HGSET545

The 2012 Digital Learning Report Card, funded by Jeb Bush's Digital Learning Now organization, was profiled in this week's EdSurge e-newsletter. The Digital Learning Report Card grades significant policy decisions (on a state-by-state basis) which "are advancing student-centric reforms, reducing barriers to blended learning, and encouraging the use of technology to offer a more personalized college- and career-ready education."

Vivek Wadhwa provides an overview of emerging educational technologies, including sensor-based technology, which "detect the interest, learning, and emotion of the student".

An interesting talk about how chance favors the connected mind. How do we create such spaces in the classroom, school or perhaps out of formal learning environments?

Research shows that in video, abridged versions of text shown with narration and animation produces better recall and transfer or information than showing full text or no text. Interestingly, this is in conflict with what people prefer to watch, which is full text versions.

"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."

edX using AI to grade student essays.

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.

Interesting look at MOOCs

I like how the author provides honest feedback about how difficult it is for the teacher to deliver courses online. It democratizes education and allows for huge scaling, but it requires Intense preparation, lack of immediate feedback from students, lack of immersive environment for students.

Thanks for sharing Sandra, this was an interesting article about injecting passion into our lessons. There were two questions I was thinking about though: 1) If we're not already passionate about something, why and how should we get passionate about it? 2) Excitement and passion do not equate to learning whereas solving problems or inquiry-based learning focuses the lessons on learning. Is that better? Cheers!

A powerful game that teaches students to understand the operation of the world! The creator John Hunter is coming to Harvard on Monday! (http://www.gse.harvard.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D104615526) 

This a great (and local) group doing exciting work with Game Mechanics and Science Inquiry. Check it out!