EdVentures in Technology
teaching, learning and change
Archive for Teaching & Learning
July 5, 2007 at 8:00 am · Filed under PELI, Teaching & Learning
Well, it sounds as if everything went well last night with the arrival of our 15 participants in this year’s Pakistani Educational Leadership Institute, or PELI for short. Although their departure wasn’t all that smooth as it appears that they were caught up in the chaos surrounding a siege on a mosque. Apparently the shooting started while they were leaving for the airport and they just made the airport before the curfew went into effect! Our ITA colleague in Pakistan, Beena Raza, is still sorting through some things back there.
Their transit took them through Heathrow and even with all the recent trouble over there, it appears that it didn’t slow them down as they made it into Logan Airport around 8:30 p.m. EST last evening. As I type, they are probably still making up for lost sleep and aren’t due to make an appearance until our brunch around 11 a.m. local.
The focus of this year’s Institute is on assessment. As this is the fourth year that the Institute has run, it was felt that it was time to bring over some of the senior educational leadership and close the loop on our prior work. I’ll keep folks apprised of our progress as the next three weeks unfold.
[tags]peli, peli2007, pakistan, education, leadership[/tags]
Powered by ScribeFire.
July 3, 2007 at 5:05 pm · Filed under Creativity, Learning Theory, Random Thoughts, Teaching & Learning
Now that I have your attention, I will shamelessly admit that the title was just a hook. Yes, you should read this book. If not for yourself, for your children or for your neighborhood’s children. My thanks to Christian Long over at think:lab for his post which brought The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden to my attention.
I just happened to be online in a Borders bookstore after an off-campus meeting when his post came in to my reader. Checked out the author’s site, watched their video, and immediately bought the book for my own motley crew. My seven year old is already hard at work on his knots, having mastered the reef knot and clove hitch, working on developing his own mnemonic for the figure-8 and trying to figure out the bowline.
What I love about this book is that it encourages kids (and those of us refusing to grow up) to get out and play like we used to. As has been pointed out in the blogosphere, learning is messy. So is life. Yes there will be bumps, bruises and tears along the way, but they make the laughter, joy and happiness (dare I say learning?) all the sweeter. This book is just one more reminder.
Now get out there and play!
Powered by ScribeFire.
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite 
June 21, 2007 at 10:16 pm · Filed under Teaching & Learning, Web 2.0
My thanks to Danah Boyd who brought to my attention testimony she and a number of others including a professor from my undergraduate alma mater, Dr. David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, provided to the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus. Their testimony has been posted online and includes video (note this version requires Real Player, but read on for links to a YouTube version), audio (43MB) and transcript of the proceedings which lasted just under an hour and a half.
I highly recommend either viewing, listening to or reading this testimony. Read also Danah’s posts which are substantiated by statistical data and do far more justice to the topic than I can. It is interesting to see and hear from experts in the field, particularly as their testimony is often at odds with the fear pandering and net paranoia espoused by our media, and in some cases our government officials. Take for instance this sobering fact. When it comes to sexual predation, strangers account for only 10% of those cases. The predominant offender? Parents at 78.5% of reported cases.
As a parent myself, I understand and advocate for a greater level of parental involvement in the lives of our children. Any child predation is too much. However, it is also important for us to work from facts rather than assumptions. The bottom line is that online predation is far less a threat to our children than the lack of parental involvement, guidance and love in their lives. We don’t need more legislation, we need more communication!
[tags]online, youth, victimization, predation, netcaucus[/tags]
Powered by ScribeFire.
June 1, 2007 at 7:49 am · Filed under Teaching & Learning, Videos
A big thanks to Christian Long at think:lab for pointing out this great video. If you are a teacher, know a teacher, or think you know what a teacher is or does, then this is for you.
[tags]video, passion, teacher, teaching[/tags]
powered by performancing firefox
April 15, 2007 at 8:09 pm · Filed under Teaching & Learning
A while back I blogged about the NH Youth Earth Summit (NHYES) conference held last month on my campus. I’ve begun compiling my interview prep on my wiki and in the next couple of weeks I will be interviewing the students and faculty advisor behind this student-run conference.
I am interested in hearing any feedback from the edublogosphere regarding what questions they would ask if they were able to speak with these students. Whether it is about their experiences and gains from the event, whether it is about the logistics of the model or whether it is about how students feel about a more global event, I would like to hear from you.
Based on your feedback, I will include these questions in my interview which I intend to turn into a podcast available soon thereafter.
Please leave your questions in the comments below. I look forward to hearing what is important to you.
