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Justin Medved

The state of the Digital Union - - 9 views

  • This is an important speech on a very important subject. But before I begin, I want to just speak briefly about Haiti, because during the last eight days, the people of Haiti and the people of the world have joined together to deal with a tragedy of staggering proportions. Our hemisphere has seen its share of hardship, but there are few precedents for the situation we’re facing in Port-au-Prince. Communication networks have played a critical role in our response. They were, of course, decimated and in many places totally destroyed. And in the hours after the quake, we worked with partners in the private sector; first, to set up the text “HAITI” campaign so that mobile phone users in the United States could donate to relief efforts via text messages. That initiative has been a showcase for the generosity of the American people, and thus far, it’s raised over $25 million for recovery efforts.
  • Information networks have also played a critical role on the ground. When I was with President Preval in Port-au-Prince on Saturday, one of his top priorities was to try to get communication up and going. The government couldn’t talk to each other, what was left of it, and NGOs, our civilian leadership, our military leadership were severely impacted. The technology community has set up interactive maps to help us identify needs and target resources. And on Monday, a seven-year-old girl and two women were pulled from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket by an American search-and-rescue team after they sent a text message calling for help. Now, these examples are manifestations of a much broader phenomenon.
  • The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our planet. When something happens in Haiti or Hunan, the rest of us learn about it in real time – from real people. And we can respond in real time as well. Americans eager to help in the aftermath of a disaster and the girl trapped in the supermarket are connected in ways that were not even imagined a year ago, even a generation ago. That same principle applies to almost all of humanity today. As we sit here, any of you – or maybe more likely, any of our children – can take out the tools that many carry every day and transmit this discussion to billions across the world.
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    Recent speech by Hillary Clinton
Heidi Ames

Today's Meet - 125 views

shared by Heidi Ames on 22 May 10 - Cached
Stacy Olson liked it
    • Melissa Cameron
       
      I'm going to try this with a couple of my classes next week. I promise to let you know how it goes!
    • Ginger Lewman
       
      We'll be using this on our snowdays. Kids and teachers will meet in scheduled classes and continue to work using this as one of our tools.
    • Betsy Barnhart
       
      could also be used if you are sick and have a sub... maybe questions could be answered from home
    • John Marr
       
      This is great for PD or extra help. I am going to try it out.
    • Oktavian Mantiri
       
      Will definitely try this... especially with my extesion classes
    • Ann Lusch
       
      I once held a department meeting when I was out of the building using this. I have also used it while showing a movie to classes; students can comment and get questions answered right away.
    • Brad Klitzke
       
      I've used it during a video in class. Kids are able to pose questions to each other, provide comments, state their opinions and express themself. Worked great.
    • Brad Klitzke
       
      I have also used this at a conference so that our group could backchat during a key presenter
    • Ed Webb
       
      Plan to use it for discussion during class movie showing, for which I have in the past used Meebo rooms (no longer available) or piratepad: http://the-ed-rush.blogspot.com/2008/11/talking-through-movie.html This looks like it might work very well.
    • Ann Lusch
       
      Recently I had 9th graders talking to each other and me while they read a selection from their text. A couple of students did not like it, but most said it was helpful in understanding the material they were reading.
    • Paul Solarz
       
      I use this often during my PBL activities. As students are researching, they post links to websites that are helpful for others and they post their ideas. At the end of the lesson, we look over the list one last time and make our whole-class decision based on our findings. My 5th graders love it and it has made their problem solving much better since it is based on research and collaboration.
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    Instant chat room (with Twitter integration), for class "discussions"
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    4th graders used Today's Meet during Social Studies. They provided details related to a topic's main idea while studying a region of the United States. Worked great!
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    Quick chat rooms on the fly.
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    Kids communicate without talking and see each others words...very cool.
Tanya Windham

