Educational Technology

October 31, 2010

Digital Solution for Sacramento

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

by Steve Kolowich,Inside Higher Education

In the face of growing demand, limited infrastructure, and diminishing funds for state-supported higher education, some experts believe the only way California’s higher ed system can continue fulfilling its mission is by expanding its online offerings. A new report, released Monday by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office, calls for the state legislature to explore a number of moves toward this end — including facilitating the sharing of online courses across public university and community college campuses; evaluating potential online “re-entry” programs for former dropouts looking to finish their degrees; and allowing adult learners who are approved for in-state grants to attend Western Governor’s University, an online institution based in Utah.

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/10/26/california

Share on Facebook

Top 10 U.S. School Districts in Digital Technology Named

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Converge Staff

Top school districts have been announced in the seventh annual Digital School Districts Survey by e.Republic’s Center for Digital Education and the National School Boards Association (NSBA). The purpose of the survey is to recognize exemplary school boards and districts’ use of technology to govern the district, communicate with students, parents and the community and to improve district operations. All U.S. public school districts were eligible to participate in the survey, and were placed in three classifications based on size of enrollment. The top ten rankings reflect those school boards/districts with the fullest implementation of technology benchmarks in the evolution of digital education, as represented in the survey questions.

http://www.convergemag.com/awards/digital-districts/2010-Digital-School-Districts-Survey.html

Share on Facebook

The 7 Steps to Innovative Educational Leadership

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Tanya Roscorla, Converge

Education Secretary Arne Duncan asks schools and states to innovate. Schools ask teachers to innovate. Teachers ask students to innovate. But school administrators need to lead the way by innovating. And at the T+L conference in Phoenix on Oct. 20, they found out how. In a session on Innovative Leadership, Cheryl Lemke, President and CEO of the education technology consulting firm Metiri Group, shared seven steps to becoming an innovative leader.

http://www.convergemag.com/policy/The-7-Elements-of-Innovative-Leadership.html

Share on Facebook

October 30, 2010

Time to Kill the Lab?

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

by Assorted Stuff

Over the past few months as I’ve been working with some of our school-based trainers, I’ve also been thinking a lot about the idea of computers labs. Not so much the arrangement of the room but whether they are an impediment to the process of technology integration and need to disappear. When I watch what goes on in the computers labs at most schools, regardless of the level, it’s rather depressing. Rote lessons in which students are all doing the same activity (“open the map of Virginia and draw the four regions of the state”), as a reward for kids getting their real work done, to take tests (lots and lots of tests), or just to make sure we get our technology requirement checked off.

http://www.assortedstuff.com/?p=3723

Share on Facebook

Logged on and living out loud

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by the Age Australia

”People aren’t just a product of their times, they’re also a product of their life stage,” he says. ”We can’t take the old stereotypes of Gen Y and think that that’s still the key characteristic that defines them.” Within the Gen Y bracket are teens at school, those in their 20s in trades or at university, parents and professionals. That this generation came along as technology became affordable and joined the mainstream is what unites them. But how they use technology to socialise and share music, photos, videos and news is just as likely to shatter the stereotype.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/logged-on-and-living-out-loud-20101013-16k10.html

Share on Facebook

Sexting and cyberbullying crackdown at Orange County Schools

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Mark Jenkins, Reporter 13 News

Kids attending Orange County Public Schools who use technology to harass their classmates will now face stiffer punishments. The Orange County School Board approved sweeping changes Tuesday night to its policy to prevent cyberbullying and sexting. Cyberbullying is similar to other types of bullying or harassment, except it happens online and through mobile devices. Sexting includes sending sexually explicit text messages, photos or even video to someone’s cell phone.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2010/october/161172/Sexting-and-cyberbullying-crackdown-at-Orange-County-Schools

Share on Facebook

October 29, 2010

ISU student teaches technology to teachers

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

by Indiana State University

In her time as a student teacher at Rosedale Elementary School, Whitney Barrett has done more than simply teach third-grade students. The senior elementary education major from Terre Haute has helped the staff at Rosedale with technology in their classrooms. Barrett organized a teacher in-service day at Rosedale to show the teachers various forms of technology that she uses in the classroom, such as creating a PowerPoint presentation and incorporating video clips in lessons. She also demonstrated how teachers could access student-appropriate resources through online encyclopedias.

http://www.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=2463

Share on Facebook

Tech-savvy teens take skill to the classroom

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by JORDANA DIVON, METRO CANADA

