http://g4classes.com/learningforward Reflections on novel and revolutionary uses of technology in education. Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:37:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Second language acquisition seems to be a recurring theme on my blog!  A summary of the previous posts on learning a language (from oldest to newest): Scratch in the foreign language classroom (April,  2008) In this post I proposed allowing students to build their own language worlds in Scratch.  Still a very good activity (I think). Learning ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=124 It's been years since I looked at - or even thought about - any of Apple's Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) information.  However, a guest post by Sherman Nicodemus on Wes Fryers Speed of Creativity blog (see blog roll) in March spurred both my memory and my interest.  Sherman noted that Apple ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=121 Several events over the last few weeks have got me thinking about authenticity in eLearning.  The ODLA Conference for one; and I've started re-reading Michael Allen's Guide to e-Learning (highly recommended).  Both have me thinking about the effectiveness of eLearning.  Is authenticity an important factor in eLearning effectiveness?  I think so! I ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=117 Thanks to Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity blog, I learned about the Oklahoma Distance Learning Association's (ODLA) Spring conference in time to go.  I'd like to post my major take-aways from the conference. Motivating people to embrace change is very hard!  (this should have been obvious to me for ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=115 In my 2008 post "Hypercard Lives!" (link here), I expressed my admiration for Hypercard.  In the post I discussed Runtime Revolution, a cross platform development tool that appears to have decended from Hypercard and has far exceeded Hypercard's capabilities. At the time of the original post, Runtime Revolution 2.9 was available for ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=114 Wow!  It's been almost exactly a year 2 years since I posted on my adventures with Scratch on Linux (see post here).  Well, the Scratch team at MIT has made the use of Scratch 1.4 (the latest version) on Ubuntu Linux (versions 9.04 and 9.10) much less of an adventure.  I've successfully followed the installation ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=113 Notetaking - then and now  When I was in school (many years ago), I would read the textbook and make notes in a notebook.  My oldest son is in graduate school now; he reads the textbook and takes notes directly onto his laptop.  Can the process of notetaking move to a completely electronic format?  Textbooks ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=112 In this second post about the Scratch Balance Board, I'll be looking at an extremely simple project - and the process of creating projects for use with the balance board.  Earlier posts that referenced the purpose of the balance board are here and here. One of the first ideas about a project ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=108 In my last post, I discussed building input devices for Scratch (see here).  My goal was to create a peripheral that could help get more kids interested in Scratch, programming, and educational endeavors in general (by providing more intrinsic motivation). My first peripheral - a Scratch Balance Board.  The idea was ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=100 I've been thinking about some input devices for Scratch that might make the program more interesting to kids who aren't particularly interested in programming - but are interested in video games.  Several input devices come to mind; a gun (for games like Duck Hunt), a balance board (like the wii ... http://g4classes.com/learningforward/?p=99