Digital Media and Learning Competition Institute for the Future of the Book - Mission The Mission The printed page is giving way to the networked screen. The Institute for the Future of the Book seeks to chronicle this shift, and impact its development in a positive direction. The Institute is a project of the Annenberg Center for Communication at the University of Southern California, and is based in Brooklyn, New York. The Book For the past five hundred years, humans have used print — the book and its various page-based cousins — to move ideas across time and space. The Work & The Network One major consequence of the shift to digital is the addition of graphical, audio, and video elements to the written word. As such, the Institute is deeply concerned with the surrounding forces that will shape the network environment and the conditions of culture: network neutrality, copyright and privacy. Tools Humanism & Technology New Practices Academic institutes arose in the age of print, which informed the structure and rhythm of their work.
:: e-Learning for Kids :: 'Badges' Earned Online Pose Challenge to Traditional College Diplomas - College 2.0 By Jeffrey R. Young The spread of a seemingly playful alternative to traditional diplomas, inspired by Boy Scout achievement patches and video-game power-ups, suggests that the standard certification system no longer works in today's fast-changing job market. Educational upstarts across the Web are adopting systems of "badges" to certify skills and abilities. If scouting focuses on outdoorsy skills like tying knots, these badges denote areas employers might look for, like mentorship or digital video editing. At the free online-education provider Khan Academy, for instance, students get a "Great Listener" badge for watching 30 minutes of videos from its collection of thousands of short educational clips. Traditional colleges and universities are considering badges and other alternative credentials as well. But the biggest push for badges is coming from industry and education reformers, rather than from traditional educational institutions. What is the best way to certify higher learning?
ICDL - International Children's Digital Library Distributed Teaching and Learning Terry Freedman asked me to contribute an article the the second edition of Coming of Age: An introduction to the NEW world wide web. It was originally scheduled to be released this month but due to circumstances beyond Terry's control publication has been pushed back to January 2007. Terry recently emailed all the contributors to the new edition to say we should feel free to publish our articles on our blogs in the meantime. The second edition has over 50 articles; I'm really looking forward to reading it. In the past few months a number of people have emailed me asking how I orchestrate the use of scribe posts in my classes. Distributed Teaching and Learning The Power of Pedagogy and Audience by Darren Kuropatwa All my classes are hybrid classes. Harnessing the Power of Pedagogy: The Scribe Post This straightforward idea has incredibly powerful consequences. Each day, except for test days, a different student is responsible for the daily scribe post. The first scribe is a volunteer.
Comprehension and Collaboration Meet the standards? Celebrate kids' curiosity and questions? Cover the curriculum? Reach and include everyone? “Educators around the country,” Steph and Smokey write, “are discovering that inquiry is the secret opportunity offered by new national and state standards as well as emerging research on social–emotional learning.” Sneak Previews Amazingly, in the six short years since we published the book we affectionately call “Comp and Collab,” the school world has undergone remarkable changes. We want the children we teach to have an education that gives them not only the skills but also the drive to live happy, self-determined, productive lives that make the world a better place. Read More... Teachers ask us again and again, how do you get kids to follow their questions and read to find out information? Mini–inquiries are quick small–group investigations of authentic questions that come from kids, from teachers, or from the curriculum. Related Blog Posts Community
MentorMob - Great Minds Share Alike - MentorMob Smithsonian Civil War Studies: Article - A Pathway To Freedom: Maryland's Underground Railroad A Pathway To Freedom: Maryland's Underground Railroad The Smithsonian Associates Civil War E-Mail Newsletter, Volume 8, Number 6 Because of its location just below the Mason-Dixon Line, Maryland occupied a pivotal place in a secret network of trails and sanctuaries known as the Underground Railroad. This was the last "station" that separated North from South - and freedom from bondage - for countless slaves secreted across back roads and waterways. Harriet Tubman completed the daring journey repeatedly during the 1800s, having escaped from a plantation in Dorchester County to become the railroad's most famous "conductor." In and around Cambridge, visitors can see the small church where Tubman worshipped, as well as a humble marker noting her approximate birthplace. Farther south, the Hollywood-based Sotterley Plantation has a rare slave cabin and outbuildings beside the Patuxent River. Download the publications, plan a trip, follow the maps, read some books, have fun, and learn something!
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