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FCC is asking for teachers and school officials to help them analyze and give feedback on eRate data which has been collected. It seems like a great opportunity for teachers to be involved in larger decision-making processes and to be a part of research.

Blog about Big Data, White House Education Datapalooza happening today...

Good read to get a pulse on an online course at Coursera. Students registered online 11,800; students registered in in-person class 20. Only three weeks into the course and student feedback has been very positive.

This site is a professional development portal in which teachers can upload videos of lessons and get feedback on them.

This article describes the efforts that individual teachers in Utah are making to rewrite textbooks to be aligned to the standards that they are teaching in class. These teachers are writing eBooks and getting a lot of positive feedback from state officials because of the use of technology to meet student needs. They did not have a textbook that fit their integrated approach to teaching math, which they aligned to CCSS, so they took the matter of creating a textbook into their own hands. I think this is a prelude to how textbook creation is changing as a result of technology. Teachers are now able to construct books in a way that fit exactly the objectives they are covering and meeting there students where they are at.

This is the FCC blog calling on people to give feedback on the eRate data (followup to last post).

Trip to zoo without leaving classroom! This tool is interactive and students can see and hear rear animals, including multi-touch, multi-user interactive tool. Another interesting aspect is that it never gives negative feedback. "Instead of telling you that it's wrong, it just tells you that it isn't right. So students can work together to find the correct answer, which increases collaboration among students." Similarities with EcoMUVE?

Karen Cator, director of education technology with the U.S. Department of Education touts keystroke-sensitive algorithms are capable of guiding students for learning, accessible to teachers, parents and the students. "Education technology, as in the gaming world, has the ability to assess performance every step of the way, comparing students to classmates across schools, districts, states and the world, with immediate feedback and direction. No final exam necessary."

Software that tailors writing advise to the student

The schools I founded in Tennessee are really attempting to harness the power of these feedback loops using a very complicated design. Technology helps. But, this technology leaves much to be desire though the information one can generate is invaluable.

Is this based on research, or on opinion?

At Socrative we've received the same feedback about student comfort and improved fluency with their own devices. From a teacher perspective it has also been appreciated as they aren't expected to be experts in the technology. Especially for teachers who weren't previously in a 1 to 1 or high technology environment. However, from an IT perspective "Y" "O" has caused issues dealing with app updates, permissions, battery life etc. I guess tech isn't the wonder solution for all :)

The Knight Center's MOOC on data visualization was a bit smaller than traditional MOOCs (it actually capped enrollment at 2000), but the second version of the same class already has 4000 students registered. It sounds like the professor gave a lot of attention to the students and the projects, and the fact that the numbers went up is a good sign.

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.

I could see that being useful because it provides immediate feedback and used correctly could impact reward networks.

This was posted by a classmate at the MIT Media Lab and I wanted to get other educator's feedback on this premise. Almost laughable...

As with nature, learners who are skilled, motivated, and talented will find a way. Unfortunately, it's the rare employer who will hire someone just because she is smart and knows a lot. The degree is the necessary but insufficient condition if you're after a job. If you're not, you've probably already figured out the strategies in this book. I am totally using this site to fund the writing of my next novel.

I think Kiki has a naive and idealistic view of how one "educates oneself" -- yes, it's possible to figure out the "tricks" but that is no replacement for the engagement and learning that occurs in a learning community.

The New York Times takes on Khan Academy

I am getting a bit tired of the 'either/or' scenarios painted by some. Thankfully, some teachers like Ms.Tavenner seem to realize that they can use technology in a useful way to teach effectively. "Ms. Tavenner says she believes that computers cannot replace teachers. But the computer, she recognizes, can do some things a teacher cannot. It can offer personal feedback to a whole room of students as they work. And it can give the teacher additional class time to do more creative and customized teaching."

A look at what was an emerging technology over 50 years ago. It's interesting (not necessarily in a good way) that he's talking about things like immediate feedback and learning at your own pace - things that still haven't penetrated deep enough into the practice of education.

Ideas for using texting at school.

great article. relevant to today's discussion about web 2.0 / social media. for those who didn't read it. Here's there article's list of interesting sms based tools for education use: Remind101: Remind101 allows teachers to send text messages (and email) home -- to students and/or to parents -- to offer reminders and updates for class. Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their classes without either teacher or students having to share their phone numbers. Poll Everywhere: As the name suggests, Poll Everywhere allows teachers to use cellphones for polling in class. Students text their responses, using their cellphones to give feedback, answer questions, take quizzes. Celly: Celly provides SMS-based group messaging. Classrooms can use the service to take quick polls and quizzes, filter messages, get news updates, take notes, and organize and hold study groups. The groups can be public or private, moderated or open. StudyBoost: StudyBoost allows students to study via SMS-based quizzes. The questions can be self- or teacher-created, and can be multiple choice or open-ended.

I like Celly for its group messaging and polling applications. Note: The link to "Poll Anywhere" is broken.

I made this wiki for a class I took last semester on Authorship and Learning in the Digital Age. It was designed as a resource for teachers who are interested in using the internet in the classroom, but want to make sure they are preparing their students for safe internet use. It deals with COPPA, privacy and safety concerns, and touches on media literacy and informs teachers what researchers have found about young kids' processing of online content. I'd love to hear your feedback on the site, and if you find it useful, please forward the link along!