November+14,+2011



=Worthy of Note: November 14, 2011=

Lots of things happened related to virtual learning/blended learning in the last few weeks. The iNACOL VSS Conference concluded last Friday and two publications were presented there and updated standards for online courses and online teachers were also presented. Just prior to VSS, the National Education Policy Center published a report that raised questions about virtual schools. And at the same time, //The Chronicle of Higher Education// published a comprehensive look at the effectiveness of virtual classrooms. All this, plus other items are presented in this current WON.

Webinars
Blended Learning Strategies for K-12 Leaders //Education Week, Sponsor Webinar // //Nov. 17, 2:00 p.m. Eastern //

STEM and 21st Century Instruction: Affordable, Effective Solutions //Sponsored by Connections Learning, December 14. //

Speak Up Survey (Open until December 13)
Have You Spoken Up? //Katie Ash, (blog) Education Week, Digital Education, October 25, 2011 // The Speak Up survey gathers data from hundreds of thousands of K-12 students, parents, teachers, librarians, and administrators about the role of technology in schools. The survey, conducted by the nonprofit organization Project Tomorrow, adds questions each year to better refine the data received. For instance, this year, the survey asks students if they think they better comprehend information through electronic or print text.

SREB Archives Webinar Featuring Julie Evans (Speak Up) //Posted October 31, 2011 // Thanks to those of you who joined us for Julie Evans’ webinar on Speak Up – we heard some great information about the results from the 2010 survey and some useful ways that states, districts, and individual schools can use their data. If you did not get a chance to listen to the webinar, here is the link:

Blended Learning, Online Learning, Virtual Learning **— ** Options and Obstacles
__**K-12 **__

iNACOL’s Virtual School Symposium (VSS) was held last week in Indianapolis, IN. Two important reports were presented at the symposium: Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, and Online and Blended Learning: A Survey of Policy and Practice from K-12 Schools Around the World. Updated versions of National Standards for Quality Online Teaching, and National Standards for Quality Online Courses were offered there, too.

Read comments about all these publications below.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">National Standards for Quality Online Teaching, (Version 2) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">iNACOL, October 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The original initiative in Version 1 of the standards began with a thorough literature review of the existing online teaching quality standards, then conducted a cross-reference of standards, followed by a survey completed by representatives of the iNACOL network to ensure the efficacy of the standards adopted. As a result of the research review, iNACOL chose to fully endorse the work of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Standards for Quality Online Teaching and Online Teaching Evaluation for State Virtual Schools as a comprehensive set of criteria. The standards as identified by SREB were already in use by sixteen SREB states; they proved to be the most comprehensive among those reviewed and included guidelines set forth in the other criteria from the literature review.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Over the past three years, iNACOL has received feedback from organizations using these standards for the development of professional development and evaluation of online teachers. In this new version of the standards, the indicators have been divided between what the online teachers should know and understand and what the online teachers should be able to do for evaluation purposes.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">National Standards for Quality Online Courses (Version 2) //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">iNACOL, October 2011 // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Originally published in 2007 by the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The original initiative in version one of the standards began with a thorough literature review of existing online course quality standards, followed by a survey offered to representatives of the iNACOL network to ensure the efficacy of the standards adopted. As a result of the research review, iNACOL had chosen to fully endorse the work of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Quality Online Course Standards as a comprehensive set of criteria.* The standards as identified by SREB, already in use by sixteen SREB states, proved to be the most comprehensive and included guidelines set forth in the other criteria from the literature review. A full cross-reference of standards is available, including the iNACOL-endorsed NEA Guide to Teaching Online Courses, which included the key fundamental criteria. We were and are still grateful for SREB’s work and for their permission to distribute these standards on a national scale.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Over the past three years, iNACOL has received feedback that several organizations are using these standards in the development and review of online courses. In this new version of the standards reviewer considerations have been added for each indicator. Additionally, a rubric has been included to assist in the review of online courses based on this new version. iNACOL would like to thank the Texas Education Agency’s Texas Virtual School Network (TxVSN) for developing and sharing this rubric.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Blended Learning on the Rise, Report Says //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Katie Ash, (blog) Education Week, Digital Education, November 9, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The eighth annual Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning, released today at the Virtual School Symposium in Indianapolis, finds that single-district online programs—many of which include blended learning—are the fastest-growing segment of online education this year. (A district creates Single-district online programs for the students in that district only.)

