Last night I went to the Castro Theatre to see a Q & A with Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. I’d never been to that theater before, so the venue alone was kind of a treat. It’s a huge, classic place that looks like it hasn’t been altered much from when it opened in… Continue reading The Path of Khan
What I want from a language-learning tool
Last night I went to an Edtech Network event here in San Francisco. I got to learn a lot about cool things happening in the Bay Area (such as TechShop and a new after-school STEAM program for the 8-14 age range). I also had the opportunity to chat with an entrepreneur who’s developing a new language-learning tool,… Continue reading What I want from a language-learning tool
Playing together to fight conflict
Last week’s Sunday New York Times has a piece on whether Palestinian and Israeli teenagers’ views of each other improve when they have positive experiences together (“Peace Through Friendship” by Juliana Schroeder and Jane Risen). It’s an intriguing hypothesis, but does it work in reality? For four years, we studied Seeds of Peace, a program that every year brings together several… Continue reading Playing together to fight conflict
Tuesday tip: Google add-ons
Earlier this year, Google unveiled add-ons. Previously, developers could use Google Apps Script (GAS) to create custom functions or tools, then publish them to script gallery. Other users could then read a short description if the script and install it in their own files. It worked fine, but it was clearly something Google hadn’t put… Continue reading Tuesday tip: Google add-ons
Cappy Hill Op Ed on Increasing Socioeconomic Diversity
I’m liking Cappy Hill, the current president of Vassar, more and more. She wasn’t there when I was a student. Now, on top of the news this week, she’s penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post on “How to increase socioeconomic diversity in college.” To increase the socioeconomic diversity of the student body, especially… Continue reading Cappy Hill Op Ed on Increasing Socioeconomic Diversity
Poor kids at rich colleges
It turns out that most top colleges are not doing a very good job of enrolling poor students (“Generation Later, Poor Are Still Rare at Elite Colleges”). Unfortunately, this comes comes to no surprise to someone who has close connections to several top American institutions. Still, there are some bright points. The article in the Times relies on a paper… Continue reading Poor kids at rich colleges
Tuesday tip: Spreadsheets and sheets in Google Apps Script
This week’s tip is a follow-up to last week’s post on working with ranges in Google Apps Script (GAS). Just like ranges, you need to be careful that you are working with the correct object if you’re dealing with sheets in GAS. If you’re used to Excel and VBA, GAS vocabulary is slightly different. In Excel, the… Continue reading Tuesday tip: Spreadsheets and sheets in Google Apps Script
Meanwhile, across the pond…
Here in New York (my home until Saturday), our new mayor has made universal prekindergarten classes a political priority. Winning pre-K burned some of de Blasio’s leverage with other leaders in Albany and New York. Now that it’s been approved, we’re getting into tricky situations with the schools that want to participate. Religious organizations want to… Continue reading Meanwhile, across the pond…
Who will test the testers?
Great follow-up to yesterday’s post. Dylan of the Learning Equality Foundation confirmed that they’re planning on doing randomized control trials (RCTs) on the KA Lite program. @finnismundi great question! Yes, partnered with UCSD Econ and great group in India to run a 40 classroom RCT for ’14-15 school year. — Dylan Barth (@Dylan_Barth) August 22,… Continue reading Who will test the testers?
Somebody’s making the web go world-wide
This week I learned (via Tony Wan at Edsurge) that Khan Academy lessons are now being offered offline. The program is called “KA Lite” and is run by the Foundation for Learning Equality. The idea is that users, or teachers, around the world will be able to download lessons with translations in their local language,… Continue reading Somebody’s making the web go world-wide