Category — Teaching and Learning

For the vast majority of readers, the phrase “Taking Online Learning Offline” has to represent the classic oxymoron. Add the fact that some folks are calling the step the latest in “High-Tech” innovation and you no doubt must be scratching your head.

GoCourse Schoolmate
But “Taking Online Learning Offline” (pdf file) is precisely what a Utah valley company called Agilix is doing. The company has begun offering an extension of an existing learning platform to areas of the world that lack broadband access.

The company recently introduced its GoCourse Schoolmate product. The self-contained, client-server learning system is designed to support education initiatives in regions where Internet access is limited or non-existent.

The company’s recent press release notes the need for such a product.

The new product “represents an extension of our GoCourse platform to address the needs of the 95% of the Earth’s population that falls outside the reach of broadband access,” states Curt Allen, CEO of Agilix Labs. “Emerging markets will for the first time enjoy an eLearning experience that isn’t limited by the unavailability of Internet access.”

GoCourse Schoolmate is designed to run on a single laptop or desktop computer and with multiple accounts available for both teachers and students. In addition, the system can be utilized in a computer lab or as part of a learning kiosk.

Taking Online Offline
As for the concept of taking online learning offline, we turn to Agilix VP of Marketing, Jim Ericson for further insight.

“We developed this product to address the needs identified by several local resellers in emerging markets,” notes Ericson. “While our partners will continue to deploy GoCourse under our hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) model, GoCourse Schoolmate provides them with a solution that promises inclusion and equality by extending their services to schools and institutions that don’t have broadband access and to learners that were previously too expensive to reach.”

As for the oxymoron of taking online learning offline, Allen adds:

“I realize it may be a bit startling for people to hear we are taking online learning back offline, but that is how we are going to provide a technology bridge for these learning communities,” offers Allen. “When broadband access becomes a reality, GoCourse will be there waiting to help connect these communities to the rest of the world.”

The concept has at least one blogger wondering aloud if “the future of open education is taking the online offline?”

Late Tuesday, news outlets finally reported the much-anticipated resignation letter of Deering High School baseball coach, Mike D’Andrea. Easily one of the most successful teachers to ever coach a high school team in Maine, D’Andrea had been facing enormous criticism for his possible role in an underage drinking party in June.

Three of his assistant coaches, including his son, had been fired the week before based on the determination that all three were knowingly present at a party where alcohol was available to minors. While the senior D’Andrea insisted he had not been present, the coach essentially owned up to the fact that he was aware of the party.

D’Andrea signaled his demise when he told local newspapers that he was not at the party and that he had little knowledge of it. No doubt, the second aspect of his comment drew the attention of supervisors.

Principal Kunin
Deering High School Principal Ken Kunin led the school’s investigation. His first concerns where simple, what did the coaches know, when did they know it and then subsequently, what did they do with that information when they had it?

Kunin was quoted by the Portland Press Herald as follows:

“If they did anything other than call the parents, shut the party down and get the kids home safely and let (the school department) know, then we have a real problem with that.” Kunin’s investigation would reveal that at least three coaches were at the party, those three knew underage drinking was taking place, and most importantly, those three allegedly did little to stop it or inform school officials.

While social networking sites confirmed that the three assistant coaches were in fact present at the party, none appeared to indicate the senior D’Andrea was at the party. And while the three assistant coaches were promptly terminated last week, the school neither took action nor voiced support for the head coach. Instead, clearly articulating that further axes could fall, school officials noted that the investigation was ongoing.

The Resignation
In his letter of resignation, D’Andrea essentially signaled his failure to take what school officials deemed an appropriate action when he became aware of the underage party. He wrote:

“At this time I am announcing my resignation as a Coach of Baseball and Girl’s Basketball at Deering High School effective immediately.

“After the revelation of recent events involving the Deering High School Baseball team, I feel this is the appropriate decision for me at this point in my coaching career.

“First I want to make it clear that I did nothing wrong and this resignation should in no way infer to anyone an admission of improper actions. The scrutiny this event has placed on me during the investigation has only confirmed the growing feelings that I have had over the last several years.

“Coaching two sports at the Varsity Level has taken a tremendous amount of my time and I no longer feel the rewards meet the energy and work required to meet the expectation levels I set for my teams and myself.

“While I have been fortunate enough to experience considerable success as a head coach, it is the memories of the players I have worked with that will forever stay in my mind. Coaches are only as good as the players they coach and I have been blessed to work with some great athletes and more importantly great young people over the years. I only hope that I have had a small percentage of the impact on their lives that they have had on mine.

“This is not the end of my coaching career, I simply need some time to re-evaluate my goals and to recharge my batteries. I am grateful for the opportunities that have been provided to me by Deering High School. I am confident that this is the right decision for me both on a professional and a personal basis. I am just as confident that I will be a better person and coach the next time around.

“Finally, I would like to say thanks to all those who have supported me over the years, it has been much appreciated.”

Principal Accepts Resignation Noting it Was the Right Thing to Do
While D’Andrea’s letter continued to insist he had done nothing wrong, Principal Kunin appeared to offer a different viewpoint.

“We received and accepted Mr. D’Andrea’s resignation as coach of boys baseball and girls basketball,” Kunin stated. “We agree with Mr. D’Andrea that the resignation was the right thing to do and we respect his decision.”

