Technologies - About the Technologies - Victorian Curriculum. CTE_VitalSigns_TechBrief.pdf. Viewcontent. Dy/dan » Blog Archive » Adaptive Learning Is An Infinite iPod That Only Plays Neil Diamond. I was in a small room recently with some futurists who were very excited about adaptive learning. The reasons for their excitement wouldn’t surprise you. “Prussian factory model of learning, learn at your own pace, et cetera.” I admit it all sounded very appealing and when I tried to articulate my frustration with their model, I didn’t get far at all. I sounded like just another rent-seeking teacher trying to preserve the outdated model that cuts his paycheck. Futurists and math educators talk past each other. Adaptive learning is like an iPod with infinite capacity and infinite capability to play any song ever recorded or sung, provided those songs were written by Neil Diamond.
If all you’ve ever heard in your life is Neil Diamond’s music, you might think we’ve invented something quite amazing there. If I could somehow convince the futurists to see math the same way, I imagine our conversations would become a lot more productive. BTW. Featured Comments: Kent Haines: Five-Minute Film Festival: Teaching Kids to Code. Whether you're a technophobe or a geeked-out early adopter, there's no denying that the world is run on computers, and the language of computers is code. It seems only natural that there's a wave of interest in the idea of teaching kids to code -- some say it should be a requirement in every school. I think no one would argue that every kid is cut out to be a programmer, but a basic understanding of code couldn't hurt.
In fact, this knowledge could give a leg up in an increasingly technology-centric society. Hopefully this playlist of videos will help you learn more about some of the people and organizations who are working to change the opportunities available for kids to learn code. Video Playlist: Teaching Kids to Code Watch the player below to see the whole playlist, or view it on YouTube. What Most Schools Don't Teach (05:44) This video by Code.org went viral a year ago. More Resources on Teaching Coding Ready to jump in to play with some code in your own classroom? See more see less. Coding for Kids Revisited. Secondary_national_curriculum_-_computing.pdf. Computing At School :: Promoting and supporting excellence in computer science education.
Cas_secondary.pdf. Should Schools Mandate Computer-Coding Classes? October 27, 2014 It's happening in Chicago. Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that Chicago Public Schools will include an introductory computer-science class in every high school. These classes are supposed to be in place by the end of next year. Over the next three years, the district also is expected to implement a K-8 computer-science pathway for younger students. Earlier this month, Emanuel told techies at the Internet World of Things Forum that Chicago's high school students will soon be required to take a computer class in order to graduate. It's also happening in Los Angeles, where school officials have rolled out a similar three-year program to expand computer science in public high schools.
There are a lot of good reasons for treating computer science as a core subject in high schools. Knowledge of computers also makes a person attractive in the job market. Second, what do the students think they are getting from these courses? Don't Miss Today's Top Stories. Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: MathChat App Allows Students to Collaborate on Math Homework. October, 2014 MathChat is an interesting new iPad app that I discovered recently. As its name indicate, MathChat is an app that allows students to collaborate and work together on math problems. This collaboration takes place in group chats where members get to exchange messages, use pointers to show how to solve a problem, or draw and add arrows to provide illustration and guidance on Math concepts.
This collaborative feature of MathChat resembles to a great extent the work Whiteboard apps do. MathChat has a specialized math keyboard that enables you to easily enter math problems, including fractions and exponents. When you add friends to help with the problem, they can message to help and also draw on the screen. MathChat can check your work at every step of the problem, and will give you a reward when you get the correct answer. Uses of MathChat Use MathChat for help on homework, classwork, math practice, tutoring and more. 5 Big Data Use Cases To Watch. Here's how companies are turning big data into decision-making power on customers, security, and more. 10 Hadoop Hardware Leaders (Click image for larger view and slideshow.) We hear a lot about big data's ability to deliver usable insights -- but what does this mean exactly?
It's often unclear how enterprises are using big-data technologies beyond proof-of-concept projects. Some of this might be a byproduct of corporate secrecy. Certainly the market for Hadoop and NoSQL software and services is growing rapidly. [Digital business demands are bringing marketing and IT departments even closer. According to Quentin Gallivan, CEO of big-data analytics provider Pentaho, the market is at a "tipping point" as big-data platforms move beyond the experimentation phase and begin doing real work.
