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IMG_4955.jpgI’ll be reviewing the findings of the white paper I wrote for SIIA on Best Practices for Implementing Games & Simulations in the Classroom today at 4 ET (corrected). The webinar and the paper are free.

We interviewed teachers, administrators, and vendors who have successfully implemented edugames and distilled the lessons they learned about how to sell the idea, how to prepare, and classroom management issues. It is a very practical hands on look at this arena and has implications for educators and people designing edugames.

The webinar is part of EdWeb’s lively Game Based Learning Community (500+ members). It is the first in a series of webinars with luminaries like Jim Bower, Chris Dede, and Dan Norton.

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Will e-publishing kill traditional publishing houses? The following is presented as an antidote to this meme.

John Scalzi is not only an extraordinarily good science fiction writer he is also a pioneer in e-publishing and a very funny blogger. I loved this piece because it encapsulates so much of the current self-absorbed silliness and wishful thinking that poses as strategic thinking in publishing and those trying to kill it.

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Take a deep breath and ask the questions deeply about what it means and you will see how wrong most of these statements are.

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bookres-lamp-20110216-094132What is good product development? The answer is deceptively simple to answer and devilishly difficult to pull off. Basically people want three things – better, faster, cheaper. All the complicated analysis in the world boils down to these three fundamentals. Get them right and your odds of success go way up.

You need to nail at least two of them, preferably all three. You need hard evidence to prove you are doing them – and the definition of success must be from the customer’s perspective.

While it is easy to see how this plays out in technology (better/cheaper = iPad 1 vs laptop, better/faster = iPad2 vs iPad 1, cheaper/faster = Netbooks vs. iPad) it is more difficult to suss out what this means in education.

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I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this.

Notice to All Banker Types from a Teacher

Also too:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Dairyland – For Richer and Poorer – Teachers and Wall Street
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

The hypocrisy is staggering. Bail out banks with trillions of taxpayer dollars – “bonuses are contracts and you can’t touch them.” Banks drive economy into the ditch and cause funding crisis for schools – “teachers are overpaid and coddled so unwind teacher contracts to solve the problem.” Sociopaths is the most charitable term I can think of to describe the people making these arguments.

My take from another angle on this subject from the middle of the healthcare debate:
Pre-Existing Ignorance – Healthcare vs. Education

OPOL

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NFImageImportWhat are the missing skills needed in education publishing to create 21st Century products for 21st Century learners? I penned a thought experiment for EdNet on this topic.

Education Publishing’s Own 21st Century Skills Gap – Change Begins At-Home Edition

Fun Architects, Content Marines, Talent Wranglers, and Shibboleth Hunters all get shout outs.

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778689_grillA fresh batch of piping hot links that may be of interest to those in educational materials.

Are game mechanics the key to great social media marketing? The following link weaves some fascinating connections between the world of gaming and the world of encouraging people to try new things (the essence of marketing).

Everything I ever learned about marketing I learned from Dungeons and Dragons by Ian Lurie at Conversation Marketing.

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tableskaterWhat is the best way to break into education publishing? If you are young and starting out what launching pads set you up well for a career in the world of instructional materials and software?

I’m bullish in the industry and think we are in one of the most creative and fascinating eras as traditional print publishing blends with digital production and distribution. There is going to be a huge amount of disruption but there will be an enormous amount of opportunity in the midst of all the changes.

In the first part of this series I focused on the best ways to prepare and organize your search. Today I turn the focus on what kinds of jobs industry entrants should consider.

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card953How do you find a job in education publishing or technology?

Recently I was asked for my thoughts on entering our industry by a mid-twenties alum of my high school. In the course of the conversation I found myself getting re-excited by all the great prospects in our industry. It also spurred me to turn my own experience over and reflect on what worked for me 25 years ago when I was in his shoes.

I’m grateful I was asked to help because it brought my focus back to why we do what we do.

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Do you have a bright idea for new education business? Today’s guest post is from the team over at the Zell/Lurie Institute’s Social Media Fund. Note that the deadline for submission is February 18th – shake out those fingers and warm up the keyboard.

By Darrin Nagengast

SvF_logo.jpgThe Social Venture Fund at the University of Michigan is one of the world’s first student-run venture capital firms focused on supporting social entrepreneurs. We’ve been covered in the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek and are currently looking to make an investment of up to $250,000in a groundbreaking social enterprise.

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Social media mirrors the dynamic features of a natural ecosystem. Which niche you are going to fill? Here are four examples with loving snarkitude – feel free to add more in comments.

Hamsters constantly post small updates on every aspect of their life. Favorite habitats are Twitter and Facebook. They eat any small scrap of feedback up. Want to know what they had for dinner or what their kids did this afternoon? They will be spinning along on their wheel of self-absorption assuming the whole world is fascinated. If you are a dear friend or a family member I might be interested in this – in small doses. If you are an acquaintance – not so much.

Owls save their powder for long blog posts on their theory of life – posting infrequently but weighing down your RSS reader with dense prose. Favorite habitats are Blogger or their own bespoke blog. They eat spam comments by the barrel and sustain themselves on the infrequent genuine comment that validates their sense of importance. They sit on the Internet’s roof and hoot out who, how, and why? But really – why?

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