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Virtual Education Sees Shift to Accountability //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ian Quillen, (blog) Digital Education, Education Week, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">November 11, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Virtual schooling is in the era of a fundamental shift in its development that should be embraced, not feared, said authors and sponsors of the 2011 version of the Keeping Pace annual report on virtual schooling here at the Virtual School Symposium in Indianapolis last Thursday. John Watson, founder of the Evergreen Group, said increasing accountability in virtual schools is essential to determine whether the virtual movement is serving its purpose.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Evergreen Education Group, November 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The come-to-depend-on report on enrollment stats, trends and analysis of K-12 online and blended learning is available full-text for download now. Produced by the Evergreen Education Group, The information found in //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Keeping Pace // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">2011 // came from two primary data-gathering efforts: a web-based program survey, and a combination of Internet research, emails, and phone interviews with personnel from state education agencies, online programs, and other sources.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Here’s a quick take on Top Trends in Online and Blended Learning in //Keeping Pace 2011.//

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online and Blended Learning: A Survey of Policy and Practice from K-12 Schools Around the World //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">, // //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">iNACOL, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">November 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">According to a study released at the VSS conference, //Online and Blended Learning: A Survey of Policy and Practice of K-12 Schools Around the World//, 60 per cent of the 60-plus countries involved in the study reported using government funding for blended or full-time virtual learning at the primary and secondary levels.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Study Raises Questions about Virtual Schools //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post, <span class="timestamp" style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">October 25, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A second report released last month by University of Colorado, National Education Policy Center researchers (Kevin G. Welner and Gene V. Glass) found that full-time virtual schools are largely unregulated, raising quality and oversight issues. The spread of virtual learning also comes without research on its impact on children, both young and old. Critics also warn that such schools rob students of vital socialization experiences, the Wash//ington Post// reported.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As an increasing number of cash-strapped states turn to virtual schools — where computers replace classmates and students learn via the Internet — this study, <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> is raising questions about their quality and oversight.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Over just the past decade, online learning at the K-12 level has grown from a novelty to a movement. Often using the authority and mechanism of state charters, and in league with home schoolers and other allies, private companies and some state entities are now providing full-time online schooling to a rapidly increasing number of students in the U.S. Yet little or no research is available on the outcomes of such full-time virtual schooling. The rapid growth of virtual schooling raises several immediate, critical questions for legislators regarding matters such as cost, funding, and quality. This policy brief offers recommendations in these and other areas, and the accompanying legal brief offers legislative language to implement the recommendations.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Effort to Review Online Schools in Colorado Fails //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education Week, Digital Directions, AP Report, November 9, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A proposal to review online schools in Colorado failed Tuesday before a divided legislative committee that argued about the politics behind the requested investigation.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">States, Districts Move to Require Virtual Classes //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michelle R. Davis, Education, October 17, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A look at how several states, Tennessee, Michigan, Idaho, Florida et al. are adopting an online-learning graduation requirement for high school students.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Idaho works to carry out online class requirement //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">eSchool News, Staff, November 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Now that Idaho has approved a requirement that high school students take at least two credits online, officials are working on plans for a statewide contract expected to include a list of providers for districts to choose from when selecting virtual classes. Idaho also will phase in mobile computers, such as a laptops or iPads, for every high school teacher and student while making online education courses a graduation requirement under sweeping new education changes backed by public schools chief Tom Luna and the governor.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Next Gen. Wave III: Be Better and Be Different //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ian Quillen, Education Week, Digital Education, November 11, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Want to win one of the up to $450,000 K-12 grants under the [|third wave] of the //Next Generation Learning Challenges// grant program?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">That's easy. Just create an idea for a blended education program that merges the best aspects of face-to-face and online instruction to create more personalization for students. Oh, and that idea has to be completely new, unique, and scalable.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">When Blended Learning Puts Students in Charge //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Alex Hernandex, Innosight Institute, November 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In the Rise of K12 Blended Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">, //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> we theorized blended learning could lead to more personalized, student-driven schools. It turns out this is really hard to do. First, the Face-to-Face and Rotation models are primarily teacher-driven environments and it’s no accident that this is where the vast majority of operators feel comfortable entering the blended waters. Second, for those who do take on more student-driven models like the Flex model, shifting instructional practices can range from painful to agonizing for educators. For example, how do you lesson plan for a classroom that offers both direct instruction and self-paced, online learning? What are teachers supposed to do with real-time data? Third, raise your hand if you think it’s a good idea to give teenagers more responsibility over their education and actually follow through on it. I see a couple hands in the back… Oh wait, those are students….