Dissent Magazine - Winter 2011 Issue - Got Dough? Public Scho... - 59 views

  • To justify their campaign, ed reformers repeat, mantra-like, that U.S. students are trailing far behind their peers in other nations, that U.S. public schools are failing. The claims are specious. Two of the three major international tests—the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International Math and Science Study—break down student scores according to the poverty rate in each school. The tests are given every five years. The most recent results (2006) showed the following: students in U.S. schools where the poverty rate was less than 10 percent ranked first in reading, first in science, and third in math. When the poverty rate was 10 percent to 25 percent, U.S. students still ranked first in reading and science. But as the poverty rate rose still higher, students ranked lower and lower. Twenty percent of all U.S. schools have poverty rates over 75 percent. The average ranking of American students reflects this. The problem is not public schools; it is poverty. And as dozens of studies have shown, the gap in cognitive, physical, and social development between children in poverty and middle-class children is set by age three.
  • Drilling students on sample questions for weeks before a state test will not improve their education. The truly excellent charter schools depend on foundation money and their prerogative to send low-performing students back to traditional public schools. They cannot be replicated to serve millions of low-income children. Yet the reform movement, led by Gates, Broad, and Walton, has convinced most Americans who have an opinion about education (including most liberals) that their agenda deserves support.
  • THE COST of K–12 public schooling in the United States comes to well over $500 billion per year. So, how much influence could anyone in the private sector exert by controlling just a few billion dollars of that immense sum? Decisive influence, it turns out. A few billion dollars in private foundation money, strategically invested every year
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  • Hundreds of private philanthropies together spend almost $4 billion annually to support or transform K–12 education, most of it directed to schools that serve low-income children (only religious organizations receive more money). But three funders—the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Eli and Edythe Broad (rhymes
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    A great analysis of the problems with financial giants supporting educational reform.
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    This is one juicy article which may change your view of the big picture of ed reform or help you get others to see it more clearly. Pass it on.
David Sladkey

Giving Away 1000 Energizing Brain Break Books - 83 views

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    We are going to give 1000 Energizing Brain Breaks books away to needy schools. Schools that have a free or reduced lunch program of 40% or more qualify to get the books. See below for more details. 25% of the profits of Energizing Brain Breaks Book are going to underprivileged schools. We have given over 1000 books away to schools all over the United States. We need to give another 1000 away. We will give 25 books (a $375 value) to each school that meets the criteria. There will be no shipping and no cost involved. All you will need to do is fill out the form and send it in to get the books. Energizing Brain Breaks are 1-2 minute brain and body challenges to help your students refocus in class. More info at www.energizingbrainbreaks.com
collettmegan

How Cyclone Yasi compares around the world | Latest news on the Queensland Floods | New... - 21 views

  • with storms of the past - it's bigger than Larry, more powerful than Tracy.  Hours after landfall, it was still a category three and had been forecast to still be a category one even when it reached Mt Isa, more han
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    " IF you're struggling to grasp the magnitude of Tropical Cyclone Yasi, consider this: it is so large it would almost cover the United States, most of Asia and large parts of Europe. "
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    Cyclone Yasi is about to strike land in North Queensland as I enter this post on the evening of 2 Feb 2011. This is a good comparison and visualisation that other teachers could use in their classroom to explain to students.
Greg Gichan

A Nation at Risk: Edited by Yong Zhao - Eugene, MO, United States, ASCD EDge Blog post - 28 views

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    A new look at "A Nation at Risk" on its 30 year anniverary!
Josh Flores

Susan Ohanian's Testing Outrages (Susan Ohanian Speaks Out) - 49 views

    • Josh Flores
       
      What is the CC Map Project?
  • research-based Curriculum Maps present a comprehensive, coherent sequence of thematic curriculum units connecting the skills outlined in the CCSS with suggested student objectives, texts, activities, and much more
D. S. Koelling

Embracing the Cloud: Caveat Professor - The Digital Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Ed... - 37 views

