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Educational News Week 1

July 21, 2012  1 Comment

Below is a list of a few of the educational news items that have caught my attention in the last week.

Spare the rod and teach the child:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/07/13/2208604/duke-scientists-spare-the-rod.html - an article about threats and rewards activate different circuits in the brain.  I don’t think the research proves much else about the effectiveness of threats or rewards, but it is an interesting read.

Why teachers should be scholars:

http://www.spiked-online.com/site/article/12650/ An article looking at how teachers can teach any subject regardless of their expertise in that subject.  Here is a quote from the article…”What the figures suggest is that far too many teachers in English schools lack the academic knowledge required to develop intellectually their pupils.”

Tens of millions slashed from the Queensland education budget with more to come:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/millions-slashed-from-education-department-20120719-22cfx.html

Edmodo secures 25 million in funding:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/edmodo-secures-25-million-in-series-c-funding-round-led-by-nea-fuels-increased-growth-momentum-in-k-12-learning-2012-07-19

Lack of Respect for Teaching to Blame for Mediocre US Education Results

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-lynch-edd/american-students-conside_b_1682100.html Here is a quote “It seems Joe Public fails to realize that in order to solve problems that plague the nation — in order to solve any problem — knowledge is needed. Ignorance only begets more ignorance. In seeking resolutions to some of our most puzzling questions, we must have educated people in place capable of addressing such quandaries.”

13 Professional development websites for teachers

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/07/the-13-must-know-professional.html

Should schools embrace BYOD (bring your own device)?

http://neatoday.org/2012/07/19/should-schools-embrace-bring-your-own-device/ interesting thought…BYOD might be a way of propping up declining educational budgets

Obama to spend 1 billion on developing an elite teachers corp

http://www.thenewamerican.com/culture/education/item/12133-obama-admin-unveils-$1-billion-%E2%80%9Cmaster-teacher-corps%E2%80%9D Leaves me wondering when a politician might actually have a creative and original idea…I’m sure I’ve heard all this before

Parents reject proposal for late school start

http://bangordailynews.com/2012/07/19/news/lewiston-auburn/parents-reject-auburn-school-committee-proposal-for-late-class-start/ One school district wanted to start school 2 hours later on a Wednesday to give the teachers professional development time.  Seems like the parents don’t support the idea…who would have thought…?

What has caught your attention in educational news where you are?

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Discover the 2 keys to implementing a school social media policy that works

October 28, 2011  1 Comment
Social media Policy Discover the 2 keys to implementing a school social media policy that works

Your Schools social media policy can no longer be "Not to have a policy"

One of the questions I get asked quite a lot is whether I think that a teacher should be friends with a student on Facebook.  There is passionate debate for and against and both sides have very relevant arguments.  One discussion I was involved in on LinkedIn received over 500 comments!

I am a big believer in connecting with students in places where they already are.  One piece of research I saw on Edmodo (a site branded as the Facebook for education) was that after a year only 6% of students were still engaging on that site.  It doesn’t make sense to me that we would drive students to a site when we could just meet them where they already are.

That being said, I am also very wary of anything that could jeopardise my reputation as a teacher.  The reality is that you only need one allegation to be directed at you (proven or not) and your reputation can be in tatters.

I came across a newspaper article today talking about how a  teacher resigned after writing on Facebook “I love dumb people…I call it job security,” The statement might seem benign, but the fact that she was a Special Ed teacher and teaching children with special needs didn’t help her cause!

Regardless of which side of the argument you sit there are 2 things you should do when it comes to having a school social media policy:

Continue Reading…

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Where To From Here?

August 29, 2011  3 Comments

future predictions Where To From Here?

I was reading a news article in the Sydney Morning Herald today and came across the following quote by the US writer Thomas Friedman.

Young people must be given more tools to not so much find their next job as to invent it.

 I’m not sure that this is the case.  I think there will always be a select few who are entrepreneurial and have the capacity and skills to be creating new industries and jobs with the majority of people working in a job serving their vision. 

Having said that, I think there is a real need to participate in greater discussion about the goals of education in the context of a rapidly changing future. 

Take a look at this video that shows how our students futures are rapidly changing.

What made the above quote even more interesting was another article talking about the new national curriculum being implemented in Australia.  At the moment the national curriculum has stalled with some states not prepared to sign up and various academics debating over the pedagogical details. 

It seems to me that this would be the perfect time to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. 

If you would like to read the article in full click the following: 

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/blogs/the-venture/rethinking-entrepeneurship-education-20110818-1iz7r.html

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Bad News For Students – Google Labs Is Closing Down!

August 15, 2011  9 Comments

Google labs Bad News For Students Google Labs Is Closing Down!

As a bit of a Google fan I was disappointed to discover that Wonderwheel had been removed from the search tools available to teachers and students.  I found Wonderwheel to be one of those tools that engaged students and helped them organise their thoughts.  I remember thinking at the time that my students and I would just rely more heavily on Google Squared in its absence (in fact I wrote a blog post on this just recently.)

I went to Google Squared tonight and was confronted with the message in the above picture.  It might be too small to read – the most important part says “As part of phasing out of Google Labs, Google Squared will be shut down on September 5, 2011. Any saved Squares will be deleted. If you would like to keep Squares, you may export them to CSV files or Google Spreadsheets using the Export function on the upper-right hand side of the screen.”

Google, I’m not too proud to beg! Please don’t take away squared, news timeline and the other search tools that were so relevant and engaging to our students!  I can get by without in quotes and some of the other experiments but these 3 in particular where so beneficial to the educational community.

I am not looking forward to taking my students ‘back in time’ to using purely word based searches especially when so many of them are such visual learners.

Has anyone else discovered an other alternatives?

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What Google and Facebook Are Hiding And Its Implications On Education

June 30, 2011  32 Comments

I came across this short TED Talk yesterday.  The premise is that Google and Facebook are now tailoring your internet experience by learning what you like and the types of links you follow and then only showing you more of the same.

There is a great screen shot of two identical search queries resulting in two very different search results.

My two favourite bits are found at:

2:15 – how Google personally tailors your results at 2:55 they show you the screen shots

3:40 “The internet is showing us a world we want to see not what we need to see”

So what are the implications on education?

Watch the video and I will give my thoughts below.

 Here are a couple of implications:

  1. If we tell our students to search for a certain topic or principle they might not all get the same answer.  This could be a problem if you want each of your students to have access to the same content.
  2. Our students are not being exposed to the wealth of information available but potentially only one perspective.  Similarly they potentially will not have access to all the information for or against an argument, thus limiting their world view.
  3. One of my passions is producing well rounded students who are able to read and discern the material in front of them.  This just took on a whole new meaning.  Now they will need to ask themselves is this the total picture?

One a positive side, if we are aware of this as teachers we can be talking the students about the issues that this can present not just in school but also in the ‘real world’.

Is it something to be overly concerned about? I’m not sure. It is something that I will be aware of and monitor in the future.

What are your thoughts?

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