November 20, 2008
June 2005—Vol. 2, No. 5
Welcome to the technos.net e-newsletter, published by AIT’s Technos Press. You’ll find valuable information here about AIT products and services and other noteworthy news from the world of education. Please let us know what you think, or what you’d like to see here, by emailing us at: editor@ait.net. Thank you!
CONTENTS
Featured Interview
Ruth E. Blankenbaker
The Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC), is a not-for-profit organization that assists education, libraries, and communities with interactive videoconferencing (IVC) for educational, professional development, and partnership purposes. CILC works with clients to plan, implement, and manage the successful integration of technology.
The Executive Director of CILC since its inception is Ruth Blankenbaker. She earned a Master of Science Degree from Indiana University and holds Professional Teaching Licenses for Pre-K–12 grades. Blankenbaker, who was Director of Technology at Park Tudor School in Indianapolis from 1983–1994, has also served as President of the Indiana Computer Educators and as a Board Member of the International Society of Technology Educators. Since 2004, she is an Advisory Council Member for Internet2 K20.
CILC will host The Keystone 2005 Conference—the only national conference dedicated to K–12 interactive videoconferencing—October 3–5, 2005, in Indianapolis and (of course) via IVC.
Technos: You’ve been CILC’s Executive Director from its beginning in 1994, so you’re in a unique position to tell us what CILC’s greatest challenge has been over the past 11 years.
RB: When I am asked to define CILC’s greatest challenge over the past 11 years, my fingers pause above the keyboard, and I chuckle just a bit at my attempts to figure out which one challenge I might select to discuss.
Here’s the way it was in the beginning: If you were to scatter throughout the landscape of the education community a vast amount of confusion, a high degree of suspicion, skepticism and mistrust of motive at the launch of our organization—and if you were to intersperse these emotions with an absence of vision for the use of interactive videoconferencing (IVC) technologies—then you would have adequately captured the scenery CILC faced when it was formed in 1994.
Challenges were so abundant that I think I’d like to discuss one I least expected, instead. What caught me off guard was the monster, like some apparition materializing from a foggy meadow. I came face to face with the reality that working collaboratively for the purpose of learning is not something educators have historically, or cheerfully, done.
They may have met on the football field, but as rivals; they may have vied for the same funds, but as competitors. But share intellectual resources and opportunities? Mouths closed. Doors shut. Blinds pulled just a bit further down their mental windows.
If I couldn’t find a way to open the mouths, doors and windows of educators’ minds in geographically dispersed schools, then deploying a technology that connected them to each other so they could share educational opportunities would be a useless endeavor. These intellectual neighbors who were strangers had to become academic friends. They had to sit down at tables and talk. They needed to develop an open mind and a willingness to share. They needed to build trust and an appreciation for and relationships with each other before they could put their students in touch with one another.
I learned quickly that new partnerships had to be forged and a collaborative culture created if CILC were to achieve its goal of breaking down walls that isolate schools and students from each other and most certainly from the world around them.
The unanticipated challenge, then, was the necessity for building a functional human network before the implementation of a fiber-based one could be used to its advantage. And that this human network had to be community-minded and collaborative-driven, self-sustaining, and to the degree it was possible, free from enervating bureaucracies. Why? Because interactive video technologies, by their very nature, connect humans to humans—not machines to machines. And, if those humans who connect cannot communicate, then they will never advance to true collaborations through interactive videoconferencing technologies.
Read the entire Technos eZine interview with Ruth E. Blankenbaker.
Featured Article
Interactive Videoconferencing Makes the Grade
Interactive videoconferencing (IVC) has proven to be a time and money saver for school districts around the country. Whether it’s used for professional development or for offering chemistry courses to students in small rural schools, or for field trips to far-flung destinations inaccessible to schools, IVC can be a real boost for teachers and students alike.
But, what exactly, is this thing called “video-” or “tele-conferencing”? What applications does it have for education? What are the benefits? And where can you go for more information? We offer a few answers. . . Click here for the full story.
What’s New at AIT?
AIT announces the release of its two-part social studies/cultural education series, Road Trip to Kenya.
