This is not about an emerging educational technology but how two designers re-thinking of teaching. I'm throwing this out here to see if you think one can apply the Scaling Up framework to this initiative. What are some of the impediments that you can imagine and would you have any solutions?

Very similar to the idea of teaching computer programming via storytelling/animation (Scratch)

Absolutely agree... the idea presented here is no big leap at all, especially to us who are following these advances pretty closely. I saw the parallels with scratch in terms of engaging the learner.

Great article along with an infographic on the usage of social network in US education "Wikis are an excellent tool for open collaboration and knowledge sharing because they allow everyone to contribute. Roughly 22 percent of United States school districts are involved in creating or maintaining wikis. Educational wikis give teachers and students a place to contribute to the community on the ideas and projects they are working on in the classroom. Wikis teach students how teamwork and collaboration benefit society through knowledge sharing."

Are we transliterate enough when we are learning and experimenting things.  Another example I can think of for transliteracy is the awareness of updating one's status messages in various places. For example, a status message on one's FB page is quite different from one's LinkedIn Profile to one's style of tweeting to one's IM status message.  Being aware of what kind of thoughts go where is an important transliterate skill to have. Thoughts?

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

For folks interested in STEM

The author makes a case for mobile learning for professionals with the Android App - Google Goggles... are there other uses that people see of the app in the k-12 sector?

"...If you involve them you can teach them" ... "keep them confised for a moment to give them the aha moment"  a similar theme touched upon at last class

Kentaro Toyama's TEDxTokyo talk about the exaggeration of technology's role in ICT4D

"Technology only magnifies human intent and capacity. It can't substitute for them." - Kentaro Toyama

Digital Media Conference 2011 is happening at Irvine CA! and they've invited proposals for papers

Here is a follow up on this topic of how children learn best when collaborating - this time in a formal setting - http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/student-centered_learning_in_the_digital_age/ These studies/examples push further the question around technology and if that can replace a teacher. Its perhaps really hard to answer that question with one answer for the various kinds of learning spaces.