The Ed-Tekker

Calling All Luddites

2005-08-03T10:53:00.000-05:00

Broadband connectivity in the U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world. The New York Times' Thomas Friedman published an Op-Ed today promising that, "if elected," America would have a cellphone service as good as Ghana's." Wealth and productivity will go to those countries or companies that get more of their innovators, educators, students, and workers and suppliers connected to this (Internet-based) platform via computers, phones and P.D.A.'s."

8/3- Ed Tech in the News

2005-08-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

ETS Works to Develop Internet IQ Test
"Students apply to college online, e-mail their papers to their professors and, when they want to be cheeky, pass notes in class by text-messaging. But that doesn't necessarily mean they have a high Internet IQ."

'"They're real comfortable instant-messaging, downloading MP3 files. They're less comfortable using technology in ways that require real critical thinking," says Teresa Egan of the Educational Testing Service. "

"This test measures a skill as important as having mathematics and English skills when you come to the university," Roth said. "If you don't come to the university with it, you need to know that you are lacking some skills that educated people are expected to have." A preliminary version of the new test, the Information and Communication Technology Literacy Assessment, was given to 3,300 Cal State students this spring to see how well it worked, i.e., testing the test. Individual scores aren't being tallied but campuses will be getting aggregate reports. Next year, the test is expected to be available for students to take on a voluntary basis." (AP, Los Angeles Times)

Tech Remains Top Question On Parents' Minds
"At a June orientation briefing for parents at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, talk turned quickly to technology. Five students had given up their Sunday afternoon to address issues that the fretful parents might have had about sending their children to college - finding a balance between study and fun, Greek life, campus safety, binge drinking. But many parents had other questions: which operating system is best; is a laptop or desktop preferable; how good is the wireless access; and is it necessary to bring a printer?"

"To be fair, the parents had already been through seminars on financial aid, and the discussion of campus health services was coming up. But technology remains one of the most daunting issues for parents and students who are preparing for college."

"We refer to a 'Net generation' these days," said Garland C. Elmore, associate vice president, dean of information technology and associate professor of informatics and communication at Indiana University in Indianapolis and Bloomington. "The Net generation grew up on computing."

"That's a wonderful thing. But it also means facing a raft of decisions - and expenses - that earlier classes did not have to face. " (Schwartz, The New York Times)

Teachers Teach Tech Peer-to-Peer
"Eighty-one percent of students from grade school through high school use computers in their classrooms, according to a Census Bureau report, while there are now 4.4 computers for each public-school child in the United States, a 2003 report by the National Center for Education Statistics said. So it seems natural to assume that teachers use computers to enhance learning, but when it comes to computers, all assumptions are off."

"Even today, the majority of teachers are reluctant to use technology," said Robert McLaughlin, executive director of the National Institute for Community Innovations in Montpelier, Vt., who is trying to get cheaper access to the Internet for institutions as well as free technology tools for schools. "They don't regard it as something that will help them be more effective with their students."

"While studies show that technology can be used to improve academic performance, change is hard. Many school districts have a staff person who works solely on handling technology. In other districts, this job falls on a teacher. Not so long ago, these educators were often called upon by their peers to change a printer cartridge or unfreeze a frozen machine."

"But today, even the wariest teachers know how to reboot their machines. So the tech experts can now spend their time finding, developing and installing programs and projects that can make education interesting and fun for children. The harder part is convincing teachers to give the latest technology a whirl. " (Morris, The New York Times)

Georgia County Urged to "Return to Spender"
"It's time for Cobb County school officials to fulfill the original promise they made to the public two years ago, when voters overwhelmingly supported the district's stated goal of upgrading technology in all its schools."

"Last week, a Superior Court judge correctly determined that Cobb voters had not been asked to approve — and thus did not approve — the district's plans to supply take-home laptop computers to 55,000 of its students."

"Judge S. Lark Ingram ruled that the district's laptop initiative — unveiled a year after the vote and the subject of great controversy in the county — violated state law governing how special purpose sales taxes can be used. Ingram's ruling essentially held that the school district promoted the need for the 1 percent sales tax by promising major system-wide improvements, then decided after the vote to spend most of the $76 million the tax would generate to buy laptops for all middle and high school students in the system."

"The ruling should be a warning to school boards as well as municipal and county governments in Georgia that there are consequences to public statements they make regarding how special purpose sales taxes are to be spent."

"The best course for the board to take now is to give up on any appeal of Ingram's ruling. If the board feels the judge was overly restrictive on what elected officials can and can't do in spending special purpose sales tax money, it should ask the state school board association, or some other government group, to finance an appeal, not Cobb taxpayers." (Opinion, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Teacher Defends Laptop Plan
James Wentz, an elementary school teacher at Cheatham Hill Elementary School in Cobb County writes, "I heard the many arguments for and against the program." "It is easy for anybody on the outside looking in to state that laptops are not feasible for the system. To those "negaholics," I would like for them to think about how a teacher can prepare students for the world with only one computer sitting in the classroom. How can teachers expose students to the advantages of technology when he or she cannot get one of three wireless laptop carts (each holding a maximum of twenty laptops)? How can a student utilize his or her strengths in technology to overcome deficits when two or three students are forced to share a laptop?"

