Posted on October 24, 2011 by JimS
[Note: This article was originally submitted as a reply to Harry Keller‘s comment (10.19.11) on Bonnie’s “Who Speaks for Teachers?” (10.16.11). -Editor]
Nice response. I read it while at a conference that is very different. I was sitting with a group of teachers at the time. We were at the Wireless Ed Tech Conference, Oct. 20-21 in Washington, DC. I cite it because this conference was sectioned into Business, Technology and Education, and allowed networking, but also allowed the people attending to go to other sessions. Click here to read their research document and to download Chris Dede and Marie Bjerede’s “Mobile Learning for the 21st Century: Insights from the 2010 Wireless EdTech Conference” (March 2011).
The fun of the conference — a conference is fun? — is that it was not a big box carnival of things to buy. It was ideas to think about and engaging in conversation with people who were educators, policy makers or researchers. And everyone was allowed to ask questions. We were not in carnival mode with so much going on that there was not time to think. Carefully crafted, this conference allowed networking time. It was assumed that we would network, and we did.
There were real teachers at this conference, and some of the content and activities met their needs. We were able to see the big ideas, to meet the mentors, to be involved in the dialogue that is so usually top-down. We heard Chris Dede, Elliot Soloway, and Shirley Malcom from Digital Promise and James Shelton from the Department of Education. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 22, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
One of the award winners for the 2011 Sloan-C Effective Practice Award is a paper written by six Seattle Pacific University professors, David Wicks, Andrew Lumpe, Henry Algera, Kris Gritter, Helen Barrett, and Janiess Sallee. The title is “bPortfolios: Blogging for Reflective Practice” (Sloan-C, 18 Oct. 2011), and the “b” in “bPortfolios” stands for “blogs.”
The use of blogs as eportfolios, in and of itself, is not especially new. Individual teachers in the field have been doing it for years. However, the fact that this move is being made by a large group of programs in a college of education – “undergraduate teacher education, Masters of Arts in Teaching, Masters of Teaching Mathematics and Science, and Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction” – and that the movement is outside the campus e-silo is definitely a radical departure from business as usual. In the last few years, blogs have been available in most LMSs (learning management systems), but the SPU group is emphatic about using WordPress, an “open” blog environment that’s freely available to everyone.
Here are some reasons they cite for their choice of an open blog service:
- “Basic WordPress accounts are free of charge.”
- The portfolios promote and support “autonomy,” i.e., “Students have ownership of their personal content management system.”
- Students can use the portfolios across an entire “degree program” for “numerous on-campus and online courses and/or during … field experiences.”
- The portfolios promote and support “social interaction,” i.e., “Students share their learning reflections in an open format.”
- Students can “continue to maintain their site upon completion of the program as their individual accounts are not registered on a university server.”
- The portfolio is “stored in the cloud (WordPress.com).”
- The portfolios are “highly cost effective” and sustainable: “The university can focus its time and efforts on improving instruction and student support for the bPortfolio rather than allocate funds and personnel to web-hosting, software upgrades, and software support, etc. in the bPortfolio project.”
SPU’s movement away from the confines of closed campus systems to the open web is a sign that colleges of education – or at least this college of education — are beginning to expand the role of 21st century teachers to include independence and empowerment in making technology-related curricular and pedagogical decisions. In this scenario, teachers and students are firmly in charge, and IT staff and resources are clearly in a support position to facilitate rather than dictate. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 20, 2011 by JimS
By Harry Keller
Editor, Science Education
[Note: The following article originated as a comment (10.19.11) to Bonnie Bracey Sutton’s “Who Speaks for Teachers?” (10.16.11). -Editor]
I don’t have your answer. So, don’t misinterpret my musings on this subject. That’s all they are.
Lots of people blame teachers for our problems because they’re an easy target. It’s not so simple. I see several sides to this discussion.
On one side, you have hard-working, capable teachers who just cannot cope with all that’s going on. Their class sizes have exploded, and their budgets have shrunk. Meaningful learning is hard to create under these circumstances except for the most talented and motivated (at the same time) teachers.
Another side shows us teachers who have chosen the wrong profession for whatever reason. Their personalities just don’t fit the necessities of teaching. Most of these will self-select themselves out of the profession, but some remain.
