A problem that I had not previously considered - as digital devices begin to pervade educational venues, there is a dark side...

Commentary by Gaby Zedlmayer about disruptive education.

The Aakash 2 was unveiled by the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday 11 November, India's National Education Day. It is an upgraded version of the world's cheapest tablet computer.

In a survey by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 60% of K-8 teachers who use digital games said that since integrating digital games into the classroom their students had become better collaborators and paid greater attention to specific tasks. Fifty-six percent said lower-performing students were now more engaged with the content

Invoking a decades old law that requires any degree granting academic institution to obtain a license to operate in state (and pay a hefty fee for said license), Minnesota has banned universities from offering free online courses through education site Coursera, prompting the site to issue this notice to all Minnesota users: Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so.

This site advertizes that it is the first virtual mentoring site app. It is intended to be a way for educators, parents, students, and/or at-risk youth to stay connected using a single platform. It even has a built in VRM (Virtual Relationship Management) tool.

Features Tom Rooney sees competency-based education-supported by digital learning tools-as the path to building a better school district. The superintendent of the 4,200-student Lindsay Unified School District in California, Rooney set in motion this school year a plan to move to a system in which students progress not on the basis of their age or a set school calendar, but by demonstrating proficiency on learning objectives.

Squares with our conversations for today! For a room full of academics talking about the future of higher education, the conversation was surprisingly blunt. Yesterday TIME gathered more than 100 college presidents and other experts from across the U.S. to talk about the biggest problems facing higher education, which U.S.

Ed Week has a free online issue called Digital Directions which is devoted to educational technologies. The download includes articles devoted to broadband needs, technology readiness, and the technology demands of the Common Core.

Interesting story about how a kindergarten teacher is chronically her success with using technology in the classroom.

This is a list of helpful comments about what to pay attention to by people actively using online platforms to teach.

Interesting commentary written by Salman Kahn (Kahn Academy) on his ideas about the correct use of technology in the classroom. He reviews the ways that he feels technology can enhance teaching and learning and the critical role that a teacher plays.

This topic is similar to what Uche posted about the millionaire teacher (below). The encouragement in the article is for great teachers to realize the position that they are in to lead the education revolution.

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

The pictures alone are worth viewing in this new model school in Sweden. I would love to have attended a school like this one!!

Upcoming conference on the use of iPads in education at Harvard Medical School - Joseph B. Martin Conference Center November 7-8 (pre-conference Nov 6) Educators, researchers, industry - all represented Organized by EdTechTeacher 2012

Ed Week reviews the 11 companies in Imagine K12 -"the only startup incubator program specifically for K-12 education technology"

Ed Week has set up a new page to cover the newest trends in educational technology and innovation in the classroom

Chris Lehmann is the founding principle of an innovative science and technical high school in Philadelphia (Science Leadership Academy) and will be the keynote speaker at the next ISTE conference. This is an interview where he discusses where he thinks technology and education are headed.

Paper suggests that "the "revolution" of social media merely parallels other cultural reversals, all of which seek to return humans to the center of the universe." Interesting social perspective...