Educational Technology

by Syndey Morning Herald

It’s no longer a question of potential; forces set free by technology are beginning to turn the traditional classroom on its head. Emerging under the broad label of ”flipping” the classroom are a profusion of new learning models that go beyond turning on the laptops and smartboards that are now commonplace in schools. Technology offers the opportunity to break up the traditional lesson structure and to shift learning opportunities in both space and time. In a pure flip, a lesson might be ”taught” online at home; class time becomes a place for a student to do their ”homework” – to practice what they have learnt. ”Good teaching is still good teaching; it’s always there,” said Lila Mularczyk, the principal of Merrylands High.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/technology-brings-the-classroom-back-home-in-role-reversal-20111106-1n1xv.html

by the Daily Record

Degree-seekers will find it easier to finish what they started at the new virtual campus of Central Washington University. The program, called Finish Line, offers eight online degrees and more than 278 courses for online learning, according to a news release from CWU. “This program is for people who want to finish a university degree but can’t quit work or leave their families to enroll in a traditional university setting,” said Tracy Pellett, associate vice president for undergraduate studies, noting that more students earn online degrees at CWU than any other comprehensive university in the state. “Crossing that finish line means earning a degree that moves your career and your life forward.”

http://www.dailyrecordnews.com/news/cwu-online-campus-helps-students-finish-degrees/article_817f4416-0738-11e1-8d79-001cc4c002e0.html

by David Berman, Landcaster Eagle Gazette

As recently as October, almost every school district in Ross County had failed to comply with a four-year-old state law requiring that all districts publish a summary of bullying incidents online. The mandate calls for every district in Ohio, twice per year, to post on its website a summary of all reported acts of bullying. It’s part of a 2007 law requiring the districts to adopt policies prohibiting bullying, harassment and intimidation. While local school districts’ handbooks show they have enacted policies against bullying, some of their websites show they lag behind when it comes to reporting the incidents to the public.

http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/article/20111106/NEWS01/111106003

By School Library Journal

Are iPads on their way to replacing computers in K-12 schools? It sure looks that way. A recent survey of district tech directors found that all were testing or deploying tablet devices—and they expect them to outnumber computers by 2016. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster questioned 25 educational IT directors at a conference on the integration of technology in the classroom, and his small survey, “Tablets in the Classroom,” reveals that all were using Apple’s iPad in schools, while none were testing or deploying Android-based tablets.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/892666-312/ipads_to_outpace_computers_in.html.csp

By Rob Rogers, Marin Independent Journal

Using augmentative and alternative communication tools to help children with autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy — or a host of other conditions that affect speech — interact with the world is nothing new. Since 2001, Dedication to Special Education, a fundraising foundation that provides resources to Marin County children with special needs, has purchased and maintained devices such as the DynaVox communication system for the Technology Resource Center of Marin, which supplies communication tools to students at all 19 Marin school districts. Yet foundation members see the evolution of tablet computers as nothing short of a revolution. Because they’re relatively cheap compared with earlier devices, easy for children to use and pervasive — many Marin parents already have them — tablets like the iPad are becoming an essential part of the special education classroom.

http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_19250545

By Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

Pushing a netbook program in a school setting these days is a bit like suggesting the purchase of an external modem or analog surveillance camera. Sure, it might work, but aren’t the technologies a bit dated? Besides, the lackadaisical laptop computing experience offered by the typical netbook no longer seems to be enough; users want the intrigue of smartphones or tablet computing. So what could netbooks possibly offer a district that some other gadget wouldn’t be better at? Try this: addressing basic computing needs and providing access to the web at a price that’s hard to beat. As long as wireless internet access is available, there are no extra service fees required. Netbooks have a screen size larger than a smartphone and a keyboard that’s more familiar than a pad or tablet.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/11/03/a-home-for-netbooks-at-school.aspx

by Shea Gunther, Mother Nature Network

Remember when VCRs were a novelty? How about cellphones as big (and heavy) as a brick? Check out these now-vintage videos. As technology and standards change over the years, so do the terms and words used to describe them. In 1975, “portable computer” was defined as a large box weighing 50 pounds with a tiny screen that you needed to plug in. Though we poke fun, the IBM 5100 was revolutionary in its time: This was 10 years before Windows 1.0 was released, six years before IBM’s PC. It had a 16-bit processor, 64 KB of RAM, a few hundred KB of ROM that held program code, and a five-inch monochromatic display. A computer with the same capabilities just five years earlier would have taken up the better part of your average small room.

