iPods Assist English Language Learners

"Schools in New Jersey are buying into a new program that gives bilingual students with limited English ability iPods, reports Winnie Hu in the New York Times. The hope is that by singing along to popular English songs, students will sharpen their vocabulary and grammar skills... Incorporating the devices into instruction began when Grace Poli, a media specialist, approached the district three years ago about buying 23 iPods for an after-school bilingual program. She then compiled an eclectic mix of music, typed out the lyrics and deleted the nouns -- and in turn the verbs and adjectives -- to force the students to fill in the missing words and thereby learn their meanings... After viewing the successes, the district plans to try iPods with students who have learning disabilities and behavioral problems."
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/education/09ipod.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

Blogs In Plain English

"NEW TOOL TO INCREASE THE AMOUNT & QUALITY OF REPORTING ON TEACHING"

"The Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media and the Costen Family Foundation launched a website for journalists that will help them cover one of the most important aspects of education: teaching and learning. The website, "Tools for Reporting on Teaching: What to Look for in Classrooms," provides classroom videos and commentaries from teaching and journalism experts in the hope of helping reporters ask better questions and increase their visits to classrooms. In addition, the site offers summaries of research on the importance of good teachers and how teachers improve their craft. Teaching and learning is perhaps the most challenging and complex issue in education, which makes it all the more difficult to capture in a news story. Hopefully this new tool can help media encapsulate what good teachers do and as a result increase the admiration society has for teachers."

URL: http://cotsen.org/cotsen-hechinger

Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

"REINVENTING THE BOOK BY MAKING IT DIGITAL TO ENCOURAGE READING"

"As the world becomes increasingly technology driven, with new gadgets coming out every season, it is easy to forget the book, an object which, thanks to Gutenberg, is superbly designed, completely functional and has thus far stood the test of time. In fact, books remain a more reliable storage device than any external hard drive, are easily "turned on" (just open it up) and unless it is one, require no instructional manual, reports Steven Levy in Newsweek. According to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.com, "books are the last bastion of analog," as long-form reading has failed to conform to digitization. To fill this market niche, Amazon has released the Kindle, an electronic device that has the dimensions of a paperback with a tapering of width to simulate binding, does not run hot or make electronic beeps, mimics the clarity of a printed book and allows for 30 hours of reading on a single charge. In addition, the Kindle enables users to change the font size and stores 200 books "onboard," with space for hundreds more on a memory card..."

URL: http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

"Search Video Lectures"

"A tool from MIT finds keywords so that students can efficiently review lectures."

URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19747/?nlid=700&a=f
Referred by: MIT Technology Review

10 Ways to Manage Laptop Use in the Classroom

Florida State University suggests ten methods for managing a laptop-integrated classroom.

URL: http://learningforlife.fsu.edu/ctl/explore/bestPractices/docs/10WaystoManageLaptops.pdf

"ZOOM ALONG ‘ROUTE 21’ FOR TOOLS TO IMPLEMENT 21ST CENTURY SKILLS"

"Everyone has grown accustomed to business leaders and other stakeholders clamoring for increased attention paid to 21st century skills (global literacy, problem solving, innovation and creativity), as they have become stock skills in an increasingly interconnected global workforce. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has tried to satiate these calls by launching "Route 21," the first ever online conglomeration of 21st century skills-related tools and resources. The website provides information on standards, assessments, curriculum and instruction and opportunities for professional development. Route 21 also allows users to mark, organize, collect and share content based on their personal/professional needs. The site is intended to be a living entity by being continuously updated and providing an online forum where users can share their experiences on implementing 21st century skills. It’s not quite the Jetsons or hover cars, but it does serve as a great tool for educators."

URL: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

"Better Search in Virtual Worlds"

"Second Life's new search tool helps users find 3-D objects."

"As Google's stock price can attest, good search engines are what make the Internet useful and entertaining. But in virtual worlds, which are made up of not text but 3-D renderings of people, places, and objects, the search problem is harder. Residents of Linden Lab's Second Life have long been able to perform large, general searches--for a listing of a Spanish-language event, for example, or for the location of a particular group. But while it was possible, with a little effort, to find a shoe store, there was no good way to locate a pair of red shoes. Since much of the entertainment value of virtual worlds lies in creating objects and trading them, that's been a frustrating limitation. But Linden Lab recently released a new search tool that begins to address the problem."

URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19664/?nlid=661&a=f
Referred by: MIT Technology Review

"New Class(room) War: Teacher vs.Technology"

"A column from the New York Times speaks to the exasperation of countless teachers and professors in the computer era. "Their perpetual war of attrition with defiantly inattentive students has escalated from the quaint pursuits of pigtail-pulling, spitball-lobbing and notebook-doodling," writes Samuel Freeman, professor of journalism at Columbia University, to a high-tech arsenal of laptops, cellphones, BlackBerries and the like." ...

