Most data-driven software has only been tested on a small scale; results are often mixed.
Group items tagged
1More
Natural Earth - 12 views
-
Natural Earth solves a problem: finding suitable data for making small-scale maps. In a time when the web is awash in geospatial data, cartographers are forced to waste time sifting through confusing tangles of poorly attributed data to make clean, legible maps. Because your time is valuable, Natural Earth data comes ready-to-use.
1More
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds - Kaiser Family Foundation - 17 views
-
Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Foundation about young people's media use. It found that the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time 'media multitasking,' they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours.
1More
shared by Claude Almansi on 29 Sep 11
- No Cached
Unleashing the Potential of Educational Technology - White House - PDF - 0 views
www.whitehouse.gov/..._of_educational_technology.pdf
digitalpromise digital promise white house education technology edtech reform
shared by Claude Almansi on 29 Sep 11
- No Cached
-
Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers Unleashing the Potential of Educational Technology September 16, 2011 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Educational technology holds the promise of substantially improving outcomes for K-12 students, but there are significant challenges in bringing new educational technology products for this population to market. It is difficult for producers of these technologies to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products to potential buyers and market fragmentation creates barriers to entry by all but the largest suppliers. The spread of broadband Internet and Common Core State Standards have improved the landscape for educational technologies, but these factors alone are likely insufficient for a "game changing" advance. Working together, stakeholders can form a plan of action to provide local school systems with easy access to good information about the effectiveness of various educational technology products and give prospective developers of these products access to customers on a scale sufficient to make it worthwhile for them to enter the market. The payoff - in the form of more effective and more widely utilized educational technologies, leading to better outcomes for students - could be enormous.
1More
edsteps - 0 views
-
EdSteps invites students, teachers, parents and community members from every state to upload writing. Work is accepted in all formats-- essays, videos, audio files, PowerPoints and more. Students can upload work they created for class, for college, or fun! Once EdSteps has collected enough work representing students everywhere, the work will be rated and scaled.
1More
Brainscape: What would you like to learn today? - 8 views
-
A cool tool for studying flashcards. Here's the system: View a card and think of the answer. Flip the card to reveal the answer. Rate how well you will remember that answer forever on a scale of 1-5. Brainscape will color code the cards based on your confidence rating. Brainscape shows you lower-rated cards more often than those you already know.
1More
Study finds social media has limited effects on teenage life satisfaction - 1 views
-
"Researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), part of the University of Oxford, used an eight-year survey of UK households (Understanding Society, part of the UK Household Longitudinal Study) to study how long teenagers spent using social media on a normal school day and their corresponding life satisfaction ratings. This is the first large-scale and in-depth study testing not only whether adolescents who report more social media use have lower life satisfaction but also whether the reverse is true. Before this study scientists had little means of disentangling whether adolescents with lower life satisfaction use more social media or whether social media use leads to lower life satisfaction."
1More
Giving Feedback Shouldn't be Boring - And it doesn't have to be by @Hubert_AI - 2 views
-
"Anyone who's actively been trying to collect feedback on something knows what a struggle it is. You put down the work, figure out questions, deciding appropriate scales, thinking through how to phrase the questions, rephrase them 3 times more, and then, finally, input everything into your favourite survey tool and press send."
1More
The Atlantic Online | January/February 2010 | What Makes a Great Teacher? | Amanda Ripley - 14 views
-
"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
2More
K-12 student database jazzes tech startups, spooks parents | Reuters - 0 views
-
-
So the real problem, according to the edtech company, is they are spending money at the school for personal when they could be funneling that money to the edtech company. No thought of putting that money to use in the classroom (unless it is tech related)
-
-
1More
Tuttle SVC: Has the Technology Changed? - 2 views
-
Let's take for granted that what ed-tech entrepreneurs are shooting for educationally are test score gains. If they're getting them at any scale, for real, consistently, with at-risk kids, we'd frickin' know about it, and truly, sales growth would be unstoppable.
1More
Magnifying the Universe - 3 views
-
A great resource for viewing the very biggest and very smallest things in the universe, ranging from galaxies to insects, nebulae and stars to molecules and atoms. http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Science
5More
What's Wrong With the American University System - Culture - The Atlantic - 6 views
-
it's awfully difficult to say, "Here's knowledge we don't need!" It sounds like book burning, doesn't it? What we'd say is that on the scale of priorities, we find undergraduate teaching to be more important than all the research being done.
