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Category Archives: School & Tech

From education technology to filtering to school policy about tech use

The power of kid-powered tablets

19-Jun-13

This article about tablets in school has something to teach us about tablets at home too. Tablets – iPads, Kindle Fires, Meeps, Nabis, iTouches (see this) – and even the apps on them aren’t the main event. They can be seen as the means to an end: creativity, communication, learning, fun (author and game designer [...]

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Pinterest for consuming, curating, producing

18-Jun-13

I love seeing the clear distinction being made by this teacher between consuming vs. producing social media – and the learning value being placed on the producing. Seems obvious, I know, but I still see peers – including media researchers – referring to today’s media as merely consumed. “As I looked into using Pinterest as [...]

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Wisdom about bullying from a former target

06-Jun-13

There’s probably no better testimony to the power of social-emotional learning than this UK student’s poem about what happens to the “bully” when victimizing someone else (don’t miss this 1:25 min. video of Garrett reading his poem). Garrett was a student at New Line Learning Academy in Maidstone, Kent, UK, when he read this poem [...]

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Social literacy up, social problems down in Chicago Schools

05-Jun-13

More than 50 Chicago schools were recommended for closure this year, but one of the four schools that won’t close isn’t closing because of its strong, successful social-emotional learning program, Education Week reports. Marcus Garvey Elementary School “is recognized for helping children develop empathy and problem-solving skills.” SEL is “problem-solving with dignity,” as teacher-songwriter Tontaneshia [...]

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Stop using the word ‘bullying’ in school, researchers say

04-Jun-13

“Bullying” is a loaded term to say the very least, and not using it could not only defuse a lot of fear and harmful overreaction when it happens, it could save lives. I’ll get to the life-saving part in a minute, but first the problem with using the word. Because of all the (certainly well-intended) [...]

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A techie dad’s perspective on school

17-Apr-13

The subhead of this post might be: “Writing code as an extracurricular activity” or Venturebeat‘s headline, “Why your 8-year-old should be coding,” or just “Let them learn code!” Another article about Harvard undergrads’ extracurricular code-writing activity shows how that activity can enrich a whole lot of lives as well as open up careers for young [...]

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Challenging the idea that games can’t be fun AND meaningful

18-Mar-13

In “Reading, Writing & Videogames,” parent and New York Times features editor Pamela Paul seems to be arguing that digital games are just that – games – they should just be fun. They don’t need to be educational, and they don’t really belong in classrooms. The first part of her argument makes perfect sense – [...]

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Designing students: Check out these contests (learning opps)!

12-Mar-13

These are projects that get young people and classrooms participating in the digital maker movement: Current or aspiring videogame designers and videographers have about a month to submit their creations to three different contests: The National STEM Videogame Challenge, Whyville’s game design contest, and Trend Micro’s What’s Your Story video producing contest. Design a videogame [...]

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Teachers on tech in US classrooms: Study

08-Mar-13

A recent survey by the Pew Internet Project shows how pervasive technology has become in American classrooms. “Laptops and desktops are central, but … mobile technology use has also become commonplace in the learning process,” the Pew researchers write, adding that the 2,462 teachers surveyed feel “digital technologies have helped them in teaching their middle [...]

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High expectations tablets will be huge in K-12 schools

07-Mar-13

News Corp’s unveiling of its tablet for schools at SxSWedu in Austin this week was definitely a sign of the times. Its 10″ Amplify tablet, which runs on the Android operating system, will cost K-12 schools $299 and come complete not only with curriculum but also training and customer care, the New York Times reports. [...]

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