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Georgetown University has been accepted by the leadership of EdX : "The addition of Georgetown to edX, which officials plan to announce Monday, marks the latest development in a fast-growing movement that aspires to connect the ivory tower to the world."

Despite the wealth of information available on the Internet, a recent study suggests that many students lack basic research skills. According to the latest Project Information Literacy Progress Report, 84 percent of students say that when it comes to course-based research, getting started is their biggest challenge.

Customized digital textbook with audio and video content appears to make a postive impact in some BSchools, while Faceebook is used to foster a sense community. "The iPad is not seen as the latest fashion gadget, but was chosen because it can prove be extremely useful in the classroom," Delphine Wharmby, H.E.C.'s communication director, said. Genevieve Bassellier, McGill University professor, referring to her students' use of her customized electronic textbook. "They see a huge increase in quality...It gives me more flexibility."

Great examples of technology application in the classroom.

ohn Sterman's business management courses have gone toe-to-toe in simulated business arenas, with the latest being a concocted world of video game companies looking for an edge in marketing and selling their gaming consoles and software.

A former Apple interface designer critiques Microsoft's 'Productivity Future Vision (2011)' video that has been spreading on the web (and a couple of you have shared here on Diigo).  The Apple guru's biggest gripe? Microsoft portrays a future dominated by single finger interaction with touch-enabled devices. But we are already seeing more elaborate Human-Computer interaction involving more of  our bodies and communication modes-- full body (Kinect, Microsoft), and voice & hearing (Siri, Apple). Mr. Victor says that Microsoft's vision wasn't as revolutionary as it seems.

I agree with the author on Microsoft's lack of vision about future technologies (which I also ranted about on facebook). At the same time, we have to note that Microsoft currently has devices that enable 'full body' communication and Apple does not. And their latest wonder 'Siri' was acquired, not developed internally. I respect Apple for their innovations but we haven't seen any 'vision' from Apple yet and I am curious to know what they might be thinking.

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?

The latest Horizon Report focusing on most important technologies for STEM+ education over the next five years

Does this type of 3-D aid learning? And what type of research evidence is needed to establish this

PoweredUp Boston: October 14 + 15, 2010 * Hear from leading Boston area developers and thought leaders on the latest local and global issues shaping our industry. * Network with local developers, investors, educational institutions and government officials. * Learn about the unique resources and opportunities available to Boston area businesses in the video game industry. Who Should Attend: * Boston area indie game developers (existing and aspiring) * Established Boston area game developers looking to connect with other developers * National and international companies looking to establish a presence in Boston * Investors * Infrastructure, middleware and other organizations interested in doing business with Boston area game companies * Students and faculty interested in the gaming industry

teacher developer available for free web 2.0 style on iTunes.

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

In 2006 - The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (the folks that seem to sponsor everything on PBS and NPR) launched its 5 year initiative to explore how youth are engaged in digital media.

In 2006 - The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (the folks that seem to sponsor everything on PBS and NPR) launched its 5 year initiative to explore how youth are engaged in digital media.

Connected to a few class discussions (including one in HT 500 about multitasking)... *potential for greater/more diversity in discussion/participation than in person *what do we mean when we say "multi-task"? *weighty topics/140 characters Somebody's got to create something worth tweeting

This is exciting news.. Education''s premise is that it will lead to an increase in desired economic returns to the time spent in school. Does the future "happiness" quotient have an impact on the time a student decides to invest in education?

Article about a Chicago high school's new digital library that encourages kids to produce and remix media. Certainly an intriguing idea, but I am reminded of the attention we must pay to the latest 'fads' with new digital media - will this library be outdated by the time this district's elementary school children reach high school? Still, wicked cool stuff and definitely moving in the right direction in getting media literacy into schools!

Isabel, Chris M., Stephen B., and I are at MassCUE today watching Yong Zhao's keynote.  You can find a copy of his presentation here at this website.

I saw Zhao speak yesterday at the MassCUE conference (with James, Chris McEnroe and Isabel Schwartzman). His message was provocative: the United States did not do well on the TIMSS test, but the US has never done well on this type of testing even way back to the 1950s. Therefore, Zhao thinks that these tests are not good indicators of educational quality, but that the things that the US does right are fostering creativity, building in tolerance and forgiveness into the educational system, and stressing problem-solving and collaborative learning.

This relates to part of the discussion in class today. I've seen him speak about the irony that Chinese schools, which are outperforming US schools on PISA and TIMMS, are actually trying to model their systems more on US pedagogy. See his latest book or look for him on TED.