There was a vision: “The destiny of computers is to become interactive intellectual amplifiers for everyone in the world pervasively networked worldwide”.
In the 70s, Xerox Parc was THE research facility in the United States. Technology such as the graphical user interface, ethernet networking, and the laser printer was created at Xerox Parc.
A couple of the principles Mr. Kay lays out are mindblowing:
Fund people not projects — the scientists find the problems not the funders. So, for many reasons, you have to have the best researchers.
This one was particular mindblowing. Find the best people, and provide the support they need to create great things.
Problem Finding — not just Problem Solving
Progress is made on solving problems, and if you can’t find problems to solve, then you’re not making any progress.
THE MODERN WEB contains no shortage of horrors, from ubiquitous ad trackers to all-consuming platforms to YouTube comments, generally. Unfortunately, there’s no panacea for what ails this internet we’ve built. But anyone weary of black-box algorithms controlling what you see online at least has a respite, one that’s been there all along but has often…
When a New Hampshire district found itself struggling with low test scores and high turnover, it made a radical decision: Flip the traditional model and let kids take over the classrooms. Source: What Happens When Students Control Their Own Education? – The Atlantic A multi year process, with a goal of more than just higher…
Source: The @DavidGeurin Blog: 7 Reasons ‘Classroom Leadership’ Is Better Than ‘Classroom Management’ I love this list, and how it changes my idea of what classroom management can be like.
During the 2015-16 school year, I visited schools across the nation to see how technology can transform teaching and learning. The changes I’ve seen have been exciting, meaningful, and more often than not, challenging to get right. The “digital divide” is still very real. In places like Eminence, Kentucky, we’ve seen how creative school leaders have found…
What they’ve found is that an approach called active learning (also called active instruction) consistently produces the best results. This involves pushing students to work through problems and reason things out as an inherent part of the learning process. Even though the science on that is clear, most college professors have remained committed to approaching…
Although virtual reality may be experiencing slow adoption in the consumer market, one area where it seems to have truly untapped potential is in the classroom where virtual worlds could help students visualize and learn about history, science, and culture in an unprecedented fashion. To capitalize on VR’s increasingly instrumental role in visual education, Facebook-owned Oculus…
