I can’t figure out what to make of the Kno. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s an e-reader. But not like the iPad, not like the Kindle, and not like the myriad of competing Android-based tablets in the marketplace today. The Kno is aimed straight at education, and is designed to replicate...
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This is smart, timely, and wonderfully well-said:
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This is worth taking 15 minutes out of your day and watching:
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This is a great teacher. By using less information than most he encourages kids to actually learn – and not be content with being trained. Enjoy:
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I am almost finished my Masters degree in Educational Technology at UBC … just one course to go. Actually less, since I’m more than half-way through the last course. Here’s the major paper that I wrote for ETEC 530, my current course. The basic thesis? Constructivism, the current hottest paradigm in education du jour,...
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I was thinking about technology the other day at a Learning Series Alliance conference put on by Intel in Las Vegas. Teachers are at one time the biggest problem and the greatest asset for any transformation project in education. That’s simply because people are the biggest problem and greatest asset for any organizational change...
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Wow. This is an amazing video of a presentation at TED by Temple Grandin, who is an autistic scientist and the subject of an HBO movie.
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Here’s one from the “Seriously, you didn’t think this was a bad idea?” files: the Lower Merion School District of Ardmore, Pennsylvania, has been accused of remotely activating the webcams in its students’ laptops issued through their 1:1 program without the students’ knowledge or consent. While the case has yet to see a courtroom,...
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This video is a little slow and repetitive … but in 3 minutes it gets the message across: online learning is not correspondence learning on a computer. (Or … it should not be!)
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ScrollMotion’s been tapped to transmogrify textbooks published by McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and every standardized test-taking student’s favorite, Kaplan. . . . If you’ve over-analyzed the iPad keynote as much as we have, by now you’ve probably gotten the distinct sense that something felt like it was missing. One of those things, apparently, were...
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“Most eBook readers, for whatever reason, are priced at about the level of a low-end netbook, which proves to be a significant barrier,” Mitchell said. “A tablet that is both an eBook reader and a netbook-like device would make it much more attractive to your everyday user. Plus, interactivity will bring new content and...
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Washington state high-school students can now opt out of certain traditional elective classes at their schools, instead taking a limited number of online courses in game design, 3-D animation, video production and other technology subjects. The for-credit classes, free to most students, supplement normal core courses, allowing students to stay enrolled in their high...
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C.S.H.B. 4294 amends the Education Code to authorize use of the state textbook fund for the purchase of technological equipment. The bill requires the commissioner of education to adopt a list of electronic textbooks and instructional material that conveys information to the student or otherwise contributes to the learning process. The bill authorizes a...
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Very smart idea from Charlene Li for all those school sign-up sheets we get bombarding our home:
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I recently met Doru Ilasi at eLiberatica 2009. He’s the executive manager of Aplix Software, and we chatted about open source and education for a few minutes. He had mentioned a TED presentation on creative commons educational material, and just today passed on a link to the movie. It didn’t click for me when...
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Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology, social media, education, innovation ... and anything else that catches my fancy.