Meanwhile, Portland Police have been conducting a probe which could ultimately result in misdemeanor charges against the adults involved. The results of that investigation certainly will help clarify the particulars when the findings are released.

Successful Coach Still Coaching Deering Athletes
D’Andrea began working as the Deering’s baseball coach in 1997 and his teams went on to win seven state baseball championships in his 11 years as head coach. In addition to his success on the diamond, D’Andrea has been the school’s girls basketball coach since 2001. On the hardwood, his teams had won two basketball state titles.

The party in June was not the first time the coach faced controversy at the school. D’Andrea served a four-game suspension at the start of the 2002 baseball season for an alcohol related incident on the team bus following the team’s third consecutive state title.

In addition, in June of 2007, D’Andrea was suspended by the Maine Principals’ Association for a basketball related incident the previous winter. The coach had to sit out the first two games of last year’s basketball season for violating state athletic rules.

However, D’Andrea and one of his fired assistants, Frank Watson (his home allegedly served as the party site), are still coaching many Deering athletes. The two men are currently managing the Nova Seafood American Legion state baseball championship team.

The talented Nova Seafood team is made up of Deering players, most of whom have been members of the last two state high school championship teams. D’Andrea and Watson will be coaching the recently crowned State champs as they begin competing in the Northeast Regional Tournament today in Bristol, Conn.

One of the more important planks in the 2008 Democratic National Platform is a focus on improving higher education. That may come as a surprise to many. In fact, other than concerns about the cost, the overall consensus of the general public is that America’s colleges and universities remain among the best educational institutions in the world.

However, experts have begun noting that higher education is facing a critical time. Back in December, we acknowledged the work of Michael Wesch of Kansas State University. In our post, “If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words,” we took an in-depth look at the growing digital divide plaguing college campuses.

But Wesch was not the first to document that today’s typical college classroom is completely out of step with the business world described in Thomas Friedman’s, “The World Is Flat.”

Higher Education - In Danger of Becoming Irrelevant
In his 2006 report to the Panel on Innovative Teaching and Learning Strategies for the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, David Wiley, Ph.D., offered a painful assessment of the current status of higher education in America. The former Director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State was unequivocal in his criticisms, informing panel members that “higher education has adapted very little” to the changes described by Friedman in his bestselling book and is therefore “in very real danger of becoming irrelevant.”

Consider Wiley’s description of the typical college classroom experience.

“Students are inside a classroom (tethered to a place), using textbooks and handouts (printed materials), they must pay tuition and register to attend (the experience is closed), talking during class or working with others outside of class is generally discouraged (each student is isolated though surrounded by peers), each student receives exactly the same instruction as each of her classmates (the information presented is generic), and students are students and do not participate in the teaching process (they are consumers).”

In contrast, consider what the same person experiences when she is outside the classroom:

“From her dorm room / the student center / a coffee shop / the bus a student connects to the Internet using her laptop (she is mobile), uses Google to find a relevant web page (a digital resource which is open for her to access). While carrying out her search, she chats with one friend on the phone and another using instant messaging to see if they can assist in her search (she is connected to other people), she follows links from one website to another exploring related information (the content is connected to other content), she quickly finds exactly the information she needs, ignoring irrelevant material (she gets what is important to her personally), and she shares her find with her friends by phone and IM (she participates in the teaching process).”

Wiley’s critical point however does not merely concern the world of education as it relates to the student’s non-academic world. The huge discrepancy between the two experiences matches the current division between the classroom setting and that of the business world, the classroom and research in the fields of science and technology, etc.

Changes in Curriculum
In addition to the actual classroom experience, it is important to see the changes that are occurring based on curriculum content. Access to the latest research and the development of an accompanying skill base are no longer unique to the university environment. Wiley offered:

“Once upon a time, the university library was the primary repository of research like peer-reviewed journals and monographs. Today, initiatives like the Public Library of Science and pre-print services like Arxiv.org provide individuals from around the world with a legitimate alternative source of research findings.”

In addition:
“Once upon a time, a college or university’s faculty was the primary repository of technical and academic expertise in a community. Today, technologies like email and instant messaging put seekers of expertise in touch with faculty at many universities as well as professionals, ‘pro-am’ hobbyists, and others from around the world almost instantly.”

And last, but certainly not least:

“Once upon a time, the degree programs of our colleges and universities were the credentials most highly valued by employers. Today, certifications like the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, and the Red Hat Certified Architect certificates are sometimes worth more to an employer than a four-year degree in computer science.”

The Positives
Given that real world experiences are so incongruous with the current academic setting, Wiley and others have begun to ask, “what is the real value of higher education?”

According to Wiley, in order for the college experience to remain relative, “the university experience must align more closely with its societal context and participant base. Higher education must continue its efforts to become digital and mobile, while working to become significantly more open, connected, personal, and participatory.”

Higher education has begun falling into step in at least one area. Wiley believes the current movement toward greater openness through the OpenCourseWare (OCW) initiative is at least one step in the right direction.

“I believe that openness is the gateway to connectedness, personalization, and participation. Openness is a catalyst for further innovation,” offers the Utah State faculty member.

“As a faculty member, if I want to connect my course materials to prerequisite materials from classes students have already taken in order to create review opportunities or provide remediation, this connectivity is possible only if both I and the students have access to these materials. Without this openness, there is nothing to connect to, and the level of connectivity my students expect is not attainable.

