HGSET561

Interesting article onshifting the focus to teaching a math curriculum that can be applied to real-life situations.

Interesting article onshifting the focus to teaching a math curriculum that can be applied to real-life situations.

From the point of view of a policy maker (particularly in developing countries), incorporating technology in education mostly means finding an affordable technology resource and just giving it to schools. The cost of the technology becomes the focal point for these policy makers, and the actual teaching/learning takes a back seat. Michael Trucano proposes a little thought experiment to force us to think about what we want to achieve in the first place.

I love these animations made for the Met Costume Institute show 4 years ago. They so clearly uncover how these garments were made. 

"School of One uses technology to develop a unique learning path for each student and to provide a significant portion of the instruction that is both individualized and differentiated." I liked the definitions of individualized (pacing), differentiated (learning preferences/methods), and personalized (pacing, preferences, and content/objectives).

some more on Kinect and homebrew uses in education. read about a contest in progress, scroll down for video of current experiments.

Computers that can pass the Turing test and write. What does this portend for education?

Dialog between Sherry Turkle and Henry Jenkis about role of technology in human relations....

In the USDOE Educational Technology plan, Universal Design for Learning standards require that information be presented in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities such as sight or hearing impairment. I found this article about automatic text-to-sign avatar software that would seem to be a no-brainer for anybody who is creating an eLearning experience that is primarily text-based. We have text-to-speech, which is as easy as opening a document and having a robot read the text for you. I wonder if there are any text-to-sign avatars that are available in English.

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.

Ed.D. and TED Senior Fellow Juliette LaMontagne discusses her best ideas to fix K-12 schools. Her vision includes increased informal learning, greater access to emerging software and online content such as Khan Academy and project-based work that allows students to apply what they learn to real world situations.

The publisher, Melville House, has recently come out with the "hybrid book". This product includes a book and a corresponding DVD, which provides background information and pictures pertaining to the story. Although I see the educational significance, I am skeptical as to whether or not the hybrid book will catch on. 

A study being conducted in five universities in the midwest found that students "were basically clueless about the logic underlying how the search engine organizes and displays its results." They found college students poorly filtered results and had difficulty finding 'scholarly sources.' The article also notes a rift between professors and university libraries where professors don't encourage students to seek out research specialists. I've found Gutman's research staff incredibly helpful, specifically with tips on narrowing journal searches.

Really proud of the P2PU/Mozilla badges team that's going into public beta soon. Check it out: http://badges.p2pu.org/users/77/vanessagennarell/

Scores becoming stagnant

This article outlines four ways that Quick Response codes scanned with smart phones could be used in formal education settings. The ideas are intriguing, such as keeping track of a students work throughout their school career and opening up lines of communication to parents.

I love the idea of a educational career portfolio using this technology. Can you imagine sending your QR code along with a college application to get a true picture of the type of student you have been and can become? The idea of using the QR codes with parents sounds like a great alternative to all the papers that get sent home (and lost) throughout the year, I just wonder what percentage of parents are equipped to handle that type of technology use.

Giving all students in a school district iPads could have some really positive results. Having all textbooks combined on a tablet has the potential not just to aid in convenience, but can also allow for students to access more up to date texts. I think that there is also a lot to be said for the potential of an iPad to help engage students in the classroom.

While in theory, the "allow for students to access more up to date texts" is a fantastic purpose for putting content on line and not burning it to a CD or printing the pages, it is the text book adoption laws in each state that publishers battle with every cycle, many of which won't allow for updates or changes to the one they purchase for the length of the adoption.

Here's an interesting use of one's social network: Community + Loo = CLOO