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      <title>SREB WON 12.19.11</title>
      <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://it.ncwiseowl.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_4500932/Image/SectionArt/SREB.png" alt="SREB Southern Regional Education Board" title="SREB Southern Regional Education Board" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;" /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Worthy of Note&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;12.19.11&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Assessment Seminar (January 11)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pearsonassessments.com/automated_scoring_paper/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Innovations in
Automated Scoring Workshop&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Pearson&amp;rsquo;s Automated Scoring of Writing, Speaking, and Mathematics&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;(White paper)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The new assessment systems designed to measure the Common Core
standards will include far more performance-based items and tasks than most of
today&amp;rsquo;s assessments. In order to provide feedback quickly and make scoring of
the responses affordable, the new assessments will rely heavily on artificial
intelligence scoring, hereafter referred to as automated scoring. Familiarity
with the current range of applications and operational accuracy of automatic
scoring technology can help provide an understanding of which item types can be
scored automatically in the near term. This document describes several examples
of current item types that Pearson has designed and fielded successfully with
automatic scoring. The item examples are presented along with operational
reliability and accuracy figures, as well as information of the nature and
development of the automated scoring systems used by Pearson.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The seminars Pearson have been doing
have been very informative.&amp;nbsp; This one on Wednesday, January 11, in Atlanta
promises to be another learning opportunity.&amp;nbsp; Myk Garn will participate in
this seminar. For further information, contact Myk at &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:myk.garn@sreb.org"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;myk.garn@sreb.org&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Digital Learning, Online Learning &amp;mdash; Or by any other name &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Digital Education; Can Technology Replace
Classroom Teachers? &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Marcia Clemmitt, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;CQ
Researcher, December 2, 2011 (Subscription only)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Refer to Curt Bonk&amp;rsquo;s &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://travelinedman.blogspot.com/2011/12/cqr-pro-or-con-should-schools-use-as.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;blog&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Covering
today's most important issues and controversial subjects, &lt;em&gt;CQ Researcher&lt;/em&gt; has been the
choice of students and librarians for over 80 years. Each weekly issue&amp;mdash;written
by an experienced CQ&amp;nbsp;Press reporter&amp;mdash;is an&amp;nbsp;in-depth, single topic
report featuring more than 12,000 words of text and extensive bibliographies&lt;em&gt;. CQ Researcher&lt;/em&gt; is only available by
subscription but usually is easily located through academic databases that you
probably have access to.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Digital &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;technology
is becoming increasingly commonplace in K-12 &lt;a name="hit4"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit"&gt;education&lt;/span&gt;, and many researchers argue that it will save
money and transform schools into more effective institutions. But other experts
contend that the evidence so far is slim on exactly what computers can
accomplish in the classroom. The dominance of standardized testing means
digital technologies must raise students test scores to levels administrators
and policymaker deem significant. But computer-based learning may not be well
suited for that task, and further efforts to computerize &lt;a name="hit6"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;education
may require schools to shift away from standardized testing, experts say. &amp;nbsp;Until now, most successful computer-learning
initiatives have required specialized training for teachers. But experts say
developing technology that will be easy for nonspecialists to use remains a challenge.
Meanwhile, despite the debate over the effectiveness of computerized education,
all online K-12 schools are proliferating nationwide, and enrollment in online
courses is soaring. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Also,
pro/con on the issues in &lt;em&gt;CQ Researcher&lt;/em&gt;,
December 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Should schools use as much digital
technology as they can afford?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Pro:
&lt;span class="header2"&gt;Curt Bonk &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span class="text"&gt;Professor, Instructional Systems Technology Department,
Indiana University. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span class="text" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; Written for
CQ Researcher, December 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;&lt;span class="header2" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Con: Paul Thomas &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;span class="text"&gt;Associate Professor of Education, Furman University. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in;"&gt;&lt;span class="text" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Written for &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;CQ
Researcher&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span class="text" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;,
December 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Further summary: 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;New
Florida law allows charter schools and individual school districts to offer
online instruction and permits elementary-school students to study full time at
Florida Virtual School&amp;hellip;. Idaho becomes first state to require students to
