Group items tagged Writing - Educational Technology and Change Journal

Teach for America: Liberal mission helps conservative agenda - 1 views

Teach for America: Liberal mission helps conservative agenda http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/teach-for-america-liberal-mission-helps-conservative-agenda/2011/12/25/gIQApoVZHP...

Teach for America Liberal mission Education reform Andrew Hartman unionized teachers DC Schools wendy Kopp Michelle Rhee

started by Bonnie Sutton on 27 Dec 11 no follow-up yet

You Can't Afford Apple's Education Revolution - 3 views

Apple is picking low-hanging fruit, as usual, and making a nice profit at the same time. Will they remain an isolated provider of online texts for iPads at high prices, or will they move to expand...

Apple future of education iPad economy scale

started by Bonnie Sutton on 24 Jan 12 1 follow-up, last by Harry Keller on 25 Jan 12

Into the Driver's Seat - 1 views

http://www.scoop.it/t/into-the-driver-s-seat/p/856007214/information-literacy-digital-learning-environments-judy-salpeter Information Literacy | Digital Learning Environments| Judy Salpeter...

Information Literacy digital learning environments. judy saltpeter

started by Bonnie Sutton on 21 Dec 11 no follow-up yet

Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools - 0 views

By MATT RICHTEL POST FALLS, Idaho - Ann Rosenbaum, a former military police officer in the Marines, does not shrink from a fight, having even survived a close encounter with a car bomb in Iraq. He...

High tech push online Idaho tablets Laptops vanguard. teacher back

started by Bonnie Sutton on 04 Jan 12 no follow-up yet

Finland and Shanghai.. a reminder post especially in the light of the NYTIMES article o... - 0 views

The Real Lessons of PISA By Diane Ravitch on December 14, 2010 9:13 AM Dear Deborah, When the results of the latest international assessment-the Program for International Student Assessment, or P...

Pisa sputnik moment achievement gap Shanghai Finland

started by Bonnie Sutton on 03 Jan 12 no follow-up yet

The Years Worst Tech Trends.. - 1 views

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/12/the_year_s_worst_tech_trend_complexity_.html 011 Was a Terrible Year for Tech All our devices got more complicated. And they won't get si...

complexity Terrible year for tech ecosystem devices and services transitional

started by Bonnie Sutton on 01 Jan 12 no follow-up yet

Ten Education Predictions for 2012 Answer Sheet - 1 views

10 education predictions for 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/10-education-predictions-for-2012/2011/12/29/gIQAB2PbPP_blog.html By Valerie Strauss This was written by La...

Prognostications prediction teacher ratings social emotional learning peer assistance and review

started by Bonnie Sutton on 01 Jan 12 no follow-up yet

Guest post: An 'Arab Spring' of free online higher education By Daniel de Vise - 2 views

Guest post: An 'Arab Spring' of free online higher education By Daniel de Vise http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/guest-post-an-arab-spring-of-free-online-higher-education/201...

Free Higher Education online college courses Udacity Startup

started by Bonnie Sutton on 03 Feb 12 no follow-up yet

Rupert Murdoch uses eG8 to talk up net's power to transform education | Media | guardia... - 6 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...g8-invest-education-technology

