Group items tagged

Tying into discussions this week about bringing access to mobile devices to all via non-prohibitive costs, while still reaching a set of bare-minmum technical specs for actual use: India's "$35 tablet" has been a pipedream in the tech blog-o-sphere for awhile now, but it's finally available (though for a price of roughly $60). Still though, as an actual Android color touch tablet, with WiFi and cellular data capability - I'm curious to see how it's received and if it's adopted in any sort of large scale

I had heard months ago that India was creating this, but was not going to offer it commercially - rather, just for its own country. Just like the Little Professor (Prof Dede) calculator, when tablets get this affordable, educational systems can afford classroom sets of them and then use them regularly. But to Prof Dede's point - can they do everything that more expensive tablets can do? Or better yet - do they HAVE to?

I think this is what they're aiming to do - all classrooms/students across the country having this particular tablet. They won't be able to do everything today's expensive tablets can do, but I think they'll still be able too to do plenty. This $35 tablet's specs are comparable to the mobile devices we had here in the US in 2008/2009. Even back then, we were able to web browse, check email, use social networking (sharing pics and video too), watching streaming online video, and play basic 2D games. But even beyond those basic features, I think this tablet will be able to do more than we expect from something at this price point and basic hardware, for 2 reasons: 1. Wide-spread adoption of a single hardware. If this thing truly does become THE tablet for India's students, it will have such a massive userbase that software developers and designers who create educational software will have to cater to it. They will have to study this tablet and learn the ins-and-outs of its hardware in order to deliver content for it. "Underpowered" hardware is able to deliver experiences well beyond what would normally be expected from it when developers are able to optimize heavily for that particular set of components. This is why software for Apple's iPhone and iPad, and games for video game consoles (xbox, PS3, wii) are so polished. For the consoles especially, all the users have the same exact hardware, with the same features and components. Developers are able to create software that is very specialized for that hardware- opposed to spending their resources and time making sure the software works on a wide variety of hardware (like in the PC world). With this development style in mind, and with a fixed hardware model remaining widely used in the market for many years- the resultant software is very polished and goes beyond what users expect from it. This is why today's game consoles, which have been around since 2005/6, produce visuals that are still really impressive and sta

The future of data visualization

If you have any experience using or teaching Scratch (a visual IDE for teaching basic programming), along comes App Inventor from Google to allow anyone to program apps for the Android operating system. Includes a simulator. I have put in my request for App Inventor but, alas, I am still waiting - can't wait to try it! Put in your request!

a beautiful data visualization of new yorker's complaints over time

I have found Zaid's blog postings to be very appealing visually (with good use of colors) and to the point (with higher signal to noise ratio). Here is an example of a "1, 2, 3" style posting on the important topic of Autism with Dr. Martha Hebert (a prominent Harvard Medical School researcher and clinician).

My boys love Minecraft. This article has a ton of juicy links and makes some important points- particularly around the importance of designing a game that will be engaging- not just visually stunning.

Seems like a cool and useful product for teachers: aggregating the data gathered by the many apps and ed tech tools teachers use in the classroom in a single platform, with data visualization support

This page contains a bio for Tom Vander Ark, a leader in didigtal learning. There is a link to a TEDx talk he gave at the bottom of the page about the power of digital learning. He provides very good visuals and paints a very vivid picture of how digital learning can change education.

go half way down the page for the WearCam, which is capable of perceiving and visualizing social-emotional information in real-time human interaction. The idea is to use this to help individuals with Autism and Asperger's understand and react appropriately to the emotions of the people with whom they interact.

Microsoft recognized three U.S. schools at its Global Forum Educator awards last week. I didn't find two of them terribly intriguing, but the third, LYNCing Distance Learning Math Classes to Blind and Visually Impaired Students, was a great example of how technology can be used to link educators with special skills and students with special needs how may not otherwise have access to a qualified instructor.

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.

In light of our recent Blackboard Collaborate class during Sandy, I got curious as to what other good online delivery platforms are out there. I am preparing to teach the MIT App Inventor curriculum to some high school girls on the other side of the world and am wondering if maybe there's a better alternative to Skype. I came across Piazza, which is free and seems to be gaining traction in higher ed. I also once took an online course with Kaplan and really liked their interface, but don't remember what it was and now it seems they are moving toward a platform called "KapX." If anyone can recommend additional platforms, please let me know.

Interesting stance from the UK, where the government hopes to raise up the importance of computer science in education, where ICT (information and communication technology) lessons are not up to date with the needs and skills of the 21st century. Kids engaged in ICT classes learn how to use software, and not how software works or how it's created. From the article: "Written by gaming guru Ian Livingstone and visual effects veteran Alex Hope, Next Gen called for programming skills to replace learning about business software in ICT lessons." direct link to the UK Government's response to the 'Next Gen' report: http://www.dcms.gov.uk/publications/8646.aspx

Interesting article in edweek on Bookshare - a non-profit electronic book service that provides free digital copies of books in accessible formats for kids with print disabilities, a term coined by George Kerscher to cover visual, physical and language based disabilities that impact the ability to read a physical book.

Using computer games as well as interactive visuals in the classroom, students are taught fractions, equations, comparisons and other math processes. Later, they learn the vocabulary and symbols that go with the subject matter. It's a high-tech version of the paper money and metal coins that instructors have long used to teach about currency.

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.

wow the audience by staging visual illusion

Interesting visual history on the evolution of classroom technology. Particularly like that they used a slightly interactive interface in designing this. It's intriguing to see how far we've come--and at the same time how similar some things are.

Robotic billiards table set up. Allows users to play through computer controls and allows players using a physical cue to see visual hints about ball trajectories.

An example of what some people are doing to experiment with robotics (first half of video) and augmented reality (second half).

"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. "