"We cannot hold our children to the same level of education we had "back in the day." I recall reading a story titled "The Saber-Tooth Tiger" in graduate school. It gives a vivid description of what happens to a society when it does not advance with the world. Many readers should search for the story on the Internet and reflect on its meaning. It seems that our society wants to live in the past and not prepare our students for a life beyond public school." (Opinion, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

7/28- Ed Tech in the News

2005-07-28T10:16:00.000-05:00

Indiana Raises Questions Around Virtual Charter Schools
"A new state law has opened the door for digital charter schools, and at least two, including a Fort Wayne-based program, have asked Ball State University for sponsorship. But Martin Dezelan, director of the university’s charter schools office, told The Journal Gazette’s Kenya Woodard that the schools won’t be considered in the August review period. “We are wanting to have the right expertise at the table, people who understand the technology and Web-based education,” Dezelan said. “We’re moving as quickly as we can so we can consider what’s before us, but we’re not going to rush the process.”

"Indiana’s new law includes a provision that instruction cannot be “solely home based,” which would appear to address valid concerns that cyber-charter schools would become the method for funneling tax dollars to home-schoolers."

"Sen. Teresa Lubbers, the Indianapolis Republican who sponsored the bill, told the Indianapolis Star this week that she believes “this little dance” is going on to determine how the law will be interpreted. Lubbers said the discussions were welcome as Indiana finds its way along with other states." (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)

Palm Beach County Begins Online Testing
"Instead of passing out tests and answer sheets, then collecting them and having a machine grade them, students at nine Palm Beach County schools will take district exams online starting in August."

"When students answer all the questions on short district tests called common assessments, the teacher will know immediately how they did. No paper to collect, no machine to maintain, no time between giving the tests and getting the results. And the kids' performance will be downloaded into district computers."

"We are trying to develop a way to give instant return in the classroom," said Joe Moore, the district's chief financial officer.

"The district's common assessments are 10- or 20-question exams that test whether a student understood a particular math or reading lesson. Now teachers will know right away whether they need to spend more time teaching a specific skill." (Shah, Palm Beach Post)

Online Training Increasingly Popular With Teachers
"The possibilities of online learning for educators have been dazzling, and over the past decade a slew of providers have rushed to create Web-based opportunities for more and better professional development—and institutional gain. Those with the online goods include businesses, cyber and brick-and-mortar universities, professional organizations, teachers’ unions, nonprofit agencies, and partnerships between such groups. States, districts and individual educators are left to figure out to what extent online development might meet their needs."

"The proliferation of such opportunities, however, leads experts to offer more than a dose of caution. "

“I do have serious concerns about the online professional-development arena taking the field backwards,” said Joellen Killion, who has written extensively about the subject for the National Staff Development Council, an Oxford, Ohio-based membership organization for those involved in professional learning for educators. In dark moments, said Ms. Killion, who is special projects director for the NSDC, she pictures a weary teacher at her home computer jumping up to toss a load of laundry into the dryer while waiting for her slow dial-up connection to download a Web page to the screen."

"While the snares of inadequate technology and isolation are real, almost everyone, including Ms. Killion, agrees online learning doesn’t have to be that way. “There are some marvelous programs, with lots of interaction with other teachers, lots of support online for implementation of what is learned,” she said." (Keller, Education Week)

Patrick To Leave Department of Education
"In a surprise move, Susan Patrick, head of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology, announced July 26 that she will leave the Bush administration in August to assume control of the Virginia-based North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL). "

"Patrick made the decision to step down as the nation's top ed-tech administrator after less than two years on the job. "I didn't plan to leave the department," she said of her new role as president and chief executive of the nonprofit NACOL. "But this was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up."

"I really felt like I accomplished a lot during the three and half years I was with the administration," she said, pointing to the release of the NETP and the creation of summer leadership conferences designed to help educators understand the demands of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law as proof that she had accomplished the bulk of what she set out to do when taking over in March of last year (see "ED's new tech chief sets her agenda").

"As director of the Office of Educational Technology, Susan Patrick has played an integral role in the implementation of No Child Left Behind," said ED's chief of staff, David Dunn. "She successfully led the department's efforts on the 2004 National Education Technology Plan and has spent several years developing and coordinating the department's educational technology policies. Susan shares our goal that every child can learn and has worked tirelessly to help provide leadership to the nation in the use of technology to promote achievement."

