These are challenging times for teachers, as we face a new and mysterious new viral outbreak called the COVID-19 coronavirus. Students are getting news, rumors and opinions coming at them from a variety of sources. They need tools to sift through the data storm on this emergency health issue. The New York Times has come …
As we close out 2019, I am thinking of all the cool stuff the KQED Education team accomplished over the year. There’s a lot I could mention from across our department, but here I will just focus on projects that I was personally involved in. So here are some of my personal highlights from 2019 …
I’m excited to announce that I’m facilitating a free online course on Finding & Evaluating Information from October 21-27. Learn how to spot misinformation with strategies used by professional fact-checkers. Review the concepts of reliability and bias, and practice evaluating online information and images so you can bring these skills to your students. This is …
It’s been a busy summer here at KQED. My team at KQED Teach has been working hard to finalize a new collection of online courses for teachers on misinformation, disinformation and propaganda. The four course series covers critical topics that educators should know about in the age of “fake news.” The courses are: Making Media …
On March 11, 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a computer programmer working at the CERN lab in Geneva, sent to his boss Mike Sendall a proposal for a “world information management system.” He called it the “worldwideweb.” His boss famously called it “‘Vague, but exciting.” Sir Berners-Lee developed much of the backbone of the internet — …
I’ve been doing instructional design for the past three years, working at the nexus of education and digital technology. I’ve managed LMSs, created SCORM files with authoring tools, and built modules, lessons, courses, and learning paths. But at the back of my mind, I’ve always been wary of the grand promises of instructional design and …
I’m excited to share the news about KQED Learn, a free, safe online space for students to engage in thoughtful discussions about timely societal topics, using fact-based arguments and social media that they share. As the next generation of KQED’s awesome “Do Now” series, this looks like a great tool for teachers to facilitate thoughtful debates …
The California Academy of Science's is a world-class science research and educational facility, that hundreds of thousands of young people every year get to experience and learn from. However there are many more who can't travel to San Francisco to check out our living specimens and meet our scientists and educators. That's why we created …
I’m excited to announce that I will soon be taking on a newly created role at the Academy, the Senior Instructional Design Lead for Science Action Club. This is a new position working with our largest youth program, the Science Action Club (SAC), a high-impact STEM learning program that designs professional development and teaching kits for middle school afterschool …
Just a teaser that on Monday I have some exciting news about my new role at the California Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, here's a video of one of our biologists introducing our Digital Learning TechTeens to a Giant Pacific Octopus under our care.