Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Announcement: 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education

If you area interested in technology, psychology, and education, you might also be interested in the 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education.

From the conference website:

July 6th - 10th 2009, Thistle Hotel, Brighton, UK
http://www.aied2009.com
held in cooperation with
AAAI


"AIED 09 will focus on the theme "Building Learning Systems that Care: From Knowledge Representation to Affective Modeling". This extends an AIED vision proposed some 20 years ago by John Self. The field has moved a long way since then. It is now widely accepted that effective learning environments are expected to care about both learners and tutors, and to have a good understanding of the variety of learning contexts. The key research question now is how to tackle the complex issues related to building learning systems that care, ranging from representing knowledge and context to modeling social, cognitive, metacognitive, and affective dimensions. This requires linking theory and technology from artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and computer science with theory and practice from education and social science."

The Proceedings will be published by IOS Press in the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Application series.

"The International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education is part of an ongoing series of biennial international conferences for top quality research in intelligent systems and cognitive science for educational computing applications. The conference provides opportunities for the cross-fertilization of techniques from many fields that make up this interdisciplinary research area, including: artificial intelligence, computer science, cognitive and learning sciences, education, educational technology, psychology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and the many domain-specific areas for which AIED systems have been designed and evaluated."


IMPORTANT DATES

* Papers, posters, YRT/DC: 15 Jan 2009 (11:59 pm Hawaii)
* Camera ready due: 15 April 2009
* Author notification: 16 March 2009
* Workshops, panels, interactive events and tutorials proposals: 15 Jan
2009 (11:59 pm Hawaii)
* Workshops, panels, tutorials and Interactive Events approved: 20
February 2009
* Conference: 6-10 July 2009


INVITED SPEAKERS
* Prof. Susanne P. Lajoie, McGill University, Canada
* Prof. Kenneth D. Forbus, Northwestern University, USA
* Prof. Wolfgang Nejdl, Distributed Systems Institute, Hannover, Germany


TOPICS
Topics of interest to the conference include, but are not limited to:

1. Modeling and Representation
------------------------------
* Models of learners, facilitators, tasks and problem-solving processes
* Models of groups and communities for learning
* Modeling of learning contexts
* Modeling of motivation, metacognition, and affect aspects of learning
* Ontological modeling
* Dealing with learner dynamics
* Handling uncertainty and multiple perspectives
* Representing and analyzing discourse during learning

2. Models of Learning
---------------------
* Intelligent tutoring and scaffolding
* Intelligent games for learning
* Motivational diagnosis and feedback
* Interactive pedagogical agents and learning companions
* Agents that promote metacognition, motivation, and affect
* Adaptive question-answering
* Multi-agent architectures

3. Intelligent Technologies for Learning
----------------------------------------
* Natural language processing
* Data mining and machine learning
* Knowledge representation and reasoning
* Semantic web technologies and standards
* Social recommendations
* Social networks

4. Pedagogical Models
---------------------
* Inquiry learning
* Social dimensions of learning
* Social-historical-cultural contexts
* Informal learning environments
* Communities of practice

5. Learning Contexts and Domains
--------------------------------
* Learning in open web environments
* Collaborative and group learning
* Simulation-based learning
* Ubiquitous learning environments
* Learning grid
* Lifelong and workplace learning
* Domain-specific learning applications, e.g. language, mathematics,
science, medicine, military, and industry.

