Articles in the Educational Technology category

Popup predicament

ABCNEWS.COM reports a troubling story about a substitute teacher who not only lost her job teaching, but was also arrested on 10 counts of risk of injury to a minor when a computer she left unattended began spewing porn site popups.  You know popups—those annoying messages that flash across your screen just because you happened to click on a web site of interest.  BoardBuzz got popped by a few just trying to access the story on ABCNEWS.COM.  See for yourselves.  Those of course, were not of the nature that popped up on the teacher’s computer.  And, it didn’t help that the computer was in a seventh grade classroom where children gathered around the terminal and giggled (as only seventh graders can) at the amazing images promising all kinds of… well, you know. 

You can imagine what happened next.  Even though the teacher’s administrators understood it was mistake and not the fault of the teacher, word got around, tempers flared, ires became aroused … goodness, BoardBuzz better stop. Long story short, the teacher got canned and was eventually arrested.

The teacher swears she didn’t access an adult site and that the popups appeared when she innocently opened an email.  The problem was, she couldn’t shut them off no matter how hard she tried.  Click one and another one pops up.  (BoardBuzz isn’t even going to pun this one). Of course, the teacher missed the computer’s on/off switch claiming she only recently began using the computer herself.  Huh?  And, so the teacher was hauled into court and eventually convicted.

The thing is, when the state’s own forensic experts and computer whizzes examined the computer itself they found “that the true culprit of the pornographic pop-ups was a malicious spyware program.”  In other words the teacher was not guilty of the charges and a judge overturned her conviction “saying the prosecution’s star witness, a computer forensics expert, had given false testimony.” 

The state “dropped the felony charges, but in November 2008″ the teacher pled “guilty to disorderly conduct,” fearing a new trial’s effect on her health. 

All of this leaves BoardBuzz thinking the prosecution may have gone a bit too far, but in terms of the teacher’s future in education, in these times of 21st century learning, if you can’t even figure out how to turn off the computer, perhaps a classroom is not the right place for you.

Christina Gordon|January 27th, 2009|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Technology, School Law, Teachers|

Could Apple return to ed tech?

While the rest of the internet is buzzing about the impact of Steve Job’s medical leave on Apple’s future, BoardBuzz is thinking of the possible impact on ed tech. Hat tip ZDNet’s Christoper Dawson. Could an Apple with new leadership possibly return to its roots in the education market? Since the late 90′s when Jobs rejoined Apple, their hold on the education market has been slipping. Even now it’s largely dominated by the PC industry. While the company did succeed in regaining some lost market share under Job’s leadership (we love those Mac commercials), it never really rebounded in the education world.

Well, we think it’s about time they realized their full potential in education. As ZDNet Education notes:

Obviously, their products are slick, easy to use, stable, and largely malware-free. They handle multimedia and the web very well (all the way from the iPod touch to high-end desktops) and make content creation a snap for students and teachers. Seems like a winning combination to me for Ed Tech, right?

Right. The problem is elitism. Don’t get us wrong—their products are polished and accessible, but they are simply too expensive. The education market, especially during this downturn in the economy, needs an affordable solution. BoardBuzz is hoping that an affordable Mac netbook is in our future. We’ve heard the rumors that Mac is developing some kind of touch screen tablet. While the touch screen technology has not historically done well in the PC market, we think that a Mac version might succeed where others haven’t. We’d love to see a touch screen Mac netbook. Wishful thinking? We hope not.

With President-elect Obama promising stimulus funds to revitalize education, Apple should realize they need to get back in the race. It would be an excellent business strategy on their part. What better way to bring new customers into the fold than to get students used to working on Macs. We hope Apple sees the writing on the walls, with or without Job’s leadership.

To Apple we say, “bring your excellence into schools and only good things will happen.” And now, because it’s Friday, here’s one of our favorite Mac ads.

Andrew Paulson|January 16th, 2009|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Finance, Educational Technology|

On the lookout for a little innovation

If your district is “Changing the Way America and the World Think about Education” we want to hear from you!   It’s not too late!  You can still submit to present at the 2009 T+L Conference in Denver Colorado, October 28 – 30!

T+L Workshop Submissions….Extended until January 20th!

Don’t miss this opportunity to share your innovative approaches with a national audience of school leaders during T+L Conference.  Critical issues like One-to-One Learning; S.T.E.M. and Career Preparation; Mission Critical IT; Professional Development; Tools for Engagement; and Technology and the Law will drive the agenda.  Other program participation opportunities include facilitating a topical roundtable discussion or sharing an initiative approach to instruction at the Education Excellence Fair, which is a two-hour interactive booth format showcased during the Opening Reception. The technology and learning conference welcomes your submissions at http://www.nsba.org/T+L.

Questions? Contact Colleen O’Brien, Manager, Education Technology Programs at 703-838-6213, or email cobrien@nsba.org.

