Content Assessment
Create a method for (creating && pulling) assessment of content, in addition to the content.
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like an iTunes for classroom content
Allow educational publishing companies of all sizes to make their materials available for download, whether fee-based or free. The Learning Registry should function like an iTunes for classroom content, providing a digital bridge between content providers and teachers/students. Flipcharts, eBooks, quizzes, special events that schools can sign up to stream, video modules on any subject for any grade level...all can and ...more »
1 comment for Idea: like an iTunes for classroom contentAllow educational publishing companies of all sizes to make their materials available for download, whether fee-based or free. The Learning Registry should function like an iTunes for classroom content, providing a digital bridge between content providers and teachers/students. Flipcharts, eBooks, quizzes, special events that schools can sign up to stream, video modules on any subject for any grade level...all can and should be included in the database. The possibilities are endless!
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new classes for your program!
My company offers programming and basic technology classes like 'How the Internet Works' and 'Learn to Program in Ruby.' I was wondering if your program has a technology department, and if so, would you be interested in possibly using our classes? We offer scholarships already for every class, and have affiliate referral programs in place; if cost is a problem for students we are very flexible. Our goal is to educate ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: new classes for your program!My company offers programming and basic technology classes like 'How the Internet Works' and 'Learn to Program in Ruby.' I was wondering if your program has a technology department, and if so, would you be interested in possibly using our classes? We offer scholarships already for every class, and have affiliate referral programs in place; if cost is a problem for students we are very flexible.
Our goal is to educate the general public about the history, present standing and predicted future of technology, because we feel that every person in the workforce today can benefit from this sort of knowledge and training.
Please let me know if you're interested!
Tabitha
ops@blazingcloud.net
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School Districts Illegally withhold Materials from Public Domain
5 comments for Idea: School Districts Illegally withhold Materials from Public DomainA huge amount of instructional material that should be in the Public Domain is kept by school districts . Materials created with federal or state grants, materials developed by school districts that receive federal dollars...all belong in the public domain. This is the law.
Open this content up to everyone because school districts do not hold legal title to it!
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InstaGrok - search engine for educational materials
We are currently developing a Web search engine specifically designed for finding high-quality educational materials on any topic, including web pages, online forums, videos and experts. You can see the demo video of it on our website: http://www.instagrok.com We are releasing a public beta version in the next few weeks. We would really appreciate any feedback and/or possibilities for partnerships. Sincerely, Kirill ...more »
1 comment for Idea: InstaGrok - search engine for educational materialsWe are currently developing a Web search engine specifically designed for finding high-quality educational materials on any topic, including web pages, online forums, videos and experts.
You can see the demo video of it on our website:
We are releasing a public beta version in the next few weeks. We would really appreciate any feedback and/or possibilities for partnerships.
Sincerely,
Kirill Kireyev, PhD
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Special need students need special funding
As a parent of a student with special needs I am horrified that IT funding is eliminated for education. This move has only encourage me more in pursuing funding options in our community to address technology assistance for our special needs youth. We have formed a non-profit, the Rushman-Micah Angel Foundation to address this issue head on.Technology has the potential to maximize learning for all students but it is especially ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Special need students need special fundingAs a parent of a student with special needs I am horrified that IT funding is eliminated for education. This move has only encourage me more in pursuing funding options in our community to address technology assistance for our special needs youth. We have formed a non-profit, the Rushman-Micah Angel Foundation to address this issue head on.Technology has the potential to maximize learning for all students but it is especially needed by our special needs population. When it comes to learning for this special population, they have always been the last to recieve funding and the first to have it taken away.
Technology/data learning tools aid in leveling the playing field for these future generation to ahieve 21st century learning. It will provide students the ability to be more engaged in learning, it empowers and impact students and their families.
How dare politicians use our children and their families as political pawns...please be reminded we are the voting poor. Our communities will not sit quietly by and allow our children to be instituitionalized, placed in a corner of a classroom or not be educated at all.
We need technology funding for all our children, but especially for the special needs and
at-risk students. Eliminate waste but not at the expense of education, our country already lags behind others in technology and science. Reconsider the priorities...
