Top Education Blogs
Share the Top Education Blogs on
ASCD SmartBrief
Video lessons allow students to become teachers
Students at a rural Texas high school have developed lessons about the local cotton-production industry, which they are shari -More- Struggling to Graduate your "Non-Graduates"? Would you like to know how 93% of Clarksville Montgomery County School District's (TN) alternative students recovered their deficit credits using the A+nyWhere Learning System as their...
Educators in Delaware experiment with "green" chemistry curriculum
Teachers in a Delaware high school are taking a natural approach to chemistry -- abandoning Bunsen burners and dangerous subs -More- ...
Education Department announces 16 Race to the Top finalists
The Education Department released a list of 16 finalists for its $4 billion Race to the Top grant competition. -More- ...
Nonprofit provides computers, training for Atlanta students
An Atlanta-area middle school has partnered with a nonprofit group to help its students learn how to use computers and the In -More- ...
How should global warming be taught?
-More- How you talk impacts how children learn. "The Power of Our Words should be a required resource for all K-6 teachers regardless of the number of years they have taught." (Principal, CT) K-6. Read sample chapters. ...
Hawaii officials propose funding to restore teacher furlough days for next year
-More- Penn State World Campus – Programs for Educators Enhance your skills and knowledge through a Penn State online master's degree or certificate specifically designed to meet the professional development needs of educators. Choose online programs in children's literature, earth science, education technology, special education, family literacy, and institutional research. Learn More...
Education Futures
The value of invisible learning
In the past two months since the announcement of the Invisible Learning project, we have received a tremendous response in Twitter and the blogosphere. (Interestingly, most of the discussion originates from Latin America and Spain — and less from the United States and Canada.) Much of the recent conversation has...
Fab Lab: Build ‘almost anything’
“The Fab Lab program has strong connections with the technical outreach activities of a number of partner organizations, around the emerging possibility for ordinary people to not just learn about science and engineering but actually design machines and make measurements that are relevant to improving the quality of their lives.”...
Noel Sharkey on the inexorable rise of robots
From Silicon.com: In this video interview, Noel Sharkey, professor of robotics and AI at the University of Sheffield, discusses developments in robotics – from the proliferation of robots in Japan’s automotive industry to the stair-climbing dexterity of Honda’s Asimo robot and beyond. He also discusses ethical issues, and in which countries we...
Next Horizon Forum roundtable: Education and the Technological Singularity
An invitation to the next Horizon Forum meeting at the University of Minnesota: Education and the Technological Singularity January 27, 2010 11:30am – 1:30pm 250 Wulling Hall (U of M East Bank) At the next Horizon Forum, you are invited to join the discussion, moderated by Arthur Harkins and John Moravec, with special guests, as...
This short set of slides provides a great background on what is “invisible learning” and how we can all contribute to the discussion at www.invisiblelearning.com. Again, the conversation continues at www.invisiblelearning.com!...
Obama: Education is a national security issue
In this video from The UpTake forwarded to Education Futures from Bring Me the News, President Obama speaks on the relationship between education and national competitiveness (you can skip the introductions and jump to his talk which begins around 6:20 into the video): President Obama: “So make no mistake: Our future...
Mark it Right
Some time ago John Reed shot me a message suggesting a post on expletive no in Spanish. It’s an interesting topic and a good one to summarize. Which no are we talking about? “Hasta que no existan precios asequibles, no habrá vuelos comerciales a la luna.” Of course, all of us who speak...
A fellow translator and twitter friend, Celine, tweeted a link to a podcast on free and open source software for translators.Well, I had a listen and decided to subscribe. The podcast is Speaking of Translation and the hosts are Eve Bodeux and Corinne McKay. I don’t know them, but I’m glad...
Here are a few new additions to the Useful tab: I’ve added a link to the reference material section called Technical English Spanish vocabulary. It’s great for engineering specs and the like. There’s also a new category for tools with a word count site that works for PDF, HTML, XML, CSV, and...
