Recently found … 11/25/2009

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Metrics vs Common Sense

No mention of education, per se, but so applicable …

Welcome to the Age of Metrics — or to the End of Instinct. Metrics are everywhere. It is increasingly with them that we decide what to read, what stocks to buy, which poor people to feed, which athletes to recruit, which films and restaurants to try. World Metrics Day was declared for the first time this year.

The once-mysterious formation of tastes is becoming a quantitative science, as services like Netflix and Pandora and StumbleUpon deploy algorithms to predict, and shape, what we like to watch, listen to and read.

These services are wondrous. They also risk lumping us into clusters of the like-minded and depriving us of the self-fortifying act of choosing. What will it mean to prefer one genre of song when you have never confronted others? It is one thing to love your country because you have seen the world and love it still; it is quite another to love it because you know nothing else.

… In short, what we know instinctively, data can make us forget. [emphasis added]

The whole NYT article here.

Recently found … 11/24/2009

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Annual National Day of Listening

On the day after Thanksgiving, set aside one hour to record a conversation with someone important to you. You can interview anyone you choose: an older relative, a friend, a teacher, or someone from the neighborhood.

You can preserve the interview using recording equipment readily available in most homes, such as cell phones, tape recorders, computers, or even pen and paper. Our free Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide is easy to use and will prepare you and your interview partner to record a memorable conversation, no matter which recording method you choose.

Make a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. The stories you collect will become treasured keepsakes that grow more valuable with each passing generation.

StoryCorps site.

Recently found … 11/23/2009

  • “he Six Thinking Hats technique of Edward de Bono is a model that can be used for exploring different perspectives towards a complex situation or challenge. Seeing things in various ways is often a good idea in strategy formation or complex decision-making processes.

    The STH technique is designed to help individuals deliberately adopt a variety of perspectives on a subject that may be very different from the one that they might most naturally assume. In wearing a particular thinking hat, people play roles, or “as if” themselves into a particular perspective. For instance, one could play the devil’s advocate, even if only for the sake of generating discussion. The purpose of devil’s advocacy is to deliberately challenge an idea: be critical, look for what is wrong with it.

    Each of the Hats is named for a color that is mnemonically descriptive of the perspective one adopts when wearing the particular hat. For example the devil’s advocacy is what one engages in when wearing the Black Thinking Hat.

    The 6 hats and the perspectives they represent are:
    -White (Observer) White paper; Neutral; focus on information available, objective FACTS, what is needed, how it can be obtained
    -Red (Self, Other) Fire, warmth; EMOTIONS, FEELINGS, intuition, hunches; present views without explanation, justification
    -Black (Self, Other) Stern judge wearing black robe; judgmental; critical; why something is wrong; LOGICAL NEGATIVE view.
    -Yellow (Self, Other) Sunshine; optimism; LOGICAL POSITIVE view; looks for benefits, what’s good.
    -Green (Self, Other) Vegetation; CREATIVE thinking; possibilities and hypotheses; new ideas
    -Blue (Observer) Sky; cool; overview; CONTROL of PROCESS, STEPS, OTHER HATS; chairperson, organizer; thinking about thinking”

    tags: 6 thinking hats, process, analysis, decision making

  • “Bloom’s Taxonomy Breakdown:

    Roles, Process Verbs & Products from Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain”

    tags: blooms, taxonomy, blooms taxonomy

  • “Share your data. Learn from others.

    Our goal, however, isn’t just to develop a great vizualization app — it’s to develop a tool to make it easier for you to communicate data more clearly, more efficiently, and more honestly with the viewer. We want to make it easy for you to make a gorgeous, verifiable vizualization, by allowing viewers to explore the data, manipulate the presentation, and even build on it to bring out richer, clearer, or just plain different conclusions.”

    tags: visualization, data, tools, statistics, graphs, charts

  • “Imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.

    Just think: millions of great short videos, and other watchable media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.

    Finally, imagine them all deeply and usefully categorized according to subject, education level, and placed in the order in which topics are typically taught.

    WatchKnow—as in, “You watch, you know”—has started building this resource.