Some teachers have been assigned classes for which they were never trained. You see this problem in science where a life science teacher is given physical science classes or where the science teacher was trained in mathematics and not in science. Someone recently pointed out that only about 10% of K-12 STEM teachers have adequate training in their subject. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 16, 2011 by JimS
By Lynn Zimmerman
Editor, Teacher Education
Over the ten years that I have been at Purdue University Calumet, I have seen the evolution of courses from being offered almost completely face-to-face to having a wide variety of hybrid and online offerings in all schools and departments. For a predominately commuter campus, the online format is a way to give students more choices and flexibility to fit around their busy schedules. The university has supported and encouraged this move to more online offerings.
Janet Buckenmeyer, PhD, Purdue University Calumet
About six years ago an online training/mentoring program was developed to train and certify faculty in the building of online courses. The idea was that if we are going to offer courses online, faculty would benefit from instructional designers helping them develop courses that fit seamlessly into the online environment. Although participants were taught some technology skills, the focus was on how to develop a pedagogically sound course using techniques and strategies that have proven successful in the online environment. Up to this time, faculty have generally had latitude in deciding how they want to deliver their courses and making decisions based on their own knowledge of the content and their students. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 16, 2011 by JimS
Surely the past few years we have heard people speak about teachers, and they have had plenty to say. Most of it was negative. Most of it was demeaning to the people who chose teaching as a profession. In 2009, the media featured Michelle Rhee with a broom, sweeping out teachers that were not wanted. The assault on teachers continued with the LA Times picking up the pace, and we learned about teacher evaluations. Here’s a thought: I kept wondering who would speak up for teachers. That discussion was very slow in coming. Incredibly, Diane Ravitch and Larry Cuban picked up the baton.
I was waiting for the groups that teachers support to come forward, but teacher unions were under the gun and had to circle the wagons in their own defense, and the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) was shocked at the defunding of ETAN and they were circling their wagons, mounting a defense for the funding of ETAN. And then CoSn came to the fore, with the Horizon report and some good data about education. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 16, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
Idaho is stepping boldly into the future with its “Students Come First” law. A key emphasis is technology: “the state and local school districts will make every classroom a 21st Century Classroom.” This is how they define their new classroom: “Every student will learn in … a classroom that is not limited by walls, bell schedules, school calendars, or geography” (“About the Laws“).
To this end, they’ve created a technology task force chaired by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. A topic at the top of its agenda is “one-to-one mobile computing devices in high schools” (Task Force), which they define as “not limited to a laptop. It could be any device such as an iPad, netbook, Nook, Kindle, etc.” (SCF). The group began meeting in June 2011 and will be reporting its findings to the Idaho House and Senate Education Committees by no later than January 31, 2012.
The law, at least on the surface, is enlightened. Its definition of “classroom” reflects the virtual learning dimension opened up by web technology. Its emphasis on internet-enabled personal communication devices for every high school student is a step toward a 21st century classroom. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 13, 2011 by JimS
From Steve Gilbert, TLT Group, et al.
A free, interactive, online event.
October 14 – 2-3 pm ET
Click here for more info.
We’ll discuss how to recognize counterimplementation tactics, and how to distinguish between careful planning and undue restraint of innovation. We’ll exchange samples of both from participants’ own recent experience. We’ll suggest some Counter-Counter-Implementation Strategies and when they might be useful. We’ll explain how to use the TLT Group’s Fundamental Questions – which, unfortunately, have become especially helpful once again.
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Posted on October 13, 2011 by JimS
[Note: An earlier version of this article first appeared as a comment (10.12.11) on Jim Shimabukuro’s “University Leaders Beginning to Flex Their eMuscles” (10.7.11). -Editor]
One image that comes to mind when I attend conferences is that of sheep, that is, the people who go to the conferences thinking that the featured speakers know all of the answers and are willing to pay them big money to be “educated.” Not so obvious is the fact that, often, the major conference providers are promoting the resources of the private sector groups who contribute to their conference and who exhibit in their hall.
Many of the stars at these conferences are what I call educational entertainers. Sometimes the keynote speakers are quite entertaining. Sometimes they are educators of note, but all too often most of them have NEVER taught in a classroom. It is a cut throat business so the emphasis is on being entertaining rather than enlightening.
Then there is the hill walk. There are great things to be accomplished going to the hill. I had never heard of it mainly because I am from DC. My friends from other states educated me about going directly to the people who represent you: make an appointment, and go talk with them. The hill walks are sometimes organized by special interest groups to “help” politicians learn about education. It is an interesting process if you have never done it, and there are things to be gained.
