Edgenuity introduces 10 new online and blended classes

"Edgenuity, a leading provider of online and blended learning solutions, announced the release of ten new courses heading into the 2014-2015 school year." continues PRWeb.

“These new courses complement our current roster of more than 200 semester-long offerings, giving teachers, schools and districts a wide range of options for their online and blended learning programs,” said Sari Factor, CEO, Edgenuity. “From core curriculum to career and technical education, our focus is on providing engaging, rigorous coursework that will teach students to think critically, problem solve and express their ideas clearly.”

The new course offerings include:

• Algebra I – An all-new edition of Edgenuity’s most popular course, with more real-world connections, interactive tools and models, worked examples, and performance tasks to help students meet the rigor of challenging standards.
• Physical Science – Focused on traditional concepts in chemistry and physics, this course provides an overview of scientific principles and procedures with virtual labs, interactive simulations and models, and project-based activities designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards.
• English Language Arts 9 – Invites students to explore both classic and contemporary texts with a focus on literary analysis and inferential evaluation of poetry, drama, and literary nonfiction, mastering comprehension and literary-analysis strategies.
• AP World History – This challenging course for advanced students joins Edgenuity’s existing AP suite, which also includes courses such as AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, AP Spanish and French, and AP Environmental Science.
• Computer Applications: Microsoft® Office® – Introduces students to the features and functionality of Microsoft Office through video instruction, interactive skill demonstrations, and hands-on practice assignments.
• Expository Reading and Writing – Designed to develop critical reading and writing skills while preparing high school students to meet the demands of college-level work. Students explore short but complex fiction and poetry, and focus on expository and persuasive texts and analytical reading.
• Modern World History – Examines major events and turning points of world history from the Enlightenment to the present through an investigation of the foundational ideas that shaped the modern world.
• Medical Terminology – Introduces students to the structure of medical terms, medical abbreviations and acronyms. The course allows students to achieve comprehension of medical vocabulary appropriate to health care settings, medical procedures, pharmacology, human anatomy and physiology, and pathology.
• Microsoft Office Specialist – Introduces students to the features and functionality of Microsoft® Office® while preparing them for the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of the Microsoft User Specialist (MOS) certification program.
• Georgia Studies – Examines the major events of Georgia history from Paleolithic times to the present, tracing the events surrounding the European settlement of Georgia, statehood, the Civil War, and modern times in the context of the development of the United States.

Multimedia content such as graphs, charts, diagrams, animations, simulations, and labs, as well as an emphasis on analytical problem-solving skills are incorporated throughout the courses to drive student engagement. Assignments and projects encourage students to apply critical thinking skills and demonstrate their learning. 
Read more... 

Source: PRWeb

Edgenuity introduces 10 new online and blended classes

"Edgenuity, a leading provider of online and blended learning solutions, announced the release of ten new courses heading into the 2014-2015 school year." continues PRWeb.

“These new courses complement our current roster of more than 200 semester-long offerings, giving teachers, schools and districts a wide range of options for their online and blended learning programs,” said Sari Factor, CEO, Edgenuity. “From core curriculum to career and technical education, our focus is on providing engaging, rigorous coursework that will teach students to think critically, problem solve and express their ideas clearly.”

The new course offerings include:

• Algebra I – An all-new edition of Edgenuity’s most popular course, with more real-world connections, interactive tools and models, worked examples, and performance tasks to help students meet the rigor of challenging standards.
• Physical Science – Focused on traditional concepts in chemistry and physics, this course provides an overview of scientific principles and procedures with virtual labs, interactive simulations and models, and project-based activities designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards.
• English Language Arts 9 – Invites students to explore both classic and contemporary texts with a focus on literary analysis and inferential evaluation of poetry, drama, and literary nonfiction, mastering comprehension and literary-analysis strategies.
• AP World History – This challenging course for advanced students joins Edgenuity’s existing AP suite, which also includes courses such as AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, AP Spanish and French, and AP Environmental Science.
• Computer Applications: Microsoft® Office® – Introduces students to the features and functionality of Microsoft Office through video instruction, interactive skill demonstrations, and hands-on practice assignments.
• Expository Reading and Writing – Designed to develop critical reading and writing skills while preparing high school students to meet the demands of college-level work. Students explore short but complex fiction and poetry, and focus on expository and persuasive texts and analytical reading.
• Modern World History – Examines major events and turning points of world history from the Enlightenment to the present through an investigation of the foundational ideas that shaped the modern world.
• Medical Terminology – Introduces students to the structure of medical terms, medical abbreviations and acronyms. The course allows students to achieve comprehension of medical vocabulary appropriate to health care settings, medical procedures, pharmacology, human anatomy and physiology, and pathology.
• Microsoft Office Specialist – Introduces students to the features and functionality of Microsoft® Office® while preparing them for the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of the Microsoft User Specialist (MOS) certification program.
• Georgia Studies – Examines the major events of Georgia history from Paleolithic times to the present, tracing the events surrounding the European settlement of Georgia, statehood, the Civil War, and modern times in the context of the development of the United States.

