Education Blog

The Future of Libraries

2012-02-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

This upcoming summer, my college is planning a new renovation of our library on campus. Since a good deal of money is being spent to upgrade the library, the administration of the college has been questioning the students about the sorts of changes we would like to see. Recently, between some of my friends, there has been a debate on what the library should keep and what should go. The overall question we are trying to answer is, “What are future libraries going to look like?”

Most of our library debate is focused on the books in the library. There are floors of shelves filled with old books. Most of these book look as if they haven’t been open for years. After some thought, I realized that I had never even checked out a book from the library. The only time I used a source directly from the college library was to read cutting edge biology articles from science journals. After making this discovery, I talked to some of my peers to see if they have signed books out of the library. For the most part, they had not checked out any books either. However, my friends who had checked out books described that they ultimately ended up online at GoogleBooks. Here, they were able to simply find the books the library had in print form, and do an automated search through the book. I have also used this resource for classes because it enables students to spend less time thumbing through hundreds of pages looking for a few informative pages.

For some courses like biology, psychology, and other sciences, there are few if any books to be used as sources in paper. This is due to the fact that new scientific breakthroughs are occurring every day. The new innovations make the old material obsolete, so there is no real purpose to having books on these topics. For other topics, such as political science, economics, and history, there are a multitude of books which are also slowly expiring. Scientific breakthroughs in DNA and other fields of science allow us to better understand our past in new ways. Perhaps it would be better to have a library of scientific journals and books on certain, slower progressing fields.

Some of my peers think there should be no books in the library at all. We could move to a library full of computers hooked up to online libraries and databases which are easy to access and quite possibly cheaper. The lack of physical books would free up a lot of space for these computers and study lounges. Also, students would be able to write papers more efficiently as they would not need to look through pages of books; looking for the needle in the haystack of information. Free tools such as GoogleBooks already have a program which allows limited access to thousands of books. College students everywhere are using these resources so they can spend less time in the library. It would only make sense to make this transition, yet some are still skeptical about going completely electronic. What do you think?

Udacity: A New Type of Education

2012-01-30T17:24:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Sebastian Thrun, a former college professor, has recently resigned from his position at Stanford University to work on an online education project called Udacity. The project’s goal is to bring education to people all over the world at affordable costs. The program has already been successful as Thrun had taught an Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class. The class was completely free and comprised of 160,000 students from all over the world. Using the internet, Thrun made videos and interacted with students who took the course. He even enlisted the help of volunteers to translate the course to over 40 different languages. Approximately 23,000 students from 190 different countries graduated the class. Of this amount, 248 students graduated with a final grade of 100%, which is better than any Stanford student. Thrun also discovered that his students in Stanford dropped the traditional classroom course for the online version. They described how the online course was much more personalized and helpful. Thrun plans on offering two new courses at no cost for students in February. The courses are on building a search engine and programming a robotic car. So far Thrun’s project looks to be successful, but some educators do not think the classes will do as well as predicted.

A lot of the criticism against Thrun’s project is based on each class’s accreditation. The people teaching the classes are college professors with PhDs who have taught at respected universities like Stanford and University of Virginia. Since the professors have good reputations in the academic world, there should not be any disputes. Problems do emerge when the instructor of the course is not a leading figure in their field. As Thrun is a professor, he will not hire anyone who he thinks is not qualified to teach. Thrun also has a lot of colleagues who are college professors lining up to teach classes through Udacity. However, there are problems associated with Udacity being recognized by the academic world. Every college and university needs to go through a strict accreditation process to make sure that their academics meet high standards. This will not be easy because there are currently only a few classes that make up Udacity. Also, it will be difficult for students of the classes to receive credit for the class at other institutions and in the workplace.

If one of Thrun’s students wants find a job and use Udacity’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence class as a credential, then Thrun needs a way to show that the student successfully completed the class. Also, the potential employer of the student will want to know that the class is taught by credible individuals. Thrun will have to come up with a system to show that the student deserves credit for taking a high level course. Moreover, Thrun needs to get Udacity’s name out there to everyone. If Thrun can become a well-known name in the academic community, Udacity will be successful. Udacity would need to be regarded as the Ivy League University of the internet. This is a very difficult task because very few universities became household names overnight.
Overall, Udacity has a lot of potential and has already proven to the world that an online education can be provided at a low cost and reach thousands. The problems now lie in receiving international accreditation for classes and expanding the university. Udacity has the potential to become one of the best online colleges as it is cheap and courses are taught by qualified professors.

Source: http://www.i-programmer.info/news/150-training-a-education/3658-sebastian-thrun-resigns-from-stanford-to-launch-udacity.html

Transitioning to iBooks 2.0

2012-01-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently, Apple has introduced the updated version of their e books called iBooks 2.0. This new technology is aimed at students, educators, and just about everyone in the academic world. Apple has paired up with companies such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw Hill and Pearson to bring full textbooks to anyone who owns an iPad. As education quickly moves from the traditional classroom to cutting edge technology, some schools have already began to adopt iBooks, while some education experts remain unconvinced of iBooks' potential.

The new iBooks that Apple is offering will be completely interactive. This means the textbooks will offer add-ons like quizzes, flash cards, and more. In regular textbooks, there is often software containing interactive extras. These extras are often ignored by students because it takes too long to download the software on the computer. The iBooks will have interactive extras easily available and strategically placed into the readings so that students will not need to go out of their way to use them. Some experts believe that the extra quizzes and flash cards are not offering the correct type of interactive add-ons because they lack the ability for students to interact with other students around the world. However, when it comes to studying for tests repetition is key, not collaborating with other students. This repetition is exactly what the new iBooks offer, thus the iBooks will be successful.

The best part of these new iBooks for students is that they will be cheap. Most students pay upwards of a hundred dollars for a single textbook. In college, this may mean that students are paying around $700 for one semester. Apple has made arrangements with the textbook companies to sell the books for $14.99 or cheaper. These low prices for books are also great because it will make people buy the iPad. At first, people may be skeptical to drop $500 on an iPad and then pay for books, but since the books are cheap their investment in the iPad will quickly pay off.

Another neat aspect of iBooks 2.0 is that it comes with a program called iAuthor. This software allows people to make their own iBook. This can range from cookbooks to novels to even comic books and more. This is a really interesting function to the new iBooks. Teachers could be able make their students make iBooks and turn them in as projects. This will be especially important as iBooks will be the future of books. Eventually all textbooks will be based on today’s iBooks so it helps to learn how to make them as students.

Some schools are already making the transition to the iPad and iBooks 2.0. One such school, the University Christian School in Florida, is planning on having all of their students on new iPads in this upcoming September. Ideally, they hope to be completely off of the traditional five pound textbook in about two to three years. In the long run, the school feels that the transition will not only be more effective in teaching students, but it will also lower the cost to educate students.

Sources:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1809743/apples-announcement-the-educational-technology-world-reacts?partner=gnews

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2012-01-19/story/jacksonville-private-school-switching-textbooks-tablets

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/apple/apple-targets-academia-with-ibooks-2-ibooks-author-and-itunes-u/12058

The Three R's and Financial Literacy

2012-01-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

The popular debate on education seems to focus on two areas. The first is STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The second is literacy in the traditional sense of reading, writing, and comprehension. While these areas definitely merit attention, I believe a third should be given equal weight, namely financial literacy. What good is an improved income to a STEM literate if they make nothing of it due to a lack of financial savvy?

Several college-aged nieces and friends visited a few years ago. In exchange for 24/7 access to the well stocked fridge, I asked them to complete a financial literacy questionnaire. The poor results were quite an eye opener. And I didn't ask about the effect of Federal Reserve policy on foreign exchange rates either. This was all basic stuff related to consumer credit, compounding, saving and investment vehicles, insurance, and similar.

In all fairness to my nieces and friends, no one had ever told them what they needed to know. More importantly, nothing in their lives thus far had provided the motivation to go find the information on their own.

The role motivation plays in learning shouldn't be underestimated. For example, many believe the closest they'll ever get to a million dollars is if they win the lottery. In reality, almost every working American is a millionaire of sorts. Consider that the 2010 poverty threshold for a family of four was a bit over $22,000. Bump that to $25,000 and multiply by 40 years of employment and what have you got? One million dollars. So the average American will have at least one million flowing through their fingers in their lifetime. Recognizing that you're a "millionaire" yet as unlikely to achieve financial security as anyone else provides the motivation to become financially literate.

Sadly, even the motivated are challenged by traditional materials with their textbook prose and emphasis on formulas, charts, and graphs. I have tried to remedy that with my book Someday Is Not a Plan - A Guide to Understanding Money in Plain English. The book listens in on conversations between twenty-something Larry and his retired uncle Roger as they talk about money. Larry starts out in debt, living paycheck to paycheck, with no hope for progress. But as his education proceeds, he sees that financial security is possible and not as difficult as he had imagined. Most importantly, Larry discovers that it is his thinking about money which has to change the most. By the end, Larry is transformed from misguided dreamer to master of his future. Visit http://SomedayIsNotaPlan.com for more information and to preview the book.

Punahou School's Success with Technology

2011-12-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In 1998, Punahou School in Hawaii ran a pilot to see just how well technology can improve education. The original pilot program was a success and today Punahou School is implementing all of Apple’s products. Currently, Punahou School is renowned for its success in bringing technology into the classroom. As more and more schools begin to introduce their students to new technology, they should try to emulate what Punahou School has done. Punahou School serves as a great example as to how technology should be incorporated into education.

First, it is important to recognize that the teachers at Punahou go through a lot of training to make sure that they know how to use all of Apple’s products. Teachers go to many different workshops to ensure that they can answer any questions students may have about the technology. Most importantly, the teachers are well versed in Apple’s products because they want to ensure that they are getting the most out of every piece of technology. This is important because many schools do not realize that buying the technology is not enough. If teachers and students cannot get the most out of the technology, there is really no use for it. If teachers cannot extract all of the products’ features, it is a waste of the school’s funds. The situation is analogous to buying the latest sports car on the market. Yes it is fast and will go around a track the quickest, but if no one can figure out how to drive a manual transmission, there is really no point in owning it.

Another key aspect about technology in education Punahou focuses on is the future of the students with technology. Class is not based on the blackboard in Punahou, but rather on computers. Teachers ask the students questions and students go and find the answers using their resources. Students then present their findings to the class as a podcast, movie, photo book, and more. This is great because students are learning how to use new and developing technologies every day. In the future, these students will need to learn how to use more technology and the skills they learn at Punahou will make learning on more complex computers easier.

One last aspect that Punahou has excelled in is allowing students to learn individually. When they learn on their own, students figure out what works and what does not through experience. Learning through experience is always more meaningful. It also helps students work things out on their own and without the help of others. This is a very important skill to have as an adult in the workforce. Yet as these students learn on their own, Punahou makes sure that students are not isolated through the use of too much technology. Many children today are becoming isolated from people through technology. Texting, emailing, and social networking sites, like Facebook and Twitter, are supposed to help with socializing. However, too many of today’s youth are isolated by restricting themselves to these innovative technologies. Punahou allows students to work collaboratively on projects and present these projects to their peers. This allows students to learn on their own, but still be able to talk to others about their work and give details about what they have accomplished.

Overall, Punahou School has done a fantastic job incorporating technology into education. Other schools that are in their initial stages of bringing technology to students can use Punahou as an excellent example.

Source: http://images.apple.com/education/profiles/punahou/#video-punahou

A New Software That Personalizes Math Class

2011-12-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In an attempt to help students learn math with ease, Salman Khan has come up with innovative software which personalizes math lessons for each individual students. In fact, Khan has made about 2,700 videos to teach math. All of these programs are available online for free. This upcoming semester, many schools are testing Khan’s new software in math classes. The highly personalized software is bound to teach student more efficiently. Already, a test run of his program was implemented on students who were falling behind in their expected math levels. The program helped a great deal with these students and they caught up quickly. Now, how will this new software fare at teaching students new math concepts and problems?

Math is one of the most difficult subjects to teach because everyone learns it at a different pace. This in mind, the math software was designed to take advantage of students’ weakness and hone in on those problems. If one student is having trouble with long division, but excels in exponents, the program is designed to give the student tips on what they are doing wrong. Also, less time will be spent on exponent problems and more time will be focused on long division. By recognizing the weaknesses of each individual student, the program increases the efficiency of learning in schools.

In a typical math class, some students will do well in some subjects, but struggle in others. This is difficult for teachers because many students have their own weaknesses. In traditional teaching methods, students who struggle in the areas where the majority of class excels are often overlooked. With this program, those students struggle with simpler concepts do not fall behind from the rest of the class because the teacher doesn’t recognize their difficulties.

In fact, the program incorporates a way for teachers to oversee their students’ progress. This allows them to see where the individual students in the class have weaknesses. Therefore, if a large group of students still do not understand the material after learning it through the program, the teacher can instruct the students personally. This aspect allows the teacher to not become useless in class. In certain math subjects, teachers are more effective in teaching than a computer. Therefore, teachers are not simply letting the computer program take over the math class, but teachers monitor the learning and can take action if there is a problem. By allowing teachers to look at where students are struggling, they diagnose individual problems in the class. Teachers are then able to see where stragglers in the class are having difficulty and teachers can react before these stragglers fall behind.

In the future, there will probably much more of this type of learning in classes. This individualized learning ensures that no students can fall behind in their studies. If this type of program can be made for a subject as difficult and as complex as math, there can definitely be other subjects, such as history, science, and English where this program would succeed as well. As the software is being implemented in schools soon, teachers will probably find some small problems to work out. This will eventually lead to newer editions of these types of learning software in the future, but for now this personalized software looks promising.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/technology/khan-academy-blends-its-youtube-approach-with-classrooms.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&emc=eta1

Questioning the Accuracy of Standardized Tests

2011-12-10T20:55:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently in education news, Rick Roach, a school board member for Orange County Florida’s District 3, took the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The FCAT is given to students in 10^th grade and students are required to do well on it to receive a diploma. Rick Roach, a highly educated and successful education professional, took a math section of the test, as well as a four part reading section. In the math section, he answered 10 of 60 questions correctly and on the reading section scored a “D.” If he were to be taking this test as a student, he would not receive a diploma and he described how this test would affect his future in education as a student. A lot of faith is being put into this standardized test, but results show that there are either problems with students taking the test or problems with the material on the test.

Some people may argue that Roach is too far out of school to remember the sort of information tested on 10^th grade students. It is true that a lot of the material taught in high school is not used on a daily basis by people in their occupations, especially math. To address math as an issue, the level of math tested on a standardized test should not be too high. The SAT, a test widely used by colleges across America, does not exceed a level of math beyond simple pre-calculus. Therefore, the standardized tests that are being given to students should not either. Judging by the Roach’s failing result on the math section of the FCAT, it is hard to believe that the test assesses algebra and simple equations. If an educator is doing this poorly on a test, students are also expected to struggle. Therefore, the math section of the FCAT definitely needs some revision.

Another problem posed by Roach is the difficulty of the reading section. A professional in education with two Masters Degrees scored a “D” on the FCAT. This raises more problems than the math section. Unlike complex math, a lot of jobs require reading on a daily basis and this is no exception for a past teacher and counselor. It is perplexing that such a well-educated individual would score so poorly on reading. This is without a doubt a huge problem with the test. The reading section also needs to be redone to improve the test's results.

One way to revise this test is to look at how other tests are designed. For example, the SAT is intricately designed so that an average student scores around a 500 on a single section. The aim of the test is to get a bell curve of results. This means there is a small percentage of students that do very poorly and very well, and the majority of students fall somewhere in the middle. Also with the SAT, each question is designed and tested to make sure that it will return appropriate results. When it comes to the FCAT, there should also be an idea of how students should test. The aim of the assessment like a state run standardized test should be designed to weed out the good students from the bad ones. There should not be students with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher struggling on these tests, like on the FCAT. This would not necessarily mean a bell curve of results, but perhaps the opposite. Students should either definitely pass the test, or struggle with it. This would allow educators to better gauge what needs to be fixed.

The FCAT has a lot of trust being placed on it and it ends up giving a poor representation of the students’ intelligence. Since the test determines a lot of the students’ futures, it needs to be revised and taken more seriously in its design. A student's intelligence is judged by the strength of their test-taking abilities and if tests are poorly designed, we are learning very little.

Don't Go Back to School by Kio Stark

2011-11-30T10:59:00.000-08:00

I’m working on a book called Don’t Go Back to School. As a grad school dropout and an adjunct professor at a grad program at NYU, so many people have asked me over the years if I thought they should go back to grad school. In the course of these conversations, I discovered that the majority of people who had a longing for continued school didn’t need school at all. Their real longing was for learning. To explore new ideas, to devote their attention to a new subject, to learn new skills. These are all things that can happen easily—and sometimes better—outside of school. Don’t Go Back to School is a handbook for independent learning to help people figure out if independent learning is a good approach for them, and to show them how to do it. I’m interviewing self-taught people to find out how they do what they do, and sharing the results in the book.

Two major insights stand out for me so far in the research process. First, most people learn better within some form of learning community. Going to school provides automatic access to learning communities in the form of classes and peers. But the people I’ve talked to are finding and making learning communities on their own. For technical skills related to building, making, and technology, the advent of the “hackerspace” as a common community institution represents a radical change in people’s ability to find tools, resources, shared expertise, and communities in which to learn new skills and work on projects. I’ve also talked to people who started study groups with friends and people they discovered online who were interested in studying the same thing. These range in subject area as widely as you can imagine. There’s a serious physics study group in my neighborhood, and I just corresponded with a woman who has a “Faux MBA” reading group of women business owners. The second insight is similarly social. Getting to hear from experts is a wonderful way to learn, and being a student at a formal institution gives you access to, in theory, all the experts associated with that school. In my research, I’ve found that successful independent learners do a lot of reaching out to experts to ask questions on their own, and have great success with this. For the most part, when approached politely and with well-formed questions, people with expertise are happy to share it. They are excited that someone wants to hear what they know, and they’re often excited to be sharing knowledge with a different type of learner than is their norm (if, for example, they’re a professor).

I’m funding the writing of this book and the first print run using a community funding platform called Kickstarter. Backers make pledges and get rewards, in this case, digital or physical copies of the book. Right now this is the only way to get a copy of the book when it’s done, as a backer of the project. I’m investigating ways of doing wider distribution, but this is an experiment for me, so it’s all a work in progress. I’m a published novelist, but I decided to do this outside the traditional publishing system in order to get it into the world faster—institutional publishing timelines are absurdly long. One thing that’s been really wonderful about funding the project this way is that it’s given me a much wider net for finding people to interview, and so much enthusiastic support that’s making the hard work of writing feel like a treat.

Check out the project!

Cyber Schools vs. Traditional Schools

2011-11-20T16:25:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As the country continues to be immersed in a digital age, there is a push to bring low cost education to students through computers. Some elementary schools have made it possible for students to go to class by simply logging in from their homes. Other elementary schools allow students to come into school and login to their classes there. Either way, students now have the ability to learn and study completely on a computer. As students pull away from the traditional school system, there are many different arguments both for and against cyber schools.

The first argument supporting cyber schools is that they are cheap. Since students do not need to go into a school, a lot of costs are avoided. For example, schools do not need to worry about transporting, feeding, and cleaning up after students. This saves a lot of money. Even some schools where students come into classrooms and are advised by teachers through their online studies can cost less. Some online programs allow students to perform science experiments on their computers, as well as reading texts. By having their books and reading material on the computers, schools save a lot of money. They do not need to buy expensive lab equipment or even textbooks which fall apart every few years. Even the costs of simple yet necessary class supplies, such as paper and ink, are reduced.

Some of the arguments against cyber schools are that cyber school students will have difficulty in the workplace when it comes to dealing with people. Also, some argue that they fail to provide the same quality of education that a traditional education provides. In fact, statistics show that cyber school student tend to score lower than tradition school students. Advocates for cyber schools claim that the lower scores occur because the students in cyber schools were already struggling in the traditional schooling system. Schooling is a process and it really would be best if there was a medium between complete cyber school and traditional school. The types of schools where students go through the process of coming to school and working on a computer while being instructed by a teacher would work well.

Students do need a certain level of interaction with each other, as well as teachers. It gives students the ability to socialize with each other and make friends. Thus students will be able to deal with people when they enter the real world. Also, students can still be instructed by teachers which are vital. Cyber schools that restrict students from formal instruction will most likely face difficulties. The computer cannot be relied on to do all of the teaching and it doesn’t do the students any good to be taught only by a computer.

Finally, one of the aspects about school is to allow students and parents to let go. Students entering the dynamic workforce these days need to be able to react to changes. These same changes are naturally occurring in schools. Most students in any traditional schools would probably agree that pupils learn more outside of the classroom than inside a classroom. By creating a medium between cyber schools and traditional schools, it is possible to create an education system which successfully teaches a large number of students at low costs.

An Increase in Learning from a Decrease in Energy Costs

2011-11-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

All across the United States, school districts’ budgets continue to be cut. With less and less money, district administrators are left with the task of finding ways to spend less money. To get more bang for their buck, some school districts have begun cutting back on their utilities. In fact, some districts have saved a lot of money by conserving energy. By doing something as simple as turning off lights, schools could save money which can be spent on other things.

The first and easiest way to save money through cutting energy costs is by turning off lights. In my town, all of the schools have all of their classroom lights on until around 8 o’clock at night. Obviously there aren’t any classes in session that late so it is unnecessary for the lights to be on. In New York, Desoto County Schools saved a little less than $1 million by simply conserving energy. Jim Avery, head of the energy conservation campaign, determined that schools typically spend about $1.20 per square foot on energy. He helped to lower the cost of Desoto schools energy to $1.01 per square foot. This may not sound like a significant amount of savings, but all of the small savings really add up over time.

The superintendent of the Desoto County Schools described how if teachers turned their lights off when they went to lunch, the school would save more than $100,000 in one year. All school administrators would love to have an extra $100,000 for spending on other areas in the district. Many people working in schools have a mindset like “well I’m not paying the electricity bill.” This mindset only causes more unnecessary spending.

Also, some schools keep computers on overnight and over the weekend. This is also wasteful of energy. If teachers double checked that all of the computers are off before they go home, electric bills would be reduced. Even over the summer vacation and other breaks, lights and computers which are not being utilized continue to be left on. Again, this is a source of needless and wasteful spending which can be avoided very easily.

One other way some schools are looking into saving money by cutting energy costs is through transportation. Some schools have begun to have students walk to school if they live within a one mile radius of the school. This may seem drastic but it would save a lot of money. The cost of transporting buses is expensive and if schools can take more buses off the road, the cost of transporting students would decrease significantly. Also, some school districts have spread out the starting and ending times of elementary, middle, and high schools. By having high school students go to school early, then middle school, and last elementary schools, districts reduce costs by hiring fewer bus drivers who drive more routes. By reducing the number of bus drivers, there are less salaries to pay and thus reduced costs. One school district in Columbia, Missouri has cut their transportation costs in half by implementing a similar system. Ultimately they end up saving a whopping $300,000.

Sources:

http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2011/11/10/news/local/doc4ebb1d2b385fb427337677.txt

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2011/11/10/school-bus-riding-policy-under-consideration/

School in a Box

2011-10-30T20:33:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently, there has been a push for global education. In attempt to bring education to people all over the world, a not-for-profit initiative has created the School in a Box. The name of this technology sums up what exactly the product is- a school in a box. In this box, there are solar panels, an I-Pad, portable speakers and a portable projector. The apparatus takes 5 hours of sunlight to fully charge every piece of equipment. This technology can then be set up to run a school.

This initiative is aimed at schools in Africa, particularly Zimbabwe, where many of the resources which are vital for schools are hard to access. Therefore, the solar panels make it great to use anywhere in the world. Also, the I-Pad is able to pick up an internet connection from 3G; so again, it is possible to use this School in a Box almost anywhere. The speakers and projector, in my opinion really make the product into a school. These components enable the I-Pad to display movies, applications, internet webpages and more to a large group of students.

School in a Box is bound to be successful because it will bring education at a low cost to people all over the world, not just in Zimbabwe. In fact, a School in a Box product in the United States would also be successful. Organizations like the boy scouts, religious educators, the military, and even the companies that need to educate workers would purchase this product. It is great because managers could teach their workers in the field about the task at hand. For example, a manager at a construction site would be able to show the workers exactly what needs to get done, and how to most efficiently work together on the construction project.

In general, Apple has some pretty amazing applications which allow students from kindergarten to graduate school to learn easily. Also, large amounts of data can be stored on the I-Pad as textbooks, interactive study materials, audiobooks, and more. There are even applications which take data and turn them into quizzes and note cards so students can test their knowledge. For younger students, there are applications that help students learn their numbers, letters, and reading skills. Since these applications are designed for children, they turn learning into a game. Students are introduced to animated characters and face challenges and obstacles to beat the games, all while learning.

More and more schools are investing in I-Pads because there are long term gains with the I-Pad. That is why the I-Pad is ideal for the School in a Box as well. At a low cost, I-Pads can easily update textbooks, and other materials for learning. As schools begin investing in these technologies, we will begin to see an improvement in education all over the world. I-Pads are quickly showing up in everywhere from hospitals to schools. They are an amazing resource for the education field and are leading the revolution in bringing low cost and quality education to more and more people.

Sources:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/19167/apples_school_box_plan_to_innovate_education

http://www.iadtschoolinabox.com/

Bringing Field Trips Back to School

2011-10-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As the budgets of schools continue to be cut, administrators and teachers are faced with new challenges. One of the few ways to cut back on spending so that each dollar stretches farther is to cut out activities. Then, teachers are faced with the decision on what to cut. It is impossible to completely cut classes on reading writing and arithmetic, because these are all mandatory classes. Classes such as music or art cannot be withdrawn from the curriculum either because students would be limited to creativity. Therefore, teachers choose to cut out certain aspects of classes. One such aspect which is typically the first to be cut is field trips.

Field trips are currently every school’s enemy for a handful of reasons. First, transporting the students is not cheap, especially with the current price of gasoline. Also, the museum, theatre, memorial, or other place of interest has a price of admission which adds up quickly. One last disadvantage of field trips is they take a lot of effort to organize. Teachers often find themselves spending a lot of time and energy devoted to finding parent chaperones, dealing with the place of interest of the field trip, as well as organizing other aspects of field trips like lunch, time constraints, liability, and transportation.

One new way teachers can avoid cutting field trips would be to take their class on a virtual field trip. So far, there is a huge number of places teachers can take their classes on these virtual field trips. To name a few, teachers can take students to places like the NASA Research Center, The Globe Theatre, and even several of Washington D.C.’s fantastic museums.

These virtual field trips require little organization when compared to regular field trips. Students do not need to leave school, so there is no worrying about transportation or lunch expenses. Also, these field trips are a lot cheaper than regular field trips. For example, a virtual field trip to the Miami Science Museum costs $300 per classroom. For an extra fee, the Miami Science Museum can even rent out equipment to show the virtual field trip if the school lacks the necessary equipment. If teachers were going to bring their own class to a museum to visit, they may have to pay for tickets that cost anywhere from $12 to $40 a student. One way teachers could even hold the virtual field trip in an auditorium so that several classes could go on the journey.

Field trips are usually frowned upon in schools because they cost a lot and seem to not teach students very much. With virtual field trips, teachers can take a full day to go on a virtual journey to a new place, without even leaving the classroom. They are a lot cheaper and easier to organize than a regular field trip and students are bound to enjoy them. There are also so many different places to go. Many local museums are beginning to create these programs, and even international locations of interest have virtual field trips. They are quickly becoming one of the easiest and cheapest ways to cut spending for school districts and helping to bring education to the masses at low costs.

Sources:

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/top-10-virtual-field-trips-for-the-2011-school-year-2011-10-19

http://www.miamisci.org/www/virtualfieldtrips2.html

2011-10-12T15:46:00.000-07:00

There are 67MILLION Children worldwide that did NOT attend school last year, Most of them were girls.

WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE.

“When you educate a boy, you educate a boy.

When you educate a Girl, you educate a FAMILY.“ - Thank YOU - John and Jan Bradley.

The New Super-Cheap Tablet

2011-10-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Last Wednesday, October 5, a new tablet was released which is sold to students for about $35 each. It’s called the Aakash Tablet and it is made sold in India. It is available for retail to the public for about $60 and to students at $35. India’s government has already bought 100,000 of them to give to students as part of a study. Few reviews have been made thus far, but as of now this cheap tablet looks impressive and has the potential to revolutionize education.

Of the reviews so far, the general consensus of the product is quite remarkable. It is aesthetically pleasing yet it can withhold a few drops and falls. It has two USB ports and the operating system of the Android- all of which are great aspects of this cheap tablet. Compared to the IPad’s screen, it is criticized as being not as shiny and not as sensitive because it is a cheaper screen. However, the screen is high definition; it has no problems other than falling short of the high standards set by the IPad. It comes loaded with a set of basic applications such as a calendar, clock, contacts, converter, games, and a web browser. It has an application for Facebook and for checking Emails. One of the applications which was reviewed favorably was the Reading Application which is easy to use and works well. Other than that, the tablet has Android app store so people can buy new and updated applications. Android is also praised on having a great office application which is available on these tablets.

Some aspects of this tablet cannot be fully reviewed yet. The battery lasts for about 3 hours which is satisfactory, but we cannot determine how the battery will stand the test of time. Also, the amount of memory available on the tablet is less than other tablets on the market, but critics feel that the amount of RAM is just enough to suit the needs of students well. It also has a photo application with no camera which seems a bit odd.

A super-cheap tablet like the Aakash Tablet could easily change education technology as we now know it. First off, it’s economical and has the power to bring millions of people access to the internet for a very low cost. This, in the very least, is educating people because the internet is already a huge resource for education. It definitely pales in comparison with the mighty IPad and will not compete with such a high end piece of technology. This tablet was built to be inexpensive and therefore is on a different playing field.

In the field of education, it will work wonders because it is so affordable and offers a lot for its price. Students will have an extremely cheap laptop which can store all of their books, test them with educational applications, bring them access to the internet, and act as an organizer. This is monumental for many people living in India who do not currently have access to the internet. It also proves to the rest of the world that it is possible to bring an affordable quality education to the masses. If India can come up with a cheap tablet, why can’t America? As of right now, the education field is not utilizing tablets to their full potential. Tablets can and should be used a lot more than they are and this new tablet will help to prove it.

In all, the Aakash Tablet is inexpensive and has a lot of potential. It cannot compete with the awesome powers of the IPad, but then again it is not designed with that in mind. This tablet is designed to bring the internet to millions of people, which it will accomplish. It will also be the boost in the education field’s current push to technology.

Source: http://www.hungrynfoolish.com/2011/10/06/aakash-tablet-product-review-specs-pics-price-and-insights-from-the-maker-himself/

A Boost in Online Education

2011-09-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently in the field of higher education Carnegie Learning, a company that designs cutting edge online math tutorials, was bought by the company that owns the highly popular online college, University of Phoenix. Therefore, we can expect an increase in the amount of online educational programs in the future. This will bring education to more people in more places at a very low price. This will also change the current infrastructure of higher education as we know today.

How will this effect higher education in the long run?

First, increased availability of online learning means that it will be extremely cheap to educate millions of people. This will be great for individuals because everyone will have the opportunity to learn. It is also great that Carnegie Learning is creating this ground breaking program because it will definitely be a success. This company has scientists whom have studied the ways humans think and learn; therefore, the programs that they make are very personalized and designed to be successful for each individual student. Since these programs are so personalized, students will learn quickly and efficiently and thus at a lower price.

These new programs will also affect the typical four year college greatly. Colleges need a campus, dorms, professors, labs, dining halls, libraries and much more. Online education requires only a computer and an internet connection. Therefore, online education institutions do not need to worry about funding for all the other aspects of college. They deal with the class being taught which allows students to avoid spending a small fortune on a college education. This will pose a problem for many colleges and universities that have not yet kept up with the rising popularity of online education. These programs will literally steal students from campus due to their lower prices.

One may argue that online education is a joke and that students will not flock to these programs because there is a lack of prestige associated with these programs. Some large universities have already invested in these new technologies and they will be the ones to survive this new change. When it comes to this shift from the campus to the online classroom, I feel as if it will be gradual at first and pick up a lot more support in the following years. We cannot expect a change overnight, but within the next four years, expect a different norm for higher education. This also does not mean that students will never step foot in a classroom again, but students will definitely spend less time in class and more time learning on their own with these programs.

The Carnegie Learning programs will change the way that students are graded in school. This will definitely have an effect on the jobs and futures of students after they graduate. For example, someone with a B+ in an MIT calculus class will be looked on more favorably then someone with the same B+ who goes to a less prestigious school. With these cutting edge programs, someone who took a class on economics in California will have taken the same exact class as students in New York. This also means they took the same tests and completed the same assignments and can be graded equally when it comes to securing a job.

Overall, the rising popularity of online education has now gotten a large boost and we can expect to see a general shift towards online classes in the future. Not only are they cheaper, but they bring a higher standard of education to more people worldwide.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/09/why-you-should-root-for-college-to-go-online/244834/

Cheap Alternatives for Textbooks

2011-09-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Each semester, the typical college student spends anywhere from $500 to $800 on textbooks and other books for classes. All of this money adds up after 4 years of college and it is one of the reasons why colleges are viewed as unaffordable. As high as these textbook prices are, there are still different options when it comes to buying books for classes. There are a handful of different companies that are profiting off of the high prices that school bookstores charge. These companies end up helping the student by providing cheaper options when it comes to purchasing textbooks.

When most college students go to buy books they go to their school’s bookstore. They are guaranteed to have all the required texts because professors give the bookstore a list of books that they will be using in their classes. If a student must buy their books from the bookstore, an easy way to save money is buy used textbooks rather than new ones. Students may save anywhere from 25% to 50% off. It may seem like the savings are not that great, but when you add up the savings, students will have a few extra $20 bills in their pockets. Also, many school bookstores offer a buy back deal. At the end of the semester, students can sell their books back to the bookstore. The school bookstore obviously rips students off, but it is still a way to save money. Often times, students can expect 30% of the money sped on textbooks back, and about 10% of the money spent on novels back. It’s not great, but something to definitely check into at the college bookstore. Every student could use some spending money at the end of the semester, so it is worth a shot.

Another option that more college students need to take advantage of is companies that sell books at cheaper rates. These are companies like amazon.com that have a lot of books for sale, new and used, and will sell them at cheaper prices than the school bookstore. There are other companies that sell books at cheaper prices as well. Students will definitely need to do their homework to save the most money. This means researching prices of books and buying them as cheap as students can find. This may mean students need to order their textbooks off of four or five different websites, but it is worth it. By the beginning of classes, students can save more than 50% on textbooks, as opposed to buying them from the bookstore.

One other option that has gained a lot of popularity in the past few years is renting textbooks. This is a great option for students that are taking a variety of classes. Renting books is extremely easy and cost effective. Websites that rent books will mail your books to the student and at the end of the semester students simply mail the books back. This is a great way to save money and is probably the most cost effective than the other options. However, students cannot always rent all the books that they need during their college career. Some majors require students to have an assortment of textbooks on hand. Biology, for example, is a major where even in the upper level biology classes, students will still need to reference their introductory textbooks. There are a lot of other situations where this is the case also. In general, renting textbooks is the most cost effective option and something all students should look into. There are so many ways to save money on textbooks in college, all it takes is some time designated to go out and look for these great deals.

Collaborative Learning

2011-09-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

During college, most students find different methods of studying. It is not that old study habits are no longer effective, but that students are learning how to better manage their time. College students have to absorb more information in their classes, as opposed to classes in high school, so they continue to come up with clever ways to learn. One such type is collaborative learning. Learning collaboratively in a group has many advantages and could be implemented in schools other than colleges.

Many students in college participate in study groups. If students have a group of friends in class with them, they often schedule daily study sessions where they can go over material and work. This is a very good idea because college students already do not spend much time in class or with their professors. Therefore, this method of study can really benefit those who struggle with college classes. Some students will even split up the work and study different chapters of text. Then they present the key facts to the rest of the group during the study session or as notes. This method can be very beneficial; however, often times other students may do a poor job taking notes or have incorrect notes. These kinds of situations can be easily avoided if the study groups are focused on just reviewing the material instead of taking notes.

Collaborative learning methods are also great for college and high school students that participate in class debates. Teachers all across the country have started to have class debates in social studies, political science, psychology and other courses. Teachers know that collaborative learning works and that debates allow students to learn from other classmates’ ethnic backgrounds, differences, and experiences. Creating study groups for debates also allow students to get others’ perspectives on topics so that a student’s argument can examine each side of a subject. This method also works when students are writing persuasive essays where they are arguing one side of a subject over another. Students can make sure that they have every side of their argument covered because of their peers’ criticisms and critiques.

