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The winners of the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition show a fascinating range of projects, technology tools, and locations. Reading the briefs, I’m struck that these projects focus on creating and publishing with technology, giving voice to those without mainstream media access. They are not just ways to get youth engaged in learning, but to get them engaged in their community as creative, empowered forces. What a terrific award.
Women videoblogging in India
Students worldwide collect and share data on fish populations
MetroVoice gives students a media platform on city buses
Hole-in-the-wall reaching children in the most remote communities
And so many more! Learn more about the programs and why they were chosen at the Digital Media Learning Competition blog.
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Nimble Press wishes you peace and joy in the new year
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As a member of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) Board of Directors, I have the opportunity to meet and learn from educational technology leaders from around the world. At our last board meeting, I volunteered to draft a statement for the group to respond to the development of the National Educational Technology Plan by the U.S. Department of Education.
CoSN members are professionals who have first-hand experience with planning, implementing and maintaining the nation’s educational infrastructures. The plan’s vision for learning, assessment, and teaching with technology assumes seamless, reliable access to networks and computing devices. It assumes applications are intuitive, easy to learn, and responsive to changing needs. It assumes information is secure, integrated, and authentic. To become reality, this vision requires a comprehensive technology infrastructure with massive scalability and micro adaptability. Please view and vote for our statement if you agree: Laying the Foundation for Ubiquitous Technology.
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School districts come in all sizes and most of them seem to build their own applications and systems. Web 2.0 and the browser as a platform really opens the door to lots of low-cost, specialized, nearly free or subscription-based tools that could really help schools improve their productivity.
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National School Boards Assocation T+L Conference
Denver, CO
I missed the first 10 minutes of the Project RED presentation, but was immediately engaged by the slide displayed when I walked through the door. More than half of survey respondents (62%) reported that ubiquitous technology in their schools increased high-stakes test scores, and 48% reported a reduction in disciplinary action.
You can participate in the survey at Project RED Deadline: November 16, 2009
Project RED is the research project of Jeanne Hayes, the Hayes Connection; Tom Greaves, the Greaves Group; and Leslie Wilson of the One-to-One Institute. Through surveys and interviews, the group seeks to show the true financial benefits of education technology. They have focused on two key issues: student achievement and the financial impact of technology on state budgets. To my knowledge, no other group is making a research-based financial connection between education technology investment and state economies by analyzing cost savings, cost avoidance and revenue enhancements to state budgets with investment in educational technology.
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