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Google wave looks like it is very flexible.  I can envision teachers using the wave to plan with other teachers without having to be in the same room - now able to study hall periods and other times to drop files and share lesson plans and ideas.

Google Wave, which combines email, instant messaging and wiki-style editing will go on public trial today. The search giant hopes the tool, described as "how e-mail would look if it were invented today", will transform how people communicate online.

Agh! Not another way to communicate! I can't even remember my passwords to all these things! I can't even remember I have a Facebook account until someone "friends" me! What happened to isolation and Transcendentalism? Needing to read Walden in the woods alone right now...

More universities get on board with Coursera and MOOC's.

MOOCs and online learning are spreading to Europe.

This is a natural progression for MOOC's. But I have to wonder, if the wave of the future is a MOOC higher education, then how will our young adults develop, socially? developmentally? psychologically? Will we create a society of socially incompetent adults who are not able to work intereactively, or in groups with co-workers, or lacking negotiation skills, or many of the 21st c. skills needed in many workplaces.

For the business-type folks in the class, McGraw-Hill just sold its Education division to a private equity company. They think that education will continue to be a good investment.

Yeah, I thought it was weird. I looked into that--I think the sale is to a different "Apollo" group. UPhoenix is something like "Apollo Group" whereas McGraw Hill sold their division to "Apollo Global Management". I think they are different entities, but it is hard to tell. If they are the same organization, it is definitely a weird sign of shifting investments.

Cole, you're absolutely right, I missed that Apollo Global Mgmt is a VC firm.

Time to take action!

"By 2017, the first wave of students of P-Tech - Pathways in Technology Early College High School - is expected to emerge with associate's degrees in applied science in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering technology, following a course of studies developed in consultation with I.B.M."

How test designers are trying to move away from standardized tests to computer programs that can measure a myriad of skills simultaneously through simulations and "stealth monitoring."  Both Chris Dede and Howard Gardner are mentioned.

a school with a curriculum based on videogames

While I applaud the concept of their program, I believe it tips the scale too far in the direction of technology. Unless the students plan to solely work in a digital world the removal of a physical classroom and interaction will greatly affect their social development. For example, physics lab was partially about the smell of the chemicals, the viewing of the wave pools, the teamwork and the mistakes that were real life.

I would be for this. I could not believe a place so big on recycling (Harvard) murdered so many trees with the printing of course packs. I like this idea if you could get the material from other sources than just the school (say the author or publisher directly or something like Amazon). Otherwise, there is no opportunity for competition or bargaining.

While not an emerging tehnology per se, social networks can serve as indicators of how, why and who is using and CREATING web content. I think the creation part of this exchange is key in that it ishere that the disruptive element of the technology comes into play. In my studies of Podcasts for the wiki assignment I found that many first time podcasters subscribers experimented with recording their own Podcast before becoming regular consumers. How does this relate to the facebook vs. myspace arguement, you ask? SImple, myspace is a more customizable portal/page that allows users to express and communicate their own, often marginalized socio-cultural identity. Facebook on the other hand asks users to define their online persona via 'freinds', shared photos, profile text fields, etc. For many recent immigrant and children, the formation and identification of an imagined community is an attractive thing. Somalian wallpaper, Manga flash videos embedded, Dominican Republic Flag .gifs waving all over..and MUSIC.

Here's a brief article with statistics on online social networking divide. What does your online social networking preference reveal about your social class?

Will online social networking create or perpetuate a "caste system" within online communities?

State legislation passed in the spring could put up-to-the-minute instructional content at students' fingertips-either online or in customized printed form-eliminating the mass-market hardback textbook.

TX, CA, and FL markets drive the textbook industry. If TX leads the way, eliminating mass market textbooks, then they will undoubtedly revolutionize the publishing industry. Tablet textbooks may be the wave of the future, but let's just hope publishers don't think revolutionizing the textbook industry means reading textbooks on a screen.