January+9,+2012

=Worthy of Note: January 9, 2012=



In this Worthy of Note ...
Predictions 2012 Let's Tout 2011 New Reports, Studies, Initiatives and Surveys Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Online/Digital Learning Continued Discussion on For-profit Virtual Learning Students and Technology Social Media Resources (Technology and Instruction) What About NCLB? Common Core Standards Other Interesting Items Webinars

My first thought was not to include predictions for 2012 or successes of 2011, but they were so pervasive in the resources I consult — and some were fun to read — so, I revised my thoughts. Here is a selection. I only did a cursory comparison and did not find that many similarities. Open education and budgets/costs seem to dominate. Check out Internet of Things//. // One site even predicts social/digital exhaustion.

Predictions 2012
5 Predictions for Higher Ed Technology in 2012 //Audrey Watters, Inside Higher Ed, January 1, 2012 // On these issues: Accreditation, Peer to Peer, Robot Grader / Adaptive Learning, Labor Issues, and OER

WCET’s Top Six 2011 Elearning Predictions //Russ Poulin, WCET, January 4, 2012 // In the first week of 2011, WCET’s Frontiers blog posted predictions solicited from leaders of our organization and leaders in community of technology-mediated education. We asked them to predict something that will happen in 2011 about teaching, learning, technology, business of elearning policy, regulations, student behavior, or other related items.

Now, it’s a year later. The crystal balls for some of our prognosticators must have been highly polished as they did quite well. In this post we’ll review some of the predictions and ask you to make your own predictions for 2012. In descending order, here are the top six predictions that were made.


 * Congratulations to Myk Garn for the #1 prediction for 2011. ** The choice was made by WCET staff using the time-honored “we know it when we see it” criteria. As a result, Dr. Garn will receive the first “WCET Seeing the Future” badge and all the rights, privileges, and honors appertaining thereto. Good thing we have him co-leading our Forging the Future workshop again in 2012.

8 Ed Tech Predictions for 2012 //Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, December 22, 2011 // The editor claims it is an Amazon-centric list.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Five tech trends to watch in 2012 //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Lance Ulanoff, Mashable, December 28, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Augmented Reality, The Micro-Payment Economy, The Rise of the UltraBook, Social/Digital Exhaustion, and Mobile Chip Wars.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Our Readers' Top Ed-Tech Picks for 2012 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">eCampus News, January 3, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Here are the results of our 2012 Readers' Choice Awards, which recognize the educational technology products and services our readers have enjoyed the most success with.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">12 Internet Predictions For 2012 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, Insider, December 27, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Yes, predictions are hard, especially about the future. But they're fun! And, sometimes, they can even be useful. They're rarely correct but, perhaps, they help clarify and hone one's thinking about the future. And so, in the spirit of enlightened thinking about our industry, here are Business Insider Intelligence's 12 Internet Predictions For 2012.

Let's Tout 2011
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">10 Most-Popular Wired Campus Articles of 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jeffrey R. Young, Wired Campus, December 20, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The promise of better technology tools for the classroom, frustration over student cheating, and controversy concerning social-media on campus topped the list of popular topics here at Wired Campus in the past year. We crunched the numbers and determined which stories scored the most readers. Here are the 10 top stories.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">8 Amazing Emerging Technologies From 2011 //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Peter Pachal, Mashable, December 30, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here are Mashable‘s picks for the top emerging technologies of 2011.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Five Biggest Ed-Tech Themes in 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ian Quillen, Digital Education, Education Week, December 30, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here's a wrap-up of what we think were the five biggest ed-tech themes of 2011.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Vote for the Best Sites of 2011! <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">You may not want to vote and that’s okay, but All My Faves has posted “10 cool sites” on every Monday. They have compiled them here by topic.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The 15 Best Mobile Apps of 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Amy-Mae Elliott, Mashable, December 27, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The apps market continued to grow in 2011, with millions of apps now available across the major mobile platforms. With so many apps out there, it’s easy to miss out on a must-have mobile tool. We have rounded up our favorite apps of 2011 for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7 so you can check to see what you may have missed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Top 10 K-12 Stories of 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tanya Roscorla, Converge, December 19, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This year, both district and state-led tablet pilots popped up all over the United States. Bring your own device initiatives started to gain traction. And technology integration continued to be a priority for district administrators.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">These are just a sampling of trends in K-12 education over the past year. In the top stories of 2011, you'll find the stories that received the most page views on convergemag.com.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Top 100 Sites of 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">TL Advisor Blog, Tech&Learning // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The time is finally here for my annual list of favorite sites of the year. This year, I decided to up my post to the top 100 instead of 25 due to the number of sites that I reviewed and due to the popularity of the post. I tried to cover a wide range of sites, from flash card creators to digital storytelling and of course, social networks, which really shined in 2011. I hope everybody enjoys the read and has as much fun reading it as I did creating it!

