Open Curriculum for K-12 Educators
Over the past few years, open curriculum has gained momentum in K-12 education. In the face of difficult economic circumstances, site administrators are finding their budgets squeezed by severe funding limitations. In response to these challenges, public school throughout the country are building comprehensive online learning environments that present new and exciting learning opportunities for students. Open curriculum, or curriculum based on open educational resources, presents exciting opportunities for public schools. The curriculum is very flexible, easily personalized, inexpensive,...
Read MoreR2D2, Where Are You?
A difficult challenge facing educators today is how to effectively utilize technology to improve student achievement. Although the interactive, user-centered, and social-oriented structure of Web 2.0 technology presents wonderful opportunities to improve the way educators teach and students learn, many teachers feel mired in technology overload. Presented with hundreds of different technologies and very few examples of best practices, educators are wondering how they can use Web 2.0 technology to improve student learning. Too often teachers feel frustrated as they attempt to construct unique...
Read More10.5 Million preK-12 Students Will Attend Classes Online by 2014
According to a new study by the research firm Ambient Insight, the number preK-12 students who will take some or all of their courses online will increase from 2 million to 10 million by 2014. As reported in the Journal, Ambient Insight Chief Research Officer Sam S. Adkins estimates that “…about 450,000 K-12 students attend virtual schools or “cyber” charter schools full-time, while another 1.75 million take some of their classes online. The two groups are still outnumbered by students who take all of their courses in physical classrooms, which Ambient Insight...
Read MoreRevenge of the Edupunks
In a recent piece on educational technology, Anya Kamenetz discusses a significant trend that is transforming higher education. According to Kamenetz, Web 2.0 technology is transforming higher education from a centralized and highly organized top down distributive model to a decentralized student-oriented learning model–one that is highly individualized, fairly inexpensive, and accessible just about everywhere. Because of advances in technology– mobile technology, new and exciting social media platforms, iTunes, and YouTube– the way today’s students share information...
Read MoreThe Weekly Update: September 7 – September 13
Swine Flu Preperations Spur E-Learning Plans– Education Week Technology Workshops for Teachers Make Computer Connections– Ann Banks, Edutopia Florida Virtual School Doing More With Less– Florida AP Do I Trust the System Enough?– Tim Holt, Intended Consequences Hacking Higher Education– Michael Horn, Disrupting Class Clever Use of Twitter for Mobile Learning– Judy Brown,...
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