e-Learning Centre by Learning Light

e-Learning Centre by Learning Light: "Access a vast collection of selected and reviewed links to e-Learning resources."

eLearn: Feature Article

Predictions for 2008
By Lisa Neal, Editor-in-Chief, eLearn Magazine

eLearn: Feature Article

Schools Olympics

Tories propose schools Olympics - Telegraph

eLearning Learning

eLearning Learning: "eLearning Learning is a community that tries to collect and organize the best information on the web that will help you learn and stay current on eLearning.
If you would like to be included and or participate, please contact:Tony Karrer"

Global forum launched to show importance of effective use of technology in education :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacancies:

The Learning and Technology World Forum, hosted by Becta, in partnership with BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association) and the British Council, takes place from 12 to 14 January 2009 at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, London, to coincide with BETT, the educational technology show at Olympia, 14-17 January. More information on the forum is available at the Learning and Technology World Forum website. It is being launched in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). Major sponsors include Cisco, Intel and Microsoft.

links to this article:
Global forum launched to show importance of effective use of technology in education :: PublicTechnology.net :: e-Government & public sector IT news + job vacancies

How to Master Screencasts in Seven Steps

How to Master Screencasts in Seven Steps
October 22, 2008 - 1:58 pm PDT - by Torley 12 Comments

Making screencasts (also known as “video tutorials”) is already easy, and becomes easier with better tools and broadband proliferation. However, no tech is complete without a human who dives in, does experiments, and discerns best practices from the results.

I’ve made over 200 video tutorials, mostly for the virtual world of Second Life, and I’ve also done tutorials for stuff like YouTube and Sony Vegas. If a picture’s a 1,000 words, then a video is… a LOT more.

How to Master Screencasts in Seven Steps:

Improving literacy and numeracy

Improving literacy and numeracy

Experts express support for learning age extension

NUT on the Web:

Parliament last month passed a bill that will result in all teenagers
remaining in education or training until the age of 18 from 2015.

This will first be rolled out until the age of 17 in 2013.

Well I am not sure about this move. For many it will be really unpleasant christmas gift from the goverment. Although I think that all teenagers should stay in education and get higher qualification than GCSE, I am very against forcing anybody to do so. On the continent you can find very few (if any) coutries, where education is compulsory beyond 16. And still the numbers of students droping the school is significantly lower. Why is that?

I can use an example fom my home country - Slovakia (not suggesting, that our education system is or was better though). In Slovakia and Czech Republic the compulsory age is 16, but secondary school ends at 15 (there are no GCSE exams and if you perform really badly you can be held behind and finish at 16 ) and students have one more year to go. So you have to choose college, Gymnazium (form of french lyceum) or some sort of vocational qualification and do it for at least one more year. And becouse most of these courses are between 2 - 4 years most sudents decide to carry on. Matura (equivalent to A level similar to German Abitur) is actually most expected qualification in the workplace like offices, for team leaders and so on. And is nercessity if you want to go to Uni.

In my opinion, this form of motivation and promoting further education is better then making it compulsory till 18.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Food needs 'fundamental rethink'

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Food needs 'fundamental rethink'

Technology | The Guardian

100 top sites for the year ahead: our latest selection finds that location-based services, work-anywhere collaboration and video are prominent Technology The Guardian

U.S. Schools Can Learn From Singapore, Finland | Newsweek International | Newsweek.com

U.S. Schools Can Learn From Singapore, Finland Newsweek International Newsweek.com

Merry Christmas

I have decided , as always, to stay in the UK for this festive time and celebrate with myfriends and brother. It will be kind of wild and funny again although not family like... And I will enjoy my new laptop (good preset from me to me:-)...

Have you all great Chritmas. (I have to rush to the kitchen now)

6,000 pages of paperwork for teachers, figures show

http://www.teachers.org.uk/showwire.php?id=18941510

Teachers were last year issued with government paperwork that amounted to more pages than two copies of the Complete Works of Shakespeare, it has emerged.

