Because it is not every day you get to link to poetryfoundation.org for an ed tech course...

A MacArthur Research Network report on youth and participatory politics from June 2012. A nice complement to our time with Helen Haste.

No hard news here; but this reminded me of Sherry Turkle and her (misguided, I think) argument that parents are too caught up with their phones to pay attention to their kids. There's a lot more subtlety in this piece. And even though this is literary and not academic, I think there's valuable food for thought re: T561 because of big questions about "real" experience vs. digital or "virtual" experience.

Appropriate reading after the Turkle video.

From the UK, but in keeping with a theme we have often explored: the way the teacher uses the technology has much to do with its effectiveness.  

Miami-Dade county explores BYOD. Looks like, as of last Tuesday, the school system has $1.2 billion coming their way (it's worth clicking on the relevant link within this article), at least some of which is intended for technology upgrades. 

Profile of schools and districts looking to not only bring parents into the fold via technology, but also to improve parents' tech fluency.

An example of some of the conversation within one school system as they look to change their approach to ed tech. It mirrors some of the kinds of discussions we've had, particularly in section, and there is a link to the new plan, too.

Follow up to that last post. Here's the Institute of Play website.

Notes from a conference on emerging technologies (not sure if Professor Dede was there or not). Count me as a skeptic re: OLPC's Ethiopia experiment, but the Institute of Play/EA partnership is an interesting one. 

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.

Seems like it's written by an IBM publicist, but still interesting to see private sector investment following Race to the Top funding.

Another piece on the transformative nature of iPads in classrooms. This one contains what might be my favorite quote so far: "Some say the iPad is the biggest technological innovation to hit schools since the overhead projector." It's also worth noting how many parents and administrators are quoted speaking in generalities. Kids will be able to "do this stuff;" it is the "beginning of the transformation of education as we know it;" and then there's the last line, which seems loaded with as much apprehension as optimism.

This is not explicitly about education, but there are juicy bits in here on scale and transfer that are worth our while. 

A leading game maker is, among other things, dedicating resources toward education games. It's also worth noting, I think, that a company that rejects typical corporate structure might be a good one for disrupting typical education structures.

Testing centers and MOOCs and universities are partnering in an effort to offer credit for students who complete online courses. 

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