Hasta La Gadget!

“My child is not a number!”

In the era of so-called big data in education, you’re likely to hear this refrain. Education data are, after all, mostly numbers. (I would argue that more anecdotal information — such as classroom observations — should also be considered part of a full picture of student “data,” but that’s a whole blog post in itself.) No child’s experiences can be reduced to a set of numbers on a spreadsheet, and no data policy should be about limiting a student’s options or reducing her experience. On the contrary: effective data use should expand a child’s horizons by providing more information about individual students to help guide the people making decisions about their learning — parents and educators.

In 2014 it’s remarkable how thoroughly we’ve incorporated data into our lives — yet few of us think about it in those terms. We take for granted that our phone will use accurate maps and location technology to get us from point A to point B. We trust apps to help us find a place to eat in an unfamiliar neighborhood. It is lovely to put away the smartphone and wander around discovering new places on a Saturday afternoon, but it’s hard to romanticize getting lost on a busy Wednesday night looking for your kid’s new study group.

Attaining a world-class education is not the same as finding a good lunch spot, but some lessons in these examples can be applied. Used the right way, education data are tools to help make the best decisions possible — in ways that can reduce burden on educators and provide insight faster than before, with more specificity about individual students. The difference between education and other areas of life is that the same innovations have yet to transform the schooling experience for most students, families, and teachers. Some, however, are worried that such a transformation would rob the teaching and learning experience of something beautiful and essential. That is no one’s idea of effective data use.

Like all parents, I want my children to develop a lifelong love of learning. I want their schools and teachers to encourage their natural independent-mindedness and curiosity about the world, to help them fulfill their potential and their dreams. Effective data use could be a game-changing part of that journey, yet many people associate data with just the opposite–pushing conformity and the homogenizing of learning. Used effectively, various types of data can come together to customize the learning experience to support students as individuals. That’s the opposite of a one-size-fits-all education.

Data have the power to revolutionize personalized learning, the tailoring of education methods and content to individual students’ needs and personal goals. This is a new area, and a lot of schools and districts are currently thinking about how to use technology to encourage students’ individual growth. Many teachers are already using information about their kids to tailor instruction, like DC public school teacher Jennifer George, who uses her own classroom data to improve student outcomes. The potential of personalized learning is to make sure all students get where they’re going, while acknowledging the paths and destinations will look different for different children. When a student gets the concept in two days, why should she sit in the chair hearing it repeated for two months? If she needs more time to master the topic, why rush her on to the next chapter?

There are many other ways data are being used to open doors for students. In Delaware, for example, data analysis found that a substantial number of highly qualified students were not enrolling in college. In response, the state created the “summer nudge” program, whereby targeted letters are sent out to these students encouraging them to apply to schools that match their academic ability, along with resources on financial aid. And in many states, including Massachusetts, early warning systems use data to identify where students are at risk to fail and get them back on track.

Like all powerful tools, data can be used effectively and they can be misused. That’s why we need the right policies and practices in place to ensure they’re being used to encourage learning and increase achievement. We need the governance structures to guarantee that data are being safeguarded against inappropriate access and use. We need educators and administrators to have the support to choose programs that foster individual aspiration and growth. Children are so much more than the data about them. But used effectively, that data can help them find their path to success.

Apple’s new wearable, the Apple Watch, has been given a one-day showcase at the Parisian boutique Colette, an event that is part of the Paris Fashion Week. The showcasing is taking place today, and has marked appearances from notable fashion industry icons who have popped into see what Apple has unleashed. The showcasing includes visits from Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour … Continue reading

I recently shared the exhilaration of joining an estimated 400,000 people to march through the streets of New York City to express growing political will for governments to acknowledge the impact of climate change today on global health and security and to respond now with national and international resolve to act specifically and dramatically to reduce global emissions, implement alternative energy sources, and otherwise modify societal behaviors through regulation, legislation, treaty, inter-governmental cooperation, and adequate public investment.

The People’s Climate March was long, loud, colorful, and committed, made up of indigenous peoples, elders and politicians, youth groups, and hundreds of other organizations focused on multiple issues and situations, local and national, that comprise the catalog of impacts caused by changing climate and political indifference. While there was much fun and fervor, there was also certainly an under-current of frustration and anger at the ever-lengthening postponement and dilution of any meaningful action to be yet taken by the US Congress and President Obama. The organizers of the March, primarily among them 350.org, have taken the rejection of approval of the XL pipeline connecting the Canadian tar sands area across the American mid-west to southern refineries for export as the critical decision to indicate a change. The objections articulated to that project are many, to include the poor quality of the oil, the effect of its extraction on the natural landscape and watershed, the danger of its transportation, the emission output of its refining, and its export for consumption in places with even fewer and less effective regulation of its burning. But it is just one action, however, symbolic, and must be followed by many more.

