I saw this today, and I thought it deserved its own post, instead of just a link:
“When considering innovations in e-learning for 2008, it is tempting to focus on advances in technology—such as the use of games, virtual reality, and pedagogical agents. However, the most important innovations in e-learning will involve advances in our understanding of how to design e-learning environments that help people learn—such as how to design serious games, VR environments, and online agents that promote appropriate cognitive processing during learning. Basic research on learning and instruction will provide new guidance for instructional design, including which instructional features promote which kinds of learning for which learners.”
—Richard E. Mayer, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Found here: eLearn Magazine - Predictions for 2008
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January 1st, 2008
14:59
Filed Under: Education, Lifehacks, Social Media, Technology
2007, 2008, elearning, mashable, predictions, social networking, software, techcrunch, twitter, year in review
It’s that time of year, when all the blogs do a “best of” post for the year, and set some goals or predictions for the next year. Since I’ve been reading these like crazy, I thought I’d distill down the list to a few great ones relating to Ed Tech. Enjoy!
Education
TechCrunch - “Top 2007 Education Apps: Learning 2.0”
What makes this a great list isn’t the article itself, but it’s call to readers to list their own best educational apps. A strong response in the comments provides a great list of educational resources online.
Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day - “The Best Web 2.0 Applications for Education - 2007”
The blog post that inspired the TechCruch post (above). Another wonderful list of resources for online learning.
The Rapid eLearning Blog - “Your 10 Most Popular Posts of 2007”
An excellent roundup of this blog’s best posts - if you’re wanting to jump on the rapid elearning bandwagon, here’s your reading list!
Technology
TechDigest - “20 Trends Defining Virtual Worlds in 2007”
Virtual worlds are rapidly becoming a part of online learning - here is a great analysis of how far the technology has come, and directions it could go in the future.
Ars Technica - “Looking Back, Looking Forward: Best of 2007 and Predictions for 2008”
A great overview of the top tech stories of 2007, with some well thought out predictions for the year to come.
Google Earth Blog - “Top 10 New Google Earth Features 2007”
Many educators are starting to use Google Earth in the classroom - here’s a list of new features added to the software this year.
Lifehacks
Lifehacker - “Best of 2007: Twenty Top 10’s of 2007”
Earlier this year, Lifehacker started a “Top 10″ series - here are the 20 most-viewed of the year.
Lifehacker - “Lifehacker’s 2007 Guide to Free Software and Webapps”
The list you can’t live without - software for every platform and some wonderful online apps - all free!
ReadWriteWeb - “Top Web Apps & Sites of 2007”
A roundup of the best web software this year.
Social Media
Logic+Emotion - “2007 was the Year of Social Media. 2008 is the Year of Mobile Media.”
Very good insights on how the ways people interact with technology are changing.
Mashable! - “Best of 2007: Trends That Shaped the Web”
Highlights of the year in social media, including social networking, politics online, open source software, and more.
Twitter - See what other bloggers are saying by following predictions08 on Twitter!
What did I leave out?
Did I miss any spectacular 2007/2008 lists? Did you write one of your own? Let me know in the comments!
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I came across Steve Pavlina’s blog about personal development the other day, and started reading back through previous posts.
Reading one post in particular - about “Career Apathy”, or being at a point in a career or a job where literally, all sense of feeling is gone - I had some questions. I know people stuck in this kind of apathy, but I wanted to clear a few things up about the article.
Steve’s advice to people in this situation was to just walk away from the job - “to dump a job you don’t absolutely love is to give up nothing”.
Asking a question
My question was, what if this career-apathetic person is the sole provider for the family? How does one walk away from a job with no savings, and somehow continue to support a family?
Steve (and others) replied that hiding behind the need to support a family is just an excuse that holds people back. We bantered back and forth a bit longer, until I got tired of this seemingly lofty rhetoric with no practical answers. (You can read the whole thread here.)
After turning it over and over in my head for a few days, I realized what made me so angry about the whole exchange - I felt like I was being insulted for asking a question! I came to the forum asking for some specific details about the situation outlined in the post, and I was met with criticism and hostility. (I know many people take Steve’s advice as gold, so maybe I asked the question in the wrong place. Either way…)
Inquiry and education
I realized that this experience actually had a lot to do with education. I’m a very pragmatic person, and I like knowing everything that I can about a topic. But as someone trying to learn something new, feeling like I wasn’t being taken seriously hit me hard.
What if, growing up, every time you asked a teacher a question, they told you that you were “wasting your time”?
What if when you asked for proof of what they were saying, they told you that you had the wrong attitude?
What would education be like, if you were told to take everything that someone taught you at face value? And that asking questions was wrong?
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