As the delegation returned to our hotel in smoggy dusk a lime green rickshaw was playing chicken with a big tan BMW 7 sedan. Some unseen signal passed between the cyclist and driver and the tangle resolved itself smoothly; the perfect metaphor for my adventures in China last week. The…
There are bad ideas that become iconic for every era because they were popular fads. Pet Rocks, the Pacer, Supply Side Economics, and .com groceries all come to mind. Looking back we all scratch our heads and wonder – why? Gamification, ripping the reward and recognition systems out of video…
Is the Internet making us dumber or are we just using our brains in new ways? The BBC posted a great overview of a new study which makes the case for a neat trick the brain is pulling now that we have 24/7 access to the web. The article notes:…
My 17 year old son is in the other room using a kayak paddle with chain saws attached at either end to slice zombies in half. I’m sitting here minding my own business when out of the blue he says “Dad, this game is great for teaching time management skills.”…
Ed Note: One of my favorite thinkers and practitioners on engaging kids deeply with Math and Science is Jim Bower. Jim is that rare combination of theorist and practitioner who is successful in both realms. He is both a Professor of Neuroscience at UTSA and the Founder/CEO of Whyville.net, arguably…
When textbooks go fully digital what will schools buy? Will they buy individual lessons, units of 2-3 weeks length, or full curriculum that span a year the way they do today? This is the $5 billion question facing our industry. Mike Shatzkin has an excellent post on this topic over…
Richard Carey points to an outstanding article by Shane Snow on using game mechanics to power your business over at Mashable. This rings true in my personal use of social media (see here re Foursquare) as well as in a lot of the thinking that has gone into what will…
School is out in Texas – what will the kids be working on this summer? We can all hope Something like this… It never ceases to amaze me what the human mind and body can accomplish. Enjoy ht Ezra Klein
It’s been four weeks and my iPad still has that new computer smell. Now that I’ve been using it in my workflow I wanted to post some additional comments on it’s utility in an educational setting. In general I think my original take holds up well – this is fantastic…
Today’s hotlinks include Pearson’s take on publishing for the iPad, designing playful experiences, the coolest marketing program I’ve seen in a while, a new augmented reality game to promote social change in Africa, and Photoshop disasters. John Makinson of Pearson Penguin gave an interesting talk on the future of publishing…