"At NACOL, Patrick plans to use her knowledge of the ed-tech landscape to promote the continued adoption of online learning in schools. Though schools are beginning to realize the value of online learning as a tool for reform, Patrick says, the majority of institutions still are not using these technological resources to their full potential." (eSchool News)

UNESCO Reports on World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

2005-07-28T07:53:00.000-05:00

UNESCO has just released four conference reports on themes that have been identified as key roles for UNESCO to play in facilitating WSIS implementation activities or mechanisms around the world. The four theme reports are: 1) "Freedom of Expression in Cyberspace"; 2) "Multilingualism for Cultural Diversity and Participation for All in Cyberspace"; 3) "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for Capacity Building: Critical Success Factors"; and 4) "Cultural Diversity in Knowledge Societies." Readers of this blog may be most interested in UNESCO's efforts to increase ICT for capacity-building (Theme 3 above) in the area of non-formal education. More information on these themes with links to the actual reports is available on the UNESCO website.

New Pew Project Study Finds Teens Increasingly Use Technology

2005-07-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just release a new report on teenagers and technology. It found that, "The number of teenagers using the internet has grown 24% in the past four years and 87% of those between the ages of 12 and 17 are online. Compared to four years ago, teens' use of the internet has intensified and broadened as they log on more often and do more things when they are online."

"Among other things, there has been significant growth over the past four years in the number of teens who play games on the internet, get news, shop online, and get health information."

Highlights from the study include;

About 21 million teens use the internet and half of them say they go online every day.
51% of online teens live in homes with broadband connections.
81% of wired teens play games online, which is 52% higher than four years ago.
76% of online teens get news online, which is 38% higher than four years ago.
43% have made purchases online, which is 71% higher than four years ago.
31% use the internet to get health information, which is 47% higher than four years ago.
75% of online teens use instant messaging and the average amount of time spent instant messaging in a day has increased over the last four years. One third of all American teens have sent a text message.
97% of girls 15-17 have used instant messaging, compared to 89% of
younger boys and girls and 87% of older boys.
57% of older girls have ever sent a text message compared 40% of older boys
51% of older girls have bought something online
79% of girls 15-17 have gone online to search for information about a school they might attend, vs. 70% of older boys.

To access the full report, click here.

Survey of the Student Information Systems: Your Help Is Needed

2005-07-26T15:42:00.000-05:00

The Stupski Foundation is sponsoring a functional survey of the Student Information Systems market, to create a better understanding of how these systems are used and what the needs are in the marketplace.

They need your help! Feel free to pass this message on to anyone who works with SIS products or has expertise in this area and encourage them to take the survey and pass this on to others. The Foundation wants to hear from as wide an audience as possible, including: IT Directors, Managers, Clerks, Principals, Teachers, Coordinators, Trainers and others.

If you have experience in this area, please take the survey as well. The survey location is:http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=200581232001. The results of this survey will be made freely and publicly available in September of 2005, under a Creative Commons copyright license. Please help us make this survey a powerful tool for improving data systems for public education! (The survey will be open from July 26th to August 10th). Pass it on!

Questions regarding the survey, its purpose or the Foundation can be directed to: steve@stupski.org

Students Say High Schools Let Them Down

2005-07-18T15:23:00.000-05:00

By MICHAEL JANOFSKY

New York Times

July 16, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/education/16STUDENTS.html

DES MOINES, July 15 - A large majority of high school students say their class work is not very difficult, and almost two-thirds say they would work harder if courses were more demanding or interesting, according to an online nationwide survey of teenagers conducted by the National Governors Association.

The survey, being released on Saturday by the association, also found that fewer than two-thirds believe that their school had done a good job challenging them academically or preparing them for college. About the same number of students said their senior year would be more meaningful if they could take courses related to the jobs they wanted or if some of their courses could be counted toward college credit.

Taken together, the electronic responses of 10,378 teenagers painted a somber picture of how students rate the effectiveness of their schools in preparing them for the future.

The survey also appears to reinforce findings of federal test results released on Thursday that showed that high school seniors made almost no progress in reading and math in the first years of the decade. During that time, elementary school students made significant gains.

"I might have expected kids to say, 'Don't give us more work; high school is tough enough,' " said Gov. Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and chairman of the governors association, which opens a three-day summer meeting here on Saturday.

"Instead," Mr. Warner said, "what we got are high school students actually willing to be stretched more. I didn't think we'd get much of that."

The governors' survey was conducted as part of the association's effort to examine public high schools and devise strategies for improving them. Mr. Warner has made high school reform his priority as chairman of the association. His term ends on Monday, when Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, a Republican, is scheduled to succeed him.

While a vast majority of respondents in the survey, 89 percent, said they intended to graduate, fewer than two-thirds of those said they felt their schools did an "excellent" or "good" job teaching them how to think critically and analyze problems.

Even among the remaining 11 percent, a group of 1,122 that includes teenagers who say they dropped out of high school or are considering dropping out, only about one in nine cited "school work too hard" as a reason for not remaining through graduation. The greatest percentage of those who are leaving, 36 percent, said they were "not learning anything," while 24 percent said, "I hate my school."

Experts in education policy said the survey results were consistent with other studies that have shown gaps between what students learn in high school and what they need for the years beyond.

"A lot of business people and politicians have been saying that the high schools are not meeting the needs of kids," said Barbara Kapinus, a senior policy analyst for the National Education Association. "It's interesting that kids are saying it, too."

