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New York City's heralded $75 million experiment in teacher incentive pay - deemed "transcendent" when it was announced in 2007 - did not increase student achievement at all, a new study by the Harvard economist Roland Fryer concludes. "If anything," Fryer writes of schools that participated in the program, "student achievement declined." Fryer and his team used state math and English test scores as the main indicator of academic achievement.

"Building 20 and brainstorming came into being at almost exactly the same time. In the sixty years since then, if the studies are right, brainstorming has achieved nothing-or, at least, less than would have been achieved by six decades' worth of brainstormers working quietly on their own. Building 20, though, ranks as one of the most creative environments of all time, a space with an almost uncanny ability to extract the best from people. Among M.I.T. people, it was referred to as "the magical incubator." "

Stigler and Posankony model of change with diagram ---- "once awareness that a system is broken begins to emerge, some people need to keep the current system running and shepherd it down gently while others incubate and experiment with new ideas. The old system can serve as an umbrella for the new, protecting experimental approaches as they emerge and as many of them fail to achieve their intended results - or even achieve worse results than do the approaches that they aim to replace."

"The film features one hundred people, who each present the IBM achievement recorded in the year they were born. The film chronology flows from the oldest person to the youngest, offering a whirlwind history of the company and culminating with its prospects for the future. For more information, please visit www.ibm100.com (http://www.ibm.com/ibm100/us/en/)"

Interesting summary of IBM achievements over the past 100 years.

"How Our Brains Stop Us From Achieving Our Goals (and How to Fight Back)" This is a great explanation of how the brain works. These examples are not related to education, but we can easily reflect upon how what we do in the classroom could have negative effects on students. There are also suggestions about how you can make mental changes to ensure success.

Any representative that isn't an A player should be given up promptly. Business news India It's difficult to terminate an awful worker sufficiently quick. On the off chance that you enlist B players that is the thing that you'll generally receive consequently - B level achievement. It doesn't make a difference who the worker is or to what extent they have worked for you.

The post briefly discusses how to recognise learning achievement by awarding students digital badges. The useful part is the annotated list of five useful technologies, that teachers could use to create their own badges, and they are not limited to a single device type.

The Peer 2 Peer University is a grassroots open education project that organizes learning outside of institutional walls and gives learners recognition for their achievements. P2PU creates a model for lifelong learning alongside traditional formal higher education. Leveraging the internet and educational materials openly available online, P2PU enables high-quality low-cost education opportunities.

"Abolishing homework The recent French announcement has led to calls for the abolition of homework in some German and American schools. So should homework be abolished in Australia? The answer to this question requires a closer look at what homework is supposed to do, and whether it achieves these goals for students of all backgrounds."

"Would any of my students turn down a 1:1 MacBook Pro? Of course not. Still, I believe there is great value in the limitations of resources. When we engage in Device Wars on twitter and the blogosphere, we all seem to exercise significant bias in equating the best classroom tool with the one that we find most productive in our personal or professional lives (I touched upon that in disagreeing with folks who contend that the iPad is not a creation tool). Do I have a vision of what technology I'd like in my class in the perfect scenario? Sure I do. Do my students and I really need that state of shiny utopia, especially when it is (in my view) impossible to achieve in an equitable fashion? I don't think so."

Teaching for Effective Learning (TfEL) describes the DECD position on pedagogy-the teaching and learning practice that leads to improved student engagement and achievement. Together with the new Australian Curriculum, the TfEL Framework provides the basis for the ongoing development of teaching and learning practices in South Australia.

"There are no limits to what a great educator can achieve when they have the right tools. Graphite, a free service from Common Sense Media, helps teachers find, understand, and share the best digital learning products available."

It is commonly recognized that our nation's progress depends on improving learning, thereby creating healthier communities and a stronger workforce. In today's world, that requires us to take advantage of new learning tools to ensure that our children's learning is practical and prepares them for the challenges of the 21st century. The advantages of digital media now greatly outweigh the disadvantages and require that schools update their thinking and policies to provide guidance on the use of these tools to improve student learning and achievement.

So you want to get on the front page of Google? What business does not want to get there - ideally ranking in the top-ten? One secret of getting on Google's front page is simple. Splash the cash - and keep defending your spot by continually outbidding your competitor, irrespective of cost. Or, there is a far more frugal solution, according to Sydney-based small business strategist Robert McAnderson, author of the new book DNO the SEO Revolution: a how-to-guide for achieving permanent page-one rankings for under $100. 

"Game Changers: Education and Information Technologies is a collection of chapters and case studies contributed by college and university presidents, provosts, faculty, and other stakeholders. Institutions are finding new ways of achieving higher education's mission without being crippled by constraints or overpowered by greater expectations."

Smart Classrooms Bytes provides school teachers and administrators with advice on the latest ICT trends for education.The publication supports school teachers and administrators to embrace ICT as an everyday part of education so students can achieve the best possible outcomes.Queensland Department of Education & Training

"Gamification is simply the application of "game" mechanics to non-game entities. The big idea here is to encourage a desired behavior. In this way, "gamification" amounts to installing mechanics or systems that recognize and reward behavior. Through increased visibility of nuance, documentation of progress, and rewarding of seemingly minor (but critical) behaviors, a specific outcome can be achieved. Since it encourages internal motivation through an outwardly-created set of circumstances, gamification sits at the awkward intersection of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation."