Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Crashing

I experienced a major crash of my computer and my backup system recently. Consequently, I've not been able to post messages for several days. Also, I've not been able to fully recover past messages. Hope to fully recover the system today or tomorrow.

JH

Continue reading ...

Sharpton, Gingrich launch school tour in Philly

The Rev. Al Sharpton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich don't agree on much, but a meeting with a group of inner-city charter school students on Tuesday left them with the same impression: There is hope for improving the U.S. education system.

Read the rest ...

Labor agency: La. needs more 2-year college grads

Suggestions from a Jindal administration official Monday that Louisiana has a "surplus" of four-year college degrees rankled members of a commission looking at ways to overhaul the state's public college systems. Read the rest ...

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

No More Tray Sledding For You!

In an effort to reduce waste and do their part to save the planet, college dining halls have begun to go trayless. Plates are still available (they’re not barbarians), as are eating utensils. It turns out that the trayless policy has reduced water and energy use, and because the students can only gracefully [...]

In an effort to reduce waste and do their part to save the planet, college dining halls have begun to go trayless. Plates are still available (they’re not barbarians), as are eating utensils.

It turns out that the trayless policy has reduced water and energy use, and because the students can only gracefully carry so many plates and bowls in their arms, they’ve been wasting 30% less food due to the decrease in my-eyes-were-bigger-than-my-stomach syndrome.

The traditional using of the dining tray as a sled during Winter Term will be much reduced as well, about which the schools are stoked and the students are understandably pi**ed. Times change, people.

You’ll have to stick with surfing down the dorm hallway on bathmats (rubber side up, yarn side down) and baby powder. My dorm had carpeting, which sucked until we invented Flame Ball (it involves a fuzzy tennis ball, hairspray, lights off, and no one getting their deposit back).

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)

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Education Center Online Celebrates Black History Month - Offering Online Education for People of All Races

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Robert Shiller: In defence of financial innovation

“It is critical that we take the opportunity of the crisis to promote innovation-enhancing financial regulation and not let this be eclipsed by superficially popular issues.” Click Here To Read Robert Shiller’s Latest : IN Defence of Financial Innovation Introduction (Via FT) Many appear to think that the increasing complexity of financial products is the source of the world financial crisis. In response to it, many argue that regulators should actively discourage complexity. The J Read the rest ...

Seeking calm after charter school storm

It had already been a bad Monday for the state’s education secretary. Calls for his resignation were intensifying after a politically charged e-mail he sent months earlier had been made public over the weekend. The governor’s attempt that night to still the uproar had failed. Read the rest ...

Monday, September 28, 2009

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.

Crashing

I experienced a major crash of my computer and my backup system recently. Consequently, I've not been able to post messages for several days. Also, I've not been able to fully recover past messages. Hope to fully recover the system today or tomorrow.

JH

Read the rest ...

Impact of the global crisis on employment and labour markets in Africa

Impact of the global crisis on employment and labour markets in Africa
Impact of the global crisis on employment and labour markets in Africa ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, September 28, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The African Union (AU) is hosting the meeting of experts of the 7th Labour and Social Affairs Commission (LASC) from 28 to 30 September 2009. Convened every year, the event is holding at the headquarters of the AU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The 7th Session of the AU LSAC will provide an important forum to discuss the impact of the global economic

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation

More school: Obama would curtail summer vacation
Students beware: The summer vacation you just enjoyed could be sharply curtailed if President Barack Obama gets his way.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

High-tech help for retaining what you study

High-tech help for retaining what you study

Whether you're a full-time student or learning on your own, the challenge of actually retaining what you've studied and putting it to use can be formidable.


Parochial schools scramble to maintain enrollment

Private and parochial schools in the region are still managing to attract students despite a slumping economy and what some educators call a shrinking pool of students.

Read the rest ...

Rural roads dangerous for young drivers

Rural roads dangerous for young drivers

Results from Australia's largest study of young drivers have shown that they are at significant risk of crash on rural roads.


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Hampden-Sydney's superstar prez makes splash

Hampden-Sydney's superstar prez makes splash
You may be accomplished, and you may be cool. But step aside. You're no Chris Howard.

Open Education Search Project

Open Education Search Project

The O'Reilly Radar blog reports that ccLearn, Google, and the Hewlett Foundation are working together to build a search portal focused on open educational resources. Everyone interested in the OER field will certainly be following this new OE Search project closely. ____JH

"ccLearn is working with the Hewlett Foundation and Google to build an 'open education web-scale search,' part of a larger effort to offer web users simple, overarching mechanisms for discovering OERs. This tool aims to direct search engine traffic to the incredible diversity of OER repositories and communities. While such a tool would not replace the more specialized and sophisticated search sites and portals that the community already uses, we believe it would expose a much wider public to our community’s materials. This is also an opportunity to encourage OER adoption and specify legal and technical conditions for making educational resources openly available. We see this project as an important step for achieving large-scale access to and use of open educational resources. "

 

Open Education Search [del.icio.us/tag/oer]


SciTalks/HumTalks/GovTalks/BusiTalks

SciTalks/HumTalks/GovTalks/BusiTalks

These four sites collect video lectures on scientific, humanities, government, and business topics by prominent thinkers. I've sampled a number of the talks and found them to be extremely valuable. These sites could be very useful to instructors who want to supply supplementary materials for their courses. _____JH

 


Pearson Education's OnMicrosoft Podcasts Provide New Learning Tool

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Friday, September 25, 2009

“An Inside Look At College Costs”

This is a ponderable piece on the current financial situation colleges and universities have found themselves in. Who benefits from the money coming into a school? Hint: It’s probably not the faculty or the students. Here’s an excerpt: An interesting point to consider comes from the U.S. Department of Education, which surveyed [...]

This is a ponderable piece on the current financial situation colleges and universities have found themselves in. Who benefits from the money coming into a school? Hint: It’s probably not the faculty or the students.

Here’s an excerpt:

An interesting point to consider comes from the U.S. Department of Education, which surveyed nearly 3,000 colleges and reported, “Colleges have added managers and support personnel at a steady, vigorous clip over the past 20 years, new research shows, far outpacing the growth in student enrollment and instructors.”



Not only are the numbers of administrative personnel growing rapidly, the salaries and benefits they command are taking a large amount out of the universities’ revenues. The same cannot be said of faculty members. As an example, at Eastern Michigan University, our faculty salaries and benefits are less than 25% of the total expenses. The school has experienced a decline in instruction expenses in recent years, meaning that the core academic operations – teaching and research – are now a smaller piece of the pie. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)

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Harvard students launch their dream online

CAMBRIDGE - For Newton native Stephanie Kaplan and two of her closest undergraduate companions at Harvard University, Seventeen magazine is “too young,’’ while other female-targeted publications, like Glamour and Marie Claire, are “too old.’’ Read more ...