“As a faculty member, if I want to personalize the experience for my students – or more importantly, if I want to empower my students to meaningfully personalize the experience themselves – we have to be permitted to edit and customize the materials we will use. Without this openness, nothing can be changed or adapted, and the level of personalization my students expect is not attainable.

“As a faculty member, if I want to engage my students in creating and contributing resources, tutorials, and other study materials to a class, this is much more easily done when the course material repository is open. Without this openness, there is no space for the students to make contributions, and the degree of participation in the experience our students expect is not attainable.”

Survival of Higher Education
According to experts, the Internet and wealth of developing technology provide young people outside of education with a sense of “openness, connectedness, personalization, and participation” that is simply not found at the university level today. Those experts indicate that for America to move forward, higher education will need to better align itself with the rest of society.

It must be noted that in closing his presentation to the panel, Wiley referred to the words of W. Edwards Deming.

“It is not necessary to change,” stated Deming. “Survival is not mandatory.”

The idea that America’s colleges and universities are effectively educating the next generation has become suspect. And unless these institutions of higher learning overcome their prevalent inertia, irrelevance appears to be a certainty.

Flickr photos courtesy of Josie Fraser and Andrew/W.

Our good friend and fellow education blogger, Zaid Alsagoff, has authored his first ever e-book, “69 Learning Adventures in 6 Galaxies.” Available for free download at Scribd.com, the book brings together key “learning nuggets” as Zaid calls them with the arbitrary number 69 representing what he feels are the best learning chunks to appear over the past year on his blog, ZaidLearn.

Currently the e-Learning Manager at INCEIF, Zaid has extensive hands-on experience with e-learning in higher education. The educator also has done research in a variety of e-learning areas including educational gaming, role-play simulation, virtual classrooms, learning (content) management systems, e-learning standards, instructional design and courseware development.

Zaid’s blog caught our attention for a number of reasons. First and foremost, Zaid uses a measuring stick called learning juice to categorize materials that serve to inspire readers of specific materials. Second Zaid consistently searches the net for interesting web sites related to technology and learning so his blog features a number of compilation posts listing the latest sites worth visiting.

At the same time, what has always been critical for this writer is the amount of reflection Zaid puts into the role of teacher. He constantly reviews his own practices to determine the impact he is having on his students making him an outstanding role model for those aspiring to the profession.

Six Galaxies
To help readers, the good professor has divided his text into six distinct galaxies or sections: learning, teaching, stories, free e-learning tools, free learning content, and free edugames. Fellow educators taking the time to download the book will find a wealth of helpful information within each subcategory.

Adding greatly to the appeal is a number of wonderful quotes from some of the greatest minds of our time. Zaid has pearls of wisdom from the likes of Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Victor Hugo, Tom J. Connelly, and William Arthur Ward (great teachers inspire).

Within the Learning Galaxy, the author begins by referencing the work of several other educators and writers. Alsagoff features “The Secrets of the Super-Learners” from Graig Lambart, “E-Learning 2.0 in Development” by Stephen Downes, “Learning 2.0 eBook - Free to Learn!” by Jeff Cobb at Mission to Learn, and “eLearning? I’ve had E-Nough!!” from Rozhan Idrus, the creator of the phrase technogogy.

The Teaching Galaxy features Zaid’s own “Coaching Critical Thinking to Think Creatively!”, the e-Learning 2.0 Workshop from Stephen Downes and Optimizing eLearning Strategy from Bryan Chapman. The section also offers up links to the great MIT Physics Professor Walter Lewin and links to two videos that reveal “The Secrets to Great Teaching.”

His Stories Galaxy includes Warren Buffet’s “MBA Talk,” Steve Ballmer’s “How Do You Motivate Staff?” and the incredible “The World Is Flat” from Thomas Friedman.

His final three galaxies represent a gathering of his collections of worthwhile sites. From the likes of “Peter’s Online Typing Course” to the “Visible Body” a 3D Human Anatomy Visualization Tool to Alan Levine’s “50 Web 2.0 Ways to Tell a Story, Zaid has the links to spur educators to explore new territory. In his sixth and final Galaxy, readers will find a collection of “75 Free EduGames to Spice Up Your Course!”

Licensed Under Creative Commons
Adding to the attractiveness for educators is that Zaid’s e-book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. The Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license means that readers are free to share (to copy, distribute and transmit the work) and to Remix (to adapt the work) under conditions of non-commercial use and proper attribution.

As with other creative commons licensed work, any alterations, transformations, or book redesigns may be distributed only under the same or a similar license.

To download a copy click here.

On Thursday, Democratic platform committee members were provided a draft of the Democratic National Committee’s 2008 platform. Titled “Renewing America’s Promise” and broken out into four distinct sections, “Renewing the American Dream,” “Renewing American Leadership,” “Renewing the American Community,” and “Renewing American Democracy,” the platform is a strong counter to the current Bush administration policies and is drafted in the ‘hopeful of a better future’ format that has marked Senator Barack Obama’s stump speeches.

Declaring, “it is time for a change,” the party is committing itself to comprehensive immigration reforms as well as a strong and unequivocal support for Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion. In addition, the party insists it will not continue the intrusive Bush policing actions based on a post-9/11 world.

