Group items tagged

Useful critique that argues that the national common core standards should be voluntary, not mandatory, since they have been developed within a corporate context that required such standards as a condition of eligibility for "race to the top" funds, and that it is unclear whether these standards will have positive or negative effects on students--they just haven't been tried enough to justify them as "national" or "mandatory."

"By looking at all that tablets offer in the context of student behavior and some of the recent trends in education, it's clear that tablets are ready for the classroom. Here's a look at the top reasons why."

Digital Culture & Education (DCE) is an international inter-disciplinary peer-reviewed journal. This interactive, open-access web-published journal is for those interested in digital culture and education. The journal is devoted to analysing the impact of digital culture on identity, education, art, society, culture and narrative within social, political, economic, cultural and historical contexts.

"The Stripling Inquiry Model has six phases; however, it's not a linear process but rather a recursive one in which the learner might revisit a previous stage to ask additional questions or organize information, as the need arises. Each phase involves critical thinking skills that empower young people to learn on their own and develop the thinking skills to be independent, lifelong learners. The phases are as follows: Connect: observe, experience, connect a subject to self and previous knowledge Wonder: predict, develop questions and hypotheses Investigate: find and evaluate information to answer questions, test hypotheses Construct: draw conclusions, arrive at new understandings Express: apply understandings to a new context, share learning with others Reflect: examine one's own learning and ask new questions (Stripling 2003, 8). Technology and, in particular, Web 2.0 tools and services can be used throughout the inquiry process to support the appropriate thinking skills. The key is to focus on student learning, not the Web 2.0 technology. The focus is on the phase(s) of inquiry at which students are concentrating and deciding which technology tool can best support the thinking processes and instructional strategies of that phase of inquiry. This increases the effectiveness of both the learning experience and the use of technology. An outline of the inquiry phases aligned with Web 2.0 technology tools and instructional strategies can be seen in Figure 2."

"This idea has been developed from an idea in Talk-Less Teaching by Isabella Wallace and Leah Kirkman. I used it in the context of a SPAG lesson where Y6 pupils were answering test questions in preparation for the SATs test."

from tech crunch: ....with a geo-location platform for recording, sharing and discovering connected experiences. Gopogo users create "Strings," what the team describes as sharable social objects that consist of any group of places that have relevance and context for the user

The topic of Fractions and Percentages from the GCSE books of the Mathematics Enhancement Program. For information about these resources and an index for the whole collection please visit http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/CIMT.htm Keywords: Fraction, Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide, Numerator, Denominator, Percentage, Convert, Equivalent, VAT, Increase, Decrease, Reverse, Context, Compound, Interest, Exponential, Growth, Depreciation.

A summative description of. Maths program related to real Maths in the household context. 

"if you do not aggressively deal with cheating your students will lose respect for you and what you are teaching.  Cheating will happen, and you must be prepared to deal with it. Worse yet, though, is that when a teacher sees a student cheat, it often forever taints his impression of the child. Before talking about how to deal with cheating, it might be useful to put it in a reasonable context."

Swift and draconian teaches one thing: don't get caught. They know they're not supposed to cheat and, largely, why. Although I will agree with the point regarding a lack of intrinsic value in rules for teenagers. However, there is no reason we can't try to begin developing a sense of genuine effort for ones own gain. Authentic assessment is a much more productive approach to reducing cheating behaviors. Good scaffolding and levels of feedback on research projects discourage academic dishonesty simply due to the attention the work receives. Kids cheat because they think they can get away with it. Why? Because objective assessments make it easy? Because teachers don't pay enough attention to the work? If we, as professionals, model a means of making work easier for us, how can we blame the kids for following our lead?

the JISC developing digital literacies programme recognises that digital literacies are always plural and are highly context-specific. They go well beyond the 'basic skills' mentioned in the Royal Society report. The digital world is not a single, homogenous space and, as a result, the literacies we require to traverse and interact in this space vary enormously. This does not make for an easy, one-size-fits-all knowledge transfer approach but it certainly recognises the diverse world in which we live, both online and offline.

Clay Shirky famously pointed out that the problem in the information landscape today isn't necessarily that there is too much information but that our filters aren't any good. Students feel this problem acutely due to their perpetual crunch for time and lack of nuanced Google skills. So where does a responsible student go for reliable information she can use in an academic context?

The Teaching Council (Ireland) has published a Draft Code of Professional Conduct for Teachers - I have examined it under four headings in the context of eLearning,

Videogames in Critical Contexts (HNRS 353) syllabus for George Mason University uploaded to GitHub by Mark Sample - see also his CHE article on this at http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/git-a-fork-in-my-syllabus-its-done/40331?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

I think that in the context of teaching and learning, how we introduce the handling of online-devices in schools needs further thought. Rather than the device being omnipresent, teacher and student must see it as an aid to pedagogy rather than replacing the learning interaction between people.

"Learning- even "self-directed learning"- is an inherently social activity. The Open Master's is a global community of small groups for self-directed learners, offering each other the structure, accountability, relationships, and sense of forward direction that are often hard to find outside formal programs and institutions. These groups are using and building on an open source framework of shared practices to help us: Master the art of social, self-directed learning Be more intentional about our learning journeys Take bolder risks in our journeys of becoming Discover and share our unique gifts Ensure that our short-term learning goals feed into our longer-term vision for transformation for ourselves and the world We invite any existing community, organization, or even groups of friends or colleagues to use the Open Master's framework to make their own learning process more intentional.  You can do that simply by: Mapping out a personal plan or curriculum, including a clear statement of purpose and some intentions for your own learning journey, and sharing them on a personal website or blog Bringing the rhythm of semesters back into your life, including regular opportunities for evaluation and reflection Developing deeper relationships with study buddies, mentors, and advisers Starting an Open Master's group with a clear commitment to study together, support each other, and share your work Offering a presentation or organizing a study group on a topic that interests you Maintaining a portfolio of learning projects (including professional work) you've completed and reviewed with peers and mentors We also invite you to link up with the broader global community of Open Master's groups by joining regional or global events to spotlight members, mix with members across groups, and cross-pollinate ideas or strategies that are working in different contexts."

"Collaborative problem solving is not a traditional domain, in that it is not explicitly taught as a school subject, rather embedded as a practice in the classroom" (PISA 2015 Draft Collaborative Problem Solving Framework p.27) - some thoughts from the context of education in Ireland

Very powerful little JS dictionary/thesaurus tool which also displays word relationships as well as context. It offers language learners deeper insight into the words they choose. Pass it on!

Strategic studies have retained the thinking of Karl von Clausewitz at its core. The Prussian General's understanding of war by reference to the political process saw wars as the "continuation of politics by other means" (Clausewitz, 1997). In conflict research, this has become the most widely quoted definition of war. What made Clausewitz's work 'On War' so successful was that he wrote about war by focusing on its general aspects, or more simply, on the spirit of war as he saw it. In this way, war no longer drew on narrow and specific contexts, but rather became understood, as an enduring phenomenon, in general terms.