Doing anything amazing turns out to be really hard. Incredibly hard. In the startup world sometimes we thought there were instant successes when people hacked together a website and the next day they had millions of users. There are no instant successes. Good products take time to build. We have to fight for every user. When we see that a user deleted our app it seems like the end of the world. Basically when you’re building something at any moment you can be really close to giving up. The question is how many times should you really try before you call it quits? High-res

Doing anything amazing turns out to be really hard. Incredibly hard. In the startup world sometimes we thought there were instant successes when people hacked together a website and the next day they had millions of users. There are no instant successes. Good products take time to build. We have to fight for every user. When we see that a user deleted our app it seems like the end of the world. Basically when you’re building something at any moment you can be really close to giving up.

The question is how many times should you really try before you call it quits?

From Passive Viewing to Active Learning There’s a big difference between watching a video and learning something from it. Videos are great for presenting visual information and emotional appeals, but not particularly effective at diving below the surface of non-visual theoretical or abstract topics or for driving critical thinking. What’s more, any video presented in class must compete for attention and memory with the five-plus hours the typical student spends outside of class watching television programs, movies, and other onscreen entertainment. (Nielsen, 2013) To help increase the educational effectiveness of an online course video, consider applying one or more of the following active learning strategies… image via flickr:CC | Poetprince High-res

From Passive Viewing to Active Learning

There’s a big difference between watching a video and learning something from it. Videos are great for presenting visual information and emotional appeals, but not particularly effective at diving below the surface of non-visual theoretical or abstract topics or for driving critical thinking. What’s more, any video presented in class must compete for attention and memory with the five-plus hours the typical student spends outside of class watching television programs, movies, and other onscreen entertainment. (Nielsen, 2013)

To help increase the educational effectiveness of an online course video, consider applying one or more of the following active learning strategies…

image via flickr:CC | Poetprince

Student Motivation: It’s More Complicated Than We Think image via flickr:CC | topshampatti Motivation—there are two kinds: intrinsic, which involves doing something because we want to do it, and extrinsic, which is doing something because we have to do it. A negative relationship exists between the two. Extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation. Students won’t be attending class because they want to if attending class is required. As a result of this negative relationship, students don’t have much intrinsic motivation because it’s been beaten out of them by most extrinsic educational experiences. And that’s a nutshell version of how most teachers understand motivation. Is that all there is to it? High-res

Student Motivation: It’s More Complicated Than We Think

image via flickr:CC | topshampatti

Motivation—there are two kinds: intrinsic, which involves doing something because we want to do it, and extrinsic, which is doing something because we have to do it. A negative relationship exists between the two. Extrinsic motivation undermines intrinsic motivation. Students won’t be attending class because they want to if attending class is required. As a result of this negative relationship, students don’t have much intrinsic motivation because it’s been beaten out of them by most extrinsic educational experiences. And that’s a nutshell version of how most teachers understand motivation.

Is that all there is to it?

Children’s Spatial Skills Seen as Key to Math Learning And, in a separate, ongoing study of nearly 500 preschoolers, Ms. Cameron found about a third tested high in both executive-function skills—such as following directions amid distractions—and visual-motor skills, such as cutting paper. Children who performed well in either or both executive-function and visual-motor skills achieved well in both math and reading achievement and class behavior later on in the early-elementary grades. “It’s the children who are low in both who are struggling,” Ms. Cameron said. The more quickly children become automatic in mentally coordinating an action or repeating a design, the more they can free up working memory and organize their thinking for more abstract problems.

Children’s Spatial Skills Seen as Key to Math Learning

And, in a separate, ongoing study of nearly 500 preschoolers, Ms. Cameron found about a third tested high in both executive-function skills—such as following directions amid distractions—and visual-motor skills, such as cutting paper. Children who performed well in either or both executive-function and visual-motor skills achieved well in both math and reading achievement and class behavior later on in the early-elementary grades.

“It’s the children who are low in both who are struggling,” Ms. Cameron said. The more quickly children become automatic in mentally coordinating an action or repeating a design, the more they can free up working memory and organize their thinking for more abstract problems.

Digital Trends Shifting the Role of Teachers “I’m no longer giving 40-minute lectures four times a day and wondering which class got the raw deal, or collecting and grading exams only to discover too late that they weren’t getting it,” said Mr. Merkert, who rotates among small groups of students, each with a laptop wide open. As increasing numbers of school districts go digital, many teachers are witnessing a simultaneous change in their roles. To be sure, some see it as simply traditional teaching in disguise, but others describe a seismic shift—from being the lone purveyor of information to assuming a new role of facilitator, coach, and guide. image via flickr:CC | SMI Eye Tracking High-res

Digital Trends Shifting the Role of Teachers

“I’m no longer giving 40-minute lectures four times a day and wondering which class got the raw deal, or collecting and grading exams only to discover too late that they weren’t getting it,” said Mr. Merkert, who rotates among small groups of students, each with a laptop wide open.

As increasing numbers of school districts go digital, many teachers are witnessing a simultaneous change in their roles. To be sure, some see it as simply traditional teaching in disguise, but others describe a seismic shift—from being the lone purveyor of information to assuming a new role of facilitator, coach, and guide.

image via flickr:CC | SMI Eye Tracking

Social class and the college choices of high school valedictorians Using a data set with about 900 high school valedictorians, she asked whether students applied to highly selective colleges, if they got in, and whether they matriculated. She found a stark class difference on all these variables, especially between high socioeconomic status (SES) students and everyone else.  Over three-quarters of high SES valedictorians (79%) applied to at least one highly selective college.  In contrast, only 59% of middle SES and 50% of low SES valedictorians did the same.  Admission and matriculation rates followed suit. High-res

Social class and the college choices of high school valedictorians

Using a data set with about 900 high school valedictorians, she asked whether students applied to highly selective colleges, if they got in, and whether they matriculated.

She found a stark class difference on all these variables, especially between high socioeconomic status (SES) students and everyone else.  Over three-quarters of high SES valedictorians (79%) applied to at least one highly selective college.  In contrast, only 59% of middle SES and 50% of low SES valedictorians did the same.  Admission and matriculation rates followed suit.

Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably) You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: Sometimes it is the basketball coach. Based on data drawn from media reports and state salary databases, the ranks of the highest-paid active public employees include 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches, one hockey coach, and 10 dorks who aren’t even in charge of a team. High-res

Is Your State’s Highest-Paid Employee A Coach? (Probably)

You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: Sometimes it is the basketball coach.

Based on data drawn from media reports and state salary databases, the ranks of the highest-paid active public employees include 27 football coaches, 13 basketball coaches, one hockey coach, and 10 dorks who aren’t even in charge of a team.