Sharon Friesen and Michele Jacobsen doled out laptops to students at the Calgary Science School and spent three years observing how the students’ interacted with the technology. The purpose of the investigation was for the two Faculty of Education professors to understand how learning was impacted in well-designed, well-supported, personal technology-enabled environments. Not surprisingly, they discovered that the students, ranging between grades four and nine, appeared to benefit from having that level of access to technology. “We found they were a lot more creative in the types of projects teachers did with students, and they pursued more long term projects because the kids could take the technology with them at night to work on projects at home,” said Jacobsen.

http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/local/article/659582–tech-savvy-teens-take-skill-to-the-classroom

Share on Facebook

Pioneering brain-computer interface technology

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Arizona State University

Efforts to advance technology to help people who have lost communication and movement abilities are getting support from an Arizona Biomedical Research Commission grant for a project combining resources and expertise at Arizona State University and the Children’s Neuroscience Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. David Adelson leads a research team at the institute working on development of “brain-computer interface” technology. The team is collaborating with Stephen Helms Tillery, an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.

http://asunews.asu.edu/20101011_tillerybraininterface

Share on Facebook

October 28, 2010

Internet promoting connections, not loneliness, say experts

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

By Laura Casey, Contra Costa Times

It’s a common belief — and not just in science fiction novels — that technology is to blame for many of society’s ills. Web surfing makes us more sedentary, cell phones promote rudeness in public, and in general, technology is isolating us even if we have 500 Facebook friends. In fact, a Pew Internet & American Life Project study released last year says the opposite of what previous studies assert: People who use technology have notable social advantages. They stay in touch and share information in ways that keep them socially active and connected to their communities. This is especially true with online social networking, which wasn’t around in 1998 or 2003. And for senior citizens, using technology can keep the brain healthy.

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-living/ci_16289328?nclick_check=1

Share on Facebook

How to choose the right computer

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

by Mark Saltzman, the Star

It can be confusing figuring out what to do and which way to go when you want a new computer. Netbook or Notebook? Desk top or laptop? What to do? First, the good news. Not only are the latest computers incredibly powerful, packed with convenient features and available in an array of shapes and sizes, but prices are at an all-time low. For example, a $400 laptop today far outperforms a $1,200 model from just three years ago.

http://www.thestar.com/article/871978–how-to-choose-the-right-computer

Share on Facebook

Heelan high schoolers computing without computers

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by KTIV, Sioux City, Iowa

An important investment is ensuring that some Sioux City students will have access to state of the art technology for many years to come. Bishop Heelan High School finished a $35,000 upgrade to its computer labs, recently. Keeping up with computer technology isn’t always the cheapest, or easiest task. “We installed about a mile of cable in the building,” explained Technology Director Joel Gebhardt. A mile of cable made computing in their lab, without computers, possible. That’s thanks to a little silver box. “These are the thin clients here and they are basically an interface for the mouse, the keyboard and the screen.

http://www.ktiv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13299988

Share on Facebook

October 27, 2010

How could you survive without the media, the internet and a mobile phone for 24 hours?

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

Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC

Perfectly well, perhaps if you are Vanessa Feltz – we’ve been having an entertaining dialogue this week about whether modern technology is an essential part of our lives. But for some media students at Bournemouth University, it’s been something akin to torture. They have been taking part in a global experiment called Unplugged. It is designed to examine the intimate relationship young people now have with the media and work out what happens when television, radio, the web, and mobile phones are taken away. Earlier this week I pitched up in Bournemouth to film three of the many students taking part in the experiment.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/rorycellanjones/

Share on Facebook

Colleges Face Legal Limits in Policing Online Misbehavior

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Paige Chapman, Chronice of Higher Ed Wired

Do colleges and schools have any authority when students misuse electronic devices both on and off school property? If there are cases of cyberbullying involving computers, cellphones, and social-network sites like Facebook and Twitter, does an institution have a legal basis to step in? Or is it stepping on free speech? The University of San Diego’s Center for Education Policy and Law attempted to answer these questions through its Electronic Communications Devices Project, evaluating what current case law says about constitutional uses of such devices.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/colleges-face-legal-limits-in-policing-online-misbehavior/27759?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Share on Facebook

WiFi in Schools Isn’t Bad for Students, Bad Science Is

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

by Tris Hussey, the Next Web

Somehow, somewhere people got it into their heads that all radiation, no matter how much, is bad. Just plain old bad. The problem with this is that even before humans invented stuff that could emit radiation, we were surrounded by it. The Sun! The Sun emits radiation all the time! It’s what keeps us warm folks. What does this have to do with WiFi you ask? Well, parents groups in both B.C. and Ontario have their hearts set on having schools become WiFi-free zones. Why? Because WiFi might be a health hazard.

