Log in, tune out: Is technology driving us crazy? October 14, 2012 Jill Stark
Could being plugged in to social media be rewiring kids' brains?
THERE IS no down time for the digital native. Meals are photographed and shared online before the first bite is taken. A lull in conversation or a pause at the traffic lights are opportunities to check texts and emails. At home, with one eye on the TV, the other scanning Facebook, Twitter and Google, life in the clickstream is frenetic.
But some experts are starting to worry that the digital revolution transforming the way we live is also making us ill. For the ''always on'' generation, this constant overload of information could be triggering mental health problems. More worrying, they say, is emerging evidence that it may be causing structural changes in the brain.
Limit children's screen time, expert urges By Hannah Richardson BBC News education and family reporter
The amount of time children spend in front of screens should be curbed to stave off development and health problems, an expert says.
Psychologist Dr Aric Sigman says children of all ages are watching more screen media than ever, and starting earlier.
The average 10-year-old has access to five different screens at home, he says.
And some are becoming addicted to them or depressed as a result, he warns.
Writing in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, Dr Sigman says a child born today will have spent a full year glued to screens by the time they reach the age of seven.
He adds: "In addition to the main family television, for example, many very young children have their own bedroom TV along with portable hand-held computer game consoles (eg, Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox), smartphone with games, internet and video, a family computer and a laptop and/or a tablet computer (eg iPad).
There’s a whole new classroom model and it’s a sight to behold. The newest school system in Sweden look more like the hallways of Google or Pixar and less like a brick-and-mortar school you’d typically see.
There are collaboration zones, houses-within-houses, and a slew of other features that are designed to foster “curiosity and creativity.” That’s according to Vittra, which runs 30 schools in Sweden. Their most recent school, Telefonplan School (see photos below via Zilla Magazine) in Stockholm, could very well be the school of the future.
Educators warn chaos looms with high school curriculum shake-up By Tanya Chilcott October 08, 2012 QUEENSLAND Year 11 and 12 classes face a major shake-up under national curriculum proposals, which the State Government warns will limit teachers and have a negative impact on schools.
A report, jointly written by state education authorities, also warns some subjects could not be taught in senior composite classes.
While Queensland has been one of the leading states and territories to implement the Australian Curriculum in Prep to Year 10, education authorities warn the draft senior secondary curriculum poses "significant issues" for the state. A Queensland Studies Authority spokesman said the draft "would require substantial work to enable implementation".
'Toxic teacher' warning as debate rages on lifting uni entry marks October 3, 2012 Catherine Armitage, Rachel Browne
The nation's elite universities warn that Australia is at risk of training a generation of ''toxic teachers'' who will pass their own deficiencies at school on to their students.
The executive director of the Group of Eight research-focused universities, Michael Gallagher, said Australia was ''at risk of producing a cohort of ''toxic teachers''.
''The next generation of teachers is being drawn from this pool'' of people ''who have themselves not been very successful at school,'' he said.
Finnish education guru Pasi Sahlberg: treat primary school teachers like doctors
The Finnish education system is one of the best performing and most equitable in the OECD.
With Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s promise to make Australia one of the best five performing countries for education in the world, what can we learn from the Scandinavians?
One answer might be more simple than we think: elevate teachers to the same social and professional status we hold doctors and other people with whom we trust with vital aspects of our health and well-being.
I’ve just come across an AITSL initiative called ‘Teacher Feature’. Their website describes this webpage as below:
Teacher Feature is a web-based platform that allows teachers to upload video snapshots of themselves talking about the things related to their practice that are most important to them. From challenges to ‘A-ha!’ moments, the topics tackled on Teacher Feature currently include: reasons for becoming a teacher, most rewarding moments, how ICT has changed the nature of teaching and the most valuable PD undertaken.
The videos contain people involved with education, showcasing a wide range of voices and providing an opportunity to interact and share, all while adding to the conversation about education in Australia. http://www.teacherfeature.aitsl.edu.au/
Education revolution hits hi-tech low point EXCLUSIVE by Katherine Danks The Daily Telegraph September 27, 2012 12:00AM
THOUSANDS of broken laptops are being stockpiled at schools across the state as the federal government's $2.4 billion Digital Education Revolution threatens to collapse.
Families are being hit with bills of up to $400 for repairs, which can take up to four weeks to complete. Photographs obtained by The Daily Telegraph show piles of damaged laptops on a technology support officer's workbench at one Sydney school. The majority are the notorious "red laptops" owned by Year 12 students. A NSW Department of Education and Communities spokesman said students were issued with temporary replacements if laptops...
Last night on Four Corners was a program called 'Growing Up Poor'. Although it is not technically about education, the show raises some disheartening stories about children who grow up in poor families, particularly Claymore (south-west Sydney), and the problematic nature of children caught in a cycle of disadvantage.
This is the blurb from the show:
Growing up poor in modern Australia: this week Four Corners asks children what it's like being poor in the midst of plenty. We hear from the adult world all the time about what poverty is and how to fix it, but rarely from the children who experience it. Nobody likes to admit they're poor but children from five families allowed Four Corners into their lives to show us the world from their point of view.
The chance of a lifetime to save Indigenous languages Claire Bowern Associate Professor at Yale University 18 September 2012, 11.11am AEST
It is not often that the opportunity comes along to make a real difference, but a new report into Indigenous languages in Australia has the potential to do just that.
