OMG, URXeptd! Gr8! Now UR a n00b @R sk00l.

Communication has never been easier. But this is taking Web 2.0 to a whole new level. Apparently, applicants to Creighton University can finally stop accosting their neighborhood mail carriers. Creighton has jumped into the Interactive Age (a term coined in this blog, by the by, and now glommed by pseudoofficial mainstream media types). But Creighton isn't sending a simple e-mail. Seems that might entail an unnecessary delay in case the little darlings are off grinding rails or polishing their ollies, and don't have a CrackBerry (a term coined elsewhere and glommed by this blog). Creighton is sending SMS text messages to their applicants' phones.

So now, instead of an official-looking envelope (thin means it's a "regrets" letter from the registrar, thick means it's an acceptance with a bill from the bursar), high schoolers will have an excuse to SMS during school. "I'm checking to see whether I got into college!" And where there used to be polite and erudite language a-bursting with academisms, we now get
"Gr8 n00z! UR Xepted @ R Sk00l. Congrats, n00b! UR gng to Critn!"

OMG. k00l, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

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The Unvarnished College Tour

An enterprising startup is offering unique "uncensored" video (DVD) tours of major university campuses and dorms. The U is an online store where prospective students can buy DVDs (here), allegedly without the spin of the institution's marketing operators, and hosted by stars from WB television shows.

A free sample of the tour for Miami of Ohio was a lesson in the MTVification of popular culture. The two-minute preview focused on campus "style" (very preppy) and culture (there's nothing to do except study and party). Kinetic camerawork and age-appropriate graphics keep you engaged, if seasick, and while there wasn't anything in the preview about major courses of study or ongoing research at the university, we do learn that there are a disproportionate number of prep hotties and the greek system knows how to throw down.

This may not be the Kiplinger report on colleges, but it's not meant to be. It's supposed to be a fun, informal "taste" of life at a particular school, more of a way for prospects to dip a toe in the dorm life than to choose an academic launchpad.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

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Chicago May Open Virtual School

"Johnny? You know that we click our 'flag' button before we speak to the class ... ." Picture it: As many as six hundred kids, from kindergarten through eighth grade (?) could be attending virtual schools in 2006, in the city of Chicago.

Three big questions come to mind:
1) Why start with the lowest grades? Wouldn't highschoolers be more familiar with virtuality in general?
2) Why 600? Why not start smaller, or bigger? Is class size an issue?
3) Why "in" Chicago? Why not open it up to kids in other places? Couldn't a kid in Cleveland attend a Chicago virtual school? Show up for proctored exams at a local building, but take the classes virtually?

Now that we've got those on the table, here are the facts (from an article in the Chicago Sun Times). Chicago City Schools are pushing to open the state's first online school for the 2006-2007 year. Under a program called Renaissance 2010, the system will be closing schools that perform badly, and replacing them with new schools that are have more autonomy in their operations. At least one of these new schools is proposed to be online.

The biggest obstacle at the moment seems to be resistance from the Chicago Teachers Union. Said Marilyn Stewart, president, "How can you expect these kids to succeed in a home-based setting when some of them can't succeed in a school setting? We can't afford to experiment with our children's education."

Experiment it may be, but is it safe to assume that the current system has clearly underperformed? If so, perhaps a radical revamping of the rules is warranted. Certainly no one wants students to suffer as guinea pigs for the program, but online schools have been proven to work where other schools haven't. Perhaps the risks aren't all that dramatic.

"We want to offer diverse, innovative opportunities for children, and not everyone learns the same way," said Chicago Public Schools spokesman Malon Edwards. "[Teachers] are wary of it, which is understandable."

Edwards asserts that while online programs will never replace brick-and-mortar schools, they are an alternative for students who are homebound, have been expelled, or who have trouble learning in traditional classes with 25 to 30 students.

"It definitely is not the norm," Edwards said. "I think you have people who shy away from it because you have kids who are at home in front a computer all day."

Student work is reviewed by teachers and the kids would received persnalized feedback. Chicago's program is unique because it would also have a center located downtown for student/teacher meetings, said Jeff Kwitowski, director of public relations for K12 Inc., the school's proposed manager.

The cost of the program, which includes a computer provided by the district, free Internet access, and printed materials, will be about $3.045 million, or $5,075 per student, according to the proposal submitted to the board.

Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Meta Minton said the board had not yet seen CPS' proposal, which she said was the first of its kind for an Illinois public school.