http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/7-early-videos-of-now-everyday-technology

by David Vranicar, TechNewsWorld

When someone flips a coin, it will land on either heads or tails. In that sense, a coin is akin to classical computing. Information is stored in a string of 0s and 1s (a string, that is, of heads and tails). Together, the 0s and 1s form bits, and these bits, when aligned in certain sequences, dictate the functions that a machine is to perform, be it sending a text message or opening up Microsoft Word. Machines that use quantum technology, however, have a different type of bit. Unlike a conventional bit, a quantum bit, or “qubit,” has the physical properties of an atom. And because of atoms’ ability to be in dual states, a qubit can simultaneously be 0 and 1. So while conventional computers are governed by a rigid series of mutually exclusive 0s and 1s, a quantum computer is built with qubits that can be 0 and 1 at the same time. A qubit, in this sense, is a coin resting on its edge, capable of going either way and, as a result, performing at a higher level than conventional bits. “It provides a range of possibilities that usually aren’t possible,” he told TechNewsWorld.

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/Quantum-Computers-Part-2-Zeros-and-Ones-Both-and-Neither-73665.html

by Jonathan Angel, eWeek

Celio Corporation announced “ScreenSlider,” software that allows Android devices to act as external touchscreen displays for Windows PCs. The company’s technology is also being used in “Prodigy One Pro” automotive head units from Directus, designed to mirror output from a connected Android phone.

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/c/a/News/Celio-ScreenSlider-and-Directus-Prodigy-One-Pro/

by Hannah Johnson, Stillwater Gazette

When you walk in the dome you see images free-floating in space as if you could reach out and touch what appears in front of you. Meyer is seeking corporate sponsors to provide funds for the display technology and computer software, which could cost up to $200,000 for all of the equipment. However, Meyer said there might be affordable options found these days. “Obviously we’re a charter school and under-funded, so we would be looking for some assistance,” Meyer said. “Not a whole lot of people have seen something like this, but I think this is the next step in educating the next generation.”

http://www.stillwatergazette.com/articles/2011/11/02/headlines/623st_110211_scpa3d.txt

by Molly Walsh, Burlington Free Press

The battle for the attention of students in science class is being played out all over the state, as state officials, employers and school leaders strive to make Vermont a place with more science innovation and discovery, and a place with more highly paying science and tech jobs. Schools are ground zero in the effort. The results of the push are mixed. Vermont, like the rest of the U.S., is behind science and tech education leaders such as India, South Korea and China. And many Vermont tech employers report continual shortages of highly skilled employees such as software developers, even in a recession. We’re not keeping up with the competition, said Chris Allen, president of the Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering. “It’s just a fact.”

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20111103/BUSINESS08/111102030/Vermont-schools-challenged-by-need-produce-science-tech-grads

by CHRIS ARNOLD, National Public Radio

The U.S. economy hit an important milestone last week: Gross domestic product, the sum of all goods and services produced in the country, returned to pre-recession levels. But the gains were made with millions fewer workers. Part of the reason is technology, as computers and machines continue to replace humans. We used to think about machines taking over mundane jobs, like twisting a screw into a toaster on an assembly line over and over again. But more recently, technology is eliminating higher-skill jobs. To talk about this, some of the nation’s top technologists and economists came to Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week for a jobs conference called Race Against the Machine.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/03/141949820/how-technology-is-eliminating-higher-skill-jobs

By John Cox, Network World

No one seems to know just how many have actually been sold since the first ones began to appear in 2010 and especially in 2011 after Google released its tablet-optimized Android 3.0 (dubbed Honeycomb). Strategy Analytics reported in early October that 4.5 million Android tablets had shipped (not actually sold to end users) in the most recent quarter, counting all Android OS versions and including devices such as the Amazon Kindle ereader. But GigaOm’s Kevin Tofel, who picked up that report, used his own formula to calculate a figure that was about 25% lower, 3.4 million Android 3.0 tablets actually sold. No matter what the figure, it’s far, far less than those for the iPad, which we don’t have to estimate. Apple sold 11.1 million of the tablets in its just-ended fourth quarter, a record; and Apple executives said they expect another record in the final calendar quarter of this year. Altogether, according to an Apple spokesman, over 40 million iPads have been sold since the original model was released in 2010, barely 18 months ago.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/102811-tech-argument-ipad-tablets-252513.html

By Steven M. Baule, CIO Advisor

Lately, there’s been a fair amount of concern about how technology is or isn’t impacting student achievement, i.e., standardized test scores. Some districts are deciding what to cut: staffing, technology, chess club, sport programs, library books or someone else’s sacred cow(s). I find this interesting, since technology has never shown an ability to improve student test scores on its own. Technology has been able to do two things fairly well for instruction:

1. engage learners more decisively than traditional methods (thus more time on task); and

2. allow staff to more easily and effectively differentiate instruction to accommodate a variety of learning styles.

