Web Data Integration with ManageBac
This post was written for the talk “APIs and Beyond” at the Faria Education Technology Conference 2021. APIs or Application Programming Interfaces are central to how the internet works. Every time we search, submit a form or enter student grades, we are using an API. It is a way for a user to send […]
COVID-19 at OCAC Suzhou
The school: OCAC is a new school in Suzhou, China. Although only in its third year, it already had over 1500 students and a program stretching from K-11. COVID-19 meant that school would remain closed for two additional months, in that time, classes needed to go on. However, given the diversity of the school, it […]
Getting started with the ManageBac API – Working with Students
ManageBac is a powerful CMS (Curriculum Management System) that offers a lot of structure to the delivery of the IB program. Thankfully, it also includes a fairly comprehensive API system, which, while not as capable as you may like, it is still powerful enough to drive certain tasks forward. Building a Local Database In order […]
The education portal – a look back:
It’s September 2028, and school is just beginning. Students have spent the summer on the education portal, reading about their interests and completing small projects with friends, and others they met online. In London, Ontario, sixteen high-school kids had gotten together over the summer and started a basketball club. They invited grade five, six, and […]
Well, it’s over!
I really enjoyed this course, and now that it is done, I can look back on a few projects I am truly proud of, most notably, the first and last. The first project: https://ryandt.com/misc/about-me.pdf The last project: https://ryandt.com/cc For my final blog post, I wanted to offer a “behind the scenes” look at the creation […]
Rambling Towards Finality
As time passes, and this course draws to a close, a big and ominous threat looms in the distance. The final project. So far this course has been a rewarding experience, however, it is also a bastion of big dreams, with short execution times. I have gone through this course developing a variety of ideas, […]
Questioning
What is to learn? Don’t we do it every day? By talking, by listening, by sharing ideas? Isn’t sharing a cycle of learning and teaching? Can’t sharing and receiving new ideas lead to new ways of looking at the world? Creativity? Innovation? Alright, I can believe that. But then what’s a teacher? Am I one, […]
Drafting a philosophy of practice
Philosophy of Practice We are all learners together. We teach each other, every day and in everything we do. We are beings of habit and convention. Our language is one of words and actions that develop, change, and evolve. There is always someone who looks at a situation differently. They build from their own understanding […]
Why We Must Abolish Schooling – Ivan Illich
This radical article was a compelling and engaging read. It is hard to accept everything that is mentioned, but a lot of it is ripe for reflection and consideration. Firstly, I would warn Illich of falling into the trap of Lamb’s when roasting pig. (Kliebard, 196) While the fact we have obligatory schooling does have […]
The Contradiction and the Challenge of the Educated Woman – Martin
This engaging and thought provoking article begins with a description by John Stuart Mill of the educated woman as a walking contradiction. “Women who read, much more women who write, are, in the existing constitution of things, a contradiction and a disturbing element.” (p. 6) Martin goes on to explore Woolf’s picture of the educated […]