The type of learning materials that can be produced by an organization such as Virtual Heroes is the type/quality of material that will be produced in a vision that I have been calling “The Forthcoming Walmart of Education.

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http://virtualheroes.com/index.asp

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Also see:

From DSC:
This is why I would encourage the U.S. government to see if they can get 1-2 billion — from the billionaires who are donating much of their wealth to charitable causes — in order to create such professionally-done, interactive, engaging, team-created learning materials.
Then make those materials available — free of charge — throughout the world.


Buffett, Gates persuade 40 billionaires to donate half of wealth — from OregonLive.com

SEATTLE — Forty wealthy families and individuals have joined Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett in a pledge to give at least half their wealth to charity.

Those who have joined the Giving Pledge, as listed on its website, are: Paul G. Allen, Laura and John Arnold, Michael R. Bloomberg, Eli and Edythe Broad, Warren Buffett, Michele Chan and Patrick Soon-Shiong, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg, Ann and John Doerr, Larry Ellison, Bill and Melinda Gates, Barron Hilton, Jon and Karen Huntsman, Joan and Irwin Jacobs, George B. Kaiser, Elaine and Ken Langone, Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest, Lorry I. Lokey, George Lucas, Alfred E. Mann, Bernie and Billi Marcus, Thomas S. Monaghan, Tashia and John Morgridge, Pierre and Pam Omidyar, Bernard and Barbro Osher, Ronald O. Perelman, Peter G. Peterson, T. Boone Pickens, Julian H. Robertson Jr., David Rockefeller, David M. Rubenstein, Herb and Marion Sandler, Vicki and Roger Sant, Walter Scott Jr., Jim and Marilyn Simons, Jeff Skoll, Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor, Jim and Virginia Stowers, Ted Turner, Sanford and Joan Weill and Shelby White.

From DSC:
This is fantastic news! Excellent. I’m a big supporter of various charities myself — albeit with far fewer O’s ($$) behind the amounts of my checks than what these folks are able to provide!  🙂     But it got me to thinking…

If the United States government — or the government from another interested nation — could even get 1-2 billion of this enormous accumulation of wealth, think what could be done to create interactive, multimedia-based, engaging, customized/personalized, online learning-based materials that could be offered FREE of charge to various age groups/cognitive levels. Creative simulations and animations could be built and offered — free of charge — to students throughout the world. The materials would be available on a variety of devices for maximum flexibility (laptops, notebooks, iPads, iPhones, tablet PCs, workstations, etc.)

An amazing amount of digital scaffolding could be provided on a variety of disciplines. THIS could represent the Walmart of Education that I’ve been talking about…wow!

Top 70 eLearning Articles – Hot Topics: iPad Adobe Captivate – July 2010 — from elearninglearning.com by Tony Karrer
The following are the top items based on social signals…

gaming in education, tabula digita, dimensionm, dimensionu,  dimensionl, literacy gaming, math gaming, stem games, science and  engineering games, school technology, campus technology, educational  technology, technology in k-12 education

DimensionU expands educational gaming multiverse with literacy games — from The Journal by David Nagel

Educational game developer Tabula Digita has launched the DimensionU Learning System, an expansion of the DimensionM series that now incorporates an all-new gaming universe, DimensionL, focusing on literacy skills.

DimensionM is a cross-platform immersive gaming environment focused on math for students in grades 3 through 12. It offers a 3D environment in which players carry out missions in multiplayer or, in some cases, solo games. Players face mathematical obstacles, which, when solved, allow them to advance and score points. There are now four distinct missions available in DimensionM: TowerStorm, Swarm, Meltdown, and Velocity. (In addition, DimensionU offers two standalone single-player games, Evolver for pre-algebra and Dimenxian for algebra.)

Like DimensionM, DimensionL provides an immersive 3D environment in which students score points in games that involve correctly answering questions pertinent to the topic. The literacy games in DimensionL–which are, like DimensionM, TowerStorm, Swarm, Meltdown, and Velocity–cover language conventions, parts of speech, reading skills, writing skills, and vocabulary for various skill levels or grades. The literacy games are targeted toward students in grades 3 through 9.

