Blog Posts Across HASTAC on Ning

Hole in the Wall

"Several years ago, a computer scientist, Dr. Sugata Mitra, had an idea. What would happen if he could provide poor children with free, unlimited access to computers and the Internet? Mitra launched what came to be known as the hole in the wall experiment." Read on and see the PBS Frontline video footage ... Image reference: P… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 22, 2008 at 9:03pm — 1 Comment

One Laptop Per Child

I've been a little slack getting together a longer post on the awesome talks I saw at HOPE this weekend, but in the meantime, I thought I'd put up a link to a rather scathing criticism of the OLPC program, a project whose initial idea seemed good, but whose implementation has been -- according to many… Continue

Posted by Lindsey Andrews on July 22, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments

PBS Launches Online Education Community

"PBS Teachers Connect' (pbsteachers.org/connect) provides Web 2.0 tools to foster collaboration among educators using multimedia and technology to improve teaching and learning." Read on ... Image reference: Photograph of Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street by Richard Termin… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 20, 2008 at 10:26pm — No Comments

I Seminário Web Currículo - PUC-SP

O I SEMINÁRIO WEB CURRÍCULO – Integração de Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação ao Currículo – será realizado nos dias 22 e 23 de setembro, pela Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo - PUC-SP, sob responsabilidade do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação: Currículo. O evento busca também identificar as abordagens pedagógicas mais utilizadas em práticas escolares desenvolvidas com o uso de tecnologias. Veja mais em: I Seminário Web Currícul… Continue

Posted by Neli Maria Mengalli on July 19, 2008 at 12:35pm — No Comments

HaX0r

[CONNECTED 15,600] Before eleven (which is to say, before most people at HOPE even woke up), free access was aplenty. By 12:00, a DDOS is in effect (distributed denial of service), preventing access to the temporary networks set up here. I can’t get online. I can’t even register to be tracked by my RFID tag. What do you expect, I guess, when you put a few thousand hackers in a room? I’ll post whenever I get a moment of connection. Today I’m in NYC at HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) con, being r… Continue

Posted by Lindsey Andrews on July 18, 2008 at 12:30pm — No Comments

The Last HOPE

[Please Note: the official blog for Virtual Peace is being moved to the DML Winners HUB. I will continue to cross-post here, but this will primarily be my personal blog.] This isn't VCR related; it's a personal blog post. I'm going to an awesome hacker conference this weekend. It's the last HOPE conference (they've been around for almost 15 years), and the line-up of talks looks amazing. If any… Continue

Posted by Lindsey Andrews on July 17, 2008 at 3:00am — No Comments

UNESCO EFA: Inclusive Quality Education

"Inclusive quality education is based on the right of all learners to a quality education that meets basic learning needs and enriches lives. Focusing particularly on vulnerable and marginalized groups, it seeks to develop the full potential of every individual.The ultimate goal of inclusive quality education is to end all forms of discrimination and foster social cohesio… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 17, 2008 at 2:30am — No Comments

Science-education bill stirs debate with teachers

"A bill that overwhelmingly passed in the state Legislature during the regular session could change the way public-school teachers approach controversial topics such as evolution, global warming, the origins of life and human cloning. That bill - dubbed the "Louisiana Science Education Act" - would allow teachers to supplement information from their science textbook with additional materials.Gov. Bobb… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 13, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments

Leave No Gifted Child Behind

Besides being a certified special education teacher, I earned a gifted ed endorsement as well, and taught G & T (gifted and talented) math and science. However, many programs across the country are now being cut. Many G & T students have their accelerated classes cut, and have been placed in general education courses for science in math now. They are often thought to just fend for themselves because they… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 12, 2008 at 5:30pm — No Comments

USDOE Releases Guide for Evaluating Online Learning

"The U.S. Department of Education today released its first guide to the evaluation of online learning programs in K-12 education. The report is designed to help school leaders gauge the effectiveness of online education, as its use grows rapidly across the United States. “While online-learning programs that deliver courses hav… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 9, 2008 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Teachers & Free Speech

"An elementary-school teacher who was dismissed after telling her class on the eve of the Iraq war that "I honk for peace" lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal Monday. The justices, without comment, denied a hearing to Deborah Mayer, who had appealed lower-court decisions upholding an Indiana school district's refusal to renew her contract in June 2003. The most-recent ruling, by a federa… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 8, 2008 at 10:30am — No Comments

Virtual Peace is Making Progress (New Images!)