Scrimping in style

It’s accessorizing - with a thrifty twist. This summer, as the start of school loomed, Haverhill 11-year-old Chloe Isabelle-Alper and her mother scoured her closet, and reached a compromise. Instead of a brand new back-to-school wardrobe, Chloe would get just a few outfits. The rest would be recycled, mixed and matched: Last year’s pants, shirts, skirts and dresses intermingled with ... Continue reading ...

Harvard students launch their dream online

CAMBRIDGE - For Newton native Stephanie Kaplan and two of her closest undergraduate companions at Harvard University, Seventeen magazine is “too young,’’ while other female-targeted publications, like Glamour and Marie Claire, are “too old.’’ Continue reading ...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

No Obama, no Bush and no field trips for these Texas students

No Obama, no Bush and no field trips for these Texas students
Also: President Obama stumps for Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.

A recent string of decisions by officials at the Arlington Independent School District in Texas has ensured that there will be no politics in the classroom there. And, apparently, there will be no fun, either.



UNH loses power for a couple of hours

UNH loses power for a couple of hours
The University of New Hampshire lost power for over two hours after an electrical apparatus exploded as crews were doing work.

Tough political realities quiet youth 'Obamamania'

Tough political realities quiet youth 'Obamamania'
Young Americans showed their collective power when they helped vote President Obama into office. Inspired by his message of "change," they knocked on doors, spread flyers, voted for him by a 2-1 margin, and partied like rock-the-vote stars when he won.

Teaching English As A Foreign Language In Thailand

Teaching English As A Foreign Language In Thailand
Completing a TEFL course or teaching English as a foreign language in Thailand is a great choice to make. There is a demand for English teachers in the country so you will be really taken care of. you may make Thailand your permanent home after being welcomed into the country warmly. TEFL teachers won’t be worked to exhaustion as the Thai way of life is relaxed, and outside of work hours you can relax on the glorious beaches. If you teach English as a foreign language , you have made a brav

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Emma Watson Talks College Life

Indulging her inner-fashion fanatic, Emma Watson was spotted at the Burburry Spring/Summer 2010 Show at Rootstein Hopkins Parade Ground yesterday (September 22). The “Harry Potter” actress rubbed shoulders with the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Liv Tyler as she peeped the latest looks from the British designer label. As for her endeavor into higher education, Emma told press that she’s meeting her challenges head on as a freshman at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. “The f Continue reading ...

MCAS scores fall shy of target

MCAS scores fall shy of target
For the first time since testing began, more than half of Massachusetts schools are out of compliance with federal achievement standards, education officials said yesterday, a finding that raises warning flags for local educators but also sparks questions about whether the national benchmarks are too high.

L.A. school district union agrees to furloughs

About 1,100 bus drivers will take six unpaid days off this fiscal year to help offset the budget shortfall. It is the first time in recent history that a district union has accepted such a concession.

In what Los Angeles school district officials hope is the first of several concessions by labor unions, bus drivers have agreed to take six unpaid days off this fiscal year, officials said Tuesday.


Continue reading ...

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Student killed in fight at Florida...

Student killed in fight at Florida...

A Florida high school student was killed Tuesday by another student during an altercation at the school, officials said.


Budget cuts push some classrooms way over capacity

Budget cuts push some classrooms way over capacity
Some L.A. Unified classes are crammed with about 50 students, leaving some pupils to sit on desks or the floor and their teachers to grade hundreds of papers while still focusing on improvement.

If there had been rafters, somebody would have been hanging from them.



Obama: Climate Change May Lead to 'Irreversible Catastrophe'

U.S. President Barack Obama says inaction on climate change could leave future generations with an "irreversible catastrophe ." Mr. Obama called on global leaders Tuesday to move "boldly, swiftly, and together" to combat the problem. Mr. Obama addressed world leaders gathered in New York City for a climate change summit called by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki -moon. Mr. Ban opened the meeting by saying it would be "morally inexcusable" not to act. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Presiden Continue reading ...

Missouri S&T gets $3M gift for energy research

Missouri University of Science and Technology has received a $3 million alumni gift to establish an endowed chair in energy research. Read more ...

Monday, September 21, 2009

You Tube Edu

You Tube Edu
This site address at You Tube provides links to video courses and lectures from large universities. It's a useful one-stop starting point.  __JH


Millions of Stimulus Dollars Used to Improve Education

Millions of Stimulus Dollars Used to Improve Education

The Tulsa and Oklahoma City Public School districts are counting on millions in stimulus dollars to turn their schools around.


Area schools beat Ontario average in reading, writing, testing shows

Most Ottawa-area school boards performed above the provincial average in reading and writing, according to results released Thursday by Ontario's testing authority.

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

David Wiley's Open Course on Open Education

David Wiley's Open Course on Open Education
Here's the link the to wiki syllabus for David Wiley's Fall 2007 course about Open Education. There's still time to sign up for this online course. "The goals of the course are (1) to give you a firm grounding in the current state of the field of open education, including related topics like copyright, licensing, and sustainability, (2) to help you locate open education in the context of mainstream instructional technologies like learning objects, and (3) to get you thinking, writing, and dialoguing creatively and critically about current practices and possible alternative practices in open education." Those who don't want to participate in the course will still find value in the online readings and the links to OER sites. ____JH

LeMill Web Community

The LeMill Web Community site is available for sharing online learning resources. The site is viewable in nine languages; to orient to what is offered take the Tour and consult the FAQ. Thanks to the Development Gateway for information about this site. ___JH

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"LeMill is a web community for finding, authoring and sharing learning resources. First at all, you can find learning resources. You can use the resources you find in your own teaching or learning. You can also add your own learning content to LeMill. You may edit your content and combine larger chunks of learning resources from individual media pieces. If you wish you may also join some of the groups producing or editing learning resources. In LeMill the content is always easily found where and whenever you need them."

Continue reading ...

Ohio Ruling Says Cincinnati Public School Tests Secret

A teacher's legal bid to get copies of the standardized tests for Cincinnati public school freshmen has flunked.

Read the rest ...

AP News in Brief

AP News in Brief
Russia said Saturday it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran's president for new comments denying the Holocaust.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Free Search Tools for Science Information

This guideline information was cited in Open Access News. These tools will be useful to students and instructors in both science and technology. ____JH

"ResourceShelf has put together A Quick Look at a Few Free Science Search Tools.  Among the tools and resources it covers are BioMed Central, CiteSeer, DOAJ, Global Science Gateway, Google Scholar, Highwire Press, Microsoft Live Search Academic, National Science Digital Library, OAIster, PubMed Central, Science.gov, Scirus, and Scitopia." [Open Access News]

Read more ...

