Australia’s Digital Education Revolution? 1 June, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, children, education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts.Tags: Australia, Digital Education Revolution, ICT in Education
17 comments
NOT LONG after Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party was whisked into power in Australia after 12 years of conservative government, there were immediate and obvious differences that appeared. Rudd took no traditional “honeymoon” period, instead preferring to get straight to work on delivering his pre-election promises. One of these being the $1.2 billion “Digital Education Revolution“.
Games With A Purpose 17 May, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, education, games, Internet, Life.Tags: games, gwap, human computation, intelligence
8 comments
Humans compute very differently to computers. Knowledge, Intelligence and Wisdom are not terms often attributed to computers. The closest descriptors in the computer world are Data, Processors and Recursion. They’re just not the same.
Still Interested in a Class Blog? 22 April, 2008
Posted by jeopardygame in blogging, Brad & Phil, children, education, ICT in Education, Internet, Web 2.0.Tags: blogs, classroom, education, students
12 comments
If you’re still listening, I’ll assume you’re still interested in creating a class blog at your school. In part one, we concentrated on WHY teachers and schools should be blogging. In part two, we looked at WHAT had to be done to ensure student privacy and security. Now, in this third instalment of the class blogging series, we’ll look more closely at the HOW TO get started process.
Getting Started with Class Blogs 21 April, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in blogging, Brad & Phil, children, education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, technology, Web 2.0.Tags: blogs, classroom, education, schools, students, Web 2.0
7 comments
In the article “Why Teachers and Schools Should be Blogging“, I discussed the reasons and benefits of blogging in the classroom, but for the blogging-novice, there are student privacy, security and policy concerns that must be considered. Assuming you took notice of the content of that first article, this one will take you through the first steps of creating a class blog and is part of a series that will clarify and develop this process for teachers and schools starting out.
Why Teachers and Schools Should be Blogging 12 April, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in blogging, Brad & Phil, children, education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts.Tags: blogs, education, Life, students, teachers, Web 2.0
19 comments
MANY of our students leave school in the afternoon and go straight on-line as soon as they get home. They immediately start chatting with their friends on MSN, often holding down multiple conversations at the same time, seamlessly changing subjects and maintaining discussion threads as they swap from one chat window to the next. Their typing speed continually improves and in just one on-line session, they might type more text than they handwrite during their lessons at school in a whole day.
The Needle and the Damage Done 2 March, 2008
Posted by paralleldivergence in children, education, Life, Music.20 comments
The unexpected demise of famous young people due to “accidental” drug overdoses has dotted modern history. Janis Joplin, John Belushi, River Phoenix, Kurt Cobain, and Heath Ledger all succumbed to an addiction that snatched away their lives when they were in their prime. While crystal-meth, crack and ecstasy are now the most “popular” of illicit drugs, Heroin still remains the pinnacle.
SHOCKING – or De-sensitizing? 2 December, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in advertising, education, Internet, Life, shock, TV Shows.8 comments
GOVERNMENTS and authorities around the world have been using shock tactics in “Public Service Announcements” for several years now, but their use of graphic advertising has been on the increase. Certainly, it is universally acknowledged that smoking, driving without a seat belt and drugs are dangerous and carry certain risks, but it seems the public needs to be reminded, often on a daily basis, of these dangers in gory detail.
Brad & Phil’s Information R/evolution 25 November, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, education, film review, Half-Life 2, Humor, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts, technology, Web 2.0.10 comments
In early 2007, I discovered an amazingly-constructed video on YouTube by Dr Michael Wesch, an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University. The title of his video is “The Machine is Us/ing Us” and in under 5 minutes he managed to grab my attention like nothing else in recent times. If you’ve never seen this video, you really must- but you also must concentrate on it for full effect.
The Inflation of Earth… 2 March, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in astronomy, Earth, education, Geology, Google Earth.40 comments
When I went to school, one subject I really enjoyed was Geology – the study of the Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them. I also loved reading comic books and admiring the wonderful artists that produced the amazing pieces of artwork that filled each comic. But never in my wildest dreams did I think that a comic book artist would destroy the foundation of my understanding of the geology of our planet. But that’s exactly what one comic book artist has done.
OLPC: The Revolution Begins? 17 February, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, children, education, ICT in Education, Internet, Life, My Thoughts, OLPC, Politics.23 comments
In February 2007, the first of almost 2,500 “$150 Laptops” will be rolled out to school children in the poorest areas of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Nigeria, Libya, Rwanda and Cambodia. The ambitious “One Laptop Per Child” (OLPC) project was first devised in January 2005 with the concept of producing an affordable laptop computer specifically for the poorest and most-remote children in the world. Just two years and several prototypes later, the impressive lime-green and white “Children’s Machine” dubbed the XO is almost ready for mass-production.
Where is Humanity for A Girl Like Me? 27 January, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in children, education, Life, My Thoughts, Politics, racism.13 comments
When people run a project, an essential part of the success of that project is ongoing review. What did we do right? What did we do wrong? What could we have done better? Those evaluations and recommendations then must be applied to future projects to ensure progress. Why as a society would we not apply that same concept to our children? While it is our job to teach children, we must also listen to them and learn from them.
Forget your Day-Job. Become a Psychic! 18 January, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in education, Life, My Thoughts, psychics.53 comments
There seems to be an overwhelming number of “gifted” individuals on this planet. Just look at the classifieds in the newspaper or the advertising section in the back of virtually any women’s magazine. And for anywhere between $3 and $6 a minute, you can gain telephone access to them or their “team”.
How Saddam Killed the Death Penalty… 5 January, 2007
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, Death penalty, education, Life, My Thoughts, Political Correctness, Politics, Saddam.19 comments
As Saddam was hanged and his images were flashed around the globe, the reverberations of opposition to the Death Penalty quickly followed. It is so ironic that it has taken the death of such a murderous tyrant to raise the howls of complaint over capital punishment. These were not protests to save Saddam. These were protests to make sure Saddam was the last “legal execution” carried out by modern Man.
[click map to enlarge] (more…)
7 New Year’s Resolutions for your Brain 29 December, 2006
Posted by paralleldivergence in 2008 resolutions, Brad & Phil, education, My Thoughts, Resolutions.10 comments
Tired of the repetitive, pointless, run-of-the-mill New Year’s Resolutions like quitting smoking, losing weight and getting fit? These are the most resolved and least achieved resolutions, made in the heat of New Year celebrations. Achieving anything requires you to put your mind to the task – but what if your mind’s simply not up to it? What if your brain has been subjected to years of abuse ? Parental influence. Bandwagon-hopping. Too much FOX News. It’s time to think for yourself.
The Hajj is Peaceful, but is Islam? 9 December, 2006
Posted by paralleldivergence in Brad & Phil, education, God, Islam, My Thoughts, Political Correctness.119 comments
The largest pilgrimage in the world happens every year during the days of Hajj. From almost every country on Earth, about two and a half million Muslims, many of whom can barely afford to pay for the trip, will make what is one of their “duties” in life – a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. With the Islamic calendar based around lunar months, the period of Hajj occurs at different times of the year relative to the more common twelve-month calendar, and coincidentally, this year it is just after Christmas.
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