Group items tagged

in response to Jen Lavalle's post about games having to go cross-platform to survive. Adobe, makes of the Flash platform, have announced they are stopping further development of the plugin for mobile devices. They are instead now going to focus on open standards (like HTML5), to allow content to be viewed on all modern devices (mobile and computers) with no plug in required. They will also focus on tools to allow developers to push content speciically to the app stores of today's most popular mobile devices. This is a good & bad sign for app developers who use Flash (lots of them, it's been an industry standard for years. Flash has suffered from terrible performance on mobile devices, so it's good to see Adobe acknowledging the need to do something different for their mobile strategy. But what this means for the tools developers will (need to learn to) use? TBD...

Jerry Brown, Governor of California, speaks out about the ineptitude of standardized tests as a comprehensive, accurate way of measuring student learning. This idea is germane to most of what we are learning about the virtues of performance-based assessments, constructivist approach to learning, and the future of education. Does anybody think that there will ever be a time when standardized testing is replaced by something more effective? Emerging technologies like augmented reality simulations and multi-user virtual environments could be candidates for the replacement of standardized paper-based tests. Interesting to think about...

For those who are interested - here is the site for the Next Generation of Science standards

For people interested in the new HTML 5 standard, there are some great things that will be possible. This article gives a quick overview of Canvas, which will use JavaScript to allow some pretty complicated visual effects. This guide assumes a good grasp of the current standards and of typical digital design tools.

We had a discussion in class a month back or so about standards and international performance versus U.S. One of the talking points was, what can the U.S. learn from other countries (or more appropriate, what is the U.S. willing to learn from other countries). Some people mentioned that the U.S. tends to show an aversion to learning from other countries, but this article notes that the Common Core State Standards is actually based on best practices from other leading countries like Singapore, China, and Finland. So maybe we're not as stubborn as we seem...

The state of Michigan has allocated some funding to upgrade technology in K-12 schools. The expectation is that all students will take standardized tests online within a couple of years.

How test designers are trying to move away from standardized tests to computer programs that can measure a myriad of skills simultaneously through simulations and "stealth monitoring."  Both Chris Dede and Howard Gardner are mentioned.

The author points out some of the most important digital literacy standards from the common core, specifically discussing how to assess what digital mediums are appropriate and when. He finishes the article with a great example of the standards driving classroom instruction.

NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS are the science equivalent of Common Core. They are supposed to be released this coming Winter/Spring. Possibly a good opportunity for TIE and other HGSE master's students to get on top of the ed tech game!

"Carnegie Mellon University is convening a high-powered consortium of educators, researchers, and technology-company executives that will spearhead efforts to develop standards and promote best practices in online education."

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...

This is an editorial discussing how emerging technologies can help eliminate the need for annual standardized testing of students by tracking their progress constantly throughout the year through technology use. IPads, Khan Academy, data analysis, KIPP schools, the achievement gap, online courses and their innovations through emerging technologies are discussed.

The idea of "showing what you know" and earning badges instead of degrees? In this economic downswing, could something like this become the new emergent way of learning and of assessing? Thoughts?

Sounds like the digital badge is more lke a digital portfolio- which I would more likely support. I find it interesting that our education system (which strives and struggles to provide consistent, high quality education from coast to coast) is seen as deficient but this badge proposal will be the answer? It's like the flood of support for home-schooling after a home-schooler wins a national competition but no one knows about the tens of homescholers I had to remediate in rural NH. Standardization is the key for any system to be integrated into another system. The variety of education models we have in our country makes it difficult for employers to integrate employees. If this digital badge concept relies on a variety of models, they will have the same problem.

The prospect of digital badges to show what you know is both exciting with its potential affordances and worrisome with some of its limitations and ambiguity. It'd be great if the ideal came to pass that digital badges would allow valid demonstration of super-specific skills and knowledge over a greater range of fields and topics than what having a B.A. or B.S. currently does. Digital badges could represent the most particular concepts or skills at a granular level even-- those that are essential in the real-world (whether that be desired by employers or otherwise). If the task or test or challenge, or whatever else would be the means of assessment for earning a badge, was carefully designed and evaluated to be a truly valid measure of proficiency, then earning a badge for something would be a clear indication that you know something. But like Allison said, standardization would be key. What would these assessments/ badge challenges be- so that they would be truly valid indicators of proficiency? Who would be the purveyors or authorities to determine the assessments or challenges to accomplish a badge? Given the medium (completing badge assessments on one's own computer or mobile device - from any site they're at potentially) - what's to stop a user from going "open book" or "opening another tab" in order to look up answers to questions or tutorials on how to do a task, in order to complete the assessment? Doing this would allow a user to ace the assessment and earn the badge- but would defeat any value of the badge in truly demonstrating knowledge or skill. By imagining if digital badges did reach mass-acceptance and use in the real world, and we were to ultimately find them all over the internet like we're now finding social media widgets, it made me realize that the "prove proficiency anywhere I am in any way I want" won't work. I changed fields and career paths from what I studied in college, so I definitely appreciate the value in being able to truly show e

Ed Murphy, vice president of business development at Learn360. "The recent adoption of both sets of new Standards affords Learn360 boundless opportunities to provide even more resources and tools to help students think critically, make informed decisions and ultimately make larger social contributions in a heavily wired world." Additionally, the 21st Century Learning Skills focus on helping students master the multi-dimensional abilities required of them in the future by blending specific skills, content-knowledge, expertise and literacy with innovative support systems"

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) 

Interesting graphic on video games and ed; purports kids who learned by playing an ed game improved their standardized test scores by 50% (no reference however)

This article describes the efforts that individual teachers in Utah are making to rewrite textbooks to be aligned to the standards that they are teaching in class. These teachers are writing eBooks and getting a lot of positive feedback from state officials because of the use of technology to meet student needs. They did not have a textbook that fit their integrated approach to teaching math, which they aligned to CCSS, so they took the matter of creating a textbook into their own hands. I think this is a prelude to how textbook creation is changing as a result of technology. Teachers are now able to construct books in a way that fit exactly the objectives they are covering and meeting there students where they are at.

''Previously, standardized tests accounted for 100% of a school's API (academic performance index). Under the new rules California high schools will have no more than 60% of students' test scores contribute to their API. ''