Educational Technology

by John Cox, Computerworld

The top back-to-school IT projects at 10 colleges and universities show a tidal wave of change in higher education. Many of the changes could presage broader shifts in enterprise and consumer technology. Not surprisingly, wireless is fast becoming the default network connection for campus users, who typically own between two and four wireless-enabled mobile devices. At the same time, virtualization and growth in cloud-based services are centralizing and offloading IT functions. These changes, coupled with soaring video traffic, are triggering bandwidth upgrades at all levels.

http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=8F27CDFE-1A64-67EA-E41562913CEF1103

by Allison Hesford, KFYR

Bismarck`s newest school, Sunrise Elementary, will be starting its first school year next Thursday, and students can expect to see their teachers working with some new types of technology in the classroom. Sunrise will be using new multi function printers and short-throw projectors this year, both of which help the school function under a green concept. A new school needs new technology and Sunrise Elementary`s teachers attended a workshop Wednesday to learn how to implement a few of their new tools in the classroom, one of which is a multi function printer system that keeps documents secure.

http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=42419

By Audrey Watters, Read Write Web

We are beginning to hear announcements fairly frequently about the states, school districts, and universities that are moving to the cloud for their email and productivity tools. As schools and universities adopt cloud technologies, what will become of the school computer lab? Computer labs have been important locations on campus for students to work, study, and access computing resources. But almost all students now come to college owning their own personal computers. A recent CNN story said that 95% of college students interviewed this spring owned at least one computer (83% owned a laptop, 24% a desktop, 15% both). That’s up from 23% of students who owned laptops in 2003.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/08/virtualizing-the-university-co.php

By Tony Bates, e-learning & distance learning resources

Academic Impressions is one of my main sources of news on e-learning and educational developments. The editor, Daniel Fusch occasionally does interviews with experts on issues that come up in the news. Yesterday, he published an interview with me on teaching academic honesty in the classroom. I often am asked, after giving a keynote on e-learning, about the prevalence of cheating in online courses, as if it doesn’t happen in face-to-face programs. If you read the Academic Impressions article, you will see that it doesn’t refer specifically to online courses. Certainly, technology makes cutting and pasting much easier than laboriously copying out other people’s writing by hand, but then technology gives us Turn-It-In, which acts as a check. In over 15 years of teaching online, I can remember only one instance when I was forced to use institutional procedures to deal with online cheating, and in this case, it was as a result of one student making a formal complaint about another using plagiarized material.

http://www.tonybates.ca/2010/08/21/cheating-in-online-learning/

 by AAMP News

Many educators have observed that more students are now embracing the online Community College Education. According to a study, Community colleges are the top online education with annual online enrollment rising 20 percent nationwide for the past few years. This is likely due to job seekers desire to gain new skills in order to compete with other applicants in a down economy. It is estimated that community colleges have completed $6 billion in construction renovation in order to accommodatethe needs of that have come from the increase in online classes.

http://aamproject.org/more-students-embrace-online-community-college/1668

by Joan Collins, Helium

Working full-time and taking on-line learning classes is a marriage made in heaven. Unlike brick and mortar schools, on-line colleges offer conditions that will allow any self-motivated student the opportunity to receive an education, enabling the student the chance to advance at work or to start another career while working. Managing this relationship is not any easier than a real marriage, but with thoughtful planning, the student will be able to thrive in both places.

http://www.helium.com/items/1929707-how-to-take-online-classes-while-working-full-time

By David Sarno, LA Times blog

Pays to be a lady at Neumont University. Not only is there a fabulously good “ratio” — close to 93% of the Utah technology college’s nearly 400 graduating students have been male — but upon graduation, that tiny female sliver of the school population makes more money on average than the guys. In Neumont’s four-year history, the 27 girls nabbed higher average starting salaries than their male counterparts — $62,000 per annum for the gals, compared with $60,000 for the guys. Moreover, women are finding jobs faster too — with 95% of the female students getting jobs within six months of graduation, beating out the guys by four points.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/08/at-utah-technology-college-women-are-finding-betterpaying-jobs-than-men.html

By HILLARY FEDERICO, Middletown Press

Bullies used to be those big kids who picked on the little ones; the ones who would tower over you on the playground or corner you with their fists clenched. But bullies are no longer restricted to methods of physical intimidation, letters or phone calls. Not anymore. Today, more and more bullies are hiding. They’re hiding behind computer screens and cell phones, text messages and social networking sites, using the available technology to battle against others mercilessly.

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/08/18/news/doc4c6b50a67b909890922966.txt

By LINDA HOANG, QMI Agency

Ashley Brown is hoping to change the world — one smell at a time.  Born and raised in Elnora, a village about 70 km southeast of Red Deer, Brown, 17, never thought she’d be part of a team working on a project that could help improve rehabilitation, education, research and even gaming. It’s called Smell-O-Vision, and it’s a virtual reality computer program — which Brown built herself — that uses scents to make the virtual reality experience more realistic.

 http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2010/08/18/15058781.html

By Alex Wilhelm, the Next Web

Amazon is sticking to its ereading guns and pushing the envelope with devices that some call out of date. In the face of the iPad, Amazon’s newest Kindles were more of the same, matching their predecessors ideas but adding in upgrades to the mix with lower prices. As it turns out, most of the pundits were wrong to say that Amazon needed to shake up their hardware, the newest Kindles with their black and white e-ink displays are a huge hit (yet again) with consumers around the world. According to Amazon “the new Kindles [are] the fastest-selling ever.” In other words, Amazon is not falling behind by pushing e-ink, they are accelerating.

http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2010/08/25/amazons-new-kindle-is-a-smashing-success/

By Alex Wilhelm, the Next Web

If this is true, we may be looking at a real resurgence by Microsoft in the browser wars. It could be that the much beleaguered Internet Explorer is on the route to becoming usable, if you can believe it. ZDnet managed to snipe a screenshot and the text from a Microsoft Russia post about the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 before it was pulled from the website.

