Praxis Makes Perfect

HippCampus: http://hippocampus.org/?loc=interstitialskip

This one is not really an open source project, but a free resource for curricular materals. They invite academic institutions and publishers to contribute.

A friend pointed me to this link the other day and it got me very excited. It is an open-source hub for early literacy curriculum. We definitely need more of this kind of open curriculum, sharing, and dissemination that is built by the collective wisdom of teachers everywhere. IMO, one enhancement of any open-source project would be to explicitly show how various curricular activities help to address particular state standards.

Are there other good examples in other subject areas? Please send them my way, I’d love to build a directory to point others to.

Here’s the link: http://free-reading.net/index.php?title=Main_Page

Here’s a post from Ray Schroeder’s Educational Technology blog: http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/2007/11/free-online-materials-could-save.html

And another story done by USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2007-11-06-freereading_N.htm

In bullet form:

• We know a more about learning with media than we think, but we have to ask the right question. Some articles and readings to ponder:
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A recent research study released by the Institute of Education Sciences found that the use of selected reading and math software (for an experimental group of teachers) did not improve student test scores when compared to students of classrooms that did not use those software (the control group of teachers). Read about the study here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20074005/execsumm.asp

My thoughts after the jump. Keep reading →

Much thanks to Arvind and Alex over at 21st Century Learning for having me on their webcast. It was great fun to catch up with a classmate, and shoot the breeze on issues of education, research, and technology.

One of the things we wanted to talk about, but didn’t spend much time on, was this speech by Sir Ken Robinson. Check it out here.

Here are some of my thoughts on the presentation (and I’ll address some of Arvind and Alex’s other questions that we didn’t get to in the webcast in future posts this week): More after the jump.

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I’m going to go off on a little tangent with this post, so apologies beforehand.

I attended an alumni event this weekend for my dear alma mater; it was a panel discussion discussing Mayor Villaraigosa’s takeover of LAUSD. It was moderated by Professor Kenneth Wong with panelists representing the LAUSD school board, another California school board, a member of the Mayor’s staff, and a teacher in a LAUSD charter school.

First thoughts - Amazing props to my alma mater and everyone involved for organizing and participating in such an important event. What a great commitment to dialogue and education. My reaction after the jump.

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Technology - The application of science, especially to industrial or commercial objectives. The entire body of methods and materials used to achieve such objectives.

Question of the day: Given the defnition of technology, what is the definition of Educational Technology?

I’m on a few trains of thought today: More after the jump.

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My first semester in the PhD program is frantically winding down. One of my classes this semester addressed the effects of globalization on education. Up to this point I’ve experienced dialogue concerning globalization in a periphery manner - news snippets here, comments there - and didn’t really understand what globalization was.

People who write about globalization speak a lot about the impact of information technology in facilitating global influence on countries, and consequently education writers took that claim and trumpeted the importance of teaching our kids “technology skills” so they could be a part of the 21st century. What does this mean? I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll attempt to summarize what I’ve learned this semester, and hopefully frame the role of technology in education using a globalization perspective:

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Defining my research interests will be an ongoing theme for me as I progress through my doctorate and future career. In the past few weeks, my interest in computing and education has been nicely bolstered by my advisor and professors. I feel invigorated again concerning the topic; I have to thank my professors for their enthusiasm, and for the timely readings I have worked on in classes.

But, I also need your help (dear reader)!! Keep reading →

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