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Schools throughout the country are experiencing the same teacher-driven adoption of technology tools. Internet-savvy teachers are increasingly finding tools to use in the classroom on their own, and lower business-startup costs mean the tools are more readily available. In response, many education companies are changing how they market and sell their products. Nationwide sales teams and central-office visits are giving way to word-of-mouth and sophisticated business-intelligence software as preferred methods for pushing adoption. Companies offer free products to teachers with the goal of influencing districtwide purchases of more-robust versions-known as the "freemium" pricing model. But in most sectors of the existing K-12 system-with its various stakeholders, budgetary restrictions, and procurement regulations- the so-called "consumerization" of education faces many barriers, experts say, making it difficult to find the right balance between selling directly to teachers and addressing the needs of central-office administrators.

This article describes a new early detection method that uses eye-tracking technologies to gauge babies' social engagement skills and reliably measure their risk of developing autism.

Flipped classrooms and mastery learning: "The student's understanding of a subject is a constant and time is a variable."

This is a Slashdot article that points to a research paper (unfinished) that analyzes which elements are most important in the success/failure of a game. The abstract and conclusion sections of the article are succinct and accessible. The results are quite telling. One wonders if the results are consistent across game genres/audiences/distribution methods.

That takes care of the display challenge, now if we could only develop a more sophisticated and biologically intuitive method of data entry (no keys or multi-touch surface), the world will be a very different place. Def. an emerging technology with wild educational/training implications.

Hey...I know this guy! Chris def. walks the walk in his analysis of PD practice and methods. See the direct parallels to t561?

Minimally Invasive Education is defined as a pedagogic method that uses the learning environment to generate an adequate level of motivation to induce learning in groups of children, with minimal, or no, intervention by a teacher. (Disruptive Tech?)

Something to think about amidst our busy scheduling with readings and projects, etc.  

Research projects provide an insight into the changing landscape of learning in the 21st Century, which then shapes the learning environment and methods at NBCS. We incorporate the ideas and thinking that comes from research and development into programs and initiatives, including online distance education for HSC students across NSW (www.hsconline.nsw.edu.au), Professional Development courses and training for teachers, and international learning collaboration network established to bring learning communities together (www.beyondborders.edu.au).

Curious what math teachers in our class think about this. Anyone worked with these methods?

I was talking with Arene about this. He has taught math in middle school and high school in Singapore. When I asked if teaching this in the US would be effective he had some interesting points. You should talk with him to get an accurate account, but one of the questions he raised in our conversation was the following: Does this pedagogy that works in the cultural context of Singapore transfer to the United States?

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.

This is a website that allows users to find videos from which children (3-18) can learn. All videos are hosted by other sites like YouTube, but content is approved and moderated separately. Comments and discussions are separate from the comments on the original post (i.e. WatchKnow comments do not get added to YouTube and YouTube comments do not appear on WatchKnow). There is heavy emphasis on transparent, widespread monitoring of content. This is accomplished in ways very reminiscent of Wikipedia's moderation methods. Right now, the site has a good number of videos, but lacks a rich community of active users. This means that it is harder to locate quality videos since few users have rated and discussed content.

This website is very similar to an idea I've been brewing for a while (though I believe this site is missing some of the more promising features). I was pleasantly surprised to see professor Dede's name on the Advisory Committee.

Using Podcast and Youtube as a method for instructing students has picked up a lot of attention among teachers. But, as our conversation with the School of One shows, the methods for demonstrating the effectiveness of this teaching tool needs a lot of work. This article discuss some of the potential issues with using technology resources to create lessons for students as oppose to traditional teacher lecture.

I applaud this article and its poignant way of explaining how this model defeats the best practices of interactive classrooms and takes us BACKWARDS in our thinking rather than forward.

Arizona State University is using data mining to collect information on their students and help guide them to the "most appropriate major". also, in class, using data collection methods, teachers collect information to be used in assessment Ex: "Ms. Galayda can monitor their progress. In her cubicle on a recent Monday, she sees the intimacies of students' study routines - or lack of them - from the last activity they worked on to how many tries they made at each end-of-lesson quiz. For one crammer, the system registers 57 attempts on multiple quizzes in seven days. Pulling back to the big picture, a chart shows 15 students falling behind (in red) and 17 on schedule (in green)."

wow this is kind of bothersome on some levels and kinda amazing on other levels. While I can see the benefit of understanding where and how a student is more likely to succeed, I think there are some potential dangers with such a system. There is the what I would imagine the psychological effect of such a program and I am thinking particularly about STEM fields where women are already way under-represented and often self conscious about their performance, do you really also need a system telling you you shouldn't be majoring in that as well cause you're not performing at that point....or what about a student who really wants to be an engineer but maybe hasn't been fully prepared with the appropriate math courses in high school, would he or she be filtered into another major? I understand using such a system as a means to target help for example if a student could get an assessment of where they currently are, where they want to go and how to get there....

Comprehensive article outlining many trends and pressures in the educational landscape. 1. COLLEGE COSTS HAVE SKYROCKETED 2. CONVENIENCE ATTRACTS STUDENTS ONLINE 3. TEACHERS CONNECT WITH DIGITAL GENERATION 4. DIGITAL EDUCATION OFFERS BROAD REACH 5. FOR-PROFIT COLLEGES COMPETE FOR STUDENTS 6. BIG ONLINE COURSES GAIN NOTORIETY 7. COLLEGE BUDGETS KEEP SHRINKING 8. WHERE IS THIS HEADED?

"The danger is that the technology of the 21st century is being applied using teaching methods of the 20th,"

Supporting Teachers With Mobile Content And Methods For Reading Instruction

Today's reading about the OLPC project reminded me of Innovations in Poverty Action, a research organization dedicated to finding new, research-based methods for improving outcomes and equity. A very interesting approach.

Kaggle is a platform for data prediction competitions that allows organizations to post their data and have it scrutinized by the public. In exchange for a prize, winning competitors provide the algorithms that beat all other methods of solving a data crunching problem. Kaggle is in Class is a statistical & data mining learning tool for students.

This is the link to a MOOC orchestrated by Stephen Downes, "Change in Formal Education Systems". Unlike the MOOCs that are getting all the press, like Coursera and EdX which are largely replicating a model that pushes content to the learner, this MOOC is actually trying to change the dynamics of teacher-learner interactions. The live session described here is about interaction. "Interaction - The various types and methods by which interaction is supported in formal education, especially student-student, student-content and student-teacher interactions. We look especially at the capacity to substitute one form of interaction for another based on funding, time subject and context."