Group items tagged

Related to the Pew Foundation Study on Tagging we read earlier in the course... Topic models provide a simple way to analyze large volumes of unlabeled text. A "topic" consists of a cluster of words that frequently occur together. Using contextual clues, topic models can connect words with similar meanings and distinguish between uses of words with multiple meanings. Coupling the use of such tools with blogging allows students (plural) to spot trends in their collective writing. The key is to "share-out" their pieces in weekly class review sessions. This "ups" the level of engagement.

Piazza is a Web 2.0 tool that allows students to ask questions and engage in dialogue on the Internet with teacher and each other.

this article reminded me how unengaged I was/am by the idea of diagramming sentences in spite of some people I know who thrill in the memories. It seems to me that the ipad offers some ap capability to reinvent this idea and make it even more visual.

Does this teach academic skills?

A set of excellent TED talks on education

This paints a picture of what a whole-school approach to educational technology-use could look like. Interesting to think about what can motivate teachers to use technology consistently and effectively...

thoughtful ideas about what types of problems technology can address

Will great professors start defecting to interactive media, where they could become media stars? I wonder how truly interactive or engaging this type of delivery is.

This article argues for the benefit of using laptops in university classrooms.

Gaming and Simulations for Training

Hi Kasturi - It will be interesting to watch the growth of companies like this. I am tempted to get a free quote to learn the ballpark $$ for having training simulations made. In reviewing some of the simulations, some seemed much more valuable than others (i.e. tour of USAFA with ability to earn points to change look of avitar seemed irrelevant because the points were earned after the tour was taken... who would take it again?)

A brief interview with L. Rafael Reif, MIT's provost, and Anant Agarwal, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory about MITx, a new/developing online certificate program. Interesting how much they can not anticipate how/what this will impact (re: education, jobs, higher ed market).

Suggests classrooms of the future will be "open, mobile, and flexible enough to reach individual students-while free online tools will challenge the authority of traditional institutions." Nothing new to T545ers, but a good summary of trends.

This blog was named the best educational wiki of 2011 by Wikispaces. It's a little crowded, but full of interesting links.. For example, the link to http://www.neave.com/bounce/ is a screen full of colourful balls and if the students make noise , the balls bounce (it's meant to be a classroom management too, but could also radically backfire..)

Some researchers are looking at how video games open up new wiring in the brain. "Infancy is filled with the best of times: critical windows of weeks and months when the growing brain fine-tunes things like language skills and vision. And it's wise to take advantage of them, for when the windows slam shut, those skills don't develop. Or so scientists used to think." Also, "Playing a video game called Medal of Honor helped some people recover lost visual abilities." But some researchers are not confident we know enough or raise ethical questions about further interventions.

Cathy Davidson reflects on the recent Harvard Innovations in Learning and Teaching (HILT) symposium (wish I had been there) and shines light on the value of badges [peer rewards/extrinsic] vs. multiple-choice tests [often a disincentive to learning].

After dinner, when Tom Beasley is ready to take a break from his day job in the Yale classics department, he busts out the comic books. But it's all in the name of education, with a digital twist. Beasley, a seventh-year graduate student, is writing his dissertation on Thucydides, chronicler of the Peloponnesian War. In his evening project, he turns from history to the mythology of the Trojan War - in particular, the comic book series Age of Bronze, written and illustrated by Eric Shanower. Beasley's task: produce a reader's guide to the richly detailed, 31-part (so far) comic series in preparation for its release as an iPad app, intended for classroom use. The digital version, called Age of Bronze "Seen," launches on October 15 and includes maps, genealogy charts, and other interactive features.

Interesting next generation AR possibilities