Multimedia content such as graphs, charts, diagrams, animations, simulations, and labs, as well as an emphasis on analytical problem-solving skills are incorporated throughout the courses to drive student engagement. Assignments and projects encourage students to apply critical thinking skills and demonstrate their learning. 
Read more... 

Source: PRWeb

New book - To Look Closely, Science and Literacy in the Natural World

"Nature study is a springboard to inquiry-based learning. To Look Closely gives teachers everything they need to start and sustain units of study that integrate science with reading comprehension strategies and writing in a variety of genres." summarizes Education Week.

Laurie invites you to join her class of twenty-one second graders as they visit a small stream in the woods behind a suburban elementary school, and she shares her reflections on class discussions, activities, and learning experiences. From setting a tone of inquiry-based thinking in the classroom to suggesting specific units of study for reading, writing, and science, Laurie guides teachers step-by-step through the basics of how to integrate the skills acquired through nature study into every subject. You will also discover all the ways this purposeful work nurtures "green" citizens who grow up determined to value and protect the natural environment.

Filled with student journal entries, narratives, and poems inspired by experiences in the natural world, To Look Closely will inspire and encourage you to become a careful observer of your own "sit spots" outdoors and embrace nature study for a year—or for whatever part of a year is possible for you. This book will change the way you view the world. 

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Nature Study?
Chapter 1: Ten Tips for Getting Started on Nature Study
Chapter 2: Moments of Science
Chapter 3: A Year at the Stream - Autumn
Chapter 4: A Year at the Stream - Winter
Chapter 5: A Year at the Stream - Spring
Chapter 6: Literacy Through Nature Study - Reading
Chapter 7: Literacy Through Nature Study - Writing
Chapter 8: Creating Stewards of the Natural World
Postscript
Appendixes 
Preview the entire book online!

About Laurie Rubin
Laurie Rubin taught first and second grades in Ithaca, New York for twenty-three years where nature study became the heart of her curriculum. She currently consults and presents on a variety of education topics including literacy and critical thinking skills.
Read more...

Source: Stenhouse Publishers and Education Week

New book - To Look Closely, Science and Literacy in the Natural World

"Nature study is a springboard to inquiry-based learning. To Look Closely gives teachers everything they need to start and sustain units of study that integrate science with reading comprehension strategies and writing in a variety of genres." summarizes Education Week.

Laurie invites you to join her class of twenty-one second graders as they visit a small stream in the woods behind a suburban elementary school, and she shares her reflections on class discussions, activities, and learning experiences. From setting a tone of inquiry-based thinking in the classroom to suggesting specific units of study for reading, writing, and science, Laurie guides teachers step-by-step through the basics of how to integrate the skills acquired through nature study into every subject. You will also discover all the ways this purposeful work nurtures "green" citizens who grow up determined to value and protect the natural environment.

Filled with student journal entries, narratives, and poems inspired by experiences in the natural world, To Look Closely will inspire and encourage you to become a careful observer of your own "sit spots" outdoors and embrace nature study for a year—or for whatever part of a year is possible for you. This book will change the way you view the world. 

