Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/30/2012
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David Loertscher is an inspiring, brilliant researcher who has written some great books on the learning commons and the evolution of the library. He is an expert. You'll want to join this free interview at 5pm Pacific, 8pm Eastern. Librarians and administrators should attend this session. I've learned so much from David.
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Harnessing Gaming for the Classroom - NYTimes.com
Nice article in the New York Times about game based learning. (Hat tip Larry Ferlazzo's Twitter stream.)
"Speaking at the Learning Without Frontiers conference in London last week, he said that computer games stimulate the brain’s reward system to produce dopamine, a chemical “which helps orient our attention and enhances the making of connections between neurons, which is the physical basis for learning.”
Mr. Howard-Jones said that research has shown that the introduction of a chance or game element into any reward system increases dopamine production. “For generations, we educators have done everything we can to maintain a consistent relationship between reward and achievement, but the neuroscience is telling us something different,” he said in an interview." -
Buying New Experiences, Not Things, Tied to Happiness | Psych Central News
If you're going to spend money, buy experiences not things. I also wonder if this would apply to schools. Are we happier doing novel activities or in having new gadgets in our classrooms?
"A new study suggests that those who spend money to do things are happier than those who spend their money on possessions." -
New research suggests Fomalhaut B may not be a planet after all
We thought we had a new planet - fomalhaut b, but a team at Princeton says the original findings are in error.
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Editorials & Opinion | JUST FIX IT | Losing kids on the path to prosperity | Seattle Times Newspaper
This Seattle Times Editorial about the state of education in Washington State is one of the most useful I have ever read. It explains the situation with facts,includes useful infographic and summarizes each topic with a practical recommendations.This is a formula I wish we would see more often instead of the emotion-filled fact-absent research-bending opeds that seem to be the norm in most media outlets.
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Franklin Schargel: President Obama's Plan to Raise the School Dropout Age Will Not Work
Will raising the dropout rate help? What happens when you have students who are being promoted even though they are not capable? Will this just cost money or will it improve learning?
Here is an article on the Huffington post for those who want to join in the debate.
President Obama, in his State of the Union Address, called for every state to require students to stay in school until they turn 18. -
Visual Turn • Why student success is such a radical idea
Different paradigms in online free learning are evolving and I found this comparison on visualturn between MITx and Udacity to be an interesting one. Sebastian Thrun believes that weeding out students doesn't promote learning and what he's going to do about it.
"Sebastian Thrun recently announced he is leaving Stanford to offer free online courses through a platform called Udacity.com, which also will offer certificates of completion.
Both MITx and Udacity are experiments in offering online learning to large numbers of students for free, along with some kind of “official” recognition of achievement. One way they differ is in their orientation toward student success and completion." -
Google Opens Google+ to Teens | News & Opinion | PCMag.com
Interestingly, if a stranger joins a hangout, google will kick a teen user off their own hangout. Anyone who is 13 and up can now use Google plus.
"Google said Thursday that it is opening up its Google+ social network to teens 13 and over, while rolling out new protections for those teens who join." -
Chapter 1 Introduction - Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds - Flat Classroom Book
Here are the resources from the first chapter of the Flat Classroom book along with the first chapter.
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Book Features - Flat Classroom Book
The book is out, so I can share what we did with our book features in the book. The graphic design is amazing (but I am quite partial.) The website will be finished up this week (we had to wait for the final book copy to tweak some things and wanted to release the pages as it launched.)
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Here is the youtube for teachers channel as part of the youtube edu initiative. You can drill down by videos for your school by subject area.
