HGSET545

Off the heels of our class discussion on extrinsic motivation in paying students - The producers of this educational media have built in an "allowance pledge" for parents to pay their kids to play DimensionU's games.

Students learn how to make educational web games. Globaloria is sponsoring some of the events for the Digital Learning Day (posted below) and are "opening their Globaloria game design classes to parents, friends, educators, administrators, policy makers and media. Visitors will get to experience first-hand the innovative, hands-on "game design studio" that these classes engage in daily. They will see students developing original STEM learning games, collaborating with peers and their teacher, using a digital curriculum, and receiving support through an online learning network."

Zuckerberg's letter accompanies Facebook's IPO. While there is no explicit mention of education, I think the letter is a must-read as we think about the function and possibilities of social media.

Virtual Cultural Exchange!

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.

Venture capitalists are taking an unprecedented interest in the K-12 education marketplace, largely due to an increased interest in education technology.

Apple's pitch for its engaging platform has merit but I agree with this writer that it's buyer beware.

Resources for teachers, students, administrators to use/see educational benefits of web tools being used by the education community. Check out a long list of blogs including: Best class blog; Best student blog; Best ed tech blog; Most influential post; Best teacher blog; Best library / librarian blog; Best free web tool; Best use of media / podcast; Best educational use of a wiki AND MORE... And wikis: http://blog.wikispaces.com/2012/01/best-educational-wikis-of-2011.html

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).

Various definitions of learning objects.

This article describes how Stanford University Medical Center is using a web-based medical game called "Septris" to train its physicians on sepsis.

Interesting game on getting kids interested in aviation and math.

Some very useful lessons to learn fro Mooresville. Looks like the broader ecosystem (such as cheper access to broadband internet) has been thought through rather than just dropping a laptop into the classroom.

Since college recruiters know that only a small percentage of students open email, Ohio State is planning to let prospective students get in touch directly with current students via IM, email or phone.

For those of you who follow Michael Wesch, associate professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University... he is rethinking his speeches, adding, "It doesn't matter what method you use if you do not first focus on one intangible factor: the bond between professor and student."

Facebook funds much-needed research in the field of digital citizenship.

We talk a lot about student engagement. Does being accountable and respected raise the engagement level (and hopefully performance) of the teacher?

Here are some interesting ideas on all fronts regarding motivation.

A school district in Maine is researching the use of ipads for early childhood literacy. The report is couched very positively,