With enrollment of more than 1 million students and 124 courses across 17 categories, Coursera is the largest of massive open online course (MOOC) education sites. It offers students the capability of taking college courses for free, though without official credit. Coursera and other MOOC sites have opened the doors of higher education to those…
Ask just about any teacher if kids today are struggling with writing and you’ll get a resounding “yes.” While curmudgeonly complaints about “kids today” have always existed, even in relation to writing, there are numerous indications that today’s writing crisis is much more than generational criticism. Research shows that students, from grade school to college,…
How And Why This One EdTech Startup Used Kickstarter For Crowdfounding By Andrew Little, Tiny Factory Founded in 2010, Tiny Factory initially began as a web application design and development agency. We had the opportunity to work with giants such as Nike, General Electric and Scholastic. Beginning as an agency allowed us to work…
Misunderstanding Feedback For Learning By Grant Wiggins Editor’s Note: The title was written by me, not Grant. ; ^ ) Who could argue with the idea that formative assessment is a good thing? Both common sense and the research make clear that more feedback and opportunities to use it enhances performance and achievement [(See Pollock…
Here are four simple team-building games that provide opportunities for students to interact, engage, and create a team atmosphere.
Concrete Examples Of Better Feedback For Learning by Grant Wiggins Below, find thirteen examples of how teachers have made feedback (as opposed to advice and evaluation) more central to their work with students: 1. In a welding class, the teacher gives students a performance task. The work is done when it is ‘up to professional…
The Shift Toward New Learning Goals They start out in their English class with The Paperboy, a 1995 novel set in the southern United States that explores themes of betrayal, justice, and tolerance. Their goal, given by their teacher, is to uncover a truth about racism. While this part of the assignment–a multi-layered project–is teacher-directed,…
Google is taking this a step further with Chromebooks, a bold experiment that will test the strength of their gravity on the internet.
The statistics, news stories, and press releases continue to tell the tale: Educators, like consumers, are interested in tablet computing. And just as importantly – for better or worse – the powers that be with their hands on the purse-strings of educational spending are interested in tablets, too. Whether digital slates will ever truly replace…
Gamification is a trend that has gained momentum in industries from business to education. Often confused with game-based learning, gamification is simply the application of ‘game-like components’–also called ‘encouragement mechanics’–to a non-game entity. Offering a credit card color based on spending limits, or virtual badges for checking-in via social media, are both examples of gamification….
New Marlborough, Mass What are the ingredients for self-directed learning? Technology? “Grade-level” reading? Peer-to-peer collaboration? Project-Based Learning? A Montessori approach? What if it was simpler? What if it was just a matter of getting out of the students way? I’ve always found this a fascinating concept. As a classroom teacher, one (of many) important epiphanies…
Though we don’t often recognize it, chemistry defines nearly every element of our everyday lives. From the reactions that fuel the sun to the biology of our bodies to the technology in our gadgets, chemistry is at the heart of everything we do and is the central science that unites biology, physics, geology, astronomy, medicine,…