Group items tagged

"What Makes a Great Teacher? Image credit: Veronika Lukasova Also in our Special Report: National: "How America Can Rise Again" Is the nation in terminal decline? Not necessarily. But securing the future will require fixing a system that has become a joke. Video: "One Nation, On Edge" James Fallows talks to Atlantic editor James Bennet about a uniquely American tradition-cycles of despair followed by triumphant rebirths. Interactive Graphic: "The State of the Union Is ..." ... thrifty, overextended, admired, twitchy, filthy, and clean: the nation in numbers. By Rachael Brown Chart: "The Happiness Index" Times were tough in 2009. But according to a cool Facebook app, people were happier. By Justin Miller On August 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math. One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor's math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked. The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a zip code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so. Video: Four teachers in Four different classrooms demonstrate methods that work (Courtesy of Teach for America's video archive, available in February at teachingasleadership.org) At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools-not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it's worth noting, not a very hard one). After a year in Mr. Taylo

While this article starts out about a lawfirm in Birmingham UK that is going to "track down people who make anonymous comments about companies online" it becomes an amazingly poignant article on the very nature of the Internet today and the push pull between anonymous commenting and accountability of the commenter. Push pull between free speech and online identity and brand protection. One person in this article claims that this sort of thing is the sign that the "wild west" of the INternet is coming to an end. Oh dear, I hope someone invents a new one if somehow anonymous commenters are now going to risk such! Also love the article's discussion of the Streisand effect wherein Barbara protested the sharing of some photos of her eroding beachfront which caused a stir and more people looking at the photos than if she had left it alone. This article is going to be a must read for Flat Classroom students and would be great for college-level discussions as well.

"Steve Jobs didn't hesitate to take risks. If he wanted something, he would ask, even at a young age. When Jobs was twelve years old he called up HP co-founder Bill Hewlett and asked for spare parts. Hewlett gave Jobs the parts and a summer job. "You've got to be willing to crash and burn. If you're afraid of failing, you won't get very far," Jobs once said. "Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask, and that's what separates the people who do things from the people who just dream about them." I've rarely interviewed a successful entrepreneur or CEO who hasn't risked failure. In fact most successful people don't even see 'failure;' they see a result that didn't have the intended outcome."

After four tiring-exciting-stressful-fun days, we'd like to introduce you to our new little buddy, HelloApp. The idea is simple: When you arrive at a conference, you just say where you're sitting, via Twitter. Once you do that, you can … 1. Search for people with a certain skill-set (ie PHP, jQuery, CSS3, marketing, etc) and see where they're sitting 2. View the seating diagram colored based on Twitter follower count 3. Search for a specific person in the audience and find out where they're sitting 4. View the seating diagram colored based on whether people are Designers, Developers or Businessmen 5. Earn badges and points by meeting people and completing tasks. If you earn a high enough rank, you'll be able to post public messages to the entire audience and win prizes.

After four tiring-exciting-stressful-fun days, we'd like to introduce you to our new little buddy, HelloApp. The idea is simple: When you arrive at a conference, you just say where you're sitting, via Twitter. Once you do that, you can … 1. Search for people with a certain skill-set (ie PHP, jQuery, CSS3, marketing, etc) and see where they're sitting 2. View the seating diagram colored based on Twitter follower count 3. Search for a specific person in the audience and find out where they're sitting 4. View the seating diagram colored based on whether people are Designers, Developers or Businessmen 5. Earn badges and points by meeting people and completing tasks. If you earn a high enough rank, you'll be able to post public messages to the entire audience and win prizes.

And the price is this: facts learned in this way, and especially by rote, and especially at a younger age, take a direct route into the mind, and bypass a person's critical and reflective capacities, and indeed, become a part of those capacities in the future.

while it is necessary (and possible) to teach facts to people, it comes with a price. And the price is this: facts learned in this way, and especially by rote, and especially at a younger age, take a direct root into the mind, and bypass a person's critical and reflective capacities, and indeed, become a part of those capacities in the future.\n\nWhen you teach children facts as facts, and when you do it through a process of study and drill, it doesn't occur to children to question whether or not those facts are true, or appropriate, or moral, or legal, or anything else. Rote learning is a short circuit into the brain. It's direct programming. People who study, and learn, that 2+2=4, know that 2+2=4, not because they understand the theory of mathematics, not because they have read Hilbert and understand formalism, or can refute Brouwer and reject intuitionism, but because they know (full stop) 2+2=4.\n\nI used the phrase "it's direct programming" deliberately. This is an analogy we can wrap our minds around. We can think of direct instruction as being similar to direct programming. It is, effectively, a mechanism of putting content into a learner's mind as effectively and efficiently as possible, so that when the time comes later (as it will) that the learner needs to use that fact, it is instantly and easily accessible.

