I've been interested in mobile learning solutions since 2004, when our VP of Macromedia Solutions Marketing wanted to see if there was market for mobile Flash in education. The short answer to that question was a big N-O. Lots of...

Apple Releases Video Highlighting the Benefits of iPads in the Classroom #ipaded @jgates513 http://t.co/t1jW1TZs1o Tags: ipaded

Created these prototypes at freelogoservices.com. Final versions coming … soon. Main: Science: Technology: Engineering: Math:

Openness in education - including content, teaching, pedagogy, analytics, or any other flavours - is a 15+ year trend that is starting to cross over into the main stream. I’ve been involved in numerous faculty/leadership meetings with different universities and colleges over the past year and openness has become one of those concepts that everyone agrees with, supports, and promotes. In a way, it’s like "diversity", given lip service, recognition in planning documents and policy statements, but often not reflected adequately in practice. A few weeks ago, David Wiley posted a statement on his site about a recent OER report: The Babson OER Survey is incredible. If you care at all about OER, you absolutely need to read it…Many people think my prediction that "80% of all US general education courses will be using OER instead of publisher materials by 2018″ is crazy talk. But it isn’t. It’s not crazy at all. OER align better with faculty’s top adoption priorities than traditional materials do, and the majority of current non-users will try OER between now and 2017. I’ve been thinking about this report and, if David is right about the scope of adoption, we have a serious issue. Openness in education is more advocacy than research. Sure, we’ve had the odd Yochai Benkler paper and a few publications from advocates of openness and a few researcher/philosopher/advocates (like Peter Suber and John Willinksky). But, overall, advocacy has driven adoption of openness (OER, MOOCs, open pedagogy, etc). This is rather odd. I can’t think of a trend in education that is as substantive as openness that has less of a peer reviewed research base. Top conferences are practitioner and policy/advocacy based. Where are the research conferences? Where are the proceedings? When they exist, they are often small clusters embedded in other conferences and publications. IF, as David argues, adoption rates of OERs in courses will approach 80%, the lack of a research community in this space seems like a significant limitation.

We’re going to the zoo in a week or so. The reading teacher and I decided we’d integrate a lesson for the kids to do while there.  I’m starting to think I can get the social studies teacher in on this act too.  I’m a big fan of integrated lessons; the kids are better able […]

Dr. Spike Cook is the principal of R.M. Bacon Elementary School (Millville, NJ) and co-host of the PrincipalPLN Podcast. Dr. Cook shares insight on his career and how the Summer presents opportunities to learn and grow.   Follow Spike http://twitter.com/drspikecook   House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2014/08/houseofedtech16.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com  

Saw this recently on Twitter, filed it for later reference, wanted to get a blog posting about it up here. http://www.sciencebob.com/ is a terrific resource for elementary science project information, ideas and videos. My favorite sections? Experiments: …the Videos (which are especially great because they play via Quicktime; since YouTube is blocked in many schools, his channel will be, too): … and finally, his Experiment Blog, which has lots of great project ideas and things to think about: Our own 4th grade teachers Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Shenkus found the Oreo Cookie Moon Phase post and will be trying that soon! This is just one of many science resources I plan to be showcasing here. Hope this helps! Mr. Jarrett

IF you care about accelerating the adoption of learning technology innovation, and IF you have a solution you would like to share with a community of post-secondary education practitioners that cares about solutions as much as you do, THEN I...

SUCCESS!!!  Several students and I downloaded the Yapp app I created for our field trip to the zoo this week.  In addition, a couple of our parent chaperones did too!  We took pictures and videos which are being uploaded, sent tweets to each other and interacted with each other as we wandered around the 35 […]

Try Something New! Do not be afraid of technology as a new school year approaches. Check out an awesome content curating tool called Pocket!   Follow Pocket http://twitter.com/pocket   House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2014/08/houseofedtech17.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com  

Have to admit I’m normally not a big fan of resource lists, which this very nearly could be considered to be, but the visual organizational element of this Livebinder makes it different.  It’s a fine effort by Instructional Technology Specialist Tia Cooper! Click here to check out her resources!

