Group items tagged

" Moving lectures outside of the classroom allows teachers to spend more 1:1 time with each student. Students have the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems with the guidance of their teachers and the support of their peers - creating a collaborative learning environment."

Site organized by application use, name, general reference, and so forth. A nice repository. Encourages outside people to add additional tools.

"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."

when it comes to preparing students for success in the 21st century you not only have to think outside the ban, sometimes you have to dive in head first and break it. The following is a collection of ideas each teacher implemented to successfully break and/or work within the ban where they teach in an effort to empower students with the freedom to use their cell phones as personal learning devices.

School behavior problems often originate outside of the classroom. For example, asthma is the number one cause of absenteeism. When asthmatics are unable to sleep at night, they miss class or arrive at school so sleep drunk and irritable that disruptive behavior ensues, getting them tossed out of class. Consequently, they fall more behind in classwork, which increases academic struggle. More outbursts and further truancy results.

Kid-friendly programming. "What looks like a puzzle game on the outside, at its core is a real experience in programming."

I'm about 80% of the way through Disrupting Class by Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn. (Yeah, I know... I'm the last one to read it.) There's a lot that's very interesting about the book, and while we should critically examine the book, it is still a fascinating read. If nothing else, it is continuing to make me think about how much more could happen in our classrooms if we created more opportunities for students to learn basic skills and content outside of class, rather than inside class. I've been thinking a lot about math class. How many students would learn math more efficiently if they could watch math videos, narrated by a teacher with problems done "on the board" as they watched with multiple examples of concepts (think geometry here, as an example) that speak to different learning modalities.

Reflection of the latest teaching viral videos: Yawn outside and cheating in Florida. What does it mean to teach in the age of YouTube?

We do a crappy job of selling technology. Sure, we are great at convincing ourselves that ed-tech is good. We are great at throwing big parties like NECC and TCEA to convince ourselves that that we are doing the right thing. We read a lot. And we write a lot. We podcast a lot. And we RSS a lot. And we hire each other to speak at each other's conventions and workshops. We have done a great job of convincing ourselves that technology is important. The trouble is, we are not convincing anyone else outside of ourselves.

Cell Phones in education - blog post by Wes Fryer at www.isteconnects.org

Presentations about the uses of cell phones to support learning both inside and outside the traditional classroom have been popular as well as contentious at educational technology conferences in the past year. I first become aware of the wide variety of constructive ways cell phones can be used to support learning through Liz Kolb's presentation for the 2007 K-12 Online Conference, "Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools." Liz is the author of the blog "From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning," and published the book "Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education" with ISTE in 2008. This past week, at the eTechOhio conference in Columbus, I heard Ohio technology director Ryan Collins' outstanding presentation "Cellphones in the classroom? Yes way!" In his session Ryan identified seven different ways cell phones can and are being used to support learning:

One New Hampshire high school student fell in love with accounting while working at a local business. Another attended the recent Democratic National Convention as a campaign volunteer. And a third, whose relative worked in the state immigration office, researched challenges facing newcomers to the state. All earned high school credit for their work outside school, an opportunity available under a burgeoning high school redesign effort in New Hampshire that sets its sights beyond simply stiffening course requirements and graduation standards.

"Joyce Valenza Ph.D On the librarian: What's the point . . ? The Twitter conversation April 30, 2009 @karlfisch: What's the point of having a media specialist if they aren't specialists in the media forms of the day? I was nearly finished copying and pasting, figuring out how best to post Tuesday's Twitter conversation, when I discovered that Karl Fisch (@karlfisch), who kinda started it all, already took care of that. (You likely know of Karl's very popular and provocative videos.) I am still not sure how best to frame this conversation on the place of the information/media specialist in today's school. What is clear is that a lot of smart people--people who are out there teaching, speaking, moving, and shaking--are disappointed in what they see when they see school librarians. Either we have a perception problem or we need to do some serious retooling. I'd say we have to deal with both. In a hurry. Being an information (or media) specialist today means being an expert in how information and media flow TODAY! It is about knowing how information and media are created and communicated. How to evalute, synthesize, and ethically use information and media in all their varied forms. It is about being able to communicate knowlege in new ways for new audiences using powerful new information and communication tools. Forgive me if it hurts. In my mind, if you are not an expert in new information and communication tools, you are NOT a media specialist for today. Tuesday's conversation happened in the open, on Twitter. We need to be aware that these conversations are happening where we cannot hear them--at conferences, at Board and cabinet meetings. We also need to make sure that our voices are heard and that we hear the voices of others in places like Twitter, where so many educational leaders and thinkers are chatting about us and many other things. I've selected the remarks that resonated loudest for me. (I've shuffled a bit, but you can visit Karl'

A reading and writing community started by a local high school (Silver Creek). Just shows the power of thinking outside the four walls of your classroom.

A blog that focuses on technology in the language classroom. Interesting observations from a primary teacher outside of Melbourne, Australia, and the use of technology in the classroom.

I think it is a cool game. Makes the kids realize that math is outside the school walls!

Teachers never have enough time. We have curriculum to cover, skills to teach, reports to write and meetings to attend. The demands are endless, both in and outside the classroom.

Micro-student loans for students in 3rd world countries. Outside of the United States and a handful of other countries, student loans just don't exist. No matter how well you did in school, no matter how good your grades were, no matter how hard you worked, if you don't have the cash up front or a rich uncle to co-sign for you, you just can't go to college. In many cases, Vittana loans are the first and only source of college loans for students in countries where we operate.