May+17,+2013

=Worthy of Note: May 17, 2013 =



In this issue ...
SREB News Digital Learning Online Public University Blending Learning Teacher Effectiveness Professional Development Competency Education SEDTA News Ed Tech Evolution LMS Rankings Privacy State Authorization Google Mobile Technology <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Wikispaces <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Common Core <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Just Interesting

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">SREB News **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Just a reminder: <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education Group Launches Video Tool for Teachers //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Victoria O'Dea, Ed Week, Digital Education // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Southern Regional Education Board has launched a new online tool designed to help teachers share strategies for improving teaching and learning through instructional videos.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The project, dubbed SREB ShortTakes, offers ten videos designed to show teachers the latest web 2.0 tools, and their application in the classroom. One video, for instance, offers a demonstration of teachers using Google+ Hangouts to try to increase student success.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5 Must-Have Elements for Every Online Class //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Corey Murray, EdTech, May 5, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online Teacher of the Year Renee Citlau offers advice for taking K–12 learning virtual.

__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">NOTY Finalist Named Google Explorer __ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Andrew Vanden Heuvel, one of our 2011 SREB/iNACOL National Online Teacher of the Year finalists, was recently named a Google Glass Explorer. Google sent him to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Here is his adventure: //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Over the past three weeks, I've had quite an amazing adventure, and I wanted to briefly share it with you. I applied for and was accepted to be a Google Glass Explorer. Because of my background in online learning and STEM education, Google offered me a truly exceptional opportunity to visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and share the experience with physics students back home using my new Glass device. They documented the experience in the video below. // <span style="color: #336699; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The video can be found here <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">. <span style="color: #336699; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Andrew's blog can be found here <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Digital Learning (including MOOCs) **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Massive (But Not Open) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ry Rivard, Inside Higher Ed, May 14, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Georgia Institute of Technology plans to offer a $7,000 online master’s degree to 10,000 new students over the next three years without hiring much more than a handful of new instructors.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Georgia Tech will work with AT&T and Udacity, the 15-month-old Silicon Valley-based company, to offer a new online master’s degree in computer science to students across the world at a sixth of the price of its current degree.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Also, read comments about this in The Chronicle.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">5 Must-Have Elements for Every Online Class //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Corey Murray, EdTech, May 5, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online Teacher of the Year Renee Citlau offers advice for taking K–12 learning virtual.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">NEA Policy Statement on Digital Learning <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In the fast-paced, worldwide, competitive workplace we now live in, our traditional school models are not capable of meeting the needs of the 21st century student. All students—pre-k through graduate students—need to develop advanced critical thinking and information literacy skills and master new digital tools. At the same time, they need to develop the initiative to become self-directed learners while adapting to the ever-changing digital information landscape. NEA embraces this new environment and these new technologies to better prepare our students for college and for 21st century careers.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Show Me the Money //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tech & Learning, April 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The new //Digital Learning Now! Whitepaper// by John Bailey, Carri Schneider, and Tom Vander Ark concludes that today’s school finance system was not created with the flexibility needed to support the wave of educational innovations exploding in schools. The authors make recommendations to create scalable financial systems that will be flexible enough to meet the needs of technology growth.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Read more at www.digitallearningnow.com/dln-smart-series

