January 24

January 24

"You just need to be a flea against injustice. Enough committed fleas biting strategically can make even the biggest dog uncomfortable and transform even the biggest nation."
~ Marion Wright Edelman

In the News
18.6 - The number of blog entries posted per second in July 2006.
from InformationWeek, August 14, 2006.

$14 Million Study Proves Student Laptops Ineffective Academically: http://www.educationnews.org/Commentaries/Study_Proves_Student_Laptops_Ineffective_Academically.htm
"Our country has been waiting for a scientifically conducted study on laptops. Now we have it. Presented below are excerpts from the $14 Million Texas Technology Immersion Pilot (April 2006 report -- funded by the U. S. Department of Education) which is supposed to prove whether student immersion on laptops by middle-school students will raise their academic achievement."

Backstory: 'Ringing' in the school year - New York City fights over whether to allow cellphones in schools, echoing a debate nationwide: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0718/p20s01-legn.html
New York City fights over whether to allow cellphones in schools, echoing a debate nationwide.

Calif. schools adopt digital history program: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=6509
Seven of the largest school districts in Los Angeles have recently begun implementing a new program that integrates digital curriculum materials (like online books, video, and interactive learning tools) with print-based resources and state standards. Teachers can use the curriculum to develop classroom activities or tailor lessons to the individual needs of students. Developers of the program say the new digital materials will better prepare students, particularly California's substantial population of English-language learners, to meet state reading standards. Jack O'Connell, superintendent of public instruction for California, says "Technology in the classroom can be used strategically to improve student achievement and help prepare our students for success in the competitive global economy of the 21st century."

Department of Education Latest Press Releases: http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/latest/index.html?src=ln

Education Counts: http://www.edweek.org/rc/edcounts/
Find out more about which states have technology standards for students, teachers, or administrators, from this database.

Families Linked To Web Thanks To Computer-Giveaway Program: http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5288812&nav=0RZF
"No Child Left Offline," an initiative coordinated by the nonprofit ConnectKentucky, recruits area businesses and universities to donate used computers for the more than 200,000 Kentucky school children who lack home computers. Since 2005, 900 computers have been refurbished, loaded with the latest software, and distributed to the families of eighth-graders in five Appalachian counties. The initiative is looking to give away another 2,000 computers this year. Brian Mefford, president and chief executive of ConnectKentucky, calls home computers "the great equalizer" for students. "A child with a computer in their home in any Kentucky county has access to the same information, the same resources and the same world that any child anywhere in the country has access to," he said. "It helps level the playing field for them."

Feds invest $9.5M in tech-based tutoring services - Pilot project will test use of mobile technology in NCLB-mandated programs: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6007
" To help extend the benefits of NCLB-mandated tutoring services to students who are hard to reach, the federal government is investing $9.5 million in a pilot project that will test the use of mobile technologies to deliver these services."

Kansas school district buys Palm devices: http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2006/07/17/kansas_school_district_buys_palm_devices/
The Olathe Unified School District in Olathe, Kan., bought 2,300 Palm TX handheld devices and as many keyboards for its high schools.

Parents urged to call time on console games: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/30/ngames30.xml
Parents have been warned to limit time children spend playing computer games because they could develop the same signs of addiction as drug users and gamblers.

Penmanship: A lost pursuit for students: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/education/15224032.htm
Computer use and emphasis on tests hurt the teaching of good handwriting.

Schoolyard bullying has gone high-tech: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,645194065,00.html
"Kylie Kenney was standing at her locker two years ago when some classmates asked her if she had seen "the Web site." "

State will track pupils with ID number: http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1153127854306850.xml&coll=2&thispage=1

Tech can be a kid's best friend: http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060813/ART16/608120308/-1/ART
"The world of educational technology these days is like a vast funland for Warren Buckleitner.
Compared to 10 or even five years ago, there's just so much more stuff to play with.
"There are different gadgets. There are free Web sites. There is some educational software, things like Google, and gadgets like flash RAM, and things like digital voice recorders for recording lectures," said Mr Buckleitner, who has reviewed technology from an educational perspective for two decades.
As editor of Children's Technology Review, a monthly electronic publication, he knows better than most how much it can help kids with homework and reinforcing school curriculum - and how there's something for everyone and every budget.
Computers are a fact of life for students these days. Two-thirds of children between the ages of 3 and 17 used a computer at home in the fall, 2003 to complete school assignments, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau."

Technology aids health education: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6344
"Schools use videos, internet to engage students and drive home the need for healthy choices"

TEW-429UB: http://www.trendnet.com/products/features/HotSpot.htm
This wireless adapter can detect Open (HotSpots) and Closed (Encrypted) Wi-Fi signals without booting the computer. A small LCD panel displays information about all available nearby Wi-Fi networks and their signal strength. To power the Wi-Fi finder. the TEW-429UB includes a rechargeable battery -- which is charged by connecting the device to a computers USB port.

Text Messaging Outpaces Voice in U.K.: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623047

Tribal teens use film to tell the stories of who they are: http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/06/08/08/100loc_b1film001.cfm
Young members of Washington's Tulalip Tribe gathered at the first-ever Tulalip Film Festival last week to display their skills in digital film. The idea for the festival grew out of a conference during which participants suggested that digital media, like film, could be a way for distance learning students to better connect with their instructors. Tracy Rector, a Native American filmmaker who also directs Longhouse Media/Native Lens, a Seattle nonprofit that trains area Native American youth in digital film, says, "By charging the youth with the skills necessary to tell their own stories and to put those images out in the media in our own way, the broader public will see native persons the way we see ourselves, with all the cultural complexities."