Tag along with a group of eager young adults as they investigate compelling issues in far-away lands. Avoiding the often-trodden path of cultural education that provides nothing more than an overview of the holidays and festivals of other cultures, this series models an investigative approach to help viewers learn more about specific issues in culture and ecology that are of vital importance to global understanding. Both programs are set in Kenya, a land of opportunities and contrasts. Viewers visit many different parts of the country and see interviews with experts to learn about the unique way the landscape, natural resources, and cultural diversity of Kenya influence the economic and sociological interactions of the people. Each program in the series focuses on specific issues of vital importance to the country. Two 30-minute programs for grades 6–12 ©2003. For pricing information, go to AIT’s online catalog.
Tech Notes
EdWeek.org has posted the eighth edition of Education Week’s Technology Counts 2005 report, Electronic Transfer: Moving Technology Dollars in New Directions: View the Table of Contents—and the Executive Summary.
The usual thorough job by Ed Week writers and researchers includes informative State Data Tables in PDF and Excel files for download, and a comprehensive comparative table of state-by-state expenditures for FY 2004 and FY 2005, “Financing Education Technology.” This report also features rankings of the states based on a number of ed-tech factors: access to technology, capacity to use technology, and use of technology.
Feature Stories include:
- “NCLB Focuses on Data Tools,” concluding that the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act are spurring states to invest in data-management technologies
- “State Support Varies Widely,” outlining a mix of funding approaches that states are using to pay for K–12 ed-tech programs
- “Federal Role Seen Shifting,” asking if the leaders who steer federal decisions about technology investments are establishing new priorities
- “Schools Eye Future Costs,” saying that educators are using a business concept to forecast the costs of technology
- “Tracking U.S. Trends,” concluding that there is now almost no difference in the availability of Internet access between poor schools and wealthy ones
Browse state snapshots: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/05/05/35state-of-the-states.h24.html
Print copies of the Ed Week Technology Counts 2005 report, Electronic Transfer: Moving Technology Dollars in New Directions, can be ordered here: http://counts.edweek.org/products/special-reports.
etc. (News You Need)
- An article about distance education in rural school districts can be found at eSchool News. “Shared Technology Fortifies Rural Ed,” by Corey Murray, reports on information gathered by the nonprofit Rural School and Community Trust and published in “Why Rural Matters 2005” (no charge for .PDF file).
- Cyberbullying of students can be so bad it could cause some kids to skip school, according to a recent article in Information Week. High-tech harassment can take many forms: for instance, using cell phones to send thousands of text messages to the victims, thus driving up the victims’ cell-phone bills; putting up Web sites for peers to vote for “the ugliest kid”; sending threatening E-mails or instant messages; or posting on Web sites phony photos of other kids in embarrassing or pornographic poses. Kids are advised to “stop, block, and tell,” before the situation escalates, if they are being attacked by a cyberbully. Read Marianne Kolbasuk McGee’s article, “School-Yard Bullies Add Internet To Arsenal Of Pain.”
- One of the article titles in the Spring 2005 issue of the Annenberg Institutes quarterly journal, Voices in Urban Education (VUE), is “It Takes a City to Build a School”—a riff on the African saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” The point is the same: In the education community, students need support that schools alone can’t provide. Educators increasingly recognize that schools must form links with community partners to enhance student learning opportunities. The new issue of VUE looks at the latest thinking about community partnerships and offers compelling examples of how partners can enhance learning opportunities for young people.
- From EducationWorld: “Show Me the Money: Tips and Resources for Successful Grant Writing” is a comprehensive article that gives educators practical tips on how to secure outside funding in the form of grants, which will allow them to provide their students with educational experiences and materials their own districts can’t afford.
Recommended Links
- For kids and their parents, teachers, librarians, and scholars—the first phase of the International Children’s Digital Library is up and running. This Web site was initiated by the University of Maryland and is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. It is halfway through its five-year project to create a huge collection of children’s books from around the globe and at this point provides more than 600 books free on the Internet. The ICDL’s stated mission is: “to select, collect, digitize, and organize children’s materials in their original languages and to create appropriate technologies for access and use by children 3–13 years old.”
- WiredKigs.org is an informational site for kids, parents, and teachers, emphasizing online safety and combating cyber-bullying. It is affiliated with WiredKids, Inc., “a U.S. charity dedicated to protecting all Internet users, especially children, from cyber-crime and abuse. It operates several programs and Web sites designed to help everyone learn how to protect their privacy and security online and to teach responsible Internet use.” Parenting Online, a helpful guide for parents on how to monitor kids’ online experience to secure their safety, is available as a PDF file or can be read on screen.