Last week I posted about the launch of the Virtual Peace website. This week I wanted to add some information about what’s going on with the rest of the DML winning Virtual Conflict Resolution: Turning Swords to Ploughshares project.

Basically, we’re working in three different teams, coordinated by the visi… Continue

Posted by Lindsey Andrews on July 7, 2008 at 4:00pm — 1 Comment

College Admissions Controversy

I used to teach ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) afterschool at the middle school level. I taught many of the visiting scientists/professor's children, many of whom were Asian. I saw how hard my students worked in the hopes of getting into a "good" college. I was suprised to learn that many Asian-American students are getting denied admission to top colleges,… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 6, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th! Here's a few tips on photographing fireworks. Enjoy! "OK, first off, I want to stress that fireworks are tricky—no getting around it, no digital silver bullet to make this one easy. Even people who have shot fireworks for years sometimes find it challenging. In order to do really good fireworks, you'll likely have to get into manual mode with your camera, adjust shutter speeds, ISO… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 4, 2008 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Will (a sort of) NCLB go to college?

"Walking from meeting room to meeting room at this week’s annual conference of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and scanning the program, it was impossible not to be struck by the fact that a good half of the hundreds of sessions have embedded in their titles the words “student outcomes,” “a… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 3, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

ISTE unveils new tech standards for teachers

"Schools looking for a framework to help guide their teachers' use of technology in the classroom have a new resource at their disposal: The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has issued new technology standards for teachers. Unveiled June 30 at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in San Antonio, ISTE's revised National Educati… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on July 1, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Virtual Conflict Resolution

As our website went live this week, I'm totally stoked to be able to start blogging about Virtual Conflict Resolution: Turning Swords to Ploughshares, one of the winners of this year's Digital Media and Learning Competition. See the website here. Also, our Ning network site should be ready for public joiners soon. I'll update as soon as that's the case. Virtual Conflict Resolution: Turning Swords to Ploughshares brings together digital lea… Continue

Posted by Lindsey Andrews on June 30, 2008 at 1:30pm — 2 Comments

Preparing Future Faculty

"The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program is a national movement to transform the way aspiring faculty members are prepared for their careers. PFF programs provide doctoral students, as well as some master’s and postdoctoral students, with opportunities to observe and experience faculty responsibilities at a variety of academic institutions with varying missions, diverse student bodies,… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 30, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Are Our Doctoral Programs Are Failing Our Undergraduate Students?

"Recently, I've had opportunities to ask faculty and administrators about the qualities they look for when interviewing and hiring new faculty. My sample of roughly fifty faculty and administrators came from community colleges, four-year liberal arts colleges, master's institutions, and research universities, public and private, in the Midwest and on the East and West Coasts. What stands out fr… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 30, 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

What's Missing from Education Degree or Certification Programs?

From Edutopia: "If a majority of our respondents could join in one collective act to improve teacher education, they would likely brew an enormous cosmic espresso and force the education establishment to wake up and take a deep whiff. The words real, reality, actual, and practical came up repeatedly in the answers to this question, as respondents demanded that real-world experiences inform teacher ed… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 29, 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Japanese students use Nintendo DS to practice language skills

“The Nintendo DS isn't just fun and games anymore for English-language students at Tokyo's Joshi Gakuen all-girls junior high school. The portable video game console is now being used as a key teaching tool, A giggly class of 32 seventh-graders used plastic pens to spell words such as "hamburger" and "cola" on the touch-panel screen--the key feature of the hit gaming console--following an elec… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 27, 2008 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Cartoonist David Horsey on NCLB

... Image reference: Cartoon illustration by David Horsey http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/20040328/focus20040328.gif Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 26, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

Georgia on my mind...