The 10 Most Memorable Stories of 2011: Ed. Policy and Politics //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education Week, December 27, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">These are ten of the most significant stories from our 2011 coverage of education's role in state and national politics.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The 15 best mobile apps of 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jason Ankeny, Fierce Wireless Content, December 22, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here are this year's finest--the best mobile apps of 2011 – according to this source.

New Reports, Studies, Initiatives and Surveys
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Profiles of For-Profit and Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: Thirteenth Annual Report - 2010-2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Gary Miron, Jessica Urschel, Mayra A. Yat Aguilar and Breanna Dailey, National Education Policy Center ( // NEPC //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">), // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">January 6, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">While past annual Profiles reports have focused on either for-profit EMOs or nonprofit EMOs, this is the first annual Profiles report to cover both categories in a single report, which allows for easier comparisons. The 2010-2011 school year marked another year of relatively slow growth in the for-profit education management industry and another year of steady growth in the nonprofit EMO industry. We believe our key finding from the past three years, that the for-profit school management sector has leveled off and that many for-profit companies are expanding into supplemental services, continued in the 2010-2011 school year. The nonprofit management sector’s growth remains steady, both in terms of new nonprofit EMOs and new managed schools. While the number of new schools under for-profit EMO management has slowed, enrollments in all managed schools continue to grow at a rapid pace. Download the report. Read comments about this report in //The New York Times//, January 6.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">MIT launches online learning initiative //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">MIT, News Office, December 19, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">MIT today announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called “//MITx//.” //MITx// will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read comments about MITx by //Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed, December 20, 2011.//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by //MITx//
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New Study Gauges Teachers Impact on Students' Lifetime Earnings //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PBS Newshour, January 6, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Replacing a bad teacher with an average or a good one has measurable economic benefits such as boosting a student's lifetime earnings by hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a new study done in part by Harvard University economist Raj Chetty. Ray Suarez and Chetty discuss the study's findings. Read <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">other comments <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> about the study. The Study: The Long-Term Impacts of Teachers: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood (Raj Chetty et al)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Facebook’s Effect on Student Grades – New Study (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Anson Alexander.com, December 7, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As Facebook becomes more and more widespread the debate on whether it is beneficial or harmful to students’ grades – specifically those of college students – rages on.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Infographic Highlights:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">92% of students surveyed use Facebook.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The average student visits Facebook 6 times each day.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The average student spends 106 minutes (1 hour and 46 minutes) using Facebook daily.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Facebook use //does// contribute to lower GPAs but not significantly.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Students that post links and check up on friends receive higher marks than students who tend to only post status updates.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">E-Textbooks Saved Many Students Only $1 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Nick DeSantis, Wired Campus, The Chronicle, January 4, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Despite the promise that digital textbooks can lead to huge cost savings for students, a new study at Daytona State College has found that many who tried e-textbooks saved only one dollar, compared with their counterparts who purchased traditional printed material.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Educause study //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A Study of Four Textbook Distribution Models //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">, by Benjamin Graydon, Blake Urbach-Buholz, and Cheryl Kohen, conducted over four semesters, compared four different means of textbook distribution: traditional print purchase, print rental, e-textbook rental, and e-textbook rental with an e-reader device. It found that e-textbooks still face several hurdles as universities mull the switch to a digital textbook distribution model.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Results for the Higher Ed Content Management System Usage Survey, 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">eduGuru, //http://doteduguru.com <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">After a month of data collection, we are ready to release unto you the results of our largest survey to date. When the dust settled, nearly 500 schools had responded to this year’s CMS survey, more than triple what we had last time. The great part about that is the data is certainly good for those of you researching for yourselves. And in that regard, as always, all the research data is available to you under a Creative Commons license for you to use, recut, or combine with other information.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Students and Technology <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The 2011 //ECAR National Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology [Infographic]// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Educause Center for Applied Research <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The mission of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research is to foster better decision making by conducting and disseminating research and analysis about the role and implications of information technology in higher education. ECAR systematically addresses many of the challenges brought more sharply into focus by information technologies. Find the ECAR report [|here].

