Saturday, January 31, 2009

At elite colleges, new aid for the middle

Some of the nation's most elite colleges, trying to ward off perceptions that they've become unaffordable to even high-income families, are bolstering their financial aid packages by offering grants to students whose parents earn as much as $180,000 a year. Read more ...

Want You Educaton Information??

Want You Educaton Information??
Education Information

Why And When To Buy A Tuxedo

Posted in Education | Read the rest ...

Friday, January 30, 2009

Former Brattleboro teacher surrenders license

Former Brattleboro teacher surrenders license
Facing a child pornography charge, a former Brattleboro Union High School teacher has surrendered his teaching license.

A little ice? That's nothing, Obama says

After his daughters' school cancels classes following a storm, the president says the capital could use a little 'Chicago toughness.'

President Obama and his two young daughters have a message for Washington, based on years of Chicago winters: Toughen up.

Read more ...

Peter Johnson on "The inflexible constitution"

It's possible to be hopeful. First, the sovereignty of Parliament is strictly speaking the sovereignty of the Crown and both Houses conjoined. It is clear from the debates over matters from 42-days to ID cards to Iraq that Parliament as a whole still sees itself as a bulwark against unjust or ill-conceived government acts. Secondly, whatever the doctrine, the executive has in fact bound its successors in all sorts of ways and Parliamentary sovereignty is in some respects merely formal. The Huma Read the rest ...

Web Science

This article in the Online Newsletter of the Association for Learning Technology reports on the initiative to establish a new concentration of science and scholarship focused on how the Web functions and how to improve Web operations. ___JH (Thanks to TL Infobits for this reference.)

_____
"To promote Web Science and explore its emerging agenda, a joint endeavour between the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, was set up in 2006, called the Web Science Research Initiative (webscience.org). WSRI’s mission is to foster the fundamental advances required for the Web’s continued growth. In particular, WSRI is focusing on steering the development of the Web Science discipline, running a series of workshops and looking at the lines of an academic curriculum for teaching Web Science. There will be an International Web Science Conference held in Athens, Greece, in 2009 – hopefully the first of many – as well as a new journal Foundations and Trends in Web Science."

"Web Science is not just modelling the current Web. It is about engineering new infrastructure protocols by using scientific and technological tools from many disciplines to understand the human society that uses them, to create beneficial new systems – which may involve extremely radical thinking about both technology and society (Shneiderman 2007). Such new engineering must respect the invariants of the Web experience: decentralisation to avoid bottlenecks and allow increases of scale; serendipitous reuse of information; fairness, openness and trust. In this way, the Web will remain a technology that enhances human society, and supports human aspiration."

Read more ...

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Isaac Deas

Dr. Deas has a bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of New Haven, Connecticut. He has three (3) Masters’ degrees in Public Administration, University of Connecticut; Counseling, University of New Haven; and Education from Columbia University. He has a Doctorate of Education from Columbia University. Continue reading ...

LectureShare

This site provides a free course management system for students and teachers. The courses can be made private or public. LectureShare is very accessible with easy registration steps and easy-to-use course features which include a Gradebook, Announcements, and Lecture Uploading. Use the Available Courses section to search or browse the courses. Consult the recent review of LectureShare in THE Journal. ____JH

_____
"LectureShare lets instructors post lecture notes to their students, or the world, quickly and easily. Simply create an account, create your course, and in only minutes you can be posting announcements, documents, and media that your students can easily access. There's no frustrating software to learn and no course web page to maintain. We feel instructors time is best spent with students, not struggling with problematic course management software or maintaining their own webpage. We hope to bring a new level of simplicity and flexibility to the course management idea. We currently allow students to aggregate multiple courses under one account and take advantage of course notifications by e-mail, SMS text message, or RSS feed. This is only the beginning and we hope to develop many more features."
Read more ...

Free Digital Texts and Free Online Course Materials

Free Digital Texts and Free Online Course Materials
It's important when the free digital textbooks and free online course materials are covered by the LA Times. The issues surrounding pricey textbooks and digital alternatives are compactly discussed in this news article. ___ JH (Thanks to the blog Free Culture News for this reference.)
____
"Caltech economics professor R. Preston McAfee finds it annoying that students and faculty haven't looked harder for alternatives to the exorbitant prices. McAfee wrote a well-regarded open-source economics textbook and gave it away -- online. But although the text, released in 2007, has been adopted at several prestigious colleges, including Harvard and Claremont-McKenna, it has yet to make a dent in the wider textbook market."
"McAfee is one of a band of would-be reformers who are trying to beat the high cost -- and, they say, the dumbing down -- of college textbooks by writing or promoting open-source, no-cost digital texts. Thus far, their quest has been largely quixotic, but that could be changing. Public colleges and universities in California this past year backed several initiatives to promote online course materials, and publishers and entrepreneurs are stepping up release of electronic textbooks, which typically sell at reduced prices."
"Open educational resources is an amorphous category for publishers, but basically it includes e-textbooks, courses, videos, taped lectures, tests, software and other materials released online free to the public without restriction on use."


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Free Digital Texts and Free Online Course Materials

It's important when the free digital textbooks and free online course materials are covered by the LA Times. The issues surrounding pricey textbooks and digital alternatives are compactly discussed in this news article. ___ JH (Thanks to the blog Free Culture News for this reference.)
____
"Caltech economics professor R. Preston McAfee finds it annoying that students and faculty haven't looked harder for alternatives to the exorbitant prices. McAfee wrote a well-regarded open-source economics textbook and gave it away -- online. But although the text, released in 2007, has been adopted at several prestigious colleges, including Harvard and Claremont-McKenna, it has yet to make a dent in the wider textbook market."
"McAfee is one of a band of would-be reformers who are trying to beat the high cost -- and, they say, the dumbing down -- of college textbooks by writing or promoting open-source, no-cost digital texts. Thus far, their quest has been largely quixotic, but that could be changing. Public colleges and universities in California this past year backed several initiatives to promote online course materials, and publishers and entrepreneurs are stepping up release of electronic textbooks, which typically sell at reduced prices."
"Open educational resources is an amorphous category for publishers, but basically it includes e-textbooks, courses, videos, taped lectures, tests, software and other materials released online free to the public without restriction on use."

Read more ...

Practice test offered Jan. 31

What could be better than taking a test that doesn't count? How about an offer for area high school students to take a proctored SAT or ACT practice test? A novel fundraiser sponsored by the Watchung Hills ...

Read the rest ...

Peer 2 Peer University

P2P University has received favorable coverage by a number of bloggers (including ZaidLearn and Stephen's Web).  I just want to add my endorsement of this promising direction of development. ___JH

___
"The Peer 2 Peer University is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.Find out more about what P2PU courses look like, and consider creating your own. If you just want to stay informed, please add your name to our mailing list, and we will send you a message when we launch." Read the rest ...

