The Lightspeed Systems Blog http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com Wed, 09 May 2012 22:29:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Seat Time Makes No Sense http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/seat-time-makes-no-sense/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/seat-time-makes-no-sense/#comments Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:20:33 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1519 I had not realized how much progress was being made in eliminating seat time requirements until I read this article in Education Week: States Loosening ‘Seat Time’ Requirements.

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/seat-time-makes-no-sense/feed/ 0 Trick Question: Do Teachers Have To Learn Technology? http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/trick-question-do-teachers-have-to-learn-technology/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/trick-question-do-teachers-have-to-learn-technology/#comments Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:19:52 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1512 Jonah Salich put it great when he said, “Actually, teachers DON’T have to learn technology.”

Salich provides a thoughtful discussion of the role of technology in teaching and learning in this post, “Actually, teachers DON’T have to learn technology.”

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/trick-question-do-teachers-have-to-learn-technology/feed/ 0 Blended Learning Training: Start With a Community of Practitioners? http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners-2/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners-2/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 21:40:57 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1506 Can we simply “train” our way to greatness?

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners-2/feed/ 0 Forget “Training” – Let’s Try “Learning” http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/forget-training-lets-try-learning/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/forget-training-lets-try-learning/#comments Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:48:37 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1500 Dean Shareski asks an interesting set of questions in his post, Should teachers own their learning?

What if school districts and school administrators trusted teachers to let them direct their own PD?

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/forget-training-lets-try-learning/feed/ 0 To the Cloud for Curriculum! http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/to-the-cloud-for-curriculum/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/to-the-cloud-for-curriculum/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:27:38 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1493 As Wesley Fryer explains, “The future of digital curriculum is in the cloud, on mobile devices, and in remixable forms.”

Which is why we think platforms like My Big Campus are vital. Content can be mixed and matched, shared, changed, and discussed—anywhere, anytime—as long as students, teachers and parents have an internet connection.

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/to-the-cloud-for-curriculum/feed/ 0 Blended Learning Training: Start With a Community of Practitioners? http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:32:40 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1489 Teacher Melissa Meyers makes a powerful argument for blended learning in Bob Lenz’s blog post, From the Classroom: What Does Blending Learning Look Like?

Yet, her conclusion does not quite work for me. She sums up her argument with this:

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/blended-learning-training-start-with-a-community-of-practitioners/feed/ 0 The Technology Tools Are Not the Point http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/the-technology-tools-are-not-the-point/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/the-technology-tools-are-not-the-point/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 15:06:43 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1484 Educational technology is making possible powerful new ways to learn. But the foundational concept is not “technology in the classroom.” After reading this post, Five Ways to Empower Students, I wonder: Is the concept the “power of us?”

Adora Svitak certainly makes that argument here:

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/the-technology-tools-are-not-the-point/feed/ 0 Apple – Less Like a Villain, More Like a Gateway Drug? http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-less-like-a-villain-more-like-a-gateway-drug/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-less-like-a-villain-more-like-a-gateway-drug/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:36:37 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1476 The Economist’stake on iBooks is ultimately summed up as follows:

Vinod Khosla, a legendary Silicon Valley investor, says he is personally excited by the prospect of high-school education “moving from teachers talking uniformly to bored A students and clueless D students, 50 in a class, to individual ‘gamified’ and adaptively difficult systems that leverage our social inclinations.” In other words, when a student can win points, stars or badges by helping friends understand difficult concepts—and his or her own reputation gets an immediate boost on Facebook as a result—then high-school education will finally have entered the 21st century. Pray for the day.

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-less-like-a-villain-more-like-a-gateway-drug/feed/ 0 Apple as the Villain http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-as-the-villain/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-as-the-villain/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:06:19 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1465 Lightspeed Systems employees love Apple products. So much so that it’s getting harder to even find PCs in the building—much less in an employee’s hand. And this in spite of the fact that Lightspeed Systems was a 100% Windows shop only a mere five or six years ago.

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/apple-as-the-villain/feed/ 0 My 2012 Predictions http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/my-2012-predictions/ http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/my-2012-predictions/#comments Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:11:57 +0000 Joel Heinrichs http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/?p=1456 I have struggled a bit this year with the blog – as just flipping you all interesting tech tidbits is nice, and easy, and fun – but I am not sure it really moves us forward very much.

]]> http://blog.lightspeedsystems.com/blog/my-2012-predictions/feed/ 0