What makes learning meaningful? And how could we increase the meaningfulness perceived by students?

We already know from research how much easier is to deep learn anything that makes sense and piques interest, so just utilizing that basic understanding about learning fundamentals would help schools achieve better results. Of course it is ridiculous to assume the same things interest all students, so introducing choice would be a good place to start.

Meaningful learning[1]…

Deficit (noun):  Inadequacy or insufficiency, an unfavourable condition or position, to be lacking or a shortage. From the Latin – it lacks

Developmental (noun):  The act of developing from a simpler or lower to a more advanced, mature or complex form or stage

I received a call this morning from a teacher friend of mine. Claire[1] is a second year out teacher who began her teaching career after a varied and wondrous life…

Today, the higher education marketplace is thick with companies and organizations claiming to have “personalized learning” or “adaptive learning” capabilities.  Companies are using this language in their sales and marketing efforts, creating confusion for institutions as they grapple with determining an approach to personalized learning that matches their students’ and instructors’ needs.  But if one cuts through the clutter, adaptive learning may be one key capable of actually unshackling…

Kickboard, a web-based school analytics platform that allows educators and school leaders to capture, analyze and securely share critical student performance data, announced today that it has received $2 million in Series A funding led by New Markets Venture Partners and Two Sigma Ventures, with participation from several angel investors. The new round adds to $800,000 from previous seed and angel rounds, bringing the total amount…

  Human beings, like all species, are very physically oriented. Up to 70% of the brain is devoted to movement and operating in a complex environment. So it comes as no surprise that research in the latest Behaviour and Brain Functions journal that adding movement to rehearsal can improve…

High school students have a new choice when it comes to mastering SAT vocabulary. Veritas Prep today announced the availability of a new free app, called SAT Vocabulary by Veritas Prep to make learning common SAT level words easier. The app allows students to play games, take quizzes and master important vocabulary…

Dear colleagues, this post is about SMART 2013 international conference (Social Media in Academia: Research and Teaching), to be held in Bacau (Romania), between 7 and 9 of June, 2013.

The aim of this conference is to create links between researchers from apparently different scientific fields, such as Computer Science, Educational Sciences and Sociology. In fact, there are a…

Quite often, developing powerful and meaningful key understandings is an area that teachers struggle with as they create and plan authentic rich task units. This is a critical step that many teachers can gloss over in planning but can make a profound difference to having clear, powerful units that provide great learning opportunities.

What we have experienced…

As high school juniors begin the college search and application process, one of the first steps for many is taking the SAT this spring. To assist these students, Veritas Prep today announced new dates and times for its free online SAT prep seminars. The seminars cover proven strategies and common misconceptions about the test. The seminars are complemented by additional free resources on Veritas Prep’s website that provide…

Introduction:

Kevin Oliver is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator for the new online Instructional Technology program at North Carolina State University. His research interests focus on the application of Web-based tools, particularly those used in distance education, in support of student-centered teaching and learning.

In this paper I share my view to one of his articles that written on TechTrends Journal on March/April 2010.  This specific article was very…

fur.ly is a great place/idea for educators who are struggling with students finding the right websites or who are having their students copy long URLs off of the board.  This tool will let you have one URL that will open multiple websites at one time.

Comment est ta classe?

Combien d´objets il y a sur le bureau du professeur?

Et sur le premier pupitre d´à gauche?

De quelle couleur est le porte-parapluie?

Et la corbeille à papiers?…

A conversation I have been having with teachers I have been working with for the past 6 months revolves around creating structures of accountability for students. This stems from the analogy I use to contextualise the importance of scaffolding student centred learning.

The essence of the argument is that you…

La centrale nucléaire de Flamanville (Manche) a fait face pendant près de six heures à une fuite radioactive à l’intérieur du bâtiment d’un réacteur en maintenance.

Politics is a science which is concerned with proper administation of government. It is rooted from the word "polis" or city but it has some relationship with the word "polite" in my own interpretation. Therefore, politics could only be good if applied politely. Plato wrote a book entitled "The Republic" which is his ideal outlook of a government. It was so common a thought to commoners what an ideal society would be.



In my country, the basic foci of…

We have been approached by a number of teachers over the past few months to discuss the value of streaming students in ability groupings as a way of improving performance. There is also a big push amongst education unions to lower class sizes as a way of again improving performance of students. The logic behind such requests is that, given the increasing variance of competency that is occurring in classes (can be up to 7 years variance between students) , then reducing…

Many people in my family including both my parents and older sister are teachers.  I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher because of being around teachers both inside and outside the classroom.  I had several teachers that inspired me and demonstrated their enthusiasm.  As a child, I taught my peers things that they had not yet learned such as riding their bike or playing the piano.  It felt gratifying.  At home, my parents taught me how to teach by showing me the basic steps to success…

Great teachers are invaluable, yet too often their tireless work goes unnoticed or worse, unappreciated. While teacher appreciation week is in May, why wait to recognize the incredible work of our educators? These individuals dedicate their lives to developing the next generation. They come in early to prepare…

 I have been following with much interest the blogs, news articles and debates about teacher rating occurring in the USA. Part of my interest stems from the discussion that is starting to occur in Australia, driven by our Federal Government, about teacher performance and productivity.

I want to…