Educational Technology

By Christopher Dawson, ZD Net

The idea behind the Educational Appliance is simple: create a single device that, when tossed in line with a school network, can support a wide variety of ICT tools with very little hardware or software expertise required by school staff. Out of the box, the appliance has learning management system software, student information systems, a web server, wiki and forum support, backup and image management software, IP telephony, interactive whiteboard management software…you name it. This one box can literally do it all and is managed through a simple web interface.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/the-intel-educational-appliance-the-coolest-tool-you-might-never-buy/4158

by Sue Morton, Helium

Innovative technology is helping students with disabilities in many ways. Creative teachers have taken the technology that is available and using it in ways the designers may not have thought of. Here are some examples of new technology and how it can be used to help students with disabilities in the classroom. iPods are not only for music. These portable music devices can be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Audio books can be downloaded for students who cannot read at the same level as other students. This allows them to listen to the reading selection instead. This technology allows students with disabilities to participate in grade level discussions and classroom reading assignments.

http://www.helium.com/items/1913920-using-technology-to-assist-students-with-disabilities-in-the-classroom

By Christine Rogel, Sun-News

Technology has significantly transformed the way we gather and share information, so it’s no wonder that it’s also changed education and the way students learn. Administrators at Las Cruces Public Schools are working to stay on pace. “It’s the language that the students speak; these kids are growing up in a very digital world – a media-rich world that they connect to with the use of technology,” Marcy Oxford, LCPS Technology Integration Specialist, said. “It’s engaging and it often motivates students.” Technology also provides opportunities for teachers to better accommodate student learning behaviors and levels, she said.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-education/ci_15683738

 By Amy Trent, the News & Advance

Patrice Rodriquez has become a regular patron of the Amherst County Public Library. Not so much for the books, though. She’s looking for work, and the library is the only place where she can get free computer and Internet access. She’s worried that reductions in the library system’s operating hours that went into effect this month will curtail her job search. “That’s a problem for me,” said Rodriguez, who drives 30 minutes to the library specifically to use the computers for her job hunt.

http://www2.newsadvance.com/news/2010/aug/01/library-usage-increases-budget-cutbacks-hinder-ser-ar-357458/

by Mark Stout, the News & Messenger

The iPad’s extreme portability fits this lifestyle. In its case, the iPad looks just like a small paper notebook. At a pound and a half, it is much lighter than a notebook computer. The question I’ve been mulling over for the past months is “Could a college student get by with just an iPad and not need a computer?”

http://bit.ly/aC9iFw

by Paul Wyche, The Journal Gazette

Children fascinated by adult gadgets are putting aside time-honored playthings in favor of tech toys. The trend will be a major topic of discussion at the Toy, Game and Technology Summit in California in September – the first meeting of its kind. Top executives will examine how play patterns are changing. The Toy Industry Association Inc. says youth entertainment is becoming “more digital as (children) move away from traditional toys.” A bevy of touchscreen devices, smart phones, motion simulator games and other high-tech products has caused a shift in the toy box.

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100801/BIZ/308019942

Computers and access to the internet are fundamental to a child’s education. But what about families who can’t afford a computer, like the children who are in the foster care system throughout Whitfield County? A group of Whitfield County foster children took taking part in a Digital Literacy Camp, at the North West Georgia Trade & Convention Center in Dalton that will teach them state-of-the-art computer skills. The students will be taught Microsoft Office by certified professionals from Instructional Access Inc., a California based company. After the 21 hours of weekend training, the students will be allowed to take home the laptop computer and color printer they learned on at no cost.

http://www.prlog.org/10824724-free-computers-for-county-foster-children-helps-bridge-the-digital-divide.html

By Nancy Volkers, Science Magazine

Given the amount of data being generated daily, and the continued explosive growth in technology, it’s no surprise that Bry sees bioinformatics as a growing area with “definite, immediate” needs for computer scientists, engineers, informatics experts, and statisticians. “We have clinical data, genetic data, proteomic data. … Increasingly, we will need to merge those data sets and either do fishing expeditions for what’s important or develop ways to validate the information and find ways to use it,” she says. “We’ll need bioinformatics tools; we’ll need statisticians; we’ll need people who can build computational tools. And that’s just on the research side. Layer on top of that the need to do these things for clinical decision support — that’s basically an empty field.”

