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"The digital teaching platform is an innovative approach to personalizing student learning in a group classroom setting," said Chris Dede, Ed.D., the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and a member of the Research Advisory Board.

Must see webinar. >>Dr. Glenn Kleiman, Executive Director of the Friday Institute of Educational Innovation in the College of Education at North Carolina State University moderated this discussion with Chris Dede and David Rose held on November 15, 2012. The intersection of mobile computing, social software, and augmented realities enhances and increases opportunities for personalized learning. How do we capitalize on the rich array of technologies to not only engage students, but to provide multiple pathways for expression by all students? David and Chris, both members of the working group that developed the National Education Technology Plan in 2010, discussed future directions for digital learning, including universal design for learning, augmented realities, and social and mobile technologies.

Thoughtful post about technology integration for tablets

Yes, very interesting indeed. We've discussed a lot about the lack of professional development for implementation of iPads in the classroom, but not too much about the SAMR model (substitution, augmentation, modification, redefinition), developed by Ruben R. Puentendura. He is spot on in saying "For technology to be truly innovative and impactful on students, we must get to the stage of Redefinition, in which we use technology to create and perform tasks that - prior to the existence of the technology - were inconceivable" I think this is going to be tough to overcome with the iPad. Schools are so caught up in their fad. It seems as though it's hard for anyone, even smart creative people, to use their ipads in truly creative, richer, deeper, redefining ways.

Thank you for sharing this post Prof Chris. I agree that we cannot 'throw the iPad in, mix and stir' to develop a new program. However, where I disagree with the approach is that it does not start with the learner. The author began with pedagogy and then technology, but I feel that there should be learning theory first and then pedagogy and technology to support both.

IDEO serves as a design and innovation firm for businesses and start-ups... but what about helping schools with instructional design and development?

1. Connectedness matters 2. Vision 3. Value 4. Support 5. Professional development 6. Embracement

Another article about the bubble in edtech: "Most of today's education technology startups are doomed to fail. "But wait!" you say. "It's 2012 and edtech startups are sprouting up everywhere, pushing real innovation into a slow-moving yet vitally important market, gaining traction, getting funded!" True. Yet they are still doomed to fail."

They define success in edtech as building a sustainable company that improves student outcomes, empower teachers, and increases the reach and efficiency of educational institutions.

Via Instapundit: In Technology Review, Michael Fitzgerald reports on an innovate approach to make digital versions of expensive textbooks available to cost-conscious students.

A few people posted about using Skype in the classroom. Thought I would add to that especially since this article reminded me of the virtual session we had on Monday when HGSE had cancelled classes due to weather conditions.

A teacher's perspective on the issue: http://gazette.teachers.net/gazette/wordpress/steve-sherman/innovation-10-reasons-google-skype-should-be-used-in-the-classroom-a-teachers-view/

This looks promising. If Skype/Google Hangout add a few more features to their interface, it could render obsolete Blackboard and other paid software for video conferencing and online classes. I think the engineers at Google and Microsoft have the skills to put together a better product than what's currently out there. It's just a matter of whether they seize the opportunity.

Also not directly about technology, but more certainly about transformation of established school practice. Connected to what we have studied in T561, the possibilities seem palpable.

Nature offers some of the most amazing technology and perhaps sometimes, instead of looking to constantly innovate or create technology, we can look to nature's technology to transform education in our classrooms (and out of them)

This blog entry is about a paper written on how digital learning enhances deeper learning.

A new proposal calls for a Consumer Reports-like rating body to evaluate new digital learning tools. Ed tech innovators like the idea in theory but they worry that it won't work in practice.

Funny, I was just talking with someone about this very idea the other day. We absolutely need something like this and my guess is that we will have a few competitors, at least early on, for the top ed tech review site. I think there is space for both an organization that specializes and for a yelp like site that essentially crowd sources the reviews. It will be tough to keep up, but think of how many products and areas Consumer Reports deals with- we can do this, and need to do this, for ed tech to get used wisely in our schools.

With regards to e-learning, I think inevitably some company or organization will provide ratings of the quality of online degree programs and learning tools. Whether this is Consumer Reports or US World & News Report or some new player (investment opportunity?), the need for objective assessments of digital learning tools is definitely needed. The Benchmarking e-learning wiki is interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmarking_e-learning

I like the concept of "flipping"...

Wow, TED Ed looks pretty cool. The videos are high quality and the explanation for the ones I watched were clear and concise. Nice!

Courtesy of the Innovation by Design class, a thoughtful review of the importance of failure in how people and organizations learn and improve, particularly when working on the cutting edge.

Video about funding and distributing educational technologies

Seems to be getting some coverage on this topic lately. Interesting comment here. Probably reactions many disruptive innovation driver will face. Doesnt mean they are failing though. Reactions from their users seem to be relatively muted. It is the skeptics and traditional players who is making big deal out of it. 'Obviously, the company does not want to say that its free content is cannibalizing the revenue generated from charging students and institutions for premium features and content, but it's clear that the company didn't quite get the balance right.' 'Unfortunately, although Flat World would never admit it, this announcement certainly serves as validation of the doubt over Open Educational Resources (OER) as a business concept.' Whatever you do though, the business model should be sustainable..

Thoughtful piece about keeping a grounded historical perspective when analyzing edtech innovations.

Opinion article from Reynol Junco at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society on why most educational technology startups aren't that great...they don't base their products on research, proven pedagogy, or work with educators.

It does seem like there is a shift going on right now- more educators on start up teams and more interest in developing innovations from the educators themselves. That being said, the market continues to get flooded. I think in the long run this will be very good for teaching and learning, but I would not want to be an investor in this space.

I think that is great that more educators are getting on the teams...but yeah, there are a lot of very fragmented / disperse initiatives that make it hard to tell what will succeed or catch on.

Documentation of results of an analysis of Apple's Education section of the App Store, with a focus on understanding market dynamics, opportunities that are emerging in the educational apps market, and areas of innovation.