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Emphasize Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness (CLEAN)
Research shows that most adults in the US get a failing grade when it comes to basic climate and energy literacy. The CLEAN project (http://cleanet.org ) is one of many emerging efforts to help address confusion, misconceptions and cognitive gaps around climate science and energy topics. A national campaign to mainstream climate and energy literacy and address holes, using the Six Americas research on climate knowledge ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Emphasize Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness (CLEAN)Research shows that most adults in the US get a failing grade when it comes to basic climate and energy literacy. The CLEAN project (http://cleanet.org ) is one of many emerging efforts to help address confusion, misconceptions and cognitive gaps around climate science and energy topics. A national campaign to mainstream climate and energy literacy and address holes, using the Six Americas research on climate knowledge from Yale and George Mason Universities and the energy literacy research from Clarkson University will help prepare the nation for climate change and energy challenges that are well underway.
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Assistive Technology for Any Student Who Needs Extra Support
Please help educators understand the full benefits of using assistive technology to accommodate students who need extra reading and writing support. These tools aren't just for kids with special needs. If administrators clearly recognized the value of these tools, more students would get the help they need earlier in their schooling years and school budgets would enjoy more economies of scale to spread the cost per ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Assistive Technology for Any Student Who Needs Extra SupportPlease help educators understand the full benefits of using assistive technology to accommodate students who need extra reading and writing support. These tools aren't just for kids with special needs. If administrators clearly recognized the value of these tools, more students would get the help they need earlier in their schooling years and school budgets would enjoy more economies of scale to spread the cost per student. Thanks!
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Professional Development
1 comment for Idea: Professional DevelopmentCreate professional development opportunities around the Registry to help teachers best integrate digital resources into their teaching
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Create an API
5 comments for Idea: Create an APICreate an API to allow developers to search and access resources. The Sunlight Foundation helps government agencies open up their data and create APIs so developers can use the data in applications. They could be a great partner in your work.
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importance of open learning lines - The Netherlands
suggestion & discussion: on the connection between the teacher and the huge abundance of learning objects In The Netherlands we are in the process of describing all curricula for all levels for all subjects by use of controlled vocabularies. We are in the awareness that *) there is and there will be an huge abundance of learning material ; **) in the 'old world' teachers use the folio method (book) to know what to ...more »
1 comment for Idea: importance of open learning lines - The Netherlandssuggestion & discussion: on the connection between the teacher and the huge abundance of learning objects
In The Netherlands we are in the process of describing all curricula for all levels for all subjects by use of controlled vocabularies.
We are in the awareness that *) there is and there will be an huge abundance of learning material ; **) in the 'old world' teachers use the folio method (book) to know what to teach at what level for what class.
***) teachers need an alternative for the folio book in knowing what learning plan to use
****) for this, open learning lines based on the formal centralised curriculum might be the missing link
*****) for this, a vocabulary description is needed to describe the link between a learning object and the formal curriculum. and we need tools to create, change, visualise, share 'open learning lines.
So my question is: are you on the same road ? Maybe we can share ideas !
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NEON - Nat. Ecological Observatory Network
An interesting project that could provide input as learning resources is NEON - http://www.neoninc.org. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is prototyping an architecture that will collect data across the United States on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON is a project of the U.S. National Science Foundation, with many other U.S. ...more »
1 comment for Idea: NEON - Nat. Ecological Observatory NetworkAn interesting project that could provide input as learning resources is NEON - http://www.neoninc.org. The National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is prototyping an architecture that will collect data across the United States on the impacts of climate change, land use change and invasive species on natural resources and biodiversity. NEON is a project of the U.S. National Science Foundation, with many other U.S. agencies and NGOs cooperating.
NEON has a mission of sharing science: "The NEON platform provides extraordinary opportunities for education. The platform will support a wide range of interactions ..."
The primary contact in the DC area is Brian Wee, Cheif of External Affairs bwee@neoninc.org.
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Rethink Push Toward Competitive Grants
If you end up continuing along the path of making school districts compete for grant funds...you need to even the playing field. There is no way small, rural, and poor school districts in my region can compete with the BIG dogs in these types of Federal and state grant competitions. Please give students in small - poor- rural schools across america equity in opportunities to learn....and give their schools funds to improve. ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Rethink Push Toward Competitive GrantsIf you end up continuing along the path of making school districts compete for grant funds...you need to even the playing field. There is no way small, rural, and poor school districts in my region can compete with the BIG dogs in these types of Federal and state grant competitions. Please give students in small - poor- rural schools across america equity in opportunities to learn....and give their schools funds to improve.
