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"No Child Left Behind" and the Bottom Line: The Case of Edtech Policy Norris Dickard, Benton Foundation
http://www.benton.org/publibrary/digitalbeat/db031401.html
President Bush's education platform, "Leave No Child Behind," proposes, among other things, to consolidate existing educational technology programs, reduce paperwork, and direct more funding to the classroom. Dickard makes eight "bottom line" statements that challenge some facts and assumptions included in the Bush education platform, many of them pertinent to educational technology.
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44 Benefits of Collaborative Learning by Ted Panitz
http://mathforum.org/epigone/cl/testaaa/em6c8z0l8c2c@forum.s
warthmore.edu
A very complete list of benefits observed in classrooms using various forms of collaborative learning.
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A Successful Model for School Improvement
http://4teachers.org/keynotes/lawrence/
In this Web-based article, Dr. Judith Lawrence describes the successful staff development efforts of Orange School District, New Jersey, to implement technology into every aspect of the curriculum.
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Accountability Design
http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/designing_school_acct_syst.pdf
This document presents three different views of accountability design to address states' needs. One view presents an elaborated framework, with questions, criteria, and comments, intended to provide a structure for helping states move through the process of designing a school accountability system. The second view presents a concise checklist of characteristics to help states evaluate the consistency and coherence of existing programs. The third view provides examples of actual state experience with design features that might be considered and why. Available as pdf file online or in hard copy for $10.00.
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Arlene Brown & Chris Rose's 4th Grade Unit on Living Things
http://knowledgeloom.org/gmott/resources/brown_dti.pdf
This unit plan, created by Arlene Brown and Chris Rose, integrates educational technology into a fourth grade study of living things. Before collaborating with Rose on the unit, Brown participated in a Designing for Technology Integration (DTI) workshop sponsored by The Northeast and Islands Regional Technology Consortium (NEIRTEC).
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Assessment: At a Glance
http://glef.org/FMPro?-db=learnlivekeywords1.fp5&-lay=layout
%20%231&-Format=keyword.html&-max=200&jargonfree==Assessment&-sortfield=show%20order&-SortOrder=ascend&-sortfield=short%20title&-find
Standardized tests aren't the only way of gauging student achievement. Throughout the country, educators are using performance assessments to measure what students know and can do. This article on the George Lucas Foundation site offers text, video, an interview with assessment guru Grant Wiggins, and a research summary, plus links to other related assessment articles and information.
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Children and Computer Technology: Issues & Ideas
http://www.futureofchildren.org
Comprehensive analysis on children and computers in which the authors address the effects of computer use on children's development, whether technology increases the disparity between rich and poor, and what uses of technology has been demonstrated to enhance learning. They call upon parents, educators, business leaders and the government to guide children in "the effective, safe, and creative use of computers." They urge the nation to take steps to narrow a real digital divide, particularly "access to quality computer programs and creative uses." Ten Recommendations are included in the executive summary. (The David and Lucile Packard Foundation's The Future of Children, Volume 10, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2000)
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Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
http://www.cosn.org
In December of 2000 Congress passed HR 4577. This legislation (P.L. 106-553, Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001) includes the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act introduced in 1999. Most schools and libraries will be required to use filtering software on computers with access to the Internet. Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has prepared a free updated CIPA compliance guide, which suggests language required in a school board policy for the FCC filtering requirements.
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Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
http://cosn.org
Useful Summaries, Highlights, and Interpretations of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA)
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Consortium for School Networking
http://www.cosn.org
In December of 2000 Congress passed HR 4577. This legislation (P.L. 106-553, Consolidated Appropriations Act 2001) includes the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) and Neighborhood Children's Internet Protection Act introduced in 1999. Most schools and libraries will be required to use filtering software on computers with access to the Internet. Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) has prepared a free updated CIPA compliance guide, which suggests language required in a school board policy for the FCC filtering requirements.
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Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines and Resources
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/
Stanford University Libraries has gathered an organized list of copyright fair use links divided into four main sections Primary Materials, Current Legislation, Cases and Issues, Resources on the Internet, and Overview of Copyright Law.
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Count Us In Games
http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/default.htm
Count Us In Games target basic understandings in mathematics. Skills include counting, identifying numbers, patterns, comparing and classifying, etc. Games can be played online or downloaded for use offline. Teacher materials are available for the topics covered.
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Design Online
http://www.edc.org/spotlight/Tech/imaginationp2.htm
Imagination Place sites in Australia and the United States use the Internet to engage girls in technology. Research shows that girls use technology as a social tool. This article features an online project that offers girls a chance to become innovators and designers, not just consumers of technology.
