Peru's ambitious laptop program gets mixed grades

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/07/03/perus-ambitious-laptop-program-gets-mixed-grades/comment-page-1/#comment-164475
Considering that teachers are ill prepared or not at all, and parents least of all, it is very likely that it all goes up in political smoke.
It looks and sounds very good for governments and politicians to take on projects like this, and greedy officials and suppliers know so; but if no firm scaffolding is in place to produce the desired results, the learning curve is surpassed by frustration and soon enough it turns into wasted effort.
A project, as this one, requires at the least the creation of digitally sufficient strategically located centers, with well prepared facilitators to create and develop a powerful learning network within reach of every community. If Teachers and parents aren't included, the chance for children and teens to overcome the digital challenge is very small.

New PBS resource could help advance digital learning | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com

New PBS resource could help advance digital learning | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com: "PBS LearningMedia will include content from more than 55 member stations, independent producers, and public institution partners. The site plans to launch with 12,000 digital learning objects, which include video clips, documents, games, images, and activities."

'TV textbooks' bring access to low-income Florida students | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com

TV textbooks' bring access to low-income Florida students | Curriculum | eSchoolNews.com

Prompted by lackluster reading scores, Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) in Jacksonville, Fla., is attempting to reach low-income students by turning students' televisions into learning centers.

Now, this could be a quite a positive change for low income families and a welcome opportunity for schools working on a shoestring budget. Everyone owns a TV, and even any school who can't afford investing in computers, can maybe use this as a step up onto the Technology train without having to get into the heavy cost of hardware, software and maintenance involved in your average Technology ware investment.

Military snubbing cyber-school students

Military snubbing cyber-school students http://is.gd/vB7g32.

I have been for years now painfully aware of the snubbing of online graduates in the work world, but this raises quite a few more issues. It seems that although education is trying to reach all and everyone by incorporating and making use of technology, society is still far from getting over its prejudice over online studies and degrees. The question to society is, how do people expect to reach out to all and every individual and provide them with a possibility to educate themselves and improve their quality of life, if every road taken to make it possible is blocked based on biases and misconceptions. We need to get our acts together and really cut the double rhetoric and standards. Online learning is here to stay and we better learn to make the best use of it so that most of the population, wherever they are, whenever they can can achieve an education.

Europe Split on Nuclear Power Debate - WSJ.com

Europe Split on Nuclear Power Debate - WSJ.com

online.wsj.com

The Japanese nuclear crisis has placed atomic energy back at the top of the political agenda throughout Europe, but European countries have split into groups urging immediate shutdowns and others remaining firmly committed to...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703899704576204522187643688.html#articleTabs%3Darticle

Unfortunately there's much disinformation and even less education on the subject. I'm far from an expert; but certainly do not appreciate that people are being manipulated. We must read and learn, and not let ourselves be swayed by either the media or politics. Let's hope we are able to do so...

How—and why—to teach innovation in our schools Call for innovative society raises important questions about education By Alexander Hiam

It’s wonderful to hear President Obama call for a nationwide emphasis on innovation, but it raises an interesting challenge: Where will all those innovators come from? Currently, we are chasing testable competency in academic core

skills. It is quite a different thing to try to educate future innovators. We don’t test for that.

An innovation curriculum requires an emphasis on what I am going to call, for lack of a preexisting term, the Five I’s: Imagination, Inquiry, Invention, Implementation, and Initiative (the latter being a foundational trait that enables the other four). Here is my take on how to teach each of the Five I’s of innovation in our schools.

Read more...

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/02/01/how-and-why-to-teach-innovation-in-our-schools/

New Digital divide or a better understanding of what the divide really is?

When we talk about digital divide what mostly comes to mind is the lack of resources, that is economic resources, to engage with the digital world. However, it has always been my position that no matter how much economic resources are poured in to breach the divide, it is the lack of education on how to really make use of the resources what ends up making the divide much larger...

This article barely touches the surface of what the divide is really about... http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/11/for-minorities-new-digital-divide-seen/2/?_login=879db19b8c?_login=879db19b8c/?_login=879db19b8c

After reading it, it is clear that a very few like the Dominican guy, despite limited economic resources are indeed making the most from the digital access they have.