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Wondering if this idea of "Pulling people into education, rather than pushing them into it" can work for the world's "worst-off Children"? Most interesting ideas found in the TED talk here: http://www.good.is/post/education-innovation-in-the-worst-situations/ Q: Are there smart-phone/cell-phone-based MUVE games?

A good way to bring innovative science education to schools.

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

Online masters program in free software. This seems like a good idea.

Article mentions a 10-year $500 million commitment by Microsoft to transform education systems around the world through technology. "The programme will assist teachers, school leaders and students globally on effective ways to use ICT in the classroom environment." But doesn't really give any specifics. Is this money well spent?

This Microsoft Partners in Learning site (http://www.microsoft.com/education/pil/partnersInLearning.aspx) has good info on this great program. Here's a good video I saw there: http://www.microsoft.com/showcase/en/us/details/5672418a-839d-46e5-9b19-7a68d15d4b09 Btw, thanks for this! It is a perfect addition for my team's wiki project :-)

Happy Holidays to the kid in all of us! Netbook recommendations for 8-12 year olds. Also link in beginning of article to "being a good tech parent."

A poignant article

A new free app called Hoot.me allows students to collaborate on Facebook to study and do homework without being distracted by status updates.

One teacher claims that "The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids' own time and homework is done at school." - Do you agree that this is a good solution? 

I too am intrigued by this "inverting" of time spent in the classroom and at home. My idealized model would be to introduce learners to new material at their own pace out of the classroom (allowing for pausing, note taking, reflecting and/or rewinding) and focus classroom time on face to face guiding and coaching of clusters of students or individual students engaged in applying or exploring the current material. To help facilitate this (and assist with accountability) some brief form of pre-assessment before class or at the start of class could illuminate for student and teacher alike what material has been mastered and what needs more attention. The research report from the TIE Foundations summer reading appears to support this type of hybrid approach. => Marsha Lovett, Oded Meyer, and Candace Thille (2008). The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning.

An added benefit of tools such as Khan Academy is the option for reinforcement. In a traditional K-12 school environment students do not have the option to watch a video of their class or spend personalized time reviewing a concept they need more time with during class time due to the required pace of school curriculum. An online learning tool allows a student to watch a lesson as many times as needed and to learn from an expert. Often if a student needs help outside the classroom the only people they turn to is parents, who may or may not know about the content themselves.

Not explicitly tech related, but a good post on how in light of changing times, to make the most of one's college years.

"..enabling and empowering others to solve their own problems is the best way to ensure successful projects, whether for a new product, a marketing campaign, training program or any other kind of project. Creating this sense of ownership and empowerment is also the best way to keep people (yourself included) engaged and growing." Good advice for product design and task design...

A good overview on challenges of integrating tech in the classroom -- contains interesting links for current examples; also highlights the need for one-to-one computing

Meez, a start-up that expanded last year from an avatar creation service into a full-out virtual world for teens, is touting some good news: it's been profitable since April and "every month is better than the last month," CEO John Cahill told CNET News.

Without a doubt Google will develop a user powered and 'usefulness' powered idiom aggregate. In fact, they could use web-bots to scour their translated pages/content for user consensus on 'busted-up lingo, yo'.

Good list of free and pay online language learning resources. See the awards list.

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.

This is a website that allows users to find videos from which children (3-18) can learn. All videos are hosted by other sites like YouTube, but content is approved and moderated separately. Comments and discussions are separate from the comments on the original post (i.e. WatchKnow comments do not get added to YouTube and YouTube comments do not appear on WatchKnow). There is heavy emphasis on transparent, widespread monitoring of content. This is accomplished in ways very reminiscent of Wikipedia's moderation methods. Right now, the site has a good number of videos, but lacks a rich community of active users. This means that it is harder to locate quality videos since few users have rated and discussed content.

This website is very similar to an idea I've been brewing for a while (though I believe this site is missing some of the more promising features). I was pleasantly surprised to see professor Dede's name on the Advisory Committee.

If only educational games were engaging enough for students to want to pay to play...

Basic but a good refresher on the maverick mind of futurists in business

Many of the schools with which I come in to contact- including mine- reinvent the wheel when it comes to acceptable use policy at great expense of time and often little influence of "best practice." Why not make use of the good work and attention that has been deliberated by other educators who have already wrestled through the problem.