-
Those people were teachers, in the true sense of the word. They were just as knowledgeable about their fields as anyone, but they had playful, imaginative minds. They could go on TV—Carl Sagan could talk about science, John Kenneth Galbraith could talk about economics. They weren't dumbing down their subjects. In fact, they were actually using their brains. The more you rely on lingo—"regressive discourses," "performativity"—the less you have to really think. You can just throw terms around and say, "Look, Ma, I'm a theorist!"
-
We believe the current criteria for admissions—particularly the SAT—are just so out of whack. It's like No Child Left Behind. It really is. It's one of the biggest crimes that's ever been perpetrated. I mean, you took the SAT! It's multiple choice, a minute and quarter per question. What does it really test? It tests how good you are at taking tests! At a big university like Berkeley, where there are going to be 30,000 applications, here's what they do. On top of each folder, without even reading through it, they write your SAT score. That's the first winnowing. So the 1600s get looked at first, and then down from there.
- ...2 more annotations...
-
One of the things that I find scariest at the moment is that so many bright people have no conception at all of life for any people but those in the upper middle class and above. They live a sheltered suburban life, go to college with other sheltered suburban kids, and assume that everyone's life has been like theirs. Some years ago a relative of mine graduated from Cambridge. I asked what his classmates would be doing after graduation and he said "management consulting." These were very bright people with zero experience in the business world who had spent the last three years barely able to manage their binge drinking, let alone manage any business. I'd trust the high school grad who rose through the ranks way more than these bright young things.
-
www.highereducationquestionmark.com
45More
AJET 19(1) Boyle (2003) - design principles for authoring dynamic, reusable learning ob... - 1 views
-
delineate a coherent framework for the authoring of re-purposable learning objects
-
significant changes in the creation of learning objects
-
nternational work directed at developing learning object standards
- ...33 more annotations...
-
a learning object is defined as any entity, digital or non-digital, that may be used for learning, education or training. IEEE
-
ork on metadata and learning object packaging
-
cohesion
-
ke any learning object and provide a 'wrapper' around this object
-
learning object is thus 'packaged' in a standard container format
-
learning objects must be developed with potential reuse, and especially repurposing in mind. The principal aim of this paper is to explore and delineate principles underlying authoring for reuse and repurposing.
-
taxonomy
-
This mapping suggests that each learning object should be based on one learning objective or clear learning goal.
-
The principle of cohesion, however, indicates that there should be a separate learning object for each type of loop. An immediate advantage is that the tutor can select the order in which these learning objects are combined. A tutor dealing with experienced student may wish to deal with these in sequence; another tutor with a different group of students may intersperse these learning objects with object dealing with other features of the language.
-
This would, then, make them easier to edit and manipulate in the future. I can follow this article.
-
-
the principle of 'de-coupling', or more accurately minimised coupling.
-
unit (software module/learning object) should have minimal bindings to other units.
-
independently of the other (
-
Right - and the goal is complete independence so as to be able to manipulate and change later.
-
-
The learning object should, as far as possible, be free standing.
-
YES! Can we please apply this to items as simple as Word documents and HTML? It would make things so much easier. This also reminds me of good pedagogical design principles BEFORE we had digital learning -- the same should be true for worksheets, handouts, textbooks, etc. It needs to be able to be changed.
-
-
adaptation
-
The challenge is to maintain this richness in a system composed of reusable components.
-
We must face the challenge of creating learning objects that are cohesive, decoupled and pedagogically rich. This design challenge is associated with the issue of 'repurposability' as we might expect rich learning objects to provide further options for adaptation by local tutors.
-
Yes, yes, and yes. We need to think beyond our own immediate purposes.
-
-
n the Java language
-
quite honestly, I would have preferred a non-computer programming example. These principles apply to all technology design, not just programming. Something more accessible would have made this paper stronger.
-
-
The project involves intervention in syllabus development, the social organisation of learning and the introduction of new eLearning materials. The eLearning resources are being based on the authoring of rich, reusable learning objects. This development provides the focus for the present discussion.
-
The learning objects are being developed both to meet immediate pedagogical needs and to serve this larger goal. This produces extra pressure initially. However, it provides the potential to divide the eventual task among a number of contributing partners, exploiting considerable advantages of scale.
