10 Emerging Technology Predictions That Were Ridiculously, Famously Wrong

Quite a catchy title from the EmergingEdTech!

This one is pretty well known: “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” — Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.

I could not find any newer data, but according to US data census in 2013,”83.8 percent of U.S. households reported computer ownership, with 78.5 percent of all households having a desktop or laptop computer, and 63.6 percent having a handheld computer”.  Speaking about ridiculously, famously wrong…

Another one along the same lines: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” — Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.

 

 

 

 

10 Resources for Teaching with Primary Sources

Those of you teaching history, social sciences, or other subjects using primary sources might benefit from this post at the recent Ft4T:

Zoom In provides units of lesson plans built around primary source documents.
Historical Scene Investigation offers a fun way for students to investigate history through primary documents and images.
The World Digital Library hosts more than 10,000 primary documents and images from collections around the world.
Who Am I? A History Mystery is a fun and challenging activity from the Smithsonian’s The Price of Freedom online exhibit.
Student Discovery Sets from the Library of Congress offer primary collections of primary sources in free iBooks.The National Archives Experience Digital Vaults  offers good tools that students and teachers can use to create content using images and documents from the National Archives.

Access a post for more details.

Revisiting Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

“In 2001 Marc Prensky divided the world into two broad groups, Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. His idea struck a chord with popular culture and has become a dominant paradigm in education. Given the core concept remains a feature of educational dialogues it is worth re-visiting and seeing how the idea might evolve to better serve our needs and understandings of how people born after the internet, learn with and think about, technology.”

More here.

50 Ideas for Student Blogging and Writing Online

“Do you want your students to write more in your class?

Are you looking for prompts or ideas for blog posts?

You are in luck! This post aims to get your creative juices flowing by providing you with a solid place to start.

As you think about writing assignments for your students, try to vary it up. Even better, give your students some choice in the type of posts they write. The end goal is an authentic and engaging learning opportunity for all.” Read more here!

Science of learning

This report covers important issues on how students learn.  It “summarizes the existing research from cognitive science related to how students learn, and connect this research to its practical implications for teaching and learning. This document is intended to serve as a resource to teacher-educators, new teachers, and anyone in the education profession who is interested in our best scientific understanding of how learning takes place.”

Full report is available here.