"Students’ inability to translate thoughts into coherent, well-argued sentences, paragraphs, and essays was severely impeding intellectual growth in many subjects. Consistently, one of the largest differences between failing and successful students was that only the latter could express their thoughts on the page."
"We’re used to personalization on the consumer Web, from book recommendations on Amazon to the news feed on Facebook. But what will it mean for learning as colleges, too, increasingly mine data to shape the student experience? What does educational personalization look like? How finely should technologists try to parse it—down to individual learning styles? How will personalization conflict with existing regulations? And what are the risks?"
"Can anyone credibly believe that the mediocre overall performance of American students on international tests is unrelated to the fact that one-fifth of American children live in poverty?"
— The Unaddressed Link Between Poverty and Education - NYTimes.com (via newspaperthings)
(via newspaperthings)
via publichistorianryangosling.tumblr.com
The tagline for the blog Public History Ryan Goslings is: “Ryan Gosling seduces you with Public History theory.”
Love it. History isn’t just something you study - it is something you do (an action).
"Why, in a world in which choice and personal preference are highly valued, would any college want to create such a mandate? Because it makes a bold statement about the importance of moving education into the future. It is, in a sense, only a step removed from saying, “We no longer accept theses on scrolls, papyrus, or clay tablets. Those artifacts do still exist in the world, but they are not the tools of this institution.” Or: “In this institution we have abandoned the slide rule. Those who find it useful and/or comforting can, of course, use it, but not here."
— In the 21st-Century University, Let’s Ban Books - Commentary - The Chronicle of Higher Education
"College students with very poor vision have had to struggle to see a blackboard and take notes—basic tasks that can hold some back. Now a team of four students from Arizona State University has designed a system, called Note-Taker, that couples a tablet PC and a video camera, and could be a major advance over the small eyeglass-mounted telescopes that many students have had to rely on. It recently won second place in Microsoft’s Imagine Cup technology competition."
"Children who don’t read over the summer can lose up to two reading levels by the time the school year begins… “If a student reads just four books over the summer, they will maintain their grade level if they left the school year reading at grade level,” said Sherri Thomas, school librarian at North Frederick Elementary School. “It really doesn’t take much to stay in good reading shape."
"At its best “Talk to Me” makes you aware of how our relationship to design has become more emotional and intuitive. Ms. Antonelli points out that “we now expect objects to communicate, a cultural shift made evident when we see children searching for buttons or sensors on a new object, even when the object has no batteries or plug."
— MoMA’s ‘Talk to Me’ Focuses on Interface - Review - NYTimes.com
“E-books are already a fraught subject for many readers, writers, publishers and designers, but children’s e-books are even more so. Is it rotting their minds? Is it as good as good ol’ paper? Is it too interactive for their own good? Obviously there are no practical answers to such questions, but at least one children’s e-book/app/thingie (what do we call these things, again?) is doing it very, very right. It’s called “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore,” and it’s like a well-written bedtime story and an immersive animated movie at once — without being “too much” of either.”
All-Star Pixar Animator Creates Astounding Kids’ Book On iPad | Co.Design
