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Nine Stubborn Brain Myths That Just Won't Die, Debunked by Science
This is a good summary of many of the brain and learning studies, although it is not written by a researcher or cognitive expert. I find the last one interesting, "believe you can get smarter" and it becomes possible. ;-)
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50 Search Engines You Probably Don't Use Yet
I always find searching interesting. This Edudemic post includes 50 different search engines. Some of these are being used, at least by my students, but every media specialist should peruse this list.
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The Beachcomber : Merit Pay Would Not Improve Student Learning
A Daniel Pink TED video about merit pay demonstrated to me that this wouldn't work. This is also a good article about the topic with some sound reasoning.
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Google Announces 100 Live Hangouts For Teachers Around The World
This is a big deal. Daily hangouts aimed at teachers have been launched by Google. I'm not sure who they have recruited to run these sessions, but if they tap into the right networks, these could be a big deal. Check out this article from edudemic to find out dates and times.
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California Launches Suicide Prevention Website - Walnut Creek, CA Patch
A new website with resources for counselors. Such sites are great, of course, because the Internet is international, sites like this can be far reaching. "As part of its comprehensive Suicide Prevention Initiative, the California Mental Health Services Authority (CalMHSA) announces the official launch of the Know the Signs campaign website www.suicideispreventable.org"
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Friday, 5 October 2012
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(via Great Barrier Reef declining faster than ever, coral cover could be 5 percent in a decade ( video) - CSMonitor.com) I find this very upsetting and hope that teachers and schoolchildren talk about this very real threat. This is the kind of thing we should be talking about in schools. The Great Barrier Reef is declining faster than ever and coral cover could fall to 5% in the next decade according to a study released Tuesday. The accompanying video is something you can use.
but in the words and deeds my students learned through me."
Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher
Just a thought I penned last night in the car that I thought I'd share and combine with this lovely photo on Bigstock. Hope it inspires you. ;-)
Photo Credit: Big Stock
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Early Windows 8 adoption lags behind Windows 7's rates - Technology on NBCNews.com
I have played with the Windows 8 system and am definitely installing it on my touch screen at home. The integration with social media is fantastic. Perhaps what I like best is what live.edu can do -- of course the struggle is now I'm committed to Google Apps for Domains. I do think that people should take a serious look at the collaborative features in the system. They are powerful but are also very new and different and basically require relearning in some ways. "Only 0.33 percent — or 33 out of every 10,000 PCs — currently run a Preview version or RTM trial of Windows 8, Computerworld reports, citing statistics from metrics firm Net Applications. At the same point to the release of Windows 7, 1.64 percent of all Windows PCs were running the upcoming operating system. That's a full five times more than Windows 8 adoptees — and the gap between early Windows 7 adoption and early Windows 8 adoption is actually increasing as Oct. 26 draws closer."
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iPhone 5: First the Hype, Now the Gripes - Forbes
I'm sorry, but the idea that "ScuffGate" and "purplegate" are really any kind of world-impacting problem is ridiculous. Forbes in this article explains, "ScuffGate refers to scuff marks or scratches some users have encountered on the aluminum back, prompting Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller to point out in an email obtained by 9 to 5 Mac that “any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color.” I immediately bought a $29 case for my iPhone 5 to protect it against breaking and got scuff mark protection for no extra charge. Some users, says Mashable, are even complaining about an iPhone 5 camera flaw causing a “purple haze.” I’m not sure what I like better, “CameraGate” or “PurpleGate.”" Just fix it and move on, but the world has not ended.
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An article hotchalk did that talks about some of the habitgs I have in my classroom. One of the biggest is taking and making time to learn. "Davis used her daily break time – 15 minutes – two to three times a week to do this. First she’d discover what she wanted to learn about and make a list – from wiki to QR codes and beyond. Then she’d spend her next breaks working her way through the list. “Break it down,” she said. “If you want to eat a watermelon, you don’t eat it whole. You eat it a bite at a time.”"
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Justin Bieber fansite operator sued over minors' personal info - Arts & Entertainment - CBC News
COPPA gets a Bieber site. The lawsuit wants $16K PER violation. They are dealing with young fans and asking them not to give personal information, but I think they don't understand COPPA. They will lose. "A Manhattan-based company running unofficial fan websites for artists like Justin Bieber and Rihanna has been hit with a lawsuit for requesting personal information from minors without parental consent. The U.S. Justice Department says Artist Arena violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by demanding information such as first and last names, email addresses, birthdates, and cellphone numbers from kids under age 13. Information was gathered from more than 100,000 young people under age 13, without parental consent, the suit claims. Registered fan club members could create online portfolios and interact publicly online by posting comments."