6. Evaluation
-------------
* Human-computer interaction
* Evaluation methodologies
* Experiences and lessons learned


SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
* Full papers: original and unpublished work
* Young researcher's track (YRT) and Doctoral Consortium (DC): work-in
progress by graduate students and other young researchers
* Posters: work-in-progress
* Interactive events (IE): demonstration of AIED systems
* Workshop proposals: address emerging topics in AIED
* Tutorial proposals: give overview of important AIED topics
* Panels: bring together experts to discuss AIED directions

Submission instructions are available at
http://www.aied2009.com


CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION

* Conference Chair: Art Graesser
* Local Arrangements Chair: Ben Du Boulay
* Program Chairs: Vania Dimitrova and Riichiro Mizoguchi
* YRT Chairs: George Magoulas and Tanja Mitrovic
* Poster Chairs: Neil Heffernan and Tsukasa Hirashima
* Interactive Events Chairs: Jack Mostow and Katy Howland
* Workshop Chairs: Scotty Craig and Darina Dicheva
* Tutorial Chairs: Beatriz Barros and Stephan Weibelzahl
* Sponsorship Chairs: Roger Azevedo and Rose Luckin
* Publicity Chair: Genaro Rebolledo Mendez


Via Genaro Rebolledo Menez, from the EDM (Educational Data Mining) listserv

RELATED:
Educational Data Mining Resources from the EDM website:

Carnegie Mellon University's PROJECT Listen has released the Bayes Net Toolkit for Student Modeling, a system which makes it easier to useBayes Nets and Bayesian Knowledge-Tracing to model student data.

The Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center offers DataShop, a system which you can use to conduct learning curve analysis on educational data.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Resource Update: Adolescent Literacy, Digital Storytelling, RTI & Data-based Decision Making

Although January is the first month of the new year, it also marks the mid-point of the school year, a good time for those of us who work in schools and related academic settings to reflect a bit about what really matters.

I thought I'd dedicate this post to a review resources that might be useful when planning for the second semester.

Books
On the last day before break, I noticed that my school district's professional development library had expanded well beyond my expectations. I had to restrain myself from checking out too many books!

Here is my sho
rt list, which reflects my interests in adolescent literacy, drop-out prevention, and technology integration:

McEWan, Elain K. 40 Ways to Support Struggling Readers in Content Classrooms, Grades 6-12 (2007) National Association of Secondary School Principals & Corwin Press

Beers, Kylene, Probst, Robert.E., & Rief, Linda
(Eds.) Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice (2007) Heinemann

Ohler, Jason Digital Storytelling in the Classroom: New Media Pathways to Literacy, Learning, and Creativity. (2007) Corwin Press



Online Resources:
Jason Ohler's Website

http://www.arcc.edvantia.org/images/5states.gif
Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center

"The Appalachia Regional Comprehensive Center (ARCC) at Edvantia is one of 16 regional comprehensive and 5 content centers that make up the
Comprehensive Center Network funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

The purpose of the comprehensive centers is to provide state education agencies with intensive technical assistance to address the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements and meet student achievement goals."

The ARCC website contains a database of evidence-based resources, rated on the level of evidence provided that supports effectiveness.
Here's a list of resource toolkits found on the ARCC site. (Be prepared to spend more than a few minutes browsing through the info!)
National Center on Student Progress Monitoring

Note: This site focuses mostly on K-5 topics, but does have some resources appropriate for the secondary level.)
"The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring (NCSPM) has exciting downloadable articles, PowerPoint presentations, FAQs, and additional resources about student progress monitoring, Curriculum-Based Measurement, applying decision making to IEPs and other researched based topics. All of our publications are designed to inform and assist audiences in implementing student progress monitoring at the classroom, building, local or state level."
NCSPM's Web Resources: Links to "other resources" from the NCSPM website look interesting!

Rapid Assessment Found to Improve Student Achievement
Comparisons of student achievement effect sizes suggest that systems in which student performance in math and reading is rapidly assessed between 2 and 5 times per week are 4 times as effective as a 10% increase in per pupil expenditure, 6 times as effective as voucher programs, 64 times as effective as charter schools, and 6 times as effective as increased accountability, according to an article published in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Evaluation. Rapid assessment, which is a form of student progress monitoring, is defined by the article's author as "systems that provide nonjudgmental testing feedback [to teachers] immediately after each test." To read the entire article, The Cost-Effectiveness of Five Policies for Improving Student Achievement, Stuart Yeh, American Journal of Evaluation, 2007; 28: 416-436 (a small fee is charged), go to http://aje.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/28/4/416

