Catherine Maloney, director of the Texas center, said the schools did their best to mandate that the computers would be used strictly for educational purposes. Most schools configured the machines to block e-mail, chat, games and Web sites reached by searching on objectionable key words. The key-word blocks worked fine for English-language sites but not for Spanish ones. “Kids were adept at getting around the blocks,” she said.
How disappointing to read in the Texas study that “there was no evidence linking technology immersion with student self-directed learning or their general satisfaction with schoolwork.”
When devising ways to beat school policing software, students showed an exemplary capacity for self-directed learning. Too bad that capacity didn’t expand in academic directions, too.
Dr. Nellie Deutsch on 17 Dec 11Dear Members of IT4ALL, 2012 is going to be a great year for teaching and learning with technology. You are invited to learn how to enhance your class with technology by learning to teach and be the administrator of Moodle course and learning management system. There are many free and low cost workshops on google docs, blended learning, learning to install and use wordpress.org, how to create WebQuests, Writing Academic Papers, creating e-portfolios and how to integrate technology into your classes. You are invited to join our small group (under 20) low cost 6-week workshops for Moodle for Teacher Administrators at the basic ($150) and advanced ($120) levels.The two workshops provide participants with two Moodle labs to practice as administrators of Moodle. One lab is for 1.9 and one for 2.2. Participants learn how to install and manage Moodle as administrators and facilitate their own online courses. Each participant receive individual attention throughout the workshop. For more information, please contact me and the course syllabus: https://docs.google.com/document/d/198FgVeVX26bZatNBNJehHWc_inCV90w2u85TsnYroqk/edit?hl=en_US and https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WtfoGZgPKnMnVg2UDuSbszva2FrPOA4WQRAxy3KJtqA/edit?hl=en_US Have a wonderful holiday season and a great 2012!!! Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch, Ed.D