  • My work as chief privacy and security officer at a large public university has, however, given me pause to ask if our posture toward risk prevents us from fully embracing technology at a moment of profound change.
  • Consequently, faculty members are accepting major personal and institutional risk by using such third-party services without any institutional endorsement or support. How we provide those services requires a nuanced view of risk and goes to the heart of our willingness to trust our own faculty and staff members.
  • The technologically savvy among us recognize that hard physical, virtual, and legal boundaries actually demark this world of aggressively competitive commercial entities. Our students, faculty, and staff often do not.
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  • But can we embrace the cloud? Can the faculty member who wears our institution's name in her title and e-mail address, to whom we've entrusted the academic and research mission of the institution, be trusted to reach into the cloud and pluck what she believes is the optimal tool to achieve her pedagogical aims and use it? Unfortunately, no. Many faculty and staff members simply use whatever service they choose, but they often do not have the knowledge or experience needed to evaluate those choices. And those who do try to work through the institution soon find themselves mired in bureaucracy.
  • First we review the company's terms of service. Of course, we also ask the company for any information it can provide on its internal data security and privacy practices. Our purchasing unit rewrites the agreement to include all of the state-required procurement language; we also add our standard contract language on data security. All of this information is fed into some sort of risk assessment of varying degrees of formality, depending on the situation, and, frankly, the urgency. That leads to yet another round of modifications to the agreement, negotiations with the company, and, finally, if successful, circulation for signatures. After which we usually exhume the corpse of the long-deceased faculty member and give him approval to use the service in his class. We go through this process not from misguided love of bureaucracy, but because our institutions know of no other way to manage risk. That is, we have failed to transform ourselves so we can thrive and compete in the 21st century.
  • But our faculty and staff are increasingly voting with their feet—they're more interested in the elegance, portability, and integration of commercial offerings, despite the inability to control how those programs change over time. By insisting on remaining with homegrown solutions, we are failing to fall in lockstep with those we support.
  • Data security? Of course there are plenty of fly-by-night operations with terrible security practices. However, as the infrastructure market has matured (one of the generally unrecognized benefits of cloud services), more and more small companies can provide assurances of data security that would shame many of us even at large research-intensive institutions.
  • If higher education is to break free of the ossified practices of the past, we must find ways to transfer risk acceptance into the faculty domain—that is, to enable faculty to accept risk. Such a transformation is beyond the ability of the IT department alone—it will require our campus officials, faculty senates, registrars, and research and compliance officers working together to deeply understand both the risks and the benefits
Nathan Hopson

Thoreau - Walking - Webtext - 41 views

  • When I go out of the house for a walk, uncertain as yet whither I will bend my steps, and submit myself to my instinct to decide for me, I find, strange and whimsical as it may seem, that I finally and inevitably settle south-west, toward some particular wood or meadow or deserted pasture or hill in that direction. My needle is slow to settle—varies a few degrees, and does not always point due south-west, it is true, and it has good authority for this variation, but it always settles between west and south-south-west. The future lies that way to me, and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side. The outline which would bound my walks, would be, not a circle, but a parabola, or rather like one of those cometary orbits, which have been thought to be non-returning curves, in this case opening westward, in which my house occupies the place of the sun. I turn round and round irresolute sometimes for a quarter of an hour, until I decide for the thousandth time, that I will walk into the south-west or west. Eastward I go only by force; but westward I go free.
    • Nathan Hopson
       
      West = new + free, East = old + constrained Not a reference to world history, but to the American context (West = frontier). The Americas were the West (to Europe) and the West was America (as Turner/Billington argue).
  • I must walk toward Oregon, and not toward Europe. And that way the nation is moving, and I may say that mankind progress from east to west.
    • Nathan Hopson
       
      See above...
Karen Balnis

Another Look at the Weaknesses of Online Learning - Innovations - The Chronicle of High... - 86 views

shared by Karen Balnis on 28 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • have been lucky enough to have taught the full range of our freshman / sophmore undergraduate offerings as both an onsite and online instructor. While I have thoroughly enjoyed both formats - and very much so - I must admit that my experiences online have been *much* more positive than onsite instruction. Let me try and elucidate:1. While in the onsite classroom you have the opportunity to think on your feet and challenge and be experiential on your feet to reactions to the students who speak, in the online classroom, you are able to meet *every* class member and challenge their minds and ideas. The students who would normally be lost in a classroom of 35-40 are met and developed each day or week at their level and pushed to consider ideas they might not have considered. 2. I am able to reach the entire class through multimedia exhibits in each of the weekly units - journal articles, non-copyrighted film clips (and many from our university's purchased collection under an agreement for both onsite classroom and online classroom use), photography, art, patents, etc, that the students would not see - or would otherwise ignore - in an onsite classroom. We incorporate this information into our discussions and make it part of the larger whole of history.3. Each student and I - on the phone during office hours or in e-mail - discuss the creation of their term papers - and discuss midterm and final "anxiety" issues - and as they are used to the online format, and regular communication with me through the discussion boards, they respond much more readily than onsite students, whom I have found I have to pressure to talk to me. 4. I am able to accommodate students from around the country - and around the world. I have had enrolled in my class students from Japan, Indonesia, India, England - and many other countries. As a result, I have set up a *very* specific Skype address *only* for use of my students. They are required to set up the time and day with me ahead of time and I need to approve that request, but for them (and for some of my students scattered all over the state and US), the face time is invaluable in helping them feel "connected" - and I am more than happy to offer it. 5. As the software upgrades, the possibilities of what I can offer become more and more amazing, and the ease of use for both me - and for the students -  becomes astronomically better. Many have never known the software, so they don't notice it - but those who have taken online courses before cheer it on. Software does not achieve backwards. As very few of these issues are met by the onsite classroom, I am leaning more and more toward the online classroom as the better mode of instruction. Yes, there are times I *really* miss the onsite opportunities, but then I think of the above distinctions and realize that yes, I am where I should be, and virtually *ALL* the students are getting far more for their money than they would get in an onsite classroom. This is the wave of the future, and it holds such amazing promise. Already I think we are seeing clear and fruitful results, and if academics receive effective - and continuing - instruction and support from the very beginning, I cannot imagine why one would ever go back. The only reason I can think of *not* doing this is if the instructor has his or her *own* fear of computers. Beyond that - please, please jump on the bandwagon, swallow your fears, and learn how to do this with vigor. I don't think you will ever be sorry.PhD2BinUS
  • have been lucky enough to have taught the full range of our freshman / sophmore undergraduate offerings as both an onsite and online instructor. While I have thoroughly enjoyed both formats - and very much so - I must admit that my experiences online have been *much* more positive than onsite instruction. Let me try and elucidate:
  • While I have thoroughly enjoyed both formats - and very much so - I must admit that my experiences online have been *much* more positive than onsite instruction. Let me try and elucidate:
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    I am a graduate student at Sam Houston State University and before I started grad school I never had taken an online course before. My opinion then was that online courses were a joke and you couldn't learn from taking a course online. Now my opinion has done a complete 180. The teachers post numerous youtube videos and other helpful tools for each assignment so that anyone can successfully complete the assignment no matter what their technology skill level is. I do not see much difference between online and face-to-face now because of the way the instructors teach the courses.
Fiona Boughey

Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely : Shots - Heal... - 119 views

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    Fascinating view on learning styles that goes against much of what is being suggested to instructors and students.  Suggests variety rather than different learning styles is what makes multi-modal teaching successful.  Curious to see if there is more out there on this viewpoint.
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    I've never really bought into the one student-one style approach, especially when I hear junk like "I'm a visual learner, so I really don't write many of my essays" or "I'm not assigning writing to him; he processes kinesthetically." To me, MI has always been a prompt to include different things across a unit.
Ann Darling

NAEP Gets It One-Third Right -- THE Journal - 15 views

  • gets, the more the debate will stir and positive things can come of all this.
  • 9 Gail Desler California I look forward to following this discussion! Currently many school districts have the same keyboarding + MS Office requirement for tech proficiency shared above by Interested Parent. I think to continue with that model well into the 21st century is really the train wreck waiting to happen. I've read through the NAEP draft. as well as some of their referenced documents from ISTE, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ DOT , and the http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/2 DOT 1stcentdefinition and am hopeful that the NAEP framework will promote the integration of technology literacy across the curriculum. Thanks for starting the conversation.
  • Wed, Sep 9, 2009 Dick Schutz http://ssrn.com/author=1199505 The framework defines technology as "any modification of the natural or designed world done to fulfill human needs or desires." I can't think of any human action that wouldn't fall under that definition The definition of technological literacy is "the capacity to use, understand, and evaluate technology as well as to apply concepts and processes to solve problems and reach one’s goals. It encompasses the three areas of Technology and Society, Design and Systems, and Information and Communications Technology." That's pretty much universal expertise. This is to be measured with a 50 minute test starting at Grade 4. The specs for the tests at Grades 8 and 12 merely get more detailed and more abstract. By the time this gets run through the Item Response Theory wringer we'll have results that are sensitive to racial/SES differences but not to instructional differences. I'll look forward to your forthcoming explanations of how this came to happen.
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  • The problem? Namely, this: With no established federal definition of technological literacy, most states have chosen to follow the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) established by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and to create their curricula and assessments accordingly.
  • gical literacy that is very different from anything any state or No Child Left Behind (NCLB) envisioned. From the draft document: "In recent decades the meaning of technological literacy has taken on three quite different… forms in the United States. These are the science, technology, and society approach, the technology education approach, and the information and communications technology approach. In recognition of the importance, educational value, and interdependence of these three approaches, this framework includes all three under its broad definition of technological literacy."
  • Geoffrey H. Fletcher is the editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Group. He can be reached at gfletcher@1105media.com. Comments
anonymous

