21st Century Scholar

Thursday is TechDay would like to introduce you to the Edupunk movement. No, they won’t beat you up. No, they aren’t mean and aloof or any of the other pejoratives associated with the word “punk.” What is it? Well, Stephen Downes defines it as “student-centered, resourceful, teacher- or community-created rather than corporate-sourced.” The movement’s growth spurt is [...]

by Stefani Relles When was the last time you bought a new lap top? For me, it was Saturday. Today’s tech tip is based on my recent experience as a technology consumer and the stress it provoked (despite my baseline self-confidence as an enthusiast and user). Four years ago when I bought my last laptop, [...]

By Stefani Relles Two weeks ago, I announced the “Thursday is TechDay” objective of developing an active 21st Century Scholar blogroll. This week, I spool out the first blogger on our register. As a reminder, a blogroll is a list of other blogs that a blogger (or collaborative blog such as 21st Century Scholar) recommends [...]

by Bill Tierney A week or so ago I read a draft of a paper a mentee who is a sophomore is writing on the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I sent another email to a student who is at my alma mater – Tufts University  – to see how he’s doing and encourage [...]

by Stefani Relles What would you say if I promised that reading today’s post will prolong your life? For those of you who believe that learning to use new technology takes too long, this one’s for you. Sure, it’s counterintuitive to spend hours getting up to speed on new software when the “old version” seems [...]

by Stefani Relles Creative Commons is a non-profit organization which has become synonymous with “getting copyright law out of the way” (at least in terms of public Internet use). The principle is simple. Creative Commons allows a user to exercise the option NOT to restrict blanket copyright over digital materials, and thereby facilitates the sharing [...]

by Stefani Relles If you love new technology, you probably also love learning new technology terms. If you don’t love technology, then the vocabulary of technological innovation can be a barrier to understanding what are often simple concepts. For those of you who were afraid to ask, “What’s cloud computing anyway?” Today is your lucky [...]

Is technology gendered? I was recently struck by this question while perusing interactive panel proposals for SXSW. The proposal emerged from the assumption that technology itself is masculine territory, grouped, I assume, with the hard sciences. I suppose there’s some truth to the stereotype of technology as the domain of freaky, geeky men with horn-rimmed [...]

by Stefani Relles In a previous post, I introduced Ning and the easy access this (once free) platform gives to educators and researchers who want to create (and study) a self-contained digital ecosystem for student _________________. Building the Ning social network is easy, but using it to teach is hard because technology doesn’t teach _________________ [...]

by Stefani Relles Over the last several posts, I’ve been approaching the subject of technology and education rather conceptually. Briefly, I’ve discussed the basic tenets of Web 2.0 applications and services. It all boils down to a widespread shift in the way we think about, develop and ultimately use technology. Uploading is so 2004. Today’s [...]