More tech concerns for ID cards?

Now, I'm aware that this might not transfer, since we don't know the specifications of the system the UK government is setting up (and UK gov doesn't either!), but since one of the arguments has been to do with compatibility with (USA) passport systems, then there is concern latent in this report, I suspect for the UK gov's system.

If a reader could be compromised using Grunwald's technique, it might be reprogrammed to misreport an expired passport as a valid one, or even -- theoretically -- to attempt a compromise of the Windows-based border-screening computer to which it is connected.

Also check out previous posts on ID cards

Vocabulary Explosion At 18 Months

If I'm not mistaken this partially undermines one of the drivers towards a Chomskyan belief in an innate language learning faclity: based as it is on the observation of the rapid acquisition of language.

Children are going to get that word spurt guaranteed, mathematically, as long as a couple of conditions hold," McMurray said. "They have to be learning more than one word at a time, and they must be learning a greater number of difficult or moderate words than easy words. Using computer simulations and mathematical analysis, I found that if those two conditions are true, you always get a vocabulary explosion

Vocabulary Explosion At 18 Months

If I'm not mistaken this partially undermines one of the drivers towards a Chomskyan belief in an innate language learning faclity

Children are going to get that word spurt guaranteed, mathematically, as long as a couple of conditions hold," McMurray said. "They have to be learning more than one word at a time, and they must be learning a greater number of difficult or moderate words than easy words. Using computer simulations and mathematical analysis, I found that if those two conditions are true, you always get a vocabulary explosion

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JK Rowling believes ...

I missed this but somehow it doesn't surprise me.

JK Rowling was "Christian by conviction, is Christian in her mode of living, even in her way of writing."
Rowling said as much herself in an interview with Vancouver Sun in 2000. It "seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God," she commented, and added that it suited her not discuss her faith too freely because, otherwise, "I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books."

Planning map of Britain

The Potential Major Infrastructure Map is intended to show the breadth and types of major infrastructure projects that are likely to arise and pass through the government's decision making structure for Major Infrastructure Projects under the anticipated Planning Reform Bill.

The way they learn today

The way young people use technology outside school is changing and so are the ways they learn. This project, funded by the NCSL, aims to explore children's informal learning with digital media such as games consoles, the internet and mobile phones. There are three main areas of focus:

* How young people are engaging with digital media - especially when it has not been designed to be explicitly educational. What are they learning in terms of skills, networking and collaboration?
* The potential for a new digital divide to open up which is based on parental support for media use rather than access to hardware.
* How Schools can respond to these issues.

This project is now completed.

One of the claims of the report(Link to the power point presentation giving the main results)is that "we are all digital natives now" (slide 9). Not sure I agree with that in terms of the first language/second language analogy, although I do feel the idea of digiborigenes does need to be problematised somewhat. I'm certainly giving a lot of thought to this in terms of implications for my classroom+ praxis from September.
I'm certainly asking myself the question as to why all the marking I'm doing is on paper and whether there is any reason it shouldn't be electronic. But then there's the non-gimmicky use of other stuff 'live'.

What is personalised learning?

Nice little intro, although the authors (implied by their own admission) are still learning the ropes in this kind of approach. However, it will quickly tell you what PE is about and you may see whay I'm interested in it.
A brief animated intro to personalised learning