FCC to Overhaul E-Rate Program
Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Jaimie Schock
Schools and public libraries in poor and rural communities may soon get a faster and lower-cost way to hook up to the Internet as part of an overhaul of the federal E-Rate program. An anticipated FCC order would let them use federal dollars to buy unused communications lines.
Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on FCC to Overhaul E-Rate Program
Tags: Outreach for Schools, Public Policy, Technical Communications, Technology for Learning
The debate over the efficacy of classroom technology continues, but so does the onslaught of new devices. Some cutting-edge technologies may soon be wending their way to American schools, via South Korea. One example? A robot with a screen in its tummy that displays lecture videos.
Tufts university will loan state-of-the-art lab equipment to four Boston area high schools, to help support better lab instruction and to hook kids on science inquiry.
As California students return to school this month, 400 eighth graders from four districts — Long Beach, Riverside, Fresno, and San Francisco — will tote something different in their backpacks: an iPad. It’s part of a pilot program meant to determine whether Apple’s popular device can replace traditional algebra textbooks.
Middle School students in McLean, VA, took up a challenge to take a snapshot of the Earth’s curvature without spending more than $200. They pulled it off, using a cooler, camera, weather balloon, GPS cellphone — and all their math ability.
Who better to test the gaming aspects of a new online investment platform than 10- and 11-year-olds who have grown up with Wiis in one hand and PS3s in the other? At a school in Potomac, using “virtual” money, fifth graders tested the platform. Most students made money–and a few made a bundle.
At the annual meeting of the International Society for Technology in Education, attendees were told that in classrooms of the not-too-distant future, each student will be armed with a handheld digital education device, teachers will encourage tweeting and texting, and more lessons will be taught using computer games.
In 2006, Microsoft bet it could overhaul education using technical innovation, reform-minded teachers, and a $63 million investment. Over the past four years, its School of the Future, in Philadelphia’s Parkside district, has experienced real struggles. But now, all 117 seniors in the 2010, first graduating class will continue with some form of post-secondary education.
Augmented reality (AR) technology is being hailed as the next big thing in the wireless world. Unlike virtual reality, which lets people seemingly enter artificial worlds, AR overlays digital information on real-world images viewed through the cameras of GPS-enabled handhelds, like smartphones. And already, one developer, Digital Tech Frontier, is marketing to schools its Augmented Reality Development Lab (ARDL) technology as a learning tool.
