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Can Knewton’s Adaptive Learning Software Personalize Education? | MIT Technology Review Advertising adapts, shouldn't our learning? The theory behind is great, but perhaps it isn't well implemented yet. I wrote a piece for the New York Times a while back on Adaptive Testing. This piece in the MIT technology review is worth a read. "By carefully logging students’ every action online, a company called Knewton says, it can personalize questions and lessons to help people learn faster. Skeptics say that’s not proven." tags: education news testing adaptivelearning adaptivetesting tumblr Evernote for Schools I love and use Evernote - with all of the apps that add into it, it is very useful. I do also know that many schools love Microsoft One Note -one...

Teachers.io Another option for organizing classes and sharing your syllabus and work. There are a lot of options out there. It is important for schools to plan how work will lbe disseminated and students will connect. Bricks and CLICKS are important decisons for schools to make - where will students meet face to face and online. It is time to be discussing this now - particularly for middle and high school.  "Schedule Teachers.io helps you organize your class schedule, so you know what's coming up next.Your class information can easily be copied between sections and semesters too." tags: education teaching apps ipad byot byod myHomework Student Planner An app that some students are using to organize homework. It is worth a look. ...

The decline of fascination and the rise in ennui Seth Godin writes, "Today, an internet video or an investment philosophy or a political moment might last for weeks or even a few days. It's not unusual for a movie or a book or even a TV series to come and go before most people notice it. Neophilia has fundamentally changed the culture." This "neophilia" or craving for new things is a ping pong game that never ends. The fact in education is that there are strategies that have worked for a long time that we can use in the classroom. Not everything has to be new -- all the time -- my classroom has been doing the Flat Classroom project every year once a year for the last 5 years since Julie Lindsay and I first invented it. Sure, we've added new things and elements like a Diigo bookmarking group -- we're always trying to improve it -- but you don't have to always have all new things all the time. Neither can we ha...

Principal plays surprising role in why new teachers quit Relationships are vital. Principals need them, especially with their teachers. It keeps coming back to leadership! Good principals have good relationships with their teachers. Also, the perception of how well the school principal works with the teaching staff as a whole. "Why do so many beginning teachers quit the profession or change schools? Surprising new research finds it’s not a heavy workload or lack of resources that has the most significant effect, but instead the relationship between teachers and their principal." tags: education news research researcher_thoughtleader principal Workarounds for Clipping Web Pages into Evernote on iOS If you use Evernote on the ipad, these instructions for installing t...

Flat Classroom project applications are open now for next semester. If you want to see a summary of all projects you can go to http://www.flatclassroomproject.net or click on the green title of any of the projects below. The red application "apply now" will take you to the application and information for each project.  I've put ages beside each project. Each project has weekly teacher meetings, a Google group to aid quick communications and in-classroom teachers who manage the projects. There is a small fee for the projects to cover costs. (If this is a hardship for you, note it on your application form .) There are many options to collaborate globally and these are just one. We worked hard in our book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds to help demonstrate and share many projects that can help you meet your standards as you collaborate globally. Our purpose is to be the best global education projects where students and teachers co-create and merge their classr...

Nominations Open – The 2012 Edublog Awards are here! | The Edublog Awards You have until NOvember 26 to nominate for the Edublog awards. There are many who don't care for this awards system because there are many great bloggers, but I think anything that recognizes educational blogging is a good thing. So, nominate away, here is information. Here's the page that tells you how to do this. "The 2012 Edublog Awards are a go! The Edublog Awards is a community based initiative started in 2004 in response to community concerns relating to how schools, districts and educational institutions were blocking access of learner and teacher blog sites for educational purposes.  The purpose of the Edublog awards is promote and demonstrate the educational values of these social media. Working together, we create an invaluable resource of the best-of-the-best on the web! How Does It Work? There are 3 parts to the awards: Nominations – NOW through N...

worldwidethinktank - home Julie Lindsay and Think Global School and Flat Classroom have partnered to create the World Wide Think Tank and organization for students to brainstorm and take action on common issues. If you want to join - here is their wiki. tags: education news flatclass globaled tumblr The Flat Classroom Project - Taking the Long View - Flat Classroom Project The "Youtube" keynote is a hinge of our projects - we have renegades and innovators from around the world share a challenge and thoughts for students and teachers as part of each project. Chris Betcher does something FASCINATING - he reaches back to his first global collaborative projects 10 years a go and has found the students from that project and shares what they are doing now.  I'm going ...