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online Classes Accelerate Math for Middle Schoolers, Research Finds //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dian Schaffhauser, The Journal, December 16, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Eighth-graders who take an online Algebra I course score higher on end-of-year algebra assessments than other students who take the standard instructor-led math program offered by their schools and are twice as likely to follow an advanced course sequence in high school as their peers. Those results came out of a multi-year study done in 68 mostly rural schools in Maine and Vermont and could influence decisions by more middle schools to begin offering Algebra I classes. The study: Access to Algebra I: The Effects of Online Mathematics for Grade 8 Students.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Growing Chorus of Opposition to "Stop Online Piracy Act" //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Center for Democracy and Technology, January 8, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Reaction to the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) — as well as its Senate counterpart, the PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) — has been severe. Here are some of the highlights from the growing chorus of opposition — in Letters to Congress, In the Press, in Blog Posts and Statements, and in Long-form Analysis. Here is a list of organizations and individuals expressing concern with SOPA and PROTECT IP.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Bill Text, SOPA, HR. 3261 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">October 26, 2011 //

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How SOPA would affect you: FAQ //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Declan McCullagh, CNET, December 21, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How would SOPA work? And lots of other questions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">What You Need to Know About SOPA in 2012 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dan Rowinski, ReadWriteWeb, December 23, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Internet is in an uproar over the Stop Online Piracy Act. The battles lines are drawn. Big Media (the record labels, movie studios and TV networks) support the bill while Big Tech (search engines, open source platforms, social networks) opposes it. The bill, introduced to Congress by Representative Lamar Smith, is ostensibly supposed to give the Attorney General the ability to eliminate Internet piracy and to "protect U.S. customers and prevent U.S. support of infringing sites."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">There is a lot that may be wrong with SOPA, but putting the power to censor the Internet into the hands of the government is chief among citizens' concerns. The law would force Internet Service Providers and search engines to cut off access to infringing sites as well as give the government the ability to stop payment to those sites. How would SOPA work? What do you need to know about the bill heading into 2012? We take a deep dive into everything you need to know below.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">And find other information on SOPA on Electronic Frontier Foundation site.

Online/Digital Learning
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Digital Learning Day <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Digital Learning Day is a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children. On Digital Learning Day, we are asking everyone – no matter your comfort with technology - teachers, librarians, school leaders, afterschool programs, community groups, parents – to sign up and be counted in this effort.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Twenty-seven States Committed to Celebrate Digital Learning Day //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Alliance for Excellent Education, December 13, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Press Release: WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Alliance for Excellent Education announced that more than half of all states have signed up as partners in support of the first-ever national Digital Learning Day, which will take place on February 1, 2012. Digital Learning Day is a national awareness campaign designed to celebrate innovative teachers and highlight instructional practices that strengthen teaching and personalize learning for all students.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New online learning platform Gooru aims to make learning ‘social’ //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">eSchool News, December 22, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Gooru is a free platform for students and teachers to access standards-based online resources in organized “playlists” for learning. Created by a Google employee, it’s run by a nonprofit group called Ednovo. Students can access “ClassBooks”—collections of textbooks, videos, and assessments—on any topic, and they can interact with their peers and teachers while studying. Teachers can search for standards-aligned web resources organized into “ClassPlans,” which they can customize and share with the larger community. In short, educators can use the site to search and teach, while students can use it to search and study; the website’s tagline is “learning is social.” Here’s a good overview.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">According to Edudemic, <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Gooru Aims To Become The iTunes Of Standards-Based Learning