“We will restore our constitutional traditions, and recover our nation’s founding commitment to liberty under the law,” the draft platform states.

While the platform has a little something for everyone, it is the strong, broad approach to education, one that mixes support with accountability, that has us continuing to back Barack Obama’s candidacy for president of the United States.

Education Component
The section devoted to education can be found within the subsection, “Investing in American Competitiveness.” Focusing on a slogan of “A World Class Education for Every Child,” the platform planks include a focus on Pre-school, K-12 Public Schools, Higher Education and an overlap of education with Science, Technology and Innovation.

As a preamble, the Democrats focus on feedback received during platform hearings. Stating that “Americans know we can and should do better,” the platform states:

“In the 21st century, where the most valuable skill is knowledge, countries that out educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. In the platform hearings, Americans made it clear that it is morally and economically unacceptable that our high-schoolers continue to score lower on math and science tests than most other students in the world and continue to drop-out at higher rates than their peers in other industrialized nations. We cannot accept the persistent achievement gap between minority and white students or the harmful disparities that exist between different schools within a state or even a district.”

Focusing on an inclusive philosophy, the platform goes on to state:

“The Democratic Party clearly believes that graduation from a quality public school and the opportunity to succeed in college must be the birthright of every child - not the privilege of the few. We must prepare all our students with the 21st century skills they need to succeed by progressing to a new era of mutual responsibility in education. We must set high standards for our children, but we must also hold ourselves accountable our schools, our teachers, our parents, business leaders, our community and our elected leaders. And we must come together, form partnerships, and commit to providing the resources and reforms necessary to help every child reach their full potential.”

Educational Promises
The Democrats note they need to “make quality, affordable early childhood care and education available to every American child from the day he or she is born.” Among the steps to ensure that pledge, the Democrats indicate the need for increases in funding both Head Start and Early Head Start as well as greater investment in high-quality Pre-K programming for children.

For the current K-12 program structure, the focus is on ensuring “that every student has a high-quality teacher and an effective principal.” Here the pledge involves the recruiting a new generation of teachers and principals and with a return commitment to that generation of educators that “if you commit your life to teaching, America will commit to paying for your college education.” The platform also contains broad statements regarding improving teacher quality through help and support against a backdrop of greater accountability. If a teacher is still underperforming after supports have been put in place, then “we should find a quick and fair way—consistent with due process—to put another teacher in that classroom.”

Another critical component for teacher improvement involves teacher pay and the concept of merit-based increases. “We will make an unprecedented national investment to teachers with better pay and better support to improve their skills, and their students’ learning. We’ll reward effective teachers who teach in underserved areas, take on added responsibilities like mentoring new teachers, or consistently excel in the classroom.”

In addition, the platform devotes time to the need to “fix the failures and broken promises of No Child Left Behind. We will end the practice of labeling a school and its students as failures and then throwing our hands up and walking away from them without having provided the resources and supports these students need.”

The platform also notes that improving education is not a function of public school personnel alone.

“We know that there is no program and no policy that can substitute for parents who are involved in their children’s education from day one – who make sure their children are in school on time, helps them with their homework, and attends those parent-teacher conferences; who are willing to turn off the TV once in awhile, put away the video games, and read to their children. Responsibility for our children’s education has to start at home. We have to set high standards for them, and spend time with them, and love them. We have to hold ourselves accountable.”

In the push at the highest levels of education, the post-secondary level, the Democrats add:

“We believe that our universities, community colleges, and other institutions of higher learning must foster among their graduates the skills needed to enhance economic competitiveness. We will work with institutions of higher learning to produce highly skilled graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math disciplines who will become innovative workers prepared for the 21st century economy.”

Party planks here include the community college network and training programs that will help “the unemployed and under-employed to speed their transition into careers in high-demand occupations and emerging industries” and a continued commitment to grow workforce skills possible for non-traditional students. To facilitate a level playing field, there is a push to make college more affordable for the average American “by creating a new American Opportunity Tax Credit to ensure that the first $4,000 of a college education is completely free. In exchange for the credit, students will be expected to perform community service.”

Noting the brain power and capital at our institutions of higher education, the platform notes that higher education is a critical component of the “economic engines of today and tomorrow” and specifies the need to partner with these schools “to translate new ideas into innovative products, processes and services.”

A Shot Across the Bow
In addition, adding to the science and technology component, the Democrats cast a specific dispersion towards the most recent administration. Noting that “America has long led the world in innovation” the party clearly differentiates its push from that of the Bush years.

“This Administration’s hostility to science has taken a toll. At a time when technology helps shape our future, we devote a smaller and smaller share of our national resources to research and development. It is time again to lead.

“We will end the Bush Administration’s war on science, restore scientific integrity, and return to evidence-based decision-making. In sum, we will strengthen our system, treat science and technology as crucial investments, and use these forces to ensure a future of economic leadership, health well- being and national security.”

Something for Everyone
The platform offers some hope for everyone who feels that our country has been on an extremely negative path the past eight years. For us, it is the broad-based educational planks that have us supporting Obama.

The strong mix of accountability (the only successful aspect of the Bush administration’s education policy) matched with equal amounts of support (early childhood, investment in teacher quality, and a K-16 discussion) have us believing that the latest Democratic platform could actually serve to improve public education in our country.

