Blog Juice for Educational Technology

I just listened to the Weekday program on NPR that focused on students (high school/college) and technology-based cheating. One guest, Ira Socol, was especially engaging. In May 2006, his editorial piece "Stop Chasing High-Tech Cheaters" was published on the Inside Higher Ed Web site. It really struck a chord, based upon the number of comments posted since the article appeared….

“Retiring baby boomers are creating a vacuum that is not likely to be filled with the students currently being educated in American schools. Why? Because the American educational system, having hit its stride in the 19th century, is finding it difficult to maintain a sure footing in the 21st.” James Schultz’ article, The Global Race: Is America Still a Contender?…

The U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee recommended this week that EETT receive no funding in 2007. Regardless of what you might think about school districts’ dependency upon Federal dollars for important programs, the sad truth is that many districts rely almost exclusively on this money to fund technology initiatives. I find myself wondering how we expect schools to prepare…

Link: Committee on Appropriations. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations has recommended that EETT receive no funding in 2007. This can change, but members of Congress need to hear from educators to make it happen. Top level district administrators need to contact members of this committee and let…

Link: Subscribe to GLEF’s Weekly E-Newsletters. They’ve been very busy lately at edutopia. In addition to the two e-newsletters I mentioned in my previous post, two more are now on offer, bringing the total to five. The latest additions are:1. Social and Emotion Learning2. Assessment Again, each free weekly e-newsletter…

Link: Subscribe to GLEF’s Weekly E-Newsletters. Edutopia recently announced two new free weekly e-newsletters. In addition to Edutopia News, educators may now also subscribe to Project-Based Learning and Technology Integration. The Project-Based Learning e-newsletter will offer articles on student-initiated projects along with related news and resources. Technology Integration will feature…

Link: Raytheon Company: About Us: MathMovesU. The Raytheon Company recently released a report on a survey of students in grades 6-8. One result has gotten a great deal of press, particularly following the State of the Union address where the President suggested we needed to bolster math and science education….

Link: Adopt and Adapt. Do not miss Marc Prensky’s latest article, Adopt and Adapt, in the most recent issue of Edutopia magazine. Although it’s not directly referenced, he does a nice job of tying together the ACOT research from the 1990s, the concept of automating vs. informating (Alan November), and…

The recent online issue of edutopia includes a link to an article in the Cincinnati Post about a survey conducted by the Kentucky Department of Education. Teens at all skill levels were asked what kinds of changes need to be made in high schools. Among their suggestions were: more challenging…

The Principal for a Day program has been around a long time. Usually, it involves a civic leader or businessperson who comes to school and shadows the principal for one school day. Can it make a difference? On occasion, perhaps, but it’s a rare individual who can really grasp education…

We’ve read that a growing number of high school students are disengaged from their schools. One of the reasons most commonly given is that they see little or no relevance in what they’re learning with the real world. Not so at Aviation High School in Seattle, a small learning community…

The cover story for the latest issue of edutopia, Synching Up with the iKid, takes another look at the need for educators to better understand today’s digital learner. In additional to the usual rhetoric, the article also provides specific examples of what some teachers are doing to bridge this ever-increasing…

Last spring the New Media Consortium (working with Adobe Systems and the George Lucas Foundation) convened a summit to discuss 21st century literacy and how to expand use of these skills in K-12 and post secondary education. As a result of this meeting, a report entitled A Global Imperative: The…