-
A key challenge for the project is to resolve the tensions in a creative and productive way.
-
Basically, you have to take it all apart and put it back together again. This is fundamental to learning a new way to design anything, really.
-
-
A compound object consists of two or more independent learning objects that are linked to create the compound.
-
A further important feature is that each simple component object can be reused independently.
-
They thus provide a basis for pedagogical richness that fully exploits the opportunities offered by the technology.
-
-
manage the bindings between one object and others
-
they should be able to reconfigure this to shape their own compound object.
-
This is so crucial. Each educator must be able to restructure it, use to his/her advantage within context.
-
-
main types of binding: navigational bindings through URLs and non-URL based content bindings. This design pattern deals with the issue of URL based bindings.
-
we must have a design mechanism for managing these bindings.
-
learning object consists of a core and zero or more expansions. A default object is presented with the core with certain expansions added. These expansions aim to provide added pedagogical value to help in attaining the learning objective.
-
the relationship between learning objects and the syllabus, course or other higher organising structure in which they are delivered.
-
the syllabus navigation structure operates at a different layer of organisation for the learning object resources
-
. These syllabi objects operate at a different layer from that of main content objects
-
The key message is the need to establish distinct layers of organisation in eLearning
-
The central challenge is to design for reuse and repurposing.
-
painful reading with the example of Java - but the point remains that all learning objects should be managed and designed with the purpose of being able to use them in the future in ways that are dynamic and reusable. This means de-coupling them and ensuring they are made of distinct pedagogical units.
41More
shared by Adrienne Michetti on 01 Feb 10
- Cached
Digital Web Magazine - The Principles of Design - 11 views
www.digital-web.com/...principles_of_design
deign bestpractices usability reference web webdesign principles balance art
shared by Adrienne Michetti on 01 Feb 10
- Cached
-
concepts that can that make any project stronger without interfering in the more technical considerations later on
-
one of many disciplines within the larger field of design
-
a discipline within the field of art
- ...37 more annotations...
-
the basic tenets of design into two categories: principles and elements
-
the principles of design are the overarching truths of the profession
-
the elements of design are the components of design themselves, the objects to be arranged.
-
principles
-
Balance Rhythm Proportion Dominance Unity
-
Balance is an equilibrium
-
visual weight within a composition
-
Symmetrical balance
-
When symmetry occurs with similar, but not identical, forms it is called approximate symmetry
-
Symmetrical balance is also known as formal balance.
-
ntral axis.
-
Asymmetrical balance
-
tend to have a greater sense of visual tension. Asymmetrical balance is also known as informal balance.
-
Rhythm is the repetition or alternation of elements
-
Regular
-
Flowing
-
Progressive
-
three stages of dominance
-
Proportion is the comparison of dimensions or distribution of forms.
-
Dominance relates to varying degrees of emphasis in design
-
visual weight
-
relationship in scale between one element and another,
-
Dominant
-
Sub-dominant
-
Subordinate
-
unity describes the relationship between the individual parts and the whole of a composition
-
Gestalt theories of visual perception and psychology, specifically those dealing with how the human brain organizes visual information into categories, or groups
-
Closure is the idea that the brain tends to fill in missing information when it perceives an object is missing some of its pieces.
-
Continuance is the idea that once you begin looking in one direction, you will continue to do so until something more significant catches your attention
-
Items of similar size, shape and color tend to be grouped together by the brain, and a semantic relationship between the items is formed.
-
In addition, items in close proximity to or aligned with one another tend to be grouped in a similar way.
-
Contrast addresses the notion of dynamic tensionÔthe degree of conflict that exists within a given design between the visual elements in the composition.
-
The objects in the environment represent the positive space, and the environment itself is the negative space.
-
The rule of thirds is a compositional tool that makes use of the notion that the most interesting compositions are those in which the primary element is off center.
-
The visual center of any page is just slightly above and to the right of the actual (mathematical) center.
-
sometimes referred to as museum height.
-
The principles of design are the guiding truths of our profession, the basic concepts of balance, rhythm, proportion, dominance and unity. Successful use of these core ideas insures a solid foundation upon which any design can thrive.
-
These principles of design can be applied to almost anything, I believe.
