, in a world where computers are taking more and more of the jobs, what is it that humans most need to learn? It probably isn't primarily memorizing facts or figures, or simple rules for problem solving.

An immediate answer is that more of us need to get better at building and interacting with software tools.

the growing movement in education to focus on building social and emotional competencies.

a new teaching approach here called “proficiency-based education” that was inspired by a 2012 state law.

law requires that by 2021, students graduating from Maine high schools must show they have mastered specific skills to earn a high school diploma.

CompetencyWorks, a national organization t

Today robotics and artificial intelligence call for another education revolution

working lives are so lengthy and so fast-changing that simply cramming more schooling in at the start is not enough. People must also be able to acquire new skills throughout their careers.

lifelong learning that exists today mainly benefits high achievers—and is therefore more likely to exacerbate inequality than diminish it.

As an online tutor, Watson, a similar messenger-based tool, promises to help students any time they need it while providing insight to professors about how students are learning, according to the companies. Students will be able to ask questions of the tutor, which is capable of responding with hints, feedback and explanations.

“One-on-one tutoring is the Holy Grail of teaching and all educational approaches should be aimed at replicating this model,” Harriet Green, who heads IBM’s Watson Education effort, said in prepared remarks delivered in Las Vegas Tuesday. “Advanced technologies can help us to understand individual interaction patterns and enable us to tailor educational content accordingly.”

Study in chunked sessions:

Have a dedicated study area:

Know the difference between recognition and recollection:

to understand better how expectations operate as a cultural force in learning groups, we have to make a distinction between two types of expectations: directives and beliefs.

very clear standards for students about points, grades, and keeping score, one sees a belief that school is about work and that students must be coerced or bribed into learning through the use of grades

one sees the belief that learning algebra is primarily about acquiring knowledge of procedures rather than developing understanding, and that memorization and practice are the most effective tools for that job. This theory of action, “One learns through memorization and practice,” made it hard for Karen to bring out and facilitate students’ thinking. Instead, thinking existed as an add-on to the regular rhythm of the class, something she did as an “extra” to the regular work of the class. Through her strong focus on grades and passing the course, even if one is “no good at mathematics,” Karen sent the message that our abilities are largely fixed and that “getting by” was all that some could hope to accomplish. One might not understand algebra, but with effort one could at least pass the course. Finally, in her efforts to promote order and control, certainly worthwhile and important goals in any classroom, Karen tilted the balance toward students’ becoming passive learners who were dependent on her.

More than two-thirds of college students admit to having cheated on an assignment.

TakeYourClass.com and NoNeedtoStudy.com

.“The students and the people who are selling these services have the idea that all that really matters is the end, and that the processes that get you there, aren’t really significant.”To fight cheating, she said, colleges need to do a better job of teaching the value and relevance of learning.

“A generation of children has grown up with continuous connectivity to the internet. A few years ago, nobody had a piece of plastic to which they could ask questions and have it answer back. The Greeks spoke of the oracle of Delphi. We’ve created it. People don’t talk to a machine. They talk to a huge collective of people, a kind of hive. Our generation [Mitra is 64] doesn’t see that. We just see a lot of interlinked web pages

“Within five years, you will not be able to tell if somebody is consulting the internet or not. The internet will be inside our heads anywhere and at any time. What then will be the value of knowing things? We shall have acquired a new sense. Knowing will have become collective.”

if you imagine me and my phone as a single entity, yes. Very soon, asking somebody to read without their phone will be like telling them to read without their glasses.”

U.S. Department of Education's new National Education Technology Plan, which places a premium on closing the so-called "digital-use divide." In the modern era, the plan says, schools must ensure "all students understand how to use technology as a tool to engage in creative, productive, lifelong learning rather than simply consuming passive content."

In other words, students should be making things and connecting with others and exploring the world, rather than staring at screens.

"In my class, each child decides what it is they want to work on,"

binge and purge” learning: They stuffed themselves full of facts and then spewed them out at test time. Research in cognitive science shows that this is a very poor way to retain information,

spaced repetition works, increasing knowledge retention by up to 50 percent

Teens and tweens, for instance, generally reported spending much more time watching television than they did on social media.

Black teenagers spent a daily average of eight hours and 26 minutes on screens for entertainment purposes, according to the report. That was two hours and eight minutes more than their white peers. Within that screen time, black teenagers spent most of their time — an average of about four hours daily — on smartphones, compared with about three hours for Hispanic teenagers and two hours for white teenagers.

Research comparing the two methods has consistently found that students over all perform better in active-learning courses than in traditional lecture courses. However, women, minorities, and low-income and first-generation students benefit more, on average, than white males from more affluent, educated families.

research has demonstrated that we learn new material by anchoring it to knowledge we already possess

low-stakes quiz at the start of each meeting of their introductory psychology course. Compared with students who took the same course in a more traditional format, the quizzed students attended class more often and achieved higher test scores; the intervention also reduced by 50 percent the achievement gap between more affluent and less affluent students.

One idea brought up by several speakers this year is a hybrid grades-free way of evaluating students. In each case, it included a high-bar pass/fail approach to class assignments, with a final, more regular grade for the entire semester. One of the speakers who presented what he called a “Not Yet” grade was “digital ethnographer” Michael Wesch, a professor at Kansas State University. That’s his photo at the top. He told the crowd that they had to inspire “wonder” in their students in order to get them to learn as much as possible. Some key quotes from him: “Low standards/high stakes are the opposite of what you want.”

Keynote speaker George Couros is a what’s called a “division principal” back home in Canada. He’s a blogger and author who is all about encouraging creativity and change in public education with an emphasis on taking advantage of digital tools. He told the conference that that it’s foolish to deny students use of their smartphones and other digital tools in the classroom — and even on exams. In 2015, being able to figure out what information is relevant is more important than memorization when most facts are a click away, he said.

e demands for innovation probably won't create an all-new landscape, the resulting product of ongoing changes is likely to be unrecognizable compared to that of the last several decades.

alternative credentialing and changing demographics to testing concerns and the rise of STEM

America's 629 public four-year institutions, 1,845 private four-year institutions, 1,070 public two-year institutions, and 596 private two-year institutions will soon be competing over a smaller pipeline of potential incoming students. 

, I’ve realized how much the hyperlink has been devalued, almost made obsolete.

Nearly every social network now treats a link as just the same as it treats any other object — the same as a photo, or a piece of text — instead of seeing it as a way to make that text richer. You’re encouraged to post one single hyperlink and expose it to a quasi-democratic process of liking and plussing and hearting: Adding several links to a piece of text is usually not allowed. Hyperlinks are objectivized, isolated, stripped of their powers.

There's a little bit of a social stigma. It's easier for students to say they're not good at math. It's much harder to have conversations about having difficulty with writing or reading

students who failed college-level math or English courses were more likely to put off retaking those courses or not return to college. 

these problems can be solved if developmental courses counted toward a student's degree plan. But that solution won't fix everything. 

Allow yourself to be a little ignorant for a while. Plan to spend some time learning; give the computer a chance to prove itself before you decide you can't use it; take things a step at a time; make sure you read the documentation carefully; and finally, don't forget that you're in charge, not the computer."