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A reminder that technology is not in and of itself a motivating force in the classroom.

I wonder if different types of technology have different impacts. For example, I can absolutely see where students wouldn't be motivated by a digital whiteboard or a blog...too adult and too similar to traditional education. But what about things like games for learning? Would they draw in a non-traditional student and actually motivate them to learn, albeit indirectly? There seems to be research on the gamification aspect that shows its positive impact, so do Bill's comments only apply to a subset of educational technology?

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan leads a team to State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) Leadership Summit, "Leveraging Technology for Learning." Th panels focus on making shift to digital textbook, increasing broadband access, STEM, assessment, and improving teacher effectiveness - many of these we discussed in our T561 class.

Duncan pushes technology verbally, but does not act on the national ed tech plan and has eliminated funding for technology. This is bad reporting by someone who does not understand the subject and does not ask tough questions

Following up on the discussion we had in class today, do you think we are focusing too much of our attention on teacher training? If students have the ability to not only understand a certain technology but can also use that technology to self train, isn't the role of the teacher in that respect, highly reduced? Perhaps its easier and would prove fruitful if we redirected our strengths to developing software and devices that are intuitive and help children learn rather than spending the resources on helping a different generation of learners (i.e., the teachers) understand this technology? Also, if you think about it, we are probably only one generation away from the teachers who see the value of technology in teaching. This ideal generation is of course the current students who are using technology and find it extremely helpful. They wouldn't need any convincing or training to use technology in their classroom

I worked in Newport News, VA and around that time the current governor was huge with technology initiatives and this school district benefited greatly from this. I see now that they are still being used for projects like this. My concern with Virginia is that they will gladly try technology in schools, but the use of the technology is not always practical. If a person goes on the VDOE website, they will see the state touting their advances in the use of technology. They are calling themselves a leader in online testing, for example, but their 'bragging' points all reflect how the technology has made life easier for all the adults and not necessarily the children. It is the exact same thing that was on paper now on the computer screen: http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/online_testing/index.shtml

Interesting article on robot-teachers in Korea. Let's say there are two scenarios: 1. Creating a technology that competes with non-consumption, and 2. Creating a technology that competes with human labor Does the nature of one's advocacy change? Should it? What if it isn't your job that is on the line? What if it is indeed your job? Does this think about you you frame your discourse surrounding such an emerging technology?

Integrating technology into teaching and learning at CPUT

#HGSET561 Integrating technology into teaching and learning at CPUT

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).

NYTimes article critical of the current push for technology in schools.  Raises questions about lack of improvement in test scores, budget tensions between $$ for teachers vs technology, and dearth of research showing  improved engagement.  Features comments by Larry Cuban.

Texas Intruments and Intel are developing partnership with Indian firm CORE and others on education technologies. "Advances in technology continue to transform how we live, work, play and learn. Intel is committed to making education accessible and engaging for all students," says R. Ravichandran, director of sales, Intel South Asia.

A report by the Alliance for Excellent Education says that public education will face four challenges in adopting education technology: 1) preparing kids for college / career, 2) shrinking budgets, 3) teacher-centered to learner-centered, and 4) technology equality (especially for low-income students).

New ''CinePrint'' Technology used for Lexus. Seems like one another 'cool' technology that we are not sure if it is 'useful'. (but it is cool)

A look at a Brooklyn public school that offers a six-year high school/college curriculum geared toward jobs in the technology industry. Ironically, it doesn't seem like technology is being used to transform student understanding. And there seems to be a risk that these kids are being trained to do jobs that will be obsolete by the time they finish school.

European scientists have integrated robotics, video, and various sensor and display technologies to transport someone into a geographically distant meeting room under the auspices of the Beaming through augmented media for natural networked gatherings (Beaming) project. The European Union-funded effort utilizes immersive virtual reality technologies in which a robotic avatar functions as the meeting participant's eyes, ears, and mouth. The participant wears a head-mounted display and is connected to sensors, enabling them to receive the avatar's video and audio feeds in three dimensions. The two-way connection also enables the participant's movements and responses to be mimicked by the robot.

The important thing is not the use of technology, but the new types of content, pedagogy, assessment...

I just logged on to post the same article! The interesting perspective that I got from the article was that the teachers continued to harp on this idea that in order to retain student's attention they needed to constantly "tap-dance" for their class. Instead of learning from this attention shift, teachers are becoming annoyed by it. Use the technology to give the responsibility of engagement to the students and only wear the tap shoes when necessary to facilitate a deeper understanding etc.

This article discusses successful blended curriculum. Interestingly, the article directs notice to the fact that the success is a cause of factors beyond just technology. One such factor is flex scheduling.

An conversation with Tom Vander Ark, author of "Getting Smart: How DIgital Learning is Changing the World". " It confirms what we discussed in class - technology is an amplifier, "technology amplifies parenting: good parents manage it and make the most of it, but less well supported students sit in front of screens in unsupervised and unproductive activities for far too long. "

The public school district in St. Louis, Missouri was awarded an Innovative Technology Education Fund grant to buy iPads for all students with autism in six autism-specific classrooms. This seems to be an example of utilizing an emerging technology in an excellent way with proper teacher training, rather than using technology for technology's sake. The schools will be advised on how to implement the iPads by an autism science and advocacy organization and have two full days of professional development planned.

This is great news on the autism-rights front! I know a severely autistic 21-year-old who is highly communicative because of the technology he has used since he was young.

Mobile technology brings benefits as well as challenges.

We are in a time convergence where teacher are incorporating technology from their daily lives into the classroom to increase student engagement.