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">White Papers; Insights from Edweek.org’s Special Advertisers <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education Week <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">(One example of the several papers) Measuring the Value of Online Learning <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Author: Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sponsor: Blackboard <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Posted: August 11, 2011 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">This in-depth report, written by Julie Evans, CEO of Project Tomorrow aims to provide education leaders with a new way of looking for the new double bottom line: a strong return on investment combined with a high value to the core mission of your district. As part of the report, several districts reveal how they analyze and justify technology investments. There is also a worksheet tool that walks readers through the process of how they can clearly analyze the value and financial savings of current or future technology investments.

__**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Higher Ed **__

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Online Learning 2011 //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Chronicle, November 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Following are sample articles in //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Chronicle //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">'s //Online Learning 2011// //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Browse the full report or purchase a copy here. There are several more equally stimulating articles.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Let's Deregulate Online Learning //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Burck Smith, The Chronicle, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">November 6, 2011 //

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How Technology Can Improve Online Learning — and Learning in General //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Robert W. Mendenhall, The Chronicle, November 6, 2011 //

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Check out <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">6 Online Learning Trends

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">6 Easy Steps to Online Success //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Richard Rose, Campus Technology, October 24, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Against his better instincts, an educator at West Texas A&M University shares his school's recipe for developing a successful online learning program.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Online-College Crap Shoot //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Laura Pappano, New York Times, November 4, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Russell Poulin, deputy director of research and analysis at the WCET-WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, played secret shopper looking for an online M.B.A. program focusing on nonprofits. Quote per Russell: “Online programs are shedding “adult learning” labels and coming of age. Enrollment in online education grew 21 percent last year compared with 2 percent in higher education over all, according to the 2010 Sloan Survey, which reports that more than 5.6 million, or nearly one-third of all students, now take at least one course online. Despite that, there are scant criteria with which to compare programs in search of that “good fit.” A Google searcher invariably ends up at lead-generating sites that claim to “match” students to the “right” college

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Flippin' Heck -- Is the Whole of Education Doing Things Backwards? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Donald Clark Plan B (Blog) November 1, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">The TES has just published an article on ’flipped learning’ with views from Salman Khan, others and myself. My first point was that flipped learning is not new. The Open University has been doing it for over 40 years. “They let you learn in your time through the materials they provide and the tutors are there to help and close the knowledge gaps”. However, “we have only just started to explore this. It is literally thinking outside the box, the box in this case being the classroom” or lecture hall”. Additionally I stated that, “we should be taking technology out of classrooms so they can be used for their intended purpose – learning”. Why? The classroom is a cramped box crammed full of alternatives targets for attention.

Data-Driven Decision Making
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Hamilton County Department of Education; Deeper Student Insights Leave a Deeper Insight <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Part of The Smarter Planet Leadership Series (IBM) this is a look at how education and analytics make ideal partners for better success. Specifically it is how this Chattanooga, TN school system increased the county’s graduation rate by 8% last year. View the interactive experience.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">If you are interested in obtaining the case study related to this topic, it requires a free registration at //eSchool News//.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Following are some other references to predictive data techniques.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Schools Find Uses for Predictive Data Techniques //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week, June 30, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The use of analytic tools to predict student performance is exploding in higher education, and experts say the tools show even more promise for K-12 schools, in everything from teacher placement to dropout prevention.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Press Release: Jefferson Parish Purchases 750 Tablets for Data-Driven Instruction //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">eSchool News, November 7, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jefferson Parish, Louisiana – November 4th, 2011 – Jefferson Parish Public Schools is deploying 750 of Brainchild’s Kineo® tablets to 20 non-public schools. The tablets will be used for assessment and data-driven instruction on Louisiana’s LEAP standards, with Brainchild’s LEAP Achiever! series. Students use the tablets for individualized instruction. Their progress can be uploaded to web-based reports to help teachers and administrators adjust individual and group instruction

