Posts by Guest Author

Personalized Learning

Finding the Right Level: Adaptivity in Learning Games

One of the things that keeps game players engaged is the presentation of exactly the right level of challenge at exactly the right time. Keeping the game play at a level that is challenging but not overwhelming appears to be key to engaging players.

Personalized Learning

Three Reasons For High Schoolers to Use Peer-Reviewed Journals in Research

If you’ve taught students to improve their researching and writing skills - or even graded your share of research papers - you’ve probably noticed that students have the whole process down to a system: Google a few articles or grab them from the library, look for keywords related to their topics, then write about a viewpoint or two. In college and graduate school, though, expectations will get higher as classes get more advanced.

Personalized Learning

A Digital Toolkit for the Common Core

The new Common Core State Standards, which are being phased in by school districts in most states, are designed to reflect the skills and knowledge that will be most critical to success beyond high school. The benchmarks focus on developing skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, language, and media and technology.

EdTech

Taking the Classroom Out of Physics With Mobile Devices

Despite the ever-growing penetration of mobile devices and wider acceptance of BYOD, I feel that a lot of the potential of mobile learning is being underexploited. Many of the solutions are focused on wrapping up content and disseminating it to students. As important this is, we should demand more.

Personalized Learning

Assessment All the Time? Why Not?

When talking with people who are not educators, I often think of Fannee Doollee, a character from the Zoom television series, which ran on PBS in the late seventies, who has a fascination with double letters. Fannee Doollee loves one thing but hates something very similar. For example, she loves swEEts but hates candy (notice the double EE in sweets). Similarly, in my conversation with parents and community leaders, I am always amazed at how they can advocate for one thing while mocking a possible solution.

EdTech

Physical Education, Meet Gaming

One in three children are now considered overweight or obese, according to a study from USC Rossier School of Education. As a result, many schools are feeling pressure to ensure their students get adequate exercise and healthy meals, which has recently caused an innovative meshing of video games and the physical education curriculum.