WideOpenEducation

WideOpenEducation is a promising new blog that focuses on resources for higher education. The weblog is sponsored by the same creator who developed the excellent Open Education Datatbase (OEDb). The WOE site will include an rss feed for subscribers and will be searchable by key words. It will be interesting to see how this site develops. _____JH Read more ...

Lynn schools chief upholds suspects’ suspensions

Lynn schools chief upholds suspects’ suspensions
Four of six Lynn boys accused of savagely beating a Guatemalan immigrant in July lost their bid to overturn their indefinite suspensions from school and instead will receive limited tutoring at an undisclosed location, a school official said yesterday.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Drexel University Leader in Education Named Penn Educator of the Year

Drexel University Leader in Education Named Penn Educator of the Year

Builders, firefighters differ on sprinkler rules

Builders, firefighters differ on sprinkler rules
Firefighters and safety advocates say they could triumph over the "last bastion of America's fire problem" -- the family home -- if officials require sprinklers in every new home.

“The University’s Crisis of Purpose”

“The University’s Crisis of Purpose”
Big dreams and no money. Such is the situation colleges, universities, and the students who attend them are struggling with. The schools want to teach students to think outside the box, to be able to look ahead and improve the future of humanity. The students want to learn how to think wider [...]

Big dreams and no money. Such is the situation colleges, universities, and the students who attend them are struggling with. The schools want to teach students to think outside the box, to be able to look ahead and improve the future of humanity. The students want to learn how to think wider and deeper and bigger and more. The President wants the schools to kick some researching butt and find ways to get us out of this mess (pick one).

Too bad there’s a global economic crisis, and the recession our country is experiencing is sucking the life and the funding out of everyone’s Big Dreams balloons. Now the schools and the students are walking around carrying sad little limp and deflated aspirations, jettisoning the deeper-thinking, big-picture courses and degrees for the more utilitarian/practical ones.

I won’t bore you with numbers, but there are an astonishing number of folks doing pre-professional undergrad work, and a ridiculous number of business degree holders in this country. I think we’re good on the ‘future of money’ front; someone learn something that’s helpful in a different way. Think outside the box, people. Don’t give up on the idea that knowing how to think in non-linear directions is conducive to the survival of mankind.

Read this piece in the NY Times:

The world economic crisis and the election of Barack Obama will change the future of higher education. Even as universities, both public and private, face unanticipated financial constraints, the president has called on them to assist in solving problems from health care delivery to climate change to economic recovery.

American universities have long struggled to meet almost irreconcilable demands: to be practical as well as transcendent; to assist immediate national needs and to pursue knowledge for its own sake; to both add value and question values. And in the past decade and a half, such conflicting and unbounded expectations have yielded a wave of criticism on issues ranging from the cost of college to universities’ intellectual quality to their supposed decline into unthinking political correctness. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)


Apperson Education Products Partners with Northrop Grumman

Apperson Education Products Partners with Northrop Grumman

Yale killing suspect's friends say charges a shock

Two childhood friends of the lab technician charged with murdering a graduate student who worked in his building say they are shocked by the charges. Read the rest ...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

$900,000 NSF grant supports math and science teacher preparation at UWO

The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh received a second federal National Science Foundation grant to help prepare highly qualified and much-needed science and math teachers for the region.

Continue reading ...

Texas school district wins $1m prize

HOUSTON - A Houston-area school district where 84 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch yesterday won the nation’s top prize in public education, winning $1 million for making strides in student achievement. Read more ...

Pearson eCollege Announces New Education Partners

Pearson eCollege Announces New Education Partners

State Board of Education approves new high school grading formula

State Board of Education approves new high school grading formula

The State Board of Education September 16th approved enhancements to Florida's high school grading formula during a meeting in Miami.


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Free Advertising Classified Ads

Free Advertising Classified Ads
Free Advertising Forum: This is a place where you can post your free classified ads to thousands of active marketers. Our website is FREE to the public and will provide high response advertising for your business, product, service or affiliate program. Your ads will be instantly displayed to our active members. Free Advertising Classified Ads Related posts: Free Advertising Classified Ads Free Advertising Classified Ads Free Advertising Classified Ads

Wonderful WSJ Interview, Ron Paul as your economics teacher

In a wonderful interview the Wall Street Journal’s “Real Time Economics” blog discusses Ron Paul’s ultimate goal of ending the Federal Reserve system. Paul is again at his best when he is educating the people. He puts the nature of our monetary system is layman’s terms in this interview in a very effective way. He makes it accessible to all. He may not advocate Universal Health Care, but he certainly advocates Universal Monetary Education. So without the Fed, there wouldn’t be as much credi Read more ...

Small Town Political Gazette

Small Town Political Gazette
Choctaw Sun - Ethics Commission rules County Circuit Clerk committed a “minor” violation of ethics law - at bottom of the page Dothan Eagle - Terry Spicer does not meet state requirements for Elba Superintendent’s job Anniston Star - Plantation Patterns plant in Wadley sold - subscribers may find story interesting The News-Courier - Parent urges pressure on legislators to save PACT The Clanton Advertiser - Chilton County schools should be able to handle 8

ZaidLearn--a New Blog about Open Learning Resources

This promising new weblog by Zaid Ali Alsagoff  is devoted to open learning resources around the world; Zaid is located in Malaysia. His blog is especially valuable for its extensive listing of links to bloggers who write about eLearning and its multiple links to Learning Tools, eLearning sites, OpenCourseWare sites, University Podcasts, and Learning Repositories. Zaid is currently at work on a book about effective learning and teaching that is scheduled for release in June 2008. ____ JH

Continue reading ...

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Fla. student stabbed to death in fight at school

Fla. student stabbed to death in fight at school
One student stabbed another to death during a fight Tuesday in a courtyard at their suburban high school, authorities said.

Pearson eCollege Announces New Education Partners

Pearson eCollege Announces New Education Partners

Science MCAS stymies many

Science MCAS stymies many
Approximately 6,000 high school seniors are in jeopardy of not graduating next spring because they have not yet passed the new science MCAS exam, state education officials announced yesterday, possibly setting the stage for a new revolt against the 11-year-old standardized test system.

Monday, September 14, 2009

UC President Mark Yudof is Having a Bad Month

Not surprisingly, budget cuts really piss people off. Mark Yudof, President of the University of California, is the current target for those protesting budget cuts in the UC system. He’s president of all ten UC schools, but lives in Berkeley as he also holds a faculty appointment at UC Berkeley’s School of Law. [...]

