HGSET561

important annual report on emerging educational technologies in higher education

Infographic on Knewton's website

A different point of view on Khan Academy because of one-way instruction.

Why Khan Academy and similar approaches are not transformative

This imaginative film, which eloquently illustrates "innovation" in its most inncent form, was shot solely on a cell phone... Enjoy!

A high school student devised an augmented reality interface to transform medical education--the phrase "kids these days" doesn't even begin to cover it.

Google enters the MOOC market..

This is great! I'm very curious to see how this is being used, what types of conversations are being asked, and how and if this turns into longer term mentorships. Our team for Innovation be Design class is looking to create something like this for high school girls already engaged in STEM...so we are looking at the step right before this so making sure that the "interested" girls actually major in STEM fields.

Ed Week has set up a new page to cover the newest trends in educational technology and innovation in the classroom

Janet, this is a really great channel for the avalanche of information out there. I especially found the interactive graphic (embedded link) on the Anatomy of EdTech start-up interesting because of the age distribution chart.

This infographic is especially interesting because, as far as I saw it, most of these "innovative" approaches didn't actually seem all that extraordinary. More generally, it's puzzling (and troubling, really) that despite advances in ed-tech in primary and secondary school, higher education institutions are quite far behind the curve as far as innovative uses of technology goes.

I agree - besides a lot of back-office and stick-stuff-online applications, only Mixable stood out (forming study groups), and that seems not to have much scope.

Pretty interesting insights. I think the vision matches what most people think of, though I'm not convinced by her talk that it's fundamentally different from the Open Universities or U of Phoenix (except that it's free and put on by top "brick-and-mortar" universities).

Teachers rate educational apps. I'm interested in the intersection of crowdsourcing and teacher professional development.

That would be interesting to see what teachers develop....this brings me to the thought that was brought up by that guy (don't recall his name) at the i-lab about having teachers develop apps but having them be able to make money off of it....

Is this based on research, or on opinion?

At Socrative we've received the same feedback about student comfort and improved fluency with their own devices. From a teacher perspective it has also been appreciated as they aren't expected to be experts in the technology. Especially for teachers who weren't previously in a 1 to 1 or high technology environment. However, from an IT perspective "Y" "O" has caused issues dealing with app updates, permissions, battery life etc. I guess tech isn't the wonder solution for all :)

"Legacy costs, ideas and infrastructure have set the table for creative disruption, with technology now offering alternative ways to acquire skills, knowledge, and accolades." This not only talks about transformation among teachers lives (and consequently those of the children thru what the empowered teachers provide) but makes you feel that the way in which teachers are evaluated are taking a whole new stage. More open, more emphasis on its impact and connected. 

Link to National Research Council workshop on games and simulations in science education, including all the commissioned papers.

Ways to take advantage of wikis as a web 2 learning tool

This article scientifically explains why humans crave for information. Research suggests the notion that midbrain dopamine neurons are coding for both primitive and cognitive rewards. This sounds like section of our brain still prefers to be strongly wired as behaviorist and cognitivist over constructivist.

How smartphones can aid math learning and motivation in and out of school

Research suggesting the deficits within multitasking

Finally, people are seeing the light!

20 Web 2.0 apps for learning