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Obama should put more money into educational technology. This seems like a very one sided and simplistic view of how technology can be used to improve education. Only at the end of the article do you realize that the author is selling something: he's an officer at a company that works with educational technology

An article describing how AR apps for cellphones could provide users with location-based data using barcode tagging.

Very few virtual schools have worked with students this young, so there are interesting questions about jumping from no virtual schooling all the way to this model.

There is a really fascinating and controversial policy story behind this. Through "legislative sausage-making" the states first virtual school is being run by a single district out in Western Mass., mostly as a result of the entrepreneurial spirit of the superintendent. There are big questions about what will happen as students across the state sign up for the virtual school and their districts are required to pay tuition to Greenfield. And Greenfield isn't really providing a school, they are just enrolling students to be taught by a for-profit company, K-12. There are quite a few very interesting policy issues that would be worth digging into as the state launches this new venture in an unusual way.

When I first read the article, I immediately thought "an idealist gone rogue." I wondered if there was even any research/method behind this decision, and you mentioned there is a fee. Did I understand correctly that the school district will have to pay this fee for the student like some sort of voucher? If I get a chance I'm going to look for more articles out there on this project. Thanks for mentioning it, Justin. Interesting, indeed.

This article illustrates 10 reasons why students fail at getting their Ph.D. Now I have a little more understanding of why it takes a long time!

Really interesting article on a school district in New Jersey that is testing iPad use across multiple classroom subjects . The district purchased 60 devices for students in the testing program. Pending the results, they are considering providing all of their high school students with the device as early as next year.

Thanks for contributing this great article. I am going to closely monitor this "experiment" and may potentially seek to interview some of the teachers who created this iPad curriculum for the various courses.

I'd really like to see one of these lessons in action- this sounds cool. I wonder, do the ipads stay in the classrooms?

While this article does not address technology directly, I think this is the type of school community that could so benefit from emerging educational technologies. The traditional school model has been failing them, and they are prime for redesign. I'd be interested to see even how something like ecoMUVE could begin to change the classroom atmosphere.

This article makes a pretty bold statement about what's real and what's not; do you agree?

A small but very pertinent article in the recent edition of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) by Seth Gurell, Yu-Chun Kuo and Andrew Walker called The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education: An Examination of Problem-Based Learning1 is a real gem. The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education is a gem because it is focussed on pedagogy and online open learning. Gurell et al argue from a review of the literature and practical experience that problem based learning can work well with online open education. For example, traditional problem-based learning requires the learner to find and review resources which are usually print based materials such as books, journals, newspapers and so on, many of which take time to locate and access. However, using problem-based online learning using open education resources can remove much of the distraction of finding resources and enable greater attention to the learning task. Although problem-based learning (PBL) may not be suitable for all types of learning, a review of the research does indicate that students perform equally well using PBL as they do in traditional learning. Students engaged with PBL also perform better on retention tasks and on explanatory tasks, reveal Gurell et al. There are many sources of open educational resources. Two such examples that are well known are the Open Education Resource (OER) Commons, the Open Courseware Consortium. However, others such as Academic Earth, Scientific Commons, and Project OSCAR are also interesting. The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education is a very succinct review of online PBL and its fit with open online learning. Gurell et al have provided an excellent review of the versatility of online open education and how to maximise pedagogy to achieve improved learner outcomes.

An article on some benefits of wikis for younger students

Timely article about ideas of ownership and authorship and collaboration on wikipedia. Mentions that you can type "WP: OWN" into Wikipedia to read its policy about "ownership" of articles. "The page is fascinating for anyone who has ever been part of a collaborative effort to create anything."

Interesting article on Facebook introducing @facebook.com email addresses. I doubt this will replace other e-mail providers for adults, but wonder what impact this will have on younger users of the site.

This article was so interesting I had to share it (even though sharing here seems to have tapered off for our class).

In the USDOE Educational Technology plan, Universal Design for Learning standards require that information be presented in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities such as sight or hearing impairment. I found this article about automatic text-to-sign avatar software that would seem to be a no-brainer for anybody who is creating an eLearning experience that is primarily text-based. We have text-to-speech, which is as easy as opening a document and having a robot read the text for you. I wonder if there are any text-to-sign avatars that are available in English.

This article scientifically explains why humans crave for information. Research suggests the notion that midbrain dopamine neurons are coding for both primitive and cognitive rewards. This sounds like section of our brain still prefers to be strongly wired as behaviorist and cognitivist over constructivist.

Not to worry, this article perhaps is still within the realms of meta-cognition. The author posits, "...because love activates a long-term perspective that elicits global processing, it should also promote creativity and impede analytic thinking." Interesting findings, though I have yet to buy them.

Good article that plainly states, Web 2.0 and 3.0 are tools that if used properly can engage and effect teaching and learning beyond traditional classroom spaces.

When a teacher writes a lesson plan, does the intellectual property (IP) belong to the teacher, the school, or both? This article discussing the online lesson plan marketplace and the debate over who (teacher, school) gets the proceeds. What do you think?

When a teacher writes a lesson plan, does the intellectual property (IP) belong to the teacher, the school, or both? This article discussing the online lesson plan marketplace and the debate over who (teacher, school) gets the proceeds. What do you think?

I thought this was a fascinating article about the possibliities of harnessing the power of the brain to control computers and electronic devices. If this is realized no doubt there will be many implications for the education field.

Published Online: October 17, 2011 Published in Print: October 19, 2011, as Crafting Your BYOT Policy For the small but passionate minority of school districts that are opening doors to student-owned mobile devices, there's a lot riding on how effective the policy shift turns out to be in improving teaching and learning. I will be looking strongly at this experiment to assist with the charter school district I am putting together.

I can understand a districts hesitance towards the BYOT because of its responsibility for and inability to control the accessing of inappropriate content on such devices. What I would like to see - even if in baby steps (which I know is occurring in small scale all over the country), is the creation and sharing of engaging lessons that encourage this BYOT movement and combat the urge for students to be inappropriate because of the level of motivation the lesson itself provides. And I would also like to see some of the responsibility shift from policy makers to the students for self moderation - they know what is right and wrong in an educational setting - why can't we hold THEM accountable more?

Article addresses policy challenges in implementing BYOT