Friday, September 28, 2012

Route 21 and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills | Dangerously Irrelevant

Route 21 and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills | Dangerously Irrelevant: "At the SETDA Leadership Summit and Education Forum, we’ve been talking a lot about 21st century skills, so I thought it might be helpful to highlight some of the work that the Partnership for 21st Century Skills has been doing.

The Partnership has been quite busy lately. In October, it announced new poll results that showed that a significant majority of voters ‘are deeply concerned that the United States is not preparing young people with the skills they need to compete in the global economy.’ Here’s an excerpt from the full report:"

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Who is going to hire young people skilled at regurgitation? | Dangerously Irrelevant

Who is going to hire young people skilled at regurgitation? | Dangerously Irrelevant: "Most classrooms and schools are outmoded ‘answer factories,’ and regurgitation is not a skill that is marketable. Kids today are growing up in a sea of information, 24/7, and schools must be helping them formulate questions, encouraging them to dig deep, to prepare them for a world which values the ability to formulate questions and then find answers to those questions. Who is going to hire young people skilled at regurgitation?

Of course, blended learning can turn out better workers for those answer factories, but what a waste that would be. But if its advocates limit their vision to merely producing kids who do well on standardized tests, blended learning will end up being yet another disappointment, and we will all lose.

John Merrow via http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=5908"

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

blender.org - Home

blender.org - Home: "Blender is the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License."

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Saturday, September 22, 2012

The New World - Interactive - NYTimes.com

The New World - Interactive - NYTimes.com: "Now, though, we appear on the brink of yet another nation-state baby boom. This time, the new countries will not be the product of a single political change or conflict, as was the post-Soviet proliferation, nor will they be confined to a specific region. If anything, they are linked by a single, undeniable fact: history chews up borders with the same purposeless determination that geology does, as seaside villas slide off eroding coastal cliffs. Here is a map of what could possibly be the world’s newest international borders."

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Sunday, September 9, 2012

HowStuffWorks "Top 10 'Star Trek' Technologies that Actually Came True"

HowStuffWorks "Top 10 'Star Trek' Technologies that Actually Came True": ""Beam us up." It's one of the most iconic lines in television history. It's something often heard in the hit science fiction television series "Star Trek" and all of the television shows and movies that followed."

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Monday, September 3, 2012

Free Technology for Teachers: Uncharted.fm Offers Great Geography Lessons

Free Technology for Teachers: Uncharted.fm Offers Great Geography Lessons: "Uncharted.fm offers a series of progressively more difficult geography lessons and quizzes. In the beginning you're limited to one region and or continent at a time. As you master each region or continent you earn badges and unlock new challenges.
"

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Sunday, September 2, 2012

iCivics | Free Lesson Plans and Games for Learning Civics

iCivics | Free Lesson Plans and Games for Learning Civics:

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Education Week: Educators Evaluate 'Flipped Classrooms'

Education Week: Educators Evaluate 'Flipped Classrooms': "A growing number of educators are working to turn learning on its head by replacing traditional classroom lectures with video tutorials, an approach popularly called the "flipped classroom." Interest in that teaching method was in full view this summer at the International Society for Technology in Education annual conference in San Diego, where almost every session on the topic was filled to capacity.
The movement was inspired partly by the work of Salman Khan, who created a library of free online tutoring videos spanning a variety of academic subjects, known as the Khan Academy, which many view as a touchstone of the flipped-classroom technique. But, much like the Khan Academy itself, the approach is attracting increasing scrutiny—and criticism—among educators and researchers."

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Saturday, September 1, 2012

New site offers help with shift to digital education | eSchool News

New site offers help with shift to digital education | eSchool News: "“Epic-ed will provide K-12 educators, district leaders, and other community participants with a unique channel to get connected and develop strategies for navigating the digital transition,” said CoSN CEO Keith Krueger. “With increased peer-to-peer interaction and greater connectivity, epic-ed members will have an opportunity to learn from each other, share ideas, and ultimately implement effective plans to help ease the transition and maximize the benefits of technology-enabled learning environments.”"

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Teachers' Domain: About Inspiring Middle School Literacy

Teachers' Domain: About Inspiring Middle School Literacy: "In this professional development video from WGBH, teachers, students, and a literacy expert present their perspectives on the use of the self-paced lessons in the Walmart Middle School Literacy Initiative. Designed for struggling readers in grades 5–8, the lessons use videos, interactive activities, note taking, readings, and essay writing to engage students in science, social studies, English language arts, and mathematics topics. As they learn about a topic, they also build proficiency in reading, vocabulary, and writing skills."

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