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Designing for Technology Integration: A Planning Template and Exemplars
http://knowledgeloom.org/gmott/resources/exemplars.html
Provides samples of technology-enhanced unit designs that take the four Good Models of Teaching with Technology (GMOTT) practices into consideration: standards, assessment, universal design, and multiple learning strategies. A complete explanation of the GMOTT principles is presented on The Knowledge Loom at http://knowledgeloom.org/practices3.jsp?location=1&bpinterid=1163&spotlightid=1163.
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District Technology Planning for All Students: Helping to Meet the IDEA '97 Mandate
http://www.edc.org/LNT/news/Issue9/feature1.htm
School districts today are faced with multiple needs generated by standards-based reform, the implementation of technology, and the mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Through the collaboration of general and special education in its technology planning, Concord, New Hampshire has worked to align those efforts.
Authors: Denise Ethier, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), with contributions from Donna Palley, Mark Denoncour, Steve Rothenberg of the Concord, NH School District, and Skip Stahl of the Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST).
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Does it Compute? The Relationship Between Educational Technology and Student Achievement in Mathematics
http://searcheric.org/scripts/seget2.asp?want=http://searche
ric.org/ericdc/ED425191.htm
This report, by Harold Wenglinsky of Educational Testing Service, presents new evidence on the effectiveness of educational technology. Analyzing data from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress, it finds that the effectiveness of school computers depends upon how they are used; some uses are associated with improved student academic performance and school climate, while other uses are not.
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Edtechnot.com
http://www.edtechnot.com/
This site might be called a meeting of ed tech leaders throughout the world. Its purpose is to bring those who are guiding technology use in schools together to discuss divergent opinions. The site includes information on plans, web logs, books, and ideas related to educational technology.
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Educators' Website for Information Technology
http://www.edc.org/EWIT/resource.htm
The Educators' Website for Information Technology features career-related ideas and resources relating to technologies. Featured are a PDA brochure about technology in community colleges, technical assistance services, news, and resources.
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eLearning: Putting a World-Class Education at the Fingertips of All Children
http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/reports/e
-learning.html
This National Educational Technology Plan (2001) completes an 18-month effort that involved educators, administrators, policy-makers, and the private sector to rethink and revise the national strategy for the effective use of technology in elementary and secondary education. The five new educational technology goals will provide a roadmap for educational technology leaders across the country.
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Emerging Technologies for Active Learning
http://www.edc.org/LNT/news/Issue10/feature3.htm
In the spring of 1999, LNT ran two online workshops in a series entitled "Emerging Technologies for Active Learning," funded by the AT&T Foundation and U.S. Department of Education through the NetTech project. The goal of this series was to connect research and practice by examining emerging technology tools, research, and initial classroom experiences; envisioning future uses in schools; and identifying factors for successful implementation (Susie Metrick and Kristen Bjork, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), and Alan Epstein, Technology Director, Watertown, MA Public Schools).
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Explorathon AZ
http://explorathonaz.keeptheinternetfun.org/
The ExplorathonAZ site from the University of Arizona provides information and links about use of technologies by girls. The emphasis is upon keeping the Internet fun.
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Fablevision
http://www.fablevision.com
The Fablevision site provides a wealth of unique ideas and creative tools for educators, students, and parents. Included are free downloads of little books and posters, games, inspirational ideas, and library of educational materials that can be ordered. The delightful, whimsical drawings of artist Peter Reynolds enhance the educational materials available.
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Fair Assessment Practices: Giving Students Equitable Opportunities toDemonstrate Learning
http://www.sabes.org/resources/adventures/vol14/14suskie.htm
"Equitable assessment means that students are assessed using
methods and procedures most appropriate to them." This article by Linda Suskie includes components of fair assessment and numerous assessment resources.
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Five Keys to Effective Technology Management
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStory.cfm?ArticleID=3798
Article contains five keys to successful technology resource management. It promotes hands-on understanding and management by savvy school leaders.
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Graphic Organizers in Education
http://www.inspiration.com/vlearning/research/index.cfm
For a research report on the value of using graphic organizers in education, go to this site and download Graphic Organizers: A Review of Scientifically Based Research. The research was completed by The Institute for the Advancement of Research in Education (IARE) at the Appalachia Educational Laboratory (AEL). In the report, twenty-nine studies were identified and evaluated as scientifically based research (SBR). The studies provided evidence in support of the instructional effectiveness of the use of graphic organizers.
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Graphing Calculators in the Mathematics Classroom
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed433183.html
This ERIC digest article provides a sampling of four types of enrichment with graphing calculators that are used for expediency, conceptual understanding, critical thinking, and integration.
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Grazing the Net: Raising a Generation of Free Range Students
http://www.fno.org/grazing1.html
This two-part article in From Now On Educational Technology Journal emphasizes constructivist approaches to using technology in the classroom. Author Jamie McKenzie lists characteristics of constructivist education along with a model for school research.
