. 
AUGUST 2007 EduTech News
News Archive 2007:
Jan
| Feb |
Mar
| Apr |
May
| June
|
|July
| August |
September
| October
News Notes Archive 2006
Early
| Aug |
Sept
| Oct |
Nov
| Dec
BRANDON 1882-2007
125
Years of Photo Memories
Over
1,000 Wheat City photographs from the Bill Hillman Archives
 Readers
interested in Aboriginal cultures should check out the latest research
project I've been working on with Dr. John Tyman -- former BU Geography
Dept. head, now living in Australia:
Phase One: The Inuit:
www.brandonu.ca/tyman
Thousands more photos and captions to come.
~ Bill Hillman
Chicago scraps city Wi-Fi planStory Highlights
CNN
Digital World ~ August 31, 2007
* Chicago drops plan for city Wi-Fi network
* Providing coverage to 228 square mile city would be
too expensive
* Officials say technology changed dramatically since
plan was announced
Meanwhile, Chicago will be among the first three cities
nationwide to have access to a new high-speed wireless network that's part
of an emerging technology called WiMax. Sprint Nextel Corp. announced plans
this spring to offer wireless Internet speeds that match DSL and cable
TV modems. WiMax is derived from the same technology as Wi-Fi. Unlike Wi-Fi,
which provides wireless Internet access over a several-hundred-foot range,
a WiMax signal can blanket a much wider area. More>>>
£11m centre to make science more
alluring
Oundle School’s new science facility, SciTec, will
aim to encourage more youngsters to study the subject
 Northampton
Chronicle and Echo ~ August 31, 2007
England's county's oldest school is leading the way into
the 21st century and beyond. Oundle School is to open an £11m science
teaching facility – SciTec – with a view to nurturing the UK’s next generation
of great scientists. The facility will put the 450-year-old school, which
lists evolutionary biologist Professor Richard
Dawkins and astronomer and space scientist Dr Roger Malina among its
former pupils, at the forefront of a drive to tackle the dearth of scientists
in the UK. Fewer pupils and undergraduates nationally are studying science
and fewer science graduates are going on to teach the subject – half of
all physics teachers in the UK are now aged 50 and over. Oundle School
headmaster Charles Bush said: “We want to change this situation by making
science more alluring to pupils. “Our key concern is to enthuse pupils’
learning in the areas of science, engineering and technology with the view
to reversing the declining interest in pure and applied sciences." SciTec
will become a beacon for the teaching of science though the hosting of
national events. Research scientists will also be engaged to teach pupils
rigorous research methods and to develop scientific projects and experiments
of real purpose. On Friday, September 7, the Duke of Gloucester will open
the facility, which adjoins the existing physics department and comprises
16 chemistry and biology laboratories, an observatory and exhibition space
set over two storeys. More>>>
NASA images to be archived online
 Yahoo!
News ~ August 30, 2007
NASA's images from the Apollo moon landings, the Voyager
planetary flybys and the many space shuttle missions will be accessible
through a central, searchable Web site under a partnership between the
space agency and the nonprofit Internet Archive. "The big payoff on this
will be getting the terrific materials that are basically in the space
centers up and available on the Internet," said Brewster Kahle, the archive's
founder and digital librarian. "They are still images, different forms
of film and video tapes over the years. The idea is to get it all online."
Besides images, the archive may also include audio files, printed documents,
computer presentations and other material deemed historically significant.
The announcement comes as Google Inc. separately incorporated NASA and
other space images into its free Google Earth mapping software. More>>>
Sensor rise powers life recorders
 BBC
Technology ~ August 30, 2007
A person's entire life from birth to death could one
day be recorded by a network of intelligent sensors, according to a senior
scientist. By 2057, Martin Sadler of PC firm Hewlett Packard, said there
could be at least 1m devices for every UK resident. Predicted advances
in storage and cameras coupled with decreasing costs would allow this explosion,
he said. But, he warned, the amount of personal data that could be collected
would lead to difficult ethical dilemmas. Already some researchers at Microsoft,
Hewlett Packard and MIT have developed devices that record a person's every
move. Research like this, as well as advances in sensor technology and
manufacturing techniques would see a continued "slow and incremental, year-on-year"
growth in the number of devices that surround and monitor people, he said.
This would result in a world where "everything we want monitored can be
monitored," he said. More>>>
STAY SAFE ONLINE:
Guidelines
for Safer School Web sites
A
Dozen Things You Can Do Today to Get Safer Online
Ten
Safety Tips for e-Mail
Ten
Safety Tips for Instant Messaging
Eight
Safety Tips for Blogging
Protecting
Kids
Other
Safety Resources
No student left behind
There Is A Growing Concern Among Teachers Over The Process Of Social
Passing
National
Post ~ August 29, 2007
In the push to ensure that no student is left behind,
grade retention (it's not called failing any more) seems to be on the wane
in Canada, hovering around 1% nationwide. In Manitoba, for example, the
rate slid from 1.8% in 1998 to 1.17% in 2002. At the same time, standardized
testing scores, literacy and numeracy rates and anecdotal evidence suggest
a disconnect with actual learning and achievement. Studies have shown that
there is little if any educational benefit to holding a child back a year
-- that in fact it may do more harm than good in terms of self-esteem and
social development. But some teachers, who increasingly encounter students
struggling with the three Rs and feel pressured to lower standards, along
with university professors appalled at the abysmal writing and spelling
of young adults pursuing a higher education, are beginning to question
at what point the feel-good, every-one-is-special brand of education in
Canadian schools is failing the next generation. The argument for social
passing is rooted in the belief that repeating a grade can diminish self
worth, undermine the ability to learn and brand a child a failure among
their schoolmates.
"Success breeds success," said Marilyn Westbury, a classroom
veteran and long-time teacher of teachers, who is now a dean at Concordia
University College in Edmonton, noting that weak students who are socially
passed must also be identified and supported. "The majority of students
who were continually promoted were doing just as well," Prof. Westbury
said. "It's almost as if you recycle a child through the same techniques
and the same teaching methods that didn't work before."
Another study published in the Canadian Journal of School
Psychology this spring by researchers from the Manitoba Centre for Health
Policy discovered that students who repeated a year were most likely to
be male, younger than their classmates, and in grades 1, 2, 3 or 8. It
also revealed that students are three times as likely to drop out if they
failed once and eight times as likely if they repeated more than one grade.
Still, many lament the convey-or-belt aspect of social passing and the
knowledge deficit that can result. "What it really is, is about passing
the buck," said Anton Allahar, a professor of sociology at the University
of Western Ontario. "In a system where one is not accountable you pass
them on to the next level, from Grade 3 to Grade 4 or from first year,
to second year, to third year, so that somebody else later on down the
line someone else inherits the problem."
Public schoolteachers on the front lines often struggle
professionally with whether to pass or flunk a student -- a decision that
seldom is left to them alone. Saskatchewan high school teacher Amy Edwards
said she has grappled with the issue of maintaining high standards despite
students who cut class and don't hand in assignments. "When I first started
teaching I was like, 'Well, they didn't do it, they didn't do it. Too bad,'
" she said. "As I've kind of grown and matured a little bit professionally,
I've realized nobody really wins when you're black and white like that
because kids aren't like that and I'm not doing anybody a service if I
don't kind of adapt what I'm doing to each kid. That doesn't mean lowering
standards for different kids, it means teaching different kids in different
ways so they can all be successful -- whatever that means for them." Ms.
