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Announcing TeachAde Facebook Page

Filed under: Elementary Online Resources, On-line Learning, Resources, Social Media, Virtual Worlds In Education — Tags: current events, Education, facebook, online resources, Social Media, technology — 9960 @ 3:02 am

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The TeachAde team would like to invite you to check out the new TeachAde Facebook page. Check us out here, TeachAde Facebook Page, and if you are already a Facebook user, just click on the “Like” button to become a fan and receive our updates on your personal Facebook home pages.TeachAde is dedicated to supporting educators and making their jobs easier by providing access to valuable resources, current events, peer insight and community. Our Facebook page is an extension of what we provide here - and an easy way for those of you who are already using Facebook to keep track of current events on TeachAde.com as well as in the world of education, and as a place to quickly and efficiently communicate with like-minded people.

So please take a moment to head over to the TeachAde Facebook page, click on the “Like” button, and participate in this exciting community dedicated to supporting educators and the education community across the nation.

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Apple Crazed Educators

Filed under: Technology In The Classroom — Tags: technology — mpearce@ teachade.com @ 1:54 am

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AppleInsider has learned that Apple is limiting employee vacations, starting the last week of January and lasting for three weeks. Usually, that’s indicative of a major product launch.
BGR has confirmed a vacation blackout for Feb 3-6, indicating that the Verizon iPhone may be the product to be launched:
While BGR has not yet confirmed that the Verizon iPhone is the device we’ll see debut on the 3rd, the timing lines up very well with previous reports; no other Apple products have been rumored to be launching in this time frame.
Only employees with seniority can take some time off, but nobody else.
Another tip that something’s up is many of the company’s holiday-retail staff was retained after the holiday season shut down.
ifoAppleStore.com also reported that a popular product — or raft of products — will be introduced in late january to early February.
The Verizon-compatible iPhone is a long-standing rumor (that seems calcified into truth, but isn’t confirmed). An update to MacBook Pros and iPads are possible.
And a kick-start to the Air has been floated before, too.
And, of course, there’s at least one more thing before the Lion OS launches later this year, too.

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Bill Gates thinks something is going to die too.

Filed under: General — Tags: Add new tag, Ed Tech, Tech In Education, technology — mpearce@ teachade.com @ 10:40 pm

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Bill Gates thinks something is going to die too.

No, it’s not physical books like Nicholas Negroponte - instead, Gates thinks the idea of young adults having to go to universities in order to get an education is going to go away relatively soon. Well, provided they’re self-motivated learners.

“Five years from now on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world,” Gates said at the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA today. “It will be better than any single university,” he continued.

He believes that no matter how you came about your knowledge, you should get credit for it. Whether it’s an MIT degree or if you got everything you know from lectures on the web, there needs to be a way to highlight that.

He made sure to say that educational institutions are still vital for children, K-12. He spoke glowingly about charter schools, where kids can spend up to 80% of their time deeply engaged with learning.

But college needs to be less “place-based,” according to Gates. Well, except for the parties, he joked.

But his overall point is that it’s just too expensive and too hard to get these upper-level educations. And soon place-based college educations will be five times less important than they are today.

One particular problem with the education system according to Gates is text books. Even in grade schools, they can be 300 pages for a book about math. “They’re giant, intimidating books,” he said. “I look at them and think: what on Earth is in there?”

According to Gates, our text books are three times longer than the equivalents in Asia. And yet they’re beating us in many ways with education. The problem is that these things are built by committee, and more things are simply added on top of what’s already in there.

Gates said that technology is the only way to bring education back under control and expand it.

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