Tag Archive for 'higher education'

Online Education in the News – December 3, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on December 3, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Curriki.org’s wiki approach to teacher education, Japanese university’s mobile phone course, a Biology teacher’s tale of implementing online materials into classes, Bloomsburg University’s online course for deaf and hard of hearing students

Curriki.org, a nonprofit group originally part of Sun Microsystems that likewise takes content contributions from the public at large, teaches educators themselves how to teach. Is this wiki-approach academically credible? Will its free content hurt textbook publishers? — International Herald Tribune

Cyber University in Japan has begun offering a mobile class on the “mysteries of the pyramids,” but instead of a typical PC’s display of text, images, sound, and video, the mobile version offers a streaming Power Point presentation on the topic. The university – 71 percent of which is owned by Softbank, a mobile service provider — has 1,850 students, and offers almost 100 courses, though only one is available for phones. — Engadget

High school students are hooked on a Biology teacher’s video lectures and notes available online. He talks about how easy it is to record and upload them – and he admits he is not even a tech-savvy person. His web site received some 38,000 hits last year, indicating that his students are using the lectures repeatedly after class, as well as sharing the site with other students. — T.H.E. Journal

Last semester, Bloomsburg University began using Wimba’s Live Classroom, a Web-based learning tool, to offer deaf and hard of hearing students an online course that includes a sign-language interpreter and closed-caption text to accompany the standard slide presentation and instructor’s voice. — Campus Technology

Schools and Program in the News – December 3, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on December 3, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: formation of English Language Proficiency Collaboration and Research Consortium, MIT’s OpenCourseWare extended to secondary schools, presidential candidates’ views on education and technology, No Child Left Behind program receives theatrical commentary, Carnegie Mellon University’s digital library reaches 1.5 million books, Sacramento State’s podcast-only course, Texas Education Agency director loses job over Evolution vs. Creationism debate

Six state education agencies serving an estimated 320,000 English language learners have formed an independent English Language Proficiency Collaboration and Research Consortium (ELPCRC) to collaborate, provide unified representation, and undertake studies and research for the improvement of ELL testing and instruction. All six states implement CTB/McGraw-Hill’s LAS Links English language proficiency assessment for their statewide English as a Second Language (ESL) programs. — CNN

Five years after the initial pilot of MIT’s OpenCourseWare initiative, it’s now making its way into secondary education with the launch of “Highlights for High School,” which aims to bolster high school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education through free and open course materials, from complete curricula and syllabi to videos, lecture notes, and animations. — Campus Technology

In this post, Andy Carvin reports on some of the presidential candidates’ views on educational policy, technology, and the digital divide. — learning.now (a PBS blog)

poster - amep.org

Nilaja Sun’s one-woman play, “No Child,” tells a story about a visiting artist who tries to turn a class of unruly students at Malcolm X High School into “thespians” who put on a play about putting on a play. “No Child” takes on the federal No Child Left Behind law, and the play slaps the law across the face. Sun wrote the play on commission for the New York State Council on the Arts and the Epic Theatre Ensemble, a New York City nonprofit that advocates the idea that “plays are ideally suited for helping students explore the connection between politics and their personal lives.” — Boston Globe

Nearly a decade ago, computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University embarked on a project with an astonishingly lofty goal: digitize the published works of humankind and make them freely available online. The architects of the project said they have surpassed their latest target, having scanned more than 1.5 million books – many of them in Chinese – and are continuing to scan thousands more daily. — Times Leader News

Nick Burnett has eliminated live lectures in one of his presentational speaking classes this semester at Sacramento State. He gave all the lectures this summer in a studio, where they were recorded and launched onto iTunes. And in what Burnett believes is the first such large-scale experiment at California State University, Sacramento, 224 of his students will be able to hear him only by downloading his lectures onto their iPods or MP3 players. — Sacramento Bee

After 27 years as a science teacher and 9 years as the Texas Education Agency’s director of science, Christine Castillo Comer said she did not think she had to remain “neutral” about teaching the theory of evolution. Consequently, she lost her job. — New York Times