Edwards, who teaches core English and social studies in a rural community,
said it's more about giving weak students another chance to earn a passing
mark in a way that's more conducive to their way of learning with exam
preparation work or extended deadlines on missed assignments. More>>>
Call to regulate the net rejected
 BBC
Technology ~ August 29, 2007
The internet should not be used as a scapegoat for society's
ills, said Vint Cerf, Google's net evangelist and a founding father of
the network. Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme he rejected
calls for strict control of what is put online. He said the net was just
a reflection of the society in which we live. Anyone regulating beyond
what was clearly illegal put themselves on a "slippery slope" that could
limit freedom of expression, he said. "If it's not illegal, it raises a
rather interesting question about where you do draw the line," he said.
Rather than impose controls centrally, said Mr Cerf, it was far better
to put them at the edges of the network where users go online. He added:
"When you have a problem in the mirror you do not fix the mirror, you fix
that which is reflected in the mirror. Google has a policy of removing
video content when it has been flagged as offensive by users. But the company
has been criticised for not acting swiftly enough. More>>>
UK Pre-school policies 'lack impact'
 BBC
Education ~ August 29, 2007
A string of government policies aimed at boosting pre-school
children's educational achievement in England has had no impact, research
suggests. Children's vocabulary, ability to count and name shapes when
they start school are no better than they were six years ago, a study of
35,000 children claims. The Durham University research covered such policies
as the expansion of free part-time nursery places. The government
has invested over £21bn on early years and childcare services since
1997. Dr Merrell said that interpreting why such policies appeared to have
no impact was beyond the scope of her research. But she suggested that
policies ought to have been better thought through and more closely monitored.
She added: "Initiatives should be based on high-quality evidence and be
introduced in ways that allow for continuous scientific monitoring and
adjustment in the light of evidence. Only then can the government really
measure what does and doesn't work in education." Minister Nick Gibb
said there had been too many initiatives which had not been properly tested
before implementation. "We need a scientific approach to education and
more needs to be done to ensure the curriculum in early years in particular
helps children from poorer backgrounds be ready for school in their reception
year. Liberal Democrat children, schools and families spokesman David Laws
said the report was devastating. "The government has poured billions of
pounds into early years education and it is astonishing that there is not
a more detectable benefit from all of this extra cash. It seems that the
government has failed to target money at those children most in need of
support." More>>>
Teaching with Technology: Facilitating
the Process
Part 1: Strategies for adopting instructional technology
Campus
Technology ~ August 29, 2007
. . . instructors in colleges of education cannot
teach prospective teachers to use technology unless the faculty, themselves,
use technology in the college of education classrooms as a part of their
instruction. There is something about "modeling" that goes a long way in
education, regardless of the level of education under consideration. Colleges
and universities across the nation have realized that technology is an
absolute when considering how courses on their campuses will be delivered--either
face to face sessions, through distance learning sessions, or in mixed
formats. Presidents and provosts, college deans, departmental chairs, and
program directors have embraced the notion that using technology in their
institutions' instruction is a "given"; at least it holds prominent positions
in all of their strategic planning documents. New senior level positions
(e.g., chief information officers, vice presidents for technology) have
been created in relatively recent years to help oversee the development
of the infrastructure for this instructional innovation. Likewise, faculty
development centers have found a new realm of aid they can provide faculty
to enhance their instructional efforts.
Teaching with technology involves two primary areas of
new knowledge where faculty members need professional development: online
instruction and face to face instruction. The advent of distance learning
in higher education has forced administrators and faculty to view the presentation
of course content in entirely new ways and invest in technologies that
will allow students to access instruction from sites other than the traditional
campus classroom. The current text, however, deals with the latter of these
two, the need to provide faculty not only with the technological tools
for enhancing instruction, but also with the knowledge of how to best use
these materials to maximize the time faculty spend with students in physical
college and university classrooms. More>>>
Cyber-bullying targeting teachers: poll
'Freedom Of Expression': EDUCATORS DECRY ONLINE
HARASSMENT
 National
Post ~ August 28, 2007
An overwhelming number of teachers say they have been
targeted by cyber-bullies, according to a new poll. In a survey by COMPAS
for the Ontario College of Teachers, 84% of respondents reported being
the object of cyber-bullying. Most teachers said they were aware of other
teachers or administrators being harassed online but fewer knew of students
having experienced it. One-fifth of teachers said they were certain that
cyber-bullying contributes to teachers leaving the profession. "If you
go to RateMyTeachers. com and see awful comments posted about you, if you
have your goodwill undermined, then you're on shaky ground," said Bill
Belsey, a teacher in Cochrane, Alta., and creator of the Web site cyberbullying.ca.
"For people to say they feel so upset, so disheartened, so fearful that
they're thinking of quitting teaching, this is serious."
Educators and policy makers are scrambling for solutions
to a growing problem that has students publishing obscene or defamatory
pictures or statements on the Internet. "Because of a digital divide, I
feel that kids are emboldened to use technology against adults," Mr. Belsey
added. According to the survey, bullying through e-mail and chatroom or
"bashboard content" are more common than blogs, text messaging and photographs
or video clips. Eight per cent of teachers see criticism of teachers' clothing,
appearance or mannerisms as highly serious. "The reality is you can't regulate
it," Mr. Belsey said. The "al-ways-on generation" can access the Internet
from anywhere, he said; they can upload videos directly from their cellphones.
You need to have a community-based approach to bullying and cyber-bullying.
More>>>
Boys 'less keen to be students'
 BBC
Education ~ August 28, 2007
Boys are not as keen to go to university as girls, a
survey suggests. About three-quarters (76%) of girls want to go to university
compared with about two thirds of boys (67%), a poll of 2,400 11 to 16-year-olds
suggested. The gap of nine percentage points is double the one that emerged
in a survey of pupils in England and Wales in 2006. The survey of state
school pupils also suggested girls were more certain of their intentions
than boys. The same poll also suggested boys were more cynical than girls
about what factors might help them get on in life. They were more likely
to list "knowing the right people" and "which secondary school you go to"
than girls. Female respondents, by contrast, listed "aiming to be the best
you can" and "being able to read and write well". Boys' underachievement
in schools has been a source of concern for teachers and ministers. University
College London provost Malcolm Grant said the trend would lead to a big
fall in the number of university-educated men. Universities were seeing
the results of male educational under-achievement at earlier ages, he added.
More>>>
Astronomers surprised by discovery of
big empty place in space
 Canada.com
~ August 27, 2007
Astronomers think they have found the biggest empty hole
ever, a region of the universe a billion light-years wide where everything
-- stars, dust, even dark matter -- is simply missing. The discovery will
be reported in a paper in the Astrophysical Journal. Astronomers
have known for years there are empty places in the universe, but they never
expected one so big. In our own neighbourhood, there would be hundreds
of galaxies in a region this size, each of them holding a few hundred billion
stars, as well as immense clouds of dust and gas. There would also be dark
matter -- mysterious stuff we can't see that still has mass, and exerts
a gravitational pull on objects near it. Signals would be zooming all over
the place -- x-rays, visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, all sorts of
radio waves. But when the Minnesota team looked for radio signals coming
from this area south of the constellation Orion, there was just a lot of
missing signal. As well, there's a spot where the "background" of microwaves
from the very early universe is unusually cold, another indication that
matter is missing. Lawrence Rudnick, a University of Minnesota astronomy
professor, says, "If someone crossed this area in a spacecraft, "travelling
at the speed of light it would take about a billion years and there wouldn't
be much to see. A pretty boring journey," he says. Rudnick says he didn't
have trouble wrapping his brain around the discovery of a big empty place.