complete two or more online courses as a graduation requirement&amp;hellip;. Computer
Science Education Act introduced in the House and Senate to bring more
programming and computer-problem-solving classes to K-12 schools&amp;hellip;. New York
City announces new investments in school technology while laying off teachers
and canceling school construction projects&amp;hellip;. Young Scratch hobbyists have
posted more than 2 million media projects online.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/12/16/479823usonlineschools_ap.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Virtual Schools Booming as States Mull Warnings&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Associated Press, Posted in Education Week, Digital
Directions, December 16, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Is
online education as good as face-to-face teaching?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Virtual education companies tout a 2009
research review conducted for the U.S. Department of Education that showed K-12
students did as well or better in online learning conditions as in a
traditional classroom.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;But critics say most studies, including many
in that 2009 review, used results from students taking only some&amp;mdash;but not all&amp;mdash;of
their courses online. They also point out wide gaps in state oversight to
ensure students, and not their parents or tutors, are actually completing tests
and coursework.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -27pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.greatlakescenter.org/docs/Policy_Briefs/Glass_VirtualLearning2011.pdf"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Online K-12 Schooling in the U.S.: Uncertain Private
Ventures in Need of Public Regulation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Gene V. Glass and Kevin G. Welner, National &lt;a name="hit104"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="searchhit"&gt;Education&lt;/span&gt; Policy Center, University of Colorado Boulder,
October 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This
National Education Policy Center policy brief focuses on virtual schooling, the
fastest growing alternative to traditional K-12 education in the U.S. The
expansion in virtual schools (especially full-time virtual schools) is taking
place despite the absence of any data on the effectiveness of full-time cyber
programs and with little government oversight. The authors offer
recommendations for state legislators and other policymakers. These recommendations
are contained in model legislation, which accompanies the policy brief.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/10/11/126891/more-schools-trying-out-computers.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;More Schools Trying Out Computers &amp;mdash; on Kindergarteners&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="subsubhead" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="subsubhead"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report/McClatchy Washington
Bureau, October 11, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Computer-based
learning for the youngest students is spreading but remains controversial.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.convergemag.com/paper/Converge-Special-Report-The-Evolving-Classroom.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Converge Special Report: The Evolving Classroom&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Center for Digital Education and Converge, December 2, 2011 &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The
2011 Q4 Special Report focuses on the evolution of learning settings from
traditional, instructor-led classrooms to completely virtual, student-centric
classes and schools. It describes and illustrates myriad K-12, college and
university learning environments, gives examples of how evolving classroom
models impact students and teachers, and highlights the technologies that make
it possible. To bring students into a digital learning age, the classroom must
evolve.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2011/12/so_far_27_states_sign_on_to_di.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;So Far, 27 States Sign On to Digital Learning Day&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Ian Quillen, Education Week, Digital Education, &lt;span class="byline"&gt;December 15, 2011 1:45 PM &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Two
months after the announcement of Feb. 1, 2012 as the nation's first Digital
Learning Day, 27 states have agreed to take part with their own statewide
observations, according to a &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.all4ed.org/press_room/press_releases/12132011"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;press release&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;
from Gov. Bob Wise's Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education issued
Tuesday.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.innosightinstitute.org/education-blog/is-mandating-online-learning-good-policy/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Is Mandating Online Learning Good Policy?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Michael B.
Horn, Innosight Institute, December 7, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;An increasing number of advocates for online
learning have come out in favor of mandating that states require students take
at least one college- or career-prep course online to earn a high school
diploma. &lt;a href="http://digitallearningnow.com/" target="_blank" title="Digital Learning Now"&gt;Digital Learning Now!&lt;/a&gt;, a national campaign
chaired by former Governors Jeb Bush and Bob Wise to advance policies to create
a high quality digital learning environment for each student&amp;ndash;and where I serve
as a &amp;ldquo;Digital Luminary,&amp;rdquo; is on board as well.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;States are taking notice. Michigan jumped in
first with an online-learning requirement for graduation 5 years ago, and
Alabama quickly followed suit. In the last year, Florida and Idaho have jumped
on board as well, and districts, such as &lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/10/19/01required.h05.html?tkn=RTVFh5IKRIXnY9dDeyFChrfKd5Q9Ajo%2F4Sa4&amp;amp;cmp=ENL-DD-NEWS2" target="_blank" title="EdWeek online learning mandate"&gt;Tennessee&amp;rsquo;s Putnam
County schools&lt;/a&gt;, have adopted an online-learning graduation requirement,
