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July 9, 2012 Early Computing's 'Deal With the Devil' Victoria StoddenGeorge Dyson, son of the physicist Freeman Dyson and author of Turing's Cathedral, grew up playing with discarded bits of early computers at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study.Enlarge Image By Marc Parry In 1936, the British logician Alan Turing imagined a universal computing machine. In the wake of World War II, at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, a team of mathematicians and engineers built one. The machine stood roughly the size of four refrigerators. People called it Maniac, for Mathematical and Numerical Integrator and Computer. At its heart was "a 32-by-32-by-40 bit matrix of high-speed, random-access memory-the nucleus of all things digital ever since," writes George Dyson in a new book, Turing's Cathedral (Pantheon Books). How that computer came to be, he says, is the story of "a deal with the devil." Mathematicians built a machine that helped create the hydrogen bomb. In exchange, they got a new breed of computer that enabled incredible scientific progress.

AECT STANDARDS FOR INITIAL AND ADVANCED PROGRAMS IN EDUCATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS AND INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY (ECIT) The following text consists of excepts from the AECT document dealing with standards for instructional technology programs. Some minor editorial revisions have been made to the original text to allow concurrent discussion of the initial and advanced standards. Also, sections of the document that deal primarily with the institutional role, rather than the student role, have been omitted. These standards are concerned primarily with candidate competencies in the area of educational communications and instructional technologies (ECIT). Initial ECIT programs are defined as those which represent initial entry into the field. For example, a Baccalaureate or Master's program which prepares individuals for either initial school certification or entry level positions in business or industry may be considered an initial ECIT program. Advanced ECIT programs are defined as those which represent additional study in the field. A graduate program which advances knowledge and skills beyond the entry level for the profession constitutes an advanced ECIT program. It is expected that advanced candidates are able to demonstrate the competencies outlined in the initial program.

Class Problem March 26, 2012 - 3:00am By Kaustuv Basu The YouTube video of a Florida Atlantic University student losing control last week in a classroom and threatening her classmates has gone viral, disturbing many who teach in college classrooms. Campus safety experts say that the clip reveals challenges faced by faculty members who are usually the first point of contact when it comes to disruption in the classroom -- and who sometimes may not be trained on how to respond.

Early Career Teacher Resilience ARC Linkage Grant 2008-2012 (with Professor Bruce Johnson; Professor Barry Down; Dr Rosie Le Cornu; Dr Anna Sullivan; Dr Judy Peters; Dr Jane Pearce; Ms Janet Hunter). The first few years of teaching are difficult for many teachers. Yet research into the 'problems' of beginning teachers is nearly exhausted. Few new ideas about how to address these 'problems' are emerging. There is a need for a new generation of collaborative research that investigates how beginning teachers develop resilience and sustain their commitment to teaching. Therefore, this project aims to find out how early career teachers deal with threats to their wellbeing. It will identify what internal strengths and external strategies promote teacher resilience. It will provide the evidence base for interventions that will increase teacher commitment and reduce teacher attrition.