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I love competative learning labs. I wish this project based co-opetition model were a standard in our schools. Innovation and team dynamics are mindsets and skills that need to be developed in our kids.

This is discussed in the Productivity section of the NETP

Arizona is taking an interesting view on seat-time http://news.yahoo.com/high-school-less-four-years-070000848.html Hundreds of schools in Arizona are being given the chance to opt into an initiative called Move On When Ready where students are allowed to graduate after their sophomore year based on proving academic achievement. Some are arguing that it is the same option as getting a G.E.D. after one turns 16 but I would argue that there is a negative connotation to having a G.E.D. versus a high school diploma and that this program provides a way for students to achieve a diploma without "putting in" four years of high school seat-time.

Comprehensive article outlining many trends and pressures in the educational landscape. 1. COLLEGE COSTS HAVE SKYROCKETED 2. CONVENIENCE ATTRACTS STUDENTS ONLINE 3. TEACHERS CONNECT WITH DIGITAL GENERATION 4. DIGITAL EDUCATION OFFERS BROAD REACH 5. FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES COMPETE FOR STUDENTS 6. BIG ONLINE COURSES GAIN NOTORIETY 7. COLLEGE BUDGETS KEEP SHRINKING 8. WHERE IS THIS HEADED?

Western Governors University (WGU) is a hybrid inputs/outcomes model on online education. Each student has an adviser; competency is assessed initially; students can exit classes when ready; you pay one price ($5K/half year), and may consume as many classes in that period as desired.

Interesting article with cons and pros of effects of technology on students attention. I know good teachers are competing more and more for kids attention. But I also wonder if students waning abilities to think deeply and critically have as much to do with flaws in our education system/schooling as use of tech.

Susan, I agree with your comment that waning attention have as much to do with flaws in our education system/schooling as use of tech. There's no reason to assume that kids 30 years ago were any more attentive during class or lecture. They simply had far fewer options on where to place their attention. I wonder if traditional classroom where equipped with as many distractions as one can find online how it would effect children's behavior and attention span?

Gateway source for all students: high school and college composition and journalism and student of life. Bookmark this source and then bookmark the hyperlinks in this article. Do you have the 10 (11 for the bonus) tech skills down? I certainly can improve in some of these areas.

In recent years there has been a major push to equip classrooms with technology, including laptops, overhead projectors, interactive white boards and tablets. It has become big business. But there are questions about whether the investment is paying off. This series explores the push to digitize the American classroom and whether the promises are being fulfilled.

This comment from a reader on one of the articles (Inflating the Software Report Card) sums it up rather nicely: "Data-driven, individualized instruction aimed at identifying a student's strengths and weaknesses, is not perfect, nor can it replace great teachers. But it can and does allow gifted students to zoom ahead, average students to keep up, and struggling students to catch up. If we really want math education to become part of the fabric of our kids' lives, not just raising their scores on a standardized test, but helping them become more competent and effective adults, we need to take advantage of all of the technology available".

Can the US compete with 600 million connections?

What education really needs is not more digitized textbooks, but open platforms, where smaller innovators can compete with big publishers.

Interesting that some publishers are in favor of this, because it means big changes for them...

Thought the list provided is interesting in terms of how they relate to 21st century learning: The new school models in the article "suggests 10 elements most common to all of the models: * Student-centered environments * Personalized learning * Competency-based progressions * Adaptive & engaging components * Deeper learning & character development * Rapid & flexible deployments * Dynamic models evolving with new tools * Platform-centric scaling * Leveraging teacher Leadership * Best Practices & Innovation "

Europeans examining a very important feature in MOOCs: credit transfer and its formal system

consistent with our discussion in class.

This sounds interesting. An interactive game right here in Boston. Would you consider this augmented reality? Anyone want to get a group together and play? It says we "must represent [ourselves] with a senior member of the organization." Would you be interested, professor/TFs? (Post a reply to this link if you do and send me an email just in case - jhnsn.c@gmail.com)

this sounds like it will be fun!

That would be a fun adventure. Keep me posted.

What about providing students iPads so that they purchase textbooks on these devices to save resources for both the students and the school? Can we assume that all students will be comfortable using an iPad, or might there be implications for students with learning differences? What about the socioeconomic gap for students who cannot afford a computer to LOAD the books onto their iPads (even if the iPads themselves were provided)?

eyes in the back of your head? One teacher thinks this is good idea.

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).