Wireless shows the way to the future ways of learning
if we can conquer the digital divide.
My friend Mano works in areas of need in rural Virginia. There are lots of us who have the aptitude to teach students. Permission is something else.
There is the content divide, teachers can learn to master information on the web. Here is where to start. You will love learning the Tpack Framework. It seems complicated? Not. It is an ideational scaffolding for teaching and learning. It works and , it is free. Tpack.
A problem that is a dividing factor for many people is the lack of access. Broadband access is a problem and the tools to use technology are a problem.
All classrooms do not look like the schema above. For one thing teachers using technology often are in an active classroom. Not a lot of sitting down happens.
Or the classroom may be a flipped classroom. In case you need a good example here is one from Edutopia.http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flip-stem-classroom-ainissa-ramirez and all flipped classrooms do not look alike.
To see how technology transforms or changes view some of the projects in the Digital Generation. The digital generation has a great introduction and then it broadens engagement from gamers to students interested in making change in their community. I love the story of Luiz.
Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say
Lisa Baldwin, a chemistry teacher, works with her students to fight through academic challenges.
By MATT RICHTEL
There is a widespread belief among some teachers that students’ constant use of digital technology is hampering their attention spans and ability to persevere in the face of challenging tasks, according to two surveys of teachers released in November and confirmed in December reports. But then there is this. Digital Generation
The researchers note that their findings represent the subjective views of teachers and should not be seen as definitive proof that widespread use of computers, phones and video games affects students’ capability to focus.
Even so, the researchers who performed the studies, as well as scholars who study technology’s impact on behavior and the brain, say the studies are significant because of the vantage points of teachers, who spend hours a day observing students.
The timing of the studies, from two well-regarded research organizations, appears to be coincidental.
You can find the rest of the article here:
Broadband? Here is a perspective on broadband from the FCC
Where are you on the map?
THE CONSENSUS UNDERSTANDING OF THE FCC’S ROLE WITH RESPECT TO BROADBAND
A challenge for the FCC in recent years has been how to apply the time-honored purposes of the Communications Act to our 21st Century communications platform—broadband Internet—access to which is generally provided by the same companies that provide telephone and cable television services.
Broadband is increasingly essential to the daily life of every American. It is fast becoming the primary way we as Americans connect with one another, do business, educate ourselves and our children, receive health care information and services, and express our opinions. As a unanimous FCC said a few weeks ago in our Joint Statement on Broadband, “Working to make sure that America has world-leading high-speed broadband networks—both wired and wireless—lies at the very core of the FCC’s mission in the 21st Century.”
Over the past decade and a half, a broad consensus in the public and private sectors has developed about the proper role and authority for the FCC regarding broadband communications. This bipartisan consensus, which I support, holds that the FCC should adopt a restrained approach to broadband communications, one carefully balanced to unleash investment and innovation while also protecting and empowering consumers.
It is widely understood—and I am of the view—that the extreme alternatives to this light-touch approach are unacceptable. Heavy-handed prescriptive regulation can chill investment and innovation, and a do-nothing approach can leave consumers unprotected and competition unpromoted, which itself would ultimately lead to reduced investment and innovation.
The consensus view reflects the nature of the Internet itself as well as the market for access to our broadband networks. One of the Internet’s greatest strengths—its unprecedented power to foster technological, economic, and social innovation—stems in significant part from the absence of any central controlling authority, either public or private. The FCC’s role, therefore should not involve regulating the Internet itself.
Want to measure your broadband http://www.speedtest.net. it is easy..
Google’s Coolest Project? Broadband
Steve Hebert for The New York TimesA sign in Kansas City encouraged residents to pre-register for Google Fiber.- FACEBOOKAccording to Eric Schmidt, Google‘s executive chairman, the most interesting project going on at the search giant is its high-speed broadband trials in Kansas City. (Missouri and Kansas versions)
The business, called Google Fiber, promises speeds 100 times faster than conventional high-speed Internet services. Mr. Schmidt, who was speaking at a New York Times Dealbook conference in New York, said Google was delivering 760 megabits per second to the customer, and taking 720 megabits a second from customers.
Some of our have robust broadband and others of us do not. There are tools that are used to measure broadband, that are national , and some are international.
You can measure broadband in your community and then go raise a ruckus if it is not adequate with this tool.
   “For the last decade, we have been amazed and delighted by what we can do online. And yet people feel increasingly powerless to stop unscrupulous individuals and companies from infecting their computers with programs that they didn’t request. The providers of Internet services and software simply must get this problem under control so the users can realize the full potential of their access to the Internet.” |
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 Vint Cerf quote |
The use of broadband in the area of education is deep and wide, but still in its earliest stages of development. In the pre-broadband era – about 15 years ago – “distance learning” was generally conducted on a set schedule in a professional facility with the capability of satellite video to a small group able to pay a high fee.
With the wide availability of broadband this definition has been turned 180 degrees. Today an individual student can see a lecture at a time and place which best fits his or her schedule at little or no cost. Not only does broadband provide better access to coursework, but students taking those courses appear to do better than those sitting in a traditional classroom.
Broadband permits a wide variety of online learning experiences. Students can be directed to websites different from the course website. There they can stream a video or examine a famous painting; they can have an online chat with their teacher or professor; or students studying the same coursework can come together in learning communities in real time without regard to their physical geographic location. These “virtual study groups” have not been possible before the general availability of broadband.
Of greatest interest is the acceptance of adults to taking courses on-line. According to Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program, growth will be in continuing education programs In three to five years, he estimates, the current census of 5,000 continuing education students “could triple, with nearly all the growth coming online.” The use of broadband as students’ “in-home tutor” is well-documented. The ability to search the world’s libraries from a student’s home has had an enormous impact on the quality and depth of the educational experience for serious students.
Teachers who have had to use the traditional red pen to correct and edit papers and reports, can now use their computers to “track changes” and send the work back to students (and their parents) via e-mail for their review.
If education is the foundation of society, then broadband is quickly becoming the mortar which binds and strengthens that foundation.
Got Milk? Got Broadband? Then you can learn to transform using whatever tools that are available to you with also some really good face to face , or mentoring examples.
In many urban, distant and rural communities there is a lack of the technology tools, broadband and teachers who know how to use the technology, but once we get connectivity many free resources, ideas, and projects are on line. You need the time to explore, examine, extricate the ideas for your use, learn to evaluate and to engage using your ideas and the prescribed curriculum that you deal with. There are many , many teacher groups that provide lesson plan examples and ideas.
Afterschool Universe training sessions are offered throughout the year at locations across the United States. Image Credit: NASA
Hands-on activities play a role in each of the 12 Afterschool Universe sessions. Image Credit: NASA
The Power of Us 