Educational Technology

By Marco R. della Cava, USA TODAY

“There’s a potential here that is just starting to be realized,” says Dom Sagolla, who helped create Twitter and is founder of the iPadDevCamp, which drew nearly 350 developers from a range of states and countries to brainstorm and share code. “The question is, what is the iPad’s role in a group, public setting?” Less a computer and more a digital coffee-table book with infinite content, the iPad has rendered its technology invisible in order to spotlight information that often is meant to be shared. “By moving the keyboard and mouse into the Stone Age, the iPad has created a new dimension of interaction with a device,” says Peter Friess, president of the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2010-06-07-ipadculture07_CV_N.htm

By JOEL LANDAU, the Daily Journal

The entire fourth-grade class at Rieck Avenue School met face to face last month with a famous author relaxing at home hundreds of miles away in Georgia. In the future, students in the Millville school district could meet students from other schools in the state and outside the country and take field trips to historical landmarks and museums without ever leaving their building. The Millville school district is developing its use of Skype technology. Skype is a computer program that enables video and voice broadcasts over the Internet.

http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20100609/NEWS01/6090331

by G. Scott Thomas, Business First of Buffalo

Business First has chosen 10 school districts and individual schools as winners of 2010 School Innovation Awards — in honor of their unusually creative spirits — while 10 runners-up have been picked for Special Mention designations. The honorees have emerged from an initial pool of 149 nominations, which was winnowed to 40 finalists in April. A five-member committee then selected the 20 programs that best met the criteria of innovation and “demonstrable success in engaging students’ interest, boosting achievement levels, and/or inspiring community involvement.”

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2010/05/31/daily92.html

By Adrian Addison AFP

When Apple announced the arrival of the iPad, it said it would create and define a brand-new sector in the market for computer devices, somewhere between the smartphone and the notebook laptop. Two months and over two million iPad sales later a string of Asian manufacturers have shown they agree — by unveiling their own tablets which they hope will take a bite out of Apple’s lead. Over a dozen new iPad-style gadgets have now entered the fray, and more are sure to follow.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jffOWTEyCaiWd_u-MdFJY7Cdl7hg

By Trung LeFri, Fast Company

Now is the time to reflect on the reasons for students’ disengagement from science and technology subjects. We need to treat STEM as a pedagogical approach and design an environment to support this new way of teaching. Brian Greene, a best-selling author and theoretical physicist best known for his work in string theory, talks passionately about how we have educated the curiosity out of the math and sciences. Greene says that we have paralyzed our children with the fear of being wrong. Risk-taking and making mistakes are critical to the scientific process. This fear of being wrong has resulted in disengagement from science and mathematics: learning science and math is a drag! He makes a convincing assessment of the problems with our current science education system and stops just short of demanding a new pedagogy to bring excitement and relevance back to the learning of science and math.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1656067/designing-schools-to-support-stem

By Anna Quintana, Miami Herald

Drums rolled and students cheered as the first computer was unveiled. The black Dell computer sitting center stage was one of 150 presented to students and their parents last week at Miami Edison Middle School. The computer distribution was part of Elevate Miami’s goal of eliminating the digital divide in communities around Miami.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/04/1664298/elevate-miami-helps-deserving.html

By Jessica Bliss, THE TENNESSEAN

Did you wash your hands? Who needs to go potty? Use your inside voices In most daycare settings, these are common catchphrases. Here’s another: “We need to Google that.” The expression is catching on at Belle Meade UMC Children’s Center, where kids are offered computer classes as early as age 21/2 and teachers have Netbook laptops in every classroom to keep notes for daily child assessments, send e-mails to parents, and Google answers to any questions that may come up during circle time. “We just want the children to understand their community, and now their community is the world,” center director Lynn Deal said.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100603/FEATURES01/6030349/Daycares-offer-computer-classes-to-toddlers

by WCAX.com, Burlington, Vermont

Students who want to improve their computer skills got a boost Friday. The program is hosted by the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington. The official kick off of the Comcast Digital Connectors program was launched by the cable company and Economy One. Comcast has spent more than 20-thousand dollars on new computers for the club. It’s equipment students say will help them with their studies and teach them life-long skills. “Why I joined this program — so I can get way better and look at technology, computers and stuff like that because I do not have one at home and this is very helpful. This will help me with my school work…and stuff like that,” said Miles Tanner, a student in the program.

http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=12597801

By Kristen Alloway, Star Ledger

As New Jersey school districts grapple with steep budget cuts, many are eliminating library jobs. Librarians say years of research have shown well-stocked libraries staffed by certified librarians are linked to student achievement. They argue the cuts are a double-whammy because the state also slashed aid to local libraries.

http://www.nj.com/bridgeton/index.ssf?/base/news-9/1275624611107950.xml&coll=10

By Heidi Stevens, Chicago Tribune

Your teen is always multitasking. (Texting and watching TV. On the computer and her cell.) Is this cause for concern? Parent advice: Not at all. Our kids, whether we like it or not, are digital natives — people for whom digital technologies already existed when they were born. It’s actually called media-meshing and not multitasking anymore.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/family/sc-fam-0603-parenthood-multitask-20100603,0,2724881.story

