Schools and Tech

schools and tech: episode #34: Cal Leage of Schools PLC and Tech Conference

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News of the week:

1) In Florida, virtual classrooms with no teachers - NYTimes
 
MIAMI — On the first day of her senior year at North Miami Beach Senior High School, Naomi Baptiste expected to be greeted by a teacher when she walked into her precalculus class.
 
“All there were were computers in the class,” said Naomi, who walked into a room of confused students. “We found out that over the summer they signed us up for these courses.”
Naomi is one of over 7,000 students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools enrolled in a program in which core subjects are taken using computers in a classroom with no teacher. A “facilitator” is in the room to make sure students progress. That person also deals with any technical problems. 

2) (On a related note) Bill Gates Says Tech Is The Key to Driving Down College Costs
(3 min clip)

  • “trying to provide a $200,000 education to every kid who wants it- and only technology can bring that down not just to $20,000 but to $2,000”
  • pro-KIPP & charter schools’ immersing students in learning - “Thank god for charters. There’s no room for innovation in the standard system.... There should be about 20 times as much [experimentation] as there is.”
  • note he doesn’t predict radical changes in K-12 by virtue of parents’ need for someone to “babysit” - ouch

    • Dissent Magazine on Bill Gates in education via Arts & Letters
    http://dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=3781

    3) New MIT OpenCourseWare Initiative Aims to Improve Independent Online Learning
    These aren't distance learning classes - there is no instructor, no contact with MIT, no credit. But the courses are meant to be stand-alone offerings, not requiring any additional materials for learning.

    4) Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua

    I haven’t read the book, but I’ve been enjoying the national dialog over it. Anyone else? - KB

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-heffernan-/if-youll-do-anything-for-_b_810350.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/opinion/18brooks.html?src=me&ref=homepage
    http://www.montereyherald.com/entertainment/ci_17087705

    5) 3 Big Reasons Harvard Has A Record Number of Applicants - Edudemic - CT (#1 and # also fit for Stanford according to recent articles...Stanford received 23,956 applications for admission to the Class of 2011. This number represents an increase of more than 7 percent from last year.  2,465 applicants, or 10.3 percent, were admitted.)
    Harvard had nearly 35,000 applications versus last year’s 30,489. That’s 15 percent more applicants than last year, which was also a record-setting year.

    1. This meteoric rise has a reason. It’s not just because Harvard is a good school with a good reputation. It’s in part due to the generous financial aid program.  -- Harvard College’s financial aid program requires no contribution from families with annual incomes below $60,000, and asks, on average, no more than 10 percent of income from families with typical assets who make up to $180,000
    2. Two other factors also may have played a role in this year’s record total. The new School of Engineering and Applied Sciences continues to attract greater numbers of students who aspire to study engineering, computer science, and related fields.
    3. In addition, more students than ever before, nearly 99 percent, are using online application services. Such services enable students, especially those with few counseling or economic resources, to apply to college more easily. -- Applications increased from all geographic areas, but particularly from the South, the Midwest, the Mountain states, the Pacific region, and abroad. Gender breakdown is close to last year’s 50/50 ratio, and minority numbers have continued to rise.

      4. Main Topic:  Kevin’s Snapshot from the CLMS & CLHS Professional Learning Communities and Tech Conference

      • Google Moderator - feedback and questions/comments during presentations for differentiated instruction
        • Rushton Hurley - simple multimedia tools for instructional use; teachers as meaningful professionals
        • Audience Response Systems in the Classroom - “dedicated clickers” vs. “poll anywhere”

          • Tim's Tech Tidbit:
          Recording voice for making poetry mp3s the low-brow way
          - Audacity (Windows or Mac)
          http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/17-audacity-tutorial.htm
          - Sound Recorder (Windows)
          http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/dl/dl-help/help-SoundRecorder.htm
          - TapeDeck (Mac)
          http://tapedeckapp.com/

          Endorsements:

          Cammy:  Chaser the Border Collie and Animal Cognition - NYT

          Kevin: ctrl-f or command-f the mini search engine that can save you tons of time

          Tim: Why and How I Switched to a Standing Desk - SmarterWare.com

           

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