Colleen O'Brien|January 14th, 2009|Categories: Boardbuzz, Conferences and Events, Educational Technology, Teachers|

Friday fun: the browser wars

the Browser WarsBoardBuzz came across this interesting graphic this morning while perusing various RSS feeds. It provides a creative take on the recent history (from 2002 through mid-2008) of the browser wars.

According to Wired’s Epicenter, the infographic was submitted to Reddit by a user named BovingdonBug who created it as part of an application for a newspaper design job. Click the graphic to view the full-size original.

Each browser’s user share is represented by the width of the flag being carried by the soldier. The data represents visitors of W3Schools, an essential resource for web developers, aka geeks. Such technical sites attract the web elite who love Firefox, which explains why Internet Explorer and Firefox appear to be neck and neck.

BoardBuzz’s own browser share looks something like this:

  1. Explorer 6.x (29.1%)
  2. Feed Readers (17.0%)
  3. Explorer 7-8 (13.1%)
  4. MSNbot (12.7%)
  5. Opera (10.8%)
  6. Explorer 5.x (5.7%)
  7. Yahoo Slurp (4.4%)
  8. Firefox (3.7%)
  9. GoogleBot (2.4%)
  10. Explorer 4.x 280 (0.7%)
  11. Other Mozilla (0.4%)
  12. Safari (0.1%)
Andrew Paulson|January 9th, 2009|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Technology, Governance|

Games boost brainpower!

BoardBuzz was interested to read that playing games actually improves the cognitive functions of older people. So indicates the results of a study by the University of Illinois’ department of psychology. We always figured that crossword puzzles or Sudoku could give the brain a boost, but this new study shows that playing a strategy game does as well.

A group of 40 people aged 60+ were subjected to almost 24 hours of the real-time strategycalled Rise of Nations. The group then exhibited notable improvements in a number of cognitive tests compared to a control group who did not play the game.

“As a group, the gamers became significantly better — and faster — at switching between tasks as compared to the comparison group,” the study reports.

“Their working memory, as reflected in the tests, was also significantly improved. Their reasoning ability was enhanced. To a lesser extent, their short-term memory of visual cues was better than that of their peers, as was their ability to identify rotated objects.”

The findings are meaningful, said postdoctoral researcher Chandramallika Basak, lead author on the study, because they show that multi-dimensional training can affect many individual components of cognitive function. BoardBuzz has written before on gaming and education here, here, here, here, and here. Do you have an idea on how to leverage gaming in education? Let us know.

Andrew Paulson|December 12th, 2008|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Technology|

Nothing improves without change

You probably haven’t noticed anything, but BoardBuzz has undergone some changes. We are now part of the open source movement! Yes, we’ve successfully transitioned our blogging platform to WordPress. What is WordPress you ask?

WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.

Yes, WordPress is an Open Source project, which means people all over the world work on it. It also means you are free to use it for anything from your personal home page to your school district’s website with no licensing fees! BoardBuzz gives it two thumbs up! If you want to set up a blog today, check out WordPress.com.

Also, if you are still subscribed to our original feed we strongly recommend you add our Feedburner feed. Happy blogging!

Andrew Paulson|December 5th, 2008|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Technology, Governance|

Teens’ online habits

The MacArthur Foundation just released a new study on teens and their online habits.

Billed as the most extensive examination of Internet and new media usage by U.S. teenagers, “Living and Learning with New Media” was conducted over three years by more than two dozen researchers who interviewed and observed more than 800 youth and their families.
Their findings: Kids are learning valuable technical and social skills that aren’t always understood or appreciated by adults.

“It may look as though kids are wasting a lot of time hanging out with new media, whether it’s on MySpace or sending instant messages,” says Mizuko Ito, the study’s lead researcher. “But their participation is giving them technological skills and literacy they need to succeed in the contemporary world. They’re learning how to get along with others, how to manage a public identity, how to create a home page.”

Hear Ito talk more about what she and other researchers discovered:

Then check out American School Board Journal’s current cover story, “Protecting Students Online,” which explores how educators can keep students safe while still embracing and integrating the tools of the 21st century.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

Kathleen Vail|November 24th, 2008|Categories: Curriculum, Educational Technology, Governance, Leading Source, School Security, Student Achievement|

Protecting students online

As usual, I amassed a mountain of information for my latest ASBJ cover story, “Protecting Students Online” now available at ASBJ.com.

As the title suggests, ensuring students are productive, learning, and most importantly safe when they go online is more complicated than even I had originally thought. Of course, news reports have made cyberbullying and sexual predators well-known threats (though recent studies have refuted the prevalence of online stranger, saying it is overblown by the media.)

