New Brunswick Man Develops Mobile Learning Initiative for Area College

KELLY SACCOMANNO

TRENTON, N.J. Matthew Cooper was seven years old when Thomas Edison State College first pioneered the development of online college courses more than 20 years ago.

Today, he is playing a lead role in Thomas Edison State College's new Mobile Learning Initiative, which is creating new course delivery formats that enable students to complete courses regardless of their location and without the need for an Internet connection.

"Our goal is to meet the needs of busy adults who are mobile more often than they are stationary, including deployed military personnel and mass transit riders," he said.

Cooper, a course designer at the college, knows all about having down time on a train. He travels by rail from his home in New Brunswick to the college's Trenton campus every day. His perspective as a commuter may have been helpful as he played a key role developing one of the college's latest course delivery system, which enables students to complete courses with no Internet connection. The courses he developed, known as FlashTrack courses, made their debut in spring 2009 and are delivered to students on a single two gigabyte (2 GB) flash drive. The 15 new flash-based courses are designed for independent learners and prepare students to take a pass or fail examination.

"I have been working on the Mobile Learning Initiative since I joined the college in July," said Cooper, who moved to New Jersey from Kansas City, Mo., with his wife. "The FlashTrack program was our first step to making our educational programs more accessible to our students."

Cooper also has been busy developing another new course delivery system that the college launched in July 2009. This new course format enables students to access 20 courses with any web-enabled cell phone or other mobile device. The courses, known as Mobile Option e-Pack courses, are also designed for independent learners and enable students to use smartphones to download and complete diagnostic quizzes that form part of the regular course work and prepare students to take a final exam.

Read More:

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20090922/GETPUBLISHED/909220338/New+Brunswick+Man+Develops+Mobile+Learning+Initiative+for+Area+College

What difference does 10 years make?

By Lauren Wicks | Suffolk News-Herald

Published Monday, March 1, 2010

In school, students are taught that learning never stops.

There are always new lessons, new breakthroughs to absorb and comprehend.

The profession of education is very much the same.

In the past decade alone, teachers have seen drastic changes in their field, from their students’ personalities to trying to educate in the wake of the Standards of Learning testing.

While there have been many advancements in the education field during the past 10 years, some of Suffolk’s most veteran teachers point to one thing as the biggest and greatest change in the classroom: the role of technology.

“Technology, certainly, has to be at top of the list,” said Elaine Abernathy, a kindergarten teacher at Mount Zion Elementary School. Abernathy has been teaching for 34 years in Suffolk’s schools.

Personal computers were not new to the world in 2000, but the technology had not permeated far into the educational field. Today, computers are available for every student in the city. Course work and grade books are available online, and Internet research, multimedia capabilities and PowerPoint presentations are almost prerequisites in student projects.

Abernathy said the expansive role of technology goes hand in hand with a new generation that has been groomed with new technological advances.

“They are exposed to so many gadgets,” Abernathy said. “They just apply that same technology. They aren’t afraid to explore it. For children who are auditory or visual learners, it’s right there for them. It really addresses their needs and the way they learn.”

Deborah Luisi, a second-grade teacher at Kilby Shores Elementary School, agreed.

“As an ‘old-school’ teacher, it is thrilling for me to watch 7- and 8-year-old students engrossed in research, reading, math and many other educational avenues via technology,” she said.

Luisi, who has been teaching for 30 years — 27 of them in Suffolk, said it is not just the students who incorporate technology into the classroom.

Teachers also have been incorporating technology to create more efficient classrooms.

“We have programs in place which make our work (grading, assessments, reports — you name it) more accurate and expedient,” Luisi said. “Also, email puts us into immediate touch with co-workers as well as parents.”

Read More: http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/news/2010/mar/01/what-difference-does-10-years-make/

Higher Education: Staving off student debt

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

By EMILY DONOHUE, The Saratogian

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When he was a high school student looking at colleges, Salem resident Matt Saari thought a school with a good reputation would lead to a successful career. He graduated from St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in history and about $60,000 in debt. The student loan bills have all come due, but the good career he planned for has been more elusive.

Saari works at the Ace Hardware distribution center in Wilton and spends about $400 a month, plus an additional $300 quarterly, to repay the student loans he took out to finance his education. His job at Ace Hardware does not require a degree.

“The money’s OK, but it’s certainly not what I had imagined,” he said. “I guess in my darkest moments, I wonder if I wouldn’t have been better off just enlisting (in the military), maybe getting a practical skill set.”

He contacted all of his loan lenders to try to reduce his monthly payments, but only one lender agreed.

A $500 monthly payment on one loan was reduced to just under $300. The other lenders wouldn’t budge, though. “I’ve tried to discuss other options,” he said. “They’ve claimed that the options aren’t there.”

Saari said he doesn’t regret going to St. Anselm College, but he didn’t imagine that he’d be struggling to make ends meet after he graduated. He lives with his parents to save money now.

“I cherish having gone to college,” he said. “The economy kind of bailed on me.”

Continue Reading: http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2010/02/16/news/doc4b7a1daf0f6ea541756232.txt

SAVE THE SCHOOLS

Put a Sales Tax on Advertising
it would get the States $30 Billion
a year,
and the ONLY cost would be
FEWER ADS.

LVKen7@Gmail.com

A.F.L.-C.I.O. Creates Online College for Union Families

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

Published: January 14, 2010

The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the main umbrella group for the nation’s labor unions, announced on Thursday that it was joining with the National Labor College and the Princeton Review to create an online college for the federation’s 11.5 million members and their families.

The new college, tentatively named the College for Working Families, will seek to “expand job opportunities for its members by providing education and retraining in a way that’s affordable and accessible,” the founders said.

The college will be the first and only accredited degree-granting online institution devoted exclusively to educating union members. It plans to begin offering courses this fall, including ones on criminal justice, education, business and allied health sciences.

Continue Reading:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/15/us/15labor.html

Playing to Learn: Susan Engel

Excerpt from oped piece in New York Times, Tuesday, February 2

So what should children be able to do by age 12, or the time they leave elementary school? They should be able to read a chapter book, write a story and a compelling essay; know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply numbers; detect patterns in complex phenomena; use evidence to support an opinion; be part of a group of people who are not their family; and engage in an exchange of ideas in conversation. If all elementary school students mastered these abilities, they would be prepared to learn almost anything in high school and college.

Imagine, for instance, a third-grade classroom that was free of the laundry list of goals currently harnessing our teachers and students, and that was devoted instead to just a few narrowly defined and deeply focused goals.

Continue reading

Susan Engel is senior lecturer in psychology and the director of the teaching program at Williams College.

They should be EMPHASIZING THE 3 Rs.

LVKen7@Gmail.com