Administrators share vision to change schools

Administrators share vision to change schools

Some superintendents in Texas are calling for an overhaul of public schools to better prepare students -- in ways that aren't boring.


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Pakistan relaunches Swat operation

Pakistan relaunches Swat operation
The Pakistani Army has launched another operation in the Taliban controlled district of Swat after the Taliban reportedly rampaged in the main city and ordered government officials to appear before a sharia court. Today the military declared a curfew in the main city of Mingora, the only remaining town in Swat under the tenuous control of the government, after more than 100 Taliban fighters "stormed the streets of the town displaying arms," Daily Times reported. The Taliban have held public e

RIC to give tuition break to Mass., Conn. students

RIC to give tuition break to Mass., Conn. students
Rhode Island College announced Monday that it would lower tuition for some students from Connecticut and Massachusetts in a gesture it calls a "good neighbor effort."

Carl McIntosh dies at 94; president of what is now Cal State Long Beach

The university experienced rapid growth during his tenure in the 1960s.

Carl McIntosh, president of what is now Cal State Long Beach during a period of rapid growth in the 1960s, died Monday in Bozeman, Mont. He was 94.

Read more ...

Monday, January 26, 2009

A Quantum Leap in Education -- Fast, Free and Personalized

Continue reading ...

Report says Ohio needs higher teacher standards

CLEVELAND: Ohio schools should have a freer hand awarding tenure to good teachers and firing bad ones, a philanthropic coalition said today in making sweeping education reform recommendations to the governor ...

Read more ...

Ship discharges threaten sea life

Crisscrossing the seas on global trade routes, cargo ships suck up billions of tons of water to provide a steadying weight, and then dump that water back into the ocean when it's time to take on new cargo. Each year, ocean-faring vessels from overseas discharge enough of this ballast water in US waters to fill about 20,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Read the rest ...

Obama Pushes $825B Economic Stimulus Plan

Obama Pushes $825B Economic Stimulus Plan
The president says the plan will not only create jobs, but will also include investment in areas such as education, health care, energy and new infrastructure to keep the nation competitive in the global economy. Critics say it includes too much new government spending and not enough tax relief.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Arizona primes for new governor and different path

Arizona primes for new governor and different path

The change comes at a time when the Republican-leaning state faces a budget crisis and will likely mark a major change in how Arizona tackles it.


Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities

Grainne Conole of OpenLearn presents a view of how Web 2.0 technologies can influence pedagogical approaches.  The models and ideas in Conole's presentation are worth considering by learning design professionals whose task is to facilitate the construction of online courses. (The video from the Eduserve Foundation Symposium 2008 was cited by iThinkEd.)____JH
Read more ...

Teach and Develop here.

Ready to Teach? Educators and Developers are welcome to use CipherHive for creating instructional Courses and Tutorials. You can add RSS feeds, Videos, Music, Tags, Chat, Wiki, Forums, and more. CipherHive is built on the power of Moodle and is a social network for Newcomers and Professionals in the Coding, Graphics, Technology World. Continue reading ...

FREE Park Dae-sung: Econoblogger Jailed for Getting It Right

WaPo tells the story: As a financial blogger named Minerva, Park Dae-sung was the dark prophet of market decline in South Korea. In this education-obsessed country, where academic credentials are often taken as a measure of human value, he was also something of an idiot savant. He had no degree in economics. He had no professional experience in finance. He was not a wealthy investor. He had been a so-so student who studied communications at a so-so junior college in a backwater town south Continue reading ...

Saturday, January 24, 2009

At elite colleges, new aid for the middle

At elite colleges, new aid for the middle
Some of the nation's most elite colleges, trying to ward off perceptions that they've become unaffordable to even high-income families, are bolstering their financial aid packages by offering grants to students whose parents earn as much as $180,000 a year.

Preaching need for better schools

When the Rev. Gregory G. Groover Sr. and his wife first moved to Roxbury seven years ago, they did not immediately send their children to the Boston public schools. Continue reading ...

OFF-Campus / Freshers / Tech Support / Testing Jobs in Bang

Position: Trainee - Support/ TestingEducation: BE /B.Tech /ME /M.Tech /MCA (CS,IS,IT,EC,EE,Telecom) 2008 BatchExp: Fresher Read more ...

National foundation launched to help Americans

With the support of leaders from the Online Lenders Alliance the Community Financial Education Foundation (CFEF) has been created to educate micro-loan borrowers on money management and to help them achieve financial independence. Continue reading ...

Friday, January 23, 2009

Experts debate Ohio's dropout academies

Experts debate Ohio's dropout academies

Two years ago, 16-year-old Jonathan Martinez was a defiant kid from New York City who felt disconnected from his new peers at Columbus' West High School.


No argument: High school debate is popular once again

Literacy and graduation rates are improving for teens in debate programs. Students hope to put to rest the stereotype of debaters as geeks with pocket protectors.

Crowds of Lincoln High School students flooded the sidewalks along Broadway recently as another school day came to an end. But 16-year-old Tania Navarro wasn't in the crowd. She sat inside one of the school's bungalow classrooms, tapping her pencil against the sheet of paper in front of her.

Read the rest ...

What makes a great educator?

Educators serve as our source of major knowledge. Being a good educator will ensure quality learning on the part of the students. An educator as defined refers to someone who is trained in teaching. Therefore all educators are teachers but not all teachers are great educators. READ MORE AT http://www.helium.com/items/1309216 Read more ...

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Make way for the young’uns

Make way for the young’uns By: Melissa | January 23rd, 2009 | No Comments » Jill Oakes and Lauren Cheney both had to pull out of USWNT training camp. Oakes for a knee injury and Cheney because UCLA are total dicks. Okay, USSoccer is calling it “academic commitments.” I respect education, Obama respects education, and Lauren Cheney does too. So she’s out and it’s time to make way for the younger kids… Christine Nairn. Midfielder and participant in the recent U-20 World Cup. Ella Masar. Forward Read more ...

Students take lessons from Obama inauguration

Students take lessons from Obama inauguration
Many educators find a teachable moment, though some will have to decide if the historic event should interfere with finals or course work.

More than 600 elementary and middle school students at Crossroads School in Santa Monica will watch the swearing-in of the nation's 44th president today on 9-foot by 12-foot projection screens. Final exams were delayed a day for the high school students so they could participate.


ZaidLearn's OCW + OER Lists

Zaid Ali Alsagoff has revised his OCW/OER list compilation to produce an extremely useful update. Zaid's compilation should be bookmarked for reference by university instructors, students, and support staff. ______JH

______

University Learning = OCW + OER = FREE!


- Zaid Ali Alsagoff ( [ZaidLearn] Read more ...

March for Life Invites to President Obama to Speak

Nellie Gray, founder and President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund has personally invited President Barack Obama to discuss pro-life issues at the 2009 annual March for Life on Thursday, January 22 in Washington, DC. Read more ...

