Group items tagged

Technology-based forces of “disruptive innovation” are gathering around public education and will overhaul the way K-12 students learn—with potentially dramatic consequences for established public schools, according to an upcoming book that draws parallels to disruptions in other industries.

The book does hold out hope that established school organizations can adapt to disruptive innovation.

Like the leaders in other industries, the education establishment has crammed down technology onto its existing architecture, which is dominated by the “monolithic” processes of textbook creation and adoption, teaching practices and training, and standardized assessment—which, despite some efforts at individualization, by and large treat students the same, the book says.

Two Million Minutes," a one-hour documentary comparing the educational experiences of six students: two Americans, two Indians and two Chinese.

The movie, in (very) limited release, begins with the premise that the high school years span roughly 2 million minutes.

one faculty member, Compton recalled, told him that "we have nothing to learn from Third World education."

At Shareology.org, a web site managed by the nonprofit Nicholas Foundation, educators can exchange best practices, review new technologies, post feedback on their innovations, learn from each other's experiences, and find resources to help them succeed in the classroom.

educators will find ideas for K-12 instruction, funding sources for projects, and information about technology products and services.

The site also includes a Podcasting Corner, which features samples of how students are using podcasts and gives educators ideas for how to use podcasting in their own lessons.

About NACOL Mission The mission of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) is to increase educational opportunities and enhance learning by providing collegial expertise and leadership in K-12 online teaching and learning.

Vision Online teaching and learning has the potential to transform education. The North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) is dedicated to fostering a learning landscape that promotes student success and lifelong learning.

In collaboration with several content area organizations, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills developed a series of ICT Literacy Maps illustrating the intersection between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Literacy and core academic subjects including English, mathematics, science and social studies (civics/government, geography, economics, history). The maps enable educators to gain concrete examples of how ICT Literacy can be integrated into core subjects, while making the teaching and learning of core subjects more relevant to the demands of the 21st century.

How can you track all Thinkfinity resources?

Using Diigo.com—read a description of this here—you are able to easily create lists of bookmarked resources and activities you want your students to use, or that you want to share with other educators.

Bookmark, highlight key portions of the Thinkfinity resource pages, add comments to them sites and then share them via the Web. Instead of having to click your way—or having your students click—through multiple web pages, you can save instructional time by going directly using the Slides feature of Diigo.

Colleges and universities nationwide are launching the newest generation of Wi-Fi networks even before a final version of the standard has been ratified—a move technology experts say could allow schools to do away with wired networks in the coming years.

Network administrators at several universities said higher education is embracing 802.11n technology now, because many students own laptops that are compatible with the newest Wi-Fi option. The "n" standard is expected to allow for faster audio and video streaming, including high-definition television. Digital recordings of lectures also could be accessible through "n" networks. 

As more students buy computers and phones with "n" capabilities, "universities are very willing to make their networks into living laboratories,"

Technology is an integral and growing part of daily living in the twenty-first century. The challenge, then, for teachers, is to use technology effectively in classrooms to help students take ownership for learning and develop the practical and critical thinking skills necessary to better understand the world around them.

To meet this challenge, teachers can use an emerging technology tool, GPS receivers, and an emerging GPS-based activity, geocaching, to transform their classrooms from teacher-centered environments to exciting, empowering, exploratory environments that focus on student engagement in the learning process.