Learning collaboratively can easily be implemented in schools for students of all ages. One example of this is when reviewing homework in a math class. Most teachers ask which problems students had trouble with when they check homework. If students formed small groups in the beginning of class, then they can review which questions were right and wrong and how to do them correctly. This also allows students to learn different methods to complete problems, especially in math. In class, math teachers typically teach one method of completing a problem. Study groups allow students to teach each other easier ways of doing problems. Each student can bring new ideas to the table and it is a shame if students cannot learn from their classmates’ mistakes, accomplishments, and knowledge.

Parental Involvement in Education

2011-08-30T14:03:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As teachers are continuously being criticized by the public for doing a poor job teaching today’s students, it is important to realize that teachers can only teach so much during a school day. A teacher’s job is not to raise children, but to teach children. Many teachers these days are expected to become a second mother or father. However, teachers can only do so much in the seven or so hours a day that they have with students. Some of the problems in the education field are caused by the students’ parents. Parents need to get involved in their children’s education. Studies have shown students with parents that are actively involved in their children’s education tend to do better in school.

To start, many parents are very busy and both parents may work full time jobs. This is no excuse for being disengaged from their children’s education. Being involved does not mean that parents have to designate several hours a week towards volunteering at their children’s school. Being involved in the very least is making sure that their children are prepared for school each day. This means that their children have all their school supplies and that their children wake up well rested for the school day each morning. For most parents, these sorts of responsibilities are taken care of easily. However, teachers still have a few students each year that continuously come to class unprepared and do not have a regularly scheduled bedtime.

It is also important for parents to remain involved with their children’s homework. Students will put more emphasis on their homework if they see their parents taking it seriously. Getting involved in homework is a quick and easy way to improve children’s education. Schedule a time to do homework every day and be consistent when enforcing it. Then parents should check it. If it is not neat, have them redo it. If children have some wrong answers to homework questions, review the questions and answers with them. In the child’s mind, they will see that homework is important and it is right to do a thorough job when completing all schoolwork. When students have tests, parents can quiz them verbally for bit. This will make students study more and it will also allow parents to give study tips.

Parents can also stress the importance of school by assigning math and grammar work to do over the summer. It does not have to be a ridiculous amount of work, but just a few pages each day. This will stop students from forgetting all the things they learned the previous year. It gives the students an edge when they return in the fall and gives them confidence.

One of the best ways to be involved in a child’s education is talk to them. Ask them about their day, friends, teachers, and problems. Children may not want to talk about school at first, but after parents constantly ask about their day they will discuss it. This also lets children know that mom and dad are interested in school and their friends. This will also allow children to be more open and honest in the future when there are bigger problems to worry about.

It is important for parents to realize that not all learning takes place in a classroom and that it is important to be involved in the process of education. Children will put as much importance on education as their parents do. This does not require an unreasonable amount of time or money, yet the final result is a much higher quality of student with a strong focus on education and destined for success.

Grading Schools for Success

2011-08-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Every day at school, students take tests to monitor their progress in class, and to help teachers gauge how well their students are doing so they can modify their lesson plans as necessary. Tests are crucial for learning to take place in school. It is easy to say that without tests, nothing would get done in school. A test is a motive to get students to learn effectively and succeed. If tests did not exist, then no one would put forth any effort studying nor showing up to class. This fact holds true in the rest of society as well. If there were not any tests, exams, inspections, or reviews in the workplace, all of civilization would crumble. Monetary return is the primary reason why every worker in the United States works hard. If workers do not make the cut, they are fired because they are ineffective. Tests set standards and help measure competency in basic knowledge as well as areas of expertise.

One of the areas which have come under much debate in recent years has been the effectiveness of school districts in the United States. The United States has slowly been dropping ranks in the field of education when compared to other countries around the world. One of the reasons for this is that the government has low standards for school districts. In other words, the tests that school districts need to pass are either non-existent or too easy to pass. The state governments need to come up with ways to raise their standards.

In Pennsylvania, students must take a standardized tests in reading, math, and science. Some high schools set a required score in order to graduate. At first, these standardized tests sound like a great idea and they have a lot of potential to ensure school districts are graduating well educated students. However, the tests are very easy. The test must be taken in the junior year of high school, but many freshmen could probably pass the test easily. This poses a problem for the quality of education in the United States.

School districts need to be tested as well. Often times, many school districts are poorly educating their students which is overlooked by ineffective inspections from the government. If the school administration, teachers, and board officials were more closely monitored, there would be a large increase in the quality of education. If students do not pass these tests coming from the government, people are at risk of losing their jobs to more effective administrators and teachers. When people’s jobs are on the line, the quality of their work will increase. Students and teachers will not succeed if they are not challenged. Therefore, if governments pushed the school districts to perform better on standardized tests, then there would be a huge improvement because there is a motive to work more effectively.

In all, giving America’s school districts their own exams to review their progress in educating students will bring a higher quality of education to students. This will allow the government to monitor school districts and make sure that every school is teaching a consistently high quality of education across the United States.

Ebooks vs. Textbooks

2011-08-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Around this time of the year, thousands of college students are beginning to order their books for the fall semester. Books are not cheap and most students will end up paying between $400 and $700 just for this next semester. Four years of this spending really adds up quickly. These days, advances in technology have introduced students to eBooks. These “electronic books” are simply the same version of physical textbooks but are accessed on a laptop, tablet, or a kindle. How do these new eBooks compare to the heavy, old fashioned textbooks?

Initially, students will compare the prices of each of the books. It turns out that there is never a definitive cheaper price for either of the two. However, some eBooks are cheaper than the real text books. Students can save around 10% to 15% on some eBooks. Some may compare the discount of buying an eBook with that of buying a used textbook. Other eBooks cost about the same as a regular textbook. For the most part, eBooks cost just as much, if not less than regular textbooks. In order to take advantage of the savings, students must do their own research to find the best deals.

This being said, that does not make eBooks the best choice when it comes to buying books for college. There are a few drawbacks to eBooks. First off, you need a device to hold and display the eBook; this means the student must own a laptop, tablet, or kindle. This is probably not a problem for most students because they have a laptop for college anyway and they can keep their eBooks there. However, if a student’s laptop is broken, stolen, or lost, then the student cannot access any of the books needed for classes. Another con of eBooks is that they may not be the best choice if a student needs to use the book in a class or lab. Many professors would not be comfortable with a computer or tablet out during a lab where the computer or lab apparatus may be harmed. Also, some students can study best if they can take notes right in their books.

Amid all of these cons of eBooks, there still are some pros, other than being a cheaper option. Students will not have to wait for books to be delivered nor will they need to pick them up because the eBook will instantly be downloaded and ready for use. Also, students can avoid having to carry around a backpack full of heavy textbooks for class. As long as students have their laptop or other electronic devices on hand, they have all the books they need for class.

The physical textbooks do still have some benefits. For one, they can be sold back at the end of the semester for cash from the bookstore at most colleges. Students do not get all of their money back, but they do get some spending money which can come in handy around campus. There is also less of a dependence on technology with textbooks. A lot of college students find out the hard way that technology can fail when it’s needed most. One last factor that can make or break textbooks for students is that they are easy to read. Some people feel like their eyes are fried from looking at a computer screen for hours upon hours. Using a laptop or tablet may or may not leave students with the same feeling.

In all, eBooks are occasionally cheaper than physical textbooks and students need to do their own research to see which books they can get the best deals on. Other than that, both eBooks and textbooks have pros and cons and it really comes down to student preference.

2011-08-10T07:40:00.001-07:00

Schools can teach sex education,
but only parents can teach MORALS.
LVKen7@GMail.com

Avoiding the Summer Slide

2011-07-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As August quickly approaches, students are realizing that summer is slowly coming to an end. With only one month left in their summer vacation, many students and parents are beginning to prepare for the beginning of the new school year. The aisles of stores are crawling with parents buying everything from notebooks and binders to calculators and protractors. Even though students have their school supplies, are they really prepared to return to school? During the last two months, students have had little mental stimulation. They have not practiced math problems or read a book since the beginning of June. How does this affect students and teachers during the school year and what can school districts do to avoid this problem?

The fact that students’ brains are on standby during the summer really hurts both the student and the teacher. Today’s students are not keeping their brains stimulated during the summer by revising the material they learned during the previous school year. This causes students to forget a lot of structured material for future learning. Therefore, teachers are forced to review past material in class which wastes valuable class time. If students arrived to school in September ready to go, teachers would have a much easier time with teaching the curriculum at a reasonable pace. Statistics describe that about 2.6 months of math material can be lost over the summer for some students. When teachers need to reteach this information to students in the beginning of the school year, it makes it difficult to stay on track. Because teachers use September as a review period, it is a struggle to finsh up the required lessons in June.

This problem is sweeping schools across the country and it is hard to come up with a simple solution to this problem. Some schools assign a required summer reading book. This is a great idea and can keep students thinking during the summer, but it is hard to administer. Some students get lazy and do not read the book because it is long or too boring. Only a select group of parents will actually encourage students to read the book, while others do not. A parent’s role is crucial to the success of their children in schools all over the world. If parents are not involved, then there is a good chance that students will not be fully involved either.

One other method of keeping students studying during the summer would be assigning work to do daily in a workbook. My parents had always encouraged me to do a few pages of math problems each day during the summer. The math was material that I had already learned and it was just practice so that I would not forget math equations from the previous year. Schools could create a similar workbook that is required to be finished over the summer. However, there is still the possibility that parents will not enforce the school’s requirements at home. Therefore, students would arrive to school in September at different levels because half the class did the assigned work and half did not. Parents should have their children practice math or English during the summer. It does not have to be a huge amount of time each day, just about twenty or thirty minutes daily. This time quickly adds up and it will give students an advantage when they return to school in the fall.

Something to Learn from Finland's Teachers

2011-07-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Over the past few decades, Finland has done a great job at turning one of the worst education systems into one of the world’s best. One of the ways this was accomplished was by selecting better teachers. In Finland, one of ten people studying to become a teacher actually ends up being a teacher. All educators have Masters Degrees and teachers are held in high regard. Many other countries with flourishing education systems follow a similar trend. So could this be a way to improve the declining United States education system?

I think that teachers should definitely be looked upon favorably as professionals. Teachers have some of the most complicated jobs, yet receive little respect for their efforts. If teachers want to have more of society’s admiration, they need to step up their game. Districts need to be much more selective when it comes to choosing teachers. It takes a special person to be a teacher and many of today’s teachers just do not fit the mold of being a professional educator. If we can raise the bar and have a higher quality of teachers, respect will come naturally.

In my area where some teachers are making a little under $100,000 a year with full benefits, many teachers carry out the actions of a qualified professional. However, very rarely would I get a sense of true admiration for my teachers. It was hard to feel like my teachers were working for students and not for themselves. Sure, my teachers would stay after school if students needed extra help, but being a teacher does not stop there. A fantastic teacher will persist. A few times I found myself and some of my classmates leaving an after school study session even more confused than before. Even the teacher knew that the some of the students did not have a good grasp on the material as we left. This kind of performance as a teacher does not demand much appreciation.

Raising the quality of teachers in the United States would definitely aid in the quest to an improved education system in the United States. The sort of respect that teachers would automatically gain for themselves would also work out some of the other problems in America’s schools. For example, teachers that were held in high regard would run into fewer difficulties with some students who do not take school as seriously. Also, parents would play a larger role in their children’s education. Parents that received a note from the teacher would treat matters more seriously and push their children to succeed in class.

In general, a higher quality of teacher would improve the education system in the United States. Teachers would naturally be held in higher regard, much like education professionals in Finland and other parts of the world. Then, almost automatically, many problems would start to work themselves out and the United States could be back on the road to having one of the world’s best education systems again.

Source: http://www.salon.com/news/david_sirota/2011/07/18/tony_wagner_finland/index.html

Dropout Billionaires

2011-07-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Today, some of the richest business people on earth are college dropouts. Take, for example, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Both had dropped out of college and were still successful. However, these days students are constantly being told to do well in school so they can go to college and be successful. But is it true? Do you have to go to college to be successful in life? Some entrepreneurs are paying students $100,000 to drop out of college and start their own business. So far, this idea has been promising. But does a college education always lead to success or is it better to drop out and work towards owning your own company?

Do you need a college degree to be successful? No. College is not for everyone and some people simply learn better outside of the classroom. There are people with careers regarded by society as being blue collar jobs that make much more money than people with college degrees. That is why there is no shame in having a less prestigious job like a mechanic or plumber and owning your own business. Some of these people find a lot of success in their field because we will always need people with the skills to fix cars, plumbing systems, and more.

This being said, society should not look at a college degree as the only key to success. There are ways of being successful without a degree. Society should reconsider looking at a college degree as increasing one’s probability of being successful. Some people graduate from college and think they will be making the big bucks, which is not true. Also, some college graduates may not work as hard and expect more money because of their degree. In this economy, a motivated electrician can be making a lot more than an incompetent lawyer.

Is it a good idea to drop out of college and start your own business or attempt to hit it big with an idea, just like many of today’s businesspeople had done in the past? No. Some people would definitely benefit from this, but not enough people would do well. The only reason Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and other college dropout billionaires made their money was due to their monumental ideas and persistence in working towards making these ideas a reality. Plus, most people simply do not have ideas as fruitful as Microsoft and Facebook.

Another reason to stay in school is to increase your knowledge so you can open your own business one day based on what you have learned. For example, people cannot dropout of school and open their own architect or rocket science business. Businesses based off of knowledge can also bring lots of success. Creating Facebook does not take a doctorate in Computer Science. However, running your own law firm does take several years of schooling. Most people need to realize that not everyone can own their own island like Fortune 500 CEOs. But there is nothing wrong with owning a few houses around the world or having a new Porsche in your garage. The best doctors and lawyers in the world will never make as much a Bill Gates has but they still contribute to society and find success.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/07/06/college-scam/?test=faces

The FOCUS Program

2011-06-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In New York, the Liverpool School District is implementing the FOCUS program for the 2011-2012 school year. The program is being implemented to raise the 81% district graduation rate. The new program will be held in a recently closed elementary in the district and is expected to have approximately 50 students enrolled in the program by the fall. This program is designed to focus on students who have trouble in high school by personalizing classes and giving students more individualized attention. Although the program looks like it will be successful, many parents are skeptical and feel that it is not a prudent investment.

The program has good intentions and will definitely raise the graduation rate. It is important to personalize education for students that struggle, especially in high school. As society attempts to educate more and more people, education is becoming less personal. When students have less individualized attention, many begin to struggle because they have different learning styles, ineffective teachers, or because they need more time to grasp information. As educators find successful methods of educating more people in a shorter time, it is important to remember to keep education personal to some extent.

The FOCUS program however looks as if it will find success only at a high cost. The fact that the district is reopening a school for 50 students is a bit ridiculous. It costs a lot of money to reopen and maintain a school. The original idea to shut down the elementary school in the first place was to save money. Reopening the school for a small group of students is not efficient. When it comes to educating students in a public school, districts try to limit the amount money being spent on each student. My high school spent about $9,500 a year to educate me. This included everything from books to my share of teachers’ salaries. When the FOCUS program is implanted, the majority of students will have a similar amount of money being put towards their education, but there will be 50 students with much larger amounts of money being put towards their education.

In all, the FOCUS program will be good for the students who need it but there are easier and more efficient ways of carrying the program out. The only problem which really seems to upset the district’s taxpayers is that the local elementary school is being reopened. If the FOCUS program could be carried out in the high school, the program would be perfect. This would reduce a lot of the costs that accompany reopening and maintaining a building for a small number of students. Perhaps the administration will recognize this after the first year of implementing this program. The current state of the economy forces school districts to use their money wisely and the best way to make this program cheaper and efficient is to use high school classrooms.

Source:

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2011/06/liverpool_prepares_to_launch_f.html

United States vs. Europe: Higher Education

2011-06-20T06:34:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

The American education system is constantly getting a bad reputation when it is compared to the rest of the world’s education system. Although there are some flaws in parts of America’s education system, the United States definitely has the best higher education system, especially when compared to the systems in many European countries. In Europe, schooling is very cheap or even free, yet college professors teach large numbers of students and remain relatively detached from their classes. Classes are typically held in buildings scattered all around cities and there is no real campus where students coagulate like in American Universities. How exactly does America have the upper hand when it comes to higher education?

First and foremost, the United States is home to most of the world’s best universities. These universities graduate the best leaders, business people, lawyers, doctors, and more. Also, a large percentage of Nobel Prize winners work at these universities. So overall, the United States has universities with solid professors and a quality education. Even though America has strong professors, the way the system is set up also gives the United States an edge when it comes to higher education.

European universities do not typically have main campuses. Along with this lack of a common area for students, European universities have fewer clubs, sports teams, and other social gatherings. Plus, professors at European universities do not really interact with their students. They usually give there lecture and hand out exams. There is no guidance or help given to students by professors in Europe. Even in some of the largest American Universities, there is still some sort of interaction whether it be a question and answer session or office hours. The point is that education is more than memorizing facts and grasping concepts. Education is a growing process that must be built from sources other than a lecture. Clubs and social interaction among students helps to build education. Students can learn just as much from each other than from a professor and this decreased amount of social interaction in Europe. Even the lack of feedback from professors in Europe is a problem. Students will know what they get wrong, but nobody tells them how to fix their mistakes.

One last way European universities fall short in higher education is how they are cheap or free. At first, little to no cost education sounds great; however, there are some flaws hidden within this system. Many students finish up their education and prepare to enter the workforce and discover that it was great being a student. This leads to many students staying in school because it is easy being a student and it allows people to put off working in the real world. This causes many problems with the government, employment, and the education system itself. In the United States, large college tuitions limit the amount of time students stay in college and give them reasons to hurry up and graduate. Once students do graduate, they can begin to pay off college loans by entering the workforce. For some students, the pricy tuitions motivate them to graduate in less time than previously thought.

Although America is weak in some areas of its education system, it is easy to see that higher education is unparalleled. Even though the education is not free or very efficient, in the long run it proves to be the best. People from all around the world get college educations in America because it is more than just an education. Higher education in America is an experience worth having.

Celebrity Tutors

2011-06-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

A friend of mine who recently immigrated to the United States from India was talking to me one day about the differences between life in the United States and India. When I asked him how high school compared in each country I was shocked to hear his comparison. He described that in India, school work always comes before fun, but in the United States, sometime fun can come before school work. This really made me think about the types schooling systems there are in other countries of the world. Currently in Hong Kong, there has been a lot of fuss about tutors who are treated much like celebrities. How exactly are these celebrity tutors affecting Hong Kong and will the rest of the world adapt these methods one day?

