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Minnesota government uses a decades-old law to ban online classes, then reconsiders after public outrage.

Pretty relevant to what we've discussed in class so far--Verizon is launching a couple of initiatives to encourage mobile ed tech development. One is to encourage students to create educational apps relevant to their communities, while the other is to train teachers on how to use technology and mobile tech in their classrooms. Third part is an online portal for sharing knowledge and materials between teachers.

Interesting timing on this Surface release after our discussions in class. Looks like they finally figured out a better form factor than the coffee table :)

This Forbes article mentions the Horizon report that we read earlier for class, plus some emerging trends in ed tech. Talks about games, mobile, and adaptive learning (we have touched on some of these topics in class).

If you start watching at the 30-minute mark, you can get a peek at how he uses technology in the design of his course and to shape participation during class. At the 34:00 minute mark he is describing a jigsaw reading activity, similar to the study groups we are often encouraged to form. You won't believe where he and his students go with this. I love his statement, "There are no natives here." So true. I can't find the other video where he shows his collaborative notetaking platform that he uses in a 200-student class, but it's very cool. That's where I got the idea for some kind of wiki or google doc that might allow us to manage lecture notes and the backchannel.

Testing centers and MOOCs and universities are partnering in an effort to offer credit for students who complete online courses. 

Someone in one of my classes was talking about the overflow of various apps to use in the classroom and here is one startup looking to address some of these issues.

Google enters the MOOC market..

This shows the influence the Horizon Report has on practice and on vendors

Interesting stance from the UK, where the government hopes to raise up the importance of computer science in education, where ICT (information and communication technology) lessons are not up to date with the needs and skills of the 21st century. Kids engaged in ICT classes learn how to use software, and not how software works or how it's created. From the article: "Written by gaming guru Ian Livingstone and visual effects veteran Alex Hope, Next Gen called for programming skills to replace learning about business software in ICT lessons." direct link to the UK Government's response to the 'Next Gen' report: http://www.dcms.gov.uk/publications/8646.aspx

An conversation with Tom Vander Ark, author of "Getting Smart: How DIgital Learning is Changing the World". " It confirms what we discussed in class - technology is an amplifier, "technology amplifies parenting: good parents manage it and make the most of it, but less well supported students sit in front of screens in unsupervised and unproductive activities for far too long. "

Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning: It's the latest report on the state of online learning that Christenson believes will encompass 50% of high school classes by 2018. Not sure I agree with this, but it's still interesting to see the latest data.

A quantity of possibilities exist for lecturers searching with regard to on-line graduate programs. On the net move on courses can be used for continuing schooling (CEUs), in-service credit rating, or perhaps move on credit.

In Disrupting Class, one of the predictions that Clay Christenson makes is that classroom content in the future will not come from traditional textbooks, but from students and teachers who contribute user-generated content for learning. Here is an example of a site that allows users to download free textbooks. This is further proof that once the information is out there for all to see, it is going to be more and more difficult to prevent people from spreading ideas and circumventing the charge-for-information model that is currently out there.

This article shows the dark underbelly of the educational policy world as it relates to technology. As schools are increasingly adopting online learning models in classes, companies are predictably lining up to get money from the movement. However, there are many companies who are taking it a step further and lobbying for policies that do not have children's best interests in mind and which operate under the simplistic and misguided assumption that "schools will not need teachers once computers become good enough." It should give us pause to consider what needs to be done in these early stages to prevent the edTech movement from falling into the wrong hands and killing our schools.

This article reminds of what Professor Dede said in the class, that we are at the inflection point in the history of of educational technologies. The author confirms that with eleven marked changes.

This is a very exciting time but I noticed that the author cited evidence that I believe will only contribute to the achievement gap. He cites that poverty is increasing and every new educational effort requires money or families with time to spend with their children. The adults who focus on children in poverty are the teachers. Where are they in the list?

I agree overall about 2011 being an inflection point, but I also remember that IBM 360 and TV were supposed to revolutionalize education too.

This article weighs in both side of flipping classrooms. "Good teaching, regardless of discipline, should always limit passive transfer of knowledge in class, and promote learning environments built on the tenants of inquiry, collaboration and critical thinking."

Check out nb a very cool, collaborative note taking tool developed by MIT's Haystack Group. Last night I got into a discussion with Sanjoy Mahajan, an Olin College professor who got his Phd at MIT.  We were talking about Eriz Mazur's Peer Instruction technique when he began describing how in his flipped-classroom courses he uses the MIT Haystack Group's "nb" software to enable his student's to collaboratively discuss the course readings (online in pdf form) through shared, online annotations & notes.   Sanjoy's students are required to participate in the online annotation discussion, making their own annotations and responding to others, the night before his class.  He then reviews the annotations to prepare the next day's discussion and peer-instruction lesson plan.