Group items tagged

President Obama's first address on educational reform.

'Keeping data secure, safe and legal' is an introductory document that aims to distil the key messages outlined in Data Handling Procedures in Government so they are applicable to schools and is intended for school leaders, senior leadership teams, network managers and other members of staff who have responsibility for handling and securing data.

According to Lightspeed Systems, there is a persistent gap between how today's digital natives learn in schools and how they work and interact outside of school--a trend that underscores the need for districts to keep pace with technological advances and adapt to students' learning needs.

The Reflection Tool presents questions that are designed to help you reflect on your skills in technology integration and to identify areas for growth. These questions are based on the Technology Standards for School Administrators developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Skills Framework developed by the Consortium for School Networking (COSN).

What kind of schools and systems of education does America need to transform mathematics and science education and deliver it equitably and with excellence to all students? The Commission believes that the magnitude of the challenge demands transformative change in classrooms, schools, and education systems. Educators, students, parents, leaders of universities, museums, and the business and professional communities, scientists and mathematicians, and public officials at all levels will need to embrace a new understanding that the world has shifted dramatically-and that an equally dramatic shift is needed in educational expectations and the design of schooling.

From Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog. Doug provides a link to the new Generations Online in 2009 report from the Pew Internet project. The chart of Generational Differences In Online Activities is an eye opener. (Since I have geezer eyeballs, the title of this post really appeals to me!)

ames Gates, a recently retired computer science teacher, thinks simple ignorance lies behind many school districts' decisions to block access to social media sites. (...) he notes most school districts in his area of south central Pennsylvania block all blogs. (...). Other administrators may point to the potential for inappropriate contact between educators and students. "Some teachers can take 50 kids over to Europe for 10 days, but they can't [communicate with students through social networks]. It drives me crazy."

Students and educators disagree on whether their schools are preparing graduates adequately for the jobs of the 21st century, a speaker at an Oct. 15 webcast said. Two-thirds of principals in a recent survey said they believe their school is preparing students to be competitive in the global workforce. But most tech-savvy students didn't share that view, said Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow (formerly known as NetDay).

Great great article with resoruce links about educational blogging

Site connects junior and senior high school students with penpals from other schools.

Here is a example of a school using Drupal (an open source tool) to create their website and have their student creates their own pages.

It's the Internet, according to Richard Sterling, former director of the National Writing Project and a faculty member of the Graduate School of Education at Berkeley University. Sterling notes that for many years writing has been neglected in schools, but the Internet has triggered an ``explosion of writing.''

Soshiku is a simple but powerful tool that manages your high school or college assignments. Soshiku keeps track of when your assignments are due and can even notify you via email or SMS. And it's totally free.

SchoolTool is a project to develop a common global school administration infrastructure that is freely available under an Open Source license We are currently developing a web based student information and calendaring system. SchoolTool 1.0 beta was released October 30, 2008 and SchoolTool 1.0 will be ready in April 2009 for deployments in fall 2009.

"Introduction In recent years, the world has witnessed a growing wave of local initiatives in support of public schools. Teachers, cultural associations and civil society have been playing an active part in grassroots experiments aimed at helping schools in the creative elaboration of new educational methods, also exploiting information technologies. Here answers are coming from those directly faced with educational issues, in contrast with the more common top-down reforms, where experts' committees draw up didactic experimentation plans to be put forward to willing teachers. Experiments like that are often very effective but, unfortunately, they rarely get known beyond the immediate sphere of their promoters. Moreover, they tend to be short-lived because promoters don't have the strength to sustain them and a suitable supporting network is lacking. They are like drops in the ocean: they apparently cannot change the entire educational system. But the ocean of whole human community could be flooded by many such contained experiments that would transform it, if the most meaningful of them could be fostered, spread and developed. ..."

Ringwood North Primary School presents our Podcast/Vodcast website, which showcases the creative talents of our students and the innovative work they are involved in. Episodes are written, recorded and produced by our students.

- Lesson Plans & Lesson Plan Resources for Teaching Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Reading, Writing, Thematic Units, Themes, Classroom Activities - preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle school, high school

Good discussion started on Flipped Classes - where the teacher is more of a learning manager in school and students watch/listen to lecture for homework. "Flip" seems to refer to the student activity being reversed.

Good discussion started on Flipped Classes on LinkedIn- where the teacher is more of a learning manager in school and students watch/listen to lecture for homework. "Flip" seems to refer to the student activity being reversed. (Requires LinkedIn)