Wasatch

My favorite online dictionary. Wordnik pulls in a lot of examples, including live Twitter feeds.

One of my favorite videos from the folks at NoTosh showing how assessment occurs in learning communities.

Great resource for using TED Talks in the classroom. See other video flips, or create your own.

understanding by design overview

Instructions for writing learning objectives and goals

Architectural firm's take on campus design

"e should be teaching kids not to install malware, rather than locking down machines so that it's physically impossible. We should be teaching kids to stay safe on-line rather than filtering their internet. Google and Facebook give kids money if they manage to find and exploit security vulnerabilities in their systems. In schools we exclude kids for attempting to hack our systems. Is that right?"

"A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Education flips upside down the notion that students learn best by first independently reading texts or watching online videos before coming to class to engage in hands-on projects. Studying a particular lesson, the Stanford researchers showed that when the order was reversed, students' performances improved substantially."

I dislike the pyramid because it creates the impression that there is a scarcity of creativity - only those who can traverse the bottom levels and reach the summit can be creative. And while this may be how it plays out in many schools, it's not due to any shortage of creative potential on the part of our students. I think the narrowing pyramid also posits that our students need a lot more focus on factual knowledge than creativity, or analyzing, or evaluating and applying what they've learned. And in a Google-world, it's just not true. Here's what I propose. In the 21st century, we flip Bloom's taxonomy. Rather than starting with knowledge, we start with creating, and eventually discern the knowledge that we need from it. Shelley Wright

"Linda Yollis and her second and third grader students share what they love about blogging."

"A couple of weeks ago I had an interesting meeting with about 25 instructional designers from UBC, where we discussed design models for hybrid learning, defined as a deliberate attempt to combine the best of both face-to-face and online learning. "

"A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Education flips upside down the notion that students learn best by first independently reading texts or watching online videos before coming to class to engage in hands-on projects. Studying a particular lesson, the Stanford researchers showed that when the order was reversed, students' performances improved substantially."

"Welcome to a series of posts devoted to the use of Project Based Learning. I know you will find new information… whether you are an experienced PBL user, or brand new. In this post I address the concept of "Driving Questions" I know it is a read you will enjoy and share. I have even included some amazing links including some to the BUCK Institute (BIE). They are the international leader in promoting PBL. "

"Project-based learning is an example of innovation, but probably not the way you'd expect. While learning through projects is indeed innovative compared to sit-and-get, drill-and-kill, teacher-led and textbook-sourced instruction, PBL's primary innovation is probably its flexibility. There's almost no other learning trend or innovation than can not only co-exist with PBL, but also fit seamlessly and entirely within it. PBL promotes innovation in education by making room for it. But creating that innovation -- what does that require? What kinds of ingredients can you put into the tin, shake up, and end up with innovation? "

Massive Open Online Course - students interested, administrators hesitant

I spend a lot of time, these days, talking and writing about how we are asking teachers to redefine what it means to be a teacher - and, in all fairness, how difficult that is. I try to present myself as a master learner, suggesting that part of what teachers should be, today, is constant and resourceful learners - master learners. But perhaps a significant part of this exercise in redefinition should involve our students - an explicit remolding of perceptions of these youngsters, in order to fully shift the relationship between student and teacher, learner and master learner.

"In their book, Turning Learning Right Side Up: Putting Education Back on Track, authors Russell L. Ackoff and Daniel Greenberg point out that today's education system is seriously flawed -- it focuses on teaching rather than learning. "Why should children -- or adults -- be asked to do something computers and related equipment can do much better than they can?" the authors ask in the following excerpt from the book. "Why doesn't education focus on what humans can do better than the machines and instruments they create?" "Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth learning can be taught." -- Oscar Wilde"

"Ron Berger from Expeditionary Learning demostrates the transformational power of models, critique, and descriptive feedback to improve student work. Here he tells the story of Austin's Butterfly. 1st grade students at ANSER Charter School in Boise, ID, helped Austin take a scientific illustration of a butterfly through multiple drafts toward a high-quality final product."

"The first big idea is learning by doing. We all learn better when learning is part of doing something we find really interesting. We learn best of all when we use what we learn to make something we really want. The second big idea is technology as building material. If you can use technology to make things you can make a lot more interesting things. And you can learn a lot more by making them. This is especially true of digital technology: computers of all sorts including the computer-controlled Lego in our Lab. The third big idea is hard fun. We learn best and we work best if we enjoy what we are doing. But fun and enjoying doesn't mean "easy." The best fun is hard fun. Our sports heroes work very hard at getting better at their sports. The most successful carpenter enjoys doing carpentry. The successful businessman enjoys working hard at making deals. The fourth big idea is learning to learn. Many students get the idea that "the only way to learn is by being taught." This is what makes them fail in school and in life. Nobody can teach you everything you need to know. You have to take charge of your own learning. The fifth big idea is taking time - the proper time for the job. Many students at school get used to being told every five minutes or every hour: do this, then do that, now do the next thing. If someone isn't telling them what to do they get bored. Life is not like that. To do anything important you have to learn to manage time for yourself. This is the hardest lesson for many of our students. The sixth big idea is the biggest of all: you can't get it right without getting it wrong. Nothing important works the first time. The only way to get it right is to look carefully at what happened when it went wrong. To succeed you need the freedom to goof on the way. The seventh big idea is do unto ourselves what we do unto our students. We are learning all the time. We have a lot of experience of other similar projects but each one is differ