too.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;But is an online-learning requirement a good
idea? For someone who advocates for a transformed student-centric education
system powered by digital learning, you might think my quick answer would be an
emphatic yes, but I&amp;rsquo;m not so sure.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h6 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/technology/khan-academy-blends-its-youtube-approach-with-classrooms.html?_r=1&amp;amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=tha25"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Online
Learning, Personalized&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h6&gt;
&lt;h6 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Somini Sengupta, New York Times,
December 4, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h6&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal;"&gt;This article is part of the NYTimes series, &lt;em&gt;Grading the Digital School (&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/technology/series/grading_the_digital_school/index.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Previous Articles in the Series&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The software program unleashed in this classroom
is the brainchild of Salman Khan, an Ivy League-trained math whiz and the son
of an immigrant single mother. Mr. Khan, 35, has become something of an online
sensation with his &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/" title="The organization&amp;rsquo;s site."&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Khan Academy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; math and science lessons on YouTube, which
has attracted up to 3.5 million viewers a month.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Now he wants to weave those digital lessons
into the fabric of the school curriculum &amp;mdash; a more ambitious and as yet untested
proposition.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This semester, at least 36 schools nationwide
are trying out Mr. Khan&amp;rsquo;s experiment: splitting up the work of teaching between
man and machine, and combining teacher-led lessons with computer-based lectures
and exercises.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;It
is too early to know whether the Khan Academy software makes a real difference
in learning. A &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://blendmylearning.com/2011/08/31/the-results/" title="Blog post about study results."&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;limited
study&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; with students in Oakland, Calif.,
this year found that children who had fallen behind in math caught up equally
well if they used the software or were tutored in small groups. The research
firm SRI International is working on an evaluation of the software in the
classroom.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/12/07/1-to-1-computing-turning-around-school-technology.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;1-to-1 Computing: Turning Around School Technology&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Stephen Noonoo, THE Journal, December 7, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.25in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Early
in the last decade, &lt;a href="http://www.piedmont.k12.al.us/" target="_blank"&gt;Piedmont
City School District&lt;/a&gt;, a small three-school district in Eastern Alabama
between Birmingham and Atlanta, laid claim to the worst computer-to-student
ratio in the state. Since then, the Piedmont district, where 65 percent of
students qualify for reduced or free lunch, has successfully shaken off that
title after embarking on a number of ambitious technology-driven projects,
including a 1-to-1 take-home laptop initiative--called Mpower--a
remote-learning partnership with &lt;a href="http://www.stanford.edu/" target="_blank"&gt;Stanford University&lt;/a&gt;, and a wide-scale E-rate-funded project
that will eventually bring high-speed Internet access to every student's home.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/12/04/475488mnonlinetruancy_ap.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Online Schools Go Old School to Nab Cybertruants&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Education Week, Digital Directions, Published online
December 5, 2011; updated December 14, 2011, Associated Press. Minnesota&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;"It is very easy to become truant in
online," said Stacy Bender, dean of students at Minneapolis-based Minnesota
Virtual High School, which has 1,300 students spread throughout the state.
Unmotivated students can just stop logging in and then lie about it to their
parents and within two weeks, they are truant, she said.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;To catch online truants, Bender and her
colleagues in online schools in Minnesota use mathematical formulas that
compare the hours spent on online lessons and academic progress. The formula
allows for high achievers who work quickly, while catching students who are
just going through the motions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h6 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/03/opinion/virtually-educated.html?_r=1&amp;amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=tha212"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Virtually
Educated&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h6&gt;
&lt;h6 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Gail Collins, Op-Ed, New York Times,
December 2, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h6&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Collins looks at what resources (research?) are saying about online
learning; for instance, does full-time online learning really work for
disadvantaged kids who may be alone at home all day? She did not find much
reputable study to report. One focus of the article is K-12 Inc. in Tennessee. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://kpk12.com/blog/2011/12/idaho-passes-two-course-online-graduation-requirement/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Idaho passes
two course online graduation requirement&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Keeping Pace Blog, December 1, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Online
learning policy can change quickly, and we already have a significant update to
&lt;em&gt;Keeping Pace 2011&lt;/em&gt;.
