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A good snapshot of the conversation at the school board level. How informed are the high-stakes decision makers.

The amount of money they are spekaing about to scale their schools into the 21st century is the reason the BYOD option is so attractive. If schools focus on wireless infrastructure then families might be able to forgo soem back to school supplies and video games to get a tablet.

A great talk about what it means to have an effective educational system. Also points to an interesting difference between scaling and spreading of good systems.

"Good teaching was not defined by test results. Instead, its attributes were identified on a nine-item scale, which included student appraisals of how well the teacher organized material, used class time, explained directions, and reviewed the subject matter."

Many of you have read my "rants" about buying iPads before the teacher's even know what to do with them. This article speaks to the need for Professional Development before full scale implementation.

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).

Alex Hernandez from the Charter Growth Fund highlights some key topics in blended learning, one of which is 'Can we increase the velocity of learning and create more space for such things as projects, the arts and deep thinking?' While so much emphasis is placed in STEM education, the idea of also utilizing blended learning environments to foster creativity and engage students in artistic processes is one we should also consider.

The Foundation for Learning Equality is working to get content to the 65% of the world who live without internet. Currently their only project involves offlining Khan Academy lectures and loading them on SD cards which can be loaded onto Raspberry Pi servers and sent along with e-readers to anywhere in the world. To me, this seems like an incredible opportunity to simultaneously address quality and access issues in remote parts of the world, though I don't think Khan Academy's content is necessarily the best. As a technological innovation, however, I think there is a real possibility to scale this, insofar as there are on-the-ground resources in each location facilitating the learning on the e-readers. Does anybody have any critique or insight to curb my excitement?

Captures the complexities of actually implementing new technologies in school at scale.

Thought the list provided is interesting in terms of how they relate to 21st century learning: The new school models in the article "suggests 10 elements most common to all of the models: * Student-centered environments * Personalized learning * Competency-based progressions * Adaptive & engaging components * Deeper learning & character development * Rapid & flexible deployments * Dynamic models evolving with new tools * Platform-centric scaling * Leveraging teacher Leadership * Best Practices & Innovation "

a school with a curriculum based on videogames

While I applaud the concept of their program, I believe it tips the scale too far in the direction of technology. Unless the students plan to solely work in a digital world the removal of a physical classroom and interaction will greatly affect their social development. For example, physics lab was partially about the smell of the chemicals, the viewing of the wave pools, the teamwork and the mistakes that were real life.

I was speaking with Chris yesterday and we agreed that it was going to be the entertainment industry that would pioneer this technology. At this point, it looks as if Vuzix core market and strategy for growing their AR library is business (training) and academia. The fact that you can see through the lens but ALSO see the 'broadcast' image is huge. Yesterdays AR demo would have been soooo much more immersive had we been able to keep one eye on the R (reality...cars, appraoching hornets, etc) and one I on the AR.

Hi Ellen, I think this is an interesting topic. You may be interested in Piskorski's work at HBS. Professor Piskorski's current research examines why and how people use on-line social networks, both in the US and abroad. Using extensive fieldwork and large scale empirical analyses, he constructed theories of social failures and networks as covers which allow us to understand numerous facets of people's on-line behaviors. http://drfd.hbs.edu/fit/public/facultyInfo.do?facInfo=ovr&facId=10663

ARTLAB+ is a digital media studio that gives local teens the opportunity to become integral members of a design team. They create new visitor experiences at the Hirshhorn, taking their inspiration from its permanent collection and temporary exhibitions. ARTLAB+ designers hone crucial twenty-first century skills as they make videos, animations, wikis, games, podcasts, and more. By the end of every project session, the design team has created a unique product that enriches the museum experiences of other visitors and showcases each teen's creative growth. After-school, weekend, and weeklong ARTLAB+ workshops are held year-round to accommodate a wide variety of schedules. We welcome all teens, regardless of experience. Looks like a great way to help introduce twenty-first century skills- BB

This is really cool- combining mobile, situated learning in the real world, with creative group projects, and letting kids direct their own active, learning 'flow'.. Can this scale up to schools (or after-school programs), without access to museum artifacts and mobile devices?

This is not about an emerging educational technology but how two designers re-thinking of teaching. I'm throwing this out here to see if you think one can apply the Scaling Up framework to this initiative. What are some of the impediments that you can imagine and would you have any solutions?

"What would digitized classrooms look like, and how could technology improve pupil engagement and mastery of concepts? How might educators scale up successful pilot projects? On October 6, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings will host a forum on education technology and its potential to transform the modern American classroom." Looks like it could be a pretty good conversation for students like us to participate in!

"Here's maybe the best reason yet to make sure your Wi-Fi connection is secure from snoopers."

Virtual professors? I think a virtual Dede would be cool, but I like knowing his mustache is real, and not bought in a virtual hair salon.

Published Online: October 17, 2011 Published in Print: October 19, 2011, as Crafting Your BYOT Policy For the small but passionate minority of school districts that are opening doors to student-owned mobile devices, there's a lot riding on how effective the policy shift turns out to be in improving teaching and learning. I will be looking strongly at this experiment to assist with the charter school district I am putting together.

I can understand a districts hesitance towards the BYOT because of its responsibility for and inability to control the accessing of inappropriate content on such devices. What I would like to see - even if in baby steps (which I know is occurring in small scale all over the country), is the creation and sharing of engaging lessons that encourage this BYOT movement and combat the urge for students to be inappropriate because of the level of motivation the lesson itself provides. And I would also like to see some of the responsibility shift from policy makers to the students for self moderation - they know what is right and wrong in an educational setting - why can't we hold THEM accountable more?

Article addresses policy challenges in implementing BYOT

Interesting, real-time, questions about the topics we are covering in T561. Illuminates some of the key pieces (and challenges there within) of the scaling process... "Wissahickon School District (WSD) board members are divided on how to meet educational technology goals that bridge the "digital divide" and foster 21st Century Learning skills for students. A "1:1" plan presented to board members calls for giving every secondary student a computer to bridge the digital divide for students who do not have a computer, and enhance learning for all."