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Saturday, November 07, 2009
Race on for first Google Wave iPhone app - revolutionmagazine.com
The race is on to release the first approved Google Wave iPhone app with two contenders already in the running. One is called WaveBoard, which is already up and running as a Mac Google Wave desktop client. It is awaiting approval from the iPhone App Store.The other potential candidate is an Adobe AIR application called Waver, which has been developed as "your tiny Google Wave client". The desktop version is also up and running, letting users view and reply to waves, create new waves and manage their Google Wave contacts from, as the app suggests, a tiny window. (0) comments
Google Wave Federation: Why it Matters - Frederic Lardinois, Read Write Web
Because it's a federated protocol, you could soon run your own Wave server. No pre-packaged distributions that would allow a user or company to set up a Wave server exist at this point, but it's only a matter of time before these will arrive. Hopefully, some of these will also experiment with alternative user interfaces that will extend the functionality of Wave beyond Google's current implementation. Companies will be able to host their own Wave servers and use them to communicate internally or with clients who run their own Wave servers. Many enterprise companies are still worried about storing their data in a hosted environment. If Google wants to make Wave palatable for this market, these companies need to have the ability to control their data and customize the experience for their employees. (0) comments
Parents: Focus more on 21st-century skills - eSchool News
Although parents, K-12 students, and educators agree that using technology is essential to learning and student success, parents are largely dissatisfied with the technology skills their children are learning in schools, according to a new analysis of survey data released Oct. 29 by the nonprofit Project Tomorrow and Blackboard Inc. According to the survey data, only one-third of parents and 40 percent of students in grades 6-12 believe that schools are doing a good job of preparing students for the 21st century. In contrast, more than half of principals surveyed believe they are doing a good job of preparing students (0) comments Friday, November 06, 2009
Laid-off IT pros head to the classroom - Mitch Betts, Computerworld
A government grant is helping 30 unemployed IT professionals in Georgia start new careers as high school computer science teachers. With a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation, the Georgia Institute of Technology's College of Computing has launched "Operation Reboot." The program pairs a laid-off IT professional with an existing high school teacher for at least one year, "allowing the IT professional to learn the ins and outs of a classroom, and the teacher to get an education in IT," the college said in a statement. (0) comments
Are Schools Preparing Students for 21st Century Learning? - David Nagel, THE Journal
There's a "disconnect" between school administrators and parents. While more than half of America's school principal's said they think they're "doing a good job" preparing students for the 21st century, only a third of parents of middle school and high school students agreed, according to research released by Project Tomorrow and Blackboard. The research also showed that only 40 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 think their schools are doing a good job preparing them for the future. (0) comments
Google Wave Use Cases: Education - Richard MacManus, Read Write web
After searching some public 'waves,' we came across an educational wave. Entitled 'Wave in Class,' this wave was started by Loren Baum (a self-described "collaborative learning enthusiast" and graduate student at Ben Gurion University) and Sam Boland (a Politics student and "Tech Enthusiast" at Occidental College, Los Angeles). As a note-taking tool, Samuel Boland wrote that "there appears to be a concensus that this [Google Wave] will work as a note-taking tool, the only disagreement is over how to implement it." Options for note-taking include voluntary extra-curricular groups, rotating in-class groups and small in-class groups. A few users enthused later in the wave that "Google Wave combines a lot of the best features from different applications" - but with a real-time twist. (0) comments Thursday, November 05, 2009
Google wants to Wave hello to Microsoft and Apple - Patrick Goss, TechRadar
Google Wave developer Lars Rasmussen has told TechRadar that he would love to see Microsoft, Facebook and Apple all producing their takes on Wave technology. Google's communications meets productivity tool is already causing, ahem, waves, with a massive oversubscription of people wanting to test the pre-beta 'preview' build, which is currently available by invite only. (0) comments
Google Wave makes a big splash as it hits the shore - Suzanne Yada, Spartan Daily
Here's all you need to know about Google Wave - it's a shiny, shiny new toy that does newfangled things, like let you talk to people. If you want to know more than that, there's a much more complex - and slightly more useful - explanation. Wave is Google's answer to the question, "What would e-mail look like if it was invented today?" It merges e-mail, instant messaging, documents, file sharing and wikis into one souped-up communication hub. (0) comments