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Digital Learning Now! Releases White Paper on How Blended Learning Can Improve the Teaching Profession <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">WASHINGTON – In honor of National Teacher Day, [|Digital Learning Now!] (DLN), a national campaign under the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), today released the seventh DLN Smart Series interactive paper: “Improving Conditions & Careers: How Blended Learning Can Improve the Teaching Profession.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This paper, which serves to inform educators, leaders, educational stakeholders, policymakers and influencers, presents a vision of blended learning that offers better teaching conditions and enables better career opportunities. In addition to confronting misconceptions about blended learning, the authors advocate for thoughtful policies that will allow teachers to create personalized learning experiences and facilitate the deeper learning necessary to master higher standards.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A District Guide to Online Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tom Vander Ark, Getting Smart, May 4, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online learning can expand student (and staff) options, grow enrollment, and power blended learning. It shares many critical success factors with traditional education, but different enough that you need to do your homework and develop a good plan. Following is a 10-point district/network guide to online learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Virginia’s first statewide virtual school likely to close //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michael Alison Chandler, Washington Post, May 1, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The Carroll County School Board plans to end its partnership with the contractor that operates Virginia’s largest full-time statewide virtual school, effectively shutting down a program that serves more than 350 students.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The decision to close what was also the state’s first online school deals a blow to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s goal of expanding virtual education options. It also leaves hundreds of families, including many in Northern Virginia, in the lurch for the coming school year.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Quick and Dirty Research //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed, May 1, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SAN FRANCISCO – To keep up with the breakneck pace of developments in online education, higher education researchers must be nimble and sometimes make do with “dirty” and quickly gathered data. Otherwise weighty discussions about student learning might get lost in all the hype around massive open online courses and other digital innovations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">That was a takeaway Tuesday during a panel discussion here at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Participants in the session tried to define a meaningful research agenda around emerging forms of course delivery.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">3 School Districts Earn Top Honors for Technology Prowess //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tanya Roscorla, Center for Digital Education, April 15, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Three school districts received top honors for technology integration in the 2013 Digital School Districts Survey.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The ninth annual survey from the Center for Digital Education and the National School Boards Association ranked school districts by student population in three categories, with at least 10 districts in each category earning recognition for their work.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Colleges Adapt Online Courses to Ease Burden //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tamar Lewin, New York Times, April 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dazzled by the potential of free online college classes, educators are now turning to the gritty task of harnessing online materials to meet the toughest challenges in American higher education: giving more students access to college, and helping them graduate on time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">MOOCs have enrolled millions of students around the world, most who enroll never start a single assignment, and very few complete the courses. So to reach students who are not ready for college-level work, or struggling with introductory courses, universities are beginning to add extra supports to the online materials, in hopes of improving success rates.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here at San Jose State, for example, two pilot programs weave material from the online classes into the instructional mix and allow students to earn credit for them. Read more….

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">As MOOC Debate Simmers at San Jose State, American U. Calls a Halt //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Steve Kolowich, The Chronicle, May 9, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">In the latest salvo in a debate over MOOCs that has drawn national attention, the San Jose State University chapter of the California Faculty Association has thrown its weight behind recent criticisms of the university's partnerships with outside providers of massive open online courses—specifically, edX and Udacity.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Meantime, on the opposite side of the country, American University has announced a "moratorium on MOOCs."

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Partnership Gives Students Access to a High-Price Text on a MOOC Budget //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jake New, The Chronicle, May 8, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Later this month, Michael Schatz, a physics professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will begin teaching a massive open online physics course through Coursera. Because of the complexity of physics and because the course uses computer modeling, students taking the MOOC will need access to something that doesn't often come with a free online course: an expensive textbook.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">But that textbook, which is called //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Matter and Interactions // and is published by John Wiley & Sons, can cost more than $150. With many participants enrolling in MOOCs as a way to learn while saving money, how to bring high quality, mainstream textbooks into a service that is meant to be free, or at least inexpensive, remains a puzzle.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Coursera and Chegg, the online textbook-rental company, are hoping their new partnership could yield the answer. Read more….

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Check out the latest technology news in The Chronicle.

Online Public University
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Florida To Open First Online-Only Public University In U.S. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Bill Cotterell, HuffPost Miami, April 21, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">TALLAHASSEE, April 22 (Reuters) - Public university students in Florida next year will be able to start working toward college degrees without actually going to college, under a law Governor Rick Scott signed on Monday in front of educators and business lobbyists. The state-run University of Florida plans to start a series of online bachelor's degree programs next year, with $15 million start-up funds for 2014.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Blended Learning **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Blended Learning & The Teaching Profession (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Getting Smart, April20, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This infographic shows how blended learning is not about replacing teachers with technology, but rather empowering them with new opportunities. The infographic previews the next DLN Smart Series paper “//Improving Conditions & Careers: How Blended Learning Will Improve the Teaching Profession//” that will be released later this month.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Teacher Effectiveness **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards and Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), through its Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), is pleased to offer this set of combined resources that both define and support ongoing teacher effectiveness to ensure students reach college and career ready standards.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This document includes the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue, which were released in April 2011, and the new InTASC Learning Progressions for Teachers 1.0: A Resource for Ongoing Teacher Development (2013). Together they describe the new vision of teaching needed for today’s learners, how teaching practice that is aligned to the new vision develops over time, and what strategies teachers can employ to improve their practice both individually and collectively.