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2010_07_30/caredit.a1000075

By LINDSAY LARIN, Bellevue Reporter

It may be summer break, but instead of wasting lazy days in front of the television, a group of Bellevue-based high school students are staying busy with hands-on science experiments and ice cream socials. Student Research and Development (StudentRND) is a student-run, non-profit organization that aims to inspire students to learn more about science and technology. For the first time, the organization has set up a physical StudentRND workspace in Bellevue where students can drop in, hang out and explore various scientific and technology-based projects.

http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/east_king/bel/community/99587334.html

by HEATH GILMORE, Sydney Morning Herald

The days of the classroom blackboard are disappearing into chalk dust. One by one these silent sentinels to generations of students are departing classrooms across NSW, condemned to a life of decorative display in restaurants and pubs. Noisy, flashy interlopers, better known as interactive white boards, are replacing them. Yet the question stands: will these tech-heavy arrivistes still be standing in 100 years, like their stoic predecessors?

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/chalked-up-to-history-blackboards-hit-the-dust-20100730-10zsq.html

By Daniel McBride, Houma Today

Despite dwindling dollars, local schools are gearing up for the new year by bringing high-tech devices to more classrooms. From interactive whiteboards to mobile computer labs, students in Terrebonne and Lafourche will return from summer to lessons featuring new technology. “The whole thing is about student engagement,” said Britt Ledet, Lafourche public schools’ technology director. The new devices are popular among teachers as tools to provide “differentiated instruction” — teaching that engages students with different learnings styles. Some students may learn better by seeing, others by doing or hearing. In theory, equipment such as interactive whiteboards allows all these learning styles to be covered in a single lesson.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20100730/ARTICLES/100739990/1026

Chicago Public Schools crackdown on cyberbullies

BY KIM JANSSEN, Chicago Sun Times

Digitally placing classmates’ heads onto other people’s bodies, leaving abusive messages on Facebook profiles, e-mailing X-rated images and inciting violence via text message are all part of the modern school bully’s arsenal, Chicago Public School officials say. But now new rules mean “cyberbullies” caught using cell phones or social networking websites such as MySpace or Bebo to pick on classmates face mandatory suspension, possible expulsion and a police investigation.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/2546114,CST-NWS-bully29.article

by Diana G. Oblinger, EDUCAUSE Review

There are many attributes of higher education. Some are physical―the campus and its classrooms, laboratories, and library. Those spaces are populated by people―students, faculty, and staff. Some are nonphysical. The activities of higher education are learning, research, dialogue, and reflection. Yet none of these attributes, alone, is especially distinctive. The most distinctive attributes of higher education today are its values. Jonathan R. Cole, in his 2009 book The Great American University, contends that twelve core values distinguish “great” colleges and universities: universalism, organized skepticism, creation of new knowledge, free and open communication of ideas, disinterestedness, free inquiry and academic freedom, international communities, peer review system, working for the “common” good, governance by authority, intellectual progeny, and the vitality of the community. Putting those values into action has catalyzed huge advances in science, technology, culture, and society.

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/OpennessACoreValueforMakingHig/209329

by Brian Lamb and Jim Groom, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 4 (July/August 2010): 50–58

The present range of Web 2.0 service providers offers a self-evident strategic technology framework. Without much effort, online teachers and learners can quickly assemble dynamic, networked personal learning environments simply by adopting the most popular tools in any particular domain. Having signed up for a Gmail account, a user can publish websites with Blogger, manage groups and mailing lists with Google Groups, videoconference with Google Talk, write collaboratively with Google Docs, track topics with Google Alerts, manage syndicated feeds with Google Reader, share video with YouTube, post images with Picassa, and do whatever it is that Google Wave is supposed to do. We need not belabor the power and popularity of services such as Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. All this incredible functionality is delivered in remarkably stable and user-friendly environments, and it’s available free of charge!