James Reed has gotten a hold of a sizable English-Spanish dictionary of business, technological, and legal terminology. It’s a PDF, so everyone should be able to download it easily. Buy it here. It’s a 2,545 page dictionary by Jaime Aguirre, each page with four columns. This dictionary is not kidding! It’s now part...
by Anna Lamont Now I thought that bum bags (fanny packs) had gone out with the Ark, but lately I’ve seen all manner of reference to them by perturbed Americans who have come to realise that in Britian, ‘fanny pack’ is not something to be said in public (and...
The 411 on Business Networking – MIR discount!
It’s official. As of a few minutes ago, The 411 on Business Networking is available. I’m rather excited. So far, the feedback from my test readers is positive. They’re using words like “fun”, “easy to digest”, and “quick reference” to describe it. You guys are going to like it. About the most...
Child Day Care Centers & Pre Schools Rated By Real Parents - FREE
Preschool of America: Times Square, NYC
Location: 345 42nd street, New York, NY 10036 Ages 3 months to 6 year olds Phone (212) 262-4545...
As the school year closes, parents often think about what’s next for their children. For many, that next step is Nursery School, 2 day Toddler classes, or Step Up Classes. This can be a nerve wracking decision as you wonder, is my child ready? How will my young child, who...
Last Minute Shopping for your Kids in a Tough Economy
Image via Wikipedia Here are some quick shopping tips when prices are high and the budget is low For Infants, Babies and Toddlers: Please remember toddlers have no concept of price and what they want! You could give them a shopping bag and they would play for hours! It does not make you...
Christmas Gift Ideas For Toddlers & Nursery Schoolers
At a time when toys are full of lead paint and may contain date rape drug like chemicals having any idea of what Santa should bring for your little one may be difficult. Here are a few time saving gift ideas that may help: Game systems such as V Tech, Hooked...
Horizon Child Development Center: Fairfax, VA
4600 Holly Ave Fairfax, VA 22030-5631 (703) 222-0900 horizonchilddevelopment.com View Larger Map...
Angels Playland Educational Childcare Center: Prairieville, LA
Location: 16026 Airline Hwy, Prairieville, LA 70769 Phone: (617) 332-0886 View Larger Map...
Education for Well-being
What’s Your Learning Attitude?
I’m going to look at two ways people learn, or think they learn–what many now commonly refer to as learning styles, but which should probably be called learning attitudes. Why do some people seem to know so much more than others? Why do some students figure things out while others get...
“Too big to fail.” That’s what we say these days when institutions, driven by myopia, greed, hubris, ignorance, and wishful thinking, become unsustainable. We bail them out for fear of making matters worse. “It’s a bad situation, but the alternative is worse”, goes the lament. Those that didn’t make bad...
Jailbreak Your Learning: Video
The following video takes a look at who’s managing our learning in an age of rapid change, ubiquitous information, and social media. The inertia of hundreds of years of top-down, just-in-case instruction has proven difficult to redirect. Institutions, and the individuals they manage, continue to overvalue a top-down instructional model that...
From Bones to Smartphones: Information Tools Through the Ages
A Massively Multi-vennular Scattergram (Sorry about the name–couldn’t resist.) This graphic tries to illustrate how various technology layers have, over time*, allowed for the development of new information tools. The rate of tool development is growing exponentially, leaving many people and institutions confused, trying to catch-up, and wondering how to cope....
Schools as Real Estate or Schools as Development
The research university will not survive the transition to knowledge based capitalism. Peter Drucker And many other interesting quotes from Richard Florida. Related Posts:Picture Says It AllFeedback that Lifts21 Steps to 21st Century Learning - Some Pull Quotes5ish Quotes - No. 2Myth Busted...
I’m torn. I guess we need to wait for HarvardOnline. Which will happen. Just a matter of time. Related Posts:Craig Venter on EducationNew Video. Mah or Meh?Lost GenerationWill Ferrell’s BestHelp Rock the Vote...