Pending state approval, the district would hold a series of informational meetings to get word out about the school, said Peter Stewart, K12's vice president for school development. If interest runs higher than the enrollment cap of 600 students, then the district will hold a lottery for the available slots.

An online alternative to brick-and-mortar schools even being considered by Chicago is astounding. Whatever your thoughts on the Chicago initiative, the very fact of the debate speaks to the incredible technological and entrepreneurial progress of the system at large.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

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Can You Hear Me Now? Microsoft Wants Phones, Not Laptops.

It hasn't been long since the United Nations endorsed and pledged support for MIT Media Laboratory's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program (see earlier posts here and here). But before the meeting could even break up (World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland), there's already a dissenting voice.

Speaking at the summit, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said on Monday that a concept he unveiled at this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Sin City is a model that has merit, and that may be a better alternative to Nicholas Negroponte's $100 laptop. At CES, Gates deomonstrated a cellular phone-like device that could wirelessly connect to a full-sized keyboard and display, providing basic computing functionality in a highly portable wireless communications device.

According to a Microsoft spokesman, "everyone is going to have a cell phone," (duh?!) and the Microsoft alternative blends basic computing with wireless communication, making it a natural to supplant the OLPC laptop-esque devices. Of course, Gates's phone-based device would run on some form of mobile Windows operating system, something that Negroponte's little boxes don't do. In fact, Microsoft offered a free and open license to MIT for Windows CE, but were turned down (as was Apple) in favor of open-source Linux.

Is it possible that Gates simply wants to "hook" the developing world on the Microsoft OSs? Sure, it's possible, particularly if you subscribe to the whole "Gates is Satan" theory that abounds among Mac users and Linuxers. But while Gates may have a lucrative motive for his initiative, it is worth noting that a competing program that puts technology in the hands of the developing world is only a good thing. A little competition can go a long way toward driving down costs and pushing for rapid deployment. We're not creating CrackBerry addicts out of needy children (yet); is it wrong that they might use software that runs 90% of the world's computers?

Whoever "wins" the race to get technology into the hands of the needy, it is really the kids who win. Hand-cranked laptop, cellular phone ... it doesn't really matter which platform they use. This is all about adding people to the global knowledge and communication economy. And that's a very good thing.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

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iTunes U ... the New Community College?

Apple, the mighty computer underdog and digital music icon, has announced the release of new software to colleges and universities. "Coursecasting," the practice of distributing audio and/or video content of lectures, speeches, and other course-related content, has become easier than ever.

The concept, in modern parlance, isn't exactly "new." Purdue has offered the Boilercast podcasts of lectures and content for almost a year; Duke University issues iPods to incoming freshmen, and UCLA offers the Bruincast. Harvard Law School, the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, and Stanford offers almost everything required for a degree except the homework and cold leftover pizza (see the earlier post about Stanford on this blog). Of course, this is all "new" in the traditional sense; most such programs are less than two years old. But now, "coursecasting" (ain't it a swell monniker?) through iTunes makes homegrown offerings look quaint and antiquated.

Don't have an iPod? Maybe you haven't used iTunes and the iTunes Music Store (iTMS)? The program is free. You can use it even if you don't use an iPod, and you can rip your CD collection to make a digital library of all your songs. Frankly, there are other music and video management systems out there, including Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, and Napster, which have their fan base and sometimes claim to be superior tools. But nobody has tied it all together as successfully as Apple. Buy an iPod, load your CDs into iTunes, buy new music through iTMS, and it all works with very simple mouseclicks. Search for and subscribe to podcasts, literally by clicking one button that says, "subscribe." Then every time you launch iTunes, it will look (online) for a new episode and automatically pull it into your library. Hook up your iPod, and it will automatically sync up so you've got it to go.

The beauty of Apple's system is its' simple, soup-to-nuts completion of the cycle: archive, purchase, sort, assemble, and consume your media files with single mouseclicks and drag-and-drop ease. Bring this kind of simplicity and organization to higher education ... and a new day dawns. Maybe iTMS will become the next campus quadrangle. Imagine the possibilities. Schools have offered "distance learning" for years; now Apple has applied its' trademark elegance to the process, rendering access to educational content as easy as playing your music.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

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"Only in California ... " Now Available Everywhere!!

Want to know something cool? YOU can go to Stanford! Well, really anybody can go to Stanford, it's the school that's been so exclusive. But now, you can literally take Stanford classes, absolutely free. That's right: The state that brought us free love and Free Willy now offers free downloads.

