Educational Technology

by Molly Baker, Wall Street Journal

As districts look to save money by going paperless outside the classroom, the digital push is picking up steam. One immediate result is a new wave of user names and passwords for families to keep track of. Longer term, the change is requiring parents to become active seekers of information, not recipients of mailings or notes sent home from school. And there are opportunities for overuse. More than 100,000 of the country’s 125,000-plus elementary and secondary schools rely on some sort of Web presence, says Sanjeev Ahuja of Edline, one of the largest providers of website management and support to schools whose systems include Edline and SchoolFusion. The other systems out there typically have a parent portal with a name like iParent, Homelink or MyBackPack and the offerings can be customized.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576596700589072390.html

by Michael D. Clark

It’s a 21st century, high-tech lure to solve an old high school problem: how to reel in non-musically inclined students to the world of music. And it’s working well at Lebanon High School, where a Non-Traditional Music (NTM) program is so popular it already has a waiting list of students eager to sign up. For decades, national surveys have shown that up to 80 percent of students in the average high school have little or no experience – nor any interest – in playing musical instruments or participating in choral programs. But thanks to advancements in computerized music technology in the last decade, students who wouldn’t be caught dead trying to learn how to play an oboe or violin are increasingly learning through a technologically augmented type of music instruction.

http://communitypress.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20110927/NEWS0102/110927031/Technology-lures-Lebanon-students-music?odyssey=nav|head

By Cristina Kumka, Rutland Herald

Forget coloring books. Students have switched from picture books to Netbooks, from writing with pen and paper to drawing their own screensavers. On Tuesday, students in grades 4-6 got a primer on how to learn differently in the classroom, by way of laptops so small you can hold them in your hand. It’s the second phase of a project aimed at getting laptops in the hands of students in 24 Vermont towns, spearheaded by the Vermont Council on Rural Development, e-Vermont and partner Digital Wish, an educational nonprofit organization. The project is supported by a $2.5 million stimulus grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce and by donations from Dell, Microsoft and Comcast.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110928/NEWS01/709289864/1002/NEWS01

By Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Ed

Here are some reactions by education-technology leaders posted today on Twitter and on blogs:

■“Finally, college students have a cheaper iPad alternative. Finally, at long last, something to appease the student market.” —Zack Whittaker, ZD Net (reposted by Ray Schroeder, director of the University of Illinois at Springfield’s Center for Online Learning, Research, and Service, on his Online Learning Update blog).

■“Great price and form factor. Will it support PDF’s and annotations is the question.” —Jeremy D. Franklin, a graduate student at the University of Utah studying the sociology of higher education, on Twitter.

more at this URL:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/higher-ed-gadget-watchers-react-to-amazons-new-kindle-fire-tablet/33433?sid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

 by the Next Web

Here’s a little something to tide you over until the official Steve Jobs biography is released. The editors of Fortune have compiled a selection of stories about Jobs into an ebook for Kindle called ‘All About Steve’. The ebook features 17 stories that span over 20 years of Jobs history and detail many different aspects of his career.

http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/09/28/fortune-releases-all-about-steve-ebook-for-kindle/

by the Next Web

One small, social voice startup called QWiPS (formerly Blurts) aims to accelerate the pace of Sound’s evolution on the web. The New York City based company will also release its iOS app in early October, which debuted recently at Fashion’s Night Out in NYC, allowing Vogue editors to create PhotoQwips–voice captioned photos. The upcoming iOS app will also include the ability to create voice tagged Tweets and Facebook posts, apply filters and effects, and create and share threaded voice conversations. QWiPS’ web app is very easy to use. Without signing up, you can hit record and speak into your computer’s microphone. Your audio is then saved via a link. It’s up to you to do what you will, either tweet out the link, share it in an email, or spam your coworkers. It’s not as robust, as shareable or as pretty as SoundCloud, but it does feel more lightweight with a link rather than an embed. With QwipBacks, others can respond in their voice to your individual Qwips, facilitating an ongoing dialogue. QwipBack responses can be recorded in your browser or on the upcoming app.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/09/27/qwips-launches-a-quick-way-to-send-sound-around-the-internet/

by the Next Web

Richard Dawkins, a British evolutionary biologist and bestselling author of books like The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion, recently launched his latest book The Magic of Reality in the form of an interactive app for the iPad. Expertly illustrated by Dave McKean, the book presents the reader with 12 questions and their answers. It first goes through the answers provided for those questions in cultural and religious myths and traditions and then lays out the modern scientific explanations that we know now. The book was released on Sep. 15 in the UK and is going to be launched on Oct. 4 in the United States.

http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/09/27/richard-dawkins-the-magic-of-reality-is-a-beautiful-educational-ipad-experience/

By Bryan Clark, Business 2 Community

It might take another decade or even longer, but e-learning is set to someday become the premier method acquiring an education. It’s all in the economics: brick and mortar campuses are costly things to keep up and running. Once enough universities start significantly cutting back on their real-world spending in favor of focusing their efforts on web based methods of learning, demand for this new, cheaper, more efficient system will steam roll over traditional learning environments. Right now, the technology and Internet environment are just not quite there yet to make online college as typically a rewarding experience as regular campus learning, with the exception of a few top online schools. But the signs are already pointing to online learning dominance due to the gadgets and networks we use today.

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/technology-and-social-media-help-top-online-schools-climb-higher-062921

by Virtual College

When used appropriately, online education is a valuable tool which can add value to a whole range of educational efforts, according to one scholar. Bryan LeBeau, an educator from the US, said that e-learning is at its best when conveying information appropriate to that medium to the specific segment of the population who are best prepared to learn from it, reports the Leavenworth Times. In America, three-quarters of institutions offer online learning and the majority report that the courses are a success. Mr LeBeau states that the future of learning is not purely online, but that it is a cohesive component of the educational system as it evolves and that it gives opportunity for developing online skills. He predicts – with reference to a survey of colleges around the US – that in ten years’ time, 50 per cent of students will be taking online classes.

http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/news/Elearning-adds-value-to-educational-efforts-800739721.~

By Angela Dice, Kitsap Sun

Tami Caldwell’s classroom is a loft that looks out through a bank of windows onto the calm waters of a lake. Her days are flexible enough that she can take her daughter to school in the morning, meet a student for a midday coffee or answer the regular buzz of students’ text messages, though she tries to maintain a regular schedule. Usually between 10 a.m. and noon each day, she sits in front of her computer for “lab” time, when students can dial in to a sort of virtual chat room and ask questions. And once a week, she and her students get together online for class. Caldwell is one of the high school teachers at Insight School of Washington, which offers full-time online schooling.

http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2011/sep/26/online-teacher-connects-with-her-students/