Marc Tucker, president of the National Council on Economic Education, an organization that helps states and school districts create programs that are more tailored to contemporary student needs, said he did not believe that American high schools could adequately prepare students without a fundamental change in how they operated.

Mr. Tucker said American schools had been too slow to adapt high school curriculums to the real-life demands of college and the workplace. Except for that small fraction of highly motivated students with an eye toward prestigious private colleges and state universities, many more students, he said, are under the impression that just having a diploma qualifies them for the rigors of college and the workplace.

Freedom and Empowerment: An Essay on the Next Step for Education and Technology

2005-07-18T13:14:00.000-05:00

by James Shimabukuro
http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=63

Quote: We persist in trying to fit new technology into the centuries-old molds for learning that are based on the primacy of locationcampus and classroom. Yet my continued optimism for change is based on the belief that we, as educators, will follow our instincts and learn to use instructional technology in the most efficient and effective ways. And if it means abandoning traditional practices, then so be it.

Computers Better for learning than TV

2005-07-18T12:54:00.000-05:00

A series of studies reported in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine suggests that the less TV kids watch, the better off they are. In a study of third graders, researchers found that children with a television in their bedrooms had lower scores on standardized tests while kids with access to a home computer had higher scores.

Job Opportunity: SREB Associate Director, Educational Technology

2005-07-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

New Full-time Position: SREB Associate Director, Educational Technology Cooperative

Associate Director, Educational Technology Cooperative will contribute to developing and implementing educational technology initiatives to support schools, colleges and state education agencies to create and expand effective uses of technology. The Position Description is attached.

The SREB Educational Technology Cooperative is an unique, one-of-a-kind organization in the nation which is composed of state coordinating and governing boards for both K-12 and higher education. Information about the Cooperative can be found at: http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/edtechindex.asp.

Please forward this announcement to persons you consider to be potential candidates for this position.

A Future View by Checker Finn

2005-07-15T12:28:00.000-05:00

From Checker's Desk -- The shape of things to come

The Association of Educational Publishers (www.edpress.org) asked me and several others to gaze into our crystal balls and identify five "trends/factors/events that will (or should) have significant impact on the substance and delivery of educational content over the next five years." This turned out to be an interesting exercise, the results of which I offer to you, dear reader, and invite your thoughts.

First, technology and the gradual separation of teaching and learning from buildings called schools. Increasingly, school is an institutional provider of child care and socialization but education is happening all over the place as a growing fraction of it is delivered electronically rather than face-to-face in classrooms. Many students will still sit in school, to be sure; others, however, will do much learning at home, in summer camps and day care centers, in churches, boys and girls clubs, and libraries.

The proliferation of virtual schools and virtual charter schools is just part of the story.

Coming soon are hybrid institutions, where the kid may or may not be in a school but much of his instruction and instructional materials come from far away. His main teacher may be on the other side of the country or the globe. The adult in the classroom with him may resemble a teacher aide, tutor, or college intern, there more to keep order, answer questions, and help him learn rather than someone to present a lesson setting forth what's to be learned. The lesson presenter will be elsewhere. There will be books, of course, and plenty of other instructional materials in paper form, but many of them will be downloaded from the computer rather than published and trucked in; and they'll be integrated with the lessons and courses on the big screen, the smart board, and the student's own desktop computer.

Second, No Child Left Behind and the ways it is reshaping what's taught and learned. As everyone knows, NCLB puts a premium on reading, math and, soon, science, and that premium will gradually reshape the American curriculum. People are already wringing their hands over its implications for such subjects as writing, history, civics, art and languages, not to mention home ec and drivers' ed. I don't think those things will stop being taught. Some states and districts and individual schools will even emphasize them. Indeed, art and music magnet schools, or history-centered charter schools, may be really hot. So will summer camps and programs that emphasize arts, language immersion, and suchlike, as well as supplements that parents can get for their kids to learn at home, and after-school programs that introduce kids to these additional subjects after the regular school day ends.

Within the reading-math-science core, NCLB, the state standards upon which it rests, state tests, and NAEP will further shape what is taught. There, more profoundly than in collateral subjects, districts, schools and teachers will find themselves with less control over curricular content, which will be dictated more by outside forces. On the other hand, because they're now accountable for students actually learning that content, they'll have ever greater need for, and choices among, materials and instructional strategies that are both creative and effective.

Third, the spread of school choice in its many-splendored forms. ECS says that nine states plus the District of Columbia have already adopted some form of publicly funded voucher, tax credit, or tax deduction to assist families to pay for private schooling, and Ohio is on the verge of expanding its voucher program. Despite ceaseless political pushback and Blaine amendments, the move toward vouchers will continue, albeit slowly. But it's surpassed by ever greater activity on the charter school front—upwards of a million kids will be enrolled in them by September—and an astounding array of public-school choice programs (this also encouraged by NCLB), not to mention home schooling and other hybrids such as charter schools that kids attend part-time while working or studying at home the rest of the time. Upwards of 20 percent of U.S. students are already educated somewhere other than their neighborhood public school, and this number is growing as geography ceases to be destiny with respect to schooling and the choices available to families proliferate.

