This product is a better user experience than reading a physical book. But it’s also a prime example of identifying a neat technology, and then finding a reason to use it in school, which is ass backwards.

Educators need to figure out what they want students to learn, and then find a technology that helps them learn it. Students could play forever with this book, but all they would learn is Al Gore’s view of how we solve our environmental problems. They would not learn contrary views, and they would not be taught to think critically about whose views they accept.

The successors to textbooks surely will be digital, but they won’t be a textbook at all.

They won’t be created by an education company that bends to politically driven agendas, a phenomenon that has been around long before last year’s Texas controversy;

“chapters” won’t reflect the perspective of just a few writers and editors, but rather the voices of thousands of scholars and educators;

in subjective areas, they won’t require students to memorize particular “facts” and viewpoints, but rather will encourage them to think for themselves, and form their own perspectives; and

they won’t impose a “one size fits all” approach to learning on a diverse group of students, with different interests, abilities and needs.

The successor to textbooks will be created by a group of passionate educators who collectively decide that no one should have “ownership” over what is taught in schools. It will leverage a curated collection of the best free content online, supplemented by some traditional textbook content in the sciences and math.

I was just thinking that there are already names for this sort of thing. We call them applications, interactive multimedia presentations, even websites. If someone put that in front of me and asked, “Do you know what this is?” I would confidently have several names for it, and book wouldn’t make the list. And I’m a huge fan of ebooks, I have two Kindles, so I don’t think it’s just that I’m biased towards bound material.

I’d really like to see some reading comprehension statistics on things like this versus more linear presentations of information too. I’m not just being critical, I’m genuinely curious about whether being able to interactively explore presented information leads to better, worse or the same retention as reading through it in the more traditional linear, guided way.

It’s incredible to uncover how our brain works, which once done, huge step for human beings. But still a ton of people who learn their second or third language not at the golden age can utilize the language freely as a native. When set in a place only the second language speaking, you’re pushed to learn and greater and faster improvement are made than only in language courses.

This proves how important it is to look after our babies and give them everything we possibly can to help them become happy adults. I’d like to take a moment to draw attention to Australia’s under-recognised childcare system. It always amazes me that people complain bitterly about the cost of child care, but it is this grossly underpaid industry that can ensure our babies get the best possible care available. Child care workers are highly trained in helping our babies learn, are taught the latest and greatest in cognitive development theory, and some of our babies spend up to a third of their time with carers. I don’t think our society praises these people enough for the great work they do. Child care is not a job for dummies, it’s probably one of the most important jobs out there.

here are some more figures on the critical period of language with colleagues following a discussion we had on this topic this morning and saw that it is in one of Patricia Kuhl’s papers here, if anyone is interested: www.life-slc.org/docs/Kuhl-brainmechanisms2010.pdf. It’s a fascinating article she wrote on this topic for Neuron Review.

This is a concept for a language learning game. Idea is to use voice and video for an immersible experience. Goal for the gamer is to teach meet and greet skills that are very basic for conversation in some other culture.

This is… amazing, just… wow! I am attending RPI this fall as a freshmen, and i plan on going into mechanical engineering and design. As soon as i saw this video i was literally agape and on the edge of my seat! I gave the link to all the other people going to RPI next year including Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and other Mech. Eng.
I have a Nintendo Wii, and an extra controller, so you can count on me bringing this set up to my Dorm room next year. With the interactive 2-point white-board alone i can think of either great fun or great ways to improve on how I do my work. Can this be set up to a CAD software or similar software for 3-D design?

Honestly Mr. Lee, I have so much respect for you right now. First for realizing this could be done, second for developing the software to make it happen, and last but far from least, for making the information widely distributed, the software free to everyone, and as you said, opening the field of research to such a broad range of people. You certainly deserve that standing ovation. Bravo!!!

Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world.

I think that this is a great idea. I was always hoping that textbooks were going to be the next thing that would be shared since education is the most important aspect of a person’s life and should not have to be so costly. If everyone has an opportunity to learn and share their knowledge with others in an open source format that is only better for the world as a whole. Unfortunately, many universities still use textbooks and schools rather not use open source because they make a lot of money from selling textbooks to students. Thus, students have to look all over the web for cheap textbooks and places to sell their textbooks. I just want to mention a website called skoolboy.com that does both, you can list your textbooks for free and find cheap textbooks as well as other things that college students need like cellphones they might have lost, and laptops that were stolen or are broken. its a new site but i think its worth checking out.