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Students raising funds and technology awareness in Maine

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

(via Media Release) – More than 1,000 students and teachers will fight hunger this Thursday by correctly answering vocabulary, math and other curriculum area questions on their state-issued laptops. This is part of the largest Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI)  annual student conference ever, held at the University of Maine, Orono.

The conference is partnering with the United Nations’ World Food Programme to host the students and teachers on a specially-developed version of FreeRice.com, a web site where users make donations of rice to feed hungry people by answering core curriculum questions around vocabulary, mathematics, geography, science and more.

Maine’s laptop program is the first to work with FreeRice.com to create a localized effort to raise food for the hungry. A customized version of the site will be available to challenge Maine students, along with invitees from around the world, to raise as much food as they can.

The project showcases how technology can help make learning relevant and engaging for students by allowing them to address a real world problem via a social network while learning.

There is also a local hunger connection – students have been encouraged to bring canned foods to donate to the Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest food bank.

The project also presented a technological challenge for network technicians at the University of Maine System, who are busy finalizing a wireless network that will host more than 1,000 wireless laptops simultaneously in the 1400 seat Hutchins Concert Hall in the Collins Center for the Arts.

A representative of FreeRice.com from the World Food Programme will address students via video conference to kick off the event.

There will also be student-led workshops all day, such as:

  • “I came, I saw, iPod!” (Mary C. McCarthy & Students from Middle School of the Kennebunks)
  • News is Now, News is Complex, News is Us, News is Important! (Nicole Poulin & Students from Messalonskee Middle School)
  • Get Your Geek On! Starting a High School Tech Team (Shana Goodall & Students from Orono High School)

This sounds like a great idea to raise funds and awareness of what students are doing with technology! You can participate too – pass it on!

Sylvia

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Posted in conferences, funding, student tech support | 9 Comments »

GenYES at San Juan Unified School District

Monday, May 17th, 2010

San Juan Unified School District in San Juan, California, is a proud GenYES district. Many of their schools were funded by EETT (Enhancing Education Through Technology) funding from the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Title II, Part D. In California, the EETT is focused on grades 4-8. Their website has a wonderful video explaining how GenYES students support the goals of the EETT and the whole district in regards to technology.

From the SJUSD website:

“The core of GenYes is the establishment of collaborative partnerships between students and teachers, with the express purpose of facilitating the integration of modern digital technologies in the practices of teaching.  GenYes is well suited to meeting the needs of middle school students because it provides them with the opportunity to engage in their own learning.  Expectations in the GenYes classroom are high and students and teachers come to see each other as capable partners.  GenYes students also learn sets of skills relevant to project planning and implementation, as well as communication, that form the core of complex thinking skills which are critical in both today’s learning and workforce environment.

The GenYes experience involves a wide range of technical, academic, cognitive and social skills.  Students are expected to become proficient and critical consumers and producers of education technology as well as use these skills to help teachers improve their personal and classroom use of educational technology. This requires a strong understanding of technology tools and then the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with someone who may have a different point of view. When building collaborative projects, students must understand the needs of the partner-teacher, frame problems productively, seek out appropriate tools and information, then plan and manage their time and work in order to accomplish a discrete project within a specified timeline. Additionally, GenYes students, through working with their partner-teachers, develop an appreciation of sound pedagogical practice, including: the identification of learning objectives; the consideration of assessment strategies, and the alignment of projects with state academic content standards.”

The page explains how GenYES is part of their well-rounded approach to technology integration. Besides GenYES, San Juan provides a wide range of teacher professional development, from on-site coaching to ongoing workshops and summer institutes, plus hardware and software.

We are really proud of the teachers and students who make GenYES happen in San Juan schools, and the administrators who support and encourage technology use with such a holistic approach!
Sylvia

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DARPA Promotes High-Tech Education

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Citing studies that show a marked decline in the number of students pursuing education in math, science and engineering, the Pentagon’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is requesting proposals for “innovative new ideas to encourage students to major in CS-STEM and pursue careers as engineers and scientists.”

DARPA was the agency that funded the research that created what we now know as the Internet. It’s great that they are again looking to fund this kind of educational goals.

What kinds of projects do you think they should fund? Please comment!

via DARPA Promotes High-Tech Education.

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$71.6 million in California stimulus funds for educational technology (ARRA EETT)

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

States are starting to distribute the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funding, better known as “Stimulus Funds”. Much of the Title 1 funding has already found its way to schools, and now, the portion allocated to improve technology use (EETT) in schools is starting to trickle out.

California has released their guidelines and RFP here. 50% of the money will be distributed by formula, 50% will be distributed via a competitive grant process. This money is over and above the annual EETT funds from the federal government. It’s a LOT of money, but is a one-time only grant. This isn’t going to happen every year!

GenYES has been a very popular component of many California EETT grants in previous rounds, and we hope this continues! Over 40 schools in California are currently running GenYES programs funded by the EETT grants. These GenYES students are helping their teachers implement technology throughout the curriculum and assisting with tech support.