rupert murdoch uses

shared by Jim Shimabukuro on 02 Jun 11 - No Cached

Jim Shimabukuro on 02 Jun 11

"Rupert Murdoch uses eG8 to talk up net's power to transform education News Corp chairman claims 'Victorian' schools are 'last holdout from digital revolution' Kim Willsher in Paris guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 May 2011 18.10 BST Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation founder and chairman, used his address to the eG8 Forum in Paris on Tuesday to call for more investment in education and "unlocking the potential" of the world's children. Murdoch said it was not a question of putting a computer in every school, but concentrating on opening up opportunities for youngsters to flourish by using targeted and tailored software. News Corp moved into the $500bn (£310bn) US education sector in late 2010, paying about $360m in cash for 90% of technology company Wireless Generation, which provides mobile and web software to enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver personalised learning."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Rupert Murdoch uses eG8 to talk up net's power to transform education News Corp chairman claims 'Victorian' schools are 'last holdout from digital revolution' Kim Willsher in Paris guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 24 May 2011 18.10 BST Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation founder and chairman, used his address to the eG8 Forum in Paris on Tuesday to call for more investment in education and "unlocking the potential" of the world's children. Murdoch said it was not a question of putting a computer in every school, but concentrating on opening up opportunities for youngsters to flourish by using targeted and tailored software. News Corp moved into the $500bn (£310bn) US education sector in late 2010, paying about $360m in cash for 90% of technology company Wireless Generation, which provides mobile and web software to enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver personalised learning."</div>

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Jim Shimabukuro on 02 Jun 11

From Harry Keller

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">From Harry Keller</div>

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Claude Almansi on 02 Jun 11

Interesting contrast with Murdoch's attitude in 2009 - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/09/murdoch-google - but is it really a contrast?

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Interesting contrast with Murdoch's attitude in 2009 - see <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/09/murdoch-google" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/nov/09/murdoch-google</a> - but is it really a contrast?</div>

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Harry Keller on 02 Jun 11

We've had Ely Broad, Bill Gates, and a host of other billionaires (even George Lucas) attempting to "fix" our education system. They're not doing so well. What is so interesting to me about Murdoch, despite his pirate-like business practices, is that he sees what I think is the real direction for the future of education. Oddly unlike his right-wing colleagues, he's not pushing for vouchers or more school privatization. Unlike the technocrats, he's not pushing for more and more computers in schools. He sees the solution to our schooling problems as "targeted and tailored software." Many (maybe most) countries, including the U.S., lack the political will as societies to fix education the way that Finland did. Software is the other path. Much discussion today centers around the platform. Will we use smart phones or e-tablets or netbooks? Will we see $1 apiece apps as the learning modules or cloud-based solutions? Will our new learning software run on iOS or Android? All of that is window dressing and barely worthy of discussion. For me, Murdoch hit the nail on the head. We have too little software "targeted and tailored" to education or, at least, too little highly professional quality software.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">We've had Ely Broad, Bill Gates, and a host of other billionaires (even George Lucas) attempting to "fix" our education system. They're not doing so well. What is so interesting to me about Murdoch, despite his pirate-like business practices, is that he sees what I think is the real direction for the future of education. Oddly unlike his right-wing colleagues, he's not pushing for vouchers or more school privatization. Unlike the technocrats, he's not pushing for more and more computers in schools. He sees the solution to our schooling problems as "targeted and tailored software." Many (maybe most) countries, including the U.S., lack the political will as societies to fix education the way that Finland did. Software is the other path. Much discussion today centers around the platform. Will we use smart phones or e-tablets or netbooks? Will we see $1 apiece apps as the learning modules or cloud-based solutions? Will our new learning software run on iOS or Android? All of that is window dressing and barely worthy of discussion. For me, Murdoch hit the nail on the head. We have too little software "targeted and tailored" to education or, at least, too little highly professional quality software.</div>

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Claude Almansi on 04 Jun 11

Errh yes about Murdoch pushing "targeted and tailored software" , Harry. But see also: "News Corp moved into the $500bn (£310bn) US education sector in late 2010, paying about $360m in cash for 90% of technology company Wireless Generation, which provides mobile and web software to enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver personalised learning." So he is doing at software level what Microsoft etc were doing at hardware - and at times software - level: promoting his wares in a very juicy market. We've had "targeted and tailored to education" software for decades, now: LMSs, addons to office suites, etc. Some good, some bad. The problem with software that is targeted and tailored to education is that it is a) often boring; b) perforce based on an abstract general idea of education; c) often remote from what gets used outside school. Would it not be better to train teachers in adapting whatever software is generally available, be it desktop or on the cloud, to fit their and their specific students' needs?

