How Teachers Are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms. A survey of 2,462 Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP) teachers finds that digital technologies have helped them in teaching their middle school and high school students in many ways.
At the same time, the internet, mobile phones, and social media have brought new challenges to teachers. In addition, they report that there are striking differences in the role of technology in wealthier school districts compared with poorer school districts and that there are clear generational differences among teachers when it comes to their comfort with technology and its use in their classrooms. Asked about the impact of the internet and digital tools in their role as middle and high school educators, these teachers say the following about the overall impact on their teaching and their classroom work: AP and NWP teachers bring a wide variety of digital tools into the learning process, including mobile phones, tablets, and e-book readers About this Study.
Tom Vander Ark: Personal Digital Learning Is Changing the World. About a decade ago, the launch of Wikipedia was symbolic of an important threshold in human history -- anyone with a broadband connection could learn almost anything for free or cheap.
This year inexpensive tablet computers and free resources like Khan Academy are extending the learning revolution. The teachers and students that grew up as digital natives are bringing new tools to school. The promise of personal digital learning is finally rippling through educational institutions of developed economies and creating new opportunities for getting smart in emerging economies. The outcome will be more students in the U.S. will be prepared for college and careers and more young people in developing economies will connect to the idea economy. Personal digital learning is providing three primary benefits, as outlined in my new book, Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World.
Mobile learning and motivated learners means more learning hours per year -- at schools and at home. MOOCs and Museums. Video by Dave Cormier, coiner of the term “MOOC”.
I just participated in my first Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) – the University of Edinburgh’s E-Learning and Digital Culture. While the content was interesting, if somewhat more theoretical than I was looking for, the experience itself was the educational payoff. Forty thousand students enrolled for the course (and it felt like every one of them replied to the discussion thread I experimentally requested email me all responses – I was cleaning out my inbox for weeks!). I don’t know how many completed the course. Full disclosure: I didn’t since it turned out not to be quite what I was after. The whole experience has gotten me thinking about the possibilities for museums to offer MOOCs.
British Museum launches online courses. The British Museum has announced it is joining the e-learning site Fathom to offer a range of courses and online seminars.
The Fathom consortium, based at Columbia University in New York, includes 12 other institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, including the London School of Economics, the British Library and the Victoria and Albert, Natural History and Science museums in London. While demand for degree courses was less than predicted, Fathom is now concentrating on online seminars, lectures and features aimed at "enrichment" learning rather than gaining qualifications. The British Museum is offering a free e-seminar on Agatha Christie and Archaeology, linked to a current exhibition, along with features on Cleopatra, Japanese festivals and the history of European currencies. Dr Carol Homden, the museum's director of marketing, said the museum already had online tours and educational sites on ancient civilisations.
Number of students taking online courses rises. By Justin Pope, The Associated Press Roughly one in six students enrolled in higher education — about 3.2 million people — took at least one online course last fall, a sharp increase defying predictions that online learning growth is leveling off.
Outsourced Ed: Colleges Hire Companies to Build Their Online Courses - Technology. By Marc Parry Michael Tricoli was a middle manager looking for a leg up in his career, so he got an online M.B.A. from Northeastern University.
Well, not only from Northeastern. Much of his college experience was outsourced to a private company. The company, Embanet, put up millions to start the online business program. Its developers helped build the courses. In exchange, Embanet gets what Northeastern's business dean calls "a sizable piece" of the tuition revenue. As more colleges dip their toes into the booming online-education business, they're increasingly taking those steps hand-in-hand with companies like Embanet.
Clay Christensen: First the media gets disrupted, then comes the education industry. Clay Christensen literally wrote the book on disruption, so it’s worth paying attention to him when he talks about where the disruption fueled by the web is going to strike next.
The Harvard business professor and author of The Innovator’s Dilemma spoke to Jeff Howe — the Wired writer who coined the term “crowdsourcing” — and had some interesting things to say about where disruption is occurring now and where it is likely to strike next. At one point, Howe asks Christensen to name some industries that are “either in a state of disruptive crisis or will be soon,” and the professor says: “Journalism, certainly, and publishing broadly.
Anything supported by advertising. That all of this is being disrupted is now beyond question. Christensen recently co-wrote a study for Nieman Reports entitled “Breaking News,” which focused on the media industry and the disruption< that is going on there. A Future Full of Badges - Commentary.