7 Things You Should Know About Second Life

Retrieved from [EDUCAUSE] on 14/11/2009
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSecon/163004

Second Life is a virtual world with tens of millions of square meters of virtual lands, more than 13 million “residents,” and a thriving economy. Large numbers of colleges and universities—or, in some cases, individual departments or faculty—are active in Second Life, not only for academic purposes but also for campus visits, recruiting activities for prospective students, and fundraising. Second Life lets educators easily build and modify learning spaces to test how different strategies for a physical space affect learning, and a similar approach can be taken toward educational activities in those spaces.
The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.
In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

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Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning?

Retrieved from [Educational Technology] on 06-11-2009

http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/2009/11/are-schools-preparing-students-for-21st.html

Friday, November 06, 2009

Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning? - David Nagel, THE Journal

There's a "disconnect" between school administrators and parents. While more than half of America's school principal's said they think they're "doing a good job" preparing students for the 21st century, only a third of parents of middle school and high school students agreed, according to research released by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard. The research also showed that only 40 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 think their schools are doing a good job preparing them for the future.

Primary schools All four-year-olds to be offered school or nursery place

Retrieved from [Guardian] on 31/10/2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/19/balls-primary-school-starting-age
*Polly Curtis, education editor *Monday 19 October 2009 01.05 BST

Every four-year old in England will be offered a place at school or nursery under plans set out by the schools secretary Ed Balls today to bring forward the age that children start full-time education by a year.

The move comes days after the biggest independent inquiry into primary education in 40 years recommended delaying the start of formal learning until a child turns six to prevent those who struggle being put-off learning at an early age.

From September 2011 every family will be able to choose to between a free place at school or nursery from the September, January or April after their child turns four. If they opt for a nursery place the child will learn the early years play-based curriculum but if they start school it will mean more formal lessons in reading and writing. The Cambridge University primary review last week argued children should not start formal learning until they turn six reporting that England, where children currently have to start school at five, is out of step with international practice.

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Online Education, Growing Fast, Eyes the Truly 'Big Time'

Retrieved from [The Wired Campus] on 31/10/2009

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Online-Education-Growing/8663/

*October 30, 2009, 04:23 PM ET *By Marc Parry

Orlando, Fla. -- Online education is a runaway best seller. Its growth rate -- 12.9 percent -- dwarfs the overall pace of academe’s student expansion. More than 25 percent of all students may have taken at least one online class this year, according to a speculative estimate suggested at a distance-education conference that wraps up here today.

But the success isn’t smashing enough. Not even close.

That’s the case made by A. Frank Mayadas, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program director who called on online educators gathered here to meet what he sees as a major need -- fast. And Mr. Mayadas, considered the Father of Online Learning, suggested in an interview following his speech that the government should step in with some $500-million to support traditional online courses -- not just the experimental “free” courses that have emerged as a darling of the Obama administration.

Questions of growth and scale were key issues for some of the 1,435 people who attended this year’s Sloan Consortium International Conference on Online Learning. The turnout, which included 170 virtual attendees, grew from last year’s 1,190 participants. That's a notable feat during a difficult time for academic travel and a period of transition for the Sloan community, with Mr. Mayadas stepping down and his foundation ending a grant program that has poured roughly $80-million into online education.

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Study: Games, Video Improve Preschooler Literacy

Retrieved from [THE Journal] on 31/11/2009
http://thejournal.com/articles/2009/10/14/study-games-video-improve-preschooler-literacy.aspx

* By David Nagel * 10/14/09


A new study has shown that educational videos and interactive games can have a positive impact on preschooler literacy when incorporated into the curriculum in a classroom setting.

According to the study, released today, children from low-income families whose teachers incorporated digital media (videos, games) in the classroom as part of the Ready to Learn program came out more prepared for kindergarten in terms of literacy skills than those who were not exposed to such a program.

The new study, Summative Evaluation of the Ready to Learn Initiative, was conducted by Education Development Center and SRI International on behalf of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). It focused on economically disadvantaged children in schools participating in Ready to Learn programs in New York and San Francisco. Ready to Learn is an initiative funded in part by the United States Department of Education and is operated by CPB, PBS, and the Ready to Learn Partnership. It's designed to help improve literacy in students aged 2 to 8 using a variety of media tools and curriculum resources.

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Web technology is about to change how we learn

Retrieved from [Venture Beat] on 13/10/2009
http://venturebeat.com/2009/10/13/how-web-technology-is-about-to-change-how-we-learn/

The education industry is on the cusp of being massively disrupted by innovation in Web technology. Like other industries prior, it would like to pretend that it can weather the storm and continues business as usual, with only minor tweaking. We all know how that story ends.

It won’t happen immediately, and the path won’t be a direct one. Marketing giants such foreign-language instructor Rosetta Stone will be able to build healthy businesses off of dying trends — i.e., using the Web as a retail store for pre-packaged content — but these models won’t last long. Educational companies that focus on the needs of the publisher rather than the user are no less vulnerable than other media players, and they face a real risk of being made obsolete by more scalable Web-enabled models.

People are already waking up to the fact that they can learn online at a fraction of the cost of traditional means; the next realization is that they might be able to learn better. The U.S. Department of Education, with the help of research organization SRI, just completed a 12-year study on online education that concluded: “On average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.” This is not yet commonly accepted wisdom, but things are changing quickly.

What makes me so sure web-based instruction will eclipse more traditional methods? Three things: the web offers rich opportunities for collaborative learning, it allows for almost infinite customization, and it’s cheaper than pulling people into a physical classroom.

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Tips for parents sharing books with children who are just starting to read for themselves

Retrieved from Booktrust on 20/10/2009
http://www.booktime.org.uk/show/feature/Families/Family%20Reading/Booktime-Top-Tips

By Prue Goodwin, Lecturer in Literacy Education & Children’s Books, Reading University


The early stages of learning to read are very important. Children gradually acquire all the complex skills necessary to recognise words and then to make meanings. Becoming a confident reader takes time – longer for some than for others. Schools have a curriculum to follow with every child so the time you spend sharing books with them alone is indispensable. You don’t need to do anything different to be of great support to your child. Read aloud to your child and snuggle up with books - just as you did when they were younger.

• First share the whole book with the children with only a little comment on the story and pictures, letting the children wallow in the pleasure of the experience.

• After the first read through, discuss the story with comments or questions such
as: Did you enjoy that story? That was a funny thing to happen, wasn’t it?

• Share the story again, asking the children to tell you what they like on each page.

• Always explore the pictures and relish the language of the super books produced
for young readers. Return to gaze at the pictures and talk about how much you enjoyed the story.


Apart from enjoying the books together, here are five further tips for helping your child to become a reader:

1. Read to them from all sorts of books – picture books, longer stories, non-fiction and poetry.

2. Let children select which book you will share from a collection of books. Don’t
worry if they chose something over and over again. You can always have a rule – two books, one that they have chosen and one chosen by you.

3. It is nice to own books but also use your local library where you can borrow lots
of different stories, free of charge. Librarians will help with suggestions about what books to choose next.

4. Revisit some of the lovely books you read to them before they started school.
They may have a go at reading some of the words for themselves now and familiarity with the story will help them to recognise the words.

5. Encourage them to play at being the characters, to draw pictures and to make up a bit more story.