Group items tagged

"Google launched an open source course building web application for the growing list of K-12 and big-name universities developing online classes. The barebones website is a lightweight way to bring course material online, track student engagement (with web traffic and surveys), and evaluate performance. "We want to use this launch to show that Google believes it can contribute to technology in education," says Google's Director of Research, Peter Norvig."

This is Google's contest to introduce pre-university students to the many kinds of contributions that make open source software development possible. It runs from November 21, 2011 to January 16, 2012. We invite students worldwide to produce a variety of open source code, documentation, training materials and user experience research for the organizations participating this year. These tasks include:

" A recent study at Illinois Wesleyan University found that fewer than 25% of students could perform a "reasonably well-executed search." Wrote researchers, "The majority of students - of all levels - exhibited significant difficulties that ranged across nearly every aspect of the search process." That search process also included determining when to rely on Google and when to utilize scholarly databases, but on a fundamental level, it appears that many people just don't understand how to best find the information they seek using Google. Thanks to the folks at HackCollege, a number of my "secrets" are out. The infographic below offers a helpful primer for how to best structure searches using advanced operators to more quickly and accurately drill down to the information you want. This is by no means an exhaustive list of search operators and advanced techniques, but it's a good start that will help set you on the path to becoming a Google master."

The site has an educational games site designed to help students learn about subjects in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. In all there are twenty-nine interactive games for students to play. Each of the science-related games and the economics game is based upon the research of Nobel Prize winners. The literature and peace games are based upon concepts central to the work of Nobel Prize winners in those fields.

Alan November's Building Learning Communities Conference present a post rich in resources on the Flipped Classroom

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 15 months' worth of the most popular news videos on the site (January 2011 to March 2012)[2]-some 260 different videos in all-by identifying and tracking the five most-viewed videos each week located in the "news & politics" channel of YouTube, analyzing the nature of the video, the topics that were viewed most often, who produced them and who posted them.[3]    The data reveal that a complex, symbiotic relationship has developed between citizens and news organizations on YouTube, a relationship that comes close to the continuous journalistic "dialogue" many observers predicted would become the new journalism online. Citizens are creating their own videos about news and posting them. They are also actively sharing news videos produced by journalism professionals. And news organizations are taking advantage of citizen content and incorporating it into their journalism. Consumers, in turn, seem to be embracing the interplay in what they watch and share, creating a new kind of television news.

"Wave a Microsoft Kinect sensor around the object you want to inhabit and the new system, developed by Jiawen Chen and his team from Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, quickly creates a 3D virtual model of it. Then, by standing in front of the sensor and positioning your body so that it melds with the virtual character on screen, the two are rigged together by uttering the word "Possess". The system performs the transformation by binding the model to you at the points where your joints are attached. Moving your body makes the avatar come to life, allowing you to re-enact Fantasia-like cartoons or to create your own interactive stories. It's also possible to team up with friends to possess more complex bodies, like a four-legged horse."

"...more and more faculty are turning toward banning laptops in the classroom citing, at minimum, that classroom discussion is completely stymied, or worse, students are failing to learn."

Blog post summarising a research project which explored the factors at play when students are 'distracted' by their mobile device in teaching situations.

In the world of  tablet technology the warring dividing lines very quickly became the choice between Apple and Android mobile devices. The research began. The comparisons between apps and general capacity for varied uses were central (see my earlier blog posts), but also crucial was the cost. The question, 'why pay for the premium Apple iPad product in a time of fiscal austerity in education?' is obvious. Is the capacity so much better to justify paying extra, or is the iPad a triumph of advertising hype?

If you have no idea where to start, or you're pulling your hair out with all of the dead ends, then you're on the right way. You are actually coming up with your own research .... http://bit.ly/17AOfWR

"In this episode of the November Learning Podcasts Series, Alan speaks with Dr. Mitch Resnick, Professor of Learning Research and Director of the Scratch Team at MIT. The two discuss why coding is such an important element to bring into the educational process, at all ages, and they exchange their ideas on why global publication through an online community add an important aspect into this online, coding tool. In the end, Dr. Resnick also shares an exciting announcement about upcoming developments."

"Doctors have long said children under 2 years old shouldn't have any screen time.  Now, a leading pediatric researcher who's been a strong voice against babies watching TV has a new recommendation.  He says young children can, and should play with touch screen computers."

"...a pedagogical alternate reality game we developed over the course of two years under the aegis of The University of Texas at Austin's Digital Writing & Research Lab. Battle Lines offers a compelling game experience that allows student-players to develop rhetorical, community-building, and digital literacies, crossing boundaries between academic and ludic practices."

Students are applying for more jobs at an earlier stage in an attempt to secure work in what they see as a tough employment market, research suggests.

"Our BYOD initiative at NMHS has succeeded and grown up to this point based on the basic premise of trust and respect.  Yes, we have policies in place, the right infrastructure, and support our teachers with professional development and guidance. However, the most important elements stem from the fact that we trust our students to use their devices as tools for learning, enhanced productivity, and to conduct better research.  Time is spent working with them on digital citizenship and the creation of positive digital footprints that they can be proud of.  We also respect them as learners growing up in the digital age where these tools are playing a greater role in the world we are preparing them to succeed in.  When creating a BYOD initiative grounded in these principles the possibilities are endless."

"According to research by Porn Harms, a US organisation, the average age of children's exposure to pornography is 11, but parents and professionals are dealing with exposure issues of children much younger."

"The TV business is having its worst year ever. Audience ratings have collapsed: Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011, according to Citi Research."

"By now, we know that social media behavior differs, based on factors like gender, age and nationality. It turns out, how you manage your social media privacy may depend on similar indicators. ZoneAlarm created the below infographic, based on a 2012 study by Pew. The research points to gender-specific privacy practices. For instance, men are nearly twice as likely as women to profess regret for posting online content. On the other hand, men are more likely to maintain public social media presences."