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Guide to Online Interior design schools

Many students right out of high school, working adults, or the adult yearning for a change of scenery may be interested in online interior design school. Earning your college degree or continuing education credit can be done completely online. Continue reading ...

Americans gather to cheer Obama -- together

From the boisterous streets of New York to the suddenly silent casinos in Las Vegas and virtually everywhere in between, Americans celebrated Barack Obama's inauguration by answering his call for national unity: They gathered together. Continue reading ...

The Biggest Issue

The Biggest Issue
America’s stagnation in educational progress threatens the country’s long-term economic and sociological prospects.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

69 Learning Adventures

Zaid Ali Alsagoff has organized and edited 69 postings from his weblog Zaidlearn at the ePublishing site Scribd. Zaid's eBook provides many links and many valuable perspectives on the worlds of learning that are available on the Web. ____JH

______
After a lot of filtering, I have settled for 69 learning nuggets posted on ZaidLearn, which I believe readers might find useful to their own learning. To make it a bit more convenient to find what you are looking for, I have divided the book into six learning galaxies (or themes), which are:
  • Learning
  • Teaching
  • Stories
  • Free e-Learning Tools
  • Free Learning Content
  • Free EduGames

Read more ...

mumbai university

mumbai university
msbte, www.dpe.gov.bd, dpe,mumbai university exam time table,mumbai university exam date sheet,mumbai university all groups exam time table,mumbai university exams notification,mumbai university distance education results,mubai university law results,mumbai university law exam results,mumbai university law sem results,mumbai university notification

Rick Sincere News and Thoughts: Insulting Two Presidents

Rick Sincere News and Thoughts: Insulting Two Presidents
On the eve of the presidential inauguration ceremony in Washington, during an NPR interview show, an advocate of affirmative action programs in higher education managed to insult both of the Presidents who will serve the United States during this 24-hour period, virtually without taking a breath.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Prescription addiction and drugs in our schools. Learn more!

Prescription addiction and drugs in our schools. Learn more!
Tune in on Sunday January 25th, from 9 to 10 PM, streaming live audio on www.prescriptionaddictionradio.com. WGUL in Tampa, FL 860 AM. Host Larry G and guests Pat Goza of PAPDA and Sheryl Letzgus McGinnis, author, will be the featured guests. Tune in and be informed. Call in to add your voice on why drug education is needed in our schools.

How We Decide

Ever wonder how it is that we make the choices we do? How does the brain process a decision, be it the split-second or the month-long rumination variety? Why did you choose that particular major? When you’re halfway across the street and a car is speeding toward mortal you, do you run across [...]

Ever wonder how it is that we make the choices we do? How does the brain process a decision, be it the split-second or the month-long rumination variety? Why did you choose that particular major? When you’re halfway across the street and a car is speeding toward mortal you, do you run across or turn back? Which first-date ensemble to wear, the obviously smoking hot one, or the more subtly smoking hot one? Paper or plastic? Large, Extra Large, Ridiculous, American, or Gigantic? Public or private? Which house should you buy, the one with enough bedrooms or the one with the amazing view?

Next month Jonah Lehrer’s newest book, How We Decide, comes out. Reading it will shed some light on the fascinating process that is human decision-making; how we make the choices we do, and how we can learn from the less-than-stellar ones and make better choices next time. Sometimes understanding the science behind it all helps.

A few reviews:

“Starred Review. Lehrer is a delight to read, and this is a fascinating book (some of which appeared recently, in a slightly different form, in the New Yorker) that will help everyone better understand themselves and their decision making.” - Publishers Weekly.

“Over the past two decades, research in neuroscience and behavioral economics has revolutionized our understanding of human decision-making. Jonah Lehrer brings it all together in this insightful and enjoyable book, giving readers the information they need to make the smartest decisions.” - Antonio Damasio, author of Descartes’ Error and Looking for Spinoza.

“An inviting, high-velocity ride through our most treasured mental act-deciding. This is truly one of the most accessible and richly-informed books on human choice. It’s a must read for anyone interested in the human mind and how cutting-edge research changes the way we think about ourselves. A marvelous success.” - Read Montague, Brown Foundation Professor of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Read the rest ...

Investing In Students’ Futures

I’ve been stalling writing about this one—I can’t figure out where I stand. It seems creepy, kept, indentured and whore-ish, but when you really look at student loans, those do, too. College students need to finance their educations so they can learn lots, thereby enabling them to go off and seek their fortunes. [...]

I’ve been stalling writing about this one—I can’t figure out where I stand. It seems creepy, kept, indentured and whore-ish, but when you really look at student loans, those do, too. College students need to finance their educations so they can learn lots, thereby enabling them to go off and seek their fortunes. The catch-22 being, if they can’t afford to learn the stuff, they won’t be seeking much of a fortune.

Loan companies and the federal money people are basically gambling on a student’s future when they agree to front the student some money for a college education. Regardless of how much the student stands to earn in the future, whether it’s a teacher’s salary or a doctor’s, the student will owe the loan amount plus interest. I won’t go into too many painful details as I’m sure we’re all aware how far over the barrel college loan recipients are bent.

Some modern thinkers, like Miguel Palacios and his company, Lumni, have begun brokering their own deals with college students. The investors pay for a student’s college education, and in return the student owes the investors a percentage of his or her future earnings. The students who become doctors owe their investors more, and underpaid teachers owe their financial backers less. The percentage part of the deal is the bit that sways me over to the I’m-For-It side of the fence.

On the I’m-Against-It side, there’s the inevitable stickiness of investors only ever wanting to back kids who promise to go into large-gain careers; no one will be backing the future social workers of the world. And even if a student has big social-worker dreams, they will have to lie to investors until their pants combust in order to get their MSW paid for. Student loan companies and the Feds are evil with regards to interest rates, but they’re also equal-opportunity shafters—they’ll give anyone a loan, no matter what their future earning potential might be.

So you see my dilemma; on the one hand, it’s wonderful to see some new and creative ways for people with money to financially assist college students. On the other hand, the investor option seems just as evil as the student loan option, but in fresh and exciting new ways. And there’s the whole issue of how effed up it is that anyone has to pay for education at all, but we can skip that for today.

Further Reading:

The American: Popping the Tuition Bubble

Posted by Alexa Harrington

image source

Read the rest ...

Obama: A political journey -- at warp speed

Every year, the dedicated teacher would put together a bulletin board for Black History Month, honoring famous achievers. Continue reading ...

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Ultimate Guide to Using Open Courseware

Another informative collection of categorized and annotated resource links for self-directed learning--this listing was compiled by Gartheeban Ganeshapillai. I especially like the inclusive scope of this listing. ___JH

_____
"While you can't get college credit for taking open courseware classes, you can make the most of the information and education they offer both in personal and professional aspects of your life. After all, even if you're not working towards a degree, taking the same courses as those in the ivy league can't possibly hurt you and may even be able to better keep you informed and on the cutting edge of what's going on in your field. So how can you make the most of these free online courses? Here are resources we've collected that can help you search for classes, find information and learn everything you need to know about how open courseware works."
Continue reading ...

