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another article, in the NYT, on scratch and alice 

This is a major online conference with keynotes by Howard Gardner and by me, among many others. Worth examining the program to find talks in which you might be interested.

Founder Institute goes global using technology and helps entrepreneurs create their own companies.

Maung, Thanks for sharing this article. I liked the basic premise but also agreed with the comment by Babson College President "the vast majority of ventures take more than that amount of time [ 4 months] to become operational businesses people can be proud of". I think this 4 month program can be nicely incorporated as a course in a formal entrepreneurship program.

"As the session continued, Lindquist gestured, pointed, made eye contact, modulated her voice. "Cruising!" she exclaimed, after the student answered three questions in a row correctly. "Did you see how I had to stop and think?" she inquired, modeling how to solve a problem. "I can see you're getting tired," she commented sympathetically near the end of the session. How could a computer program ever approximate this? "

Thanks to Dr. Dede for inviting Neil Heffernan to speak to our class a while back. Great to see Dr. Heffernan's work being covered in the press.

Interesting article about not just to believe everything you read about Ed Tech transforming the classroom. I think the report (and Richard Rose, the Program Director) does a pretty good job of basically warning educators not to believe all the results they see published about Ed Tech. And that this actually aligns with the vision in the NETP (try things in small zones before scaling up).

Brings up the interesting issue of physical space in 21st century classrooms. Should schools of the future look like the way they do now (ie. desks and chairs, albeit with iPads/laptops atop desks)? How can we match the shift in pedagogical thinking with what our physical spaces of classrooms look like? On a related note, a colleague at an international school in Mumbai showed me around their new K-12 school recently (K-12 1:1 laptop program, phenomenal tech integration program)... and they no longer have walls to demarcate classrooms across the entire school. Instead of classrooms, they have "learning pods." So, imagine you're a third grade teacher--you have four slidable "walls" that you can open up to collaborate with the adjacent third grade section for social studies. Or perhaps you notice that the fifth grade science experiment seems to align with what you're doing today so you walk over to see if they'd be up for sharing what they're doing. Their idea is that the physical space needs to reflect the same environment of open education and collaborative learning that we're promoting in our classrooms.

What can I say, its a smartpen. On the flip side of the user-value, a teacher could use the device to 'capture' student work in a digital log, The ability to program the SmartPaper with unique commands would make for some simple yet scalable adaptive testing designs.

This program, Mscape by HP, allows users of Windows Mobile phones to create their own place-dependent AR experiences (games, guided tours, etc.) utilizing the internal GPS of the phone. Users can share and post their "Mediascapes" online and download Mediascapes created by others.

A report from Uruguay about the success (and troubles) of the One Laptop Per Child program

These location based programs are a mixture of awesome and scary.

Really interesting article on a school district in New Jersey that is testing iPad use across multiple classroom subjects . The district purchased 60 devices for students in the testing program. Pending the results, they are considering providing all of their high school students with the device as early as next year.

Thanks for contributing this great article. I am going to closely monitor this "experiment" and may potentially seek to interview some of the teachers who created this iPad curriculum for the various courses.

I'd really like to see one of these lessons in action- this sounds cool. I wonder, do the ipads stay in the classrooms?

Research projects provide an insight into the changing landscape of learning in the 21st Century, which then shapes the learning environment and methods at NBCS. We incorporate the ideas and thinking that comes from research and development into programs and initiatives, including online distance education for HSC students across NSW (www.hsconline.nsw.edu.au), Professional Development courses and training for teachers, and international learning collaboration network established to bring learning communities together (www.beyondborders.edu.au).

What about providing students iPads so that they purchase textbooks on these devices to save resources for both the students and the school? Can we assume that all students will be comfortable using an iPad, or might there be implications for students with learning differences? What about the socioeconomic gap for students who cannot afford a computer to LOAD the books onto their iPads (even if the iPads themselves were provided)?

I wonder how many medical students and physicians are learning through online information, such as these nutrition modules, to make up for the gaps in current medical education curriculum? These nutrition modules are interactive and let students take electronic notes while reviewing the material.

Indian college classrooms have not integrated technology into learning and teaching, so private companies - teaching the skills needed to perform in their specific career paths - are taking the lead, showing that universities need to catch up.

It's interesting ... I don't like its view of hackers as all bad, however ... I like to think that more and more people will be hacking/programming and it won't be for bad intentions but, rather, for customizations -- software, hardware, and not necessarily full computers ...

beyond laptops to other forms of mobile devices

a push to increase teacher quality by ranking quality of teacher prep programs