Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 02/22/2012
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Be Better at Twitter: The Definitive, Data-Driven Guide - Megan Garber - Technology - The Atlantic
Excellent article about the research from several researchers about Tweets that are compelling and those that are turn-offs. This and the original research are both great reads. I thought it funny that people particularly hate foursquare check ins mentioned through Twitter, so unlink that account or lose followers!
"One piece of advice: Nix the "sandwich tweets." People do not care what you are eating for lunch. (Specifically: "Sorry, but I don't care what people are eating," "too much personal info," "He moans about this ALL THE TIME. Seriously.") Twitter, as a communications platform, has evolved beyond nascent Twttr's charmingly mundane updates ("cleaning my apartment"; "hungry") and into something more crowd-conscious and curatorial. Though Twitter won't necessarily replace traditional news, it increasingly functions as a real-time newswire, disseminating and amplifying information gathered from the world and the web.- "The Twitter ecosystem values learning about new content," the study notes -- so new info, it seems, is new info, regardless of who provides it.
- And sharing your own work conveys excitement about that work -- which means that self-promotion, rather than being a Twitter turn-off, can actually be an added value.
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Epeus' epigone: QR Codes: bad idea or terrible idea?
Some people don't like QR codes. I still think they are helpful. What do you think?
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Education Week: Among AP Courses, Geography and Environment Are Hot
Across more than 30 topics covered in the Advanced Placement program, participation in geography is rising faster than any other. It's joined by AP courses like Chinese, environmental science, psychology, and world history that have been gaining ground most rapidly in recent years.
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Mike Muir is cited in this article. He's always impressed me with his ability to be a researcher but translate his results into practical classroom application. If he says it, I believe it. He shares the following results in this article.
"Early test results of kindergarten pupils like David who used iPads for nine weeks last fall — compared to kindergartners who did not — show the iPads pupils did better, according to an Auburn School Department report released Wednesday.
In 9 of the 10 areas of testing around pre-reading skills, the group of 129 students with iPads made slightly larger gains than the 137 students without. Testing included listening and comprehension, identifying letters, reading, vocabulary and identifying letter sounds.
Only one area, however, was statistically higher: recognizing sounds and writing letters. In that test, students were dictated words. They had to translate the sounds into letters and write the words. Kindergartners with iPads gained 13.72 points, compared to an 11.58-point gain for students who didn’t have iPads. That difference is significant, said Mike Muir, the Multiple Pathways leader for Auburn schools." -
Converting web literacy skills into lesson plans and tools « rwxweb
This is the next step in using Web Making 101 for journalists. It is fascinating watching their work evolve. I would like to use this with my high school students. I hope Mozilla keeps it going.
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JESS KLEIN: Webmaking 101 for Journalists: A Prototype
It is great to watch this Webmaking 101 course for journalists evolve. jess Klein wants to "create authentic learning experiences around webmaking projects." This is a brainstorm about how to teach journalists the basics of html, css, and copyright authentically. I'm looking for the site. I love it. The site would strip out everything but the text and let the journalists add things back in.
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Videos on innovative teaching with Eric Mazur and other Harvard professors | Harvard Magazine
These videos on active learning are great to share and view. From Harvard's series on active learning. This is the kind of video series you'll want to share with your preservice teachers AND college professors.
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Eric Mazur on new interactive teaching techniques | Harvard Magazine Mar-Apr 2012
An article from Harvard Magazine on the Twilight of the lecture. There are measurable improvements when you move to interactive learning:
"Interactive learning triples students’ gains in knowledge as measured by the kinds of conceptual tests that had once deflated Mazur’s spirits, and by many other assessments as well. It has other salutary effects, like erasing the gender gap between male and female undergraduates. “If you look at incoming scores for our male and female physics students at Harvard, there’s a gap,” Mazur explains. “If you teach a traditional course, the gap just translates up: men gain, women gain, but the gap remains the same. If you teach interactively, both gain more, but the women gain disproportionately more and close the gap.” Though there isn’t yet definitive research on what causes this, Mazur speculates that the verbal and collaborative/collegial nature of peer interactions may enhance the learning environment for women students."