Do you have iTunes installed on your computer? You can literally subscribe--free!-- to podcasts of lectures, speeches, and other Stanford events-- did I mention that it's free?-- through the iTunes Music Store (iTMS). From the inception of the program in October of 2005, through January of 2006, more than 150,000 downloads have taken place.

Lots of schools have started podcasting lectures and class discussions; integrating mp3 players into course work has become fairly common. But only in the Land of Fruits and Nuts can a world-class education come for the low low price of ... nothing. Most schools restrict the distribution of content to password-purchasing matriculators who have forked over their tuition. Not Stanford. There, you pay only for the bandwidth to download the files. Heck, go to the library and download them there, free. Transfer them to your (not free) iPod or nano or (less sexy) personal media device, and bang: you're a Stanford student.

From environmental science to mental health to the Stanford-versus-Berkeley football game, you can get it through iTunes. And it's-- let's be clear about this-- it's FREE. One could argue that Stanford has devalued the degrees earned by the class of 2005, or take the other, glass-half-full position: "this saves me thirty grand!"

The real news article, featured in Forbes, is available <here> as of this posting.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

Eyeballing Your Way Into School

According to a number of techie blogs, including Engadget and TechWeb, it's going to be a lot harder to fake your way into a school in Freehold, NJ. The district has implemented nothing less than an iris scanner to control access to their buildings!

No word on whether they'll use the technology for things like lunches and library books, but it's a safe bet that the powers that be will look for new and innovative ways to leverage their $369,000 investment. Currently, the system's pilot allows up to four adults per child to be "enabled" for access to the building, along with teachers, staff, and-- I have to do it-- pupils.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

But Mom, it's HOMEWORK!

Want to know something cool? Students in West Virginia are about to get down with their bad selves, yo! After taking a beating in a study by state of the incidence of obesity in children, the state has decided that if you can't beat it, then put a beat to it!

Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), a phenom that broke out of the arcade stables and leapt into a living room near you (thank you PlayStation2), is now about to become the newest addition to the state's curriculum. Initially targeting that oh-so-fly crowd of 10-to-14-year-olds, DDR will be rolled out to the state's 157 middle schools, with a plan to put the footloose workout in all 753 public schools within three years. If you think I'm kidding, you can read it for yourself <here>.

I'm all down with the healthy goodness of exercise, but I'm having a hard time latching onto the fact that one or more DDR units in the school are going to make a huge impact. After all, in a typical 45-minute class, you're talking about 25-plus students. Assuming head-to-head play, that's less than four minutes per kid on a DDR. I'll concede that's enough time to become winded (I've tried it), but I'm not sure it meets the standard of a real "workout."

Still, there are worse ways to spend time (and money) in pursuit of the sveltification. And it's not Mario, thank Heaven, because in the end, you'd be sacrificing brain cells for bulkbusting. Let's just hope the state coughs up for the good soundtrack expansion packs, so our middle school kids can be cool while they bust the moves. It's good to know that something so fun and fashionable can be so good for them.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

Update: The $100 Laptop Gets Cranking!

Big news for John Negroponte and MIT, in re: their "$100" laptop. Today (1/26/2006), the hand-cranked technicolor wunderkind received backing from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative has so captivated their collective imagination that the UN has pledged to help Negroponte's MIT Media Lab reach their goal of one million laptops in the hands of children by the end of 2007.

Per official announcement, UNDP and OLPC will deliver "technology and resources to targeted schools in the least-developed countries." No word on criteria for such targeting, but one could assume that some degree of existing infrastructure is required to make the most of the thin client laptops. These are, after all, primarily designed as wireless terminals with relatively lean local processing and storage capabilities.

You'll recall (from an earlier post in this blog) that OLPC will seek government and NGO purchasers to underwrite laptops for children in developing countries. There's also talk about selling one or more versions of the wi-fi-enabled device in industrialized markets, ostensibly with a markup that will further offset the cost of units in the neediest regions.

Kemal Dervis, who is head of the UN Development Program, will sign a memo of understanding with Negroponte at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In short, UNDP will back MIT's OLPC at WEF. Just, you know, FYI.

There's an "official" story <here> (at the time of this post) on Yahoo! News.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

Entrepreneurial District Sells Management Tools

Want to know something cool? According to eSchool News, a public school district in Virginia has developed a data management and reporting system so powerful, they're actually commercializing it for use in other districts. The article, available <here> as of this writing, describes the system built by Fairfax County Public Schools-- known as Education Decision Support Library-- as a bevy of individual and cumulative data culled from various sources. Student performance, classroom performance, curriculum, attendance, etc. all feed to EDSL, allowing teachers and administrators to conduct deep searches for trends, gaps, and opportunities.

