Educational Technology

by eMarketer Daily

As Facebook continues to solidify its role as the world’s top social networking site, eMarketer estimates that more than half of internet users in the US were logging on to the site at least monthly as of the end of 2010. This year, eMarketer forecasts, 132.5 million US web users will use the site. That increase of 13.4% in the number of users means Facebook will reach almost nine in 10 social network users and 57.1% of internet users. By 2013, 62% of web users and almost half (47.6%) of the overall US population will be on Facebook.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008247

by Dan Treadway, Huffington Post

Professors at some Universities such as George Washington University and the University of Virginia have even combated the problem by banning laptops from lecture halls. But it’s the professors themselves who can encourage the excessive use of laptops by relying on programs such as Powerpoint while lecturing. Powerpoint slides allow the professor to cover a multitude of information in a limited amount of time before moving on to the next slide, leaving slower hand writers in the dust. But most universities today seem to cater to the laptop dependent student. One semester at UT Austin, between bubbled in Scantron tests and typed up research papers, I didn’t have to utilize my handwriting one time. The result was $120 in printer cartridges and me partially forgetting the cursive alphabet.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-treadway/lay-off-the-laptop_b_824055.html

by Chloe Smith, Daily Rosetta

Nowadays, with the ever increasing influence of the internet, many colleges are offering various online courses for people who do not have the time to go to a university and yet have the desire to learn. We need to remember though, that we have to be careful at the degrees on offer in the internet. They may be illegitimate. They may also give you fake diplomas that would obviously be declined by your potential employer. It is necessary to do your research. Once you have chosen your degree, check and see if these are college degrees that are registered as well as verifiable. You may also need to check if they are a real university with a real campus.

http://www.dailyrosetta.com/accredited-online-colleges-the-best-way-to-get-degrees-online/7363.html

by the Washington Post

The National Science Foundation emerges as one of the few winners in the president’s proposed budget, with the nation’s primary funder of nonmedical basic research receiving $7.8 billion – a 13 percent increase over 2010 funding. In contrast, House Republicans have targeted the NSF for cuts, proposing a 16 percent reduction in the agency’s 2011 budget compared with 2010 levels. Under the president’s proposal, renewable energy, wireless communications, next-generation computer processors and robotics research all would receive a boost. Climate monitoring is also a priority, with $88 million proposed for a national network of observation stations to monitor the effects of climate change.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/14/AR2011021406610.html

by eHow

Emilio Alvarez has a B.S in computer science from San Diego State University and a minor in music composition from Southwestern College, San Diego. He has been writing since 2002 and has published short stories with a Editorial Dunken, (Buenos Aires, Argentina), where his work is part of a Spanish anthology: “El libro de talleres.” You just graduated from high school and you have realized that having technology skills will be an important factor in the development of your career and employment opportunities. Acquiring the necessary skills greatly depends on your area of interest, since technology is involved in various industries, such as information technology, avionics, medical technology, mechanics, or media arts. Fortunately, there are a range of educational options that can get you up to speed with technology skills in broad and specific areas. These include vocational schools, technical institutes, online programs or community colleges.

http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_7928294_technology-skills-high-school-graduates.html

by Cascelia Cole, Suite 101

Tablet computers combine the power of your laptop and your smartphone to keeps you on the go without the extra weight. There are many different types of computer tablets, some are more popular then others. When it comes to choosing a tablet for yourself, think about your use for it, work, play, school or all the above. If you are planning on having it with you at all times, you may want to think about the size and weight. Although the tablets all seem to do just about the same things there are some little detail that may differ. Choose the tablet that fits your lifestyle and day to day activities.

http://www.suite101.com/content/compare-tablet-computers-and-tablet-pc-features-a347111

by Donna, Comm Lab India

Would learning online differ from learning in a traditional classroom environment? I believe it does in that the student is in more control of an online course than in a classroom, which means that each individual student can take the amount of time he or she needs to learn the material. Self-paced material is the greatest advantage of learning online. So, if we have a more remedial student or someone not computer savvy, does that mean they cannot take online courses? Of course not! Any well made elearning course guides the learner through the material. Just because there’s no teacher standing over the student doesn’t mean there is no help at all. Flashing buttons and spoken instructions are just a couple of methods used to help a learner navigate a course. However, other than help with navigation and perhaps having access to an instructor to answer questions, an online course puts the onus on the student to learn rather than the teacher to teach. A good e-learning course will take into account that a class is comprised of people with varying levels of skill.

