May 2010 Blog Posts (8)

"Emergence" - a quality of Learning Organizations

I'm interested in the way online collaboration tools can support the

transition public school districts need to make away from the "iron

cage" of the bureaucratic model (as Max Weber saw it) into Peter

Senge's idea of Learning Organizations (always growing and changing in

form as its member roles change) ....but has been difficult to imagine

what Learning Organizations look like or have in common concretely.…

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Added by Martin Bram Moreinis on May 24, 2010 at 11:06am — No Comments

Top 10 Traits of Effective Teachers

This list is from an article in The Atlantic

1. Great teachers tend to set big goals for their students.

2. Great teachers constantly reevaluate what they are doing.

3. Great teachers avidly recruit students and their families into the educational process.

4. Great teachers maintain classroom focus, ensuring that everything they do…

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Added by Demetri Orlando on May 20, 2010 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Reflections on a blended classroom...

Anyone using class blogs (versus individual ones)? My thoughts after a year of experimenting:

http://pdsblogs.org/derrickwillardblog/2010/05/19/class-blogs-looking-back-at-my-blended-classroom/

Would love yours!

Added by Derrick Willard on May 20, 2010 at 1:44pm — No Comments

Epson Brightlink 450wi

We had a two hour demo of the Epson Brightlink 450Wi yesterday:

http://www.epsonbrightlink.webengager.com/Education/

Relatively impressive. Ultra-short throw. WXGA (Macbook native resolution. 2500 Lumens. Interactive pen that can make a variety of surfaces work like an interactive white board.

We've had tech issues with Smartboards for some time… Continue

Added by Jim Heynderickx on May 20, 2010 at 2:00am — 24 Comments

Qualities of a Graduate

À propos of Lou Salza's statement on the need for reframing our rationale for independent school education, Pat Basssett's committee's proposal for portfolio-based demonstrations of learning, and the May commencement season, I've been thinking about our goals and desired learning outcomes for our… Continue

Added by Demetri Orlando on May 17, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

Microsoft Office in the Cloud, But Served Locally?

At a previous school, we used Microsoft Sharepoint for class pages for several years, but we could never get past the cross-platform loss of functionality. If you were in IE, it was full featured. If you were in Firefox or on a Mac, it was part featured. Same with Office access to the online file repositories in Office vs. Mac Office. And don't get me started on Outlook vs. Entourage.

Anyway, time passes, and maybe Google Docs is putting pressure on MS. The new Sharepoint 2010 that… Continue

Added by Jim Heynderickx on May 15, 2010 at 3:30am — No Comments

Day of the Teacher

It's not particularly hard to identify the most influential teachers in my life as I think about them time and time again, year after year. Miss Dmytryk (5th grade), with her inexplicably frequent reminders that "Patience is a virtue we must all strive to possess," and who once commented, "I think you're going to be a writer some day - or a comedian!" Mr. Byron (also 5th grade), who called me "Wild Bill Cody,' made up long streams of mental math problems, and gave me the single most enjoyable… Continue

Added by Bill Ivey on May 10, 2010 at 11:11pm — 2 Comments

iWorks vs. Microsoft Office

Hi, All

Here's a dilemma. In a 70 percent Mac / 30 percent Windows school that has standardized on Microsoft Office, does it make sense to introduce iWorks to a fair percentatge of users.

Let's assume there are real benefits to using Keynote, for example. However, do those benefits outweight the possible sharing problems with non-Keynote users. Is it possible that having two options for presenations (and word processing, spreadsheets) could have a negative effect on… Continue

Added by Jim Heynderickx on May 7, 2010 at 8:05am — 4 Comments