What could be nerdier than a huge ed-tech trade show? It has technology, teachers, curriculum, and lot of gee whiz bang products. I’m sure a couple of the hotels had mad D&D sessions going late into the night. I’ll tell you what is nerdier – judging the marketing efforts at…
At ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia this week we were blessed with gorgeous summer weather, hot but not oppressive days and cool evenings perfect for a city walk. The show was hot too, well attended and and well run. So it may seem like an odd time to declare that this…
When educators choose new classroom materials their first challenge is to sift through dozens of options and narrow the search down to four to five options. In other words before they say “yes” to one solution they need to find reasons to say “no” to a host of other options.…
My 17 year old son is in the other room using a kayak paddle with chain saws attached at either end to slice zombies in half. I’m sitting here minding my own business when out of the blue he says “Dad, this game is great for teaching time management skills.”…
Posted without comment. Flocabulary – Much Ado About Nothing Rap from Flocabulary on Vimeo.
In an age of information overload Librarians are the pilots who can help us quickly navigate to what is meaningful. Said differently – librarian’s rock and they make a huge difference in schools. Here is a video made by a school for a library aid who got laid off due…
The role of textbooks in a rapidly digitizing world is an open question. The publishing industry needs to develop a new paradigm for commercially produced instructional materials or it faces extinction. Will they be replaced by digital learning packs of atomized content? Will Professors self-publish whatever materials they need? Will…
The International Reading Association’s annual conference has been steadily declining in attendance (and thus importance to vendors) for several years now. From a draw of 20,000 attendees the show now attracts less than 8,000. From a content standpoint it remains a top drawer event. That isn’t the focus of this…
Email marketing is pretty simple – as much as possible communicate with people who want to hear from you. But a subset of these folks just don’t get it. If I go to the trouble of clicking “unsubscribe” please do not send me ANOTHER FRICKING EMAIL CONFIRMING I NO LONGER…
John Scalzi was interviewed by Library Journal recently. Among other things he addressed ePublishing, copyright, and the role of libraries in our culture. As always he dispatched wisdom with a solid dose of wit. The whole article is here – it will be a well spent 10 minutes to get…