In Hong Kong, there are currently a hand full of tutors who are famous for their teaching skills and regarded as celebrities. They pretty much live the celebrity life style and have nice cars and big houses. Parents are willing to spend a lot of money on their children’s education and hire these tutors so that their children can do even better in school. But, is this good for the education system of Hong Kong? In my opinion, it is good in moderation for more than one reason. First off, when tutors are suddenly being viewed as celebrities, a lot of the fame and fortune can get to the tutors heads. This can later cause a decreased quality in education for these students. Also, tutoring needs to be implemented in moderation because it is possible to have too much of a good thing. If parents are hiring a tutor, it should be to help the student in one or two subjects where the student is weak. In Hong Kong, some parents are having their children tutored in several classes. This is not tutoring. If a student is constantly struggling in more than two academic subjects, it is probably best to just accept that the student will not be able to succeed in an education system as brutal as that of Hong Kong. This just turns in to unnecessary stress.

Since there is such a large amount of students and a low college acceptance rate, it may be best to come to the realization that not everyone is cut out for college. This may be hard to grasp for some parents but the world still needs plumbers and electricians to function properly. I am in no way down-playing these jobs, but really I am describing how these occupations are just as important as jobs which require years of education. Also, I am not saying that a quality education is not important. Quality educations are important, but there should be no shame in having an occupation that comes with little prestige. There are some blue-collar workers out there making a lot more money than some lawyers.

Is there a possibility that the United States will one day have these sorts of celebrity teachers? There will probably be some celebrity educators but only to an extent. There will not be celebrity tutors to the extent that there are now in Hong Kong. This is not because American students do not want to learn, but this is attributed more to the way the United States education system is made up. The United States has more colleges with more spaces for students. There is a greater opportunity for students to learn in the United States. Some of the students who are accepted into American colleges may never come close to getting into college if they lived in Hong Kong. However, parents in the United States still drop large sums of money on their children’s education and if an educator were to step up and create a successful learning program that is personalized for students, much like the tutors of Hong Kong, there would be a bit of a fuss. America would still find many benefits that Hong Kong has found, just not to the extent. There is definitely the possibility for tutors to become popular in other parts of the world where the education system is harsher. Some parts of Europe and Asia would find a lot of success with tutors. At this point, there really needs to be someone who steps up and creates tutoring programs for students around the globe.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/some-tutors-treated-like-celebrities-in-hong-kong-2011-05-30/4D99C0CD-4ABA-4B2D-8702-EA27BB317C70#!4D99C0CD-4ABA-4B2D-8702-EA27BB317C70

What Makes a Good Teacher?

2011-05-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As teaching gradually becomes a popular profession, more and more people are looking to be teachers. We currently have the highest number of people qualified to be teachers than ever before. Although there is such a large amount of people to pick from, most of these people would probably be terrible teachers. Even of all the people currently employed as teachers, a lot of them are simply poor educators. It takes a special kind of person to be a teacher. A good teacher needs to have a particular personality and qualities. So what kind of qualities make a good teacher?

We have all had bad teachers. They come in all different forms. There are the popular teachers that everyone likes, but cannot teach their subject. Likewise, there are extremely well educated teachers that cannot get their point across. These teachers just do not know how to teach. Many teachers do not pay much attention to their lesson plan and curriculum and that is very obvious to the students. Good teachers do not get enough credit for the hard work that they do put into their time in the classroom. Good teachers are able to put themselves in the mindset of their students whether they are in 2^nd grade or seniors in high school. A lot of critical thinking goes into teaching. Many teachers either underestimate or overestimate the intelligence of their students. Many high school teachers are notorious for overestimating their students’ intelligence. For example, many math teachers have several struggling students a year. In math, many students forget some of the basic principles which direct complex math equations. While a handful of teachers assume all the students remember their basic math skills, good teachers take some time during class to review these simple concepts.

Finding this balance in each class is difficult but the best teachers always find this point in their students’ intelligence. The good teachers are also able to stimulate the brains of the smarter students while still being able to attend to the students that have a difficult time learning. Too many teachers pick one of the two extremes of students to target. Often, teachers target the smarter students in the class and cause even the average students to become lost. Some teachers which target the students which learn slower find just as many problems as teachers which focus on faster learning students. The smarter students quickly become bored because they are not being challenged. Therefore, many students lose interest in the subject being taught and even the smarter students' grades begin to drop because they put in less effort.

Everybody has also had a teacher being unfair, unreasonable, or one that just cannot be pleased. These are probably the most frustrating teachers to have as a student. More often than not, students struggling with C’s or D’s in a class are putting in more time than students with A’s. It is extremely difficult to be a student these days and students put in more time into their studies than it may seem. The best teachers recognize this and motivate their students to keep up the good work. Many teachers call home if there are problems in class. What teachers should do is call when students are doing a good job. As a student, it feels good to know that your hard work and effort is not going unrecognized. Even if the student has a less than spectacular grade in class, a phone call home telling mom and dad that there is an obvious increase in effort will motivate the student to keep working hard. Even in high school, students like to have their hard work recognized by both their teachers and their parents.

One last key quality which good teachers possess is respect. This means the teacher respects the students and the students respect the teacher. If the teacher respects students, teachers will have a better time teaching. They will quickly learn the strengths and weakness of their students and help each student work to fix their weaknesses. Students will recognize this and will become motivated to work harder in school to prove to themselves and others that they can improve. If students respect their teachers, teachers will be taken seriously and will have more authority in class. Many substitute teachers have a tough time demanding respect from students. Thus, they are taken advantage of and walked all over whether they realize it not. It is rare that a substitute teacher comes into class and has even a little control over the class. Substitute teachers need to lay down the law quickly in the beginning of class and set the tone for the rest of the time in class. This is easiest if the substitute knows the classroom policies and implements them right away.

These are only a few of the key differences which set the great teachers apart from the average teachers. From a student’s perspective, these aspects are very important because students like to have attention and feel important in class. Many students also like to be motivated and need an authority figure to push them to reach places that they once thought impossible.

2011-05-21T06:13:00.000-07:00

Reaching Out to Others to Save Money

2011-05-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As the government continues to cut education funding, schools are forced to come up with new ways to save money. School administrators in Waco, Texas have reached out to the parents of students, as well as the rest of the community for ideas to save money. People could submit their suggestions online which were then categorized and counted. There ended up being 115 different suggestions; both good and bad ones. Currently, the school district’s financial advisors are reviewing this list to see whether or not any of the ideas could be implemented in schools.

In general, I feel that this is a great idea. It is a very wise move for administrators to reach out to parents and the community for a number of reasons. First off, some parents may have good ideas for cutting costs but simply cannot have their ideas heard at the district’s board meetings. The school district really has nothing to lose because of the 115 suggestions a few of the ideas should be able to save money. It also takes some pressure off of the administrators because parents will then realize just how difficult it is to come up with creative ways to save money. This process gives everyone a voice, so there really is no excuse for parents whining how they cannot make a difference when they have good ideas. In reality, most of the ideas are probably useless because they are either impractical or simply cannot be executed without a decrease in the quality of education. It is vital that the district has the ideas reviewed by its financial advisors because most of the good ideas that seem to work still may be unable to be implemented due to several reasons.

More school districts across the country should also try this technique to gather ideas for cutting costs. They may be surprised to discover that there are some good suggestions out there for saving money. One other way districts could look for crafty ways to reduce costs would be to look at the ways other school districts all over the country are finding ways to save. Schools all across America have faced cuts in federal funding and if school districts can learn from each other, then they can get more bang for their buck.

It will be interesting to see if any of the 115 suggestions can actually be used in the school district. I feel that the results will be promising. At college, professors and courses would always be graded at the end of each semester in order to make changes for the next year. The college used the feedback given by students and courses would be restructured then every few years to ensure a high quality of learning. It is good to see how other institutions are adopting the same technique of reaching out to others for ideas to improve. This should definitely be practiced more in the education field and schools all over should by saying, “Help us to help you.”

Source: http://www.kxxv.com/story/14680592/parents-list-their-ideas-to-save-waco-isd-money

Keeping Cursive in School

2011-05-10T21:48:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

There has recently been a running debate among educators on the usefulness of teaching cursive in elementary schools. Everybody remembers spending countless hours in second and third grade perfecting their cursive. Today, teachers are thinking about cutting it from the curriculum for several reasons. Educators are not calling to question the importance of cursive, but some feel that it isn’t worth it. There are several pros and cons for educating today’s youth cursive.

First, the major problem that arises with teaching cursive is the opportunity cost. Teachers ask, “What else can I be doing in class during the time that it takes to teach second graders cursive.” This question makes many teachers think because there is a large chunk of class time dedicated to teaching cursive. Students practically are relearning the alphabet in a more fancy and complicated style. This means they need to spend a lot of time constantly writing out their cursive over and over again. For me, cursive was practiced first thing each morning for about an hour over a time span of about three to four months. Each hour of dedicated to cursive can add up over time and this time could have easily been elsewhere.

Another problem that accompanies the instruction of cursive is that cursive is a dying art as technology is quickly taking over. Many argue that people never use cursive to write letters as email has taken over. Even in the workplace, documents are typically typed and if not people just print because it is easier. Therefore, it seems preposterous that schools spend a lot of time on cursive when it is used little, if at all, in the future. This especially holds true when teachers see that time teaching cursive can be changed to time teaching students to use computers and other technology. In the long run, it would definitely serve students better if they were taught to use the computer and type rather than learning to write in cursive.

On the other hand, there are still many arguments for keeping cursive in school. For one, students need to learn it for signing signatures in the professional world and even in their daily lives as adults. Cursive has always been regarded as professional and practiced only the well-educated individuals in society. If there is an end to cursive, many people would come across as being flat out dumb. Even today, too many students do not know how to professionally sign a letter or signature. It is still important to not completely cut cursive from curriculums.

The best alternative to this problem would be to assign cursive as homework. Also, cursive could be done independently over summer. This would give teachers more time in class to teach other important things that may be overlooked when trying to squeeze cursive into a full curriculum. An advantage to cursive is that it easy to learn and can easily be picked up by students on their own at home and independently. This advantage should be taken advantage of by teachers. Especially when there are subjects taught in classes that are not as easy to grasp for second and third grade students.

2011-05-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

We NEED more Affordable OnLine Learning.

LVKen7@Gmail.com

Everything starts with a GOOD Education

2011-05-07T09:48:00.001-07:00

Conserving Energy for Success

2011-04-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As education funding continues to be cut across the United States, school districts continue to look for easier ways to save money. Administrators need to find new methods so that they can get more bang for their buck. One easy way to reduce costs which often gets overlooked, is to control energy costs.

In my high school, I noticed that computers and televisions were usually left on overnight. Overall, there was a general lack of initiative of staff and faculty which cared about the energy costs of the school. For example, some teachers would open the window on nice days and keep on the air conditioning unit. It is wasteful to pay for the air conditioning when it is not being used. Also, buses would constantly idle in the parking lots waiting for students. I felt that this is twice as bad because not only is the school losing money on expensive gasoline, but the environment is also being affected. I can also see some examples of this wastefulness at college. After all the academic buildings close down for the night at about 12 o’clock, every room and atrium remains lit up. When the building is locked and not being used, it should not need to be lit up and have computers running.

This problem exists in schools because many people are simply careless. Many teachers, staff, and faculty do not turn off lights and are generally wasteful because they think, “I’m not paying the energy bill.” Everyone has that kind of attitude at work. Since they are not paying for it they can be lazy. What people need to realize is that they are paying for it indirectly. If workers blow off money on energy costs, they are very unlikely to see that money later. This example holds true for teachers as well. If teachers, and all of a school’s employees, do not try to lower energy costs, they will not see that money later in the form of a bonus or new classroom technology.

The idea of lowering energy costs in schools may sound a bit useless because many may argue that it is more trouble than its worth. In reality, it isn’t. It would be relatively easy to start a campaign that advocates the conservation of energy in schools. School districts would be surprised to see just how much money is being wasted on unused energy. Initially, it would save a few thousand dollars here and there. This money could definitely be utilized somewhere in the school district. Eventually, school districts could focus on other areas of the education field to save money in by conserving energy. These areas include things like transportation, recycling, grounds keeping, janitorial services, and more. There are a lot of possibilities which often get overlooked.

One school that has saved a lot of money conserving energy is Redmond High School in Seattle, Washington. Students initially trying to protect the environment ended up saving their school a lot of money. By simply reducing electricity use, they saved about $7,500. After a complete overhaul of the school district’s energy use, $550,000 was saved in only 2 ½ years. This amount of money would go very far in any school district and would give administration a break from the recent cuts in education funding.

Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2004015249_greenschools15e.html

The Importance of Writing

2011-04-20T17:27:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Writing is very important for students but often seems to be overlooked by many professionals in the education field. These days, there seems to be a large variation in the importance of writing among colleges. In general, many colleges do not stress the usefulness of writing.

One of the reasons that students do not have sufficient writing skills is because many of the large universities do not focus on writing as much as they should. Since there are so many students being pumped out of these large universities and state schools, quality is overlooked in educating quantity. All schools have special requirements that students need to meet. For example, some schools require two years of English and/or Writing courses. When these schools are one of the goliaths like Ohio State or University of Florida, many of the students were in classes with hundreds of other students. When professors are teaching classes with such a high number of students, they will not assign the same amount of essays to write. Neither professors nor teacher aids will want to grade such a large number of papers. Plus, there is a lack of feedback for students when they are in very large class sizes.

Smaller colleges generally address the importance of writing more than larger colleges. That is not to say that if you graduated from a large institution you are a bad writer. Smaller class sizes allow professors to assign a sufficient amount of papers and to grade them individually. Also, professors can then meet one on one and address any strengths, weaknesses and comments for the paper. Feedback is crucial to learning and becoming a better writer. The feedback allows students to directly improve their writing for future assignments and the workplace. This same lack of feedback that can be found on college campuses may also be prominent for many online college students. The sorts of writing assignments that are done by online students may not be up to par with other students. There are ways where students can receive feedback from their online course assignments, but it cannot be as useful or meaningful as a one on one conference over an assignment.

One other factor about writing that is constantly overlooked is the form of writing which students study. A science major’s form of writing will be very different from the form of writing a political science or an English major has. Scientists are very direct in their writing and avoid using flowery wording in their literature. A scientist will have an extremely different style than that of a journalist or professional writer. It is important that people studying to work in these different types of occupations are taught the correct ways to write literature in their field.

The Cultural Factors Hindering Science Education

2011-04-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello In his article “How Our Culture Keeps Students Out of Science,” Peter Wood touches on many of the important aspects of how there are decreasing numbers of students interested in science. Many of these factors are caused by American culture and education system. It is important to fix these problems because there are other countries competing with the US as the world’s superpower. If we can fix this problem, the U.S. would have more scientists to advance technology in all fields of science.

One of the first problems which needs to be fixed is the type of visa going to foreign students in the United States. The current types of visas are set up so that the smartest scientists in the world graduate from Ivy League schools and go back to their home country instead of working in the United States. This is definitely a problem because it raises the demand for qualified scientists to study in the United States. It also makes it difficult for employers in the United States to hire scientists which would not only bring success, money, and power to the employers, but also the United States. This causes countries like China and India to have some of America’s best workers because they are being sent off by the US government.

Wood also touches on the problems of America’s education system. One of the problems he highlights is how the system actually hinders the learning process for the sciences. First off, it is obvious that learning science is difficult for many reasons, including the type of work load and labs in college, as well as the type of knowledge that must be previously learned to perfect a scientist’s skills. For example, scientists use math every day at their job. This sort of math is very tough to learn for many students and only a few students develop a high affinity for math. The educational programs at many of the schools in the United States are very poor and do not exactly motivate learning science and math. This only hinders us down the road when there is a shortage of scientists.

The general mindset that many schools take also acts as a problem in many elementary schools. Many schools try to instill self-esteem into students, rather than allowing them to feel achievement after a job well done. Wood describes how many students feel a false sense of accomplishment after working on trivial tasks. In other parts of the world, many countries do not praise their students for doing poorly, even if they had tried their best. This also causes a problem because it draws students away from entering the fields of science. I feel that this is partially true because in my experience there have been many students which had dropped from science classes because the information, concepts and ideas were simply too difficult to grasp. Furthermore, I can relate to Wood in the ways that this eventually leads to a problem. Since many students give up in the area of science, there is an overall decline in the amount of students entering the field of science.

One last subject Wood talks about is how women would be very useful when it comes to helping out society. It would be very nice to see more women in the workforce - especially women who are hoping to enter the science field. If more women were working in engineering, mathematics and other fields of science, there would definitely be an increase in the number of well-educated scientists.

In all, it is quite important to recognize these problems and fix them so that we can create a better future for the future generations of human beings. Also, it would be beneficial to the United States as we compete with China, India, and other countries for the position of a world superpower.

Source: http://richarddawkins.net/articles/2953

2011-04-09T09:37:00.001-07:00

Online Education
http://www.khanacademy.org/

Take a look and let me know what you think

LVKen7@Gmail.com

Search results - Blogger Help

2011-04-02T10:32:00.000-07:00

The USA should have a Goal to be the

BEST NATION IN THE WORLD.

To be the Best Nation

we Need the Smartest People.

To have the Smartest People

they must be the BEST EDUCATED.

To get the Best Education

we Need the Best Teachers.

We get the BEST Teachers

by paying them better than any other state.

At present, The USA has NO goal.

Online Education of the Future

2011-03-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As college tuition rates rise more and more many people are searching for new and cheaper ways of educating people. In order to bring cheaper education to more people experts are turning to the Internet. Online courses are slowly being introduced to college campuses across the nation because they are simply cheap. Plus, studies have shown that more information is absorbed by using online programs as opposed to the “old fashioned” classroom learning. Some experts say that the typical college campuses of today will be obsolete sometime in the near future. It is also predicted that online courses will fast track learning so that more people will be able to learn more information at a faster rate. So fast that 4 year college degrees will be compacted into only three years of instruction. Although, there is a lot of hype over this new revolution in college education. Is it going to work?

I think that for the most part it will be successful. However, there are some areas which may not be as successful as predicted. First off, one area where this system may fail would be when it comes to math education. Math is all conceptual learning. Therefore, learning math is much more difficult to learn and teach than other subjects, such as history, which is strictly recall learning. Teaching concepts, in my opinion, would be much more successful if instructors are utilized. Teachers are able to give more examples of math problems, while teaching it in greater detail than a computer. Also, instructors are able to give feedback and help confused students. There are ways to teach math effectively online; however, it is very complex to carry out on a computer.

