Tag Archives: Digital education

Want to Learn to Code? There’s a Board Game for That.

Raj Sidhu had one of the most coveted design jobs in New York City — and then he left it all to play board games.

The 23-year-old’s first project, Code Monkey Island, (click here for a short video) teaches kids the logic of computer programming through the playful dynamic of monkeys competing over bananas. The game teaches you all of the logic of basic programming under the guise of the game: Instead of dice, it’s governed by cards that work in tandem to impact how many spaces (if any) you may move per turn.

Raj has taken faith in his idea and run with it. After quitting his job at Quirky, an invention company, he put his full energy into creating board games, seeking funding in the playground where ideas and amateur venture capitalists roam: Kickstarter.

After a chaotic month of donations and lack thereof, some last-minute publicity allowed Code Monkey Island to meet its stretch goal and then some.

After a chaotic month of donations and lack thereof, some last-minute publicity allowed Code Monkey Island to meet its stretch goal and then some. Raj spoke with Mashable about life after Kickstarter; funding is always an encouraging step, but many of Raj’s contemporaries have fallen prey to the pitfalls of perk fulfillment, lack of preparation and failure to find the right industry support.

Raj said that he was able to learn a great deal about board game creation and marketing almost entirely from online forums. He mapped out a game plan and struck a deal with a manufacturer, and now, he’s on track to ship out the first wave of the game later this summer to Kickstarter backers.

“This has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done in my.life,” Raj says. “I couldn’t imagine not doing this again.” You can preorder his game, which is for both kids and adults, here.

Edward Snowden: Here’s how we take back the Internet – 2014 TED Talk

So, if you are looking about for an interesting and timely topic for a social studies, civics, or government class, or just a dinner party, you owe it to yourself to spend 35 minutes watching this TED talk.

Whether you believe Snowden is a traitor, scoundrel, or hero, he speaks about what is perhaps the greatest change agent Spaceship Earth has witnessed in the past 20 years.

He relates the internet’s relationships and impacts – past, present, and future – with the fundamental themes and concepts of: human rights, economic – military – national security, journalism, the Bill of Rights, governance, politics, as well as the necessities for and challenges of the black-budget intel world.

I urge you to take 35 the minutes to watch it and then just imagine the discussions and experiences you may have in your classroom of kids that have only grown up knowing, and will continue growing up with and using, this amazing creation: The Internet – 2014 and beyond.

Watch the talk by clicking here.

Flipboard for Educators – cool!

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As students and teachers head back to school all over the country, we wanted to share some ideas on how Flipboard can be helpful this school year. Since the launch of Flipboard 2.0 this past spring, our readers can collect articles and turn them into shareable magazines. We’ve found that educators are doing this a lot—for class reading assignments, student projects and their own enlightenment.

Here’s how you can use Flipboard in teaching and learning:

1. Keep up on current events: Flipboard has more than 125 publishing partners, including the BBC, New York Times, TechCrunch, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar, as well as sections curated around topics such as News, Tech, Travel and Design—”one-stop shops” for authoritative news on a subject. Tap on the red ribbon to explore great magazines, newspapers and blogs in the Content Guide.

2. Create a class syllabus: Plan out the semester for your students by making your syllabus available in a magazine. Include articles and editorial content that your students need to read throughout the semester to ensure success in your class. You can supplement it with your own notes by using a blogging platform such as WordPress, and flipping your posts into your magazine. Encourage students to comment on articles to track engagement.

Things AP Econ Students Should Know: by Michael Brody

3. Class projects: Task your students with creating a class-project magazine. Have them compile editorial, images and YouTube videos around specific subject matter they’re studying in your class. They can do this individually, or in groups (tap “Invite Contributors” from the magazine’s front page.)

Government Class: by kimberleyscox

Mike McCue: by Brian Pinkston

4. Educational Resource Guides: The education process is never ending. Create a resource guide by compiling articles and educational materials on a single topic or general areas of inquiry and share that with your colleagues.

Science class: by Zach Morrow

EducAtion: by Brendan Gilligan

Early Childhood Education: by Jacqueline Mezquita

5. Collaboration: Teaching is all about teamwork. Invite other educators to collaborate on a resource guide or have your students collaborate on a magazine for class. Compile articles, teaching resources or how to videos related to the subject you teach or education in general and share that magazine with other educators in your school or district.

Student Blogging Challenge Sept 2013: by suewaters

Education & Educapability: by Joshua Hostetter

6. Keep parents informed: Stay in touch with your classroom parents by creating a magazine with curriculum examples, class readings, suggested at home projects, images from class and classroom updates flipped in from a personal blog. Encourage your parents to subscribe to the magazine to stay up to date on everything going on in your classroom.

7. Your school, on the go: For administrators—Flipboard is a great way for your school to stay in touch with students, parents and the community. As long as your school paper, newsletter or event images are available as an RSS feed or via social media, you can search for it on Flipboard. You can also use our Web tools to flip your school’s posts into new magazines—into which you can even mix in other content—around any topic you like.

The Paly Voice: by Callie Walker

Flipboard has previously teamed up with both TeachThought and EdReach, two great educational organizations, to teach their networks how educators and students can best use Flipboard. Check out both of these resources for some additional tips and tricks.

And to learn more about how educators are using Flipboard, from educators, check out these blog posts:

Happy school year to everyone!

~CarolynG
/flipboard
@flipboard
+flipboard

 

Just added: ABEC’s Amazing Resource Wheel

ABEC Resource Wheel – This resource/networking wheel is an amazing one-stop information and learning resource. It describes and links various resources, groups, and topics supporting students, parents, business, and non-profits interested in improving education. To use it, just click the image, sit back, poke away!

Resource Wheel

 The Albuquerque Business Education Compact (ABEC) is a partnership of business, education and local government in the greater Albuquerque, New Mexico community.

 

Hector Slim Seade TELMEX CEO on education

“Education is the mainstay of modern society.”

So says Hector Slim Seade, COE of Telefonos de Mexico (TELMEX) in Time Magazine’s special advertising section.

“Nowadays, digital education represents one of the best means of overcoming poverty. We are convinced Mexico needs to be transformed into a technological society, one in which human capital will be key to growth.”

And this is also true(er even) for Mexico’s northern neighbor, New Mexico.