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After 10 Years, Federal Money for Technology in Education

sparky3887 — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:16:48 +0000

More than a decade after it was first recommended, a trust that would function as a venture capital fund to research learning technology has finally achieved congressional appropriation through the U.S. Department of Education. The National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies will be introduced on Jan. 25 and could be awarding grants by the fall. The center’s co-chairmen will include former U.S. Federal Communication Commission chairman Newton N. Minow, former NBC News and PBS president Lawrence K. Grossman, and former American Arts Alliance director Anne G. Murphy. “It’s time that education had the equivalent of what the National Science Foundation does for science, Darpa [the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] does for the national defense, and what N.I.H. [the National Institutes of Health] does for health,” Grossman says. The group constructed three prototypes to gain support for the project–an educational video game for biology students, a museum game, and a computer simulation to train firefighters in high-rise conflagrations.

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Georgia Tech Broadens, Diversifies Computing Education

sparky3887 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:26:19 +0000

The Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing has received a $1.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation to continue its Georgia Computes! program, which promotes computer science to both students and teachers across the state. The program’s initiatives include encouraging women, minorities, and people with disabilities to participate in computer science programs, doubling the number of schools that provide Advanced Placement computer science classes and the number of Hispanics that take the exam, designing eight summer computing camps, and improving 25 percent of the computing programs in George at the university level. Elementary and high school students are guided by mentors from a variety of backgrounds, including high school students, undergraduates, or members of youth organizations. Students ages 10 to 18 can attend summer computing camps, while high school teachers can attend computing workshops. Undergraduate students can attend computing workshops as well, and can serve as mentors to elementary and high school students. Researchers are studying why there is less interest in computer science at the undergraduate level. Graduate students can work as mentors and also chart the number of computer science majors in Georgia. In the future, Georgia Computes! will add computer centers to Columbus State and Armstrong Atlantic State University and will provide online access to computing workshops and classes. The program also will study state university computer science programs and will chart the course students take from secondary school-level summer camps, workshops, and classes to their current majors.

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Putting Computing in Education’s Core

sparky3887 — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:10:05 +0000

ACM has submitted comments on the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top Fund program that stress the need to ensure the level of support and attention devoted to computer science education is at least equal to that committed to other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. ACM recommends that “computer science” be added after “study in … mathematics, sciences” in the Proposed Priority #2, clarifying that a state application can support reform of existing computer science courses, introduce new computer science standards and courses, and support computer science educators. Another ACM recommendation is making Proposed Priority #2 “an absolute priority” so a state application would have to communicate how the state plans to enhance STEM education. ACM suggests the addition of a new section (A)(4) that contains selection criteria for subjects in STEM areas, including computer science, that may be excluded from the “common set of K-12 standards” but are essential to guaranteeing student competitiveness in the 21st Century. Also promoted by ACM is the inclusion of an assessment measure to the minimum proposed evidence (C)(1) “Providing alternative pathways for aspiring teachers and principals” that a state demonstrate to what degree its alternative certification program for STEM teachers, including computer science, taps nationally recognized models. ACM also says the Education Department should use federal funds to set up a clearinghouse of best practices for teacher certification in STEM fields that support the exchange of information between states about effective certification and endorsement models.

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Study Finds that Online Education Beats the Classroom

sparky3887 — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:40:32 +0000

Students’ performance in online education settings tended to trounce that of those receiving face-to-face instruction, according to a study SRI International carried out for the U.S. Education Department. The study analyzed the comparative research on traditional versus online education over a 12-year period, with the bulk of the studies done in colleges and various adult continuing-education programs. The report found 99 studies in which there were quantitative comparisons of online and classroom performance for the same courses, and an analysis determined that students doing some or all of the course online would rank in the 59th percentile in tested performance on average, versus the average classroom student scoring in the 50th percentile. Lead study author Barbara Means says the report indicates that online learning often outclasses traditional instruction, and the report suggests that online education could experience sharp growth during the next several years. Experts say the real promise of online education is delivering learning experiences that are more customized to individual students than classrooms, which facilitates more learning by doing. Philip R. Regier, with Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program, expects continuing education programs to exhibit the most growth in the near term, and he also predicts that online education will continue to gain ground in the transformation of college campuses. Regier says the growing use of social networking technology will hasten the evolution of online learning into a model where students help and teach each other by creating new forms of learning communities.