Google Wave to Get an App Store Soon - Techtree
Google has revealed that its just launched communications service Google Wave will have an App Store of its own on the lines of the Apple App Store. The unofficial "announcement" came at the Google Wave User Group Meetup at London that was held on October 27. Apart from the news regarding the arrival of an app store, there is also news about the service getting couple of new functionalities and fixing its current slowness. However, the snippet regarding the App Store was the most interesting of the lot - especially since it could prove to be a revenue generator for potential app developers. (0) comments Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Mozilla Demoes Raindrop, Thunderbird's Answer To Google Wave - Desire Athow, IT Pro Portal
Mozilla Foundation’s Thunderbird team has reportedly been working on a new software tool that intends to bring various communication channels, including email, Facebook, as well as Twitter, onto a single interface with the built-in capability to sort out the important messages for the users. With the new initiative, Mozilla seems to have emulated the much vaunted Google Wave, the only apparent difference that the Wave has been regarded as “a product, platform, and protocol”, while Raindrop is simply a product and a platform. (0) comments
Libraries offer online help - David Tidmarsh, Yale Daily
Web 2.0 is alive and well among the libraries of Yale — if students know where to find it. Over the last decade, the Yale University Library has introduced new tools to keep up with the pace of technology, including Ask!live, cyber reference service, and profiles on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. But though Internet-savvy Elis have access to a variety of digital facilities, students said they do not use many of them. Still, use of Ask!live, which allows students to text or instant message librarians, has increased by over half in the last year, and library administrators said other platforms have been gaining followers as well. (0) comments
Wondering about Google Wave - Michael W. Jones, tech blorge
There are still a lot of primarily small flaws, but it is obvious that programmers are working to both fix little glitches and to add new features. Regardless, the times that it has worked as advertised have offered a tantalizing view of a new way to multi-communicate on the Web. If all that Google has promised comes true, they may have come up with a very interesting multitalented service, one which brings together several of the most popular features of the Web. (0) comments Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Technology in classroom is perfect for engaging students, expert says - Mark Coddington, The Independent
With his tips on tagging Web site bookmarks, shortening URLs and installing browser applications, Tony Vincent may have sounded at times Wednesday like he was talking to a group of Web developers. But Vincent was talking to teachers, and the theme of the workshop was just as much about engaging students as it was technology. Students are engaged in learning when it involves qualities such as choice, affiliation, novelty and variety, and a focus on products, Vincent said. The explosion of teaching technology on the Web fits right in with those values. "Those Web 2.0 tools have so many of the characteristics of what engages students, because they do get to interact with each other, they do get to create," he said. (0) comments
Pender teacher's lesson plan a fusion of technology and literature - Chelsea Kellner, Star News
Welcome to language arts class at Cape Fear Middle School. Teacher Craig Lawson, a self-declared geek with a yen for fusing technology and literature, is pioneering the use of computer games on hand-held devices in Pender County classrooms. “A lot of times you see negative publicity for video games, that they promote violence and that kind of thing, but that misses their connection to literature,” Lawson said. “This is a way for students to gain insight into the experience of another person without having to live it themselves, just like we do when we read a book.” (0) comments
Sixty Symbols
Ever wondered about the symbols used by scientists? You're probably not alone, and this website created by a team at the University of Nottingham demystifies sixty prominent physics symbols via informative video segments. The videos are not necessarily meant to be lessons or lectures on the symbols, "The films are just fun chats with men and women who live their subject and know a lot about it!" The videos are quite fun, and the talk on"gamma" includes a discussion of cricket balls, while the "rho" video features paperclips in coffee cups. All of the videos can be accessed via the homepage, and visitors should plan on making several visits to check out all of the clips. At the bottom of the homepage, visitors can also view earlier videos created as part of the project, learn more about their scientists, and take a look at a list of other related sites. From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments Monday, November 02, 2009