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Errh yes about Murdoch pushing "targeted and tailored software" , Harry. But see also: "News Corp moved into the $500bn (£310bn) US education sector in late 2010, paying about $360m in cash for 90% of technology company Wireless Generation, which provides mobile and web software to enable teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver personalised learning." So he is doing at software level what Microsoft etc were doing at hardware - and at times software - level: promoting his wares in a very juicy market. We've had "targeted and tailored to education" software for decades, now: LMSs, addons to office suites, etc. Some good, some bad. The problem with software that is targeted and tailored to education is that it is a) often boring; b) perforce based on an abstract general idea of education; c) often remote from what gets used outside school. Would it not be better to train teachers in adapting whatever software is generally available, be it desktop or on the cloud, to fit their and their specific students' needs?</div>

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Harry Keller on 04 Jun 11

My point is simply that Murdoch gets it. His motives don't have to be pure for us all to benefit from the light he's shining on educational technology. Regarding the software, your points are well-taken. However, one extra qualification must be added. The software must be "good." That means it must avoid the problems you list.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">My point is simply that Murdoch gets it. His motives don't have to be pure for us all to benefit from the light he's shining on educational technology. Regarding the software, your points are well-taken. However, one extra qualification must be added. The software must be "good." That means it must avoid the problems you list.</div>

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Harry Keller on 05 Jun 11

"Would it not be better to train teachers in adapting whatever software is generally available, be it desktop or on the cloud, to fit their and their specific students' needs?' I disagree with this analysis. Software not created for educational purposes will only adapt so far. It is, for example, word processing substituting for paper and pencil. That's worthy of doing but really makes no difference in instruction. When software is created specifically for learning, it can reach much more deeply into the learning processes. It's not just peripheral but central to learning. You can adapt lots of software to education in lots of ways, and I've read of many very clever adaptations. Almost all could be done without the use of a computer, albeit somewhat less efficiently but nonetheless effectively. I read Murdoch's call, which echoes something I've been saying for many years, as meaning that we have to build software that answers the necessities of learning. We don't have much today.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Would it not be better to train teachers in adapting whatever software is generally available, be it desktop or on the cloud, to fit their and their specific students' needs?' I disagree with this analysis. Software not created for educational purposes will only adapt so far. It is, for example, word processing substituting for paper and pencil. That's worthy of doing but really makes no difference in instruction. When software is created specifically for learning, it can reach much more deeply into the learning processes. It's not just peripheral but central to learning. You can adapt lots of software to education in lots of ways, and I've read of many very clever adaptations. Almost all could be done without the use of a computer, albeit somewhat less efficiently but nonetheless effectively. I read Murdoch's call, which echoes something I've been saying for many years, as meaning that we have to build software that answers the necessities of learning. We don't have much today.</div>

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Claude Almansi on 05 Jun 11

Taking up your example of word processing as substitute for pen and pencil , Harry: true, and that's what I retorted in the late 1990's to a digitalophobe academic, when we met about the Italian translation of one of his books, and he boasted of having got a letter from a publisher saying he was their last author to deliver typescripts on paper and not as a digital file. I pointed out that cut and paste, copy and paste (the things he particularly hated the ease of in digital media) existed in the real world looooooong before computers, let alone PCs, let alone the Web. And yet... in 2007 I was asked to set up at very short notice an intensive preliminary French workshop for participants in a master course in intercultural studies: though in Lugano, the course was to be in French and English. I asked for access to the Moodle for the course, to store course materials there etc. The organizers refused: "The Moodle will only be explained to the students in the first week of the course proper". The idea that graduate students needed to have a Moodle explained to them in 2007 seemed peregrine, but rather than arguing, I set up a for-free wiki instead. At our first meeting, the students asked why we weren't using the Moodle, I repeated the official explanation, they laughed and got the hang of the wiki immediately. Then, for reading comprehension, they chose one of the assigned texts for the course: a longish book chapter they had received by e-mail as a grayish PDF based on a low-resolution scan, based on a reduced photocopy to make 2 pages fit on an A4 sheet: i.e. with no margin to take notes on. So we printed the PDF, separated the pages with scissors, pasted the separate pages with glue sticks on new A4 sheets, to get wider margins to write in. And then we made a wiki page for it, copied in it the subheadings, between which the students, added the notes they were taking, working in groups on the new paper version. Result: http://micusif.wikispaces.com/Vinsonneau

