Links for 2012-04-28 [del.icio.us]

• Equipment to make professional videos for your school or ITT institution | Learn 4 Life
• Adobe Creative Cloud | Adobe.com
• Sell Artwork, Buy Original Paintings, Art Prints, Discover New Artists | Saatchi Online
• Home | UVU
• Google Photography Prize
  Submissions from 20,000 students across 146 countries. Our expert panel judges have been hard at work selecting the best.
• Welcome to the Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking

Links for 2012-04-26 [del.icio.us]

• Puma completes first environmental profit and loss account | Guardian Sustainable Business | guardian.co.uk
  Although the company's contribution to the environment is negative, Jochen Zeitz has faith in the ability of capitalism to help Puma understand its responsibilities and change this
• Greek Researcher Helps Design Innovative Folding Car of the Future | Social Innovation Europe

Links for 2012-04-23 [del.icio.us]

• Reality Checks - Women in Fashion - TIME
  Donna Karan says Ahrendts merges the left brain of a number cruncher with the right brain of an artist: "She knows how to balance a collection, taking into account the business needs while always protecting the integrity of the designer." Ahrendts credits Karan with helping her achieve that balance.
• Pathbrite | About Us
  Pathbrite delivers next-generation solutions that help students – and learners of all ages – collect, track and showcase a lifetime of achievement, and recommend pathways for continuous success.

Links for 2012-04-22 [del.icio.us]

• TEDx — I’ve been fascinated by TED and TEDx for years,...
  I’ve been fascinated by TED and TEDx for years, but have had one frustration: TEDxKids events often have super-clever adults telling us what eight year olds need, but rarely do we hear eight year olds - normal, unprimed, raw, and en masse - giving their take on the planet they will inherit.

Links for 2012-04-21 [del.icio.us]

• Theory of Change
  Escuela Nueva shifted the conventional teaching approach, teacher-centered, to a participatory and cooperative, child-centered approach.

Links for 2012-04-20 [del.icio.us]

• A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work.m4v - YouTube
  Technology codes our minds, changes our OS. Apple products have done this extensively. The video shows how magazines are now useless and impossible to understand, for digital natives. It shows real life clip of a 1-year old, growing among touch screens and print. And how the latter becomes irrelevant. Medium is message. Humble tribute to Steve Jobs, by the most important person : a baby.

Links for 2012-04-19 [del.icio.us]

• 2011 Manifesto | ITU Telecom World 2012
  The Manifesto document brings together these responses, recommendations and insights in the shape of speaker suggestions on the steps critical to increasing connectivity, live online participant polls, hands-on workshops, quotes from the wide-ranging and lively panel discussions at the event, and supporting facts and figures. It provides a uniquely valuable overview of the major themes and trends emerging from ITU Telecom World 2011, focusing in-depth on four major issues: Improving Accessibility, Making the Most of Innovation, Working Together and Regulatory and Policy Imperatives. It is the result of collaboration not just between ITU Telecom and Ernst & Young, but also between stakeholders the world over committed to leveraging the massive potential of next-generation networks to create real change for a better world. Click here to read the full document.

Links for 2012-04-18 [del.icio.us]

• Adobe Youth Voices Essentials - Curriculum
• Fiction et cognition : la lecture se fait avec tous les sens | La Feuille
  Keith Oatley, professeur émérite de psychologie cognitive à l'université de Toronto et romancier, a avancé que la lecture produit une simulation vivante de la réalité. "La lecture fonctionne sur les esprits des lecteurs comme des simulations informatiques qui s'exécutent sur des ordinateurs", estime le professeur Oatley. Selon lui, la fiction, avec ses détails, ses métaphores, ses descriptions, offre une réplique particulièrement riche de la réalité. Le roman, va bien au-delà de la simulation de la réalité puisqu'il apporte aux lecteurs une expérience inaccessible hors de la page : la possibilité d'entrer pleinement dans les pensées et les sentiments des autres.
• www.yorku.ca/mar/mar et al 2010_CogDev_media exposure and child ToM.pdf
  plus on leur avait lu des histoires, plus leur théorie de l'esprit était vive - l'effet a également été observé avec des enfants qui allaient au cinéma avec leurs parents, mais pas pour les enfants regardants seuls la télévision : comme quoi, la compréhension d'autrui dépend certainement plus des conversations que la culture induit que des produits culturels en tant que tels. L'effet lecture est plus prégnant parce que la réflexion est bien souvent induite dans la lecture elle-même, ce qui n'est pas forcément le cas d'autres médias.
• How Does Booktrack Work - YouTube
  Hear the future of reading with Booktrack. Booktrack is a soundtrack for books --a movie-like experience for reading. Find out how Booktrack works with this demonstration video. See www.booktrack.com for more info. Booktrack is now available to download for your iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch from the Apple App Store at goo.gl/rcD1r
• Flavorwire » The 25 Most Beautiful Public Libraries in the World
• About Half of Americans Reading a Book
  PRINCETON, NJ -- About one in every two Americans is engrossed in some type of book, according to Gallup's latest measure of the public's reading habits. About half of Americans also say they have read more than five books in the past year, not much different from the number reported a decade and a half ago. There is no widespread pattern as to how people select their books -- some choose by the author, others based on recommendations from their friends, and still others by browsing in a bookstore or library.

