TWh of electricity in a year, placing it ahead of New Zealand and Hungary and just behind Peru, according to estimates from Digiconomist. That's commensurate with CO2 emissions of 20 megatonnes - or roughly 1m transatlantic flights."

Proyecto internacional DESIGN FOR CHANGE, inspirado por el DESIGN THINKING aplicado al mundo escolar para promover cambios en la sociedad. "HOW DO WE UNLEASH THE 'I CAN' SUPERPOWER? Design for Change offers a simple 4-step design process of Feel-Imagine-Do-Share, which develops the values of empathy, ethics, engagement and elevation"

Uta and I are planning a trip to the UK the last two weeks of September. Homebase will be Corsham. We figure on day trips from there and perhaps a jaunt to Normandy or Brittany.

Since reading Robin Good's presentation on curation, I've started curating my research into happiness and well-bein

One of the best ways to stay up-to-date on the latest in education (other than a free subscription to the SimpleK12 blog) is to follow hashtags on Twitter. Before we get into which hashtags to watch, let's look at what they are.
Hashtags (#) are basically keywords for a tweet. Depending on the cont

I just installed a WordPress Plugin from Sharaholic named SexyBookmarks. It looks very cool, displaying little animated buttons for Twitter, F'book, Google+, and so on.

This is a test post to see how well it works.



How we learn... in five minutes.

"Around the age of 12, the brain go

"Education plays an important role in shaping our future and success. Students and parents have become more vigilant and aware about choosing the right educational institute for them/their wards. Thanks to the rising awareness and easy access to the internet, people now check online, each and every detail about the institute they are interested in. Going to an educational institute means an investment of both time and money so today's generation wants to make sure that it is inducted in the right place. Therefore, you will find almost all the institutes having their websites now to give full information about them. Today we have come up with 40 Education WordPress themes specially designed to keeping in mind the needs of the education industry. Please have a look."