High School Center Releases Document on RTI
The National High School Center has recently released a new document, entitled "Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention," that explains the need for and challenges of implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) at the high school level. This brief introduces the RTI model, illustrates two RTI approaches, discusses implementation issues, and provides a list of resources for more information. http://www.betterhighschools.org/docs/NHSC_RTIBrief_08-02-07.pdf


National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities
"The National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities (NDPC-SD) was established in 2004 by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as part of OSEP’s Technical Assistance and Dissemination (TA&D) Network, which supports the implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). NDPC-SD was specifically established to assist in building states’ capacity to increase school completion rates for students with disabilities through knowledge synthesis, technical assistance, and dissemination of interventions and practices that work. NDPC-SD is located at the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network (NDPC/N) at Clemson University."


  • Dropout Prevention (pdf) (2008) (IES Practice Guide, National Center for Educational Evaluation and Regional Assistance)

AdLit.Org
"All About Adolescent Literacy: Resources for Parents and Educators of Kids in Grades 4-12"
National Institute for Literacy
Note: The above publication has specific strategies for instruction included in the appendix, with some useful graphic organizers.

Learning Disabilities Online
National Center for Secondary Education and Transition (NCSET)
Edutopia: How To Use Digital Storytelling in Your Classroom


Related Resources:

Youthhood.org, a website for teens: "Childhood Meets Adulthood"

  • Teacher Dave McDivitt & Making History at Oak Hill School: Video Games that Teach


Youth.org link: Digigirlz High Technology Camps (Microsoft)

I hope these updated resources are helpful!

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

EduBlogorama: Vote for your choices in the 2008 Edublog awards!

I started blogging because it was a requirement for an educational technology class I was taking a few years ago, and after I discovered I had followers, I never stopped.

It has been interesting to see how educators have grown to embrace blogging. Ideas once shared only in teacher lounges and workrooms now resonate across cyberspace, and networks of educators from around the world are sharing resources and collaborating like never before.

About a year ago, I discovered Classroom 2.0, a social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. I figured at least some of the members of Classroom 2.0 might also be bloggers, so I posted a topic in a forum on Classroom 2.0: Let's Share Links to our Blogs! I was amazed at the flurry of responses! Educators of all kinds, from around the world, participated in the discussion, and as a result, the International Edubloggers Directory was born, the creation of Patricia Donaghy, an ICT teacher in Dublin, Ireland. There are now 465 members of this group.

My thoughts about the future of blogging were quoted in Technorate's series about the "State of the Blogosphere 2008":

“There will be more blogs used in education, particularly among K-12 students and teachers. Bookmarks will merge with blogs for those of us who use our blogs as note-pads or filing cabinets. Blog archives will be viewed as a rich source of cultural history. Blogs will be a means for more collaborative team work. People will expect businesses, media, and print organizations, even government organizations, to have some form of blog, in order to promote communication. Blogging will also help to provide insight to businesses about their consumers.”

BLOGORAMA!

Edublogs is sponsoring the 2008 EduBlog Awards, or "Eddies", the fifth year of awards. There are sixteen categories of awards this year, representing a wide range of edubloggers and blogs.

Since this blog serves as one of my on-line filing cabinets, I decided to post links to ALL of the edublogs nominated for the 2008 EduBlog Awards. If you have the inclination, visit some of these blogs, then go to the Edublog Awards website and cast your votes!