Professional Development (Coursera)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Coursera Announces Professional Development Courses to Facilitate Lifelong Learning for Teachers //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Editor’s Note: // Julia Stiglitz //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> is the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Business Development at Coursera. // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Seven leading schools of education have joined this initiative, including the College of Education, University of Washington; Curry School of Education, University of Virginia; Johns Hopkins University School of Education; Match Education’s Sposato Graduate School of Education; Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University; Relay Graduate School of Education; and University of California, Irvine Extension.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Additionally, we welcome a new network of educational institutions and museums, including the American Museum of Natural History; The Commonwealth Education Trust; Exploratorium; The Museum of Modern Art; and New Teacher Center.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">See a partial listing of courses in this article.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">New 'MOOC' Model for Online PD Offers Diverse Course Lineup //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sean Cavanagh, Education Week, May 7, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Coursera's co-founder, Andrew Ng, told //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Education Week // that the initial courses offered by the schools of education and other institutions are not meant to be taken for credit, but rather to serve as continuing education for teachers who have requirements to fulfill, or for educators and others who are otherwise interested in honing a skill.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">So what MOOCs are initially being offered to K-12 teachers and others through Coursera? It's an [|eclectic list] of 28 courses, in some cases delving into specific content, in others focused on strengthening educators' overall classroom skills.

Competency Education (Personalized Learning)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Competency Education Series: Policy Brief One; an Emerging Federal Role in Competency Education //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Knowledge Works, April 25, 20113 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Part one of the Competency based education series includes a working definition for competency education, examples of states doing the ground breaking work in this area and an appropriate role for the federal government to remove policy barriers and to create diagnostic and assessment tools to measure effectiveness. Included in this publication is a continuum to help innovators and policymakers differentiate between full-scale competency models and those that have begun to pave the way for this work.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Check out other resources from Competency Works here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">inBloom <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">inBloom Inc. is a nonprofit provider of technology services that allow states and public school districts to better integrate student data and third-party applications to support sustainable, cost-effective personalized learning. To learn more about inBloom’s vision for making personalized learning a reality, click here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Nine states and ten districts in those states have participated in the development and testing of the inBloom technology to ensure it meets the needs of states, districts, teachers, students and families. These states and districts are committed to adopting the technology and compatible applications state- and district-wide following pilot testing. For more information about the pilot states and districts, click here.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Of That <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education, Technology, Energy and Trust (blog)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">inBloom - For My Concerned Friends //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Brandt Redd, May 02, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In my post about the Common Core State Standards I wrote about how concerned pundits have lumped together five related but independent efforts. Today I'm writing about inBloom which I'll contrast Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems – two more of those five.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">InBloom is a service designed to help students achieve academic success through personalized learning. Those of us who helped develop the Shared Learning Collaborative (which was renamed inBloom in February) are convinced that personalizing the learning experience is the best way to improve student achievement. Whether personalization is being done by a teacher, an online learning system, or a synergistic combination of the two, it happens //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">when information about what the student needs to learn intersects with information about available learning materials. //

SEDTA News
//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Join the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) for a report release and briefing // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tuesday, May 21, 2013, from 10:00-11:30 am ET //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">National Press Club, Washington, DC 20045 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">SETDA developed this new report, "//Transforming Data to Information in Service of Learning//," to raise awareness about the major K-12 data standards and interoperability initiatives underway to address this gap and to offer recommendations for how K-12 education can become more responsive to educators and better targeted toward individual student success. The report will help education leaders understand the context for these interoperability initiatives and their relationship to teaching and learning. The widespread implementation of new and emerging interoperability initiatives will be instrumental to realizing the full potential of technology in education.

