Group items tagged

Thestudy in this book compares mobile learning with the classroom learning, virtual learning, and performance support. Includes interviews from practiioners, thought leaders, and early adopters of mobile learning.

Does anybody have a copy of this book that I might be able to borrow?

Business still early in development. They are trying to provide solution for this problem: 'it's extremely difficult to track, quantify and contextualize the diversity of experiences in informal lifelong learning." Too early to say if this is even a sustainable business model but we will see. 

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) implementation in Australia seems to bring positive results. In remote, largely indigenous northwest Queensland, Doomadgee, 3rd grade students' numeracy improved from 31 per cent last year to a staggering 95 per cent in 2011.

iPads are found to have a direct impact and maximize student learning time in a classroom in Michigan

A contrarian view. "Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains."

First of all - the girl in the picture of this article is reading Nancy Drew - who else spent most of their childhood with their head buried in a mystery series? :-) Secondly, I cannot tell you how valuable mud was to my childhood. Had I not been at a camp every summer where I was able to play around in mud and run through the woods all day, I would not be the person I am today. I think I did most of my growing and much of my learning in informal environments such as camp. It sounds to me like this school is trying to replicate those learning experiences...in a classroom. Not saying it's the way to go...but certainly an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!

Waldorf philosophy is different approach. For example, children learn to write first before they learn to read. As a result children may learn to read as late as 8 or 9. It's based on the anthroposophy philosophy. Children's who parents value these things will do well in a school without technology. Children who are plugged in at home would have a difficult time. This is effective for private school but not public school.

Alabama offers blended learning for 9-12 grades, called Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students (ACCESS). It allows students take courses, such as, foreign languages, their own school may not offer. It also allows students to catch up if they fall behind or simply graduate early.

This article shows the dark underbelly of the educational policy world as it relates to technology. As schools are increasingly adopting online learning models in classes, companies are predictably lining up to get money from the movement. However, there are many companies who are taking it a step further and lobbying for policies that do not have children's best interests in mind and which operate under the simplistic and misguided assumption that "schools will not need teachers once computers become good enough." It should give us pause to consider what needs to be done in these early stages to prevent the edTech movement from falling into the wrong hands and killing our schools.

A new proposal calls for a Consumer Reports-like rating body to evaluate new digital learning tools. Ed tech innovators like the idea in theory but they worry that it won't work in practice.

Funny, I was just talking with someone about this very idea the other day. We absolutely need something like this and my guess is that we will have a few competitors, at least early on, for the top ed tech review site. I think there is space for both an organization that specializes and for a yelp like site that essentially crowd sources the reviews. It will be tough to keep up, but think of how many products and areas Consumer Reports deals with- we can do this, and need to do this, for ed tech to get used wisely in our schools.

With regards to e-learning, I think inevitably some company or organization will provide ratings of the quality of online degree programs and learning tools. Whether this is Consumer Reports or US World & News Report or some new player (investment opportunity?), the need for objective assessments of digital learning tools is definitely needed. The Benchmarking e-learning wiki is interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmarking_e-learning

Some schools start introducing technologies early, iPad is being used. Teachers believe that as long as the use of devices controlled properly, it will be beneficial for children's learning.

Below is a quote from : Cedric Cullingford (2006) Children's own vision of schooling, Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 34:3, 211-221, DOI: 10.1080/03004270600898745  "At the heart of the problem, to put it simply, is the fact that although children love to learn, they resent being taught" 

With all of the unfounded claims being made by developers of early childhood learning toys regarding the educational efficacy of their products (read BABY EINSTEIN), I think that groups such as this one that review apps for safety and quality issues will become increasingly important. It's crazy that Android requires nothing of their Android Market developers than to pay a fee and submit a description and a few screenshots. App quality control will become a big deal, I'm predicting...

Stephen, Looks like a great business opportunity - an Apps Rating Agency like Moodys or S&P?

"By 2017, the first wave of students of P-Tech - Pathways in Technology Early College High School - is expected to emerge with associate's degrees in applied science in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering technology, following a course of studies developed in consultation with I.B.M."

Maybe we don't know how smart animals and birds really are. Just like we didn't know for a long time how early babies can count.

"When and where does it make sense to institute a longer school day, and how should it be designed?"

I think a case can be made for structuring school hours flexibly, to accommodate those who engage in sports and other extra currlicular activities and also those who desire or need additional academic learning time.

From my own experience, using technology was an effective way to maintain student engagement during a longer day. As a sped teacher, I offered students the opportunity to do an extra online-based reading intervention if they came to school early. I had a surprising number of students come - almost every single day. Additionally, using technology during afternoon tutoring sessions helped my students stay on-task. I think if the standard school day was to be extended, putting a substantial focus on technology would be both an effective learning tool and a good way to help prevent students from burning out by the last bell.

This is a suite of free online learning games to introduce middle to early high school-age youth to a variety of STEM-based professions -- recently was released at a launch event from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Profile of schools and districts looking to not only bring parents into the fold via technology, but also to improve parents' tech fluency.

Parental involvement--an important step in encouraging early literacy...necessary for narrowing academic gaps.

"The best professional-development research shows that teachers need sustained contact hours (between 30 and 100) of training before altering their practices. So, she did a back-of-the envelope calculation about how much time it would take to implement 50 hours of formative-assessment training over the course of a school year...... Teachers would need about six hours a month, for eight months, which amounts to one early-close afternoon a month plus two additional hours. (Good luck with that in this economy.)"

Perhaps this is where technology can play an enabling role. Easy to use and real-time tools like Socrative or technology based learning environments with embedded formative assessments (like my formative assessment design proposal for VPA) could help reduce the time / training barriers for teachers to incorporate formative assessment into the teaching practice. At the very least, new curriculum initiatives aligned with common core standards SHOULD BE REQUIRED to incorporate formative-assessments. Unfortunately on PARCC is. "Of the two assessment consortia, the Partnership for the Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, is not developing formative-assessment resources as part of its federal grant. The other consortium, known as SMARTER Balanced, is."

This New York Times article speaks to a growing number of schools across the nation embracing the iPad as the latest tool to teach. Given that it was published last year, do you feel like the concerns or objections raised are still relevant? Have some been debunked? Is it too early to tell?