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A small but very pertinent article in the recent edition of the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (IRRODL) by Seth Gurell, Yu-Chun Kuo and Andrew Walker called The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education: An Examination of Problem-Based Learning1 is a real gem. The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education is a gem because it is focussed on pedagogy and online open learning. Gurell et al argue from a review of the literature and practical experience that problem based learning can work well with online open education. For example, traditional problem-based learning requires the learner to find and review resources which are usually print based materials such as books, journals, newspapers and so on, many of which take time to locate and access. However, using problem-based online learning using open education resources can remove much of the distraction of finding resources and enable greater attention to the learning task. Although problem-based learning (PBL) may not be suitable for all types of learning, a review of the research does indicate that students perform equally well using PBL as they do in traditional learning. Students engaged with PBL also perform better on retention tasks and on explanatory tasks, reveal Gurell et al. There are many sources of open educational resources. Two such examples that are well known are the Open Education Resource (OER) Commons, the Open Courseware Consortium. However, others such as Academic Earth, Scientific Commons, and Project OSCAR are also interesting. The Pedagogical Enhancement of Open Education is a very succinct review of online PBL and its fit with open online learning. Gurell et al have provided an excellent review of the versatility of online open education and how to maximise pedagogy to achieve improved learner outcomes.

The Flat Classroom Project is a global Hands-on working together project for middle and senior high school students. The Project uses Web 2.0 tools to make communication and interaction between students and teachers from all participating classrooms easier. The topics studied and discussed are real-world scenarios based on 'The World is Flat' by Thomas Friedman.

Edmodo And Common Sense Media Partner (the authors of the 0-8 report some of us read for Joe Blatt's class this week) to offer free teaching tools based on Dr. Howard Gardner's work at HGSE. The partnership provides teachers with a set of student activities based on Common Sense Media's free K-12 curriculum, "Digital Literacy and Citizenship in a Connected Culture," for the Edmodo platform. The curriculum introduces the basics of using social networks and other digital technologies safely, responsibly and respectfully and is based on the work of Dr. Howard Gardner and the GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

$330 million given to 44 states to design new computer-based assessments that will "measure higher-order skills...including students' ability to read complex texts, synthesize information and do research projects."

Ed.D. and TED Senior Fellow Juliette LaMontagne discusses her best ideas to fix K-12 schools. Her vision includes increased informal learning, greater access to emerging software and online content such as Khan Academy and project-based work that allows students to apply what they learn to real world situations.

I love competative learning labs. I wish this project based co-opetition model were a standard in our schools. Innovation and team dynamics are mindsets and skills that need to be developed in our kids.

When a Dad and his son do a space project together at home for the sheer joy of learning, they accomplish something amazing! (you'll have to watch)

I found this to be an Interesting approach/take on video based learning/lecturing , anyone has any information on where the MIT blossoms project is headed or its potential impact?

Hi Komal, I work for the PI of Blossoms, Prof Richard Larson (but not on Blossoms). Send me an e-mail if you have some specific questions and I can put you two in contact, or we can chat sometime about it. I know you are working on video-distribution for your research synthesis, sorry it never occured to me that Blossoms might be on your radar screen!

Hi Komal, sorry for the late response--the Diigo notification went to my Spam box so I didn't see that you had responded. Let me ask Prof. Larson those things and get back to you.

Kind of like Professor Dede's post about McGraw-Hill's interest in e-learning, here is a blog post from Pearson about MOOCs. I think his take (Jeff Borden, one of their VPs) is pretty accurate, in that we need a version 2 where it's not as lecture-based as version 1. I would guess that they are working on their own "version 2" solution (perhaps with Knewton?).

Maria, do you know if this event is open to the public, or more a "sponsor-day" event? I would love to go!

Not sure if it's public event, I only know about it because I will be helping with the App Inventor demo. I'll let you know once I know more info.

This could be used as an alternate means of interacting with computers. From an educational standpoint this does not appear to be dated, but rather creating opportunities for people with limited means of motion.

Starfire Learning Studio provides education that is individualized, collaborative, passion-based, project-based and learning by doing. Interested to learn more about it!

Now this service/interface seems to offer real potential -- it's flexible, it's based on a dynamic interplay of different applications -- it's been around for a few years now -- anybody have first-hand experience with it?

Being a 2nd year part-time student, I already took David Rose's UDL course last spring. My group project for UDL was exploring VoiceThread-- understanding its current feautres and capabilities, testing it out in a real world situation with some students, and envisioning changes to fix shortcomings plus new features. Overall, we thought VoiceThread was really cool! Could allow students to communicate in different kinds of ways (text, voice, submitting video statements, drawing-- whatever someone preferred or was comfortable with) and enabled a growing transcript of student dialogue in reference to a piece of content. But there was a real learning curve- in figuring out how (as a 'teacher') to create an original VoiceThread using our media. And then students had to figure out the interface and tools available to them as they used VoiceThread to browse a stream we created and comment on it. As of last spring at least, I felt it was a bit cumbersome. Really wish it was more intuitive so both creators and viewers could jump right in and get right to communicating. Haven't gone back to using it as of late, but I hear they now have iPhone/iPad access!

"Minerva..... is an entirely different pedagogical species. The San Francisco-based company aims at a soup-to-nuts undergraduate education, resulting in a traditional bachelor's degree, but all via the Web, and with all of the social cachet of the country's priciest sheepskin. ....Nelson, its 36-year-old founder, has no experience in education; .....But Nelson managed to not only score a huge investment from Benchmark - the same VC firm that backed the likes of eBay, Yelp, and Mint -but also persuaded a group of A-list luminaries, including former Harvard president Larry Summers, to be on its board of advisors.

interesting that the founder has no experience in education.... :/

The Aakash 2 was unveiled by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday 11 November, India's National Education Day. It is an upgraded version of the world's cheapest tablet computer.

Today's reading about the OLPC project reminded me of Innovations in Poverty Action, a research organization dedicated to finding new, research-based methods for improving outcomes and equity. A very interesting approach.

"In This Session What do teachers really think about digital games in the classroom? Join us for our community's next webinar for the just-released findings of a year-long research project, sponsored by BrainPOP and the Gates Foundation, that investigates teachers' attitudes and beliefs on game-based learning. Michael Levine and Jessica Millstone, Executive Director and Research Consultant at The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, will showcase the findings of this national survey that was conducted with 500 teachers nationwide who are currently integrating digital games into their classes.......

Opinion in Edutopia

Despite the wealth of information available on the Internet, a recent study suggests that many students lack basic research skills. According to the latest Project Information Literacy Progress Report, 84 percent of students say that when it comes to course-based research, getting started is their biggest challenge.

Newly launched Dash website (similar to Code Academy, code.org, lynda.com) to teach coding, uses project based learning to teach HTML, CSS, Javascript. Haven't tried it yet but for those of you interested in learning to code/evaluating code-learning platforms, here's another resource.