I was at a technology and education conference, earlier this week. But as I reflected on my learning from the conference, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t seem like a technology conference.
Instead, it was a mindset conference. It was an innovation conference. It was a conference about the power of connectivity. It was a conference that encouraged people to shift the way they think.
It was amazing!
One presenter at the conference, the keynote, George Couros, went so far as to discourage participants from applying the “tech” label to themselves. What?! He was talking to a room full of the “tech” people!
Technology isn’t something new, personal computers have been around for almost 40 years now. It is all in the mind and how you’re going to use technology to extend learning.
I’m much better at controlling myself now than I was when I was a kid. I’m more organized and less impulsive. Why is that? What happened in my brain to make this happen? A study published yesterday in Current Biology could have a clue. Scientists studied the changes that happen in the brain as kids…
Suppose, a litre of cola costs US$3.15. If you buy one third of a litre of cola, how much would you pay? The above may seem like a rather basic question. Something that you would perhaps expect the vast majority of adults to be able to answer? Particularly if they are allowed to use a…
I know. We’re already many years into the 21st Century. And I know there’s a chance that the term “21st Century” might rub you the wrong way. But we’re here, and teaching and learning look very different. At least they have the potential to. When I started teaching in 2004, there was one computer in the…
Teachers wishing to offer lessons in nature may hold back for fear of leaving students keyed up and unable to concentrate in subsequent, indoor lessons. This study tested the hypothesis that lessons in nature have positive—not negative—aftereffects on subsequent classroom engagement. Using carefully matched pairs of lessons (one in a relatively natural outdoor setting and…
We’ve established that I have an obsession with Google Forms. It’s easy to connect & manage data from students, parents, etc. Last week, I posted on how to use Google Forms for teacher walkthrough observations–targeted at either administrator walkthroughs or peer walkthroughs. This week, I’m going to share how I use Google Forms in my…
Final-year high school students who sat a national history exam in New Zealand have launched a petition asking the exam be marked based on students’ own definition of an “unfamiliar” word. Source: NZ students start petition after exam word ‘trivial’ confused them I have no words… At least no words that these students would be able…
