Here Comes Everybody: Gin, Television, and Social Surplus repost

Ok folks, I’m rarely going to use any reader-capital to repost.  But I really like this speech.
Gin, Television, and Social Surplus

Netbooks Will Have No Clothes, Too: The Lack of Social Computing Tools for the Classroom

Reading about NetBooks in EdWeek, I found it odd that laptop manufacturers are still talking about the quantity of computers and the glory of the 1:1 computer/child ratio.  Studies and anecdotal evidence demonstrate that there is no positive influence on learning outcomes, a la The Laptop Revolution Has No Clothes.  You can find videos of [...]

Courses on Facebook Guide for Instructors

It’s no secret that I stepped out of the classroom momentarily to jump at entrepreneurial pursuits on the internet.  My team and I are working on trying to create products that can manage casual, social yet academic relationships on opening social networks.  Our product, Courses on Facebook, has had over 200 thousand users just in [...]

Cities in Crisis Addendum: How our Urban Schools Actually Fail

As a nation, we need to be thinking long and hard about how we’re failing our youth.  The school system, in particular, necessitates new diagnosis, new ideas, and immediate action.  One of my recurring theses – the overemphasis of core, academic subject areas at the expense of all else has the counterintuitive effect of lowering [...]

The Hyperinflation of College and its Unintended Outcomes

 Politicians these days like to talk of sending EVERY child to COLLEGE.  While inspiring, it makes me think they are missing the reasons behind failing schools and our education systems’ inability to prepare EVERY child for a hopeful future.  It also leads me to think about the unintended outcomes, which usually come to haunt all [...]