Category: Blogs

Blogs, educational gaming1 Comment

Thinking more about game-based learning

wenmothd

I've just been looking thrugh the list of links that came to me via: Online Colleges titled The 20 Best Blogs About Game-Based Learning collated by Jasmine Hall, staff writer for the Online Colleges website. Her introduction reads; Adults these days… seem really into chastising video games those crazy kids are into as symptomatic of the human race's inevitable, steady decline. Like every hobby and medium, legitimate concerns regarding these technologies certainly exist, but their complete lack of validity is decidedly not amongst them. Intrepid educators, developers, administrators, and parents alike know that new and digital media can be harnessed for more productive ends, … Continue reading Thinking more about game-based learning

Blogs, research and papers, social software3 Comments

How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education

wenmothd

I've just been reading this interesting publication from the Brookings institution titled How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education. At the beginning of the report there is a quote from Alan Daly, at the University of California at San Diego, who predicts that "Education innovation will shift away from experts and capacity building to focus on networks… We have to start thinking about the expertise that resides in the system, and we have to be connected in order to make use of it. [Education] is moving away from large-scale prescriptive approaches to more individualized, tailored, differentiated approaches.” This is … Continue reading How Blogs, Social Media, and Video Games Improve Education

Blogs, Diary entry, educational gaming, professional developmentLeave a comment

What I’ve been reading

wenmothd

A colleague recently said to me, “I aim to learn at least one new thing each day from my Twitter connections”. That pretty much sums up why I became hooked on Twitter – the network of people I’ve connected with provide me each day with thoughtful comments and links to sites that are a continual source of new ideas and stimulation. Here are just a few that I’ve been looking at over the Easter weekend (apologies for not referencing the people from whose ‘tweets’ I linked to these – it only occurred to me afterwards to blog this, and I … Continue reading What I’ve been reading

Blogs, conference entry, emerging technologies, research and papers8 Comments

Teachers’ use of educational technology

wenmothd

I’m currently working to two deadlines – the first is as response to the Ministry of Education’s current RFP for professional learning and development services, in particular the section on developing e-Learning capability. The second is my preparation for ULearn – the annual event where teachers share the exciting things they are doing in classrooms to improve learning for students using ICTs. As I do so, my mind is pondering the tension that exists between, on the one hand, an RFP that focuses on the deficit thinking in our system – of how to address the needs of who aren’t … Continue reading Teachers’ use of educational technology

Blogs, research and papersLeave a comment

What do we blog about

wenmothd

I always enjoy reading the Technorati State of the Blogosphere reports each year as they provide some useful insights into what is happening in the online world with regards to the use of blogs. This year the report is broken down into five sections: Who Are the Bloggers? The What and Why of Blogging The How of Blogging Monetization And Revenue Generation, Brands in the Blogosphere 2009 Trends: Political Impact of Blogging, Twitter Usage The report is well worth a read – and I won’t try to summarise here as the information is provided in a very accessible and easy … Continue reading What do we blog about

Blogs, e-democracy, knowledge management, Multi literacies, News & current events, Open Source - Open ContentLeave a comment

What’s next for newspapers?

wenmothd

I’m now back in NZ, getting used to the time zone differences 🙂 Over recent months I’ve read an increasing number of stories, articles and comments on the future of newspapers that I’ve been storing away to make comment on, as I see the whole debate as being indicative of the paradigm shift in the “knowledge economy” we’re all a part of. As a blogger this thinking has been percolating in my mind for some years now as i think about how I access the news, how I filter it, engage with it and report it. The interactive map above … Continue reading What’s next for newspapers?

Blogs1 Comment

State of the blogosphere 2008

wenmothd

When I started blogging back in 2004 I was by no means the first, although blogging was still more of a novelty here in New Zealand, and seen as something that only “geeky” people did. But 2004 was also the year that Merriam-Webster.com’s most searched-for definition was blog, and in noting this, Time Magazine commented on the phenomenon of blogging by saying “Radio had its golden age in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it was television’s turn. Historians may well date the golden age of the blog from 2004” then asking, “How long can it last? Who knows?” Two years … Continue reading State of the blogosphere 2008

Blogs, eLearning, emerging technologies, Open Source - Open Content2 Comments

100 top sites for the year ahead

wenmothd

It’s that time of year again when people come out with their various lists and predictions… My good friend Douglas up at the MoE alerted me to this post on the Guardian website, titled 100 top sites for the year ahead. The list is nicely categorised so you can find sites that meet your needs easily. The last list the Guardian published was in 2006, and the authors note that the biggest changes since then have been in the fields of collaborative online services that let people in different locations work simultaneously on projects. Another point of note is the … Continue reading 100 top sites for the year ahead

Blogs, research and papers1 Comment

State of the Blogosphere 2008

wenmothd

Technorati have recently released their annual State of the Blogosphere report. Since 2004, thier annual study has unearthed and analyzed the trends and themes of blogging, but for the 2008 study, they resolved to go beyond the numbers of the Technorati Index to deliver even deeper insights into the blogging mind. The 2008 report has some interesting depth presented in five special sub-reports: Who Are the Bloggers? The What And Why of Blogging The How of Blogging Blogging For Profit Brands Enter The Blogosphere The 2008 report reveals just how pervasive blogs have become , and the extent to which … Continue reading State of the Blogosphere 2008

Blogs, cybersafety, News & current events1 Comment

Nothing to fear from Australians

wenmothd

Brilliant comment from Miguel Guhlin on Al Upton’s blog which I just have to refer to here. Writing with just a modicum of hyperbole, Miguel illustrates the tensions that I referred to in my previous blog entry, of a system that is resistant to the very essence of change that is impacting on it from every quarter, and where the pedagogy of assessment continues to drive the pedagogy of instruction! Al, as a school district administrator myself, but also, as a citizen of the United States, I have to confess that I’m a bit grateful your blog has been shut … Continue reading Nothing to fear from Australians