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/education/07education.html?ex=1195189200&en=fd5b2671ba70b508&ei=5070
Referred by: eSchool News

"Classroom Blogging - Taking it to a New Level"

Great resources about educational blogging published by UW-Stout InfoByte Newsletter

"Study Explores the Online Behavior of Tweens and Teens
The results of the National School Board Association’s online behaviors study show that 96% of students with online access use social networking tools such as text messaging and blogging. How to convince your administrator blogging has value? Read the complete report at: Creating & Connecting: Research and Guidelines on Online Social and Educational Networking(pdf)

Exemplary K-12 Classroom Blogs
UW-Stout provides a list of innovative and exemplary student-written classroom blogs which model meaningful and thought-provoking collaborative learning with peers and others outside the classroom.

Blog Pedagogy: Classroom 2.0
Fourth grade teacher Matt Kish discusses with other blogging educators: "What does complex blogging look like at the elementary school level? How can teachers scaffold this type of powerful blogging and learning?"

Rationale for Educational Blogging
Anne Davis explains how blogs are reshaping the learning environment and fostering the development of new literacies.

Student-Created Blog Policies
Bud Hunt shares student-created blog policies and blogging rules.

Blog Rubric
The staff at San Diego State University shares a blog reflection rubric to evaluate students’ blog entries."

URL: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/blog

"EdubloggerCon 2008: The Collaborative Conferences"

"Last year's EduBloggerCon in Atlanta, the all-day meet-up of educational bloggers, was a really fun event. EduBloggerCon and the NECC "Bloggers Cafe" were watershed events in some ways--the physical gathering of educational bloggers and the real-time conference collaborating and communication helped to raise expectations about ed tech conference participation. Whether they led, mirrored, or followed (maybe a little of each) the dynamic changes in networked learning that are taking place in the world of Web 2.0 for educators, they definitely generated an excitement about gathering and learning together.

So it is great fun to announce that we'll be having EduBloggerCon meetings in both Palm Springs (California) and San Antonio (Texas) in 2008, with the great and appreciated support of CUE and NECC. CUE, in fact, is sponsoring a whole series of Web 2.0-style additions to their conference (including a cool social network) which I'll be posting about shortly--and EduBlogger Con "West" will be Wednesday, March 4th, 2008, in the Palm Springs Convention Center in Palm Springs, California. NECC is also graciously hosting again, and the mothership EduBloggerCon 2008 will be Saturday, June 28, 2008 in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San Antonio, Texas."

URL: http://www.infinitethinking.org/2007/11/edubloggercon-2008-collaborative.html
Referred by: Infinite Thinking Machine newsletter

"Social Networks Let Scholars Remix Their Articles"

"Clearly we are well into the sharing, giving season: The number of scholarly social-networking sites is growing monthly. The phrase “it’s kind of like an academic version of Facebook” can now be applied to Pronetos, a new site launched at the end of October, a few weeks after the kickoff of a humanities scholars’ network and about two months after the Espilen Environment and The New York Times’s Knowledge Network combined for another venture into online scholarship exchange.

At Pronetos, scholars “can post work for their peers to comment on, in any discipline. If the discipline does not exist, any user can create it,” writes Chief Executive Chris Blanchard in an e-mail message to The Chronicle."

URL: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2534/social-networks-for-scholars-get-another-new-entry?at
Referred by: The Chronicle of Higher Education, Wired Campus

"School laptop program begets writing gains"

"Maine's pioneering program to give every middle school student a laptop computer is leading to better writing, according to a new study.

Despite creating a language all their own using eMail and text messages, students are still learning standard English, and their writing scores have improved on a standardized test since laptop computers were distributed, the study says.

Moreover, the students' writing skills improved even when they were using pen and paper, not just a computer keyboard.

"If you concentrate on whether laptops are helping kids achieve 21st-century skills, this demonstrates that it's happening in writing," said David Silvernail, director of the Maine Education Policy Research Institute at the University of Southern Maine.

The study, authored by Silvernail and Aaron Gritter, is the first in a series in which educators aim to evaluate Maine's first-in-the-nation laptop progra."

URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=7467
Referred by: eSchool News

"State leaders convene to discuss ed tech"

"3D social networking, global awareness, responsible internet use among the topics explored at SETDA's annual leadership forum"

"Keeping kids safe on the internet and allowing them to learn and explore online don't have to be mutually exclusive goals: That was one of the key messages delivered to state educational technology leaders who attended a recent event in Washington, D.C..."

URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=7470
Referred by: eSchool News

"Wading Into Web 2.0"

"Over at ACRLog, Steven Bell flags "Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World," a new report released by the OCLC Online Computer Library Center. The report -- drawn from surveys of American librarians and library patrons in six nations -- should provide plenty of grist for librarians as they debate how their institutions should make use of Web 2.0 tools and other new social media. "Becoming engaged in the social Web is not about learning new services or mastering new technologies," according to the center. Instead, the group argues, modern libraries should be "dismantling the curre nt structures and inviting users in to create their content and establish new rules." That's heady stuff, and it's unlikely that too many libraries will embrace radical change, Mr. Bell writes. But the report makes another point that should strike a chord: Libraries' forays into Web 2.0 are only as useful as the number of patrons who use them. The center polled more than 500 college students about their social-networking habits, and the results prove that, for campus librarians, not all Web 2.0 platforms are created equal. About 84 percent of the students said they used YouTube, and (a surprisingly low) 56 percent reported using social networks like MySpace and Facebook, but just 10 percent said they had visited Flickr, the popular photo-sharing site. For college librarians wondering where to start with Web 2.0, statistics like those should be quite handy. --Brock Read"

URL: http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2544/wading-into-web-20

"Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?"

"As questions about the accuracy of the anyone-can-edit encyclopedia persist, academics are split on whether to ignore it, or start contributing"

Skeptics, Proponents, and New Attitude about Wikipedia

URL: http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i10/10a03101.htm

Social Annotation - Diigo

URL: http://www.diigo.com

RSS in Plain English

Wikis in Plain English

Social Networking in Plain English

"Youth meets Web 2.0"

A list of Web 2.0 resources for youth educators compiled by What Kids Can Do.

URL: http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2007/10_youth_meets_web/index.html
Referred by: What Kids Can Do Newsletter

"Critical Evaluation in the Collaborative Era- What role should a wiki play in authentic research?"

"Overall, I am most concerned about the creation of content that is "research worthy" by authors I know nothing about in online collaborative environments. Wikipedia is the most noted of these online collaborative tools, but there are many others. I don't have the answer for the best way to treat these tools in educational settings. Should we allow students to use these tools as "sources consulted" but not "sources cited"? How do we teach critical evaluation of information when we have no way to determine authority?"

URL: http://techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604742
Referred by: techLEARNING News

"Study: Middle school laptop program leads to writing improvements"

By David Sharp, Associated Press Writer | October 23, 2007

"PORTLAND, Maine --Maine's program to give every middle school student a laptop computer is leading to better writing. 4real!

Despite creating a language all their own using e-mail and text messages, students are still learning standard English and their writing scores have improved on a standardized test since laptop computers were distributed, according to a new study."

"Editor's Note: Tech Makes a Difference"

"For years we've talked about how to measure the impact of technology in classrooms. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that it makes a difference, and that's great. Where we fall short is in data that proves the point. Until now.

David Warlick's blog Measures for Success talks about the evidence from one school district with a laptop program that knows how to measure the results."

URL: http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2007/10/measures_for_success.php
Referred by: techLEARNING News

Think Differently, Technology Goes to School

Volume 88, No.4, May-June 2002

"Nearly 95 percent of entering Duke freshmen have computers and, of that figure, about one-third have laptops, according to Mike Pickett, special assistant to the provost for academic technology and Duke's associate chief information officer. And while some schools are developing "laptop curricula," Duke decided last fall against requihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifring undergraduate laptops, after studying the issue for nearly a year with a faculty and student steering committee...."

URL: http://www.dukemagazine.duke.edu/dukemag/issues/050602/thinking-laptop.html
Referred by: Duke Magazine

"School laptop policy creating digital divide"

By Ken Fisher | Published: January 03, 2006

"The Fullerton, CA public school system is aggressive in its push to educate children in the ways of silicon. The school district is aiming to give laptops to select elementary and middle school kids, and they are developing a curriculum centered around students having access to their laptops. So why are some parents putting up a fuss? The plan requires parents to pony up almost US$1,500 for the privilege, and if you can't afford it, you don't get to participate in the program. Participating parents would pay about $500 each year for three years, and their children would receive an Apple iBook G4 laptop and entrance into the special program...."

URL: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060103-5884.html

Podcasting in Engineering Education: A Preliminary Study of Content, Student Attitudes, and Impact

"Edward Berger describes a pilot project implemented in an undergraduate engineering mechanics course, entitled Strength of Materials to investigate whether and how students would perceive a benefit from podcasting as a pedagogical tool. Three types of podcasting content were produced: (a) video problem solutions, (b) roundtable discussions, and (c) exam reviews. Student attitudes were assessed through two surveys, one administered before the podcasts were made available and one at the end of the semester. Students strongly favored the podcasting content, especially the video problem solutions, and supported expansion of the use of podcasting as an educational tool. In addition, the data suggested that weaker students perceived more benefit from podcasts than stronger students, an outcome that may not be surprising but is nonetheless significant. While this study was limited in its scope, the results indicate that students strongly supported podcasting and encouraged its use for course instruction. In turn, Berger argues that the success of this pilot project has broader implications about best practices for podcasting in engineering education and suggests the need for further studies to unlock the full potential of podcasting as a pedagogical tool."

