Indianapolis Public Schools Replace Textbooks with Digital Content By Scott Aronowitz 01/15/10 In a pilot program announced at FETC 2010 in Orlando, 12 schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system will replace traditional textbooks with digital content from Discovery Education. The program also includes curriculum alignment services, professional development, and hardware. The company's curriculum alignment team analyzed the IPS district pacing guides and chose the digital content that it determined was most appropriate for IPS, including audio and video segments, images, articles, games, and interactive resources. "Across the country, school systems are learning that textbooks are not the way to go, but that technology is the way to go," said Gene White, superintendent of IPS. "To date, we are very pleased with this pilot. The powerful resources from Discovery Education have brought alive our social studies curriculum in a new way, and we look forward to tracking the results of this effort." As part of the program, the company is also providing IPS with access to its MediaShare content sharing system, which allows teacher collaboration using uploads, file sharing, and distributing both user-created and licensed content. The system also includes access to Discovery Media Servers, which allows users to access content with consuming external bandwidth. Finally, the pilot program agreement with Discovery offers professional development for technology use in education. "Staff development is an essential part of moving teachers to the next level of instructional delivery," said Willie Giles, IPS deputy superintendent. "It is critical that our educators know how best to utilize technology in the classroom, and we know the quality professional development [the company provides], combined with the new digital content and educational technologies, will take instruction and academic achievement to the next level."
By 2014, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will have sold enough of their stock to give up majority control of the company, Google announced Friday evening.In November, Page and Brin entered long-term stock disposal agreements, a very common move designed to give uber-rich executives the ability to diversify their portfolios over time without scaring the stock market. But what's significant about this particular plan is that by the end of it--assuming that everything goes as planned--Page and Brin will control less than half of the voting power of Google shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Google updated on Friday its Voice extension for Chrome, allowing people to call numbers directly from the browser. If you love Google or hate retyping phone numbers, this one's for you.
One of the great things about upgrading to a smartphone years ago was that all numbers were links. The updated Voice extension for Chrome allows for a similar streamlining in your browser.
The extension basically just turns phone numbers into clickable links, eliminating the need to cut and paste them across windows. It also adds a phone icon to Chrome, letting you quickly place calls and choose the number from which you do so. While it's a nice step toward a lazier future, there are some caveats. Mac users, for example, will need to install the latest Chromium build, not just the regular old Chrome, to gain the functionality.
The Apple tablet guessing game has become a national passtime for tech lovers, and it's easy to get caught up in all the speculation running wild out there. Let's stop and ask ourselves, what do we really know about Apple's tablet? Actually, we don't even know for sure whether Apple will show a tablet next week at all. In fact, no one has yet clearly defined the place of a consumer touch-only tablet.
News card No 11 Robert McBain
ReplyDeletehttp://thejournal.com/articles/2010/01/15/indianapolis-public-schools-replace-textbooks-with-digital-content.aspx
FETC 2010 News
Indianapolis Public Schools Replace Textbooks with Digital Content
By Scott Aronowitz
01/15/10
In a pilot program announced at FETC 2010 in Orlando, 12 schools in the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system will replace traditional textbooks with digital content from Discovery Education. The program also includes curriculum alignment services, professional development, and hardware.
The company's curriculum alignment team analyzed the IPS district pacing guides and chose the digital content that it determined was most appropriate for IPS, including audio and video segments, images, articles, games, and interactive resources.
"Across the country, school systems are learning that textbooks are not the way to go, but that technology is the way to go," said Gene White, superintendent of IPS. "To date, we are very pleased with this pilot. The powerful resources from Discovery Education have brought alive our social studies curriculum in a new way, and we look forward to tracking the results of this effort."
As part of the program, the company is also providing IPS with access to its MediaShare content sharing system, which allows teacher collaboration using uploads, file sharing, and distributing both user-created and licensed content. The system also includes access to Discovery Media Servers, which allows users to access content with consuming external bandwidth.
Finally, the pilot program agreement with Discovery offers professional development for technology use in education. "Staff development is an essential part of moving teachers to the next level of instructional delivery," said Willie Giles, IPS deputy superintendent. "It is critical that our educators know how best to utilize technology in the classroom, and we know the quality professional development [the company provides], combined with the new digital content and educational technologies, will take instruction and academic achievement to the next level."
Robert McBain
News card # 11
ReplyDeleteGoogle founders to sell stock, cede majority control by 2014
January 22, 2010 5:39 PM PST
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10440005-265.html
By 2014, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin will have sold enough of their stock to give up majority control of the company, Google announced Friday evening.In November, Page and Brin entered long-term stock disposal agreements, a very common move designed to give uber-rich executives the ability to diversify their portfolios over time without scaring the stock market. But what's significant about this particular plan is that by the end of it--assuming that everything goes as planned--Page and Brin will control less than half of the voting power of Google shares, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
NEWSCARD
ReplyDeleteChrome's Voice extension enables click and call
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10440128-94.html?tag=newsEditorsPicksArea.0
Google updated on Friday its Voice extension for Chrome, allowing people to call numbers directly from the browser. If you love Google or hate retyping phone numbers, this one's for you.
One of the great things about upgrading to a smartphone years ago was that all numbers were links. The updated Voice extension for Chrome allows for a similar streamlining in your browser.
The extension basically just turns phone numbers into clickable links, eliminating the need to cut and paste them across windows. It also adds a phone icon to Chrome, letting you quickly place calls and choose the number from which you do so. While it's a nice step toward a lazier future, there are some caveats. Mac users, for example, will need to install the latest Chromium build, not just the regular old Chrome, to gain the functionality.
For more info, check the link above.
News card #11
ReplyDeleteTitle:In Which We Observe Apple Tablet Hysteria
The Apple tablet guessing game has become a national passtime for tech lovers, and it's easy to get caught up in all the speculation running wild out there. Let's stop and ask ourselves, what do we really know about Apple's tablet? Actually, we don't even know for sure whether Apple will show a tablet next week at all. In fact, no one has yet clearly defined the place of a consumer touch-only tablet.
URL:http://www.technewsworld.com/story/In-Which-We-Observe-Apple-Tablet-Hysteria-69162.html