http://blog.commlabindia.com/elearning/learn-online

By Jason Ching, Nevada News

Of the University of Nevada Reno students surveyed, 76.5 percent indicated that they were either “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the system. Ever wondered how a university used to run before the Internet? In 10 short years, education at the University of Nevada, Reno has undergone a digital revolution, leaving modern students with little concept of a college education that didn’t involve email, online assignments and digital syllabi. Across the board, faculty and students alike are familiar with WebCampus, the University’s online course management system. In fact, approximately 15,000 students and 2,000 courses utilize the online solution. WebCampus is a fact of everyday life at the University.

http://www.unr.edu/nevadanews/templates/details.aspx?articleid=5681&zoneid=14

By Kate Copeland, North Texas Daily

In the midst of the modern college world, students can take classes without ever stepping foot inside a classroom or meeting their professor. However, this innovative technology of learning through the Internet has brought up many issues of how easy it is to cheat in online classes. Now some professors and even some students are finding ways to prevent cheating.

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=51645

By Dan Linssen, Green Bay Gazette

Hundreds of years ago, before the printing press, knowledge was passed along verbally from person to person. At some point, humans began to optimize that process by passing fundamental information to multiple recipients at once. By early colonial America, we had career teachers responsible for passing on fundamental skills (think the “three ‘R’s”) to all of our kids. Their job was to confer their knowledge onto an assigned school of kids. In its most fundamental sense, teaching is imparting what the teacher knows. For most of our history, that has been the primary role of teachers. By definition, that limits the student’s learning to what the teacher knows and effectively can transmit. In contrast, learning is acquiring what you need to know to achieve your objective.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110214/GPG0602/102140499/1269/GPG06/Guest-column–Teaching-model-constrains-learning

By Audrey Watters, Read Write Web

April 2011 will mark the 150th anniversary of the first hostilities of U.S. Civil War, and museums, municipalities, and historic sites are making their preparations for the events and exhibits to commemorate it. And while, no doubt, times are tough for funding cultural heritage projects, there’s a lot of excitement and momentum building around the sesquicentennial, making it a great opportunity for those exploring how technology can make history more interactive. “A more valuable field trip” – that’s the argument that Pennsylvania high school social studies teacher Jeff Mummert makes, pointing to the increasing accessibility of both mobile and augmented reality technologies as ways to “offer deeply interactive projects for students and the general public.” To that end, Mummert has created the Civil War Augmented Reality Project (which recently evolved to become HistoriQuest). Aimed at giving both students and the general public a richer experience, the Civil War Augmented Reality Project wants to build apps that will use augmented reality to connect primary documents and photographs to local historic points of interest.

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/augmented_reality_field_trips_the_150th_anniversar.php

by Fatima Yasmine, the Next Web

A Folded Story is a story created by a group of people that do not know what the whole story contains. Different people write different sentences only knowing what the person before them wrote. Folding the paper and passing it along when they were done would keep the whole story a secret till the end. Now there’s a website that does this with a Twitter twist, each sentence/entry is limited by 140 characters. At the start I was uncertain if it would be as enjoyable, but it is. The site is aptly named FoldingStory and is founded by a group of childhood friends from the Strong Street company. What began as a hobby has now taken a life of its own as its popularity grows.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/02/21/read-and-write-fun-collaborative-stories-with-foldingstory/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29

By Tom Simonite, Technology Review

Socializing online and in the real world may be edging ever closer, but one stark difference remains: it’s much easier to juggle different groups of friends offline than it is online. A new tool developed at Stanford University addresses the problem by automatically working out a person’s different and overlapping friendship groups by analyzing the history of their Facebook or Gmail account. The tool—called SocialFlows—is available as a Facebook app. Once a Facebook user connects it with their account, they can extract their social groups in two ways. The researchers’ software can either work from the images a person was tagged in over the last two years, or from the pattern of e-mail recipients recorded in the last two years via a Gmail account.

http://www.technologyreview.com/communications/32394/?p1=A3

by Technology Review

Last week, HP released several mobile devices running WebOS, an operating system that it acquired last summer when it bought Palm. HP’s two new smart phones and tablet computer showed that the company is anxious to get a larger slice of the portable device market. But at the launch event, company executives mentioned that they plan to ship other devices, including PCs and printers, with WebOS installed. As the world’s largest PC maker, HP may be in a unique position to promote personal cloud computing—whereby data and applications are accessible from whatever device a person is using. Google is pursuing a similar vision with Chrome OS, which has gotten a lot of attention as an example of personal cloud computing. This operating system is designed to store almost no files or software. Instead of using programs installed on the computer, users must access all software through a Web browser.

