From DSC:
In my mind, this area of intelligent systems and agents is one of the most important areas to watch in the years ahead.  Such efforts should help us develop sophisticated systems that can help deliver personalized, customized education at the K-12 and higher ed levels…and perhaps will be relevant in the L&D space as well.

The innovations that come from this area may make hybrid-based — as well as  100% online-based learning — incredibly powerful!

If someone can develop such systems and make them available at far cheaper prices than exist today, a quality “Walmart of Education” will truly have been built.


 IADIS International Conference: Intelligent Systems and Agents - in Rome, July 24-26, 2011

 

Per the Call for Papers section, the topics for this conference include, but are not limited to:

 

Area 1 – Intelligent Systems  

– Algorithms

– Artificial Intelligence

– Automation Systems and Control

– Bioinformatics

– Computational Intelligence

– Expert Systems

– Fuzzy Technologies and Systems

– Game and Decision Theories

– Intelligent Control Systems

– Intelligent Internet Systems

– Intelligent Software Systems

– Intelligent Systems

– Machine Learning

– Neural Networks

– Neurocomputers

– Optimization

– Parallel Computation

– Pattern Recognition

– Robotics and Autonomous Robots

– Signal Processing

– Systems Modelling

– Web Mining

 

 

 

 

Area 2 – Agents  

– Adaptive Agent Systems

– Agent Applications

– Agent Communication

– Agent Development

– Agent middleware

– Agent Models and Architectures

– Agent Ontologies

– Agent Oriented Systems and Engineering

– Agent Programming, Languages and Environments

– Agent Systems

– Agent Technologies

– Agent Theories

– Agent Trends

– Agents Analysis and Design

– Agents and Learning

– Agents and Ubiquitous Computing

– Agents in Networks

– Agents Protocols and Standards

– Artificial Systems

– Computational Complexity

– eCommerce and Agents

– Embodied Agents

– Mobile Agents

– Multi-Agent Systems

– Negotiation Strategies

– Performance Issues

– Security, Privacy and Trust

– Semantic Grids

– Simulation

– Web Agents

 

 

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Also see:

  • How does education prepare tomorrow’s leaders for this fast paced interconnected business world?
    Roger Martin, Daniel Pink and Jim Keane Discuss this in the Live Steelcase 360 Discussion: Educating the Creative Leaders of Tomorrow
    NEW YORK – March 18, 2011 –
    Coming out of the recent recession, problems are more complex, markets are more volatile and change is more rapid. Education must keep pace. So how can educators prepare students to lead in today’s interconnected world? Today, Steelcase is bringing together three of the most influential thinkers on management and education to discuss this topic in its live, virtual panel discussion: Educating the Creative Leaders of Tomorrow.

 

Virtual education boom hits the states — from Sacramento Bee by David Harrison

Excerpt:

All but two states now offer online courses to at least some students. In most cases, online courses are blended with in-school courses. But 27 states allow students to attend virtual schools full time. Online courses allow students to work at their own pace, with advanced students moving through the curriculum quickly while others might get more of the attention they need from teachers.

Wise and other education leaders say that without more virtual schooling, it won’t be possible to meet President Barack Obama’s goal of producing a large majority of high school graduates ready for college or the work force. At the same time, now that 40 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to common math and English standards, online courses would be more easily transferable from state to state.

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artwithmre.blogspot.com

Also see:
Ted Edinger: Art Teacher Inspiring Creativity — from EdReformer.com by Bennet Ratcliff

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Schools use digital tools to customize education — from Education Week by Michelle R. Davis

“In regular, face-to-face classrooms, it’s very difficult to create an individual experience for each student unless you can make the learning independent but also interactive,” says Jeff Snyder, a former classroom social studies teacher who is now an assistant principal with the Jefferson County, Ky., public schools’ eSchool, an online school with more than 6,000 students. “Technology allows students to go in their own direction, which is really difficult to do in a classroom with 30 different kids

The plight of young males — from Harvard Business Review by Saul Kaplan

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Lessons that inspire a love for the arts — from Edutopia.org

Illio of a can of Happy Idea Condensed Creative Soup

 

The Importance of Creativity in the Classroom
Blogger Jim Moulton on why an effective arts education requires that students be given freedom within a structure.

Staging Plays for Active Learning
Playwriting teaches kids how to construct a plot, write dialogue, tell a story through action, and much more.

How to Set Up a Literature Circle
Get tips for laying the groundwork, setting up protocols for discussions, and implementing strategies for motiving students to read.

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I am not complaining. I love my job with the students, helping them become young adults.

People can say I make too much money, which  apparently they are, but I drive a 1999 car, don’t go on trips unless it is part of my husband’s business expense, still have $4,000 in  student loans from four years ago,  have worked 2 hours on school activities today (Sunday), and I leave school most days after nine hours at school with a half hour lunch break. When I go to the grocery store, I am careful of my behavior because I know I am a role model  for students.

Summer does involve 6 weeks that can be school free, some years. In that time, I plan carefully how best to catch up on  chores around the house, reading, visiting family and friends. Me and most every other teacher I know live like this, or with more hours and  more debt. We all have put in the time and training to earn a bachelor’s degree, and most of us have far more education than that.

I am very grateful and appreciative of the educators who have cared for, nurtured, directed and helped me raise my children. The Public Schools are some of the best things this country has going for it. The system  is not flawless, but it does work. Thoughtful speech is important in any public debate, because words do matter. The teachers being degraded in the media are real people who care for our precious resource – the children.

Just my thoughts.
Julie

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Leaders Call for Shared Curriculum Guidelines — from edweek.org by Catherine Gewertz
Diverse group says framework needed for new common standards

Seventy-five respected leaders in education, business, and government issued a call this week to devise shared curriculum guidelines for the new common standards.

The move is notable for finding common ground on a sensitive topic among an ideologically diverse group of thinkers. Signatories include political liberals and conservatives, and those with varying views on controversial education issues such as charter schools, testing policy, and ways to evaluate and compensate teachers.

From the “A Call for Common Content” webpage:
To be clear, by “curriculum” we mean a coherent, sequential set of guidelines in the core academic disciplines, specifying the content knowledge and skills that all students are expected to learn, over time, in a thoughtful progression across the grades. We do not mean performance standards, textbook offerings, daily lesson plans, or rigid pedagogical prescriptions.

From DSC:
This concerns me…
as such a call for common content would be more palatable to me if ALL academic disciplines were available and represented equally not just STEM-related items. Also, does the common content represent the average citizen? (Come to think of it, who/what is the average citizen and what do they want to pursue?)
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I think that we need to move more towards an individualized/customized learning approach, where students can pursue their passions and God-given gifts. With dropout rates approaching 30%, is movement towards a common curriculum a step in the right direction? Will such a strategy decrease or increase the drop out rates? Will such a strategy end up creating a vanilla/cookie-cutter approach to K-12 education where you had better like STEM-related topics or else…oh well…better luck next time?
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Your thoughts on this? Am I off-base on this?

 

  • 40 million American adults did not complete high school.
  • The high school graduate, on average, earns $500,000 more in a lifetime as compared to an individual who did not complete high school.
  • Most high school dropouts (70%) have the intellectual ability to complete the courses needed for high school graduation.
  • Most high school dropouts do not feel a connection between high school courses and future employment.
  • 75% of high school dropouts stated that if they could relive the experience, they would have stayed in high school.
  • 81% of dropouts expressed a need for schooling that connected academics and employment.
Addendum on 3/23/11:
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Helping your child develop a growing relationship with Christ — from FamilyLife.com by Dennis and Barbara Rainey
These six spiritual disciplines helped our children on their spiritual journeys.

From DSC:
In the world of K-12 education, it seems that we end up putting a lot of responsibility for “success,” growth, and performance on the teachers and on the school districts themselves. But what about the parents? What about the families (or lack thereof) that do or do not value education? Aren’t they part of the answer/equation?

