Educational Technology Ray Schroeder, editor, OTEL - University of Illinois at Springfield |
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News, Techniques and Theories of Effective Use of Technology in Education 
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Saturday, November 22, 2003
Apples are in, board members are out in laptop flap - eSchool News staff and wire service reports
Frustrated by the local school board's decision to spend $1.7 million to provide Apple laptop computers for some junior high students but not others, residents of Stillwater, Minn., voiced their opposition by unseating three board members, while selecting a newcomer from the ballot and electing two write-in candidates in the Nov. 4 elections. It took only a month of campaigning for write-in candidates Nancy Hoffman and Christopher Kunze to harness the public's anger over the decision, which critics also said was an unnecessary expense in a time of tight budgets. (0) comments
Technology in classroom discussed in Mohawk - JOE PARMON-Herkimer Telegram
Sandy Simpson, assistant district superintendent at Herkimer BOCES, told Mohawk school board members during their meeting this week that districts need to look at ways to integrate the use of more technology into their classroom instruction. "We have to look at ways technology can be used to support the academic achievement of our students," said Simpson. Simpson updated board members on the latest trends in "Instructional Technology," which is being used by various districts for staff development, Web sites, teacher Web pages, e-mail, payroll, state reports, student courses, data collection and on-demand content such as PBS programs. Simpson said Mohawk is already a leader in the area in terms of teacher Web pages, where instructors can post assignments for students and other information. (0) comments Friday, November 21, 2003
Buying an Assessment System: Five Considerations - Todd McIntire, techLearning
No Child Left Behind has focused schools on tracking student progress like never before. But high-stakes assessments administered by states and used to measure schools' "adequate yearly progress" provide data only once a year. As a result, schools and districts are increasingly demanding tools that supply more frequent information about student academic performance throughout the year. In response to this need, many companies have developed or repositioned products to serve as interim assessment systems-typically online tests that students complete on a monthly or quarterly basis, coupled with electronic reporting tools that can be used by educators to analyze student performance. (0) comments
Cell Biology Animation
If you can tear your eyes away from the mesmerizing graphics on the main page, you'll find a very detailed and comprehensive cell biology tutorial created by graphic artist/biologist John Kyrk. Kyrk's animations demonstrate all major aspects of cell biology: amino acid structure, DNA replication, transcription and translation, cellular cycles (Krebs, glycolysis, mitosis), photosynthesis, and so on. The tutorial's beautiful graphics and cool animations should make studying cell biology relatively painless for any student. From The NSDL Scout Report for the Life Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments Thursday, November 20, 2003
Tech foundations join in $130M education project - eSchool News staff and wire service reports
Charitable foundations established by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell are combining to donate $55 million toward a massive statewide project to redesign and improve Texas high schools. Gov. Rick Perry on Nov. 12 announced the $130 million "Texas High School Project" initiative, which calls for restructuring or building high schools in the state's 140 districts, mostly in minority or low-income areas. (0) comments
Snap! Edit! Organize! - Carol Holzberg, techLearning
Walk the halls of any K-12 setting and you're likely to find photos of student projects, field trips, and school events posted on bulletin boards and doors. Visit a school or classroom Web site, glance at the newsletters sent home to parents, or examine the contents of students' portfolios and you'll see an abundance of colorful pictures that document, inform, and validate school happenings. Thanks to the proliferation of low-cost, user-friendly digital cameras, school photo shoots have become commonplace. It's no wonder that even giant-size computer hard drives soon fill to overflowing. Learning to wield a digital camera is just the beginning. To make the most of a digital photo, you'll also want an image editor to remove unsightly blemishes, balance lighting and composition, or crop unnecessary elements. In addition, you'll need a tool to help catalog and archive your photo collection so images are easy to locate or back up on CD or DVD to free up space on your hard drive and the network server. (0) comments Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Questions remain over proposed virtual school - AMY HETZNER, Milwaukee Journal Star
Waukesha - With decision time looming over whether to start a virtual school, School Board members said Tuesday they still had many questions on issues from student testing to program quality. The Waukesha School District hopes to get enough of those questions answered by Dec. 10, when administrators want the board to decide whether to become the first school district in Wisconsin to offer a full high school curriculum over the Internet. "Online learning is the way of the future," Heidi Laabs, the district's executive director for curriculum and instruction, told the School Board on Tuesday. "Today's students are not the students our schools were created for." (0) comments
Controversial radio ID tags keep track of kids - Corey Murray, eSchool News
