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At the Techonomy conference, industry leaders discuss the future of three-dimensional printing -- and how the technology will change markets forever. (Credit: Asa Mathat/Techonomy) MARANA, Ariz. - Three-dimensional printing: hype, or hope? That's the question industry leaders sought to answer at the Techonomy conference here in the sunny greater Tucson area.

A helpful graphic.

I guess teachers aren't the only ones that are going to have to worry about competition for their jobs in the future :)

This is interesting, Jason. I found this to be true for pilots as well. Serious gamers seemed to perform really well in the portions of flight school that required complex hand-eye-brain coordination.

MIT just appointed a new Director of Digital Learning. I guess edX and the impact of educational technology at MIT has become official and institutionalized--and probably not just a fad.

Hats off to MIT. I think they will reap huge benefits from putting an accomplished leader in charge of this endeavor. Not only does this appointment communicate how much value they place on digital learning, but it will likely lead to the development of a coherent vision, comprehensive strategy, and stream-lined effort to push MIT forward in the edtech scene. I haven't seen this same kind of commitment to edtech from Harvard. As HBS professor and author Clay Christensen so eloquently wrote, "you can talk all you want about having a strategy...but ultimately, this means nothing if you do not align those [strategies] with where you actually expend your time, money, and energy. In other words, how you allocate your resources is where the rubber meets the road."

In an effort to increase meaningful engagement in class, The Center for Physics Education Research (CPER) at the Air Force Academy is developing a "technology based system for monitoring student participation in all classroom activities on a daily basis and providing real-time scoring data to instructors through a mobile device such as an iPad TM, iPod TouchTM, or AndroidTM based device. Students will be rewarded for showing evidence of classroom engagement."

Emerging technology has had a strong geographical component. With Google Fiber up and running in Kansas City and tech start-ups burgeoning in Des Moines, we may see yet another wellspring of innovation in the Midwest. This could have significant implications on rural education and agtech.

There were numerous communities in Colorado that tried to lure Google Fiber; it looks like it's paying off for KC. It would be interesting to see the tech start-up numbers in comparison to other US locales. I would like more details as to why only two regions increased their share of angel investors.

My guess is that insufficient momentum or critical mass exists in other regions, Danna. The article mentions the Southwest and Great Plains as two regions with an increase in angel investors. The Southwest probably represents spillover from Silicon Valley, while the Great Plains benefits from large metropolitan areas, good universities, and a concentration of young professional residents. I also think that tech start-ups and VC firm naturally promote the growth of one another.

Just in time for the holidays! Popsci (popular science) is a pretty cool website. Could be useful for students, teachers, or pretty much anybody. How could we make time for a little more "making" in our schools?

My boys love Minecraft. This article has a ton of juicy links and makes some important points- particularly around the importance of designing a game that will be engaging- not just visually stunning.

Appropriate reading after the Turkle video.

related to the previous bookmark from the Economist. 

Even at a country "With internet penetration ....at only 5-10%," 

"But it's become a serious problem. When we don't control our email habit, we are controlled by it. " - somewhat related to the YouTube by dr. Sherry Turkle. I read this article when it was published (working life totally controlled by email I must say).. and sadly I am still addicted...

The Aspen Ideas Festival has a host of videos, audio clips and transcripts from the 2012 and 2011 sessions on education and edtech. Topics range from "Will Technology Disrupt the Way We Learn" and Knowledge Exchange: Information's Beautiful Future" to "The MiT Media Lab...Seeding Innovation," "The Next Internet" and "Will Technology Truly Transform Education" a panel with Fiona O'Carroll is executive vice president of the New Ventures/Innovation Group at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Ted Mitchell,President/CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund." There's much more...

Very interesting resource thank you for sharing!

This is not necessarily related to technology but think is relevant to the concern presented by Dr Turkle on 'multitasking'. Many of us and current management have fostered the bad habit of multitasking, responding to the expectation that we will respond immediately, seek to keep ourselves busy to reward our brain... This famous book by Ghoshal introduces the concept of 'active non-action'. Figure 2-1 provides 4 types of managerial behaviors (the detached, procrastinators, frenzied and the purposeful). how many of us are being 'the purposeful' today? 

Stanford's acclaimed d. school inspired 50 teams of graduate students to pitch projects at Aspen Ideas Festival. Spark Truck, one of the winners is a "mobile maker lab" that brings simple tech to help inspire kids to become creators.

"The revolution in education is not something that's going to happen tomorrow. It's starting to happen quite a while ago, when in Nigeria and Kenya kids in schools would use their mobile phones to subscribe to information," says Alina Vandenberghe, head of mobile and gaming at Pearson.