Educational Technology

by Gary Warth, North County Times

Kids already know that online social networking is great for chatting with friends, sharing jokes and gossiping, but San Marcos middle school students also are finding it useful for Socratic discussions involving Beowulf and other classics. “It’s really interesting because you learn a lot while you’re having fun,” said sixth-grader Kelli Bartlett, 11, who attends Woodland Park Middle School in San Marcos.

http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/san-marcos/article_35670725-b8c5-5709-8616-abfb2190e401.html

by BBC

Printing solid objects is getting cheap and simpler, and the possibilities excite Bill Thompson. Imagine a school where a student could sketch out an idea for a new design of bicycle and not only draw it in 3D using a computer-aided design package but actually create a scale-model and test it out, using inexpensive materials and a special printer that they can build themselves in the classroom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10089419.stm

by Alex Wilhelm, the Next Web

Everyone knows that the fastest browser in town is Chrome. It screams along, cutting load times around the internet, making browsing a whole new experience. Today, Chrome is dropping a new beta release that is somehow even faster than before. According to Google, the new beta version represents a 30 to 35% rise in performance across the two of the most important browser benchmarks, the V8 Benchmark Suite and the SunSpider Benchmark. Chrome has increased its speed with every release, usually by a significant percentages.

http://bit.ly/aYOoLR

by Alex Wilhelm, the Next Web

It seems that when a data plan is marketed as ‘unlimited,’ it usually isn’t. There is normally a 5 gigabyte soft-cap on downloads per month for most smartphones. When Apple announced the iPad 3G cellular plans, no one was sure what unlimited meant, if the top plan was actually without restriction. One blogger took the matter into his own hands and after an exhaustive two-day test downloaded some 30+ gigabytes of data to his iPad 3G. AT&T’s response to the exercise: nothing, the device just hummed along downloading information by the bucket.

zhttp://bit.ly/9MfuU6

by Ed Martinez, the Union – el Camino College

The Library too has reshaped itself over the years. From online book catalogs and databases that may be accessed on campus or at home, to ERes (electronic reserves) and Wi-Fi, the Library continues to evolve with the times. One of the world’s most renowned librarians was Ranganathan (1892-1972), a gentleman from India, who established the Five Laws of Librarianship. His laws are: “Books are for use. Books are for all; or every reader his book. Every book its reader. Save the time of the reader. A library is a growing organism.” His laws of librarianship are as relevant today as they were when he wrote them, though the academic medium has changed.

http://bit.ly/91p0nE

by the Daily Star

Several teachers from the school gave a presentation about the integration of technology into the classroom. It should be a tool to enhance daily learning, second-grade teacher Kim Downie said. “As we look to the challenges for the future, preparing children for an ever-changing world should be priority,” she said. The other teachers used computer demonstrations to demonstrate how this is being done.

http://thedailystar.com/localnews/x1369563668/Teachers-show-how-technology-aids-learning

by Sandra Tan, Buffalo News

The great benchmark of academic achievement — the report card — hasn’t been an actual “card” in most school districts for years. And soon, it won’t even be a paper product. It will be a computer display. The Williamsville School District — the region’s largest suburban district — will move to computer report cards this summer. The Southtowns districts of Eden and Lake Shore, and the Ripley district in Chautauqua County were the first in the region to move to online report cards this school year.

http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/29/1034378/student-report-cards-are-going.html

by SKIP HACKWORTH, News-Tribune

The digital divide, in the past, has referred to the distance between those with access to computer technology and those who didn’t have it. Our schools have worked hard to make sure that our students have the tools they need for the future and have done such a good job that there are some who believe the “digital divide” no longer exists. In that sense, it is true that nearly 60-70% of our students in this county have access to a computer at home, while 100% have access at school. While those in extreme poverty may not be able to afford such a tool in their home, this figure represents tremendous progress in making sure that each child has access to the technology. What we don’t know, but suspect, is approximately only about half of the homes in Mineral County have access to high speed internet, a necessary component for education in the 21st Century.

http://bit.ly/d0NPWc

by Jane Ma, Cavalier Daily

In fact, an evaluation conducted last year revealed that the vast majority of Engineering students in the Thornton computer lab do not use the desktop computers for special service software available but rather for common programs, McPherson said. “We looked at the utilization in the computing labs and saw about 95 percent were for application software that people have access to on their own computers,” McPherson said. “Things like web browsers, pdfs, and Microsoft Word and Excel. Only about 5 percent of utilization in the labs was for the special purpose software.”

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/04/28/itc-plans-to-remove-computers-from-labs-2/

by Erica Dolson, Sentinel

This year, the FBLA club at the school (pictured above) is working to supply each of the 31 homes under construction by the Cumberland Valley Habitat for Humanity with a computer. So far, the club has collected enough money to fully fund four Dell Mini 10v netbooks at about $350 each, Acri said. “(People ask) what good is a computer going to do for them? The reality is they don’t have access to anything like that,” computer information systems teacher Chris Champion said. “We wanted to donate to make sure each of the houses had a computer,” FBLA president Amber Neal, 18, said. “I know having a computer helps.”