In one example, a school was having trouble with a standardized test in elementary social studies. The teacher ran a district-wide report of performance on the test, and identified two buildings where students were exceeding expectations. Then the struggling school held meetings with the successful teachers, identified best practices, and implemented new teaching modalities. The next year, the school hit 96% on the achievement test.

Data, in the right hands, can be powerful tools. In this particular case, Fairfax developed a system of capturing data in a useful and accessible way, enabling outcome-driven decisions and collaborative establishment of best practices. That they have built such a system is commendable; that they can now export their system, to enable other districts-- and, ostensibly, to widen the database to incorporate multiple districts-- is even more remarkable. Imagine the power of such a system running state-wide. Successful districts easily identified, gap analysis in real time, opportunities to implement best practices across counties, districts, and even within a single building ... these are benefits that translate directly to student success.

Kudos to Fairfax County Public Schools, for their vision, their implementation, and their entrepreneurial philosophy. As data systems become more interoperable, similar decision management tools could apply to everything from transportation to facilities management to healthcare to nutrition. Educational systems learning in dynamic new ways to teach and operate more effectively ... taking "data management" out of geekdom and straight to the report card.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

UK Study Links Games to Student Success

An interesting recent article on the BBC's site (here) shows that a third of surveyed teachers believe that video games can play a positive role in student learning, though some expressed concern about the usual "antisocial" and "stereotypical" nature of video games in general.

More interesting is the money behind the study ... none other than Entertainment Arts (EA), one of the leading game developers in the world.

A second phase of the study will focus on specific games-- including The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon-- and how principles at play in those game environments can translate to acquired knowledge of concepts such as economics, politics, and practical business applications.

Three paragraphs into this post, you're thinking "So what?" Sure, there have been other studies undertaken, and arguments made about visual acuity and manual dexterity and whatnot. But a key aspect of this study is the examination of gaming's effect on actual curricular skills and knowledge.

Business Education revolves around showing students the practical implications of theory and principle, building, in the process (we hope) critical thinking skills that can evaluate multifaceted scenarios and the interplay of various tangential aspects. Build a theme park with great rides, but lack sufficient maintenance personnel, and your expensive theme park sits idle, alienating customers. Build a career driven by ambition and avarice, and your social status plummets.

More and more, videogames are rich simulations of circumstances that are created by the user. Need For Speed, a popular auto racing game, may be all about the bling for the average fourteen-year-old, but he's also learning that it costs money to trick your ride, and that you have to "earn" your way up the social ladder.

Let's be clear: first-person shooters that have the gamer blissfully blasting bloody bodies probably aren't going to help his math score. However, there are nuanced and engaging games that will offer a realistic portrayal of cause and effect, supply and demand, product and packaging. That these simulations are virtual, and take place through the interface of a game controller rather than a keyboard should not diminish their value.

Games are a way to get students engaged in their education. Used carefully and creatively, games can play an important role in the development of cognitive and practical skills that will serve a student through his matriculation and beyond. It may be easy to dismiss The Sims as oversimplified, or a Roller Coaster Tycoon as irrelevant. But it may also be easy to get kids to invest themselves in the development of a virtual portfolio of skills and knowledge.

Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...

Oh, good: Another Study!

Want to know something cool? OK, maybe "cool" is pushing it a little. But according to a report dated 1/12/2006 in eSchool News online, two research firms are undertaking a new study to determine the number and nature of "one-to-one computing" programs in American schools.

While I don't know how their archive system works, you can at least jump to the article here for the time being ... until they move it someplace.

The most recent data on hand pertains to the 2003-2004 school year, so it's definitely time to see what the industry has managed to accomplish on the 1:1 goal in recent (hardware-frenetic) years. No word on a due date, but count on late 2006 or early 2007 before we see meaningful data. Meanwhile, bear in mind that computing comes in various palm- and lap-friendly flavors, with entry points in the hundreds of dollars. One-to-one computing has never been more accessible. Cool, huh?

How will it shake out? Comment this blog, and let's see where the conversation leads.
For great news, views, and resources for educators, check out The Balance Sheet published by South-Western, a Thomson company. Trusted news for educators for several decades, several miles ahead.

Read the full post here ...