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Sunday, January 2, 2011

Blog U.: Black Swans and Ed Tech in 2011 - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

Blog U.: Black Swans and Ed Tech in 2011 - Technology and Learning - Inside Higher Ed

BlogU

  • Black Swans and Ed Tech in 2011

    By Joshua Kim January 2, 2011 8:45 pm EST

    All of us love to think about the future. What ed tech trends will emerge in 2011? What new technologies will be introduced? What tech companies will merge? What new ed tech businesses will form?

    Some good ones:

    --Top 10 Ed Tech predictions for 2011 By Christopher Dawson
    --Ed Tech Forecasts for 2011 by Robert French
    --2011: My Predictions for Ed-Tech by Audrey Watters

    Can you add some more?

    My 2011 ed tech predictions come courtesy of Nassim Nicholas Taleb. CIO's of the world - please buy a copy of the The Black Swan for your direct reports, and schedule an hour over breakfast some time to bookclub. Ask everyone to come with the following two questions for discussion:

Recruiting by U.S. universities of Chinese undergrads is hottest new education trend - San Jose Mercury News

Recruiting by U.S. universities of Chinese undergrads is hottest new education trend - San Jose Mercury News

American universities are accelerating recruitment of undergraduate students from China, building an educational pipeline that delivered more than 40,000 undergraduates to the U.S. in the 2009-10 academic year, a 46 percent increase over the previous year. The newfound wealth of many Chinese and strong academic preparation make these students an admissions officer's dream.

Roots of British Student Unrest Unresolved - NYTimes.com

Roots of British Student Unrest Unresolved - NYTimes.com

Roots of British Student Unrest Unresolved

LONDON — Despite a growing wave of student protests in Britainover government plans to sharply raise university tuition fees that saw buildings occupied at campuses across the country, and battles in the streets between demonstrators and the police whose ferocity at one point even seemed to threaten the heir to the British throne, the year 2010 ended quietly, with students heading home for the holidays and university authorities once again in control of their premises.

Both houses of Parliament have now approved measures that allow the cap on tuition, currently set at £3,290, or $5,150, a year, to rise to £9,000 starting in 2012, at the same time as central government funding for university teaching in most subjects will be cut 80 percent. There would still be some government support for science, technology, medicine, nursing and “strategically important languages.” Government-


Briefly: Education: India Will Survey Colleges and Universities

India's government is preparing to conduct the country's first comprehensive survey on higher education.

Green Column: Bali School Makes Sustainability a Way of Life

The Green School is built with natural materials, has no air conditioning and includes vegetable gardens on site to instill the importance of sustainable living in its students.

Kan. school defends decision to kick out students - AP News Wire, Associated Press News - Salon.com

Kan. school defends decision to kick out students - AP News Wire, Associated Press News - Salon.com

Kan. school defends decision to kick out students

A junior college in suburban Kansas City is defending its decision to kick out four students who posed for photos with a human placenta.

One of the students, Doyle Byrnes, is seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to force Johnson County Community College to reinstate her before classes resume Jan. 19. She had posted one of the photos on Facebook.

The school has said the students could seek readmission in the fall and finish the program a year later in May 2012. But Byrnes is getting

School Tech Connect: Get On The Horn, Illinois Educators and ESP's

School Tech Connect: Get On The Horn, Illinois Educators and ESP's

Get On The Horn, Illinois Educators and ESP's

This is how I will react to chitchat tomorrow.
I'm seriously over chit-chat tomorrow. I will NOT allow it and neither should you.

Tomorrow, don't let your colleagues sit around talking about what they did over their winter vacations. Instead, drag themover to the phone, and ask them to make a call to Springfield and as Karen Lewis says, "speak from the heart."

Seriously, you're not doing yourself any favors by letting people off the hook. Get them on the phones. IFT is asking members and others to call Springfield on Monday and let them know you're opposed to some serious crap that might be moving quickly through the legislature.

Update: New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools


New Posts on Parents 4 democratic Schools


The Forgotten Mythos of Reason | Lefty Parent

The Forgotten Mythos of Reason | Lefty Parent

The Forgotten Mythos of Reason

In my previous piece, “Got Mythos?”, inspired by Karen Armstrong’s book, The Case for God, I concluded that…

Our country has a great principle of separation of Church and State, which acknowledges a role for both. How about agreeing as well on some sort of principle of the separation of logos and mythos, and acknowledging the value of both as well? If religion stayed in what [Karen] Armstrong describes as its original realm of a vibrant and non-discredited mythos, would people be expressing so much hate and acting with such violence in the name of religious “truth”.

Months later now and finally getting back to Armstrong’s book, I finished reading chapter 3, “Reason”, where she talks about the origins of the kind of principled thought, discourse and learning, developed in Classical Greece

Education Report: Should teacher layoff rules be rewritten? - Inside Bay Area

Education Report: Should teacher layoff rules be rewritten? - Inside Bay Area
Education Report: Should teacher layoff rules be rewritten?
A new study concludes that laying off the most junior teachers -- rather than the least effective employees -- is likely to have negative consequences for students.

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Join the Volunteer Team

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Join the Volunteer Team


del Valle Wants Parking Meter Deal Renegotiated

DECEMBER 31, 2010
Mayoral candidate Miguel del Valle thinks city leaders gave its citizens a raw deal when it agreed to privatize the city's parking meters, and he's not going to block efforts to overturn it.
"We are stuck right now with a bad deal, a bad deal for the residents of the city of Chicago, a bad deal for tourists, a bad deal for families who come and visit the city of Chicago. It's a bad deal all the way around," he said during a Friday morning press event.


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Mayoral Candidate Del Valle Pushes Voter Registration

DECEMBER 13, 2010
Sun-Times | “It’s totally inexcusable that the leaders of the Cook County Democratic Party have not talked about voter registration,” said del Valle, who is the first candidate to start said.

“We see this as a chance for a record turnout to rival the Obama election,” said campaign field director Maceo Brown. “With this drive, we want to energize the communities and the people of Chicago.”

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One on One with Miguel del Valle on WGN TV

NOVEMBER 18, 2010
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Del Valle and Bikes By Mary Wisniewski

NOVEMBER 11, 2010
Sun-Times

Earlier this month, the Ride had a story about how the Active Transportation Alliance is hoping the next mayor will further Mayor Daley's work to make Chicago welcoming to bicycles and pedestrians.

At least one mayoral candidate has come forward on this issue -- City Clerk Miguel del Valle. On his campaign-focused Facebook page, Del Valle said he wanted to make Chicago "one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the world."
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