Educating the Poor in India: Lessons for America — from EducationNext.org by Peter Meyer
On 06/28/2011,
in animation, biology, digital learning, education technology, India, K-12 related, mobile learning, simulations, using teams,
by Daniel Christian
Per Nicola Santiago at Punflay:
- We develop educational iPhone/iPad apps for kids. Our Frog Dissection app which is being used in many schools was awarded the Mark Twain’s Ethical Science award by PETA and was also selected as the Best Science app by IEAR. We also have a Rat Dissection app in the store.
Side reflection from DSC:
This type of work shows the power of using teams of specialists. One person can’t do it all anymore — we need to face up to this fact and stop thinking that simply providing more professional development is the answer. I realize that using textbooks brings in teams of specialists — but it seems to me that we still think that simply by providing more professional development, our teachers and professors will be able to meet the constantly (and quickly) rising bar. That type of approach has outlived its usefulness and it just won’t cut it anymore; we do our students a major disservice by clinging to that outdated, status-quo-based model.
How can we move to using more teams of specialists to create and deliver our educational materials?
Nice work to the teams at Punflay in India!
On 04/19/2011,
in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, elearning, India, mobile learning, online learning, training / L&D,
by Daniel Christian
Learning & Skills Survey: 87% More eLearning & Mobile Learning; 73% Less 2-3 Day Classroom Training — from the Upside Learning blog by Amit Garg
Mobile learning: A quick SWOT Analysis — from the Upside Learning Blog by Amit Gautam; originally saw this at GetIdeas.org by Jes Kelly
For over two years now, we have not only just been hearing about mobile learning but also actively understanding and working on it. From trying to explain five myths of mobile learning to assisting customer new to mobile learning, getting started with mobile learning has been an exciting journey through which we have seen mobile learning seeing increasing adoption. This has been possible due to a variety of factors – better, faster, cheaper smartphones, the advent of tablet computers, and an increasing awareness of the benefits and applicability of mobile learning.
On 03/06/2011,
in Asia, future of higher education, global / globalization, higher education, India, UK, universities,
by Daniel Christian
What’s the optimum length of an online video? — from Digital Inspiration by Amit Agarwal
On 02/04/2011,
in India, learning ecosystem, microlearning, mobile learning, multimedia, tools, training / L&D, vendors, web-based collaboration,
by Daniel Christian
Upside2Go is a solution that will not only help your training department reach out to your mobile workforce easily, but would also enable a mobile-based approach to real-time sharing and collaborating, within and outside a team.
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— from Upside2Go – Changing The Game at Upside Learning blog by Aneesh Bhat
Also see:
On 01/27/2011,
in India, innovation, mobile learning, new business models, publishing, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
McGraw-Hill and Wipro to develop mConnect — an affordable mobile learning platform — to reduce skills gap in emerging markets — from McGraw-Hill.com
Excerpt:
“Through advances in mobile learning, McGraw-Hill and Wipro have an unprecedented opportunity to deliver high-quality, low-cost education to students and workers in rural areas and cities with limited access to resources,” said Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and CEO of The McGraw-Hill Companies, who made the announcement in Davos. “In a country with more than 700 million cell phones, mobile learning will help level the playing field for education in India in ways never before possible. The success of our pilots in India will serve as a powerful example of how business, schools and governments around the world can harness the power of mobile learning to give more people the skills to succeed in the global Knowledge Economy.”
On 01/19/2011,
in curriculum, digital learning, global / globalization, India, instructional design, online learning, online media, online tutoring, publishing, UK, United States,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
A global push continues to be evident in some of the things that Pearson has been up to in the last year:
- Pearson takes controlling stake in India’s TutorVista — from WSJ (1/11)
- Pearson acquires TutorVista: expands Pearson’s business in education in India and in global online tutoring — from Pearson (1/11)
- Pearson to offer degrees in the UK — from Pearson (12/2010)
- Pearson VUE opens Dubai office and appoints local Arabic-speaking team — from Pearson (11/2010)
- Pearson acquires The Administrative Assistants Ltd.; extends leadership in student information systems — from Pearson (11/2010)
- Pearson to open fifty new English language centres in China — from Pearson (11/2010)
- Pearson to acquire 75% stake in CTI Education Group, a leading higher education company in South Africa — from Pearson (11/2010)
- Pearson eCollege, National Academy Foundation partner to provide online teacher professional development — from Pearson (9/2010)
- Pearson to acquire America’s Choice: plans to extend reach of school improvement services — from Pearson (8/2010)
- Pearson to acquire Wall Street Institute: acquisition extends Pearson’s position as world leader in English language teaching — from Pearson (7/2010)
- Pearson raises earnings guidance — from Financial Times
- Pearson, the publishing group that owns Penguin books and the Financial Times, raised its full-year earnings forecasts for the third time in less than six months, thanks to strong growth in computer-based learning products and in the developing world.
