Group items tagged

Interesting look at the limited menu of viable open source LMSs that are out there. Moodle is by far the most popular, but as anyone who has ever developed any online courses on Moodle knows, the interface is clunky and it is overall pretty uninspiring (although adequate). Sakai sounds like an interesting competitor to Moodle and it sounds like it's gaining traction in the market- Rhode Island schools use it. From what I have read about it, it sounds like it is much more user friendly than Moodle and the students surveyed preferred the interface and design of Sakai to Moodle significantly (81% vs. 53%). Would love to hear any posts from people who have used any of these systems.

The Knight Center's MOOC on data visualization was a bit smaller than traditional MOOCs (it actually capped enrollment at 2000), but the second version of the same class already has 4000 students registered. It sounds like the professor gave a lot of attention to the students and the projects, and the fact that the numbers went up is a good sign.

Raspberry Pi may sound like the name of a math-based dessert. But it is actually one of the hottest and cheapest little computers in the world right now. Almost one million of these $35 machines have shipped since last February, capturing the imaginations of educators, hobbyists and tinkerers around the world. One Pi owner, Dave Akerman, of Brightwalton, England, even sent a Raspberry Pi to the upper atmosphere, floating it 40,000 meters up using a weather balloon. There he was able to take live video, photos and measurements. "Now every primary school in the world can take pictures from near space," Mr. Upton said. "You give people access to this tool and they do great things."

Georgia's Hall County partnered with Dell and transforming the classrooms "one student at a time", using 1) personalized 2) blended 3) data collection and 4) results. Sounds familiar? "wouldn't believe that these types of classrooms existed if I hadn't seen it for myself. When you get a group of dedicated educators together with a shared vision that is designed to remove the business-as-usual stigma and support total transformation you can achieve amazing things."

This is a pretty good web-based audio editor. This could serve as a good replacement for Audacity or GarageBand. It has some great effects and a good library of sound clips. It operates in much the same way as Audacity of GarageBand, just in your web browser.

This sounds interesting. An interactive game right here in Boston. Would you consider this augmented reality? Anyone want to get a group together and play? It says we "must represent [ourselves] with a senior member of the organization." Would you be interested, professor/TFs? (Post a reply to this link if you do and send me an email just in case - jhnsn.c@gmail.com)

this sounds like it will be fun!

That would be a fun adventure. Keep me posted.

Can't quite wrap my brain around this one entirely but it sounds interesting and brain-y.

This sounds like a disruptive innovation. Zap the brain!

whoa ...

Role of Twitter in learning

Some really interesting stuff here. Vander Ark's prediction about traditional classrooms being replaced by ever-changing groupings of students working on the same thing at the same time sounds feasible to me for some reason. It makes sense to take advantage of computers' ability to foster independent learning as a way to group students who might not share the same classroom location. I also found it interesting that Silversnail believed that the classrooms who used the technology the most in Maine were not necessarily the most successful or educationally sound. It shows you that, with technology, the how and the why are much more important than the what.

This article scientifically explains why humans crave for information. Research suggests the notion that midbrain dopamine neurons are coding for both primitive and cognitive rewards. This sounds like section of our brain still prefers to be strongly wired as behaviorist and cognitivist over constructivist.

"Researchers looking at the brains of dyslexic Chinese children have discovered that the disorder in that language often stems from two separate, independent problems: sound and visual perception. "

Michigan State senate approved Cyber Schools. Experts question this legislation. A new report by education professors from the University of Colorado finds that there's no reliable evidence showing such institutions are as good brick-and-mortar schools. Some are just not comfortable with all the unknowns in the cyber school equation. Sounds familiar?

There is a lot murkiness in the conversation. There may be no evidence but so much goes on in brick and mortar schools that has no evidence behind it anyway, I'm less and less convinced by that particular rhetorical approach. I think there is no more to lose by the effort than we already lose in undocumented ways. As with any endeavor, planning and execution will be the determinants of success. I'm beginning to resent the attempts in the media to summarize these complex issues because I think they have a significant impact on public opinion but they horrible at conveying complexity.

Interesting project that builds sound, light sensors, motion detectors into building blocks.

Sounds promising!

This conference sounds ripe for a TIE field trip.

This builds on Emily's post from the weekend with s bit more detail on one of standford's alternative online platforms. The venture lab platform is not the standard mooc idea, but sounds like they built in more collaboration and teamwork features. So maybe now moocs can reach a wider audience with non-math / science interests?