Committed Sardine Blog

Cell Phones Head to Class

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 10:55:29 PST

Drivers may not be allowed to hold a cell phone and chatter while wheeling through a school zone, but at least two area districts have decided to welcome the mobile devices indoors for students to use for educational purposes. While most area school districts maintain policies that ban students from using cell phones on campus, a few districts are breaking the mold and beginning to admit smart phones into the classroom as an educational tool on a par with a classroom computer. Though ...

Dogs: An Unusual Guide to School Reform

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 11:14:21 PST

Driving the country roads of Scotland, Ireland and Wales, I have sometimes been lucky enough to be blocked by sheep being moved from one pasture to another. I say ‘lucky' because it allows me to watch an impressive performance by a dog – usually a Border Collie. What a show! A single, mid-sized dog herding two or three hundred sheep, keeping them moving in the right direction, rounding up strays, knowing how to intimidate but not cause panic, funneling them all ...

Miniature Art on the Tip of Pencil by Dalton Ghetti

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 11:32:07 PST

Many artists have used pencils to create works of art – but Dalton Ghetti creates miniature masterpieces on the tips of pencils Dalton, who works as a carpenter, has been making his tiny graphite works for about 25 years. A sculpture of Elvis Presley wearing shades, carved from a single pencil. The 49 year old said: “At school I would carve a friend's name into the wood of a pencil and then give it to them as a present. Later, when I got into sculpture, I ...

11 Reasons Advanced Technology Classrooms Fail

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 10:16:46 PST

Over the last two decades, there have been few, if any, academic institutions that have not built new classrooms and integrated advanced classroom technology in them. Many of these undertakings have been successful, in the sense that the faculty, students, and administration thought that the technology was useful, that it worked as expected, and, that both teaching and learning goals were met in the new facilities. Unfortunately and all too frequently, however, there have been stories ...

Why Does the Media Still Think Video Games Are Bad For Kids?

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:06:23 PST

History has a funny way of repeating itself, especially when it comes to concerns over the cultural and psychological impact of video games on children. In 1993, the Senate's hearings on video game violence gave birth to the Entertainment Software Rating Board and the industry's current rating system: E for everyone, M for mature (17 and older) and so on. Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court will test the constitutionality of a California law that would make it illegal to ...

The WORST Education Fails Of All Time (PHOTOS)

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:56:57 PST

When it comes to "fails" it doesn't get much worse than those that are education related. We know nobody's perfect when it comes to typos, but if you are a place of learning you should at least be able to get your signage, text books, and students' work fail-free. These are some of the WORST education fails we could find. How smart do you feel now? Oh, Brother ... Slow down! This is a "shcool" zone! Hmmm ...

Do You Know Who's Watching You?

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:39:57 PST

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Former Governors Fight For Digital Learning

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:01:39 PST

Part of providing a 21st-century education means incorporating digital resources into the classroom, but not every school has the knowledge or necessary to implement education technology successfully. To help remedy this situation, former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and former Democratic Gov. Bob Wise of West Virginia have put their party differences aside to head a new Digital Learning Council that will create implementation guidelines for states and schools. According to Bush ...

Nicholas Negroponte: The Physical Book Is Dead In 5 Years

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:40:48 PST

At the Techonomy conference in Lake Tahoe, CA, CNBC's Maria Bartiromo sat down with a panel including Bill Joy, Kevin Kelly, Nicholas Negroponte, and ?Willie Smits. The topic was basically the future of technology. And Negroponte had the most interesting (or at least the most controversial) thing to say. The physical book is dead, according to Negroponte. He said he realizes that's going to be hard for a lot of people to accept. But you just have to think about film and ...

Skype Across the World in Your Classroom!

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 12:53:05 PST

Skype is a voice software application allowing users to talk to others across the world. Skype to Skype calls are free making it the perfect technology tool for the classroom. Using Skype in education is popular as teachers connect to classrooms worldwide to cross language and cultural barriers. Setting Up Skype in the Classroom Before setting up Skype, teachers must check with the school authorities on whether they have any objections to students using Skype as a social media ...

Your Workplace in 2020: Gartner's Predictions

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:09:18 PST

How will people work 10 years from now? Gartner thinks it has a pretty good idea, predicting 10 major changes that will occur during the next 10 years. "Work will become less routine, characterized by increased volatility, hyperconnectedness, 'swarming' and more," said Tom Austin, a Gartner fellow, in a media announcement. In just five years, the report notes, 40 percent or more of an organization's work will be "non-routine," which is up from 25 ...

The Big Picture: What Are We Making In School?

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:23:45 PST

Elliot Washor of Big Picture Learning organized an educational symposium during Maker Faire Detroit. The symposium brought together educators and practitioners who explored engaging the hands and minds of students, sometimes called thinkering. As a group, they experienced Maker Faire and then met to discuss "how making can be an integral part of how young people figure out who they are in the world." This is a really key idea, I think: what we can learn by making is a process of ...

15 Facts About Net Neutrality

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:21:46 PST

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The 7 Digital Sins of Online Collaboration

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:56:14 PST

I'm still in awe of the essence of the Web: connection and collaboration on a previously unimaginable scale. Yet I also feel like these connections waste my time. Not because anything in old media can provide them more effectively, but because the tools that make up the social web are still in a very early stage of evolution and they create a lot of unnecessary waste. This waste is a consequence of the Seven Digital Sins. The first digital sin: Disorder The absence of ...

10 Big Retailers Closing Stores

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:28:29 PST

Your next shopping trip may not be as convenient as it used to be. The second quarter earnings season brought news from several major retailers that they will be shutting down stores. Both Saks (SKS) and Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) said they were closing stores in several parts of the country. Meanwhile, other stores like the struggling Blockbuster video rental chain, continue to slash stores by the dozens. American Apparel (APP), which is close to defaulting on its loans, just may be ...

What is Prezi?

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 09:51:38 PST

The Official Prezi Introduction Video Prezi ...

Author Disconnects From Communication Devices to Reconnect With Life

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:00:14 PST

In this day and age, much communication is done by e-mail, text messages, Twitter and other forms of digital communication. William Powers, author of "Hamlet's Blackberry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age," explains how disconnecting from our screens may help us reconnect with our ...

Things You Didn't Know About YouTube

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:21:46 PST

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Top 5 Social Media Trends

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:13:11 PST

What's the first thing young women do when they wake up? Check Facebook. How do enterprise employees pass the time at work? With social media. With so many studies highlighting ever-accelerating social media usage rates, the conclusion is obvious — social media is everywhere. What follows are five of the hottest social media trends right now. Each are influencing our social, online and mobile behaviors in significant ways. Entertainment checkin services are changing ...

Windsor Whiz kid, 10, Kept Out of High School

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:54:18 PST

An academically gifted 10-year-old will have to repeat some grade levels -- because he's too young for high school. Windsor resident Bachar Sbeiti said he's growing depressed the public school board won't let him enrol in Grade 9 this fall despite his completion of the Grade 8 curriculum through private school. "It makes me feel bad," said the boy. "The city, I believe, should encourage people to go higher and be smarter." But Sharon Pyke, a ...