An elegantly simple slide show by leisa reichelt which underlines the interactive, re-iterative, co-operative nature of the design process skillfully using post-it notes.

Returning to the theme of digital natives and digital immigrants, I notice that Owen writing in futurelab casts doubts in four areas – citing reputable sources as he does so:
- 20-35 year olds are more into game playing than any other group
- adults phone but teenagers use SMS’ because they are cheaper
- ICT is most [...]

I work in a Waldorf school and think that the community atmosphere there is extraordinarily good compared with many other education institutions where I have worked. I also sense and know that ex-pupils of our school have obtained through the efforts of all of the people who comprise that school community an exceptional start in [...]

Today I made several discoveries one after the other. Very good for one morning! I set out to find information about digital natives and after using my favourite Copernic metasearch engine I found Apple Learning Interchange. Within that I found Ian Juke’s podcast called Learning Environments for Digital Kids in their distinguished educators’ podcasts series. [...]

Of course a spelling test or a grammar exercise is relatively easy to correct. The problem comes when the piece of writing is longer. It could be a piece of creative writing, a summary, expressing an opinion, a script, a portfolio submission or a test for example. The problem isn’t about correcting the mistakes although [...]

This thought provoking piece which I first came across from Janice Szabos in Challenge Magazine should be in every teacher’s and parent’s consciousness in my opinion. It would be interesting to get the response of bright or gifted children (or their parents) to it:
A Bright Child:
Knows the answers
Is interested
Is attentive
Has good ideas
Works hard
Answers the questions
Top [...]

The only e-portfolios I was familiar with were those used as backup for the language passport and those I saw as a sample from Edinburgh’s MSc so I did some research today. I looked at the OSP opensource portfolio site and took the demo. I also visited the gallery of e-portfolios at Penn State which [...]

One of the most interesting parts of my MBA course all those years ago was SWOT analysis. For those who haven’t encountered it, SWOT analysis involves analyzing a business placement in the market place as a snapshot of its strengths, its weaknesses , the opportunities available and the threats facing it. Why it made such [...]

Learning theories have never really impressed me because I have always stood back, mused over them and thought that they were fine from one standpoint but they always appeared incomplete to me. They almost all seemed to be bound to one viewpoint. Like travelling on a train and seeing drab factory after factory until you [...]

I have just read the web article ‘Using the New Bloom’s Taxonomy to Design Meaningful Learning Assessments’ by Kevin Smythe & Jane Halonen and I am interested in the following diagram:

The diagram is based on: Clark, B. (2002). Growing up gifted: Developing the potential of children at home and at school. Upper Saddle River, NJ: [...]

Basically this is an excellent idea. The European Union’s aim seems to be that everyone who participates can have a language passport showing their level of proficiency in the basic skills areas. This can be backed up by a biography showing how they arrived at these skill levels and by a portfolio (possibly multimedia) to [...]

As a comprehensive beginner’s guide to e-learning Derek Stockley’s e-journey on e-learning is impressive. Good links are also provided by Learning Light e-Learning Centre in their library section entitled ‘What is e-Learning?’

It never ceases to amaze me that stakeholders in education frequently make assumptions about the basic learning skills which we are all supposed to possess without anyone really explaining where the training to cement these skills in place is coming from in the first place. Therefore I find this multi-lingual site crucial as a basis [...]

To get oriented I need to understand the environment I will be operating in.
What are the parameters?
These are useful:
Jeremy Hiebert and the PLE
Donald Darrow and the smart classroom LE
M.J. Stiles and Effective learning and the VLE

During the past couple of weeks I’ve been preparing myself to update my knowledge of the opportunities available in e-learning. In my searches I found an interesting free e-book from Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi at Athabasca which I’m working through at present: ‘Theory and Practice of Online Learning’.
There is also a useful WikiEd [...]