E-Learning Argentina posted an XPLANE XPLANATION of Informal Learning. The 8000×3000 image can take some time to load on a slow connection, but it is worth the wait. In particular, the connection between seemingly chaotic new ways of collaborative learning and the “payback” (results) is done well. (Thanks to Cristóbal Cobo for the forwarding this [...]
"Education is not the filling of a vessel,
but the kindling of a flame."
- Socrates
Archive for March, 2008
Is innovation the pink elephant in the classroom?
3/28/2008
Jeffrey Phillips asks: Here’s a challenge for you. Find me a firm, any firm, that isn’t telling it’s people, it’s customers and it’s investors that innovation isn’t important. Can you imagine that? Telling these constituents that innovation isn’t important is like telling people that oxygen isn’t important. So, let’s take as a given that most [...]
Navigating the blogosphere is getting better
3/27/2008
As touched upon lightly a couple weeks ago, the blogosphere is getting easier to navigate. Both Alltop and Blogged offer editor-picked/-rated indices of blogs, sorted by topic. These goes beyond the usual scope of blog/news aggregators by incorporating human elements of review. Receiving generally-positive initial reviews (including a thumbs-up from me), Guy Kawasaki‘s Alltop venture [...]
Over-engineering != innovation
3/26/2008
Bigger or more complicated is not always better. Scott Anthony wrote an article in Harvard Business on the perils of “too much innovation.” He writes on over-engineering innovations: There is something about human nature that restlessly seeks to improve things. But instead of asking “Can we?” innovate to improve what exists and create what doesn’t, [...]
A campus for rent in Chaska
3/24/2008
The StarTribune reports that the town of Chaska, Minnesota, is planning for a new higher education campus, built by an outfit called “EdCampus.” What makes the site unique is that it is being built without a sole tenant in mind: The company plans to erect classrooms as shells, line up higher education institutions as tenants [...]
The duel
3/21/2008
I was amazed to see Czech animation shown on the Mojo HD channel last Wednesday. Pavel Koutský’s Duel highlights the importance of early childhood education –and, for a critical approach to early childhood education. The National Film Board of Canada sums up the film best: At birth a child is placed on an assembly line [...]
U Iowa students: “No open access for you!”
3/19/2008
From the Chronicle of Higher Education, University of Iowa students pedal backward on the global trend of opening access to information and knowledge: The University of Iowa has backtracked on a plan to post all graduate students’ theses online and make them freely available to the public. The reversal came in response to vigorous protests [...]
ARVEL launch party on Second Life
3/18/2008
For those of us who will not be at the AERA conference in New York City, we can join the Applied Research in Virtual Environments for Learning (ARVEL) special interest group’s launch party via Second Life: Monday, March 24, 7:00 to 9:00 pm slurl.com/secondlife/EDTECH105/132/24 Or, in person: Hilton New York – Petit Trianon, 3rd Floor [...]
States rely on determinist tests, genes to track kids to prison
3/17/2008
Several U.S. states plan future prison build-outs based on second or third-grade reading scores. But now this trend of tracking young children for a career in crime is spreading to other nations? The Guardian reports that Scotland Yard’s most senior forensics expert, Gary Pugh, want elementary school kids to be “eligible for the [national] DNA [...]
Education Futures mailbag, part 2
3/14/2008
A letter was received in response to a letter posted in Monday’s mailbag rundown. Citing Elaine Wooton’s note regarding The Freedom School, Misha Gale wrote on an upcoming fundraiser at a similar school: As you may know, Summerhill School receives no support from the British government, and so has to charge fees. Because not everyone [...]
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