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Five Things Students Want Their Teachers to Know about Online Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">TL Advisor Blog, Tech&Learning // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">At the recent iNacol Virtual Schools Symposium I listened to high school students who have experience learning this way as well as teachers who have experience with these students, share some advice for making this type of learning even better. Here is their advice, as well as suggestions for tools that teachers can use to heed this advice.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Matt Richtel, New York Times, January 3, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Articles in this //NY Times// series, //Grading the Digital School//, are looking at the intersection of education, technology and business as schools embrace digital learning. Last year, the state legislature overwhelmingly passed a law that requires all high school students to take some online classes to graduate, and that the students and their teachers be given laptops or tablets. The idea was to establish Idaho’s schools as a high-tech vanguard. Many teachers in Idaho are resisting a statewide plan that dictates how computers should be used in classrooms.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New Year Brings New Military Classification for Online High School Graduates //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Susan Patrick Blog, iNACOL, January 1, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Happy New Year, iNACOL colleagues and friends! As online learning continues to grow for K-12 students across the globe in 2012, a new resolution was signed into law by the President that benefits high school graduates of full-time online learning programs in the U.S. In the past, seniors graduating from full-time online high schools have faced obstacles in their efforts to join the U.S. military. With the Department of Defense classifying an online high school graduate’s diplomas as “non-traditional,” the graduate is given a different recruitment rank, or tier, than a graduate of a traditional, brick and mortar high school, who would be classified as “Tier I” military recruit, compared to the “Tier II” title given to a graduate with an online learning diploma.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">What OER is your K-12 online/blended program using? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Amy Murin, Keeping Pace, January 6, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We are finding that many districts are planning for the use of open education resources (OER) to help build online and blended courses, and we are often asked for a list of open resources. We always note in these conversations that “open” doesn’t really mean “free”, because of the time that the district has to typically put into finding good sources, and the quality control that is required in many cases. Still, however, a list of OER is valuable, and so we’ve been asking colleagues what OER sources they are using, and have created this list.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online Classes Accelerate Math for Middle Schoolers, Research Finds //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dian Schaffhauser, The Journal, December 16, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Eighth-graders who take an online Algebra I course score higher on end-of-year algebra assessments than other students who take the standard instructor-led math program offered by their schools and are twice as likely to follow an advanced course sequence in high school as their peers. Those results came out of a multi-year study done in 68 mostly rural schools in Maine and Vermont and could influence decisions by more middle schools to begin offering Algebra I classes.

Continued Discussion on For-profit Virtual Learning
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Questionable company targets NC for virtual charter school //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sarah Ovaska, NC Policy Watch, December 16, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The nation’s largest for-profit virtual education company (K-12 Inc) quietly took steps this week to open up an online charter school in North Carolina that would subsist off of public funds and siphon off profits to Wall Street investors. The move comes as the company, K12, Inc., faces mounting questions in others states over the quality of education students receive from the company.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A representative of K12, Inc., a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LRN), attended a Cabarrus County school board meeting Monday to ask if the school system would partner with the company to open up a virtual public charter school that would draw from students statewide.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PLAYBACK: Profits Ahead of Quality in Online Charters? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sarah J., Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning, December 16, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Virtual schools face criticism on funding, quality and oversight; HASTAC’S Cathy Davidson offers advice to parents and students on how to make better decisions about what constitutes effective online learning; and much more, all in this week’s PLAYBACK…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Can We Really Learn Online? Response to NY Times on Wall Street's Digital Learning Enterprises //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Cathy Davidson, HASTAC, December 13, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">So this is the key question: is the motivation for online learning enriching an online experience more and more of us are having and finding new and inventive ways to learn? Or is the real motive enriching shareholders, even if it is at the expense of real learning?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Front-Page Assault on Virtual Learning Won’t Go Unnoticed //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jeanne Allen, The Center for Education Reform, December 2, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">And: Tough Times on virtual learning? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jim Stergios, Boston.com, December 26, 2011 //
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Other opinions: **

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here are a couple of articles in Virtual School Meanderings (December 1, 2011) that attempts to compare both sides of this issue. Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S. (National Education Policy Center NEPC) was cited in a previous Worthy of Note.

Students and Technology
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How U.S. College Students Use their Technology (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Wired Academic, December 21, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sometimes it helps to see the numbers behinds the trends to confirm popular assumptions. In this case, Onlinecolleges.net assembled an infographic to help digest technology usage— all from student perspectives.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Most of the numbers are obvious— 87 percent say their laptop is the most important piece of tech and 78 percent say wi-fi is crucial to academic success.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">But wait, it gets more interesting in items five [Most important sites] and six [Social Networking in Academic success]. Google beats Wikipedia, and Facebook beats academic-focused social networks. The crucial question is, “Why?” Could it be that Facebook was already built for college students by college students?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Students and Technology <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The 2011 //ECAR National Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology [Infographic]// <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Educause Center for Applied Research <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The mission of the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research is to foster better decision making by conducting and disseminating research and analysis about the role and implications of information technology in higher education. ECAR systematically addresses many of the challenges brought more sharply into focus by information technologies. Find the ECAR report here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Students Love Technology (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Arti Madan, Enhance Education // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">If there was any doubt whether the students are tech-savvy or not – This infographic created by Education Database Online should put your doubts to rest.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here are some of the findings from their infographic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">More than 1 in 4 students say that their laptop is the most important item in their backpack!
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Only 10% say that their textbooks are more important.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Whooping 38% say that they cant go more than 10 minutes without using their digital device.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Nearly 3/4th of all students who own tablets prefer them to textbooks.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Debating the ‘Flipped Classroom’ at Stanford //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Marc Parry, Wired Classroom, January 5, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Stanford University got lots of attention for inviting the public to participate in a series of free online computer-science classes. One thing that’s drawn less notice is how some of the technologies that help facilitate those mega-classes are changing the experience for Stanford students learning the same subjects. Now a Stanford student is provoking a debate on those innovations, with a blog post critiquing the rigor and format of the “flipped classroom” teaching method deployed in his machine-learning course.