By Caroline Winter, Business Week Magazine

When Sep Kamvar showed his newest batch of students how to color the text on their Web pages purple, they jumped up and squealed. The Stanford consulting professor and former Google (GOOG) executive has been seeing a lot of that lately. His students are 10- and 11-year-olds at Girls Prep Middle School, a New York City charter school that serves mostly low-income families. Kamvar and his wife, Angie Schiavoni, recently launched CodeEd, a pilot program to introduce fifth-grade girls to computer science. Funded with $20,000 donated by the couple, it’s the only such program in the U.S. geared to underprivileged preteen girls.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_24/b4182039695923.htm

By Diane Gale Andreassi, Hometown Life

When Nicole Gatteri was cutting her expenses, she decided to eliminate her Internet connection and use her laptop with wireless access at the Redford District Library. “It’s very nice here,” she said, while sitting in a cushioned chair in the air conditioned library on a warm Monday afternoon. Kevon Bohlar, 13, was in the Teen Room with friend Jaleel Reece, also 13. The Redford residents and Pearson Education Center students were talking with Reece’s sister, Jasmine, and Tatiyana Woodward and Ariel Spencer, all 13 and Hilbert Middle School students. “It’s a nice place to chill, relax and get your work done,” Spencer said.

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20100603/NEWS16/6030560

by STEPHEN THOMPSON, The Tampa Tribune

In what in all likelihood is a first for a secondary school in the United States, Clearwater High is planning on giving e-readers to all of its 2,100 students. Other high schools in Pinellas County are holding off to see whether, among other things, teens take responsibility for their new acquisitions, said John Just, assistant superintendent of management information systems for Pinellas schools. Right now, the school system has allocated $600,000 over a six-year period to buy the devices for Clearwater High, and it is currently negotiating with Amazon Kindle, Just said. Other brands of e-readers include the Nook and the Sony e-reader, he said.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/jun/02/022243/school-turns-page-technology-e-reader-textbooks/news-breaking/

by Martin Bryant, The Next Web

Imagine a future where TV shows are social by design. Gameshows could have teams of contestants made up of viewers who volunteer and participate direct from their sofas, interacting via on-TV controls and maybe even Project Natal / Nintendo Wii-style motion sensors. Meanwhile, the ‘backchannel’ discussion currently taking place on Twitter could be integrated directly into the programme. By supporting participation via the TV itself, the discussion would be opened up to a wider audience of people who prefer not to use computers while viewing.

http://bit.ly/c6ttz0

by Diane Mufson, The Herald-Dispatch

It is crucial for our state and nation to have an educated population that can read, write and calculate numbers, but also think critically, communicate and use and develop new technology. Basic skills and computer literacy need to be established early in the education process. Math concepts should include pragmatic issues such as how mortgages and loans really work. Special programs can be helpful, but they cannot make all children learn at the same rate, achieve the same proficiency levels or always be on grade level.

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/opinions/x813783508/Diane-Musfson-Lets-focus-on-realistic-education-in-21st-century

By Rosalind Rossi, Chicago Sun-Times

An eight-hour school day for kids? It could be headed to your local Chicago public elementary school. In an attempt to extend an unusually short instructional day, Chicago public school officials are quietly working on a plan to bring an eight-hour school day to up to 100 struggling schools by using a combination of laptop computers, instructional software and non-teachers, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/2342854,CST-NWS-skulday02.article

by MIT

The Open Courseware Initiative has put materials from a large number of courses online. There are lectures, handouts, multimedia, and even exams available in many of the courses.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/index.htm

by Laura French, Santiago Times

Students with five or more years of experience using computers score an average of 32.5 points higher on the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test than those who have used computers for less than one year, a new Chilean study finds. The Universidad de Chile study investigated the scores of a group of students in their tenth year of schooling, all approximately 15 years old, and their familiarity with computers. According to the report, discounting socioeconomic, familial or school factors, the students who used technology for five or more years scored higher than those who did not.

http://bit.ly/9gsw0q

by Tristan Ashman, the Guardian

Technology improves school administration, prepares young people for the modern world and gives us access to a vast range of materials and information. But it is only when we make true its promise to engage young people in active learning that we can justify the millions invested in it – and the millions more for technical support, training, refresh and upgrade that will be needed irrespective of how much Cameron and Clegg go about their slash and burn.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/classroom-innovation/the-assembly-month-two

by BBC News

On their way to school every day, children pass by piles of rubble, including that of their old school building, left barely standing by the sea. But today a colourful bus awaits them in front of their new school, and the excitement is great. Ruta Tamo (short for Mobile Workshop Route in Spanish) is a bus equipped with wireless internet connection and laptops with plenty of software.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10119130.stm

By Raina Hanna, Commercial Appeal

The students who attend DeSoto County Schools’ Career and Technology Center’s computer programming and technology program will not be calling anyone to fix their computers anytime soon. They can do it themselves. But more than that, teacher Cathy Graves said she would not be surprised if some of her students will someday be advancing computer technology for everyone. “There are some of my students that are absolutely exceptional. I would not be surprised to hear their names in the news someday,” she said.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/may/31/computer-whizzes/