Stop Trying to Inspire Me
Stuff That Works: All Quiet on the Western Front
"We open the book with a poop joke and now in chapter 10 everyone has the runs!"No, I'm not going to write an entire post about the scatalogical humor in Erich Maria Remarque's novel, even if the "pooping in the field" scene in the opening chapter has to be one...
Neil deGrasse Tyson On Literacy, Curiosity, Education, And Being 'In Your Face'
LH: And increasingly, standardized testing.NdT: You learn, and they test you, and you need a high score on the test, and the teacher only likes the kids who get the high score and the kids who are quiet while they're teaching, because they're the well-behaved ones. What are we promoting...
When what happens is what is supposed to happen
Is it wrong when you look at the results of a test and wonder if you made the test too easy ... not because everyone did really well, but because the grades were, well, NORMAL?No, really. I was grading this latest test and there were a few above 90, a...
My letter to my delegate and my senator
Yeah, I know, two posts in a few hours, but I decided to channel my anger a little. Here is what I sent my delegate and state senator (edited slightly):As you know, Governor McDonnell recently proposed $731 million in cuts to public services, especially education, in the latest state...
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
Though we all knew it was coming, the governor of Virginia made his plan official this week: $731 million worth of cuts to education and public services, on top of what was already recommended by outgoing governor Tim Kaine during the first stages of budget proposal. This means the...
High school yearbooks can learn from the death of a university's tradition
As reported in last Thursday's edition of The Hook, The University of Virginia's 119-year-old yearbook, Corks & Curls, ceased publication with very little fanfare. The cause of the publication's demise was mainly financial, as it had not sold well at all in the last decade or so:Yikes! How could...
The Thinking Stick
The Next Phase of Technology at ISB
Last week our IT Director, Chad Bates, gave a presentation to the ISB School Board outlining the next phase of technology use at ISB. The phase includes a plan to go 1:1 starting next year with grade 6 students. It’s an exciting time to be at ISB and I for one...
Facebook, Privacy, and Cyber bullying
Just returning from a full day of thinking and teaching starting with Saturday school and talking to some students who got in trouble for cyber bullying on Facebook. I love getting the opportunity to talk to students about their social world and continue to find it fascinating on their views...
Last week Google Chrome updated itself on my MacBook and now allows Chrome extensions. I’ve almost completely moved over to Chrome as the speed of the browser just blows both Firefox and Safari away in my experience…and the way it handles gmail, gdocs, gwave, and the rest of G is...
Google Buzz has been out for a while now and has been slowly making its mark on the social-networking scene. As I’ve been investigating Buzz (a.k.a. playing with it…but investigating sounds so much more important!) and how it changes social-networking, it hit me the other day how this might just be...
Proper typing out, thumb typing in
Just as I’m having conversations again around why we should or shouldn’t teach typing in our schools technology has once again moved us into another typing realm. The thumb typing. I’ve watched more videos than I care to count about the iPad (my thoughts here) and in a recent survey to...
Learning 2.010 Conference: Where do we go from here?
In a world where content is continually changing, and you can learn almost anything for free, what’s the point of going to a conference? This is the question we started with in designing your Learning 2.010 Conference experience. The content is free and easy. If you want to learn how to...
iterating toward openness
In response to yesterday’s post, OCWC President Steve Carson left a link in the comment section to the organization’s 2010-2011 strategic plan. Reading through the plan provided a number of insights, but let me focus on two here and you can read the rest of the document for yourself. First, the...
OCWC Raises $350k – Shouldn’t I Be Happy?
Yesterday OpenCourseWare Consortium President Steve Carson announceed that the OCWC has received commitments of $350k over the next five years from several of its university members. In a reference to concerns I (and others) have expressed about the sustainability of the OCW movement, Steve writes: “Not only are these universities sustaining...
Just heard from my friend Bobbi Kurshan, the Executive Director of Curriki, that she will be leaving that post on March 1st. I wish her well. Curriki will be looking for a new ED shortly and will very much continue to stay active in the OER space (much like Hewlett...
