Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/11/2012
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Howard Gardner: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed | Harvard Graduate School of Education
At the Askwith Forum on December 1, Professor Howard Gardner discussed the challenges faced by traditional education in light of two forces: the post-modern critique from the humanities and the disruptive potentials of the new digital media. As addressed in his most recent book, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed: Educating for the Virtues of the Twenty-First Century, Gardner described how the core ideas of truth, beauty, and goodness can survive and even be strengthened in education across the life span.
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Harvard EdCast: Designing a Digital Curriculum | Harvard Graduate School of Education
There are so many great podcasts out there. I like to hear directly from the companies I work with. Julie's and my first book is from Pearson and this podcast is of interest to me.
"Susan Sclafani, vice president of programs for the Pearson Foundation shares insight into the new digital curriculum being developed to adopt the common core standards." -
American School has named their top education books of 2011. Not sure how it set up this list but there are a few I want to read.
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A report was released on January 10, 2012 about democratic engagement on US college campuses. You can read this and their recommendations on the Association of American Colleges and Universities website. Of course, social media tools, when used well, can facilitate many of these goals.
"The Task Force calls on educators and public leaders to advance a 21st century vision of college learning for all students—a vision with civic learning and democratic engagement an expected part of every student’s college education. The report documents the nation’s anemic civic health and includes recommendations for action that address campus culture, general education, and civic inquiry as part of major and career fields as well as hands-on civic problem solving across differences." -
SmarTots - We recommend the Best Educational Apps for your Child
This website for parents gives you app reviews and also reports on what your child is learning in one integrated interface. The concept here is beautiful. No matter what app your child is using, if they use the Smartots platform, you can see what they're learning. I will be testing this, but the concept is an important one. We need accountability for our apps not just our teachers, otherwise, they are a black box with "educational" slapped on them. We have to play them and how many of us are going to spend hours doing that?
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Today is "free day" on sparkfun. If you join, you can possibly get free electronics, circuit boards, etc. on January 11.
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Photo of high school senior Sydney Spies deemed too sexy for yearbook in Colorado - NY Daily News
This young lady is "in to modeling" has her yearbook photos rejected. She's pursuing "self expression" but is she rally seeking the publicity. Her parent says it is "artistic" and "stunning." This is an interesting discussion about what is appropriate. She's going to put it in as an ad in the back. This is interesting as the "censors" are fellow students who say it is not appropriate. We deal with this sort of thing on senior comments but haven't had problems with photos yet. This is an interesting conversation piece.
