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June 28 2005 - Vol. 6, No. 26
TechLearning News
- The Library of Congress has become a member of Internet2, connecting to its high-performance Abilene Network.
- The Redlands CA school district has decided to fight fire with fire by turning to exertainment — exercise plus entertainment.
- Alaska is revising its teacher licensure rules to include a performance component that requires new teachers to submit videotapes of them in action in the classroom.
- Faced with increased demands to track student progress, districts are turning to technology-based solutions.
Library of Congress Joins Internet2
The Library of Congress has become a member of Internet2, connecting to its high-performance Abilene Network. The Library plans to leverage Internet2's advanced network infrastructure to facilitate wide-scale digital preservation projects, to enhance the development of an Internet-based database of U.S. newspapers, and to support its educational outreach programs. The Library's National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program is a broad-scale effort to preserve the increasing amounts of so called "born digital" materials for which no hard copies exist. The Library is working to collect historically significant digital content before it is altered or lost. The Library also supports online educational programs via the Learning Page web site, which is the front door to the Library's 100 plus American Memory Collections containing more than 7 million historical documents, photographs, maps, films and audio recordings. Internet2 is the high bandwidth network was created by more than 200 U.S. universities, in partnership with business and industry, to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education. Increasingly, universities are making their Internet2 connections available to K-12 schools. With 34 state education networks connected to its high-performance network, over 27,000 K-20 institutions now have access to Internet2's network.
Source: Internet 2
Exertainment Enters the Classroom
The Redlands CA school district has decided to fight fire with fire by turning to exertainment ý exercise plus entertainment. Videogames are often cited as a contributor to childhood obesity. Redlands plans to introduce a videogame-based exercise program to its physical education curriculum. The program has been designed in collaboration with nearby Redlands Community Hospital and Beaver Medical Clinic. Students will use popular videogames that include active, physical elements, like the popular dance pad games. The school district is working to gather funding and possible corporate sponsorship for the first exertainment center, which is expected to cost upward of $10,000. The district is also looking for an elementary school to pilot the program, which they hope to have up and running this fall. The school will need a space where they can set up five to seven different stations capable of handling a full class of 35 children for the 50-minute class. The district is also exploring products that marry stationary bikes with video-game displays and devices that use special controllers to teach students how to throw a baseball correctly. UC Berkeley nutrition education specialist Joanne Ikeda says that anything that gets children up and moving is a good idea. She especially likes the fact that in the videogame environment, children can compete with the game rather than with each other. Further, children are having fun and associating the idea of exercise with having fun, which may help turn it into a lifetime habit.
Source: Wired News
Lights! Camera! Teach!
Alaska is revising its teacher licensure rules. Currently, the state requires a candidate for teacher certification to have a bachelor's degree, completed an approved teacher education program, and passed a certification test and background check. Teachers must take some additional coursework to get their certificate renewed, which is required every five years. But in 2003, the state board decided it wanted to add a performance component to the licensing process. Under the new rules, teachers still must meet the same requirements for initial or tier one certification. They then have three years to get to tier two, which requires that they earn six college credits in multicultural and Alaska studies, pass a test in the academic subject they teach, and get videotaped twice before the end of their second year in a classroom. The videos must record uninterrupted 45-minute segments of the teacher in action. Teachers submit them for review along with supporting documentation including a description of the teacher's classroom, including the class demographics, a map of the teacher's classroom, an explanation of where the lesson on the video falls within the curriculum or instructional unit, and any other information required by the department. A neutral panel selected and trained by the education department will review the videos. Teachers can stay in tier two indefinitely, renewing their license every five years by paying the fee and taking six college credit hours. To advance to tier three, teachers either have to receive a national certification or submit another videotape on which they must score higher than they did before.
Source: Anchorage Daily News
Districts Turning To Data Management Systems
Faced with increased demands to track student progress, districts are turning to technology-based solutions. But data systems don't comer cheap and in some cases the district has to choose between a data management system and technology that can be used in classrooms, like new student laptops. In its annual national study on technology use in schools, Education Week found that 15 states are focusing more technology funding on data management and collection as a direct result of No Child Left Behind requirements. The ultimate goal of implementing a data management system is to improve student achievement. Data on what children know and don't know allows teachers to better target instruction to each child's unique needs. San Antonio's Northside ISD is spending $2.2 million over five years to set up and maintain its data management system, using money from a 2004 bond. Teachers will have ready access to detailed test scores, report card information, and attendance history, data that used to take weeks to gather. A consortium of small Texas school districts — Kerrville, Alamo Heights, Pleasanton and South San Antonio — poll both financial resources and test scores to determine if their students are truly making progress. The districts send their information to San Antonio-based psychologist and statistician who uses the INOVA process to determine how much progress a student is making from year to year and pinpoint weak areas for teachers. The INOVA system places each student in one of five color categories, which along with a list of each student's strengths and weaknesses and a list of academic interventions and recommended teaching methods, allow teachers to easily individualize instruction for every child.
Source: Express News
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