The Pangea Day Mission & Purpose Pangea Day is a global event bringing the world together through film. Why? In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it's easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film. The Pangea Day Event Starting at 18:00 GMT on May 10, 2008, locations in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Rio de Janeiro will be linked for a live program of powerful films, live music, and visionary speakers. The entire program will be broadcast - in seven languages - to millions of people worldwide through the internet, television, and mobile phones.

Business people and management should read this article about the transformation of business by using workplace communities. "Workplace communities are designed to solve workplace-related challenges" -- they focus on tasks. I would find it interesting to see a business REALLY use technology to change things. Having the business in a business network (OK a NING) and let people tag their posts with the business related PROBLEMS they are having and blog, video, or photograph it-- the tag cloud would tell the business IMMEDIATELY what the problems are in the company. The problem with this model is that there are few corporate executives who REALLY want to know the problems within their organizations. They don't want to be problem solvers, just opportunity creators. However, when managers open their eyes (and I'm a former General Manager myself) and see that two things give business opportunity: problem solving and innovation. And they are directly related. True innovation solves problems. Read this article and think about how you may solve problems using the networks you may now create. If you don't want everyone to know, keep it private and only allow people in your company in.

List of links and shortcuts for working/playing with the various functions and features of Google+

This story about a social media persona gone wrong is an excellent case study for educators. Personally, when I do fiction on Twitter (as in the case of a fictitious dialog between a student and teacher - I always start by disclosing it.) Secondly, I don't think it is smart to mess with people by making things up. People need to be able to trust you -- especially if you want to be a credible academic source. That said, read this so that when you see parody or fake accounts that you know they exist and you can also know that some people making things up for the fun of it.

How people spend their discretionary income - the cash that goes to clothing, electronics, recreation, household goods, alcohol - depends a lot on where they live. People in Greece spend almost 13 times more money on clothing as they do on electronics. People living in Japan spend more on recreation than they do on clothing, electronics and household goods combined. Americans spend a lot of money on everything.

The conversation that has been going on around Twitter both here and here has lead to other e-mails and discussions around building networks and specifically how do you get people to comment on your blog? The problem is….you can't make people comment. What you can do is write compelling blog posts that make people want to leave comments. How do you do that….I'm not sure.

I think that Elaine's viewpoints on edubloggercon are excellent ones and I think it is worth reading her thoughts and hear her side as she was with Pearson and the film crew. I keep thinking that as long as I've been in the edublogosphere I've heard people say that "we don't have the right people in the room." We finally get a company listening and then people don't want them in the room. Of course, it could have been filmed a little better but it was their first edubloggercon -- we can all live and learn and grow together. The edublogosphere is growing and we're going to have to learn how to deal with that.

This study breaks a lot of the stereotypes people may have about use of the Internet. It also presents important information for libraries and schools.

Wow -- this longitudinal study shows that all generations show "google generation" traits with over 65 year olds spending 4 more hours a week online than some of the younger ages. It argues that libraries must adapt to the digital mindset AND that young people are lacking in information skills! This is an important study for all educators, business leaders, AND students on the Horizon project. Another reason to remind ourselves that we base practice on RESEARCH not STEREOTYPES!

Wow -- this longitudinal study shows that all generations show "google generation" traits with over 65 year olds spending 4 more hours a week online than some of the younger ages. It argues that libraries must adapt to the digital mindset AND that young people are lacking in information skills! This is an important study for all educators, business leaders, AND students on the Horizon project. Another reason to remind ourselves that we base practice on RESEARCH not STEREOTYPES!

A few of us at Google created WhatBrowser.org to help teach people about web browsers. We wanted to show people that they have a lot of choice in browsers, since we noticed that most people were using the browser their computers came with.

Here you'll find the Thinkuknow resources for teachers and all other professionals working with young people. There are films, presentations, games, lesson plans and posters covering a range of issues from grooming by child sex offenders to cyber-bullying. All of these resources encourage young people to have fun with new technology, whilst staying in control of the risks. Importantly, they also teach young people where to go if they have any concerns.

From the site: 1. Teachers now have an unprecedented resource of meaningful science projects to engage their students. 2. Students can work with professional scientists anywhere in the world on real research projects that benefit us all. 3. Students can create their own projects and find collaborators all over the planet. 4. Citizen scientists can find like-minded people to share ideas. 5. Home-schoolers now have a network of science lovers to use as a resource for their children. 6. Professional scientists now have a turn-key solution to promote their research projects, archive their data, find collaborators and reach out to thousands of people they could not reach before.

From the site: 1. Teachers now have an unprecedented resource of meaningful science projects to engage their students. 2. Students can work with professional scientists anywhere in the world on real research projects that benefit us all. 3. Students can create their own projects and find collaborators all over the planet. 4. Citizen scientists can find like-minded people to share ideas. 5. Home-schoolers now have a network of science lovers to use as a resource for their children. 6. Professional scientists now have a turn-key solution to promote their research projects, archive their data, find collaborators and reach out to thousands of people they could not reach before.