ICT SupportClicking early with PowerPoint.

Clicking early with PowerPoint. Across the Bay State, grade-schoolers gain a high-tech advantage. Peter Schworm. Boston Globe. Online May 2006. … PowerPoint — once the staple of business conferences and corporate meetings — is lending a high-tech edge to grade-school classrooms across the state. The days of construction paper and poster board projects have been replaced by computer-generated images and laser pointers. … PowerPoint’s presence strikes today’s students as ‘‘NBD,’’ ‘‘No Big Deal’’ in text-message shorthand. …

News from IndustryIntel Capital announces new investment in Orascom Telecom WIMAX

Intel Capital announces new investment in Orascom Telecom WIMAX Limited.AMEInfo. Online May 2006. Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel Corporation, announced new WiMAX (Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access) investment today in Orascom Telecom WiMAX Limited, a joint venture with Orascom Telecom of Egypt. … 'Orascom Telecom WiMAX Limited is an exciting first step towards bringing the advantages and opportunity of internet connectivity to the people of the Middle East, and beyond, many of whom have never had such an opportunity before' said Naguib Sawiris, CEO and Chairman of Orascom. …

Informative ReadingNational Policies that Connect ICT-Based Education Reform to Economic and Social Development

National Policies that Connect ICT-Based Education Reform to Economic and Social Development. Robert Kozma. Human Technology. Published 2005. Online May 2006. Abstract: Information and communication technology (ICT) is a principal driver of economic development and social change, worldwide. In many countries, the need for economic and social development is used to justify investments in educational reform and in educational ICT. Yet the connections between national development goals and ICT-based education reform are often more rhetorical than programmatic. This paper identifies the factors that influence economic growth and shows how they supported economic and social development in three national case studies: Singapore, Finland, and Egypt. It describes a systemic framework of growth factors and types of development that can be used to analyze national policies and connect ICT-based education reform to national economic and social development goals. And it discusses how the coordination of policies within and across ministries can support a nation’s efforts to improve economic and social conditions. The paper highlights special concerns and challenges of developing countries.

Informative ReadingTransforming Learning for the 21st Century: An Economic Imperative

Transforming Learning for the 21st Century: An Economic Imperative. Chris Dede et al. Published September 2005. Online May 2006. (GW Note: An excellent compendium of econmic and education research and suggested action to transform education to meet the economic needs of the present and near future. Although written for a US audience from a US viewpoint, much of Dede et al’s discussion is relevant to other countries as well. )

Update from CountryWorld Economic Forum Launches “Egypt Education Initiative"

(Egypt) World Economic Forum Launches “Egypt Education Initiative"– 820,000 Children in 2,000 schools to benefit. Harold Doan. Online May 2006. Egypt today announced the adoption of the World Economic Forum’s Education Initiative, which aims to improve schooling in the country through the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies. … the Egyptian Education Initiative (EEI) was announced on the opening day of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East … on 20-22 May 2006. "Investing in our children’s education is investing in Egypt's future", said Yousry El Gamal, Minister of Education of Egypt.

ICT SupportA Guide to Wireless Networking in K-12 Schools

A Guide to Wireless Networking in K-12 Schools. CoSN Emerging Technologies Series. School CIO. Online May 2006. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) have been around for some time, but … New standards, faster speeds, and decreasing costs are combining to make wireless networking an ever-more appealing solution for school campus connectivity needs. … examines the implementation of wireless LAN technologies in K-12 schools and identifies challenges, options and lessons learned.

News from Funders(USAID) Testimony of James R. Kunder Before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Internati

Testimony of James R. Kunder
Before the U.S. House of Representatives
Committee on International Relations
Sub-Committees on Middle East and Central Asia
James R. Kunder, Assistant Administrator for Asia and the Near East
U.S. Assistance in Egypt
May 17, 2006

ICT SupportAgeing PCs 'problem' for schools.

Ageing PCs 'problem' for schools. Gary Eason. BBC. Online May 2006. Schools and colleges have a growing problem with renewing their computer equipment, a report says. The government computer agency for education systems, … the number of computers has increased. But many are getting old, they are not being renewed fast enough, and about half of schools do not even have a replacement policy. …

ICT SupportPBS to offer new education tech blog

PBS to offer new education tech blog. UPI. Online May 2006. PBS announced a new blog, learning.now, to address technology and Internet culture affecting the classroom. … how technology such as wikis, blogs, RSS, podcast, and social networking sites are impacting the culture educators from K-12 and students inside and outside of the classroom … Learning.now expands PBS's current offerings in K-12 education, and will provide a provocative and exciting stimulus for cutting-edge teaching and learning.