Links for 2012-04-17 [del.icio.us]

• TEDTalks
  The full list

Links for 2012-04-16 [del.icio.us]

• At the Blue School, Kindergarten Curriculum Includes Neurology - NYTimes.com
  Blue School falls for the test in the end...
• 10 of the best tapas bars in Barcelona | Travel | The Guardian
• Restaurant Bar Tossa Barcelona | C/Nàpols, 291 | 08025 Barcelona | 93 457 65 10
  One of the best I've had
• John Cleese - a lecture on Creativity - YouTube
  "And there, ladies and gentlemen, are the 5 factors that you can arrange to make your lives more creative. Space. Time. Time. Confidence and more Jeffrey Archer."
• eltonjohnsaida - Mr Humberstone's reflections
• Vi Hart: Blog
  Learning maths through making and play
• Seven Myths About Transmedia Storytelling Debunked | Fast Company
• The Next Time Someone Says the Internet Killed Reading Books, Show Them This Chart - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic
• What Amazon's ebook strategy means - Charlie's Diary
• Anthony Salcito - The New Classroom Experience - YouTube
  Good questions on the future of reading, automation, research, collaboration...

Links for 2012-04-14 [del.icio.us]

• Secret to Better PBL? Focus on Problem-Finding | Edutopia

Links for 2012-04-09 [del.icio.us]

• No Straight Lines | Making sense of a non-linear world
• Behavior Management Software - ClassDojo
• Scrum (development) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Agile does work in government | Government Digital Service
• siab | School In A Box - About SIAB
  IADT School in a Box (SIAB) is a new FÍS/IADT initiative that addresses the global problem of inequitable access to modern educational tools. It is an innovative first world solution to a third world problem and can transform classrooms in rural India and sub Saharan Africa into twenty first century learning spaces.
• How to record using QuickTime Player - YouTube
• Twitter / @DisneyPixar: Inspiration is everywhere: ...

Links for 2012-04-06 [del.icio.us]

• The rise of e-reading | Pew Internet Libraries
  21% of Americans have read an e-book. The increasing availability of e-content is prompting some to read more than in the past and to prefer buying books to borrowing them.

Links for 2012-04-05 [del.icio.us]

• School ICT eLearning Index
• Teaching and learning - C2C
  Education Queensland's C2C programme for helping teachers implement new curriculum

Links for 2012-04-04 [del.icio.us]

• 'Can we fix it' is the right question to ask - Telegraph
  "Setting goals and striving to achieve them assumes, by definition, that there is a discrepancy between where you are and want to be. When you doubt, you probably achieve the right mindset," researcher Albarracin explained in an email to me. "In addition, asking questions forces you to define if you really want something and probably think about what you want, even in the presence of obstacles."
• Why ICT should still be taught in schools and a way to do it properly : Just an IT Teacher
  Nice summary of progress of a teacher taking several ideas, including some of mine, and mixing a new recipe for learning in his school: "This has borrowed heavily from lots of research and reading mainly on Passion-Based Learning, the Design Thinking/Problem Finders approach, various inspirational school models and was undoubtedly influenced by Sir Ken Robinson (see end of post for many of these references)."
• Chris Brown Feat. Justin Bieber - Next To You - YouTube
  Amazing video from kids doing it for themselves, a year before his first single was released and went straight to number one.

Links for 2012-03-31 [del.icio.us]

• TurtleArt gallery
• TurtelArt programming

Links for 2012-03-28 [del.icio.us]

• Episodes | Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show!