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Free primary source materials online
More free educational content from the states. Here at the Illinois State Library we developed the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) to provide access to primary source materials in Illinois libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions. It was designed to be a searchable repository for the Illinois State Library's digital collections as well as collections in other libraries and cultural ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Free primary source materials onlineMore free educational content from the states. Here at the Illinois State Library we developed the Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) to provide access to primary source materials in Illinois libraries, archives, museums, historical societies and other cultural institutions. It was designed to be a searchable repository for the Illinois State Library's digital collections as well as collections in other libraries and cultural institutions in Illinois. I would be glad to talk to you about what we have to share as you develop the content for the Learning Registry.
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bluebrick.ie
I suggest taking a look at http://www.bluebrick.ie and http://www.ideas.ie. Buebrick is the functional site for the discovery and access of college courses to fulfill learning and skills gaps supporting training, retraining, reskilling and continuing education. This also uses "Amazon type" technology for learner/course matches. It is the brainchild of Eamonn Murphy of the Enterprise Research Centre at the University of ...more »
1 comment for Idea: bluebrick.ieI suggest taking a look at http://www.bluebrick.ie and http://www.ideas.ie. Buebrick is the functional site for the discovery and access of college courses to fulfill learning and skills gaps supporting training, retraining, reskilling and continuing education. This also uses "Amazon type" technology for learner/course matches. It is the brainchild of Eamonn Murphy of the Enterprise Research Centre at the University of Limerick - http://www.enterpriseresearch.ie.
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context based content delivery
Add your comment for Idea: context based content deliveryProvide context based learning content delivery, i.e. according to the potential difficulties of the pages or activities performed by users
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Create Better Search Forms
There are several reasons that educators and/or learners cannot find the content the learning content they would like find on the web. Some of those reasons mean that even this suggestion will not solve the problem but it may provide some interim steps to improve discovery until some of the underlying causes are remedied. For the purpose of this suggestion I will temporarily ignore the issues of content that is not ...more »
2 comments for Idea: Create Better Search FormsThere are several reasons that educators and/or learners cannot find the content the learning content they would like find on the web. Some of those reasons mean that even this suggestion will not solve the problem but it may provide some interim steps to improve discovery until some of the underlying causes are remedied.
For the purpose of this suggestion I will temporarily ignore the issues of content that is not exposed to direct indexing and searching (aka dark web) and the lack of suitable metadata, and instead, just suggest an approach and play out some likely scenarios.
We can't find the content we need because we cannot construct the right queries to find it. Most people are not particularly adept at creating syntactically robust queries that use operators to refine the query, and therefore, return better results. Providing a search form for query creation that is better suited to learning content could help many people to find the content for which they are searching. Simple keyword queries are a pretty inaccurate "shotgun" approach to finding content. Even when results are returned, there is seldom sufficient information in the sample text that is returned and the searcher must visit the actual resources found to get some idea of their usefulness. Typing in questions provides greater accuracy because there are more words to associate, but even so, the results are not ideal.
If searchers could fill in a form that contained relevant options to educational searches then more accurate results would be returned. Aside from just the subject area or course name itself, selections for the level of education (primary, secondary, vocational, corporate training, etc), along with a reference to the year level or prerequisite knowledge, free/commercial/any, perhaps selections such as level of modularity (complete course vs module of a course) and perhaps even a preferred institution/initiative/vendor, any accessibility requirements, license restrictions etc etc. Then when the results are returned, provide a way to filter on the properties that were included in the search. Even if the search did not include all the fields, the results list could still be categorised along the lines of the fields suggested. These two simple steps could quite easily be implemented by search engines with some quite reasonable benefits.
Including these sorts of criteria would no doubt influence indexing in the future. Over time, accuracy would improve, however, until the metadata required to provide reliable results is available we would still have to rely on indexing and algorithms to interpret the nature of the content (not true semantic analysis just what is currently done).
A better implementation would include changes in the form based on some of the values that get filled in or even via user preferences. There is a lot more that could be said but this gives the gist of the suggestion and how it would help.
It has already been mentioned that custom search engines already exist but that these fragment the act of searching. Potentially this suggestion could have the same effect. Performing a metasearch (ie a search engine that is actually an aggregator of results from the real search engines), however, could assist in alleviating this problem. Other similar approaches would include the work done by OKI with their repository OSID. Something like their approach could provide the interoperability at either search engine or repository level that could also provide value. Users can also select search targets from those available to them or they could add new ones.
