Schools say put e-devices away when they could transform instruction

Loved this post from Sam Gliksman and his quote: “Technology is transforming every aspect of our daily lives. Even further, the ways in which children access, absorb and process information is changing as a result of their exposure to technology. When you walk into many schools however, you still find technology used sparingly. The average classroom today looks much like it may have 50 years ago. School policy usually requires that students put away any devices they own.”

I know this is true of our county schools. There are a couple computers in each classroom, used just as reinforcements of lessons/lectures. Teachers are hoping to get smartboards installed in each classroom in a couple years-but wouldn’t having a “smartboard” (ie. a tablet) in each child’s hands, manipulated by them, lead to the kind of instructional transformation we need to move into the next century of learning? Children would get the right information, at the right time, at the right pace. And with a touchable interactive interface, we’d have less fidgeting, and less boredom.

iTots-A digital learning future

As I research much needed education reform in the U.S. I’m discovering the multitude of people and organizations pushing for a new future–a digital learning future. This huffingtonpost.com article describes the need for our nation’s young people to prepare for life in a Jetson’s world, and let go of a Flintstones age. Just as we are told to limit our children’s time online, we just may find that digital learning, and a school system that supports it, could be the answer to a decades long decline in the effectiveness of our nation’s public schools.

Building low-cost eLearning–Is this Power Point?

Tight budgets describe many international non-profits and NGOs. Still they have to educate employees around the world on, say, organization policy, and project management. The eLearning Guild and LINGOS sponsor an annual competition—the eLearning Global Giveback– to develop and share courses. One finalist for this year is Population Services International’s course on “Pretesting Social Marketing Messages”.

Until we find out the winner, last year’s winning entry is worth a look. Articulate’s David Anderson and his  Tom Kuhlmann, of the super-popular award-winning blog Rapid E-Learning created a low budget interactive course (in Power Point) on “Using Communications Tools at Christian Aid”. It helps employees choose the right communications tool, like email, Skype, video conferencing, or Web Ex–to make best use of organizational resources. Tom tells us all about its development in this blog post.

The 2011 winners will be announced Thursday March 24 at the eLearning Guild’s Learning Solutions Conference and Expo in Orlando, Florida.