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School / Work Affiliation: Harvard Graduate School of Education

About Me: A Southerner with significant ties to the Great Plains, I have 19 years of classroom teaching experience in history and social studies (anthropology, economics) as well as academic administration and coaching. I have worked in boarding schools in Southern Minnesota (coed, Episcopal) and Upstate New York (all girls) and West of Boston (coed), with a sabbatical year at Teachers College in NYC. Currently I am a part-time student, a high school fencing coach, a competitor on the national women's sabre veterans circuit, a proctor in Harvard Yard, the spouse of a former attorney/teacher and now permanent graduate student, and the proud mom of Sasha Shepupsky (a German Shepherd-Border Collie mix).
I am now working on a master's degree in the Mind, Brain and Education at HGSE. My research interests are about haptic learning and material culture--big words for "how do people learn by doing stuff and working with things?" This connects to other interests of cultural anthropology, learning theory, embodied cognition, kinesethetics, and coaching.
Go Dook!

Cathleen Randall's Blog

Dec 7 -- Digital Inequity

Posted on December 7, 2008 at 6:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

When I think about it, the "digital divide" is amazing. The second paper we read for today (eSchool News 7/7/08 Educators wrestle with digital-equity challenges) had some amazing stats: 1) 80% of websites are in English but only 10% of the world speaks it (how much is Spanish or Chinese?); 2) broadband costs only 2% of income for high-income opulations but 900% for poor; 3) 82% of Americans (I'm assuming that's USA North Americans) own cells phones (74% Anglo, 71% Af-Am, 84% Hispanic -- but… Continue

Getting ready for class

Posted on December 1, 2008 at 6:59am 0 Comments 0 Likes

Actually today is a fine day, even with the rain.

My question is "What is cyberinfrastructure really?"

:)

Sunday Night and the Paper Ain't Done, yet!

Posted on November 16, 2008 at 7:58pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

Just a placeholder, really....

Am working on other projects, simultaneously...so nothing yet.

Remember: Some schools think more is more--arrugh!

Nov 10 Readings: Fishman; Carrigg, Honey & Thorpe

Posted on November 9, 2008 at 9:10pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

The key theme in these two readings seems to be the necessity of making sure that collaboration between those planning scaling and those implementing scaling.

I'm really glad we read these two pieces, especially Carrigg, Honey & Thorpe. These provide concrete examples of how to get a reform to work. They also answer my previous question of "can schools be retrofit?" The answer now seems to be "yes, but with a long-term plan that emphasizes ground-up scaling with local… Continue

Additional thoughts from Disrupting Class

Posted on November 2, 2008 at 8:54pm 0 Comments 0 Likes

Should computers be the focus of all activity? They can certainly connect people in far distant place, and provide curriculum that local sources are not able to provide. (This is the "why AP is good" argument.)

What about socialization ?? Children socialized to computers are not socialized to each other!

There are subtle social cues that one learns only from in the flesh interaction. Let me let you about the 18 year olds who "invade space"!

Education is a PUBLIC GOOD.… Continue

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At 2:17pm on December 30, 2008, Jack said…: Hi Cathleen!

Hope you're enjoying the winter break. I was wondering if you have any 2ndary education contacts who would be interested in participating in a nationwide Vocab Video Contest @ MIT. We're trying to get the word out as much as possible because the more videos we get, the more helpful we can be!

You can view contest details at BrainyFlix.com Please let me know. Thanks!

At 8:59pm on December 7, 2008, Mark Cruthers said…: Hi Cathleen,

I've read your post about the digital divide. As a high school teacher it is rare that a student does not have internet access at home. However, it seems clear there is definately a divide in the US and around the world. I think this divide will be overcome over time. The web hold such promise for the future of education in American and the world. I use web tools like Wiziq's virtual classsroom and authorstream's power point presentation platform that have transformed my classes online.