Might.

Maybe.

Here’s the thing.

It’s not.

http://goo.gl/LBoj

Share on Facebook

October 26, 2010

Principal Speaks Out Against Banning Social Media

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:35 am

By Converge Staff

Rather than banning the tools students use to bully others, educators should deal with their behavior. That’s the message that Dave Meister delivered on the Connected Principals blog today. Meister directs Illinois’ first cooperative high school, Paris Cooperative High School, and said in the video that he’s been dealing with several incidents of cyberbullying in his building in the last week. These incidents, along with the university student’s death, have prompted the school to think about how to deal with students’ behavior. “The answer to ending bullying or misuse of social media is not to ban it … what we need to do is talk about the behaviors that are unacceptable,” he said in the video.

http://www.convergemag.com/policy/Principal-Speaks-Out-Against-Banning-Social-Media.html

Share on Facebook

iLife ’11: Everything You Need to Know iLife 11: Old favorites get new features

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:32 am

by Brad McCarty, the Next Web

Overall, some great features added to the iLife suite. The consensus, from what we’re seeing on Twitter, is that there’s nothing ground-breaking, but they’re absolutely welcome. You’re able to purchase iLife ’11 now, for $50. Of course, if you want it for free, you can do that buy purchasing a brand new Mac.

http://goo.gl/6tWT

Share on Facebook

Female CIOs Will Be Needed Within the Next Decade

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

By Wayne Brown and Polley McClure, Converge

This article is based on higher education technology leadership and CIO research conducted by Wayne A. Brown from the Center for Higher Education Chief Information Officer Studies Inc. The survey was sponsored by CDW-G, Dell, edu1world, Excelsior College and SunGard Higher Education. Women have historically been under-represented in the technology profession, especially in executive roles. But one bright spot for female CIOs has been higher education, where the gender difference hasn’t been as great. In fact, the percentage of higher education CIOs who were women (23 percent in 2010) is close to the percentage of women receiving advanced degrees in computer and information sciences in 2006-2007. Our latest research indicates, however, that the situation may be poised to take a turn for the worse.

http://www.convergemag.com/training/More-Higher-Education-Female-CIOs-Will-Be-Needed-Within-the-Next-Decade.html

Share on Facebook

October 25, 2010

LCA’s dean of curriculum and instruction Gina Hawkins talks about the merging of the classroom of yesterday with the technology of today

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

By Gina Hawkins, the Walton Tribune

The Department of Labor estimates the learners of today will have 10 to 14 jobs by the age of 38 — and most of those jobs don’t exist yet. “We are currently preparing students for jobs and technologies that don’t yet exist in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet,” Karl Fisch said. Educators are exploring the implication this has on education. The use of technology in the classroom has been around for some time; however, the use of technology is rapidly moving toward online education. Online education is quickly becoming a prominent and important piece of the education pie in the U.S.

http://waltontribune.com/education/article_25fbcee6-d356-11df-9b68-001cc4c002e0.html

Share on Facebook

Duxbury schools supplying new laptops to teachers

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:36 am

By Matthew Nadler, GateHouse News Service

Teachers will be getting something new in the next few weeks. An Apple laptop computer. A total of 260 MacBooks are being leased directly from the company. As superintendent of a regional high school district in New Jersey, Benedict Tantillo oversaw the distribution of laptops to every student. The way that started, schools technology coordinator Gail Callahan said, was making sure every teacher had a laptop and was trained to use it. “The first step on our road, was to get teachers on board and get them trained,” Callahan said.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/duxbury/top%20Stories/x829118408/Duxbury-schools-supplying-new-laptops-to-teachers

Share on Facebook

Bullying: It’s not just on the playground

Filed under: Educational Technology — admin @ 12:30 am

BY RICKEENA J. RICHARDS, News-Democrat

Some students and school officials say this ability to communicate constantly — and if desired, anonymously — is contributing to a growing problem among young people: cyberbullying. “We have taken bullying from the playground and the bus stops into our living rooms through technology, and that’s been the thing that has been so disturbing,” said Geneva Cushing, a computer support specialist for Collinsville School District 10. Samantha Call with her laptop open to a Facebook page called “Belleville Hoes” on which she is not named. But, Call had previously been named on a now-closed page called “50 Belleville Hoes.” – Steve Nagy/BND

http://www.bnd.com/2010/10/10/1432614/with-so-much-instant-technology.html

Share on Facebook
Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress