Four trends that could change everything - Gregg W. Downey, eSchool News Several trends, already firmly established, now seem poised to exert a significant impact on international relations and human interaction. As a result, educators might do well to take heed of four of the more ubiquitous of these trends, which I'll allude to by means of these labels: (1) parallel computing, (2) cloud

Schools may want to bolster monitoring of student use of peer-to-peer file sharing networks over the next few months, according to PandaLabs, the research arm of Panda Security. The company, which sells security solutions, has reported that numerous downloadable songs and videos related to Disney's movie High School Musical are being used to disguise malware, including viruses, worms, and Trojans

The theft of a computer disk with student information has caused embarrassment and expense for a school district in Tennessee. According to coverage in The Jackson Sun, the disk containing the social security numbers and test scores for a school's 2007-2008 sixth graders was taken from the car of an elementary school principal in the Jackson-Madison County School System. The district will pay

University is the latest to move course evaluations to the internet, speeding feedback and saving nearly a million sheets of paper. Purdue University professors soon will get faster feedback from students, thanks to a new online evaluation system. Currently, students rate their professors through written evaluations, which are then typed out so an instructor does not know which student made the

Only 25 percent of educators feel comfortable teaching students how to protect themselves from online cyber predators, cyber bullies, and identity theft, according to a recent study by The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and Educational Technology, Policy Research and Outreach (ETPRO). The "2008 National Cyberethics, Cybersafety, Cybersecurity (C3) Baseline Study" was conducted to explore

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has joined up with the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) to produce the "21st Century Skills and English Map" a framework for integrating 21st century skills into the K-12 English curriculum. The 21st Century Skills and English Map is the second in a series of planned maps aimed at core subjects. The first covered social studies, which,

A 19th-century concept of learning is holding back Texas from bringing school technology into the present, some legislators say. Back in 1854, legislators guaranteed Texas schoolchildren access to free textbooks by establishing an educational endowment known as the Permanent School Fund . And though textbooks are now in many situations giving way to digital media in the classroom, state

They're practicing Chinese calligraphy, honing the strokes they need to create characters. "I think it's very important to learn a foreign language of any type, but particularly ones that are useful for living in America," senior Carly Freeman said as she painted. "And since America does a lot of business with China, I think Chinese is an important language for people to know, especially if

Video and audio podcasting. Virtual field trips. Geocaching. Those are all topics North Syracuse business teacher Todd Cook has had to learn to keep up with how fast technology is changing. Just six years ago, Cook graduated with a bachelor's degree in business and marketing from Le Moyne College. Two years later, he got his master's from Le Moyne. But the 28-year-old who started teaching

Even as he is asking residents for their impressions of the school system of today, a consultant is offering a glimpse of a very different school system of the future.The consultant, Jonathan P. Costa, said “the school system in the next 10 years is going to have to operate differently, with fewer resources.”“Everything has got to be on the table,” Costa continued, “because we can’t afford it....

The Internet plays a critical role in how academic environments interact with their key audiences. Consider the role your website plays with prospective students and their decision to apply; alumni and their contributions to your latest campaign; scholars and their interest in joining your faculty; or employers seeking to hire your graduates. What role does your website play in supporting

The dirty little secret of technology in education is that a lot of it doesn’t get used effectively—or at all. As technologists, many of us find it hard to understand why. We constantly search for new ways to employ technology in the service of teaching and research. Most users, however, be they faculty, staff, or students, do not approach technology the same way we do. According to a 2007 Pew/

The mantra of the information age has been “The more information the better!” But what happens when we search the web and get so much information that we can’t sort through it, let alone evaluate it? Enter the semantic web, or Web 3.0. Among other things, the semantic web makes information more meaningful to people by making it more understandable to machines. Consider a simple example. If you

Professional development is a whole new ballgame for educators who teach online. According to the 2006 report Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, funded by the North American Council for Online Learning and the K-11 online Connections: "…38 states have now established state-led online learning programs, policies regulating online learning, or both. Enrollments in online courses have surged in

Walk the exhibit hall of any education technology conference today and you're sure to see more rapid response systems than you can count. Yes, "clickers" have caught fire in the education space as tools that truly enable interactive, personalized learning in both classroom and professional development settings. Clickers are individual handheld transmitters that collect learner input and pair

At Mt. Abram Regional High School in Strong, Maine, the one-to-one program is student centered—and student initiated. Since 2004, Mt. Abram High School students and teachers have participated in a one-to-one laptop program—one of many offered in the state of Maine. In 2003 Principal Jeanne Tucker's student advisory group wanted to look into laptops as their service-learning project. At the time,

Teaching to the test is a mistake, Harvard's Tony Wagner reminded the audience of his Nov. 18 keynote address to the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), because it interferes with transmitting the seven "survival skills" every student should acquire before graduating. Wagner's remarks came during a forum organized in Washington, D.C., as one way to advance the 10-point "

Communication and trust are critical in the relationship between a school district's chief technology officer (CTO) and superintendent, said panelists at a Nov. 19 webinar that focused on what superintendents need from their CTOs for districts to integrate technology successfully into all facets of education. School districts with successful educational technology programs have a strong

The 2008 EDUCAUSE conference in Orlando was dominated by vendors pitching new ways to cut costs on college campuses and technology officials discussing solutions to ongoing problems such as illegal file sharing and laying out how universities can create more energy-thrifty IT departments. Although the conference--which drew more than 7,000 educators--was complete with complimentary meals and

Forget e-mail. That's old news to today's high school students. To really harness the power of technology for education, according to at least one national education report, the next step is "e-learning." "In their eyes, if you e-mail me today, (it's) 'I'll get back to you tomorrow.' But if you (instant message) me, I'll get back to you right away. That's where they're at," Warren Clarke, a