Another flaw of online education could be its inability to teach proper lab techniques in classes such as biology, chemistry, and physics. This poses a problem because students wishing to enter the science field are expected to graduate college with a lot of lab experience. This lack of lab experience hurts students when applying for jobs after graduation. There are few employers that would hire a science major that doesn’t have any experience in a lab.

This sort of shortfall in online education can also hold true while learning languages. Languages need to be learned by reading, writing, speaking, and listening to the language. Currently, we have the technology to teach many aspects of language, but we are lacking the technology to teach students to fluently speak the language. In colleges, students are able to have conversations in class using the language. To have the same kind of conversation online is just difficult at this point in time. Also, the best way to learn a foreign language is through complete immersion in the language. Online learning simply cannot provide such an experience. Plus, it would be easy for students to cheat during online tests. Students could have a window up on their computer screen like “Google Translate” which can instantly translate a ton of data. Instructors would be unable to monitor this kind of cheating and students just would be experiencing the same quality of education as those who go to class.

Other than these few exceptions online education has a lot of potential to completely revolutionize the education system as we know it. Not only is the future of online education cheaper, but it looks as if it will be much faster and be available to more people, which are all great characteristics.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2011/0228/opinions-steve-forbes-fact-comment-dinosaur-u.html

To All the Children Seeking Love from Their Parents

2011-03-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

By Anthony Pellegrino

Today my thoughts are on all the children who are crying out for love and attention from their parents. We parents make their lives happy or we make their lives miserable. May we never forget that we are parents of children who need us. Let us not forget that we once were children. The thoughts and love our parents gave us are who we are today. Please think about the meaning of the poem I wish to share with you.

FATHER FORGETS

By W. Livingston Larned

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor.

At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Goodbye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!"

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Stockings were expensive - and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father!

Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither. And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs.

Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding - this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bed-side in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed!

It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual: "He is nothing but a boy - a little boy!"

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much.

Four Day School Weeks

2011-03-10T17:34:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently in Texas, there has been a law proposed to cut typical five day school weeks to four day school weeks. The idea is still in its initial stages, so there isn’t a solid framework of exactly how school weeks would be structured. There would be an extra hour of school added to each of the four days to make up for loss of one full day. Also, this would cause students to have a three day weekend. If the idea is examined deeper, we may be able to see some benefits or maybe not.

At first, this idea sounds great to both students and schools. For students, it means less work and less days going to school. For schools, teachers have to work less. School administrators love this for budgeting purposes because it means there is less money that has to go towards transportation, school upkeep, and cafeteria costs. This plan is a great way to save money because it literally cuts out one fifth of the school year out for students, teachers and administration. Parents, however, hate this entire concept. For one it may mean that their children’s education will not be as strong as it could be. Also, parents are then burdened with having to arrange people to watch their children for an entire day.

From an educational standpoint, this is probably the worst idea for American education ever. The amount of time that students are in school has a direct correlation with the amount students learn. Even though the plan would be to increase the length of the four remaining school days, there would still be a loss of hours of instruction. A few hours here and there add up and at the end of the school year there would be a significantly less amount of instruction time. The argument that some people have is that students will be doing more work outside of class on their own. This is terrible reasoning because students in middle school and below need the direction and guidance of teachers. Simply telling children to teach themselves math is not a good solution.

Furthermore, students’ mindsets would definitely change when it comes to school. Since they are only going to school for a little more than half of the week, students would develop a poor attitude about school and learning. They would most likely become lazier and be more likely to skip school in high school and college. The education of students in Texas may even lose out later on in life because of their lower amount of education. Colleges would be more cautious about accepting Texas students because those students may be labeled as poorly educated.

In all, it is important to try to save money in the education field and many people are finding great ways to bring cheaper education to more people. This idea is just bad. As professionals seek new ways of improving education, it is vital to remember that the quality of education should never take the back seat to saving money.

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/education&id=8003913

Restructuring the School Year for Success

2011-03-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Over past years, the United States has slowly begun to drop in the ranks of the best educated students around the world. As students from all across the globe take standardized tests, it is becoming clear that one of the world’s superpowers is not doing so well among its peers. Countries like Japan, China (particularly in Shanghai), are proving to have some of the highest test scores in math and science. As the United States struggles among other emerging countries, many people are wondering exactly what is the United States’ educational system doing wrong. What can we learn from other countries’ educational system in order to improve that of the United States?

One initial solution to the problem that is constantly argued by critics is to increase the number of days students go to school. Japanese students attend more than 60 extra days of schools when compared to students in the United States. The Japanese also did much better on tests in comparison to the United States. There is definitely a correlation between the number of days at school and test score, but I do not see the benefits of adding 60 more school days to American students. Increasing the school year by 60 days in the United States would cause more harm than good. It would increase the length of the school year by 33% and thus all the teachers’ paychecks would need to be increased by 33% as well. This would just cause too much of an increase in taxes that Americans would be paying. Plus, it would increase costs for school districts in many other areas, such as transportation and cafeteria costs.

There could still be a bit of an increase in the number days students go to school, but I do not think any more than 20 extra days would be beneficial. Just a small increase in the number of school days would allow teachers to move at a bit of a slower pace so that students can take their time to learn the information more fully. It would also alleviate a lot of the stress for teachers so that there is not anything in the curriculum that needs to be crammed into the last week of school. A few weeks extension would also increase the pay of the teachers, but not to a huge or unmanageable extent.

Another option is to have a school year that goes through the summer. I know that it is an unpopular idea but it would definitely raise test scores. The lack of a long summer break in countries like Japan and China are more beneficial than their extra school days. In the US, the first two to three months of the school year are a review of the material learned the previous year. If there was just a constant flow of learning, material would not have to be relearned each year and more would get done. There is too much wasted time that goes towards relearning material in schools and to win that time back would allow a lot more new material to be taught. The transformation to a year round school year would not be difficult. Winter and spring breaks could be made longer and summer break could be made shorter in order to implement this year round learning. If the United States education system adopted a year round regimen, there wouldn’t be a need for lengthening the school year because time will be saved by simply not reviewing the previous year’s material.

Ultimately, either option could help out the United States greatly in the international ranks. However, each would take a lot of time and collaboration to design a schedule that is both practical and efficient.

Sources:

http://blog.brainstormusa.com/?p=158

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/world/2010/December/International-Test-Scores-US-Not-in-Top-10-/

Quizlet

2011-02-20T21:51:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

One of the most effective ways of learning, according to science, is repetition of information. The human brain is practically wired to soak up data that is repeated over and over. One tool that I have used in past for studying which utilizes the benefits of repetition is a website called Quizlet. I have found it to be an extraordinary study tool for tests.

Quizlet is a free service that is simple to use. All you need is an email address to set up an account and you have access to the program. The website allows people to make up their own flash cards of the information that they need to study. Quizlet then allows users to play games with their cards or just study the information as if they are real flash cards. It is extremely easy to use and completely free. Another advantage to Quizlet is that the website can save each user’s cards and organize them into separate lists for each subject of material. There is also a feature which allows people to share lists of cards so that users do not need to create new lists. Instead, users can simply search for a list of cards and get results which match their exact subject of information.

An advantage of sharing the information lets teachers make up lists and post them onto the site for their students to use. I feel that this is a great idea and gives students the ability to learn in a way that doesn’t involve tedious writing or outlining. Teachers can also use it as a class activity in the computer lab on a day before a test so that students can study in an effective manner in class. Also, the program can be used in practically every subject. I have found that Quizlet is extremely useful for learning the vocabulary in a foreign language class. There are also ways of implementing it in science classes for learning the definitions of terms and even in math classes to memorize formulas. Some people are even more creative and use it to study for standardized tests, such as the SAT, ACT, or even the MCAT.

Although Quizlet has a lot of benefits, there are some downsides to the website. For one, the list of cards that are placed up on the site for all to use may not be correct data. These days, it is not right to trust anyone online. However, one may feel that the information on the cards is correct, but in reality, students may be studying the wrong set of information. One other disadvantage is that some students may miss out on leaning the entirety of information for tests. It is easy to memorize long lists of information but simply not all types of information can be learned by writing it on a card and memorizing it. I have seen students memorize only terms on Quizlet for tests and then disregard the concepts and processes that accompany learning in subjects like math and science.

One final advantage which really sells Quizlet is that it has apps for the iPhone, Palm, and other smart phones. This is awesome because it enables users to study terms on the go. This allows students to study at times when they are not around a computer. It makes it easy for students to increase the number of repetitions for studying which is great.

http://quizlet.com/

Homeschooling: Hot or Not?

2011-02-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In the past few years, there has been a steady climb in the number of students who are homeschooled. Some parents feel that their children can get a better education at home; a place where more can get accomplished in a shorter amount of time and at a lower cost. Are these parents actually helping their children by homeschooling, or are they denying them of a quality education?

The most important learning that takes place in schools does not happen in the classroom. It is in the hallway, cafeteria, and at recess. These are the main locations where students socialize, an extremely important aspect of schooling that is simply missed out by homeschool students. It is vital that children learn to associate and communicate with their peers, as well as making friends and developing basic people skills. These skills include things like sharing, apologizing, and developing some independence. Some homeschooled students definitely miss out on this sort of development and human interaction. Even as students become older, high school and college is a place to develop street smarts, independence, networking skills, and friendships. These are all experiences that are missed by homeschooled students. I’m not saying that all homeschool students are social recluses, but I definitely think that these students miss out on some awesome learning experiences and the opportunities to meet some pretty amazing people.

Another con of homeschooling is that it costs more money than public schools. Parents need to buy expensive textbooks each year. This makes it very difficult for the poorer students, who live in areas with bad schools, to be homeschools because of the expense. Also, unless parents can afford tutors, some students may lack in some skills such as writing, especially if their parents aren’t good writers. This could be a problem because students would only be as strong as a writer as their parents. This lack of academic skill may not be sufficient to pass the final exams that students must take each year. If they fail the exam, then they are year behind in writing or reading which poses a large problem for the students and parents.

There are some special cases where the school has a bad learning environment and homeschooling is the next best option. There is also the argument that a particular student may have a learning disability which is best handled at home or by parents. For these students, homeschooling can definitely prove to be more effective than regular schooling. Additionally, some religions also prefer that students are not subjected to some of the activities that go on at schools. Therefore, children with those beliefs are homeschooled and still have the opportunities to socialize with others. If parents do chose to homeschool their children, they should make sure that their children have enough exposure with other children their age in order to have some social skills for when they later enter the workforce as adults.

A Learning Concept

2011-01-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

I recently heard the statistic from my Psychology professor that 65% of the population are visual learners. This means that when people can see or visualize data in their heads, it is easier for them to retain that information. I am a visual learner myself and one of the greatest yet underutilized tools for learning via visual stimulus are concept maps. A concept map is simply a way of showing how a series of interrelated topics relate. They should be used more often in the education field and cause more bang for the buck.

Concept maps are typically utilized by science students and one huge misunderstanding about these tools, is that they are only useful in science. In fact, concept maps can be useful in more than natural sciences like biology and chemistry, but also in subjects like political science, economics, business and even math. They can also be quite useful when developing an argument for a debate or a persuasive speech or paper. I find that concept maps are an efficient form of learning. For me, I find that learning about the interaction between topics is easier and more effective when I make the connections on paper, as opposed to having to make the same connections in my mind.

One way schools can implement these into classes would be to create concept maps as a class activity. There is a program available online called “Cmap Tools.” This is a free, downloadable program that enables students to create concept maps on their computer. It is extremely easy to use and download. Since it is completely free, teachers can be sure it is not a risky investment that may fail in helping students. Teachers can have a class activity dedicated to learning how to make them or they can hand out pre-made concept maps to use as a study guide. If teachers don’t have a projector for teaching students on the “Cmap Tools” program, they can easily teach students about concept maps using a regular black board.

The nice thing about concept maps in general is that they can be used for so many different activities both in and out of the classroom; this includes everything from note taking and studying, to modeling projects and evaluating fine details of complex subjects. One way I saw concept maps being utilized creatively was for a debate. It allows a debater to view both sides of that argument and makes it easier to address the weaker points of an argument that can be improved upon. If more people knew about the capabilities of concept maps, they could even be used at a person’s place of employment. This could include everything from lawyers to video game designers.

Cmap Tools Site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/

Students Make the School

2011-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Dr. Robert Weissberg recently wrote a book entitled, “Bad Students, Not Bad Schools.” In his book, he takes a controversial stance and describes how schools are only as good as the students attending them. He describes that if we take bad students out of schools and focus more on the motivated students who want to learn, then the education system will be much more successful. Teachers are not the ones at fault and when they are hindered by lazy students, they are unable to focus on the students who enjoy learning. Are Dr. Robert Weissberg’s ideas true about America’s education system today, and would his suggestions on how to fix schools cause a change in America’s schools?

For the most part, Dr. Robert Weissberg’s ideas do seem to fit America’s schools today. I agree with his stance on bad students and how they hinder many of today’s schools. I myself agree in a “sink or swim” kind of mindset for schools. In my schooling experience, I found that about 90% of my classmates wanted to learn, which was great. However, it was this small 10% of students that just wanted to leave, which really held back the rest of us. It was these students which acted up in class and in the hallways during the school day. It did not occur a lot, but enough to force the school to hire hall aids and “rent-a-cops” which had had the task of removing these students if they interrupted the flow of learning.

It wasn’t that the students directly hindered the class all the time, but they held the school back indirectly. For one, they caused teachers to be a bit intimated by students because teachers would see this bad minority of students’ behavior and label the other 90% to have the same mindset as these punks. Then, it seemed that all students would miss out on some class activities because the teacher was afraid it would get out of hand. Also, if we add up the salaries of all the hall aids and “rent-a-cops,” we can see how our school could have benefited from having an extra couple hundred thousand dollars of spending money.

If schools could come up with a means of isolating the unmotivated students from the motivated students, there could be more opportunities for the good students. There would be more opportunities for learning as well as funding for the education of these students. For the unmotivated students, there ought to be a program to help these students get their GED quickly.

I also want to bring up that there is a difference between bad students and special education students. Bad students are completely unmotivated and special education students have a difficult time learning. Bad students and special educated students often get grouped together. Bad students do not struggle with learning like special education students, because bad students do not even put forth effort. Special education students would not be penalized as long as they are putting forth the effort to learn, even if learning comes difficult to them.

I also must address the fact that Dr. Robert Weissberg is a bit racist. He describes that Hispanic and Black IQs, are not as high as those of Caucasians. I am not sure if this is a valid statistic; however, it is important to remember that it is not only skill that determines if one is a good or bad student. Motivation is the key factor. There can be bad students that are extremely intelligent which simply do not apply themselves. There may also be students that lack a bit in their ability to learn, but since they are motivated and try in school they can succeed in a “sink or swim” learning environment.

Making Technology in Education Efficient

2011-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As technology is being implemented more and more in schools, teachers and administrators need to make sure that the technology is being used in the most efficient manner possible. Since a lot of money is being spent on the technology, teachers must be able to maximize its benefits by ensuring it helps the majority of their students. So when teachers receive these expensive pieces of equipment to utilize while teaching their classes, they need to know how to operate them to their full potential. This entails teachers going to workshops that show how to operate this new technology. Some schools across the US buy the technology, but don’t teach the instructors to use them properly. Therefore, some school districts do not see such an increase in learning.

If the teacher lacks the correct methodology for teaching with these new smart boards and I Pads, they will be useless for students. There are plenty of interactive technologies that are ignored by a lot of teachers. This is not on purpose, but simply because they are uninformed about the capabilities of these super-computers. Online labs for science courses are a great example of an overlooked means of teaching. While these online labs do not properly teach students firsthand how to use a microscope correctly, they will teach students how different molecules interact on a microscopic level. This ensures that students get a better understanding of topics like science, math, and even foreign languages.

The main point of these pieces of technology is to aid in students’ learning. Most students are visual learners and technology on the market today is perfect for these kinds of students. Many students cannot build concepts in their heads by just listening or reading something one time. By using technology, even something as simple as a video can improve students understanding of information. One example that I found that worked perfectly for me was when I learned how muscles work. I would read the process multiple times in the textbook and try to come up with a model in my head which still wasn’t perfect. At school, my teacher had some amazing software that had a 3D model of muscle tissue on the projector. The software enabled him to interact with the model and show us what happens when these cells contract. This software serves as an example to show how technology can be extremely useful as teaching aids.

One thing that educators must watch out for is technology that isn’t compatible with the way students learn. I recently spoke with a friend about his online math course that he was taking for community college. He described how some chapters of his lessons were extremely difficult because they lacked different diagrams and graphs that were pivotal in understanding the information. Upon completing the course, he felt that the program was designed well, but there were some things he would have done differently if he were creating the program. These kinds of things included adding more visuals and interactive activities that would make students think and find different ways to solve math problems.

In all, there are some school districts that feel that technology isn’t a prudent investment. They are putting down big bucks for the technology and simply do not see the results. In order for educators to get more bang from their buck they need to do more than pay for the equipment. They have to learn how to use it to its full capabilities, as well as implement it appropriately. As the entire world increasingly becomes more computerized, schools are significantly slower in this transformation. Is it safe to say this is because so many educators are ignorant of technology’s power and the correct methodology of using it and incorporating it into schools? Definitely.

The Push for Technology

2010-12-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

The video posted above proves that the world is expanding at an astonishing rate. In fact, this video was created in 2009 and most of those statistics are probably more astonishing now. The statistics stir up some important questions, especially in the field of educating future generations of students.

One of the most important questions the video asks is if schools are preparing their students for the dynamic world we live in today. Teaching students information is useless these days. Schools need to put more and more emphasis on teaching skills. These skills include everything from using computers and publishing information to evaluating and analyzing data. The estimate made by the U.S. Department of Labor states that today’s students will have had 10 to 14 jobs by the time they reach 38 years old. This means that tomorrow’s workers need to be able to switch jobs easily. Teaching students raw information simply won’t cut it for future generations. Skillful individuals will have the most success because they will be able to change with the ever changing world.

This clip also highlights the rapid expansion of technology in the world. It really proves that schools in the United States need to incorporate technology into classrooms today, in order to stay competitive with emerging countries such as China and India. Todays students will be dealing with computers for the rest of their lives and it only makes sense to raise them and educate them amid all of this technology. The computers that will be used five years from now will make today’s computer obsolete; therefore, it only makes sense to get students utilizing computers today, because they will be exceedingly more powerful tomorrow.