Best Teacher EduBlog: Teaching in the 408 Mrs Cassidy’s Classroom Blog Science Of The Invisible The Cool Cat Teacher Practical Theory dy/dan Web.Cad.6abc Kevin’s Meandering Mind Creating Lifelong Learners Teaching College Math Bald Worm’s Blog Betty’s Blog Songhai Concept Bellringers Science Teacher Sliced Bread The Journey Reflections on Teaching Cliff’s Notes Endless Forms Most Beautiful OllieBray.com Nashworld Box of Tricks Mysterious Teaching The Why of it all Always Learning On an e-journey with Generation Y ICT in my Classroom Educating Alice Kenneth’s ESL Blog

Best Individual EduBlog: Mobile Technology in TAFE Education Investigation Learn Online Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs Bionic Teaching SCC English Nadstar’s Blog Teachers at risk John Connell Doug - off the record Mathemetics Learning The Scholastic Scribe Newly Ancient Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Cliotech ICTlogy Theology in the Vineyard Computer Science Teacher - thoughts and information from Alfred Thompson Darcy’s blog The Edublogger Teaching and Learning Design The Bamboo Project All teachers are learners - All learners are teachers Sarah’s Musings Using Blogs in Science Education Learning with ‘e’s What It’s Like on The Inside EFL20.com Generation YES Blog Betty’s Blog Teach42 Creating Lifelong Learners Always Learning The English Blog David Truss: Pair-a-dimes for your Thoughts

Best Resource Sharing EduBlog: Free Technology for Teachers Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day/ Mobile Technology in TAFE Videoconferencing Out on a Lim Woodchurch Science Teach J: For Teachers of Journalism and Media Langwitches Edina Publich Schools NUA Program http://blogs.scholastic.com/whats_new/ ZaidLearn Teaching College Math Around the Corner - MGuhlin Stephen’s Web meta-ot Discovering Biology in a Digital World Thumann Resources Creative Teaching Welcome to NCS-Tech Jane’s E-learning Pick of the Day Learning technology teacher development blog

Best Class Nominations: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Educational Wiki: eToolBox The 2008 Comment Challenge Kidpedia Educational Origami WikiEducator S.D.Public School, Pitampura Learning in Maine Digitally Speaking Clif’s Wiki Miss Baker’s Biology Class F-ALT Salks Periodic Table Flat Classroom Project 2008 School AUP 2.0 Useful Wiki Digital Media Across Asia

Best Educational Use of Video/Visual: Digital Ethnography Tamaki Intermediate School Geography at the Movies Flick School Video 2 Zero Steve Spangler blog Moving at the Speed of Creativity Murdoch University Island in Second Life Qik MAMK TEFL Clips The Common Craft Show

Best Educational Use of Audio: Wicked Decent Learning Project Xiphos Twenty Minutes for Tech Teachers Teaching Teachers Parents as Partners Bildum im Dialog Integrating ICT Bit By Bit Secondary Worlds Ed Tech Talk

Best Educational Use of a Virtual World: Jokaydia Discovery Education Second Life Drexel Island Edunation Oh! Virtual Learning! Literary Worlds

Best Educational Tech Support EduBlog: The Edublogger The Clever Sheep The Wired Campus UK Web Focus Geeked Tech Tutors Teach42 Teacher in a Strange Land Off on a Tangent efoundations JoeWoodOnline Teachers love Smartboards Langwitches Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org

Best Librarian/Library EduBlog: Lorcan Dempsey’s weblog UoL Library Blog Paul Walk’s weblog Hey Jude Joyce Valenza Blue Skunk Blog TechnoTuesday

Best eLearning/Corporate Education EduBlog: Britannica Blog eLearning Technology Presentation Zen Windows to Open Source Making Change Tech Tools Laurel Papworth TechnOT Andy’s black hole Janet Clarey

Most Influential EduBlog Post: The Future of Online Learning- 10 Years On - Stephen Downes Becoming a more reflective Individual Practitioner Why Can’t Inner City Kids Learn The Glass Bees Planning to share versus just sharing The Time is Now Be an elearning action hero President-elect Barack Obama The truth is Out There The New Digital Divide? Order for Closure Getting our Knickers in a twist? The Macgyver Project: Genomic Dna Extraction And Gel Electrophoresis Experiments Using Everyday Materials Monkey Business Ten Tips for Growing Your Learning Network