Schools and Programs in the News — November 26, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on November 26, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: tracking students’ illegal movie downloads, home schooling, universities’ partnership to aid mature workers work better with technology, Texas high school web management, and Arizona’s university funding policy review

Brian Krebs’s computer security blog for Washington Post provides a detailed overview of the discussion surrounding the Motion Picture Association of America’s proposal to implement the use of software to catch students using their universities’ networks to download pirated movies. — Washington Post blog

Are home-schooled children more aptly prepared for college? This article explores the Utah state requirements for home schooling, options parents have of meeting them, and how being taught at home affects subsequent college admissions and overall experience for the estimated million American children who learn from home. — Daily Herald

A new partnership brings together researchers from the University of Dundee’s School of Computing in the U.K. and the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine in a concerted effort to develop assistive technologies and gain insight into new ways to improve workplace performance in maturing workers by improving the workplace and by increasing the ability of older workers to use technology. — Campus Technology

Round Rock Independent School District in Texas is moving management of its special populations to the Web. Half of the data entry assistants, formerly helping with paperwork, will be reassigned to positions of working directly with students. — T.H.E. Journal

Plans are discussed at Arizona state Capitol to make university funding reflect student performance and graduation rates, possibly replacing the current policy that distributes money based on number of students enrolled. — Arizona Daily Star

Schools and Programs in the News - November 16, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 16, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Capella University, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Bainbridge College, One Laptop Per Child

The Minnesota Tekne Awards named Capella University (www.capella.edu), an accredited, fully online university based in Minneapolis, the winner in its Technology User category at an award ceremony last night at the Minneapolis Convention Center. — PR USA

MC Strategies announced today that USA Prepare, its emergency preparedness unit, and the Allied Health Sciences School at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas will distribute UT Southwestern’s online lectures to emergency medical technicians and paramedics via www.JEMSprepare.com. — PR Web  

Bainbridge College (BC), which offers many online courses in a variety of subjects and is part of the Georgia ONmyLINE initiative of the University System of Georgia (USG), is observing Nov. 12-16 as National Distance Learning Week. — Bainbridge College

The city of Birmingham, Ala., has purchased more than 15,000 laptops from the One Laptop Per Child organization. — Mass High Tech

Schools and Programs in the News - November 15, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 15, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Australian schools, Berklee College of Music, University of Utah, Northcentral University, Pennsylvania State University, and The Community College of Baltimore County

Kevin Rudd has gambled on economic caution to win office and pledged he will make Australia the smartest nation in the world. The Labor leader’s education plan includes spending $1 billion to put a computer on every senior secondary student’s desk and connecting the nation’s 9,000 schools to super-fast broadband. — Herald Sun

In keeping with its tradition of staying at the forefront of music and technology, Berkleemusic, the continuing education division of Berklee College of Music, today announced the launch of the Berkleemusic Blog Network, a growing collection of online blogs where readers can get expert, up to the minute information from some of the most respected minds in the music world. — PR Web

Students gathered at the Utah State Legislature yesterday to advocate a bill that would eliminate the state sales tax on college textbooks. The Associated Students of the University of Utah sponsored a press conference to gain student and legislative support of the tax-cut bill they will introduce to the Legislature this spring. — Daily Utah Chronicle

Northcentral University (www.ncu.edu), an innovator in 100% online higher education, announced that Clinton D. Gardner, Ph.D. has been named the third president in the university’s history. — PR Web

With 80,000 students and 24 campuses across a state that’s intimately familiar with inclement weather, Pennsylvania State University clearly needs a reliable–and redundant–system of emergency notification. Read about how a text messaging initiative is being used to inform students of emergencies. — Campus Technology

George Washington University is deploying GW Alert, a system based on ActiveAccess from BIA Information Network, a private label campus security application installed on student, staff and faculty computers to alert students to campus safety events. — Campus Technology

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) is expanding its e-learning activities by developing online and hybrid programs in health care. — Campus Technology