Rather it was the other, lesser-known hazards (at least to me) that were surprising. Who knew there was an entire cyber-subculture that promoting, or at least promulgating, eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia? Or that gang members had taken to the Internet to recruit and brag about their exploits, an activity that even has its own moniker: net banging.

It makes sense when you think about it, though. Just about anything you can find in the real world has its virtual counterpoint. So what’s an educator or a parent to do in this risk-laden world? Some, as you’ll discover, rely on filters, blocking questionable or even unfamiliar material. That’s only a temporary solution, however, says Sophie Reid, a clinical psychologist and research fellow at the Centre for Adolescent Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

“When a child comes to us and says I want to go rock climbing, you don’t say it’s too dangerous or I’ll do it for you,” says Reid who was one of the panelists at an online safety conference last spring. “Instead you go to a reputable establishment, put them on rope we know won’t break, stand at the bottom, attach the other end of the rope to us and let them go up; if they fall, we’ve taken up the slack.”

Reid says educators and parents need to take the same approach when addressing online youth safety.

“We need to engage young people in their space, we need to be a reliable and helpful presence on the Internet because that’s where they’ve gone,” she says.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

Kathleen Vail|November 23rd, 2008|Categories: Curriculum, Educational Research, Educational Technology, Governance, Leading Source, School Security, Wellness|

Google maps ancient Rome

BoardBuzz was looking for something fun to blog on this otherwise dreary afternoon, and lo and behold Google provides.

Thanks to Google and the Rome Reborn Project, anyone can explore the city of Rome during the rule of Constantine the Great. That’s right, Google has released an “Ancient Rome 3D” layer for their popular Google Earth geographic browser.

The Rome project consists of more than 6,700 buildings of Ancient Rome fully modeled in 3-D. This is a perfect example of the bringing together of technology and information to disseminate knowledge and culture. Rome is a fascinating city, the Caput Mundi–Latin for “Capital of the World”–during its heyday, and seeing its past resurrected is truly fascinating.

The interesting Google Earth feature was created in conjunction with the Rome Reborn Project at University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Directed by Bernard Frischer, the project was created to depict a moment in time in Ancient Roman history, specifically June 21, 320 A.D.

Google Earth 4.3 (beta) can be downloaded for the PC, Mac or Linux. The Ancient Rome 3D layer is in the Navigating Toolbar under Galleries. For a video demonstration, see the video embedded below, or click here.

But that’s not all. When in Rome…Teach!

Google is providing K-12 educators in the United States with the chance to highlight their creativity and technical know-how by combining this content with classic classroom curricula.

Google is running a contest and is accepting curricula from all grade levels and K-12 subject areas. So whether you teach 5th grade art or high school engineering, there’s glory and a nice prize package waiting for you.

Teachers submitting the top 6 examples alone or in teams will be honored as rockstar Google educators online and will enjoy a prize package including:

  • Apple MacBook laptop
  • Digital classroom projector
  • Digital camera
  • 3D Navigation mouse
  • $500 in gift cards to Target or Office Depot
  • Engraved Google “Top Educator” plaque

Learn more.

admin|November 17th, 2008|Categories: Boardbuzz, Educational Technology, Governance, Teachers|

Love It or Hate It, Social Networking Sites Here to Stay

At a local watering hole, I mused with two of my friends over the phenomenon of Facebook. One is several years my junior and is a fan of the latest social networking site, arguing, quite convincingly, that it’s the ultimate multi-tasking tool, allowing you to maintain and make new friends while spending only a fraction of the time you would otherwise with traditional communication methods like the telephone, e-mail (or gasp) meeting in person.

Suddenly our bartender interrupted and told us how offended she was that a close friend of hers had wished her a happy birthday by posting it to her Facebook page. “She couldn’t bother to call me?”

It was on this point that my other friend, who is several years my senior, latched on to make her case against the latest online rage. “Nobody talks to each other anymore,” she lamented. “But they can broadcast their life to complete strangers.”

Both of my friends were right. Social networking sites are a powerful tool with tremendous capabilities. If not handled or understood properly, however, they can also pose tremendous risks. The most recent example comes from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina . There, several teachers are facing disciplinary action for content on their Facebook pages, one of which states she is “teaching chitlins in the ghetto of Charlotte.”

Interestingly enough, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools fielded another Internet-related episode last year, when it pressed charges against a student who posted a message on Facebook suggesting one of his teachers was a pedophile.

Whether you are an enthusiast or skeptic, Facebook, Myspace, and other popular social networking sites have become so prevalent in today’s society, they they’re hard to ignore, though if you’re smart you won’t want to. We certainly didn’t. The American School Board Journal also has joined Facebook, though don’t expect to see anything controversial on our page … at least on the editors.

Naomi Dillon, Senior Editor

Naomi Dillon|November 17th, 2008|Categories: Educational Technology, Governance, Leading Source|
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