BioSciEdNet
This impressive portal (referred to in the shorthand as "BEN"), was created by the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) in order to bring high-quality educational resources to science educators everywhere. The entire project is managed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the resources here total over 14,000, and they cover 77 discrete biological sciences topics. First-time visitors to the site will note that will they are not required to register to access these resources, however they may wish to do so in order to maintain a thorough list of the resources they find most useful here. The homepage is simple and to the point, and it features a "New Resources" area, and a collection of browsing options that allow users to pick out resources by type, audience, orsubject. Persons who haven't used BEN before may wish to look at the "UsingBEN" area for a bit of guidance. From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments
The Writing Center at Harvard University
The Writing Center at Harvard University The Writing Center at Harvard University is perhaps the oldest formal writing center at an American university, and their complementary website presents a valuable trove of instructional handouts for writers young and old. On this page, visitors will find over a dozen helpful handouts withtitles such as "How to Read an Assignment", "Essay Structure", "Developing a Thesis", "Summary", and "Revising the Draft". Each piece is written in clear prose, and the advice offered is sound and practical. Also, visitors should note that the site also includes a link to Harvard's guide to citation and integration of sources, "Writing with Sources", and a selection of links to other related writing style guides. From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments
Art Through Time: A Global View
The Annenberg Foundation, that giant of media and philanthropy, has a wonderful website that aims to "advance the Foundation's goal of encouraging the development of more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge." Available here are videos, along with companion web and print materials, to improve the teaching methods of K-12 teachers. One of the latest series is"Art through Time: A Global View" and it explores art, culture, and human history and how they impact each other. The series is suitable for adults,college and high school teachers, and includes "13 half-hour video programs, a website with art images, accompanying text, and course guide." Visitors interested in viewing the video segments, need only find the topic they are interested in, under "Individual Program Descriptions" on the right hand menu, and then click on the box icon with "VoD" under it. Some of the topics include "Converging Cultures", "History and Memory", and "The Urban Experience". From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout 1994-2009. http://scout.wisc.edu/ (0) comments Sunday, November 01, 2009
Grants To Fuel Teacher-Led Instructional Improvement Programs - David Nagel, THE Journal
The University of California, Davis School of Education is taking a novel approach to boosting K-12 teacher effectiveness--distributing grant money to small teams of teachers and letting them decide how they want to spend it. Using funds from a new $1 million grant awarded by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, a team from UC Davis, led by Joanne Bookmyer, director of teacher research at the Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools (CRESS) Center, will distribute grants of up to $30,000 to teams of three to five K-12 teachers, who will determine for themselves what measures they can take to improve their effectiveness in the classroom, engage students better, and gain greater mastery of the subject matter being taught. (0) comments
Middle School Preparations for Live Video Conferencing - Denise Harrison, THE Journal
This month, a class of 8th graders and their teacher will ascend to the summit of New Hampshire's Mount Washington, the highest peak in the Northeastern United States. Unlike those who live and work there, the class won't have to brave the cold at 6,288 feet above sea level. They'll be experiencing Mount Washington first hand, but with the help of videoconferencing. (0) comments
Bridging the Gap Between Online and On-ground Teaching - Ruth Reynard, THE Journal
Increasing numbers of studies are being done that seem to support the notion that blended course delivery or program delivery really captures the best of every possible world and, as such, is an effective way of learning for students. One such study (2008) from the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece concluded, "The integration of an online learning environment and a classroom environment is likely to combine ideally the advantageous aspects of both types of instruction. But it is important for instructional designers and distance educators to offer more flexible delivery options and providing more controls to students and to carefully design distance courses to provide students with meaningful opportunities." (0) comments Educational Technology News Blog Archives OTEL - Ray's Home Page - Notebook - UIS Online - U of I Online - UIS Home Fair Use |
