Web 2.0 – Wikiducation?

When I met with designers of the OdysseyWare blog to determined security levels, layout and themes I mentioned (with little fanfare) using Web 2.0 as the concept for collaboration between industry and school administrators, teachers, etc. The main concern for those involved was the extreme pace the discussions could take and the lessened administrative control we would have to monitor content on the site.

After much disagreement and a return of oxygen to the room, agreement was reached to proceed with caution with regard to Wikis, Blogging, discussion boards, etc.

Although the concerns were well-placed and mirrored many mentioned in this Campus Technology article, the overall benefit of allowing the marketplace to discuss and generate ideas was a no-brainer in my mind and something we clearly needed to pursue. The market is too diverse and overflowing with ideas for any one person, brilliant or not, to monitor and counter effectively.

‘Death List’ Redux

We mentioned the creation of a ‘Death List’ the other day by students in a Arizona school. Students in an Illinois school created a similar list including classmates and teachers. There is no mention of why particular individuals were singled out on the list, however, again authorities are claiming that no harm would have come from the list. Barney, however, was spared this time.

NY Catholic teachers go on strike

Apparently, a Papal decree is the only way to resolve this crisis.

Just days before the pope arrived, hundreds of lay teachers set up picket lines outside 10 Roman Catholic high schools in New York City and its northern suburbs Tuesday, forcing some of the schools to close early.

Students Suspended Over ‘Death List’

Unfortunately, it has become a daily occurrence in the news, but here is today’s version. Two students from Florence, Arizona created a ‘death list’ that included various and sundry individuals including fellow students, school administrators and, this is not a joke, the creator of Barney, the dinosaur.

“Do we think there was any danger of someone being injured of killed? We really don’t,” said Larry Cline of the Florence Unified School Dist No. 1.

Well, thats a relief. Tell that to Barney.

My, How Things Have Changed

I don’t know whether to be ashamed I know (and knew even less in 8th grade) few of the answers to this test or relieved that I am apparently not alone. The Smoky Valley (Salina, Kansas) Genealogical Society made public the questions to the 8th grade final exam use in 1895. As Minding the Campus notes, the most disturbing fact is:

Case Western Reserve’s Ted Gup, in the April 11, 2008 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, writes about how little his students know:

“Nearly half of a recent class could not name a single country that bordered Israel. In an introductory journalism class, 11 of 18 students could not name what country Kabul was in, although we have been at war there for half a decade. Last fall only one in 21 students could name the U.S. secretary of defense. Given a list of four countries – China, Cuba, India, and Japan – not one of those same 21 students could identify India and Japan as democracies. Their grasp of history was little better. The question of when the Civil War was fought invited an array of responses – half a dozen were off by a decade or more. Some students thought that Islam was the principal religion of South America, that Roe v. Wade was about slavery, that 50 justices sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, that the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1975.”

A study by the National Center for Education Statistics found that only 31 percent of college graduates could read a ”complex book and extrapolate from it.” Furthermore, the study found that far fewer college graduates are leaving school with ”the skills needed to comprehend routine data, such as reading a table about the relationship between blood pressure and physical activity.”

We are a long way from discussing Orthography intelligently.

Jamaica Adds E-Learning

It is unclear why the United States is objecting this project – at least from this article – but the reassuring news is that Jamaican education authorities are adopting e-learning in the classroom.

Freedom From French Fries

Isn’t this a bit dramatic?

I never understood how banning fatty foods from the cafeteria served the intended purpose of dissuading a kid from eating them in their car, at recess or after school.  If the school cafeteria is indeed their first exposure to fattening foods, one would assume they have made it rather far in life abstaining and would continue the practice based upon rational choice, inertia or dislike of the taste.  Doesn’t adding potato chips to list of forbidden fruit more interesting?

Mobile Learning, Courtesy of Hewlett-Packard (and others of course..)

This trend will only increase in intensity as chips become less expensive and the hardware wrapped around them drops in price with it.  Tomorrow’s classroom will likely look like a present day computer lab with plush recliners and Starbucks brewing in the background.   With  inexpensive laptops like these and the movement to mobile devices as supplementary curriculum aides, this is already occurring.  Good stuff!

Wisconsin Governor Keeps Online Charter Schools

This is a significant development:

MADISON — Gov. Jim Doyle signed into law Monday a bill that will keep online public charter schools open.

The deal was reached by the Legislature and passed last month.

Changes were required after an appeals court ruled last year that the virtual schools were violating state laws on charter schools, teacher licensing and open enrollment.

Speak Up 2007. What Do Students Think?

Project Tomorrow released the results of their annual Speak Up student survey today. The results confirm what many advocates of technology in education have claimed for years: students want more of it.

What did teachers have to say about education technology in the 2007 Speak Up survey?

• 33% identified themselves as technology experts, with 56 percent claiming to be average technology users.
• Technologies most used by teachers: e-mail and IM (93%), PowerPoint (59%), listening to podcasts or watching online video (35%).
• Most common use of education technology: homework and practice (51%).
• Three most important skills for students to learn: communication (80%), effective use of technology (73%), complex problem solving (63%).

This study confirms teachers should not fear technology in the classroom.