Schools and Tech: episode #29 The Federal Ed-Tech Plan

Schools_and_Tech_29_The_Federal_Ed-Tech_Plan.mp3 Listen on Posterous News of the Week:1) How Kinect Got an Autistic Kid Gaming  (from Gizmodo)GamingNexus editor John Yan has a four-year-old son with a mild form of autism. The little guy's tried to play 360 and PS3 but has trouble getting a hold on the controllers. With Kinect, though, he was an instant pro.2) Electrical Brain Stimulation Improves Math Skills - New Scientist 3) Teacher’s Death Exposes Tensions in Los Angeles - NYT When The Los Angeles Times released a database of “value-added analysis” of every teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District in August, Mr. [Rigoberto ] Ruelas was rated “less effective than average.” Colleagues said he became noticeably depressed, and family members have guessed that the rating contributed to his death. A moderate voice of reason? - “Not including value-added measures is not acceptable,” said Yolie Flores, a board member of the Los Angeles Unified School District. “But it also has to be part of a more comprehensive system of evaluation.” - or the contrary view - Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued that reliance on value-added assessments actually hindered efforts to carry out comprehensive teacher evaluations.4) from eSchoolNews -- Study: Teacher bonuses failed to raise test scores -- School of One Boosts Individual learningMain Topic: 2010 National Education Technology Plan U.S. Announces National Ed-Tech Plan Education Week The U.S. Department of Education intends to pay for research to study online professional-collaboration communities for teachers and other educators, according to the action plan in the final version of the Obama administration’s National Education Technology Plan.The final version of the plan, unveiled Tuesday by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, also pledges to finance development of open-source educational resources and launch an initiative dedicated to defining and increasing educational productivity. Mr. Duncan spotlighted the plan in a speech at a conference of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, held at the National Harbor complex in Prince George’s County, Md., just outside Washington.Tim's Tech Tidbit:  Testing your Connection Speed http://www.broadband.gov/qualitytest/about/ http://www.dslreports.com/speedtestaiming for DSL of 2-4 MBs, cable 2-6MBs, “burst capabilities” 10-20direct connections = T-1 1.2 MBs fixed, T-3 much higherEndorsements: Cammy: 16: Moments (short YouTube clip by creators of RadioLab - powerful model of digital storytelling using only 50 or so words) Kevin: California Dreaming a Creative Commons Dutch film on California’s Economic Crisis. Permalink | Leave a comment  »