The first iPad only novel is coming -- with literal bells and whistles

From DSC:
The idea of rich, interactive, multimedia-based textbooks comes to mind when I see this type of posting….talk about the power of digital storytelling!    🙂

Also…for a bit of humor here:

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How to teach with technology: Science and math — Edutopia.org

Also see:

Big Thinkers: Katie Salen on Learning with Games — Edutopia.org
A professor of design and technology at Parsons The New School for Design talks about the value of games and the empowerment of play.

How to Build a Technology-Based Curriculum — Edutopia.org
Educators emphasize that infrastructure must precede innovation.

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Rags to Riches — from ilearntechnology.com

What it is: Rags to Riches takes Lemonade Tycoon to a whole new level with simulated business.  In Rags to Riches, students are working to make their band a success.  Students play the part of a new band going on tour with a few new songs.  As they play the Rags to Riches game simulation, students must make decisions about what the band should do.  They have to decide which cities are best for them to play in, what venues to play, how much money to spend on publicity and how much to charge for tickets.  Students start out with $100 and must make wise decisions to continue in the simulation.  When they run out of money, the game ends and they must start again.

How to integrate Rags to Riches into the classroom: If you teach students like mine, breaking out Lemonade Tycoon in the classroom is met by cheers from some and with eye rolls by others who are “way too cool” for a lemonade stand.  For those students, Rags to Riches is in order…

50 fun and educational websites to keep Latin alive!

One example from this list was Transparent Language’s “Word of the Day”:

Transparent Language's Word of the Day

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Like Facebook, but for learning — from eSchoolNews.com by Laura Devaney
Combining social networking with studying, Grockit encourages academic success through peer interaction

Aiming to engage students who are multitasking with different forms of technology, companies are creating collaborative learning spaces online where students can help one another solve homework problems and study—all while building important 21st-century skills.

One such social-networking study site is Grockit, which currently offers test-prep services and is expanding its focus to include math and English for students in grades 8-12, with history and science soon to follow. Grockit has opened enrollment for a free Summer Enrichment Academy, which is designed to keep students from falling behind during summer vacation as they participate in collaborative group study forums online.

grockit.com

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New Media Consortium’s Summer 2010 Conference

Tracks include:

  • Emerging Technologies
    • Mobile applications and tools for learning
    • Cloud-based applications in practice
    • Geolocation technologies and applications
    • Augmented reality
    • Applications of collective intelligence
    • Discipline-specific applications for emerging technologies
    • Discussions of challenges and trends related to educational technology
    • Projects that employ the Horizon Report in any capacity
  • New Media and Learning
    • Applications for educational gaming and virtual worlds
    • Digital storytelling techniques and applications
    • Open source and open content projects
    • New forms of scholarship and publication
    • Inter-generational learning
    • Supporting and working with faculty or curatorial staff
    • International and multi-institutional projects
    • Immersive learning environments
  • New Media and Leadership
    • Identity management
    • Allocation of resources
    • Support and integration of course management systems
    • Learning space design
    • Support of technology environments on and off campus
    • Use, creation, and management of open content
    • Fair use, intellectual property, and copyright issues
    • Accessibility issues
    • Assessment and evaluation
    • New media programs and degrees
    • Supporting a global student body
    • Global outreach programs and activities
  • Tools and Techniques
    • Mobile delivery of educational content
    • Social networking tools and techniques
    • Cloud-based applications and tools
    • Semantic-aware tools
    • 3D and animation techniques
    • 2D animation and motion graphics
    • Digital video production and delivery
    • Demonstrations of new software from NMC partners
    • New techniques involving established software
    • Tools and techniques for online research and collaborative work

From Lure of the Labyrinth

  

Labyrinth -- math-related game

  

Thinkport.org

  

Math by design

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