Toronto-area woman briefly lost her ticket to Obama inauguration

The last few weeks have been slightly stressful for Nadia Oryema, and not because the 21-year-old university student will be attending Barack Obama's inauguration in Washington, D.C. Oryema lost the coveted ...

Read the rest ...

"Checking the Pulse of the Architecture Industry" survey

Look skyward in certain major cities and you're bound to see a bunch of cranes, placed there to construct new buildings back when the economy was humming. As the charts and graphs now slide steadily south, some of those projects are being halted, while others have no choice but to continue. Regardless of their status, the one thing the buildings all have in common: they were all designed by architects. Back in early November, Archinect launched a survey called "Checking the Pulse of the Arch Read the rest ...

UC cuts freshman enrollment for fall by 6%

UC cuts freshman enrollment for fall by 6%
The hardest-hit campuses, Irvine and San Diego, will see 12% reductions. Berkeley's class will grow 1.7% and Merced's 17%. Numbers of community college transfers will be allowed to rise.

Saying they could not avoid a painful decision, University of California regents voted Wednesday to trim freshman enrollment for next fall by 2,300 students, or about 6%, as a response to reduced state funding during the worsening budget crisis.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Postal worker fired for leaving after fiance shot

A postal worker who abandoned her mail truck to tend to her wounded fiance will not be fired, the U.S. Postal Service said Wednesday.

Read more ...

Education

Education
My education is amazing.

Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities

Disruptive Technologies or New Pedagogical Possibilities
Grainne Conole of OpenLearn presents a view of how Web 2.0 technologies can influence pedagogical approaches.  The models and ideas in Conole's presentation are worth considering by learning design professionals whose task is to facilitate the construction of online courses. (The video from the Eduserve Foundation Symposium 2008 was cited by iThinkEd.)____JH

College Loan Corporation and Regent Form Strategic Alliance

College Loan Corporation and Regent Form Strategic Alliance

Friday, January 16, 2009

Source: Obama to name Sunstein his regulatory czar

President-elect Barack Obama has tapped legal scholar Cass Sunstein as his administration's regulatory czar, a Democratic source said Friday. Continue reading ...

Opening Up Education

Opening Up Education
Opening Up Education is an MIT Press book edited by Toru Iiyoshi and Vijay Kumar; the subtitle is "The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge." The free ebook is, appropriately, available in an open access ipaper edition (Flash format) or via pdf files. (A print version may also be purchased from MIT Press.) The book includes a useful Foreword by John Seely Brown and valuable Introduction and Conclusion sections by the editors; the core of the book contains 27 chapters by diverse authors, many of them leaders in their fields. 
____JH

____
"Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available—from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for students, self-learners, faculty, and educational institutions—we have yet to take full advantage of shared knowledge about how these are being used, what local innovations are emerging, and how to learn from and build on the experiences of others. Opening Up Education argues that we must develop not only the technical capability but also the intellectual capacity for transforming tacit pedagogical knowledge into commonly usable and visible knowledge: by providing incentives for faculty to use (and contribute to) open education goods, and by looking beyond institutional boundaries to connect a variety of settings and open source entrepreneurs."


Opening Up Education

Opening Up Education
Opening Up Education is an MIT Press book edited by Toru Iiyoshi and Vijay Kumar; the subtitle is "The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge." The free ebook is, appropriately, available in an open access ipaper edition (Flash format) or via pdf files. (A print version may also be purchased from MIT Press.) The book includes a useful Foreword by John Seely Brown and valuable Introduction and Conclusion sections by the editors; the core of the book contains 27 chapters by diverse authors, many of them leaders in their fields. 
____JH

____
"Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available—from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for students, self-learners, faculty, and educational institutions—we have yet to take full advantage of shared knowledge about how these are being used, what local innovations are emerging, and how to learn from and build on the experiences of others. Opening Up Education argues that we must develop not only the technical capability but also the intellectual capacity for transforming tacit pedagogical knowledge into commonly usable and visible knowledge: by providing incentives for faculty to use (and contribute to) open education goods, and by looking beyond institutional boundaries to connect a variety of settings and open source entrepreneurs."


Sector Snap: Private education stocks climb

Sector Snap: Private education stocks climb
Shares of private education companies climbed Thursday on reports the stimulus bill proposed by House Democrats included provisions increasing federal student loans.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Escapist - the reality of fantasy games

A web page devoted to the betterment of tabletop role-playing games and the education of the public and media of their benefits to society. Features sections on roleplaying with kids, promoting RPGs in the library and classroom, gaming and philanthropy, and much more. Continue reading ...

How We Decide

How We Decide
Ever wonder how it is that we make the choices we do? How does the brain process a decision, be it the split-second or the month-long rumination variety? Why did you choose that particular major? When you’re halfway across the street and a car is speeding toward mortal you, do you run across [...]

Ever wonder how it is that we make the choices we do? How does the brain process a decision, be it the split-second or the month-long rumination variety? Why did you choose that particular major? When you’re halfway across the street and a car is speeding toward mortal you, do you run across or turn back? Which first-date ensemble to wear, the obviously smoking hot one, or the more subtly smoking hot one? Paper or plastic? Large, Extra Large, Ridiculous, American, or Gigantic? Public or private? Which house should you buy, the one with enough bedrooms or the one with the amazing view?

Next month Jonah Lehrer’s newest book, How We Decide, comes out. Reading it will shed some light on the fascinating process that is human decision-making; how we make the choices we do, and how we can learn from the less-than-stellar ones and make better choices next time. Sometimes understanding the science behind it all helps.

A few reviews:

“Starred Review. Lehrer is a delight to read, and this is a fascinating book (some of which appeared recently, in a slightly different form, in the New Yorker) that will help everyone better understand themselves and their decision making.” - Publishers Weekly.

“Over the past two decades, research in neuroscience and behavioral economics has revolutionized our understanding of human decision-making. Jonah Lehrer brings it all together in this insightful and enjoyable book, giving readers the information they need to make the smartest decisions.” - Antonio Damasio, author of Descartes’ Error and Looking for Spinoza.

“An inviting, high-velocity ride through our most treasured mental act-deciding. This is truly one of the most accessible and richly-informed books on human choice. It’s a must read for anyone interested in the human mind and how cutting-edge research changes the way we think about ourselves. A marvelous success.” - Read Montague, Brown Foundation Professor of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine.

Posted by Alexa Harrington


Paul Andrew's E-Learning Resources Guide

Paul Andrew's E-Learning Resources Guide
This is another useful compilation of e-learning resources, well-organized and thoughtfully selected. ____JH (Thanks to OL Daily for the citation.)