The Flat Classroom Project - Taking the Long View - Flat Classroom Project The "Youtube" keynote is a hinge of our projects - we have renegades and innovators from around the world share a challenge and thoughts for students and teachers as part of each project. Chris Betcher does something FASCINATING - he reaches back to his first global collaborative projects 10 years a go and has found the students from that project and shares what they are doing now.  I'm going to do the same in about  4 years with my first Flat Classroom students. It is tremendous how the students had a head start in the world by collaborating globally. These would make great films for preservice teachers and your classroom. I highly recommend viewing this video. Why do we incorporate global collaboration into our classrooms?  "Australia/Sydney-based award winning educator, Chris Betcher, talks about the long-term advantages for students of connecting a...

We are all walking wounded. We all have things that have hurt is in life: personal or professional situations that have left us limping. While it would be nice to go into the struggles of our lives with muscles rippling like a well-oiled Apollo or Athena in all the grandeur of a fresh rest on Olympus and a brief appearance to do battle among humankind -- that isn't what happens in life. Far from appearing like ancient gods, we all have our flaws. Chinks in our armor...holes in our thesis, a wilt in our leaves-- whatever your analogy, if you're reading this with breath in your nostrils - you and me are both mortal and imperfect. I share stories from my life because it is the stories of life that teach me. When I feel the emotion and struggle, that is when I learn things. Last night my son's football team was playing an excellent, strong, fast team in the state quarter finals. With 4 minutes left, he got up from the bottom of the pile limping. But he was walking it off trying...

Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org: #BYOT Mobile Device Chart #BYOD A comparison of tablet devices and mobile devices by Miguel Guhlin. As you evaluate alternatives for your school or personally (for Christmas) you should take the time to review this chart. Share it, Miguel has done a great job. tags: education news tablet byot byod I don't want to be the one to tell them... Doug Johnson pontificates on the fact that now that the Google nexus and other droid-based tablets are becoming so much better, that it will be hard to let everyone know they need to swap so they can save money. I'm testing a Droid based tablet from Kenna and must say that although it isn't an ipad, for a fraction of the cost, it is quite impressive. It has slots for sd cards, better sound, and a h...

2012 Global Education Conference Guide An excellent guide with links to blackboard rooms in the guide. Download and use this as you jump from room to room and learn at the Global Ed conference. tags: education news globaled12 globaled Flattening the Walls in Teacher Education - The Global Education Conference Network Barbara Morganfield is hosting this important conversation - it is time to begin connecting our preservice teachers at the college level. "Through Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis’ Flat Classroom Projects (2013), many K-12 educators throughout the world are flattening classroom walls and providing extraordinary opportunities for students to connect, collaborate and learn from others around the globe. Through these projects, students use Web 2.0 technologies and incorporat...

Boeing 757 Delta Airlines with a flat tire. (Photo credit: dirkjankraan.com ) It is so easy to get caught up in the vision of what you have going that you have tunnel vision. You see it, you've got it. Then... WHAM! Out of the blue, someone lights into you. It is their job to personally correct you and deflate that overblown tire of yours... or is it? The Christian group Newsong  has an old song "The Coldwater Committee." Lest you think they don't exist... they do. Someone saw it to be their personal job to correct me on something last week... not at work, but something relating to this blog. I was "out of line" in their opinion and they were going to "set me straight." I'm out of line a lot. You probably are too. None of us are perfect. However, I let this one, anonymous stranger get to me. I let it call into question everything I've worked for since December 2005 when I started this blog. Why? Some people will never be hap...

The Global Education Conference Network - GlobalEdCon: Connecting Educators and Organizations Worldwide Global Education Conference starts Monday - get in there and start putting these on your schedule. Some great sessions. I'm only doing one this year on Monday night at 10pm where Julie and I will share the most important stories from Flat Classroom projects around the world centering around 4 aspects: the Handshake, Creative Co-Creation, Celebration, and creative "flattening" (including other types of people besides students in projects.)  There are a lot of incredible sessions, so join in! "Our free, online conference starts Monday, November 12 and runs around the clock for five days. No registration is required but we do encourage you to join this network for email updates and to connect with presenters and participants. To see the conference schedule, or to attend a session or keynote, click HERE for the "Sessions ...