Social Media
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Is Microsoft's So.cl the Start of Something Bigger? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ian Quillen, Education Week, Digital Education, December 19, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Designers of a new social-networking pilot that combines many Facebook and Twitter features with the capabilities of a Web search engine have told MIT's Technology Review that the project's design is based on how students use social networks and search engines for class research.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In other words, the creators of Microsoft's So.cl, which is being tested on students at the University of Washington in Seattle, Syracuse University, and New York University, have no aim to take over the social networking world in the next 10 years, as Facebook has done over the last eight.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Lili Cheng, the Microsoft researcher leading the project's development, tells //Technology Review// So.cl isn't necessarily oriented to formal education and admits she can't predict how the platform will develop. Check out the Review's sneak peek into So.cl for more about the project.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Microsoft Working on Social Network for Students //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Dave Copeland, ReadWriteWeb, December 28, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Microsoft is testing a targeted social network called So.cl (pronounced "social") on three college campuses. So.cl is currently only available to students interested in social media at the University of Washington, Syracuse University, and New York University. The network is built off of Bing's API and, as described by Microsoft, works as "a research experiment for students focused on combining web browsing, search, and social networking for the purposes of learning."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Facebook’s Effect on Student Grades – New Study (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Anson Alexander.com, December 7, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As Facebook becomes more and more widespread the debate on whether it is beneficial or harmful to students’ grades – specifically those of college students – rages on.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Infographic Highlights:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">92% of students surveyed use Facebook.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The average student visits Facebook 6 times each day.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The average student spends 106 minutes (1 hour and 46 minutes) using Facebook daily.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Facebook use //does// contribute to lower GPAs but not significantly.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Students that post links and check up on friends receive higher marks than students who tend to only post status updates.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Facebook-Style Learning Site Gets $15 Million //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Shayndi Raice, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Wall Street Journal, Online Learning Digest December 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Edmodo, a social network for teachers and students, is getting a boost from some social media royalty: LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and former Facebook vice president Matt Cohler. Their venture-capital firms are leading a $15 million round of funding for the startup, and the two men are joining Edmodo’s board of directors. Edmodo has a basic resemblance to Facebook, with a profile picture in the left hand corner and a running stream of centralized posts. But it functions more like a virtual classroom, letting teachers set up groups to communicate with students, post homework assignments and even grades. Students can comment on assignments and turn in their homework through the network. Teachers can also connect with other teachers and discuss classroom techniques.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Broadband, Social Networks, and Mobility Have Spawned a New Kind of Learner //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">John K. Waters, THE Journal, December 13, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Students are different today because of technology. Every educator knows this, of course, but this change is about much more than agile thumbs, shriveling attention spans, and OMG'd vocabularies. According the Pew Research Center, the combination of widespread access to broadband Internet connectivity, the popularity of social networking, and the near ubiquity of mobile computing is producing a fundamentally new kind of learner, one that is self-directed, better equipped to capture information, more reliant on feedback from peers, more inclined to collaborate, and more oriented toward being their own "nodes of production."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">"These three elements together have changed the context of learning," says Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. "Today, knowledge is literally at your fingertips." Rainie spoke to attendees at the 2011 State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) Leadership Summit in Washington, DC.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Infographic: How Has the Internet Changed Education? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sarah Cargill, Getting Smart, December 23, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">At Getting Smart, we discuss often how the Internet, personal digital learning, social media and other technology tools are changing the face of education. Today, students have access to an abundance of information, knowledge and resources over the Web. Today’s infographic, “How has the Internet Changed Education?” explores this. Faculty and students in higher education are using social media, online videos, blogs and more to instruct students in classes. More and more students are gaining exposure to online courses. Most people are turning to a quick Google search over a trip to the library for research. The Internet is increasing the reach and opportunity of learning more than ever before.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Excerpted from Web 2.0 How-To for Educators <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Authors Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum provide in-depth information on a variety of Web 2.0 tools, including blogging, vodcasts, social networks, and wikis

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Cabarrus County Schools launches social media accounts //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jessica Groover, Concord Independent Tribune, December 26, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">CABARRUS COUNTY, NC — Cabarrus County Schools has officially entered the world of social media, the school system said.On Dec. 12, the system launched accounts on the social media websites Facebook and Twitter.