Table of Contents 

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Nature Study?
Chapter 1: Ten Tips for Getting Started on Nature Study
Chapter 2: Moments of Science
Chapter 3: A Year at the Stream - Autumn
Chapter 4: A Year at the Stream - Winter
Chapter 5: A Year at the Stream - Spring
Chapter 6: Literacy Through Nature Study - Reading
Chapter 7: Literacy Through Nature Study - Writing
Chapter 8: Creating Stewards of the Natural World
Postscript
Appendixes 
Preview the entire book online!

About Laurie Rubin
Laurie Rubin taught first and second grades in Ithaca, New York for twenty-three years where nature study became the heart of her curriculum. She currently consults and presents on a variety of education topics including literacy and critical thinking skills.
Read more...

Source: Stenhouse Publishers and Education Week

4 apps for Chemical reactions, Quick Fractions and more

Tweet me: Laura Devaney

"We're back with our monthly round-up of apps we've featured each week, so don't miss out on these great resources." writes Laura Devaney, Managing Editor.

Photo: eSchool News

 
Each week, we feature a new App of the Week on our website and in our newsletters. These apps are for students or educators and offer a range of uses.
 
But one thing is certain: educators and students are using apps now more than ever.
Here’s a round-up of the apps we’ve featured over the past month. 

Check back each Monday for a new App of the Week. And don’t worry–if you miss one, you can find a summary of recent apps at the end of each month.
Read more...

Source: eSchool News 

4 apps for Chemical reactions, Quick Fractions and more

Tweet me: Laura Devaney

"We're back with our monthly round-up of apps we've featured each week, so don't miss out on these great resources." writes Laura Devaney, Managing Editor.

Photo: eSchool News

 
Each week, we feature a new App of the Week on our website and in our newsletters. These apps are for students or educators and offer a range of uses.
 
But one thing is certain: educators and students are using apps now more than ever.
Here’s a round-up of the apps we’ve featured over the past month. 

Check back each Monday for a new App of the Week. And don’t worry–if you miss one, you can find a summary of recent apps at the end of each month.
Read more...

Source: eSchool News 

The Mobile Learning Tipping Point by DR. ALLEN PARTRIDGE

Follow on Twitter as @shanhassa

"mLearning has been a buzzword in eLearning for decades. Nearly every year someone speculates that the time for mLearning has finally arrived – and just about that often we discover that still – very few people actually are producing their learning content for mobile devices. You can imagine then that it is with some trepidation that I enter into the arena, to echo voices that have often proclaimed a start to the mobile land-rush." reports Allen Partridge.

Nonetheless, the landscape is clearly changing all around us. 
A recent (2012) study from Sterling Brands and Ipsos, commissioned by Google, found that Americans (participants were from Boston, Austin and Los Angeles) engage with screens (computer, tablet, television & smart phones) 90% of the time. Participants reported that only 10% of their daily interactions with media were with printed publications. It’s a paradigm altering realization when you consider that all but a few interactions with media, are with rich – screen based media. We are truly a screen interfacing nation. The same study went on to identify staggering numbers of individual daily interaction with various devices, and reported that Americans typically spend a lot of time interacting with the screens on their devices and watching their televisions.

According to the same study, we spend an average of 4.1 hours each day interacting with screens. About a quarter of our interactions (24%) are spent on a personal computer, while nearly 4/10 (38%) of those screen interactions are with our smart phones. 9 % of daily interactions are with a Tablet, and the remaining time is spent before a television. Interestingly, the study also revealed that we are attempting to multi-task much of that time. The study found that 77% of TV viewers are using a smart device while they watch television.

It makes sense in this context to also examine the potential of mLearning to add value to learning overall. Just as the behavior of people has changed to adapt to the presence of mobile devices (consider obsessive texting and facebooking over lunch for example) it is also an open door to consider expanding the opportunity for learning content because it is unhinged from the traditional office environment and because of the additional tools that are exposed thanks to the tablet and smartphone capabilities.
 
You could summarize this enhanced capacity as follows;

• Mobile learners are free to learn anywhere.
• Mobile learners are free to learn anytime.
• Mobile learners are able to move while learning.
• Mobile learners can be tracked physically – the location of their learning becomes a potential learning tool.
• Mobile learners can make use of the conventions of touch computing, including gestures and pinch zooms for example.
• Mobile learners can interact with their devices in unexpected ways – like tilting or flipping a phone to communicate an idea or give an instruction.
• Mobile learners can communicate with others using their devices.
• Mobile learners can create images and video with their devices.