Fourth, the array of education providers is proliferating, too, as for-profit and non-profit entrepreneurs enter seriously into the operation of schools and the creation and delivery of education services, both full-time and part-time, in school and out. The Supplemental Educational Services (SES) provision of NCLB is one driver here, but so are several large foundations, the KIPP program, Edison and National Heritage Academies, the entrepreneurial energies of Kaplan and Princeton Review and a host of others, and the new-style education reformers who cluster around charter management organizations and the New Schools Venture Fund. Large governmental bureaucracies may have more say than ever about education standards and results, but they will have less control than ever over the delivery of education services. K-12 education will become more like postsecondary—and like a zillion other sectors of our mixed-market economy.

Fifth, we will see the gradual demise of the ten-pound textbook. You may respond that, between ill-educated teachers and state-mandated standards, we'll depend on textbooks more than ever, and indeed there will be pressure in that direction. But the countervailing forces are mounting. Just as we no longer need a three-pound guidebook to plan a trip to Europe, an eight-pound cookbook to find a tantalizing recipe, or a huge phone book to look up somebody's cell phone number, we're not going to need mega-textbooks to teach kids. They've gotten too bulky, too pricey, and too caught up in politics. We'll see more detailed state standards and frameworks setting forth the essential core of the curriculum, accompanied by more diverse ways of packaging content and lesson plans by which to deliver that curriculum into the minds of students. Just as many a college professor has dispensed with the textbook in favor of a collection of readings that he assembles and Kinko's duplicates, and just as many academic journals are evolving from thick publications into searchable websites, so will the elementary/secondary textbook gradually be transformed into a menu of other options for teachers and students alike.

What have I got wrong or overlooked? Gadfly welcomes your comments.

by Chester E. Finn, Jr.
http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/gadfly/issue.cfm?id=196#2339

7/6- Ed Tech in the News

2005-07-06T14:46:00.000-05:00

Middle Schools Focus on MCAS Tests and Technology

Two Massachusetts middle schools in Walpole "will focus considerable attention on boosting MCAS scores, increasing the use of technology in the classroom and promoting Internet safety for students."

Bird Middle School "hopes adopting a new math book in grade 6 and analyzing how math students are grouped will help improve MCAS scores. The school also plans to offer additional math and English blocks to provide more review time to students who struggle in these areas. "

Johnson Middle School continues "its admittedly "slow" progress in upgrading technology." It will "pilot the Web hosting service Edline next year and fully implement it by 2006-2007. With additional PAC money, the school will increase funding for its technology program. Johnson will also consider applying for grants to lower the computer-to-student ratio. The school's long-term goal is to have at least four computers in every classroom."

"Under curriculum, Bird's goals next year include increasing the use of technology in student instruction and reviewing the technology curriculum in general. "
(Mosher, Daily News Transcript)

Department of Education RESEARCH PRIORITIES

2005-07-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

The Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is inviting comments on developed priorities. The priorities were devised by Russ Whitehurst, the director of IES, and must be approved by the 15-member National Board for Education Sciences. Still, before proposing the priorities to the board, he is seeking public input.

The long-term goals associated with IES' priorities are three-fold: first, to develop or identify a substantial number of programs, practices, policies, and approaches that are effective in enhancing academic achievement and that are widely deployed and implemented; second, to identify what does not work and what is problematic, and thereby encourage innovating and further research; and third, to develop dissemination strategies and sources of information on the results of education research that are routinely used by educators, policymakers, and the general public when making education decisions.

IES' "over-arching priority" is research that contributes to improved academic achievement for all students.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/proprule/2005-2/061605a.html. (Comments must be received on or before August 16.)

7/5-Ed Tech in the News

2005-07-05T09:00:00.000-05:00

E-Rate
Texas Schools Benefit From E-Rate
"Six area school districts will share in $91,771 of almost $800,000 allocated to South Texas to help smaller districts that may not have the funds necessary for Internet access and phone services. Seven other entities in Ruben Hinojosa's congressional district will receive the remaining $691,945 of the $783,716 in funding. The funding comes in the form of discounts ranging between 20 and 90 percent for technology such as Internet services, telecommunications and internal connections needed to bring information straight to schools and libraries, according to a news release from Hinojosa's office." The program, "called E-Rate Funding, has also provided equipment to the district in the past so that each of the 20 classrooms is computer equipped." District technology director Kyle Gleghorn said, "Without this money, it would be very difficult to do all that we're mandated to do by the No Child Left Behind Act."
(Popplewell, Victoria Advocate)

High School Reform
NY to Model New School on High Tech High School
"Microsoft founder Bill Gates says one student at High Tech High School in San Diego told him it's the first high school he'd gone to "where being smart was cool." That is the attitude that boosters of Tech Valley High School, patterned after High Tech High and other mathematics-, science- and technology-oriented schools, want to foster in the Capital Region."

