Five Tips for School Leaders Here are 5 simple things that school leaders can do to help teachers as they transition their classrooms to Web 2.0 learning. There is so much pressure on school leadership in this day and age. School budgets are growing tighter and tighter. More, now than ever, schools and districts are facing the real possibility of laying off teachers and not having enough in funds to to even keep the doors open to some schools. The vast majority of districts across this country have had to make hard decisions regarding budgets; many of them deciding to make drastic, but necessary cuts in order to save jobs and still give students the best possible education. There is pressure from state and federal mandates on testing. With all of these external pressures there is little time for school leadership to encourage teachers to take risks in their classroom and be creative in terms of technology. 1) Why do we even need to be having this conversation? 2) What do good school leaders do?
Startup entrepreneurs are ‘arrogant and psychopathic’ The startup economy is well-known for lauding the most successful young entrepreneurs, those twenty-somethings who are turned into millionaires — or even billionaires — through their exploits. Yet there are also plenty of stories about the bad behavior and kill-or-be-killed attitudes that often emerge inside startups. That’s no coincidence, say a pair of German academics. In an interview in Germany’s Der Spiegel, Dominik Schwarzinger and Matthias Kramer, who are researching the entrepreneurial personality, say that borderline personality disorders can actually be crucial elements behind startup success. As part of a study that has been underway since 2009, the duo suggest that there are several traits that may be highly unpleasant in ordinary life but can help startups succeed. In many ways, this is no revelation. The duo admit that in most cases, these are not full blown personality disorders (hence the “sub-clinical”) and merely trends.
This Time Its Personal Personalized Learning | Feature This Time It's Personal Truly student-centered learning has a lot of support in high places in education, but it can’t happen without the right technology infrastructure to drive it. By Jennifer Demski01/04/12 Educators have known for some time now that a one-size-fits-all approach to learning does not lead to the level of student engagement and academic success that schools strive to achieve. In their search for a more customized approach to delivering instruction, they’ve explored project-based learning, addressed different learning styles, and increased collaborative learning among students. But, for the most part, schools have incorporated these 21st century instructional techniques and tools as add-ons to the teacher-centric 19th century classroom structure, in which the majority of the curriculum is pulled from a textbook, and, despite best intentions, most students learn the same thing in the same way at the same time.
What’s the worst thing that can happen? « Startup Marketing Lessons Learnt Matthieu Ricard - Happiest man in the world You have been there too, in a similar situation, I am sure. For me, there is this startup I am running called Buffer. What used to happen, is that I would think the world collapses. What I found is, we keep thinking about that terrible situation, but we don’t think about that big thing in our head and why it is even there. A quote I found most accurate is this one: Worrying is interest paid on a debt that you might never owe. Whilst we keep worrying about the situation, that big thing in our heads is possibly something completely unnecessary. “Joel’s exercise” to battle tough situations The one thing that helped me the most is something I have started to call “Joel’s exercise”. Joel would in every case keep a calm mind and just say:”Let’s think about it, what’s the worst thing that can happen?” Happiness is a skill, not a state “Happiness – in essence, is not a state, but a skill to be learned.” So yes, we have to practice being happy.
We Live in a Mobile World - Room for Debate Let’s face it: For my children and for millions like them, life will be an open phone test. They are among the first generation who will carry access to the sum of human knowledge and literally billions of potential teachers in their pockets. They will use that access on a daily basis to connect, create and, most important, to learn in ways that most of us can scarcely imagine. Given that reality, shouldn’t we be teaching our students how to use mobile devices well? The analog, 20th century curriculum that most classrooms deliver doesn’t fit well with the realities of the exploding mobile, digital world. Right now, schools are resistant, fearing the disruption that mobile access might cause and the dangers that might lurk online. There's no doubt that the current slate of mobile devices have their limitations. Access in our kids’ pockets will force us to rethink much of what we do in schools. Join Opinion on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate.