So, technology isn’t at fault if it isn’t improving test scores. The issue lies in the way technology is or isn’t being implemented.

http://www.schoolcio.com/Default.aspx?tabid=136&EntryId=3343

by School CIO

Managing the online communications structure for a school district is hard. Managing your own personal email inbox? Probably harder. There are ways to deal besides handing it off to an assistant. Michael Linenberger, author of Master Your Workday Now estimates that only five percent of Outlook users consistently use the Task Manager. “People give up on it quickly because it’s configured poorly,” he says. “It’s based on 50-year old principles of task management that no longer apply.” Out of the box, Outlook puts the oldest tasks at the top of list in bright red, but Linenberger has a simple way to apply a methodology that’s more in line with the way we work today.

http://www.schoolcio.com/article/email-trouble/51875

by Justin Marquis, Online Universities

The advantages to crowdsourced instructional design are: financial savings through reduced overhead and benefits, expanded technical abilities for those on campus who will need to do the collaboration, the possibility of higher-quality content production, and a diversification of the views represented in the course materials produced. This final point, diversity of perspective, should not be undervalued. Knowledge is not the sole and proprietary property of the content area expert. Incorporating a diverse design team into the creation of online educational content can increase the perspective on what is being created and help to mediate biases, oversights, or false assumptions that may exist and be perpetuated by a single individual working alone.

http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2011/11/the-future-of-e-learning-is-crowdsourcing/

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google’s Chrome Web browser enjoyed its biggest monthly market share boost ever and could pass Mozilla’s Firefox browser in early 2012, according to new data from Net Applications. The market researcher put Chrome at 17.6 percent through October, an impressive 1.4 percent gain from the fledgling browser’s September share of 16.2 percent. The only other time Chrome grew more than 1 percent month-to-month by Net Applications calculations is when the browser grew more than 1.2 percent, from 14.3 percent to 15.5 percent. Mozilla Firefox, meanwhile, rose from 22.48 percent in September to 22.51 percent last month. But Firefox’s share is falling more often than it gains and Chrome today is within 5 percent of Firefox.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Google-Chrome-Tops-17-Share-Guns-for-Firefox-287912/?kc=rss

By Heather Somerville, The Fresno Bee

In a dark room lit only by the razor-thin beams of infrared cameras, University of California at Merced graduate student Carlo Camporesi spends most days — and many nights — in the company of avatars. This isn’t the next big sci-fi movie in the making or the latest Nintendo Wii video game. Camporesi is part of a research team working to solve a very real problem — how to overcome an expected shortage of physical therapists who will work with aging baby boomers. UC Merced received a $75,000 grant through the UC system for five graduate students to begin creating a software program this year that uses avatars to provide physical therapy to the elderly. Professors say the project has the potential to improve the health of thousands of people. It offers a blueprint for future projects that college administrators hope will bolster UC Merced’s reputation as a research institution and help it compete better for its share of the dwindling supply of federal research dollars.

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/10/24/2589488/uc-merced-students-develop-avatar.html

by Doug Gross, CNN

Over the past 10 years, 25,000 struggling students from poverty-stricken schools have gotten guidance, encouragement and advice from volunteer mentors. And they haven’t met face-to-face even once. I Could Be, a New York-based nonprofit, uses online tools to connect students with those willing to lend a hand. It is one of a growing number of groups that specialize in what they call “e-mentoring.” The technology, of course, has existed for years. But the movement is just beginning to find its footing as groups work through various obstacles, such as insuring privacy and safety and establishing that there is, in fact, value in such online relationships. Kate Schrauth, the executive director of I Could Be, is convinced. She says that digital mentoring, while in some ways limited, has advantages for students who have grown up in the glow of a computer monitor.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/25/tech/web/online-mentoring/

by the Air Force Association, Sacramento Bee

Established by the Air Force Association (AFA), CyberPatriot is the nation’s largest and fastest growing high school cyber security challenge. Its unique structure provides students hands-on learning about cyber defense while competing virtually against their peers and introduces many to the idea of cyber security as a profession. Online preliminary rounds begin October 28 for the All Service Division and November 4 for the Open Division, where hundreds of teams will defend simulated computer networks from real-life computer threat scenarios, racing against the clock to fix weaknesses in assigned systems.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/10/24/4003117/national-high-school-cyber-security.html

by Karen Kucher, Sign On San Diego

Julia, 17, was able to have such rich, hands-on experiences not at her high school but through a special program in San Diego County that encourages young women to go into science, technology, engineering and math fields. Julia Roche, center, is a member of BeWise, a program that encourages girls to go into science, math and technology fields. The Better Education for Women in Science & Engineering program, which began in 1999, was formed in response to the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering fields. Students work closely with medical doctors, renowned researchers and hi-tech professionals, many of whom are women, to not only learn science but to gain inspiration for their futures.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/oct/24/program-inspiring-young-women-to-discover-science/