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A Systems Approach to Improving K-12 STEM Education

sparky3887 — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 19:00:08 +0000

The improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education via collaboration between public and private stakeholders in an urban K-12 system was the focus of a recent U.S. House Subcommittee on Research and Science Education hearing. A systems approach to STEM education was assessed by the hearing using the urban school district of Chicago. Wanda Ward with the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources pointed out that NSF has played an essential role in aligning STEM priorities in the America COMPETES Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with four areas of focus: innovation; broad participation to enhance workforce development; enrichment of teacher education; and the cultivation of cyberlearning to augment STEM education. The importance of creating learning experiences in informal environments was emphasized by After School Matters chair Maggie Daly, who observed that her program facilitated successful interaction between hundreds of paid instructors and thousands of students in Block 37 initiatives where professionals address workforce trends with students and students confront workplace problems. The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Learning Sciences Research Institute’s Donald Wink discussed the relationships, leadership, and research required for the interaction between K-12 students and higher education to fortify STEM education. His recommendation was to concentrate work with existing products and on existing research and to embed K-12 data on student performance in universities. Among the insights gained from the Chicago effort was the need to team with universities for course support and classroom instruction, extend learning experiences outside the classroom, develop math and science focused schools, and nurture partnerships among schools, universities, and federal grants.

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U.S. Tech Education Push Gets a New Techie Weapon

sparky3887 — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 01:16:17 +0000

Raytheon recently presented an open source computer simulation and modeling program designed to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education to the nonprofit Business-Higher Education Forum. The Raytheon model uses more than 200 variables to assess the effectiveness of policies and programs to encourage students to pursue STEM paths. “Our country is founded on creativity and innovation,” says Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. “In order to have that in the future, we need a robust pipeline of STEM graduates to enjoy what our generation has enjoyed.” Brian Fitzgerald, the forum’s executive director, says the use of a modeling program is a major departure from standard measurement techniques. Fitzgerald says the program will give the STEM promotion effort more relevant information, so efforts to improve STEM education do not rely on “policy by anecdote.” In 2005, 1.3 million high school graduates were academically ready for college, and 277,550 declared STEM majors, but only 166,530 were expected to graduate with STEM degrees. That 40 percent dropout rate is a major concern to U.S. educators and policymakers, Fitzgerald says. The Raytheon modeling program will enable researchers to explore data variables to see how changes could affect STEM graduation rates. The program is the first to use this type of computing, called systems dynamics modeling, on STEM education, says Kathryn Sullivan, director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy at Ohio State University.

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About Natasha Richardson

Roberto Espinoza — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:18:51 +0000

Prior to the latest film’s release, Richardson was in a tragic accident while learning how to ski in Quebec, Canada. She allegedly suffered a serious head injury following a fall on the slopes. Though she walked off on her own accord, she later complained of headaches and was rushed to the hospital, where she was reportedly in critical condition. Husband Liam Neeson rushed from a film shoot in Toronto to be by her side.

Her life:
* 1968 Made film debut at the age of four in a film directed by her father, The Charge of the Light Brigade ; also starred her mother Vanessa Redgrave
* 1984 American TV acting debut, the CBS miniseries Ellis Island
* 1984 Film acting debut in Every Picture Tells a Story
* 1985 West End debut opposite mother, Vanessa Redgrave, in a revival of Anton Chekhov s The Seagull
* 1986 Starred in the London stage production of High Society
* 1987 Co-starred with Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth in A Month in the Country ; directed by Pat O Connor
* 1987 Portrayed Mary Godwin in the Ken Russell film, Gothic
* 1988 Played the title role in the biographical film directed by Paul Schrader, Patty Hearst
* 1990 Starred with Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway in The Handmaid s Tale
* 1993 Had role of Catharine Holly in the PBS presentation of Suddenly, Last Summer
* 1993 Made Broadway debut starring opposite Liam Neeson in a revival of Eugene O Neill s Anna Christie ; received Tony Award nomination
* 1993 Re-teamed with director Pat O Connor to play the title role in Zelda, a TNT biopic about the Southern wife of American author F. Scott Fitzgerald
* 1994 Appeared alongside Neeson and Jodie Foster in Nell
* 1998 First film in four years, The Parent Trap
* 1998 Returned to the NY stage to play Sally Bowles in the Sam Mendes-Rob Marshall helmed revival of Cabaret
* 2001 Had featured role in the screen comedy Blow Dry
* 2001 Starred in the based-on-fact CBS miniseries Haven
* 2002 Cast as a New York socialite in Maid In Manhattan
* 2002 Had featured role in the ensemble comedy Waking Up in Reno
* 2005 Cast as Blanche DuBois in a revival of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire opposite John C. Reilly
* 2005 Starred opposite Ian McKellen in the psychological thriller Asylum
* 2007 Appeared alongside her mother, Vanessa Redgrave in the ensemble film, Evening
* 2009 Played the roles of mother and daughter, opposite Vanessa Redgrave, in a one-night benefit concert version of A Little Night Music at Studio 54 in New York
* Began career in regional theater with Leeds Playhouse
* Joined the New Shakespeare Company