Not surprisingly, budget cuts really piss people off. Mark Yudof, President of the University of California, is the current target for those protesting budget cuts in the UC system. He’s president of all ten UC schools, but lives in Berkeley as he also holds a faculty appointment at UC Berkeley’s School of Law.

I’m a California native, and I know two things to be true about UC Berkeley: (1) no one calls the school UC Berkeley or UCB, it’s Cal or it’s Berkeley; and (2) of all the UC schools, the one most likely to protest anything is and always has been, Berkeley.

I realize that Berkeley has the best intellectual reputation of the group, but if I were in Yudof’s position, I would have chosen to park my life near one of the more beautiful and less angry UC campuses. Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara are gorgeous, smart, and a lot less likely to yell at you or make your life a living hell.

Also, I would have thought twice about accepting the $824,000 annual salary, especially if my hiring date (March 2008) happened to be within a few months of the first wave of budget cuts hitting the fan. I’m sure that being in charge of an entire university system in the State of California right when the recession is sucking the State down the toilet is a hard damn job. But have a soul for crying out loud. Or at least pretend to be vaguely human on the inside and quit laying people off and forcing retirement while bringing home enough cash to pay the salaries of at least sixteen staff.

Exploding cars is a terrible plan, and I do not commend violent protesting in any way, shape or form. Everyone watching will just think that your cause is pointless and that your group consists of infantile ***holes, and you will only bring the wrath of the police force down upon your heads.

So, protestors, use your smart-ass, Berkeley-educated noggins to come up with a better way to tell Yudof he’s screwing up. As for President Yudof, stop being an inhuman schmuck and if you can’t figure out a way to avoid tightening UC’s belts so horrendously, then take a damn pay cut so people will stop focusing their anger on you and your wife.

Further Reading:

UC Regents Appoint a New President for the 10-Campus System
Mark Yudof—The First 100 Days
Higher Ed Budget Cuts in California and Washington
Car Torched Outside UC President’s Home

Posted by Alexa Harrington

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Laura Bush supports Obama's school speech

The former first lady, who was once a schoolteacher, said it was appropriate for Obama to 'encourage schoolchildren.'

Former First Lady Laura Bush on Monday expressed support for President Obama's decision to speak to the nation's schoolchildren, saying it was "really important for everyone to respect the president of the United States."


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Obama's back-to-school speech is made public

The White House releases a transcript of the president's talk to schoolchildren scheduled for Tuesday. Some critics were wary. But the text exhorts students to work hard and follow their dreams.

Conservative activists blasted it as socialist. Worried parents called for boycotts. School administrators struggled over whether to let students hear it.


Read the rest ...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

One in 10 students below minimum standards

One in 10 students below minimum standards

One in 10 school children are failing to meet minimum standards for reading, writing and numeracy, according to the 2009 National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy report.


Simplify Messaging Insanity With Sendible

Simplify the high-tech messaging portion of your super busy life. If you’ve got messages coming in and going out from several directions all at once, it’s likely you’ll end up scattered and cranky. Or you’ll chuck all messaging devices and end up living on the perfect island I’ve already set aside for my [...]

Simplify the high-tech messaging portion of your super busy life. If you’ve got messages coming in and going out from several directions all at once, it’s likely you’ll end up scattered and cranky. Or you’ll chuck all messaging devices and end up living on the perfect island I’ve already set aside for my own future use.

Back off my island, chucklehead, and please try Sendible. Here’s what their site promises to deliver:

Schedule email, sms and social network messages ahead of time

Access all your email and social network contacts from one place

Remind yourself and others of upcoming tasks and events

Post status updates to your blogging and social network accounts

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Continue reading ...

Garrido's twisted path led often to God

Three decades ago, a convicted kidnapper named Phillip Garrido stunned a Leavenworth Prison psychologist by turning down an offer most prisoners would leap to take -- help with a transfer to a mental health facility. Continue reading ...

WorldWideScience

Science students and instructors will want to put this web address in their bookmarks because WWS provides a federated search of science sites around the world. By combining WWS with Scirus--plus a discipline-specific search and a general search in Google--a searcher will have made a serious first-pass at finding information. ____JH (Via the Development Gateway's E-Learning distribution.)

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"WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases. Subsequent versions of WorldWideScience.org will offer access to additional sources as well as enhanced features"

Read more ...

Saturday, September 12, 2009

ACE Resources for Lifelong Learning Professionals

The American Council for Education maintains a useful set of pages for academics who work with adult learners. Included at the ACE site is information about Military Evaluation Programs, Government Relations, and Public Policy. (Of course not very many years ago, most students involved in distance education were included in the "adult learner" category, but today distance education is appealing to more and more younger students.)  ___JH

_______

"For more than 60 years, ACE has helped adults gain access to a postsecondary education. We invite you to find out more about our programs and services."

Read more ...

Teacher strike in Washington focused on class size

On what was scheduled to be the first day of school, students and teachers at Mill Creek Middle School never made it through the front door. They stood or sat outside by the flagpole, waving signs and yelling at passing motorists. Read the rest ...

OpenEd

I've added the OpenEd community site to my navigator links for Recommended Websites about OER. The Creative Commons review of the site commented, "There are so many great educational materials out there—some already openly licensed and a great deal more in the public domain—and the problem is that a lot of people still don’t know about them or how to use them. Similarly, the open education movement has produced some really exciting projects and programs in recent years, but there is no global landing space for these inspiring movers and shakers to really connect as a coherent community. Open Ed, the new Open Education Community site, is the result of brainstorming with other initiatives in the movement on how to provide such a space. We designed the site for open education community members, but also for teachers, learners, and those who just want to get involved. We were able to build it thanks to the strong support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation." View the video on the front page for an orientation to the many resources and services available at OpenEd.

Read the rest ...

Friday, September 11, 2009

Experts: Test focus driving education wrong way, not preparing college-bound NYC students

Experts: Test focus driving education wrong way, not preparing college-bound NYC students

Some of the state-mandated Regents tests have been dumbed down in the past eight years, experts say, and many students' SAT scores leave them unprepared for college.


David Wiley's Open Course on Open Education

Here's the link the to wiki syllabus for David Wiley's Fall 2007 course about Open Education. There's still time to sign up for this online course. "The goals of the course are (1) to give you a firm grounding in the current state of the field of open education, including related topics like copyright, licensing, and sustainability, (2) to help you locate open education in the context of mainstream instructional technologies like learning objects, and (3) to get you thinking, writing, and dialoguing creatively and critically about current practices and possible alternative practices in open education." Those who don't want to participate in the course will still find value in the online readings and the links to OER sites. ____JH Read the rest ...

