Group items tagged

Article talks about the state of voice-recognition and how we might better design interfaces and technology to adapt to how we need our devices to gather greater context about what we are asking.

Professor Rosalind W. Picard, ScD is founder and director of the Affective Computing research group at the MIT Media Lab, co-director of the Things That Think consortium, and leader of the new and growing Autism & Communication Technology Initiative at MIT. In April 2009 she co-founded Affectiva, Inc., where she serves as chairman and chief scientist.

Thanks for sharing Rupangi. This tool could provide so much valuable feedback to educators as they design formal and informal learning environments for students. There are two things which I think any educator should be very aware about before implementing it though: 1. The privacy of the data and who has access to it 2. The steps that can be taken to prevent a misinterpretation of the data.

Engagement is a buzz word but who descriptive is it?

How a teacher incorporates educational technology into his KIPP classroom.

Why technology should not be the sole source for learning.

A lengthy but informative New Yorker article for those interested in higher education and technology.

As we get closer to the presidential election, organizations and individuals are once again appealing to officials for an education reform. Over the past few years there has been a push for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) programs. What about a push for language instruction?

An article discussing various attempts at providing therapy for anxiety through computer programs and phone apps. One of the research projects targeting social anxiety is currently being conducted at the McNally Lab here at Harvard. The findings are still a little murky but I think it's a great start to providing education about and strategies for treating mental health issues to a broader audience- especially to those who otherwise have very limited or no access to help.

Thank you for sharing this, Kate. I'm a little skeptical about 1) the long-term effectiveness of this technology, 2) the transferability of learning/conditioning, and 3) the subtle implications of "therapist-free" therapy. The debate is similar to when educational technology was first heralded to be able to replace teachers and classrooms, when in fact technology is best supplemented by in-person guidance. It is a fascinating area of research and development though, and I look forward to seeing how this type of therapy can transform standard practice.

The iPhone can be a freeing tool for the blind, especially when their needs are addressed through apps designed by blind people.

A profile of a school district that has successfully woven technology into the curriculum after issuing laptops to nearly 4,500 students in grades 4-12 three years ago. Statewide, the district now ranks third in test scores and second in graduation rates.

Two faculty members test out social media (Twitter and Google+) in the classroom. They evaluate the pros/cons of using these technologies, admittedly not knowing if/how it affects learning outcomes yet.

Chronicle of Higher Education Q&A with researchers from Georgia Tech's Center for 21st Century Universities. Highlighted are many of the more recent technologies, as well as their effects on higher education's future.

Managing engagement in the classroom;

Using open source Virtual World software to intentionally disrupt an education system. A bold vision and I think an opportunity for bold research.

A very interesting profile of a candidate for a Superintendent position.

For the data analysts among us... This article mentions the Stanford University online course where every mouse click of 20,000 students is tracked in real time. "If 5,000 people had the same wrong answer, it's obvious a concept is not getting through, and you have a clear path that shows where students went wrong."

Australia has been aggressively pursuing technology in education for a decade. I taught in Armidale, a large country town with a major university. It serves as an ideal location to work out the bugs because it is large enough to gather good research but small and contained enough to minimize complications.