As of September 2011, three states required students to complete an online
course in order to graduate: Alabama, Florida, and Michigan; see Table 10 on &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://kpk12.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/KeepingPace2011.pdf"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;p. 39&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; for additional
details. But that has now changed, as we have a new state to add to the list:
Idaho.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/californias-online-bill-o_n_1092841.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;California's Online 'Bill Of Rights' Expands High School
Digital Learning&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;John Fensterwald, Thoughts on Public Education, Huffington
Post, November 14, 2011&lt;strong&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Students whose high schools don't
offer the required courses or enough sections to qualify them for admission to
the University of California or California State University would have a right
to take those courses online, under an initiative that sponsors are targeting
for next November's ballot.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The
&lt;a href="http://cadiploma.com/" target="_hplink"&gt;California Student Bill of
Rights&lt;/a&gt; would greatly expand high school online education, while breaking
down geographic and other barriers that are denying many rural and urban
students equal opportunities to attend a four-year public university.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577096682566693576.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Two Families, Two Takes on Virtual Schooling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Heidi Mitchell, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2011 &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Referencing
Susan Patrick of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning,&amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;The Wall Street Journal &lt;/em&gt;notes
that the number of students in U.S. K-12 virtual schools 225,000 from 50,000 a
decade ago&amp;mdash;and 30% year over year since 2001.&amp;nbsp;In light of this growth, &lt;em&gt;WSJ &lt;/em&gt;takes this opportunity
to&amp;nbsp;profile two families and their experience with virtual education, as
well as to summarize just how online classrooms work, from learning to funding.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Digital
Media Use Policy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://spotlight.macfound.org/blog/entry/school-leaders-collaborate-on-best-practices-for-district-level-digital-med/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;School Leaders Collaborate on Best Practices for
District-Level Digital Media Policy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Sarah J., Spotlight on Digital Media and Learning, December
13, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;School
leaders from around the country met in Washington, D.C., last week to
collaborate on creating models for digital media use policies in K-12
education.&amp;nbsp; Administrators from 13 school
districts were selected by the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cosn.org/" title="Consortium on School Networking"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Consortium on School Networking&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; (COSN) to work
together on district-level issues like acceptable use policies, the use of
student-owned mobile devices or social media in the classroom, how to use
social media to communicate with parents and community members, connections to
out-of-school learning, and encouraging students to share their work online.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;OER&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.downes.ca/files/books/FreeLearning.pdf"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Essays on Open Educational
Resources and Copyright&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.5in;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Stephen Downes, Free Learning, August 16, 2011&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
There is a story to be told about open source, open content, and open learning
from the point of view of the person desiring access to these things, rather
than from the point of view of the provider. This book is a collection of my
writings on open educational resources and open access to learning.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Games
and Simulations&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13078."&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Learning Science Through Computer Games and Simulations&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span class="subsubhead" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="subsubhead"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Margaret A. Honey and Margaret Hilton, eds., Committee on
Science Learning, National Research Council, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;An
expert panel finds that computer-simulation games can spark more inquiry-based,
project-oriented science learning but that research on how games work is in
very early stages.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/12/15/mct_mogames.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Video Games Key to Learning for Chicago Charter School&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Joe Robertson, The
Kansas City Star, Mo. (MCT), Education Week, Digital Directions,
December 16, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This is the future American school?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Really?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Welcome to ChicagoQuest charter school.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;It can be loud here.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;But one thing is evident in several hours of
watching and talking with the sixth- and seventh-graders here:&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;They like coming to school.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Evaluation
of Educational Technology Programs and Services&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/12/08/new-guidelines-for-ed-tech-research-could-help-educators-vendors/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;New Guidelines
for Ed-tech Research Could Help Educators, Vendors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Meris Stansbury,
eSchool News, December 8, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Report explains how to evaluate educational
technology programs and services properly and effectively &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal;"&gt;to produce a stimulating 21&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt;-century
learning environment, school leaders see educational technology as a
no-brainer. But using research to distinguish a truly effective ed-tech product
from a less-than-effective product can prove difficult when a vendor or
for-profit company conducts the research. Now, new guidelines for vendors and
educators aim to solve this comparison conundrum.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The report, titled &amp;ldquo;&lt;a href="http://siia.net/estore/20Review.asp?ProductCode=EPER-11" target="_blank"&gt;Conducting
and Reporting Product Evaluation Research: Guidelines and Considerations for