Developing The Mind Of A Lawyer

People pursue legal careers for different reasons, of course. For some, the dream of becoming a famously successful - and well-paid - litigation attorney motivates them. Others are inspired by the opportunity to make their mark as a civil advocate, fighting for others’ rights. Still others simply want a dependable income and respectable career. Regardless of the motivation, an interesting things happens to aspiring lawyers: they begin to develop a new way of interpreting the world around them Read more ...

Thursday, September 10, 2009

More students reach 'basic' level on spring and summer LEAP test

Fourth graders raise their hands to answer a question posed by teacher Cheryl Mackie on March 26 while studying for the LEAP test at Westwego Elementary.

Read more ...

Catching the Back to School Fever: Launching a Mini Series on My Years from Special Ed Class to University

Catching the Back to School Fever: Launching a Mini Series on My Years from Special Ed Class to University
With Back to School Fever in the air, I have this small urge to go back to school, if for no other reason than to buy the fun school supplies they have nowadays. But, seriously, I was one of those strange kids who loved school! In my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself , I share my first day of school: I began Grade 1 in my purple heather sweater and purple plaid kilt, treasures from our summer holiday in Edinburgh. I was one bonnie lass! School was an older building; actually, it consis

Beloit College’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013

Beloit College’s Mindset List for the Class of 2013
Every August, right before the new freshman class shows up for Fall Term, Beloit College publishes the Mindset List for that year’s incoming class. This year, the incoming freshmen who make up the class of 2013 were all born in (or near) 1991. In 1991 I was a junior in high school, and [...]

Every August, right before the new freshman class shows up for Fall Term, Beloit College publishes the Mindset List for that year’s incoming class. This year, the incoming freshmen who make up the class of 2013 were all born in (or near) 1991.

In 1991 I was a junior in high school, and everything new thing that was occurring in the world and was blowing my little mind, they have never not known to be true. Computers were personal and were neither portable nor laptop sized, and the 1991 version of cell phones were transportable and were bigger than your head. Below please find the first portion of the Mindset List for the Class of 2013:

1. For these students, Martha Graham, Pan American Airways, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, The Dallas Times Herald, Gene Roddenberry, and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
2. Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian, and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
3. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
5. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
7. Earvin “Magic” Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
8. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
9. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
10. Rap music has always been main stream.
11. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
12. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
13. The KGB has never officially existed.
14. Text has always been hyper.
15. They never saw the “Scud Stud” (but there have always been electromagnetic stud finders.)
16. Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
17. They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
18. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
19. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
20. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
21. Except for the present incumbent, the President has never inhaled.
22. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
23. The European Union has always existed.
24. McDonald’s has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
25. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
26. Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
28. The American health care system has always been in critical condition.
29. Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
30. Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to Nicoderm skin patches.
31. There has always been a Cartoon Network.
32. The nation’s key economic indicator has always been the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
33. Their folks could always reach for a Zoloft.
34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
35. Women have always outnumbered men in college. More…

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Blackboard Loses on Appeal

Inside Higher Ed reports on Blackboard's latest loss, which is good news for universities and colleges who use open source software because we can be sure that despite their disclaimers, Blackboard would certainly move against open source courseware if they succeed against Desire2Learn and other private companies. Blackboard's loss is also an affirmation of common sense since anyone with long-time experience in course management software knew that Blackboard's patent claims were simply assertions, not valid original contributions to courseware delivery methods. ____JH

____

"Both companies appealed the parts of the case they'd lost to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over U.S. patent claims. Its highly technical decision upheld the lower court's conclusion that Blackboard's claims 1-35 were invalid. But the three-judge panel rejected the lower court's finding that Blackboard's patented learning system had originated the approach of giving a single user with a single log-in multiple roles, such as being a teacher in one course and a student in another."

"The appeals panel embraced Desire2Learn's argument that such technology existed in 'prior art,' in this case previously existing course management systems such as Serf and CourseInfo 1.5. The appeals court essentially ruled that the lower court judge had framed Blackboard's claim incorrectly for the jury, said Bruce T. Wieder, a lawyer for the Washington firm of Dow Lohnes who was not involved in the case. Having done so, the Federal Circuit court "could have said, 'This is how you should have interpreted it, you go look at it again,' " Wieder said. "But instead, the court said, 'Since we've seen what was argued, we now can say that the district court wouldn't have come to any conclusion,' and declared those claims invalid."


Read more ...

EducationBug.org Launches Free Job Post

EducationBug.org Launches Free Job Post

From home schooling to 'unschooling'

George Provine, 6 , brothers Lance, almost 4, and Miles, 17 months, and mother, Suzy, look at a salamander George caught in Patapsco State Park.

Continue reading ...

Dorm Room Necessities

Dorm Room Necessities
After saving for 18 years, my parents had my college money saved up and ready to mete out for strictly education items only. And still, the first semester’s worth of tuition, dorm costs, and meal cards were a bit of a punch in the abdominal region for all three of us. Oof. [...]

After saving for 18 years, my parents had my college money saved up and ready to mete out for strictly education items only. And still, the first semester’s worth of tuition, dorm costs, and meal cards were a bit of a punch in the abdominal region for all three of us. Oof.

And then came the necessary accoutrements: computer, extra long sheets, phone, textbooks, school supplies, etc. That shopping expedition, which was the absolute bare-bones minimum, I assure you, gave us vomitous feelings. My entire childhood had been strictly budgeted just so my college education would be covered. None of us were used to just laying down thousands of dollars for anything that didn’t fall into the Life or Death category.

It’s easy to fall prey to the Everyone else has a pink furry lamp so I have to have one too! mantra, but try to avoid it.

Loft Bed: It Depends
If you’ve managed to keep the buying under control, then, no, you won’t need a gigantic wooden behemoth that you’ll have to disassemble and try to get rid of nine months from now.
If you brought along enough extra furniture and plastic crap to fill an apartment and are shocked to discover you will be calling upon your Tetris skills to cram it all into half of a tiny square room, then yes, you will be needing a loft bed. Since everyone regrets investing in a loft bed within a few months of buying and building one, you can probably find one cheap on Craigslist.

Dorm-Room Phone: No
Everyone under the age of sixty has a cell phone, so paying for a land line in your room is dumb. It’s also risky if your dorm has big loud parties with all doors open along the hall. There’s always some guy or girl who misses their ex (who is spending the year abroad in outer Mongolia), and feels it is absolutely imperative that they drunk-dial said ex, beg to get back together, and then pass out with the phone off the hook while outer-Mongolia ex is ranting and raving about what a jack-ass the drunk half of the ended relationship is. You will be paying for this

Desk Lamp: Yes
If a lamp doesn’t come standard with the room, get one. Otherwise you’ll be studying by fluorescent ceiling lighting, which will hum and flicker and will foster violent tendencies around two a.m.