"I actually spend a lot of time thinking about nothing," he said. That's
not a joke. He teaches a course called "Nothing" to first-year students.
"It has a little bit of philosophy. I bring in people in different fields
to talk about nothing in their fields. I've had artists come and talk about
minimalist art, interior designers to talk about designing empty spaces,
... I've had a blind person come and talk about seeing nothing and what
does that mean." More>>>
Out-of-body experience recreated
 BBC
News ~ August 24, 2007
Experts have found a way to trigger an out-of-body experience
in volunteers. The experiments, described in the Science
journal, offer a scientific explanation for a phenomenon experienced
by one in 10 people. Two teams used virtual reality goggles to con the
brain into thinking the body was located elsewhere. The visual illusion
plus the feel of their real bodies being touched made volunteers sense
that they had moved outside of their physical bodies. The researchers say
their findings could have practical applications, such as helping take
video games to the next level of virtuality so the players feel as if they
are actually inside the game. Clinically, surgeons might also be able to
perform operations on patients thousands of miles away by controlling a
robotic virtual self.
For some, out-of-body experiences or OBEs occurs spontaneously,
while for others it is linked to dangerous circumstances, a near-death
experience, a dream-like state or use of alcohol or drugs. The work suggests
a disconnection between the brain circuits that process visual and touch
sensory information may thus be responsible for some OBEs. Dr Susan Blackmore,
psychologist and visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England,
said: "This has at last brought OBEs into the lab and tested one of the
main theories of how they occur. Scientists have long suspected that the
clue to these extraordinary, and sometimes life-changing, experiences lies
in disrupting our normal illusion of being a self behind our eyes, and
replacing it with a new viewpoint from above or behind." More>>>
What Did U $@y?
Online Language Finds Its Voice
Wall
Street Journal Online ~ August 24, 2007
TEh INTeRn3T i5 THr3@+EN1N9 t0 Ch@n93 thE W4Y wE $p34k.
(Translation: The Internet is threatening to change the
way we speak.)
For years, heavy users of Internet games and chat groups
have conversed in their own written language, often indecipherable to outsiders.
Now, some of those online words are gaining currency in popular culture
-- even in spoken form. Words substitute symbols or numbers for similar-looking
letters, such as the number 3 for the letter E. The language is sometimes
called elite speak, or leetspeak, written as l33t 5p34k. As the Internet
becomes more prevalent, leetspeak, including acronyms that used to appear
only in text messages like "LOL" for laughing out loud, is finding a voice.
One problem with speaking in such code: there is little
agreement on pronunciation. Those who utter the term "teh" are also split.
A common online misspelling of "the," "teh" has come to mean "very" when
placed in front of an adjective -- such as "tehcool" for "very cool." Some
pronounce it tuh, others tay. The words' growing offline popularity has
stoked the ire of linguists, parents and others who denounce them as part
of a broader debasement of the English language. The Internet is not the
first technological advancement to change the way language is used. The
telegraph required people to communicate "with lots of dots and dashes
and abbreviations," says Mr. Metcalf. "Since it charged by the word, you
compressed your message as much as possible -- grammar be damned." Some
of those words, like SOS, the popular call for help, have survived from
their telegraph-era origins. Leetspeak first became popular in the 1980s
among hackers and those adept enough to gain access to an early form of
online chat forums called bulletin boards. These "elite" users developed
leetspeak, occasionally to conceal their hacking plans or elude text filters.
But leetspeak's growing appeal, and use among the un-cool, could undermine
it. It's ultimately about creating a secret language that can differentiate
them from others, like parents. That's part of being a teenager. More>>>
Howard row over Wikipedia edits
BBC
Technology ~ August 24, 2007
Staff in the Australian prime minister's department have
been accused of editing potentially damaging entries in online encyclopaedia
Wikipedia.
Workers made 126 edits on subjects such as immigration policy and Treasurer
Peter Costello, a local daily said. The details came from a new website
that tracks those who make edits. Staff from the CIA and the BBC among
others have also made changes, it has shown. A spokesman for PM John Howard
said he had not asked staff to edit Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an internet-based
free encyclopaedia that anyone can add to or make changes to. More>>>
Microsoft launches animated search engine
 CBC
News ~ August 23, 2007
Microsoft Corp. has launched a search engine, called
Tafiti, to showcase its new Silverlight animation and video player. Tafiti,
which means "do research" in Swahili and is available as a test version,
combines the company's Live Search with Silverlight and adds a visual element
to basic web searches. Microsoft's Tafiti incorporates slick visuals with
common web searches. a central column. Users can select the type of media
to search in — from websites and news feeds to books or images — via a
carousel in the left-hand column, then drag and save their results in the
right-hand "shelf" column. The results can then be added to a blog or e-mailed.
Tafiti also offers a "tree view," with search results displayed as branches
that can be pruned by dragging a slider at the bottom of the page.On the
Tafiti website, Microsoft said the service is designed to "help people
use the web for research projects that span multiple search queries and
sessions by helping visualize, store, and share research results." The
service is intended to "explore the intersection of richer experiences
on the web and the increasing specialization of search." More>>>
Music and the brain
Why does a sweet guitar lick give us goose bumps?
CBC
News ~ August 23, 2007
Daniel Levitin For years, Daniel Levitin worked
as a session musician, sound engineer and record producer for rock groups
such as The Grateful Dead and Santana. In 1990, he returned to college
to earn a degree in cognitive psychology and later earned a PhD in psychology.
Currently, he is an associate professor of psychology, behavioural neuroscience
and music at McGill University in Montreal. His bestselling book, This
Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, comes out in
paperback on Aug. 28. This book and his CBC interview should be of interest
to educators. More>>>
Google Earth given celestial view
 BBC
Science ~ August 22, 2007
The constellations of Andromeda, Hydra and Vulpecula
are now just a mouse click away for amateur star-gazers, following the
launch of Google Sky.
The tool is an add-on to Google Earth,
a program that allows users to search a 3D rendition of our planet's surface.
Sky will allow astronomers a chance to glide through images of more than
one million stars and 200 million galaxies. Optional layers allow users
to explore images from the Hubble Space Telescope as well as animations
of lunar cycles. "Rather than using Google Earth to view imagery of the
Earth, use it to view imagery of space," said Ed Parsons, Geospatial technologist
at Google. Dr John Mason of the British Astronomical Association, Britain's
largest body for amateur astronomers said: "Light pollution and air pollution
is now so bad in many areas that all you can see when you look up is a
few dozen stars. "If this helps people to realise just what they are missing,
it is a jolly good thing." To use the new system, users will need to have
Google Earth installed on their computer. Digital astronomers can then
zoom into an area from which they want to view the night sky. In March
2006, the company launched Google Mars which allows users to explore the
surface of the Red Planet. Another service, Google Moon, lets users view
the sites of the Apollo moon landings. Both services use data from the
US Space Agency Nasa, with which Google signed an agreement in December
2006. Google Sky is not the only tool that allows astronomers to explore
the night sky from their computer. For example, Stellarium is a free open
source tool that gives people a chance to access more than 210 million
stars, in addition to planets and moons. Apple Mac users can download a
Starry Night widget that will allow them to see the night sky from any
location on Earth. More>>>
Facebook Becoming Malware Magnet, Experts
Warn
Campus
Technology ~ August 22, 2007
Popular college social networking website Facebook
attracts thousands of developers wanting to enrich its functionality. But
in the process it has become a magnet for malware, according to experts
from the security firm VeriSign.
