Educause Review: Sept/Oct 2010 -- Attention, Engagement, Next Generation

Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010: Final list, presentation and more — from Jane Knight

Yesterday I finalised the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010 list.  Many thanks to the 545 people who shared their Top 10 Tools for Learning and contributed to the building of the list.   Although this list is available online, I also created this presentation which provides the information as a slideset – embedded below.

My Photo

Jane Hart, a Social Business Consultant, and founder
of the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies.

Musical instruments of the future – Reactable — from David Kusek, VP at Berklee College of Music

There is a lot of innovation happening with electronic music instrument and new interfaces.  Reactable is one of the latest in music technology fusing DJ culture, touch screen topography and electro-pop showmanship. Coming to an iPad near you.  Reactable says their company “is about the promotion of creativity and the mediation of culture through the application of the latest technologies in human computer interaction, music technology, graphics and computer vision.”  Check it out.

Music Instruments of the Future

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Reactable

Students Solve Math Mysteries in Sackboys and the Mysterious Proof — from spotlight.macfound.org with Kan Yang Li

Spotlight talks with Kan Yang Li about games-based learning and the new math-related adventure level he created for the popular video game “LittleBigPlanet.”

How would you assess this? — from Education Stormfront

Excerpt:

The good news is that we are entering a golden age of learning.  A time where the Yeols of the world will be able to connect with people who will appreciate, encourage and foster their gifts.  It will be an explosion of personal expression, where everyone can  finally reach their full potential.  The resulting massive outburst of creativity will reshape the planet like nothing since the Renaissance.

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Presentation from Nancy Duarte, HOW, and PicScout:

Mac version- http://bit.ly/9qhWTK
PC Version- http://bit.ly/aubGb3

Also see:

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That Resonates with Me! From Nancy Duarte.

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From DSC:

This was a great presentation by Nancy Duarte that is very much worth checking out for anyone who regularly communicates information to others. I especially appreciated the slide on the need for all of us — in our organizations as well as for each of us as individuals — to constantly reinvent ourselves.

Here are some example slides:

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EDUCAUSE Review Magazine, Volume 45, Number 5, September/October 2010

Attention, Engagement, and the Next Generation


Howard Rheingold

If we want to discover how we can engage students as well as ourselves in the 21st century, we must move beyond skills and technologies. We must explore also the interconnected social media literacies of attention, participation, cooperation, network awareness, and critical consumption.

Danah Boyd
The future of Web 2.0 is about streams of content. The goal today is to be attentively aligned—”in flow”—with these information streams, to be aware of information as it flows by, grabbing it at the right moment when it is most relevant, valuable, entertaining, or insightful.
Malcolm Brown, with Mark Auslander, Kelly Gredone, David Green, Bruce Hull, and Walt Jacobs
How can faculty use technology and innovative pedagogical methods in their courses to make their students’ learning experiences richer and more meaningful—to capture, retain, and sustain student engagement?
Veronica Diaz, Cindy Jennings, Kelvin Bentley, P. B. Garrett, Barron Koralesky, Christina Royal, and David Starrett
Electronic books, mobile computing, and open content are three mature, robust, and quite approachable technology innovations holding much promise for attracting students’ attention and thereby supporting deeper student engagement with learning.
Diana G. Oblinger
Improving college readiness and completion for the next generation is a grand challenge for society. Although there are many ways to approach this challenge, applying the innovative capabilities of information technology must be one. We have many of the tools, policies, and technologies in hand.

Learning powered by technology — from ednetinsight.com
Karen Cator, Director, Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education

The vision and model of learning articulated in the National Education Technology Plan, Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology, was informed by the ideas, case studies, research, and involvement of thousands of teachers, parents, students, researchers, professors, and policymakers. The model posits that in order to transform American education, we need to leverage modern technologies to create a massively customized, superpowered learning environment tuned for this generation of students.

We are seeing more and more examples of effective and compelling learning opportunities in and out of classrooms using digital resources and online collaborative environments to engage and inform teachers and students. There are countless articles published, stories told, and student work displayed showcasing global interactions, presentations of creative solutions to complex problems, and professional grade works done by students and worthy of a wide audience. We are observing teachers challenging students with interesting assignments that allow for exploration and practice using technologies to do their work.