Archive of My Published Articles
Since my department at BYU has committed itself to open access publishing I’ve been able to get serious about putting my published writing in the university’s institutional repository called ScholarsArchive. So far I have 12 pieces in the collection, which are guaranteed to stay at these URLs for “a very...
Taking OER Within CC to the Next Level
Our good friend Cathy Casserly, former Director of the Open Educational Resources Initiative of the Hewlett Foundation, as just been elected to the Creative Commons Board of Directors. While there were already people on the CC board who cared about OER, the addition of Cathy means that the Board now...
I’m happy to point to this comment by Vic Vuchic from the Hewlett Foundation on a previous post I wrote about what seems to be happening with OER. It’s a great perspective (that he is uniquely qualified to provide) that warmed my heart a bit. Some highlights: Hewlett made over...
Smart Solutions K-12
Leo Baubata from Productivity Habits Misses the Mark on Leadership
I’m generally a big fan of Leo Baubata’s Productivity Habits blog, but his recent post ”the little rules of action” misses the mark. Though Leo’s guidelines may make sense of individuals who are mostly managing themselves (e.g., writers, freelancers, etc.) I think they could be downright disastrous for leaders who need to manage other people. 9....
greatest essays ever Rohit Bhargava on the Future of Business The future of business isn’t about leveraging Twitter or weathering the storm, or even finding the next great groundbreaking product. The ones who really change our world for the better will be the ones most passionate about doing it. 3 Minute Personality Test A...
Four Seasons of Hope – Eli Manning Education Announcement
I recently received this in my mail: Hi, Today, New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning announced his partnership with Samsung’s Four Seasons of Hope – a goodwill program designed to minimize the technology gap in the U.S. educational system – by announcing a 100-word essay contest that calls upon parents, students, and...
Here are a few of my latest delicious links for your perusal: Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn: Surrender to this Algorithm The Sification of America Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes The Kaiser Family Foundation...
Hole in the Wall Education Experiment
Sugata Mitra Shows How Kids Teach Themselves In 1999, Sugata Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing...
My latest tweet: “Your vote can help fund the development of free and open curricula! Please vote here: http://tinyurl.com/m2xn5h Feel free to RT! #OER”...
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org
Save the National Writing Project
Reposted from Karl's post and well worth considering...I definitely support the message! I'd like to say I've been a long-time supporter of the National Writing Project, but to be honest, I didn't find out about it until Scott Floyd told me 2-3 TCEA Conferences ago, and it's been busy since...
Love this video and what it can teach us about technology use in schools.... YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suBGbef5p3g As a network administrator, technology director, CTO/CIO, tech coordinator...are you the mean guy who gives kids tools to use but then forces them to use it within the confines of your fear? It's easy,...
As much as I like Picasa (iPhoto like software that works on all platforms instead of just one and handles large numbers of images without a hiccup), I don't use it all that much. . .I'd rather work directly with PicasaWeb and post images there. Yet, it vexed me yesterday...
Image Source: http://ivyleagueinsecurities.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/the-chase.jpg Truth has a strange way of continually reasserting itself until it is given its proper due.--Dick Westley Writers shed words like sweat as they play with ideas, but non-writers take every word as gospel about the author. Not a pretty picture, is it? It's a problem I've encountered several times in...
Podcasting GTA for Administrators
Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=gtadmin Ok, here's a list of the presos I attended and had a chance to record audio for and share as a podcast, as well as a few off the cuff conversations...listening to these again has re-inspired me since I've caught more NOW than I did when I was worn...
Google Moderator and More Podcast
Listen to Cory Pavicich Cory Pavicich shares about Google Moderator: A service that uses crowd sourcing to rank user-submitted questions, suggestions and ideas. The services allows the management of feedback from a large number of people, who can vote for the top questions that they think should be posed and ask their...
The Jose Vilson: The Blog
The Question Is: Are You Part of the Conspiracy?
Reading through the plethora of feedback given not only to this blog, but the rest of the blogs out there, I noticed a big part of the Teach for America event missing in all of our posts. For the purposes of this post, I’m glad we did since I’ve mulled...