Research in the News — November 12, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 12, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: technology in higher education

According to Eduventures, investments in networks and data security continue to be priorities for higher education institutions, with increased investment in wired and wireless networks. Campus wireless network adoption continues to broaden its reach, as campuses integrate mobile computing into their teaching and learning strategies. — Campus Technology

Schools and Programs in the News - November 12, 2007

Published by Erica Nielsen on November 12, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: One Laptop Per Child, Hoover City Schools in Alabama, PBS and Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s literacy initiative, No Child Left Behind, and LeTourneau’s Tyler Educational Site

India is the latest of the countries where the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) experiment has started. Children from the village of Khairat were given the opportunity to learn how to use the XO laptop. — Wiki News Reports 

Hoover City Schools in Alabama is expanding access to library services with the adoption of a centralized, Web-based system that allows students to search for and reserve books online and have them delivered to their desks the next day using Follett’s Destiny Library Manager. The district is also using the system to provide library enhancements, including providing previews of books. — T.H.E. Journal

In January PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting will launch a five-year literacy initiative for preschoolers and young learners aimed at teachers, parents, and caregivers. Funded in part through a grant from the United States Department of Education, the multi-pronged initiative, dubbed “PBS Kids Raising Readers,” will include a wide range of new tools and media, including television series, Web content, professional development, and a preschool curriculum, designed to develop literacy skills in kids aged 2 to 8. — T.H.E. Journal

No Child Left Behind is up for reauthorization this year, giving supporters and opponents alike a chance to change the federal law. Bush signed the bill into law in January 2002. The law has become one of his most prominent domestic achievements. Bush has asked Congress to reauthorize the law, saying No Child Left Behind “is working for all kinds of children in all kinds of schools in every part of the country.” — The Durango Herald

LeTourneau is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Most students follow a “blended” track by attending classes at LeTourneau’s Tyler Educational Site and also taking some courses online. This article profiles the institution and some of the students who have benefited from its flexible program. — Tyler Paper

Schools and Programs in the News – November 8, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on November 8, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: University of Arizona’s virtual campus, Intel’s Classmate PC initiative, Ohio University’s improvements in information security, North Carolina School District’s literacy program and Fast ForWord

The University of Arizona’s Office of Student Computing Resources has subleased an island on Second Life and is going to use it to teach and test building and scripting in a digital environment, facilitate community outreach projects, and recruit students. More than 400 other higher education institutions have opened Second Life accounts. – UA News

Intel World Ahead launched the Classmate PC, a project under which a student and a teacher get PCs, which it had test-run in a Nigerian school for two years. The concept is similar to the One Laptop per Child initiative, but emphasizes teacher training and teacher-student connectivity. The Intel program has pledged $1bn in the next five years to accelerate access to computers, the Internet and local content for people in developing countries. — AllAfrica.com

Ohio University plans to enhance its information security practices after a series of setbacks, including exposed Social Security numbers and legal disputes with the Recording Industry Association. — Campus Technology

North Carolina School District will use Fast ForWord software to improve reading skills in children at risk. The software applies neuroscience principles and works to increase the brain’s efficiency in processing information. — T.H.E. Journal

Games in the News – November 8, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on November 8, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: IBM’s professional skills game, Microsoft’s Xbox

IBM has designed a new video game to help university students and young professionals develop a combination of business and IT skills. The Innov8 interactive 3D video game is intended to help bridge the gap in understanding between IT teams and business leaders. — VNUNet.com

Microsoft showed off a new Xbox feature that will allow parents to set the amount of time that kids can play games. — CNET

Conferences in the News – November 8, 2007

Published by Zornitsa Vodenska on November 8, 2007 in In the News. 0 Comments

Updates on: Webinar on students’ educational choices

CourseAdvisor, a marketing and lead generation company that operates one of the top online education directories (OED), and Eduventures, education’s leading research and consulting firm, will host a webinar on November 8 at 1:00 PM ET to provide school administrators a better understanding of how brand influences students’ decisions about educational institutions. – Marketwire