We see increasing inclusion of social and participatory experiences coupled with online learning. And alongside this advent of social networking technologies comes the ability to access presentations, lectures, and interviews with experts; repositories of highly produced media; and a wealth of museum, national, state, and local park resources and library and reference materials previously available only in physical locations. All of this is “at our fingertips” and “on the go” in our increasingly mobile-enabled world. These existing and emerging technologies, resources, and interactions combine to create what should be the golden age of teaching and learning.

So as we manage this transition from a predominantly print-based classroom to a digital learning environment, we have been launching a number of initiatives. Here are a few worth mentioning…

While looking at the video for Sonos Controller for the iPad, I wondered…what if we could replace the selection below — i.e. the word music with the words “educational providers” — and then control which room received which signal/content?

Wow…talk about a home dedicated to learning!   🙂

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YouMedia: A new vision for learning — from dmlcentral.net by Akili Lee
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YouMedia: A New Vision for Learning  Blog Image

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In July 2009, YouMedia launched as an ambitious attempt to re-imagine the library as a more relevant learning resource for today’s teens. Understanding that the landscape has changed how teens learn, socialize and self-identify, how do we remix the public library experience so it can truly engage teens in a way that supports its core mission? A partnership between the Chicago Public Library and the Digital Youth Network, YouMedia took on this task through the creation of a unique 21st century physical learning space and an innovative online space to connect learners 24/7. The 5,500-square-foot space is open seven days a week to any Chicago teen, where they have access to more than 100 laptops and desktop machines, professional grade cameras and software, and a full music studio all at no cost.

From the “About Us” page at YouMedia:

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YOUmedia is an innovative, 21st century teen learning space housed at the Chicago Public Library’s downtown Harold Washington Library Center. YOUmedia was created to connect young adults, books, media, mentors, and institutions throughout the city of Chicago in one dynamic space designed to inspire collaboration and creativity.

High school age teens engaging with YOUmedia can access thousands of books, over 100 laptop and desktop computers, and a variety of media creation tools and software, all of which allow them to stretch their imaginations and their digital media skills. By working both in teams and individually, teens have an opportunity to engage in projects that promote critical thinking, creativity, and skill-building.

More here…

How can we generate a love for learning when there’s so much emphasis on points/grades? — from DSC

I look back to my past…and I look to the present systems…and I look to the courses that I’m taking at the graduate level…and I can’t help but wonder what we can do to in order to instill more of a love for learning…?

When we constantly emphasis rubrics, grades, points, bell curves, SATs/ACTS/MEAPs/standardarized tests — man, it’s no wonder that students don’t connect with school! We enforce what we feel is important based up on what we think they will need to be productive…but it may or may not connect or be important to them at all. And it may not be the skills that are really needed when these folks enter the workplace. We taught them based upon what we needed in our work lives.

I can’t help but wonder how bummed out students become as the downward spiral begins…something happens in life to sidetrack them or they don’t have strong support for their educations in the home in the first place. They receive some low scores for a variety of reasons. Being that competition is so stressed in our worlds, they naturally look around to see how other students are doing. They notice the other students did better. They begin to feel discouraged. This happens a few more times and now they are getting really discouraged…school becomes a major source of stress and discouragement in their lives.

In addition to the stress, they aren’t always allowed to pursue their own passions…their own gifts and abilities;  instead, they are told what to learn, when to learn it, how exactly to learn it, etc.

I’m not out to blame anyone; and, in fact, I have an enormous amount of respect for the million agendas being thrown at teachers and professors these days. Can anyone deliver on all of these expectations and asked-for-deliverables?

However, I do hope that we can turn around this drop out situation in the U.S. — 25-30% is waaaaayyyy too high.

What can we do to better address students’ passions? Increase their motivation? How can we better instill a love for learning vs. “how to best compete and win” in the classroom? Funny how the older I get, the more the love of learning sets in…and the competition fades away.

The Digital Landscape –What’s Next for News? — from spotlight.macfound.org
Harvards’s Nieman Reports weighs in on the future of journalism, including how young people are using technology as consumers and producers of information and how news organizations are looking to gaming as a way to engage audiences. Plus: evidence that journalism is not dying.

The new digital landscape, writes Melissa Ludtke, Neiman Reports editor, is “a place where game playing thrives and augmented reality tugs at possibilities. It’s where video excels, while the appetite for long-form text and the experience of ‘deep reading’ is diminished, and it’s where the allure of multitasking greets the crush of information.”

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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!

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