Pearson in talks to acquire Chinese schools chain - report
Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, is in advanced talks about acquiring a chain of private schools in Shanghai, the first time it would own an education institution anywhere in the world. LEC comprises 15 schools and the deal offers Pearson a way of entering the heavily regulated Chinese education market ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Pearson insiders say the shift in education is moving towards technology platforms and software in education rather than printed textbooks and the LEC schools offer among other benefits a way of showcasing products such as interactive boards. — Forbes
Author Archive for Zornitsa Vodenska
Scotland to teach game development in schools
In addition to haggis and William Wallace, Scotland will now also be known for teaching video game design in its schools. Scotland is home to studios like Realtime Worlds and Rockstar North, among others. — Ars Technica
New markets create university challenge
Lebanon’s cast-iron reputation as a learning center dates back almost 140 years. The country’s long and illustrious history has provided a solid foundation for the country’s education industry to build on. Currently, the Lebanese higher-education sector is growing by $700 million a year. But how well-suited is academia to the business world? It’s not always a good match; for many institutions, profitability comes before delivering high-quality programs. — Kipp Report
Gangs, Social Networks and Media Literacy
Around the country, community groups offer free Internet access to young people as a way to keep them off the streets and away from gangs, just as gangs have started using social networks to recruit teens. Are they offering the proper media literacy training to combat the problem? — PBS Teachers
Fair use on campus: publishers sue school over class reading
A group of publishers are suing Georgia State University over the digital distribution of class reading materials in a case that may help define the fair use of digital materials. The three publishers involved, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications, target the academic audience. Cases that defined fair use of classroom material date back to the early ’90s, where the means of infringement was the photocopier. Back then, private entities that prepared material for university courses were found to have infringed the copyright of publishers in duplicating their material. A key feature of these cases, however, is that the infringers were private businesses that charged for their copying services; many universities are not-for-profit entities. — Ars Technica
Darwin’s private papers get Internet launch
Comprising some 20,000 items and 90,000 images, the release on darwin-online.org.uk is the largest Internet collection of Darwin’s papers, according to the organizers from Cambridge University Library which holds all the Darwin papers. The website displays thousands of notes and drafts of his scientific writings, notes from the voyage of the Beagle when he began to formulate his controversial theory of evolution, and his first recorded doubts about the permanence of species. It also contains photographs of Darwin and his family, newspaper clippings, reviews of his books and much more. — Reuters
Consumer groups urge “do not track” registry
Two consumer groups asked the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday to create a “do not track list” that would allow computer users to bar advertisers from collecting information about them. The call echoed those of other privacy advocates who filed statements with the FTC on Internet companies’ use of “behavioral advertising.” — Reuters
Japan’s high-tech displays give paper a cutting edge
TOKYO (Reuters) - Bend it, write on it, read it — just don’t try to fold it into a paper plane. Electronic paper is Japan’s answer to rising raw material costs, depleted resources and booming demand for printed matter from emerging markets such as China and India. At a high-tech fair in Tokyo, Japanese firms showed the latest versions of what is still considered a niche product, ranging from thick, sturdy readers to thin displays that look like plastic sheets and can be bent. E-Ink, which manufactures Sony’s Reader tablet, says consumers will eventually embrace the energy-saving technology as the cost of paper and fuel goes up. — Reuters
Crossroads in Education: Issues for Web 2.0, Social Software, and Digital Tools
Advancements in technology, principally Web 2.0, social software, and digital tools, have challenged what it means to be educated and how we proceed to educate our youth in a culture where innovation and creativity, lifelong learning, personalization (my own learning space), and knowledge from and with the collective vie for a rightful place. The issues we face surround the dilemma of achieving personalization while maintaining standards (KnowledgeWorks Foundation, 2006). Students do need structure from experienced teachers and core subject matter knowledge; however, as Owen and his colleagues (2006) pointed out, their use of social software has opened up new sources of that knowledge leading to times when it would be appropriate to use “more weakly classified and framed approaches to learning” (p. 31). Let’s look at some of the issues and implications for curriculum, instruction, and integration support, which will need open discussions with educators, parents, students, the community, policy makers, and technology developers, if we are to resolve the dilemma. — The Journal