URL: http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=426&action=article
Referred by: Innovate

"Social Bookmarking in Plain English"

"Cathy Davidson: Digital Learning Is Not I.T."

"IT (Instructional Technology) is indispensable to most educational institutions. Its development and enhancement are crucial to the institution. But does improving IT improve “digital learning”?....In digital media and learning, the outcomes are less clear, the teachers have less of a determining role, and technology isn’t something delivered to others but is intrinsic to the larger learning project."

URL: http://spotlight.macfound.org/main/entry/cathy_davidson_digital_learning_not_i_t

In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening

"...Even as students have been told to leave their iPods at home, the school here in Hudson County has been handing out the portable digital players to help bilingual students with limited English ability sharpen their vocabulary and grammar by singing along to popular songs."

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/education/09ipod.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=technology

"Kozol campaigns for educational reform"

"In an appearance co-sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s (HGSE) Askwith Education Forum, the Cambridge Forum and the Harvard Book Store, Kozol discussed his new book “Letters to a Young Teacher,” a series of letters he wrote to “Francesca” a “glorious, excited, glowing, first-grade teacher” at an inner-city school in Boston. Through the correspondence, the book examines topics Kozol has addressed throughout his career, but focuses in part on the fairly recent “No Child Left Behind” legislation, a bundle of requirements that he argues kill the ability of children to learn and develop through their own curiosity."

URL: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/09.27/09-kozol.html
Referred by: HGSE News October 2007

"Parents, kids don't see need for math, science skills"

"A new report commissioned as part of an initiative to improve Math, Science and Technology (MST) education throughout the Kansas City area suggests that on the whole, parents, students, and local communities nationwide are complacent about or even resisting efforts to strengthen MST education, failing to realize the opportunities that knowledge of such subjects can bring in the 21st century."

URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7380&page=1
Referred by: eSchool News

CASE STUDY: "University of Delaware Responds to Classroom Clickers"

""Have you ever found yourself standing in front of your class in the middle of a lecture and wondering what in the world is going on in the minds of your students?"
--Douglas Duncan, University of Colorado, from the book, Clickers in the Classroom

By Linda L. Briggs

Any instructor who has had the experience Duncan describes can appreciate the idea of using clickers, or personal response devices, to gauge student participation and understanding. At the University of Delaware, with nearly 20,000 students, clickers are not only engaging students during class, they're starting to be used for homework assignments and as campus-wide polling devices...."

URL: http://campustechnology.com/articles/49681
Referred by: Campus Technology

"Second Life in Education: Dip, Cliff, or Cul-de-Sac?"

"New technologies seem to emerge daily and some of them are fascinating to use and may prove essential. But in education, we have to keep our eyes on the prize and ask what they could contribute to student learning. Then we find that not all the new stuff is great stuff after all. That's a good thing. It allows us to work with the best resources and not waste time on the others.

How do we know what's worthwhile and what's not? According to Existential Paine's blog Second Life in Education: Dip, Cliff, or Cul-de-Sac?, we have to evaluate and let go of things that may be fun but not truly educational. He says, "Successful people recognize what is worth the investment and what is worth quitting."

So the question is: Are we hyping new technologies beyond what's reasonable or are they really the best hope for teaching and learning in the 21st century? What do you think? Read this blog and write your opinion in the comment box."

URL: http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2007/07/second_life_in_education_dip_c.php
Referred by: techLEARNING News

"Students dive into research"

"By the time Options High School junior Calvin Smith has to do his culminating project next year to graduate, he’ll be a pro at large-scale research projects.

As part of a reinvention of the alternative high school’s curriculum, students were required this year to complete four self-designed in-depth research projects, similar to the culminating project.

But instead of seeing it as a chore or dreading it, Smith and other students have embraced the projects over the course of the year."

URL: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/107704.html

"Online Training for Online Faculty"

"A checklist of the best strategies for designing and delivering online courses to train online faculty"

URL: http://www.campustechnology.com/articles/49570
Referred by: Campus Technology

"Special Report IT: Web 3.0"

"New technologies are changing the infrastructure of the Web, turning fragmented data sources into searchable wholes. Computers will gain the intelligence to understand, organize, and draw conclusions from online data."

URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/special/web3

"Special Reports: 10 Emerging Technologies 2007"

"This year, as every year, we present the 10 technologies we find most exciting--and most likely to alter industries, fields of research, and even the way we live."

URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/special/emerging/index.aspx
Referred by: MIT Technology Review

Second Life Education Wiki

"Linden Lab's official resource for educators in Second Life"

URL: http://www.simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

"The School of Second Life: Creating new avenues of pedagogy in a virtual world"

"For those who grew up on computer and video games over the past thirty years, it's no surprise that games have become a full-fledged educational tool, merging play with learning in a way that speaks to the digital generation's technical literacy. Adding heft to this development, the Federation of American Scientists recently published the results of a year-long study suggesting that games have the power to teach analytical skills, team building, and problem solving on the fly."

URL: http://www.edutopia.org/virtual-school-second-life
Referred by: Edutopia

"THE ASSUMPTIONS WE MAKE ABOUT DIVERSITY IN SCHOOLS"

"Diversity in schools is not always visible, but it is always present. Just because your students appear relatively homogenous does not mean your class is not diverse. The latest issue of "Thriving in Academe" says that from gender and religion to social class and family background, all aspects of inclusion should be acknowledged and are integral to student learning. It’s all too easy to slip into the bad habit of making assumptions based on outward appearance. Students are diverse in more ways than we will probably ever know, but starting with the assumption of great diversity opens our classrooms up to exciting and constantly changing possibilities. One reason many teachers avoid talking about diversity is the idea that teaching "values" is not our job. But in reality, value-free teaching does not exist."

URL: http://www2.nea.org/he/advo-new/feature.html
Referred by: PEN Weekly NewsBlast

"Bringing A Human Rights Vision to Public Schools: A Training Manual for Organizers"

"Produced by NESRI and Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE), this manual is a resource for advocates, organizers, community members, parents and youth interested in using human rights as a tool for improving public education in the U.S. "

Download the manual: http://www.nesri.org/programs/EnglishManual.pdf
Referred by: PEN NewsBlast

"P21 issues new guidance on 21st-century skills"

"Looking for support in revising your curriculum to reflect the needs of 21st-century learners? A new online resource could help: On Aug. 2, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), a national coalition of business and education leaders, issued a revised plan to help students and educators achieve 21st-century learning goals."

Download PDF: Framework for 21st Century Learning (Published by P21)
News URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=7299
Referred by: eSchool News

"Miracle or Menace: Teaching and Learning with Laptop Computers in the Classroom"

Efaw, J., Hampton, S., Martinez, S., and Smith, S. (2004). A study of integrating laptops into classroom instruction found statistically significant improvements in student learning.

URL: http://www.educause.edu/pub/eq/eqm04/eqm0431.asp?bhcp=1

"1 to 1 Learning Results"

"A white paper written by The Metiri Group provides a review and analysis of the research data, expert opinion, descriptive studies, and anecdotes from schools with 1 to 1 Learning programs."

URL: http://images.apple.com/education/k12/onetoone/pdf/1_to_1_white_paper.pdf

Education World's "One-To-One Computing: Lessons Learned and Pitfalls to Avoid"

"Just because a technology is available for students doesn't mean it has to be used all the time. Find out what the research says about the benefits of one-to-one computing, and read about educator concerns about the overuse of technology."

URL: http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech197.shtml

Concord Consortium - "White Paper on 1:1 Computing"

"Many governmental entities are studying the possibility of stimulating educational gains and economic development by supplying every student and teacher with a personal, portable computer, as a way of improving the quality of education and diminishing digital divide. This White Paper offers suggestions in three issues that governments need to address in order to realize educational gains in science and mathematics education from one-computer-per-child (1:1 computing) initiatives: teacher professional development, instructional materials, and research."

URL: http://www.concord.org/publications/detail/2007_cc_1_to_1_computing-white-paper.pdf

"Research Centers and Initiatives on One-to-One Computing in Education"

Useful links regarding 1-to-1 computing

URL: http://www.iadb.org/sds/SCI/site_7458_e.htm

eShool News Resources on 1:1 Computing

"For some educators, it's the ed-tech equivalent of nirvana: every child having access to his or her own computing device in the classroom. 1-to-1 computing is the natural next step in the progression of educational technology, and some ed-tech advocates believe that giving each student access to his or her own machine might fully unlock the potential for technology in education--finally making possible the kinds of radical transformations in teaching and learning that have been predicted since the dawn of the Apple IIe.

The problem is, 1-to-1 computing is expensive. It requires a huge investment in time and resources to roll out computers for every student, keep the machines up and running, train teachers how to use them as instructional tools, make sure students are using them safely and appropriately ... and so on."

URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/1to1computing

"iPod in Education: The Potential for Teaching and Learning"

"This white paper was written by Shelley Pasnik, the strategic director of kids and media at the Center for Children and Technology (CCT), a part of the Education Development Center, Inc. CCT investigates the roles that technology can play in improving teaching and learning within children's classrooms, schools, and communities. The white paper discusses how iPod can be used as a multidimensional learning tool to hone students’ critical thinking skills and build information and media literacy. Learn how teachers are using iPod and podcasting for student self-expression and collaboration."