In its privacy statement, Facebook now warns its users, "... You use such
developer applications at your own risk." Olson and Rick Howard, director
of intelligence at VeriSign, said a the greater problem is users' openness
with personal information on Facebook-like forums. "They seem to have no
sense of privacy," said Howard. He added that the "intoxicatingly interesting"
nature of social networking is inherently at odds with best practices.
More>>>
BU receives grant for French as a Second
Language teacher education
BRANDON, MB – Brandon University has received a grant
in the amount of $67,400 under the Canada-Manitoba Agreement on Minority
Language Education and Second Official Language Instruction for 2007-2008.
The funding provides support to three French as a Second Language projects
at BU. More>>>
Virtual game is a 'disease model'
 BBC
Technology ~ August 21, 2007
An outbreak of a deadly disease in a virtual world can
offer insights into real life epidemics, scientists suggest. The "corrupted
blood" disease spread rapidly within the popular online World of Warcraft
game, killing off thousands of players in an uncontrolled plague. The infection
raged, wreaking social chaos, despite quarantine measures. The experience
provides essential clues to how people behave in such crises, Lancet Infectious
Diseases reports. In the game, there was a real diversity of response from
the players to the threat of infection, similar to those seen in real life.
Researcher Professor Nina Fefferman, from Tufts University School of Medicine,
said: "Human behaviour has a big impact on disease spread. And virtual
worlds offer an excellent platform for studying human behaviour. The players
seemed to really feel they were at risk and took the threat of infection
seriously, even though it was only a game." She said a major constraint
for epidemiologists studying disease dynamics at the moment was that they
were limited to observational and retrospective studies. More>>>
University 'non-courses' attacked
BBC
News ~ August 21, 2007
Hundreds of university "non-courses" should be abolished
as a waste of public money, a group campaigning for lower taxes has
said. A report from the Taxpayers' Alliance highlighted 401 such courses
starting this autumn in the UK, which it said cost £40m a year to
run. But the vice-chancellors' organisation Universities UK accused it
of a "rag bag of prejudices". It said courses were over-subscribed and
graduates much in demand. The TaxPayers' Alliance report said the courses
"lend the respectability of scholarly qualifications to non-academic subjects".
The training they offered would be better learned on the job, it suggested.
Author Peter Cuthbertson said: "Political priorities have led to a never-ending
drive to increase the number of students in university. "As a result, there
has been a massive expansion of 'non-degrees' of little or no academic
merit. "The government has failed in its pledge to abolish 'Mickey Mouse'
degrees." More>>>
Teens 'cannot function in work'
BBC
News ~ August 20, 2007
More than half of employers say school leavers often
cannot function in the workplace due to a lack of basic maths and literacy,
a survey suggests. But the poll of 507 firms for business leaders the CBI
also suggested youngsters' IT skills can give them the edge over their
bosses in this area. The CBI survey found many were having to retrain school
leavers in the basics they should have learned in class. More>>>
Minister announces money for cybercrime
study
CanWest
~ August 20, 2007
CALGARY -- Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced
$100,000 in federal funding on Saturday to support a $3-million study of
cybercrime in Canada, with Calgary the possible location for a cybercrime-fighting
headquarters. "Cyberspace is an area that is actively alive and well with
criminal intent and criminal activity,"Day said in Calgary during the Canadian
Association of Police Boards (CAPB) conference. "We want to be able to
look at how we can most efficiently zero in on the areas where properly
preventative action can be taken in cyberspace to deal with criminal terrorist
activity that goes on." More>>>
Skype service returns after weekend
of "frustrating" outages
CanWest
News ~ August 19, 2007
Users of Skype -- an Internet program that over 200 million
people worldwide use to make long-distant phone calls for cheap -- breathed
a sigh of relief after the telephony company announced on its website that
its service had gone back to normal Sunday. The Internet telephone service
had experienced technical difficulties since Friday, as users were not
able to sign in to their accounts. Some people and businesses, including
thousands of Canadians, use the service as their exclusive telephone provider.
More>>>
Compact disc hits 25th birthday
BBC
Technology ~ August 19, 2007
The compact disc was jointly developed by Philips and
Sony. Exactly 25 years ago the world's first compact disc was produced
at a Philips factory in Germany, sparking a global music revolution. More
than 200 billion CDs have been sold worldwide since then and it remains
the dominant format despite the growth in digital downloads. The CD was
jointly developed by Philips and Sony and the disc has also become a key
storage method for computer users. The first CD produced was The Visitors
by Abba. More>>>
UK Schools enjoy jobs 'golden age'
BBC
Education ~ August 18, 2007
Secondary schools in England are experiencing a "golden"
period for staff recruitment, research suggests. The quality and quantity
of candidates applying for vacant posts means schools can select from a
talented field. It is a reversal of the trend less than a decade ago when
there were teacher shortages, says Education Data Surveys. The downside
is that newly qualified teachers and experienced returners face stiff competition
for jobs. More>>>
New Movable Type, Google Maps feature
coming for bloggers
CBC
News ~ August 17, 2007
This week and next, bloggers will get their hands on
some handy new tools to jazz up their product, using Moveable Type and
Google Maps. On Monday, Six Apart Ltd. released Movable Type (MT) 4.0,
the latest incarnation of the company's popular blogging tool. The full
version of 4.0 promises numerous new features including a completely redesigned
interface, upgraded installation wizard and dozens of new plug-ins. Another
new blog tool is a feature enabling bloggers to add Google Maps to their
sites more easily. Google promises that the feature, which is slated for
release next week, should be extremely easy to use. "[This feature] enables
users to add a map to their website or blog just by copying and pasting
a snippet of HTML," Google spokesperson Wendy Rozeluk wrote in an e-mail.
"This new functionality will enable Google Maps users to share maps in
the same way that YouTube users share videos. The embedded map will be
fully interactive, like the Maps API, but creating one will not require
any programming skills. Users can drag and click or zoom in on a location,
and view it in map, satellite, and hybrid modes." More>>>
Site of the Week
Videos show how math, science relate to real-world applications
and careers
 TheFuturesChannel.com
~ August 16, 2007
Math and science educators will find free video resources
that can help connect their lessons to real-world applications at TheFuturesChannel.com.
The site produces short documentary-style videos that take students behind
the scenes with professionals from a wide range of careers. As the subjects
of these video clips discuss why math and science are so important in their
respective fields, they help answer the common question, "Why do I need
to learn this?" Teachers can download classroom activities based on the
video content. All videos and classroom activities are available free of
charge. More>>>
InterFaithCalendar
A Web site that lists religious holidays for over 13
different religions that educators can use in planning syllabus and setting
dates for tests and assignments. ex: Judaism ~ Islam ~ Buddhist ~
Hindu ~ Christian ~ Baha'i ~ Zoroastrian ~ Sikh ~ Shinto ~ Jain ~ Confucian
~ Daoist ~ Native American ~ more>>>
Communications for 21st Century Schools
eSchool
News ~ August 16, 2007
Forward-thinking education leaders recognize the need
for a telecommunications infrastructure that can simultaneously handle
voice, video, and data traffic, enabling such advances as streaming video
and audio, voice over IP, and other 21st-century applications. But getting
there can be fraught with difficulties. Effectively integrating voice,
video, and data systems in today's schools requires careful planning, communication,
and cooperation across several departments. To facilitate this process,
the editors of eSchool News--with support from communications services
provider EMBARQ--have assembled this collection of stories and other resources
aimed at helping school leaders implement and manage 21st-century voice,
video, and data solutions in their own learning environments. More>>>
Consensus:
e-Rate a success--but still needed
'School
of the Future' opens doors
Ohio
district saves $200,000 by streaming cable TV to classrooms
Georgia
schools accelerate web research with caching solution
Ten
eRate mistakes to avoid at all costs
Teamwork
pays off for Monterey Bay
eSN
Special Feature: Voice over IP—your call
An
Ohio district dials into huge savings with IP telephony
University of Delaware Responds
to Classroom Clickers
Campus
Technology ~ August 16, 2007
"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
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. Clickers are small wireless keypads that
allow students to respond electronically to instructor questions at various
points during class. They're generally especially useful in large lecture
classes, where keeping all students engaged and at a similar level of understanding
can be challenging. To use clickers in class, instructors plug their laptop
computers into the receivers through a USB cable. An instructor installs
the free software, then issues a simple command during class to display
questions created ahead of time. More>>>
Astronaut teacher wows students from
space
 AP
~ August 15, 2007
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Teacher-astronaut Barbara
Morgan transformed the space shuttle and space station into a classroom
Tuesday for her first education session from orbit, fulfilling the legacy
of Christa McAuliffe with joy and also some sadness. Morgan, 55, who was
McAuliffe's backup for the doomed 1986 flight, got her first opportunity
to talk with schoolchildren late Tuesday afternoon, almost halfway through
her two-week mission. Morgan and her colleagues obliged by squeezing bubbles
from a straw in a drink pouch and swallowing the red blobs, which floated
everywhere. The four astronauts also used pingpong balls and a softball
for props.