    WatchKnow is both a resource for users and also a non-profit, online community that encourages everyone to collect, create, and share free, innovative, educational videos.”

    tags: tutorials, teaching, podcasting, videos, web2.0

  • “Build your vocabulary through never-ending games powered with real-world usage and tailored to your skill level.”

    tags: vocabulary, English, literacy

  • “Upload and explore data. As a preview it’s rough around the edges, may your love for data guide you.”

    tags: data, statistics, visualization, graphs, analysis, research

  • “A Visual Representation of Bloom’s Taxonomic Hierarchy with a 21st Century Skills Frame… Those of us that provide staff development around instructional technology have identified a need to share more than just tools with teachers. To evaluate them based on Bloom’s Taxonomy is simply a way to connect the tools to those that would be identified with the Affective, Psychomotor, or Cognitive domains–specifically the Cognitive. The visual that you see here is the seed of discussion. “

    tags: taxonomy, blooms taxonomy, 21st century learning

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google Image Swirl is Pretty Sweet

Google Image Search is useful, but depending on your search terms, might require tremendous sifting through extraneous images.

Now there’s Swirl … enter a key word and get a screen with example images. It being that time of year, I entered the word “turkey.”

turkey

Choose the image that represents the concept closest to the one you want (choosing the Thanksgiving turkey, rather than the map of Turkey). Now you’ll get a concept map like this:

turkey2You can then explore any subgroup in the cluster. It’s a pretty nice way of searching for images.

More on Swirl at the Official Google Blog.

Recently found … 11/18/2009

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Recently found … 11/17/2009

  • “Online timer stopwatch lets Internet users time a test, class, meeting, speech, contest, auction, experiment, phone call, game, etc.”

    tags: timer, stopwatch, tools

  • Open access journals provide high quality scholarly information at no cost. Most of the journals are published just once or a few times a year, so subscribe to several to keep up-to-date on the latest educational research.

    tags: education, journals, openaccess, research

  • With a free account, create charts and graphs for websites, blogs, social network profiles.

    tags: charts, graphs, visualization

  • “The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT®) is a FREE online tool that provides a set of questions to guide classroom observations of a number of key components of technology integration.”

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

  • “The TPR is a low-inference classroom observation instrument you can use to gather, analyze, and report data on teacher behaviors. The full TPR system will help you practice data-based decision making to guide and evaluate job-embedded professional development – PD that makes a positive difference in students’ academic lives.”

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration, cff

  • “Mobile Teacher Evaluation and Walkthrough Software for Principals By using TESA, our fully customizable teacher evaluation and classroom walkthrough software, principals can reduce the amount of time they spend accumulating and organizing their evaluation data. With only a Pocket PC handheld computer or Tablet PC in hand, TESA allows school principals to accurately and effortlessly record teacher evaluations or walk throughs in their custom evaluation methodology.”

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

  • Classroom Walkthrough and Classroom Observation Tools to Drive Achievement.

    “Classroom Walkthrough technology is a simple data collection application that can be added to most wireless handheld devices (e.g Palms, Blackberrys, Windows Mobile devices). Once uploaded, the data are shaped into reports, graphs, and eventually, insight. Teams of teachers at grade-level meetings and in faculty committees examine the data, working toward a shared goal of improving instruction and boosting student achievement. Areas of strength and needed growth are quickly identified so professional development can be planned appropriately.”

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

  • “One System for Classroom Walk-Throughs, Teacher Observations, Administrator Growth, and Professional Development.

    iObservation is a comprehensive system that advances professional growth by supporting reflective thought and dialogue around improving instructional practice. It enables administrators to focus on instructional leadership and facilitates the alignment of district initiatives while staying compliant with state and district requirements.”

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

  • “Collecting data on classroom instruction is one of the most important jobs of a school principal. Now, you can leverage the power and ease of a handheld computer to capture the most important instructional activities that occur during observations.

    T-Observe is a software program that resides on your Palm or Windows desktop/laptop and is synchronized to your Palm OS handheld computer (Pocket PC coming soon). It was created using HanDBase (www.ddhsoftware.com), a nationally recognized PDA software development company with years of experience. T-Observe does not replace a district’s evaluation process but augments that process by streamlining work and keeping accurate records of observations. “

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

  • Software for more accurate teacher observation and evaluation, eCOVE Classroom Observation Software is a collection of objective data collection tools to gather data on classroom behaviors.

    tags: classroom observation, teacher observation, educational administration

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.