I've done it, have you? I have a feeling most of us have passed our cellphones back to a kid in the backseat so we could drive in peace while the child (who has been hounding us to let it happen) plays a game app. Of course, increasingly, this is happening with really little kids, because the bigger ones have their own cellphones ("way back" in 2010, Pew/Internet reported that 75% of US … [Read more...] about Surge in kids’ apps: Parents & providers sorting it out
education technology
A class as a team of co-learners
…with the focus on the learners, which can certainly include the teacher. This is the conceptual infrastructure, presented in educator Jackie Gerstein's User-Generated Education blog, for using tech in the classroom. How does it play out? More emphasis on learners and learning, using technology to facilitate that. Starting when a class first meets. Literally – as in everybody really meeting each … [Read more...] about A class as a team of co-learners
Powerful play: A mom & son in World of Warcraft
I met Malinda at an educators' conference several years ago and, over dinner, so enjoyed hearing the story you're about to read. I later got to meet and dine with both Malinda and her son Dillon and wish you could enjoy that too. Recently I asked her if she'd be willing to tell of this experience in NetFamilyNews, because I wanted fellow parents to know that this kind of long-distance camaraderie … [Read more...] about Powerful play: A mom & son in World of Warcraft
Mobile learning gathering momentum
"Please turn on your cell phone – or your iPad or whatever wireless device you brought from home. Class is about to begin." More and more students may be hearing that instruction at the start of class. It's the introduction to the third and final piece of the Consortium for School Networking's report on mobile phones in as education technology: "Small Size, Big Potential: Mobile Learning Devices … [Read more...] about Mobile learning gathering momentum
Microsoft’s ‘So.cl’ networking for students
Back in 2008, the researchers of the MacArthur Foundation-funded Digital Youth Project reported that there are two kinds of social networking: the friendship-driven kind we're all very familiar with and interest-driven. The latter kind is self-explanatory too, but worth zooming in on. Because it's not only online socializing around interests (as in a writer's community, the Harry Potter Alliance, … [Read more...] about Microsoft’s ‘So.cl’ networking for students