URL: http://images.apple.com/education/ipodpaper/iPod_in_Education_whitepaper.pdf
Found at http://www.apple.com/education/ipodpaper

"SciTalks.com Offers Lecture Video Search Site"

"In the same vein as YouTube, SciTalks.com (Boston, MA) has launched a searchable online collection of science lecture video files from across the world. Currently 1,000 lectures are online, with new videos being added daily."

URL: http://campustechnology.com/articles/49060, SciTalks.com
Referred by: Campus Technology

"iPod Stands for: Absorb, Engage, and Matter!"

"Do you have effective pedagogical strategies for the iPod? Do you know how to plan and design content for the device? Start here."

"...As Duke students began to use the iPod for the consumption of course content, students and faculty (almost simultaneously) discovered the exciting possibilities for creating, capturing, and producing learning content, too. As with so many technologies, once the tool was ubiquitous, new uses unfolded quickly. For the students, these new uses shifted to their taking charge of their learning experiences; for faculty, the new uses meant developing new skills in preparing, using, and formatting new audio course content for the iPod...."

URL: http://campustechnology.com/articles/49148_1
Referred by: Campus Technology

"Learning with iLife"

"It's all about teaching learning and not about the tools. But with the right tools, teaching is easier and learning is more engaging. These days, teachers are using iLife to meet instructional standards and make lessons come alive....

Examples tell the story and we invite you to try three project plans to see how engaging content and engaging tools make the difference.

then and now:
Make history come alive when students research and share to create documentaries. Download the PDF.

similar and different:
Encourage students to prepare effective oral arguments and present them to their peers. Download the PDF.

show and tell a story:
Help students learn to organize their thoughts logically, find just the right words and images to express them, and communicate their ideas to others. Download the PDF."

Referred by: Technology & Learning (techLEARNING.com) mailing list

"Writing with Video :: ART 250 :: University of Illinois"

"This is an undergraduate Advanced Composition course that allows students to explore video as a rhetorical medium. Students create work that fuses traditional writing practices with contemporary electronic media."

URL: http://www.writingwithvideo.net
Referred by: Apple Learning Interchange 2007

"WHAT WIKIPEDIA CAN TEACH US ABOUT THE NEW MEDIA LITERACIES"

..."Many educators express concern about young people's increased reliance on Wikipedia as a resource for their homework assignments and research projects. These teachers worry that youth aren't developing an appropriate level of skepticism about the kinds of information found on this particular site. There are legitimate concerns about the credibility of online information and the breakdown of traditional notions of expertise which should be debated. Our documentary project, and this article, reflects our assumption that these vital debates need to be shaped by a clearer picture of the Wikipedia movement. Our ultimate goal is not to convince you to use Wikipedia in your classes, but rather to argue that in a world where many young people are turning to this as a key source for information, educators need to understand what is going on well enough to offer them meaningful advice and guidance."...

Part 1 URL: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab.html
Part 2 URL: http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/06/what_wikipedia_can_teach_us_ab_1.html
Referred by: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins

"Why Podcast?"

"The benefits of Podcasting are limitless! Learn how it can become an integral form of communication between all stakeholders in the education process, including students, administration, your professional development team, and parents! This podcast features educators at all levels showcasing how they are using podcasting in their educational niche."

URL: http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/item.php?itemID=9934

"Helen Barrett: Multiple Purposes of Digital Stories and Podcasts in ePortfolios"

"I have been exploring the many uses of digital stories in electronic portfolios. An ePortfolio is a purposeful collection of work that demonstrates effort, progress and achievement over time, stored in an electronic container (CD, DVD, WWW). In this context and in terms of the technology, a digital story is a digital video clip, told in the author's own voice, illustrated mostly with still images, with an optional music track added for emotional effect. In this context, a podcast is an audio-only digital story. Rhetorically, a digital story is a personal narrative that may show the author’s identity: strengths, weaknesses, achievements, disappointments, learning experiences, passions, and hopes for the future; in other words: reflection"

URL: http://edcommunity.apple.com/ali/item.php?itemID=11779
Referred by: Apple Learning Interchange

"Why Does Wikipedia Suck on Science?"

"Wikipedia is, by all measures, one of the great accomplishments of the Internet Age. I'm willing to say it stands alongside Google, eBay, GoogleMaps, IMDB and Wired.com as among the greatest resources on the Web (ok, that last one is self-serving).

But boy, does it suck when it comes to science topics.

Curious about just what epigenetics is? Figure you really should know what mitochondria do? Don't count on Wikipedia - odds are their analysis is too pedantic for you, as it is for me."

