Clipmarks | rmowery's Education collection

How the Open Source Movement Has Changed Education: 10 Success Stories

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 17:00:57 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: oedb.org

How the Open Source Movement Has Changed Education: 10 Success Stories

Published on Thursday 1st of March, 2007

How would you like to study at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for free? It has been nearly six years since MIT first announced their MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) program. More recently, MIT announced that the OCW program, a free and open educational resource (OER) for educators, students, and self-learners around the world, is online and will be completed by 2008. The OCW provides open access to course materials for up to 1,550 MIT courses, representing 34 departments and all five MIT schools. The goal is to include materials from all MIT courses by next year.

Tags: opensource, opencourseware, education, learning

MIT to put entire curriculum online by end of 2007 for free

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:12:33 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.iwr.co.uk

MIT puts entire curriculum at disposal of e-learners

By Kim Thomas 23 Feb 2007

The entire catalogue of information from 1,800 courses at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be available free online by
the end of the year. Once uploaded, it will represent one of the internet’s most important resources.

By providing free access to course material such as lecture notes, assignment details, podcasts and videocasts, MIT’s Open CourseWare programme will transform the e-learning landscape.

MIT initiated the programme in 2001 and material from 1,550 MIT courses is already available. Anne Margulies, executive director of Open CourseWare, said that in January alone, the site had had 1.5 million visits, and the figure rose to two million if visits to language translated sites were included. Overseas visitors– from China and India in particular – dominate usage traffic, with 60% of visits originating outside the US.

Tags: mit, open coursewre, elearning

Students set the rules at New York City school

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 19:32:04 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Students set the rules at New York City school

NEW YORK (AP) -- One recent day at the Brooklyn Free School, the "schedule" included the following: filming horror movies, chess, debate and making caves for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Not that the students had to go to any of these sessions. At this school, students don't get grades, don't have homework, don't take tests, and don't even have to go to class -- unless they want to.

"You can do basically anything at any time, and it's just a lot more fun because sometimes when you need a break at regular schools you can't get it," said Sophia Bennett Holmes, 12, an aspiring singer-actress-fashion designer. "But here, if you just need to sit down and read and have time to play, then you can do that."

"Free schools," which had their heyday decades ago, operate on the belief that children are naturally curious and learn best when they want to, not when forced to. Today, the approach is getting another look from some parents and students tired of standardized testing, excessive homework, and overly rigid curriculums.

Tags: school reform, free school, curious kids, natural learning, progress

John Gatto -- Shaking up the School System

Tue, 14 Nov 2006 04:58:36 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.fastcompany.com

'I'm a Saboteur.'

Brainpower is more important than ever, but education seems more backward than ever. John Taylor Gatto, an award-winning teacher, now aims to overthrow the public-school establishment for which he worked for 30 years.

John Taylor Gatto, 65
Author, The Underground History of American Education
New York, NY

The new economy is awash in contradictions, but few are more troubling than this one: At the very moment that brainpower is more important than ever, education seems more backward than ever. We have a new economy but outdated schools.

Out of this disconnect has emerged a quiet grassroots rebellion aimed at reinventing both the form and the function of American education. Charter schools -- publicly funded startup schools that operate mostly free of regulation -- have boomed. In 1992, there was one charter school in the United States. Today, there are more than 2,000. The fastest-growing education movement is homeschooling. Today, roughly 1.5 million children learn at home. Just as Internet startups and free agents rattled big business, charter schools and homeschooling are shaking up "big schoolhouse."

Tags: gatto, school, saboteur, home schooling

Success without a college degree

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 23:12:59 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: They left Bill Gates off this list.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Success without a college degree

POSTED: 9:12 a.m. EST, November 3, 2006

By Kate Lorenz
CareerBuilder.com

CNN.com has a business partnership with CareerBuilder.com, which serves as the exclusive provider of job listings and services to CNN.com.

(CareerBuilder.com) -- Many think the only way to succeed is through education. While piling on the degrees can earn you piles of dough -- and debt -- it's not the only option.

Some of today's most successful people don't have a college degree. But what they lack in academic credentials, they make up for in tenacity, brains, guts and strong business sense.

Richard Branson -- In 1970, Richard Branson founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer, and not long afterward he opened a record shop in London. Two years later, the first Virgin artist, Mike Oldfield, recorded "Tubular Bells." Since then many household names, including Ben Harper, Fatboy Slim, Perry Farrell, Gorillaz, Lenny Kravitz, Janet Jackson and The Rolling Stones have helped to make Virgin Music one of the top record companies in the world.

Branson sold the equity of Virgin Music Group -- record labels, music publishing and recording studios -- in 1992 in a $1 billion deal, but he remains chairman of Virgin Group, which today includes Virgin Atlantic, Books, Games, LifeCare, Limousines, Megastores and Hotels.