It is apparent that today’s classrooms are just too slow at incorporating technology. Today, cars look like the ones artists in the past would predict they would in the future. They are sleek, powerful, and safe. However, classrooms were also imagined to be flooded with technology with infinite amounts of information. These days they just aren’t. There isn’t a futuristic robot voice that greets you when you walk in and there isn’t the kind of unimaginable types of interactive computers that help students learn. There really are only a few smart boards and Power Points used in classrooms. Both of these kinds of technology are nothing more than glorified blackboards. Where are the interactive computers that allow students to walk into a virtual reality world and learn about the Ancient Egyptians by talking to them? If there was a greater push for technology in schools we could probably have mind blowing technologies being used to educate students that will be dumped into a dynamic world of technology.

IPad: Hot or Not?

2010-12-20T19:31:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Schools across the country are now investing in IPads for instructional use in classrooms. The IPad is an amazing device and to be able to implement these on a large scale for education purposes is quite a concept. But will these cool gadgets work out in the classroom?

Initially, IPads could be an ideal item to use in education because they can completely replace the use of textbooks. Textbooks are expensive and heavy and needed for each subject. With an IPad, teachers can download the eBooks onto their Ipad and then download the same book onto each of the students’ IPads. A student could have one IPad with all the textbooks for each of his/her subjects. So schools can really only pay for a textbook once and use it for the entire class. The IPad also has interactive games and applications that can be efficiently used to teach students. Keeping students interacting with the information is also advantageous to learning as opposed to the typical textbook, notebook and blackboard lecture style of learning. Students also think it is neat to be using a computer that fits in their hands during class which can hold everything from homework assignments and lesson plans to a syllabus and text books. They could even take notes on the IPad. There are likely even future technological advances with IPads that may further improve education.

There are some setbacks that come along with the IPad. The price is a bit ridiculous and Apple typically does not budge pricewise when purchasing their products, even when buying in bulk. Considering they can replace multiple numbers of expensive textbooks, the price may be reasonable depending on what the charge is for each electronic textbook copy.

Another flaw that can be said about any piece of technology in the market today is its terrible quality. Whether it is an IPad or a dishwasher, products have constantly been decreasing in quality. This brings to question the IPad, which may be dropped by a 2^nd grader multiple times a week. Would an IPad stand up to the potential damage that it could be exposed to in a lower grade classroom setting? Replacing IPads often would likely be a drain on a school district's bank account. Stealing of IPads could also become a problem. It is unlikely that a school, except for a college or university, could require that a student be required to purchase an IPad.

I have heard that Apple, the manufacturer of the IPad, is extremely unreliable when it comes to replacing their products, when found to be faulty. The internal battery is a flaw because the entire system must be replaced when it no longer holds a charge. Also, in general the screen and structure of an IPad will usually not survive a drop from the hands of a 3^rd grader onto a tile floor. Even with a warranty, it is likely that when you call up Apple for a replacement, they will just explain that it was user error and tell you to buy a new one. If they were cheaper and could more easly be fixed by the schools IT guy, it might be a different story. If the IPads were built to a high military spec, like a military grade cell phone, that can practically be dropped from 3 stories and be fine, the IPad would be great for educational purposes in schools.

In all, the IPad may prove to be to a milestone in bringing cheap and efficient technology into the education field. If we could only figure out a way to make the IPad strong enough to handle grade school students across the country, then it would be a valuable option for educating more people at lower prices.

A Priceless Education at No Cost

2010-12-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

What if there was a form of education that accepted practically everyone, was free, and you were guaranteed a stable job for a few years upon graduation? In the US, especially with today’s economy, it sounds impossible. In fact, it is very possible and it is one of the most overlooked benefits of being an American. It is called the military.

At first, most people cringe at the idea of storming to a beach in amphibian assault vehicles while being under fire. As much as the media dramatize the military, 99.9% of the time it is completely skewed. Today, the military is rather safe, even though the US is at war. I’m not saying that there is no danger at all, but it is better than most imagine. Plus, if you definitely don’t want to see action, there are ways of getting around it. For example, join the Air Force where no more than 2% soldiers actually fly planes. There is still the other 98% of this branch of the Department of Defense that are responsible for the support for the pilots and the airplanes.

Also, just try to avoid the most dangerous branches of the military like the Army’s infantry, the Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and the Marines. The only reason people are scared of the military are because it is these, most dangerous yet heroic, branches that get the most media coverage.

There is nothing wrong with being the guy behind the scenes that loads ammunition on jets and fixes the engines on tanks. These are relatively safe jobs that the military needs in order to operate. While doing these sorts of jobs, you gain skills useful to life as a civilian. If you can repair the engine on a tank or aircraft carrier, small cars and boats will be a breeze when you retire from the military. Some people find that the military is for them and stick around many years longer than anticipated and they can rank up and retire with a pretty good pension plan and medical benefits.

One of the other perks of being in the military is when you do retire, companies are quick to hire veterans because they have a distinct character and integrity that sets them apart from the rest. Veterans are highly respected because they have made the commitment to potentially risk their lives so that friends and family in the US can keep the freedoms we have today. The military gives Americans a priceless education, rich in both knowledge and experience, at no cost for most, but at a high cost for the few that give up their life for our freedom.

Is Bigger Really Better?

2010-11-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Currently in New Jersey, there has been a huge cut in education funding. This has left school districts with the job of finding cheaper ways to educate students. One of the main ways districts have reduced costs is by laying off teachers. This then causes class sizes to increase. What effects does this have on the quality of education being given to students? Perhaps larger classes may benefit students, or maybe not.

In the field of education, experts are always arguing that smaller is better. Students get more individualized attention and can get the help they need. It also gives teachers the ability to focus on individuals in class and get them where they need to be. The idea of smaller classes being better holds true for only two groups, students in grades 1 to 8 and special education students. Younger students will definitely benefit from having more one on one contact with teachers, as well as students who can’t learn in a regular classroom and need extra help in learning the basics.

Other than that, there hits a point when you are around 15 years old and you have to become more independent. In actuality, a classroom with 30 to 35 students is not going to affect your learning. If anything, it will be a good transition for junior high and high school students as they prepare for college. Many will argue that teachers in English and Math will overlook struggling students because of this large number of students. That is not a valid argument. Starting in 6^th grade, teachers have always made themselves available for extra help at lunch or after school. There is a point in high school where students need to sink or swim on their own. If students cannot be somewhat self-sufficient and independent by this time of their lives, then they aren’t ready to be accepted into colleges and universities. Each of these characteristics is vital as most college students are attending larger colleges and universities with even larger classes.

Within the past few years, parents have caused their children to become more dependent of teachers’ authority. There have even been cases where schools have banned playing tag at recess and avoided contact sports in gym class due to their argumentative nature. This sort of authoritative voice which accompanies smaller class sizes is ruining students’ independence in school. In the real world, everyone has to settle arguments and learn to deal with different sorts of people; it would make sense that children learn to compromise in school. Smaller classes in high schools are not helping students as much as experts tend to believe. This example is just the start of how smaller classes are turning teachers into replacement mommies and daddies, which only hinder independence and intelligence for students.

There is also the argument that teachers will assign fewer papers and make easier tests so they lessen their increased workload. It is pretty rare that this would be the case because most junior high and high schools have very rigorous curriculums which are highly monitored by the school’s administration. In schools where this is a problem, there is an easy fix. It’s called unemployment. If high school teachers were getting laid off because they needed less teachers to teach larger classes, teachers would be working harder than ever to avoid getting laid off or fired and placed into a sector of unemployment where there is a low demand for teachers and a large supply of them.

Although I preach the bigger is better theory, some students are more comfortable in a smaller setting for high school and college classes, and there is nothing wrong with that. The point is that to provide a cheaper, yet equal quality education, an increase in high school class sizes will not hurt the students in the long run.

Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/nj_schools_struggle_with_incre.html

The National Center for Academic Transformation

2010-11-20T13:28:00.001-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

The National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) is one of today’s leaders in reducing costs in education. NCAT is a nonprofit organization that works with colleges to redesign course structures and learning environments in the most efficient manner. Therefore, students excel in learning while the college saves masses of money.

With programs for both 2 year colleges and 4 year colleges, NCAT, led by Dr. Carol A. Twigg, uses its experience and information technology to create the Program in Course Design (PCD). To date, there has been over 150 course redesign projects which have been a huge success. Here are some of the staggering statistics as described by Dr. Carol A. Twigg:

"The National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT) has worked with more than 150 institutions to redesign a set of core courses since 1999. NCAT works with institutions to break down their instructional model-mapping who is involved in doing which activities-to identify how to most efficiently leverage technology, faculty, graduate students, peer interactions and other learning resources, to improve quality and efficiency. NCAT has found that on average, costs were reduced by 37 percent in redesigned courses with a range of 9–77 percent. Meanwhile, learning outcomes improved in 72 percent of the redesigns with the remaining 28 percent producing learning equivalent to traditional formats. Based on a review of the participating institutions, NCAT has identified six redesign models that vary in format, student experience, and use of technology."

Currently, NCAT has proved to be a leader in the fight to reduce higher education costs, without reducing the quality of education and its enjoyment among colleges. There are workshops all across America run by NCAT in order to spread their knowledge about their ideas to reduce education costs.

Source: http://www.thencat.org/whoweare.html

Advertising in Schools for Lower Education Costs

2010-11-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

By Sean Scarpiello

These days, schools are run like businesses and just as other businesses struggle in a poor economy, so do schools. Unlike other companies, public schools cannot file for bankruptcy and escape with the little money it still has. On the other hand, schools do have hundreds of customers that are required by law to show up every day. Administrators should take advantage of this by reaching out to large corporations for advertising. Advertising in schools should definitely be utilized in order to give your child a higher quality education at a lower price.

When the extremists hear about advertising in schools, they scare parents into believing their 2^nd grader is going to be exposed to Guinness and Marlboro advertisements in their cafeteria. That will never happen because the target market for those companies are not people who still need to hold someone’s hand to cross the street. Other disparagers of the idea complain that schools will become the battlefield of Pepsi and Coca Cola. My question for them is….So? These same little kids are going to go home, turn on Sponge Bob and be bombarded with the same ads from Pepsi and Coca Cola. If your fear is that little Johnny will get fat because he drinks soda at school every day, just give him the 45 cents for milk or juice instead of the $1.50 for the Coke. Also, it is argued that parents will lose the ability to control their children’s lessons and values, because at school they will go out the door with ads everywhere. This goes back to the fear parents have that their children will develop poor eating habits because of school advertisements. How is this going to happen? Parents have 16 other meals per the week teach their children healthy eating habits. Also, the only way to hide advertisements from your child is to lock them in a closet. Everyone has been the target of advertising from every imaginable form of media. This includes everything from the State Farm Insurance billboards that line highways to James Bond’s Aston Martin.

The point of my argument is that not all school advertising is bad. For the most part, the same ads kids are seeing on their favorite TV shows will be the ones popping up in schools. Some are even being clever in their advertising. For example, companies like Disney are incorporating Mickey Mouse and company into word problems in math class (1). Everyone knows these characters already so what’s the big deal about reiterating these characters to students in order to decrease the price of education? Even if local businesses paid to put up posters on schools’ walls. Small businesses like play zones or birthday party entertainers can build reputations as schools use their money for new computers.

Companies will pay big bucks to have their advertisement posted below the school’s scoreboard. In fact, a good contract with a major soda company can get a school district $100,000 to $300,000 (1). At this point, the extremists need to back off so this country’s education system can benefit from large corporations. Then we will be able to bring higher quality education at lower prices.

1) http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin083.shtml

The Point of Technology in Education

2010-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

A typical Monday morning in General Psychology class begins with each student dragging into the lecture hall and grabbing a small clicker the size of a playing card. Today’s topic is “Gender Differences.” The first slide on the power point asks the question, “Do women talk more than men? Using your clicker, answer A for true, B for false.” After about 30 seconds the class results are in. The professor goes on to the next slide and there is a pie chart showing the results of the answers, showing percentages of true verses false. Now the class can have a discussion on the results and their opinions.

This technology is called TurningPoint. It is software that is available for both PCs and Macs which works with power point to poll students on their opinions. This kind of technology makes learning more interactive and thus more interesting. Students are allowed to add their opinion on a subject without having to elaborate in front of a large class, unless they want to. Also, it helps teachers by opening debate that otherwise may be ignored. These debates allow for the spreading of ideas among peers, which allows students to get a better grasp on interesting and even boring topics.

The clickers work over a high tech radio frequency so answer choices are completely anonymous to other students in the classroom answering the questions. This technology allows teachers to play review games before tests with TurningPoint. It then gives instant feedback with the graphs to tell the students and the professor what items students know, and the things they have to study. This software is so versatile; some teachers will give tests through a power point presentation. Since each clicker is numbered, teachers can assign a clicker number to each particular student and then have them take the interactive test. Later, the teacher can pull up the answer choices of each clicker and match it with the students and their grades. Since each clicker is completely personal and silent, it is virtually impossible to cheat on tests. Plus, if students change their minds on answers, they simply have to push the letter of their new answer choice and it is automatically changed. There is also a count on the top of the screen to show how many people answered the question, so the teacher knows if someone hasn’t answered and when to move on or not.

The software works great in all types of classes, but the price can make or break the success of the technology. After searching for 5 minutes, I found websites that would let you download the software for free. However, the software is useless unless you buy the radio frequency sensor and clickers, which cost about $42 each, but the company that produces them has special deals if schools buy them in large quantities. So overall they are expensive, but they are very versatile tools which can be easily transferred between classrooms.

How to Diagnose Inner City Schools’ Problems

2010-10-19T20:05:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

It is 2:30 on a Saturday morning when my roommate and I fall onto the couch in our dorm room after a night of how all pre-med and pre-law students spend their Friday nights...studying. My roommate clicks on the TV and after ten seconds of surfing the channels, finds a show called “Teach: Tony Danza.” We are both intrigued. The basic premise of the show has Tony Danza, the actor/boxer, teaching a 10^th grade English Class at an inner city school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From my research for writing previous blog articles, I have discovered data that reflects that it is the inner city schools’ students who are pulling down the rest of the country’s test scores, which are ranked internationally. I figured that this was an opportunity to see just what was going wrong with the inner city schools system, and maybe see a TV actor/boxer flip out at some kids.

I was wrong. On Tony’s first week teaching the 10^th grade English Class, he was brought to tears by the class. He had all different types of antagonists working against him the entire time. One student, who probably reads the Oxford English Dictionary for kicks, was constantly complaining how the class isn’t challenging enough. Another student who is considered gifted, behaves like others in the class; which either don’t do assignments or claim they have a learning disorder.

First off, I don’t want to criticize or come across as saying that students with learning disorders are lazy, but I feel as if students who don’t want to do the work use the excuse as a crutch. Overall, I was shocked to see how most of these students had a cavalier attitude towards schooling and would simply not do the work or the assigned reading. Half of the class failed Tony’s first test, which I later found posted online. The test didn’t seem too difficult as I went through answering questions from the book “Of Mice and Men” from my rusty memory of the piece.

Ultimately, I found myself thinking up ways to fix this problem. Students could be clinically tested for learning disorders every few years. That will help the teachers to be aware of the students who have a legitimate reason for not understanding the text, and to be wary of those who were just playing the new Halo videogame all night, instead of reading.

The school’s resource center was made specifically for the learning disabled students. The busy resource center was often full of lazy students, along with some students with learning disabilities. At one point in the show, Tony Danza was disciplined by the school’s principal because he denied students who requested access to the resource center. It seemed like the entire school’s administration was oblivious to the fact that some students will lie so they can get away with not doing homework. If schools could implement this idea of having recorded clinical diagnosis, then a lot more students would have to do the work until they’re able to drop out or worse…a call to mommy and daddy, as well as attend summer school.

This also brings up the question of allowing students to drop out of school. In South Korea, it is extremely rare for any students to drop out and they rank high in the international test scores. Perhaps it should be illegal to drop out of school. Or maybe we should raise the age of eligibility to drop out of high school. In my opinion, either method would work.

I feel that “Teach: Tony Danza” is a good representation of the typical inner city school and is raising the awareness of inner city school life. The show may help America diagnose the problems of its inner city students and help us see what needs to be improved. If America can fix their inner city schools, there will be a drastic improvement in this country’s test scores and ranking amongst the rest of the world. It would also keep the US among the world’s superpowers. At the moment, India has more honor roll students than America has students. This means that the US needs to maximize their human resources and make every student count in this ever-changing world. This especially includes inner city students, because according to US census, 80% of the US population lives in urban areas (cited below).

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/census/cps2k.htm

A Spanish Class that Saves Money

2010-10-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Lately in the state of New Jersey, there have been major budget cuts in the field of education. In order to continue instruction, New Jersey schools were forced to find ways to save money and be more efficient. In Randolph, New Jersey, the Ironia Elementary School has found a way to save a little under $100,000 each year. They have decided to replace language teachers with the software Rosetta Stone. Many students have found their new language classes more interesting, but will the program be successful in the long run?

Rosetta Stone is a great way to teach someone a new language quickly and efficiently. The software isn’t expensive for use on large amounts of students and it is formulated to work with the capabilities of the human brain so students can learn quickly and efficiently. When you ask an American person, who’s first language is English, to think of a dog, the first thing that pops into their head is an image of a dog. When you ask the same person who has a typical knowledge of Spanish as a second language to think of a “perro,” they think of the word “perro” and translate it quickly to “dog”, then the image of a dog pops up into their head. Rosetta stone is aiming to completely eliminate the behavior of quick translation that occurs in just about every person with a mediocre education of a second language. By associating new words with pictures, Rosetta Stone helps students learn faster with better understanding of the new language. The software also allows students to hear and speak the language into a microphone, allowing the software to cover a full understanding of the language through writing, listening, and speaking.

Ironia Elementary School made a good choice picking Rosetta Stone as a replacement for a teacher, but my question - why are they teaching elementary school students a second language? In reality, it is important to teach students new languages, especially in this constantly changing world, but elementary school is not the time to start. Physiologically, elementary school students have a high aptitude for learning languages, but it is tough to teach children a new language when they don’t yet completely understand the English language. Elementary school is teaching the elements of English, and it’s tough to teach a third grader the preterite or imperfect tense in Spanish when they don’t yet fully understand the past tense in English. It is similar to teaching a medical school student to take out a kidney, but without teaching him where to find it and what it does. When I was in elementary school, I had five years of instruction in Spanish and I escaped it with nothing more than a knowledge of colors, the ability to count to 30, and a perplexing attitude towards second languages.