Along these lines, I appreciate the work of those organizations who are trying to support and build families up around the world; to keep marriages and families from declining even further (esp. true in the U.S.).  One of these organizations is Family Life, where I appreciate the work of Dennis and Barbara Rainey as well as the work of Bob Lepine. Though I don’t always agree with everything they say, I love their intent, what they are trying to do, and the tools that they create and/or provide for families.

I do not post this to point fingers at people or to be “holier-than-thou”. I post it in the hopes that someone out there will benefit from the wisdom that comes from the Word. That families, marriages and childrens’ futures will be built up, not further destroyed. I appreciate the work of these types of organizations.

Also see:

 

 

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@GOOD Asks: How can we lower high school drop out rates?

#GOODasks

We’ve covered the drop out epidemic before. In the United States, a kid drops out of high school every 26 seconds. Over the course of a year, that adds up to 1.2 million students. How can we lower this number?

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From DSC:
This is unbelievable! Again, I’m reminded of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion — spilling out valuable resources that are going untapped. What a waste of God-given gifts!

  • 40 million American adults did not complete high school.
  • The high school graduate, on average, earns $500,000 more in a lifetime as compared to an individual who did not complete high school.
  • Most high school dropouts (70%) have the intellectual ability to complete the courses needed for high school graduation.
  • Most high school dropouts do not feel a connection between high school courses and future employment.
  • 75% of high school dropouts stated that if they could relive the experience, they would have stayed in high school.
  • 81% of dropouts expressed a need for schooling that connected academics and employment.

 

Addendum 4/5/11:

 

 

Get connected to the online learning culture — from Edutopia.org

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Online teacher Holly Mortimer working from home

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Professional Development: Starter Kit for Teaching Online
Get expert advice on how you can get started as an online educator.

Making the Case for Open-Source Textbooks
Futurist David Thornburg on why open-source textbooks have the advantage of being free of cost and provide greater value to the users.

Beyond Paper and Pencil
Technology expert Ben Johnson wonders how learning — and schools — would change if teachers stopped using paper.

Student engagement on the go — from The Journal by Chris Riedel

Assistant Principal Patrick McGee explains that whatever the other advantages of adopting iPads and iPods in the classroom, the key is student engagement.

“This is my 3-year old daughter the day the iPad came out,” said Patrick McGee as he displayed a movie of a young girl sitting at a kitchen counter, gripping an iPad in both hands. The audience watched as the little girl found, launched, and began to use a Dr. Seuss app; all without intervention or explanation from an adult. “Kids know–intuitively–how these things work; even at 3,” he said. “We need to use that.”

 

Lecture capture brings K-12 classes online

Lecture capture brings K-12 classes online — from The Journal by Bridget McCrea

A Pennsylvania school district is using lecture capture to offer online access to classroom content. As one of the early adopters of lecture capture in K-12, the district faced some unique challenges. But, according to Technology Director Ken Dunkelberger, it’s been worth the effort.

Ken Dunkelberger got his first taste of lecture capture in an educational setting at an EduComm conference in San Diego five years ago. There, a vendor introduced Dunkelberger, director of technology for the Tamaqua School District in Pennsylvania, to the idea of using technology to record what happens in the classroom, and then making that recording available in a digital format.

At the time, lecture capture was being used by higher education, but had yet to make inroads in the nation’s K-12 schools.

“The vendor told us that it was more of a collegiate solution, with the Big Ten and Ivy League schools as the biggest users of lecture capture,” said Dunkelberger, who was undeterred by the fact that K-12 had yet to embrace the technology. “We didn’t let go of the idea, and eventually the vendor decided to give it a shot because we were so interested.”

Not a Replacement for Teachers
And with that, a school district situated in the coal regions of northeastern Pennsylvania became one of the first public K-12 schools in the nation to integrate lecture capture into the classroom.

Dunkelberger said his department worked to get teachers on board with the idea first and spent time ensuring them that the technology would not “replace” the educators in the classroom, but that it would support and supplement their efforts.

“We spent the time explaining the solution and educating our teachers on its value,” said Dunkelberger. For example, instructors were versed on how the technology allows students who may not have absorbed a complete classroom lecture to access the content later via the Web and “get up to snuff with what’s going on in class,” he said.

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