Laptop: Yes
This does not require explaining.

Printer: No
It’ll take up too much space, and the ink cartridges suck to replace, and they will always[italics] run out ten minutes before a paper is due. Learn to use and love the campus computer labs and the people who work there (use the lab, love the people). You can print stuff out there, and if anything goes haywire (and it will), the Gods of the Computer Lab will be able to help you. This will not be the case if you are crying about a term-paper meltdown in your dorm room.

New Textbooks: It Depends
See previous post.

Linens: Yes
A towel (two if your school is near a beachy area), a washcloth, comforter, and one set of sheets. Make sure the sheets are the right size. For some reason, even though only a non-majority percentage of students at any given college are over six feet tall, they make all dorm beds extra long. Which means that for probably only one year, all American college freshmen have to buy (and then never ever use again) extra long twin bed sheets. Asinine.

Dorm Fridge: Maybe
Only if you or your roommate either can’t share or have a difficult time reading labels or remembering which shelf belongs to whom.

Microwave: No
99% of the other dormies will have one, and if you’re wanting to “cook” anything stinky and offensive, most dorms have a kitchen. Even the lamest and grungiest versions will come equipped with a microwave.

Shower Shoes: Yes
Because dorm hook-ups are way less hot when all involved parties have foot fungus.

Bucket-Thingy to Carry Bathroom Paraphernalia: Yes
It will cost you less than five bucks, and if you don’t bring one, I can guarantee that (a) your room will be the farthest one away from the bathroom, and (b) you will drop your towel in front of a hallway full of people while trying desperately to juggle slippery bottles of shampoo, wet toothbrushes, squishy toothpaste tubes and sharp razors. I don’t care how hot you are, it’s still hard to be sexy while standing there naked, wondering whether squatting or bending over to retrieve the towel and the bathroom items is your best bet.

Running Shoes: Yes
Even if you’d rather walk, forward motion at any speed is the cheapest and best way to get away from your fellow dorm residents for a while and have some time to think and release some stress.

Posted by Alexa Harrington


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

"Failure Factories": U.S. Colleges Failing In Getting Students To Graduate

"Failure Factories": U.S. Colleges Failing In Getting Students To Graduate
At its top levels, the American system of higher education may be the best in the world. Yet in terms of its core mission -- turning teenagers into educated college graduates -- much of the system is simply failing.

Vermont group tries to take Chili's pepper sign

A giant chili pepper on the roof of a Chili's restaurant in southern Vermont was a hot property -- police say four people have been caught trying to steal it. Continue reading ...

What Makes a Good Parent?

What Makes a Good Parent?
Last week’s post got me thinking about the kid/achievement/parent dynamic. I may have mentioned, once or twice, my absolute fury toward and lack of goodwill for parents who place volumes of pressure the size of planets onto their kids’ shoulders and tell them repeatedly that only the achievements which can be recorded on paper [...]

Last week’s post got me thinking about the kid/achievement/parent dynamic. I may have mentioned, once or twice, my absolute fury toward and lack of goodwill for parents who place volumes of pressure the size of planets onto their kids’ shoulders and tell them repeatedly that only the achievements which can be recorded on paper are worthwhile, and that being anything but the top 5% is as good as failing utterly. I escaped having a mother and a father who put that kind of pressure to out-perform my peers on me, but I did have a few grandparents who made sure I was aware that success was all they were interested in.

As an older and wiser thirty-five-year-old, I’ve had some time to ponder the raising I had, and to figure out which bits made me a better person, and which bits made me wish I’d come from an uneducated, low-pressure family that would have been ecstatic if I’d achieved a high school education and a lifetime of honest work days.

Also, now I’m a parent, and since it’s really better to figure out what your parenting philosophy is prior to raising one’s offspring, I’ve been doing some research. You have a little leeway to screw up, because there’s some time to patch it up later. Plus, it’s difficult to impart much wisdom to a tiny person who crawls everywhere, can’t hold up their end of a conversation, and keeps shoving everything smaller than a tennis ball into their mouth. Keep in mind, though, that the more you mess up when they’re little, the more you’ll be scraping off and re-plastering when they’re older, more angry, and a lot less convincible.

Parents reading this should pay attention, and any kids reading this should make their asinine parentals (whether borderline or solidly inside the dumbass box) read it all the way through. Watch them to be sure they’ve really absorbed it.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I was so ready to escape small-town life and be my own person at college, I practically ran across the graduation stage. Sadly, I was excited for college because not only would I be free, I had also convinced myself that college would be similar to high school in that I would be able to skate by on my (slightly) above-average intelligence and my ability to charm every adult in the room. Studying was never something I had had to do very much of, and since I test well (college teaches you your social security number, and public school teaches you how to kick ass on standardized tests), I figured I’d do just as well in college as I had done for the past thirteen years.

It was not to be. Which sucked while it was happening to me, but is really effing funny to look back on and watch cocky little good-grades, non-student me get taken down a notch or three. Academic probation is a painful life lesson to report to your parents over the winter holidays. Even more painful is your very own parents nodding their heads and telling you, their supposed wonder child, that they had known the first semester would end like this. And down I went, five more notches. Ouch.

To be fair, my parents have really good bull**it detectors, and they probably knew the whole time (my entire pre-college career) that I was getting lots of praise for just being me: a slightly charming, well-read kid with a good vocabulary who tests well. Which is to say that my parents knew good and GD well that I was riding my little wave of glory without doing much to actually earn all that praise. They weren’t even all that impressed with my pile of swim team medals and ribbons until I actually started working my ass off trying to be a better swimmer than I’d started out (which I did for me, not for anyone else, and that also made them proud).

When I grew up a smidge and was able to get a little distance on high school and those early college years, it became clear that my parental units were not the types to slobber all over themselves with praise for anything that I hadn’t actually worked hard at achieving. They didn’t even seem to be impressed by place, names, numbers, or ranking; all it ever took was their witnessing of my literal or figurative sweat, and I’d get the look and the hug and the “You did good, kid.”

And that, people, is good and decent parenting. Loving your kids unconditionally for who they are, not for their scores and grades; seeing through their bull**it; and praising them not for their high placement or numbers, but for the work they did to get from point A to point B; and, most importantly, being content and satisfied with them when they are happy, not when they’re doing triple back-jumps through hoops on no sleep because they’re killing themselves to achieve awesomely high paper numbers so they can be ranked in the top 5% of some ridiculous and cruelly scored game of life.

Here comes the I’m a parent so I know of what I speak and I practice what I preach so listen up pal part: My daughter is seven, and is currently into gymnastics. At the end of the ten-week term, they have a Show Day and the parents come and watch the kids perform the skills they’ve learned, and at the end the kids all receive an identical pretend gold medal (which 99% of the kids believe is real gold).

