Educational Technology

September 9, 2010

More students need a laptop computer for the classroom

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By Stephanie Steinberg, USA TODAY

Back-to-school supplies for middle school students used to mean pens, notebooks, maybe a new backpack. But for a growing number of families, the list now includes a laptop computer. “We would never send our own kids to pediatricians that were practicing medicine from the ’70s or ’80s,” says Mark Hess, principal of Sarah Banks Middle School in Wixom, Mich. “Why would we send our kids to schools that are practicing instructional techniques that are decades old? If we did that, it’d be educational malpractice.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-08-24-classroomlaptops24_ST_N.htm

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Researchers like laptops in Calgary classroom

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By the Canadian Broadcasting Company, CBC News

A new study from the University of Calgary says computer technology can help students learn, as long as it’s coupled with engaged teaching. Researchers at the University of Calgary have some encouraging words for parents concerned that their children are glued to computer screens. Michele Jacobsen and Sharon Friesen of the university’s faculty of education just completed a research study at Calgary Science School in which students were provided with laptops and then observed over a three-year period. Their results indicate computer technology can dramatically improve the way students learn — but only if coupled with engaged teaching.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/08/26/calgary-research-laptop-computer-students-classroom-learning.html

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September 8, 2010

Google to Release “Google Wave in a Box”

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by Google Wave Developer blog

Since the announcement that we will discontinue development of Google Wave as a standalone product, many people have asked us about the future of the open source code and Wave federation protocol. After spending some time on figuring out our next steps, we’d like to share the plan for our contributions over the coming months. We will expand upon the 200K lines of code we’ve already open sourced (detailed at waveprotocol.org) to flesh out the existing example Wave server and web client into a more complete application or “Wave in a Box.”

http://googlewavedev.blogspot.com/2010/09/wave-open-source-next-steps-wave-in-box.html

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Novell to Release Google Wave based product – “Pulse”

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by Novell News

At Novell, we hear from enterprise users that they need the combination of social connections, rich profiles, real-time co-authoring and their ever-present files in order to make it easier to work together and actually produce better results. Novell Pulse delivers this combination that business consumers want, plus the security controls enterprises demand. Novell is highly committed to the future of enterprise collaboration, and Novell Pulse is on track. Further, we remain committed to pursuing the benefits of real-time collaboration to enable new applications, users and organizations to work together. (there will be a free version)

http://www.novell.com/prblogs/?p=2836

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Google Wave to Rise Again on Its Own

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by Stan Schroeder, Mashable

Google Wave was once one of Google’s hottest projects, promising a new way of communication that might even replace e-mail. Alas, it was not to be, and Google shut it down soon after public launch due to lack of user adoption — but not completely. Wave still draws interest from users, although it turned out to be more of a niche product than a massively disruptive tool. Recently, Google() promised to keep Wave alive, at least until the end of the year, and to open source some parts of it.

http://mashable.com/2010/09/03/google-wave-rise-again/

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September 7, 2010

College enrollment surges

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:40 am

By RICKY MARANON, Tulsa World Correspondent

A combination of more online classes and a weak economy has many area colleges and universities reporting record enrollments. Tulsa Community College has the largest student population of its 41-year history, President Tom McKeon said. “We’ve had to increase the number of sections offered with popular courses of study,” McKeon said. “We’re at full capacity, but thankfully, we haven’t had to turn anyone away who wants to learn.” TCC has hired new part-time faculty to deal with the influx of new and returning students, he said.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100829_11_A1_CUTLIN337729

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Study up iTunes U rivals: 300 million downloads

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by the San Francisco Chronicle staff

Last year, there were 1 million downloads of an iTunes U class on developing apps for the iPhone, by far the most popular course in iTunes U at the time. Momentum is still going strong, with 300 million downloads in just over three years, according to Apple. ITunes U is a free catalog of 350,000 audio and video files from colleges and universities around the world. There are about 800 educational institutions involved in iTunes U, including UC Berkeley, Stanford and Santa Clara. More recent additions have come from schools in Singapore, Japan, China and Mexico.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/28/BU6O1F3U59.DTL

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Schools get on Web 2.0 bandwagon

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By Denise Smith Amos, Cincinnati Inquirer

Now a growing number of teachers in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and nationwide are joining, rather than fighting, the tide. It’s a new day for social networking in schools, experts say. Schools until recently were cracking down on most uses of online social networks during the school day. This fall, more schools in the Cincinnati region are channeling YouTube, Facebook and other social sites to market themselves to potential students, parents and taxpayers. And more teachers are Tweeting, Skyping, blogging and “wiki-ing” with students for educational purposes that can span the world.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100828/NEWS0102/8290332/Schools-get-on-Web-2-0-bandwagon

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September 6, 2010

New technology designed to increase student-teacher interaction

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By VICKI ROCK, Daily American

Classrooms with blackboards and chalk are going the way of the 8-track player. Schools today are converting to SMART boards — interactive whiteboards that are linked to laptop computers. Judy Maxwell, technology director for the Somerset Area School District, said students in kindergarten through sixth grade will now use SMART boards. The district received $350,000 in Enhanced Education Through Technology grant money and federal stimulus funds for the new technology. The district purchased 46 whiteboards, laptop computers for all the teachers and additional laptops for students to share. “The potential technology has in the classroom is unlimited,” said Erick Fish, principal of Eagle View Elementary. “Or we’re limited only by our imaginations.”

