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"Every young person will continue to need basic knowledge, of course," he said. "But they will need skills and motivation even more. Of these three education goals, motivation is the most critical. Young people who are intrinsically motivated - curious, persistent, and willing to take risks - will learn new knowledge and skills continuously. They will be able to find new opportunities or create their own - a disposition that will be increasingly important as many traditional careers disappear."

I'm still not sure if I agree with David Foster Wallace, but his quote did made me wonder: Does the idea of being "smart" tap into some essential human need? Might we add "smartness" to Ryan & Deci's list of intrinsic needs?

"In the online world you don't need to fill buildings or lecture theatres with people and you don't need to be trapped into a lecture timetable," says Peter Scott, director of the Open University's Knowledge Media Institute.

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.

This is about a report by HGSE's John Richards that we will need later in the semester

Hear MIT GAMBIT Lab experts talk about engagement in practical terms--and get some hands-on experience designing a board or video game. The three-hour workshops are part of the Cambridge Science Festival; this event takes place on April 28 and requires a $5 preregistration. Though I'm sure EMF will be touched on one way or another in all of the workshops, I thought the Serious Games for Social Change workshop might be of particular interest to you all: "In this workshop, best practice examples of serious games for social change will be played, discussed and analyzed. Furthermore ideas and sketches for proto-types will be developed and ways of realizing them will be discussed! The workshop gives the participants hands-on experiences and insights into the potential and limits of video games designed for social change. No pre-experiences are needed!"

Discusses the need for value-added assessment of learning effectiveness in college.

10 reasons why technology is needed in education.

Following increasing amount of disruptive technologies in Higher Ed, and announcement of MIT/Harvard EdX platform, author claims to check in with students. Does not really live up to the title (as he does not write enough about conversations with students), but it is a question that does need to be asked. Here is part one of "Did Anyone Ask the Students?" http://chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/05/01/did-anyone-ask-the-students-part-i/

This article suggests lessons that other teachers can learn from jazz teachers in motivating students and talks about the social, constructivist, and personal aspects of jazz that make it a passion for students who may otherwise be uninterested in school. "Students need to be doing something every day to demonstrate their learning."

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

Managing engagement in the classroom;

An article for those of us interested in technology in higher education. According to the article, "The question is, what should leaders of today's colleges and universities know about technology in order to manage the inevitable change that disruptive technology will bring?"

This article examines how to best create flow experiences in video games. The author argues for 1) including a variety of gameplay activities, 2) allowing players to play at their own paces, and 3) letting players make choices.

more studies needed to sort out what is happening