If your child is seriously into videogames – and Pew Internet research has found that 97% of US 12-to-17-year-olds are – it may help to read about New York teacher Peggy Sheehy's heroes, also known as students. The middle school humanities teacher calls them heroes because she co-created the WoW in School curriculum "A Hero's Journey" (WoW is short for the multiplayer online game World of … [Read more...] about Students called heroes in this 6th-grade class
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Social media reality check from Canadian youth: Key study
Before releasing its report on online conflict, MediaSmarts presented a much broader picture of young Canadians' experiences in social media: "Life Online." This is important context for any discussion about cyberbullying and other negative aspects of digitally informed life, whether we're setting policy at the household, school or national levels. "There are a lot of assumptions out there … [Read more...] about Social media reality check from Canadian youth: Key study
Major study of teen online conflict in Canada, insights for all of us
Though "cyberbullying" is in the title, the just-released study from Canada's premier digital and media literacy organization, MediaSmarts, is about far more than that. The study offers a wide range of insights from young people themselves on the full spectrum of negative behaviors that turn up in digital media, including meanness, gossip-spreading, acting out of anger, "drama," threats and what's … [Read more...] about Major study of teen online conflict in Canada, insights for all of us
‘The gold’ of connected learning, innovation worldwide: The learners
You know that maxim that "necessity is the mother invention" (it goes back at least to 16th-century England, according to Phrases.co.uk). Well, South African journalist Tony Shapshak recently showed in a TED Talk in Edinburgh how necessity is the mother of (tech) innovation, and that innovation is certainly not just happening in Silicon Valley, Bangalore, or the Zhongguancun part of Beijing, but … [Read more...] about ‘The gold’ of connected learning, innovation worldwide: The learners
Google’s new learning tool that learns
This may be the next step beyond tutorials on YouTube, MOOCs (massively open online courses), Google Play for Education and YouTube EDU. It may even be signaling the next step for education. It's called "Oppia," and it's a learning teaching tool. It helps teachers customize what they're teaching, student by student – by asking the individual learner questions and, "based on how the learner … [Read more...] about Google’s new learning tool that learns