"May 25th, 2011
As online education rules loom, a call for cooperation between states
Web-based colleges will more easily comply with state rules if leaders seek 'uniformity,' online education experts say
as-online-education-rules-loom-a-call-for-cooperation-between-states
By Dennis Carter, Assistant Editor
Members of an influential online-learning task force said states should create uniform standards for online colleges and universities, making it easier for institutions to comply with a federal rule that will prove costly and confusing to web-based schools."
"TITLE II - PUTTING WORKERS BACK ON THE JOB WHILE REBUILDING AND MODERNIZING AMERICA
Subtitle A - Veterans Hiring Preferences
Sec. 201. Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors Work Opportunity Tax Credits
Subtitle B - Teacher Stabilization
Sec. 202. Purpose
Sec. 203. Grants for the Outlying Areas and the Secretary of the Interior; Availability of Funds.
Sec. 204. State Allocation
Sec. 205. State Application
Sec. 206. State Reservation and Responsibilities
Sec. 207. Local Educational Agencies
Sec. 208. Early Learning
Sec. 209. Maintenance of Effort
Sec. 210. Reporting
Sec. 211. Definitions
Sec. 212. Authorization of Appropriations
Subtitle C - First Responder Stabilization
Sec. 213. Purpose
Sec. 214. Grant Program
Sec. 215. Appropriations
Subtitle D - School Modernization
Part I - Elementary and Secondary Schools
Sec. 221. Purpose
Sec. 222. Authorization of Appropriations
Sec. 223. Allocation of Funds
Sec. 224. State Use of Funds
Sec. 225. State and Local Applications
Sec. 226. Use of Funds
Sec. 227. Private Schools
Sec. 228. Additional Provisions
Part II - Community College Modernization
Sec. 229. Federal assistance for Community College Modernization"
June 21, 2011, 8:00 am
By Prof. Hacker
Lewis Carroll's logic game[This is a guest post by Anastasia Salter, Assistant Professor at the University of Baltimore in the school of Information Arts and Technologies. Her academic work focuses on storytelling in new media; she also writes the Future Fragments column for CinCity. Follow her on Twitter at AnaSalter.--@jbj]
"...With that said, perhaps the most important takeaway from LEEF is that it's not all about expensive toys. Learning games don't have to be hi-tech to be effective. There's a lot to be learned from Space Vikings, the conference's ARG-that's alternate reality game, not its augmented reality cousin. Unlike augmented reality, which requires technology to mediate an environment, alternate reality is a playful imposition of story onto a physical space. In Space Vikings, a number of us dedicated conference attendees were drawn into a mission to save our tribes from a "pedagogical wasteland." How did we accomplish this feat? By hunting down "anomalies"-read masking tape clues, QR codes and posters-with answers to questions to submit in a digital educational games theory scavenger hunt. This is just one example of a conference ARG, and designers were at LEEF to report on lessons learned from others like DevLearn's Zombie Apocalypse. (For more ideas on educational uses of Alternate Reality, check out Think Transmedia.)
These same ideas can scale and transform to a number of settings. For example, Melissa Peterson's Elmwood Park Zoo ARG is currently a project conducted with paper (though imagined for smartphones), and it's already doubling the engagement time of visitors to the local zoo. And on the other side, games like the Giskin Anomaly in Balboa Park are adding new layers of narrative to a popular and culturally rich tourist destination. And these games don't have to be location dependent. Case studies like the Radford Outdoor ARG Outbreak, a social inquiry game that puts st
"CSU testing confirmed the accessibility problems furnished by Google in their Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs; see Appendix). The applications tested had varying levels of accessibility; most had significant accessibility problems which inhibit users of assistive technology from successful, regular use of the products. Some workarounds are now available for Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Calendar. Limiting use of Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations and Calendar to administrative or back-office processes and systems is recommended when possible. Limiting adoption and use of Forms, Sites, and Gmail Chat is recommended until accessibility improves or better workarounds become available. "
Peter Walker guardian.co.uk, Sunday 3 July 2011
"Britons could face charges for breaking US copyrights even if they have no link to America and servers are based elsewhere"
"British website owners could face extradition to the US on piracy charges even if their operation has no connection to America and does something which is most probably legal in the UK, the official leading US web anti-piracy efforts has told the Guardian.
The US's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) is targeting overseas websites it believes are breaking US copyrights whether or not their servers are based in America or there is another direct US link, said Erik Barnett, the agency's assistant deputy director.
As long as a website's address ends in .com or .net, if it is implicated in the spread of pirated US-made films, TV or other media it is a legitimate target to be closed down or targeted for prosecution, Barnett said."
"In the summer of 2010, Peter Mosinskis from CSU Channel Islands assembled a team of approximately fifteen volunteers from seven different CSU campuses and one from the UC system to evaluate the accessibility of Google Apps. The team also recruited student volunteers and screen reader users to assist with the testing. Automated, manual, and screen reader testing began the first week of January 2011 and was completed February 4th.
The report has been completed and posted here for your review. The CSU Accessible Technology Initiative (ATI) Staff, ATI Leadership Council, and Google have reviewed the Google Apps Accessibility Evaluation report.
We discovered a number of accessibility issues during our testing. These issues are outlined in the report as well as "workarounds" that can be used to improve the user experience for persons with disabilities. When campuses choose to use Google Apps, they are required to provide an equally effective service for people with disabilities and it is critical for campuses to ensure that the "workarounds" meet the educational needs of the student and/or faculty. The March 15, 2011 USA TODAY online news article "Complaint: Google programs hard for blind students" illustrates possible legal problems that may result from adopting the Google Apps for Education suite.
Questions or Comments about this report may be directed to CSU ATI Staff"
Table of Contents
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ATI Google Apps Accessibility Evaluation
Section 1. Executive Summary
Section 2. About the Project
Section 3. Findings
Section 4. Workarounds, Accommodations and Best Practices
Summary and Conclusions
Authors Note
Appendices A - E