As education expenses continue to grow, strapped taxpayers have begun pushing back on state and local governments. In the tiny State of Maine, many school districts are finding that passing a school budget for the upcoming school year a sincere challenge.

Even the tiny town of Monmouth, home to one of Maine’s finest public school systems, has seen such a rebellion, leaving school officials without a school budget for 2008-09. With another school year set to begin in less than a month’s time, Monmouth finds itself in an extremely challenging position.

Massachusetts Taking a Stance Regarding School Building Projects
One of the areas adding to the current budget issues for many school districts is the repayment of funds for recent building projects. As school buildings age and the respective operating systems become out-of-date, capital improvements have become a greater portion of local school budgets in recent times.

In many states, such projects also create great financial stress on state tax dollars. In Massachusetts, State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, is making a strong push towards ending what might be called an open-ended building environment.

Cahill specifically indicated he wanted to see an end to “Taj Mahal” high schools, a reference to local communities being unable to draw a line between what is truly necessary and what is a luxury or design for aesthetic purposes. As one method of limiting the state funding costs, Cahill wants to create a set of building designs that communities would have to select from. The treasurer asserts that such a step could help cut building projects by as much as 30 percent.

Given the recent stories of the new Newton North High School project, a $197.5 million building that easily created the aforementioned “Taj Mahal” image, it is easy to see why Cahill is taking such a stance. The Newton project clearly represents the fundamental debate point, a school community with a “wish list” of what parents and educators might want versus those items that are truly necessary or that a community can actually afford.

Such steps have already been put in place in the South (Florida, for example). The practice not only creates new school buildings in a cost effective manner, the result is a building that has been previously tested for functionality.

Consequences for Communities
One issue that will create a problem for Cahill is site choices. Whereas Florida offers a flat, ledge-free building environment, northern lands often represent unique challenges requiring buildings that must conform to site demands.

Still, Cahill believes a number of plans could be drawn up for suitable sites. Then, if communities were to apply for state funds, they would need to select one of the pre-approved designs to receive financial backing.

Towns refusing to select from one of the designs could face two distinct consequences. One might be simply a refusal from the state to help with funding the project. The second option for those communities refusing to select a pre-accepted plan could be the demand that schools renovate their existing facility rather than build new.

Not too surprisingly, Massachusetts’ architects have come out strongly against such a plan. Phrases such as cookie-cutter and one-size fits all have been thrown around liberally. Many have insisted that there is no such thing as a prototypical site and such a practice would eliminate the individual character that defines a community.

Those same opponents also question whether there would be any real savings.

Time Has Come
With architectural fees running around 10 percent for each project, it is easy to see that the school design business is a lucrative one for firms. And when a school district initially planning a $100 million project instead pushes the cost out to nearly $200 million as Newton did, the final building represents $15-$20 million in architectural fees alone.

Limiting the total structure to ensure that a project does not double in costs because of local desires is a must in today’s tax climate. A tremendous concern for taxpayers as well as for government officials is the fact that one is not looking at only repayment of the initial construction costs with such a project. These buildings must be heated, cooled, cleaned and maintained for many years to come, making the actual costs of such “Taj Mahal” designs a challenge for taxpayers for many years to come.

Providing sound designs that do not shortchange the educational environment for students isn’t just a prudent step for state officials, it is an essential one to ensure continued taxpayer support for education.

As a former college student think back to one of those days, either at the dorm or the library, when you were reviewing your notes from the prior-day’s lecture only to find your hen-scratching devoid of some key phrase or word. As Murphy’s Law always dictated, that missing word or words would lead to some major head-scratching as you tried to figure out just what it was the professor had said. At the same time a sense of frustration or anger would emerge as you soon realized that despite trying to record every key idea the instructor had revealed during class, somewhere along the line your concentration had waned and you had missed some major concept.

And, as a news reporter, think back to the day you forgot your tape recorder and you had to do that critical interview strictly with pen and paper. Back at the newsroom, when you were looking at your notes, your sense of excitement dwindled despite the fact that your source revealed some amazing insight. In your note-taking you realized that you were missing a couple of words from key phrases. Those missing words being truly essential materials, you found that were unable to recreate the exact quote that would have brought greater strength to the article you were about to write.

Fortunately, those stories are about to become as relevant as those of our parents who insisted they had to walk three miles to and from school, in the rain and snow, and it was uphill both ways.

Digital Revolution Continues
Students, writers, and anyone else spending time taking notes may now put an end to the days of missed phrases. No longer will anyone have to fear feverishly trying to record every word of a speaker or remember to bring along a tape recorder.

They will only need their pen and a pad of paper.

Because with Livescribe’s new Pulse smartpen, note-takers can now transform the world of pen and ink forever. Featuring a computer wrapped around a pen, the Pulse will record audio simultaneously as the user jots down notes on special dot matrix paper. Therefore the smartpen functions as a digital recorder, multi-modal computer, and a traditional writing utensil, all at the same time.

For anyone having difficulty keeping up with their note-taking responsibilities, the synchronized audio ensures that every single word is recorded. Adding to the pen’s amazing capability, the user can simply tap on their written notes later to immediately get a replay of what was recorded at the exact moment they were recording a specific phrase. However, the Pulse smartpen works only with the special “dot paper.”