7More
A Call for Technology Leadership - 16 views
-
(1) modeling the use of new technologies in communicating to students, teachers and the general public; (2) ensuring that technology becomes integral to teaching 21st-century skills from critical thinking and problem solving to collaboration and information literacy in the classroom; (3) boosting Web 2.0 applications and tools as key components of student learning; (4) offering professional development in these technologies and deploying the online tools that help teachers create learning communities among themselves; and (5) requiring better balanced assessments of student work—including project-based learning enhanced by technology tools—in an age driven by NCLB-oriented testing and better use of data from the assessments to help students improve their performance.
-
Asking any leader to model effective strategies makes sense, but shouldn't the imperative of offering professional development in newer communications tools come first? Some district leader's I can see jupming into new tools and ways to communicate, but you can't expect all veteran leaders to adopt new tools without the development and support they'll need. -
I'm curious to know in how many districts does the Superintendent serve as the curriculum leader capable of making the sweeping changes to move a district towards project-based learning. I have an inkling that many superintendents find niches that make them valubale, whether it's focusing on assessment, community relations, curriculum, or something else.
-
-
The revised edition also includes a self-assessment for superintendents to evaluate how far their districts have come along the technological curve. CoSN’s CEO Keith Krueger explains that his organization’s research shows that many district leaders are behind that curve, and the new document opens with a letter:
-
-
e cautions that the large-scale changes CoSN is advocating are most likely to happen for district leaders who are not engaged in dozens of other initiatives. “Everybody wants the superintendent to be in the middle of everything,” Reeves explains. “The real acid test is whether you can execute the ‘not-to-do list,’” adding that superintendents need to resist establishing too many priorities. Each of the five areas featured in “Empowering the 21st Century Superintendent” includes a set of resources and a series of action steps for superintendents and district leadership teams. For instance, in the 21st-century skills section, leaders are urged to improve their own such skills, create a vision for integrating them into K12 instruction, audit the district’s strategic plan to see which might be missing and adjust professional development accordingly.
-
Love the pragmatism in this quote. Good acknowledgement that district superintendents are engufed in far too much at times, and thus tech-integration may not realistically happen. Good to know that the framework provided by CoSn also includes some directions for district tech teams.
-
1More
Service Web 3.0 - The Future Internet: Service Web 3.0 Video - 0 views
-
With over a billion users, today's Internet is arguably the most successful human artifact ever created. The Future Internet, an initiative driven by the European Union, has become a prime research focus of STI International and the Service Web 3.0 project. In order to explain, promote, and attract new contributotrs, we created a video to be viewed by stakeholders, who may be non-experts, in a new generation Internet. The video outlines the basic themes of the European Union's Future Internet initiative. These include: an Internet of Services, where services are ubiquitous; an Internet of Things where in principle every physical object becomes an online addressable resource; a Mobile Internet where 24/7 seamless connectivity over multiple devices is the norm; and the need for semantics in order to meet the challenges presented by the dramatic increase in the scale of content and users.The video has proved to be popular and has already appeared on the main pages of the EU Future Internet Portal and the Software and Services Unit website. Please distribute this link in order to futher promote the ambitious goals behind the vision of the Future Internet, supported by STI International and Service Web 3.0.
3More
The Wired Campus - Duke Professor Uses 'Crowdsourcing' to Grade - The Chronicle of High... - 0 views
-
Learning is more than earning an A says Cathy N. Davidson, the professor, who recently returned to teach English and interdisciplinary studies after eight years in administration. But students don't always see it that way. Vying for an A by trying to figure out what a professor wants or through the least amount of work has made the traditional grading scale superficial, she says.
-
"Do all the work, you get an A. Don't need an A? Don't have time to do all the work? No problem. You can aim for and earn a B. There will be a chart. You do the assignment satisfactorily, you get the points. Add up the points, there's your grade. Clearcut. No guesswork. No second-guessing 'what the prof wants.' No gaming the system," Ms. Davidson wrote Sunday in a blog post detailing her strategy on hastac.org (pronounced "haystack"), the acronym for "humanities, arts, science, and technology-advanced collaboration.," which she co-founded.
-
It's important to teach students how to be responsible contributors to evaluations and assessment. Students are contributing and assessing each other on the Internet anyway, so why not make that a part of learning?"