EdTech Evolution
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">10 ed-tech tools of the 70s, 80s, and 90s //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Meris Stansbury, eSchool News, May 10, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">To celebrate technologies of the past, the editors of //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">eSchool News // have compiled a list of the education technologies our teachers and we used back in the day–you know, before the internet even existed.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Can you think of an ed-tech tool not on the list? What was your favorite classroom tool when you were in school?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Infographic: Evolution of EdTech //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Caroline Vander Ark Davis, Getting Smart, April 30, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This is another interesting infographic that shows the path education technology has taken. Who knew when Oregon Trail was released in 1985 it would kick off an educational gaming trend? The mix of entertainment and education value has created edtech programs that continue to improve learning opportunities around the country.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">ImagineK12 Launches 10 More EdTech Startups //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Tom Vander Ark, Getting Smart, May 5, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Palo Alto edtech accelerator ImagineK12 held its third demo day on Thursday. The cohort of 10 startups made competent pitches. Some, like content sharing app Padlet, have good early traction. Accredible addresses the new opportunity of documenting informal learning. The rest of the new companies attack current K-12 classroom challenges.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Perceptions of Technology in the Classroom (Infographic) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">News Staff, Center for Digital Education, April 29, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Integrating technology in education is essential, and many districts do it well, as demonstrated by the Digital School Districts Survey.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">But not everyone sees the use of technology in the classroom in the same way. According to the following infographic from topmastersineducation.com, parents primarily see technology as positive, noting that it personalizes learning, increases student engagement and extends the learning day, to name just a few things.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Many teachers, on the other hand, think that search engines have conditioned students to expect to be able to find information quickly and easily, that the amount of information available online is overwhelming to students and that today's digital technologies discourage students from finding and using a wide range of sources for research.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">LMS Rankings **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Study Ranks Accessibility of Top Learning Management Systems //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Dian Schaffhauser, THE Journal, May 13, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The review examined four major LMSes: Blackboard Learn version 9.1 Service Pack 6 and 8, Desire2Learn version 10, Moodle version 2.3, and Sakai version 2.8. Each of these organizations runs an interest group to guide improvements in accessibility of their products. They were also part of previous evaluations done by the same group in 2010 and 2012.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The disabilities tested for encompassed visual, mobility, learning, and cognitive. Testing and evaluation categories covered functional accessibility in nine broad areas.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Privacy **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">PTAC (Privacy) <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The U.S. Department of Education established the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) as a “one-stop” resource for education stakeholders to learn about data privacy, confidentiality, and security practices related to student-level longitudinal data systems. PTAC provides timely information and updated guidance on privacy, confidentiality, and security practices through a variety of resources, including training materials and opportunities to receive direct assistance with privacy, security, and confidentiality of longitudinal data systems. Check out their latest publications. Read more.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">ED Kicks Off Information Management Week with a Data Privacy Panel //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Rodney Peterson, EDUCAUSE, May 7, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The U.S. Department of Education's Office of the Chief Privacy Officer kicked off Information Management Week (May 7-9, 2013) with a keynote panel discussion on "//Big Data, Small Data, Apps & Analytics: Can We Transform Education Without Sacrificing Privacy?//" CPO Kathleen Styles opened the event by commenting on the explosion of online data and communications and the shift from when data was only collected for decision-making purposes to an era when virtually everything related to our use of technology devices is collected - often without our knowledge and occasionally with no intial intended use in mind. She also described the impact of our mobile devices that are with us everywhere that we go, and most ot them include geolocation tools.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Richard Culatta, Acting Director of the Department's Office of Educational Technology, set the stage by describing the challenges that we face in education.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">State Authorization **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">SHEEO State Authorization Resources Updated //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Jarret Cummings, EDUCAUSE, May 10, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sharmila Mann, a senior policy analyst at the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) association, issued the following announcement this week on SHEEO's freshly updated state authorization resources, including its guide to the authorization regulations, processes, and contacts for various states. Note that she also discusses the process and timing for the next round of updates, which SHEEO plans to start in January 2014.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">States Look to Share Online Courses for College Students //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Matt Fleming // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">, EdWeek, Digital Education, April 26, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Representatives from 47 states met recently to discuss plans to establish an agreement that would streamline the process of universities offering distance learning across state lines, an idea that could have implications for K-12 virtual education.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement would be based on voluntary participation of states and higher education institutions. But it is expected to be widely adopted, given the broad participation in developing it, predicted the Commission on the Regulation of Postsecondary Distance Education, which led the effort to establish the multi-state agreements.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The commission, the idea of which was spearheaded by many people, including Paul Lingenfelter of the State Higher Education Executive Officers, Peter McPherson of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and former U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley, is aimed at finding a way to easily navigate the wide variety of state laws and regulations governing distance learning.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Google **
__<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">NOTY Finalist Named Google Explorer __ <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Andrew Vanden Heuvel, one of our 2011 SREB/iNACOL National Online Teacher of the Year finalists, was recently named a Google Glass Explorer. Google sent him to the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Here is his adventure: //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Over the past three weeks, I've had quite an amazing adventure, and I wanted to briefly share it with you. I applied for and was accepted to be a Google Glass Explorer. Because of my background in online learning and STEM education, Google offered me a truly exceptional opportunity to visit the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and share the experience with physics students back home using my new Glass device. They documented the experience in the video below. // <span style="color: #336699; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The video can be found here <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">. <span style="color: #336699; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Andrew's blog can be found here <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Google’s Aggregator Gives Way to an Heir //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">David Pogue, New York Times, May 8, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Well, if we didn’t get it before, we get it now: Google giveth, and Google taketh away.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">On July 1, it will take away Google Reader. To the dismay of millions, that service will go the way of Google Answers, Google Buzz, iGoogle and GOOG-411. Google hasn’t provided much in the way of a satisfying reason for this “spring cleaning,” saying only that “usage has declined.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This column is intended to help two kinds of people: Those who used Google Reader, and those who never even knew what it is.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The one everybody keeps saying is the natural heir to Google Reader, though, is Feedly.com. In fact, Feedly says the ranks of its four million users have swelled to seven million since Google’s Reader death sentence was announced. Read more…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Ready for a new Google Docs alternative? Meet open source OX Documents //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Katherine Noyes, PCWorld, March 20, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">As the free trial period for Microsoft Office 2013 draws to a close, it's a pretty safe bet that more users than ever are thinking long and hard about whether or not to buy or subscribe.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">There's no doubt competitors such as the open source LibreOffice and the browser-based Google Docs offer compelling alternatives, but soon there will be yet another contender to consider.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Unveiled on Wednesday by Open-Xchange, OX Documents will be a productivity suite that's both open source and browser-based, thus combining a bit of each of those leading alternatives.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Mobile Technology **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Smartphones a Standard for Majority of Students by High School, Survey Finds //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Sean Cavanagh, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> EdWeek, Digital Education, May 2, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">A new nationwide survey reveals the extent to which mobile devices have become an inextricable part of students' and families' lives—while also indicating that parents see potential benefits, and drawbacks, to those technology tools.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">By the time they enter high school, 51 percent of all students are carrying a smartphone to school with them every day, the survey of parents shows. Nearly a quarter of all students in K-12, overall, are doing so, while 8 percent of students in grades 3-5 are bringing a smartphone to school.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Infographic: Tapping into Mobile Technology //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Caroline Vander Ark David, Getting Smart, May 2, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This infographic highlights findings from the mobile learning report, Living & Learning with Mobile Devices<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">, released today from Grunwald Associates LLC and the Learning First Alliance. According to the report more than 50 percent of parents believe that schools should make more use of mobile devices in education. It’s apparent that parents want mobile technology used for learning.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Wikispaces **
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Wikispaces Classroom <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We're pleased to announce Wikispaces Classroom, a brand new product designed exclusively for teachers and students. Over the years, we've distilled what we do and why we do it down to the one simple thing: help teachers help students. Wikispaces Classroom takes this to a new level by focusing on simplicity, engagement, and student outcomes. Read more about our exciting new product for educators.