Educational Technology Publishers and Developers&lt;/a&gt;,&amp;rdquo; is authored by Denis
Newman, CEO of Empirical Education Inc., and produced by the Software &amp;amp;
Information Industry Association (SIIA). See this note: &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Educators:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;
Email &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:edu_intern@siia.net"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Jonathan
Magin&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; to request a free download.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;NCES Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012008"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and
Secondary School Students: 2009&amp;ndash;10&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;NCES, November 29,
2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Distance
Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009&amp;ndash;10 &lt;strong&gt;Description:&lt;/strong&gt; This
report provides national estimates about distance education courses in public
school districts. The estimates presented in this report are based on a district
survey about distance education courses offered by the district or by any of
the schools in the district during the 2009-10 school year.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://kpk12.com/blog/2011/12/a-deeper-look-at-the-nces-report/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;amp;utm_medium=email&amp;amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kpk12%2FadMt+%28Keeping+Pace%29"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;A Deeper Look at NCES
Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Keeping Pace Blog,
December 12, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) recently released its first
look at data collected from 2,150 districts around the country in its report &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012008"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and
Secondary School Students: 2009-10.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;
The data are incredibly valuable because this is the first large-scale,
large-sample effort to collect such information since &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008008"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;2004-05&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;, when it was
updated from 2002-03. More recent numbers that have been reported have been
estimates that have either been based on very small sample sizes, with likely
response biases, or estimates that did not report methods at all. This report
therefore is critical in providing a number&amp;mdash;albeit imperfect&amp;mdash;with a far greater
level of accuracy than we have had recently.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/12/01/more-than-half-of-u.s.-districts-have-students-in-distance-learning-programs.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;More Than Half of U.S. Districts Have Students in Distance
Learning Programs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;David Nagel, THE Journal, December 1, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;A majority of public school districts in the
United States have students who participate in distance education courses at
some level, according to data released by the &lt;a href="http://nces.ed.gov/" target="_blank"&gt;National Center for Education Statistics&lt;/a&gt;. But the most of
those districts aren't delivering the education themselves.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The report, "&lt;a href="http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012008" target="_blank"&gt;Distance
Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students: 2009-10&lt;/a&gt;,"
indicated that a full 55 percent of districts have students who were enrolled
in distance education courses in the 2009-2010 school year (the latest full
school year for which such information is available). Half of those districts
reported that students were participating in distance courses provided by a
higher education institution, 47 percent from independent vendors, and 33
percent from state virtual schools.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext;"&gt;Charter Schools &amp;mdash; Online and Not&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/12/15mct_flcharteroversight.h31.html?tkn=NZXFrJNLwGNiBGQS0qHFYd0h8FlYzQKguml%2F&amp;amp;cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Florida Charter Schools: Big Money, Little Oversight&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Scott Hiaasen and Kathleen McGrory, The Miami Herald (MCT), Education Week, December 12, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;During
the past 15 years, Florida has embarked on a dramatic shift in public
education, steering billions in taxpayer dollars from traditional school
districts to independently run charter schools. What started as an educational
movement has turned into one of the region&amp;rsquo;s fastest-growing industries, backed
by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians. Read more&amp;hellip;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/12/04/us/20111204_VIRTUAL.html?nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=thab1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;At School in
CyberSpace&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;New York Times, Slides,
December 12, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This is a series of eight slides that
accompanies the article by Stephanie Saul.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/education/online-schools-score-better-on-wall-street-than-in-classrooms.html?_r=1&amp;amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;amp;emc=thab1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Profits and Questions at Online Charter Schools&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Stephanie Saul, New
York Times, December 12, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The growth of for-profit online schools, one
of the more overtly commercial segments of the school choice movement, is
rooted in the theory that corporate efficiencies combined with the Internet can
revolutionize public education, offering high quality at reduced cost. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The New York Times has spent several months
examining this idea, focusing on K12 Inc. A look at the company&amp;rsquo;s operations,
based on interviews and a review of school finances and performance records,
raises serious questions about whether K12 schools &amp;mdash; and full-time online
schools in general &amp;mdash; benefit children or taxpayers, particularly as state
education budgets are being slashed. Read the NYTImes findings&amp;hellip;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Center
for Education Reform &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Anticipating the article about the NYTimes findings,
this item was published by the Center for Education Reform the week before. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edreform.com/2011/12/05/front-page-assault-on-virtual-learning/"&gt;Front-Page Assault on Virtual Learning Won&amp;rsquo;t Go Unnoticed&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/12/us-charter-school-enrollment-hits-milestone-questions-remain.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;U.S. Charter School Enrollment Hits Milestone, But Questions
Remain&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Veronica Devore, PBS
