למידה, אינטרנט ... ומה שביניהם

It is now clear that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors.

It appears the tide is finally turning and the uncritical acceptance of the digital natives discourse is giving way to a more nuanced perspective on digital technologies in higher education.

That's like a mini-industry centered around an idea that had a kind of fashionable appeal, but no real basis in evidence. And what of the opportunity costs? While we were fretting about whether they existed or not and what we should do about it, did we miss seeing what was really happening and the more interesting and subtle changes in society in general. And that's a shame because it's not a completely bad idea - many of us feel instinctively that our children are growing up in a different world than we were, but then we're operating in that world too.

תוויות: ילידים

Or rather, if you have suddenly stumbled upon the insight, you need to do a lot of reading about the history of technology in the classroom. Chances are there's a long line of theorists and practitioners you should read about. When it comes to the promised "revolution" of ed-tech, we've been agitating for a change a long, long time.

But just think of all of the new ways we would be able to prepare kids to answer the questions that they will be asked in their real lives if we gave them a handful of “Open Network” tests before they graduated. I mean, why wouldn’t we be doing this?

תוויות: טכנולוגיה, פני החינוך, שינוי

Digital learning is any instructional practice that is effectively using technology to strengthen the student learning experience.

למידה דיגיטאלית היא כל פעולה הוראתית שמשתמשת בטכנולוגיה כדי לחזק את חווית הלמידה של התלמיד.

I love that definition because it's simple, and it offers clarity for those politicians who would abuse teachers by proclaiming they can be replaced by technology. Not going to happen! Technology is a tool used by teachers, and without great teachers skilled in application, technology is useless for high quality education.

תוויות: דיגיטאליות, למידה

From my perspective, the announcement is an outright win for advocates of affordability and open textbooks.

Now, if video-based, multimedia-rich, interactive textbooks are only worth $14.99 to the big publishers, what are relatively static, text-based books with a few photos worth to them? Answer: The Apple event was the big publishers’ public announcement that they are ceding the traditional textbook market to OER creators and others.

The publishers have validated our argument that very inexpensive books can still be high quality by pricing their own books under $15, but they have still managed to price themselves out of the market through their protectionism (forced repurchase every year) and lock-in on the $500 iPad platform.

Sure, there are “traditional” OER textbooks available for free. But when you could have video, multimedia, simulations, and interactive assessments for $15, why would you take a traditional book (whether print or video) even if it is free?

How will our beloved OER (90% text, 9% still images, 1% video) compete against what the publishers are turning out then, especially if the prices stay in the teens?

The RIP in 2017 only happens if the field does nothing to produce diagnostic, adaptive OER that support student learning at least as well as the systems produced by big publishers.

תוויות: iPad, OER, ספרי לימוד

Immersive, interactive, and engaging, textbooks on iPad offer an experience that will capture students' imaginations and take learning to a whole new level.

For hundreds of years, textbooks have put a world of knowledge in the hands of students. But while the way people learn has changed dramatically, the traditional textbook has stayed the same.

Then along comes the iPad – a potential game changer being driven into schools by the students themselves. Scratch, an amazing programming environment for kids (and grownups) developed by Mitch Resnick’s group at the MIT Medialab, was REMOVED from the iTunes store. And now, the offerings of the old guard publishers will be featured. The message is clear – “school is fine the way it has always been – now buy some new toys that require no changes in the system at all.”

This didn’t happen by accident. Careful thought went into Apple’s perspective on how tablets should be used by children. Today they decided that the iPad should be a costly version of the Amazon Kindle Fire. While this may be a lucrative move on Apple’s part, it destroys any semblance of Apple caring one whit about real learning. It is as if Dewey, Piaget, Papert and other giants in the field had never been born.

The assumption is that free open-source material on the web is equivalent to textbooks and that is probably true. They are both equally badly written.

They use their skill and craft to present information through the lens of singular intellects, making the nonfiction genre an eye-opening experience in human communication.

On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like "1984."

תוויות: iPad, ספרי לימוד

The Volkswagen decision reflects growing evidence of stress-related burnout tied to employees’ inability to separate their working and private lives now that developed societies live in a 24/7 paroxysm of connection.

the company had to balance the benefits of round-the-clock access to staff with protecting their private lives

Atos’s 80,000 employees were receiving an average of 100 internal e-mails a day of which only 15 percent were of any use.

תוויות: דיגיטאליות, הסח הדעת, שיעורי בית

By 1972 when I came to Stanford as a graduate student, the LGI was being used as a large lecture hall for classes from other departments. The now-disconnected keypads were toys that bored students played with during lectures. The pull-down screen was used for overheads and occasional films. The fixed position cameras purchased in the late 1960s were already beyond repair and obsolete.

... as I listened, my fingers crept over to the “student responder” and I began to click the keys. “Student responders” and “clickers” merged in my mind.

תוויות: הוראה, הרצאות