Group items tagged

What happens to your teen avatar when the plug is pulled on your virtual world?

That looks like a tragedy that's rooted in bad software architecture - having the Teen software be so different from the main Second Life software that it now has to be shut down ... tsk tsk. I hope Linden Labs has learned from this. It was really interesting to learn how this has been used in education (with specifics about hurdles the teachers had to jump to get it into the curriculum).

tutoring software senses emotions

SpacedEd learning software educates through repetition of wrongly answered questions. Practice makes perfect.

Speaking of being wary of marketers pitching 'magical digital products'...this study found "no discernible effects" on high school students standardized test scores - of course, we must ask how the effects were measured (what the test actually tests) and measure in what ways software has a meaningful effect on student's learning...

I think Karen Cator makes a good point in the article when she talks about standardized tests being the sole gauge for assessing the effectiveness of the programs. While the programs may be used with the intent to improve test scores, I'd also argue it's important for digital literacy to be valued as a skill in its own right. Thus while test scores may not reflect the sought-after results, other important skills may still have been developed by using the programs.

Great group at the University of Chile developing educational software for the visually impaired using virtual environments.

An all-too-familiar tale of school districts hailing software as a "silver bullet" and then getting frustrated when student achievement gains didn't live up to expectations--even though teachers implemented it for a tiny fraction of the recommended use time...

Western Governor's University shows what software it uses to keep up with its competency based model

1) Remote live proctoring 2) Remote web proctoring 3) Browser lockdowns 4) Keystroke pattern recognition software 5) Plagiarism detection software

an issue that is of interest to all digital teaching platforms

Schools throughout the country are experiencing the same teacher-driven adoption of technology tools. Internet-savvy teachers are increasingly finding tools to use in the classroom on their own, and lower business-startup costs mean the tools are more readily available. In response, many education companies are changing how they market and sell their products. Nationwide sales teams and central-office visits are giving way to word-of-mouth and sophisticated business-intelligence software as preferred methods for pushing adoption. Companies offer free products to teachers with the goal of influencing districtwide purchases of more-robust versions-known as the "freemium" pricing model. But in most sectors of the existing K-12 system-with its various stakeholders, budgetary restrictions, and procurement regulations- the so-called "consumerization" of education faces many barriers, experts say, making it difficult to find the right balance between selling directly to teachers and addressing the needs of central-office administrators.

An infographic of common elements of a digital classroom: including eBooks, Book rental via Kindle, iPads, Open Source software, iTunesU, Digital cameras, projectors, and headphones.

Math remediation software

The NYC Department of Education is challenging software developers to submit apps and games that enhance teaching, learning, and engagement for NYC middle schools. I thought this might interest folks working on app or startup ideas.

Example of AR in biology. Expected ban on animal dissection in India seems to encourage further AR adoption in classroom. I wonder if there are any other external factors that could put AR as ''must consider as an alternative soon'' rather than as ''nice to have in the future''. 

The package of software and technology that Google used to build its "Power Searching with Google" MOOC.

I'm sure we all had some experience with computer based essay scoring during the GRE. This is an interesting article in the NY Times on the future of computer based essay scoring in the classroom.

A potentially transformative tool for the narrative of WHO educates and continuing the re-imagination of what constitues valuable knowledge.

Wow, I think that looks amazingly powerful....they've kind of beat edX to the punch of releasing an open source course platform!

Code Academy wants to teach everyone how to write software for free.