teachers
Leadership
Staff Picks: Blended Learning, Smart Phones, EdReform, 21st-Century English
Tom picked blended learning as the topic of the year. Karen picks a review of the recent book Teaching Generation Text, which looks at the benefits of mobile learning in the classroom. Sarah picks Byron Sanders' response to the heated debate around Gene Marks' recent Forbes article, "If I Were a Poor Black Kid."
EdTech
Review: Teaching Generation Text
Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb have spent the last few years experimenting teaching with cell phones and were thrilled with the results.
EdTech
Infographic: Open Courses for All
At Getting Smart, we've been contemplating the power of open education resources (OER) or open courseware (OCW) in education for several months. While the cost of K-20 education creeps up to new heights, OERs are sweeping across classrooms. Teachers can provide quality, free content to students with effective use of personal digital learning tools.
Personalized Learning
6 Ways Digital Learning is Changing Teaching
I visited Wireless Generation, a leading education technology company, in Brooklyn this week. In a discussion about Getting Smart, a couple dozen employees including teachers and technologists asked great questions about the future of learning. Here are two more. As someone who has, within the last decade, been a…
Leadership
Staff Picks: OER Impacts, Learning Online, & the GS Community
This week, Tom picks OER. Karen picks technology as an efficient tool for learning in light of recent budget cuts. Sarah and Caroline pick YOU, our Getting Smart Community.
Personalized Learning
2 Poems
Parker Palmer Parker Palmer introduces the most evocative book about teaching, The Courage to Teach, with this Rilke poem. Ah, not to be cut off, not through the slightest partition shut out from the law of the stars. The inner—what is it? if…
Personalized Learning
SKYRIM: How far r uu??!!
Pretty far, compared with typical learning environments. Not just for kids either: according to the Entertainment Software Association, the average age of video-gamers these days is 37, with 29% over the age of 50! (You know who you are.
EdTech
Saylor Foundation Announces Multi-Million Dollar Open Textbook Challenge
The Saylor Foundation, a non-profit Free Education Initiative, announced Tuesday that it launched Wave II of its multi-million dollar Open Textbook Challenge (OTC), aimed to complement and expand its more than 200 free, college-level courses. The Saylor Foundation's open and free compilation of college-level textbooks provides textbooks to students who seek a higher education, yet face monetary or geographical barriers.
Leadership
Staff Picks: Danny Glover, Games for Learning, & the Virtual School Symposium
This was a busy week for the Getting Smart team! For this week's staff picks, Karen chose an article about Danny Glover at the 'Freedom Awards,' Caroline picked an article highlighting the ways games can transform schools, and Sarah picked the great iNACOL conference this week!
EdTech
OERu: Open Content to Expand College Access
OERu seeks to create new affordable learning pathways for low income adults worldwide based on open education resources (OER). Sponsored by the OER Foundation and Hewlett Foundation, the work is advanced by 13 partner institutions including Empire State, SUNY.