Barry Diller -- Barry Diller started his career in the mail room of the William Morris Agency after dropping out of UCLA after one semester. He was hired by ABC in 1966 where he created the ABC Movie of the Week, pioneering the concept of the made-for-television movie.

Tags: college, business, success, billionaires, no formal education

Preschoolers Grow Older as Parents Seek an Edge

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:39:17 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Preschoolers Grow Older as Parents Seek an Edge

Jack Haims, who turned 6 in late September, started kindergarten this year with an enviable skill set under his tiny belt: He could already read simple rhyming books, count to 100 and write his name.

Preschoolers at West Side Montessori School. Many parents say New York’s public school policy places children into kindergarten when they are too young.

“He has a lot more self-confidence if he tends to be the older one,” said his mother, Charlotte, 37. “I wanted him to have an easier time.”

Jack acquired his confidence and abilities thanks to an extra year of preschool, or perhaps simply an extra year of life. He is not alone: From Bronxville, where he lives, to Manhattan and beyond, parents are strategizing more than ever to keep their children out of kindergarten until they are nearly, or already, 6 years old.

Children who turn 5 even in June or earlier are sometimes considered not ready for kindergarten these days, as parents harbor an almost Darwinian desire to ensure that their own child is not the runt of the class. Although a spate of literature in the last few years about boys’ academic difficulties helped prompt some parents to hold their sons back a year, girls, too, are being held back. Yet research on whether the extra year helps is inconclusive.

Fueled by the increasingly rigorous nature of kindergarten and a generation of parents intent on giving their children every edge, the practice is flourishing in New York City private schools and suburban public schools. A crop of 5-year-olds in nursery school and kindergartners pushing 7 are among the most striking results.

Tags: education, learning, pre-school, kids, kindergarten

Not playing around: Scientists say video games can reshape education

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 22:00:36 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Not playing around: Scientists say video games can reshape education

POSTED: 10:08 p.m. EDT, October 17, 2006

The Federation of American Scientists -- which typically weighs in on matters of nuclear weaponry and government secrecy -- declared Tuesday that video games can redefine education.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Scientists call it the next great discovery, a way to captivate students so much they will spend hours learning on their own.

It's the new vision of video games.

Capping a year of study, the group called for federal research into how the addictive pizazz of video games can be converted into serious learning tools for schools.

The theory is that games teach skills that employers want: analytical thinking, team building, multitasking and problem-solving under duress.

Tags: education, training, video games, students, learning

Physics Games

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 20:43:49 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.fun-motion.com

List of Physics Games

Tags: education, physics, games, learning, science

Outsourced tutors just an ocean away

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:02:10 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: Great article. I think well written for a high school intern. This writer has a incredible future ahead of her.

Clip Source: news.com.com

Perspective: Outsourced tutors just an ocean away

Every Saturday morning of my junior and senior years in high school I awoke at 7:15 (often after my mother dragged me out of bed) so I'd be on time to my extremely expensive academic tutoring sessions, each of which cost about three times as much as a small luxury sedan.

A lot can change in two years.

Memo to parents of today's high school students: Put away that checkbook, stop shopping for that second mortgage and forget selling organs on the black market and hunting under couch cushions for spare change to pay for those tutoring services. The world of Web 2.0 and the global economy have merged once again, this time to deliver online tutoring sessions that can cost less than a tank of gas (though these days, that isn't saying much).

The catch: Your tutor will be thousands of miles away and will probably speak with an Indian accent.

TutorVista.com, one of several global tutoring programs, offers 24-hour online tutoring services for students in all grades through high school. The programs cover a wide variety of regular school subjects as well as a plethora of standardized tests.

Tags: india, tuturing, tutors, etutoring, education

Military recruiters work hard to leave no child off their lists

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 03:49:13 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

Military recruiters work hard to leave no child off their lists

By David Goodman

Special to The Times

My daughter just started high school. This milestone was marked by the arrival in our home of a ream of paperwork. Along with the usual bureaucratic permissions, I found tucked into this package a seemingly innocuous form that carries extraordinary consequences: Failing to fill it out might result in my daughter being harassed, assaulted, or being fast-tracked to fight in Iraq.

This form asks us if we want to opt out of having our daughter's contact information sent to the U.S. military. If we overlooked this form, or did not opt out for some reason, our high school is required to forward her information to military recruiters. This is thanks to a stealth provision of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002. It turns out that President Bush's supposed signature education law also happens to be the most aggressive military recruitment tool enacted since the draft ended in 1973.

The military recruiting requirement of NCLB has forced many schools to overturn longstanding policies on protecting student records from prying eyes. My local high school, like most in the country, carefully guards its student-directory information from the countless organizations, businesses and special-interest groups that are itching to tempt impressionable teens. Now, parents and schools are being shoved aside, and the military is being given carte blanche access to our kids. Not surprisingly, abuse has followed closely behind.