Newshour, December 7, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;More
and more students are attending charter schools in the United States, but
performance results from these independent schools are still a mixed bag.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Two million of the nation's schoolchildren --
about 4.5 percent -- now attend a charter school, according to &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://dashboard.publiccharters.org/dashboard/home"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;new findings from the
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;. That's a 13 percent uptick in
charter school enrollment over last year, the largest single-year increase ever
recorded.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;"This 2 million student mark is quite
significant," Ursula Wright, interim CEO of the National Alliance for
Public Charter Schools, said in a statement. "It demonstrates increased
demand by families who want to see more high quality education options for
their children."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;However, there is much debate over the
effectiveness of charter schools. Read more&amp;hellip;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Musings
from WCET&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://elearningroadtrip.typepad.com/elearning_roadtrip/2011/12/elearning-takeaways.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;20
"eLearnings" From Two Months on the Road(trip)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="post-footers"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Posted by Ellen Wagner of WCET, December 3, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Here are some of Ellen&amp;rsquo;s take-aways from &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;literally thousands of plenaries, presentations, and poster
sessions along with hundreds of vendor stands and trade show booths during here
&amp;ldquo;roadtrip.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Online
Testing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/11/29/with-online-testing-on-the-horizon-infrastructure-could-be-a-challenge/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;With online
testing on the horizon, infrastructure could be a challenge&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;eSchool News, November 29, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: windowtext; font-weight: normal;"&gt;School leaders unsure who will pay for computers as
states prepare to give online exams. With new online tests being designed to
reflect the Common Core standards adopted by 45 states and the District of
Columbia, school districts in these states will have to replace
pencil-and-paper testing with the new online exams as soon as the 2014-15
school year. But school leaders are unsure how the computers and software
needed for such a move will be funded.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The
Bigger Picture &amp;mdash; How Well Prepared are Students?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.oecd.org/document/20/0%2C3746%2Cen_32252351_32236191_44571668_1_1_1_1%2C00.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Pathways to Success - How knowledge and skills at age 15
shape future lives in Canada&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;OECD&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;After completing compulsory education, are
today&amp;rsquo;s youth equipped to participate fully in society? In 2000, Canada
explored this question and launched the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), a
follow-up to the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
YITS is a longitudinal study that tracks 30 000 Canadian students who took part
in the PISA 2000 assessment and, with interviews every two years, follows their
progress from secondary school into higher education and the labour market.
Download the pdf.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Pathways to Success is a collaborative effort
between the OECD and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2011/12/just_as_businesses_are_now.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The New Global Skill Set&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Anthony Jackson and Heather Singmaster, Education Week,
Global Learning, December 5, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Just
as businesses are now collaborating and competing around the world, so are
education systems. The nations who best prepare their youth for the global
knowledge economy will fare the best in the 21st century. I've asked my
colleague Heather Singmaster, senior program associate at Asia Society, to
contribute a three-part series on global skills, and how nations are
transforming their education systems to teach them.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: #345a8a;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Tracking Data&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/12/01/report-state-data-systems-progress-though-key-challenges-remain.aspx"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/12/01/report-state-data-systems-progress-though-key-challenges-remain.aspx"&gt;Report:
State Data Systems Progress, Though Key Challenges Remain&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p class="deck" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;David Nagel, Campus Technology, December 1,
2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="deck" style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;A new report from education data coalition
Data Quality Campaign is calling on policymakers to strengthen links between
K-12, workforce, and post-secondary institutions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; color: #345a8a;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/01/13data.h31.html?r=1862581810"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h1 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2011/12/01/13data.h31.html?r=1862581810"&gt;Survey
Shows Nearly All States Can Track Data on Students&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h1&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Sarah D. Sparks, Education Week, December 13, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Nearly all states now have comprehensive data
systems that allow them to track students&amp;rsquo; academic careers over time, and state
officials are starting to dig into using the mountains of information,
according to the sixth annual national survey on the subject.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Data Quality Campaign&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;, a Washington-based
nonprofit group that promotes data use in education, released the report last
week. For the first time, the survey focused on governors&amp;rsquo; perspectives on
state longitudinal-data systems, as opposed to the systems&amp;rsquo; technical capacity.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Other comments: &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.convergemag.com/policy/States-Make-Progress-on-Tracking-Quality-Education-Data-Analysis-Says.html?elq=604f6d49b37d429ea5a615fd3f3832f7"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;States Make Progress on Tracking Quality Education Data,
Analysis Says&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Tanya Roscoria, Converge, December 2, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;For the first time, every state in the nation
can empower educators, parents and lawmakers with quality data, according to an
