Group items tagged

New York Times magazine article on RCS and KIPP character education programs.

"schools are spending billions on technology, even as they cut budgets and lay off teachers, with little proof that this approach is improving basic learning."

Another advance in the flipped classroom construct. What I found most interesting was the use of the students as peer assessors when they were given papers to write instead of quizzes. not sure how effective it would be, but it might be very effective to have 1000 or so thoughtful critiques of a paper you've written. You would see a trend of the responses, and it might weed out subjectivity. That kind of "crowdsourcing" is something unique that technology could provide. There is a module in moodle which was not ready for primetime in version 1.9, but in Moodle 2.0 it might be. It was called Workshop, and allowed teachers and students to do peer editing and grading in an organized way. If it works better in 2.0, we should consider using it for peer editing exercises... ben

The Blue School in the news.

Basic article on the concept of Khan Academy. My takeaway was the importance of the following quote: "It can give the teacher additional class time to do more creative and customized teaching. " If you are not taking up classtime imparting knowledge where the teacher is speaking more of the time, you give students the voice to explain what is going on in their heads, or working on collaborative problem solving.

Programming made easier

The key sentence for me is in the second paragraph:"And the plan envisions a fundamental change in the role of teachers, making them less a lecturer at the front of the room and more of a guide helping students through lessons delivered on computers" - I see that as not just related to technology but to the new strucyure for how classrooms should be organized. To make technology the scapegoat for this new organization is deflecting from the bigger issue of how to teach effectively, through lecture or through inquiry-based, project based, and constructivist methodologies.

Includes articles on video games, the LiveScribe pen, and other classroom technology.

Another article that discusses the effectiveness of technology in learning. . while also including marketing information

"It was just another day here at St. John's College, whose distinctiveness goes far beyond its curriculum of great works: Aeschylus and Aristotle, Bacon and Bach. As much of academia fractures into ever more specific disciplines, this tiny college still expects - in fact, requires - its professors to teach almost every subject, leveraging ignorance as much as expertise."

"It was just another day here at St. John's College, whose distinctiveness goes far beyond its curriculum of great works: Aeschylus and Aristotle, Bacon and Bach. As much of academia fractures into ever more specific disciplines, this tiny college still expects - in fact, requires - its professors to teach almost every subject, leveraging ignorance as much as expertise."

"Despite the American Academy of Pediatricians' longstanding recommendations to the contrary, children under 8 are spending more time than ever in front of screens, according to a study scheduled for release Tuesday." (Oct. 25, 2011)

interactive visual animation of brain development

Loved the graphics - thank you Rose for sharing this!

"the school's chief teaching tools are anything but high-tech: pens and paper, knitting needles and, occasionally, mud. Not a computer to be found. No screens at all. They are not allowed in the classroom, and the school even frowns on their use at home."

Flipped Classroom Article keeps driving the point home...

The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers on issues both timely and timeless.Tags:The Stone is featuring occasional posts by Gary Gutting, a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, that apply critical thinking to information and events that have appeared in the news.