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How to Comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/coppa.htm
This site provides a link to the Federal Trade Commission web site Kidz Privacy, a guide to help you comply with the new requirements for protecting children's privacy online and understand the FTC's enforcement authority: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy.
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ISTE Technology Foundation Standards for Students
http://cnets.iste.org/students/
To live, learn, and work successfully in an increasingly complex and information-rich society, students must be able to use technology effectively. These ISTE standards provide guidelines for technology use in schools. The information provided includes links to performance indicators, curriculum examples, and scenarios.
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Level of Technology Implementation
http://www.lotilounge.com/
The National Business Education Alliance offers this framework (LOTI or Level of Technology Integration) and associated instruments for helping educators assess their level of implementation of instructional technology.
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Making Technology Happen
http://www.southern.org/pubs/MTH/makingtech.shtml
Making Technology Happen: Best Practices and Policies from Exemplary K-12 Schools, published by The Southern Growth Policy Board, addresses findings on best practices in the implementation of technology in schools. This online version of the book reviews how more than 200 exemplary schools are bringing technology into their classrooms. Areas of discussion include planning, training, providing technical support, re-engineering organizations, obtaining resources and evaluating how district, state and federal policies impact the process.
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Making Technology Work in Urban Schools
Donna Harrington-Lueker, Education Writers Association (EWA), LNT Perspectives, Issue 10 (July/Aug 1999)
http://www.edc.org/LNT/news/Issue10/feature1.htm
This article includes the overview from EWA's report, "Barriers and Breakthroughs: Technology in Urban Schools." The report is the result of a four-month study by reporters on the use of technology in four large school districts in the Midwest, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee. The anecdotal stories in the publication paint a compelling picture of the challenges urban schools face when attempting to keep pace with education reform.
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National Study Tour of District Technology Integration, Summary Report
http://www.edc.org/LNT/news/Issue4/cct14sum.htm
School districts all over the country have been grappling with the
difficult problems of integrating technologies for teaching and
learning. While there is considerable anecdotal advice, the
experience of districts who have successfully met these challenges
has not yet been systematically analyzed. The authors undertook a
national 'study tour' to examine eleven carefully selected sites
around the country that have developed a range of models for
integrating and using technologies well. This report by Jan Hawkins, Robert Spielvogel, and Erica Marks Panush, Education Development Center, Inc., Center for Children & Technology, summarizes the
results.
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Online Poetry Classroom
http://www.onlinepoetryclassroom.org/
This website, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, provides access to curriculum units and lesson plans created by teacher participants in Online Poetry Classroom workshops. These workshops bring middle school and high school teachers together with practicing poets and technology experts to develop new strategies for teaching poetry. The site also contains a searchable database of poets and poems, interactive teacher forums, and a teacher resource center full of relevant links.
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Printable Crafts
http://www.dltk-kids.com/
This is a very useful site for preschool and elementary teachers, for it provides links to a variety of free craft resources that can be downloaded and used in lessons. Some of the categories include the ABCs and 123s, holidays, animals, countries, and friends.
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Recent Research on the Effects of Technology on Teaching and Learning
http://www.wested.org/techpolicy/research.html
What does research and experience tell us about the benefits and the most appropriate uses of technology and telecommunications to support and expand teaching and learning? This report provides a national perspective, provides research findings, including student and educator outcomes, conditions for technology to be effective, features of effective learning technologies, and state and federal program support factors. Although not a recent report, it contains information that will be valuable for educators.
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Ride the Wave to Success in the Classroom
http://osi.fsu.edu/waveseries/wave17.pdf
This downloadable pdf. file contains successful strategies for the
management of learner-centered classroom. The content was created for the
Florida Department of Education Office of School Improvement.
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Role of Gender in the Design of Electronic Learning Environments for Children
http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/bennett.htm
This research article from Technology and Learning Magazine explains that girls thrive in an environment of social interaction and problem-solving and relates this fact to use of technologies with girls. For example, Imagine Place in KAHootZ is a perfect tool for understanding and creating new virtual environments for girls. The curriculum offers girls opportunities to create, invent, talk, and share ideas with peers.
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Safeguarding the Wired Schoolhouse: A Briefing Paper on School District Options for Providing Access to Appropriate Internet Content
http://www.safewiredschools.org/pubs_and_tools/white_paper.pdf
This briefing paper (October 2000) by The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)
details the range of options that are available to schools for managing students' access to the Internet and helping to ensure that their experiences are positive ones. It also provides a list of questions that school officials should consider when deciding whether to manage students' access to the Internet, and, if so, which solution to choose. The related web site includes an excellent set of resources that provide guidance on children's safety online for educators: http://www.safewiredschools.org/other.html.