Folks like Mike Caulfield, Bonnie Stewart, and Kate Bowles, deserve far more attention for their thinking and writing than what they are currently getting. It’s really not fair to lump them together, but they represent for me an intersection of humanity, tangible change, and deep thinking in education. Build your next conference around these three and I’m there. Just send me the registration link. A recent sampling of their thinking: From Kate: I really think the measure of our capacity to call ourselves a community relates to our responses in a whole range of situations for which there can’t be laws or even social demands, but only instinct….and that’s where I think we are with our transactions, our struggling social communities, our networks, the places and persons that we care for. At some level we have to accept that every side is circumscribed, every speaking position is taken, and every single thing that now can be said will trigger someone else’s despairing fury that this is the same old, same old, mounting up to what’s most wrong in the world. From Bonnie: Participation makes us visible to others who may not know us, and makes our opinions and perspectives visible to those who may know *us,* but have never had to grapple with taking our opinions or positions seriously…Participation enrols us in a media machine that is always and already out of our control; an attention economy that increasingly takes complex identities and reduces them to sound bites and black & white alignments. From Mike: But what I *know* I’m right about is that these problems exist, and they are serious. Minority voices are squelched, flame wars abound. We spend hours at a time as rats hitting the Skinner-esque levers of Twitter and Tumblr, hoping for new treats — and this might be OK if we actually then built off these things, but we don’t. We’re stuck in an attention economy feedback loop that doesn’t allow us silent spaces to reflect on issues without news pegs, and in which many of our areas of collaboration have become toxic, or worse, a toxic bureaucracy. We’re stuck in an attention economy feedback loop where we react to the reactions of reactions (while fearing further reactions), and then we wonder why we’re stuck with groupthink and ideological gridlock.

I have a special fondness for Flash. Having worked at Macromedia in the years before it was purchased by Adobe, and then staying with Adobe for a few years after the acquisition was completed, I came to know a fair...

I’m not gonna say a word.. just absorb what they’re saying.. . and then, if so moved.. comment.

Jeff Bradbury is a high school music teacher and the orchestra conductor from North Brunsiwck Twp. High School (NJ). Jeff is also the founder of TeacherCast.net and the TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network. Mr. Bradbury shares his insight on technology in the music classroom and his thoughts on education technology and technology integration.   Follow Jeff http://twitter.com/teachercast   House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2014/08/houseofedtech18.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Summer is fast approaching. Looking for fun learning activities for the whole family? Science Near You is a terrific, free service that helps you find science-based activities in your local area. Just enter your address or ZIP code and start searching. Each record found has clickable details like this: What could be easier? Hope this helps! Mr. Jarrett

I spent last week (March 22-26) at the Hilton Hotel at Walt Disney World for the eLearning Guild's Learning Solutions 2010 conference in the company of many of my fellow elearning professionals. Cammy Bean described the scene as "spring break...

When I was in the 5th grade, I had a teacher who thought it would be cool if the girls in his class got excited about science.  I remember vividly the discussion we had one day about sugar in water.  "Will the sugar dissolve faster in the hot water or the cold water?"  My hand […]

