McGraw-Hill has announced some new PDA software tools for some of their higher-ed products. They include quizzes, flash-cards, and similar self-study tools. While it’s only higher ed now, K-12 products would probably be lurking somewhere down the road.
http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/media/news/2003/02/20030219.html.
An article today in the online version of Business Week outlines the efforts by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to promote legislation to help fight music piracy, and the questionable statistics they are using to support their arguments. Why is this a concern to educators? One of the “fixes” that the RIAA has suggested is a special tax on blank CDs that would go the recording industry to make up for music they say has been lost to illegal copying. The levy amounts currently being considered in Canada could increase the cost of blank CDs there by two or three times.
You can read the entire article at http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/030213/tc200302139095_tc078_1.html.
The Northwest Girls Collaborative Project will award $1,000 mini-grants
to a minimum of twenty-two girl-serving Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) focused programs to support
collaborative projects designed to encourage and motivate girls to enter
STEM fields.
Mini grant applications will be awarded in two phases.
Phase one applications are due March 14, 2003, with notification of
award recipients on April 1, 2003.
Phase two applications are due May 15, 2003, with notification of award
recipients on June 1, 2003.
Funds will be available immediately to begin implementation of
collaborative projects. Please note this is a change from our original
mini-grant announcement. We’ve had considerable interest from
organizations that would like to do summer projects and have adjusted
our
process to meet this need.
For information about the mini-grant process, please visit
http://www.pugetsoundcenter.org/nwgcpminigrants.
The mini-grant program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation
(Grant No.HRD-0217212), Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and
Technology, Washington MESA, and the Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory.
Karen Peterson, Director
Diversity in Technology Group
Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology
22002 26th Avenue SE, Suite 101
Bothell, WA 98021
voice: 425.640.1956
fax: 425.640.1953
email: kpeterson@pugetsoundcenter.org
web: www.pugetsoundcenter.org
Florida is in desperate need of new classroom space after passing a plan to reduce average class size. A new proposal would fund districts buying 644,00 laptops and converting 1,680 computer labs into classrooms. The cost of the laptops is less than adding new portables or expanding schools. (I hope they included the costs for maintenance, wireless connections, and replacement!)
The entire article is at the Miami Herald website at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/5154090.htm.
One of the greatest challenges in buying software for use in school is getting an idea of what’s worth considering. Dennis Small from OSPI just sent us the following useful websites to help find those needles in the haystack!
NETC
http://www.netc.org/software/review_sources.html
California Learning Resource Network
http://www.clrn.org/home/
The School House Review
http://www.worldvillage.com/wv/school/html/scholrev.htm
SuperKids Educational Software Review
http://www.superkids.com/
Educational Software Review Sources
http://spectrum.troyst.edu/~maca/6607online/srsources.htm
How Much Memory do I Have?
There’s an easy way to find out how much memory you have left, the number of kilobyes each application uses and which versions are loaded on your Palm handheld.
Try this tip:
1. On your handheld, tap the Home button.
2. Tap the silkscreen Menu button (directly below the house).
3. Tap Info from the ‘App’ pull-down menu.
4. The bar on the Info screen tells you how much memory you’ve used.
5. Tap the Version box at the bottom to see what version of Palm OS you have.
6. Tap the Records box at the bottom of the Info screen for additional storage details, such as how many people & organizations are in your address book.
A couple of months ago SRI International, a leading non-profit research agency, put out the results of a 2 year study evaluating 100 elementary and secondary classrooms using handhelds. The study found that 90% of the teachers surveyed say handhelds are an effective instructional tool. There were also positive finding in the areas of homework completion rates, increased motivation and increased collaboration. For more information about the study, go to: http://www.sri.com/news/releases/11-11-02.html