Group items tagged

Today's students grew up with technology and expect to use it to get information, solve problems and communicate. These are the very skills they need now and in the future. When classrooms are equipped with the right combination of technology tools, students can learn all the skills they need to prepare. This web site is your guide to digital learning, dedicated to demonstrating how the technologies available in a digital learning environment can be the catalyst for teaching and learning in an era where new skills - and the ability to change as times demand - are paramount.

Created by 5th Cell (creators of Drawn to Life), this title turns writing into objects, drawing from a database of "tens of thousands" of items. You type them in with the stylus, to solve problems. It could be a promising writing activity because it illustrates word meanings, instantly. Why learn to write? To play ScribbleNauts.

As a student, you're used to analyzing problems from all angles and making your own deductions, independent of what anyone else tells you. But what if things didn't always work that way? Here are 25 scary and surprising facts about brainwashing.

Students using voicethread to discuss math problems.

The site is owned and run by Nesta Logo the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts. Planet Science sits within the Future Innovators Team at NESTA, and contributes to the aims of this programme in three ways: * Stimulating an interest in science and investigation: Science and technology are major drivers of innovation, and these sectors need passionate and ambitious scientists. * Developing the skills and attitudes of future innovators: Learning about science helps young people to develop important skills for innovation, such as enquiry, research and problem-solving skills. * Sharing learning/best practice: Teachers, parents and young people can use the free resources that have been tested by the Planet Science team.

Let's face it, a school where text books, classroom book collections, and the "term paper" as the only means of student communication don't need much of a library. A small popular book collection and a word-processing lab with access to Google may actually be all that such a school needs. If the librarian and technology staff are viewed as not having knowledge that is sufficiently relevant to implementing and teaching IL/IT skills, the book room can be staffed by clerks and the techs can keep the e-mail server and student information system up and running from a small hidden office until those applications are outsourced. At the same time, if a school truly decides they want all their students to graduate having mastered a sophisticated set of IL/IT skills, having learned how to solve real problems creatively, and having experienced the power of global communications and collaboration, then a lack of resources - physical plant, equipment and human expertise will truly undercut this effort. Such an undertaking will require 1:1 laptop programs, well-stocked print collections, productivity labs, a fast and powerful network, good online materials, and, of course, a crackerjack professional staff to support both staff and students. 

" The customized interface creates a one-to-one learning environment with the professor while emphasizing graphical explanations and working through solution steps. Below each lecture video are detailed notes which highlight the most important points to remember as well as common student pitfalls. A powerful search engine also locates the exact time in a lecture your problem topic is discussed. Lastly, student comments are moderated by our instructors make sure any questions you have are answered."

Looks like the problems many of us have been having in Firefox (last week in particular) may actually be from Microsoft? Come on !! I love firefox and don't have my students use IE for this reason (slowness, lack of ad ons, viruses, malware.) The only time I'm using Chrome now is for special webapps (Toodledo) and also Google Wave (it seems to consume any other web browser.) This ZDNET article is a follow through from Stephen Downes' amazing resource sharing blog - if you haven't subscribed, you should.

"I have access to an incredible wealth of credible resources, and I am given as much time as I need to synthesize information and determine how to best leverage it. I have opportunities to collaborate and learn with, and from, experts all over the world. I have the chance to participate in challenge based learning projects where I work to find solutions to a variety of real world problems, and I do it with individuals in locations that I have never been to." "You may be wondering where this amazing classroom is, and my response is unique given the time of day: at home, the gym, my car, the gas station, a school, a picnic table, a friend's house, my back deck, a restaurant… and that is just a few of today's locations. "

Active learning has a powerful impact on student learning. How? Student achievement increases through mastery of science and math content as a result of this technique. Students also develop improved problem solving, communication, and higher order thinking skills.

What is 21st century literacy and how do we help students become better communicators? Rebecca Alber says: "In today's world, being literate requires much, much more than the traditional literacy of yesterday. According to the NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), twenty-first century readers and writers need to: Gain proficiency with tools of technology Develop relationships with others and confront and solve problems collaboratively and cross-culturally Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes Manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information Create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts Attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments"

"What are those key phrases you hear from frustrated teachers in the staffroom during breaks? Or on those rare occasions, you get to meet up with teachers from other schools on training courses? For me it is the following: 'They give up so easily,' 'Where is their stickability?' 'Why do they fear making a mistake?' However it is phrased, you get the gist, that pupils today have no resilience, they aren't prepared to keep going in the face of challenge or set back. They can't think their way around a problem. In discussions with staff within my own school (a large primary in an area of high deprivation in the north of England) I am frequently asked how we can help these children. As part of our school's SLT I have already supported staff to make daring changes to our curriculum but we still seem to be falling short of what we state in our vision; that we want our children to become resilient learners, confident individuals, critical thinkers and lifelong learners. (Traits that I am sure many schools up and down the land wish for their pupils to develop.) Why are our pupils struggling with 'resilience'? What opportunities can we, as a school, provide our children so that they develop these skills? After reading the blurb and the introductory pages, I was, as you can imagine, excited to delve further into this book to see if it could answer some of my questions."

"When we set out to create and encourage critical thinkers and problem solvers. We need to look at various aspects. How people will respond and adapt to the change. We need to further establish what our students need, do they need constant attention or space? Decoding a teenage brain, is it really difficult to understand teenagers?  I took workshops this year to enhance my understanding and sharing my know how with others.  I have realised that I always look for what's going to push the student, egg them on to ask questions, to look at themselves as stakeholders in their learning process and something that adds value to their existing experience of learning. "

"I went shopping at 8 o'clock one evening in my local supermarket (one of the German chains) and was chatting to the man on the checkout who was moaning about his job and his employer. He says he has to work very long hours (tonight he was going to finish at 1:00am) - longer than his contract says he should; he gets paid for the hours he works but only at standard hours. He doesn't like some of the jobs, they are not really his responsibility but they have to be done. There is a union but they don't seem to be very helpful. His bosses don't always seem to consider the consequences of their actions - the manager was leaving as I was being served and commented that he'd left two bags of garbage on a till further along and they would need moving in a bit. The man serving was the only person on the tills and he said that between customers (there weren't many at this time of the evening) he had to move the garbage and clean all of the tills then when the store closed he needed to work at changing stock and stacking shelves. As the manager left he turned and said, "I asked Matt if he could stay and help you but he gave an unequivocal no!""

"We've all been there… you are excited. You have the perfect lesson planned. You have been laminating and cutting out for half the night and your plan has just the right balance of pace, content and skills to move your pupils on. But as the pupils arrive, something is… off. Our pupils bring more baggage with them into the classroom than just a satchel. Whether it is issues within the previous lesson, or problems the pupils bring with them from home, how can we mitigate the negative impact on learning and ensure that pupils are ready to learn?"

"In a world where political divisions seem more entrenched than ever, and a school system which has yet to crack the problem of bullying, an opportunity to engage young people with different voices, narratives and ideas seems urgently necessary. I would suggest that the strategy of "writing in-role" holds the potential to do just this. "