Common Core
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Common Core on Campus //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Libby Nelson, Inside Higher Ed, May 3, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">For traditional college freshmen, the gap between high school and college is easy to step across -- a few months, at the most, between graduating from one institution and enrolling at another. For those institutions, though, the distance between K-12 and higher education is often more like an unbridgeable chasm.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">5 Major Benefits of Media Literacy and its Relationship to the Common Core State Standards //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Don Goble, EdReach, March 27, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">It has become apparent to educators around the world, that the 21st Century learning model must be different that the 20th century. In fact, 46 states around the country are making plans to implement a new initiative called the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The CCSS standards “are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Media literacy is a term that has been around a long time, but some people may not understand the concept, or even know the definition. Media literacy encompasses skills and abilities that enable us to analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of media. Most prominently now for me and our students, digital media. There is a tremendous St. Louis organization for which I belong, the Gateway Media Literacy Partners (GMLP), who are devoted to educating our community, and to advocating for this necessary life skill.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">There are 5 key questions to answer or discuss “at the core of inquiry-based media literacy pedagogy:” //(// Center for Media Literacy //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">), //

Just Interesting
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Education in a Defined Benefits World //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Getting Smart, May 1, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“Education is the number one issue where ever you go,” said Tom Friedman to Ted Mitchell in the #NSVFSummit opening.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">“We left a ‘defined benefits’ world where workers retired with a pension, and we’ve moved into a ‘defined contributions’ world,” said Friedman, “where it’s your responsibility to open an account, make the money, and develop the competencies you need to learn and thrive.” (See Freidman’s NYT column.)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Author of That Used To Be Us, Friedman thinks “education is the top national security risk.” And he thinks, “The most dangerous thing a country or species can do is misread their environment.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">History of the Web //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">World Wide Web Foundation // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989, about 20 years after the first connection was established over what is today known as the Internet. At the time, Tim was a software engineer at CERN, the large particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. Many scientists participated in experiments at CERN for extended periods of time, then returned to their laboratories around the world. These scientists were eager to exchange data and results, but had difficulties doing so. Tim understood this need, and understood the unrealized potential of millions of computers connected together through the Internet. Read more.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Spreading Community and Love of Books 'Little Free Libraries' Sprout Worldwide //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, April 30, 2013 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In an era of smart-phone-reading, electronic tablets, and 'books on ipod' a new wave in old fashioned books is sweeping the nation.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Little Free Library <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> is a movement started by Wisconsin native Todd Bol, who in 2009 built a small one-room house, filled it with books and affixed a sign which reads: "Take a book, Return a book."