The MathMaze team (Hui Soo, Pranav, Shuchi, Ila, and I) have developed the first rough prototype of MathMaze (which lasted for two months). Guided by a few learning principles, MathMaze is to be developed as an adaptive math game which has self-reported (informal) evaluation and data generation function for students, teachers, and parents. We aim to provide students with multiple opportunities for choices, while acknowledging multiple intelligences, including mathematical decision making, spatial navigation, and reasoning, as well as kinesthetic involvement.

It was tested within the Development & Research Group last week and received extremely helpful feedback/suggestions/comments. We have further generated the following questions after wrapping up the group feedback:

I wanted to share the opportunity to come and see Dr. Allan Collins speak tonight at TC. Dr. Collins is a Professor of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University and is a real leader in the fields of cognitive science and the learning sciences. His talk is titled "Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and School".

The event will take place in Grace Dodge, room 179 at 7pm tonight for anyone who is interested. Click here for more information.

And light refreshments will be served.

VideoNote is a platform for communicating, educating and collaborating with long-format video – could this be Critter’s think-alike friend? We have seen a variety of asynchronous online tools for video-centered discussions such as VoiceThread, Viddler and Wimba but so far VideoNote seems to share more similarities with Critter compared to other tools we’ve internally reviewed.

The most visible similarities are that participant comments are linked to specific video time and that there are different options to display comments (e.g. sort by video time, date posted or popularity). More importantly, both solutions aim to enhance the effectiveness of online education. Improving the practice of teaching and the process of learning looks to be VideoNote’s primary interest as well.

The recent issue of the Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook: Leveraging Online Professional Development is now available on Education Week. This issue looks at the potential of digital technology to enhance teacher learning options and increase collaboration and knowledge-sharing.

Here are some interesting highlights:

• MetLife Inc.'s 25th annual survey of educators found that the proportion of teachers saying they are “very satisfied” with their careers increased from 40 percent in 1984 to 62 percent in 2008, while more teachers today (66 percent) feel respected by society than their counterparts did back then (47 percent).
  
• the percentage of teachers agreeing that they can earn a “decent salary” has nearly doubled since 1984, to 66 percent, and far more teachers today (75 percent, compared with 45 percent in 1984) say they would recommend a career in teaching to a young person.
• two-thirds of today’s teachers affirm that they were well prepared for the profession, compared with 46 percent in 1984.
  Some other survey results:
• Have you ever taken an online course for degree or professional credit?

...this is an extension of our group discussion in today's EdLab seminar as well as Jeannie and Patrick's blogposts.

One major idea we discussed today is the innovative next-gen (text) books. As the novel ebook reader from Asus, Microsoft, Apple, and other manufacturers are coming out, ebooks will no longer be a collection of stiff texts and pictures, but will become more versatile and interactive. I interpret versatile as being capable of handling multiple media formats such as texts and images (PDF, DOC, JPG/GIF/PNG, HTML, ...), sounds, and videos. I interpret interactive as being capable of storing user inputs (e.g. notes, speech recording, picture taking, videotaping), and mediating online information exchange among users (e.g. instant message, voice/video conference, social networking websites). Such a gadget looks really like a personal computer/netbook. But it's more portable and devoted to reading.

Chandler, Ting, Jess and I have been tinkering with NetPosse, EdLab’s academic networking prototype, and have added profiles for many TC faculty members. In order to best test and improve the efficiency of the recommendation system, we are asking all EdLabbers to please create a profile and let us know what you think! You can sign up here to find out which TC professors’ interests and experiences align most closely with your own.

FYI: For whatever it’s worth, my #1 NetPosse suggested contact was Gary Natriello! Maybe we should try to touch base . . . .

As this is currently an internal library experiment, please keep this post in-house only. Thanks!

In keeping with the new trend of e-readers and tablets, Microsoft is releasing a hinged tablet. The very cool thing that sets this device apart from typical e-readers is the stylus that allows you to take notes as you read. I view this as another step in the right direction for tablets to move into public education.

A recent report (Klopfer, Osterwil, Groff, & Haas, 2009) issued by the Educational Arcade at MIT presents very interesting (teaching) examples regarding the utilization of video games, social networking, and simulations in classroom. The full report can be viewed here which includes:

• the background and affordances of Simulations, Digital Games, and Social Networking;

• the cognitive implications of these technologies;

• specific challenges with using these tools in the classroom, as well as strategies for overcoming these challenges in order to achieve successful learning experiences; and

Digital Storytelling Webinars

Free Digital Storytelling Webinars will be offered by TechSoup as follows:

Event Schedule:
9/30: Event Day 1 – TechSoup forums event discussions and expert webinars

10/1: Event Day 2 – TechSoup forums event discussions and “How to Create a Digital Story” webinar

10/1: Digital Storytelling Challenge kickoff webinar

10/1-10/16: Digital Storytelling Challenge submission period.

While working on the details of Course Recommendation System I found this paper - "Social Navigation Support in a Course Recommendation System" . The most interesting thing about this paper is Motivation for Providing Feedback. They follow the "do-it-for-yourself" approach.

The main theme of this approach is to encourage user's participation by turning their feedback into an activity that is important and meaningful to them. To implement this concept they used a Career Scope indicator which shows progress towards career goals as one fills out the evaluations. In my view feedback is one of the most important things for getting good results from a recommendation system. Also, users will be more interested in giving feedback if they are getting something out of it.