The enormous power for education lies in the potential for information to be shared online. A user can transfer his or her work to Livescribe’s PC software by simply placing the pen in its USB cradle. Students missing a lecture could easily tap into a fellow classmate’s recording while a person taking notes from a written text could record their own thoughts as they took down relevant information. Later, once information is uploaded onto a PC, the student can also search those notes by typing in a word and Livescribe’s software will find a written match.

Assessing the Pen’s Capability
To get a real sense of the details we turn to the tech experts for a bit of insight. Lance Ulanoff of PCMag.com gives the SmartPen’s practicality high marks:

“It takes little effort to use the pen. Simply charge it via the USB cradle, turn it on (there’s a tiny button next to the equally tiny screen), open any page of a microdot notebook, and start writing or drawing. Even without the software installed, I was instantly able to write notes, capture the audio of an entire meeting, and play back any portion I chose. I stopped playback by tapping the playback controls printed on every page of the notebook. Playback of AAC-based files is startlingly loud for such a small device.”

Ulanoff goes on to note a couple of minor negatives:

The pen “picked up the scraping sound of the pen dragging on the paper as I scrawled; but it wasn’t distracting and didn’t hinder my ability to discern who was talking or what they were saying.” As for its fundamental shape and size, he also is bit negative stating “the hard, near-cigar-sized body isn’t particularly comfortable to hold” and that the pen is in definite need of a clip “so it stops rolling off my desk.”

And for a summary, Ulanoff offers:

“The smartpen is easily the best implementation of microdot and audio/image capture technology to date. It’s easy to use and small enough not to look or feel ridiculous in your hands. If Livescribe updates the desktop software with some intelligent indexing features I think the Pulse smartpen could become an essential investment for any student, businessperson, or journalist.”

Available at a Number of Retail Outlets
The national retail rollout for the Pulse™ smartpen, dot paper, and accessories has begun. The new digital pen is available at Target, Target.com, Amazon.com, LiveScribe.com, and those college and university bookstores supported by The Douglas Stewart Company.

It is available in a 1GB model with storage of over 100 hours of recorded audio for $149 and a 2GB model with double the storage capacity and greater future flexibility for downloading applications down the road for $199. Livescribe dot paper is available in 2-pack journals ($24.95), 4-pack college-ruled notebooks with a 100 sheets per notebook ($19.95). Additional accessories include a premium leather case ($24.95) and 5-pack ink cartridges ($5.95).

For more information on this wondrous 21st century education tool, visit livescribe.com or nevermissaword.com.

It was at one of the many endless debates last summer that Barack Obama was asked about meeting with the leaders of foreign countries, including those dubbed the axis of evil by the current Bush administration. Obama barely paused before responding that he would consider sitting down, face-to-face, with the leaders of all nations.

The comment was deemed a mistake by many. Beginning with his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, Obama was roundly criticized. Republican nominee John McCain, calling the comment naive and reckless, has gone on to make the remark a cornerstone of his campaign.

Those who see Obama’s answer as naive and echo a continued hard-line sentiment would do well to review the story of Greg Mortenson, author of the book “Three Cups of Tea.” The former mountain climber is having a profound impact on both Afghanistan and Pakistan, doing so with an approach that demonstrates that things can be accomplished with tactics other than the hawkish, uncompromising method espoused by the Bush administration.

Education, Not Bombs
Greg Mortenson, dubbed Dr. Greg in Pakistan, has made an amazing transition of self-sacrifice, one that has him helping the Afghans and Pakistanis build schools in some of the most remote areas of the two countries. Considering the anti-American sentiment in the region, Mortenson’s tale is an incredible one.

A critical component to the story is the help Mortenson received after a failed attempt in 1993 to climb K2, a Himalayan peak. Mortenson, reportedly stumbled into a poor Muslim village where he was nursed back to health. The enormous kindness of strangers led the mountain climber to promise he would repay villagers by building a school.

Selling his climbing equipment and his car to help fund the endeavor, Mortenson repaid his debt with some financial support from Tom Brokaw. However, once the first school was complete, Mortenson continued on. To date he has now helped build 74 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Local villagers provide the land and help construct the school to create a local component, but Mortenson is clearly the driving force behind the ongoing efforts. The buy-in locally has been critical; at this point despite the anti-American viewpoint in the region, his schools have been left alone by extremists.

Such schools offer hope that an educated population could eventually lead to a reduction in the level of extremism in that part of the world. A key component to creating additional hope down the road is the fact that Mortenson’s focus is on educating girls. The ultimate belief being that these young women will one day be mothers with enormous power to impact the thinking of their sons.

Opposite Approach
Mortenson’s story also contrasts with the current policy in Washington, one that seeks to use force and intimidation to bring about change in the region. On his blog site On the Ground, Nicholas D. Kristof, a New York Times correspondent notes the work of Mortenson. “He makes a fine counterpoint to American policy in Pakistan, which has been to shower billions of dollars worth of military aid on President Musharraf, without doing much to support education. Supporting Musharraf and bribing him (in effect) to seek a military solution in the Tribal Areas has been a failure.”

Kristof goes on to note that “the Tribal Areas are more radicalized than ever, anti-American sentiment has grown throughout Pakistan, and the militants are now threatening Peshawar.”