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My friend Eric Williams is just one of the superstars profiled in the Microsoft Innovative Schools awards. There are 99 schools from 51 countries in the program this year. I've seen some incredible work being done by many schools as I've worked with the Microsoft Innovative Educators forum in the US and Worldwide. It is worth a read. "In Virginia, Superintendent Eric Williams and the York County School Division is in its 7th year of providing a virtual university, offering high quality online courses and experienced staff. Students demonstrate mastery of the content as they gain 21st century skills with real world experiences. Recently, students had the opportunity to work with software programmers, graphic designers, product developers, and marketers to develop mobile applications for learners. The process allowed students to further develop and reinforce their interest in coding. Application development is one of the fastest growing career interests of students."
Thursday, 4 October 2012
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An article hotchalk did that talks about some of the habitgs I have in my classroom. One of the biggest is taking and making time to learn. "Davis used her daily break time – 15 minutes – two to three times a week to do this. First she’d discover what she wanted to learn about and make a list – from wiki to QR codes and beyond. Then she’d spend her next breaks working her way through the list. “Break it down,” she said. “If you want to eat a watermelon, you don’t eat it whole. You eat it a bite at a time.”"
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Jonathan Ive - Tribute to Steve Jobs - YouTube
This tribute to Steve Jobs is gaining traction in the anniversary of his death on Friday. It is another take that you might want to share with your students if you're talking about this Friday. 7 minutes and 30 seconds.
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Apple's Passbook gets some love from Airbnb, Eventbrite, McDonald's | Apple - CNET News
"McDonald's app is available only in France at the moment but lets customers place an order and pay for it from their iPhone." Paying via mobile device is going to increase. Now, school lunch cards and numbers are the norm, but I would expect that eventually paying for books and food will be via mobile device. IT is going to be more important than ever that we teach our children how to handle money because paying via mobile, I think, is a lot like paying with a debit card - you don't feel the pain that you do when real cash is involved.
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Lindsay Lohan Was Bullied In High School For Movie Roles Troubled Home Life| E! Online
Lindsay Lohan says she was bullied as people speak out. Whitney Kropp was elected homecoming queen "as a joke" but the community embraced and encouraged her to stand against what they did. Lohan says: ""I was actually bullied @ my public school when i would leave to film," Lohan, 26, wrote. "Whenever I came back… girls & boys would call me names." "They would also mock me because of my home situation," she added. "When people found out that my father was in jail...they would yell things, try to trip me & more…I moved to home-schooling instead. In 11th grade. I stuck it out for a while.""
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Regulators shut down global PC 'tech support' scam | Politics and Law - CNET News
Scareware. Yes, it is a term. Scaring people into thinking they have a virus. Knowledge is power and it will also save you money. Being educated about computers pays over your life. It is time for all of us to be educated and savvy. I know someone taken by this scam. "English-speaking consumers in the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and the U.K. were targeted in the global scam, regulators said. Most of the scammers were based in India, but some also came from the U.S. and U.K. The scam involved cold callers who claimed to work for major technology companies, such as Microsoft or Google, and who told consumers they had viruses on their PCs, according to regulators. The callers would attempt to dupe users into giving them remote access to their computers, locking the user out while attempting to "fix" the malware that the scammer claimed was on the machine."
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BBC News - Plans to print a gun halted as 3D printer is seized
3D printers are beginning to be used. A US project to print guns was stopped when the company who was creating the 3D printer pulled out of the project. They wanted to set it up to print a gun, initially with no moving parts. Regulating things is about to get a lot harder because people will be able to download and print just about anything in 3D. Imagine someone making their principal in 3d and printing out a figurine? It is going to be interesting.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
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This is a fascinating conversation about connecting, symbiotic relationships and more with some powerful, spot on answers. The teachers in our current Flat Classroom 12-1 cohort are amazing (and we have another cohort starting soon -- here's what we've been talking about this week. "This is happening now. Live Mocha and other sites have tandem learning - each learner teaches the other a different language. In my classroom, I have the older students teach younger students about computer hardware. But we could be doing so much more. Some professors like Dr. Leigh Zeitz (his students have served as expert advisors) and Dr. Eva Brown (her students helped run Eracism last year) are flattening their college classrooms with preservice teachers by having the teachers connect with high school and younger classrooms. These preservice teachers are understanding the nuances of the global collaborative classroom before graduating from college! There are so many ways we could be creating these types of learning relationships. This week, let's publicly talk about our ideas and also experiences in creating these experiences. We can learn more and do more in this area and technology opens up limitless possibilities. What do you think?"
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Google Drive: Updates for iOS and Android | Docs Blog
iPad schools that are also Google Apps will love that the new updates for iOS let you edit google docs simultaneously much like you do on the web! Great news.