Dear John: Where I Disagree With Legend
Dear John Legend, Last night at the Avery Hall in Lincoln Center (NYC), you and Common headlined an awesome town hall between some of the brightest and influential Black / Latino men in education. The line-up read like a starting roster for a hypothetical NYC Black educator panel: David Banks of...
What We’re Definitely Talking About
I hate being Joel Klein’s messenger. I’m not directly that, but today, at a common prep meeting, I found myself having to blunt the rather acute message that sometime this week, NYC teachers would receive teacher evaluative reports. From my vague understanding, the reports yield a summative (and opaque) view of...
Short Notes: We Facin’ The Storm, Homie, We Ridin’ It Out
A few links: As a teacher, you always get those really pompous students who need to get chin-checked. Don’t worry: Scott Galloway has you covered. [NYMag] This GothamSchools article is pretty well written, but the comment section is a comedy on errors. Check it for yourself. [GothamSchools] It’s easier to teach compliance than...
Black History Month: The Importance of Arturo Schomburg and Why I’m So Steadfast on Quisqueya
A few weeks ago, a few people asked me why I helped create the now annual event Quisqueya, a celebration of Afro-Latino history throughout the Americas at Syracuse University. Honestly, it had a tinge of selfishness: by then, I helped run a series of workshops dedicated to understanding the relationships...
“For Reasons Beyond Me” by me (first, and a very rough, draft) You’re not in my dreams anymore, Self-felicitating figment of my imagination, Meet me at my torso Talk to me real slow Partition the convo like so Tell me all your perfect flaws Before we take a little pause Work on in this little buzz Drink up quick...
Educational Discourse
Well, I’ve submitted my proposal for the upcoming iT Summit in Saskatoon in May. I’m going to do a presentation on using different tools to help teachers and staff to communicate and organize. I’m planning to look at using wikis, Evernote, google docs, google calendar, google reader, diigo and maybe...
Tag – you remember that game from youth? The one that had as many variations as the number of places it was played. Well, tagging, a way to identify different information online, is kind of the same. When I save something in my online bookmarks or I add information to...
Online Bookmarking – Not an Option
As educators who use technology know, there are too many sites out there to visit and go through by oneself. We don’t have the time to do that plus do all the other things that need to get done. That’s why using an online bookmarking tool has become a must...
Evernote – a multi-use online/desktop tool
As an administrator there are so many things that come across my desk during the day that I often have had trouble remembering what I needed to do right now, what could be put on hold and what was something that, when I had more time, I could work on....
Using a Wiki to share information
As an administrator, one of the big things that I have to work very hard at is sharing information among the different staff. Because so many different things come across my path during the day, it’s sometimes hard to get the information dispersed to different staff members. One method of...
It’s the New Year and with it comes the usual resolutions that many people make. Like most, I’ve sat down and put together a list of things that I have resolved that need to improve or change in this upcoming year. For the most part, my goal is to change...
A Difference
... was the title of the Keynote address I gave to 500+ educators at this year's B.Y.T.E. conference. The sense I had of the audience was that many of the ideas I talked about here were new to them. A quick survey of the room while giving the talk revealed...
"Infotention" or scraping the cream off the top of what you want to know
How do you deploy your attention? Infotention: “Honing the mental ability to deploy the form of attention appropriate for each moment is an essential internal skill for people who want to find, direct, and manage streams of relevant information by using online media knowledgeably. Knowing how to put...
Always Beta 03: textbooks Learning Platforms
If you missed it: part 1, part 2. In this third part of my interview with Carly Shuler we talk about reimagining digital textbooks as learning platforms. 11 min 25 sec Download (10 Mb) I haven't done much digging in this space until recently. If it interests you here are some other...
Always Beta 02: (mobile) Learning Beyond Time & Space
If you missed it: part 1. In this second part of my interview with Carly Shuler we continue the discussion of the state of technology in Canadian classrooms and find ourselves talking about Mobile Learning; a topic close to both of our hearts. When I talk about the shift of learning...