In an op-ed piece for the Times, Kristof writes of the difference between the Bush doctrine and that of the former mountain climber: “The only thing that Mr. Mortenson blows up are boulders that fall onto remote roads and block access to his schools.”

Kirstof notes that Mortenson has had setbacks “including being kidnapped for eight days in Pakistan’s wild Waziristan region.” Still, the former Montana resident plugs along, offering the following simple philosophy:

“Schools are a much more effective bang for the buck than missiles or chasing some Taliban around the country.”

Using the costs for a Tomahawk missile to reiterate Mortenson’s viewpoint, Kristof explains the worthiness of that philosophy, noting that at least 20 schools can be built for the money spent on a single launched Tomahawk. Kristof also goes on to point out the sentiments of at least one Pentagon official, Lt. Col. Christopher Kolenda, who works on the Afghan front lines.

“The conflict here will not be won with bombs but with books. … The thirst for education here is palpable.”

Respect for Something Other than a Hard Line Approach
In completing his viewpoint on the work of Mortenson, Kristof concludes his op ed piece:

“Military force is essential in Afghanistan to combat the Taliban. But over time, in Pakistan and Afghanistan alike, the best tonic against militant fundamentalism will be education and economic opportunity.

“So a lone Montanan staying at the cheapest guest houses has done more to advance U.S. interests in the region than the entire military and foreign policy apparatus of the Bush administration.”

While many conservatives would most likely disagree with the depth of that sentiment, none would dare indicate that Mortenson’s work is without impact. For those who see humanitarian efforts as key, it also brings new meaning to Obama’s pledge to at least meet with our enemies.

When it comes to bang for the buck, there are likely other steps we can consider to help reduce the extreme, anti-American mindset prevalent in these countries.

Over at the U.K. Times online one will find Catherine O’Brien’s exemplary “How the Google generation thinks differently.” The article should be mandatory reading for every parent and educator - for that matter anyone who works with today’s internet generation.

A Digital Native’s Learning Style
The writer notes that she totally misjudged how her son was learning. In fact, her description of her elder son Oli, nearly 15 is a thing of beauty.

First, O’Brien acknowledges that Oli is “way beyond the stage where I might usefully help with his homework.” Still, what she witnessed as he was preparing for his end of the year exams caused her heartburn of major proportions.

Every time she managed to catch a glimpse of him as he was working she was generally appalled. She writes, “the scene was the same: textbooks remained firmly closed in his bag while the laptop was open on his desk.

On the screen was some history/ physics/English document, but also his Facebook and iTunes pages. In his ears were the iPod plugs, playing back a podcast. And sometimes, just to fracture his concentration even further, he might have had a half-played video running on YouTube as well.”

Witnessing the same behavior again and again simply proved to be too much. She notes, “We each have our breaking points and one night during that exam period I reached mine. How, I wanted to know, as I scooped up the laptop and announced that I was confiscating it until further notice, could he be absorbing the finer points of photosynthesis and his French vocab if he treated his mind like a pogo stick?”

Digital Natives versus Digital Immigrants
Having taken the radical step, O’Brien soon gets a lesson from a third party, a ‘geeky acquaintance’ named Ben. He explains to this troubled mom the descriptors of American futurist, Marc Prensky. Ben informs O’Brien that her son is a ‘digital native’ but that she, unfortunately, is a ‘digital immigrant’.

Once duly informed, the writer appears to have little trouble discerning the critical difference between herself, someone who has adapted to technology, and her son, someone who has grown up with technology. O’Brien indicates that she is in fact computer proficient, but that she still prints out documents to read them, calls people to check if they have received her e-mail, and the clincher, that she still has a dictionary by her desk. She also recalls her study habits, something akin to monk-like behavior, away from any form of distraction.

In turn, she notes her digital native son, multi-tasking, thriving on instant gratification and claiming to function best when he has the opportunity to be networked. Her son, like other digitally native children has a wonderfully flexible mind, absorbs information quickly, and adapts easily to changes.

Superficial Analysis
But though understanding of the difference, O’Brien goes on to point out the shortcomings of a digital native and the new disease afflicting youngsters, ‘internet-induced attention deficit disorder’. She nails the issue, again using the latest terminology to describe how a digital native’s behavior contrasts with that of a digital immigrant.

O’Brien notes the work of researchers at University College London. Studying today’s ‘Google Generation’, the researchers routinely witnessed two forms of behavior. Those logging on to websites demonstrated a propensity for ’skimming’, quickly surveying pages, and then ‘bouncing out,’ moving onto a new search after surveying no more than three pages.

However, this behavior was not unique to the digital natives. The researchers noted that professors and lecturers exhibited this same bouncing/flicking behavior as students.

O’Brien notes that this power browsing can best be described by horizontal searching, of providing breadth. This behavior lacks in vertical searching, methodology that would provide greater depth.

The issue for this mother is that her son, the digital native is developing only quick-twitch fibers. The all-powerful tools of technology are an enormous help to the writer, but as a digital immigrant she has already developed baseline skills in three distinct and critical aptitudes, the areas of concentration, contemplation and knowledge construction.

Lessons for Parents, Educators
The challenge for parents and educators is to develop those same baseline skills in the tech generation. Digital natives need these skills but taking away their laptops is simply not the answer. O’Brien soon realizes that, returning her son’s machine the following day.

