Play with Learning

iPad vs Textbooks

With all the debate about technology in classroom, this infographic from Online Teaching degree offers an interesting perspective.

Created by: OnlineTeachingDegree.com

Get the most out of Google

This is a great set of tips for using Google from HackCollege.com.  Not sure that it needs to be an infographic but it does look pretty.

Open data explained

This is a great animation from Inventorium describing how we can share and use government collected data. (Mild warning: you might find the narrator’s pronunciation of ‘data’ a bit irritating)

Why technology is failing in schools

Edudemic posted this collection of presentations recently describing not only why technology is failing to deliver real benefits in schools but more importantly, some ideas about how to fix it.

Why it’s failing

The Future of Technology and Education

Changing Education with Web 2.0 tools

What are your experiences of using technology in school? Is it still the preserve of the enthusiastic teacher or IT support? What do you think?

Apple promotes iPad for school

There’s a new TV ad from Apple extolling the potential of the iPad in classrooms.

A few months ago Edudemic posted this list of 50 Innovative Ways to Use an iPad in School.

What do you think? Does the iPad represent revolutionary technology for all teachers and students or simply another tool in the arsenal of the enthusiastic ones?

The State of Digital Education

Infographic from Knewton and Column Five Media

Random articles

Some of the random articles I’ve encountered in the last few weeks:

Star Wars Lightsaber Weapon, Science Fact, Fiction from Tech News Daily http://j.mp/l1da3p

Something we’ve always suspected: the beautiful London tube map isn’t the best way to navigate. From NYU http://j.mp/iEkjI9

United Kingdom and Ireland as seen from ISS http://j.mp/lFxnwL

15 cool word illusions http://j.mp/jmLe0H

Lady Gaga takes tea with Mr Fry from the FT. http://j.mp/j7klD4

Practical Tips on Writing a Book from 22 Brilliant Authors | NeuroTribes http://j.mp/jbmIlO

The 25 Best Places to Photograph on Planet Earth from Popular Photography http://j.mp/jQp5C0

Rapid content development

writing workshop

I am very privileged to be working on a project with the UN at the moment.  I am helping to develop a leadership programme for Head teachers. What makes this project particularly exciting and important is that these are Principals from schools inside Palestinian refugee camps.

UNRWA supports nearly 700 schools across the Middle East for refugees that have been stateless for more than 70 years in some cases.  Whatever one thinks of the politics, no-one can deny the deplorable conditions that hundreds of thousands of children live in.  Like many around the world, the Agency believes that education is the key to change, and in the absence of support from the countries that host the camps, it has committed to providing schools for the young people.  The project I’m working on complements another being developed for teachers and together they are the heart of an ambitious reform strategy for educational provision.

I’m in Beirut with a friend and colleague, Karen Ardley, working with a team of writers comprising Palestinian Head teachers and School Supervisors.  It is a powerful learning experience for me both in terms of the context and our way of working.

We’re rapidly prototyping content.

I’ve worked on lots of projects where the content has had to be polished and signed-off before being passed to web developers.  It’s an approach that causes all kinds of problems – the disconnect between content and presentation is potentially catastrophic, the transfer from one format to another can change meaning and emphasis and the late arrival of material reduces the time for any type of meaningful testing. They are the reasons we’re doing this differently.

Using WordPress I’ve build a website very quickly.  The standard Dashboard offers familiar word processing functionality and its Widgets and Plug-ins deal with all of the complicated interactions and add some ‘bells and whistles.’ Through it, I’ve provided a highly flexible platform to develop content immediately.  The team is writing straight to screen (albeit to a private site at this stage).

Working in this way means that the whole team, split across the five territories or ‘fields’, can see the programme as it develops.

This methodology is raising its own challenges: It is hard to share content that you know isn’t finished, it’s easy to become distracted by appearance and lots of opinions can cause paralysis, but these are issues in any project – our approach merely brings them to the surface.

We’ve worked hard during this week’s workshop to establish an atmosphere of trust and common purpose that will sustain a writing process which exposes work-in-progress to ‘public’ scrutiny.  The benefits of this vulnerability is content that draws on the expertise of the community, a clear sense of progress and material that is visible from the start.

We’re all hoping that when the programme launches next year, the improved leadership in schools will transform the lives of children across the Middle East.  It’s a project not lacking in ambition.

Multiplatform & technology articles

Some of the recent articles I’ve seen about about multiplatform, transmedia and technology:

Multiplatform

Tools of attraction: creating multimedia content for games and TV shows. From the Guardian http://j.mp/ivcuIB #multiplatform

Ed Cotton: We Need Creative Hybrids – Why Transmedia Is Becoming Mandatory  http://j.mp/jHZLQv

Transmedia

Defining Transmedia http://j.mp/ljJ5by

Jeff Gomez – Storyworlds: The New Transmedia Business Paradigm http://j.mp/lJQqyK

How transmedia projects can help you make money http://bit.ly/jB4fdf

Technology

A Simple Way to Throw Applications Between Your Computer and Your Phone, While They’re Running | Popular Science http://j.mp/kOBgSS

British Library launch classic book reading app. From BBC News http://j.mp/kXcym3

Kinect, Wii U, 3D and the future of the living room: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13695160

Exclusive (and magical) review on #iOS5 on #ipad http://j.mp/j9rsxU

Disney Tactile Device Lets Games and Movies Literally Send Chills Down Your Spine | Popular Science http://j.mp/ilonmP

Social media articles

Some articles about social media from the last couple of weeks:

Online relationships

Don’t Believe Facebook; You Only Have 150 Friends : NPR http://j.mp/ljMBjP

The way Facebook changes relationships by Benjamin Cohen from C4 news http://j.mp/k0T0re

Dangers of social groupthink: A case study in Enterprise 2.0, Social CRM and Social Business | CustomerThink http://j.mp/lPberE

Disconnecting

6 reasons not to have a Facebook page http://j.mp/inmuw5

Take a holiday from your networks http://gu.com/p/2pact/ip

Disconnecting in a too-connected world – BusinessWeek http://j.mp/lWT1uN

Facebook’s face recognition technology (and how to turn it off): http://bbc.in/iSSRjC

Authorship

Don’t Be a Weiner (or a Loser): Think Before You Post from Retrevo http://j.mp/mtwLZL

Digital authorship, computers and writing http://j.mp/lMdonc

Independent Author Sells 1 Million Ebooks via Amazon http://t.co/eNCyGeO

Anonymization remains strong tool for protecting privacy according to Canadian research. http://j.mp/m6Fygq

Learning

7 objections to social media in learning (and answers) from Donald Clark http://j.mp/kponiI

How social media and game mechanics can motivate students – http://on.mash.to/ieEOyQ

TED launches new platform for TEDx talks – beautiful way to discover the world’s top thinkers http://j.mp/my9gAn

Usage

Facebook Sees Big Traffic Drops in US and Canada as It Nears 700 Million Users Worldwide http://j.mp/k6LSOV

Interesting tool from RAND to use social media to collect and analyse expert opinion http://j.mp/m9JKsy

Online crime and sexual partner surveys ‘biased’ from BBC News http://j.mp/mxdIQd

Iceland’s Citizens Are Writing Its New Constitution Online from Popular Science http://j.mp/kb2MLw

So much for digital democracy: New Berkeley study finds elite viewpoints dominate online content http://j.mp/jaw6vm