In August, an Associated Press investigation revealed that "more than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams ... . One out of 200 frontline recruiters — the ones who deal directly with young people — was disciplined for sexual misconduct last year."

Tags: military recruiting, military, recruiters, us military, sleezy

School gives parents detention for tardiness

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 01:20:21 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

School gives parents detention for tardiness

Public city school punishes families who drop kids off late

NEW YORK - A public school is requiring detention for parents who get their kids to school late.

Under the new rule at the Manhattan School for Children, parents who don’t drop off their children by 8:25 a.m. have to pick up late slips from the principal’s office and go to the auditorium to serve 20 minutes of detention with them.

Tags: school, education, parents, tardiness, detention

10 Things I Learned from My 4-Year-Old

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 20:48:58 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: www.steve-olson.com

10 Things I Learned from My 4-Year-Old

To use positive words
One evening at the dinner table my son said, “Dad this food is disgusting.” I thought - where did that word come from? Another time while I was explaining the rules to a game he said, “Now that’s just ridiculous.” A minute later he said, “this is stupid, I give up.” At that moment it dawned on me… He’s getting this stuff from me. From now on I better choose my words carefully.

When my son was born, I imagined how I would teach him about life. Little did I know that he would be the teacher. He taught me:

To look for opportunity everywhere
My son views the entire world and every new person, new object, or new event as an opportunity to learn something. When a new person walks in the room he wants to know who they are and if they would like to play. If I drop a new object into a cluttered room, he will spot it, touch it, pick it up, ask questions about it. Nothing new goes unnoticed.

A new synonym for persistence
Santa Claus brought my son a white board and a set of dry erase makers for Christmas (can you tell I’m in IT). My son learned to write very early. He spent months obsessed with writing letters on the white board. One day I looked at the board while he was writing and I saw this combination of capital letters - SHHANDSHOWBO. He also knows how to sound out words, so I asked him what it was. He said, “It’s a word I made up - Sha-hand-show-bo.” I asked, “What does it mean?” He said, “To keep trying even when it’s hard.” Now when I get frustrated I think - Sha-hand-show-bo.

Tags: lessons, life, learning, kids, postivie thoughts

Thinking diagonally with multiplication grids Jason 22 Sep 2006

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 21:11:05 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: 37signals.com

Thinking diagonally with multiplication grids Jason 22 Sep 2006

Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune ran an article about teaching math in school [registration required] that included something I’d never seen before: The multiplication grid.

I don’t have any idea if this is better/worse/harder/easier, but I just found it interesting. It’s refreshing to see alternate solutions (grid) to more common approaches (stacked).

Tags: math, education, mulitplication, gelosia method, learning

UC Berkeley Lecture Videos now on Web

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:18:25 GMT

clipped by: rmowery

Clip Source: video.google.com

The University of California, Berkeley is the preeminent public research and teaching institution in the nation . From classic literature to emerging technologies, the curricula of our 130 academic departments span the wide world of thought and knowledge. Supported by the people of California, the university has embraced public service as an essential part of its mission since 1868. The content on this page —drawn from campus seminars, courses and events—is just one part of UC Berkeley's commitment to the broadest possible dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of our state, the nation and the world.

University of California Berkeley Sections: Courses - Arts & Humanities - Global & Public Affairs - Science & Technology

Physics 10
Physics for Future Presidents

Integrative Biology 131
General Human Anatomy

Information Systems 141
Search Engines: Technology, Society and Business

Tags: uc berkeley, university, colleges, video, free lectures

Yale to post courses on Web for free

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 16:21:52 GMT

clipped by: rmowery
clipper's remarks: All information should be free like this. To surpress people by not affording those such knowledge is sinply repressing people so elite and wealthy can hold power over them. Granted - this knowledge won't give people the paper - but it seems there are people with the paper but without the knowledge, so which is bett?

Clip Source: news.com.com

Yale to post courses on Web for free

By Reuters

Published: September 21, 2006, 6:16 AM PDT

Yale University said on Wednesday it will offer digital videos of some courses on the Internet for free, along with transcripts in several languages, in an effort to make the elite private school more accessible.

While Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others already offer course material online without charge, Yale is the first to focus on free video lectures, the New Haven, Conn.-based school said.

The 18-month pilot project will provide videos, syllabi and transcripts for seven courses beginning in the 2007 academic year. They include "Introduction to the Old Testament," "Fundamentals of Physics" and "Introduction to Political Philosophy."

The courses cannot be counted toward a Yale degree, and educators say they are no substitute for actual teaching.

Students at Yale--one of the nation's most exclusive schools and the alma mater of President Bush--can be expected to spend nearly $46,000 for this year's tuition, room and board.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for us to share a vital and central part of the Yale experience with those who, for whatever reason, are not in a position to pursue a Yale education at first hand," Yale President Richard Levin said in a written statement.

Tags: yale, free education, education, knowledge, yale courses online