2.2 The Third Estate as the voice of the nation - French Revolution - OpenLearn - The O... - 24 views

    • anonymous
       
      Similar to Thomas Paine's criticism of existing institutions such as monarchy.
  • He argued that sovereignty, or ultimate political power in a state, derives not from the monarch but from the ‘people’ or ‘nation’, that it must be exercised in their interest and for their benefit, that it should be controlled and circumscribed by laws, and that the ruler's tenure of office is in the nature of a trust exercised for the people's benefit and with their consent, underpinned by an implicit agreement or ‘social contract’
  • additional boost, first from the success of the American Revolution and the summoning of a constitutional convention by the United States in 1787, and now in France by the summoning of the Estates-General.
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  • Sieyès's purpose is to isolate and marginalise the nobility in his readers’ eyes, and to expose it to their critical censure. In the circumstances of 1789, his message took on startling implications about the respective roles of the nobility and the Third Estate in the Estates-General.
  • The significance of Sieyès's pamphlet lay in its ‘consciousness-raising’.
Kathy Malsbenden

Knol - a unit of knowledge: share what you know, publish your expertise. - 27 views

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    Share what you know and write a knol. Did you know? You can embed forms in your knols. Great for conducting surveys or managing collaborative knols!
Ryan Trauman

The Astro Banshees | Blog | Closing Argument - 0 views

shared by Ryan Trauman on 21 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • In Dennis Burgess article ‘ObesityPproblem stems from Laziness’, he adresses the root cause of obesity. Burgess claims the root of obesity to be laziness. He argues that America does not have an ‘obesity problem’, rather a ‘laziness problem’. More specifically, Burgess makes mention of the correlation between children and parents concerning obesity. ‘As a child, I would go outside and “play”. This involved getting up off the couch and exerting myself. But many of today’s children don’t participate in this type of play. And many of today’s parents sit on the couch right next to them’ (Dennis B. Burgess). Burgess makes the correlation by stating that the parents often times discourage active play by not setting the example. Parents would rather sit with their kids on the couch than take the initiative and go outside with their kids and take a walk or play ball. Parents do indeed play a role in their children’s health and ultimately have some effect on their children’s health. Healthy kids most often have healthy parents who encourage their kids good health by setting the example well and partaking in activity with their kids.
    • Ryan Trauman
       
      Excellent work here, Lizzy. You stick nice and close to the quotation that you actually introduce. Then you reflect on it some. Then you offer your own position. This is a great job.
  • Andrea Freeman addresses the issue of fast food in her article ‘Fast Food: Oppression Through Poor Nutrition.’ Freeman considers fast food in respects to low- income families. ‘Fast food has become a major source of nutrition in low- income, urban neighborhoods across the United States’ (Freeman, pg. 1). Less privelaged families must make do with their current financial situation. The easiest most convenient food source for low- income families is that of fast food. Therefore, parents have a direct effect on their children’s health.
    • Ryan Trauman
       
      This quotation is less successful. You really don't reflect on Freeman's quotation at all.
Ryan Trauman

Lizzy - Closing Argument - 0 views

  • In Dennis Burgess article ‘ObesityPproblem stems from Laziness’, he adresses the root cause of obesity. Burgess claims the root of obesity to be laziness. He argues that America does not have an ‘obesity problem’, rather a ‘laziness problem’. More specifically, Burgess makes mention of the correlation between children and parents concerning obesity. ‘As a child, I would go outside and “play”. This involved getting up off the couch and exerting myself. But many of today’s children don’t participate in this type of play. And many of today’s parents sit on the couch right next to them’ (Dennis B. Burgess).
    • Ryan Trauman
       
      Excellent work here with your quotation. Now you've just got to work with double quotation marks, not singles.
  • Parents do indeed play a role in their children’s health and ultimately have some effect on their children’s health. Healthy kids most often have healthy parents who encourage their kids good health by setting the example well and partaking in activity with their kids.
  • Andrea Freeman addresses the issue of fast food in her article ‘Fast Food: Oppression Through Poor Nutrition.’ Freeman considers fast food in respects to low- income families. ‘Fast food has become a major source of nutrition in low- income, urban neighborhoods across the United States’ (Freeman, pg. 1).
    • Ryan Trauman
       
      Your use of quotation here is less effective because you don't really come to terms with the quote. You just quote it, and then state your own position. Spend more time with the quotation.
camillenapierbernstein

Technology Integration: Project Planning Form - 135 views

  • Technology Integration: Unit Planning
    • camillenapierbernstein
       
      Many of the links are broken -- this site is outdated.
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