Informative ReadingState of the World's Children 2006

State of the World's Children 2006. UNICEF. Online May 2006. (GW note: This UNICEF web site was a People’s Voice Webby Winner for 2006. The site is beautifully introduced with a rich video and well organized to include a great deal of information.)

ICT SupportThe End User: More world on the web

The End User: More world on the web. Victoria Shannon. International Herald Tribune. Online May 2006. The global distribution of Internet users has sharply shifted away from the largely American base of years past, giving the "world" in World Wide Web new legitimacy. … fewer than one-quarter of global Internet users were in the United States, comScore Networks said in a report last week. A decade ago, the rate was about two-thirds. Of the 694 million unique visitors over the age of 14 who used the Internet in March, the most were in seven countries: the United States (152.1 million), China (74.7 million), Japan (52.1 million), Germany (31.8 million), Britain (30.2 million), South Korea (24.7 million) and France (23.9 million), it says. …Together, China, Japan, India and South Korea represent nearly 25 percent of the total worldwide online population, 168.1 million users, a figure that in the aggregate is 11 percent larger than the U.S. online surfership. … the research excludes traffic from public computers like those at Internet cafés, a primary means of access in Asia, and access from cellphones or PDAs. …

Informative ReadingenGauge® 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age

enGauge® 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age. NCREL.org and Learning Point. Written in 2003. Online May 2006. Contents:http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/skills.htm.
(GW Note: This is a very comprehensive description of what is meant by 21st Century Skills, what is needed in school programs to support teaching and learning towards these skills and suggestions for how to bring them into schools.)
*Download an Adobe® Reader® (PDF) version of the enGauge® 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age
*Download an Adobe® Reader® (PDF) version of the 8-page enGauge® 21st Century Skills: Literacy in the Digital Age brochure

Time OutVideo Vitamins.

Video Vitamins. GLEF Staff. George Lucas Education Foundation. Edutopia. Online May 2006. Your prescription: View one of these every morning (or afternoon or evening) and you'll feel better all day long.

Informative ReadingInformation Technology in Education (USA)

Information Technology in Education (USA). NSF. Report on Science: Science and Engineering Indicators 2006: Chapter 1: Elementary and Secondary Education: National Science Foundation(NSF). Online April 2006. Data about use of computer technology in schools and in the USA. (GW Note: Some of the data comes from studies dated 2003 and earlier.)
· Trends in IT Access at School
· Trends in IT Access at Home
· IT Use at School and at Home
· Teacher Preparation for Using IT and Technical Support
· Summary

ICT SupportGoogle SketchUp

Google SketchUp. Model your world. Beta version. Dream. Design. Communicate. (GW Note: Free, downloadable, with online tutorials, CAD-like application for students to explore.) SketchUp is a simple but powerful tool for quickly and easily creating, viewing and modifying your 3D ideas. Click on a shape and push or pull it to create your desired 3D geometry. Experiment with color and texture directly on your model. Real-time shadow casting lets you see exactly where the sun falls as you model. Select from thousands of pre-drawn components to save time drawing.
View your modeled world in... Google Earth.

Informative Reading2006 Technology Counts

2006 Technology Counts. The Information Edge. Using data to accelerate achievement. EdWeek. Online May 2006. (GW Note: These are statistics for USA states. For a quick look at the summary tables and what measurements were taken, see the press release.)

Update from countriesArab girls lack education

Arab girls lack education. AMEInfo. Online May 2006. There are still 7.5m children in the Arab world who are not getting an education, with the majority being girls, according to UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mahmoud Kabil. He was speaking at the opening of the Arab Media and Child Rights Forum which aims to engage Arab media in speaking up for children's rights.

ICT SupportIntel to Offer Its Own Plan for Global Internet Access

Intel to Offer Its Own Plan for Global Internet Access. John Markoff. NYTimes. Online May 2006. … Intel Corporation plans to announce a design for a sub-$400 educational laptop and a five-year, $1 billion program to train teachers and to extend wireless digital Internet access worldwide. … to be announced on Tuesday at the World Congress on Information Technology, a conference in Austin, Texas. … called World Ahead … plans to support the computer training of 10 million teachers around the world. It has already financed the training of three million, said Intel's chief executive, Paul S. Otellini. …

Update from CountryInnovations in Education 2006

(Qatar) Innovations in Education 2006: TECHNOLOGY, EMPOWERMENT AND EDUCATION. Abstracts of addresses online. Online May 2006. The second symposium (held April 30-May 2)... will bring teachers from across the Arab world together with researchers, experts and activists from Europe, Australia, US, South America and Asia in a series of panels, debates, case studies, workshops and taskforces. The main objectives of Innovations in Education 2006 are to explore initiatives concerning access to technology and democratic participation; and to consider the presentation of science and technological education in a manner that promotes democratic reasoning. …