Cheers!
[tags]nhyes, conference, student, interview[/tags]
Powered by ScribeFire.
March 25, 2007 at 8:44 pm · Filed under Teaching & Learning
The Washington Post had an article about Republicans turning against President Bush’s “signature domestic achievement” No Child Left Behind. So why haven’t we heard more about this?
Why the sea change? Apparently some legislators have been paying attention to the carnage left in the wake of this ill-conceived plan.
Once-innovative public schools have increasingly become captive to federal testing mandates, jettisoning education programs not covered by those tests, siphoning funds from programs for the talented and gifted, and discouraging creativity, critics say.
Hmm, ya think?
Apparently the frustration experienced by those in education has risen to the level of attention as two bills, one in the Senate and the other in the House, are being proposed which would allow states to opt out of the mandated testing and curriculum standards. Is there a glimmer of hope on the horizon?
If you are interested, check out House Resolution 1539, Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act of 2007 (A-PLUS), and Senator Jim DeMint’s Senate version of A-PLUS, S.893, for more information.
[tags]nclb, legislation, education[/tags]
powered by performancing firefox
March 21, 2007 at 9:09 am · Filed under EdTech, Teaching & Learning, Web 2.0
I was listening to an Educause podcast from the Educause Learning Initiative or ELI2007 conference which was a recording of Carl Berger’s, The Millennial Instructor presentation. In it he used a phrase that hits the nail on the head when it comes to providing tech support or edtech training in today’s world.
WINWINI or What I Need, When I Need It
I like the Win-Win fit and the extra “I” at the end points out the personal touch.
I’ve always had a problem with the term “Just In Time” training because it always seemed to give the impression that no prior thought had gone into the process beforehand. WINWINI on the other hand speaks to the growing trend of on-demand service. On-demand training, on-demand learning, on-demand entertainment - where the focus is on the individual. It is not to say that it is a selfish perspective rather one that acknowledges that in today’s fast paced and multi-channeled society, expectations on us are evolving and our support needs and personal expectations are following suit. The ability to get what you need when you need it - by knowing where to turn or who to turn to will become an increasingly valuable skill.
[tags]winwini, support, training, edtech[/tags]
powered by performancing firefox
March 20, 2007 at 11:40 am · Filed under Teaching & Learning
I can’t believe I had forgotten this “kids conference” when I posted on Vicki Davis’ article the other day. When I worked at Moultonborough Academy, one of our science teachers, Shaw Smith, was the faculty coordinator for the NH Youth Environmental Summit, an environmental leadership conference for middle-school students.
As it turns out, Plymouth State University hosts the one day NHYES conference in our science center, Boyd Hall! This year’s conference was an exceptional success as it sold out and they were in the unique position of having to turn away those who had hoped to register.
One of the unique things about this conference is that the presenters are all high-school students, with a couple of outstanding middle schoolers thrown in for good measure. The students are responsible for developing the conference from soup to nuts including registration, publicity and presentation.
I would love to compile a list of similar endeavors if folks would be willing to throw the URLs my way. If you already have them in your del.icio.us list, just add the tags for:edventures and kids-conference and I’ll create a page for those resources.
Perhaps such a list could serve to inspire others to reach out and engage students at a very visceral level!
[tags][/tags]
powered by performancing firefox
Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite
March 6, 2007 at 2:07 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Teaching & Learning
I’ll be facilitating a campus workshop on new communications technologies on Friday, between 12:20 and 1:15 EST (1730 GMT/UTC) on Friday, March 9th. If you are available and willing to talk via Skype for a couple of minutes with us on how these new technologies have changed, influenced or improved your practice, please drop me a line. You can find me by my Skype handle, Edventures, via G-mail/G-Talk as rkclmr@gmail.com or by e-mail using the email icon to the left.
I look forward to hearing from you!
[tags]communication, highered, skype[/tags]
Blogged with Flock
February 22, 2007 at 11:47 am · Filed under Creativity, EdTech, Teaching & Learning, TechTalk, Videos, Web 2.0
The Free Geek Project - Here is a program worthy of note and emulation. Not only does it address the issue of the technology graveyard in a manner both unique and socially conscious, it’s underlying tenets challenge the paradigmatic approach to learning that our educational institutions have come to embrace. Watch the video, observe who is teaching us and think about how you could create a similar environment in your own teaching and learning world!
My thanks to Brett over at Pedagogy of the Compressed for blogging this!
[tags]freegeek, learning, teaching, learning [/tags]
powered by performancing firefox
Next entries »
