Tag Archives | Ed Tech

iPads in the Classroom

By on January 4, 2011 in Educational Technology, Kids Media & Technology

It’s been clear for a while that Apple hit a home run with the iPad — both a new tool for consuming digital media and one with many uses for teaching and learning. Now that reports are trickling in from the classrom we can say that, cost aside, the iPad (and its cousin, the Android [...]

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Twitter Overtakes New York Times, Bests 911

Twitter Overtakes New York Times, Bests 911

By on May 21, 2009 in Social Media

Yes, you read the headline correctly. According to comScore and as reported by TechCrunch yesterday, Twitter now has more unique visitors each month than The New York Times and the gap appears to be widening  (click chart for larger view): In February, 2009 Twitter drew less than 10 million monthly unique visitors. [...] Fast-forward to [...]

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The Future of Learning

The Future of Learning

By on April 28, 2009 in Educational Technology

Beginning this September New York City will be home to Quest to Learn, one of the most innovative 6-12th grade public schools in the country, that will use game design and game-inspired methods to teach critical 21st century skills and literacies. Created in collaboration with New Visions for Public Schools and the Institute of Play, [...]

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The iPod Touch, Supersized

The iPod Touch, Supersized

By on March 30, 2009 in Next Tech

The recent announcement of the third generation iPhone OS has fueled persistent rumors of an Apple netbook or other intermediate size device, something I’d welcome for so many reasons. So this morning I was happy to stumble on Rex Hammock’s blog post predicting a supersized iPod Touch: Within the next 45 days, not later than [...]

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Toy Fair Brain Dump

Toy Fair Brain Dump

By on February 25, 2009 in Educational Technology

Our friend Warren Buckleitner, Editor of Children’s Technology of Review (www.childrenssoftware.com), gives an impromptu brain dump of Toy Fair ’09. On his mind: the explosion of virtual world-real toy hybrids (Webkinz Jr. and others); JAKKS Pacific “TV toys”; something arguably creepy from Irwin Toy; and iPhone Apps from Hasbro.

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Read the Book, Play the Game

By on February 20, 2009 in Educational Technology

Of all the games I saw at Toy Fair this week the Jacabee Code was the most interesting. In this new-to-market print/game hybrid for 7 to 12 year olds, the player starts by reading a story which contains clues needed to succeed in an online game/virtual world. You could think of it as an age-appropriate [...]

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Brand You According to Google

Brand You According to Google

By on February 8, 2009 in Business & Marketing, Games & Simulations, Next Tech, Social Media, The Biosphere

Let’s face it, the ability to manage and control our personal and professional identities has taken a big hit thanks to web services like Google, MySpace, Facebook, social bookmarking and now challenges like “25 Random Things About Me” that’s been making the rounds. Depending on how you play it out it’s either the underside or [...]

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Suffering Information Overload?

Suffering Information Overload?

By on February 7, 2009 in The Biosphere

“Paying attention isn’t a simple act of self-discipline, but a cognitive ability with deep neurobiological roots – and these roots are in danger of dying” according to the interview with Maggie Jackson in WIRED this week about her upcoming book Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Reading this reminded me of [...]

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Tell the Raven

Tell the Raven

By on September 30, 2008 in Educational Technology, Social Media

Unless you’re a red-meat conservative fundamentalist, the recent news from Alaska has been disturbing. Snow Job. Square Glasses. Need I say more? Finally, there’s some progressive news from the 50th state that showcases a simple, inexpensive and effective approach to teaching middle school writing. I’m talking about a multi-author blog called Tell the Raven that [...]

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NY Serious Games Develper Raises $6M

By on August 14, 2008 in Games & Simulations

Evidently rumors of the venture economy’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. At the beginning of the month New York-based serious game entrepreneur Nt Etuk announced he had raised a Series B round of $6M for Tabula Digita, the educational game company he founded four years ago. Here’s the lead of the press release: New York, [...]

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taxonomy of serious games

Taxonomy of Serious Games — Updated

By on February 20, 2008 in Educational Technology, Games & Simulations

According to Ben Sawyer (Digital Mill) and Peter Smith (University of Central Florida), “Everyone has their own name for what serious games should be called. When they’re using these terms, they’re still talking about serious games… It’s not that these words are wrong. It’s just, they’re trying to categorize things. And there’s nothing categorical about [...]

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Serious Game Engine Shootout: A Comparative Analysis of the Technology

By on February 23, 2007 in Games & Simulations, Next Tech, The Biosphere

Serious games and educational simulations are an unique product category with functional requirements that are different from platform and casual games, MMOGs, and drill–n-skill learning games. The gameplay itself is only the tip of the iceberg: hidden out of sight is an engine the player doesn’t see. As an emerging market, however, little has been [...]

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