After all of the parental applauding, my kid ran up to me, eyes shining with fake-gold-medal joy, hugged me violently and said, “Mommy! Aren’t you so proud of me for getting a medal?!” I said, “Nope.” I told her I was super happy for her that she had a medal because it was obvious that having something that cool and shiny was making her euphoric, but that I was proud of her because she had shown up to every class, had always tried her hardest, had worked to get better at her gymnastics skills, and had tried new things, even the stuff that scared the crap out of her.

I could see the little wheels turning in her head, trying to work out what her weird Mom meant. On the one hand it makes things easier on her: all she has to do is try and actually work at stuff. On the other hand, it makes things tougher on her: she’ll actually have to work because I, like my own parents, have a magnificent BS detector, and will know it when she’s riding the wave of charm and innate abilities.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(image source)


Monday, September 7, 2009

LeMill Web Community

The LeMill Web Community site is available for sharing online learning resources. The site is viewable in nine languages; to orient to what is offered take the Tour and consult the FAQ. Thanks to the Development Gateway for information about this site. ___JH

_____

"LeMill is a web community for finding, authoring and sharing learning resources. First at all, you can find learning resources. You can use the resources you find in your own teaching or learning. You can also add your own learning content to LeMill. You may edit your content and combine larger chunks of learning resources from individual media pieces. If you wish you may also join some of the groups producing or editing learning resources. In LeMill the content is always easily found where and whenever you need them."

Read more ...

WorldWideScience

Science students and instructors will want to put this web address in their bookmarks because WWS provides a federated search of science sites around the world. By combining WWS with Scirus--plus a discipline-specific search and a general search in Google--a searcher will have made a serious first-pass at finding information. ____JH (Via the Development Gateway's E-Learning distribution.)

____

"WorldWideScience.org is a global science gateway—accelerating scientific discovery and progress through a multilateral partnership to enable federated searching of national and international scientific databases. Subsequent versions of WorldWideScience.org will offer access to additional sources as well as enhanced features"

Read the rest ...

EduResources Portal Closed

EduResources Portal Closed

The EduResources Portal was closed this month. The Portal, which was formerly at http://sage.eou.edu/SPT was shut down by Eastern Oregon University (EOU) when the server could no longer be maintained. Because of financial pressures, the University must focus on "supporting hardware and software that directly contribute to the central mission of the institution."

I began the EduResources Portal in 2003 while completing a sabbatical research project; the Portal was established to provide a starting point for instructors who sought to locate online instructional repositories. When I retired from EOU in June 2004, I continued to maintain the Portal from a distance with the assistance of the Computer Center at EOU. The Portal operated in conjunction with this EduResources Weblog; the Portal provided organized links to sites that contain instructional resources for higher education and the Weblog provided commentary about news related to online instructional resources.

I intend to continue the EduResources Weblog for at least another year. I recommend that users who relied on the EduResources Portal make use of the TLT Group's Collection of Collections to guide their searches for online resources: "Exploration Guide: Collections, Repositories, Referatories of Instructional Resources on the Web."


OpenEd

OpenEd
I've added the OpenEd community site to my navigator links for Recommended Websites about OER. The Creative Commons review of the site commented, "There are so many great educational materials out there—some already openly licensed and a great deal more in the public domain—and the problem is that a lot of people still don’t know about them or how to use them. Similarly, the open education movement has produced some really exciting projects and programs in recent years, but there is no global landing space for these inspiring movers and shakers to really connect as a coherent community. Open Ed, the new Open Education Community site, is the result of brainstorming with other initiatives in the movement on how to provide such a space. We designed the site for open education community members, but also for teachers, learners, and those who just want to get involved. We were able to build it thanks to the strong support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation." View the video on the front page for an orientation to the many resources and services available at OpenEd.


Sunday, September 6, 2009

PCB risk feared at older N.E. schools

Window and masonry caulking in hundreds of older schools in New England probably contain very high levels of now-banned toxins that can gradually be released into the air, posing a potential health risk to students and staff, environmental specialists say. Read more ...

AP: Layoffs toughest on young, older workers

AP: Layoffs toughest on young, older workers
Marcus Wells and Shirley Walker view their economic prospects from opposite ends of the age spectrum.

SciTalks/HumTalks/GovTalks/BusiTalks

These four sites collect video lectures on scientific, humanities, government, and business topics by prominent thinkers. I've sampled a number of the talks and found them to be extremely valuable. These sites could be very useful to instructors who want to supply supplementary materials for their courses. _____JH

 

Read the rest ...

Education expert grades U.S. with a 'B'

Education expert grades U.S. with a 'B'

Dr. Yong Zhao, a distinguished professor at the College of Education at Michigan State University and an education expert, says there long has been a misconception nationally that America's educational system competitiveness has fallen behind other countries.


Saturday, September 5, 2009

The young waste youth, and education

Education is just like any other challenge in life: You get out of it exactly what you put into it.

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New: Flashpoint Academy (education)

New: Flashpoint Academy (education)
Flashpoint Academy 1.0 Category: Education Price: Free ( iTunes ) Description: Flashpoint, The Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, is committed to the advancement of higher learning in the field of digital arts and entertainment technologies. Surrounded by peers and educators with a passion for the future, students at Flashpoint can pursue two-year programs in Film/Broadcast Media, Recording Arts, Visual Effects/Animation and Game Development Read the rest here: New: Flashpoint Academy (

What If?

Photo by the author: SAF@ 2009 all rights reserved ` I stared at the mountain and wondered what it knew Why did I feel so peaceful ? I stared at the oak tree beside me I read the forces of nature and knew there is balance here I felt peace I walked into a shop and chatted with a saleslady She showed me some stones She said they were Peruvian I said Oh they are Peruvian? I told her of the dreams of a friend and mine She smiled and looked at me and said I like Read the rest ...

Friday, September 4, 2009

Spartanburg Youth Theatre announces fall class schedule for Theatre Education Program

Spartanburg Youth Theatre announces fall class schedule for Theatre Education Program

Spartanburg Youth Theatre announces fall class schedule for Theatre Education Program SPARTANBURG, S.C. The Spartanburg Youth Theatre will begin the fall session of its Theatre Education Program with an array of classes starting the week of September 14.


MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competition

Should be interesting to see what emerges from this new funding direction by the MacArthur Foundation. ____JH

____

"Awards will be made in the two categories of Innovation and Knowledge-Networking.  Innovation Awards ($100,000 and $250,000) will support learning pioneers, entrepreneurs, and builders of new digital learning environments for formal and informal learning. Knowledge-Networking Awards ($30,000 base award, to a total of $75,000 if budget warrants) will support communicators in connecting, mobilizing, circulating, or translating new ideas around digital media and learning. Entries to the Competition are due October 15, 2007.

