World: r4wp

More clearly, create a technologically empowered learning environment.

I'm thinking more of a specific tool/s

JN: I think there will be a key tool around which it all revolves, 
like Hypercard.

Write a business plan, write a business plan, write a business plan

Btw, the reason I can't work in the education market is because they 
don't tend to take college dropouts, even ones that have done post-graduate 
work. Minor detail.

Right.  I'm writing a disseration...

Not at the moment because you people are too distracting. :)

Writing a business plan is faster.

Excuses. Excuses

I will need a job in July.

I never graduated, they just put me into the post-graduate program 
right away. So I never needed the degree.

Actually, I needed some motivation today.  You people have been great 
motivators.

Brian, I don't think people will much care as long as you can produce.

Yes Brian, all that matters is that things get *done for a good price.

In fact, that sort of thing turns people on when they hear of your 
drive and success

My Ph.D. gives me a seat at the table in education conversations, 
so there are possibilities....

You are too smart for the system.

Thanks for taking this up NickA, james_nak, BrianH.  Teacher tools 
in a Classroom Suite.  I have a friend in high places.  I'll pitch 
it and see what he says.

That's important Scot.  I'll trump that, though, if I can get investors 
to dump some cash ;)

Unless the guys at your table have more :)

And Brian, my context is for you is creating for the educators and 
not being "one of them."

..Because then, yes, you need the piece of paper.

I think we'll need both NickA.  Assessment is the key to education. 
 That is an important part of my work.  I'm thinking that the learning 
environment might actually provide the perfect place to develop the 
analytic assessment tools that will emerge from my dissertation.

Well, I'm very glad you're here Scot.

We need more gray matter to help REBOL succeed.

So this discussion is allowing me to synthesize some ideas that might 
be workable.  Perhaps a symbiotic sort of relationship like Stanford 
and Xeorox park for educational technology.  I'm up for a faculty 
spot in So Cal.  Fingers crossed.

And more passionate involvement

Scot, it is ironic because just today I was observing an elementary 
school lab and assessment and true validation was the subject.

Yup. We don't have a clue, to be honest. We talk about learning environments 
but we dont' really know what they are and how they work very well. 
Still stuck in reductionist thinking.

Sociocultural thinking sounds good and makes people feel better about 
the learning experience, but we don't know how to measure it.

The software couldn't really tell if the students were really learning 
anything. (Because they could fool it).

Bottomline, better teachers, who use assessment a tool to support 
learning = good education.

Yep, we call it gaming the test.

They are learning how the test works.  Kids are great a learning.

Kids alway learn.  What they are learning is really the question.

Yes and these were elementary 1st grade Sped kids!

Cool.  I love students.  They are smarter about what is really going 
on in the classroom than most adults.  We believe what we think we 
see rather than taking the time to really see what is there.

Maybe there's something to that... An app that wants kids to figure 
out how to beat it. :-)

If you want to know what is going on in a classroom, ask the students. 
 If you want to know what is really going on for a student, ask the 
teacher.  If the teacher doesn't know, get a different teacher.

Oh, and Brian and Nick, what I was looking at was all subscription-based....$$$

Learning is automatic for humans. We are learning machines.

I need a lot of oil these days. Scot, I am glad to see that you're 
still ticking and doing well.

Subscriptions work only at the district level.  That is a long difficult 
sales cycle and you need to get a 5 year commitment.  Sales of a 
product works at the classroom and school site level.

Scot, I've been teaching professionally for 27 years, and my understanding 
has always been based on the idea of building habit.

Very close to my thinking after 30 years.

I also need the habit of playing lead like you Nick. :-)

Well - and maintaining interest - that's just as important.

Thanks James  :)

And I'd like to be able to write code like some of the guys here.

Me thinks that many of these guys are in the stratosphere when it 
comes to programming.