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Taking up your example of word processing as substitute for pen and pencil , Harry: true, and that's what I retorted in the late 1990's to a digitalophobe academic, when we met about the Italian translation of one of his books, and he boasted of having got a letter from a publisher saying he was their last author to deliver typescripts on paper and not as a digital file. I pointed out that cut and paste, copy and paste (the things he particularly hated the ease of in digital media) existed in the real world looooooong before computers, let alone PCs, let alone the Web. And yet... in 2007 I was asked to set up at very short notice an intensive preliminary French workshop for participants in a master course in intercultural studies: though in Lugano, the course was to be in French and English. I asked for access to the Moodle for the course, to store course materials there etc. The organizers refused: "The Moodle will only be explained to the students in the first week of the course proper". The idea that graduate students needed to have a Moodle explained to them in 2007 seemed peregrine, but rather than arguing, I set up a for-free wiki instead. At our first meeting, the students asked why we weren't using the Moodle, I repeated the official explanation, they laughed and got the hang of the wiki immediately. Then, for reading comprehension, they chose one of the assigned texts for the course: a longish book chapter they had received by e-mail as a grayish PDF based on a low-resolution scan, based on a reduced photocopy to make 2 pages fit on an A4 sheet: i.e. with no margin to take notes on. So we printed the PDF, separated the pages with scissors, pasted the separate pages with glue sticks on new A4 sheets, to get wider margins to write in. And then we made a wiki page for it, copied in it the subheadings, between which the students, added the notes they were taking, working in groups on the new paper version. Result: <a href="http://micusif.wikispaces.com/Vinsonneau" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://micusif.wikispaces.com/Vinsonneau</a></div>

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Social Learning: Can Facebook and Related Tools Improve Educational Outcomes? - 4 views

ScienceDaily (May 9, 2011) - Online social networking sites, such as Facebook, can help students become academically and socially integrated as well as improving learning outcomes, according to a s...

started by Bonnie Sutton on 12 Jun 11 no follow-up yet

NGLC Pumps Funding into Ed Tech Focused on Common Core - 0 views

NGLC Pumps Funding into Ed Tech Focused on Common Core By David Nagel 06/14/11 http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/06/14/nglc-pumps-funding-into-ed-tech-focused-on-common-core.aspx The Next Gener...

Common Core David Nagel Next Generation Learning Challenges Proof of Concept

started by Bonnie Sutton on 15 Jun 11 no follow-up yet

Access to high-speed Internet and other telecommunication tools is a "digital civil right" - 2 views

http://www.edutopia.org/george-lucas-testimony Access to high-speed Internet and other telecommunication tools is a "digital civil right" that the United States should guarantee to every student, ...

GEORGE LUCAS internet erate american education broadband for all

started by Bonnie Sutton on 07 Aug 11 no follow-up yet

Don't Show,Don't Tell The too-smart-for-its-own-good grid - 1 views

Don't show, don't tell? http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/teaching-children-0630.html Cognitive scientists find that when teaching young children, there is a trade-off between direct instructi...

direct instruction independent exploration grid MIT double edged sword to pedagogy

started by Bonnie Sutton on 06 Aug 11 no follow-up yet

Reform NCLB - 3 views

http://reformnclb.wikispaces.com/ The US Department of Education created a video (below) that details some of the challenges brought on by the No Child Left behind law and describes President Bara...