How Israel turned itself into a high-tech hub 22 November 2011Last updated at 00:12 By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News, Tel Aviv WATCH: How did Israel establish itself as a fertile ground for hi-tech start-up companies? When a grey-haired grandmother clutching a smartphone mounted the stage at Montreal's Start-up Festival this summer, young Israeli entrepreneur Guy Rosen knew he had pocketed a very special award. His company, Tel Aviv-based Onavo, offers an application that shrinks mobile phone data to help users save money - and appeals to any age. Standing in his office in Tel Aviv, Mr Rosen recalls the moment: "They went on stage and said: 'We love Onavo and we understand what it does... it is such an easy app to understand' - we just save money, that's it, period, they loved us." Guy Rosen is one of Israel's many young, enthusiastic entrepreneurs who, fresh out of the army, decided to set up a tech firm. Formula for success In 2010 alone the flow of venture capital amounted to $884m (£558m). Government's role Lost decade
Top 5 Ed Tech predictions for 2012 Earlier this week I wrote about five major technologies that should have had real impacts in education this year, but which never amounted to much. I called more than one of them out a year ago, when all signs pointed to their potential for disruption and transformation in 2011. I can't resist giving it another shot this year, though. Here are my top 5 predictions for the state of the art in Ed Tech in the coming year. Analytics and BI will go mainstream In a former life, I was a SAS programmer doing data management and statistical analysis for clinical trials. SAS is still going strong in large-scale, mission critical statistical programming, but much of its business focus is now on analytics and business intelligence (BI). Google's tablet will NOT be the holy grail of 1:1 A reader emailed me the other day and asked me if I thought that Google's tablet, expected for release before fall 2012, would finally make tablet-based 1:1 initiatives a reality.
Generation Y Is Born To Startup Every generation rebels against their parents. When parents approve, their offspring disapproves. Parent says black, adolescent teen says white. Psychologists who are expert in these matters explain that rebellion is a factor in establishing identity. It’s part of the journey of growing up -- personalities are taking shape and a sense of self is being nurtured. Even if you haven’t quite worked out what you want, it helps to know what you don’t want. But the times seem to be a-changing, yet again. Our conventional views of rebellion have been summed up in iconic images: think Marlon Brando wearing a leather jacket astride a Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle in 'The Wild Ones.' A quick visit to Facebook will show you just how many teens have begun selling products on their pages. Every day I’m contacted by at least 100 kids asking for advice on starting their own businesses. You have nothing to lose You have no mortgage, you have no husband or wife to support.
How to Create Your Own Textbook — With or Without Apple By Dolores Gende Apple’s iBooks2 and authoring app has created big waves in education circles. But smart educators don’t necessarily need Apple’s slick devices and software to create their own books. As the open education movement continues to grow and become an even more rich trove of resources, teachers can use the content to make their own interactive textbooks. Here’s how to create a digital textbook and strategies for involving the students in its development in three steps. 1. Teachers can work with colleagues within their subject area departments and beyond the walls of the classroom to aggregate resources through social bookmarking. Also try Paper.li or The Twitted Times, which will sift through your connections’ resources and organize them. 2. One of the most user-friendly tools to post resources for your course is LiveBinders. You can find many more useful tools for curation. 3. Google Sites also allows you to create and share Web pages, and has lots of customizable features.
Interview: David Karp, founder of Tumblr, on realising his dream | Media David Karp, the founder of the blogging platform Tumblr, was 17 when he decided to cut the apron strings and move to Tokyo. With a smattering of Japanese and a sharp eye for computer code, the impatient Manhattan teenager embarked on a period of self-discovery. "I was holed up in the middle of this world where it was just me on the internet," Karp recalls. Within weeks, he had fine-tuned his computer skills and cooled on the idea of building robots. He wanted to be an entrepreneur. But there was one small problem: his voice. "I was so silly – I tried to be very formal and put on a deep voice to clients over the phone so I didn't have to meet them and give away how young I was," he says. Karp returned to the US with a fistful of contracts (drawn up by his father) and a list of executives' ears to bend. Now 25, Karp is at the helm of one of the internet's fastest growing startups. It was time for Karp and Tumblr to grow up. But Karp is unconvinced.
Educational Technology Bill of Rights for Students The following are what I believe are the rights of all student to have with regards to using technology as an educational tool, written as a student to their teacher: 1) I have the right to use my own technology at school. I should not be forced to leave my new technology at home to use (in most cases) out-of-date school technology. If I can afford it, let me use it -- you don’t need to buy me one. If I cannot afford it, please help me get one -- I don’t mind working for it. 2) I have the right to access the school’s WiFi. 3) I have the right to submit digital artifacts that prove my understanding of a subject, regardless of whether or not my teacher knows what they are. 4) I have the right to cite Wikipedia as one of the sources that I use to research a subject. 5) I have the right to access social media at school. 6) I have the right to be taught by teachers who know how to manage the use technology in their classrooms. 8) I have the right to be accessed with technology. About Brad