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2010/04/28/news/local/doc4bd822960116a968241647.txt

by Lucy Gray, O’Reilly Radar

At a previous point in my career, I benefited from professional development, autonomy in my classroom, and a superb technology infrastructure to become a connected, inspired and effective educator. Now, with the current climate in the field of education in the U.S., I fear that other teachers will lose, or never even experience, similar opportunities. As an education technology advocate interacting with teachers in a variety of settings, I see that our students are receiving vastly different types of education. This divide trickles specifically down to the educational technology experiences our students are receiving in schools, too.

http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/04/beyond-the-digital-divide.html

by Bruce Lieberman, UNION-TRIBUNE

An increasing number of students are using remote Internet connections to complete their assignments and communicate with teachers and fellow students. Meanwhile, a portfolio of their work is amassing at secure servers online, some of which they can eventually use as part of their college applications. The extension of a student’s academic life from a physical campus and classroom to the digital world is a trend that will make learning an anytime, anywhere endeavor.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/apr/26/online-lockers-keep-school-in-students-reach/

by Amanda Clegg, Altoona Mirror

The Walker family has two computers with Internet access at home, but with four other siblings, his time on the computer is limited. Walker is not alone when it comes to turning to public computers for homework needs. A national report from the University of Washington Informational School found that about 77 million people turned to their public library for Internet access in 2009, even with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting more than 8 million Pennsylvanians lived in a household with Internet access in 2009.

http://www.altoonamirror.com/page/content.detail/id/529224.html?nav=742

by Mike Jennings, Lakeland Ledger

At issue is a pot of money each district can use for instructional materials. Half of that budget is dedicated to the purchase of textbooks and learning aids that are on a state-approved list. The remainder can be used for other books or items such as digital learning materials and software, but not for the hardware to run them. School districts should be able to – at their discretion – devote some of this money to computers. The bills currently before the Legislature would give them that flexibility. The state of Texas has passed essentially the same legislation already. Georgia and New York are looking at similar bills. And California is mov ing to all-digital textbooks in their schools.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20100424/COLUMNISTS/4245000?Title=Free-Up-Textbook-Computer-Rules

The message that computing can unlock a wealth of opportunities needs to be delivered to more young students, says Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s vice president of Worldwide Education. One way Microsoft tries to help spread that message is through events such as the Imagine Cup, a worldwide competition that urges students to use technology to create innovative solutions that can change the world, he says. The U.S. Imagine Cup finals kick off  in Washington, D.C., with the winner advancing to the worldwide finals in Poland in July. The competition is sponsored by Microsoft.

http://media-newswire.com/release_1117518.html

by Gina Gioldassis, Drew University Acorn

The release of the much-anticipated Apple iPad earlier this month marked a milestone for technology. With its diverse capabilities, this new gadget and its perks could easily change the demographics of college education. Some institutions of higher learning have already planned to incorporate the iPad into their electronic initiative. Such colleges as Seton Hill in Greensburg, Pa. and George Fox University in Oregon plan to give their incoming freshmen iPads instead of laptops.

http://www.drewacorn.com/news/falling-behind-the-technology-curve-1.1391306

by Yvonne Kane, Baltimore K-12 Examiner

Although technology has allowed for many positive and useful tools for learning, as in this case, there are a few glitches. On the plus side, there are laptops, interactive whiteboards, document cameras, and Microsoft PowerPoint for those school districts that fight for such luxuries. However, teachers are competing against, Facebook mobile, Nintendo DS, and cell phone cameras. Students are found more often searching their Facebook pages, than searching Wikipedia. They are most likely caught using cell phone cameras to cheat on exams and send sexually explicit images to their friends and enemies, rather than capturing lab experiment results.

http://www.examiner.com/x-45554-Baltimore-K12-Examiner~y2010m4d21-School-technology-Student-sues-school-system-for-webcam-spying

by Barbara Blake-Hannah,Jamaica, WI Gleaner

According to the annual Horizon Report released recently by the New Media Consortium in collaboration with the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), The 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition focuses on the key technology areas that researchers identify as likely to have a major impact on educational institutions and other learning-focused organisations within the next five years. The report identified the significant challenges facing education institutions and the trends that the authors identified as ‘critical.’

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100422/cleisure/cleisure3.html

by Betty Dillard, Ft. Worth Business Press

In less than six months, a technology program designed for sixth graders in three Tarrant County school districts has gone global. More than 100 students from Fort Worth, Crowley and Everman middle schools who participate in the new Generation Hope Laptop Program recently formed a partnership with Fort Worth Sister Cities International and chatted with their peers in Mbabane, Swaziland; Trier, Germany; and Toluca, Mexico, via computers and video technology.

http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=12341

by Joan Goodchild, PC World

Cell phones, texting, IM, email, Facebook, MySpace–kids are interconnected today in ways hardly imagined two decades ago. But these technology-based communication platforms also enable new forms of an age-old parenting strategy: monitoring your kids. Who are they talking to? What are they talking about? Are they going where they said they are going? Most of us with children think about this stuff. But parents who work by day as security professionals live in a heightened state of risk awareness, and also have the expertise and the tools to monitor kids’ behavior and communication in many ways.

http://bit.ly/c02w8x

by Sarah Campbell, ASU Herald

With technology so prevalent in society today, ASU is certainly not falling behind. Students, faculty and staff: take advantage of what this university has to offer in the way of technological resources. ASU offers a 24-hour computer lab on the first floor of the library. Software needed for classwork can be found on computers in the library and in labs at each college. Online classes are another commodity students can enjoy here at ASU. Also, technologies such as Blackboard, SecondLife and iTunes podcasts have been used to enhance the traditional classroom experience.

http://media.www.asuherald.com/media/storage/paper898/news/2010/04/12/Opinion/Our-View.Embrace.Technology-3904083.shtml