Archive for the ‘Learning (general)’ Category

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox article "Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute" has many implications for e-learning.

If your idea is worth spreading, then presentation matters. There are lessons for all educators here.

An interesting study of 2,300 British students aged 11 to 16 showed that three in five 11-16 year-olds would like to use computer games to learn in school. That means 2 in 5 don't.

An interesting article from Arizona State University, Liberating American education, dismantling compulsory schooling (link no longer available), is something I have often thought about, having been involved in secondary, tertiary and adult education. There is something about those classes where students have chosen to be there. The students are alert, they are on time, they […]

A Flash-based look at how the brain functions - and the implications for learning.

An article in CNN, London cabbies: Brain cell mightier than microchip [no longer available], talks about how London cabbies are not very interested in using satellite navigation systems. The cabbies need to pass the most difficult cabbie license test in the world, called "The Knowledge", where they need to demonstrate that they know hundreds of […]

In the Shenandoah Valley in the US, a new school is being set up: Shenandoah Valley Community School. Based on the Sudbury model (which I wrote about earlier in Flower children or the real deal?), Shenandoah Valley Community School will be a "free range" school, where students decide what, when and where to learn. I […]

While King's influence on the civil rights movement was overall a Good Thing, I found the King Papers Project interesting, considering he was quite a plagiariser. Stanford's own King Encyclopedia gives some background but there is no mention of plagiarism. Wikipedia has more on King's authorship issues. Was his plagiarism sloppy academic writing or dishonesty? […]

A quote from the weekly newsletter of my daughter's school (year 7 is equivalent to grade 7 - around 13 years of age): Year 7 have spent a considerable time looking at their approach to learning and assessing their natural preferences. All are in the process of writing their learning profile and this will be […]

Most higher education institutions do not keep attendance records. A recent study on attendance by University of Western Australia [no longer available] in universities shows, not surprisingly, that those who turn up are more likely to perform better academically than those who do not. Universities, preoccupied with selecting students by cognitive ability, should attend to […]