So have we reached the tipping point at which mobile learning developers will finally start producing content that leverages the power of mobile learning?
Read more... 

Related links

Interview with Allen Partridge, Adobe Systems - (E-Learning Queen). 
Trends in eLearning 2014; Video, Flipped Classrooms, Mobile Learning, Location Based Learning, Australia Zoo and More from Allen Partridge

Source: Rapid eLearning | Adobe Captivate Blog  

The Mobile Learning Tipping Point by DR. ALLEN PARTRIDGE

Follow on Twitter as @shanhassa

"mLearning has been a buzzword in eLearning for decades. Nearly every year someone speculates that the time for mLearning has finally arrived – and just about that often we discover that still – very few people actually are producing their learning content for mobile devices. You can imagine then that it is with some trepidation that I enter into the arena, to echo voices that have often proclaimed a start to the mobile land-rush." reports Allen Partridge.

Nonetheless, the landscape is clearly changing all around us. 
A recent (2012) study from Sterling Brands and Ipsos, commissioned by Google, found that Americans (participants were from Boston, Austin and Los Angeles) engage with screens (computer, tablet, television & smart phones) 90% of the time. Participants reported that only 10% of their daily interactions with media were with printed publications. It’s a paradigm altering realization when you consider that all but a few interactions with media, are with rich – screen based media. We are truly a screen interfacing nation. The same study went on to identify staggering numbers of individual daily interaction with various devices, and reported that Americans typically spend a lot of time interacting with the screens on their devices and watching their televisions.

According to the same study, we spend an average of 4.1 hours each day interacting with screens. About a quarter of our interactions (24%) are spent on a personal computer, while nearly 4/10 (38%) of those screen interactions are with our smart phones. 9 % of daily interactions are with a Tablet, and the remaining time is spent before a television. Interestingly, the study also revealed that we are attempting to multi-task much of that time. The study found that 77% of TV viewers are using a smart device while they watch television.

It makes sense in this context to also examine the potential of mLearning to add value to learning overall. Just as the behavior of people has changed to adapt to the presence of mobile devices (consider obsessive texting and facebooking over lunch for example) it is also an open door to consider expanding the opportunity for learning content because it is unhinged from the traditional office environment and because of the additional tools that are exposed thanks to the tablet and smartphone capabilities.
 
You could summarize this enhanced capacity as follows;

• Mobile learners are free to learn anywhere.
• Mobile learners are free to learn anytime.
• Mobile learners are able to move while learning.
• Mobile learners can be tracked physically – the location of their learning becomes a potential learning tool.
• Mobile learners can make use of the conventions of touch computing, including gestures and pinch zooms for example.
• Mobile learners can interact with their devices in unexpected ways – like tilting or flipping a phone to communicate an idea or give an instruction.
• Mobile learners can communicate with others using their devices.
• Mobile learners can create images and video with their devices.

So have we reached the tipping point at which mobile learning developers will finally start producing content that leverages the power of mobile learning?
Read more... 

Related links

Interview with Allen Partridge, Adobe Systems - (E-Learning Queen). 
Trends in eLearning 2014; Video, Flipped Classrooms, Mobile Learning, Location Based Learning, Australia Zoo and More from Allen Partridge

Source: Rapid eLearning | Adobe Captivate Blog  

The Scout Report: Research and Education - July 25, 2014

Check out these highlights from The Internet Scout Project.

  July 25, 2014 -- Volume 20, Number 28

US Environmental Protection Agency: Students for the Environment

http://www.epa.gov/students/

Working with students who are eager to know more about the environment? You'll want to make a beeline to the EPA's Students for the Environment site. The helpful site consists of three primary sections: Students K-12; Educators and Parents; and News and Deadlines. In the first section, visitors can look over games and quizzes that tie educational guidelines to thoughtful explorations on water quality, insects, and more. A variety of Homework Resources can also be found in this section, featuring a range of external links and information. Moving on, the Educators and Parents area brings together information about evaluating the "greenness" of schools, along with a raft of lesson plans dealing primarily with environmental science and the like. The last area includes news updates on science education and exciting new resources.
Read more... 