Always Beta 01: The Future of the Textbook ... we need a new metaphor
FBI Classroom by flickr user billerickson Last week I was interviewed by Carly Shuler. We talked about many things. Mainly she wanted to talk about the future of the textbook in the digital age from the perspective of textbook publishers. The interview was about 50 minutes long so I've broken it down...
You can't be a change agent if you're an expert ...
Well, you can, but it's tough.When you're on the early part of the learning curve others look at you and say:"Hey, it's Darren. If he can do I can do it."Once you hit a certain level of competence or expertise they same people look at you and say: "Hey, it's...
Learning In a Flat World
I had the opportunity to attend the virtual ELI Spring Focus Session today on Mobile Learning 2.0. As the program noted: “Although mobile learning has different meanings for different communities, we know that learning is deepened and enriched when students have options for their learning for multiple paths through ...
Jim Groom pushes the envelope all the time, which is why we love him! The person who coined the phrase “edupunk” is back as Rorschach from the Watchmen with a warning for “so-called professors” – you cannot, as Jon Mott suggested at ELI, have corporate learning management systems like Blackboard...
CTE Teaching and Learning Podcast – Making the Transition to Online Teaching
Last December, I had the opportunity to participate in a podcast in the VCU Center for Teaching Excellence’s Teaching and Learning podcast series with Dr. Lynda Gillespie, Director of Technology for Chesterfield County Public Schools and adjunct professor for the VCU School of Education. The original podcast was posted here,...
Web Conferencing as Wireless Projection
It has been a while since I blogged, partly due to semester start-up and partly due to spending a lot of time in Twitter and Facebook. However, yesterday we did something rather neat that takes more than 140 characters to share. There has been a lot of buzz this week about...
As a final assignment in the online course I team-taught with Lynda Gillespie, we had our students reflect on the journey they took over the 14 weeks of class. Our course is Educational Technology for School Leaders, a graduate course in the Ed Leadership masters at VCU. We were fortunate...
Michael Bugeja’s opinion piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Reduce the Technology, Rescue Your Job,” struck a nerve today. He started by noting that for “most of this decade, professors embraced the pedagogy of engagement, wooing students via technology and ignoring the costs because traditional methods, from textbooks to...
Self Made Scholar
Peer-to-Peer University Offers First Session of Free Online Classes
Want to take a quality online class from an experienced adviser without paying a dime? The pilot session of Peer-to-Peer University begins this September. Although no formal credit is offered, Peer-to-Peer University courses look like a promising resource for lifelong learners. They combine freely available opencourseware with more personalized instruction, giving...
The Ultimate Self-Education Reading List
A Bibliography for Lifelong Learning Enthusiasts If you want to know more about self-education, your best bet is to start reading. Over the years, I’ve kept a list the best self-education books and blogs. Now I’m sharing them in the hopes that you’ll find something new and maybe add a suggestion...
Free Self-Ed eBook: Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar
When James Bach was a young teen, he dropped out of high school to learn on his own. Teachers said that he’d end up pumping gas for a living. But, instead, he studied technology and took a position as the youngest group manager at Apple Computer when he was only...
Adventures in Unschooling: Interview with Blake Boles
Unschooling advocate Blake Boles is dedicated to helping teens learn on their own. He’s worked at Grace Llywellyn’s famed Not-Back-to-School camp, cycled through the Argentinian countryside with a group of unschoolers, and planned unconventional adventures for young people who choose to learn on their own. Blake’s first book, College Without High...
5 Minds for the Future: Cultivating Thinking Skills
“…We must immediately expand our vision beyond standard educational institutions. In our cultures of today – and of tomorrow – parents, peers, and media play roles at least as significant as do authorized teachers and formal schools…if any cliché of recent years ring true, it is the acknowledgment that learning...