Best New EduBlog: Fled: Flexible Learning Education Design Yuichi’s Games Angela Maiers Huzzah Dkzody’s Weblog 2JE Shining Stars Chrisina’s Classroom Early Childhood blog Journeys on the road Human Teaching in Second Life Fiona’s Journey Christy Bowman Technology in The Classroom Thumann Resources

Best Group EduBlog: Salford University Occupational Therapy Education blog SCC English WorkLiteracy The Stratford Sentinel Mortarboard Blog Pontydysgu Brandon Hall Research Workplace Learning Today Scholastic News Blog Digital Learning Environments Tomorrow’s Trust The Chancellor’s New Clothes ECO group 360 Leader Talk PortablePD.CA Youth Voices

Best Class Blog: A really different place Risley Roarer’s Blog Learning Area 20 Al Upton Extreme Biology English Advertising Class Mr. Kootman’s Class Remote Access

Best Use of a Social Networking Service: EFL Classroom 2.0 Fireside Learning Classroom 2.0 Maine Holocaust Education Network Youth Voices MACUL Space Principles of Biology Ed Links Teen Second Classroom My Learning Space

Lifetime Achievement Award: Stephen Downes Scott Leslie Will Richardson Nancy White David Warlick Chris Lehmann Graham Wegner Michele Martin Jay Cross

Monday, December 08, 2008

Brainline.org: Preventing, Treating, and Living with Traumatic Brain Injury; "Exploring Your Brain" Video

I recently came across BrainLine.org, a website that offers a wide range of resources about brain injury (TBI).

According to the website, "BrainLine is funded by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, the primary operational TBI component of the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, through a subcontract award with the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine".

The website offers free online webcasts, such as "After the Injury: TBI and Acute Care", books, tips, information about concussions, articles about treatment, and "Exploring Your Brain with Garrick Utley", a series of 20 videos.

Below is the video, The Broken Brain:


Transcript (pdf)

Be sure to explore the video and multimedia resources on the website, information about TBI and school issues, and the article about virtual reality, Analysis of Assets for Virtual Reality Applications in Neuropsychology (Albert. A. Rizzo, Maria Schultheis, Kimberly A. Kerns, and Catherine Mateer, Neuropsychological Rehabilitation)


Related:
I was happy to find a link to the AdolescentLiteracy (AdLit) website, which is full of ideas and strategies for educators and parents of teens, the age group that is most likely to sustain head injuries.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Animoto, Tokbox, iSpeech: Good on-line resources for implementing Universal Design for Learning and supporting assistive technology.

I just received an email from a colleague with the following cool links:

Animoto
http://www.animoto.com --creates cool slide shows... You will want to sign up for the Educator Pass, it takes a day or two to verify.

"Animoto is a web application that automatically generates professionally produced videos using their own patent-pending technology and high-end motion design. Each video is a fully customized orchestration of user-selected images and music. Produced on a widescreen format, Animoto videos have the visual energy of a music video and the emotional impact of a movie trailer."

This would be great for student work presented on interactive whiteboards!

Tokbox
http://www.tokbox.com -if you have a webcam you can create messages and post to a website or email

"Tokbox is a free service that lets you talk with your friends over live video. Here's how it works: you sign up and we give you a link. When you want to talk with anyone, just give them the link - they click and you chat."

iSpeech
http://www.ispeech.org --- is a text-to-speech program. Has a speech synthesizer so you can type or paste in a message to hear it talk

"Read with your Ears: iSpeech blog covers text to speech topics relating to iSpeech.org. iSpeech converts websites, RSS feeds, blogs "

High School Response to Intervention (RTI) Resources

Most of the workshops I've attended about RTI have focused on resources and strategies designed for the elementary school level. More resources are now available that are appropriate for the high school level than before, and I thought I'd devote a few posts on this topic.

This is especially important when we consider that high school students who receive special education services, the most intensive level of support and intervention offered in our public schools, continue to have a much higher drop-out rate than their peers.