Resources (Technology and Instruction)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Florida Virtual Curriculum Marketplace (Florida VCM) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">An open repository of free and fee-based digital content that is searchable, educationally relevant and aligned to Sunshine State Standards. Florida VCM accounts are free for all Florida educators.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In Search of Free Books //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Rachael Walker, Reading Rockets // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Eight sources are listed here including First Book, Heart of America Foundation, Library of Congress Surplus Books Program, et al.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in helping struggling readers build fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills.

What About NCLB?
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">ICYMI: We Need to Fix No Child Left Behind //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education and the Workforce Committee, Washington, DC, January 6, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ten years ago, "No Child Left Behind" became the law of the land. Read the latest report of this committee.

Common Core Standards
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Common Core backlash? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">John Watson, Keeping Pace, December 29, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Advocates of an increase in online and blended learning often point to the Common Core State Standards initiative as a very positive step that will allow providers to more easily work across the country. Common Core reduces costs of customizing content to each state or having to demonstrate alignment with individual state standards. We have been supportive of the Common Core for these and other reasons. The Common Core concept also just makes sense: is Algebra the same in Alaska than it is in Alabama? If you believe the answer is yes, it’s hard to explain why students in each state should have a different set of standards.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">netTrekker Search Adds Common Core Standards //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tim Sohn, THE Journal, December 16, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">netTrekker, a provider of digital media for grades K-12, has added resources that are aligned with Common Core State Standards for English and math to its search product.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">netTrekker Search is a tool designed to allow educators to find Web-based netTrekker media quickly. K-12 teachers can search for content by language, multimedia type, format, subject, grade level, specific standards, and teacher or student recommendations.

Other Interesting Items
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Five Calls to Make When Developing a Mobile Learning Strategy //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">eLearning.com // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">With smartphones becoming commonplace and new devices such as tablets skyrocketing in popularity, the interest in mobile learning has begun to heat up as well. Many organizations see the promise of mobile learning, but actual implementations are still rare. Multiple platforms, shifting standards, and concerns about mobile devices’ speed and security have kept many organizations from jumping into the mobile game. Is now the time to take the plunge into mobile learning, or should you wait for a more stable mobile landscape to emerge? Tim Hildreth, director of Product Marketing at SkillSoft, outlines some basic issues organizations should consider before making this important decision. Learn more at www.skillsoft.com.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New Hampshire Lawmakers Pass Law Allowing Parental Objections To Curriculum //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">John Celock, Huffington Post, January 4, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Tea Party dominated New Hampshire Legislature on Wednesday overrode the governor's veto to enact a new law allowing parents to object to any part of the school curriculum.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The state House voted 255-112 and Senate 17-5 to enact H.B. 542, which will allow parents to request an alternative school curriculum for any subject to which they register an objection. Gov. John Lynch (D) vetoed the measure in July, saying the bill would harm education quality and give parents control over lesson plans.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">6 Reasons to Read 'Sakai: Free as in Freedom (Alpha)' //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed, January 3, 2012 //

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sakai: Free as in Freedom (Alpha) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Chuck Severance // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This comes at a particularly interesting time in evolution of the LMS ecosystem. Many schools are somewhere in the process of evaluating their campus LMS, looking to decide over the next year or so if they want to stay with Blackboard, migrate to Blackboard, go with an open source platform (Moodle or Sakai), jump to D2L, Canvas or OpenClass.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Are Teachers Overpaid? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Room for Debate, New York Times, January 2, 2012 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In the private sector, people with SAT and GRE scores comparable to those of education majors earn less than teachers do. Does that mean teachers are overpaid? Or that public schools should pay more to attract top applicants who tend to go into higher-paying professions? Read what six debaters have to say.

Webinars
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Two iNACOL Webinars in January.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Leadership Webinar, **Next Steps for Digital Learning Now: Roadmap and Legislation for State-level Online Learning Policy//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">January 11, 2 pm.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Teacher Talk, **Using Online Breakout Rooms for Higher Order Thinking Skills//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> January 19, 6 pm.