- American History teachers will want to steer their students to Lincoln/Net, an interactive Web site that “presents historical materials from Abraham Lincoln’s Illinois years (1830-1861), including [the 16th U.S. President’s] writings and speeches, as well as other materials illuminating antebellum Illinois.” Developed by the Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization Project at Northern Illinois University with funding from the Illinois State Library, this site focuses on eight historical themes in Lincoln’s early career: the African-American Experience and American Racial Attitudes, Economic Development and Labor, Frontier Settlement, Law and Society, Native American Relations, Politics, Religion and Culture, and Women’s Experience and Gender Roles.
- Education Technology Think Tank, ET3, “is a nonprofit organization committed to improving the conditions of the growing digital divide throughout America.” Information exchange forums and private-public partnerships are ET3’s strategies for change at national and local levels.
- The Giraffe Project is a national nonprofit that honors people who stick their necks out for the common good, inspires others to do the same, and gives them tools to succeed.
AIT Products & Services
Here are some bargains for you from our AIT catalog of excellent materials, emphasis on early childcare and primary grades. For more information about the following products, including pricing, follow the links to the AIT online catalog included with each description.
Colora’s Colors is a series for pre-school and Kindergarten. It’s a playful, interactive romp into the world of colors. Colora is a perky paintbrush who cheerfully mixes up colors selected by a spinning color wheel and then applies the color to appropriate drawings which spring to life. The color wheel and distinguishing between primary and secondary colors are concepts clearly presented in these ten 90-second clips. Viewers are also presented with the opportunity to read the word for each featured color. The programs are highly interactive, inviting viewers to respond to the action on the screen. ©2002- Letter TV is a collection of 26 five-minute programs for emergent readers, Pre-K–1. The programs build basic phonemic skills and excitement about reading. The instructional design of the series incorporates key phonemic elements and models reading in context:
- Sight words appear on screen as the word is heard and the related object or action is viewed.
- Short songs encourage letter identification and provide clues for remembering the sound which the letter makes.
- Characters model reading and writing skills.
- A “brick wall” segment shows the featured letter and demonstrates how the specific sound the letter makes is used in the formation of the word.
- The featured letter is shown in signs, labels, name tags, or billboards in different fonts and contexts.
- Introduce readers and nonreaders alike to literature, folklore, and the sheer delight of a good story with Sixteen Tales. Lead students into a timeless world in which talking animals and ordinary human beings act cowardly and brave, selfish and generous, deceitful and innocent. These vividly illustrated folktales enrich multicultural studies and provide new perspectives on America’s diverse ethnic heritage. Storytellers discuss the land and people who passed down the tale and urge viewers to “share a story with a friend, so our tales will never end.” Sixteen 15-minute programs for grades K–5. ©1984
Caring for Children. Explain the roles, responsibilities, and characteristics of successful childcare professionals. Demonstrate proven developmental care strategies and techniques. Encourage viewers to nurture self-esteem and guide behavior in positive ways by illustrating enriching activities that allow children to explore and interact with other children, adults, and appropriate materials. This series features experienced childcare professionals working with the whole child — satisfying his or her physical, social, emotional, and intellectual growth needs. Focus on observations and interviews within successful center-based and family home-care facilities to witness enthusiastic discussions about practical “ideas that work.” Look at how these ideas can be applied to children in a variety of age groups and environments. Twelve 30-minute programs for students in grades 9–12 and adults. ©1991- Caring for Infants and Toddlers. See and hear experienced childcare professionals demonstrating and describing what quality childcare is and how to provide it. Examine effective techniques and strategies for working with children under the age of three. Illustrate practical “ideas that work,” and build appreciation of the role of childcare providers and parents in meeting the individual needs of very young children. This introductory training series takes viewers inside childcare homes and centers to observe childcare professionals interacting with infants and toddlers. It will help childcare teachers, family day-care providers, and parents learn more about and develop skills for meeting the physical, intellectual, social, and emotional needs during some of a child’s most formative years. Five 30-minute programs for students in grades 9–12 and adults. ©1993
Develop skills for working with emergent readers in kindergarten through second grade with Teaching Early Literacy. See examples of how to create a reading program in which young children learn to read by reading. Combine theory with practical applications and expert instructional techniques. Effective guidelines for implementing these ideas in the classroom are provided by national and international experts in reading and early childhood development. Twelve 30-minute programs. ©1994
Read previous issues of the TECHNOS e-Zine.