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Education Week Spotlight on Data-Driven Decision Making //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Education Week, Published Online: June 30, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This is a collection of articles hand-picked by Ed Week editors on the topic.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Predictive Analytics in Education - Predicting University Drop Outs //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Tom Fuyala (blog), Auckland, New Zealand, November 7, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">How sitting in the airport talking to an educator was an inspiration.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">WCET Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework Project Delivers Millions of Course Records for Review and Analysis //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PRWeb, October 27, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">WCET, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, announces the successful federation of datasets from the six institutions participating in the PAR (Predictive Analytics Reporting) Framework proof of concept project just four months after the project’s early June launch. The goal of the PAR Framework is to identify variables that influence student retention and progression and to determine the impact of various demographic data on factors influencing loss and momentum. The data will be used to explore patterns that emerge when the datasets from considerably different institutions are analyzed as a single, unified sample.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">House Hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act Scheduled //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Grant Gross, IDG News, November 11, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will conduct a hearing on the controversial copyright enforcement bill, the Stop Online Piracy Act, on Wednesday, the committee has announced. Introduced last month, the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, would allow U.S. law enforcement officials to seek court orders to stop domain-name registrars, online ad networks, search engines and payment processors from doing business with websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. The bill would allow copyright holders to seek court orders to block the allegedly infringing sites if their efforts to get online advertising networks and payment processors to stop doing business with the sites fail.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read other comments and opinions at CNET and San Francisco Chronicle.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">According to comments, this act to stop online piracy would stop online innovation. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is the counterpart to the Senate's pending PROTECT IP Act, which already had rights groups, academics and many online businesses up in arms. But the House bill goes much further.

VOIP
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Hosted VoIP: A Better Call? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Cara Erenben, eSchool News, November 7, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">As they upgrade their telecommunications systems, more schools are considering a move to cloud-based VoIP services.

Net Neutrality
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Case for Net Neutrality //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">William Baskin, ’13, News Staff Report, Choate-Rosemary Hall, November 11, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">William Baskin is a high school junior. This is an excellent defense for Net Neutrality. “Without it, there is no such thing as Internet. There is only a closed-net.”

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">President Obama Threatens to Veto Law to Repeal Net Neutrality //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ben Parr, Mashable, November 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on S.J. Resolution 6 [PDF], “Disapproval of Federal Communications Commission Rule Regulating the Internet and Broadband Industry Practices”, sometime on Thursday. The resolution, if it were to pass both houses, would begin a process that could overturn the decision of the FCC. The U.S. House of Representatives rejected the FCC’s net neutrality rules back in April. The White House has threatened to veto the Republican-sponsored legislation.

Information Literacy
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Myth of the Tech-Savvy Student //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ron Tanner, The Chronicle, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">November 6, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">When I began teaching a course called "Writing for the Web," three years ago, I pictured myself scrambling to keep up with my plugged-in, tech-savvy students. I was sure I was in over my head. So I was stunned to discover that most of the 20-year-olds I meet know very little about the Internet, and even less about how to communicate effectively online.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Will the Real Digital Native Please Stand Up? //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">John K. Waters, Campus Technology, October 01, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A decade after the term 'digital native' was first popularized, educators examine what the term means today--if anything.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Wikipedia Tops List of Plagiarized Sources //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">David Nagel, Campus Technology, November 03, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Where are students finding the materials they plagiarize in their papers? According to a new study, Plagiarism and the Web: A Comparison of Internet Sources for Secondary and Higher Education Students, WIkipedia tops the list for both secondary and college students. But as a category, encyclopedia sites are among the least popular sources, coming in behind four other types of information outlets, including both academic sites and paper mills. The study, Plagiarism and the Web: A Comparison of Internet Sources for Secondary and Higher Education Students, analyzed more than 33.5 million papers--about 9 million from secondary students and 24 million for post-secondary students--submitted to the Turnitin service from iParadigms over a one-year period (June 2010 to June 2011). In those papers, iParadigms' researchers found 128 million "content matches" from a wide variety of Web sources.

Sharing Books with Children with Special Needs
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Digital Book-Sharing Unlocks Print for Students //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Nirvi Shah, Education Week, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;"> November 2, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Because of their disabilities, Kyle Nordheimer and Maurice Van Lowe struggle with traditional printed text. But, using Bookshare, a nonprofit that provides free electronic copies of books to students with certain disabilities, both boys watched computer screens scroll through the text of //The Chocolate Touch//, listening to it at the same time.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Its services are an example of how e-book technology, taking off with consumers, has powerful potential for students who previously relied on more cumbersome and more difficult-to-obtain alternatives to the traditional book.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Every book downloaded has its own digital fingerprint to ensure it is used for just one student. Even if a teacher has a half-dozen students in a class who qualify, each of their books must be acquired separately for each student. Read more…

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We Give Books; A Pearson Foundation Initiative //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Pearson Foundation // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Read a Book. Give a Book. We Give Books is a new digital initiative that enables anyone with access to the Internet to put books in the hands of children who don't have them, simply by reading online.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation created us Give Books. Together, we support literacy through programs that engage entire communities through literacy and awareness programs like Booktime and Jumpstart's Read for the Record. We hope that We Give Books proves to be a way that young children, together with their parents or caregivers, can come to understand the power of reading—and of giving—as much as we do.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">If you would be interested in obtaining brochures for promotion of this project, please let me (june.weis55@gmail.com) know. **