NCLB a teacher;s guide to fixing it blog tweet solving the ESEA problem achievement gaps

started by Bonnie Sutton on 06 Aug 11 no follow-up yet

Murdoch-Owned Wireless Generation's Contract Should Be Scratched, Teachers' Union Leade... - 0 views

www.huffingtonpost.com/...t-teachers-union_n_919325.html

Murdoch eg8 Wireless generation datamining database New York Huffington Post Huffington Resmovits

shared by Claude Almansi on 15 Aug 11 - No Cached

Claude Almansi on 15 Aug 11

Joy Resmovits Aug. 5, 2011 ""We have become increasingly concerned with the proposed contract," Michael Mulgrew and Richard Iannuzzi, who respectively head New York City's and the state's teachers' unions, wrote in the note. The letter is addressed to New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, state Commissioner of Education John King, Jr., and copied to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. "It is especially troubling that Wireless Generation will be tasked with creating a centralized student database for personal information even as its parent company, News Corporation, stands accused of engaging in illegal news gathering tactics, including the hacking of private voicemail accounts," the letter reads. Murdoch acquired 90 percent of Wireless Generation for about $360 million last November. At the time of the acquisition, Murdoch said he saw K-12 education as a "$500 billion sector." Murdoch's first general move in the education sector had come just a few weeks earlier, when he tapped Joel Klein, then the chancellor of New York City's schools, to lead his education ventures. The Wireless Generation contracts were approved while Klein still ran the district, leading to speculation about the chancellor's intentions."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Joy Resmovits Aug. 5, 2011 ""We have become increasingly concerned with the proposed contract," Michael Mulgrew and Richard Iannuzzi, who respectively head New York City's and the state's teachers' unions, wrote in the note. The letter is addressed to New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl Tisch, state Commissioner of Education John King, Jr., and copied to State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. "It is especially troubling that Wireless Generation will be tasked with creating a centralized student database for personal information even as its parent company, News Corporation, stands accused of engaging in illegal news gathering tactics, including the hacking of private voicemail accounts," the letter reads. Murdoch acquired 90 percent of Wireless Generation for about $360 million last November. At the time of the acquisition, Murdoch said he saw K-12 education as a "$500 billion sector." Murdoch's first general move in the education sector had come just a few weeks earlier, when he tapped Joel Klein, then the chancellor of New York City's schools, to lead his education ventures. The Wireless Generation contracts were approved while Klein still ran the district, leading to speculation about the chancellor's intentions."</div>

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FCC Chairman Proposes Changes to Phone Subsidy System - 2 views

By AMY SCHATZ http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203388804576614843087697746.html?mod=googlenews_wsj WASHINGTON-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said T...

low income Americans subsidy Phone service rural access Julius Genachowski

started by Bonnie Sutton on 06 Oct 11 no follow-up yet

Vanessa Vaile liked it

Why We're Building a Civic Commons - And How You Can Be Part of It - 1 views

ttp://civiccommons.org/2011/06/building-a-civic-commons/ Why We're Building a Civic Commons - And How You Can Be Part of It | By Andrew McLaughlin Walk down any major street in any ci...

started by Bonnie Sutton on 09 Jul 11 no follow-up yet

ISTE REPORT - 4 views

Web News Briefs 1. My ISTE 2011: Takeaways from a conference To me, ISTE - with some 13,000 attendees from 68 countries having converged on Philadelphia this week - is like looking out the window...

Anne Collier NetFamily News on ISTE horizon report

started by Bonnie Sutton on 01 Jul 11 no follow-up yet

Is Affirmative Action Headed Back to the Supreme Court? - 1 views

Is Affirmative Action Headed Back to the Supreme Court? June 21, 2011, 5:07 pm http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/is-affirmative-action-headed-back-to-the-supreme-court/29699 By Richard...

RACE DIVERSITY DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES ADMISSIONS SUPREME COURT BI-RACIAL MULTIRACIAL

started by Bonnie Sutton on 23 Jun 11 no follow-up yet

America's Next Educational Crisis - 1 views

America's Next Educational Crisis Posted: 07/ 1/11 11:51 AM ET http://www.huffingtonpost.com/franklin-schargel/americas-next-educational_b_883381.html High-quality teachers are critical to acc...

162 Keys to School Success Franklin Schargel Teacher training education career

started by Bonnie Sutton on 02 Jul 11 no follow-up yet

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