In the early days of educational technology reform, programming was en vogue and Logo was taught in many classrooms. Over time we have found that fluency in a programming language was not neccessary for students to survive in the 21st century. Programming in schools has fallen out of favor and multi-media skills have become more [...]
Archive for October, 2008
A Place for Programming in non-tech based ed reform
Posted in general on October 22, 2008 | 1 Comment »
New National Center on Technology and Learning
Posted in general on October 20, 2008 | 1 Comment »
In case you missed this, US Congress has approved a National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. Initial funding is only $50 million, but this could potentially be a very important initiative in the long run. The goal is to bring the same focused, sustained research funding to technology and learning that [...]
Technologic
Posted in general on October 19, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Ever considered how much of our vocabulary is here as a result of technology? “Rewrite,” “unzip,” and “surf” have all been assimilated into our everyday lexicon. French electronica group Daft Punk often experiment with the idea of humanity and technology (they perform concerts while dressed in robot helmets) and released the single “Technologic” in 2005. [...]
The playful side of scientific genius
Posted in general on October 19, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Is the notion of the scientific method taught in schools and colleges wrong? Does scientific genius stem more from the ability to creatively detect patterns from a few observations rather than from classic experimentation? Robert Root-Bernstein thinks so. And, if he’s right, what does that say about approaches to research currently supported by the U.S. [...]
More on Hypertext Reading
Posted in general, tagged internet, linked, reading on October 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Recently we have been discussing the qualitative differences between reading a book and reading using hypertext. I found this article from Freakonomics very relevant.
Automation vs. Innovation
Posted in general on October 18, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
So I was thinking about this distinction we made in class between “automation” and “innovation,” and I was wondering if, perhaps, it was not so much a “distinction” as two markers on a developmental continuum that has as its origin “need.” The way I see it automation is innovation—a “new way” of doing something—although innovation, [...]
Future of Writing conference
Posted in general on October 15, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A two-day conference on the Future of Writing will be held at UC Irvine, Nov. 6-7.
The Loss of Discovering & Exploring
Posted in general on October 6, 2008 | 3 Comments »
In a recent Education Week commentary, David Polochanin commented on how in preschool, discovering and exploring are the two strongest tenets of curriculum design. When does schooling become less about discovering and exploring, and why does this happen? In Kindergarten, children are still given time to move about freely, playing house or freely reading and [...]
Welcome back to Papyrus News!
Posted in general on October 6, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I first launched Papyrus News on September 5, 1999 as an email list focusing on the intersection of new technologies with language and literacy development, educational and social reform, and cultural diversity. The list reached a large number of people in countries around the world. After a hiatus, I re-launched Papyrus News as a blog [...]