____
"On this site you will find my favourite links to free on-line services that allow you to provide your students with enhanced learning opportunities which you can then embed into, or link from, your school/college/university's website, course blog or VLE/MLE.

For a site/service to be included here it must be:


  • Free
  • Easy to use
  • Produce high quality resources that can be used on any web enabled platform
Sites & services are arranged into the categories that you can see in the navigation menu the on the left, please click on one to get started.

Alternatively you can search this site using the search box at the top right of each page or click here to access the Sitemap."


Gov. Corzine to NJ mayors: Expect less from state

In the bluntest terms he has used so far to convey next year's doomsday budget proposal, New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine on Wednesday told dozens of municipal mayors to expect less aid from the state -- though he failed to say how much the aid pool would shrink. Read the rest ...

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Many-Eyes.com Visualization Tool

Many-Eyes.com Visualization Tool
I first read about Many Eyes in the business section of the Sunday 8/31/08 NY Times, where it was described by the Times writer Anne Eisenburg, "Lines and Bubbles and Bars, Oh My! New Ways to Sift Data." Eisenburg argues that Many Eyes does for users of data displays what YouTube does for videos and Flickr for photos: "Now they can share more technical types of displays: graphs, charts, and other visuals they create to help them analyze data buried in spreadsheets, tables, or text." Many Eyes was created by IBM scientists and developers to provide sophisticated visualization tools for data analyses and displays. The site should be of interest to students and to instructors, and to the general public. One of the most important contributions of the Web-- beyond quick communications and ready access to information, advice, and opinion-- is the access to sound, video, photo and other tools that were previously the province of specialists. (One caution--because Many Eyes is experimental the server is not always up, sometimes it is closed for development and updating.) ____JH

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About Many Eyes

"Many Eyes is a bet on the power of human visual intelligence to find patterns. Our goal is to 'democratize' visualization and to enable a new social kind of data analysis. Jump right to our visualizations now, take a tour, or read on for a leisurely explanation of the project.

All of us in CUE's Visual Communication Lab are passionate about the potential of data visualization to spark insight. It is that magical moment we live for: an unwieldy, unyielding data set is transformed into an image on the screen, and suddenly the user can perceive an unexpected pattern. As visualization designers we have witnessed and experienced many of those wondrous sparks. But in recent years, we have become acutely aware that the visualizations and the sparks they generate, take on new value in a social setting. Visualization is a catalyst for discussion and collective insight about data.

We all deal with data that we'd like to understand better. It may be as straightforward as a sales spreadsheet or fantasy football stats chart, or as vague as a cluttered email inbox. But a remarkable amount of it has social meaning beyond ourselves. When we share it and discuss it, we understand it in new ways."



Better Learning with Web Tools

Inside Higher Ed reports on research that shows the effectiveness of adding visual and auditory tools to promote student learning. Web tools can aid in both student projects and in providing instructor feedback. ____JH
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"Even as many instructors embrace digital tools in the classroom, some are pushing the technology envelope with more complex tools for teaching or interacting with students. New research suggests the promise of such approaches. One qualitative study, which surely won’t be welcomed by manufacturers of basic word processing software, found that students who create and edit documents using Web-based collaboration tools include more complex visual media in their assignments--and come away with a better understanding in the process. Another ongoing experiment finds, with statistical significance, that instructors can be more effective in grading students’ work if they record their comments directly into documents as audio."
Read more ...

Opening Up Education

Opening Up Education is an MIT Press book edited by Toru Iiyoshi and Vijay Kumar; the subtitle is "The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge." The free ebook is, appropriately, available in an open access ipaper edition (Flash format) or via pdf files. (A print version may also be purchased from MIT Press.) The book includes a useful Foreword by John Seely Brown and valuable Introduction and Conclusion sections by the editors; the core of the book contains 27 chapters by diverse authors, many of them leaders in their fields. 
____JH

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"Given the abundance of open education initiatives that aim to make educational assets freely available online, the time seems ripe to explore the potential of open education to transform the economics and ecology of education. Despite the diversity of tools and resources already available—from well-packaged course materials to simple games, for students, self-learners, faculty, and educational institutions—we have yet to take full advantage of shared knowledge about how these are being used, what local innovations are emerging, and how to learn from and build on the experiences of others. Opening Up Education argues that we must develop not only the technical capability but also the intellectual capacity for transforming tacit pedagogical knowledge into commonly usable and visible knowledge: by providing incentives for faculty to use (and contribute to) open education goods, and by looking beyond institutional boundaries to connect a variety of settings and open source entrepreneurs."

Read the rest ...

Obama, education, and the 'social justice left'

Obama, education, and the 'social justice left'

"By choosing Arnie Duncan as secretary of education, Obama has sidesteped the zero-sum game between teacher's unions and education reformers.


UMass loses marijuana lab bid

UMass loses marijuana lab bid
The US Drug Enforcement Administration has rejected the bid of a researcher at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who wants to create the second laboratory in the nation authorized to grow marijuana for medical research.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Greatest Quiz ever made!!!

it might pay to know how many you can take on...for educational purposes of course. Continue reading ...

Put New Recruits To The Test; Screening exams can minimize hiring blun

Put New Recruits To The Test; Screening exams can minimize hiring blun

Remember the days in high school, when students had to take college entrance exams to graduate and get into college? Now, many companies are following suit by testing applicants to improve their hiring.


Web Science

Web Science
This article in the Online Newsletter of the Association for Learning Technology reports on the initiative to establish a new concentration of science and scholarship focused on how the Web functions and how to improve Web operations. ___JH (Thanks to TL Infobits for this reference.)

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"To promote Web Science and explore its emerging agenda, a joint endeavour between the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, was set up in 2006, called the Web Science Research Initiative (webscience.org). WSRI’s mission is to foster the fundamental advances required for the Web’s continued growth. In particular, WSRI is focusing on steering the development of the Web Science discipline, running a series of workshops and looking at the lines of an academic curriculum for teaching Web Science. There will be an International Web Science Conference held in Athens, Greece, in 2009 – hopefully the first of many – as well as a new journal Foundations and Trends in Web Science."

"Web Science is not just modelling the current Web. It is about engineering new infrastructure protocols by using scientific and technological tools from many disciplines to understand the human society that uses them, to create beneficial new systems – which may involve extremely radical thinking about both technology and society (Shneiderman 2007). Such new engineering must respect the invariants of the Web experience: decentralisation to avoid bottlenecks and allow increases of scale; serendipitous reuse of information; fairness, openness and trust. In this way, the Web will remain a technology that enhances human society, and supports human aspiration."


Monday, January 12, 2009

Home School Students on the Rise Nationwide

Kanawha County also is seeing an increase in the number of students that are being home schooled.

Continue reading ...