According to the Daily Telegraph, school staff were given items of guidance and documents about legislation that added up to over 6,000 pages in 2007-08.

The majority of this was dominated by papers focusing on the social, health and emotional development of pupils, notes the news source.

A 568-page report from the National Institute for Clinical Excellence about alcohol, obesity, and social and emotional wellbeing, as well as a 166-page report on equality and sexual orientation were among the documents received.

"Teachers need to be allowed to get on with teaching without all the unnecessary red tape," argued shadow schools secretary Michael Gove, who called for the amount of paperwork to be "slimmed down".

BBC NEWS | Technology | New guidelines boost web access

BBC NEWS Technology New guidelines boost web access

Plumbing –a lucrative career option | Best Syndication

Plumbing –a lucrative career option Best Syndication: "Not many of us would think of plumbing as a career. However, there are individuals who make upto £100,000 annually in this profession. The term plumbing immediately brings images of that guy from the plumber shop round the street corner who comes to fix the leaking taps."

Education News, Education - The Independent

Teachers could be barred over off-duty drinking - Education News, Education - The Independent

Is that not an intrusion in privacy???

Neuro-linguistic programming: establishing rapport between school administrators and the students, staff, and community.

by David Jay Helm

http://www.questia.com/read/5000279368#

Through Neuro-Linguistic Programming, new lines of communication can develop between the school administrator and the conferee which make it possible for th development of trust and mutuality of effective communication. Today's school administrator needs every communication technique at his/her disposal in order to create an empathy with the school community to overcome the problems that plague education - Neuro-Linguistic Programming is one such technique.

Publication Information: Article Title: Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Establishing Rapport between School Administrators and the Students, Staff, and Community. Contributors: David Jay Helm - author. Journal Title: Education. Volume: 114. Issue: 4. Publication Year: 1994. Page Number: 625+. COPYRIGHT 1994 Project Innovation; COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

It is not a new thing in education, especially business education, but I came across this term and theory just recently and it is intriguing - this could be a great tool in classroom management and communication. All the visual/auditory/kinaestetic learning can get slightly new perspective. Well I definitely want to know more...

British Archeologists Discover Ancient Human Brain | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 13.12.2008

British Archeologists Discover Ancient Human Brain Europe Deutsche Welle 13.12.2008: "Archeologists have uncovered a human brain in northern England that dates back to the Iron Age. It is thought to be one of the oldest surviving pieces of human brain tissue worldwide."

Lessons in character education -- baltimoresun.com

Lessons in character education -- baltimoresun.com: "In a program that started in the summer of 2007, the two women met with a team of 13 other educators at the state's Department of Education to compile a book to teach school districts how to implement a character-education program. The fruit of their labor is a 122-page book called Character Education by Design, A Blueprint for Successful District and School Initiatives."

Credit crisis 'fuelling bad behaviour at school' - Telegraph

Credit crisis 'fuelling bad behaviour at school' - Telegraph: "Behaviour among middle-class children is deteriorating as the recession puts a strain on family life, it is claimed."
...

Just how much you need to take into account in order to understand, why your students are having 'one of these days'...

Jacob Burns Film Center Opens One of Nation's Largest Education Centers Focused on Redefining Literacy for a Media-Rich Age

...
"Our education system must reflect this reality by equipping students with the communications skills and technologies they need to master, regardless of profession, to succeed in this media-rich age."
...

Jacob Burns Film Center Opens One of Nation's Largest Education Centers Focused on Redefining Literacy for a Media-Rich Age - MarketWatch

Raising standards by tackling behaviour | Teaching Expertise

Raising standards by tackling behaviour Teaching Expertise

Teacher Talk:

Whether Giving Instructions, Offering Compliments, or Delivering Discipline, How Teachers Talk Can Make the Difference between Success and Failure

"positive reinforcement is much more than just saying 'Good job!'--that it is a
specific skill used in a specific time and place for a specific purpose. She
added that what he had engaged in, while it sounded positive, was actually a
rhetorical speech pattern that students would eventually tune out--something to
be avoided by teachers at all costs."

