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A look at the Innovator's Dilemma in the Tech Space. Interesting corollaries to what we could imagine happening in the Education space.

Brings up the interesting issue of physical space in 21st century classrooms. Should schools of the future look like the way they do now (ie. desks and chairs, albeit with iPads/laptops atop desks)? How can we match the shift in pedagogical thinking with what our physical spaces of classrooms look like? On a related note, a colleague at an international school in Mumbai showed me around their new K-12 school recently (K-12 1:1 laptop program, phenomenal tech integration program)... and they no longer have walls to demarcate classrooms across the entire school. Instead of classrooms, they have "learning pods." So, imagine you're a third grade teacher--you have four slidable "walls" that you can open up to collaborate with the adjacent third grade section for social studies. Or perhaps you notice that the fifth grade science experiment seems to align with what you're doing today so you walk over to see if they'd be up for sharing what they're doing. Their idea is that the physical space needs to reflect the same environment of open education and collaborative learning that we're promoting in our classrooms.

AR helps astronauts in the International Space Station perform tasks.

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)

Professors in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science are creating a multimedia system that uses multiple 3-D cameras to create avatars of humans in two different places, and then puts them in the same virtual space where they can interact.

Kids send camera 93,000 ft into atmosphere (based on linear discent rate.) "Want to inspire middle school and high school students to launch things into space."

Free online tutoring for kids that enables them to talk to a real person and share a "whiteboard" space.

Will online research tools contribute to the demise of the academic library? This article suggests we are using a blended approach to research. Curious to hear how many of us use Gutman's resources beyond a study space.

For those interested in innovation in higher ed, NCIIA is hosting their annual conference in March in DC. Generally the theme is how to teach technology entrepreneurship, but some of the topics this year are a bit more general. Examples: -- Team-based Learning Pedagogy: Transforming classroom dialogue and learning --Learning space design for creativity and innovation --Simplifying / packaging creative engineering education

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."

Helpful list for getting to know the edtech space (and possible future employers!) 

thanks for posting....amazing how many of these I do not know!

Getting excited about Sesame Street&AR idea that was posted earlier, went to find if Lego is doing anything as Lego Education is getting more active lately to my understanding.  I only found this. This to me is not AR although it is utilizing some level of digital technology (social network/sharing work with others).  I would be more interested to see more work from traditional game/toy players to be aggressive in the tech space. 

'Quest to Learn' is a New York City public middle and high school, supporting collaborative student-led learning: "Quest to Learn has used research in game-based learning to create a rigorous and engaging collaborative learning space where students feel safe taking risks and using their successes and failures to create and apply new knowledge." "Nurturing social and emotional learning (SEL) and 21st century skills like inventiveness, risk taking and collaboration."

The developer kit would especially be helpful to developers planning on using the device to develop augmented reality applications. Typically, augmented reality refers to an enhanced (and, sometimes, fantastic) vision of reality.

This would also be very powerful for engineering applications, virtually "adding" prototypes from solidworks or 3D modeling programs to see their impact on objects or spaces. I also see a cool educational aspect where students could build theoretical bridges, building models, or art installations to see how they would impact the real space they might inhabit.

A new project named Instapaper is developed to solve the time and space difference problems in reading on computers.

Free e-learning report o on-line education in the k-12 space.

Good article that plainly states, Web 2.0 and 3.0 are tools that if used properly can engage and effect teaching and learning beyond traditional classroom spaces.

Google has US Education in its crosshairs.... Google is name-dropping all sorts of work in the education space in its forum to help redefine American education : Harlem Children's Zone, NCLB, A Nation at Risk, Sesame Street................. Here's a snippet: "And according to McKinsey's Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools report, if the U.S. had in recent years closed the gap between its educational achievement levels and those of higher-performing nations, our GDP in 2008 could have been $1.3 trillion to $2.3 trillion higher. That's 9 to 16 percent of GDP!"

Three long-time Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, veterans from Yahoo, Sun Microsystems, and Google, started funding education start-ups last Spring. Their incubator, Imagine K12, has now "graduated" its first group of startups. If accepted, Imagine K12 give $15k to $20k to startups and empower them with "dazzling network of connections."

Cell phones are banned in NYC public schools, but it is the norm for students who attend schools without metal detectors to bring their phones anyway. If caught teachers are confiscating phones for up to a week, or longer, at their discretion. At schools with metal detectors small businesses have popped up around schools, storing students' phones for the school day for a small fee, similar to a coat check system. Instead of harnessing the power of mobile phones that almost every student already has, they are punishing them and/or causing them to pay money to keep them stored for the school day so that they can have them before and after school. I think this is a missed opportunity for the NYC school system not only because they are missing out on mobile learning opportunities with technology the district doesn't have to buy, but they could also be teaching the students responsible and appropriate use of mobile phones in public spaces.