"Plans call for Tech Valley High to be up to a full contingent of 400 students in grades 9 through 12 within about five years. Organizers are scouting out sites near high-tech business complexes in East Greenbush or North Greenbush for a $30 million campus for the new school. The school is likely to begin operations from space provided by the MapInfo Corp. in North Greenbush. "
(Stashenko, The Business Review(Albany))

Testing
Test to Measure Students' Internet Intelligence
"Students apply to college online, e-mail their papers to their professors and, when they want to be cheeky, pass notes in class by text-messaging. But that doesn't necessarily mean they have a high Internet IQ." "That's why Cal State and a number of other colleges are working with ETS to create a test to evaluate Internet intelligence, measuring whether students can locate and verify reliable online information and whether they know how to properly use and credit the material.

"This test measures a skill as important as having mathematics and English skills when you come to the university," says Roth. "If you don't come to the university with it, you need to know that you are lacking some skills that educated people are expected to have." A preliminary version of the new test, the Information and Communication Technology Literacy Assessment, was given to 3,300 Cal State students this spring to see how well it works, i.e. testing the test. Individual scores aren't being tallied but campuses will be getting aggregate reports. Next year, the test is expected to be available for students to take on a voluntary basis."
(Djansezian, USA Today)

Curriculum
States' Computer Science Standards Seen as Lacking
"Even in a nation where most every school has Internet access and computer use often starts by nursery school, teachers of technology see a warning message flashing. For students in elementary and secondary schools, states have few developed standards or required courses in computer science - a field that goes beyond basic literacy to encompass hardware and software design, real-world applications and computers' effect on society. Somehow, teachers contend, states must embrace the idea of training sophisticated computer users at a younger age.The same students who can customize their cell phones expertly need to see how computer science benefits them, he said: "If you can show them that, then they're going to jump on it."

Yet computer science teachers say they're facing a perception that careers in the field are harder to come by since the dot.com collapse a few years ago. Federal job forecasts contradict that notion, and careers from criminology to biology often demand advanced computer training.In the United States, the number of bachelor's degrees in computer and information sciences soared 91 percent from 1997 to 2002, during the tech boom. Recently, however, the popularity of computer science as a major for incoming freshmen has plummeted, falling more than 60 percent between 2000 and 2004, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. Meanwhile, technology executives have told Congress they are increasingly relying on employees from overseas and clamoring for more U.S. graduates with stronger science skills."
(Feller, The News & Observer)

NECC: Closing the Technology Gender Gap

2005-06-29T14:07:00.000-05:00

I just got out of listening to a panel discuss "How We Can Encourage Girls in Technology Programs and Careers." Here are the highlights:

1. Tell Them! Females usually need someone to affirm they are good at something. Many times we don't realize or are afraid to admit we are talented in historically male-dominated fields. Simply by taking the time to recognize a female student is particularly good at math, science or technology can make a bigger impact than you think.

2. Mentoring Female mentors in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) are essential to closing the gender gap. Reach out to the private sector to find these mentors for young women. Programs like HP Scholars are great examples of successful mentoring. If your local community does not have a similar mentoring program, consider starting one yourself.

3. Expand our Definition of IT IT careers are broader than we think. Many associate them with being the "computer guy" or writing code, but it's much more than this. There are a range of IT careers that require artistic/creative skills, management skills, teamwork and problem solving skills. Guidance counselors and parents can be allies in breaking down this stereotype. Encourage all women you know to look at what they do in their daily lives. Chances are they don't label their job as a "tech job" but they do use technology in their job. Technology is a part of everyday life and 21st century careers are increasingly requiring use of various technological skills.

4. Highlight Feminine Qualities in Tech Females are generally drawn to the social aspects of technology, so encourage this. IMing is seen as a gateway to technology for girls. Other uses such as blogging, photo sharing, text messaging and imovies tend to be what female students gravitate towards. Make the connection between these activities and "being good with computers." Encourage them to come up with new creative and cool ideas for using their computer or other technological device. Programs like Alice and arts and music camps are using popular female talents and interests to make the connection between females and technology.

Most importantly, as an ed tech leader, ask yourself what are you doing to close the technology gender gap?

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says

2005-06-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505

RFP: US Department of Education National Technology Activities procurement

2005-06-24T09:31:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to give you a heads up on a contract coming out of our office . . . in case you want to let any of your colleagues know . . . Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------

Dear MATO Category B and E Contractors,

Your firm is invited to submit a Statement of Capability for the "Analytic and Policy Support for the U.S. Department of Education National Technology Activities" procurement. This invitation is open to all contractors under MATO 2004 Categories B and E. Attached below is the Request for Statements of Capability cover letter, Instructions, Draft Statement of Work.

If there are any questions contact Cindy Duncan via e-mail or at 202-245-6196 or Pam Bone via e-mail at pamela.bone@ed.gov or at 202-245-6181. Submit Statements of Capability via e-mail to Cynthia.Duncan@ed.gov and carbon copy (cc) pamela.bone@ed.gov. Note that I will be out of the office from Friday June 24, 2005 through Wednesday July 6, 2005, please contact Pam Bone if you have questions during that timeframe.

