Group items tagged

Since we have talked about Lurking a few times during class, i thought this post in a help forum for Lefora.com (a forum host) was interesting. The subtle difference in perspective for this post is that assumes managers of the forum are appealing to audience rather than offering fodder for consideration and discussion. A trend I've noticed generally around the use of technology in education is how it requires teachers to be better persuaders and packagers of information. I think this is a good trend but I am wary of it going too far.

A fascinating video about using an existing technology (wireless headsets) as a vehicle for an emerging technology (augmented reality).

Thanks for sharing. The prediction of the device "watching and learning about you and then making suggestions as to what it should program" is a little to "Big Brother" for me and then there's the consideration as to what happens if the device is lost - will someone who picks it up have access to your information, or will it be "smart" enough to know that it is no longer with its original owner? Interesting things to think about.

The schools I founded in Tennessee are really attempting to harness the power of these feedback loops using a very complicated design. Technology helps. But, this technology leaves much to be desire though the information one can generate is invaluable.

"It's no longer one-size-fits-all curricula and testing which fosters invisibility" - Randam Samrall, CIO of Education Service Center Region 10, in IBM Conference in Las Vegas, on "Preparing Students for the 21st Century."

A U.S Department of Education initiative to review what initiatives really work in education. The link directs to the Education Technology section. Directly quoting from their website: "Our goal is to provide educators with the information they need to make evidence-based decisions". I personally had contradictory reactions about this initiative. What do you think?

South Korea initiative for digital textbooks - good news?

A contrarian view. "Some education experts say that the push to equip classrooms with computers is unwarranted because studies do not clearly show that this leads to better test scores or other measurable gains."

First of all - the girl in the picture of this article is reading Nancy Drew - who else spent most of their childhood with their head buried in a mystery series? :-) Secondly, I cannot tell you how valuable mud was to my childhood. Had I not been at a camp every summer where I was able to play around in mud and run through the woods all day, I would not be the person I am today. I think I did most of my growing and much of my learning in informal environments such as camp. It sounds to me like this school is trying to replicate those learning experiences...in a classroom. Not saying it's the way to go...but certainly an interesting model. Thanks for sharing!

Waldorf philosophy is different approach. For example, children learn to write first before they learn to read. As a result children may learn to read as late as 8 or 9. It's based on the anthroposophy philosophy. Children's who parents value these things will do well in a school without technology. Children who are plugged in at home would have a difficult time. This is effective for private school but not public school.

Pertinent discussion for those of us looking to create educational software

No- the sites I have stumbled upon in the past few years are more like list serves without any real organization. One of my goals at HGSE is to identify or create a site that would do this well.

Allison, how about we create a 'rating' agency for educational products (software, toys, kits etc) the way we think it should work? (We can call it Allison's list, like Angie's list). I am putting up this idea seriously. If there is a need that is not being met, I suppose it is an opportunity.

Piggybacking on Diego's post... Apple's [AAPL] plan to bring better educational tools to children worldwide could include a solar-powered iPad rig equipped with pico projectors and more, except the solution doesn't come from Apple -- but does use iPads. **UPDATE: Apple PR have informed me that "School Box aka School in a Box isn't Apple's".