On 01/15/2011,
in Australia, budgets, economics, education reform, Europe, global / globalization, India, K-12 related, Michigan, online learning, open courseware and systems, relationships, UK, United States,
by Daniel Christian
Half of Detroit’s schools may close — from good.is
Financial mismanagement and declining enrollment are ringing a death knell for Detroit’s schools. According to Detroit Public School Emergency Manager Robert Bobb, to close a $327 million budget deficit, he’ll need to shut half of the city’s campuses over the next two years.
Under the plan, the 142 current schools in the district would be reduced to 72 by the 2012-13 school year. What will happen to the students attending those schools? Bobb plans to shift them over to the remaining campuses, raising class sizes to 62 students per teacher.
From DSC:
Seriously…this is crazy and completely unfair! Those of us who have more resources need to step in and help out. But how can we best do this? How can folks outside of the Detroit area make a solid, helpful impact? Coming from the tech side of the house, I’d like to see us offer FREE materials…online.
That assistance could come from private corporations, individuals, colleges, universities or for-profit organizations such as K12 Inc. Another idea along the lines of individuals, is to allocate $1-$5 billion from the amounts being donated by some of the nation’s wealthiest people. Use those funds to make outstanding educational materials that engage our youth. Then we could offer those incredibly-well done, multimedia-based, interactive, engaging, highly-sophisticated materials FREELY to anyone who wants access to them — whether inside or outside the United States. This would be a massive undertaking from a curricular, instructional design, programming, production, etc. standpoint. But WOW! What a difference it could make to level the playing field!
Perhaps working with vendors, some of the funding could be used for loaning out the devices needed to “play” and interact with the materials, and perhaps some other funding could be allocated to the city of Detroit to provide wireless access throughout the city and surrounding suburbs.
Also see:
The $600 billion challenge– from Fortune
Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett are asking the nation’s billionaires to pledge to give at least half their net worth to charity, in their lifetimes or at death. If their campaign succeeds, it could change the face of philanthropy.
On 01/10/2011,
in CMS/LMS, e-books, e-readers, elearning, India, podcasting, publishing, UK,
by Daniel Christian
How e-Learning is flowering — by Amit Garg at the Upside Learning blog
On 07/20/2010,
in India, instructional design, professional development, teaching & learning,
by Daniel Christian
22 books for beginner Instructional Designers –from The Upside Learning Solutions Blog by Amit Garg
How to create a successful M-Learning strategy: mLearnCon – Part I — from Upside Learning by Amit Garg
Last week I attended a day-long certificate workshop at the inaugural mLearnCon in San Diego titled Creating a successful m-learning strategy: From Planning to Implementation conducted by Judy Brown, Rovy Branon, Jason Haag, and Chris Raasch. The workshop was well designed and gave a wide range of information along with templates and charts that could be useful for the beginners and the slightly more experienced professionals in the field.
Judy had this quote on a slide which I think summarizes how important mobiles are for our future:
“Mobile phones are misnamed.They should be called ‘gateways to all human knowledge.”
–Ray Kurzweil, Futurist (at Handheld Learning ’09)
I believe this to be true and all organizations will realize this sooner or later. The pace of change is phenomenal and m-learning has truly come of age now. Now is the right time to get your m-learning strategy in place.
I’ve presented a short summary of the first session (Judy’s) which mainly covered planning part:
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Also see the slides at:
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Top 13 LMS (and learning technology) blogs — from UpsideLearning.com by Amit Gautam