Facebook doesn't have to be just a distraction from homework, as so many parents see it. I'm not going on assumption, here; I just spoke with a number of Swiss secondary school students whose parents see it as exactly that, not to mention a lot of peers in my own country. Now there's a study-session and teacher's office hours tool for Facebook called Hoot.me, KQED's Mindshift reports. "Like other … [Read more...] about Facebook as a study tool?!
education technology
School helps its students practice social networking
Because we all learn by practicing and to get its middle schoolers ready for adult life in a digitally enhanced networked world, The School at Columbia University created The Social Network. "It’s basically the pre-kindergarten version of Facebook," Forbes reports. There's also The Tube for sharing videos and The Gallery for photos. All of it is archived at the end of the year so that – with … [Read more...] about School helps its students practice social networking
Education’s job in a networked world
I can't presume to know education's main job in today's very different media environment, but I think Prof. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University is on to something. It goes beyond teaching media literacy in information-saturated lives, which itself is well past the 19th-century model of filling students' heads with information and having them "learn" it. It even goes beyond teaching the … [Read more...] about Education’s job in a networked world
Citizenship & blogging in class
"If I can share my work online, I get more out than I put in; then I can add even more and benefit from others' expertise," said 15-year-old Nicola from Edinburgh here at the Internet Governance Forum. Her comment sounded just like 17-year-old Canadian cinematographer Mark Klassen's and that of an Australian student marveling that her own class blog had gotten "533 visits worldwide. Amazing or … [Read more...] about Citizenship & blogging in class
A student’s view of informal learning’s value
"My passion lies where I can be creative and have fun and be around people that can support me," says Dallas high school student Blake Copeland in a video interview at eSchoolNews.com. And Blake has definitely found people's support – or the supporters found him. In his spare time, he learned the programming language for iPhones, Objective-C, and developed an iPhone app called DateFinder that … [Read more...] about A student’s view of informal learning’s value