In “Free Trips Raise Issues for Officials in Education,” Michael Winerip reports on influence-peddling in public-private collaborations (New York Times., 10.9.11). The article is interesting, but it covers just one of many different types of perks that school officials can get. I am sure that many of you can think of perks that are obtained if one buys a certain curriculum or is able to demonstrate a service or app that’s associated with a major vendor. So the world of education exists in a kind of ideational scaffolding somewhat fueled by money and influence. Maybe it was never any different. Maybe I am naive.
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Posted on October 13, 2011 by JimS
(From: Bonnie Bracey Sutton, Associate Editor)
Free Online Event: National Air and Space Museum
Conspiracy Theories in Aerospace History: A Lesson in Critical Thinking for the Internet Age
Join the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum for a free interactive online conference. Historians and educators from the Museum, and guests from the Department of the Navy and National History Day, will discuss four major events in aerospace history that have captured people’s imagination and given rise to speculation and conspiracy theories:
- Thinking Critically About Amelia Earhart’s Disappearance
- Thinking Critically About Pearl Harbor
- Thinking Critically About UFOs
- Thinking Critically About Apollo Moon Landings
Who: Secondary Teachers and Students
Date: Friday, Oct. 28, 2011
Time: 10:45 – 4:00 (Attend one session, or attend them all.)
Register Now!
Collaborative Writing Prompts Featuring Exhibits from the Smithsonian Institution
Sign Up to Receive ePals Extras, now featuring Smithsonian content.
Designed with Common Core Standards in mind, Email Extras are collaborative writing prompts that integrate media, engaging content and relevant topics from the Smithsonian Institution’s many museums into quick writing activities. Use them for morning warm-ups, journal writing topics, pen pal topics, extra credit assignments, and more.
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Posted on October 11, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
In their joint essay, “New Higher Education Model,” released on 10.6.11 at the Future of State Universities Conference in Dallas, Jeb Bush (former Florida governor) and Jim Hunt (former North Carolina governor) call for a radical shift toward online learning. However, despite the fact that their new model addresses some of the critical problems of the old, it seems to ignore others that may eventually stymie its effectiveness. Thus, their message bears both good and bad news.
First, the bad news. The economic hard times facing colleges and universities aren’t likely to disappear anytime soon: “Rising costs and reduced government funding in the wake of an economic recession have resulted in financial burdens that our state universities have never known before, and it is clear that funding is unlikely to return to pre-recession levels.”
Second, the good news. Bush and Hunt are aware of the netgens. Unlike the yeti, their footprints are real. They describe today’s students as “tech-savvy” and “demanding a high-quality education when, where and how they want it. Today’s students live lives that are divorced from the static, brick-and-mortar reality of institutions built for 19thcentury economic circumstances.” Thus, the new model must embrace online technology: “This new technology-powered business model meets the needs of tech-savvy, far-flung, diverse student populations with minimal investment in infrastructure, since dormitories, laboratories and classrooms are not needed for this model to deliver real results.” Continue reading →
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Posted on October 10, 2011 by JimS
From: John Walber, CSTP, CEO, LearningTimes
The STEMtech 2011 Online Conference is just a few days away and there is still time to register! Join us on October 12, 2011 for over a dozen interactive webcasts with the very best STEM and technology thought leaders who will share information about the growing importance of STEM and the strategic use of technology to better serve students, campuses, and communities. All you need to join the STEMtech Online is a computer with internet access. You can still save $25 off of individual and campus licenses with the coupon code below.
Continue reading →
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Posted on October 10, 2011 by JimS
By Melissa A. Venable
[Note: ETCJ’s Twitter editor, Jessica Knott, has been working with Melissa to develop this series. See Part 2: Channeling the Streams, Part 3: Curating the Chaos, and Part 4: Participating in a Live Event. -Editor]
This post is the first in a series designed to familiarize you with the art and science of Twitter. In part 1, you’ll learn more about how to get your Twitter account set-up and find other accounts you might want to follow.
As an instructional designer, my interest in social media, in general, and Twitter, more specifically, is to encourage new and effective ways to interact and share information online. For instructors, that interaction could be with students, with other instructors, and with various sources of information. So, that’s the perspective I’ll take with this series – Twitter for professional use. (You may want to consider a separate account for use with friends and family. Read more about multiple accounts in “Academics and Colleges Split Their Personalities for Social Media” in The Chronicle of Higher Education.)