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2010/08/25/is-this-what-internet-explorer-9-will-look-like/

by Apple

In just over three years, iTunes® U downloads have topped 300 million and it has become one of the world’s most popular online educational catalogs. Over 800 universities throughout the world have active iTunes U sites, and nearly half of these institutions distribute their content publicly on the iTunes Store®. New content has just been added from universities in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico and Singapore, and iTunes users now have access to over 350,000 audio and video files from educational institutions around the globe.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/08/24itunes.html

by Carly Weeks, Globe and Mail

We’ve come a long way since the days when a child standing in front of a microwave oven was a parent’s biggest worry over potential radiation exposure. The massive growth in cell phones, computers and other electronic devices has prompted a new wave of concerns that children are being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. While most of those concerns have centred on cell phones, now a growing number of parents and other citizens are raising the alarm about wireless networks. The issue taps into common fears that technological innovations come with serious drawbacks. But many leading health organizations and experts say there’s no solid science to back up the concerns. It’s a major debate that doesn’t seem to have a resolution on the horizon.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/wi-fi-in-schools-spark-parental-fears/article1675037/

By NATALIE HAYES, Skokie Review

When freshmen students enter through the doors of Niles West and Niles North High Schools for the first day of school Tuesday, they’ll be equipped with a new piece of technology that will forever change the way District 219 students learn in the classroom. As part of District 219’s Anywhere/Anytime Learning Initiative, which aims to integrate a higher level of technology-based learning into the classroom, each student will receive a brand-new Dell Mini Netbook computer that they can use at any time.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/skokie/news/2605486,skokie-d219laptops-081910-s1.article

By Caryl Davis, Journal-Sentinel Online

During my time as an educator, I found that computer technology heightened students’ engagement in learning tasks. When interacting with the computer, students appear to blend into and take complete ownership of their learning. It was incredible to watch. Many school districts have found value in mobile technology. In the 1990s, when personal digital assistants were making their appearance, some schools used school-specific PDAs so that students could keep track of school schedules, assignments and extracurricular activities. Technology has grown tremendously, and mobile devices literally offer the world at our students’ fingertips. But do our children and adolescents need that much unsupervised power during the school day? Are we prepared for the YouTube backlash?

http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/100805274.html

By Jennifer R. Lloyd, Express-News

Drivers may not be allowed to hold a cell phone and chatter while wheeling through a school zone, but at least two area districts have decided to welcome the mobile devices indoors for students to use for educational purposes. While most area school districts maintain policies that ban students from using cell phones on campus, a few districts are breaking the mold and beginning to admit smart phones into the classroom as an educational tool on a par with a classroom computer. Though some may think the change will invite distraction, inappropriate texting or cyber bullying into study sessions, others see the move as a way to teach technological skills while addressing those negative issues head-on.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/education/cell_phones_head_to_class_100739394.html

By ALYSSA DIZON, AVALANCHE-JOURNAL

Area schools like Hale Center High School are working to transition from physical textbooks to electronic books for the upcoming school year, but none will be completely bookless just yet. As HCHS students begin this school year, they will not only step into a brand-new building, but they will also step into a new one-to-one laptop program. “What a great thing for our kids today because every child is into technology,” said Rick Teran, Hale Center ISD superintendent. “Technology is what these kids enjoy so bringing that product to the classroom and giving it to the kids — it should just enhance their education.”

http://lubbockonline.com/local-news/2010-08-16/e-books-may-be-future-schools

By Matthew Miller, ZD Net

This summer’s Back to School Guide for portable media players (music and video) is virtually the same as my last fall Holiday Guide, with one major addition that has taken over as my personal video player and web browsing device. There have not been many new products released in the portable media space and the Apple iPad has not yet been challenged by any other tablet device, but may see some challenges this coming holiday season from Android with the promise of a Palm webOS tablet coming in 2011 from HP.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-gadgeteer/back-to-school-guide-2010-digital-media-players/3743

Kathryn Roethel, San Francisco Chronicle

The 91 students entering Stanford University’s medical school this fall will receive free iPads instead of reams of coursework, a move that administrators hope will improve the learning experience and also cut the school’s paper use.  “Students in the classroom and the clinic will be able to search for information in real time and use it to solve problems they encounter,” said Dr. Charles Prober, the senior associate dean for medical education.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/15/BAD81EQI50.DTL

By Jessica B. Mulholland, Converge

The iPad is the hottest tablet to be carrying around. And soon, first and second graders at Burley Elementary School in Chicago will be carrying them around the classroom. Burley, a literature and technology magnet within Chicago Public Schools (CPS), will use the iPads to differentiate instruction according to individual need, and encourage critical thinking through multimedia apps and collaborative tools. This could include using apps such as Question Builder, which helps elementary-aged children learn to answer abstract questions and create responses based on inference, and iWriteWords, which teaches handwriting.

http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/CPS-iPad-trial.html

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

With a $400,000 U.S. Education Department grant, several universities will design interactive software to help children with different learning abilities and needs learn about science. The Interactive Field Investigation Guide (iFIG) software will meet the needs of all learners, particularly urban students who struggle to learn with traditional text-based instruction. And those children will access digital content and analyze real-world data with mobile devices that run on Apple’s iOS platform.

http://www.convergemag.com/classtech/Interactive-Software.html