Digital citizenship is an increasing area of interest for both Ann and I and we work to integrate it into the learning that goes on in our classrooms. This piece from NPR helps move the conversation. What does it mean these days when when the government makes something public? Just print it and put it... »
Thomas Friedman has been sounding the alarm about US education for a while, and he notes in his April 21 NY Times article: …the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment that measured the applied learning and problem-solving skills of 15-year-olds in 30 industrialized countries, the U.S. ranked 25th out of the 30 in math and... »
Recently, I had written about some of the problems with the accuracy of the cheating detection service Turnitin which is used by about 6, 000 schools worldwide. There have also been legal issues raised about the intellectual property implications of storing student work in their data base. As reported by Wired, a recent court... »
Here is an excerpt from Fritz’s post at Digital Storyteller about a recent conference he attended: Two toolboxes The NPPA News Video Workshop, for the last 49 years, has brought the concepts of visual storytelling to news photojournalists. The reason I am here is to build two conceptual toolboxes: the first will be used to tell... »
Not in the ways you may think. Overall, Twitter users engage with news and own technology at the same rates as other Internet users, but the ways in which they use the technology — to communicate, gather and share information — reveals their affinity for mobile, untethered and social opportunities for interaction. So says the Pew... »
In our latest April dispatch, we talked about two mid-range trends outlined in the Horizon Report with a 2-3 year time to adoption. One is the personal web, which consists of collections of tools, widgets, and services that make it easy to develop and organize dynamic online content. I personally use things like i-Google,... »
As someone who teaches evidence-based practice, I am well aware that a major barrier to those outside of academia or a large medical center is access to high quality research evidence. This news as reported by Wired is a small but significant step toward open access: Scientific publishing might have just reached a tipping point,... »
Inside Higher Ed reported that at this year’s Conference on College Composition and Communication, …a team from Texas Tech University presented data that challenged the plagiarism detection services in a new way. The team found that services that theoretically detect the same sorts of problems actually find (or don’t find) very different examples of possible... »
Piggy-backing on our recent podcast on the 2009 Horizon report where we discussed mobile computing and the cloud, this article caught my eye Netbooks prove that the “cloud” is no longer just hype. It is now reasonable to design computers that outsource the difficult work somewhere else. The cloud tail is wagging the hardware dog. via... »
Spoiler alert: This is a personal reflection on my tenure experience, not an essay on the Rank, Promotion and Tenure process– I do have some thoughts on that which I will save for another time. The decision came last week and the answer was yes–I was awarded tenure. Anyone on a tenure track can surely... »
Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes – NYTimes.com. This article discusses a phenomenon many of us have experienced: “Many students come in with the conviction that they’ve worked hard and deserve a higher mark,” Professor Grossman said. He attributes those complaints to his students’ sense of entitlement. A recent study by researchers at the University of... »
The New York Times web site on Sunday ran this story about the new librarian. While the feature looks at k-12 skills, much of the content can be applied and echos some of our podcast with Becky Hines on The Screen is Flat Ms. Rosalia, the school librarian at Public School 225, a combined elementary... »
The ELI (Educause Learning Initiative) Annual Conference is in progress in Orlando FL. Fritz and I are here to share a poster on our recent research on student preferences in online learning. One of the highlights of the conference is the unveiling of the Horizon Report, a collaboration between ELI and the New Media... »
Last year about this time, Fritz and I did a podcast on organizational tools. Over the past year, we both have investigated a number of different tools, from pen and paper to new software. Though we continue to search for the “magic bullet” of organizational bliss, I am happy to say I have made... »
Not too long ago we were asked to worry if Google was making us stupid. Too much scanning, too little substance; hyperactive, multi-tasking minds that have lost the ability for deep reading and thinking. Yes, I have days like that, but honestly, I think it started long before Google and Web 2.0. Nevertheless, point... »