U.S. and international educators show great interest in prototype:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20060707-9999-7m7laptops.html
Here's an article and update about the $100 laptop developed by Nicoholas Negroponte (media Lab of MIT) and his idea of "one laptop per child" initiative for developing nations. The laptop prototype was shown at the "International Society for Technology in Education" conference in San Diego.

Virtual Devices, Inc.: http://www.virtualdevices.net/

Trends of the Information Age
Have you heard the story about the administrator who came to observe a teacher? The classroom had five computers, and the students were all busy on an investigation. Some of the students were using the computers, and others were working on projects or creating information. Some students were working together. Others were working alone. The administrator walked up to the teacher, who was assisting a small group of students, and said, "I'll come back when you're teaching."

Center for Children and Technology: http://www2.edc.org/CCT/

ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology: http://www.eric.ed.gov/

ItrainOnline: http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/mmtk/index.shtml
Multimedia Training Kit has trainer notes, handouts, PowerPoint presentations, Exercises, Lists of additional resources, Workshop evaluation forms (for trainees), Materials evaluation forms (for trainers), and copyright statements for each topic. There are a wide variety of topics available.

Seven Principles of Good Teaching Practice: http://www.agron.iastate.edu/nciss/kingsat2.html

Virtual Classrooms Abound on Internet: http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17651
Just as online college and graduate programs have broadened the range of options in higher education, virtual charter schools and online classes are gaining popularity among the K-12 set.

How technology affects education
Children’s Internet Protection Act - Study of Technology Protection Measures in Section 1703: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/ntiageneral/cipa2003/CIPAreport_08142003.htm

eLearn Magazine-Education and Technology in Perspecive: http://www.elearnmag.org/index.cfm

First Lines: http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/jad22/
Information on this site says about the online quizzes: "We have collected here the first lines of books we hope you will recognize as old acquaintances. Your challenge is to name the book given the first line. The books are divided into categories which may help you identify them."

Mountain Ridge Computer Class: http://www.kidsnetsoft.com/html/home2.html
"This site has been set up to assist students with various web based projects. They will be able to get many downloads to complete tasks throughout this class. Students will be able to use pictures taken from the instructor on various trips in the world. They won't have to worry about breaking any copyright laws using these images. They can access lessons and view student work by visiting the student section of this website. Several websites have been created by the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. The 8th graders choose between making a business website or a hypothetical country. Their business sites can be realistic or fake. They are shown a business website as a model site so they know what is expected of them. Sixth and seventh graders usually build their sites around animals they manipulate themselves or animals they create on Switch Zoo. The student websites are quite entertaining and pleasant to read. They demonstrate mastery and creativity. Some students have chosen to create fake websites."

A NATION AT RISK: The Imperative For Educational Reform April 1983: http://www.goalline.org/Goal%20Line/NatAtRisk.html

Technology Standards for teachers and students
Connected Learning: http://www.title3.org
K-12 lessons/units that utilize technology as well as other subject areas. They were created as part of the Literacy Challenge Grant program in New York. All lessons are geared to state and national standards.

Education Commission of the States: http://www.ecs.org/
A Web database by the Education Commission of the States (ECS) provides a real-time "snapshot" of all 50 states' progress in meeting the goals of NCLB (No Child Left Behind). The site's color-coded maps and charts allows policy makers and the public to track how their states are doing on NCLB. Visitors to the site can see the status of the nation as a whole, review individual states or compare two or more states side by side. A nonpartisan national organization, ECS helps governors, legislators, state education officials and others develop policies to improve student learning. The ECS study used to create the database looked at indicators in standards and assessment, annual yearly progress, school improvement, supplemental services, report cards and teacher quality.

The Nation's Report Card: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/

New York State Learning Standards: http://www.nysatl.nysed.gov/standards.html

PALS: Performance Assessment Links in Science: http://pals.sri.com/
"The National Science Education Standards (NSES) outline what students need to know, understand, and be able to do to be scientifically literate at different grade levels." "PALS is an on-line, standards-based, continually updated resource bank of science performance assessment tasks" that measure student performance on those and various other standards frameworks.

School Matters: http://www.schoolmatters.com/
Get information about how the nation is doing in achieving educational standards. A state or particular school district can also be chosen.

Computer Use in Society
Governing-Technology News: http://governing.com/tech.htm

Things to help you during the course
TinyURL.com: http://forwarding.tinyurl.com/
Create a short URL for emails and webpages that will lead back to the original page.

Webnote: http://www.aypwip.org/webnote/
Webnote is a simple, easy-to-use tool that enables you to take notes via a Web browser and then access and share those notes from any computer. You create and name a workspace—the name is then integrated into the URL for your notes. Your workspace isn’t password protected, so anyone who knows the name of it can get into it—which is an advantage if your goal is collaboration or sharing and a disadvantage if you’re looking for a place to keep sensitive info (this probably isn’t it). The tool’s main features are basic: Once in your workspace, you create sticky-notes on a screen and then can fill them with text or html links. You can change the size, shape, and color of your notes with just a few clicks.

WordWeb: http://wordweb.info/free/
It can be kept in the system tray so it is available with all of programs (e-mail, Internet, Word, Access, etc.) One option that is nice to know about when using it in the classroom is the ability to turn off "Vulgar and Offensive" words.

This site began in March 1998 and was created by Janet Luch. This page was last updated on January 18, 2007 .
Email to studyplans@yahoo.com.