Journal article by Keven A. Prusak, Susan D. Vincent, Robert P. Pangrazi; JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. 76, 2005.

BBC NEWS | Education | Rose's curriculum selection box

BBC NEWS Education Rose's curriculum selection box: "The curriculum for primary schools in England is changing. Again.

BBC NEWS | Education | Primary school subjects overhaul

sad, sad, sad...

BBC NEWS Education Primary school subjects overhaul

BBC NEWS | Education | How independent is independent?

BBC NEWS Education How independent is independent?

Children may start school at four in education shake-up - Education News, Education - The Independent

"Summer-born children should start their compulsory schooling at the age of four, a major government inquiry into the primary school curriculum will recommend tomorrow.
Plans for the biggest shake-up to primary schooling since the introduction of the national curriculum 20 years ago will be unveiled by Sir Jim Rose, the former Ofsted head of school inspections"

Children may start school at four in education shake-up - Education News, Education - The Independent

Coming from the country, where formal education starts at 6 (there is a compulsory one year in kindergarten so one could argue that it starts at five) I have always felt sorry for those kids here, who loose their playtime. And again here we go - another year less. I am definitely against this. How come that French and Scandinavian children can start later and still perform even better? And even more importantly when will ministers stop messing this country education by constant changes and initiatives?

Being here four years, I have already seen 3 changes in the way Ofsted works, Academies and Diplomas, SEAL pilot scheme at my school, change in National Curriculum, (welcomed) scrapping SATs... what about creating a system and let it work.

Change the content and methodology to respond do current issues. Don't change the system. And definitely not for the sake of change or just to show that you care about education.

100 Awesome Ivy League Video Lectures | Online Universities.com

"Even if you can’t attend an Ivy League college, you can still take advantage of the intellectual and professional resources that many have to offer through the colleges’ websites. Here, we’ve put together a list of 100 great video lectures you can watch to learn from some of the leading experts in fields as diverse as astronomy and economicsEven if you can’t attend an Ivy League college, you can still take advantage of the intellectual and professional resources that many have to offer through the colleges’ websites. Here, we’ve put together a list of 100 great video lectures you can watch to learn from some of the leading experts in fields as diverse as astronomy and economics"

100 Awesome Ivy League Video Lectures Online Universities.com:

Pupil attainment: Schools minister shifts focus to parents | Education | guardian.co.uk

"He urged schools to do more to engage parents, saying they were 'our best ally', a 'hugely untapped resource' and 'one of the most important influences on a child's educational attainment'."

Pupil attainment: Schools minister shifts focus to parents Education guardian.co.uk

Parenting again. If parents think that shooling should be left to the teachers(see post on 2/12/08), than it will be difficult to engage parents more. But I do feel this is the move to the right direction...

15 Awesome Tutorial Websites You Probably Don't Know About Dumb Little Man

wePapers - Creating the world's biggest study group

found on Cool Cat Teacher Blog

White parents 'show less interest in education' - Education News, Education - The Independent

"...and they are also more likely to believe that their children's schooling should be left up to their teachers, according to a study for the Department for Children, Schools and Families."
White parents 'show less interest in education' - Education News, Education - The Independent

Parenting - it seems to me that we are loosing grips with our own families and just don't want to care... and still most of what one needs in life can be learned (or ruined with much disapointment later) in first 5-6 years. What do you think?

ARG Publications

ARG Publications

Assessment for Learning

General Teaching Council for England Interview with Professor Paul Black

Oxford University historian traces first credit crunch back to Roman republic | Business | The Guardian

"The good news is that Philip Kay knows how the Romans got themselves into financial bother. The bad news is no one knows how they got themselves out of it."

Oxford University historian traces first credit crunch back to Roman republic Business The Guardian:

Good results' for reading scheme

BBC NEWS Education : "Children who are struggling to read have made 'spectacular' improvements under a reading scheme, academics say. Children who are struggling to read have made 'spectacular' improvements under a reading scheme, academics say."