Technopanics: Moral Panics about Technology

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studies/cms-s60-technopanics-moral-panics-about-technology-spring-2013/

Why is everyone all a-panic about the Internet and the (sometimes) deviant behavior it might seem to enable? This fine OpenCourseWare offering from Professor Marcella Therese Szabiewicz takes a look at a "number of technopanics" of late. The course begins by looking at how similar panics about "old" media (books, films, and the like) set historical precedents for these current fears. Visitors can look over the syllabus, check out the full course calendar, and also download all of the course materials in one fell swoop. A selection of the readings are available online for free and visitors will appreciate the detailed nature that the syllabus offers.
Read more... 

Community College Pathways: Summative Assessments and Student Learning

http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/pathways/CCP_Assessment_Report_2014.pdf

How do students learn on community college campuses? It's a great question and one that forms the basis of this Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report. Released in July 2014, this report from Scott Strother and Nicole Sowers looks at how students in community colleges work to complete developmental mathematics courses. The Pathways program created by the Carnegie Foundation is the primary subject of their inquiry and the authors were charged with researching the program's effectiveness. An executive summary along with a host of findings based on rigorous statistical analysis and interviews are featured here.
Read more... 

Source: Internet Scout Project

The Scout Report: Research and Education - July 25, 2014

Check out these highlights from The Internet Scout Project.

  July 25, 2014 -- Volume 20, Number 28

US Environmental Protection Agency: Students for the Environment

http://www.epa.gov/students/

Working with students who are eager to know more about the environment? You'll want to make a beeline to the EPA's Students for the Environment site. The helpful site consists of three primary sections: Students K-12; Educators and Parents; and News and Deadlines. In the first section, visitors can look over games and quizzes that tie educational guidelines to thoughtful explorations on water quality, insects, and more. A variety of Homework Resources can also be found in this section, featuring a range of external links and information. Moving on, the Educators and Parents area brings together information about evaluating the "greenness" of schools, along with a raft of lesson plans dealing primarily with environmental science and the like. The last area includes news updates on science education and exciting new resources.
Read more... 

Technopanics: Moral Panics about Technology

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/comparative-media-studies/cms-s60-technopanics-moral-panics-about-technology-spring-2013/

Why is everyone all a-panic about the Internet and the (sometimes) deviant behavior it might seem to enable? This fine OpenCourseWare offering from Professor Marcella Therese Szabiewicz takes a look at a "number of technopanics" of late. The course begins by looking at how similar panics about "old" media (books, films, and the like) set historical precedents for these current fears. Visitors can look over the syllabus, check out the full course calendar, and also download all of the course materials in one fell swoop. A selection of the readings are available online for free and visitors will appreciate the detailed nature that the syllabus offers.
Read more... 

Community College Pathways: Summative Assessments and Student Learning

http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/sites/default/files/pathways/CCP_Assessment_Report_2014.pdf

How do students learn on community college campuses? It's a great question and one that forms the basis of this Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching report. Released in July 2014, this report from Scott Strother and Nicole Sowers looks at how students in community colleges work to complete developmental mathematics courses. The Pathways program created by the Carnegie Foundation is the primary subject of their inquiry and the authors were charged with researching the program's effectiveness. An executive summary along with a host of findings based on rigorous statistical analysis and interviews are featured here.
Read more... 

Source: Internet Scout Project

Current Site and App of the Week - eSchool News July 30, 2014

Current Site of the Week 

"A new free solution directly addresses the Common Core implementation challenges looming ahead for K-12 schools and districts around the country." writes eSchool News.

Edulastic is a web-based formative assessment platform that helps teachers prepare and deliver effective Common Core curricula by simultaneously improving the assessment creation, assignment, and grading processes.

Edulastic helps educators achieve their Common Core curriculum objectives in several ways:

• Provides meaningful homework solutions and daily assessments for evaluating and supporting student mastery of Common Core standards.
• Enables teachers to craft standards-aligned formative assessments with highly interactive, freeform questions defined by Smarter Balanced & PARCC.
• Offers free curated content that includes thousands of standards-aligned questions crafted by other teachers.
• Provides insights into student proficiency at an aggregate and individual level, enabling teachers to identify areas where a student needs personalized instruction, intervention or remediation.
• Facilitates the adoption of benchmarked standardized assessments through a collaborative evaluation process that can be applied across districts and within broader learning communities.