Morgan was asked how being a teacher compared to being
an astronaut. "Astronauts and teachers actually do the same thing," she
answered. "We explore, we discover and we share. And the great thing about
being a teacher is you get to do that with students, and the great thing
about being an astronaut is you get to do it in space, and those are absolutely
wonderful jobs."
Business went on as usual aboard the joined shuttle-station
complex Tuesday. Morgan and her colleagues removed a platform from Endeavour's
payload bay and attached it to the international space station, where it
will be used to hold large spare parts. More>>>
Tiny wind engines cool computers
 BBC
Technology ~ August 15, 2007
Minuscule wind engines could help to take computing power
to the next level, scientists believe. US researchers have developed a
prototype device that creates a "breeze" made up of charged particles,
or ions, to cool computer chips. The "ionic wind", the scientists say,
will help to manage the heat generated by increasingly powerful, yet ever-shrinking
devices. The research is to be published in the Journal of Applied Physics.
As computers grow increasingly powerful, computer chips are becoming more
and more densely packed with transistors, the basic building blocks of
microprocessors. Timothy Fisher, associate professor of mechanical engineering
at Purdue University and an author on the paper, said: "In computers and
electronics, power equals heat, so we need to find ways to manage the heat
generated in more powerful laptops and handheld computers." Conventional
cooling technologies using fans are limited because they can suffer from
air-flow problems. As the spinning blades waft air over a chip, the molecules
nearest to the chip can get stuck and remain stationary, hindering the
cooling effect. The prototype, which is attached to a mock computer chip,
works by shifting charged particles from one end of the device to the other.
As a voltage is applied to the ionic engine, positively charged particles
(ions) are produced, and are dragged towards a negatively charged wire
(a cathode), forcing constant air movement. More>>>
Paper battery offers future power
 BBC
Technology ~ August 14, 2007
Flexible paper batteries could meet the energy demands
of the next generation of gadgets, says a team of researchers. They have
produced a sample slightly larger than a postage stamp that can release
about 2.3 volts, enough to illuminate a small light. But the ambition is
to produce reams of paper that could one day power a car. Professor Robert
Linhardt, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said the paper battery
was a glimpse into the future of power storage. While a conventional battery
contains a number of separate components, the paper battery integrates
all of the battery components in a single structure, making it more energy
efficient. The battery contains carbon nanotubes, each about one millionth
of a centimetre thick, which act as an electrode. The nanotubes are embedded
in a sheet of paper soaked in ionic liquid electrolytes, which conduct
the electricity. Because the battery consists mainly of paper and carbon,
it could be used to power pacemakers within the body where conventional
batteries pose a toxic threat. Linhardt said integrated devices, like the
paper battery, were the direction the world was moving. "They are ultimately
easier to manufacture, more environmentally friendly and usable in a wide
range of devices," he said. The ambition is to produce the paper battery
using a newspaper-type roller printer. More>>>
96 percent of teens use social-networking
tools
Survey reveals schools have a huge opportunity to
harness technology for instruction
eSchool
News ~ August 14, 2007
A new survey by the National School Boards Association
(NSBA) and Grunwald Associates LLC reveals that creating content and connecting
with their peers online is nearly ubiquitous for students ages 9 to 17
who have internet access: Only one in 20 teens and "tweens" surveyed said
they have not used social-networking technologies such as chatting, text-messaging,
blogging, or visiting online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and
Webkinz. What's more, students report that one of the most common topics
of conversation on the social-networking scene is education--suggesting
that schools have a huge, but largely untapped, opportunity to harness
these technologies in support of student learning. More>>>
Kids justify illegal downloads, study
finds
 Reuters
~ August 13, 2007
Children in Europe are aware of the risks of illegal
downloading but often rationalize their act by saying that everyone--including
their parents--is doing it, according to a major European Commission survey.
Other excuses included: the download is for personal and private purposes;
the Web sites presumably remunerate the artists; claims of harm inflicted
on artists lack credibility; and DVDs and CDs are simply too expensive.
The survey results found that most kids use the Internet several times
a day and, while Internet use is to some extent limited by parents, most
own their own mobile phones, the use of which is largely unsupervised.
The survey also found that children are much more attuned to such potential
online risks as security, viruses, identity theft and potential dangerous
contact with strangers than parents imagine, and that they tend to know
about the necessary precautions. More>>>
Bush signs off on billions for science,
tech
CNET
News ~ August 10, 2007
President Bush on Thursday signed into law the America
Competes Act, which authorizes $33.6 billion from federal coffers for government-sponsored
research, education and teacher-training programs in the science and tech
arena over the next few years. The move promptly drew an avalanche of accolades
from high-tech companies, who cheered the action as a way of helping the
United States stay competitive in science, technology and engineering.
It's still up to the respective congressional appropriations committees
to go through the formal process of doling out funding, which the president
must ultimately approve. Some Republican critics have already voted against
the bill on account of its hefty price tag, and even as he signed the bill,
the president indicated he shares those concerns.
The bill, which overwhelmingly cleared both chambers
of Congress just before they departed for their August recess, is aimed
at boosting investment in key areas where critics say the United States
is lagging behind other countries. It would do things like create new grants
and programs for teacher training; bankroll semiannual school events aimed
at stimulating interest in science, technology, math and engineering; and,
yes, create that Department of Energy research arm dedicated to investigating
"long-term and high-risk" alternative energy technologies, which the president
apparently finds "counterproductive." More>>>
Business follows youth to new online
world
 CBC
News ~ August 9, 2007
These days lots of adults turn to their teenage offspring
for help with technology, whether it's fixing the computer or figuring
out an MP3 player. It's a little more surprising for Donald Rippert to
seek technology advice from people less than half his age. Rippert is the
chief technology officer for Accenture, a global consulting firm that advises
some very big businesses on, among other things, how to use technology.
