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Asa Spencer of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute writes in the Education Gadfly Weekly: "Traditionalists cringe, tech buffs rejoice: This latest NAEP writing assessment for grades eight and twelve marks the first computer-based appraisal (by the "nation's report card") of student proficiency in this subject. It evaluates students' writing skills (what NAEP calls both academic and workplace writing) based on three criteria: idea development, organization, and language facility and conventions. Results were predictably bad: Just twenty-four percent of eighth graders and 27 percent of twelfth graders scored proficient or above. Boys performed particularly poorly; half as many eighth-grade males reached proficiency as their female counterparts. The use of computers adds a level of complexity to these analyses: The software allows those being tested to use a thesaurus (which 29 percent of eighth graders exploited), text-to-speech software (71 percent of eighth graders used), spell check (three-quarters of twelfth graders), and kindred functions. It is unclear whether use of these crutches affected a student's "language facility" scores, though it sure seems likely. While this new mechanism for assessing kids' writing prowess makes it impossible to track trend data, one can make (disheartening) comparisons across subjects. About a third of eighth graders hit the NAEP proficiency benchmark in the latest science, math, and reading assessments, compared to a quarter for writing. So where to go from here? The report also notes that twelfth-grade students who write four to five pages a week score ten points higher than those who write just one page a week. Encouraging students to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a start."

Educational site with lesson plans and videos for K-12 students to teach them about waste and recycling. Also includes a very detailed interactive tour of a materials recovery facility (MRF), a glossary of recycling terms, and links to other sites.

A fresh coat of paint and new furniture were the easy and obvious fixes when a Bentley team renovated the lab in 2011. More difficult was changing campus perceptions of what would take place inside. Rebranded in fall 2011 as the CIS Learning and Technology Sandbox, the new facility encourages students to learn both in person and online.

There's an atmosphere of grand fragility hanging over America's colleges. The grandeur comes from the surging application rates, the international renown, the fancy new dining and athletic facilities. The fragility comes from the fact that colleges are charging more money, but it's not clear how much actual benefit they are providing.

Pagina infantil con varias cositas. Facil de manejar para los peques

Outil gratuit pour fabriquer facilement des cinémapgraphs. Voir l'article wikipédia =>

"Betaversity is an education technology company that creates and supports collaborative prototyping spaces for post-secondary schools. We use the latest rapid prototyping technology and design thinking methodologies to help students learn by doing. We are a product-driven company that manufactures, rents, and sells BetaBox Mobile Prototyping Labs. These mobile lab facilities help schools maximize student satisfaction while minimizing expenses."

"Importer accountability For the first time, importers have an explicit responsibility to verify that their foreign suppliers have adequate preventive controls in place to ensure that the food they produce is safe. (Final regulation and guidance due 1 year following enactment)"

Fuel cell cars are expensive.  The fuel cell costs a lot

Abstract: Modern academic libraries cater the information needs of a more demanding and tech-savvy new generation user group that prefers to reside in an open, self-generated online environment largely supported by Web 2.0 technologies. To reach the users where they are, the libraries should revamp their service strategies by incorporating tools like blogs and online social networks. Blog is a handy technology for library professionals which can be reshaped as an information and publicity tool, as a feedback instrument, as an interactive and collaborative learning medium and as a facility for library promotion. Online social networks connect like minded people who share information, ideas and feelings. The unparalleled growth of user bases of these networks presents an opportunity before academic libraries that may be harnessed by making the library an active member of these communities. The experience of an academic library in India shows that reaching the user at their own time and space is more easy and productive when we adapt new web technologies.

"Tablet computers are a game-changer in professional sports"

In many classrooms, the picture is all too familiar: desks in rows, a clear front of the classroom, podium off-center in the front, etc.. Does this image speak to the beliefs we state about 21st Century Learning? Are these spaces best capable of fostering the development of our vision for a well-educated global citizen? Have the spaces been intentionally designed in a way that supports learning and teaching?

As building work gets underway for a new school, Gareth Nutt, head of property and regeneration at Neath Port Talbot council, describes its unusual circular design. The classrooms in this new school will be circular so all pupils feel included. The building environment is controlled with windows which automatically open when rooms get too hot. This clip was first published on BBC News Online on 15 January 2009. Please note this clip is only available in Flash.