Category: Learning
Developmental Wiring
MediaWiseVideos offers the following:
From neurons to brain wiring, Dr. David Walsh gives an easy-to-understand tour of children’s and teens’ brain development and the impact of experience on the “wiring’ of their brains. Children are shaped by the stories they see and hear from parents, relatives, and teachers which pass on values, attitudes, and affect emotional and physical well-being. More than ever, media has become a powerful storyteller in children’s lives and raising healthy kids in the media age involves making wise media choices.
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Diigo – Improving how we find, share, and save information
I have been using Diigo for a while now because its social bookmarking capability is much more powerful than Delicious — and it syncs with Delicious but as the following video explains there is so much more to Diigo than just bookmarking.
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Meltdown in Higher Education
The Coming Meltdown in Higher Education – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education via kwout
Seth Godin argues that Higher Education’s run of 400 years in the US is about to end for the following reasons:
- Most undergraduate college and university programs are organized to give an average education to average students.
- College has gotten expensive far faster than wages have gone up.
- The definition of “best” is under siege.
- The correlation between a typical college degree and success is suspect.
- Accreditation isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.
While it is easy to agree with Godin and in particular the notion of accreditation promoting mediocrity for all but with universities controlling the parchment (degree granting) I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Sure, we have many wonderful examples of college dropouts doing exceptionally well (Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Marc Andreesen etc.) but these unfortunately the exception and not the norm. While I applaud the notion of DIY U and see its benefits we still live in a society that is dependent upon credentials.
Most Professors Use Social Media – Sort of
Marc Parry of the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that a Pearson national survey on social media use in Higher Ed reveals:
More than four out of every five professors use social media. And more than half of professors use tools like video, blogs, podcasts, and wikis in their classes.
Parry also reveals that only about 10 percent or 12 percent of survey responses represent “active” uses of social-media tools which means despite using these tool most faculty are only using these tools to passively convey information.
It is wonderful that faculty are at least using social media tools but very disappointing that they are only using them for passive means. Perhaps once they are comfortable with the tools the active uses may increase–time will tell.
One of the most interesting findings is that:
Professors with more than 20 years of teaching experience use social media only slightly less than do their younger peers.
This finding reconfirms additional research that shows there is very little age discrepancy in the adoption of online or technology based learning so we can’t use the “age” excuse any longer.
Read the full article…
Read the Pearson Social Media in Higher Education Survey press release…