In online resources like Facebook,
MySpace,
Second
Life and YouTube, popular with
the Net Generation, Rippert sees ideas to improve collaboration and information
sharing in businesses. He picked up on the idea of allowing every user
to tag content as the De.licio.us and Flickr
websites do, creating a co-operative way of classifying material that benefits
all users. Earlier this year, Accenture launched a new global employee
network that looks much like Facebook, the popular website where mostly
young people share pictures and information about their interests. The
consulting firm is also working on a virtual training system based on technology
like that of Second Life, in which members can create personal avatars
to move around and interact in a virtual online world. "Collaborative communities"
such as Wikipedia, MySpace and
Digg
are booming on the web and young people accustomed to such technologies
in their daily lives expect to use them at work as well. Wikis — web pages
that anyone can edit — are becoming a valuable way of organizing corporate
information. It's all part of a reversal of the days when new technology
appeared first in business and — sometimes — trickled down into consumer
use. Now businesses are looking to consumer technologies for ideas. More>>>
Wal-Mart using Facebook to win back-to-school
sales
Yahoo!
News ~ August 9, 2007
This year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N) wants students
heading to college to log on to Facebook to design their dorm room with
their roommate. The world's largest retailer on Wednesday is launching
the "Roommate Style Match" group on Facebook, a social networking site
that has millions of college-age users, in the hopes of grabbing a larger
chunk of back-to-school shopping dollars. Facebook users who join the Wal-Mart
group will be able to take a quiz to determine their decorating style and
get a list of "recommended products" they can buy at Wal-Mart to mesh their
style with their roommate's. Students can also download a shopping list
of dorm room items sold at Wal-Mart, link to Wal-Mart's Web site promoting
"earth-friendly" products, or click on Soundcheck, Wal-Mart's Web site
showing musical performances by singers like Bon Jovi and Mandy Moore.
Mike Murphy, vice president of media sales at Facebook, said Facebook has
34 million active users, which it defines as users who have logged on in
the past month, and he said approximately 40 percent of its users are in
college. More>>>
Spock.com hopes to become the Google
of people searches
Ars
technica ~ August 9, 2007
A new web search service has launched, but this one doesn't
provide results for the entire web—it only provides results about people.
Spock.com
went into public beta today after several months of private testingand
prides itself in providing the "richest people search experience on the
web."
More>>>
Aug. 7, 1991: Ladies and Gentlemen,
the World Wide Web
 Wired.com
~ August 7, 2007
1991: The world wide web becomes publicly available on
the internet for the first time.
The web has changed a lot since Tim
Berners-Lee posted, on this day, the first web pages summarizing his
World Wide Web project, a method of storing knowledge using hypertext documents.
In the months leading up to his post, Berners-Lee had developed everything
necessary to make the web a reality, including the first browser and server.
His historic post appeared on the alt.hypertext newsgroup,
ending a journey that began back in 1980, when Berners-Lee was at CERN,
an international particle physics lab located near Geneva, Switzerland.
There, working with collaborator Robert Cailliau, Berners-Lee began the
Enquire project, the forerunner to what would become the web. The project,
which made hypertext a chief communications component for the first time,
was intended to facilitate the sharing of information among researchers
across the broader internet. Today's web is far more powerful and sophisticated
than the research tool developed by Berners-Lee and Cailliau but continues
operating on basically the same principles they established a quarter of
a century ago.
Apple debuts new iMac computers
 Yahoo!
News ~ August 8, 2007
Apple Inc. updated its iMac computers Tuesday with a
slimmer design, faster chips and glossy screens, hoping to further propel
sales that already outpace the rest of the PC industry. The all-in-one
desktop computers now have aluminum casings, replacing the white plastic
facade that has defined the computer lineup for years. The new iMacs will
come in only 20-inch and 24-inch versions. With starting prices at $1,199
and $1,799, respectively, the computers are also $200 to $300 cheaper than
their predecessors. The success of the iPod, Apple's retail stores and
the company's switch to Intel-based computer chips have all helped boost
the Macintosh maker's computer sales and profits to record levels. In recent
quarters, Apple's sales have been growing three times faster than the rest
of the PC industry. "Notebooks are where there's growth, but I think desktops
still have a long life ahead," said Phil Schiller, Apple's executive vice
president of worldwide marketing. More>>>
Online Training for Online Faculty
A checklist of the best strategies for designing and delivering
online courses to train online faculty.
Campus
Technology ~ August 8, 2007
1. Train faculty on the same platform their students
will use. . . .
2. Provide multiple safety nets for faculty during and
after their training. . . .
3. Provide multiple ways of learning for multiple learning
styles. . . .
4. Stretch the faculty members' skills and challenge
their preconceptions. . . .
5. Be a role model of desired teaching behaviors for
online faculty. . . .
6. Your organization skills will be tested as an online
faculty trainer. . . .
7. Remain open to feedback from your faculty trainees.
. . .
8. Online instructor trainees must get practice with
their writing skills. . . .
9. Be their instructor, not their colleague. . . .
10. Respect the faculty members' previous teaching experience.
. . . More>>>
After 22-year wait, teacher ready for
space trip
CNN
~ August 9, 2007
* Teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan will ride to space
on Endeavour this wee
* Morgan was Christa McAuliffe's back-up in 1985
* After the Challenger accident, Morgan returned to teaching
grade school
* In 1998, Morgan was asked to become a full-fledged
astronaut
 Perseverance
and patience is what defines teachers, said the astronaut, who is achieving
her dream at age 55. Unlike McAuliffe, who wasn't a fully trained astronaut,
Morgan has no plans to give a lesson from space. Instead she will answer
questions from schoolchildren in Idaho. If the 11-day shuttle mission is
extended to 14 days as expected, she also will get a chance to talk to
young students in Virginia and Massachusetts. "Because she is an educator,
we will be able to get the attention of students and educators in a way
which perhaps we were unable to do in previous missions," said Joyce Winterton,
NASA's assistant administrator for education. The astronauts will be flying
in a vehicle that has been refurbished from nosecap to tail, part of a
regular maintenance overhaul for the shuttles every three or four years.
During the 11-day mission, the astronauts will deliver 5,000 pounds of
cargo to the space station, attach a new truss segment to the outpost and
replace a gyroscope which helps control the station's orientation. Three
spacewalks are planned. "I'm just another teacher going in space and there
are more to come," Morgan said. "People will be thinking of Christa and
the Challenger crew and what they were trying to do and that's a good thing."