Today I went to a job fair. The job fair was for all the Florida teachers who got laid off. There were lines and lines of teachers. I was so surprised to see teachers with 20 + years experience looking for teaching jobs. I couldn't help but think about my future and wondered if I would be there one day too...again in a teacher job line years later. One teacher who was next to me in line said that she has… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 25, 2008 at 4:00pm — No Comments

The Scream: Disillusionment

OMG! This has been a really tough day. With Florida budget cuts, many of us teachers are scrambling to find teaching jobs for the fall. I'm really nervous. I'm already working two jobs, and can't keep going like this. I'm exhaused. I am relatively new to this town as I moved here because I am also a doctoral student. I've worked for the university over the past year on NIH/US… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 23, 2008 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

Spore: Creating Creatures

"Spore's Lucy Bradshaw talks about why the game's developers embraced an old programming technique. The Creature Creator, the first piece of Electronic Arts' highly anticipated evolution game Spore, launched Tuesday. Created by Will Wright, who's known for the video games SimCity and The Sims, Spore begins with a player controlling a single-celled organism and progresses through various e… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 22, 2008 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Tsunesaburo Makiguchi

It's time to get inspired and find renewal relating to education. It's a time to find positive pedagogy. For one of my summer hobbies, I've started reading more about international education. I'm wanting to get away from all that NCLB gibber-gabber on to something more useful than teaching to the test. One of my best friends who majored in cultural anthropology at Berkeley told me about… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 16, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

Scientific Blogging

Hey guys, Check out the Scientific Blogging site. This site is really great for teachers. While you may or may not agree with some of the scientists opinion's who blog, it is important to learn what scientists are talking about (i.e. the buzz)...especially if one teaches science.This is great professional development for… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 12, 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Reading First Doesn't Help Pupils 'Get it'...Duh!!!!

"The $1 billion-a-year Reading First program has had no measurable effect on students’ reading comprehension, on average, although participating schools are spending significantly more time teaching the basic skills that researchers say children need to become proficient readers, a major federal report finds."… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 9, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Japan Urges Limiting Kids' Cell Phones

"Japanese youngsters are getting so addicted to Internet-linking cell phones that the government is starting a program warning parents and schools to limit their use among children. The government is worried about how elementary and junior high school students are getting sucked into cyberspace crimes, spending long hours exchanging mobile e-mail and suffering other negative effects… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 9, 2008 at 12:30am — No Comments

Gutenberg-e Books

(This is a bit old news, but thought I'd post the links for teachers...so teachers check it out and share with your students. Happy Weekend!) "The electronic monographs published by Columbia University Press in the Gutenberg-e Project are now available in an open-access form through the University’s Libraries, and are also being made available through ACLS Humanities E-Book (HEB). By taking this new step… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 6, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Pete Goldlust's Crayons

Check out Pete Goldlust’s art Enjoy! Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on June 6, 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments

intergenerational learning

Over the past 2 years I have been working on an EU project on intergenerational learning (IGL) enhanced by technology. It has been about learning in informal settings which ranged from asylum seekers in art galleries to science simulations in community centres.

The picture shows people w… Continue

Posted by Martin Owen on June 3, 2008 at 7:23am — 1 Comment

3D Printing: Sketch Furniture by FRONT

I'm really jazzed about 3D Printing!!! I've been thinking of the implications for Art Therapy and Education. "Motion Capture is a technique that translates motions into 3D-files. Motion capture is mostly used for animations in movies and computer games. Front have used the technique to simply record the tip of a pen when they draw pieces of furniture in the air. Rapid Prototyping is a techn… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 31, 2008 at 1:30am — No Comments

Form

... Photograph by: Tannis McCartney from Beautiful Vienna Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 30, 2008 at 5:30pm — No Comments