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CORDRA-style tagging
Thinking about this off and on for awhile...CORDRA was an idea to metatag learning content into a global repository. Build on that concept by allowing owners and developers to maintain rights while search engines can find their content via various tags related to content, category, resource, etc. Additional tags can be for cost, seat time, or similar companion courseware. When searching, you immediately know the content ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: CORDRA-style taggingThinking about this off and on for awhile...CORDRA was an idea to metatag learning content into a global repository. Build on that concept by allowing owners and developers to maintain rights while search engines can find their content via various tags related to content, category, resource, etc.
Additional tags can be for cost, seat time, or similar companion courseware. When searching, you immediately know the content title, owner, category, content, cost, and other related details. This would allow a direct link to the provider or developer via their server and in a matter of a few clicks push it out to learners on any system.
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Authoritative, Generative, and Social Search
Something I have personally been thinking about for some time is that there are three distinct modes for organizing and finding resources and answers. Aaron's citation of the Dewey system is that of an authoritative taxonomy. The pros of these are that they are authoritative, relatively stable, and efficient at getting you somewhat near to the resources you want. They also work well as filtering methods if you are familiar ...more »
4 comments for Idea: Authoritative, Generative, and Social SearchSomething I have personally been thinking about for some time is that there are three distinct modes for organizing and finding resources and answers.
Aaron's citation of the Dewey system is that of an authoritative taxonomy. The pros of these are that they are authoritative, relatively stable, and efficient at getting you somewhat near to the resources you want. They also work well as filtering methods if you are familiar with the taxonomies. The cons are (a) they are static and rarely keep up with the modern pace of change (b) expensive if you want professionals to do the classification and questionable in the minds of authorities if you crowd source the classifications and (c) exclusive in the sense that there is a relatively steep educational and learning barrier for their use.
The second organizational method is generative. This is what we experience with standard search engines. Behind the scenes technology is indexing, re-indexing, reclassifying etc. on a more or less continual basis, and as searches are submitted the searches themselves become data that is used to organize the corpus of resources. The pros of this are that it is flexible, fast and generally effective. The cons are that (a) it takes a lot of resources and research to get beyond simple term matching and page ranking (b) many methods fail for collections that are too small (not enough link data) or too big (too many results) and (c) it is not trivial (even today) to learn to use search engines effectively.
The third method is social. This is the modern equivalent of "if you want to know something, ask a friend" but facilitated by social media. To the extent that the results of inquiries can be captured and fed into Generative methods, there are some real possibilities here since people are better than computers at understanding context and recognizing semantic equivalents within their domain of experience. The cons are (a) answers are non-authoritative (b) managing social search at scale is a new field with a host of challenges and (c) I am not sure if we have enough experience to gauge its true effectiveness.
Having said all that, my suggestion is that a fundamental principle for any search system or knowledge management system is that all three methods should be used and that each one should be used and combined when and where appropriate. Hope that makes some sense!
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Faceted Search
1 comment for Idea: Faceted SearchKids and Teachers alike are still familiar with sections in their school library classified by the Dewey Decimal system. Librarians and Technology Coordinators in K-12 use it daily. If search engines supported search by explicit classifications (Dewey, Library of Congress, others), it could make use of existing taxonomies.
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Make the Search Engine the Registry
I've tried to reflect on "how a search engine would be integrated with the Learning Registry?" - but since I don't know what the "Learning Registry" is yet, it's a difficult question to ponder. My first reaction is that registries don't "learn" - people "learn". So, perhaps it should be called an "educational content" registry so that it's clear that this is a place to find educational content (if in fact that is what ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Make the Search Engine the RegistryI've tried to reflect on "how a search engine would be integrated with the Learning Registry?" - but since I don't know what the "Learning Registry" is yet, it's a difficult question to ponder. My first reaction is that registries don't "learn" - people "learn". So, perhaps it should be called an "educational content" registry so that it's clear that this is a place to find educational content (if in fact that is what it is). Then my second comment would be that, well, registries don't appear to be very popular on the web (question to ask ourselves - why do we keep shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to do things in the educational community that the rest of the world dislikes? need a shrink to answer that one). But seriously, I don't personally use "registries" for anything. So, this leads me to think that search engines should be able to find the educational content where ever it may be - even if it is not in the registry. That is, the search engine builds the registry. So, instead of Google Ad Words, we set up a ranking algorithm for educational content and build an open source search engine to implement it. We publish the ranking algorithm as an open "standard" (ouch - sorry to have to use that word). And, we then invite the various educational content providers to expose the right metadata and other stuff to our bot and others that may get built. We ask Google to license their code to us for free because it is for educational purposes and because they are not evil. Ha ha. Just teaching you guys how to brainstorm!
