Category: schoolreform
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Schools should abandon no-fault punishment schemes
Joanne Jacobs’ December 23rd post, “Self-defense is no defense” struck a chord with me, largely because of the experiences of some family friends last here in Edmond, Oklahoma, last Spring. The middle school age son in the family was having trouble adjusting to his new school, and ran into trouble with some bullies who picked…
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Novelty and curiosity essential for engagement and learning
Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski of USC was recently interviewed about an extensive memory study of older adults by the authors of the SharpBrains blog. In the interview, Zelinski stated: The physical fitness analogy is a good one, in that cognitive enhancement requires the engagement in a variety of activities, those activities must be novel, adaptive and…
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Consider 1:1 learning in Korea
Dreaming of a 1:1 learning environment with a supportive administration and good pay to boot? Consider the Korea International School in Seoul, South Korea. Clay Burell has put out a call, writing: “Teacher 2.0” types are eagerly sought. We’ve got the machines; now we need the visionaries and teachergeeks. The pay is better by far…
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Podcast208: Blending Learning with Powerful Ingredients
This podcast is a keynote address I shared on December 12, 2007, with teachers at the Good Shephard Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas, over skype as a videoconference to kick off a day of professional development focused on distance learning. We discussed the ways audio recording and podcasting technologies can be viewed as disruptive and…
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In-Flight Entertainment 2.0 and Educator Professional Development
Greetings from Northwest Airlines Flight 609, 10,980 meters above planet earth bound for Honolulu, Hawaii via Minneapolis, Minnesota. I thought I would take a few moments to write about the amazing “in-flight entertainment 2.0” system I’ve been playing with for the past half hour. It is increasingly difficult to get bored on and in the…
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Planetary magnetic fields and auroras
My wife and I watched an amazing 2004 NOVA special from NetFlix last night called “Magnetic Storm.” We love watching these types of science specials from time to time. I knew a few things about magnetic fields as they apply to earth science, but learned several new things in this special too that are amazing.…
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Thoughts about educational change inspired by videos and blog conversations
I recently caught up with discussions surrounding Gary Stager’s critique of Michael Wesch’s video, “A Vision of Students Today.” Gary posted his thoughts to his blogger site in the post “Are We Impressed Because College Students Can Use Google Docs?” and to the DA Pulse blog in the post “Hey Mom! Look What I Made…
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Podcast206: Inventing The Future: Safely Empowering Learners in the Read/Write Society (ODLA 2007)
This podcast features a recording of my keynote address at the 2007 Oklahoma Distance Learning Association (ODLA) conference in Tulsa on November 5, 2007. Although this presentation shares the same title as one I shared at the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai in September, the content of this session is entirely different. The description of…
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Changing expectations of learning
I listened to the second part of David Warlick’s interview with Holly Jobe as a podcast this morning driving into work. What an inspiring and thought provoking message! Here are a few key takeaways: Our focus as educators and learners should be helping students become LITERATE and actual practitioners, not simply pretenders, of the content…
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Podcast205: Innovation, Integration and the K-20 Center: Why Educational Leadership Needs Technology (Quyen Arana)
This podcast features a recording of the luncheon presentation by Quyen Arana at the Oklahoma Distance Learning Association’s Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on November 6, 2007. The title of Quyen’s presentation was, Innovation, Integration and the K-20 Center: Why Educational Leadership Needs Technology. The program description of his presentation was: The K20 Center at the…