In today's economy, we know that these students aren't dropping out of school to work at steady, well-paying job!

Here are a few links to articles related to this topic, along with references:

RTI Gets Promoted to Secondary Schools (National Center for Learning Disabilities; Barbara J.Ehren, Ed.D. & Kathleen Whitmire, Ph.D.)

"While it is urgent to intervene as early as possible in the early grades to prevent the cycle of failure, it is equally important to remember that struggling learners in middle school and high school are also in need of instructional and behavioral supports to be successful. In fact, the stakes are higher for secondary students who lack the foundational skills and strategies needed to engage in school and who end up at risk for failing or dropping out."

RTI in Secondary School Setting: Riverbank High School Story - Implementing the Content Literacy Continuum(pdf)
Ken GEisick, Ed.D.; Peggy Graving-Reyes, & Silvia DeRuvo

What is the Content Learning Continuum?
(Strategic Learning Center)

Dropout Fact Sheet (National High School Center)

RTI Action Network High School Resources

References from the RTI Action Network:

Ehren, B. J., Lenz, B. K., & Deshler, D. D. (2004). Enhancing literacy proficiency in adolescents and young adults. In A. Stone, E. Silliman, B. Ehren, & K. Apel (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy (pp. 600–625). New York: Guilford Press.

Guthrie, J. T., & Wigfield, A. (2000). Engagement and motivation in reading. In M. Kamil, R. Barr, P. Mosenthal, & D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume III (pp. 403–424). New York: Longman.

Hock, M. F., Deshler, D. D., & Schumaker, J. B. (2005). Enhancing student motivation through the pursuit of possible selves. In C. Dunkel & J. Kerpelman (Eds.), Possible selves: Theory, research and applications (pp. 205–221). Hauppauge, NY: Nova.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-446, § 1400 et seq.
Moje, E. B. (2006). Motivating texts, motivating contexts, motivating adolescents: An examination of the role of motivation in adolescent literacy practices and development. Perspectives, 32(3), 10–14.

National Center for Learning Disabilities. (2006). A parent's guide to response to intervention. Retrieved July 7, 2007, from www.ncld.org/images/stories/downloads/parent_center/rti_final.pdf.

O'Connor, R., & Bell, K. (2004). Teaching students with reading disability to read words. In A. Stone, E. Silliman, B. Ehren, & K. Apel (Eds.), Handbook of language and literacy (pp. 481–498). New York: Guilford Press.

Pajares, F., & Urdan, T. (2005). Academic motivation of adolescents. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
Scammacca, N., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Edmonds, M., Wexler, J., Reutebuch, C. K., & Torgesen, J. K. (2007). Interventions for adolescent struggling readers: A meta-analysis with implications for practice. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction.

Schumaker, J. B., & Deshler, D. D. (1992). Validation of learning strategy interventions for students with LD: Results of a programmatic research effort. In B. Y. L. Wong (Ed.), Contemporary research with students with learning disabilities: An international perspective (pp. 22–46). New York: Springer-Verlag.

Vaughn, S., Klingner, J. K., & Bryant, D. P. (2001). Collaborative strategic reading as a means to enhance peer-mediated instruction for reading comprehension and content area learning. Remedial and Special Education, 22(2), 66–74.

Here are additional resources about RTI and special needs students. from a post on the CEC RTI blog, written by Douch Cheney, of the University of Washington:

References

Crone, D.A., Horner, R.H., & Hawken, L.S. (2004). Responding to problem behavior in the schools: The behavior education program. NY: Guilford.

Hawken, L.S. (2006). School psychologists as leaders in the implementation of a targeted intervention: The behavior education program. School Psychology Quarterly, 21, 91-111.

Ryan, J., Pierce, C. & Mooney, P. (2008). Evidence-based teaching strategies for students with EBD. Beyond Behavior, 17(3), 22-29.