The best idea would be to begin second language education in middle school, when students have a decent knowledge of their first language and use Rosetta Stone up until eighth grade. Upon entering high school, placement tests should be given to see how students progressed, and place them in high school language classes where it is easier and more efficient to teach large amounts of students languages efficiently and with the use of a teacher.

Regardless of the fact that teaching elementary school students languages is just plain inefficient, I think it is fantastic that the education field is finding new ways to stretch their dollars when the government funds them less money for instruction. Schools in New Jersey should be applauded for their resourcefulness in such a difficult time during the state’s transformation.

Source: http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/28/replacing-teachers-with-technology/?test=latestnews

Promethean Board: Hot or Not?

2010-09-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Recently, it has been tough to Google “education” and avoid getting some sort of link that raves on the achievements of the Promethean Board. But is this amazing tool so amazing? Or are the owners and CEOs of the Promethean Boards just well-connected and know how to market their product?

The idea of a Promethean Board sounds great on paper. An interactive computer screen projected onto a touch screen which allows students to edit, highlight and write on documents with the use of a magical little pen. As a recent high school graduate, I have had hours of experience with the “Chalk Board of the Future.” The first time I used the board, it was amazing; however, that may have been the only time it was amazing. It seemed to lose its sashay after the first ten minutes. One of the flaws I found right away was that the pen doesn’t have an erase function directly on it, causing you to reach across to the onscreen tool box to get the eraser style pen, then erase, the go back to the tool box, to get the pen tool you were using before so you can continue writing. The pen itself is also faulty. When writing, there is a stall before the computer recognizes something has been written. Therefore, writers will over compensate different shapes and sizes of their letters due to the lack of visual feedback. This results in the most legible kindergarten teacher to have the handwriting of a raging alcoholic.

Another flaw is that the image is projected onto the board from a ceiling mounted projector. This means every time the teacher turns on the screen it must be recalibrated because a stray paper airplane might have set the projector off by a centimeter, causing the entire smart board to be altered. This recalibration only takes a minute, but a minute at the beginning of each lesson gets old fast. Plus it is inefficient when you consider all the other forms of technology in the market that practically finish your sentences. Also, since the image is projected, if a writer steps in front of the board while writing, the image will be projected onto their back and the writer will continue to copy notes blindly onto their shadow. At first it doesn’t bother anyone, but when you get up to the board it feels like you are bending over backwards to copy your algebra homework onto the board. The projector also limits the surface area of the board to a specific size. This is problematic when you are taking a lot of notes and you have to wait for everybody in the class to finish the notes, then erase it all, then continue on the same small space. With a typical whiteboard, you can just walk down to the other wall of blank chalkboard and leave the old material up for the slower note takers to finish copying. The price of this smart board is about $1,200 each, which isn’t bad for what you get, yet four walls covered in whiteboards will sell for about half of that. With the white boards, you can increase the total writing area ten-fold and still have $600 in markers to use for the decade

A real smart board should be similar to a giant iPad on the wall. It would be completely touch screen so you can write with your finger, then brush away any mistake with the back of your hand. Plus, it wouldn’t project. This allows schools to fit each board to the dimensions in their rooms, whether it is 3 feet by 4 feet or 3 feet by 10 feet. This kind of board would be much more expensive than the Promethean Board, mostly because a few square inches of Apple’s touch screen goes for $200 and a whole board would cost a lot more. The best idea would be to wait until technology improves before putting down any large sum of money to improve your school’s blackboard or whiteboard.

Waiting for Superman

2010-09-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

A new documentary about America's failing public school system, Waiting for Superman, has sparked controversy about its intentions. The film, by renowned director David Guggenheim of An Inconvenient Truth fame, is being distributed by Paramount Vantage and opens in select theaters Friday. It was a winner at Sundance and has already received accolades from, among others, TIME magazine, who called it "powerful" and "compelling," and Hollywood Reporter, who called it a "moving, effective film." The project also has backing from Bill Gates himself, who even appears in the documentary.

The film, from all accounts, is a well-made, high-budget work intended to open the nation's eyes, particularly those of people who do not have children in underperforming public schools, and serve as a rallying cry for the country's citizens to become their own super men and women and help in any way they can. But are its purported intentions carried out? Detractors say the film is an unfair critique of the public school system, and to make matters worse, a high profile one at that; a film with a high budget taking aim at an easy target facing insurmountable budget deficits and money shortages. The film might as well be shooting fish in a barrel for monetary gain.

Having not seen the film, like pretty much everyone who has voiced their opinion in the blogosphere, I can't tell you whether that's true or not. But I can say that I believe Waiting for Superman has the potential to be a very important film and that such a film about such a subject needs to be made. It is undeniable that something, or a lot of things, is/are not working in our public school system, particularly in large urban institutions. Our nation's youth are 25th out of 30 "first world" countries in math and rank 21st in science. High school drop outs rates are glaringly high, public schools have abysmally low resources to work with, and yet the general public's attention and dollars are focused on other affairs, ones that in all likelihood will have less impact on future generations and thus our nation's future. It is simply another inconvenient truth that is largely going ignored. If it takes a high-budget film to re-shift attention so be it, as long as people are in fact paying attention.

As to the criticism that it is essentially preying on a broke system, unfortunately, that's part of the game. To compel people to watch, the film has to tell a story, and so certain elements have to be milked for dramatic effect. In this case, that means harping on statistics and portraying a tough reality lived by the children waiting at the school placement lottery. As for making money off the film without compensating schools, the documentary's website (www.waitingforsuperman.com) claims that for each advance ticket bought online, the purchaser will receive a $15 gift code to give to a classroom of their choice via donorschoose.org.

It cannot be underestimated the power that film still has today, both in its effect on the viewer but also how many people it can potentially reach. Other forms of traditional media are dead or dying, forms that previously reached tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of listeners, viewers, and readers. Today, those forms have been replaced by many more sources but ones that reach exponentially fewer eyes and ears. Movies, however, have not suffered in this way. They still reach a large audience, ones that unfortunately most proponents of educational reform can only dream of reaching. Waiting for Superman should be viewed as an ally in spreading the word and calling attention to the drastic changes and help needed by the public school system, rather than an adversary or a vulture profiting off a struggling system.

Joseph Gustav is a guest blogger for My Dog Ate My Blog and a writer on online schools for Guide to Online Schools.

The Educational Facebook

2010-09-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In the past month, thousands of college students around the world have just opened a new collaborating internet account. No, it’s not Facebook, but rather an educational spinoff of Facebook. The program is called Blackboard and it seems to be making quite the buzz.

The Blackboard platform is essentially a modern blackboard posted up onto the internet. The program is for all classes, kindergarten through graduate school. Teachers can post whatever they woud like up onto their course’s blackboard. Three of my four current college professors utilize the technology and post everything from biology PowerPoints and syllabi, to YouTube videos about split brain syndrome in psychology. Even my calculus professor posted some helpful links and practice problems. Teachers can also post announcements and reminders when class is not in session, due dates on a personal calendar, and individual notifications or alerts. Although I was not fortunate enough to encounter this program in grade school or high school, I have found it extremely simple to use. Schools can even set it up to use the exact same username and password that you use on their computers.

More schools should use this program because it makes studying more interactive for students; thus they have a more enjoyable time exploring the information each class has to offer. In fact, with a few modifications, teachers could teach entire courses to vast amounts of people across the planet, without ever having to meet in a classroom. Students even have the ability to seek extra help through the site. Blackboard even simplifies classes for students by allowing teachers to post full PowerPoint presentations so students don’t have to quickly copy the entire presentation during class instead of listening to the teacher’s important ideas. Therefore, students can focus on the instructor’s lectures and can later pull up the PowerPoint from any location with an internet connection.

The one downside to the program is that it costs money. But why? Millions of websites let people access tons of information for free because of advertising. This site should be no different. If Facebook charged an annual fee, it wouldn’t have millions of daily users. I am all for allowing advertising on educational websites and even in or around schools in general. I would much rather have to put up with seeing targeted advertisements to my demographic as opposed to paying for an online service. In fact, I think all schools should use marketing to their advantage. If the owners of Lucky Charms or Coco Puffs want to put up posters in the local elementary school so the fourth and fifth grades can get all new textbooks, then go ahead. These same kids are going to run home and see these same advertisements amid their cartoons and it will not make a difference.

Ultimately, the Blackboard program is extremely useful for all levels of students. It proves to be an exceptional learning tool that should be used by more students and teachers worldwide. The website is already available in forty-nine different languages. The only downside it has is a quick and easy fix that could eventually change the entire world’s view on education.

The Best Idea Ever - Critical Thinking

2010-09-09T18:41:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

As I browsed article after article on the internet, I discovered some statistics which I found to be extremely interesting.

- The International Data Corporation (IDC) reported that within the last year, “the amount of digital information created, captured and replicated was 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes. This is about 3 million times the information in all the books ever written.”

- The IDC also discovered that between the years 2006 and 2010, the amount of data added to the Internet increased more than six fold.

- Every two years, the amount of procedural information will double in size. That means if you are a college student attending a four-year university, 50% of the information you learn in your freshman year will be obsolete by your junior year.

- Former Secretary of Education, Richard Riley, reported that the top ten in demand jobs in 2010 did not yet exist in the year 2006.

- This gives schools the nearly impossible job of teaching students to perform jobs that don’t exist yet, using technology that hasn’t yet been invented. (Source below)

So what can schools do to keep up with the quick pace of technology? Probably the most important aspect of education for the future which gets overlooked in the American education system is the concept of critical thinking.

I had recently taken a psychology course where the instructor gave the class an activity which would determine whether or not we possess the ability to think critically. Out of the twenty-four people in the course, only six college bound seniors had the ability, myself included, to think critically. The basis for thinking critically is being able to view every side of an argument and extrapolate data from each vantage point. For example, many students will think about how horrid World War II was, but critical thinkers go on and ponder, “What good came out of World War II?” The reason critical thinking is so beneficial to the workers of the future is that critical thinking allows one to apply themselves mentally. This application of knowledge allows people to do jobs they did not foresee themselves to be doing in the unpredictable future. In fact, it’s the successful people driving around Porsches and Ferraris that are able to manipulate the different faces of arguments and utilize that data in their daily jobs.

Such a simple concept can be very easily integrated into today’s middle and high schools. In every subject, whether it is social studies, science or math, teachers can simply switch gears and reverse the argument. How did the US benefit from World War II? What positive effects could this chemical have on the environment? How would the solution change if x was a negative number? As students are asked these questions they will eventually learn to think critically. These students will even find practical uses of critical thinking during sports, videogames and more. It is amazing how such a simple concept can have a huge bearing on such a complex future. Critical thinking’s best aspect is that it can be taught easily, cheaply and effectively to produce infinite possibilities for an even infinite future.

Source: http://www.archives.gov/era/pdf/competencies.pdf

The Next Future Leaders of the World

2010-08-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Why do countries educate their citizens? In fact, it would probably be easier to not educate an entire population. The reasons that so many governments spend hundreds of millions dollars each year is not only to advance the human race’s technology and living circumstances, but also to lead future generations. We educate our children so they can uphold the same US government that is viewed as the leader of the world. Ever since the end of World War II the United Sates has been regarded as one of the world’s superpowers. But how long can the US sustain such a title? Over recent years, it seems as if the US hasn’t exactly dropped its status, but rather stayed the same and allowed foreign countries to advance. New power houses, such as India, China and South Korea have slowly emerged. But what is the quickest advancing country, South Korea, doing right which the US seems to be doing wrong? The article “USA could learn from South Korean schools” (link below) offers many statistics and insight on what exactly the US is getting wrong.

South Korea’s government runs their schools in a much more efficient manner when compared to the US. When distributing money for schools, South Korea evenly and equally spreads out their money. In the meantime, the US government gives more money to the schools with higher graduation rates. This only makes it difficult for cities with low graduation rates to improve education. Plus, it drags the rest of the country’s educational and world status with it.

The American Dream may possibly be this country’s down fall in the education field. In South Korea, parents will do anything to get their children to colleges and universities. Parents will even spend as much as 1/3 of their yearly income on their children’s education. In the US, parents will go out and buy the latest big screen TV or stereo system, regardless of the fact little Max is flunking his math class. For the US to remain a major superpower in the world, it is going to take much more than government action. Americans are going to have to do their part as well. If we use our resources efficiently, we could maximize the amount of class instruction for each dollar that is spent. This could even be as simple as having the upperclassmen of elementary, middle, and high schools tutoring the students below them. Each hour can be counted as volunteer work which looks great on any resume.

The last aspect of South Korean’s education system was their (on time) graduation rate of 93%. Too many American students just drop out, whereas South Koreans rarely drop out, if at all. The fix for this could be making the option of dropping out illegal. We could also raise age of being able to drop out of school. At age 18, students are just going through the motions until they can be on their own. So by making the age 20 or 21, students will most likely choose just to do the work and get through so they are not in high school during their twenties. For the US to maintain its role as a leading power in this world, it has to change.

Main Article: http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2008-11-18-korea-education-usa_N.htm

Fixing New Jersey's Education System

2010-08-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

Dr. David C. Verducci, superintendent of Glen Rock Public Schools, is yet another worker in New Jersey who has dealt with Governor Chris Christie’s budget cuts in the state’s attempt to lower the deficit. Christie’s cuts in funding have made it difficult for many of the school districts in New Jersey, but Dr. Verducci shared some of his ideas on improving education in New Jersey with Christie (link below). Here are some of my suggestions for improving the New Jersey education system.

A school is a business. Students are customers, teachers are employees, superintendents are CEOs and the school’s money is invested in other businesses in hopes to make more money. Schools are stockholders just like any other business and there’s money to be made with investing, and there’s money to lose. Unfortunately, your bank account wasn’t the only thing that took a hit with the recession; your child’s elementary school bank account did too. The only difference between your boss’s business and a superintendent’s business is that there will always be customers for the superintendent’s business, it’s required by law. If a school is going to invest its money, it should be in conservative stocks or mutual funds where an economical crash won’t doom the community. The point is that schools all across America have faced difficulty lately, but if everybody could run their schools in a more efficient manner, school districts like Dr. Verducci’s wouldn’t be in such frenzy.

Statistics have shown that Glen Rock School District spends about $16,387 on each student (1). Across the river in Pennsylvania, the Pennsbury School District manages to spend $12,056 on each student (1). When you do the math, 3 students in New Jersey go to school for the same amount of money as 4 Pennsylvania’s students. The difference may seem slight, but not when there are thousands of students. So what is Pennsylvania getting right? In Bucks and Montgomery County, where the populous is similar to New Jersey, school districts are beasts. Graduating classes of these districts are hitting close to 1,000 students. Across the river, bulk is better. The more students there are, the less they can spend on each student. It’s the same reason why buying a dozen doughnuts is cheaper than buying eleven. Plus, the larger schools offer more opportunities at cheaper prices than smaller schools. So combining school districts could act as a way to become more efficient.

Another alternative which is less drastic would be to lay off administrators and/or teachers. The average student to teacher ratio in New Jersey is 11:1. Is that really necessary? My high school’s ratio was 17:1 and I had never felt left out of a class conversation, even in a class of 25 students. Schools should be preparing students for college and ultimately the real world, both of which are places where individuals are not spoon-fed by their superiors. This recommendation would also get a chance to get rid of copious amounts of administrators. There really is no need for four administrators at a school with less than 2,000 students, a trend many New Jersey high schools seem to follow.

If laying off teachers also sounds too radical, I’m sure that teachers and staff would rather keep their job with the same salary than to then have to file for unemployment. Dr. Verducci claims that wage freezes wouldn’t be a remedy. In reality it would help, to run efficiently we have to save a little here and a little there. If you can save a few thousand dollars on things like instruction, maintenance and transportation, the savings add up to substantial sums of money. In addition, teachers could also pay a percentage of their benefits or insurance, just like the rest of the world. You also need to take into account that teachers are working nine months out of the year. Many of my former teachers have summer jobs where they could tack on another $10,000 to their already generous salary. These suggestions would definitely be a start to creating a more efficient school system where we could be more bang per buck.

Dr. Verducci's Letter: http://schoolsite.capturepoint.com/assets/resources/AnOpenLettertoGovernorCh

ristie2010-03-29.pdf

Sources:

(1) http://www.greatschools.org

Don't Atrophy This Summer, Achieve

2010-08-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

In “The Case Against Summer Vacation,” David Von Drehle reports on a group of entrepreneurs, volunteers, and teachers from Indianapolis Indiana that are targeting the students in their area that need the most help academically. Studies show that this group of students has a lower socioeconomic status and their summer breaks result in more atrophy rather than actual achievement. Since these students do not have the kind of money to drop on a fancy intellectual achievement program, these pioneers in the education field need to find a way to provide a quality education during the summer that is not only effective, but cheap as well.

The pros of these summer enrichment programs are that the pioneers are reaching out to the community to find ways to keep the low income students away from the mind rotting capabilities of Jerry Springer and Xbox. In my community there are so many empty public schools, churches, and community centers which seem to wither all summer. Even a small meeting place may benefit by having activities available at low prices for students. Each child’s small contribution will add up and could even just pay the air conditioning bill for the balmy summer months. Not bad for an otherwise empty air conditioned community room and/or wasted resource. Local businesses also benefit from this opportunity because program leaders are reaching out to places such as public pools to barter over a cheap price of admission for bus loads of students looking for fun in the pool and candy at the snack bar. Program leaders are also utilizing the idea of “stealth learning” which is also fantastic because not many elementary or middle school students want to learn during their summer vacation. “Stealth learning” is ultimately teaching students math and reading through everyday activities such as measuring ingredients for cooking or determining specific dimensions in simple wood working activities. Thus it is learning without realizing it. Students also are exposed to another seemingly unexploited resource - themselves. The mere fact that students socialize and spread ideas amongst themselves is brilliant. Plus, it keeps students out of trouble in a way that makes teachers smile as an improved group of students arrive in September. In all, the general concept seems extremely efficient and an overall success. But is there any cons? The only one I can think of is that every community in the US isn’t taking advantage of such a great idea to improve the education of America’s future.

Original Article: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2005654,00.html

Native Exchange Students

2010-08-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

By Sean Scarpiello

Middlebury Language Schools, located in a small town in Vermont, can teach anyone about two years of a language in only nine weeks. The general concept seems interesting, but does the program seem like a prudent investment?

