Jim McLaughlin's Blog

Sikuli is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces GUI using images screenshots. Sikuli includes Sikuli Script, a visual scripting API for Jython, and Sikuli IDE, an integrated development environment for writing visual scripts with screenshots easily. Sikuli Script automates anything you see on the screen without internal API’s support. You can… Read more

“Just sharing a new bit of free open source microblogging software that’s recently been released. It’s an alternative to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. that keeps your teachers’ and learners’ privacy safe and secure, i.e. since it’s running on your own server, no-one but you has access to the database so Facebook, Twitter, Google, et al… Read more

Defining Formative and Summative Assessments The terms “formative” and “summative” do not have to be difficult, yet the definitions have become confusing in the past few years. This is especially true for formative assessment. In a balanced assessment system, both summative and formative assessments are an integral part of information gathering. Depend too much on… Read more

Need a primer on issues affecting teacher quality? Then check out this new report from the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. “Straight Talk on Teacher Quality” breaks down six major problems in ensuring teacher quality and provides strategies to fix them, examples of organizations and school districts already implementing solutions, and suggestions for what you… Read more

For Ebony Green, a career as a scientist might have seemed unlikely just last year. The stereotypical outcome for girls like Ebony, an eighth-grader at Frick Middle School in a rough part of East Oakland, isn’t necessarily a high-paying job in science, math, engineering or technology. In fact, 40 percent of Oakland Unified School District… Read more

The United States spends more than any other nation in the world on research and development but its relative position has been falling even as other countries increase their investments in research. via The Corporate R&D Tax Credit and U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness. Read more