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kshapton

20 Things I learned about browsers and the web - 5 views

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    For things you've always wanted to know about the web but were afraid to ask-
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    a fun read
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    This is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Kasthuri Gopalaratnam

Should the School Day Be Longer? - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com - 1 views

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    "When and where does it make sense to institute a longer school day, and how should it be designed?"
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    I think a case can be made for structuring school hours flexibly, to accommodate those who engage in sports and other extra currlicular activities and also those who desire or need additional academic learning time.
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    From my own experience, using technology was an effective way to maintain student engagement during a longer day. As a sped teacher, I offered students the opportunity to do an extra online-based reading intervention if they came to school early. I had a surprising number of students come - almost every single day. Additionally, using technology during afternoon tutoring sessions helped my students stay on-task. I think if the standard school day was to be extended, putting a substantial focus on technology would be both an effective learning tool and a good way to help prevent students from burning out by the last bell.
Ayelet R

Texting in the Classroom: Not Just a Distraction | Edutopia - 5 views

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    Ideas for using texting at school.
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    great article. relevant to today's discussion about web 2.0 / social media. for those who didn't read it. Here's there article's list of interesting sms based tools for education use: Remind101: Remind101 allows teachers to send text messages (and email) home -- to students and/or to parents -- to offer reminders and updates for class. Remind101 allows teachers to communicate with their classes without either teacher or students having to share their phone numbers. Poll Everywhere: As the name suggests, Poll Everywhere allows teachers to use cellphones for polling in class. Students text their responses, using their cellphones to give feedback, answer questions, take quizzes. Celly: Celly provides SMS-based group messaging. Classrooms can use the service to take quick polls and quizzes, filter messages, get news updates, take notes, and organize and hold study groups. The groups can be public or private, moderated or open. StudyBoost: StudyBoost allows students to study via SMS-based quizzes. The questions can be self- or teacher-created, and can be multiple choice or open-ended.
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    I like Celly for its group messaging and polling applications. Note: The link to "Poll Anywhere" is broken.
Diana Mazzuca

The Problem with Lecturing - 13 views

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    An example of student preconceived notions preventing them from learning scientific concepts.
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    Interesting article. Dockterman speaks of Mazur all the time and it's nice to see the background.
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    Great find. It touches on two topics I'm pursuing this semester- conceptual change and how formative assessments can improve learning. Eric Mazur's approach is fantastic. I wonder how what he does can be applied to K-12 teaching.
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lBYrKPoVFwg This is a video of Professor Mazur using this strategy. I'm currently taking a class where the professor uses a similar type of engagement method and I find that it is much more interesting and results in deeper understanding than a typical lecture method.
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    Ayelet, I curious what class / professor.
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    Merseth. Do you agree with this characterization? Do you find that style effective?
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    Thanks, Diana. I can use this article in two of my other classes.
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    Great video - key quote "You can forget facts but you can't forget understandings." Yes - I would agree that Merseth and a number of other HGSE professors structure their courses for engagement in a similar manner. Requiring reading & active reflection (by via a written brief, case preparation, or online quiz) before the class / lecture is a great way to prep for deeper engagement and understanding. The genius in Mazur's approach is to use technology to assess before class and during class what his students understand and, more importantly, don't understand AND then tailor what he presents next to address misconceptions.
Chris McEnroe

More Schools Embrace the iPad as a Learning Tool - NYTimes.com - 2 views

    • Chris McEnroe
       
      "It's not about a cool application," Dr. Brenner said. "We are talking about changing the way we do business in the classroom." This is a useful sound bite but this article is a quagmire of the issues facing education. Advocates who would rather spend the money on teachers are speaking into the wind politically but they are also not speaking to the point being raised by the event the ipad purchase or the opportunity to advance learning. Good teaching rests on good, personalized relationships as well excellent management. ipads help with both but the danger in not articulating that more clearly is the fear that ipads (or some such thing) will replace teachers. There are those who love the idea of ipads not as an enhancement to learning but as a way to drive up teacher production. That idea and the fear of it distracts from matter of using technolofy to enhance learning.
    • Stephen Bresnick
       