More>>>
Photo tool could fix bad images
BBC
Technology ~ August 8, 2007
Digital photographers could soon be able to erase unwanted
elements in photos by using tools that scan for similar images in online
libraries. Research teams have developed an algorithm that uses sites like
Flickr to help discover light sources, camera position and composition
in a photo. Using this data the tools then search for objects, such as
landscapes or cars, that match the original. The teams aim to create image
libraries that anyone can use to edit snaps. The parts being removed could
be unsightly lorries in the snaps of the rural idyll where they took a
holiday or even an old boyfriend or girlfriend they want to rub out from
a photograph. To find suitable matching elements, the research duo's algorithm
looks through a database of 2.3 million images culled from Flickr. More>>>
Paperless Homework System in Wisconsin
-- Creating a virtual classroom
eSchool
News ~ August 7, 2007
Marinette School District will test the new School
Web Lockers program out on 100 students and teachers. If all goes well,
they plan to give all students and teachers access to the program. Training
began on Monday, August 6 for staff members where they will learn how to
post homework assignments, have online discussions with their classes,
and review homework the students turn in. The district plans to evaluate
the program after each month and possibly slowly integrate new users. With
such a low per user cost, Marinette School District can easily add users
throughout the year without really affecting their budget. A district spokesperson
said: "I've been looking for paperless homework options for a number of
months, and we're always looking for ways to cut down on network management
since our department is very understaffed." Because School Web Locker staff
members monitor all activity and take care of all user administration,
Marinette School District can focus their efforts on other projects. More>>>
Study: eBooks could spark interest in
reading
eSchool
News ~ August 7, 2007
Ball State researchers say wireless handheld devices
might help engage reluctant readers. “The evidence from teachers says that
the kids are more interested and the poor readers are more eager to use
the eBooks,” researcher Bellaver said. “If we can get one student in 100
to start reading just because of the novelty of the eBook, it’s a great
advantage.” Bellaver said he thinks the novelty of the eBooks was the chief
reason for students’ enthusiasm, but the flexibility and additional functionality
offered by the devices--for instance, the ability to search quickly for
a word or phrase-—might have “kept their interest.” More>>>
Refs: Richard
Bellaver | The Project
| Reading A-Z
School printers may pose health risk
Harmful particle emissions found in study of several
common laser printers
eSchool
News ~ August 7, 2007
Some of the laser printers used in classrooms, dorms,
and school administrative offices could pose serious health risks as a
result of the harmful emission of toner particles, according to a study
by Australian researchers. According to the study, released Aug. 1 by the
Queensland Department of Public Works and first published by the American
Chemical Society's Environmental Science & Technology journal, "various
types of printers ... [that] have become standard indoor electronic equipment
... are a potential source of indoor pollutants." In one case, researchers
reportedly found that a printer can expel as much particle matter as a
cigarette smoker inhales. Researchers found that, of the 62 printers they
tested, 60 percent did not emit particles--but another 27 percent emitted
high levels of particles. That means 17 of the 62 printers were high particle
emitters. Chamber measurements confirmed that particle emissions "start
immediately after the printer starts operating," the study says. The emissions
pose "a significant health threat because of the particle" small size,
which makes them easy to inhale and easily lodged in the passageways of
the lungs," Morawska told PC World. She also said the effects can "range
from simple irritation to much more serious illnesses, including cardiovascular
problems or cancer." Readers can see a full list of the printers tested
here: More>>>
Hackers: Social networking sites flawed
News
Yahoo ~ August 6, 2007
Social networking Web sites such as MySpace.com are increasingly
juicy targets for computer hackers, who are demonstrating a pair of vulnerabilities
they claim expose sensitive personal information and could be exploited
by online criminals. The flaws are being demonstrated this week at the
Black Hat and Defcon hacker conferences, which draw thousands of people
to Las Vegas each year for five days of training and demonstrations of
the latest exploits. One hacker, Rick Deacon, a 21-year-old network administrator
from Beachwood, Ohio, says he's discovered a so-called "zero-day" flaw
— or a problem that hasn't been patched yet — in MySpace that allows intruders
to commandeer personal Web pages and possibly inject malicious code. More>>>
Will new NCLB reflect 21st-century skills?
eSchool
News ~ August 6, 2007
House education committee chairman hopes so, as he outlines
his vision for renewing the nation's education law. Proponents of educational
technology for years have been saying that schools need to focus more on
teaching so-called "21st-century skills," such as problem solving, critical
thinking, and collaboration. Now, it appears that momentum is finally building
on Capitol Hill to encourage just such reforms: The chairman of the House
education committee says he hopes to push legislation renewing the federal
No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) through Congress this fall, and one of
the key changes to the law he plans to propose is incentives for states
to develop more rigorous standards that reflect the needs of 21st-century
learners.
"In so many meetings I have had in my district and elsewhere,
employers say that our high school graduates are not ready for the workplace.
Colleges say that our high school graduates are not ready for the college
classroom. This is unacceptable," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., in
a July 30 speech outlining his vision for reforming the nation's education
law. "In my bill, we will ask employers and colleges to come together as
stakeholders with the states to jointly develop more rigorous standards
that meet the demands of both. Many states have already started this process.
We seek to build on and complement the leadership of our nation's governors
and provide them incentives to continue. This requires that assessments
be fully aligned with these new state standards and include multiple measures
of success. More>>>
Fake Steve Jobs blogger unmasked
 BBC
Technology ~ August 6, 2007
The anonymous writer of a prominent blog which lampoons
Apple boss Steve Jobs has been unmasked. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs,
in which the writer pretended to be the Apple chief executive, has become
a must-read for technology watchers. After months of speculation, the New
York Times reported that the writer was Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at
business magazine Forbes. Writing as Steve Jobs on the blog, Mr Lyons said:
"Now you've ruined the mystery of Fake Steve, robbing thousands of people
around the world of their sense of childlike wonder." Mr Lyons told the
newspaper that the blog was intended as an experiment to find out what
happened if a company chief executive kept a blog and told the truth. The
real Steve Jobs and Bill Gates admitted to reading the blog. More>>>
Low-cost PC aims at rural China
 BBC
News ~ August 8, 2007
The rush to grab a share of the huge and potentially
lucrative market for PCs and laptops in China continues. Beijing-based
Lenovo, which acquired IBM's PC division in 2005, has announced a low-cost
computer aimed at the country's vast rural population. The $199 (£99)
machine will plug into a TV and come with educational software. PC sales
in China grew by 23% in the last quarter, according to researchers at Gartner,
and its online population could overtake the US by 2009. "Our focus is
to get down to the rural market," said company spokesman Jay Chen. Earlier
this year, the world's second largest computer-maker Dell also announced
plans for a low-cost personal computer for the world's most populous country.
More>>>
Academic study 'not always best'
BBC
Education ~ August 6, 2007
Parents should encourage teenagers to pursue a wider
range of courses, not just academic ones, campaigners say. Educational
foundation Edge warns of "academic snobbery" against vocational courses.
It says a fifth of pupils think they are on the wrong path. Going on to
study for a degree for its own sake is not always suitable for the careers
they really want, Edge says. The campaign comes as pupils consider their
options ahead of publication of GCSE and A-level exam results. Many
parents have the belief that vocational qualifications limit young people's
options, or they're for less clever kids. They do not fully understand
the wide range of learning opportunities available through further education,
apprenticeships, jobs that offer workplace learning and vocational degrees.
More>>>
Queen star hands in science PhD
 BBC
News ~ August 3, 2007
Queen guitarist Brian May has handed in his astronomy
PhD thesis - 36 years after abandoning it to join the band. May recently
carried out observational work in Tenerife, where he studied the formation
of "zodiacal dust clouds". The subject forms the basis of a 48,000-word
thesis for Imperial College, London, where 60-year-old May studied before
becoming a rock star. "It's been the longest gap year ever," May said.
"It was a tough decision back then to leave my studies for music." But
the star said that at the time, his "passion for music was stronger". "I
have no doubt that Brian May would have had a brilliant career in science
had he completed his PhD in 1971," said astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian,
who worked with May in La Palma. "Nevertheless, as a fan of Queen, I am
glad that he left science temporarily," he added. He recently published
a book on astronomy with The Sky at Night presenter Sir Patrick Moore.
More>>>
Warning of webmail wi-fi hijack
BBC
Technology ~ August 3, 2007
Using public wi-fi hotspots has got much riskier as security
experts unveil tools that nab login data over the air. Demonstrated at
the Black Hat hacker conference in Las Vegas, the tools make it far easier
to steal account details, said Robert Graham of Errata Security. Identifying
files called cookies are stolen in the attack which let hackers pose as
their victim. This gives attackers access to mail messages or the page
someone maintains on sites such as MySpace or Facebook. More>>
Teacher training success varies
 BBC
Education ~ August 2, 2007
Some universities' trainee teachers are more than twice
as likely as others to get into jobs, analysis shows. The study of the
official training agency profiles is compiled annually by Buckingham University's
Centre for Education and Employment Research. Researchers Alan Smithers
and Pamela Robinson say the rate of those failing to complete their courses
is connected with their entry qualifications. The difficulty of recruiting
would-be teachers in certain subjects shows up in the entry qualifications
of those who do get on to the courses. "A number of the core subjects of
the curriculum find it hard to recruit teachers," Prof Smithers said. "That
must raise questions about the expertise and enthusiasm of the teachers
in these areas." More>>>
Public wants more tech in classrooms
Poll: Americans understand technology's importance
in schools, but disagree on approaches
e-School
News ~ August 2, 2007
Americans understand that fundamental changes must be
made to the U.S. educational system if the country is to remain competitive
in the 21st century, a report released July 26 by Cisco Systems finds.