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/NeverMindtheEdupunksorTheGreat/209326

by Elson S. Floyd and Viji Murali, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 45, no. 4 (July/August 2010): 8-9

For any institution, a strong relationship between the president and the chief information officer is crucial to that organization’s success. We would submit, however, that nowhere is that relationship more crucial than in the management and leadership of an institution of higher education. Public universities have a reputation — unfortunately, well-earned in some cases — for being averse to change. In seeking funding for important capital investments, public colleges and universities are dependent on state legislatures, which these days are faced with unlimited demands, sharply curtailed resources, and uncertain future revenue streams, all combining to make immediate funding uncertain and long-range planning nearly impossible. Meanwhile, public colleges and universities are dealing with a customer base of students who invariably are among the earliest adopters of emerging technologies. As a result, institutions of higher education, and particularly public colleges and universities, must adopt a strategy to overcome institutional inertia and a shortage of readily available resources while keeping pace with students for whom the latest technology quickly becomes the minimal level of expectation when choosing a place to pursue a degree.

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume45/OpennessasCatalystforanEducati/209246

by Online Schools

One quarter of all humans access the ‘net. The US ranks 22nd in average connection speed.

These and many other details are packed into this educational graphic.

http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/how-the-internet-works/internet_infographic.jpg

By Brad McCarty, the Next Web

For quite some time, Gmail users in Chrome and Firefox have been able to drag and drop multiple attachments into the window to be sent, but that’s where the fun stopped. If you wanted to download attachments, you had to do it the old fashioned, “use a link” way.

http://bit.ly/90hIyO

by Hannah Guzik, Portable Gadget

Students at three Ashland schools will use district-issued iPods to study science and reading this fall, the superintendent said Monday. The district spent about $50,000 on 150 Apple iPod Touch devices, which will be used in science classes at Ashland High School and in first- and second-grade classes at Bellview and Walker elementary schools during reading lessons, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said. “We really are rethinking what we’re doing with technology,” she said. “This is something that will be more affordable for us than regular computers and get us closer to the one-computer-for-every-student goal we have.”

http://www.portablegadget.com/apple-ipod/3-schools-will-use-ipods-in-classrooms

by Tim Ellis, Suite 101

Technology is an increasing asset when it comes to children’s education. This is especially true when it enhances and encourages reading. It is almost indisputable that reading with children proactively – especially reading with them in a dialogic environment – can enhance their literacy skills, open up their understanding of the world and even influence their future career direction. As the world gets faster, there are more sophisticated ways of doing this. Technology has now become mainstream for both adult and child, although it is often seen or portrayed as a threat in the media. In a new survey commissioned by VTech, the world leader in age-appropriate electronic learning products, over a third of adults found it difficult to explain the meaning of words and five per cent ignored their child’s question completely.

http://picture-books.suite101.com/article.cfm/technology-and-teaching-children-to-read

By Olga Razumovskaya, the Moscow Times

Andreyeva, however, is not your typical teenager. She is the winner of 13 academic competitions, or “Olympiads,” among high-school students and was presented at a meeting of the Russian Rectors’ Union last month as the future of Russia’s IT industry. Russian authorities, educators and employers are betting on teenagers like Andreyeva whom they believe will be the generation of intellectuals that can help transform Russia’s natural resource-based economy into one based on innovation. In June of last year, President Dmitry Medvedev instituted the presidential commission on modernization and outlined five key priority areas for modernizing the Russian economy: medical technology and pharmaceuticals, computer technology and programming, energy efficiency and renewable resources, space technologies and communications, and nuclear technologies.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/the-next-generation-of-computer-geeks/411161.html

By Gertha Coffee, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“I want to learn how to disable a computer and put it back together,” said Mia, who will be in sixth grade at Peachtree Middle School in DeKalb this fall. “I also want to learn how to take good photos, edit them and make them really cool. I want to learn how to edit commercial video and just have fun.” Welcome to Geek Squad Summer Academy, where some 200 girls from metro Atlanta middle schools are getting hands-on experience in technology. They’ll rotate through seven classes a day at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, including digital photography and video, PC and MAC basics, Internet communication and other activities — such as dancing — with the aid of technology, of course.

http://www.ajc.com/news/cobb/geek-camp-for-girls-579746.html