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I've heard of 3D printers before. I thought it would be interesting to try out in schools. For example, if students were designing towns to learn volume and surface area. This could help with spatial learning, which is essential to understanding math. I don't know how feasible this it though...

Hi Irina, Yes! Nothing like seeing your ideas take a concrete shape. Looks like the cost of these printers is comparable to that of SmartBoards, so it may be feasible to try them out in classrooms pretty soon. That said, unless the projects are well integrated into the curriculum, they will end up as another fancy toy.

Harvey and I had a conversation about these last week - Harvey spoke of the way that these printers could open up opportunities for those who can visualize their creations in their heads, but have trouble putting those ideas in tangible form. We spoke of the potential in art and design.

As edX emerges, MIT's new president reflects on the continued and evolving value of on-campus education.

Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."

wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....

Chelsea Clinton chimes in on the role of tech in education and the need to create equitable access to digital technologies

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.

The most frequently heard criticism of the flipped classroom may be about accessibility. If you're doing a flipped classroom and you're providing this digital information, you want to make sure all students have access to this information. This is a problem if kids don't have internet access at home.

Marc Prensky has written a number of books about the integration of technology and education. In his latest, Brain Gain: Technology and the Quest for Digital Wisdom, Prensky argues that technology can be used to enhance the human brain and improve the way we process information.

Is this based on research, or on opinion?

At Socrative we've received the same feedback about student comfort and improved fluency with their own devices. From a teacher perspective it has also been appreciated as they aren't expected to be experts in the technology. Especially for teachers who weren't previously in a 1 to 1 or high technology environment. However, from an IT perspective "Y" "O" has caused issues dealing with app updates, permissions, battery life etc. I guess tech isn't the wonder solution for all :)

Comments from Kids and Parents complaining the way how teachers teach/assessment is conducted. (very short video clip)

It appears I've been posting this wrong, and it hasn't made its way to the HGSET561 thread directly. Sorry about that. This article is relevant to the CAST project I'm working on for this class as well as a general evaluation of this emerging market. Is the big money in the analytics of user behavior? Hmmm...

This ties into our discussions about infrastructure and research grand challenges

I have found Zaid's blog postings to be very appealing visually (with good use of colors) and to the point (with higher signal to noise ratio). Here is an example of a "1, 2, 3" style posting on the important topic of Autism with Dr. Martha Hebert (a prominent Harvard Medical School researcher and clinician).

When a brain scientist got a stroke, she got the opportunity to study her own experience. She found this remarkable ability of her mind to enter the conscious and sub-conscious realms, accessing information on different levels all the time. I wonder if artificial intelligence would ever have this ability, to think and feel on their own...

One approach to personalization. I am on their advisory board...

From the article: "Music technology in some ways appears to have been on a trajectory in which the end result is that it will destroy and devalue itself. It will succeed completely when it self-destructs. The technology is useful and convenient, but it has, in the end, reduced its own value and increased the value of the things it has never been able to capture or reproduce."

Interesting commentary written by Salman Kahn (Kahn Academy) on his ideas about the correct use of technology in the classroom. He reviews the ways that he feels technology can enhance teaching and learning and the critical role that a teacher plays.

An insightful overview of possibilities of the AR technology.