Changing to Learn - Changing to Learn

If you watch only one video in search of the answer as to why we are doing why we are doing what we are doing in EDM310, watch this one!

Pushing Back on Mediocre Professors

Pushing back on mediocre professors is reprinted here in its entirety.

College costs a fortune. It takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of money.

When a professor assigns you to send a blogger a list of vague and inane interview questions ("1. How did you get started in this field? 2. What type of training (education) does this field require? 3. What do you like best about your job? 4. what do you like least about your job?") I think you have an obligation to say, "Sir, I'm going to be in debt for ten years because of this degree. Perhaps you could give us an assignment that actually pushes us to solve interesting problems, overcome our fear or learn something that I could learn in no other way..."

When a professor spends hours in class going over concepts that are clearly covered in the textbook, I think you have an obligation to repeat the part about the debt and say, "perhaps you could assign this as homework and we could have an actual conversation in class..."

When you discover that one class after another has so many people in a giant room watching a tenured professor far far in the distance, perhaps you could mention the debt part to the dean and ask if the class could be on video so you could spend your money on interactions that actually changed your life.

The vast majority of email I get from college students is filled with disgust, disdain and frustration at how backwards the system is. Professors who neither read nor write blogs or current books in their field. Professors who rely on marketing textbooks that are advertising-based, despite the fact that virtually no professional marketers build their careers solely around advertising any longer. And most of all, about professors who treat new ideas or innovative ways of teaching with contempt.

"This is costing me a fortune, prof! Push us! Push yourself!"

Sharing: The Moral Imperative

2010 Preconference Keynote
K12 Online Conference

Presenter: Dean Shareski
Location: Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

Sharing: The Moral Imperative

SMHS Gen Yes Rocks

SMHS GenYes Rocks! from Debbie Kovesdy on Vimeo.

Also see the Huffington Press article by Sylvia Martinez It's A Gift --Tech Savvy Kids Changing the World

MOCOM 2020 - The Future of Mobile Media and Communication

via @lkolb

Pay Attention - Final Cut

Thanks to Caitlyn Lord

Sugata Mitra - How Kids Teach Themselves

Another version (earlier)

Increasing Student Achievement with Macs

It's not just the technology: it's project based learning, it's collaborative learning, it's rigorous learning, it's empowerment through trust, it's powerful tools used by excited teachers, it's tools that are easy to learn and use, it's an emphasis on creativity. Here is what Green County, N.C. did to improve student achievement: Increasing Student Achievement with Macs.

Thanks Allie Howell for finding and sharing this!

A Faculty Response to A Vision of Students Today

Watch A Faculty Response to A Vision of Students Today on You Tube. Be sure to read the comments. Leave a comment of your own. Comments are often more important than you might think!

Found by Carrie Tucker. Thanks Carrie!

California Tests Full Year Algebra Course on iPad

California Tests Full Year Algebra Course on iPad

No More Pencils; No More Books

No More Pencils; No More Books

The Stable Boy and the iPad by Michael Noer (Forbes)

It’s easy to be a knee-jerk cynic about Steve Jobs. After all, this is a man who seemingly can’t describe a product made by Apple without using the words “revolutionary” and/or “magical.” Even techno-crud like the MacBook Air and Apple TV.

But there are moments when you simply can’t deny the man’s genius. Two weeks ago, I was staying at a working dairy farm 60 kilometers north of Bogotá, Colombia. I was fiddling around with my iPad (OK, OK, I was reading a crappy science fiction novel) when one of the kids that worked in the stables came up to me and started staring at it. He couldn’t have been more than 6 years old, and I’d bet dollars to donuts that he had never used a computer or even a cellular telephone before (Colombia has many attractions. The vast pool of illiterate poor is not one of them.)

Curious, I handed him the device and a very small miracle happened. He started using it. I mean, really using it. Almost instantly, he was sliding around, opening and closing applications, playing a pinball game I had downloaded. All without a single word of instruction from me (my conversational Spanish is largely limited to nodding sagely while intoning sí, sí interspersed with the occasional Quiero una cerverza más, por favor.)

Think about this. Steve Jobs has designed a powerful computer that an illiterate 6-year-old can use without instruction. If that isn’t magical, I don’t know what is.

Did You Know - A Student Perspective

Thank to Heather Bright for finding this video of Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School in Las Vegas.

Phone Numbers Are Dead, They Just Don't Know It Yet by Nikhyl Singhal

Phone Numbers Are Dead, They Just Don't Know It Yet by Nikhyl Singhal

A fascinating commentary on what may lie ahead for phone numbers and the way we communicate on "telephones."

What Adults Can Learn From Kids by Adora Svitak

Powerful!

Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take the Pencils Home!. A must read for all teachers and administrators according to Allison Kirby (Summer 2010). I agree. Actually, you will enjoy all posts on this blog. Look it over. Subscribe by RSS Feed!

Dear Education

From the Fischbowl

Dan Pink's Talk at RSA

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Added because of Content and Technique. Think about both when you watch this interesting video.

Dr. Scott McLeod Are Schools Dangerously Irrelevant?

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

Found by Jennifer Chambers (Class B Spring '10). Here's her post:

I Think I've Become A Blogger
Check this out - just amazing! A choir ensemble of 185 people peformed Lux Aurumque. That in itself doesn't seem special. Until you realize the singers never met or performed together. The entire performance was put together through the internet and posted on You Tube. This was on the WKRG 5 Early Morning News today [May 4, 2010].

Thanks Jennifer!