Sinclair, M. F., Christenson, S. L., Evelo, D. L., & Hurley, C. M. (1998). Dropout prevention for high-risk youth with disabilities: Efficacy of a sustained school engagement procedure. Exceptional Children, 65 (1), 7-21.

Sinclair, M. F., Christenson, S. L., & Thurlow, M. (2005). Promoting school completion of urban secondary youth with emotional or behavioral disabilities. Exceptional Children, 71, 465-482.

RELATED

From the Strategic Learning Center: The Content Literacy Continuum
http://smarttogether.org/images/CLC_Big_Diagram_02.gif

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Free webinars from CITEd, the Center for Implementing Technology in Education

CITEd, in collaboration with Don Johnston Incorporated, is presenting free webinar sessions over the next few months.

Assistive Technology: Written Productivity & Assessment
12/10/08 & 12/16/08
Presenters: Denise DeCoste, Team Leader, High Incidence Accessible Technology (HIAT), Montgomery County Public Schools

Technology Implementation: Getting to Where You Want to Be (Overview of Universal Design for Learning) 12/6/09 & 12/13/09
Presenters: David Rose, Co-Founder, CAST; Mary Thorngren, Deputy Director, Center for Implementing Technology in Education (CITEd); and Jenna Wasson, Research Associate, CAST

Accessible Instructional Materials 101 2/4/09 & 2/10/09
Presenters: Joy Zabala, Project Manager, AIM Consortium; and Diana Foster Carl, Special Projects Coordinator, AIM Consortium

You can find links to previous Moving Forward with Technology webinars on the CITEd website.

Although the school year is nearly half over, it is not to late to move forward with technology!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Raising Digital Kids: Robin Raskin's Website & Blog

I just came across Robin Raskin's Raising Digital Kids website, which has many resources that would be of interest to parents as well as teachers. Technology is moving ahead very quickly, and even tech-savvy adults can get behind!

Robin's website is very well organized and focuses on topics such as "Your Digital Home" and "Your Digital Kids". I especially like her byline:

"No one said raising kids in a digital world would be easy; but it can be fun and rewarding, especially if you listen to your Internet Mom."

Robin currently works with the Consumer Electronic Association and is producing a series of conferences and exhibits for the upcoming CES 2009, including the Kids at Play Summit, focusing on young people, and the Silvers Summit, focusing on technology for the wiser, most experienced generation.

The 2009 International CES event will be held from January 8-11 in Las Vegas, NV. There will be an interesting line-up of speakers, touching on topics such as cybersafety, children and social networking, serious games & disruptive technologies, educational technology, mobile technology, technology and families, and more.

Related:

Kids at Play Summit Speakers

Kids at Play Conference Agenda

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Kevin McGrew's IQ Brain Clock Blog, Interval Time Tracking Research

Dr. Kevin McGrew is Director of the Institute for Applied Psychometrics, and is known for his research in the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of cognitive abilities. He is a researcher, professor, and experienced school psychologist.

Below is a visual map of the IAP website:

http://www.iapsych.com/IAPWEB/mapContentImagemap_Details.jpg


Several months ago I wrote about Kevin McGrew's IQ's Corner blog.

"An attempt to share contemporary research findings, insights, musings, and discussions regarding theories and applied measures of human intelligence. In other words, a quantoid linear mind trying to make sense of the nonlinear world of human cognitive abilities."

Kevin also maintains the IQ Brain Clock blog:

"An attempt to track the "pulse" of contemporary research and theory regarding the psychology/neuroscience of brain-based mental/interval time keeping. In addition, the relevance of neuroscience research to learning/education will also be covered..."


To get a better understanding of the concept of "brain clock", read the following article:

Improvements in Interval Time Tracking and Effects on Reading Achievement

Gordon E. Taub, Kevin S. McGrew, Timothy Z Keith
Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 44(8), 2007 © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Kevin follows a variety of interesting blogs related to psychology, cognition, brain functioning, learning, and nore. If you visit his blogs, you'll find that he's posted an assortment of useful links, including research papers.