Just Other Interesting Topics
<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Unleashing Locally Driven Innovation //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ken Kay, Education Week, November 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Last summer, as I was winding down eight years as president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, I went around the country and met with 30 district superintendents. I asked each one a simple question: What could I do to help support their efforts to lead 21st-century districts?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">We came up with the idea of creating a professional learning community of superintendents and district leaders committed to 21st-century education and the concept of the 4C's: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. A few of us thought the idea of creating a community of practice to support the transformation initiatives of local district superintendents was a great one, so in January of this year we launched EdLeader21, a national think tank for superintendents.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Rough Path Seen for Senate's ESEA Bill //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Alyson Klein, Education Week, November 11, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The prospects for a bipartisan, comprehensive rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act moving through Congress this session remain cloudy, even after a hearing on a bill that was intended to serve as a prerequisite for sending it to the floor of the U.S. Senate.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Scaling Up a Video Game-Learning Link //<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Michael H. Levine & Alan Gershenfeld, Education Week, November 8, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">At an event at the White House in September, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the establishment of the Digital Promise, a nonprofit initiative created to promote digital technologies with the potential to transform teaching and learning. Experts on digital media and learning cheered this latest signal that robust experimentation with technology based on rigorous research and development would take a more prominent place in the national education reform debate.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">In tandem with the Digital Promise rollout, our organizations—the Joan Ganz Cooney Center and E-Line Media—announced the second year of the National STEM Video Game Challenge. This video-game-design competition is intended to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, learning among America's young people by tapping into students' natural passion for playing and making video games.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">13 Tech Tools for a Paper-Free Life //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Art Meisel, Mashable, November 11,2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Ari Meisel is co-founder at Less Doing, where he works on making every task in life and business more efficient//.// The services, apps and gadgets here aim to completely eliminate the need for paper in your life.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A National Digital Public Library Begins to Take Shape //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Jennifer Howard, The Chronicle, October 25, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Digital Public Library of America doesn't exist yet, but it's closer to becoming a reality. At an energized meeting held here at the National Archives on Friday, representatives from top cultural institutions and public and research libraries expressed robust support for the proposed library, which would create a portal to allow the public to get easy online access to collections held at many different institutions.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Computer Games and Learning Handbook //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">FutureLab // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Aimed at teachers and those interested in using games with an educational intent, this handbook aims to provide some useful anchoring points for educators to make sense of the area and to develop practical approaches to the use of computer games as a medium for learning. Download free.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">State of Washington Opens Online Library of 42 Open Courses //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Marc Parry, The Chronicle, October 31, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Washington State reached a milestone today in its ambitious project to eliminate expensive textbooks by putting together affordable resources for its most popular community-college classes and sharing those materials online. Source: Chronicle

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Pics Like That <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">PicsLikeThat is a cooperative project among fotolia, HTW Berlin and pixolution. <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Check out this unique site when you are searching for images. A little difficult to maneuver, but try it.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Blooms’ Digital Technology <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Just fun!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">This Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching Digital Library <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The Scientific Teaching Digital Library is a compendium of innovative instructional materials that have been designed to engage students in the rigor and spirit of scientific research. These "teachable units” include all the information needed to teach a science concept in the classroom, such as handouts and evaluation tools, they also engage students in the learning process, make instruction goals transparent, and focus on student learning. Each unit has been professionally developed, rigorously reviewed, and tested in the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">The goal of the Wisconsin Program for Scientific Teaching is to enhance undergraduate biology education by training a new generation of "scientific teachers," namely faculty and instructors who bring the rigor and spirit of science research to teaching.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Study: Teachers Make Too Much Money //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Francesca Duffy, Education Week, ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">November 2, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">At an education forum in Washington this week, the authors of a new study on teacher compensation discussed their surprising conclusion that, counter to popular belief, public school teachers are overpaid. Speaking before a wound-up audience at an event hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, the conservative-leaning think tank that published the study, the researchers said that when wages, benefits, and job security are accounted for, public school teachers are compensated 52 percent more than their skills would garner in the private sector.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">School Libraries: What's Now, What's Next, What's Yet to Come //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Edited by ////<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Kristin Fontichiaro, and Buffy Hamilton, Smashwords, October 15, 2011 // <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">A crowd sourced collection of over 100 essays from around the world about trends in school libraries written by librarians, teachers, publishers, and library vendors.
 * //<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">Free //****//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 13.3333px;">ebook //**