Links for 2012-03-27 [del.icio.us]

• Paul Cadden: The hyperrealist artist recreating photographs with pencil | Mail Online

Links for 2012-03-26 [del.icio.us]

• Game-Based Learning: new practices, new classrooms | eLearning
  Why should we implement games for learning? How should we do this? What games are appropriate for my needs? This new issue of eLearning Papers should help to find answers to such questions. The potential of Game Based Learning (GBL) is still underestimated. We firmly believe that GBL can play a major role in renewing learning as it is perceived by learners in all levels of education and training systems.
• Better Thinking for a Better Tomorrow - Associations Now Magazine - Resources - ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership
  The Synthesizing Mind: The Laser and the Searchlight While the disciplined mind exhibits a particular way of thinking--a navigational system for understanding information--the synthesizing mind is able to take the onslaught of information bombarding it, prune away that which is unnecessary, and hone in on what truly matters. It takes data from disparate sources and connects the dots. It ignores the static and hears the music. And according to Gardner, it will be the mind that most matters in the future. While the disciplined mind is characterized by what Gardner calls "laser intelligence" that probes deeply into a specific area and largely ignores opportunities for cross-pollination, the synthesizing mind, though disciplined as well, exhibits a "searchlight intelligence" that covers broader ground, brings together ideas from disparate sources, integrates them into a cohesive whole, and is able to present that cohesive whole cogently to others. Note: This is a description, basically, of the T thinkers design thinking creates
• A Class of Their Own: When Children Teach Children: Amazon.co.uk: Dennie Briggs: Books
  Seven million more children will enter our classrooms in the next decade while the number of adolescents will increase by 20%. We will require three million new teachers to instruct this expanding student population. Briggs proposes a program for training children to tutor younger students, thereby freeing up teachers to devote time to students who need more individualized attention and to teach analytic and human relations skills and imaginative uses of technology. Children are capable and need opportunities to participate in teaching as well as learning. Peer teachers improve their grasp of the subject and younger children learn from those who truly speak their language. The result is a mutually beneficial system for both teachers and children.
• Visible Thinking - LAST
  Looking for thinking in student work is new to many teachers. Teachers are often more accustomed to evaluating work, assessing it against established criteria, or focusing on the instruction of the lesson than looking for evidence of thinking. As a result, some teachers may initially feel like they don’t have enough information about the goals of instruction, how instruction unfolded, or the criteria by which to evaluating the success of the work. While this information can be useful in providing context, it is important not to let it become the focus of discussion but to focus on the thinking that seems to be present in the work itself.
• Jean Lave, Etienne Wenger and communities of practice
  It not so much that learners acquire structures or models to understand the world, but they participate in frameworks that that have structure. Learning involves participation in a community of practice. And that participation 'refers not just to local events of engagement in certain activities with certain people, but to a more encompassing process of being active participants in the practices of social communities and constructing identities in relation to these communities'
• DoingCL - Thinking Aloud Pair Problem Solving (TAPPS)
  Students are paired and given a series of problems. The two students are given specific roles that switch with each problem: Problem Solver and Listener. The problem solver reads the problem aloud and talks through the solution to the problem. The listener follows all of the problem solver's steps and catches any errors that occur. For the listener to be effective, he or she must also understand the reasoning process behind the steps. This may require the listener to ask questions if the problem solver's thought process becomes unclear. The questions asked, however, should not guide the problem solver to a solution nor should they explicitly highlight a specific error except to comment that an error has been made.

Links for 2012-03-24 [del.icio.us]

• Speed and Retention — Are e-Readers Slower and More Forgetful? « The Scholarly Kitchen
  Human short-term memory is extremely volatile and weak. That’s why there’s a huge benefit from being able to glance [across a page or two] and see [everything] simultaneously. Even though the eye can only see one thing at a time, it moves so fast that for all practical purposes, it can see [the pages] and can interrelate the material and understand it more.
• swissmiss | Cable Guys
• swissmiss | Lavabo Mons
• quirky - The Space Bar Desk Organizer
• swissmiss | The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
  Small fragment of William H. Whyte’s witty and original film about the open spaces of cities and why some of them work for people while others do not.
• If the world's population lived in one city...
• Flyvberg research on the importance of context for learning, and becoming "virtuosos"
  This article examines five common misunderstandings about case-study research: (a) theoretical knowledge is more valuable than practical knowledge
• About TED « Textiles Environment Design
  Over the last ten years TED has been developing a set of practice-based sustainable design strategies that assist designers in creating textiles that have a reduced impact on the environment.
• SNOOK - Service Design for Social Change, we are based in Glasgow, inspiring social innovation in Scotland and beyond Service Design for Fashion - Snook | Snook
• oro.open.ac.uk/32823/1/
  Learning to learn is vital, especially the tricky skill of managing the link between innovation and continuity, or as Roger Martin would put it: validity vs reliability

Links for 2012-03-23 [del.icio.us]

