Free Education for All

Category — Technology

iWalkThrough Technology - An Interview with David Ruff of the Great Schools Partnership

Today we offer an interview with David Ruff of the Great School Partnership, a nonprofit organization supporting the Senator George J. Mitchell Scholarship Research Institute, regarding the development of the iWalkthrough™ system. The Partnership “works to redesign and strengthen public and private education to improve the quality of learning for all students” and to help [...]

[Read more →]

April 18, 2008   No Comments
Teaching and Learning, Technology

Cutting Edge Technology Provides Wealth of Feedback for Teachers

One of the age-old questions in education is how to gather information about teaching practices in a practical, time effective manner. Often times, the feedback process begins with what is called a formal observation. In such an instance, an administrator or instructional leader observes a teacher for a full class period or for several such [...]

[Read more →]

April 16, 2008   1 Comment
Teaching and Learning, Technology

Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Digital World

Bloom’s Taxonomy, developed in the 1950’s, expresses thinking and learning through a set of concepts that begin with lower order thinking skills (LOTS) and build to higher order thinking skills (HOTS). The initial phraseology of Bloom’s Taxonomy had six levels, beginning with knowledge at the lowest, then progressing through comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. [...]

[Read more →]

April 11, 2008   11 Comments
Multimedia Content, Teaching and Learning, Technology

Vanessa Van Petten - Advice on Reaching Net Generation Teens!

It wasn’t all that long ago that we published a piece called “Is Anything More Challenging than Teaching a Group of Teenagers?” In fact, most parents find it incredible that any teacher could actually get the undivided attention of a group of teens never mind actually teach them.
Today we turn to Vanessa Van Petten, [...]

[Read more →]

April 6, 2008   1 Comment
Teaching and Learning, Technology

The Byron Review; Video Gaming Recommendations for Children

As we noted in our prior post, Dr. Tanya Byron, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, recently released an important set of E-safety recommendations, “Safer Children in a Digital World,” for children in the UK. Today we turn to her summary recommendations regarding video gaming.

Here again, the most compelling aspect of her research as well as her [...]

[Read more →]

April 2, 2008   No Comments
Multimedia Content, Public Policy, Technology

The Byron Review; E-Safety Internet Recommendations for Children

Across the pond, Dr. Tanya Byron, a Consultant Clinical Psychologist, recently released an important set of E-safety recommendations for children. Her report, “Safer Children in a Digital World,” was commissioned by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2007 in response to growing concerns about the dangers of the Internet.
Ms. Byron’s recommendations appear, dare we say [...]

[Read more →]

March 31, 2008   6 Comments
Public Policy, Teaching and Learning, Technology

Award-Winning Teacher Utilizes a Wealth of Classroom Technology

We have noted in several posts the role technology could have in enhancing education. Today we offer an interview with elementary teacher Tim Thompson, an educator who has indeed utilized technology to bring his second grade classroom to life.
Mr. Thompson recently received the Patience Norman Prize, an award presented annually to recognize an outstanding [...]

[Read more →]

March 27, 2008   7 Comments
Multimedia Content, Teaching and Learning, Technology

In the News - Grant Wiggins, Angry Home Schoolers, and Gender Differences

Grant Wiggins, author of Schooling by Design, has brought forth some very interesting points on a couple of topics in a recent post on his Authentic Education Big Ideas site.
First, Wiggins takes a look at the current “Just in Case” philosophy that dominates the American educational system then discusses the more appropriate notion of a [...]

[Read more →]

March 25, 2008   1 Comment
Multimedia Content, Technology

College Week Live - Virtual College Fair

This Tuesday and Wednesday prospective college students and their parents would do well to find some time to check out CollegeWeekLive’s (CWL) second ever two-day virtual college fair. More than 200 colleges have signed on to help connect prospective students to higher education in a live, interactive environment.

The free, innovative, virtual fair will offer a [...]

[Read more →]

March 23, 2008   1 Comment
Multimedia Content, Technology

The Open Digital Commons - A Truly Endless Array of Success Stories

We found that trying to concoct one list of the digital commons success stories was simply beyond the scope of our small site. The number of truly noteworthy developments is large and growing more substantial by the day, each new venture seemingly offering yet additional opportunities for further growth.
In fact, it is precisely as [...]

[Read more →]

February 26, 2008   2 Comments
Open Source Software, OpenCourseWare, Public Policy, Technology