Educational Technology

What Technology? Reflections on Evolving Services - Sharon Collins and the 2009 EDUCAUSE Evolving Technologies Committee, EDUCAUSE Review, vol 44/no 6

2009-11-15T00:40:00.000Z

"As we go forward, I hope we're going to continue to use technology to make really big differences in how people live and work." � Sergey Brin, Google co-founder Ten years ago, when EDUCAUSE established the Evolving Technologies Committee to consider the future of information technologies and how they would drive, or be driven by, educational endeavors, there were no iPods, iPhones, fluid webcam

National Survey of Student Engagement 2009 Report

2009-11-15T00:35:00.001Z

Course management and interactive technologies were positively related to student engagement, self-reported learning outcomes, and deep approaches to learning. Course management technology was most strongly related to student-faculty interaction and self-reported gains in personal and social development. It is possible that the use of this type of organizational technology encourages contact

Seven Things You Should Know about Google Wave - EDUCAUSE (with thanks to Seb Schmoller)

2009-11-15T00:30:00.000Z

Google is developing an application that has elements of existing communication tools but is built around a different model of how communication�and collaboration�take place. With Wave, users create online spaces called "waves," which may include multiple discrete messages and components�"blips"�that constitute a running, conversational document. Users access waves through the web, resulting in a

FCC proposes web-safety education rules - Laura Devaney, eSchool News

2009-11-14T00:40:00.001Z

Schools and libraries receiving federal e-Rate funding would have to submit proof that they have implemented internet safety education programs along with their e-Rate applications, according to a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Nov. 5. When the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act passed in Congress late last year, it included a

Blackboard Adds BlackBerry App for Mobile Web Platform - Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

2009-11-14T00:35:00.001Z

Blackboard has added the Research in Motion BlackBerry to its list of supported devices for the new Blackboard Mobile platform. Mobile Central (formerly named MobilEdu) was initially optimized only for users of Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Originally developed by San Francisco-based Terriblyclever Design, a company acquired by Blackboard in July 2009, Mobile Central is branded for each

Project Lead the Way Embarks on 5-Year STEM Assessment Program - Dan Thompson, THE Journal

2009-11-14T00:30:00.000Z

Project Lead the Way, a not-for-profit organization that promotes engineering and biomedical sciences through project-based learning, has launched an online assessment initiative to monitor the progress of 200,000 high school students per year for the next five years in order to help track their learning in STEM subjects from middle school to high school and beyond. PLTW partnered with assessment

Moodlerooms Releases New CMS Based on Moodle - Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

2009-11-13T00:40:00.002Z

Moodlerooms has released Joule, a new course management system built on Moodle, an open source CMS. The new platform is extensible, according to the company. Organizations that adopt it will be able to use open-source and third-party applications to create courses, for example, that integrate Web conferencing functionality from WebEx, Turnitin plagiarism tools, and a portable e-portfolio

I finally have Google Wave; wave with me - Shannan Bowen, Squak

2009-11-13T00:35:00.000Z

I finally received a long-awaited Google Wave invitation. If you�re not familiar with Google Wave, well, no one really is. It�s a new real-time communication tool that allows users to collaborate and share information in real-time �waves.� Yeah, it�s pretty pointless for me to even try to explain if you haven�t been reading about it. Check it out, you can search for articles and demos on it. But

How About an iPhone/iTouch Front-End App for Google Wave? It�s Here! - Resource Shelf

2009-11-13T00:30:00.002Z

Here�s an iPhone/iTouch app that some people have been asking for. It�s a �very simple� front-end for Google Wave from company named Waveboard. It�s not an official Google product. The price? 99 cents. So, if you don�t like the app and/or don�t see a need for it (or Google Wave in general), you�re not out a great deal of $$$.

Ten gadgets to make Google Wave more productive - and fun! - Sebastian Anthony, Download Squad

2009-11-12T00:40:00.000Z

It's still early days for Google Wave but already there are a large number of Gadgets and Robots being developed. If you don't know the difference, Gadgets are local, client-side (as in they run on your computer), Javascript and HTML. Robots run remotely on another server. Gadgets change how you interact with waves, whereas robots process your input in some way or pull in data from another

Education and Technology - Newsday

2009-11-12T00:35:00.001Z

Teachers from the Herricks UFSD shared their collective experience using Web 2.0 to differentiate instruction and improve student achievement, while a teacher integration specialist from Eastern Suffolk BOCES offered ideas on using Web 2.0 to �harness the power of information and become leaders in the use of 21st-century technologies.� A technology training specialist from Copiague schools

Google Chrome 4 Beta is available for Windows - Luis, Walyou

2009-11-12T00:30:00.000Z

Google has recently released a Google Chrome 4 beta of its browser that is gradually becoming increasingly popular, especially among users of various Google services, including one of the most recent called Google Wave. Google Chrome Beta 4 has some substantial changes to the previous version Chrome 3, such as the use synchronization of bookmarks. Called �My Bookmarks Sync�, the tool is useful

