Group items tagged

...yet another reason why we need to equip students with information literacy skills! ><

Here is a website with a virtual world game for kids. You travel around a world called miamiopia in the form of a balloon avatar. You come across questions from content domains and I think then you answer questions and earn coins. If you can't answer the questions, as happened to me when trying to earn coins by answering questions identifying dinosaurs, you are taken to a web site with the information so you can learn it.

"A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it."

#HGSET561 A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it.

Pearson gets into the MOOC action by creating a search engine for content.

Pearson makes an interesting business move by recognizing and organizing Open Educational Resources. I often wonder how the questions of academic integrity, quality, etc will be answered in the marketplace.

Google is building a new search tool that pre-guesses what you are looking for. This is a step beyond children being able to look up answers to any questions they have without thinking.

Doctors developing smartphone apps that will help determine cause of death in under-resourced communities.  

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?

Seven questions to consider before you decide on online learning and educational technology. "Not all online learning is the same. Neither is all face-to-face learning."

This article presents a rough framework to work with from a district point of view.

"As the session continued, Lindquist gestured, pointed, made eye contact, modulated her voice. "Cruising!" she exclaimed, after the student answered three questions in a row correctly. "Did you see how I had to stop and think?" she inquired, modeling how to solve a problem. "I can see you're getting tired," she commented sympathetically near the end of the session. How could a computer program ever approximate this? "

Thanks to Dr. Dede for inviting Neil Heffernan to speak to our class a while back. Great to see Dr. Heffernan's work being covered in the press.

Larry Cuban on Wonder Woman / Man superintendents

Here is a follow up on this topic of how children learn best when collaborating - this time in a formal setting - http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/student-centered_learning_in_the_digital_age/ These studies/examples push further the question around technology and if that can replace a teacher. Its perhaps really hard to answer that question with one answer for the various kinds of learning spaces.

Children can teach themselves; education in non-traditional way; child driven education.

Definitely want to read some of the books mentioned in this Q&A.

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

A discussion on the NYT Learning blog asking whether apps are streamlining our online reading or wasting our time. It's an interesting discussion that has no one right answer. How efficient an app is likely depends on what it is for and how you are using it, but can often be effective tools.

The idea of "showing what you know" and earning badges instead of degrees? In this economic downswing, could something like this become the new emergent way of learning and of assessing? Thoughts?

Sounds like the digital badge is more lke a digital portfolio- which I would more likely support. I find it interesting that our education system (which strives and struggles to provide consistent, high quality education from coast to coast) is seen as deficient but this badge proposal will be the answer? It's like the flood of support for home-schooling after a home-schooler wins a national competition but no one knows about the tens of homescholers I had to remediate in rural NH. Standardization is the key for any system to be integrated into another system. The variety of education models we have in our country makes it difficult for employers to integrate employees. If this digital badge concept relies on a variety of models, they will have the same problem.

The prospect of digital badges to show what you know is both exciting with its potential affordances and worrisome with some of its limitations and ambiguity. It'd be great if the ideal came to pass that digital badges would allow valid demonstration of super-specific skills and knowledge over a greater range of fields and topics than what having a B.A. or B.S. currently does. Digital badges could represent the most particular concepts or skills at a granular level even-- those that are essential in the real-world (whether that be desired by employers or otherwise). If the task or test or challenge, or whatever else would be the means of assessment for earning a badge, was carefully designed and evaluated to be a truly valid measure of proficiency, then earning a badge for something would be a clear indication that you know something. But like Allison said, standardization would be key. What would these assessments/ badge challenges be- so that they would be truly valid indicators of proficiency? Who would be the purveyors or authorities to determine the assessments or challenges to accomplish a badge? Given the medium (completing badge assessments on one's own computer or mobile device - from any site they're at potentially) - what's to stop a user from going "open book" or "opening another tab" in order to look up answers to questions or tutorials on how to do a task, in order to complete the assessment? Doing this would allow a user to ace the assessment and earn the badge- but would defeat any value of the badge in truly demonstrating knowledge or skill. By imagining if digital badges did reach mass-acceptance and use in the real world, and we were to ultimately find them all over the internet like we're now finding social media widgets, it made me realize that the "prove proficiency anywhere I am in any way I want" won't work. I changed fields and career paths from what I studied in college, so I definitely appreciate the value in being able to truly show e

This video reports on one professor's use of Twitter in the classroom as a means for students to ask questions. Some students abuse the system, while the TAs are charged with answering the questions during class.

thoughtful issues raised about rush to online schooling

Really good article about one teacher's experience with a flipped classroom, why she stopped using that model and how the idea of flipping made her a better teacher.

Wow, really interesting article, thanks Heather! Love how the teacher also learned from the experience and changed her in-class teaching style...

Thanks Heather, for posting, and Lauren, for suggesting...anybody who is taking T440 and loves the concept but feels skeptical about its real-world plausibility should read this article.