Questions regarding this request are due not later than 2:00 p.m. local time on June 29, 2005. Capability Statements are due not later than 2:00 p.m. local time on July 6, 2005. Thank you in advance for your interest in the Department's requirements.

Note: 1) This is a Request for Capability Statements, not a Request for Proposal and 2) This Request for Statements of Capability is issued subject to the availability of funds, see FAR 52.232-18

COVER LETTER: REQUEST FOR CAPABILITY STATEMENTS

UNESCO U.S. National Commission

2005-06-23T10:17:00.000-05:00

The U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, Cultural Organization held its first annual conference since its re-establishment in Washington, DC, on June 6 and 7. Readers of this blog may be most interested in following the activities of the Commission with respect to future developments in the Education and Communication and Information Sectors.

6/22-Ed Tech in the News

2005-06-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

Distance Learning
Oregon DOE Approves Online Charter School
"An online charter school in Scio moved a step closer to reality Monday when the Oregon Department of Education announced it finds no reason to recommend withholding of funds. Oregon Connections Academy stands to be the first wholly online, statewide, full-curriculum public charter school in the state.Thomas said the private company with which the school district has contracted has a list of about 100 interested students so far, most of them homeschoolers and all of them from outside the Scio area.Scio Business Director Cecelia Swigart said she is building a budget for next year with a potential revenue figure of about $2.6 million."
(Moody, Albany Democrat-Herald)

Online P.E. Classes Allow Busy Students Greater Flexibility
Students in Minneapolis high schools have been given the option to complete their P.E. requirements online raising questions from parents and students. 'Initially, Minneapolis physical education teachers had questions, too. "It's kind of an oxymoron to have online PE," said Jan Braaten, the district's lead teacher for physical education and health. "My staff was leery at first." "But Braaten and others who developed the class are proud of their creation and say it's drawing interest from around the state and beyond. Online phy ed made its debut in Minneapolis this spring and is being offered this summer as well." "Online learning offers a way for busy students to shoehorn the state-required academic courses -- the district requires one year each of health and physical education -- and the electives they want into their schedules."

"The point, according to first-level online physical education teacher Frank Goodrich, is to start at whatever fitness level the student has and try to improve that. The course begins and ends with face-to-face meetings between student and teacher. Those sessions include testing components of fitness such as strength, flexibility and endurance. Students also are provided with a heart monitor and record its readings and how hard they perceive they're working, along with other workout notes, in an activity journal. They e-mail their work for each weekly unit to teachers. " (Brandt, Minneapolis Star Tribune)

The Met Life Survey of the American Teacher: Transitions and the Role of Supportive Relationships

2005-06-21T09:48:00.000-05:00

The current study incorporates the perspectives of key stakeholders in exploring this issue: new public school teachers in grades K-12, public school principals in grades K-12, and secondary public school students in grades 7-12. Topics in this survey include: the role of principals in staffing and managing schools, the general attitudes, expectations and challenges associated with education, the profiles of teachers likely to leave their profession, and the various relationships surrounding the transition for new teachers, principals and students.

6/21-Ed Tech in the News

2005-06-21T09:42:00.000-05:00

Data Systems
Shift in Tech Funding Focuses on Data Systems
Public schools pressured to keep up with state and federal testing requirements are spending millions on high-tech systems to track and catalog their kids at the same time the federal government is cutting funding for the very same technology.

The idea is that by extensively tracking students' past performance and making that information available to teachers in a timely manner, teachers can individualize instruction to give kids a better chance of passing standardized tests.

In its annual national study on technology use in schools, the trade magazine Education Week found 15 states, including Texas, are focusing more technology funding on data management and collection as a direct result of No Child Left Behind requirements.
( LaCoste-Caputo, San Antonio Express News)

Grants
NCLB-Funded Grant Brings Tech to Minority Schools
"Between hours spent working at the Calumet City Cultural Center and going to high school this spring, Adrieono Shanklin built computers from scratch. The 15-year-old Thornton Fractional North student was one of 28 participating in Project Elevate, a collaborative effort between Calumet City and Chicago State University's Community Technology Center. Adrieono and his classmates get to keep the computers they worked on for eight weeks.It will be the only working computer in the Shanklin household when it arrives."

"Making a computer seemed like it would be fun," said Adrieono, who received a certificate of completion Friday night. The program, now in its second year, is aimed at bringing technology to low-income neighborhoods and schools with a glut of students who traditionally fail to meet reading, math and language arts standards set in the federal No Child Left Behind Act. The Calumet City program is funded with a grant from the act." (Holt, Chicago Tribune)

Distance Education
Video Conferencing Used to Teach Future Teachers
"Karen C. Newtzie is trying to be in several places at once. She is teaching in four classrooms simultaneously, sitting in one of them while watching three others on video screens."

"The course is jointly taught by Ms. Newtzie and four other instructors in the Virginia Community College System, who are also spread out around the state. It is part of a statewide program called Career Switchers, which was started in 2004 for adults who want to change careers and become teachers in math or science."

