eLearning tools and news for April 5, 2010

Dear Students,

You've probably already heard about the school that's facing some criticism for 'the ultimate spyware' (spying on its students while said students were in the privacy of their own home). If you hadn't, apparently the school had the ability to remotely turn the webcam on and off  - http://education.change.org/blog/view/school_uses_laptops_to_peer_into_students_bedrooms. (Here we just walk to your room and ask you what you're doing .)

A new "Did You Know 4.0" for Sept 2009 (numbers and references are to the U.S.) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8, as well there is "An Open Letter to Educators" from YouTube - A rant about institutionalized education that's been pinging around the blogosphere - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P2PGGeTOA4 . Interesting for a discussion on what you need to get out of a class.

For those of you with an iPhone or iPod Touch - Top educational apps for iPhone / iPod Touch  - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2010/03/01/top-10-education-apps-for-ipod-touch-and-iphone/ .

An article on why teachers should blog - http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-teachers-should-blog.html. I would add that it indirectly presents an excellent case of why students should blog as well, and the last article is "Is Internet access a civil right" - http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2010/02/yes-internet-access-is-civil-right.html.

For a 'last resource', a video from TED. If you have not, investigated TED, you should. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading", and invites interesting speakers to conferences and makes these speeches available online. The topics and ideas may be controversial, but always thought provoking and interesting. My latest favorite directly addresses the interplay of science and ethics and defends the idea of objective moral standards - http://www.ted.com/talks/sam_harris_science_can_show_what_s_right.html - worth the 23min (although disclosure of all bias, I teach Science & Ethics and find it fascinating in and of itself). I will arbitrarily assign this to my Science & Ethics 11 class for later discussion. If your classes include any kind of discussion component, check out TED if you haven't already.

Cheers,

Mr. "if you can't do it on a computer, it's not worth doing" Neufeld
Canada's Best Boarding School