Steve Jobs says that dropping out of college was one of the best decisions he ever made. Why? Because after quitting school he was able to sit in on courses that actually helped him learn. He’d walk into whatever class he wanted and just blend in with the crowd. “The minute...
Swift Kick Central
Kansas State University's "Students Helping Students" campaign has the potential to be a national theme for peer-to-peer learning. For those who've had us on campus working with your student leaders, you should recognize the Blender Events and Flash Mobs throughout......
What If We DO Succeed in Increasing Student Engagement?
Over the weekend, I was talking with a group of students and advisors from Kutztown University about student engagement. In Swift Kick, we use dance floors to describe how student leaders are the ones in the center of the dance......
7 Steps to Awesome: The Tech of a Leadership Conference
I promised the good student affairs folk of the Penn State system that I would write up a draft outline of a tech plan for a state wide student leadership event. I delayed a bit, so that we could finish......
The Value of Integrating Social Media into Education
Dean Long, of LAUS, only needs two minutes to perfectly explain how every educator should be thinking about social media. And if your life is too busy for a two minute interlude, here are the highlights: Use SM (Social Media)......
Private Communities and Engagement - The 90-9-1 Rule
Online community ninja, Jakob Nielsen, is one of the original brains behind the 90-9-1 rule. Stated simply, the rule goes... In most online communities, 90% of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9% of users contribute a little, and 1%......
Webinar - Leveraging Social Media for Student Engagement
This Wednesday, Dec 16th, from 3:00-4:15pm EST, we're partnering with The Student Affairs Blog to host our third webinar in an ongoing effort to provide value to the community on relevant topics. WEBINAR OVERVIEW Title: Leveraging Social Media for Student......
Drape's Takes
Might educhatroulette legitimately serve as a viable tool in our PD arsenal?
Wikipedia: Chatroulette is a website which pairs random strangers for webcam based conversations. Visitors to the website randomly begin an online stranger chat (video and text) with another visitor. At any point, either user may leave the current chat and initiate another random connection... The site was...
I don't think blocking networked learning in our schools is an option. #ut-tcc
Today I heard far too many IT Directors from within our state brag about how locked down their school networks are. What follows is a portion of my response: Because there is so much learning occuring outside our schools with networked technologies, what can we - as institutions of...
Simply Stated: HB292 Is Unconstitutional
Dave Doty (audio here), on HB292, a newly proposed Utah bill that aims to "equalize" funds between Canyons and Jordan school districts by making Canyons hand over an additional $15 million:To run a bill to undo the arbitration ruling is unconscionable. We have a legal process, let's respect it.Personally,...
Dissertation Topic Change(?): The Creation of the Canyons School District
Several months later, and I'm ready to shift dissertation gears back in to high, but have felt - for some time now - that a change in topic is most likely imminent.It's not that I've lost interest in the the topic of open professional development, but rather that because the...
What is the purpose of attending conferences?
And can that purpose be realized in other - perhaps better - ways?Image source: Flickr user Ben Shepherd. ...
George Siemens:Anytime someone provides a list of steps to achieve complex tasks, my reaction is to turn and run. Lists are generally only useful for the people who make them. Situations and contexts change rapidly. What works now in one organization will likely not work in the future in another...
Boarding School Blog - onBoarding Schools
Private School A Special Opportunity- Not A Signifier of Social Status
Peter Baron of AdmissionsQuest forwarded an e-mail to me today from a woman wondering how open her children should be with their peers about their prep school applications and asking whether I thought the parents academic credentials carried any weight in the admissions process. The question of how open to be...
It’s easy to send photo students into the field, digital cameras in hand, to begin their photography studies. It’s quick and easy; go take some pictures. But the quick and easy assignment skips over some fundamental understandings and history. In this classically hands-on exercise of progressive education, Midland School 9th graders build...
Plagiarism + Mixing + the “New Paradigm Defense” = Teachable Moment
“Author, 17, Says It’s Mixing, Not Plagiarism,” (New York Times) presents a nice opportunity to talk about plagiarism and misappropriation with students. The article chronicles the rise and issues of 17 year old author Helene Hegemann whose first novel, “Axolotl Roadkill,” received the kind of overly enthusiastic reviews in Germany that sometimes greets...
