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this paper provides an overview of the potential of the integration of mobile Web 2.0 tools (based around smartphones) to facilitate social constructivist pedagogies and engage students in tertiary education.

Emerging edtech trends

do iphones affect development?

schools are starting to concede to allowing cell phones in school -- hopefully grabbing some benefits from them soon...

Administrators finally realize cellphones can aid education

Gates funding higher ed tech

Bill Gates: In Five Years The Best Education Will Come From The Web

I worked in Newport News, VA and around that time the current governor was huge with technology initiatives and this school district benefited greatly from this. I see now that they are still being used for projects like this. My concern with Virginia is that they will gladly try technology in schools, but the use of the technology is not always practical. If a person goes on the VDOE website, they will see the state touting their advances in the use of technology. They are calling themselves a leader in online testing, for example, but their 'bragging' points all reflect how the technology has made life easier for all the adults and not necessarily the children. It is the exact same thing that was on paper now on the computer screen: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/online_testing/index.shtml

virtual education meets some students' needs

Thanks for sharing this link. This is interesting for me to read because I grew up in this district. I also think virtual classrooms are a valuable tool for children who suffer from illness and might otherwise have to miss extended periods of class time. My younger brother is a college student and is currently stuck at home with Mono and might have to drop the semester- it would be great if he could keep up with his work online, while resting at home.

It is frustrating that his college does not have a distance learning option. Hope your brother feels better soon.

As internet data rates cheapen, throughput for public Wi-fis, such as the California Public Library system, is optimized, bringing the internet to learners hungry for knowledge.

The best way to study languages, vocabulary, or almost anything P.S. It's fun, it's free, and you can share with friends!

#HGSET561 A great way to study languages, vocubulary, or almost anything. Attended the founder speak at MIT Bootcamp. http://quizlet.com/

A pilot project in Ontario, brining iPad into the classroom. It is an interesting article to see how they are exploring with the idea.

Thanks for sharing this article. Looks like they have given some serious thought into integrating technology into the classroom than just say "let us throw some iPads in and see how it works". I like this quote - "Collaboration is part of our pedagogy - kids helping other kids, kids interacting and learning together," says McLellan. "That's not new, but the iPad facilitates it."

Some really interesting stuff here. Vander Ark's prediction about traditional classrooms being replaced by ever-changing groupings of students working on the same thing at the same time sounds feasible to me for some reason. It makes sense to take advantage of computers' ability to foster independent learning as a way to group students who might not share the same classroom location. I also found it interesting that Silversnail believed that the classrooms who used the technology the most in Maine were not necessarily the most successful or educationally sound. It shows you that, with technology, the how and the why are much more important than the what.

A timely article in the Economist. Some teaching practices entering mainstream.

Let's not forget the hand that Professional Development offerings, or lack there of, around Ed Tech played in this "failure," too. Just because we put a Smart or Promethean board in every school doesn't mean that it won't get written on with a dry erase marker or used only as an LCD projector instead of as the interactive device that it was designed to be...teacher training is essential in the success of ed tech integration.

Microsoft releases two promotional videos about education technology. These seem to be like the videos we watched during the first class in T561, except they showcase the use of current Microsoft products and their potential uses in education.

A great visual way for generating word clouds; the phsyical size of the word in the word cloud indicates the number of times a word appears in the document provided to Wordle.