From last night’s inbox…

A short description of upcoming Alliance webinars is below, followed by additional information and RSVP details for each. Please note that you will need to register for each webinar in which you intend to participate. I.E. You should complete three registration forms if you intend to participate in all three webinars.

• Thursday, July 19, 2012: Federal Policy Update: Much has happened in federal education policy over the last few weeks. The Obama administration has approved twenty-six states for greater flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act, released a plan to improve career and technical education, and announced its Race to the Top District competition. Additionally, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have begun work on federal education spending bills. In this webinar, members of the Alliance’s federal advocacy team will present updates on these developments in federal policy and their implications for states.

• Thursday…

Here are just a few ideas on how I would approach the teaching of Internet ethics at schools.  Please add your own ideas in a reply.

Pedagogical approach

A range of pedagogical approaches could be used depending on the specific activity.  My main idea is to have students muddle their own way through all of the issues related to Internet use.   The use of Collaborative learning and Inquiry-based learning would be a strong focus in both face-to-face group discussion as well as online group activities like blogging and collaborating in Wikis.  Authentic learning is a key pedagogical approach too, so it is imperative to know what types of Internet skills students already have and what theyare interested in learning.

Through inquiry, in-class group activities and online collaborative activities students should be encouraged to discuss the pros and cons of interacting, sharing and researching online.  Ethical and moral considerations should…

From the inbox earlier today… Note that one of the articles up front is a K-12 online learning one.

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RESEARCH-BASED ARTICLES OF THE WEEK A preliminary examination of the cost savings and learning impacts of using open textbooks in middle and high school science classes Abstract Proponents of open educational resources claim that significant cost savings are possible when open textbooks displace traditional textbooks in the classroom. Over a period of two years, we worked with 20 middle and high school science teachers (collectively teaching approximately 3,900 students) who adopted open textbooks to understand the process and determine the overall cost of such an adoption. The teachers deployed open textbooks in multiple ways. Some of these methods cost more than traditional textbooks; however, we did identify and implement a successful model of open textbook adoption that reduces costs by over 50% compared to…

The cognitive approach combined with the constructive and cooperative practices enable effective teaching and meaningful learning.

C1 –Cognitive approach makes teaching and learning easy and effective. Viewing learning as a student-centered and dynamic process where learners are active participants, it strives to understand the reasons behind behavioural patterns. The individual way we approach learning and whether we believe in our abilities are huge processes that are running all the time behind student performance. This is why I believe it is important to build strong learners.

C2 – Constructive practice emphasizes the students’ need to construct their own understanding. Delivered or transmitted knowledge does not have the same emotional and intellectual value. New learning depends on prior understanding and is interpreted in the context of current understanding, not first as isolated information that is later related to existing knowledge.

C3 – Cooperative learning engages not only the whole student in her/his…