edWeb: A professional online community for educators Free Technology for Teachers How California’s Online Education Pilot Will End College As We Know It Today, the largest university system in the world, the California State University system, announced a pilot for $150 lower-division online courses at one of its campuses — a move that spells the end of higher education as we know it. Lower-division courses are the financial backbone of many part-time faculty and departments (especially the humanities). As someone who has taught large courses at a University of California, I can assure readers that my job could have easily been automated. Most of college–the expansive campuses and large lecture halls–will crumble into ghost towns as budget-strapped schools herd students online. [Note: at the end of this article, I offer a timeline for how this all comes crumbling down] Traditionally, droves of unprepared teenagers were crammed into the faceless lecture halls of lower-division and remedial courses. Indeed, with all the billions of dollars and academic mindshare spent educating the youth, less than half, 48%, even graduate from SJSU.
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Fostering Creative Career Exploration - Creative Careers Careers Thanks to the new age of technology that we live in, working in the cultural and creative sector has never been so rewarding. Achieving any level of professional success requires creativity to some degree: the creativity to figure out new ways to do our jobs well, or the creativity to produce new ideas that advance our organizations. It’s ironic then that arts education—our primary means of fostering present and future generations of creative, innovative thinkers—has been cut from so many school curricula, and that careers in the arts aren’t encouraged with the same rigor as other professions. Chasing fulfillment I was fortunate. "By increasing access to art education, we are not only equipping our children with creative reasoning, but we are helping to cultivate arts appreciation within a new generation." According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 3.2 percent of the nation’s 2011 GDP was attributable to arts and culture. The benefits of creativity
2¢ Worth Listen A few weeks ago I worked and attended North Carolina's ISTE affiliate conference. I opened the NCTIES conference with a breakfast keynote address and Marc Prensky closed it with a luncheon keynote the next day. I would first offer some constructive criticism to NCTIES , and to all such ed-tech conferences across the nation and around the world. The only idea I can think of is to have one or two session rooms devoted to unconference topics. Now to the surprises It was in the student showcase, a part of most ed-tech conferences that I often miss, using it as an opportunity to visit the exhibitors or dash up to my room for something or other. She then began telling me what they were doing, describing some of the communication skills they were learning as well as social studies and character. “No software. After my hesitation, she continued, “..the game master.” “Today we do not need content specialists in our classrooms as much as we need context specialists.” And then, Is this true?
Top 5 MOOC Providers | OnlineCollegeClasses.com August 31, 2012 Massive Open Online Classes (MOOCs) are fast becoming a trend in the academic community, as many world-renowned universities now offer their courses online completely free of charge. Anyone with the desire to learn can access these courses and learn from the materials provided. Stanford Free Courses Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) is an online portal offering 10 courses from Stanford’s School of Engineering at no cost. UC Berkeley UC Berkeley recently entered the game of MOOCs when it announced in July that two courses, one in software engineering and the other in artificial intelligence, would become available to the public for free in the fall. MIT Free Courses MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is an online version of nearly all MIT course content and is available to the public at no cost. Duke Free Courses Through iTunes U, Duke provides a variety of free, noncredit online courses to anyone with access to the web. Open Yale Courses
Arts Skills Map resources Suggested Action Steps and Resources In July 2010, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills unveiled the 21st Century Skills Map for the Arts, which demonstrates how the three Rs and four Cs (critical thinking and problem solving, communication, collaboration and creativity and innovation) can be fused within arts curriculum. The map provides educator-created examples of how art subjects (dance, music, theatre, and visual and media arts) can be fused with skills to create engaging learning experiences that promote 21st century knowledge and skill acquisition. In addition to aligning teaching and learning to the demands of today’s world, the map cites specific student outcomes and provides project examples for grades four, eight and 12. The following material is designed to support the use of the map and is customized with suggested “action steps” for state policymakers, K-12 practitioners and arts advocates. Suggested Action Steps State Policymakers K-12 Practitioners Arts Advocates Resources
VSA Ohio | www.vsao.org Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) is a coalition of statewide not-for-profit Alliances for Arts Education working in partnership with the Kennedy Center to support policies, practices, and partnerships that ensure the arts are an essential part of American K-12 education. The mission of the KCAAEN is to advance learning in and through the arts for all students. To meet the following program objectives, members of the KCAAEN in partnership with the Kennedy Center will: Build Collaborations: Develop and support innovative collaborations among schools, community partners, and cultural institutions that sustain arts education. The Kennedy Center supports the growth and development of the Network and the efforts of participating State Alliances through staff consultation, professional development, and other resources.