&lt;a href="http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/files/DFA2011%20Mini%20report%20findings%20Dec1.pdf" target="_blank"&gt;annual analysis&lt;/a&gt; released today by the Data Quality
Campaign.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Thirty-six states have all 10 of the
campaign's Elements of Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems, up from 24 states
last year. These states link student performance from pre-K to postsecondary education,
track student progress through a unique student identifier and include
student-level transcript data, among other things.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Video
Conferencing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://campustechnology.com/whitepapers/2011/11/aver-information_high-definition-video-conferencing.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;We Can See Clearly Now: High-Definition Video Conferencing
in Higher Education&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;White
paper&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Video
conferencing is no longer an option, but an essential tool with a broad range
of uses in colleges and universities. Not only does it enrich the learning
experience for students, but also it saves significant time and expense for
faculty and administrators.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;On
&lt;em&gt;Keeping Pace 2011&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.innosightinstitute.org/education-blog/data-points-to-problems-in-the-k-12-e-market/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Data Points to
Problems in the K-12 E-market&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Heather Clayton Staker, Innosight Institute, December 1, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;The &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://kpk12.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Keeping Pace 2011 report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt; represents
another tour de force by &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://kpk12.com/about-evergreen-education-group/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Evergreen
Education Group&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt; in summarizing the busy, messy growth in K-12 online learning. The
report brings much needed clarity and perspective about the state of the
movement.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Learning
Analytics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutFirst/242966"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;7 Things You Should Know About First-Generation Learning
Analytics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Peggy Kurkowski, EDUCAUSE, December 15, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;In the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.educause.edu/Resources/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutFirst/242966"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;7 Things You
Should Know About&amp;trade; First-Generation Learning Analytics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt; EDUCAUSE
Learning Initiative&amp;rsquo;s (ELI) latest in the monthly series, find out how learning
analytics tools can track far more data than an instructor can alone, and at
their best, can identify factors that are unexpectedly associated with student
learning and course completion.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Mobile
Use &amp;mdash; What&amp;rsquo;s Happening?&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/12/smartphone-adoption-means-more-text-less-talk-/1"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Smartphone Adoption
Means More Text, Less Talk&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Mike Snider, USA Today, December 15, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Smartphone
adoption marches on, with 44% of mobile phone users owning a smartphone,
compared with 18% in 2009, according to Nielsen. Its monthly survey of 25,000
mobile consumers finds that the majority of those ages 25 to 34 (64%) and 18 to
24 (53%) now own smartphones. Messages sent via smartphones are replacing
cellphone calls. 81% of mobile phone users have sent or received messages in
the last 30 days, up from 75% in 2009. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://campustechnology.com/articles/2011/12/07/creating-your-institutions-mobile-learning-strategy.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Creating Your
Institution's Mobile Learning Strategy&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Mary Grush, Campus
Technology, December 7, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;In
fall 2010, Northeastern University began planning an expansion of its mobile
applications to allow students, faculty, and staff to stay much better
connected to the university. To support and expand this initiative, Alicia
Russell, director of Northeastern's Educational Technology Center, considered
ways to facilitate faculty members' use of mobile technologies and applications
in teaching. Russell and other EdTech Center staff had noticed that faculty who
had iPads found them fun and engaging but were not using them in the classroom.
In light of that, the EdTech Center developed a mobile learning strategy for
the institution--tied to the university's academic priorities--that encourages
faculty to go beyond simple apps for e-mail and games and explore the wide
array of possibilities for integrating mobile technologies into their classes.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.educause.edu/Resources/MobileITinHigherEducation2011R/238470"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Mobile IT in Higher
Education, 2011 Report&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;EDUCAUSE Center for
Applied Research (ECAR)&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Discussion
about mobile IT in higher education is ubiquitous, but attaining benefits of
mobility does not come easily. The ECAR mobile IT study gathered quantitative
and qualitative data from a representative sample of 209 higher education
institutions. Most respondents to ECAR's 2011 study report little progress in
making institutional services, applications, and websites accessible on mobile
devices. The average respondent institution has enabled only a few services for
mobile access. Institutions that have invested more money and those that have
larger numbers of staff assigned to mobile-enablement initiatives show greater
progress. Mobile enablement of student-facing services has taken highest
priority to date, and we see considerably more mobile progress in areas that
are given higher priority. Source: &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Collaboration&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/collaborate-with-colleagues-using-google-with-extras/37727?sid=wc&amp;amp;utm_source=wc&amp;amp;utm_medium=en"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/collaborate-with-colleagues-using-google-with-extras/37727?sid=wc&amp;amp;utm_source=wc&amp;amp;utm_medium=en"&gt;Collaborate
with Colleagues Using Google+ with Extras &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Ryan
Cordell, The Chronicle, December 15, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This
past summer I wrote about staying connected with family using video chat
software. This past year, however, I&amp;rsquo;ve been using video chats for another
purpose: to collaborate with colleagues around the country on several