Remember

Teach your students about Memorial Day. When I taught middle school, I was surprised to learn that a few of my students didn't know much about Memorial Day. (Sadly, schools in Florida often cut Social Studies to give extra "scientifically-based" reading instruction for students with special needs). On the other hand, I had students whose parents, uncles, or aunts, were abroad in the… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 26, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Conscientization

I have recently been to a conference about organising for 'pupil voice'. Part of this was existing strategies like school councils and parliaments. ... ....BUT.... ....another pathway was through Anna Craft's New Generation Documentors, where groups of children observe, reflect and analyse on what and how they are being taught. I found so many parallels with Paulo Freire's 'Pedagogy of the Oppressed' that I reread it and was astonished at how his basic principles can still be applied to many fac… Continue

Posted by Nigel Riley on May 19, 2008 at 12:52pm — 3 Comments

Vatican Okays Belief in Aliens

"Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday...The interview, headlined "The extraterrestrial is my brother," covered a variety of topics including the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science, and the theological implications of the existence of alien life.F… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 18, 2008 at 10:00pm — No Comments

ICT and disabilities: Seeing in the Cyberworld

"In line with the Universal Access to Information principle, UNESCO is committed to consistently addressing the challenges brought about by disabilities in China. From early projects on vocational training in massage techniques for visually impaired young people, its initiatives have evolved to embrace digital opportunities. China’s booming economy and the upcoming Olympics can easily overshadow people’s awar… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 18, 2008 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Greening-Time

As cities grow and green spaces shrink, children are losing their connection to woods, meadows, and nature in general. The trend has alarmed many child development researchers, especially since the 2005 publication of Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature Deficit Disorder.… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 16, 2008 at 5:14pm — No Comments

Autism Surges in the Silicon Valley

(This is an old article, but still very relevant today.) Autism - and its milder cousin Asperger's syndrome - is surging among the children of Silicon Valley. Are math-and-tech genes to blame? Nick is building a universe on his computer. He's already mapped out his first planet: an anvil-shaped world called Denthaim that is home to gnomes and gods, along w… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 14, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Mother's Day Recipes

Here's some wonderful Mother’s Day Recipes Have a happy day! Enjoy! : D ... Image reference: http://images.foodnetwork.com/webfood/images/partyideas/holidays/mothersday/2008/slideshow_quiche.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 10, 2008 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Mother Teresa

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." - Mother Teresa ... Image Reference: Photographer Eddie Adams, 1978 http://www.monroegallery.com/showcase/images/MotherTheresa.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 9, 2008 at 5:24pm — No Comments

Ode to Mondrian

"The position of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel." - Mondrain .... Image reference: Emily Duffy's Mondrian Mobile circa 2006 Art Car World Museum http://www.artcarworld.org/ Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 8, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Rothko

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit." ~John Updike ... Image Reference: http://www.houstonmuseumdistrict.org/default/images/Rothko%2002.tif%20for%20emailing.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 5, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Kandinsky

"The true work of art is born from the 'artist': a mysterious, enigmatic, and mystical creation. It detaches itself from him, it acquires an autonomous life, becomes a personality, an independent subject, animated with a spiritual breath, the living subject of a real existence of being." -Kandinsky ... image reference: Kandinsky Sketch for Several Circles circa… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 3, 2008 at 1:00am — No Comments

Seattle Teacher suspended for refusing to give the state test

"A Seattle middle school science teacher has been suspended for two weeks without pay for refusing to administer the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in his classroom. Union officials and education leaders say Carl Chew of Nathan Eckstein Middle School might be the first teacher in Washington state to be suspended for refusing to give his students the high-stakes test."… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on May 1, 2008 at 3:00pm — 2 Comments

How to make great teachers

"It would be wonderful if we knew more about teachers such as these and how to multiply their number. How do they come by their craft? What qualities and capacities do they possess? Can these abilities be measured? Can they be taught? Perhaps above all: How should excellent teaching be rewarded so that the best teachers—the most competent, caring… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 28, 2008 at 2:00am — 2 Comments