Here are a couple of great examples:

  • GenYES Students Shine in California. GenYES students at B. Gale Wilson school in Fairfield, California, were featured in their local paper with a story about their leadership and technology skills.
  • Kids Use — and Teach — Digital Storytelling. At Parkview Elementary in Chico, CA, students assist teachers on digital storytelling projects that support the technology plan and content standards.
  • Technology Success Story. In San Juan, California, test scores and student self-esteem rise as students find their voice and show what they know using technology.

A relatively new goal for the EETT is to address the NCLB mandate for technology literacy by 8th grade. The TechYES Student Technology Literacy Certification program is a project-based way to do just that. Plus, the new TechYES TLC – Technology Literacy Curriculum is a great way to move your technology classes beyond word processing and keyboarding.

These funds MUST be used for programs that will be sustainable in the long run. All Generation YES programs are permanent licenses, with no renewal fees.

Find out more about how Generation YES programs meet the goals of the California EETT.

Sylvia

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Lowe’s Toolbox for Education – $5,000 Grants Available

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Lowe’s will donate $5 million to public schools and public school parent teacher groups at more than 1,000 different public schools in the United States.

Click here for details and eligibility requirements.

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The New Teacher Project Analyzes Race to the Top

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

The New Teacher Project Analyzes Race to the Top. from Converge Magazine.

In case you don’t want to sift through all the Education Department guidelines for Race to the Top, you can check out an easy-to-read summary and analysis [PDF] that The New Teacher Project released this month.

The national nonprofit group spells out the race guidelines, gives states and districts checklists to see whether they’re meeting the criteria, and shows how competitive the states are when they’re matched up the standards.

As of this month, four states are not eligible to compete. California, New York and Wisconsin do not allow teachers to be evaluated by student performance data, according to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, though the states don’t agree with his assessment. Pennsylvania’s not eligible either, but for a different reason: It has not been approved for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act fiscal stabilization funds.

More from the Converge article here…

or download the full report in PDF format.

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Kids Use — and Teach — Digital Storytelling

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Edutopia cover - Sept. 2009

California Kids Use — and Teach — Digital Storytelling

Veteran fourth-grade teacher Don Kinslow often hears colleagues say they would use technology if they had the time to get training. At Parkview Elementary School, in Chico, California, he has found a practical solution to this dilemma: He engages students as technology mentors.

This article appears in the September issue of Edutopia magazine as part of their stimulus funding series, “High Tech at Low Cost”, and is online here.

The story captures the essence of what many schools see when they include GenYES students in their technology outreach to teachers and the whole community. Don says, “It’s a simple idea, but it’s had huge outcomes.”

One of Kinslow’s students, for instance, was consistently reluctant to speak in class. For a book report, she narrated a digital story. “Her voice was clear. Her ideas were well organized,” Kinslow says. “For some kids, this was the first time they’d ever heard her talk.”

And we all know, this isn’t about saving money, it’s about giving kids experiences that change lives, either by being a GenYES student who finds her voice, or a student in a classroom where the teacher feels supported enough to try technology for the first time.

Part of the fun of this job is meeting teachers like Don Kinslow. He’s got great ideas and he tries things, lots of things. He’s given me some great stories to tell! If you’d like to read more about Don and his students, they are also one of the detailed case studies in my Student Support of Laptop Programs article. Their school uses laptops on carts and the GenYES students are part of the team a teacher can count on when they use the laptops for small student groupwork, digital storytelling across all grades and subjects, and special request projects for teachers.

By the way, don’t miss the article’s author, Suzie Boss, in the Edutopia blog lineup called Spiral Notebook.

Sylvia

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Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) and the Stimulus Package

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

1104443_moneyFor U.S. educators, there has been one primary source of funds from the federal government for educational technology over the past few years. It’s part of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, Title 2d, or Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT). With the passage of the stimulus bill, there is new, additional funding in the range of $650M that will be shared between the 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, according to the same formula that governed the previous EETT funds.

By the way, this money is in addition to the funding that will be in the regular budget, currently $269M. You can’t exactly add those two numbers up, as they cover different time periods, but any way you slice it, this is a lot of money coming — and really soon. (Anyone interested in following this at a federal level should subscribe to Hilary Goldmann’s blog at the ISTE Connects website.)

The hope is that by using existing EETT mechanisms and rules, this money will quickly make its way to states, and then out to districts and service centers, creating or saving jobs and expanding technology-enhanced learning opportunities for all.

Ready, Get Set…. GO!
The key word there is quickly – so the time to get ready is NOW. The next few weeks should see a flurry of information as state education departments decide exactly how to do this. If you’ve been saying… gee, if we only had the money… this is your chance. Dust off those grant proposals, call consortium partners, and watch your state ed tech department closely — because this will happen FAST.

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Now comes the shameless promotion — GenYES and TechYES have been the basis of hundreds of successful EETT projects. If you are looking at the power of technology to empower students, support teachers, and create a culture of shared ownership of learning at your school, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or design your own curriculum from scratch.