"An emerging technology called "video over IP," which allows video signals to be transmitted via Internet Protocol over standard computer networks, brings everyone in the course together. Just a few years ago, when broadband connections were not as widespread, videoconferences could happen only on specialized and expensive networks. Now video over IP is proliferating, enabling distance-education professors to watch the animated expressions (or blank, bored faces) of their students no matter how far away they may be."
(Guernsey, Chronicle of Higher Education)

Other News
Texas High School Uses Online College Counseling
"Beginning this summer, students will have access to an online college admissions counseling service customized for Centennial High and run by the school's counselors.
Students will be able to sign on from home and schedule college visits, order transcripts and call up information about scholarships and other financial aid, she said."

"Centennial's counselors expect wide use of the site, Ms. Clair said. Ninety-five percent of the school's families have Internet access at home. And about 90 percent of Frisco's students head for college, according to district figures. "
(Jackson, Dallas Morning News)

Lack of Funding Citied for Kentucky's Limited Technology Access
"Kentucky once drew national praise for its aggressive efforts to bring computers into the classroom, but lately the state has stumbled in the race to keep pace with technology.
Just five years ago, Kentucky led other states in providing and using computer technology in schools. Now 75 percent of student computers are considered too old to run modern software programs."

"The problem is money. State education officials say the state hasn't earmarked sufficient money for technology, especially in the past four or five years." "With an ever-shrinking state dollar for technology, school districts have shouldered more of the burden to pay for new computers and upgrades. The results have shown in increasing reliance on older equipment."
(Harden, The Kentucky Post)

Summer Courses Held Online In Growing Number Of Districts

2005-06-20T16:26:00.000-05:00

Education Week (6/15, 1, Borja) reports in a front-page story, "Students in Tennessee's Hamilton County schools won't trudge to classrooms in the syrupy July heat for summer school. Instead, they can boot up a computer at home or almost any place else with an Internet connection and take classes online. The summer Web-based classes will supplant the 40,000-student district's traditional summer school courses, according to a district official." The reasons given are "the logistical ease of 'anytime, anywhere' learning, the courses' relatively low cost to parents, and the increased need for students to meet state academic standards." Susan D. Patrick, "director of educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education, said the increasing popularity of online summer school reflects the overall growth of distance education."

Request for comments on E-Rate

2005-06-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

Proposed Rulemaking
NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING AND FURTHER NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING FCC 05-124

Adopted: June 9, 2005 Released: June 14, 2005
Comment Date: 90 days after publication in the Federal Register
Reply Comment Date: 150 days after publication in the Federal Register

Excerpts . . .

E-Rate. We seek comment on suitable outcome, output, and efficiency measures for the Erate program. In the past, the Commission used the percentage of public schools connected to the Internet as a measure of the impact of the E-rate program and its success, and we seek comment on continuing to use connectivity as a measurement. We seek comment on the value of continuing to use this goal for the purposes of measuring the impact of the Erate program.

69 We seek comment on whether we should also measure the connectivity of libraries or private schools. We seek comment on whether alternative or supplemental goals may be more appropriate than connectivity. Universal service is an “evolving level of telecommunications services” that includes advanced services.

70 We seek comment on how we can take the evolving level of services into account in adopting performance measures. We also seek comment on ways to measure the extent to which broadband services have been deployed to classrooms, through the E-rate program. One possibility for measuring the impact of E-rate moneys on schools and libraries would be to collect data on the use of E-rate supported services. For example, we could measure the number or percentage of students access the Internet or the number or percentage of teachers using supported services in their classrooms.

...We therefore seek comment on how we should design performance measurements to measure broadband connectivity...

71 The EETT program funds initiatives that are designed to integrate technology into classrooms in ways to improve the academic achievement of students. These performance measures allow the Department of Education to respond to Government Performance and Results Act (“GPRA”) reporting requirements. We seek comment on whether these measures are instructive for E-rate purposes.

28. We also seek comment on meaningful ways to distinguish the impact of E-rate funds from other governmental and non-governmental programs that support services or facilities similar to the Erate program.

(There's much more . . .see Federal Register posting for many, many more pages . . .)

U.S. Department of Education Budget News

2005-06-15T11:34:00.000-05:00

"Congressional Action- On June 9, 2005, the House Subcommittee on Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations marked up the FY 2006 Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill. "

Educational Technology State Grants (ESEA II-D-1 and 2) have been marked by the House Subcommittee to receive $300 million in funding for FY 2006.

To keep you informed, the U.S. Department of Education's Budget News offers a table of this budget in both PDF and Excel formats.

Study Finds Children and Teens Multi-task

2005-06-15T11:23:00.000-05:00

A national study, Generation M: The Lives of 8-18 Year Olds, released by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds children and teens are spending an increasing amount of time with "new media" (Internet, video games and computers). This increase, however, has not decreased the amount of time they spend with "old media" (TV, newspapers).

The study, which "examined media use among a nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 3rd through 12th graders," found that these children and teens spend time with using both new and old media at the same time(i.e. watching TV while surfing the Internet).

Executive Summary

Full Report