Americans especially realize the importance of adopting information technology
to upgrade schools, connect communities, and improve educational content,
the report suggests--but they're often conflicted about how to implement
these changes. According to the survey, 59 percent of Americans agree that
"information technology is a vital tool that can help educate our students
by providing access to video and other dynamic content" and that more should
be done to incorporate technology into the learning process. Americans
also recognize that understanding science and technology is important to
success in the 21st-century workforce, the poll suggests: 69 percent of
Americans believe that science and math courses should be made mandatory
for grades 7 through 12. And by a slim majority, Americans also believe
that the U.S. education system should take a more global approach to its
curriculum, the poll suggests. Fifty-four percent of Americans said schools
should place a greater emphasis on teaching a global perspective. More>>>
Refs: Video
of panel discussion | Cisco
Education | Consortium for School Networking
| International Society for Technology in
Education
Teachers in websites closure call
 BBC
Education ~ August 2, 2007
Teachers have called for websites such as YouTube to
be shut down as part of efforts to prevent pupils and staff being bullied.
Delegates at the conference of the Professional Association of Teachers
(PAT) said bullying can continue outside school and work hours. They said
bullies can send abusive text messages or e-mails to victims. A spokesman
for the website YouTube said the vast majority of people used the site
responsibly. At the PAT annual conference in Harrogate, delegates heard
that bullies have posted mobile phone videos on websites, showing teachers
as well as pupils being attacked or humiliated. "Not only are the children
and young adults in our care subjected to such torment, it would now appear
that members of the profession are becoming victims of cyber-bullying.
Nobody should be subjected to such humiliation anywhere, let alone in their
place of work." More>>>
School start age 'should be six'
 BBC
Education News ~ August 2, 2007
The age at which pupils start school should be raised
to six or seven, a teachers' association suggests. UK's Professional Association
of Teachers (PAT) says many who begin formal schooling aged just four are
not ready for an academic curriculum. Deborah Lawson from PAT said it was
vital that children should have more freedom to play in nurseries without
being told what to do by adults. Speaking at the PAT annual conference,
in Harrogate, Ms Lawson said: "There is evidence that by starting school
earlier, our children are not better off than those children who are starting
later. She said toddlers developed social and language skills by playing
in a way that was natural to them. We are not giving children sufficient
time and space to learn for themselves - child initiated play activities.
More>>>
New Scrutiny for Facebook Over Predators
New
York Times ~ August 1, 2007
Facebook, the online social network, has stolen some
of MySpace’s momentum with users and the news media. Now, it is being subjected
to the same accusations that it does not do enough to keep sexual predators
off its site. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s attorney general, said
that investigators in his state were looking into “three or more” cases
of convicted sex offenders who had registered on Facebook and had “also
found inappropriate images and content” on the service. The inquiry continues,
he said, and state officials have contacted Facebook and asked it to remove
the profiles. “There is no question that Facebook is encountering some
of the same problems that MySpace has posed,” Mr. Blumenthal said. “They
should be held accountable, and we intend to do so.” MySpace has been implicated
in dozens of cases around the country in which predators used the service
to contact and arrange improper meetings with minors. Some of these encounters
have led to criminal charges against the offenders, and civil suits against
MySpace. More>>>
New must for b-school applicants: 'slideware'
University of Chicago adds PowerPoint-style presentation
to its business school application
eSchool
News ~ August 1, 2007
At business meetings all over the world, PowerPoint-style
presentations often are met with yawns and glazed eyes. But at one of the
world's top business schools, such slide shows are now an entrance requirement,
the Associated Press reports: In a first, the University of Chicago will
begin requiring prospective students to submit four pages of PowerPoint-like
slides with their applications this fall. By adding a PowerPoint requirement
to its application, Chicago thinks it might attract more students who have
the kind of cleverness that can really pay off in business, and fewer of
the technocrat types who sometimes give the program a bad name. More>>>
Ref: University
of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Gene for left-handedness is found
 BBC
Science News ~ August 1, 2007
Scientists have discovered the first gene which appears
to increase the odds of being left-handed. The Oxford University-led team
believe carrying the gene may also slightly raise the risk of developing
psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia. The gene, LRRTM1, appears
to play a key role in controlling which parts of the brain take control
of specific functions, such as speech and emotion. The study appears in
the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The brain is set up in an asymmetrical
way. In right-handed people the left side of the brain usually controls
speech and language, and the right side controls emotions. However, in
left-handed people the opposite is often true, and the researchers believe
the LRRTM1 gene is responsible for this flip. They also believe people
with the LRRTM1 gene may have a raised risk of schizophrenia, a condition
often linked to unusual balances of brain function. More>>>
Male teachers 'help boys behave'
BBC
Education ~ August 1, 2007
Male teachers can have a positive impact on the behaviour
of primary school boys, a UK survey suggests. The Training and Development
Agency for Schools wants to encourage more men to apply to become primary
teachers. The YouGov survey of 603 children aged eight to 11 shows 51%
of boys believe they are better behaved with a male teacher - and 42% say
they work harder. At present, a large majority of teachers in England's
primary schools are women with only 16% being men. More>>>
Educators reveal secrets of reform
On lawmakers’ doorstep, savvy educators describe tested
success strategies
e-School
News ~ August 1, 2007
Educators--at least the savvy ones--know exactly what
it takes to give high school students a genuine shot at academic success,
and on July 23, some of the nation’s savviest came together to spell it
out . . . right on Congress’s doorstep. Here, as these educators described
them, are the essential ingredients for high school reform: Effective
technology, integrated by well-trained and competent teachers,
and solid longitudinal data that provide not just accountability
but also a compass by which to keep teaching and learning on a true
course for each unique student.
SETDA Executive Director Mary Ann Wolf and former West
Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education
(AEE), introduced a panel consisting of local and state educators and a
valedictorian from a District of Columbia high school to talk about programs
proven effective over time in real-life schools. “There are 20,000 high
schools, and 2,000 of those 20,000 high schools account for a majority
of the dropouts,” Wise declared. “So we know where the dropout factories
are.” Only 5 percent of U.S. students now go into math or science, Wolf
said, and between 1989 to 2001, U.S. patent applications from Asia grew
759 percent, while applications from the U.S. itself grew by only 116 percent.
Yet, Wolf expressed optimism. “It’s not too late to make a real difference
for these students and our country,” she insisted, citing positive examples
of effective ed-tech programs across the U.S. More>>>
Reference Sites: ATTAIN
| eMINTS
| TIP Floydada | Freedom
to Learn Initiative | Impact
Schools | PASS
Schools | Alliance for Excellent Education|
SETDA
News Archive 2007:
Jan
| Feb |
Mar
| Apr |
May
| June
|
|July
| August |
September
| October
News Notes Archive 2006
Early
| Aug |
Sept
| Oct |
Nov
| Dec
|
