Category Archives: Leapfrogging development

Robot teachers in S. Korea

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Tryggvi Thayer

This is quite interesting. S. Koreans are developing “robot teachers” to function as teaching assistants in public schools. Apparently they are working fairly well. A recent project showed that elementary school students working with these robots in an english class … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Education, Leapfrogging development | Leave a comment

Having fun with OLPC

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Tryggvi Thayer

I finally get to have a little fun with an OLPC laptop. Borrowed this from an institute at the university and plan to follow my daughters path of discovery over the weekend. I’ll probably post some reflections afterwards.

Posted in Education, ICTs, Leapfrogging development | Leave a comment

Wifi on the schoolbus

Posted on February 15, 2010 by Tryggvi Thayer

This is an excellent example of the impact a seemingly simply (and, I might suggest, obvious) innovation can have. New York Times: Wi-Fi Turns Rowdy Bus Into Rolling Study Hall

Posted in Education, ICTs, Information Society, Internet, Knowledge development, Leapfrogging development | Leave a comment

Uruguay gives laptops to every public primary school student

Posted on October 17, 2009 by Tryggvi Thayer

Uruguay has completed their plan of equipping every student in the country’s public primary schools with an XO Laptop computer. The final count of the computers was 396,727 laptop computers. The project is not completed because not all of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, ICTs, Information Society, Internet, Leapfrogging development | Leave a comment

Why are we slow to adopt technology for education?

Posted on August 21, 2009 by Tryggvi Thayer

For the past year, I’ve been researching the integration of technology in education, and most recently the use of cell phones, as I mentioned in a recent post. What I have seen is that the use of communication technology in … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, Education, ICTs, Leapfrogging development | Leave a comment

Cell phones in education

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Tryggvi Thayer

I’m preparing a 1cr. workshop on the use of cell phones in education to be offered through the Leapfrog Institute here at the University of Minnesota this fall. I thought I’d share the bibliography so far. At least some of this will probably be of interest to readers. If you know of more interesting literature, blogs, etc. on this topic leave a message in the comments. Click more for my annotations.
Exam students can ‘phone a friend’. (2009). Ananova. Retrieved August 1, 2009, from http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3391974.html
Coopman, T. M. (2008). Toward a pervasive communication environment perspective. First Monday, 14(1). Retrieved April 9, 2009, from http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/2277/2069
Costabile, M. F., Angeli, A. D., Lanzilotti, R., Ardito, C., Buono, P., & Pederson, T. (2008). Explore! Possibilities and challenges of mobile learning. Paper presented at the CHI 2008.
Edweek.org (2009). Cellphones as Instructional Tools Retrieved August 1, 2009, from http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=lobby.jsp&eventid=154461&sessionid=1&key=F6D1D2D288709C1B15A12F74A57B0660&eventuserid=26731318
Hartnell-Young, E., & Heym, N. (2008). How mobile phones help learing in secondary schools. Nottingham, UK: Learning Sciences Research Institute – University of Nottingham.
Kolb, L. (2008). Toys to tools: Connecting student cell phones to education. Washington, D.C.: International Society for Technology in Education.
Librero, F., Ramos, A. J., Ranga, A. I., Trinona, J., & Lambert, D. (2007). Uses of the cell phone for education in the Philippines and Mongolia. Distance Education, 28(2), 231-244.
Prensky, M. (2005). What can you learn from a cell phone? Almost anything! Innovate, 1(5).
Continue reading →