At the Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, N.Y., a controversial new technology is now in play that administrators say can detect whether students are in school or playing hooky using microchips embedded inside their student ID cards. The tiny identifiers are known as radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags--inexpensive computer chips uploaded with personal information about individual students and monitored by an electronic reader located just inside the entrance to the school. (0) comments Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Earth and Moon Viewer
Developed by John Walker, the Earth and Moon Viewer supplies updated, interactive maps for the World. Visitors can observe the Earth's Cloud cover, topography, Water Vapor, land and sea temperatures, and more. These maps can simulate views of Earth from the Sun, Moon, and satellites in Earth's orbit. Visitors will also find maps presenting the day and night regions at the moment. Anyone looking for visual interpretations of the earth and its atmosphere should visit this fascinating Web site. From The NSDL Scout Report for the Physical Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2003. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments
Top 10 Innovative Projects - techLearning
In past Top 10 issues, we've profiled emerging technologies and smart technologies. This year we take a look at how these technologies are being applied to implement new and more innovative approaches to learning. It's "technology in action", if you will. Choosing 10 top projects from the hundreds, thousands, and probably millions out there is, of course, nearly impossible. In the end, T&L editors settled on a mix: some are high-end and cutting edge, others are more accessible to novice technology users, and still others are old favorites that have evolved over the years. Despite the somewhat eclectic selection you'll find here, common elements include authenticity, collaboration, the use of critical thinking skills, global implications, in-depth investigations, and a very high student motivation and engagement factor. All in all, we hope you'll find the following projects compelling, worthy of emulation, and exciting examples of ways 21st century technologies are reinventing the concept of "school." -Susan McLester (0) comments Monday, November 17, 2003
Portable Technology Comes of Age - Paul Wangemann, Nina Lewis and David A. Squires, THE Journal
The pda was originally conceived of as a portable handheld electronic device that provided a user with a tool to organize his or her life through easy access to a personal calendar, daily planner and address book. Over the years, these devices have expanded to include many new functions, which have helped more applications in diverse fields. This includes an increased interest in their use within K-12 and higher education. During 2001-2002, PDAs for teachers had been integrated into 7% of all U.S. public schools. In addition, SRI International released the "Palm Education Pioneers Program: Final Evaluation Report" (2002), which reported on a large-scale study of the use of handheld computers in more than 100 U.S. elementary and secondary classrooms. Of the teachers who participated in this study, about 90% felt handhelds were effective classroom tools and had the potential for making a positive impact on student learning. (0) comments
Technology's Value in Education - Chris Rother, THE Journal
These days, it seems that everyone - from local school boards to Congress to academics - has strong opinions about the value of the Internet and technology in education. Ironically, the voices of teachers, who observe classroom computing every day, rarely are heard. This is unfortunate since feedback from front-line educators has several positive impacts. Quantifiable teacher input helps taxpayers and administrators understand the importance of technology investments, especially in times of budgetary crisis. Teachers are often in the best position to see the true impact of technology on learning, knowing what it can and cannot do. Thus, feedback from classroom educators can be essential in helping communities make academic and technological choices that are in the best long-term interests of students and schools. (0) comments Sunday, November 16, 2003
For 2003 ASBO attendees, technology means business - eSchool News staff reports
From automated vehicle-location (AVL) systems that track school buses via global positioning satellites to smart production systems that know whether it's cheaper to photocopy and or duplicate a stack of documents based on the number of copies needed, technology has become a central element in every aspect of school business operations. And attendees at this year's Association of School Business Officials International (ASBO) show saw some of the most innovative solutions. At the conference, held Oct. 31 through Nov. 4 in Charlotte, N.C., some 1,200 school business officials from the United States, Canada, and elsewhere learned about a brand-new communication system that will alert parents instantly via cell phones, pagers, eMail messages, and web sites in the event of school emergencies. (0) comments
Redefining the Role of Computers in Education, The Vendors' Curricula - Neil Mercurius, techLearning
With 30 years of computing technology in public education, finally education technology vendors are aligning their curriculum to state standards. Vendors who sell education curriculum are confident the curricula products they sell can help schools bolster student achievement. In the late 1990s, pressure from within the academic community to change the curricula and instructional delivery to meet specific outcomes provided an incentive for vendors to move closely to aligning their curriculum with teachers' needs and state standards. They invested money and time by hiring active and retired educators to make sure the curricula products aligned with curriculum standards, modeled best practices, and extended instructional modules. (0) comments Educational Technology News Blog Archives OTEL - Ray's Home Page - Notebook - UIS Online - U of I Online - UIS Home Fair Use |
