Eclectic Technology

Traditional education focuses on assessment, giving students one chance to get their homework right. Games can provide immediate feedback and teach core prob...

When the OECD releases the PISA report every three years, many people use the ranking to claim public education in the U.S. is failing and push their corpora...

This film was developed by sportscotland to help young athletes understand what 'talent' is and how you can get good at sport - it's more of a choice than yo...

Cultural anthropologist and media ecologist Mike Wesch examines how the internet has changed communication and relationships today.

Mike Wesch, who has a number of viral videos, such as The Machine is Us/ing Us, Information R/evolution and An Anthropological Introduction to You Tube, is currently writing a book about "wonder". Below is a quote from an interview.

"I am working on a book about “wonder”—what it is, how to harness it, how to inspire it, why it is on the decline right now, and how to bring it back. Wonder is both a sense of awe and a capacity for contemplation. More than just curiosity, wonder allows us to see beyond the surface of things, to seek patterns, or even better, to question the patterns we have taken for granted. To wonder is to embrace the possibility that we have it all wrong, that the frameworks around which we have built our view of the world might need to change, that the pillars upon which our worldview sit might need readjusting or be destroyed altogether..."

For more from Mike Wesch click through to the post.

A collection of 100 sites to find videos, split into the following categories:

* Educational Video Collections - "specfically designed for education, these collections make it easy to find video learning resources";

* General Video Collections - "Network TV, inspiring talks and more are available in these collections...";

* Teacher Education - "Featuring higher-level learning, these video sites are great resources for finding education that's fit for teachers.";

* Lesson Planning - "Put together your lesson plans with the help of these video sites.";

*Science, Math, and Technolog - special attention to STEM subjects;

* History, Arts and Social Sciences - Videos that explore history and more;

* Video Tools - "Make it easy to find, share and view videos with these tools.";

* Network and Program Videos - sites for public broadcasting and other education programs;

* Free Movies and Clips - Documentaries and other educational videos;

* How-Tos - "Satisfy students' desire for knowledge and hands-on learning by sharing how-to videos from these site";

*Government and Organizations - "Offered as a service from government organizations and other groups...great places to find top-notch education videos and often, historical treasures."

A wonderful resource to find videos for your classroom.

There are so many articles and posts today on the new open platform TED-Ed...and with good reason. They state "the goal is to allow any teacher to take a video of their choice (yes, any video on YouTube, not just ours) and make it the heart of a 'lesson' that can easily be assigne din class or as homework, complete with context, follow-up questions and further resources."

This scoop will send you to a page that has a video TED-Ed Website tour; a sample of a lesson where the teacher and the animator worked together; and tools that allow you to edit headlines, introductions, questions and follow-up links. 

Take the time to look at these new offerings, and realize that this is the beginning of a resource that become a key component of your tool box.

"Some thoughts on teachers, students and the Future of Education."

It's just one little word, but says world-renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, it has the power to inspire your child to do incredible things.

Are you looking for a guide on how you might use YouTube in your classroom. A new guide was published this month which is chock full of advice. Edudemic has also published an article that looks at this guide. This post is from Edudemic to give you a taste of what might be in the future of your classroom. Learn how YouTube might:

* "spark lively discussion"

* help you organize "video content for easier access"

* "archive your work"

* "encourage students to dig deeper"

* "help both struggling and advanced students"

* "review for upcoming exams"

* "create a YouTube center in your classoom"
* "add quizzes to videos"

* "create interactive video quests"

and more.

To find the 47 page "YouTube Playbook Guide Education" go to http://storage.googleapis.com/support-kms-prod/SNP_2799330_en_v1.

Do you wonder how you might incorporate social media into your classroom? This infographic will give you some ideas on ways faculty are using social media in class, which may include connecting, notifying, teaching and curating. Although geared to college many of the ideas are useful for secondary education.

"Data never sleeps. Every minute massive amounts of it are being generated from every phone, website and application across the Internet. Just how much data is being created and where does it come from?"
Check out this infographic for more information.