Ex-teacher charged with rape

Ex-teacher charged with rape
John R. Ellement of the Globe staff reported from Brockton, Abington, and Rockland. Andrew Ryan and Jonathan Saltzman wrote the article.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Ca dietary education in supervisor

Ca dietary education in supervisor
CA - San Francisco. Dec-08. Nutrition & Food Services Supervisor (Full. San Francisco, CA- Dietary Aide- Full Time/Part Time/Per Diem- L - View similar jobs.

In his shoes

In his shoes
How do you button a shirt or put on socks using only one hand? What's it like trying to get around in a wheelchair if you can't see? How isolating is it to not recognize or remember people's faces?

Whose Name is on the Cup?

There are times when people who are in vocational ministry get weary of Jesus. Maybe I'm the only one, but I doubt it. He seems, at times, so hard to pin down, as everything from libertarianism to communism is carried out in His name. He seems to be the source of divisions in the world as people carrying His name have often carried a sword as well, leaving carnage in their wake. And He's a bit mystical, speaking in parables, paradox, and even contradiction, as he tells his disciples to carry Continue reading ...

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Short Course on Structured Course Development, LOs, and Standards

Short Course on Structured Course Development, LOs, and Standards

This excellent online course is available for free from CAREO (a Wiki version of the course is also provided for readers who might like to contribute to the presentation). The course was developed by the Resource Pool Project. The topics covered should be of especial value to developers of educational resources and resource repositories.
____JH

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Course Overview

This short course is intended to provide a basic overview of structured course development, learning objects, and e-learning standards and specifications. This course is meant to be non-technical in nature, although it is hard to make it so.

Course Goal

A Short Course on Structured Course Development, Learning Objects, and E-Learning standards will provide an introduction to using a structured language such as Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) or eXtensible Markup Language (XML) as a basis for producing a learning design and describing course content, activities, and assignments. The course will tell you what SGML and XML are and distinguish them from HyperText Markup Language. You will understand the concept of learning objects and the issues related to their use in e-learning, and you will learn about the standards and specifications initiatives that are shaping the e-learning world.

Key Concepts

  • Semantic markup languages
  • Instructional design using a structured approach
  • Characteristics of learning objects
  • Learning objects and metadata
  • The difference between a standard and a specification
  • Why standards and specifications are important
  • E-learning standards and specifications initiatives




Finland can provide education for provincial school boards

Finland can provide education for provincial school boards

Teachers' opposition to standardized testing relates more to the method of administration than the use of such assessments.


New California law protects school journalism advisors

New California law protects school journalism advisors
The act, said to be the nation's most stringent, prohibits school administrators from retaliating against advisors for trying to protect student press freedoms.

When California public schools resume classes Monday, high school and college journalism advisors will be protected by a new state law designed to promote 1st Amendment freedoms.

Learn To Rock Like A Star

Learn To Rock Like A Star
There’s still hope for students whose school music programs have gone the way of the buffalo (or who would prefer rocking out as opposed to Little League or soccer practice). The Paul Green School of Rock Music teaches kids not only music theory and how to play their instruments, it also teaches kids the [...]

There’s still hope for students whose school music programs have gone the way of the buffalo (or who would prefer rocking out as opposed to Little League or soccer practice). The Paul Green School of Rock Music teaches kids not only music theory and how to play their instruments, it also teaches kids the fundamentals of performing in front of a live audience. The idea being, you can’t have a rock show without (a) an audience, and (b) crazy lights and a fog machine.

And, really, most kids are learning to play an instrument for only one of three reasons:

(1) Their parents are making them.

(2) They hope someday to perform with a world-renowned symphony and maybe have a stunning violin solo.

(3) They are biding their time learning guitar in the standard guitar-learning setting until they can absorb enough guitar knowledge and gather enough of their middle school friends to finally get their band going so they can be ass-kicking rock stars on tour with roadies and groupies by the age of 21.

From the CS Monitor article:

Aspiring rockers can enroll in any of the three semesters throughout the year. Students can learn how to play the keyboard, guitar, drums, or bass, and take voice instruction. Every week, students participate in a 45-minute lesson and a three-hour group rehearsal. The school also offers summer camp sessions where students get lessons in recording their own music and marketing.

Mr. Green grew up playing guitar and bass. He taught music lessons and played gigs to pay his way through college. Ultimately, his lessons turned into jam sessions when he asked his students to collaborate with him – and play the music they were individually learning. That’s when the idea for the school emerged. In 1998, Mr. Green opened up the first School of Rock in Philadelphia.

Now, 10 years later, there are 45 schools across the country, with 20 more schools set to open.

Seattle has a School of Rock should my kiddos ever want to test their rock-star mettle.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

image credit


Friday, January 9, 2009

Chandigarh Education Department Releases Class VIII Exams

Chandigarh(Mera Chandigarh):-The Chandigarh Education department has announced the datasheet for the middle – class examinations to be held from February 6, 2009 in Chandigarh government and private schools. Read the rest ...

Okla. Education Headed To Vote (KOCO 5 Oklahoma City)

No challenges were filed within a 10-day protest period, ensuring a statewide vote on the Oklahoma Education Association's petition to increase school funding by $850 million a year. Read the rest ...

The long road back

The long road back
The English High School, a historic icon and once one of Boston's premier learning institutions, has become one of the city's worst schools. This year, it must improve or face closure. This story is the first of several about the students, teachers, and headmaster at English as they try to reverse the school's troubled course.

School bus liquor-store run gets cops' attention

A school bus driver made an unscheduled stop at a liquor store, then allegedly asked a student to help hide her purchases when police stopped her, the district superintendent said. It does not appear the driver had been drinking, Billings Public Schools Superintendent Jack Copps said. No charges had been filed but the driver quit her job this week. Read more ...

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Young inventor takes his responsibilities seriously

It doesn't take long to realize Max Wallack isn't a typical 12-year-old. Never mind that he is a high schooler, attending a Marlborough charter school, who hasn't yet hit his teens. Ask the Natick youth what he's done in the past few years and he can tick off a book-length list of achievements - though he offers them only after ... Read more ...

Education cuts would sabotage our future

It shouldn't take much investigation or research for the average American to discover that we are at the beginning of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Read the rest ...

Colburn Conservatory of Music prepares the orchestras of tomorrow

Colburn Conservatory of Music prepares the orchestras of tomorrow
It's musical learning at the highest level at the downtown Los Angeles school.

"All children, except one, grow up," Linda Brest announces. An oboe student with a streak of pink in her blond hair, she might be verbalizing the innermost thoughts of the peers who sit before her -- some of the nation's finest young musicians on the cusp of their adult careers. Brest is narrating a rehearsal of "Peter Pan," a piece arranged by James Newton Howard. The next day, the Colburn Outreach Orchestra will perform it at Belvedere Elementary School in East L.A.

