The Empowered Education Awards Finalists!

To make the case for educational technology to skeptics in Congress and elsewhere, eSchool News joined with leading experts to create the Empowered Education Awards (EEA). Meris Stansbury reports for eSchool News on this contest which asks those most affected by educational technology -- students -- to make the case for it.

EEA, with funding from the Pearson Foundation, challenged elementary, middle and high school students to create three- to seven-minute videos on "How Technology Helps Me Learn," a theme meant to show how schools are using technology to complement and enhance student learning. The winners from each grade category, plus their teachers, get free trips to Washington, D. C., with guided tours in D. C., recognition at an awards ceremony, prizes for the winners and their schools, and more. The biggest part of the prize is getting a chance to meet with state representatives and senators on the importance of technology in education and its boon to learning.

The entries have been narrowed down to three finalists in each category: elementary, middle and high school. In the middle school category the finalists are:

• "Satellites and Us" from Yokota Middle School, Tokyo, Japan -- "Student reporters from Japan give a glimpse into the world of satellites at the Miraikan Museum of Innovative Science and Technology."

• "One Pretty Cool Movie" from Creative Connections Art Academy, CA -- This video"shows how students in California use technology to create classroom magic."

• "How We Use Technology to Learn" From Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School, VT -- "Reporters for South Burlington Network News (SBNN) travel back in time to 1983 to show the differences technology has made in the classroom."

You can see the middle school finalists, plus the finalists for the elementary and high school categories, at the EEA webpage. You can also rate them and help eSchool News decide on the winners. The winners will be chosen and announced in September.

SOURCE: "Student videos demonstrate ed-tech's value" 06/13/08
photo courtesy of brockvicky, used under this Creative Commons license

New and Notable in Ed Tech

Meris Stansbury at eSchool News reports on the new educational technologies featured by the Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) at its 2008 Ed Tech Industry Summit last week. Ten technologies were chosen for SIIA's Innovation Working Group which gives developers additional exposure for their products and gives them chances to network with other ed-tech developers and executives.

Of the ten technologies chosen and two semi-finalists, many hold great promise for middle school. These include:

• Blue Nose Edutainment--this website "uses music, film, and sports" to motivate sixth to twelfth grade students to read and write, including chances to submit their own lyrics or interpretations of lyrics to win prizes.

• Education Clip Library--this online collection of video clips selected and "contextualized by education experts" is aimed at students aged 3-19 and says it covers all academic areas.

• eSpindle Vocabulary and Spelling Tutor--this online program helps students commit words to long-term memory with individualized practice.

• MaestroReading.com--at this site, reading and literacy development is mixed with social networking.

• Personalized Language Learning Platform from Open English--this personalized learning program helps students learn English based on their grade level, age and native language.

• GenYES--this is an online curriculum that teaches students in grades 4-12 about technology with real-world examples and contexts.

• TutorVista--this program offers personalized tutoring in math, English, science and other subjects from highly-trained tutors who are available anytime.

You can find more information on each of these programs at their respective websites. Check out the eSchool News article for other programs of note. Many of the winners are aimed at differentiated or personalized learning. How might you use these with your middle schoolers? Do any of these fill a need or multiple needs or are they cherries on top, nice to have but not essential?

SOURCE: "Summit showcases ed-tech 'up-and-comers' " 03/29/08
photo courtesy of pasotraspaso, used under this Creative Commons license

At Risk: Smartphoning Ninth Graders

Liza Weidel reports for NBC17.com that an innovative North Carolina program for at-risk ninth graders is set to run out of money in June 2008. The director of Project K-Nect recently begged the State Board of Education for additional funding. Project K-Nect, now used in 3 North Carolina high schools, points to a way to help at-risk students and reduce the impact of not having a computer or Internet access at home.

Project K-Nect was inspired by researching student, teacher, administrator and parent responses to a survey on STEM education and educational technology. The results said that a successful educational technology program had to "use more interaction and multi-media aspects" to connect with "what educators are calling...digital millennial students." Because of students' experience with real-world technology like Facebook, instant messaging and email, technology in school needs to have real-world uses to engage them. Ironically, another finding was that fewer students than thought had access to the Internet at home. Students were living in a world full of technology but had limited access to it, especially for school uses.

To solve these problems, the program uses Smartphones, about 100 so far. Teachers access a portal system to send information, mostly algebra problems this past year, and control distractions in the school. Teachers can, for example, turn off ringers when students are in the halls changing classes. Students have access to the problem sets sent to them and also to multimedia tools that allow them to create and access blogs and learning videos. The Smartphones also offer "1.5 megabytes of connectivity," more than DSL. The best part is that students in Project K-Nect "are more engaged in their classrooms."

The research team will complete a post-assessment of the program by June and a final report no later than August. The program has strong private support from corporations who might do a 100% match of any state funds. The program has also attracted the attention of boards of education in New York state and Italy. Hopefully, the research team and its supporters can keep this promising program alive and well-funded. It would be great to see it expanded in North Carolina or even to other districts or states.

SOURCE: "School Technology Program Losing Funding" 4/4/08
photo courtesy of Leonard Low, used under this Creative Commons license