Here they are: 1. "That's all unstructured clickstream data," said Gallivan. A third big-source, social media sentiment, also is tossed into the mix, providing the desired 360 degree view of the customer. 2. Wolfram Demonstrations Project. Mathematics with an iPad. A Modern iPad Workflow For Students And Teachers. When you deploy an iPad in your classroom, you most likely download some of your favorite apps and load up bookmarks to your preferred web tools. Then you hand out the iPad to students and help them use said resources. Great, right? Now we’re learning with gusto! Not really. In order to effectively use iPads in education, you probably need a modern iPad workflow that works for both teachers and students alike. I just came across a fabulous version that is in graphic form – which makes it all the better.
It’s from dedwards.me and lists out the apps, parties involved, and how each one fits into particular steps along the process. As you can see, the workflow starts with staff (at the top) and works its way down to students. As you can see, iTunes U and YouTube are some of the focal points here. You should feel free to make your own workflow, but I would definitely recommend using this visual as a guide. How To Redefine Your Classroom By Connecting Students. Do you remember the days when you had to pay to get online access at places like Starbucks? Well those days are over, and we all connect very easily at any of their thousands of locations. Many others businesses realize that we value being connected as well, and have made it easy for us to be online while shopping, eating or waiting to pickup an order. Just like our schools! Oh wait, (insert scratching record sound here) most schools don’t do that at all.
An unfortunate number of schools are afraid of connecting students and their collective angst is coming at a huge cost to our students. As we begin a new school year, it would be great to see a shift in the way we look at learning. One where we begin to think of our students as not just learners but as connected and global learners. Enter school year 2013-2014. Here are some easy ways to begin connecting your students: Start small and choose only one but find at least one way to connect your students this year.
Why Teachers Should Be Preparing For A Multi-Screen Classroom. You don’t need an infographic to tell you that your students (and probably most of your friends, colleagues, and family members) have their nose pointed towards a screen more often than not. While I’m definitely not above chastising my dinner mates for getting too cosy with their phone instead of interacting with everyone at the table, I wouldn’t necessarily transfer that same open shaming technique to a classroom. Studies show that so much of our daily media interactions are screen based – 90%, in fact. So while your inclination may be to have students focusing on one thing at a time to make sure they’re getting all they need to out of an activity, maybe you should think again.
Google has put together this little graphic (below) that shows that most of us are quite adept at functioning in what they call a ‘multi-screen world’. Something to keep in mind as you’re planning classroom activities, for sure. Multimedia is not just for presentations. A Multi Screen World. Why EdTech Should Be More TI-83, Less iPad.
I used a TI-83 during my high school years and it was one of those elicit devices students know they probably shouldn’t be using in class. That’s because you could program games into the calculator and then spend the majority of class time mastering those games while looking like you were seriously working through some complex math. The TI-83 holds a special place in every student’s heart from my generation. The iPad didn’t exist and wireless computing didn’t either. We had a computer lab filled with ancient Macs that needed about 10 minutes to start and a full-time staff to run. The TI-83 felt like the future in the palm of your hand, though. Source: Oregon State University Archive That’s because it was portable and still had the computing power to run complex programs with ease.
In any case, my love for the TI-83 knows no bounds and I never got ride of it. There’s something special about the TI-83. Not like the iPad. See Also: The Evolution Of Classroom Technology. How To Get Started With A BYOD Classroom. Having a BYOD classroom can be a great way to bring technology into your classroom when you might not otherwise have it. You’re letting your students use technology that they’re likely quite familiar with, and both teachers and parents agree that students are much more engaged when they’re using technology. But implementing a BYOD classroom can also be an absolute nightmare if you don’t plan well. Instead of highly engaged students easily using their devices, you may find yourself with some students unable to load an app, others unable to connect to wifi, and your school IT specialist adding a filter for your name to his email inbox.
So how can you implement a BYOD classroom without pulling your hair out and wasting more time than you have in the first place? In his classes on implementing BYOD, Adam Webster states that you’ll need “You’ll need internet access, a lot of patience, and the willingness to be wrong sometimes” to implement a BYOD program. Set Realistic Expectations. What Does A Totally Technology-Centric School Look Like? What would your classroom look like if it were entirely technology centric? Most of us might come up with something that looks pretty similar to our current classrooms, just with less books and more computers and other devices.
But educators and administrators in the Netherlands expanded upon this idea, and have created new schools which are completely iPad centric. Last week, the first seven of these s0-called “Steve Jobs Schools” opened in the Netherlands. So what’s the real deal with these schools? Do they really have an entirely iPad focused curriculum? How does that even work? An iPad Focused Curriculum Many of us would probably use the term ‘curriculum’ pretty loosely, but these schools are setting about to transform education, so keep that in mind before you judge! What’s Missing Many of the staples of the classrooms that we knew as children aren’t a part of these schools. A New Concept of School.