Rethinking Free Learning
Arora, P. (Forthcoming). Hope-in-the-Wall? A digital promise for free learning. British Journal of Educational Technology. Dr. Arora graduated from TC in 2009 and was a student of Professor Herve Varenne who gave a talk at the Edlab on everyday learning. This article comes from Arora’s six-month fieldwork in India investigating how public and informal learning … Read more
Live Data Collection/Presentation at the 2010 World Cup
I am amazed by the World Cup “data” map on NYT, which is a live map showing the passes and “heats” at the court during the 90-min play. Isn’t it an amazing mini example enlightening qualitative data collection in K-12 education ? The profit of World Cup drives the creation of this map but when … Read more
Recent Trends in the Overall Child and Youth Well-Being Index
How will the economic recession impact the well-being of children and youths in the U.S.? The 2010 annual release of the Child Well-Being Index (CWI) by the Foundation for Child Development is the first report offering comprehensive data on the impact of the Great Recession on American children’s quality-of-life. The CWI is an evidence-based measure … Read more
2010 AACE-EdMedia Presentations
Two of my papers (at workplace) recently got accepted by the 2010 AACE-EdMedia – World
Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications. This year the conference will be held in Toronto. And this summer we will try the option of virtual presentation (in Second Life?) offered by the conference!
Nature by Mathematics and The Chaos Theory
The Secret Life of Chaos is a breath-taking (!) BBC documentary issued this year. In the documentary Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to uncover one of the great mysteries of science – how does a universe that starts off as dust end up with intelligent life? How does order emerge from disorder? The documentary covers … Read more
Obama’s Blueprint for Rewriting NCLB?
Today’s eSchool News: President Barack Obama on March 13 unveiled a plan to overhaul the 2002 No Child Left Behind education law championed by President George W. Bush. “Unless we take action—unless we step up—there are countless children who will never realize their full talent and potential,” Obama said during a video address. “I don’t … Read more
Salad Bowl or Melting Pot?
When I was walking in the main campus a few days ago, I noticed a poster asking for Asian American volunteers to help doing a psychological test, with the title — “Salad Bowl or Melting Pot” — two apparently different ideologies towards Asian American — which may help to solicit more thoughts on the education … Read more
Critiquing British “Free Schools”
After looking at the websites of some selected free schools in Great Britain (e.g., http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/), I cannot help asking myself: How do we want education to contribute to children’s life? What is the true meaning of Dewey’s education is life itself? What is the definition of the happiness of life? Should the happiness of life … Read more
Wikipedia Co-founder Launches YouTube-like Website for Children
This site, which features videos from National Geographic, YouTube, and Google Videos, among other sources, is intended to complement and enhance the learning experience for students as they study concepts that are traditionally hard to learn. I had a look at several high rated videos in language arts and feel the site is still at … Read more
