Here are a selection of interesting articles on education, technology and digital citizenship: New Zealand Herald Defence force highlights social network dangers – http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10870096 – This is a Digital citizenship basic concept, look after yourself by not posting information that can potentially put you at risk. For these guys it could be life and limb [...]
I have just had this article past to me by a colleague in the US – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27/texas-republican-party-2012-platform-education_n_1632097.html. When I first saw it and read it I though this was a joke, but unfortunately it is not, this is the education manifesto of the Repulican party, in the Very republican state of Texas. The key points [...]
This is a BBC clip about the hole in the wall experiment – This is about a computer made available to the young people in Gurjola. Professor Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University is setting up a ‘hole in the wall’ experiment to explore the impact of access to computers on learning. Watch the video – [...]
I have long valued and used a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. Tasks of short or long duration where the emphasis is on constructing the knowledge, process, product or understanding is core. Students develop ownership of the concepts, ideas, product or knowledge. Learning is practical, hands on, multi-sensory, collaborative experience. There must be engagement [...]
This is an interesting Infographic looking at Games and education. I found the post here - http://www.knewton.com/gamification-education/ I think we are going to see the use of games in a learning context increase. If we consider the importance of feedback in learning,the level of engagement that games provide the users, the opportunities for genuine learning that [...]
I have been enjoying this summer break and having a little technology downtime. However the kids have been playing quite extensively on the iPads as the weather has not always been conducive to swimming and playing around outside. We have a wide selection of games on the iPad for the “kids” enjoyment and a couple [...]
The headlines read as “School’s iPad plan could ruin Christmas. I struggle with this, because it is not accurate or fair reporting. If you actually look at the Orewa college website the parent do have an option of buying the product over a two year period, rather than outright – http://www.orewa.school.nz/uploaded/file/downloads/CycloneComputers.pdf but this aspect is [...]
This is a little unexpected, I was on the BBC website and I found this link to “Global Best School Buildings” Its a slide show of a number of schools showing interesting architecture and design. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14975270 The images show external and internal images of some schools around the world, including Finland, India, Japan, Australia and [...]
This is an interesting article from the US about the effects of social networking on learning. The paper finds that social networking helps the students. Here is one quote from the article “When kids feel connected and have a strong sense of belonging to the school community, they do better in school,” said Greenhow, an [...]
I love seeing so many school starting to adopt technology and recognising that the use of technology can be motivating and engaging, especially in light of the “More ladders,fewer snakes” report from the independent think tank the New Zealand institute - http://www.nzinstitute.org/ What is critical is that the presence of technology by itself is not a [...]