Jobs top agenda as Missouri lawmakers start 2009

Jobs top agenda as Missouri lawmakers start 2009
Missouri legislators convened their 2009 session Wednesday with an emphasis on job creation in a struggling economy that has created financial concerns not only for individuals but for the state itself.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Busy Gupta performs brain surgery, reports for CNN

Busy Gupta performs brain surgery, reports for CNN
If Barack Obama wants a surgeon general with visibility to promote health issues in his administration, it can't hurt to hire a CNN correspondent called one of People magazine's "sexiest men alive."

Nature Education Launches Free Education Site Fit for Generation Y (Centre Daily Times)

Nature Education Launches Free Education Site Fit for Generation Y (Centre Daily Times)
Nature Education today launches Scitable ( www.nature.com/scitable ), a free, online educational resource for undergraduate biology students and educators. Currently focussed on genetics, Scitable combines authoritative scientific information with social media functionality. Scitable is the first product launch from Nature Education, a division of Nature Publishing Group formed in ...

Christians Called To Abandon Public Education

You've heard all about the disputes: "Silent Night" banned at the "holiday" program, artistic references to the Bible censored and faith-inclusive children's programs facing discrimination.

Continue reading ...

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Ivory towers are feeling the economic pinch

Ivory towers are feeling the economic pinch
Applicants outnumber college teaching jobs as the Modern Language Assn. meets.

Shakespeare, Edith Wharton and Internet poetry were supposed to be among the main topics of discussion at the largest gathering of humanities professors in the nation. But the sour economy and shrunken job market for academics proved to be more dramatic than any novel or play.

RI judge hears arguments in music downloading case

RI judge hears arguments in music downloading case
A Rhode Island couple whose son is accused of illegally sharing songs online should not be forced to surrender their home computer for inspection because it would violate their privacy, their lawyer argued at a federal court hearing Tuesday.

Closed Boykin Center keeps Arts Council juggling

The Arts Council of Wilson has suffered financially since the closing of the Edna Boykin Cultural Center but is still working to provide many of its youth and adult theater performances for the area community.

Read more ...

Monday, January 5, 2009

EDUCATION: Del. ends summer school mandate for test-takers

The Delaware Department of Education is eliminating funds for summer school for students who do poorly on the state's standardized tests.

Continue reading ...

Blue Schools and Time Machines

Blue Schools and Time Machines
image credit: jesse newman for TIME Here’s another entry for my List of Reasons Why I’m Justifiably Pissed About the Lack Of Time Machines: the Blue Man Group started an elementary school. And if you know anything about elementary school, then you’ll be up on the pertinent info regarding age restrictions for enrolled students. [...]

image credit: jesse newman for TIME

Here’s another entry for my List of Reasons Why I’m Justifiably Pissed About the Lack Of Time Machines: the Blue Man Group started an elementary school. And if you know anything about elementary school, then you’ll be up on the pertinent info regarding age restrictions for enrolled students. I was eligible in, like, 1980 to attend the Blue School’s kindergarten. So you see why I need a damn time machine.

The school itself sounds amazing, and I really want a do-over so I can attend. But possibly more wonderful than the school is the reason for starting it up in the first place. The founding members of the Blue Man Group– Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink—started their oddball performance group as “sort of a support group for people whose creativity had been all but squeezed out of them by education,” says Wink. “At one point, we asked, What if there was a school you didn’t have to recover from, that didn’t make you question the idea of being creative?”

image credit: NY Post

The Blue Man philosophy plus the Blue Man Group bank accounts added to the appearance of Blue Man Progeny equaled the formation of The Blue School. It’s a private school in Manhattan, so it’s not cheap. But it’s imaginative, has a good soul, AND it’s an accredited school. I’m happy and am thinking good thoughts for the kiddos who get to go. I hope they understand there will be nary a sympathetic ear should they ever bitch about their elementary education.

Further Reading and Viewing:

NY Post: Blue Man School
Time Magazine’s Video of The Blue School
The New Yorker: Cool for School

Posted by Alexa Harrington


The First Year - Transitioning To Employment After Graduation By Tony Jacowski

The First Year - Transitioning To Employment After Graduation By Tony Jacowski 5 Jan 2009 Author: admin In: Career Guidance, Education Once you step into the working world, you will end up with more responsibilities, more deadlines, and plenty of work. The transition from academic life into the working life will bring along lots of adjustments. You need to discipline yourself in order to adapt to your new lifestyle. Your first year in the working world will be an important phase of your Read the rest ...

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Rewarding a job well done

Rewarding a job well done
If you made the honor roll last term at the Randolph Community Middle School, you got a free pizza from Randolph Caf??. If you avoided trouble for a week in November, you got to see 13-year-old rapper Scooter Smiff perform in the school gym.

Christians Called To Abandon Public Education

You've heard all about the disputes: "Silent Night" banned at the "holiday" program, artistic references to the Bible censored and faith-inclusive children's programs facing discrimination.

Continue reading ...

Harvard's law dean on Obama short list

Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan is a leading candidate to be President-elect Barack Obama's representative at the US Supreme Court, according to people familiar with the selection process. Read the rest ...

Obama Chooses Arne Duncan For Secretary Of Education

Arne Duncan is the new education guy. In my reading up on him, he sounded neither super great nor overtly evil. He seemed a little in the middle. Every damn news article was sure to mention the basketball thing (he played professional basketball in Australia for a while after college, and these [...]


Arne Duncan is the new education guy. In my reading up on him, he sounded neither super great nor overtly evil. He seemed a little in the middle. Every damn news article was sure to mention the basketball thing (he played professional basketball in Australia for a while after college, and these days plays pick-up games with Obama), and the CEO of Chicago Public Schools thing (always adding that his is the third-largest district in the U.S.).

Duncan is big on teacher accountability and on shutting down schools that aren’t getting the job done. He supports the facets of NCLB that aim to improve teacher and school accountability and the gathering of data that show how well the students are learning/being taught. I’m with him—for the most part—on that stuff. I’m also in agreement with Mr. Duncan that the NCLB act is too rigid and that one single set of rules doesn’t work well for every school in the country. Duncan wants to improve schools, but he sees that the NCLB—as it’s written now—isn’t conducive to that end.

It makes me happy that the new Secretary of Education was pissed about the NCLB act way back in 2003. If that weren’t enough to make me a believer, two blog posts I read about him tipped the scales for me. I’m only going to link to one, because I’m not (wo)man enough to deal with finding a burning cross on my front lawn should I anger this particular blogger. You can look for the post yourself; just Google these two magic phrasings: “Education Secretary Arne Duncan” and “Exposing Liberal Lies.” It’ll come right up. Good luck. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel while excavating the blog so I turned back.

The blogger in question, who also wrote an entire post about the erroneousness of global warming, dislikes Duncan because he spoke out in support of creating a gay, lesbian, bi and transgender-friendly high school. Duncan felt that these students needed some extra support, especially in light of the fact that teens dealing with sexuality questions and issues have disproportionately large numbers of drop-outs, homeless and runaways.

