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EducationShift
In the Digital Age, How Much Is Informal Education Worth?
You can learn anything you want on the Internet, so the adage goes. But even if that's true, even if it's now easier than ever to learn about almost any subject online, there are still very few opportunities to gain formal recognition -- "credit," if you will -- for informal
learning done online.
EducationShift
Can 35,000 People Learn Anything from an Online Class?
This summer, Stanford University announced its plans to make three of its introductory computer science classes available for free to the general public. The classes -- Machine Learning, Introduction to Databases, and Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
-- were to be taught by Stanford faculty and held online in conjunction with the regular on-campus courses held during this October-December term.
EducationShift
What Is a Great Education App Really Worth?
Walk the aisles of any toy store and you'll see miles of shelves lined with $20-$30 board games and toys. We're accustomed to paying that amount because that's where the market set the price years ago. It's predicated on production costs, overhead for toy manufacturers, distribution, and the store's cut of the margin, among many other factors.
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BookShift
How Social Networks Might Change the Way We Read Books
Reading hasn't always been seen as a solitary act. Our first experiences with books demonstrate that: before we know how to read, we often have people -- a parent, a teacher -- reading out loud to us. But once we know how to read, there's a sense that we're supposed to read silently and oftentimes, alone. Even so, we're...
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EducationShift
How a $35 Tablet Could Revolutionize Classroom Learning
When Amazon unveiled its new Android tablet, the Kindle Fire, last month, analysts said that its price could well make it a viable competitor to the wildly successful iPad. Indeed, while the iPad has ignited great interest in tablet computing, particularly in schools, that interest has really just been in iPads.
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EducationShift
Using Facebook, Hoot.me as a Study Tool
Protecting student safety has been the rationale behind the recent spate of "laws restricting teachers' and students' communication via social networking. The laws call into into question once again the educational value of these sorts of online social tools: Why do teachers need to talk to students on Facebook? Shouldn't students be studying? Isn't Facebook just a waste of time?
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EducationShift
In the Digital Age, Is Teaching Cursive Relevant?
Reading and writing are fundamental to learning. But as more kids read and write via some sort of computing device -- laptop, tablet, cell phone -- how we teach those skills is changing, and one significant change is the decision to teach cursive. When it comes to equipping students with "21st century skills," typing is in, cursive is out.
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EducationShift
Class, Turn on Your Cell Phones: It's Time to Text
As we noted in August, cell phones are in the hands of the vast majority of adults, and whether schools like it or not, they're in the hands of most students. While many schools still see cell phones as a distraction rather than as an educational tool, it's hard to deny that these devices are quickly becoming the primary means...
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EducationShift
School Libraries Struggle with E-Book Loans
Just as many predicted, sales figures show that more people are opting to buy e-books rather than printed copies. Sales of e-books rose 167 percent in June, reports Publishers Weekly, with sales totaling $473.8 million for the first half of the year. But sales of print books -- both paperbacks and hardcovers -- continue to decline.
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EducationShift
Has Technology Changed the Way Children Play?
Last spring, there was a minor outcry when the Auburn School District in Maine announced that it would be piloting a one-to-one iPad program with its kindergarteners. Part of the uproar involved the cost of the program -- some $200,000. But much of it involved the notion that somehow young children should not be exposed to technology, that somehow iPads and other gadgets inhibit their imagination and make them play less -- or, to slightly modify one of Apple's famous logos, to "play different."
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EducationShift
Why Schools Should Stop Banning Cell Phones, and Use Them for Learning
Last week, a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that cell phones have become "near ubiquitous": 83 percent of American adults own one. Over half of all adult mobile phone owners had used their phones at least once to get information they needed right away. And more than a quarter said that they had experienced...
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EducationShift
Virtual Worlds Are Scary for Parents, Liberating for Kids
There are more than 1 billion users of virtual worlds, online communities where people have avatars and participate in various simulated environments. Even more impressive than that number: Roughly half of those virtual world users are under age 15. With a number of news stories lately about kids under 13 on Facebook (violating the social network's Terms of Service), you'd...
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Media Usage
Silicon Sisters Builds Videogames for Women by Women
The stereotypical videogame player is a young male under age 18, but study after study has shown that the majority of the game-playing population does not fall into that demographic. Only 18 percent of gamers are under age 18, and women over 18 represent a significantly greater proportion of this population (37 percent) than do boys age 17 or younger...
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