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An example of student preconceived notions preventing them from learning scientific concepts.

Thanks, Diana. I can use this article in two of my other classes.

Great video - key quote "You can forget facts but you can't forget understandings." Yes - I would agree that Merseth and a number of other HGSE professors structure their courses for engagement in a similar manner. Requiring reading & active reflection (by via a written brief, case preparation, or online quiz) before the class / lecture is a great way to prep for deeper engagement and understanding. The genius in Mazur's approach is to use technology to assess before class and during class what his students understand and, more importantly, don't understand AND then tailor what he presents next to address misconceptions.

WISE is an international initiative and platform for a multitude of established and new educational actors to collaborate proactively all year round. They recently selected 6 high-impact projects for the finals of their awards.

The last decade expanded what we could do online, but the Web's basic programming couldn't keep up. That threatened to fracture the world's greatest innovation engine-until a small group of Web rivals joined forces to save it. The Web has been showing its age.

Saw this over the summer and thought it raised some good questions about IEP initiatives, a child's ability to learn technical frameworks without explicit instruction, community engagement, technological innovation in impoverished areas, etc.

Speaking at LIFT 2007, Sugata Mitra talks about his Hole in the Wall project. Young kids in this project figured out how to use a PC on their own -- and then taught other kids. He asks, what else can children teach themselves? Sugata Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they're motivated by curiosity and peer interest.

I thought this was a great video when I watched it. Very interesting experiment. It reminded me of how I know people who learned other languages through their love of music--they just memorized song lyrics and practiced until they figured out the language!

One teacher claims that "The idea is to invert the normal rhythms of school, so that lectures are viewed on the kids' own time and homework is done at school." - Do you agree that this is a good solution? 

I too am intrigued by this "inverting" of time spent in the classroom and at home. My idealized model would be to introduce learners to new material at their own pace out of the classroom (allowing for pausing, note taking, reflecting and/or rewinding) and focus classroom time on face to face guiding and coaching of clusters of students or individual students engaged in applying or exploring the current material. To help facilitate this (and assist with accountability) some brief form of pre-assessment before class or at the start of class could illuminate for student and teacher alike what material has been mastered and what needs more attention. The research report from the TIE Foundations summer reading appears to support this type of hybrid approach. => Marsha Lovett, Oded Meyer, and Candace Thille (2008). The Open Learning Initiative: Measuring the effectiveness of the OLI statistics course in accelerating student learning.

An added benefit of tools such as Khan Academy is the option for reinforcement. In a traditional K-12 school environment students do not have the option to watch a video of their class or spend personalized time reviewing a concept they need more time with during class time due to the required pace of school curriculum. An online learning tool allows a student to watch a lesson as many times as needed and to learn from an expert. Often if a student needs help outside the classroom the only people they turn to is parents, who may or may not know about the content themselves.

This is a captivating video made by a group called Iowa Future that was premiered at the 2011 School Administrators of Iowa Conference. Though it is aimed at Iowans in particular it is applicable to all of us as it highlights the staggering pace that the world has progressed to our current state of technological overload. It features shocking statistics about digital media use that are quite fascinating and applicable to the entire world.

High-lites the "Digital Promise" federal initiative. It is based on the idea of harboring new educational technologies based around a business model that rewards entrepreneurship

Written by Jason Rosenthal Social media was originally all about broadcasting to the world - or at a minimum, your select group - about your likes, dislikes, or even what kind of eggs you had this morning. But social media today… well, it's not just for breakfast anymore.

I found this article fascinating. I wonder if gaming can help inform about tertiary protein structure at the school level ?

Let's not forget the hand that Professional Development offerings, or lack there of, around Ed Tech played in this "failure," too. Just because we put a Smart or Promethean board in every school doesn't mean that it won't get written on with a dry erase marker or used only as an LCD projector instead of as the interactive device that it was designed to be...teacher training is essential in the success of ed tech integration.

The idea of "showing what you know" and earning badges instead of degrees? In this economic downswing, could something like this become the new emergent way of learning and of assessing? Thoughts?

Sounds like the digital badge is more lke a digital portfolio- which I would more likely support. I find it interesting that our education system (which strives and struggles to provide consistent, high quality education from coast to coast) is seen as deficient but this badge proposal will be the answer? It's like the flood of support for home-schooling after a home-schooler wins a national competition but no one knows about the tens of homescholers I had to remediate in rural NH. Standardization is the key for any system to be integrated into another system. The variety of education models we have in our country makes it difficult for employers to integrate employees. If this digital badge concept relies on a variety of models, they will have the same problem.

The prospect of digital badges to show what you know is both exciting with its potential affordances and worrisome with some of its limitations and ambiguity. It'd be great if the ideal came to pass that digital badges would allow valid demonstration of super-specific skills and knowledge over a greater range of fields and topics than what having a B.A. or B.S. currently does. Digital badges could represent the most particular concepts or skills at a granular level even-- those that are essential in the real-world (whether that be desired by employers or otherwise). If the task or test or challenge, or whatever else would be the means of assessment for earning a badge, was carefully designed and evaluated to be a truly valid measure of proficiency, then earning a badge for something would be a clear indication that you know something. But like Allison said, standardization would be key. What would these assessments/ badge challenges be- so that they would be truly valid indicators of proficiency? Who would be the purveyors or authorities to determine the assessments or challenges to accomplish a badge? Given the medium (completing badge assessments on one's own computer or mobile device - from any site they're at potentially) - what's to stop a user from going "open book" or "opening another tab" in order to look up answers to questions or tutorials on how to do a task, in order to complete the assessment? Doing this would allow a user to ace the assessment and earn the badge- but would defeat any value of the badge in truly demonstrating knowledge or skill. By imagining if digital badges did reach mass-acceptance and use in the real world, and we were to ultimately find them all over the internet like we're now finding social media widgets, it made me realize that the "prove proficiency anywhere I am in any way I want" won't work. I changed fields and career paths from what I studied in college, so I definitely appreciate the value in being able to truly show e

This is a great magazine ( as I am just figuring out ) Best of all, they offer 3 credits on creating a free account and make some of their archived content free. Even better, they are on audible. Love it !

New delivery platform, but from what I can tell, same lecture format. "Disruptive" in that it offers students (who might not otherwise be students) a chance to sit in and learn the same content as the rich/smart enough to have a seat at MIT, Yale Stanford, etc.

I made this wiki for a class I took last semester on Authorship and Learning in the Digital Age. It was designed as a resource for teachers who are interested in using the internet in the classroom, but want to make sure they are preparing their students for safe internet use. It deals with COPPA, privacy and safety concerns, and touches on media literacy and informs teachers what researchers have found about young kids' processing of online content. I'd love to hear your feedback on the site, and if you find it useful, please forward the link along!