Knowing that Arne Duncan put his neck out there to support kids who are unpopular at school, at home, and with most of the religious right in this country made me want to sit in his corner. Only someone who was truly interested in the welfare and education of students in his district would support something that would make him popular only with the kids in question. It was ballsy and kind, which I will always support.

And since it’s not enough to support a gutsy nice guy just because he wants to alter the NCLB act and is not well-loved by people who don’t believe in hard science, I also needed this to tip the scales completely in his favor: Steven D. Levitt from Freakonomics had wonderful things to say about his firsthand experience with Arne Duncan:

Freakonomics readers will remember Arne as the hero of our chapter on teacher cheating. He was head of the Chicago Public Schools when Brian Jacob and I were investigating how teachers and administrators were doctoring standardized test sheets.
With seemingly nothing to gain and much to lose, Arne embraced our results, even allowing us to do audit testing to confirm our hypotheses. Eventually, a handful of teachers were fired.

Since then, I’ve interacted with Arne a few times, and in a variety of settings. I always walk away dazzled. He is smart as hell and his commitment to the kids is remarkable. If you wanted to start from scratch and build a public servant, Arne would be the end product.

Further Reading:

Arne Duncan To Be Named Obama Education Secretary
School CEO
Education Week: Chat About Arne Duncan
City Leaders To Recommend Approval Of Gay High School
Backers Of Gay High School Say Plan Shifted Focus
Gay-Lesbian High School Plan Dropped
GED Program Launches For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Youth
Catching Cheating Teachers: The Results Of An Unusual Experiment In
Implementing Theory

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Continue reading ...

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Peer 2 Peer University

Peer 2 Peer University
P2P University has received favorable coverage by a number of bloggers (including ZaidLearn and Stephen's Web).  I just want to add my endorsement of this promising direction of development. ___JH

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"The Peer 2 Peer University is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.Find out more about what P2PU courses look like, and consider creating your own. If you just want to stay informed, please add your name to our mailing list, and we will send you a message when we launch."

Governors ask Uncle Sam for $1 trillion

Governors ask Uncle Sam for $1 trillion
Five Democratic leaders seek aid for all 50 states to maintain education, welfare, infrastructure, as recession worsens. The governors of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio and Wisconsin - all Democrats - said the initiative for the two-year aid package was backed by other governors and follows a meeting in December where governors called on

Facebook nudity policy draws nursing moms' ire

Web-savvy moms who breast-feed are irate that social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace restrict photos of nursing babies. The disputes reveal how the sites' community policing techniques sometimes struggle to keep up with the booming number and diversity of their members. Read more ...

Friday, January 2, 2009

Converge on Facebook

Converge on Facebook
Marina Leight serves as Editor-in-Chief for Converge magazine, an award-winning national publication designed to foster and inspire leadership for the integration of technology in education.

Peer 2 Peer University

Peer 2 Peer University
P2P University has received favorable coverage by a number of bloggers (including ZaidLearn and Stephen's Web).  I just want to add my endorsement of this promising direction of development. ___JH

___
"The Peer 2 Peer University is an online community of open study groups for short university-level courses. Think of it as online book clubs for open educational resources. The P2PU helps you navigate the wealth of open education materials that are out there, creates small groups of motivated learners, and supports the design and facilitation of courses. Students and tutors get recognition for their work, and we are building pathways to formal credit as well.Find out more about what P2PU courses look like, and consider creating your own. If you just want to stay informed, please add your name to our mailing list, and we will send you a message when we launch."

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Walpole coach surrenders to police in Ariz.

The former coach of the Walpole High football team that won a state football championship this month turned himself in to police in Tucson last night after he was charged with raping a student at the school. Read more ...

Get Organized for the New Year: Clutter Diet Book Exclusively Available on Amazon Kindle

Just in time for New Year's resolutions to "get organized," Amazon and ClutterDiet.com announce the exclusive Amazon Kindle release of The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life. The book's author is the creator of The Clutter Diet Blog, which has maintained its bestselling position on the Amazon Kindle's blog list since September, currently as #2 overall (of 1194 blogs available) and #1 in the Lifestyle & Culture subcategory (of 177 blogs available). The Amazon Kindle e-book device was recently enthusiastically endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, and thousands of people just received new Kindles for holiday gifts.

We're delighted to partner with Amazon on this timely offering for all of the new Kindle owners who want to get organized in 2009

the wave of the future

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) December 31, 2008 -- Happy holiday gift recipients of the popular Amazon Kindle device have the perfect tool to get organized for the New Year. Amazon and ClutterDiet.com announce the release of the book The Clutter Diet: The Skinny on Organizing Your Home and Taking Control of Your Life, exclusively available for purchase on the Amazon Kindle starting December 31, 2008 through the time of the book's initial print offering in mid-January.

Author and Certified Professional Organizer® Lorie Marrero is the creator of ClutterDiet.com, an innovative online program allowing anyone to get expert organizing help at an affordable price. Marrero's blog has held its bestselling position on the Amazon Kindle blog list since September, currently as #2 overall (of 1194 blogs available) and #1 in the Lifestyle & Culture subcategory (of 177 blogs available). "We're delighted to partner with Amazon on this timely offering for all of the new Kindle owners who want to get organized in 2009," Marrero said.

Marrero's organizing products are sold online and in Container Stores nationwide. She has been a spokesperson for Brother label makers and FedEx Office and is a sought-after expert for national media such as CNBC, Family Circle, WGN News and Woman's Day.

The practical Clutter Diet book helps people discover the actual scientific law of nature that helps you get organized, the cure for procrastination, ten types of "High Calorie Clutter" to avoid, where to start and how to tackle your projects, and how to successfully add new habits into your life. A free downloadable companion workbook can also be printed by the reader to help create his or her own personal organizing plan.

About The Amazon Kindle Device:
The Kindle e-book reader offers over 215,000 book titles for digital download, and the device holds many books in one small package, along with popular newspapers and blogs. Readers can wirelessly shop for and download books from almost anywhere, search the text, and adjust the font size for their comfort. Oprah Winfrey announced on the Oprah Winfrey Show on October 24, 2008, that the Amazon Kindle device is her "favorite new gadget." She said the Kindle is "life-changing" and is "the wave of the future," resulting in the Kindle selling out of stock at Christmas time for the second year in a row.

About The Clutter Diet:
Clutter Diet® is an innovative, affordable, home organizing coaching program that enables people to get organized and stay organized with weekly project plans, video tutorials, a knowledge database, a supportive member community and direct access to a team of Professional Organizers who provide online consulting. The program provides education, motivation, and support without the cost of hiring a Professional Organizer in person. Clutter Diet provides a place for members to "weigh-in" with their personal progress and get questions answered quickly by professionals.

Clutter Diet, Inc. is privately held and headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit ClutterDiet.com. The Amazon Kindle e-book device can be purchased at http://www.kindle.com.