News and analysis on IT and computing in the education sector.
Chris Dawson is a freelance writer, consultant, and policy advocate with 20 years of experience in education, technology, and the intersection of the two.
A California representative wants to compel schools to "educate" kids about digital piracy or lose their education technology grants. Rep. Ed Chavez's bill, which would require schools applying for California's Technology Assistance Project to demonstrate a plan to educate children in the rules of copyright.
Joyce Valenza suggests keeping an eye on the emerging world of WikiBooks, otherwise known as open source textbook projects. They haven't gotten much play lately but Valenza suspects they may be ready to break out.
Doug Johnson at the Blue Skunk Blog opines that primary school "library media specialists" (formerly known as librarians) are the best folks to manage education technology in K12 schools.
So what exactly does $300 buy you? And should a cash-starved educator like me run out and spend my meager budget on a bunch of these little suckers?
If America has a pressing need for improved math and science education, as apparently we do, then why does the 2007 budget trash education technology programs? That's what the International Society for Technology in Education wants to know.
Tim Lauer writes about a new web service called SuprGlu that seems ready-made for online classes, student websites, and other education related uses.
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics is teaming up with Texas Instruments and the producers of CBS's mathmatical detective show "Numb3rs" to develop a technology based math-learning program for high schoolers.
University president declares legality and cultural imperative of Google Books: preservation, access, public good.
Google reports that they've testing a new service for academia - hosting Gmail accounts at San Jose City College's domain.
A British primary school, the Woodland Grange, is Yahoo UK's Education Find of the Year for 2005. At Teaching Ideas & Resources, the school's deputy head, Richard Smyton, lays out some of the reason's for the site's success.