Digital Worlds
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace:
John Perry Barlow, Electronic Freedom Foundation, February 1996
Archive for February, 2005
The Read/Write Web at Weblogg-ed
Will Richardson’s blog, Weblogg-ed is always interesting, and has led me to a lot of really great resources. His post today, Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :, is worth a read. I like the thought that the power of the read/write web helps pressure a transformation in education from the outside. And I don’t agree that “the man” will shut it down if “they” feel too threatened. But you can judge for yourself.
flickrGraph
My own flickr site is languishing somewhat. Ethan’s camera has gone missing, along with a crop of great ski pictures and my good memory card. But my friend Andy was showing off his new Canon Elph a couple of weeks ago and its pretty sweet — maybe when I get the tax refund…
LMS and Games
When developing Learning Management Systems, ePortfolio systems and other educational learning environments we need to stop thinking of them as software projects. What we need to do it take a page from the game development world. Learning systems should:
National Education Technology Plan
I have been reading the recently released National Education Technology Plan. It is quite well written, and anyone who has kids in public school, and/or cares about education in our country should take time to read it. The official title is Toward A New Golden Age In American Education, HOW THE INTERNET, THE LAW AND TODAY’S STUDENTS ARE REVOLUTIONIZING EXPECTATIONS. The plan does take every opportunity to herald the benefits of the NLCB legislation, and credit it as the driver behind almost any and every educational success in the last couple of years. But given that Congress is the intended audience for the plan, this can be forgiven.
Games and Learning
According to an article in today’s (2/10) New York Times Circuits, on an average day over 200,000 people are playing in the on line World of War craft. And these are players over 13 — maybe not adults, but not 7 year olds either. My 13 year old son is regularly playing in the on line version of Halo 2. And through the headset system he can talk to, and hear the other players talking. He’s played with people from China, Texas, Ireland, Iran, but the English are his favorites — loves the accent. Other on line games, such as the SIMS, have their own followings with hundreds of thousands of players.
