Facebook doesn't have to be just a distraction from homework, as so many parents see it. I'm not going on assumption, here; I just spoke with a number of Swiss secondary school students whose parents see it as exactly that, not to mention a lot of peers in my own country. Now there's a study-session and teacher's office hours tool for Facebook called Hoot.me, KQED's Mindshift reports. "Like other … [Read more...] about Facebook as a study tool?!
Archives for October 2011
School helps its students practice social networking
Because we all learn by practicing and to get its middle schoolers ready for adult life in a digitally enhanced networked world, The School at Columbia University created The Social Network. "It’s basically the pre-kindergarten version of Facebook," Forbes reports. There's also The Tube for sharing videos and The Gallery for photos. All of it is archived at the end of the year so that – with … [Read more...] about School helps its students practice social networking
New take on videogame-fueled aggression
Does the competition or the violence in videogames cause aggression? That was the question the authors of a study in the latest issue of the journal Psychology of Violence looked at. It was the first study to ask that question, the authors wrote, and their answer was: "It appears that competition, not violence, may be the video game characteristic that has the greatest influence on aggressive … [Read more...] about New take on videogame-fueled aggression
Education’s job in a networked world
I can't presume to know education's main job in today's very different media environment, but I think Prof. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University is on to something. It goes beyond teaching media literacy in information-saturated lives, which itself is well past the 19th-century model of filling students' heads with information and having them "learn" it. It even goes beyond teaching the … [Read more...] about Education’s job in a networked world
Social tech needed to help US education keep up!
I'm glad I read Seth Godin's "The forever recession (and the coming revolution)" after being in Kenya for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Because, there, the revolution Godin's talking about was right in front of my eyes and in my ears. I heard a lot of smart people from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Democratic Republic of Congo representing what he writes here: "When everyone has a laptop … [Read more...] about Social tech needed to help US education keep up!