What Is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging tool that features 140-character messages known as “tweets.” The focus is on communication – exchanging ideas and resources, providing updates, following events, and engaging in conversation. Twitter has gained some popularity in higher education as a way to connect with and build learning communities, track trends, and disseminate information.
Continue reading →
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Posted on October 10, 2011 by JimS
By Harry Keller
Editor, Science Education
In an article in the New York Times, Trip Gabriel and Matt Richtel shine a light on an issue that’s been debated around this country for years. Does all of that technology really help learning?
To be fair, they’ve focused on student learning software and not on social media in education or other such technology that teachers have grafted into their classes, often with great success. Instead, they looked at just software that is supposed to help students learn specific subjects. The bulk of the article considers Carnegie Learning’s Cognitive Tutor program that works with algebra concepts.
The authors point out that the U.S. Department of Education reviewed educational software last year and found “Undistinguished math curricula. Unproven results.” Rather damning.
The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt product, Destination Reading, also comes under scrutiny. It was found “not to have statistically significant effects on test scores.” And so it goes.
Yet, the classroom software market has been estimated at $2.2 billion per year. The article points out that the cost of Cognitive Tutor to a school is triple what textbooks for the same number of students would cost. Carnegie Learning was just acquired by the Apollo Group who run the University of Phoenix. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 9, 2011 by JimS
(From: Bonnie Bracey Sutton, Associate Editor)
Date: November 9-10, 2011
Venue: Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, DC
Please save the date for FOSI’s fifth Annual Conference and join our diverse group of participants as we discuss strategies for safe and healthy online use!
Who will be there? An international audience of policymakers, Internet Industry leaders, educators, legislators, law enforcement, Internet safety advocates, teachers, and technologists.
Why should you attend? This year’s FOSI conference and exhibition will be an opportunity for all stakeholders to discuss innovative ways to keep kids safe online.
If you are interested in sponsoring, exhibiting or more information, email us at:events@fosi.org
Click here for more information on the 2011 annual conference.
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Posted on October 7, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
The Future of State Universities conference, held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dallas, yesterday and today, attracted some very powerful people, including college presidents and provosts, public higher education leaders, and noteworthies such as WICHE president David Longanecker, Arizona State University’s Michael Crow, U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha J. Kanter, Clayton Christensen, Britain’s Tony Blair and Australia’s John Howard, former U.S. governors Jeb Bush and Jim Hunt, Education Secretary Arne Duncan (via video), and Salman Khan. But what makes this conference “unusual,” says Doug Lederman, is the sponsor, “Academic Partnerships, a for-profit company that works with public universities to build, market and support online academic programs” (“An Unusual Conference,” Inside Higher Ed, 10.7.11).
The commercial shadow over a conference to decide the future of public universities was not lost on the commenters, and one in particular caught my attention. Titled “Self-importance on Display,” it was presumably posted by Bob Kustra, President at Boise State University (10.7.11). Here’s the full comment:
As President of Boise State University, I received an invitation to attend and promptly threw it in the circular file. Even though a strong supporter of online education, I couldn’t imagine what I would learn from a collection of self-important, traveling higher ed barkers who could really be more effective back on their own campuses rather than preaching from Olympian heights and a few has-been’s from the governmental world.
Continue reading →
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Posted on October 7, 2011 by JimS
The LearningTimes – Jossey-Bass Online Teaching & Learning Conference (OTL 2011) will take place completely over the Internet on October 18-20, 2011.
Now in its 5th year, OTL 2011 is 3 days of live online sessions designed to equip educators and administrators with the essentials of online course design, development, instruction, and assessment with a comprehensive understanding of ‘the WHAT’ and ‘the HOW’ of online teaching & learning. You’ll interact live with leaders in this fast-growing field, right from your desk! Keynote presentations include:
Online Learning: How It Disrupts Traditional Higher Education for the Better
with Henry J. Eyring
The Mobile Academy: The Future is in the Palm of our Hands
with Clark N. Quinn
For more information and to register visit: http://2011.onlineteachingandlearning.com/
And don’t forget the Pre-Conference! Sponsored for the 5th consecutive year by Fielding Graduate University, the program features information and advice you can put to work immediately at your institution.