Edulastic allows teachers to use day-to-day assessment insights to shape learning outcomes. By giving teachers a new level of pedagogical ownership, Edulastic uses homework and in-class assignments as the basis for continuous and comprehensive evaluations.

“We’ve placed an emphasis on making it easy for teachers to create, share and adopt proven assessment strategies,” said Madhu Narasa, CEO of Edulastic. “We want to accelerate student learning—and help relieve stress associated with assessments and the Common Core implementation process—while delivering timely and useful information for students, educators, parents, and policymakers.”

Read more... 

Apps of the Week

Name: Global Shark Tracker

What is it? An app for tracking and observing navigational patterns of sharks

Best for: Students and teachers

Price: Free

Requirements: iOS 5.1 or later; Android 2.2 and up

Features: OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker lets you observe the navigational pattern of sharks that have been tagged with satellite tracking technology all for the purpose of shark conservation. OCEARCH facilitates unprecedented research by supporting leading researchers and institutions seeking to attain groundbreaking data on the biology and health of sharks, in conjunction with basic research on shark life history and migration.

Related links
Visit iTunes to buy and download apps 
Google play

Source: eSchool News

Current Site and App of the Week - eSchool News July 30, 2014

Current Site of the Week 

"A new free solution directly addresses the Common Core implementation challenges looming ahead for K-12 schools and districts around the country." writes eSchool News.

Edulastic is a web-based formative assessment platform that helps teachers prepare and deliver effective Common Core curricula by simultaneously improving the assessment creation, assignment, and grading processes.

Edulastic helps educators achieve their Common Core curriculum objectives in several ways:

• Provides meaningful homework solutions and daily assessments for evaluating and supporting student mastery of Common Core standards.
• Enables teachers to craft standards-aligned formative assessments with highly interactive, freeform questions defined by Smarter Balanced & PARCC.
• Offers free curated content that includes thousands of standards-aligned questions crafted by other teachers.
• Provides insights into student proficiency at an aggregate and individual level, enabling teachers to identify areas where a student needs personalized instruction, intervention or remediation.
• Facilitates the adoption of benchmarked standardized assessments through a collaborative evaluation process that can be applied across districts and within broader learning communities.

Edulastic allows teachers to use day-to-day assessment insights to shape learning outcomes. By giving teachers a new level of pedagogical ownership, Edulastic uses homework and in-class assignments as the basis for continuous and comprehensive evaluations.

“We’ve placed an emphasis on making it easy for teachers to create, share and adopt proven assessment strategies,” said Madhu Narasa, CEO of Edulastic. “We want to accelerate student learning—and help relieve stress associated with assessments and the Common Core implementation process—while delivering timely and useful information for students, educators, parents, and policymakers.”

Read more... 

Apps of the Week

Name: Global Shark Tracker

What is it? An app for tracking and observing navigational patterns of sharks

Best for: Students and teachers

Price: Free

Requirements: iOS 5.1 or later; Android 2.2 and up

Features: OCEARCH’s Global Shark Tracker lets you observe the navigational pattern of sharks that have been tagged with satellite tracking technology all for the purpose of shark conservation. OCEARCH facilitates unprecedented research by supporting leading researchers and institutions seeking to attain groundbreaking data on the biology and health of sharks, in conjunction with basic research on shark life history and migration.

Related links
Visit iTunes to buy and download apps  
Google play

Source: eSchool News

New Book: How Not To Be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life by Jordan Ellenberg

Follow on Twitter as @evelynjlamb

"How Not to Be Wrong, the first popular math book by University of Wisconsin-Madison math professor Jordan Ellenberg, just hit the shelves. In addition to a Ph.D. in math, Ellenberg has an MFA in creative writing and has been writing about math for popular audiences for several years. Unsurprisingly, the book is witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read." writes Evelyn Lamb.  