E-Learning Journeys: How to attend the Global Education Conference! My friend Julie has written a great blog post on how to attend the Gloal Education Conference. You'll want to use this as a reference. tags: education globaled flatclass Tumblr teaching gec The Global Education Conference Network - GlobalEdCon: Connecting Educators and Organizations Worldwide Global Education Conference starts Monday - get in there and start putting these on your schedule. Some great sessions. I'm only doing one this year on Monday night at 10pm where Julie and I will share the most important stories from Flat Classroom projects around the world centering around 4 aspects: the Handshake, Creative Co-Creation, Celebration, and creative "flattening" (including othe...

Architizer has a fantastic article about how new facilities are raising funds on Kickstarter . (Kickstarter is a funding platform for 'creative projects.') In "How Kickstarter is Changing Architecture," they profile several instances of kickstarter being used to fund and implement needed buildings and projects: A "Peace and Quite Booth" in Times square" The Lowline project - an underground park built in Manhattan's Lower East Side (they met their goal in 8 days!) A New York public pool gets a new Splash House when grad students from Parsons decided they wanted to build it. OK, let's take your mind and blow it with this one here. Two people wanted to create a special feature in a park, so they didn't take the typical route and propose to city leaders, etc. They created a Kickstarter campaign. Of course, you still have to get approval for things, but often it comes down to money, doesn't it? No one wants to be on the hook ...

aweekinthelife12-2 - Class Handshakes Awesome class handshakes for A week in the life elementary project using Symbaloo. Great work! The project managers for this are Michelle McGarvey and Toni Barton. Awesome! tags: education news flatclass tumblr symbaloo About Us | Silverchair I'm fascinated to look at this company, Silverchair, which is touted as one of the fastest growing companies in the world. They are doing things to transform scholarly publishing in a way that is sensitive to the user. I want to learn more about them, but for now, thought I'd mention their name as I'm reading up on the evolution of publishing. "Silverchair Information Systems develops products by partnering with scholarly publishers to transform content for a more valuable user expe...

Announcing the Global Student Leadership Forum — THINK Global School "THINK Global School in conjunction with the Flat Classroom Project® are excited to announce the formation of a Global Student Leadership Forum. After months of planning, the forum will be launched at the upcoming Global Education Conference, when students will meet online and exchange ideas and plans for future development. What are the aims? The aim of the Forum is to to encourage students (High School – Gr 9-12) to gather in a formal capacity to discuss issues and propose future directions for the world. It is also to provide a place for students to form an online community that will support and foster active discussion and interaction with a view to sharing resources, ideas and collaborate on actions globally. Virtual classroom and community networking tools and other resources will provide opportunities for students from all parts of the world to come together as a glo...

HOW TO : Embed the Kindle Ebooks on Your Website ~ Geeky Stuffs "But here we are going to learn how to embed the sample chapters of the ebooks available on the Amazon store." You can embed Kindle ebooks  and sample chapters on your blog. This is a very cool way to do book reviews. tags: education news blogging Announcing the Global Student Leadership Forum — THINK Global School "THINK Global School in conjunction with the Flat Classroom Project® are excited to announce the formation of a Global Student Leadership Forum. After months of planning, the forum will be launched at the upcoming Global Education Conference, when students will meet online and exchange ideas and plans for future development. What are the aims? The aim of the Forum is to to encourage students (High School – Gr ...

Living for someone else is to abdicate the role you were born to play. You have decisions to make this day about YOUR life. Call this your own personal Decision 2012. We all have to take account of our lives. Good coaches review game film with their players, likewise, it is healthy to review the game film of our own lives to determine how things need to change or move on. Feelings are like laundry - when you've got too much, the only way to sort it out is to dump it out.215 Feelings are kind of like laundry - when you've got too much, the only way to sort it out is to dump it out . But, where you dump those feelings should be well selected. Some people use their blog or Facebook page or Twitter account as some sort of therapist. Social media has its uses but it is a God-awful therapist. Do you realize that it is inclined to agree with you, even when someone needs to look you in the eye and tell you to go down a different path? Sometimes I am WRONG and so are YOU....