Just a few days later, over one hundred heads of state assembled at the United Nations headquarters in New York for yet another climate summit (see Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action.) World Ocean Observatory was at a similar, very disappointing meeting in Copenhagen in 2009 where the political and financial commitment was disputed with threatened walk-out by small island nations and developing countries that found little help in the proposed actions and finances. At last week’s Climate Summit President Obama listed certain actions to be taken by Executive Order and exhorted others. The leaders of China and India, the two other most formidable greenhouse gas contributors, did not attend the Assembly.

But even in these events, the ocean was curiously and conspicuously absent (see David Hillibrand’s piece on this major omission.) This is not new news. In fact, it is such old news that it is appalling to understand that ocean advocates have still not been able to insert the ocean into the global conversation. How can that be when the ocean sits at the epicenter of the climate problem; when it is the penultimate reservoir of emission consequence and embodies most of the potential for solutions? One of the reasons this situation endures is that there is no ocean lobby to make it so. Leonardo DiCaprio addressed the UN meeting, and, as an extraordinary proven donor to ocean conservation, mentioned ocean issues in an attempt to put the issue squarely on the UN agenda. But even he, along with so many others (scientists and the less famous) still may not be heard. The UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the primary UN ocean entity, and UN-Ocean, the cross-cutting committee of all UN agencies with any responsibility for any ocean issue, attempt to voice this perspective from within, but that process is long, arduous, and mostly ineffective without major international support.

It may be that only from without that the message will find traction. The People’s Climate March was but one such expression. The Global Ocean Commission call to action by a private group of political leaders also exhorted the UN meeting to address ocean issues. And there are other hopeful signs: states and communities are taking steps to legislate new behaviors locally for the benefit of the ocean. Certain investment groups, pension funds, Stanford University and other college endowments, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and other philanthropies, and individuals, with many shares or few, are divesting from energy companies and re-investing in alternative opportunities. It seems clear that we can no longer wait for the UN, or those elected to represent our interests and execute their responsibility, to govern. We can certainly no longer wait for reform by the energy industry that has doubled down in opposition.

Climate has been reduced to numbers. Easy to understand, easy to ignore. Until we as ocean advocates can make the case that climate itself is a function of the ocean, along with its impact on fresh water, energy, food, health, and security, the UN and other agents of governance will continue to struggle with the compromised attitudes and actions, or lack thereof, promoted by vested interests. The numbers marching exceeded expectation (nearly 400,000) but they must become more than a headline statistic to transcend one day or one meeting; we must all remain in the streets, with all that determination and exuberance, marching on until we get there.

We know a bit about the Apple Watch, but not nearly as much as we’d like to. A new hands-on post sheds additional details on Apple’s first true wearable, detailing just how we’ll be able to get new apps for the wrist-worn device. The Apple Watch has a unique interface, where a variety of icons are manifested as small circles … Continue reading

One notable name among the tablet and laptop market would be HP, and this time around, HP intends to expand the HP Stream range of affordable thin-and-light Windows devices by offering two brand new tablets, and an equal number of laptops to boot. All in all, they will be the HP Stream 7 and HP Stream 8 tablets, while the new HP Stream laptops will arrive in 11.6” and 13.3” screen sizes.

Let us take a closer look at the HP Stream 7 and HP Stream 8 tablets first – as their name suggests, these happen to be 7” and 8” tablets which run on the Windows operating system, and will carry an Intel processor underneath the hood to get all of the hard processing work done along the way. Of course, your productivity will not be hindered either, thanks to the included 1-year subscription of Microsoft Office 365 Personal that will arrive with 1TB of OneDrive online storage as well as up to 60 minutes of Skype each month for you to hold conferences and phone calls to business associates, family members and friends who are far away from where you live. Not only that, the HP Stream 8 tablet will also boast of an optional 200MB of free 4G data each month without the need to sign up for any annual contract for the entire life of the device.

As for the two new HP Stream laptops, there will be 11.6” and 13.3” screen sizes to choose from, where they both come in an innovative fanless design that are powered by high efficiency Intel Celeron processors with 32GB of eMMC flash memory to help you get started right out of the box. Simply said, these are extremely basic computing machines, and you will not be able to play any games that require a decent graphics card. At least they operate in a cool and quiet manner, while featuring a stylish gradient design that will boast of Orchid Magenta and Horizon Blue colors. Just like the two Stream tablets, it will also arrive with a 1-year subscription of Microsoft Office 365 Personal which includes 1TB of OneDrive online storage, not to mention a $25 gift card right in the box that lets you purchase apps or games from the Windows Store outright.

Expect the HP Stream 7 and HP Stream 8 tablets to retail for $99.99 and $149.99, respectively, as they arrive in the U.S. later this November, while the HP Stream 11.6” model will cost $199.99 with the HP Stream 13.3” model going for $229.99 in November as well.

Press Release
[ HP Stream range gets expanded with new tablets and laptops copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]