Group items tagged

To celebrate the importance of books and reading, Scholastic is launching You Are What You Read, a social networking site for readers around the world. Users log on to www.youarewhatyouread.com, list the five books that had the biggest impact on their lives, and connect with readers all over the world through these shared "Bookprints." The site also contains the Bookprints of more than 125 "Names You Know" - notable people from entertainment, academia, business, media, publishing, and more - including Scarlett Johansson, Al Roker, Sir James Dyson, Venus Williams, Jodi Picoult, Malcolm Gladwell, Judy Blume, and President George H.W. Bush... More links: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publishing-and-marketing/article/44983-scholastic-launches-social-networking-site.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scholastic-launches-social-networking-site-you-are-what-you-readcom-106024583.html http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/10/28/scholastic-launches-social-network-focused-on-reading http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/read-scholastic-launches-social-reading-website/story?id=12000023 http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publishing-and-marketing/article/44983-scholastic-launches-social-networking-site.html http://www.bookpublishingreport.com/content/scholastic-continues-90th-birthday-bash-social-networking-venture http://www.galleysmith.com/2010/11/01/you-are-what-you-read/ http://www.tigertalesbooks.com/blog http://www.youthradio.org/news/scholastic-launches-facebook-for-readers

An interesting product for reading and comprehension. Tim McEwen, chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Archipelago Learning. "Once children learn how to read, it's important to keep them engaged in and enlightened by reading. This product offers teachers a way to do this by leveraging a channel that already appeals to them - social networks and virtual worlds. If we can relate the core principles we're hoping students will learn to the areas that already interest them, then we create a mutually beneficial and relatable teaching environment."

This article describes a new iPad app that turns reading into an interactive learning experience by interjecting activities related to the book such as games and interludes where the reader plays songs on the iPad piano. The child can be read to by the app or read the story on their own. 

social e-reading for cellphones - what leverage does this provide?

Discussion on whether digital reading differs neurologically from paper reading.

I have always felt a little guilty about printing out online readings. Just as the reading for online discussion tips describes, longer text can be difficult to digest when viewed from a screen. This device is the first of its kind and without a doubt will undergo significant innovations to make it more consumer freindly...think mainframe vs. Apple IIe

As I chew through the Visions 2020 readings, I can't help my skepticism...and not due to the seamless integration of emerging ed technology. Alas, PEOPLE and the existing power structure of schools (reform) are not guided by a mission to reinvent, but to move the goal posts on ed standards around so as to insulate and protect the paradigm. Read on...

The Horizon Report is referenced in a lot of our readings but I don't think we've actually read it. Here is the latest reports. It breaks down technologies to look out for in 1 year or less, 2-3 years, 4-5 years.

An interesting read in light of what we read in Disrupting Class - looking to higher ed as guinea pig for technology implementation in K-12.

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.

Very interesting article. "iREAD (Impact on Reading of E-Readers And Digital content) Ghana Pilot Study" Another example showing us the traditional standardized test doesnt seem to be a suitable type of assessment here. But in addition to that there are many interesting findings related to IT literacy, benefits of the teachers and increased access to learning materials. (never really thought a simple hardware such as e-reader itself will be this 'transformational' to certain countries across the world) 

This article relating to speech and literacy discusses the possibility of an interactive system, Technology Assisted Reading Acquisition, to allow children to acquire literacy naturally as opposed to the traditional way of "teaching" reading.

"Children spend five times as much time outside the classroom as they do in school, and our country has 30 million parents or caregivers who are not good readers themselves, so they pass illiteracy down to their children."

From text to speech solutions to describing dyslexia, this is a great list of apps for reading challenges. For EDC

This is awesome.

merging augmented reality with reading

After reading this I wonder what other resources there are online for learning all those things that I have found difficult to master in my life.

A great read and resource that came up through another one of my classes. The Harvard Business School grad makes free online videos that explore math and science concepts. Bill Gates is a big fan.

I think it is interesting because it is related to our online discussion about artificial intelligence. Can machines and computers be as smart as humans and read language?

Interesting article about libraries going digital, talking about how this actually functions in libraries (Boston Public Library being one) and addressing concerns about publishers' rights. I'm sad that at this point nobody really seems to care about the experience of reading a real book with actual pages. What a loss if we ditch physical books altogether.