URL: http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/05/why_does_wikipe.html
Referred by: Wired.com

"Don't Tell Your Parents: Schools Embrace MySpace"

..."Recent efforts to outlaw the Web 2.0 sites so beloved by teenagers include a congressional bill that would throttle funds to schools that do not restrict access. But Elgg, open-source social networking software developed at the University of Brighton, has been designed specifically with academic uses in mind.

Students, tutors and researchers each get a profile page, a blog, photo sharing and friends lists, and they can create and join on-site discussion communities. Some of these features might cause tutors to balk, but Elgg's creators say the collaborative, conversational exchanges in which today's students have become so fluent outside class are the best way to deliver learning inside it....

Broadly, Elgg represents a shift from aging, top-down classroom technologies like Blackboard to what e-learning practitioners call personal learning environments -- mashup spaces comprising del.icio.us feeds, blog posts, podcast widgets -- whatever resources students need to document, consume or communicate their learning across disciplines."

URL: http://www.wired.com/culture/education/news/2007/04/myspaceforschool
Referred by: Wired News

"Living Online: Alternate reality games skew to younger generation"

"The creators of virtual worlds said they believe positive benefits stem from teen participation in their product. Virtual worlds have potential to function as teaching tools. In Active Worlds, users can create certain scenarios for teens and college students to experience and learn from, said Active Worlds president Rick Noll. Harvard educator Chris Dede creates Multi-User Virtual Environment Experiential Simulators (MUVEES) to help kids learn: for example, a virtual town suffering from an epidemic with students determining the epidemic’s cause. Such applications are possible within programs like Active Worlds, Noll said.

“There are any number of simulations running in which people are learning,” he said. “Once you’ve done something, it gives you an idea of what it’s really like. You can read about something, but when you’ve seen it, it takes on another level. When you’ve participated in it, it sticks more. A lot of schools are using Active Worlds to develop that kind of curriculum.”"

URL: http://www.themonitor.com/articles/world_2899___article.html/games_virtual.html
Referred by: HGSE Newsletter

"Students Blog about Education Policy and Reform"

"As part of Lecturer Jal Mehta’s course, Schooling and Society, students blogged about educational issues and policies on a web page entitled “The Future(s) of Education.” This class assignment allowed the students—future leaders in education—to offer their thoughts on the policy world as events unfolded throughout the year.

Mehta required the eight students in the course to contribute to the blog, he says, to provide an opportunity for them to express their views outside of the classroom and engage in a larger debate, to put thoughts on paper for others to read, and to inform policymakers. “I’ve blogged before and it can be empowering and liberating, either from just reading or participating,” he says."

URL: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news_events/features/2007/06/26_blog.html
Referred by: Harvard Graduate School of Education Newsletter

"Congress schooled on STEM teaching crisis"

"Panelists discuss strategies for attracting and retaining science, math, and tech teachers "

"At a June 21 briefing on Capitol Hill, federal legislators and policy makers got a lesson in why schools have a hard time recruiting and retaining teachers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)--and what lawmakers can do to change that."

URL: http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?ArticleID=7180&page=2
Referred by: eSchool News

"Santa Clara U Debuts Future Library in Second Life"

"Santa Clara University is debuting its new library--even though it won't be finished until next fall--in Second Life, the online virtual community.

The Second Life environment gives SCU community members a sense of what it would look like inside the building once it is built...."

Paul McCloskey, "Santa Clara U Debuts Future Library in Second Life," Campus Technology, 6/12/2007, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=48506

"31%: Super Busy Young Americans"

"Overall, 44% of Gen Nexters are employed full-time, another 26% work part-time, while nearly half (46%) are currently enrolled in school – 11% are in high school or technical school, 32% are in college and 3% are in graduate school. Nearly one-in three (31%) Nexters are working and attending school: 19% go to school and work part-time and 12% are juggling full-time work and school. Most Nexters not currently enrolled in school plan to resume their education at some point in the future; nearly seven-in-ten (68%) say they will return to school; 28% say they have no plans to return."

URL: http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=245
Referred by: Pew Research Center

"Internet2, Student Media Group, Produce Digital Film Fest"

"Internet2, the higher education research consortium, is working with a student-managed television network to produce a film festival that will showcase films solely on the Internet.

Internet2 will co-produce the Internet2 Film Festival with the Open Student Television Network (OSTN) to show films from the 2006-2007 school year. Screenings will run over three nights from July 19 through July 21, during the Ingenuity Festival at Cleveland State University.

The student directors and producers will use Internet2 technologies to both submit and screen their films, the organizers said. A variety of media formats will be showcased, including short films, documentaries and student television shows.

Digital programming from diverse sources will be shown, including the work of students the University of Southern California, Brown University, Duke University, Oberlin College, John Carroll University, and the University of Akron.