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2010/08/25/news/local/news211.txt

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iPad: the new big gadget on campus

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By Gus G. Sentementes, The Baltimore Sun

This fall, the hit course on some college campuses may very well be iPad 101. At the University of Maryland, administrators plan to hand out Apple iPads to about 60 students, part of a new two-year program called Digital Culture and Creativity that immerses students in new technologies and focuses on the potential of the iPad to shake up the campus experience. The iPad has experienced early success in the consumer market, with more than 3 million sold since April, and it’s already going back to school.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/technology/bs-bz-ipad-college-campus-20100823,0,7095255.story

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Can Sony Reinvent the Flip Phone?

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By Kurt Bakke, Conceivably Tech

Sony says it has developed a new cable technology for use in mobile devices that can replace more than 20 individual cables with just one cable. The single wire interface is already on its way into production and is expected to enable a new class of flip phones. If you are looking for a new cell phone, buying a flip phone may not be your first thought. We are all about big touchscreens these days, but then we also have to admit that flip phones have not shown much innovation in the past few years and have dropped to the very low end or completely out of the market. But Sony says it has a new technology that may fuel a new generation of mobile devices which have a screen that is separate from the data input unit.

http://www.conceivablytech.com/2355/products/can-sony-reinvent-the-flip-phone/

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September 5, 2010

Cape Henlopen freshmen take a step into 21st century

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By Laura Dignan, the Daily Times

With her daughter entering Cape Henlopen High School as a freshman, Lori Voss is ecstatic that Apple iPads are making their way into the classrooms. “These teenagers are technology whizzes,” she said. “(The iPads) will keep the students interested, and I think we need to progress and stay right alongside where technology is today.” Brian Curtis, associate principal of technology at Cape, said his district, together with neighboring Indian River, applied for a federal grant to purchase the devices. Curtis said he hopes students will be able to take the iPads home, but it hasn’t yet been determined if that will be possible. Administrators are also unsure of how many devices the district will receive and how much it will ultimately cost.

http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20100825/NEWS01/8250404/1002/Cape-Henlopen-freshmen-take-a-step-into-21st-century

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Google Unveils System For Prioritizing E-Mail

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by Laura Sydell, NPR

Google has created a new priority inbox system for its Gmail service. The new system sorts through your messages and puts the important ones in a separate box called Important. If you feel like you can’t deal with all the e-mail in your inbox, you are not alone. Market researchers say nearly 300 billion e-mails are sent each day. On average you will send and receive 110 messages daily. Google is releasing a feature for its Gmail service that the company says will help set priorities for your inbox and ease up that sense of information overload.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129537105

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College-Only Social Network Debuts in the Ivy League

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By Sophia Li, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Josh Weinstein, a 2009 graduate of Princeton University, remembers waiting eagerly for his official college e-mail address the summer before freshman year. An address ending in .edu would give him access to Facebook, an online social network that only college students could join. Oh, how times have changed. Everyone and their mothers, and fathers, are on Facebook. But Mr. Weinstein hasn’t given up hope: He’s created a Web site where students can post messages, pictures, and events away from the prying eyes of parents and professors. The site, CollegeOnly, went up on Wednesday, and right now students from Cornell, Princeton, and Yale Universities can sign up.

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/College-Only-Social-Network/26519/?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

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September 4, 2010

E-textbooks are on the way, but not dominant in classrooms yet

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by Ralph Barrera, the Statesman

The same digital revolution that upended the music industry and is transforming TV, movies and books is slowly working its way into classrooms. In many schools, students are just as likely to carry a cell phone as a backpack. Schools and libraries are wired, outfitted with desktop, laptop and netbook computers with high-speed Internet access. Many of them are beginning to experiment with touch-screen computer tablets like the Apple iPad or increasingly powerful smart phones. But when it comes to the holy grail of electronic education — the e-textbook — Texas schools haven’t quite arrived at the date when students can stop carrying printed textbooks around.

http://www.statesman.com/life/e-textbooks-are-on-the-way-but-not-871780.html

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Company gets adaptive technology to those in need

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By MIMI PACIFICO, Daytona Beach News-Journal

A school-age boy needed special software for his computer in order to complete his assignments. His mother went in search of help. A young woman was preparing to move into her own apartment. Her mother wanted to make sure that if someone were to come to the front door, her daughter, who has a disability, would be able to see who was on the other side before opening it. Where could she turn for assistance? A man in his 70s with a vision problem hadn’t read his mail in years. A hand-held magnifier that could be adjusted to different powers was needed. What could he do? These are a few examples of the types of needs Sandi Baker tries to fill through Visual Innovations and Solutions, a Daytona Beach-based nonprofit established in 2007.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2010/08/22/company-gets-adaptive-technology-to-those-in-need.html

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How to choose a new computer

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By Matt Warman, the Telegraph

With the school year about to kick off, thousands of students are clamouring for a new computer. Adults, too, are no doubt thinking that an updated gadget could be just the thing to improve their productivity or make surfing the web that much better. However, no such excuses are needed – there has never been a better time to buy a new computer.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/7955817/How-to-choose-a-new-computer.html

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September 3, 2010

Back-to-school IT projects reshape campus life

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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

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Tech Talk: New Technologies Keep Sunrise Classrooms Green

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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

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Virtualizing the University Computer Lab

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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

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September 2, 2010

Cheating in online learning

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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/

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