January 8th, 2012 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
If the idea of “blended learning” — combining elements of traditional classroom instruction with software-based supplements — sounds appealing in theory, it’s worth inquiring about how it plays out, in practice. There are a few dozen pilots in progress right now, and the first few findings have been trickling in. One of these was shared [...]
December 14th, 2011 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
While watching Peter Norvig, Sebastian Thrun, and Sal Khan field questions on their experiences and goals with online education, one set of comments by Peter Norvig absolutely resonated for me (at time 18:52): I think for us, the key that we’re trying to figure out is how to combine a personal experience with a group [...]
September 2nd, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
Milton Chen, on minds-on learning: This fall, I humbly propose a new national campaign to teach basketball with textbooks. If the ensuing expressions of outrage by parents and demonstrations at school board meetings lead to energetic discussions about active hands-on, minds-on learning in academic subjects, this short-lived campaign will be very worthwhile. It will make [...]
August 31st, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
The LA Times did something controversial this week: They published a database of the “value added” ratings of thousands of Los Angeles elementary school teachers and hundreds of schools, searchable by name. This is a Big Deal. I’ve been working my way through the technical paper that describes the study (PDF), but my mind keeps [...]
June 16th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
There’s a new series of articles being posted on the O’Reilly Radar, and I’m liking it: Education 2.0. The posts touch on several different topics: the role of the DIY ethic in the Maker classroom, ways in which schools will change as a process of disintermediation sets in, and reflections on plans for change, areas [...]
May 17th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
In DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education, Anya Kamenetz discusses the economics, sociology, and history of higher ed in the US (“how we got here”) and outlines a variety of promising new trends, techniques, and initiatives (“how we get there”, e.g. OER/CoP/PLN). My favorite passage appears towards the end of [...]
May 11th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
The Mozilla Foundation and the Shuttleworth Foundation are jointly offering an Education for the Open Web Fellowship: We invite applications from individuals interested in developing innovative approaches that educate people how to promote the open web. …Ideas can connect the open web with learners of any age: opening up the world of web citizenship to [...]
April 25th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere, Shameless plugs
I had the chance to attend the Startup Lessons Learned conference last week, a day of talks (videos) by entrepreneurs who have been using the Lean Startup approach to help navigate a path amidst uncertainty. The model, elaborated by Eric Ries over several hundred posts on his excellent blog, has been gaining traction recently in [...]
April 16th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
The upcoming New York Maker Faire hits the NYTimes Bits blog today (The Robots Are Coming to Town): If you’ve never been to one of these events, you’re in for a surprise. A Maker Faire is the home to mind-boggling contraptions built by robotics hobbyists, amateur rocket scientists and electronics enthusiasts. In one corner of [...]
April 15th, 2010 | by Ari Bader-Natal | published in notes on the edublogosphere
Miles Berry suggests in Open Source Education that textbooks, lesson plans, and curricula are the “source code” around which some educators are building communities: The communities of practice which grow up around open source projects could have much in common with the networks and communities of educational, curricular and pedagogic ‘developers’ which school leaders and [...]