After each night's screening, Internet2 will host a videoconference linking student directors with press and audience attending the film festival for a live Q&A session."

Referred by:
Paul McCloskey, "Internet2, Student Media Group, Produce Digital Film Fest," Campus Technology, 6/12/2007, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=48507

"Apple Rolls Out iTunes U"

"Apple has launched a new iTunes feature called iTunes U, a new department in the iTunes Store that provides free education resources from American colleges and universities. The idea is to share resources from these campuses, such as lectures and research, free of charge."

URL: http://campustechnology.com/articles/48339
Referred by: Campus Technology

Digital Campus Academy @ Apple Learning Interchange

Good resources for digital collaboration

URL: Apple Learning Interchange Digital Campus Academy

"Howard Gardner's 'quintet of minds'"

"The synthesizing mind takes in a welter of information and transforms it into something brisk, clear, and repeatable. “We’re all inundated with information, but it’s largely undigested and unevaluated,” he said. “People who can’t (synthesize) are going to be at an enormous disadvantage.” The creating mind challenges old ideas, uncovers fresh ways of thinking, and requires a “robust, iconoclastic temperament,” Gardener said. But the creating mind must first master one or more disciplines, and synthesize what is already known. “If you’re going to go beyond the box,” he said, “you have to have the right kind of box.”"

URL: http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/05.10/11-minds.html
Referred by: Harvard University Gazette

"Broadcast Your Life Online, 24-7"

"Cheap, easy-to-use live video-streaming technology could stretch your 15 minutes of fame to 15 years."

..."The new streaming sites, including Stickam, Ustream, and Veodia, let video artists go live and interactive, sometimes taking their audience's e-mails and phone calls on the air. And at some of these sites, users are taking the plunge into full-time lifecasting." ... "..live video streaming of the sort provided by Ustream and Veodia improves on traditional webcamming in several ways. For one thing, no special PC software is required. Users just connect their webcam or video camera to their computer, and Web-based programs take care of the rest. Video webcasters also get pages on the streaming services' websites where they can publicize their content, and they can embed a dedicated media player showing their webcasts in their own websites or blogs. Just as important, live video streams can be combined in the same Web page with instant messaging or chat-room windows, enabling viewers to carry on conversations with each other and with the broadcaster."

URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18782
Referred by: Technology Review

"10 Tips for Capturing Great Video"

Great resource from Apple about video shooting techniques

URL: http://education.apple.com/education/ilife/howto/digitalmovie_tips

"TeacherTube"

"Podcasting And Vodcasting In Higher Education: How Disruptive Will They Be?"

..."In a recent white paper (PDF) published by Peter Meng, a Technical Business Analyst at the University of Missouri, the potential impact and application of these technologies in the world of education is analyzed in a clearly written and thorough manner.... The white paper, entitled "Podcasting & Vodcasting – Definitions, Discussions & Implications" and published in March 2005, provides a non-geeky description of how these technologies work, the software and hardware required, the potential applications within a higher education context and the implications on an educational organization's IT infrastructure that may result from potential wide-spread adoption among teachers and students."

URL: http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/04/16/podcasting_and_vodcasting_in_higher.htm

"Podcasting at the University of Connecticut: Enhancing the Educational Experience"

By David B. Miller, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut

..."As the first person to incorporate podcasting into courses at the University of Connecticut in fall 2005, I decided not to simply “coursecast” (i.e., record actual lectures). I felt that there was nothing particularly novel about recording lectures and questioned their educational value."... "Portable access to recorded lectures is what’s new today, and this mobility underlies my use of podcasts to enhance and enrich my courses."....
URL: http://www.campustechnology/article.aspx?aid=41255
Referred by: Campus Technology

"Survey: Professors Tepid on Social Media Tools"

5/14/2007, By Paul McCloskey

"Most higher ed faculty do not use the current wave of social networking and Web 2.0 tools in their own research and are split on whether the technologies have the potential to change the way students learn, according to a recent survey by academic publisher Thomson Learning.Thompson said the survey was conducted over a five-week period starting Feb. 6. The survey pool included 677 professors, most of whom had been teaching for more than 10 years."...

"The survey found that:

• The majority of faculty surveyed did not use social networking; those who did use the sites used them for both personal and work purposes.
• About 10 percent of faculty members surveyed indicated they have their own blogs.
• Nearly 50 percent of faculty who are familiar with social networking sites said they felt the sites have changed or will change the way students learn.
• Most professors (90 percent) who are familiar with social networking sites said they were aware of sites that allow students to grade or rate professors; 67 percent of those professors have checked to see whether they've been graded.
• early 35 percent said they viewed podcasting as a valuable tool to reach students.""

URL: http://campustechnology.com/articles/47989
Referred by: Campus Technology