• Enduring Ideas: The strategic control map - McKinsey Quarterly - Strategy - Strategy in Practice
  Horizon one represents those core businesses most readily identified with the company name and those that provide the greatest profits and cash flow. Here the focus is on improving performance to maximize the remaining value. Horizon two encompasses emerging opportunities, including rising entrepreneurial ventures likely to generate substantial profits in the future but that could require considerable investment. Horizon three contains ideas for profitable growth down the road—for instance, small ventures such as research projects, pilot programs, or minority stakes in new businesses.
• Three Horizons | International Futures Forum
  The model offers a simple way into a conversation about: the dominant system and the challenges to its sustainability into the future, ie the case for change (horizon 1) the desirable future state, the ideal system we desire and of which we can identify elements in the present that give us encouragement (horizon 3) the nature of the tensions and dilemmas between vision and reality, and the distinction between innovations that serve to prolong the status quo and those that serve to bring the third horizon vision closer to reality (horizon 2) a mature perspective that accepts the need both to address the challenges in the first horizon and foster the seeds of the third. This is not an either/or, good/bad discussion. We need to ‘keep the lights on’ today, and think about how to keep them on a generation from now in very different circumstances. IFF calls this the gentle art of ‘redesigning the plane whilst flying it’.
• World Game: Download | International Futures Forum
  Firstly, the game helps generate innovative ideas to contribute to sustainability and resilience. Secondly it helps a group of people develop foresight through a common understanding of global challenges.
• When the Going Gets Tough
  Van Yperen believes it is possible to influence achievement orientation. Generally, one's environment will shape these choices. For example, work settings with a compensation system that identifies and rewards individual performance will encourage a performance orientation. One that rewards groups of people equitably encourages a mastery orientation. Managers' comments drawing attention to the task encourage mastery. Comments comparing individuals encourage a performance orientation. Managers who display their own pleasure when performing the same tasks as their people, encourage mastery. Those who don't, encourage a performance orientation. Hard working, effective employees are a valuable asset we'd like to preserve. Helping them be satisfied in their work by encouraging a mastery achievement orientation is one way to do it.
• Community Playthings - Nursery school furniture
  Lovely secret and group spaces

Teaching is demanding: Fatigued and Dissatisfied or Fatigued But Satisfied?

Links for 2012-03-22 [del.icio.us]

• Parramatta Marist first Australian school to join US PBL New Tech Network
  ‘PBL creates a new type of student ready to engage with the unknown,’ said Tim. ‘Preparing the next generation of global citizens who will compete with their counterparts on real world projects. Content mastery is not enough, we need well rounded students.’ ‘In the US the data is very encouraging with twice the national average for Year 2 and 3 in university persistence,’ he said. While still early days the implementation of PBL at Parramatta Marist is already showing positive results with over 75 per cent of the schools 2011 Year 12 students being offered university places.
• Transmedia: Conspiracy For Good (Wired UK)
  CFG is a participatory drama that will play out this summer, with a cast of more than 400 spread over five countries. The plot centres around a secret society whose aim is to change the world; the society has decided to go public and CFG is the recruitment campaign. The narrative will be played out over web videos, interactive puzzles (including clues hidden inside real MP3s such as tracks on the White Album by The Beatles), mobile apps and real-life events. The project is sponsored by Nokia, and a website went live on May 17. This features a video from Tim Kring, who asks visitors to participate in a movement to drive real-world change through interactive storytelling. The creative team at The company P, Sandberg's transmedia production business, staged several tests last winter and spring. The Stockholm event ironed out kinks in the mobile technology used. More importantly, it honed the team's storytelling. "We learned how to spread people out so as to have the sense of being at the mercy of a big adventure." Not only does CFG stage live events as part of the story, it has an actual impact on the world. The project is funding Room To Read, an education charity, to build schools in Zambia. But a British oil company, Blackwell Briggs, threatens their construction. The oil firm is not obviously a fake: Karl Rove is following its Twitter account. "Everything is designed so you don't believe us when we say it's fake,"
• Q&A: Frank Rose on digital storytelling and media immersion | Econsultancy
  To take advantage of this a new grammar of storytelling has to emerge, just as a grammar of cinema had to be invented 100 years ago. That grammar has not yet been fully defined, any more than the grammar of cinema was clearly defined in 1912 - but clearly it's going to be nonlinear, it's going to be participatory, and it's going to be immersive.
• (54) Minecraft: What are the best things that have been made in Minecraft? - Quora

Links for 2012-03-21 [del.icio.us]

• instaGrok | A new way to learn
  I like this for the immersion phase of design thinking, when seeking out which areas to explore within a theme.
• An update on the use of e-readers in Africa | A World Bank Blog on ICT use in Education

Links for 2012-03-20 [del.icio.us]

• NHS trust to use iPads for real-time access to patient records
• Design's Next Frontier: Nudging Consumers Into Making Better Life Choices | Co.Design: business + innovation + design
  So as a designer in the 21st century are armed with powerful knowledge of our human bias and frailties, you have several choices: Ignore what you know--and as a result potentially shape behavior in a completely arbitrary and unplanned way.