National Board Certification Teacher Program

“At a time when Florida is raising standards for students and for the teachers responsible for their learning, state lawmakers are threatening to destroy one of the most important teacher quality programs in the state: National Board Certification. This action is a major policy change masquerading as a budget necessity, an action taken without any public… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 25, 2008 at 9:00am — No Comments

cocooning

... Image reference: 'http://www.ruscelli.com/images/monarch4.jpg' Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 23, 2008 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Bionic Eye

"Surgeons have fitted "bionic eyes" to two men in their 50s to partially restore their eyesight. They are the first in Britain to have the artificial retinas fitted, in three-hour operations at Moorfields Eye hospital in London, it was confirmed yesterday. Both were completely blind, but will now be able to walk around unaided and identify simple objects. If the trial is successful, the £15,000 retin… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 22, 2008 at 12:30am — No Comments

MC Escher

MC Escher Self-Portrait in Spherical Mirror circa 1935 Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 18, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Nanotech: The World's Smallest Transistor

"Researchers have built the world's smallest transistor - one atom thick and 10 atoms wide - out of a material that could one day replace silicon." Read on ... Image Reference: http://www.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/ponomarenko.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 18, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

Edward Sorel: Graduate School

... Image Reference: http://www.amptoons.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/NewYorkerAAcover.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 13, 2008 at 10:30pm — No Comments

367 Addison Avenue

"Silicon Valley is pitted with sites of pilgrimage for geeks but, for many, the lovingly restored garage at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto is a draw like no other. In some senses this unassuming suburban street in Northern California can be considered the birthplace of the world's first hi-tech region. It is where the founders of Hewlett Packard got started. The restoration effort means that t… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 13, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

HASTAC II conference, May 22-24, Irvine and Los Angeles

Registration is open for HASTAC II, the second annual conference of HASTAC. The theme of this conference is "Techno-Travels" and will take place in Irvine and Los Angeles, California on May 22-24, 2008. For more information and to register, visit the website of our conference host, the University of California Humanities Research Institute, at http://www.uchri.org/page-home.php?page_id=1289&cat_id=2 More about the conference: "This year’s theme is “techno-travels” and explores the multiple… Continue

Posted by Jonathan Tarr on April 7, 2008 at 7:06pm — 4 Comments

Grassroots Project

I thought this was really cool. A group of students at Dalhouise School of Architecture made this. Right on! ... Image Reference: http://www.nextnature.net/research/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/grass_wheel.jpg Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 6, 2008 at 12:00am — No Comments

Ella Flagg Young

"No one can work in another's harness." -Ella Flagg Young One of my hobbies is reading about the history of education. Sadly, many Colleges of Education really don't touch on educational history prior to Sputnik. However, I truly believe it is so important for K-12 teachers and future professors of future teachers to understand the historical pe… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 4, 2008 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Larry Cuban: Teachers and Machines

Professor Larry Cuban is one of my favorite educational authors today to read. He writes very practically, cares about teachers, and knows the issues. Before teaching at Stanford, he taught social studies in inner city high schools, and worked seven years as a district superintendent. He knows his stuff: "The facts are clear. Two decades after the introduction of personal computers in the na… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 3, 2008 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Pedagogy of Oppression: A Brief Look at NCLB

"The origins of the current standards-based movement in public education can be traced back to the early twentieth century when curriculum theorists like Ellwood Cubberley and others attempted to align school curricula to the needs and demands of the U.S. economy by developing a scientific approach to designing and planning them.1 From the 1950s to the 1970s, with the Cold War in full swing, the “back to basic… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 2, 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Schoolmarms and their Shoes

"Affordable housing was in our bag of tricks," said Greg White, the recruitment director for the school district of one of Orlando's bedroom communities. "But we've lost that tool. Now there's nowhere for teachers to live." After more than five years of rocketing housing prices, vanishing rentals and flat wages, professionals who make up the DNA of any community - nurses, police officers, firefighters - are getting priced out of certain Florida locales.… Continue

Posted by Mechelle De Craene on April 2, 2008 at 1:00pm — No Comments