I commented on security issues associated with student blogs in an earlier post.
Here is a link to an article by MSNBC technology correspondent Bob Sullivan on the same topic. For those looking for data. the article contains numbers from a thesis by David Huffaker indicating the likelihood different types of information appear in a student’ blog.
Full Name – 20%
Email address – 44%
Contact information – 61%
Education Week’s special issue “Technology Counts 2005” is now available. I have not spent enough time yet to offer many comments. However, each issue of Technology Counts has had a theme. The theme of this issue, “Electronic transfer: Moving technology dollars in new directions”, is telling. One section is entitled “NCLB focuses on data tools.”
Anyway, for a start, you might consider the section describing state support for technology. The “abstract” – As states struggle with budget deficits, they try a mix of funding approaches to pay for educational technology.
I have been listening to the audiobook version of Thomas Friedman’s “The World Is Flat.” It is a great read/listen and offers some very challenging observations. [By the way, the material, including video, at the Friedman site is great.]
I came across another blogger offering comment on the role that technology has played in flattening the world. The idea of a “flat world” is a little tough for me to explain as the author might, but to me it implies that barriers associated with country boundaries are becoming meaningless and everyone (as individuals or companies) are operating on the same level.
I am a little futher into the book than the individual I link to above. Among other things, Friedman proposes some challenges to our educational system (perhaps more accurately to the students in the system). Here is my way of describing the challenge. Have you ever seen a t-shirt with the message to young athletes something like – “somewhere in a gym your opponent is practicing.” Friedman’s book might prompt t-shirts that say “Somewhere in India or China, students who want to be the scientists, programmers (or whatever) of the future are studying, What are you doing?).
If the issues of 21st Century skills and new educational demands do not make sense to you, I strongly encourage you to read this book and think about possible implications. Developing students’ skills, no matter how these skills are assessed, for the world most of us think we know is likely very short sighted.
On The Cutting Edge-ucation is a blog focused on instructional strategies for educational podcasts. Up since April.
Ever had the feeling that you need a hero? I started thinking about this question as I realized I was becoming more negative in my appraisal of my technology heros. While it may be possible to change the world with a technology that begins in your garage, the “adult” personalities of notable examples of people who have done this (Gates, Jobs) are not that appealing. I would like to think it was possible to be brilliant and relentless without being a jerk. Maybe not. Can’t say that I really understand the world of big business.
Here is a new possibility. Hector de Jesus Ruiz, the new chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices, wants to put Internet access into the hands of 50 percent of the world’s population by 2015 and is designing a $200 computer to do the job (Washington Post).
Juicy Studio offers an interesting service that allows the user to “calculate” the readability of a web site. Readability is an estimate of the difficulty of text and various indexes use word or sentence length and similar quantitative variables to estimate difficulty. I have done reading research during my career and I do know that there are “issues” with simple quantitative approaches. However, the concept is interesting and the variables provide a useful starting point for analysis.
I applied this tool to one of our online book chapter summaries (Chapter 2) and learned that the document was written at the level of “academic paper.” Of course, this would have been our intent.
The Dept. of Ed has dropped support for the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC) online site (eSchool News). ENC provides an online database of thousands of web site reviews for math and science. The Dept claims this is part of the strategy to move money toward broad categories that can be allocated at the local level. I would bet few administrators at the local level spend money on access to the subscription version of EN C.