GenYES is a curriculum and online toolset for student technology teams, either in a class or after school. GenYES students in grades 4-12 learn technology skills, project and collaboration skills, so they can teach teachers, do tech support, and share their technology skills with their school and community. GenYES combines the passion of youth for technology, the benefits of service-learning, support for teachers in their own classrooms, and provides all the resources to get a program up and running quickly. GenYES includes an online help desk where teachers can request help from a GenYES student – whether that help is to hook up a projector or plan a technology infused lesson. The really good news is that the EETT can fully fund GenYES, permanently.

TechYES and TechYES Science are project-based student technology literacy certification programs. Printed and online materials guide students in grades 6-9 through the project-process, allowing students to show technology literacy with real world projects, either academic or personal. One of the NCLB goals is that all students achieve technology literacy by grade 8. TechYES offers a way to meet that goal using a project-based philosophy, because you can’t really show technology literacy through a multiple choice test. (TechYES in Action video)

But whatever approach you take to the EETT funding, I hope you consider putting the emphasis on classroom technology that enhances the student experience, allows students control and ownership of their own learning, and gives teachers professional development that transcends old “sit and get” models.

Sylvia

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Posted in GenYES, Generation YES, In the news, TechYES, funding, professional development | 4 Comments »

Disney Minnie grants for community youth volunteers

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

2007 Disney Minnie Grant Recipients in Beijing, ChinaYouth Service America and Disney just launched a second round of Disney Minnie Grants to engage children and youth, ages 5-14 as community volunteers. The selected applications will receive $500 to support their youth-led service projects. The deadline is August 30 and projects must take place October 15-November 15, 2008. Grantees from the first round of Disney awards of 2008 are eligible to apply. Click here for more information and application materials.

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The cost of free courseware

Friday, May 9th, 2008

I just got an email from the MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) project. MIT OpenCourseWare puts the entire MIT curriculum online, free of charge. The materials are excellent, and it’s been hailed as one of the top resources of its kind and an example of why “free is the future.”

The email explains all this, and goes on to explain that their publishing and review cycle costs money. It costs money to check the copyrights and get permissions. It costs money to videotape professors, edit the video, and post it online. Bandwidth and servers are not free.

“In total, it costs about $4 million each year to support OCW.”

The email continues with some examples of how courses are helping people around the globe in worthy projects. But guess what comes next…

MIT is committed to keeping OCW open and free to all, everywhere. You know the value of OCW to yourself and how the materials offer a greater value to humankind. And now you know the cost. Your contribution of $25, $50, $100 –– or whatever amount is right for you –– directly supports the production and distribution of high quality MIT course materials.

Please invest in yourself and your world. Click here to make your donation now.

Now really, people…
The MIT 2007 Financial Report shows an endowment of $9 billion dollars (yes, that’s 9,000 million dollars). In 2007, they took in cash gifts of over $330 million dollars. They really need my $25?

Honestly, it seems tacky. They decided to put their resources out there and generate a lot of publicity about being the wave of the future. Now they are looking for someone else (namely me) to help foot the bill?

But no, not just me. According to Wired Magazine back in 2002, “The William and Flora Hewlett and the Andrew W. Mellon foundations ponied up a total of $11 million for the first two-year phase. (MIT kicked in another $1 million.) Those organizations are likely to continue supporting the initiative, which is expected to require an additional $20 million or so before the rest of the courses are posted by the end of 2006.”

So they asked for money, so what?
I HATE complaining about this, because the MIT materials ARE truly excellent. People around the world can learn from the top lecturers in the field. Every high school educator and interested student should check out the Highlights for High School section of the MIT OpenCourseWare site. There are fabulous multimedia resources, really innovative courses like furniture making and international development, and terrific support materials.

I applaud MIT for finding a way to make all this available AND creating a quality product. The problem isn’t the materials, or even MIT asking for money. (I’m slightly peeved by them asking ME for money, but hey, at least they are being honest about the need to fund their project.)

Free costs money
The problem is that the rest of the world is pretending that because there is no cost to use courseware resources, there is no cost to create these resources.

This particular “free” cost $20 million dollars (probably more!) to get started, and now needs $4 million a year to keep going. Doing some admittedly rough math based on the 1,800 courses online gives food for thought. Each course cost $11,000 to put online, and needs an additional $2,000 per year to keep it up there.

What does this say about the real viability of open courseware in general?

I have to say I’m still struggling with this concept. In this case, MIT is trying to figure out how to expand their influence to become a world-wide leader in education. They obviously made a conscious decision to spend a lot of money to preserve the integrity of their brand by delivering top quality (and therefore expensive) resources. Now they will start to find out what access to this market really means.

In Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business (Wired Magazine 2/25/08), Chris Anderson says, “Technology is giving companies greater flexibility in how broadly they can define their markets, allowing them more freedom to give away products or services to one set of customers while selling to another set.” With OpenCourseWare, MIT is trying to expand its market beyond a few thousand students, a few company research partners, and past the usual academic boundaries to the entire world. It’s an interesting gamble.

In contrast, many other free open courseware and open content libraries sacrifice quality to lower their initial costs. They rely on users to contribute and edit content, but without a guiding editorial hand, the quality will be variable and the coverage sketchy. The tension between these approaches is yet to be resolved.

What an interesting world we live in!

Sylvia

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Posted in education reform, funding | 1 Comment »

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