Solving the Plumbing Problem: SLC & Open Questions
Yesterday on MindShift Frank Catalano provided an update on the Shared Learning Collaborative and described the problems they are trying to solve. He provides a great overview of the data warehouse, the content library and the plumbing that will connect them. We outline some of the remaining questions that we're working on and would love to discuss with you.
In the News: Existence & Immigration
Return on Science. The giant Hadron Collider in Switzerland just paid a big dividend. Scientists are pretty sure they finally found evidence for the Higgs particle (or so-called God particle) which explains why we’re all here. NPR said the announcement “had profound implications for understanding our universe and explains the basic…
5 Steps to Getting the Most Out of Online Education
For a countless number of people all over, online classes are one way to get ahead while still maintaining some flexibility in daily life. But, in order to get the most out of those online classes and make sure the experience is as rich as possible, you need to be able to know just what kind of mistakes to avoid.
What I Believe Right Now
Some opinion writers are critics. I’m an advocate. I’m less interested in stale reform debates and more interested in the potential of innovation. Like other sectors (energy, health care) new technology allows us to reframe gnarly old problems.
35 Sources for Curated Educational Videos
Like explorers approaching an unfamiliar landscape, teachers who are ready to take the plunge into flipped classrooms and blended learning often approach the opportunity with a mix of excitement and trepidation. Just dipping a toe into the virtual waters of online content can be overwhelming, and there’s a risk that even the most fearless educator can become paralyzed by the bottomless depths of content and endless pools of resources.
Higher Ed Leaders & Laggards
The Chamber released a state-by-state report card on public post secondary education. The report suggests that public colleges must do a better job of measuring their efficiency and quality. The report points to seven reasons that completion rates, cost efficiency and improved outcomes matter:
Good Work: Freedom and Virtue
Father Robert A. Sirico, author of Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, argues that a free economy promotes charity, selflessness, and kindness. He argues that free-market capitalism is the best way to ensure individual success, broad prosperity, but also the path to a moral society. Sirico suggests we’ve explore alternatives to free markets and they kill individual freedom, dampen incentives for enterprise, and quash creativity and innovation.
Intel Vision Video: Partial Picture of Blended Future
Intel released a video highlighting the not too distant classroom of the future, a blend of personal digital learning and hands-on, high engagement learning.
Become a Power Searcher: Join Google MOOC
Last week Google opened registration for Power Searching with Google, a free online course on advanced search skills. The six 50-minute classes will blend the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) learning format pioneered by Stanford and MIT with social and communication tools to create a community learning experience.
Staff Picks: Blended Learning, Higher Ed, ISTE, DigLN
Tom Picks “Who Governs the Child?” Tom says, “The central tenant of Digital Learning Now!, a framework for state policy, is expanded access to the world of digital learning. The North Carolina struggle that Jeff writes about is emblematic of our time–the shift from a time when…