Posts in 21st Century Learning

August 25th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

High Plains iPhone

I am the last man in America not to own a mobile phone. Really. I have no regrets. Well, maybe one. If my car breaks down between Valentine, Nebraska and Antelope, South Dakota, I might have to wait a while for help. Probably not long, though. A cowgirl in a pick-up truck will show up and call for a tow truck on her iPhone Read Article

August 2nd, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

Introduction to Xplana.com

This video provides an introduction and walk through of our Xplana.com product that will be launching next week. Xplana.com is a student-focused platform that emphasizes informal learning, as well as the aggregation and indexing of open educational resources Read Article

July 12th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

Cupertino is a Short Flight from Roswell (A Brief History of UFOs and Silicon Valley)

In the old Twilight Zone shows, the invading space aliens never directly attacked our country. They moved into our neighborhoods and seemed harmless, even making helpful contributions to the community. Then very subtly and very insidiously, they took over. And, after it was too late, the citizens realized the invaders from elsewhere controlled their very existence. Who would have thought Steve Jobs was a space alien Read Article

May 18th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

Announcing a New Category Feature Starting Tomorrow: Vocabulary U

We’ve been working in the background on a great new daily post for all the word and literature lovers out there. Vocabulary U will feature cool words each day along with examples of their use within works of literature. The segments will be animated and will also feature audio recordings with pronunciation and the literary examples Read Article

April 14th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

First Quarter Reflections — Tablets, Social Networking, and Learning

This quarter’s trends are captured in our video/slide presentation. “Something to think about.” As we put it together, four obvious trends stood out: 1) Tablets; 2) Smart phones; 3) Social networking; 4) E-books Read Article

April 13th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

Directions in App Development for Mobile Learning

In this post, I point to recent posts by Michael Feldstein on mLearning, and outline four trends I see emerging in mobile education: 1) Disaggregaton of tools; 2) Aggregation of content; 3) Learning packages as apps; 4) Focus on productivity apps Read Article

March 29th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

The Future of Education — Learning the Language of Revolution

There are certainly changes, and radical ones, coming to education. My question is whether we will be like the newspaper industry that has seen the media revolution happening in front of its eyes, yet has not been able to react or adapt quickly enough to take advantage. Ultimately, I hope we will take the time to understand the language of educational revolution and accept or reject it based on the merit of the ideas themselves and not with regards to how well they align with our own language and thinking Read Article

March 22nd, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Feature Content

Measuring Learning

As learning is extended beyond the classroom and into real-life learning contexts, it will make more sense to re-visit the way we measure learning in general. As Siemens hints, we can treat the learning process as a long-term proposition and allow students to measure themselves in terms of real knowledge acquisition and production. Not only will they be able to start at “Level 0″ and monitor progress measured by actual achievement, they will also be able to continue “playing the learning game” long after any formal class has ended, and watch their actual learning evolve as long as they remain interested Read Article

March 15th, 2010 in 21st Century Learning, Conference Sessions

SXSW 2010 — Universities in the “Free” Era

SXSW 2010 — Universities in the “Free” Era. MIT, Yale, Stanford, and others put lectures online. Chris Anderson argues that all university lectures should be free. From Academic Earth to TED, it’s free. So what is the value-add of a university education? What models of higher education will survive? How will universities leverage the social web to reinvent themselves Read Article

March 1st, 2010 in 21st Century Learning

Outside Educational Containers — Beyond Current Testing

The problem with our current approach to testing in U.S. schools is that we have moved away from checkpoint evaluations to endpoint determinations. Tests can only evaluate an individual’s progress as he or she grows in knowledge and understanding. There simply is no logical cutoff location or final destination in that process that we can measure rationally or neatly. Read Article