Higher education is digitizing. All aspects of it, including administration, teaching/learning, and research. The process of becoming digital has important implications for how learning occurs and how research happens and how it is shared. I’m happy to announce the formation of the digital Learning Research Network (dLRN), funded by a $1.6m grant from the Gates Foundation - more info here. From a broad overview, the goal of the grant is to improve the depth and quality of research in digital learning. I’m defining digital learning as anything that has a technology component: online, blended, and in classroom with use of technology. Additionally, this learning may be formal, self-regulated, structured/unstructured, and "lifelong". Much of this research is already ongoing - a quick skim of conferences such as LAK, ICLS, IEDMS and others confirms this. An important challenge exists, however, in that existing research stays in journals and conference proceedings and often doesn’t make it into practice as quickly or with as much impact as is needed. With dLRN, our goals are to: Increase the impact of existing research in solving complex organizational and systems-level learning challenges Work in cross-disciplinary and multi-lens research teams to ensure nuanced solutions are generated for real, intractable problems Connect and amplify existing research Promote research as practice and practice as research mindsets in college and university systems engaged in researching digital learning and teaching Model openness in research activity and data Increase the speed of the research cycle and adoption of effective practices with a particular emphasis on under-represented students Build on existing research in learning sciences, online, blended, and distance learning, as well as data mining and learning analytics Evaluate the broader organizational influences of digital learning, teaching, and research More specifically, dLRN will do the following: Foster Innovation, specifically in increasing the capacity of member universities to transition to the digital environment. The past several years of activity in MOOCs and online learning have pushed thinking about teaching and learning (and also hype and nonsense!). An important opportunity now exists to evaluate how existing universities are rethinking on-campus and in classroom learning based on MOOCs. Specifically, what are the lessons that campuses are learning based on MOOC experimentation? Additionally, how are universities position online and blended learning in relation to on-campus learning? A second aspect of innovation for this grant will result in the development of a network of partner universities who are focused on increasing participation from sectors of society that currently are not entering higher education. These sectors include first-in-family degree completers, learners who have some university experience but discontinued, and individuals who are returning to education to re-skill to prepare for a new job market. Internationalize the research network to include global partners to advance exploration of research topics and pursue research funding internationally. This work will not be funded by this grant as international universities will be responsible for developing resources required for their participation. However, the inclusion of international research systems will ensure that the work being conducted as part of this proposal reflects the diversity of international audiences. We expect these partners will amplify the value of this research and increase application and impact both nationally and internationally. Develop Personal Knowledge Graphs. I’ve been whining about this for a while. The focus on higher education has to date been centered on course content and curriculum. Moving forward, in order to develop personalized and adaptive learning, universities will need to develop personal knowledge graphs (PKG) and profiles. PKG would involve collecting and mapping what an individual knows - based on formal learning, workplace learning, and informal learning - and using that graph as a base for providing focused learning materials to address knowledge gaps in order to achieve a qualification or degree. In a workforce defined by rapid changes, PKG will enable learners to more rapidly reskill and upgrade in order to participate in the knowledge economy. Universities/organizations and people involved: Carnegie Mellon University (Carolyn Rose) University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Stephanie Teasley) Stanford University (Candace Thille) SRI (Barbara Means) Teachers College, Columbia University (Ryan Baker) University of Arkansas System (Michael Moore) California Community Colleges (Pat James) University System of Georgia (Myk Garn) Smithsonian Institution (Chris Liedel/Jacquie Moen) Getting involved: An important aspect of this is involving international universities. I’ve had several conversations with universities in UK, Australia, and Canada. While we don’t have funds to support these systems, if your institution is interested and able to self-fund involvement, please let me know: gsiemens at gmail. At minimum, I expect that international partners will be able to translate their work into regional and national grants in their own jurisdiction. We will also be looking to work with doctoral students who are interested in digital learning. For this, I’m looking more at students that are interested in this research area and are willing to devote time to participating in research and connecting with other researchers. (We will be announcing three post-doc positions at LINK Lab soon for those that want to get more deeply involved in research). Finally, we expect to have a full slate of open online events including research discussions and case studies starting early 2015. As much as possible, we will be sharing research openly.

Since things have finally quieted down in my academic universe, I’m starting to play around with some tech tools.  I have always wanted to flip my classroom, so the month of November is dedicated to finding tools I can use to create flipped lessons. This week I’m looking at Educreations. There are several Ipad apps […]

Coming soon!

Patricia J. Brown is a technology integration coach at Ladue (MO) School District, an adjunct professor at Lindenwood University, and an edtech consultant. She shares insight about integrating technology in elementary education.   Follow Patricia http://twitter.com/msEdtechie   House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2014/09/19-elementary-edtech-with-msedtechie.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com  

CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, dedicated to expanding the wireless frontier. Its most recent annual conference was held in Las Vegas March 23-25. It is considered a leading industry trade show and premiere marketplace for...

Thanks to a generous scholarship from Raytheon Corporation, I will be travelling to Boston in August for a two-day workshop entitled "Everyone Engineers," an intensive, hands-on exploration of the Engineering is Elementary (EiE) program. NCS received $3,000 for workshop expenses and to purchase instructional materials for our K4 STEMLAB. We’re very excited about the EiE program, which is currently in use in Margate. The video below provides an overview. A longer version is available here. Special thanks to Mrs. Amy Hughes, K-4 Technology Teacher and Northfield mom, for telling us about the program!