I actually do believe the part about having to find the content where it is and build the registry - while at the same time enabling others to do similar things.
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Make learning content crawl-able
I don't see this issue as a search engine problem so much as it is a content format problem. The biggest problem with accessing "learning content" right now is that most of what we call learning content (SCORM packages) is closer to being a mini-application than it is to being a pure provider of content. How can a search engine be expected to crawl a site that has its navigation locked away in a proprietary format....especially ...more »
Add your comment for Idea: Make learning content crawl-ableI don't see this issue as a search engine problem so much as it is a content format problem. The biggest problem with accessing "learning content" right now is that most of what we call learning content (SCORM packages) is closer to being a mini-application than it is to being a pure provider of content.
How can a search engine be expected to crawl a site that has its navigation locked away in a proprietary format....especially one that intentionally restricts the learner (and thus crawler) from proceeding until mastery is demonstrated. Most SCORM packages right now are monolithic SCOs that have their own proprietary navigation. How can a search engine be expected to crawl what is essentially a proprietary application. We don't expect a search engine to crawl the contents of a video (yet), we only expect it to index the public metadata that is associated with that video. While this model presents problems for search engine discovery, it has merit and utility derived from the educational experience it delivers.
"Crawl-ability" is related to a similar problem of "link-ability". Right now, there typically isn't a way to link to and deliver just a small, but relevant, part of content.
Obvious solutions to these problems include structured content formats or small SCOs tied together with Sequencing and Navigation. Both of these solutions have merit, but impose strict requirements and limitations that discourage broad use.
Increased use of metadata is another option that should be encouraged and explored...again though without imposing undue burden on content creators.
Is the best alternative to continue to allow for black box, "application-like" content, but also let such content provide alternative versions / navigation paths that expose the actual learning content in a crawl-able/link-able manner?
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Make learning content crawl-able
I don't see this issue as a search engine problem so much as it is a content format problem. The biggest problem with accessing "learning content" right now is that most of what we call learning content (SCORM packages) is closer to being a mini-application than it is to being a pure provider of content. How can a search engine be expected to crawl a site that has its navigation locked away in a proprietary format....especially ...more »
1 comment for Idea: Make learning content crawl-ableI don't see this issue as a search engine problem so much as it is a content format problem. The biggest problem with accessing "learning content" right now is that most of what we call learning content (SCORM packages) is closer to being a mini-application than it is to being a pure provider of content.
How can a search engine be expected to crawl a site that has its navigation locked away in a proprietary format....especially one that intentionally restricts the learner (and thus crawler) from proceeding until mastery is demonstrated. Most SCORM packages right now are monolithic SCOs that have their own proprietary navigation. How can a search engine be expected to crawl what is essentially a proprietary application. We don't expect a search engine to crawl the contents of a video (yet), we only expect it to index the public metadata that is associated with that video. While this model presents problems for search engine discovery, it has merit and utility derived from the educational experience it delivers.
"Crawl-ability" is related to a similar problem of "link-ability". Right now, there typically isn't a way to link to and deliver just a small, but relevant, part of content.
Obvious solutions to these problems include structured content formats or small SCOs tied together with Sequencing and Navigation. Both of these solutions have merit, but impose strict requirements and limitations that discourage broad use.
Increased use of metadata is another option that should be encouraged and explored...again though without imposing undue burden on content creators.
Is the best alternative to continue to allow for black box, "application-like" content, but also let such content provide alternative versions / navigation paths that expose the actual learning content in a crawl-able/link-able manner?
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Accessibiity and Personalisation of Resources
3 comments for Idea: Accessibiity and Personalisation of ResourcesAddress the accessibility and usability of resources to individuals by supporting searching on simple Accessibility Metadata for resources such as IMS AccessForAll 3.0, the release of which is imminent.
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