inter-institutional projects. Though I rarely use it as a social network, I&amp;rsquo;ve
actually found that the hangout features in Google+ are perfect for
professional collaboration. &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2011/12/google-hangout-a-new-collaboration-tool-for-learning-and-living/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Google Hangout: A New Collaboration Tool for Learning and
Living&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Mike Shumake, Getting Smart,
December 1, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Google
Hangout is a game changer in synchronous, online collaboration, and I can&amp;rsquo;t
wait to put it through its paces next semester. I&amp;rsquo;m going to start something
completely new to see if students respond. I&amp;rsquo;m going to open a Google Hangout
room with an open invitation for students to come join. I&amp;rsquo;ll keep it open in my
office for a few hours every day, and I&amp;rsquo;m hoping I&amp;rsquo;ll see students pop in occasionally
and join me. The game changer is that Google Hangout isn&amp;rsquo;t a communication tool
with video like a smart phone with a front facing camera. Instead, think of it
as a magic portal that connects your workspace to other workspaces.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2011/12/13/tln_ferriter_twitter.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Using Twitter in High School Classrooms&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Bill Ferriter, Education Week Teacher, December 13, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Twitter can be used as a backchannel, encouraging
reflection and conversation among students.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Twitter can help students develop their civic
voices.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Twitter can become a place to imagine.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;In the end, using Twitter in high school classrooms
makes sense mostly because it is a social space that has already been embraced
by today's teens.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Race
to the Top Winners&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/12/states_win_race_to_top_early_l.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;9 States Win Race to Top Early Learning Grants&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="byline"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Michele McNeil, Education Week, December 16, 2011 &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Nine
states will share $500 million in Race to the Top&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-earlylearningchallenge/index.html"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; early learning
grants,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;
the U.S. Department of Education confirmed this morning.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;They
are: California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina,
Ohio, Rhode Island, and Washington. They will get grants ranging from $50
million to $100 million, based on the state's student population, to
significantly improve early-education programs in their states. The outside
peer reviewers who judged the competition ranked North Carolina No. 1.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Project
Based Learning and STEM&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&amp;amp;EntryId=3484"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.techlearning.com/Default.aspx?tabid=67&amp;amp;EntryId=3484"&gt;Connecting
PBL and STEM&amp;hellip; 40 Free Engaging Resources To Use In The Classroom&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;Michael Gorman, Tech &amp;amp; Learning, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;h2 style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;These sites are considered to be great resources that provide ideas or
blueprints for an entire PBL project. Included in most plans are project
titles, content addressed, 21st century skills, driving questions, products,
procedures, and evaluation. The resources in this collection tend to focus on
the entire PBL process.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Other
Resources&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.wegivebooks.org/"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Read a book. Give a book&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Combining
the joy of reading with the power of helping others. A Pearson Foundation
Initiative.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;a href="http://getideas.org/resources/?type=link"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;GETIdeas.org&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;This
open, online global community for 21st-century education leaders exists to
foster Global Education Transformation--the "GET" in
GETideas.org--via virtual collaboration and international dialogue, including
the sharing of best practices &lt;a href="http://www.cftl.org/documents/2011/TCF.FR.2011.pdf"&gt;and resources.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cftl.org/documents/2011/TCF.FR.2011.pdf"&gt;The Status of the
Teaching Profession, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Produced
by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, this 13th
annual report on the California teacher workforce takes an extended look at
principals in the Golden State and their vital role in supporting teacher
effectiveness.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/vlingo-the-virtual-assistant-for-smartphones/37531?sid=wc&amp;amp;utm_source=wc&amp;amp;utm_medium=en"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Vlingo: The Virtual
Assistant for Smartphones&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;Billie Hara, The
Chronicle, December 1, 2011&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;If
you don&amp;rsquo;t have an iPhone 4S, then you can still have a personal assistant in
your phone. Vlingo is a voice-recognition program for many smartphones and is
billed as a &amp;ldquo;virtual assistant&amp;rdquo; that can &amp;ldquo;turn words into action.&amp;rdquo; &lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/49695-e-book-sales-doubled-in-september-mass-market-tanked.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&amp;amp;utm_campaign=588d03e043-UA-15906914-1&amp;amp;utm_medium=email"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h4 style="margin-top: 0in;"&gt;&lt;span class="MsoHyperlink" style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/financial-reporting/article/49695-e-book-sales-doubled-in-september-mass-market-tanked.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&amp;amp;utm_campaign=588d03e043-UA-15906914-1&amp;amp;utm_medium=email"&gt;E-book
Sales Doubled in September, Mass Market Tanked&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h4&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Publishers Weekly, December 1, 2011&lt;/em&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;E-book
sales doubled in September, to $80.3 million, at the publishers that report
results to the AAP. Sales in the print segments had a mixed performance.
Source:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
      <link>http://it.ncwiseowl.org//blog/one.aspx?portalId=15017750&amp;postId=15017887&amp;portletAction=viewpost</link>
      <author>Ouida Myers</author>
      <guid>15017887</guid>
      <pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:57:00 GMT</pubDate>
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