Group items tagged

"What Is Transformational In Your Educational Vision?      Part of the challenge in educational reform is that not everyone defines learning or education the same way.  Sure, we all refer to things such as literacy, college and career ready, 21st century skills, etc.        However, what is the core purpose of one's education?  Beyond specifics related to employment skills, literacy skills and standards mastery, I offer up this idea: Education is meant to transform one's life.  In other words, education has to dramatically, or even radically, transform the person into a new, improved person that is more emotionally, socially, and intellectually ready for any challenge the world has to offer."

"You can get 80 percent of higher education online for free, so why would you spend $300,000?" http://t.co/vBLNg80GFF #edchat - MOOCS - open education is making a move into the educational markets

"KidInfo.com is an educational web resource that saves teachers, students, and parents valuable time by providing - in ONE website directory - the BEST Pre K-12 curriculum links to educational resources, videos, and powerpoints. KID INFO is UNIQUELY different from other educational web directories, as it is easy to navigate, and is the ONLY educational web directory that organizes websites according to SPECIFIC, rather than general, curriculum studied in schools throughout the United States, and many other countries around the world."

A top-notch presentation on "Copyright for Educators" by Wesley Fryer, educator in Oklahoma. 

A look at education from a young adult - how it's viewed - goals and outcomes - it should inspire one's mind, not just fill our heads with forgettable information. Re-assess your dreams - define how you view education.

This blog post will get you to ask yourself, "What is the role of a teacher?" Some of the comments show the wide diversity in views among educators - those who would abandon schools if they could (LIsa Nielsen), others who have the paradigm of the student making the instructional choices and the teacher just floating around and helping students, and those who see the teacher as embodying many different skill sets and who work out of a strong relationship with their students. The current educational shifts in pedagogy and goals in education have had a profound impact on teaching. Reading this post will help stimulate and hopefully clarify you own views.

"Content curation will play a major role both in the way we "teach" and in the way we educate ourselves on any topic. When and where it will be adopted, it will deeply affect many key aspects of the educational ecosystem."

"It seems like just yesterday that I was a disconnected nomad working hard to maintain the status quo and conform to a rigid system commonly known as education. You see, prior to 2009 I was adamantly opposed to even the thought of using social media for both personal and professional reasons. As a building level leader burdened by endless responsibilities, I could not fathom wasting even a precious minute in what I saw as a perpetual time sap. " Read the rest of this post to see how Eric discovered being connected on social media and engaging in conversations with passionate educators has transformed his work in education.

"Welcome to the ultimate guide to YouTube. Unless you've been living under rock throughout the 'Noughties' YouTube is quite simply the world's largest collection of video content and as an educator it is an amazing resource that you SHOULD NOT be without."

Here's the latest update to the first article on Dropbox for educators. I would encourage you to read both posts & take advantage of this great tool - Dropbox!

How is it this video (or others) went "viral". Turns out it may be profit driven more than "outrage" at education and a demonstration of poor digital citizenship. Audrey Watters will give you a perspective that is informative and eye-opening. It will help you to better understand, as well, the power of social media in the construction of "truth". 

Blog post that lists with a description four outstanding resources for educators interested in strengthening their grip on educational technology. 

"I often begin my workshop on personal learning networks (PLN) for educators by asking these questions: Who is in your learning network? Who do you learn from on a regular basis? Who do you turn to for your own professional development?" Read 10 great tips for expanding your PLN

Nice basic introduction to hashtags in education and has groupings of tags that will be helpful to use in filtering what you want to find and share on Twitter

When TED launched its educational website for younger students last week, I think teachers everywhere realised they had to up their game. The 3-10 minute videos are designed to encourage curiosity and show how the world works using compelling animation and the audible explanations of a gifted teacher.  Even if you're not in high school, the videos are sometimes fascinating, sometimes kinda strange, but generally very cool. Here are some of the best videos that are designed to amaze and challenge your brain.

1st Google Education On Air conference with many educators presenting on a wide variety of topics. The video recordings of the sessions are found by clicking on each link. Most presenters have additional links to resources and you can add them to your Google+ connections.

"The news reports say that the test scores of American students on the latest PISA test are "stagnant," "lagging," "flat," etc. The U.S. Department of Education would have us believe-yet again-that we are in an unprecedented crisis and that we must double down on the test-and-punish strategies of the past dozen years. The myth persists that once our nation led the world on international tests, but we have fallen from that exalted position in recent years." BUT....is what we're being told really the whole story? This blog post will help you see that our nation's creativity and innovation has NOTHING to do with our place nationally & internationally with test scores. So...how should that influence our approach to education?

"The Copyright Office deemed K-12 teachers and students ineligible for the exemption, and instead indicated that they should use only screen captures of a film, because K-12 education doesn't need access to visually high-quality clips, officials ruled."

Here is a high student's speech that calls for educ. reform. It's a straight up, in your face call for schools to change their approach and for us to see differently - with new eyes.

"Collaboration is the real step to education transformation. When we gather to produce, our ideas, talents, and skills embody our final outcome. Each person who participates has the ability to add full attention to the designated task versus one person spread thin over several tasks. Collaboration is also important for students who will have to work with others in some capacity to be able to problem solve or brainstorm."