The idea of cramming two years of instruction into nine weeks sounds difficult, but made even more demanding considering a foreign language is the subject matter. Language is all around us, and this program takes total advantage of that opportunity. By making students pledge to use only their new language, students are dropped into a different country where practically everything except street signs and food labels are recognizable in students’ native language. The effect is ultimately acting as a foreign exchange student in your own country. The complete transformation of language is pivotal in such an accelerated learning process. Another benefit the program utilizes is keeping class time to a minimum and maximizing time with everyday activities such as sports and personal conversation. My friend Carlos, an exchange student from Spain, claims he had learned more of the English language from soccer practice as compared to his actual classes in school. This is merely because conversations were on the interests of any teenage male, thus lacking the classroom pressure and boredom. The language camp is smart for utilizing the use of personal interests as the everyday life of each student.

The problem with the language camp is that the target market for the program is mostly high school and college students looking to get an edge in their new school year or next occupation. From a parent’s perspective, it would be quite difficult to send a child to go learn a language for nine weeks out of their summer. Nine weeks is rough for the typical social teenager and even rougher on vacations and much needed family time. The bill for the language camp won’t help much either. For just under $10,000 the program is barely economical for parents who will be opening their checkbooks for college soon, if not already. On the contrary, one could actually view this program as a replacement for a full semester of studying abroad. In that case, parents could see their students during the school year and put a credential that drives college admission’s offices crazy. Ultimately, it comes down to the decision to throw down a pretty penny for a program which offers a fast track in learning a new and exciting language which is sure to give anyone an edge in this ever changing world.

Main Article: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/28/postcard-from-langua.html#more

Street-Fighting Mathematics: The Art of Educated Guessing and Opportunistic Problem Solving

2010-07-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Sanjoy Mahajan

In problem solving, as in street fighting, rules are for fools: do whatever works—don't just stand there! Yet we often fear an unjustified leap even though it may land us on a correct result. Traditional mathematics teaching is largely about solving exactly stated problems exactly, yet life often hands us partly defined problems needing only moderately accurate solutions. This engaging book is an antidote to the rigor mortis brought on by too much mathematical rigor, teaching us how to guess answers without needing a proof or an exact calculation.

In Street-Fighting Mathematics, Sanjoy Mahajan builds, sharpens, and demonstrates tools for educated guessing and down-and-dirty, opportunistic problem solving across diverse fields of knowledge—from mathematics to management. Mahajan describes six tools: dimensional analysis, easy cases, lumping, picture proofs, successive approximation, and reasoning by analogy. Illustrating each tool with numerous examples, he carefully separates the tool—the general principle—from the particular application so that the reader can most easily grasp the tool itself to use on problems of particular interest.

Street-Fighting Mathematics grew out of a short course taught by the author at MIT for students ranging from first-year undergraduates to graduate students ready for careers in physics, mathematics, management, electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. They benefited from an approach that avoided rigor and taught them how to use mathematics to solve real problems.

Source: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=12156

Street-Fighting Mathematics (PDF File): http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/full_pdfs/Street-Fighting_Mathematics.pdf

Bill Gates' School Crusade

2010-07-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

Daniel Golden

It's been two years since Bill Gates left his day-to-day role at Microsoft (MSFT) to concentrate on supervising the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—and his new enterprise is booming. Headquartered in a converted check-processing center in Seattle's Eastlake neighborhood, the 10-year-old foundation plans to move into a 900,000-square-foot campus and visitors' center near the city's Space Needle next spring. The Gates Foundation opened a London office this year; it also has offices in Washington, Delhi, and Beijing, and 830 employees around the world, up from about 500 in 2008. With assets of $33.9 billion as of Dec. 31, 2009, and America's two richest people—Gates and Warren Buffett—as trustees, the foundation plans to spend $3 billion in the next five to seven years on education. If there's such a thing as a charity behemoth, the Gates Foundation is it.

While its efforts in global health are widely applauded, its record in America's schools has been more controversial. Starting in 2000, the Gates Foundation spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its first big project, trying to revitalize U.S. high schools by making them smaller, only to discover that student body size has little effect on achievement.

It has since shifted its considerable weight behind an emerging consensus—shared by U.S. Education Secretary and Gates ally Arne Duncan—that quality of teaching affects student performance and that increasing achievement is as simple as removing bad teachers, identifying good ones, and rewarding them with more money. On this theory, Gates is investing $290 million over seven years in the Tampa, Memphis, and Pittsburgh school districts as well as a charter school consortium in Los Angeles. The largest chunk of money, $100 million, will go to Tampa's Hillsborough County school district, the eighth-largest in the U.S., with 192,000 students and 15,000 teachers. These carefully selected programs, which will favor or penalize teachers depending on whether students make larger or smaller gains than their test scores in prior years would have predicted, are intended as models that, if proven successful, can be rolled out nationwide.

Cutting Edge Technology Coming Soon to a Classroom Near You

2010-07-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

By: Max Schlusselberg

In what is perhaps a sign of technology's rising prominence in the classroom, Saxe Middle School is currently in the process of gutting the room formerly used for home economics and outfitting it with rows of new computers and digital keyboards. Saxe's new computer lab is just one part of the New Canaan school system's push to incorporate technology in the learning process.

"We're adapting with the time and it's the age of technology now," said Director of Visual and Performing Arts Alan Sneath. "Teachers have really risen to the challenge of bringing technology to the next level."

Computer labs are just one way educators are using advanced technology to enrich the learning process. Beginning last year, students from elementary school to high school have been cataloging their academic progress online in digital portfolios.

In partnership with Digication.com, New Canaan's public schools are giving their students a platform to upload everything from art projects to musical performances so both teachers and parents can track their students' progress.

"Students are doing work that we're capturing digitally to take it into the 21^st century," said Sneath, who has long been a supporter of ensuring students are prepared for an increasingly digitized world. Sneath sees value in digital portfolios not only for teachers and parents but also believes that beginning next year students will be able to include digital portfolios on college applications.

And as computer labs become commonplace in all of New Canaan's public schools, educators at East Elementary School are taking the concept a step further. Beginning this year, elementary students will have laptop computers at their disposal in addition to standard desktops. According to Director of Technology Rob Miller, laptop computers allow teachers to give their students a much more tailored approach to the curriculum.

"We're engaging students' interests, which allows for a more active learning environment," said Miller. "Teachers can group students together and move them around using laptops… Students can then work on specific parts of the curriculum."

But despite all the advancements in classroom technology at New Canaan's public schools, educators believe they can't get too comfortable.

"You can't stop," said Sneath, referring to the effort of keeping classroom technology modern. "The minute you stop, it changes."

Source: http://newcanaan.patch.com/articles/cutting-edge-technology-coming-soon-to-a-classroom-near-you

Turning Eyes Growing Market

2010-07-10T16:41:00.000-07:00

By GRACE WYLER

Turning Technologies — one of the region’s hottest software companies and the first success story of downtown Youngstown’s emerging high-tech campus — is expanding its focus on educational initiatives that use its technology to improve learning.

The company’s interactive-response technologies increasingly are being used to implement teaching and learning strategies that have been scientifically proven to boost achievement in the classroom, said Tina Rooks, the recently appointed vice president in charge of overseeing the Turning Technologies educational strategy.

“We have always known that students learn better when they engage,” Rooks said. “What we have discovered is that TurningPoint systems can engage students in a way that allows immediate feedback and progress monitoring.”

By allowing assessment and instruction to occur simultaneously, the company’s response technologies have helped prove the effectiveness of teaching methods that previously were too time-consuming to test in a classroom setting, such as pre- and post-testing and differentiated instruction based on students’ varying levels of understanding, Rooks said.

“The technology facilitates these practices that have been known to be valid,” Rooks said. “These theories often have not been put into play.”

Rooks, who has a doctorate in instructional technology, has been working with the U.S. Department of Education to help come up with ideas for implementing assessment strategies.

Turning Technologies initially focused its educational initiatives on customers in the company’s K-12 market. It is now expanding to apply its learning strategies to international clients and other customers using the technology in corporate or nontraditional classroom settings, Rooks said.

“We are finding that quite a bit of our practices are universal,” she said.

Turning Technologies has been expanding its Educational Consulting Team to capitalize on the success of these learning-assessment solutions, said chief executive Mike Broderick.

“We have really gotten to the point where there is a real body of data saying that, when [the software] is implemented in the classroom, it works,” Broderick said. “It is almost beginning to snowball.”

In the past two years, the team has grown from one — Rooks — to seven members. This group, made up of educators and educational experts, work with Turning Technologies’ sales representatives to help customers learn how to use the technology to improve achievement, Broderick said.

Turning Technologies’ educational initiatives represent a major growth opportunity for the company and likely will continue to expand, he said.

“We probably have our products in less than 2 percent of classrooms,” Broderick said. “We think the opportunity for growth is exponential.”

Source: http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/jul/07/turning-eyes-growing-market/

Generic Education

2010-07-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

Generic education is the part of education which is of general value, the education a resident on planet earth in the 21st century should have in order to be reasonably knowledgeable and universally understood by others. Generic Education provides the common language for the definition and interpretation of facts, a step-up on the ladder to greater understanding and potential enlightenment. Generic Education is globalization at the grassroots level, a prime requirement for economic and industrial globalization to work.

What is Generic Education
The concept of generic education was proposed by Win Straube in his book, "QGE=A, Quality Generic Education is the Answer". Generic Education means the identification and practice of objective, unarguable values. Generic Education can be taught and learned anywhere because it is free from cultural or political baggage, yet it is understood on all sides as a shared, generally accepted version. Generic Education is universally measurable, which means that learners’ proficiency in the studied subjects can be tested. It also means that the tests used are either identical or at least comparable in different locations and as administered at different times. In other words: The level of proficiency to pass a specific test needs to be as close to identical to every other such test as possible.

Generic Education means "proficiency in" a certain science, art, or other subject which is agreed on by all or almost all. For example, 2 plus 2 equals 4, "love" in French is "amour", the moon is a satellite of planet earth, and the water we drink is H2O. These examples from mathematics, languages, astronomy, and chemistry demonstrate their generic educational nature. Of course there are fields of study which may have a generic base but are everything but generic when studied in-depth, such as psychology. In these circumstances, there may be different "schools" teaching particular views that are hotly contested by others. The contested parts need to be excluded from Generic Education, although a particular view may eventually become the commonly held belief or "truth". That is when it would become suitable for Generic Education.

Quality Generic Education
Quality generic education is the best generic education available at the lowest possible cost, and universally acceptable and interchangeable. Thus the classroom can come to anybody at any place where he/she can be in front of a computer or TV screen, such as in his home or in a location set up for the learning experience, like a satellite campus of a community college. Likewise, anybody being exposed to such educational presentations will be able to interact with them, asking questions, receiving additional and deeper background information, taking tests, and communicating with a teacher, regardless whether that teacher is physically nearby or continents away. In addition, learning support would be supplied by "education facilitators" who could be the parents or one parent, fellow students, or others.

How Does Quality Generic Education Work
Here are a few random examples of how Generic Education via Distance Learning actually works, though many more modes of operation are in use worldwide, always suited to a particular audience. Basically they all consist of three or four components:
1. The production and preparation of learning materials.
2. The presentation of either live or recorded lectures.
3. Transmission via electronic media such as television or computer networks, internet and email hookups; at times interactive for teacher/student exchanges and also for student-to-student exchanges.
4. Some of the programs include personal meetings or classroom attendance, particularly in preparation of and for examinations. However, many programs work entirely long distance where teacher and student never meet in person.

Source: http://wikibin.org/articles/generic-education.html

One Laptop per Child updates design for older pupils

2010-06-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Fildes

The so-called $100 laptop has undergone a facelift in order to be used by secondary school children.

The machines, designed by One Laptop per Child (OLPC), are based on the original XO laptop, which was built for primary school children.

The new computers feature a larger keyboard and upgraded software.

Uruguay, which has already distributed nearly 400,000 XO laptops to primary schools, has ordered 90,000 of the new laptops, known as the XO-HS.

It has also ordered 10,000 machines designed by rival Intel, which makes the Classmate PC, also developed for children.

"We want to see how students react and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each," said Miguel Brechner, director of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay, who is in charge of the country's Plan Ceibal (Education Connect) project.

'Full saturation'

The government scheme has given many people in the country their first taste of computers and the internet.

It has delivered 380,000 XO laptops to primary school students and nearly 20,000 to teachers.

"Uruguay is the only deployment that is complete," Kalil Nicolas of the OLPC Association, told BBC News. "They have full saturation of their primary schools."

The 90,000 XO-HS machines will be rolled out to some of Uruguay's 230,000 high school students.

"We are expanding our reach," said Mr Nicolas. "We still want to focus on 6-12 year olds - and motivate them - but they need a laptop to grow into."

Deliveries of the new laptops will begin in September 2010.

Mr Nicolas said that they would also be offered to other countries interested in connecting high-school students.

Tablet future

The original XO laptop was designed specifically for children in the developing world and featured a rugged design aimed at keeping out water and dust, a sunlight-readable display and open source software.

It was designed by OLPC, a spin out from US university MIT.

The organisation originally aimed to sell the green and white machines in lots of one million to governments in developing countries for $100 each.

However, it had difficulty getting governments to commit to bulk orders.

Mr Nicolas said that 1.2 million machines had been deployed so far and OLPC was contracted to supply a further 500,000. Each laptop ordered by Uruguay cost $209.

iPad App Tests Students From Home, the Park, a Baseball Game ...

2010-06-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

FOXNews.com

British students might soon have the chance to take college exams in their own bedrooms at any time of the day or night -- without being able to cheat.

U.S. firm Software Secure has developed a program which is designed to make sure students stay honest while taking the exam by keeping them under surveillance and cutting off any access to cribbing material.

The software first locks down the use of all files and the Internet, other than those specifically needed for the exam. It then asks for a fingerprint test to ensure the candidate is the correct person and uses audio and video recording to ensure that the student is under exam conditions during the whole period.

The firm says on its website that it "brings the exam room into the computer age, making exam time less stressful for students, faculty and administrators."

At least one college in Britain, the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, is experimenting with the system and others may follow suit. Several universities in the United States already have the system in place. The National Union of Students gave the idea a cautious welcome.

"It would be one solution to problems faced by those who might have difficulty reaching a university campus for exams," said a spokesman.

"However it must not be used as an excuse to further cut costs or corners by reducing the amount of contact time students have with staff."

The company says it was designed for students with full-time jobs, or who have children and don't have the flexibility to find an exam supervisor.

From: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/06/09/ipad-app-students-tests/?test=latestnews

A Self-Appointed Teacher Runs a One-Man 'Academy' on YouTube

2010-06-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

By Jeffrey R. Young

The most popular educator on YouTube does not have a Ph.D. He has never taught at a college or university. And he delivers all of his lectures from a bedroom closet.

This upstart is Salman Khan, a 33-year-old who quit his job as a financial analyst to spend more time making homemade lecture videos in his home studio. His unusual teaching materials started as a way to tutor his faraway cousins, but his lectures have grown into an online phenomenon—and a kind of protest against what he sees as a flawed educational system.

"My single biggest goal is to try to deliver things the way I wish they were delivered to me," he told me recently.

The resulting videos don't look or feel like typical college lectures or any of the lecture videos that traditional colleges put on their Web sites or YouTube channels. For one thing, these lectures are short—about 10 minutes each. And they're low-tech: Viewers see only the scrawls of equations or bad drawings that Mr. Khan writes on his digital sketchpad software as he narrates.

The lo-fi videos seem to work for students, many of whom have written glowing testimonials or even donated a few bucks via a PayPal link. The free videos have drawn hundreds of thousands of views, making them more popular than the lectures by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, famous for making course materials free, or any other traditional institution online, according to the leaders of YouTube's education section.

Mr. Khan calls his collection of videos "Khan Academy," and he lists himself as founder and faculty. That means he teaches every subject, and he has produced 1,400 lectures since he started in 2006. Now he records one to five lectures per day.

He started with subject matter he knows best—math and engineering, which he studied as an undergraduate at MIT. But lately he has added history lectures about the French Revolution and biology lectures on "Embryonic Stem Cells" and "Introduction to Cellular Respiration."

Polk third graders explore Savannah lighthouse in OWL project

2010-06-07T17:21:00.000-07:00

by Staff reports

At high tide, the base of the old lighthouse on Cockspur Island at the mouth of the Savannah River is approximately 3 – 5 feet underwater. When the beacon was built in 1849, it was well above sea level. So, what happened?

Some third-graders in Polk County and Marietta will soon be able to explore the island as it was in the 1800s, trying to determine what forces, both natural and man-made, led to the lighthouse eventually being abandoned. Entering this virtual world as an avatar – a digital representation of themselves – students will be able to take soil samples, and interview the light keeper, his family and soldiers from the island’s Fort Pulaski.

“The simulation will be like a time machine for the students,” said Assistant Professor Doug Hearrington, Kennesaw State University (KSU). “Applying earth science lessons, and some engineering principles, they will investigate the problem and recommend a solution.”

Curriculum Director Laurie Atkins, Polk School District, said teachers from Van Wert and Cherokee Elementary Schools would receive training for Project OWL (Online World of Learning) during the summer. Teachers from Van Wert are Lawana Gurley, Kay Hughes, and Jennifer Moss. Cherokee teachers include Janice Stewart, Connie Martin, Selena Mobbs and Joan Hunt.

“This is a collaborative partnership between KSU, Confucius Institute at KSU, Polk schools and Marietta-City schools,” Atkins said.

Using a $72,817 grant from the U.S. Department of Education that was awarded to the Bagwell College of Education, Hearrington will begin implementing Project OWL in Polk and Marietta.

An elementary school in China will also participate. OWL is based on Hearrington’s research using multi-user virtual environment technology in the classroom.

Polk’s teachers will visit China this summer to meet with their partner teachers for workshops and planning. The collaboration with the Chinese elementary school fulfills the program’s global component by broadening students’ understanding of global environmental issues and cultures.

“Today’s students have grown up with ubiquitous access to various forms of technology,” he said. “Bringing this technology into the classroom provides a familiar format that increases critical thinking skills while making learning fun.”

Beginning this fall, the pilot year of the program, Polk and other Georgia teachers will begin immersion training with Lighthouse Island, the lesson simulation plan based on the Cockspur Island Lighthouse designed by Hearrington.

“Now that we know what happens to the lighthouse – today’s conditions – how can we go back and keep it from happening,” Hearrington said. “I believe the students will come up with some very creative ideas.”

Project OWL will also provide virtual space to enable students to develop their own simulations. Hearrington and the Project OWL teachers are discussing a variety of potential classroom simulations, including economic models, a virtual aquarium, and a simulated version of each of Georgia’s habitats and the organisms living in each.