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Here is an entertaining talk about how everyday objects can be used for science education. We are all aware / starting to better appreciate that "it definitely ain't about the technology", but what conceptual understanding the technology can effect. Personally, I see two advantages of such low cost technologies: 1. They increase access to interesting learning materials for all - quickly. 2. They can serve as the kernels of ideas for influencing emerging technologies. ( Like in out class discussion : models are still expensive but they can guide / inspie Do share your thoughts.

Tablets' potential for learning, as seen by apple. Thoughts?

I personally see a lot of potential for the use of tablets in education, but I find it interesting that Apple is heavily promoting the ipad for educational uses on its web site, but doesn't offer the educational discount for the iPad.

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).

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.

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

Here's a mass of tools that can teachers can use right now to turn themselves and their students into a more interactive, personal version of Khan Academy.

Speaking of crowdsourcing - how about outsourcing grading to the students themselves?  

An article about the shift towards computer-based teaching systems.

Thanks for sharing Jennifer. I currently work for Pearson and worked on many of the "digital paths" that the article refers tot. I am seeing first hand the shift in priority towards customized personal learning through digital technologies. Pearson's first attempt at integrating technology into their curriculum was a good start but I think the future of Pearson products will employ a lot of the strategies we've been learning in class from intelligent tutoring systems to fully integrated learning platforms. Very exciting shift for the educational publishing industry!

Interesting article about Hotseat, a web-based tool that can be accessed by students through facebook, twitter, or cellphones, which allows them to ask questions and make comments during class.

Yesterday afternoon, some of us were at a talk by Prof. Alex Pentland I found several of the topics tie back to our class discussion. In particular, his thoughts that only the individual should have ownership over personal data and others may seek permission to access it was, I felt appropriate. Of course for young students it appears more complicated. I am considering reading his papers ( at least the non technical parts :) His ideas can impact learning in the class room too ! Please share your thoughts !

A recent study looking at Facebook use and student grades found some evidence that students who share links and participate in "lurking" had higher grades while students who posted status updates had a higher likelihood of lower grades. 

Kate, Intesting post. Does this take into account of personality or social desirability bias? Sharing links and chatting may not be considered same type of activity.Since it relies on self reporting, there is also margin for error.

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?

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.

Designing a blended learning classroom/school "More significant than the shift from print to digital will be the shift from cohort matriculation to individual progress. Personalized digital learning will increasingly enable competency-based progress-advancement based on demonstrated mastery."