Details and application requirements can be found at www.dmlcompetition.net.  If you have comments or questions about the Competition that you would like to share publicly, we would love to hear from you via this Spotlight Blog."

Continue reading ...

Miss. gov orders 2.9 percent cut in $6B budget

Miss. gov orders 2.9 percent cut in $6B budget
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on Thursday ordered budget cuts for some state programs, including all levels of education, because state tax collections were sluggish during the first two months of the fiscal year.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Organization Systems for College Students

Organization Systems for College Students
Fall term will be starting soon, whether you’re prepared for the deluge or not. Summer vacation is good for earning money and bonding with peers, but it’s getting toward the portion of summer that would be well spent on getting a few of your higher-education ducks in a row. Getting one’s organization system [...]

Fall term will be starting soon, whether you’re prepared for the deluge or not. Summer vacation is good for earning money and bonding with peers, but it’s getting toward the portion of summer that would be well spent on getting a few of your higher-education ducks in a row.

Getting one’s organization system planned out and ready to go before the second week of the fall term hits and you’re already in too deep to breathe, let alone dig yourself out, is a prudent move. I’m a sick and twisted little girl, and will sometimes let a deliciously unorganized disaster pile up just so that I can dive in and organize it to perfection later.

I did notice, however, that at the beginning of my college career I tended to hold off on the organizational system streamlining until the term was over. Winter, spring and summer breaks were spent cleaning up the previous term’s mess while muttering to myself that next term I would grow the hell up and keep my academic life in order from day one.

By the time I graduated, I was overly super at keeping schoolwork and papers in line and perfect. It turned out, weirdly enough, that dealing with a chunk of information as it came along was a thousand times faster than shoving it into my “Deal With” folder and having to dig through said folder after the term was over, and wonder (a) what the eff it was, and (b) figure out whether to keep it or toss it, and (c) if it was a keeper, then where would I be keeping it?

Arjun Muralidharan over at The Productive Student has a three-post series about organization systems for students. If you don’t have your own personal system designed and perfected as of yet, I recommend checking them out (before classes start).

How to Defeat Your Digital Mess Forever
Creating a Simple 26-Piece Filing System
3 Productive Folders to Revolutionize Your Storage System

Posted by Alexa Harrington

(images: chaos and tidy)


Homeschooling Versus Public Education - Fair Comparison?

Homeschooling Versus Public Education - Fair Comparison?

After surveying dozens of Homeschooling websites, the majority from a list of the top Homeschooling sites were presented by people who appeared to be notably lacking in credentials pertaining to the field of education.


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. Continue reading ...

EducationBug.org Launches Free Job Post

Continue reading ...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

President urges all to take precautions on swine flu

WASHINGTON - With a potentially deadly swine flu outbreak looming, President Obama urged Americans yesterday to take common-sense steps to prevent infection. Read more ...

Vote could open 250 L.A. schools to outside operators

Backers of the Board of Education decision tout choice and competition. Foes call the move illegal, illogical and improper.

In a startling acknowledgment that the Los Angeles school system cannot improve enough schools on its own, the city Board of Education approved a plan Tuesday that could turn over 250 campuses -- including 50 new multimillion-dollar facilities -- to charter groups and other outside operators.


Continue reading ...

As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten its growth

Goofy videos weren't on the minds of Len Kleinrock and his team at UCLA when they began tests 40 years ago on what would become the Internet. Neither was social networking, for that matter, nor were most of the other easy-to-use applications that have drawn more than a billion people online. Read more ...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Buying Textbooks: New, Used, Rented, or Digital

Buying Textbooks: New, Used, Rented, or Digital
I come from a family of intense readers and researchers who are constantly looking crap up in books. They love and worship the printed word and have a difficult time fathoming why anyone would want to part with a book. When my grandfather retired and was breaking down his lab, he parked in [...]

I come from a family of intense readers and researchers who are constantly looking crap up in books. They love and worship the printed word and have a difficult time fathoming why anyone would want to part with a book. When my grandfather retired and was breaking down his lab, he parked in a clearly marked No Parking zone (he lived by his own set of rules), stole a lab cart labeled in large letters with the angry phrasing: Lab Use Only! Do Not Remove!

He took me to his office, commanded me to climb up on his desk and read out to him the titles of every one of his reference texts. Some he had had since the 1930s, when he was a student, and some he had acquired over years of teaching and research. He’d kept everything he deemed useful and “not full of sh*t.” He left the less than brilliant volumes for other researchers, and gifted me with a few dozen gorgeous reference texts and old textbooks. I still have them, and they have their own beautiful book shelf (I do not allow them to mingle with novels, no matter how high the literature content).

I have an abundance of higher education under my belt, and the stacks of textbooks to go along with all that learning. If I kept every book, we’d all be killed under piles of books the next time Seattle has an earthquake. I’m perhaps a little more reasonable than my family, and can be fairly harsh when weeding out unnecessary objects from my home. Any book I have never opened as a reference past the term I read it as a required text gets donated to the nearest college or university.

I bought all new textbooks as a freshman because it was all so new and I felt that every moment had to be crisp and perfect in the fall light. After the first year of school, I only bought new books if they were fully related to my major, and I was certain I would be using them as references later on down the line. Everything else I bought used and then sold back or donated. You don’t need new textbooks unless you plan on keeping them as part of your permanent library.

If it will help you to decide, you can stand there in the bookstore and hold the pile of this term’s books straight out in front of you. It will weigh a lot and it will start to hurt pretty quickly. Think about how many times you will move between the ages of eighteen, when you’re a freshman, and thirty, when you’re ready to buy a house and settle down. Between my freshman year and when I moved into my current house at the age of 26, I moved 14 times. Only rocks and weights are heavier than books, people.

If a required book is something you feel sure you won’t ever need to crack again once this term is over, then you might want to consider renting your books or going with the digital textbook wave of the future.

Posted by Alexa Harrington


Analysis: Obama keeps Bush nominees in top posts

Analysis: Obama keeps Bush nominees in top posts
For all the GOP howling about Barack Obama radically steering the government to the left and leading the nation toward socialism, some of his major appointments are Republican men and women of the middle.

Elmo joins swine flu fight

(CNN) — The federal government has a powerful new weapon in the fight against the H1N1 flu virus: Elmo. The popular Sesame Street character will be featured in a series of public service advertisements meant to encourage better hygiene among young children, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday. In the ads, Elmo teams up with Gordon, another Sesame Street veteran, to stress the importance of basic healthy habits such as frequent hand washing, sneezing into the bend of Continue reading ...

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. Read the rest ...