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Posted on October 5, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
Today, the Indian government announced the Aakash (“Sky” in Hindi), a tablet that will initially be given free to students and, later, sold for $35 to $60 dollars. It is being developed by Canada’s Data Wind, and it’s sold by the company as UBISlate 7. The UBISlate will “be available at retail stores for … about $60, and it will feature a cellular modem and SIM card slot…. [The Aakash] version will be WiFi-only” (“Aakash Android Tablet Hits India for $60 or Less,” Liliputing, 10.5.11).
According to John Ribeiro, the Aakash “has a 7-inch display with 800-by-480 pixel resolution, 256MB of RAM, 2GB flash storage, and a 366MHz processor from Connexant. The tablet runs the Android 2.2 [Froyo] operating system.” He adds that, “with added GPRS (general packet radio service) capability … it [could] double as a phone” (“India’s Low-cost Tablet Is Made by Canada’s DataWind,” ComputerWorld, 10.5.11). Ribeiro, quoting Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of DataWind, says that it “is adequate for most applications including HD quality video, reading books, and basic office applications.” Continue reading →
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Posted on October 3, 2011 by JimS
I live near the Washington Mall, where there are so many museums and learning places. I am also a short distance from the National Geographic Building, the NEA building and the headquarters of so many teacher organizations. I worry about the people who do not have access to the resources that I have. Even in this area, there are people who have never been down to the mall or any building in the Smithsonian. The last classroom job I had was teaching a school full of immigrants. Some of them cried when I took them on a field trip to Washington, D.C. They had never, NEVER been there.
Of course, my principal was not that keen on “wasting” educational time to take students to other learning places. So one of the things that we can do with the digital promise is to at least introduce students to museums and learning places. The Exploratorium is a wonderful place to visit online. They promise a lot and deliver.
Then there is this. Most of my students will not visit the Sistine Chapel anytime in the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t mean they can’t explore the place. Even when you go, there is too much to take in without preparation. And reflection is needed. However, through the web, you can re-visit the chapel.
Bonnie with her students at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, learning about GIS and space photography.
Continue reading →
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Posted on October 3, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
Harry Keller, ETCJ’s science education editor and president of Smart Science® Education Inc., was interviewed by Jim Shimabukuro in The American Journal of Distance Education July-September 2011 issue (v. 25, no. 3, pp. 192-200). The interview, “Speaking Personally — with Harry Keller,” focused on the company’s online labs.
Here’s an excerpt from the interview:
JS: What about support for project-based learning? Group learning? Field experiments?
HK: Anyone can use our online labs as part of projects: as preparation, as a resource during a project, and as a comparison after project completion. The curriculum designer or teacher chooses how and when to use our lab units. We could build a series of modules that include hands-on or field trip activities along with supporting online experiences. If focused on a real-world challenge, these should qualify as project-based learning and evince active and engaged learning that inspires students to achieve deeper knowledge of their subjects. Continue reading →
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Posted on October 3, 2011 by JimS
By Frank B. Withrow
It has always fascinated me to cogitate a bit about how we think. How do our thoughts become conscious to our minds? We examine the world through our senses and translate many of them into speech and language. Our memories of things often take on a wide range of sensory images. If we think about our mother’s apple pie that she baked for us when we were a kid, do we think in words or combinations of words, smells and tastes? Are most of our thoughts and memories in the form of a speaker in our heads? How do my fingers know what to type as I write this? If a stranger asks me how to find a place or address, do I see that address in my mind or do I just verbalize the directions or a bit of both? I often see in my mind the roads and buildings. If I am deaf, do I have an ASL signer in my mind? If I am deaf blind, do I have a tactile signer in my array of mental images?
If I am an architect, are my memories filled with architectural drawings of the inner workings of buildings or do I see the completed structures as well? If I am a musician, do melodies run through my head or do I see musical scores? If I am a computer programmer, do I think in code? If I am bilingual, do I think in one language only or a composite of languages? If I speak several languages, how do I organize my thoughts? Continue reading →
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Posted on September 29, 2011 by JimS
By Judith McDaniel
Editor, Web-based Course Design
On July 8, 2011, I wrote about US News’s proposal to rank online education programs. I concluded:
U.S. News’s efforts at analyzing and ranking new online programs will be good if:
- the data collected enhances knowledge about online approaches to higher education;
- gathering information into one searchable site provides comparative data on the effectiveness of online academic programs;
- the publicity assists the public to better understand online learning and the opportunities it offers;
- and then (perhaps) this collective effort will expand the market for adult students.
