computer drone

This one is easy…
learning is what I did!
A need existed… I found multiple ways to meet that need, including connecting (multiple times… too many to quantify) with a teacher. I asked questions. I researched and communicated with others. I thought. I took risks, and fixed mistakes. (I made new mistakes!) I reevaluated and revised. [...]

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As I usually do when I initially think the question is simple (it isn’t!), I headed off to Google. I discovered the Greek concept of Paideia. (too many vowels!) I learned that, in this philosophy, the goal of education is not mastery of subject matter, but of one’s person. Subject matter is simply the tool. [...]

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I could be flippant and say, “because” or I could respond in the manner in which I usually responded to my children, “because I have the keys.” This short response will not do justice to this question… this question could (should?) be the focus of an entire semester’s worth of learning.
How have the trappings [...]

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I recently received an email message from one of the students in my Fall university cohort…

here is the message:
This will be the next chapter we are studying and I need suggestions.  Please tell me how to send AERNet messages properly.  I am computer illiterate.
 
Thanks,
 

(Student name deleted to respect confidentiality)

There are 3 weeks left to [...]

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The chatter on AERNET about “Best Practices” has slowed to a crawl. This is a reprint of the last comment before those folks/our BVI colleagues moved on…
(In reference to NCLB frowning on action research…)
 I don’t know if they do or not. If they do frown on it, they are wrong. Experiential evidence is what generates [...]

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Just wanted to let you guys know that I’m heading/driving to Baltimore tomorrow and will return late Tuesday night. I will have Internet/email access, but not a lot of time to participate… so I’ll do the best I can to chime in… and I’ll catch up when I return on Wednesday.
I’m part of the [...]

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I love LEGO! I have many fond memories of playing with them… and of spending hundreds of dollars on every conceivable LEGO kit for my son. I still have his LEGO collection, and will shortly pass it along to HIS son.
So, when Nate shared an article earlier this week by Stephen Downes http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1  on [...]

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Many iterations of this have come and gone on the AERNET listserv; obviously, this is a topic of importance to many folks, based on their passionate comments.
Here is a second helping…
I believe “best practice” has to be about attaining goals. The desired end result will show what the best practice is when a [...]

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The definition of “best practice” from the web site of the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment (at UT Austin, which is part of the National Center for Educational Accountability) is this:
“Instructional best practices are general principles, guidelines, and suggestions for good and effective teaching that are supported by research.”
That was always my understanding: that [...]

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There is something about this idea… reaching out and asking folks what they thought about “best practice” that intrigues me. I am learning more from listening to their voices of experience than I would have learned if I had read about it in a textbook.
Is true knowledge the collection of voices of experience?
I [...]

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