HGSET545

More help to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

A good collection of digital teaching tools.

A video game that uses biofeedback to help players practice and better control their reactions to stress. It's an interesting combination of entertainment and serious biofeedback training, presenting a very creative approach to designing engaging conditions for learning that allow for relevant skill transfer.

10 reasons why technology is needed in education.

The focus appears to be how people learn online, and not just getting content up. MIT is obviously a great partner, and a natural one for Harvard, especially in a venture like this.

Andy Robertson explores new ways to let games sustain us and broaden our understanding of what it means to be human.

Excellent tool for wiki space generation.

An article about why we should support loose screen time rules with kids. Children are suffering today not from too much computer play or too much screen time. They are suffering from too much adult control over their lives and not enough freedom.

You probably received an email from Drew Faust about edX. Here's an article written after the announcement.

Can we get some of the $60 M to revamp iSites? :-)

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/

why gaming teaches economics

exergaming advocated by president's fitness council

My thoughts on reading on this article was that if we designed interesting educational games that required physical movement (using Kinect, Move, VR etc), we can tackle engagement and exercise in one stroke.

A different kind of game, with worthwhile results

The Pericles Group "saving the world one practomime at a time." Roger Travis at UConn uses a game-based approach to teaching classics.

The second part of Project Tomorrow's Speak Up 2011 report (based on a national survey of teachers, librarians and administrators), was just released. This part focuses on how "today's educators are personalizing the learning process for students," and how they are personalizing the classroom experience with online, socially-networked media and digital content.

An excellent account of fostering engagement in students.

States use simulations to assess science skills and students seemed to "enjoy playing with the computers and took quickly to the assessment." A costly option, but goals to have all students complete computer-based tasks as part of Common Core assessments by 2014. NOTE: This article just scratches the surface of actual results, but for more commentary about this year's results take a look at: "NAEP Reveals Shallow Grasp of Science" http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/06/19/36naep.h31.html?tkn=VLPFYOoO%2Fh6K0gBMoWRnkBNKB%2B3NDBvfmvWl&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS1 It will be important to watch if/how computer simulations help students explain or justify their responses and apply concrete knowledge to real-life scientific scenarios.

Nice article, with a reference to Foldit!