If the new rankings are simply perceived as another way for some institutions to enhance their revenue, then this effort will not benefit a public that needs and deserves this information
Now US News is one step further on in its ranking process, and today Inside Higher Ed reported that some schools had opted out of the ranking questionnaire while others had answered it and filed complaints. Continue reading →
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Posted on September 28, 2011 by JimS
By Jim Shimabukuro
Editor
A month before Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched, Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, the U.S. Army’s top general at the time, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee that “several hundred thousand soldiers” would be needed to secure Iraq after the invasion. The U.S. Defense Secretary replied that the general’s estimate was “far from the mark”; the Deputy Defense Secretary chimed in, claiming it was “way off the mark.” Three years later, the CENTCOM Commander admitted that the general’s estimate had been correct after all.
The point of this bit of history is that the U.S. government is wont to take grand and dramatic action to solve problems without paying close attention to the consequences. In the short run, the greater the theatrics, the greater the impact on the public. In the spirit of No Child Left Behind, we have The Digital Promise, the latest shock and awe solution to our country’s broken public schools. The question, however, is the long run, the aftermath. If necessary, can we sustain the additional costs over many years?
Continue reading →
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Posted on September 27, 2011 by JimS
By Frank B. Withrow
[Note: The following article is Frank’s response to comments received on his “The Digital Promise Must Be a Total Learning Experience,” 9.26.11. – Editor]
I once was a scoutmaster and had two boys that were eager to become Eagle Scouts. They both succeeded. One was very smart and things came easy to him. The other had to sometimes struggle to master content. The smart kid was a loner and liked to work alone and could care less about what the other Scouts were doing. The other wanted everyone to join him in his effort to become an Eagle. When he discovered something new that he liked, he wanted all his friends to join in and share the joy with him. I knew both boys from when they were just preschoolers. Both made Eagle, both did well in college and both had successful families and were successful in their fields of work.
The lone wolf passed away a few years ago. He was a good citizen and a good professional and had a good life. The other is retired now after a life working to benefit others. I recently got an email from him on Facebook saying he was volunteering to work in a social charity effort to help disabled people. He in effect said he could not think of not working at something that brought good to other people. He indicated that he expected to continue doing such work as long as he lived. Continue reading →
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Posted on September 26, 2011 by JimS
By Frank B. Withrow
Ipads, Ipods, smart phones and the Internet give educators new tools to rethink learning and schools. Today there are many learning places that our children engage in daily from Sesame Street as preschoolers and other learning programs on television to formal classes in schools. As educators we must develop new ways to certify that a student has learned his or her lessons. For example, a student may watch all of Ken Burns’s Civil War or the many videos on World War II and have gained a comprehensive understanding of those history lessons. How does the education system certify these informal learning experiences? There are many blended learning opportunities available to learners.
A student may be active in the Scouts and become an Eagle Scout. Can what the student learns in scouting somehow be considered in accreditation of his or her learning experience? Learning in traditional schools takes up about 1/9th of the student’s time. Can we blend the total learning experience of students into a comprehensive whole? Could some teachers become monitors of nontraditional learning? For example, we have published standards in subject areas. If students believe they have mastered the skills and knowledge in a given area, can they be tested and credited in that area? For example, in English literature, if they have read all the assigned materials, could they set up an appointment with a monitor and be tested and interviewed with respect to his or her knowledge? Continue reading →
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Posted on September 21, 2011 by JimS
By Stefanie Panke
Editor, Social Software in Education
The bi-annual conference of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI) took place from August 29 to September 3 at Exeter University – “probably one of the best Universities in the World.” Approximately 1600 researchers with backgrounds in pedagogy, psychology, social sciences and educational technology traveled to the South-West peninsular of the UK to discuss educational ideas for “the dawning age of the Internet” (conference program). Delegates came from more than 35 countries and from every continent: Chile, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. The largest contingents came from the Netherlands and Germany, followed by the UK and Finland.
EARLI has a reputation for its high standard of academic contributions and is a must-go-event for many researchers in the learning sciences. Numerous PhD students and postdocs use the opportunity to present their work, discuss research designs, and debate their findings and implications with more senior researchers. This year’s acceptance rate of papers and symposia was about 68%. Overall, the program comprised approximately 600 presentations, 160 symposia, 65 roundtables and 150 posters. Continue reading →
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Educational Technology and Change Journal 
