Nevbar1's Blog – July 2011 Archive (5)

The Learning Tour of PISA

The word of education is awash with data – particularly testing results. While I personally have significant reservations about both the use and usefulness of much of this data, due to a combination of the harm it can do to students, teachers, parents and schools as well as the often unsound assumptions upon which it is based, it has to be acknowledged that not everyone shares my views. However, I will put my concerns aside for the moment and share this video explaining the biggest…

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Added by nevbar1 on July 31, 2011 at 10:30pm — 2 Comments

How to win the "best schools" race - don't play the game!

A week ago my knowledge of the education system of Finland was, to be honest, almost non-existent. I knew that they were consistently ranked number one of all “Western” countries in PISA testing but had no idea how they did it. Then, last weekend, I attended a keynote address by Professor Teemu Leinonen, Professor of New Media Design and Learning at the Media Lab of…

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Added by nevbar1 on July 24, 2011 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Forward to 1960 ...Marshall McLuhan’s “Tribal Drums” – more relevant today than ever?

It is common when blogging to re-post video that is current, up to date, modern. I’m breaking with that trend on this post by linking to a clip dating from 1960.

Marshall McLuhan was a key thinker in the early days of electric media – when television and radio were emerging forces. He achieved near guru status with his concept of “The Global Village”. The…

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Added by nevbar1 on July 19, 2011 at 1:00am — No Comments

TARGETS - school reform in three minutes

My marathon is over....

I have been privileged of late to have time to read; to read, to watch, to listen – and to think. Much of this precious time has been has been spent devouring material relating to school reform and exploring one simple question - how do we respond to the challenges and opportunities provided by the digital revolution to improve our schools? The concept of “school” as we know it is well over a century old – and was obviously developed before the digital…

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Added by nevbar1 on July 11, 2011 at 11:19pm — No Comments

"The more I practice the luckier I get." Mindset - Carol Dweck

Psychologist Carol Dweck has given the educational community one of the most positive educational concepts yet to be developed – mindset. Like many good ideas it is deceptively simple – but the implications for schools are profound. Quite simply, mindset is the belief that ability is not fixed – that people can acquire new…