A Scholar Among Us: Henryk Hoffman, Perkiomen School
Scholarship is an interesting and quiet side of some boarding school faculty. It seems there’s always a faculty member or two researching, writing or creating and showing. We recently came across an article by Mr. Henryk Hoffman, Latin and German teacher as well as the World Languages Department Chair at Perkiomen...
Getting to Know West Nottingham Academy
Jesse Roberts, West Nottingham Academy, Director of Admission, talks about the opportunities and experiences that set WNA apart. A small coed boarding school with 120 students, WNA makes relationships paramount- student-student and faculty-student. WNA, offers the requisite strong academics with the school’s emphasis on relationships and interaction overlaying everything the school does. “What...
The Unsung Part of Westover School’s Green Cup Accomplishment
Westover School recently held a ribbon cutting for its newly installed 158.60 kW solar energy system. Motivated by Green Cup Challenge competition and a school-wide commitment to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, Westover’s consumption of grid electricity has declined by 37.5%. Creative financing- like many non-profits, Westover’s capital spending has come...
NSBA BoardBuzz
Temple Grandin: The world needs all kinds of minds
In her recent TED talk, Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, tells us how her mind works. She gives an overview of how people on the autism spectrum think and makes the case that the world needs those people: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds...
No make or break factor in RTTT
The Race is definitely on…and the finalists are: CO, DE, FL, GA, IL, KY, LA, MA, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, and DC. At first glance, there seems to be no common patterns among these states for the phase I competition — about half of them are right-to-work states;...
Children benefit from physical activity programs at school
A study in the British Medical Journal shows that a structured school physical activity program can improve a child’s fitness and decrease body fat. Researchers in Switzerland studied 540 seven and 11-year-olds in 15 schools over a nine month period that were randomly selected. Students underwent a physical activity program designed by experts...
Do business methods work in education reform?
Do charter schools pose a threat to public education, or can they play a part in improving it? What about giving financial rewards to districts that demonstrate they are willing to implement reforms? These topics are being debated across the country these days, as Arne Duncan and the Obama administration promote...
Earlier today, President Barack Obama spoke about high school dropouts, and how he hopes to help the cause. The numbers are scary. About 7,000 students drop out of high school a day. Yes, everyday! That’s more than a million a year nationwide and you can only imagine the consequences of...
Since Congress came back from its Presidents’ Day break last week, NSBA’s advocacy team has swung into full action responding to several major developments in the legislative and executive branches. NSBA’s grassroots advocacy called on the Senate last week to pass provisions in the jobs bill to extend fiscal assistance to school districts and states...
Ask-Dr-Kirk
I'm flying to Dallas today to talk about teaching at the Southwest Academy of Management Doctoral Student Consortium. One of the participants will get a free copy of my book, Taking Back the Classroom: Tips for the College Professor on......
An 18-Minute A Day Plan To Manage Your Time
Does this sound familiar? Peter Bregman, author and CEO, writes: “Yesterday started with the best of intentions. I walked into my office in the morning with a vague sense of what I wanted to accomplish. Then I sat down, turned......
Nathan Grimm just shared this great list of resources on how to handle plagiarism in the classroom including sample policies, a list of online tutorials to help students understand what plagiarism is, and tips for discouraging plagiarism. As he notes:......
How Has Education Changed In The 21st Century?
Dan Brown (former student at University of Nebraska) gives a brief history of information and what education really is. Very thought provoking for all of us who teach! Thanks to Professor Alec Couros for bringing this to my attention via......
Measuring Learning Rather Than Memorization
Professor Joe Hoyle (University of Richmond) makes a case against tests based on memorization stating that, “No matter what students or faculty tell you, students learn based on how they are tested and graded.” One way he emphasizes this is......
Found this as the tag line at blog, Teach Online. He who dares to teach must never cease to learn. So true!...