Digital Playground Inspires Slumdog

Earlier this month, the MacArthur Foundation announced the winners of the third annual Digital Media and Learning competition.  There are some great projects, especially the Learning Lab Awardees which won up to $200,000 to further their initiatives.

A project that particularly caught our eye is Hole-in-the-Wall, the inspiration for the book “Q&A” which inspired the movie Slumdog Millionaire.  Bridging the digital divide by reaching previously underserved youth in the developing world … urban slums and remote-rural populations, ethnic minorities, juvenile home detainees, and children with special needs … Hole-in-the-Wall has installed over 700 internet-enabled public Playground Learning Stations across India, Bhutan, Cambodia and countries in the African continent.  Game-activities promote experiential learning that is mapped to prescribed primary grade curricula across various subjects, Hole-in-the-Wall’s Activity Based E-Learning Solution imparts a playful learning environment by encouraging learning through self and group exploration beyond the classroom.

Related articles:

• Teaching: Inspiring British children, Slumdog style (telegraph.co.uk)
• Slumdog reveals learning treasures (guardian.co.uk)
• Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out (debaird.net)
• Reimagining Learning: Vote in a Digital Media Competition (wired.com)
• Fiji Reef- From The West Side To West Pacific. (stuckinfijimud.blogspot.com)
• Guest Post: Four Insights for Youth Marketers from DML 2010 (ypulse.com)

Cloud-Based, Open-Source For Teachers?

A computing device for every teacher and student so they can access the Internet at school or at home? That, along with an embrace of cloud computing, Creative Commons, and open-source technologies is part of a new set of recommendations from the U.S. Department of Education.

On March 5, the department released an 80-page draft of its National Educational Technology Plan entitled Transforming Education: Learning Powered by Technology. The plan lays out an ambitious agenda for transforming teaching and learning through technology.

Much of the NETP emphasizes “21st Century learning” as the path to transforming education: “engaging and empowering learning experiences for all learners… and leveraging the power of technology to provide personalized learning instead of a one-size-fits all curriculum.” The plan seeks to challenge the traditional model of the isolated teacher in a classroom, promoting the idea of “always on” learning resources and online communities for both educators and students.

In addition to changes to the US education model, there are some bold technology recommendations in the plan.

• Adequate broadband and wireless access inside and outside of school
• At least one Internet access device for every student and educator inside and outside of school
• R&D into the use of gaming, simulations, and virtual worlds for instruction and assessment
• Encouragement of cloud computing for school districts
• Use of Creative Commons and Open Education licenses
• Changes to FERPA (Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act) to open access to student data
• Changes to CIPA (Children’s Internet Protection Act) to open access to the Internet and rethink how filtering works in schools.

Continue reading via Read Write Web

Related articles

• Cloud-Based, Open-Source Future For Teachers? (readwriteweb.com)
• Should School be Taught in the Cloud? (chris.pirillo.com)
• Free Classroom Management Software Now Supports Mixed Platform Environments (prweb.com)
• Tom Vander Ark: The 3×5 Learning Revolution (huffingtonpost.com)
• Debunking the Myth of Isolated and Inaccessible Learning: 3 Resources (conversationagent.com)

A Wireside Chat with Lawrence Lessig

Lawrence Lessig, is the foundational voice and an advocate of the free culture movement, Creative Commons and Open Source. The Open Video Allience will present a live webcast of a talk by Lawrence Lessig at the end of Feburary. For more background on his ideas view his speech: Free Culture: What We Need From You (Ogg). This was Prof. Lessig’s keynote speech at LinuxWorld in San Francisco. (via Lessig.Content: Audio/Video ) In this video he discusses the emerging remix culture as both the source and outcome of societies embrace of digital technology. Lessig feels a new literacy has emerged due to these changes which should be embraced and taught because it is the key to preparing society for further innovation into the 21st Century. Last year at Educause 2009 he stated:

The ‘ecology of education and science,’ Mr. Lessig said, is inherently collaborative, and it is being strangled by copyright-law principles based on exclusivity…”Scientists and educators are busy creating,” he continued, “so it is up to chief information officers and other information-technology specialists to devise ways to make those creations both legal and widely accessible.”

Can the iPad finally Replace Textbooks?

The iPad was unveiled this week by Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs to rave reviews from techies everywhere. It is predicted that base models will cost about $499. I was lucky enough to spot a pre-production version of one at an ad firm last summer and I have longed for one since then.  This device promises the usability of the iPhone in a package that is better for learning because it offers more real estate for the display of information.

I can’t wait to see what app developers do with the screen extra space. Here is a video of a great app that proposes ways this tool can be used on the university level to do away with textbooks and enhance education:

It is also revolutionary because it offers the wealth of info found on the web to students anywhere, anytime if you opt to spend a bit more ($130 or so) for the 3G connected version. As an instructional designer/technologist the combination of form and function that this new learning tool offers is powerful. At this point iPhone OS is accepted as being rock solid and free from the crashes (and even mobile virus issues) that hinder Windows Mobile devices. That said, it is is still hindered by its inability to display Flash-based media on websites.

Why Use e-Learning?

Collectively we’ve spent many years testing and improving e-learning ventures.  By “e-learning” we mean any training or learning that happens on desktops and mobile devices thru a variety of mediums including social networks, distance learning courses and learning games.