Online Learning: Why Libraries Could Be the Key to MOOCs’ Success | MindShift | KQED News For all the promises of online courses disrupting education, completion rates are notoriously low. Some studies found that about five percent of those enrolled in massive open online courses (known as MOOCs) completed the course. And those who took the…
One of the arguments against blogging is the lack of time. I know this feeling all too well as I try to produce quality content. A tool that I’ve found helpful is an editorial calendar. What is an editorial calendar? An editorial calendar allows you to organize your blog posts in advance, allowing you to…
The Myth of Maximal Efficiency « Outside In It is in this narrowing that one might take issue. Because at heart, education is about relationships – a blindspot of the educational revolution which I have previously criticised – which means that it is not always efficient. Indeed, it is sometimes messy. And it is in…
You Don’t Need a Makerspace to Have a Space for Makers | John Spencer When I was a kid, my brother and I built a “roller coaster” in the backyard with a wagon, some scraps of wood, and tons of pipes. Was it safe? Probably not. Did it ever work properly? Not really. But it…
A Principal’s Reflections: Waving Goodbye to Drive-By PD There has been a great deal of knocks on professional development as of late and rightfully so. More often than not, professional development is something that is done to educators as opposed to an experience that they truly value for growth. For many, district professional development is…
Gitter.im is a chat service that makes it really easy to create public chat rooms. I’ve talked about Gitter before, with one if its drawbacks being the requirement of a Github account. This week Gitter will be adding the ability to sign up and use Gitter with Twitter accounts. Accounts using Twitter will be limited…
Should I Download That App? A Ten Question Checklist for Choosing Tools Worth Your—and Your Students’—Time | EdSurge News Whether you are a classroom teacher, instructional coach, or administrator, ask yourself these ten questions before tapping GET, INSTALL, or BUY. I totally concur with number one.
By default, the favicon for Gmail is the boring old Gmail logo: . There is a way to update that icon, and have the favicon reflect the number of unread emails in your Gmail inbox. To do this, you will need to go to the settings in Gmail by clicking on the gear icon, , and then…
Flexible Seating and Student-Centered Classroom Redesign | Edutopia Everything I do in my classroom is based on research and best practices for kids. Redesigning my classroom was not any different. I’ve found that some of the immediate benefits of flexible seating include burning more calories, using up excess energy, improving metabolism, increased motivation and engagement,…
A Small Idea for More Choice in Our Curriculum So I wanted to do a review of the standards we have covered. I wanted to give the students way more choice. While choice and student voice is huge component of what we do, it can sometimes feel lost in the background as we create projects…