Tech Companies Working to Try to Eliminate the Digital Divide at School
The online teacher resource portal Curriki has formed a partnership with Canada-based Nortel Networks Corp. The new Nortel LearniT website will enable teachers to share lesson plans and ideas online, encouraging learning through the use of digital technologies such as video or the creation of web pages. — Canada East
Idaho and Minnesota High Schools Go Virtual
Insight Schools, a company with a network of free, diploma-granting, online public high schools, recently announced virtual campuses for students in Minnesota and Idaho, which will open for the 2008-2009 school year. The schools offer accredited teachers in each state to provide instruction for 120 different courses. The service is free for the participants. — The Journal
KidZui Promotes Itself as a Kid-Oriented Internet
A network of child-appropriate and parent-approved websites accessible through a browser called KidZui debuted on March 19. The service offers more than 500,000 sites, images and videos customized for children ages 3 to 12, with access to additional content available as users mature. KidZui is available for Mac and PC by subscription. — St. Louis Today
YouTube in the Classroom
The author of the Geek Dad blog at Wired Magazine shares his personal concerns regarding the use of public streaming video services to share classroom presentations. Previously reluctant to publish the faces of his children online for privacy reasons, the author changes his attitude when his daughter’s teacher posts a video of her book report that receives comments from the author of the book. — Wired Blog Network
NYPhilkids.org - What an Educational Website Should Be
Christopher Dawson at ZDNet reviews the New York Philharmontic websites for children, NYPhilkids.org, deeming it “a how-to of solid, purposeful, interactive site design.” — ZDNet
Technology, Social Networking Websites Spur Education Debate
Social-networking websites spurred an education debate at Queen’s University in Canada after a first-year engineering student was accused of cheating through a Facebook group called Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solutions. The online group brought together a total of 147 students from the class. They swapped information on assignments that collectively totalled 10 per cent of their grade. However, the professor for the class had said that the assignments were to be done independently. — The Kingston Whig-Standard
Mozilla Says Firefox 3 Ready for Prime-Time
A new version of Mozilla’s popular Firefox Web browser is ready for download with improved security and memory use as the tiny company takes a stab at Microsoft Corp’s dominant Internet Explorer. The program’s creators announced that the privately-held company’s trial version of Firefox 3 browser is ready for the masses to use after months of development. Additions boost security and allow users to run Web sites when they are not connected to the Internet. Mozilla also says Firefox 3 uses less computer memory than Firefox 2. — Reuters
Intel Cheap Laptops Expanding to U.S., Europe
Intel announced that their sub-$300 laptops initially designed for poor children will soon be available to U.S. and European consumers in a move that could further push down computer prices. While the machines are intended for children, analysts said the launch will add momentum to the low-cost computing movement — and will likely mean this year’s bargain-basement laptops will have more power than in previous years. — Reuters
Verizon and AT&T Dominate Airwaves Auction
Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc, the two largest U.S. mobile phone companies, grabbed the lion’s share of a $19.12 billion auction of airwaves being vacated by television broadcasters. The companies plan to use the airwaves to enhance existing voice and data services, as well as underpin a new wave of wireless technologies. — Reuters
Windows Vista SP1 Flunks Out at Penn
University of Pennsylvania tech staffers are advising faculty and students not to upgrade their computers to the new service pack for Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system. Troubles reported by Vista SP1 users ranged from a simple inability to download the software from Microsoft’s Windows Update site to sudden spikes in memory usage. — Information Week
Schools of the Future
In New Zealand, two schools revolutionize the idea of what a learning space should be. At the primary school Discovery 1 and the high school Unlimited, each child decides, based on his or her talents and interests, what they will learn, and when. Students can explore the mall as part of their learning experience and are encouraged to use cell phones as a learning tool. — My Broadband News
