What an innovative approach to education in the 21st century! I think it is an excellent idea.
Using an open source approach to schooling not only prepared students for global workforce readiness, it takes a holistic view of the student. It helps students to think critically, boundary span, enhance cross-cultural collaboration, promotes creativity, and helps students increase learning agility. These skills will help students be more adept with dealing with personal, social, economic, and political issues on a global scale.
Some of the aspects the video highlighted that make this such a positive experience is the flexibility that it provides students to take part in other learning opportunities that they may not otherwise have in a traditional educatioonal enviornment. In addition, it allows educators to make changes in the curriculum on the fly. They can engage in a real time assessment and evaluation process, and improve the curriculum and learning for the class and the individual students.
The open source approach may not be for everyone. I think it is more geared for the self-directed learner. That is why there should continue to be options available in the school system to allow greater choice by the parents, students, and administrators.
Overall, I fully support this model because it helps us to look at learners in a completely different way; individuals in which we have to find ways to maintain interest and excitement, we must be flexible in how we teach, and most important, we must promote lifelong learning.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Elementary, My Dear Watson!
Did anyone watch Jeopardy this week? IBM's Watson supercomputer gave Jeopardy players a real run for their money this week, and ultimately overpowered the top human champions that had previously appeared on the show. Watson succeeded with only using 80% of the processing power of the human brain. That means Watson still had a lot more information that it could have handled and processed.
It is amazing how the incorporation of technology on the long running show, helped Jeopardy to capture the highest ratings the show has had in six years. Viewers tuned in to the end just to see the battle between "man vs. the machine".
In addition, it was also a commercial for IBM, helping the technological giant reinvent itself. This launched a partnership between IBM and several entities to explore a collaboration that will help advance capabilities in the healthcare industry. In addition, IBM is also in discussion with a major consumer electronics retailer to use this type of technology to interact with consumers to help them with buying decisions and technical support.
This just goes to show how technology plays a critical role in society with shaping the growth of businesses, new innovations, and helping with marketing. From a sheer educational perspective, informal learning is one of the the most widely used and powerful ways that individuals learn. This is day to day learning that takes place outside of the classroom, and in our homes. What a great draw to learn something new!
If you are intersted in what is behind the building of Watson, click on the below link...
It is amazing how the incorporation of technology on the long running show, helped Jeopardy to capture the highest ratings the show has had in six years. Viewers tuned in to the end just to see the battle between "man vs. the machine".
In addition, it was also a commercial for IBM, helping the technological giant reinvent itself. This launched a partnership between IBM and several entities to explore a collaboration that will help advance capabilities in the healthcare industry. In addition, IBM is also in discussion with a major consumer electronics retailer to use this type of technology to interact with consumers to help them with buying decisions and technical support.
This just goes to show how technology plays a critical role in society with shaping the growth of businesses, new innovations, and helping with marketing. From a sheer educational perspective, informal learning is one of the the most widely used and powerful ways that individuals learn. This is day to day learning that takes place outside of the classroom, and in our homes. What a great draw to learn something new!
If you are intersted in what is behind the building of Watson, click on the below link...
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
HAS EMAIL BECOME THE NEW SNAIL MAIL?
The USA Today article posted by Dr. Mosley, 'E-mail has become the new snail mail'..., was very eye-opening to me. I am a "Gen Xer", and remember using typewriters, writing interoffice memos, and relying on the postal system and fax for disseminating information. Just reading the article was culture shock to me, almost like my generation was becoming extinct right before my eyes.
As I shifted from my initial thoughts, I really started to seek a better understanding of the message being delivered in the article. Email is likely to remain a primary effective method of communication, especially for the workplace. Advancements in technology have enabled real time communication and data at our fingertips. Alternative communication methods, like texting and instand messaging, and social media, like twitter, facebook, wikis, and blogging have resulted in email being a slower form of communication. So it is not that email is going away. It is just not efficient in certain situations.
I agree with the article that it is critical to select the best form of communication based on the audience and based on the situation. I think as educators, it will be key for us to be able to identify the learning styles of our audience and customize our communication based on individual learning styles. The content being delivered may also influence the manner in which we deliver information. I think it will be critical for us to remain agile as we examine the future of communication.
As I shifted from my initial thoughts, I really started to seek a better understanding of the message being delivered in the article. Email is likely to remain a primary effective method of communication, especially for the workplace. Advancements in technology have enabled real time communication and data at our fingertips. Alternative communication methods, like texting and instand messaging, and social media, like twitter, facebook, wikis, and blogging have resulted in email being a slower form of communication. So it is not that email is going away. It is just not efficient in certain situations.
I agree with the article that it is critical to select the best form of communication based on the audience and based on the situation. I think as educators, it will be key for us to be able to identify the learning styles of our audience and customize our communication based on individual learning styles. The content being delivered may also influence the manner in which we deliver information. I think it will be critical for us to remain agile as we examine the future of communication.
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