Category: schoolreform
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Living in the era of the digital cavemen and cavewomen
Remember the cartoon “Captain Caveman?” I’m sure I’m dating myself with this reference, but that was one of MANY cartoon favorites I remember watching growing up in the late 1970s. While that image and the memories it triggers bring a smile to my face and thoughts of, “Captaiiiinnnnnnn Caaaaaaaaveman,” the thought I had today related…
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Podcast193: Inventing The Future: Safely Empowering Learners in the Read/Write Society
This podcast is a recording of my first morning session at the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai, China, on September 16, 2007. The title of my session was “Inventing The Future: Safely Empowering Learners in the Read/Write Society.” The description of this session in the conference program was: As Dr. Lawrence Lessig has observed, we…
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Podcast191: Creating globally connected, rigorous and highly motivated assignments by Alan November
This podcast features a presentation by Alan November at the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai, China, on September 14, 2007. Alan’s session description in the conference program was: In this working session, we will combine our best thinking to create a library of creative assignments that our colleagues can use as high quality examples of…
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NCLB is a symptom and not a root problem
Gary Stager always challenges me with my thinking whenever I have an opportunity to visit with him or read his work. This evening prior to the kick-off panel discussion for the Learning 2.0 conference in Shanghai, Gary shared the idea that NCLB is really a symptom of bigger problems we have in education, rather than…
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Podcast190: Implications of the Attention Economy for Schools (Part 3 of 3)
Partly recorded on the airline flight from Detroit to Tokyo and partly recorded from our hotel in Shanghai for the Learning 2.0 conference, this podcast features four additional implications of our 21st century “attention economy” for teachers and students. This is the last part of a three part podcast series focusing on Michael Goldhaber’s 1997…
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Educational change agents wanted
If you are an academic researcher and interested in serving as a powerful catalyst for constructive educational change in the United States and across the globe, consider applying for a Education Entrepreneur Fellowship. According to the website of The Mind Trust: The Education Entrepreneur Fellowship provides extraordinary entrepreneurs with a unique opportunity to develop and…
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Meaningful PD and helping students create media
I’ve posted some new thoughts on the TechLearning blog related to meaningful professional development for teachers, and how school district leaders can help empower students by granting them access to digital technologies as well as inviting them to share their voices on the global stage via digital storytelling. My top recommendationsare : Digital Storytelling with…
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Interaction is insufficient, creation and construction are key
I was (at last) able to listen to Dr. Mitchel Resnick’s keynote address from BLC 2007, thanks to Bob Sprankle’s podcast recording. (Original link broken: Here’s an Internet Archive Wayback Machine version, which includes the original mp3 podcast!) I’ve heard Bob, Queyen Arana, and a few others mention what a fantastic message Mitch shared in the…
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Questioning school funding trends and mandatory attendance
Discussions about School 2.0 should not take place in vacuum. We need to be realistic about ways schools can and should be changed, and one of the most basic things we need to address is school finance. I addressed this briefly in my spotlight address at the National Educational Computing Conference in Atlanta in June,…
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Kozol on NCLB and the struggles of real teachers
Salon.com’s August 30th article “Teachers: Be subversive” features a wonderful interview with Jonathan Kozol. Kozol has recently published “Letters to a Young Teacher,” which reminds me thematically and stylistically to Paulo Freire’s books “Letters to Cristina” and “Teachers As Cultural Workers: Letters to Those Who Dare Teach.” Kozol’s book “The Shame of the Nation: The…