The recent attention given to the New Media Consortium Horizon Report for k12 has me thinking of the future again. I had a free couple of hours on Saturday morning when I woke up early with a gentle summer hangover and decided to pick up Michio Kaku’s Physics of the Future. In the first chapter, […]
Summer of Video
Is there a difference between watching Sal Khan on the internet and having him teach you face to face? According to Sal’s cousins there is. In his TED appearance, Sal reveals that his cousins told him they prefer his internet videos to his in-person tutoring. The reason they prefer their virtual cousin to the real […]
Over the Horizon: High School in 2017
Writing about future trends in any industry, at least from the blogging perspective, is fun because there is no accountability and it is fair to be blissfully optimistic. With that disposition I write now, inspired by the recently released 2012 Horizon Report K12 edition, a projection of possible future trends in education technology authored by […]
What’s On the Minds of Tech Savvy Educators?
One kiosk at this week’s International Society for Technology in Education 2012 (ISTE12) encouraged attendees to tweet a question or a suggestion to be considered by those who will be in attendance at the ISTE leadership conference in December. I have selected from this list some of my favorites ans storified them here.
What Physics Classes Can Learn from Preschoolers
When I started a blended learning pilot three weeks ago, I had a model for how things could be. The model comes from my daughter’s Montessori preschool. I have observed her classroom on several occasions during “job time.” The room is open with a few movable tables and chairs. Manipulatives, writing task kits, number task […]
Why “Just How Small is the Atom” Has the Most Views on Ted-Ed..
..and why we should be concerned. Love. That’s what I felt when I first landed on TED’s new site for educators and students, Ted-Ed. From the hosts of the 18 minute talks that have inspired some of the most interesting lunchtime discussions in my classroom over the last few years, comes a site brimming with equally […]
Edtech Early Days
I don’t know who the two cute girls in the back are, but the African American boy at the keyboard was the right wing on my soccer team. And you may not recognize her, but the pigtails in the foreground belong to Kimya Dawson. She did several of the songs on the soundtrack for Juno […]
Translating Krug’s Usability to Edtech
I am half way through reading Steve Krug’s, Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.” First published in 2000, “Don’t Make Me Think” is a practical guide for web designers, providing advice congruent with the title. I approached the book curious if web design principles from 2000 translated to design appropriate […]
An Early Foray into Blended Learning
This is a little embarrassing. The link below will take you to a video of me, circa 2003, pimpin’ it for HMH. It is a promotional video for their adaptive software program, Destination Math. Figured I’d better post it before someone else does. Growth through humility. video link..
The Big Challenge in US Education and How Edtech Can Help..
Succinctly stated the challenge is this: The United States culturally undervalues education. We have low standards for the teaching profession. Not surprisingly, there is little trust placed in our teaching force to make education decisions, and the practicing professionals in schools are kept out of the policy-making process. Read more at the New Media Consortium..
Blended Learning, Merit Pay, and My Wife
I am ready to jump in. For fifteen years I have been employing educational technologies in my high school science classes to increase student engagement and improve student performance. I have documented increases in both of these with my most recent foray into Peer Instruction with clickers over the last three years. Before that I […]
Edtech Innovation Curve – Infographic
Online teaching and learning are charging into the public sector like a freight train. As my colleagues and I consider how to best meet the challenge of this fast-paced transition, it is helpful to see edtech innovation as movement along a curve of integration. To help my colleagues conceptualize the trajectory I have created this […]
Imagining Possibilities in Edtech: Formative Assessment
First, a primer: when a student takes a test or writes a paper at the end of a unit of study, if that test or paper is graded and used as a component of that student’s overall grade in the course, we call this summative assessment. When students take standardized tests, as they must do […]
Imagining Possibilities in Edtech: Lesson Content Delivery
This is the second in a series of posts I am writing about what the traditional classroom could look like in the near future with already available and nearly available edtech. The first postexplored lesson planning. By one edtech standard, my high school health teacher was well ahead of his time. He had videotapes of lectures […]
Power to the People – Free Interactive Textbooks are Coming
Stephen Wolfram, maker of Mathematica and author of A New Kind of Science, challenges the world again; this time by collaborating to offer free online mathematics texts with interactive simulations to help students see math. Working in concert with Neeru Khosla’s free textbook initiative, ck12, Wolfram Alpha (WA) has made available free to everyone their […]
Ca Student Bill of Rights Act – Friend or Foe to Public Education?
This topic will probably get more action from me in coming months. This post will be a quick informational one to start a conversation so that I can get more information. The California Student Bill of Rights Initiative (link to .pdf of initiative text) seeks to allow students anywhere in California access to UC approved […]
Teaching Anger Management with Game-Based EdTech
This is just too cool to spoil with a long critical analysis. I came across this video and the corresponding brief project description while doing research on GameDesk (a SoCal-based research nonprofit) for an upcoming post on a study GameDesk did on Motion Math. It seems that the goal is to teach anger management to […]
Action Collabs and Rapid Fire Presentations at Big Ideas Fest 2011
It is almost six o’clock on Tuesday and I am sitting in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay at the Big Ideas Fest 2011. At the core of this unique conference is a product development process called an Action Collab. Think Startup Weekend with a focus on big ideas in education, […]
Frustrated with Search Results for Curricular Resources? Help is on the Way.
When was the last time you searched for a worksheet, test question bank, video clip, or an image for that lesson you were planning? Your answer: about two hours ago. Next question. How satisfying was that search? Your answer: not terribly. That is, unless you were searching for STEM resources and you were using Gooru. […]
Are You Sure You Want This? AUPs from Around the World
One out of every five times I boot up my clicker software — a process that takes nearly 120 seconds on my MacBook — the program crashes. Re-booting requires a full-system re-start. I desperately want to make the move to personal digital device dependence in my classes. Not only would a cloud-based solution be more […]
Question Tank 