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/32393/?p1=A2

By Kelly Rippin, WVNS TV

children are equipped with cell phones, iPod’s, and computers almost 24 hours a day. And with that technology, comes a new wave of problems with bullying and Internet crimes. Schools are doing what they can to educate children and parents to keep them safe. “Well, they’re computer natives. We’re just learning. They grew up with it. They’ve had it since they can walk,” says Grafton High School Principal Joseph Findley. And, because the internet is second nature most children, they sometimes don’t realize the negative things that can happen.

http://www.wvnstv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=94164

by IEWY

IBM has announced that eight universities are collaborating with IBM Researchers to advance the Question Answering (QA) technology behind the “Watson” computing system, outscored humans on the quiz show, Jeopardy!, airing February 14-16. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California (USC), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), University at Albany (UAlbany), University of Trento (Italy), and University of Massachusetts Amherst join Carnegie Mellon University in working with IBM on the development of a first-of-its-kind open architecture that enables researchers to efficiently collaborate on underlying QA capabilities and then apply them to IBM’s Watson system. Watson’s QA technology uses breakthrough analytics to understand what is being asked, analyze massive amounts of data, and provide the best answer based on the evidence it finds. The ongoing research collaborations announced today will help advance Watson’s ability to transform the way businesses and society work and improve all kinds of industries, such as healthcare, banking, government, etc.

http://www.iewy.com/16663-ibm-announces-eight-universities-contributing-to-the-watson-computing-systems-development.html

By: Nadia, Biomed Middle East

Andrew Gajkowski, 17, is living with autism. The disorder impacts every aspect of the bright Phoenix teenager’s life and affects how Andrew interacts with the world and how the world interacts with Andrew. Autism Spectrum Disorder affects one in every 110 American children under the age of eight. While great strides have been made in the treatment and teaching options for those living with autism, there are still many gaps. Early in his program, the Touchstone team identified Andrew’s aptitude and passion for Information Technology. To further his development, the Touchstone team had Andrew start working with Steve Porter, Chief Information Officer at Touchstone Behavioral Health. Porter had worked with many people like Andrew and was constantly exploring new and different ways to overcome some of the barriers to successful treatment.

http://biomedme.com/general/virtual-desktop-technology-integrated-into-autism-programs_33810.html

Qwiki is an new tool that I have found to be quite remarkable. It is more of an information engine than a search engine. Enter a search term and it will gather resources into a slick speech-synthesized, narrated, multi media presentation. Click on the timeline of screen captures and you are taken to the resource. Not easy to describe; but, easy to use. Check it out.

http://www.qwiki.com/

by School CIO

Schools in the Plano Independent School District have joined hundreds of other schools across the state in using immersive educational video games to help teach mathematics and raise academic achievement scores on high stakes tests. Plano ISD has added Tabula Digita’s futuristic mathematics series DimensionM, part of DimensionU™ Learning System, into its PowerMath remediation program targeting more than 800 students in 13 middle schools. In doing so, Plano joins a growing number of Texas districts, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Arlington, Spring, Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Garland Independent School Districts, that are embracing game play as an effective teaching tool.“We need our students to decidedly sharpen their mathematics skills and raise academic achievement levels on state mandated accountability tests,” said Jim Wohlgehagen, Ph.D., secondary mathematics coordinator, Plano ISD. “We are excited to help them achieve their full potential by giving them rich, standards-aligned content in an intriguing format that is compelling and relevant to today’s ‘screenage’ learners.”

http://www.schoolcio.com/showarticle/36732

by School CIO

Novachi just released a full feature integrated learning management system (LMS) and student information system (SIS) as a free service for all K-12 public, private, charter, and independent schools in the United States. Novachi education system enables students, parents, and educators to collaborate online by automating many classroom activities such as assignments with automatic grading, lesson plan, syllabus, attendance, progress report, report cards, incident report, permission slips, and more. Novachi education system includes free SIS management for both schools and districts. Novachi integrates LMS features with traditional SIS component into one central database for administrative reporting, statistical analysis, state and national level reporting. For California, Novachi supports CALPADS import and export for districts and other local education agencies to easily comply with state reporting requirements.

http://www.schoolcio.com/showarticle/36508

by School CIO

Today Everloop, the online community for tweens that allows them to connect, communicate, and collaborate on projects through a safe “social loop,” and i-SAFE, publisher of media literacy and digital citizenship education materials and programming, announce a joint venture to launch the largest series of school social learning networks in the United States. Everloop and i-SAFE will begin to roll out the new e-learning platform in April, 2011. The e-learning platform developed by Everloop will enable i-SAFE to distribute digital literacy and cyber citizenship curriculum in a way that is current, engaging and compelling for kids, tweens and teachers. “With Everloop’s new technology, we’re actually able to re-define the educational model by using social networking for learning,” says Teri Schroeder, founder and CEO of i-SAFE Inc. “We’re pushing past traditional learning concepts and truly bringing globalization to the classroom through a social e-learning platform.

http://www.schoolcio.com/showarticle/36738