      Really well said, Chris. I was reading the article and couldn't help but chuckle at the quote, "this is this could very well be the biggest thing to hit school technology since the overhead projector," said by the teacher Mr. Wolfe. The quote communicated volumes about Mr. Wolfe's underlying assumption that good teaching rests on good gadgetry, as if the overhead projector was once a panacea for all that ailed education in the 1970s, but that now there is a new panacea, the iPad. I have heard an interesting criticism of use of the iPad in the classroom that I would like to share. Namely, that it is a device designed almost exclusively for the consumption of media, but that it provides little if any opportunity for collaboration. Yes, there are a ton of cool apps in the App Store and the number will continue to grow, and yes, some of them will be pretty darn neat. But without the ability for students to collaborate and create, there is little evidence that this is, in itself, a transformative educational technology, just a faster and more colorful way for students to do the same things they have been doing. I get a bit uncomfortable when I see teachers get really excited about the tools of technology and all of their cool capabilities without thinking about which problems these technologies might be able to solve. So many people are fixated on technology as an end, as if dropping this new gadget in the classroom will, by itself, solve all problems. iPads are really great, but this might just be a case of the tail wagging the dog.
Amanda Bowen

How Khan Academy Is Changing the Rules of Education | Magazine - 3 views

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    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? 
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    That is the way a couple of my colleagues (science and math) use Khan and they feel it creates more opportunity to use them as a resource for their specific needs. The spend some time at the beginning of class to answer questions as a group and then students begin working on problems and asking for individual help during class.
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    I think the idea of distributing video tutorials and courseware for free is a powerful lever for change and education (Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, etc). While I'm intrigued by Khan Academy and see the benefit to help student who want to pause and replay lessons, there is a limit to it's use as an educational tool. In the article linked below, the Los Altos district currently piloting the program noted that they have not seen any statistical difference between Khan students and the control group. http://losaltos.patch.com/articles/school-district-expands-khan-academy-to-all-schools
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    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.
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    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.
Chris McEnroe

Home | Navigator - 2 views

shared by Chris McEnroe on 03 Sep 11 - Cached
    • Chris McEnroe
       
      This site reminds me of the many blogs, websites, wikis, Mindmeister Mind Maps, etc. that overwhelm the viewer with possibilities. It doesn't appear to me that anyone could be an expert on so many technologies or even the landscape of how many exist. I spent a lot of time exploring an extraordinary number of great ideas but inevitably I feel like I can only skim the surface of this information if I want to keep up wih the volume. I'm supposed to be teaching kids how to do close, deep reading. The more I engage in this technology skimming the more I feel like a phony in that particular aspect of my teaching.
Diana Mazzuca

Technology in Schools Faces Questions on Value - NYTimes.com - 4 views

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    Good share, Diana. This article is particularly interesting for the issues it chooses to raise and the way in which various arguments are presented. One quote struck me, "We have Smart Boards in every classroom but not enough money to buy copy paper, pencils and hand sanitizer," said Nicole Cates, a co-president of the Parent Teacher Organization at Kyrene de la Colina, an elementary school. "You don't go buy a new outfit when you don't have enough dinner to eat." But she loves the fact that her two children, a fourth-grader and first-grader, are learning technology, including PowerPoint and educational games (Page 5)". How can we work to harmonize these two? This reminds me an article I read in the Boston Globe this morning regarding teachers going out-of-pocket to equip their classrooms with enough supplies for an increasing number of students. The article suggests that budget cuts that make this necessary save teacher positions. There has to be a better way. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/09/05/budgets_cut_teachers_dig_deeper_for_supplies/
pradeepg

So very relevant to our recent readings - 0 views

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    mobile learning
Jennifer Lavalle

A real test for techies: the education market - 3 views

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    Entrepreneurs in the classroom. Last paragraph of article reads: "But Michael Goldstein, founder of the MATCH charter high school and middle school in Boston, observes that "there's a history several decades long of technology promising to make education better, and teachers finding it remarkably difficult to implement.'' " (page 2) Good commentary on some initiatives and the challenges teachers face with classroom integration.
Chris McEnroe

Technology in Schools Faces Questions on Value - NYTimes.com - 3 views

    • Chris McEnroe
       
      Some of the thinking articulated in this article captures the gridlock of public conversation around the issue of technology in the classroom. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a colleague in which he was telling me about the many interesting ways he uses powerpoint for instruction. I asked him he ever had his students use powerpoint and he scoffed, "Powerpoint for student presenations is a Middle School right of passage. Please. They're terrible." I told him that if he didn't think powerpoint was a useful means of communication than he wouldn't use it. The fact is we don't teach kids how to use powerpoint well and so they don't use it well. The argument about tech in Ed is much the same. Sometimes when I hear or read about these discussions I think of someone who has an F-14 in his front yard complaing that it is terrible for hanging laundry on. The promise of teaching well in a 21st century classroom focuses on cultivating different skills and more dynamic learning than standardized tests seek to quantify.
Uche Amaechi

BYOD - Worst Idea of the 21st Century? : Stager-to-Go - 7 views

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    Uche, you keep posting stuff I have a problem with- OK I understand that BYOD policies may not be so great but I really believe that familes should shoulder some of the costs for hardware since degredation is such a problem. The schools can have agreements with vendors to provide certain laptops or tablets for a certain price point and they can design their systems to support these items. Parents are expected to purchase backpacks, binders, and school supplies. When parents can't provide these back-to-school supplies, schools cover it. The same should be for computers. Speaking as a middle class parent (refer to above article) I believe this is an important investment in our schools so that they can focus on hardware support and software implementation/ integration.
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    @Allison and Uche - I am torn. While I initially thought BYOD was a good idea so that schools would have to stop "blaming" their fiscal woes on their inability to integrate emerging technologies into the curriculum, I now have some appreciation with points from this article - especially around "false equivalences" and "enshrining inequities" in light of my own children's "bring your own electronic device" day that took place two weeks ago. As a school wide reward for meeting their Accelerated Reading goal, all students were told they could bring an electronic device to school to "play" with on Friday afternoon. This prompted my kids to call me (Skype) on Thursday night and ask me if I could buy them a DS or a SmartPhone that NIGHT so that they could bring either of those devices to school for the celebration. Now mind you, my kids have access to lap tops, iPad, Smart Phones, Wii games, GameBoy, iPods, Flip camera, digital camera, etc - albeit not their OWN - but still access to them for use (when Mom and Dad are not using them). But apparently, of the devices left that Mom and Dad weren't using, none of them were "cool" enough for this event. That got me wondering if BYOD might have the same effect on our learners making those who don't have the latest and greatest feel bad or less adequate then their friends or classmates who could bring something they deemed as "better?" Allison, your point seems to be that requiring parents to cover the expense of a digital device as a requirement for school is not a bad idea, but I think you are referring to expecting the SAME device to be purchased and used, not myriad devices with various capabilities, features and functions - am I understanding you correctly? And if we did try to mandate parental supply of digital devices, would we have a different kind of fight on our hands because, as consumers, parents might have their own biases around what they deem is the best device of all (not just PC vs MAC or iOS vs Android, but sma
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    I still believe that a system properly designed could mitigate some of your concerns. In reality, schools can not support any device that a student brings in. They are capable of supporting a certain number and if they build relationships with the vendors to sell those devices that the school is capable of supporting then families will be aware that the school will offer the best deal on the items that are compatible. Every year the school recommends items for back to school supplies. If the laptop could replace all of the binders it might be worth it. There are many factors to consider but the biggest obstacle is that schools maintain such old equipment because of their budget woes. Even when we can purchase the latest and greatest software, the computers can't run it.
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    What a great debate you guys are having! One point worth considering is that typically the parents are responsible for purchasing the supplies, while the school is responsible for providing the content (textbooks, workbooks, handouts, worksheets, videos, etc). In the near future these devices may also be the primary sources of content, replacing textbooks altogether. I would hope perhaps funding for textbooks could be transferred to funding for these devices. I would also hope that the price of these devices drops significantly (is the $35 tablet in our future?). Then of course the question of who pays is less important. In my job producing educational video for publishing companies, I spend way too much time dealing with various formats and compatibility problems with browsers, so I'd love to see a future where this becomes more standardized.
Bridget Binstock

Digital Library Aims to Expand Kid's Media Literacy - 0 views

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    I love these lines from the article: "Just as schools have always pushed teens to read critically and pick apart authors' arguments, she says, educators must now teach kids how to consume media critically and, ideally, to produce it. 'It's really a shift from thinking of a library as a repository to a community center, a place where things actually happen,' says Taylor Bayless, 27, a librarian and one of the center's mentors."
Liz Weinbloom

Raytheon unveils math fun ride at Disney World - Daily Business Update - The Boston Globe - 0 views

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    Using math to design your own Disney World ride!
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    Haha! Read this one today. Considered bookmarking it. I don't know how much fun a ride would be after standing in line for two hours than having to think about what it is you are going to ride.
Sammi Biegler

Soon, Bloggers Must Give Full Disclosure - 0 views

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    I read this article this afternoon, and thought of it when I was doing work for my wiki assignment. I am looking into the blog Teachers Love SMART Boards (http://smartboards.typepad.com/) and I saw that the author of the blog also works for Teacher Online Training, which offers courses (for a fee) for teachers interested in implementing technologies in their classroom, or using the technology they currently have in a more meaningful way. The majority of the blog was reviews of free sites or education-oriented tools from outside sources, but there were a few posts that dealt with the programs offered by TOT. It made me wonder whether the blog was intended to be impartial, or a form of advertising... He mentioned his job in the company at the beginning of most if not all of the posts that promoted their programs, but these new guidelines may put this blogger in a sticky situation.
Jennifer Hern

Essay - Is Technology Dumbing Down Japanese? - NYTimes.com - 0 views

  • A vertically written language seems to be becoming increasingly horizontal. Novels are being written and read on little screens. People have gotten so used to typing on computers that they can no longer write characters by hand. And English words continue to infiltrate the language.
  • Mizumura contends that the dominance of English, especially with the advent of the Internet, threatens to reduce all other national languages to mere “local” languages that are not taken seriously by scholars. The education system, she argues, doesn’t spend enough time teaching Japanese.
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    Is foreign-language software and technology impacting how Japanese learn their own language and negatively impacting their national culture?
Jennifer Hern

Education Week: Final Chapter for Texas Textbooks? - 1 views

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    State legislation passed in the spring could put up-to-the-minute instructional content at students' fingertips-either online or in customized printed form-eliminating the mass-market hardback textbook.
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    TX, CA, and FL markets drive the textbook industry. If TX leads the way, eliminating mass market textbooks, then they will undoubtedly revolutionize the publishing industry. Tablet textbooks may be the wave of the future, but let's just hope publishers don't think revolutionizing the textbook industry means reading textbooks on a screen.
pradeepg

A researcher whose work ties into our class discussion - 0 views

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    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 !
Erin Sisk

Gamification in Higher Ed - 1 views

shared by Erin Sisk on 20 Oct 11 - No Cached
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    I wish my undergraduate experience had looked more like this :-) how cool! Check out the vision, mission, and goals of the school of interactive games and media...some interesting reading. Thanks for sharing!
Yan Feng

10 Things That Will Be Obsolete in Education by 2020 - 6 views

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    Interesting.
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    I thought the word "satchel" was already obsolete? HA! And does anyone else agree that they use the term "obsolete" very loosely in some of their explanations - for example HOMEWORK - doesn't "some work at school and some work at home" still constitute homework? And about Standardized TEACHING - until Standardized TESTING goes away, HG and supporters can advocate for this type of teaching reform, but try as we might (and many of us do offer alternative lessons and assignments to take advantage of the multiple intelligences within our classroom), end of the day, we still have to get our kids to pass those tests. It is how we as students, teachers, schools, districts, states and a nation are continually evaluated as being successful.
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    I think this article is a little odd too. I think that a lot of times, writers of articles want to make these large shocking claims in their headlines. When you read the actual body of the text though, it becomes evident that the term "obsolete" isn't what they're after - but rather, it's about renaming or altering the way we think about current systems. Also, I was interested in what they meant by changing the actual architecture of schools. When I looked into the gallery though, it was a group of photos of a bunch of weird structures that didn't really show anything about schools (maybe the outsides?).
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    Also, I can't imagine that education will make the fear of failure extinct. It may make failing a bit more tolerable with individualized instruction, but I can't image that the pressure on students to succeed will decrease; it seems more likely that it will increase.
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    I appreciated that they mentioned learning HTML. I wish I learned that in school -- I think basic web design should be a 21st century skill.
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