I think it was from Marshall McLuhan that I first heard: “We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us.” Now, for the first time, neurological evidence is demonstrating that this is literally true. Data published in the June 23rd issue of Current Biology shows that when we use a tool, even for a [...]
The notion of Teacher as Disc Jockey goes back at least to the time Apple’s iTunes introduced the concept of Rip, Mix, Burn to the world. Since then trainers, educators and instructional designers have been inundated by reports on social media, Web 2.0 and collaborative learning while fending off rising demands to crank out more [...]
Website Academic Earth might be the Hulu for learning. Founded by Richard Ludlow out of his need to learn linear algebra at Yale, Academic Earth joins other educational video sites like iTunes U and BigThink in offering intellectual content online. Current video lectures inlcude astronomy, physics, chemistry, computer science, economics, English, history, law, mathematics, medicine, [...]
SAGE is a free open source package designed for symbolic mathematics. It should be useful for instructors and students who need to apply tools and techniques more commonly found in programs like MatLab, MathCAD and Mathematica. “Sage can be used to study general and advanced, pure and applied mathematics. This includes a huge range of [...]
Edmodo is a free private Twitter-like messaging system that focuses on educational uses. Now in version 2, Edmodo offers a host of interesting features for educators who need to venture into messaging as part of their instructional technique: Microblog Public Timeline (RSS) Assignments & Grades Store & Share Files Notifications (SMS) Share Links & Embeds [...]