Contact: ordan@jordanellenberg.com

How Not to Be Wrong is not a popular math book about the Finonacci sequence or pi. It goes deeper. In the introduction, Ellenberg divides mathematical facts into four quadrants: they can be simple and shallow, simple and profound, complicated and shallow, or complicated and profound. The book hangs out in the “simple and profound” quadrant.
Read more..
Buy this book

About Jordan Ellenberg
Jordan Ellenberg grew up in Potomac, MD, the child of two statisticians. He excelled in mathematics from a young age, and competed for the U.S. in the International Mathematical Olympiad three times, winning two gold medals and a silver. He went to college at Harvard, got a master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins, and then returned to Harvard for his Ph.D. in math. After graduate school, he was a postdoc at Princeton. In 2004, he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he is now the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics. (Professional page)
Read more... 

Source: Roots of Unity (Blog)

New Book: How Not To Be Wrong: The Hidden Maths of Everyday Life by Jordan Ellenberg

Follow on Twitter as @evelynjlamb

"How Not to Be Wrong, the first popular math book by University of Wisconsin-Madison math professor Jordan Ellenberg, just hit the shelves. In addition to a Ph.D. in math, Ellenberg has an MFA in creative writing and has been writing about math for popular audiences for several years. Unsurprisingly, the book is witty, compelling, and just plain fun to read." writes Evelyn Lamb.  

Contact: ordan@jordanellenberg.com

How Not to Be Wrong is not a popular math book about the Finonacci sequence or pi. It goes deeper. In the introduction, Ellenberg divides mathematical facts into four quadrants: they can be simple and shallow, simple and profound, complicated and shallow, or complicated and profound. The book hangs out in the “simple and profound” quadrant.
Read more..
Buy this book

About Jordan Ellenberg
Jordan Ellenberg grew up in Potomac, MD, the child of two statisticians. He excelled in mathematics from a young age, and competed for the U.S. in the International Mathematical Olympiad three times, winning two gold medals and a silver. He went to college at Harvard, got a master’s degree in fiction writing from Johns Hopkins, and then returned to Harvard for his Ph.D. in math. After graduate school, he was a postdoc at Princeton. In 2004, he joined the faculty of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he is now the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Mathematics. (Professional page)
Read more... 

Source: Roots of Unity (Blog)

A virtual analysis by Michael Patrick Rutter, Harvard Correspondent

"A new analysis of four blended-format courses taught last fall offers practical guidance for faculty members interested in fresh pedagogical approaches." continues Harvard Gazette.

Photo: Harvard Gazette

The pilot study led by the Bok Center for Teaching and Learning and released today after months of checks and balances showed that students responded most to lesson structure and execution, placed a premium on person-to-person interaction, and found redundancies between in-class and online instruction.

While the variability among the four College courses made general interpretations a challenge, the student assessments did reveal some commonalities that were not necessarily course- or instructor-specific. 

Among the key findings: 

• Students tended to conflate the teaching approach with the blended format, responding more to the teaching itself than to how specific online or blended elements worked.
• Students appreciated the quality of the HarvardX materials, and most found them interesting and engaging.
• For the most part, students spent roughly the same amount of time on homework and preparation for the blended class as they did for a traditional Harvard course.
• Students valued the increased flexibility and ability to learn at their own pace, but still wanted in-person interactions with faculty and among themselves. They said that sections — small-group discussions outside the class ― were especially vital, enabling feedback, time for Q&A, meaningful collaborations, and a deeper sense of intellectual community.
• The most common student complaint was that online learning opportunities were often redundant with in-class components, as faculty experimented with how to best use class time and encourage participation. In-class activities worked best when they were well-structured, such as when students were given discussion questions, problem sets, or worksheets in advance.
• In any setting, students cut corners to save time, earn participation points, or get through required assignments or assessments. Many adopted efficiency strategies while watching the online lessons, causing some to integrate the materials in less-than-meaningful ways.

With the findings in mind, Bergeron’s research team developed a set of recommendations for faculty who are planning to blend existing courses, designing new ones, or are interested in critically assessing new teaching approaches.
Read more... 

For the full Bok Center report, you can contact michael_rutter@harvard.edu

Source: Harvard Gazette