HGSET561

Survey participants identified four key factors as "extremely important" in building a successful K-12 online education program: -Reporting and progress monitoring tools that enable teachers to assess student comprehension and identify those that need additional help; -Teacher who are readily available to assist struggling students; -Educators specially trained to teach in an online environment; -Rigorous curriculum, designed to accommodate different learning styles, that keeps students focused and engaged.

Sounds promising!

"Coursera announced its employee-matching service, called Coursera Career Services. Some high-profile tech companies have already signed up-including Facebook and Twitter"

A yelp for MOOCs

Using MOOCs and technology to further stratify education

MOOCs and their shorsightedness.

Has this article about Chris Dede & EcoMuve been shared yet? I like its take on stepping up field trips...

PresenceLearning allows students to receive speech therapy services online. Willows is a tiny farming town in Northern California about 20 miles from where I grew up. Imagine my surprise as I read this article and realized that the superintendent they were quoting, Vicki Shadd, was actually my Jr. High School volleyball coach. The real benefit of distance therapeutic services in this instance is the ability to provide services to rural students who would would otherwise be neglected due to the school's location and budget. 

I'm not sure that smartphones are the best for backchannel. I think I would like an actual keyboard for something like that. Just saying. I'm thinking of T561 in this case. I would not have like to comment via smartphone on the T561 backchannel.

There's some interesting research implying that students with dyslexia prefer reading novels on smartphones (Jenny Thomson from HGSE is involved). The smaller window isolates smaller chunks of info, waking it easier to focus - seems difficult to me too, but goes to she you never know what could work...

"Language online is now a zero sum game."

True. But japanese expansion was maybe not too much due o the power of internet as much as english. Curious about Chinese given there are already so many dialects.

This is an interesting perspective, thanks for sharing. I was speaking with some friends from Germany and Spain, who explained that English has become much more motivating due to its pervasive existence online. However, mandarin is preferential to higher SES families who want their children to excel in business.

I'm sure you all know about Berkman Center. In case you're not on their email announcements list, you might want to be. As educators, parents and protectors of children, we have an interest and obligation to employ best practices for use of technologies and media dissemination. I'm certain we are all thinking about this deeply at this very heavy time.

Interesting article to read considering the changes (curricular, ed technological, etc.) that have happened in the paper four years...

We know a good deal about the contents of this article arlready, but its a TIME article and it links to some interesting studies and polls. http://nation.time.com/2012/10/18/higher-education-poll/?pcd=teaser and this should encourage us, as we pay through the nose for this education: David Stavens (Udacity's co-founder, and Stanford alum) concedes. "I think the top 50 schools are probably safe," he says. "There's a magic that goes on inside a university campus that, if you can afford to live inside that bubble, is wonderful." ... I agree with Mr. Stavens . I hope you do too. See you in class!

Quick BBC audio segment about the experiences of 2 Ethiopian villages with OLPC's new tablets

Thought provoking analysis of higher ed finances, and the prospects for emerging technology models to help "fix" the broken business model. By William Bowen, former President of Princeton and the Mellon Foundation.

The Knight Center's MOOC on data visualization was a bit smaller than traditional MOOCs (it actually capped enrollment at 2000), but the second version of the same class already has 4000 students registered. It sounds like the professor gave a lot of attention to the students and the projects, and the fact that the numbers went up is a good sign.

A potpourri of articles about online education compiled by Union Square Ventures as part of their analysis of the education market.