Chad Outten's Blog (8)

Congratulations to Moodle Founder & Lead Developer, Martin Dougiamas - who has just received the Google-O’Reilly Award 2008 for Best Education Enabler. The awards have been presented to individuals for dedication, innovation, leadership and outstanding contribution to open source.



Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed… Continue

In January 2008, Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd announced the Federal Government's Digital Education Revolution - a $900m 4 year program which aims to achieve 1:2 (computer to student) ratio in all Australian secondary schools. Grants up to $1m are available to schools for computer hardware whereby the Federal Government enters into a funding agreement with respective Block Grant Authorities. The $900m figure was calculated on… Continue

I recently attended the Moodle Moot in New Zealand and an inspiring presentation by Martin Langhoff. Martin is a Moodle guru and works for New Zealand Moodle Partner, Catalyst IT. During his spare time, Martin is involved in the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. I also had the rare privelege of test-driving an XO-1 prototype.



For those not familiar with the project, the OLPC social welfare organisation developed XO-1, previously known as the… Continue

'Google Generation' refers to a generation of people born since 1993, who have grown up in an Internet dominated world. According to Wikipedia, the phrase has entered common usage as a "...way of referring to a generation whose first port of call for knowledge is the internet and a search engine, Google being the most popular".



The Online Computer Library Center recently conducted a global survey that indicates the… Continue

Net Generation students were born into the age of information technology. Their attitudes, expectations, skills and learning styles reflect their environment - which contrasts our own upbringing.



From my personal experience as an educator, I've outlined what I believe are the 7 key traits of the Net Generation:



1. Connected



Net Gen expect instant access to information. If they need to know something, they will Google it. They also need connectivity to their… Continue

According to a recent US study by the National Schools Board Association, 96% of students aged 9-17 years, who have internet access, use social networking tools. The study was comprised of 3 surveys, an online survey involving 1277 students, an online survey of 1039 parents, and phone interviews with 250 school district leaders who make internet policy decisions. The study identified that students spend on average 9 hours per week… Continue

The 'mass production line' is a great analogy to describe the traditional school system. Students as the raw material and educators as the cogs in the machine working for a bureaucracy. For too long, many schools and universities have operated like this: farms and factories that produce clones of a pre-determined specification, fit for society.



It is refreshing to consider an educational system that is not bound by four walls. Learning can happen by anyone about anything, anywhere and… Continue

Traditionally, education has been an entity, a system, a learning process that students undergo, or all or a combination of these things. Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying:



"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school".



In modern terms, education today is about learning as a life-long experience, not simply a process that students endure for a period of their lives.



Future learning requires deconstructing traditional views… Continue