Anyone who works with or cares for children knows that they have an amazing ability to assimilate learning quickly. Those who work with children also are aware that youngsters learn simultaneously from multiple sources.

Technology feeds directly into this innate ability. Digital natives simply have been exposed to a greater variety of sensory inputs. Because of that exposure, our tech-savvy youngsters have an even lower boredom threshold than was displayed by digital immigrants when they were still wet behind the ears.

Somehow, someway, those who work with children must find a way to incorporate technology into a lesson structure that helps students learn what technology cannot teach them. The technology genie is out of the bottle and cannot be returned.

Our web can help compile data and has helped create an information explosion. And our kids love what the web has to offer, whether it be YouTube, Google, social networking and electronic games.

O’Brien goes on to quote Rose Luckin, Professor of Learner-Centered Design at the London Knowledge Lab and a visiting professor at the University of Sussex. While technology provides a wealth of access to information, Luckin notes the juncture where parents and teachers come in.

“Technology cannot teach them to reflect upon and evaluate the information they are gathering online. For that, the role of teachers and parents remains fundamentally important.”

Yes, we, the generation of digital immigrants, have a responsibility to our digital native children. The critical question is whether or not we are up to the challenge.

Photos courtesy of Steve Wilhelm, laniv & Arieanna, Libraryman and Will Lion

We have often quoted Mark Twain when it comes to the use of statistics.

“Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

While most have heard that expression, Twain is also said to be the author of an even more telling summary of the world of statistics.

“Facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.”

The Poor Educational Performance of Urban Schools
The statistics indicate that urban schools perform very poorly on national tests. If one takes a composite look at test results, one will note that DC, New York, and Boston all perform collectively far worse than the national average on various standardized tests.

As Matthew Yglesias notes at TheAtlantic.com, the data reveals a classic “big city, bad schools” association.

But Mr. Yglesias goes on to do a little more in-depth analysis of the performances of urban schools and in doing so, reveals that some big cities actually exceed the national average when poverty figures are taken into account. Not all big cities mind you. But two that perennially take media hits, Boston and New York, are definitely given an unjust rap about the performance of their students.

Controlling for Poverty Factors
Yglesias provides helpful charts, the first noting the initial basic data that demonstrates that Boston, New York, and Washington D.C. all saw a higher percentage of students perform below basic on the 2005 NAEP math test than the national average. New York and Boston appeared to have at least 30% more low performing students while DC had more than double that of the national average.

But Yglesias continues onward to examine those substandard scores in greater depth. Prior to his charts, the writer notes the longstanding impact that demographic factors have on school achievement. Yglesias asserts, “Big city school systems tend to contain a higher-than-average number of poor kids, and poor kids tend to do worse than middle class kids, so cities wind up with bad test results.”

He then backs his premise by restricting results so as to really compare apples and oranges. He breaks the data down so as to contrast school performances for all kids from economically struggling families. His criteria for poverty is to compare the students eligible for federally subsidized school lunches.

The resulting impact totally contradicts the urban myth that inner city schools offer a substandard education. In fact, when eighth grade math scores are compared, Boston and New York schools actually do a better than average job educating our nation’s
economically disadvantaged children.

Yglesias notes the difference between facts and statistics. The ‘big city, bad schools’ label is simply a result of the fact that the overall numbers of these inner urban school districts “are pulled down by their larger-than-average number of poor kids.”

In other words, big city schools have more children in poverty and these children score poorly on the exams. More kids scoring at lower rates brings the averages for inner city schools below that of the nation as a whole.

At the same time, it must be noted that taking the data apart does not help the DC school district results. DC has a large number of economically disadvantaged children but their data does not change when adjusted for poverty.

Yglesias pulls no punches.

“DC, by contrast, does have a challenging population, but also is doing a crappy job relative to the challenge.”

Reversing the Focus
Adding support to the assertions of Yglesias is the fact that he also takes time to reverse his performance focus. He moves on from his comparison of those who scored below basic to examine the percentage of students who scored proficient.

Once again, New York and Boston matched or exceeded the national average when their non-federally lunch eligible students were compared to those nationally. And once again, sadly, DC’s results remained typical to the public viewpoint of urban school districts.

The writer concludes:

“All across the United States we have a problem with kids from disadvantaged backgrounds doing poorly in school. We also see kids from disadvantaged backgrounds overrepresented in urban school systems. Consequently, average results from city school systems tend to be below average.

Some cities — i.e., Washington DC — really do have sub-standard school systems and would do well to implement reforms that made DCPS get results more like what you see in Boston or New York. But even if all cities did get the level of performance that you see from the best cities, there would still be a problem insofar as poor kids tend to do badly even in ‘good’ schools in the United States.”

Statistics Versus Facts
We have to believe that such analysis is the basis for Twain’s “facts are stubborn, but statistics are more pliable.” Statistics can be used to create the impression that our urban schools are doing a poor job of educating their students.

At the same time, it is a fact that both New York and Boston, two of our largest urban school districts, score lower overall on national tests. But when one peels back that initial set of data, one quickly sees that these two cities do a better job with the student population they have been given than does the rest of the country as a whole.

And that leads to one last critical fact: our urban schools are deserving of far more credit that they receive.

Editor: New York public school photo courtesy of Steve and Sara, Boston public school courtesy of Jonk.