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Social Studies Teachers and Technology
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~z06gkd/techproj/techproject2/
Reform efforts in the social studies have stressed a need to change the manner in which social studies has been taught and learned. One especially effective way to actively involve students in these activities is to incorporate technology into the social studies classroom. This paper provides activities developed in an attempt to integrate technology into the social studies curriculum while at the same time, encouraging skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, collaboration, creativity, and experience using various technological tools.
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Students Teaching Students with Technology
http://techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/hildreth.htm
This article from Technology and Learning magazine offers one teacher's perspective on integrating technology into art classes, as well as interdisciplinary art and social studies classes. She recognized that especially for students not planning a career in the arts, collaborative learning becomes an extremely valid and productive methodology when it is combined with technology.
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SWAT Savvy: A Model for Effective Classroom Technology Using Student Experts
http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/bryan.htm
Overwhelmed by technology? Learn how to call in the SWAT (Student Workers Applying Technology) team! This article from Technology and Learning magazine outlines one teacher's successful use of student experts to promote and organize the use of technology in her classroom.
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Synergy Learning
http://www.synergylearning.org
Synergy Learning is a comprehensive site covering math, science, and design technology for Grades K-8. Many computer-using educators will be familiar with its magazine Connect®. Archives from the magazine, information on inquiry learning, a sample magazine issue, and resources for science labs are available on the site. Synergy Learning offers support materials through free online information, summer institutes and workshops, and magazine subscriptions.
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TAGLIT (Taking a Good Look at Instructional Technology)
http://www.taglit.org
School technology assessment tool for principals, teachers, and students in schools participating in the Leadership Development programs funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Originally developed as part of a training program offered by the Principals' Executive Program, part of the Center for School Leadership Development, University of North Carolina. Log in as a guest to see the actual assessments and reports.
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Technology and Young Children
http://www.techandyoungchildren.org
The Technology Caucus of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, the nation's largest organization of early childhood professionals offers research, information, and best practices regarding technology use to benefit children through age eight.
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Technology Briefs for NCLB Planners
http://www.neirtec.org/products/techbriefs/
NEIRTEC's 60-page packet includes a 3 -5 page brief on each of the fourteen issues identified in the U.S. Department of Education NCLB guidance document, and provides effective strategies, key questions, and selected resources to inform the application and planning process. Topics in the NEIRTEC packet include: strategies for improving academic achievement and teacher effectiveness; parental involvement; professional development; and accountability measures.
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Technology for Learning: How Does Technology Support Inquiry?
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ifi/resources/classroom/connect
/coulter.html
This article from Synergy Learning's Connect Magazine features information on how technology can help with inquiry learning. The emphasis is not upon technology, however, but rather upon the teacher and the classroom environment for learning that the teacher creates.
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Technology in American Schools: Seven Dimensions for Gauging Progress
http://www.mff.org/publications/publications.taf?page=158
This 1998 framework, by Cheryl Lemke & Edward Coughlin, is intended for policymakers, educators, and technology directors to use as a road map when attempting to bring up the learning levels of students through technology. It describes the conditions that should be in place for technology to be used to its greatest educational advantage in any classroom. This publication is unique in its focus on systems thinking and systemic change; acknowledging that the transformation process necessary for effective integration ways of thinking, teaching, and learning for all participants in the system. The Seven Dimensions also provides educators with ways to assess movement toward their goals for learning with technology through sets of questions and stages of progress.
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The Best Web Quests
http://bestwebquests.com/default.asp
Many teachers like to add webquests to their package of teaching tools. To help them, this site features a chart of webquests that can be accessed by subject and grade level. Information is also available on what makes a good webquest activity for students.
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The Educators' Lean and Mean No FAT Guide to Fair Use
http://www.techlearning.com/content/speak/articles/copyright.html
This is a layman's guide to everything an educator needs to know about fair use copyright principles and guidelines. Includes a quiz to rate your compliance and knowledge.
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The Power of the Internet for Learning: Moving from Promise to Practice, Web-Based Education Commission Report 2000
http://www.webcommission.org
This report by the U.S. government-sponsored, bipartisan Web-Based Education Commission is the most comprehensive congressional analysis to date on e-learning at the K-12, higher education, and corporate training levels. Included is a policy "road map" for decision-makers. The report describes the possibilities and opportunities that the Internet offers for enhanced learning.
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The Union City Story: Education Reform and Technology: Students' Performance on Standardized Tests
http://www2.edc.org/CCT/cctweb/public/include/pdf/04_1998.pdf
This April 1998 report provides an update to prior reports about the successful school reforms in Union City, NJ and the role of technology within those reforms. It provides hard data about the positive impact of the changes on students test scores.
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What's Basic: A Constructivist's View
http://www.kidsource.com/tobbs/articles/whatsbasic.html
By Thomas C. O'Brien of Southern Illinois University, this is a thorough discussion of Constructivist Learning Theory and its implications and application in teaching and learning. Intriguing activities are included.