17 Institutions Join IBM Cloud Academy - David Nagel, THE Journal

2009-11-11T00:40:00.002Z

IBM has launched Cloud Academy, an online resource and collaborative forum for campus IT professionals, educators, and researchers in K-12 and higher ed. Cloud Academy is designed to help academic institutions with their cloud computing initiatives and related professional development and to provide a forum for sharing best practices. Cloud Academy participants have access to IBM's various cloud

Blackboard and Microsoft Team To Put Course Info on Bing - Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal

2009-11-11T00:35:00.001Z

Blackboard and Microsoft have joined forces to offer students access to information from their online courses on Web browsers. Under the agreement the two companies will work together to program a Blackboard Learn toolbar for the Bing search engine, as well as the Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. The goal is to streamline access to course information and to help students keep up with

How Can American Education Compete Globally? - Scott Aronowitz, THE Journal

2009-11-11T00:30:00.001Z

Of the many issues that have sparked the debate over education reform in recent years, one that seems to many to be a bit more abstract is the concern that we may be losing our competitive standing on the world stage, in terms of leadership in innovation, in technology, and in overall math and science proficiency. Motoko Akiba is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy

Google defines its focus in Apps in 2010 - Christopher Dawson, ZDNet Education

2009-11-10T00:40:00.001Z

No, it�s not Wave. We�ll see Wave evolve and find its way into more schools and businesses who are already using Google Apps, but the real focus for the Apps team in 2010 will be improving their Docs/Spreadsheets/Presentation offerings.

Microsoft chops price of its hosted software - Ina Fried, news.cnet.com

2009-11-10T00:35:00.000Z

Microsoft said Monday that it's cutting by a third the subscription prices for the hosted versions of Exchange, Sharepoint, and Office Communications Server. The software maker plans to cut the monthly per-user cost of licensing all three products from $15 to $10, while the cost of licensing individual products is also dropping by as much as 50 percent. The move comes as Microsoft faces

The Complete Guide to Google Wave

2009-11-10T00:31:00.000Z

The Complete Guide to Google Wave is a comprehensive user manual by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash. Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that's notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you'll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that's evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will

Experts: Copyright law hinders scholarship - eSchool News

2009-11-09T05:00:00.003Z

Day two of the annual EDUCAUSE higher-education technology conference in Denver, Nov. 3 through 6, saw at least two presenters speak out about the unfair application of strict copyright protections to scholarly journals -- a practice, they said, that hinders academic endeavors. Stanford law professor and activist Lawrence Lessig told the gathering of campus technology chiefs Nov. 5 that

More report cards go online - Clay Carey and Ann Wallace, USA TODAY When report cards went out for students in the Clarksville-Montgomery County scho

2009-11-09T00:35:00.001Z

When report cards went out for students in the Clarksville-Montgomery County school district in October, most of the 29,000-plus students did not have a printed version for their parents to sign.That's because the district went largely paperless with its report cards for the first time, making grades available to parents with secure accounts online, says communications manager Michelle Newell. A

Protecting kids or free speech: Where to draw the line? - Maya T. Prabhu, eSchool News Panelists discussed ways to protect children from innaprop

2009-11-09T00:30:00.001Z

Panelists discussed ways to protect children from innapropriate media content while upholding the First Amendment. Controlling what children see on TV, online, and in other electronic media requires a delicate balancing act between the First Amendment rights of content providers and the desire to protect kids from inappropriate material, said panelists during a Nov. 2 discussion at the

Free software could help IT departments - eSchool News

2009-11-08T00:40:00.001Z

School and college IT departments have until the end of the calendar year to take advantage of a new offer from automated systems management software provider Kaseya, which is providing its IT inventory software to educational institutions free of charge for a limited time. "The federal stimulus plan included funds for technology improvements at schools..., such as new computers and software,

'Convergent education' online learning comes together - Gregg W. Downey, eSchool

2009-11-08T00:35:00.000Z

As I was saying last month, an avalanche of change is rumbling towards our field. I propose we call this cascading phenomenon "convergent education." Here's what I mean: A new species of education is emerging that artfully aggregates up-to-the-minute instructional technology, sophisticated pedagogy, robust and standards-based educational content, and web-based delivery that requires a computer or

Technology not causing social isolation: Pew study - AFP

2009-11-08T00:30:00.001Z

Contrary to popular belief, technology is not leading to social isolation and Americans who use the Internet and mobile phones have larger and more diverse social networks, according to a new study. "All the evidence points in one direction," said Keith Hampton, lead author of the report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project released Wednesday. "People's social worlds are enhanced by new

Race on for first Google Wave iPhone app - revolutionmagazine.com

2009-11-07T00:40:00.002Z

The race is on to release the first approved Google Wave iPhone app with two contenders already in the running. One is called WaveBoard, which is already up and running as a Mac Google Wave desktop client. It is awaiting approval from the iPhone App Store.The other potential candidate is an Adobe AIR application called Waver, which has been developed as "your tiny Google Wave client". The desktop