Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Dr. Katie Toppel. Dr. Katie Toppel is a K-5 English Language Development Specialist in Oregon. She also works as an Adjunct Professor for Portlan… Source: Guest Post: “PD in your Pjs: How to navigate #EllChat_BkClub on Twitter” | Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day… Great tips…
The more we use smartphones, the dumber we become. Research has found that having a smartphone physically nearby actually causes us to perform worse on tasks than those who’s smartphones were in another room. In other words, the mere presence of your smartphone reduces your cognitive capacity even if you’re not conscious of the affect. Source: How…
On the one hand, we’re told, robots are coming to take all our jobs any day now. But then there are 6 million job openings in the U.S., and large companies in a range of industries are telling us they are running out of humans to perform labor. The reality, of course, is somewhere in between….
Glibness is a disease that’s particularly virulent in Silicon Valley, politics, entertainment and the executive suite. Someone has an insight (or gets lucky) and then amasses power. Surrounded by more than they’re willing to understand, they substitute the glib statement, the smirk, the cutting remark. They turn everything into a status-fueled professional wrestling match. Source:…
Developers at MIT Media Lab are gearing up to release a new version of Scratch that works on mobile devices, can be integrated with physical objects, and that is lighter and faster. Source: MIT’s Scratch Program Is Evolving For Greater, More Mobile Creativity | MindShift | KQED News The block programming of Scratch is used…
This is the inaugural year for SocialStar Creator Camp, an offshoot of an actor camp that takes place every summer near LA. It’s three days of intensive influencer workshops focusing on monetization, branding, and the basics of shooting and editing video, all aimed at kids in their early teens to mid-20s. At first, the idea…
There are two pretty basic problems with this line of thinking. First, the idea that you cannot create on a smartphone or tablet assumes both that the software on the new device doesn’t change and that the nature of the work won’t change. Neither are good assumptions. You begin by making the new tool fit the…
You and a coworker step into an elevator. As you descend in the tiny metal box, the silence between you grows awkward. Suddenly your coworker blurts out, “Such a shame that we’re stuck in the office on a beautiful day like this!” You mumble, “It sure is.” As an introvert, you despise making small talk; it feels like your brain was literally…
Today’s digest revisits the idea of inquiry methods. Why? Because a quick Google search resulted in the very clear impression that many instructors still believe (or at least blog about) the idea that students learn more when they discover new knowledge on their own, without being explicitly taught. Given this apparent pervasive belief, we share here a…
The Bridge concept — low-cost private schools for the world’s poorest children — has galvanized many of the Western investors and Silicon Valley moguls who learn about the project. Bill Gates, the Omidyar Network, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the World Bank have all invested in the company; Pearson, the multinational textbook-and-assessment company, has done…