The following list, which is updated regularly, provides links to news and research stories that could be of
interest to BC educators. Please note that while many of the stories and much of the research they discuss
describes the American educational experience, they are linked here because we believe they provide valuable
and interesting information for ERAC’s members. Please click on the headline to access each story. In some cases,
you may have to register with the publication, for free, to access the story.
Also, please note that we will add the "New Link" notation next to stories for the first two weeks they're posted
on this page. While we list the stories in chronological order, we sometimes add new story links several weeks
after the story was originally published.
If you notice that a link has been discontinued, please send us a quick e-mail at news@bcerac.ca and we’ll
take down the link.
If you happen to come across an online news story you think would be of interest to
ERAC members, just send us a message with the link to news@bcerac.ca and we’ll consider posting it.
"Three-dimensional video is coming soon to education; here's what you should know about this emerging trend... Educators have a lot to think about when considering how to implement 3-D," said Bob Wudeck, business development manager for TI's pro AV group, "including the brand of projectors, the content you want to use, research on 3-D and the technology, how best to invest, what type of glasses to use, and how you're going to clean those glasses." Read why Colorado School District has purchased 1,000 3-D projectors for mounting in every classroom.
UNESCO has completed a framework for ICT competency standards for teachers by addressing policy framework, a matrix of skill sets for teachers and a detailed description of the specific skills to be acquired by teachers within each skill set. There are three booklets that can be downloaded. "To live, learn and work successfully in an increasingly complex, information -rich and knowledge-based society, students and teachers must utilize technology effectively." These booklets provide the standards and excellent commentary on getting there.
Although many teachers have enthusiastically adopted interactive whiteboards, little research is available on their effect on student achievement. However, in a study that involved 85 teachers and 170 classrooms, the teachers used interactive whiteboards to teach a set of lessons, which they then taught to a different group of students without using the technology (see Marzano & Haystead, 2009).
The publishing industry has been under a dark cloud recently. Sales are down this year, despite prominent books by Dan Brown and Edward M. Kennedy. Wal-Mart and Amazon are locked in a war for e-commerce dominance, creating new worries among publishers and authors about dwindling profits. But amid the gloom, some sellers and owners of electronic reading devices are making the case that people are reading more because of e-books.
In some classrooms, books are a thing of the past. The textbook-free classroom is by no means the norm, but it may be someday. Slowly, but in increasing numbers, grade schools across the United States are supplementing or substituting the heavy, expensive and indelible hardbound book with its lighter, cheaper and changeable cousin: the digital textbook.
When California announced a free digital-textbook initiative earlier this year for high school math and science courses across the state, it fueled predictions of the impending demise of the hardcover schoolbook.
3-D images floating out of screens, and kids in lightweight glasses with their jaws dropping open, might sound like science fiction--but in less than a year, school across the US will be piloting 3-D projectors to give all students, and especially those who are visual learners, a chance to fully understand the curriculum.
Advancements in assistive technologies, as well as an increased focus on addressing the needs of students with autism, have spurred an emerging roster of new digital products designed to facilitate better communication between parents and teachers of students with autism and provide more affordable, higher-quality education to those students. (This story mentions a Canadian product, AutismPro and includes comments from its CEO.)
A number companies have created digital "smart" pens that can digitize handwriting, convert writing into word-processing text, and even record the audio that corresponds to the notes students take.
As technology becomes an increasingly important tool for teaching and learning, a relatively new concept--focusing on how educators can effectively and effortlessly tailor technology to their instructional practices--is making its way into pre-service and in-service teacher education programs.
Students at a Baltimore County high school this fall will explore the area surrounding Mount St. Helens in a vehicle that can morph from an aircraft to a car to a boat to learn about how the environment has changed since the volcano’s 1980 eruption. But they’ll do it all without ever leaving their Chesapeake High School classroom--they will be using a three-dimensional Virtual Learning Environment developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).
The nonprofit Pearson Foundation hopes to start conversations and get people thinking
about educational innovation with a new film series that profiles remarkable people and
their accomplishments in school reform. View list of free films.
Following up on their plan to encourage the use of free, open digital textbooks among the state's schools, California education leaders have released a list of resources they have determined meet state-approved standards for high school math and science classes.
This literature review was commissioned by the Canadian Education Statistics Council
(CESC) to summarize the research evidence on key factors and practices supporting literacy success
for school-aged students. There is some supporting research that suggests that, “ …students’ reading test scores are higher where networks provide
remote access to library resources (Lance 2002).”
This story features the views of education technology advocate Alan November, who said schools and
colleges should reassess how they fund their ed-tech initiatives by asking what teachers and
students need, rather than just pushing for more technology staffing and equipment.
An increasing number of American schools now have high-speed Internet access and are quite
well-equipped to secure student data and provide safe access online. A recent Software and
Information Industry Association survey found, however, that schools’ progress towards broader
adoption of educational technology and using it to improve instruction and student learning is slow.
This iPod Touch pilot raised a lot of interesting questions about the adoption of new technology in
the classroom and keeping the adoption of 21st Century skills and technology student-centred.
A new poll suggests that not only are a high number of students using cell phones and the Internet to
cheat on school exams but they also think it’s okay to do so.
There is a growing movement in schools to incorporate digital games and simulations into classrooms as a tool for
raising achievement and preparing students for the technological challenges ahead of them.
As an increasing number of schools integrate technology into the classroom, teacher education must shift to include instruction on how to use interactive technologies and Web 2.0 applications. This special report focuses heavily on the use of SMART Boards in education.
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