Group items tagged

Have you ever wondered why cleaning windows with newspaper works so effectively? Discover the surprising science behind this time-honored method and learn how it can leave your windows streak-free and sparkling! Dive into the details and find out why this simple hack is a favorite among cleaning enthusiasts. Read more at: https://dirt2tidy.com.au/blog/why-does-cleaning-windows-with-newspaper-work/

"'data visualization' is the new cool name for 'chart'. And that's what we do at qunb: we help people tell compelling stories with their own data by instantly letting them create simple, meaningful, interactive charts. But in the early 10's, infographics emerged, and the man in the street started getting confused: "Well, he said, is infographics the new new new name for charts"?"

Why.....

Some ideas around why we created @motmedu Looking for a conference with a difference? What story do you have to tell? The #motm13 Unconference is built around stories for the purpose of making strong connections with other passionate educators who are integrating ICT with pedagogy.

"At only 1:42, it's not exactly feature-length, but don't let the brevity of this clip put you off. It's about a brother and a sister telling you why they play, and enjoy, Minecraft. And it's wonderful."

There is something in games based learning that seems to get missed out of much of the discussion. While it's common to think of using game-like approaches or video-games I find much of what is said revolves about how games work in terms of mechanics. Level ups, XP (experience) and badges seem to dominate the gamification dialogue. I wonder how you can gamify the workplace or the classroom without also exploring the more important aspects of why people play - how it feels to be immersed in a story that you feel a part of. Players are given badges and tokens all the time, except these don't provide that intrinsic motivation that people often associate with gamification. For the love of it. How do you get people to play for that reward?

"You may know what a VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is; you probably don't use one. You really should be using a VPN, and even if you don't think so now, at some point in the future you may consider it as important as your internet connection. When we took at look at your five favorite VPN service providers, we noticed a few things. First, being the "best" is big business for VPN providers, and they'll fight dirty to be one of them. Second, there are so many VPN providers that it's difficult to choose a really good one. VPNs are not all created equally, and in this post, we're going to look at what a VPN is, why you want one, and how to pick the best one for you. Let's get started."

Many doubters think the tablet is nothing more than a gimmick to help boost sales. I was one of those doubters for quite some time. But after using tablets enough, I have come around to seeing just how incredibly helpful that technology is. Here are some reasons why I believe tablets will replace the laptop as the mobile device of choice.

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?

"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."

An interesting post discussing why everyone should learn to code. More fuel to the fire associated with the great poetry vs. coding debate.

"Good stories do more than explain the what, they show the why. They answer the question: "Why is this important to me and my life?" In a noisy world of bland advertisements and pitches, we want to tell the best stories about things that are making a difference in people's lives."

via @rmbyrne

Summary of game benefits for learning and why they should be used more. New Media Institute white paper. See awards for best examples.

Another interesting discussion in regards to why students should learn to code. A good comparison with learning a spoken language and some of the benefits, such as problem solving and understanding the world around us. Ends with the suggestion that, like playing a sport, coding is good for you.

"This week on Tech Weekly with games editor Keith Stuart we take a look at an emerging trend in games, where smartphones and cutting-edge robotics are used to create more socially inclusive and dynamic games. Joining Keith is Guardian writer Alex Hern; Iain Simons, director of the GameCity festival; and Jonathan Smith, games producer for Lego. The panel discuss why the screen is only a part of the gaming experience - and why small-scale, cheap robotics will open up a new world for developers. Also this week: Guardian tech writer Samuel Gibbs meets Ian Bernstein, co-creator of the robotic toy ball the Sphero, to find out about the evolution of the robot in gaming."

Interesting discussion about the future of gaming beyond 'the screen'.

Reeve is a member of an elite covert group thought not to exist anymore, he is captured, beaten and brutally tortured, by the very Governments he used to work for. With the help of his old mentor John Carpenter, Reeve must strip away, and rid himself of the emerging demons of his past, so that he may understand the core essence of Ninjutsu, the Ninja's Immovable heart, in order to remember how and why he was captured, and what he is meant to do, before time runs out and his captors discover why he is really here.

he job of teaching * Join in the discussion reddit this Comments (1) Wendy Berliner Guardian Professional, Monday 3 October 2011 18.30 BST Article history Teacher Daniel Hartley from Chulmleigh Community College, Devon. Photograph: Apex Back in the summer we decided here at GTN HQ that, with our membership rocketing, it was the right time to mark our first six months in operation with a survey to find out what members thought about teaching today. There were questions across a wide spectrum of topics and, at the end, we left a free text box for teachers to add any comments they wanted to share. It was the dying days of the summer holiday - August 25 - when it went out just after lunch. We knew the survey would take ten or 15 minutes to complete so we weren't quite expecting what happened next, but within those first few hours after its release, we realised you had started something big. By 10.30pm that night we'd had several hundred questionnaires back, which in itself was impressive with many teachers perhaps still away on holiday or back but busy preparing for the new term. The most impressive thing of all was the content of those text boxes. There was just so much of it. Some people wrote several hundred words at a time, speaking clearly from the heart and arguing cogently against the things they felt were going wrong in education. A love of teaching and vocational pleasure felt working with children and young people emerged but it was emerging from a fog caused by far less pleasant aspects of the job - disrespect from society and governments, bullying by senior management, other teachers, parents and students, despair at the parenting skills of some homes and despair with government targets and league tables that were funnelling education into an ever thinner tube feeding stuff that improved Sats and exam results rather than nourishing a lifelong love of learning. One former solicitor questioning the sense of the switch into teaching said: " M

Finland has vastly improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past decade in large part because its teachers are trusted to do whatever it takes to turn young lives around. Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Successful.html#ixzz1XxehtGtn

"Ever wonder why Google is installing extremely fast gigabit internet infrastructure when the average person needs 200x less speed? It is because of the future of the Internet of Things. In less than 10 years, the internet will not just be for your phone or laptop, everything will be online. I'm talking about your car, fridge, tv, blender, air conditioner, front door, and even your wallet. This inevitable future is why google is starting today with affordable gigabit internet. This new wave of device overload will open up revenue and advertising streams to a whole new level."

Last month, I blogged about the choice I gave my statistics students between using Diigo and Pinterest for the social bookmarking assignments in the course. I floated two possible reasons why most of my students selected Diigo over Pinterest: Hypothesis 1: Students choosing Diigo over Pinterest selected the service that seemed more academic. Hypothesis 2: Pinterest has the reputation for being a site mainly for women. Most of my engineering students are men, so they opted for the less gendered option, Diigo. Hypotheses are all well and good, but I wanted some evidence, so I asked my students on their end-of-semester survey why they selected the platform they did. Of my 71 students, 45 responded to this question.

" I simply said that I had seen the number one reason why for this school and for our children a 1:1 iPad program was the way to go. That reason was because the teachers believed it was the way to go. And, we should back them."