In other news, rain is wet. Right? And this is an experiment you could easily reproduce for yourself (and your students, which is probably the more valuable demonstration). Still, I think I will share this article with my students as the semester begins. What is your device policy?
Author: Kristi Murdock
While I’d put this conclusive list of 11 things just above a Cosmopolitan magazine “quiz” and just below the local newspaper’s Opinion Poll about what type of restaurants the local cuisine scene is missing, it does have a couple of good items. While my neuroscience is not as cutting edge as it might be (is it just me, or does every study contradict the one before it?), I do like the reminder to try tech from the student perspective before jumping whole hog into it. And relaxing. I like relaxing. How about you — do you have all 11 attributes? We should make up a Cosmopolitan-style scoring rubric…!
6
Feb /
2018
“Vaunt” Smartglasses to debut this year
Intel is reported to be rolling out new smartglasses. It sounds like the glasses will actually be relatively “dumb,” with most functionality driven by the bluetooth-attached cell phone. They will have some “heads-up” display capability but it doesn’t sound like they provide any capture functionality, one of the most controversial things about Google Glass. “Early access program” later this year.
“At eSpark Learning, we’ve built Frontier, a new platform of inquiry-based ELA lessons designed with students and teachers in mind. We’ve made it our mission to build lessons that nurture 21st century academic success and empower extraordinary teaching. Our team has interviewed and observed hundreds of teachers from across the country to learn where technology is falling short in their classrooms and where teachers need additional support to take their instructional practice to the next level.”
Find the rest of the article on EdSurge here.
EdSurge queried ISTE participants about this in June and this article details the responses. I agree with some — single-purpose Clickers are pretty clunky. The problem with this, as well as the disgust about Scantrons (although this fellow is talking Digital Scantrons, which I don’t think are as common as paper in our environment!), the “solutions” to both problems involves a 1-1 student to (compatible) device in the classroom arrangement, something I certainly can’t count on. How about you? What EdTech “turnover” would you like to see in 2018?
26
Sep /
2017
Design of Technology-Enhanced Learning
Matt Bower from Macquarie University in Australia has just published a new book with this title. Here’s the TOC:
Chap. 1 Technology Integration as an Educational Imperative
Chap. 2 The Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework and its Implications
Chap. 3 Pedagogy and Technology-Enhanced Learning
Chap. 4 Technology affordances and multimedia learning effects
Chap. 5 Representing and sharing content using technology
Chap. 6 Design Thinking and Learning Design
Chap. 7 Design of Web 2.0 enhanced learning
Chap. 8 Designing for Learning using Social Networking
Chap. 9 Designing for Mobile Learning
Chap. 10 Designing for learning using Virtual Worlds
Chap. 11 Abstracting Technology-Enhanced Learning Design Principles
Chap. 12 Technology-Enhanced Learning – Conclusions and Future Directions
I ordered it and will let you know what I think once we’ve had a sit-down together (the book and I)
A lot of us have been equating “personalized learning” with the technology that makes (or will make) individualized learning paths possible, but this article makes the point that, as is pretty much always the case, it’s about the practices and not the technology; technology may help to implement, but it’s not going to do it “all by itself.”
4
Aug /
2017
Digital Distractions
Quote for today:
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“If we want to make a dent in the problem of digital distractions in class, we must begin by clarifying the policies we have created and the reasons behind them. Those reasons might look different from teacher to teacher.” — James Lang, professor of English at Assumption College. (The Chronicle of Higher Education) |
A good thought while preparing the syllabus. Not just “turn it off,” but this is WHY I don’t want you on Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat during class and it has to do with acquiring both the skills AND the discipline to be successful in life and in the workplace.
30
Jul /
2017
Screen capture applications
This roundup of tools is interesting because it doesn’t target educators. Some great ‘quick and dirty’ solutions!
26
Jul /
2017
How does “personalized learning” work?
“Personalized learning” is a huge buzzphrase these days, but, like the blind men and the elephant, it seems to mean many different things to many different people. This article (ignore the horrible headline!) has a description of the process some instructors are using, in conjunction with their Learning Management System and a few specialized tools, to create personalized learning pathways. As someone who has just converted a course from face-to-face to “anytime, anywhere,” I am a bit in awe of the amount of work that these instructors have undertaken to make this happen; I think it would take me a lot longer than a summer! But I’d love to see some samples and more practical implementation tips for doing this, nonetheless. And I would love to take a closer look at tools like Gooru’s “Learning Navigator” that is mentioned in the article. Does it really promote learner success or is it a step toward creating “assembly line” teaching? What do you think?
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