Unique Web Site Puts Early Childhood Programs on the Map and Online
Called the Illinois Early Childhood Asset Map (IECAM), it is the product of an unusual teaming of computer visualization, demographic and early childhood specialists at the University of Illinois, working in collaboration with the organization Chicago Metropolis 2020. The project provides information to parents, policymakers, advocates, and businesses on all available child care and preschool programs, along with demographic data on the students. Major funding for the project comes from the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Human Services, along with funds from various foundations. — News Bureau
IBM Completes Satellite Based Learning Phase
IBM announced that it has successfully delivered Phase-3 of EDU-SAT satellite-based education programme comprising over 100 hours of live lectures transmitted to over 120 schools in India. The program was an effort to enhance the technical knowledge and skills of post-graduate university students, giving them the market-driven knowledge that better positions them for jobs in the ICT market, IBM said in a release. — Business Standard
Girl Bloggers Rise in Numbers, Could Help Narrow Tech Gender Divide
A recent survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that, among teenage Internet users, 35 per cent of girls blog, while only 20 per cent of boys do it. Regardless of gender, blogging can be a great way for teens to build real-world skills. A young entrepreneur, a 16-year-old girl in Detroit, makes $70,000 a month designing MySpace pages for her friends. — The Canadian Press
Survey Says: Teachers, Experts Embracing Educational Games
In a survey conducted at the 2008 Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC), 89 percent of the teachers who participated in the conference’s inaugural State Challenge Multiplayer Educational Games (MEG) Tournament, said that their opinions about educational video games “had been impacted in a favorable way.” Educators across the country are becoming aware of the findings that show that educational gaming enables players to better retain information because abstract concepts are turned into experiential learning. — TechJournal South
Measuring the Size of Your Digital Shadow
A recent study from the research firm IDC estimates that, at 281 exabytes, the digital universe in 2007 was 10 percent larger than the firm had projected a year ago. An exabyte, or a billion gigabytes, is said to be 50,000 times larger than a digitized Library of Congress. The sponsor of the study, EMC, a computer storage company, has posted a tool called a personal digital footprint calculator. After a few questions about their digital habits (giving only a first name), users can get a measure of their own rate of data generation. — New York Times Bits blog
ESA Foundation Announces New Scholarship Program
The Entertainment Software Association announced a new scholarship program to help future game developers with their education and training. The new program will provide $45,000 available for scholarships to women and minority applicants pursuing a career in video game development. The application deadline for a $3,000 scholarship is May 15, 2008. — Ars Technica
The Global Learning Foundation Secures Funding from the Yahoo! Employee Foundation
The Global Learning Foundation in Los Altos, California received a grant of $5000 from the Yahoo! Employee Foundation, in Sunnyvale, California. The funds will support the Global Learning Foundation programs, providing funds for Internet access and English-language and special skills teachers to children in orphanages in developing countries. — PR-inside
Universal Broadband Grants for New York Announced
New York Governor David A. Paterson today announced that nine public/private sector partnerships will receive funds totaling more than $15 million to help promote the research, design and implementation of innovative solutions to create affordable broadband Internet access for underserved urban and rural communities throughout the state. The New York State Council for Universal Broadband was formed in December 2007 and charged with developing strategies to ensure every New Yorker has access to affordable, high-speed Internet service. It is comprised of 28 members representing state and local government, libraries, municipal associations, economic development, as well as secondary and higher education. — Government Technology
Grants Eyed to Bring Technology into Classroom
The Pennsylvania Department of Education is making $20 million available to school districts to pay for technology, equipment and teacher development. The Classrooms For the Future Grant offers school districts the opportunity to transform high school education by providing student and instructor laptops, imaging software, Web cameras, interactive whiteboards, and projectors. — The Meaville Tribune
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