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Homework Takes a Twist on the Web

January 26, 2010 By
Learning-general-21

Homework and brussels sprouts trigger the same response in kids – it’s not something they look forward to. But that’s changing with the Web coming to the rescue as the homework helper.

Mario Garcia, who is a sbustitute teacher remembers doing his homework vividly: “When I was in school, homework was an everyday thing,” said 50-year-old Garcia who is pursuing a master’s in social work.

He added, “You get home, get something to eat, change clothes and get to work. Nothing else got done until homework was completed,” reports The Associated Press.

If you’re fourty-something, this is the way most of us remember homework.

Garcia recalls spending about 2.5 hours every night on his homework. His son, 14-year old Mario Garcia,  spends more time on the Web than on his texts. In fact, the Zia Middle School where he is an eighth grader does not provide texts for him to take home. Most of his subject textbooks stay in school and he doesn’t need to bring it home to do his homework.

Garcia Jr. told AP, “It’s easy to go online and get help,” adding that,  “it’s better if you can understand it and not just copy it.

Charles Wagner who teaches science at Camino Real Middle School comments that homework is mostly to reinforce ideas that are already discussed in the classroom. Incidentally, Wagner allows his students to access his texts online, and the homework assignments are typically constructed by incorporating the Internet into the curriculum.

“But I tell them, the Internet is like the Wild West — people can put anything out there,” Wagner was quoted as saying by AP. “I make them find three different sources and list them.”

Despite these changes, Garcia still goes by the principle that parents need to instill value in education and show interest in children’s homework.

“My mom and dad only had three or four years of education, but they instilled in me the importance of education,” Garcia said. “My mother — she might not have known what she was looking at, but she was checking to make sure it was done,” reports AP.

Jacob Cherian writes for SourcinLine.

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President Obama Outlines Funding for Education Reform

January 25, 2010 By
Learning-general-13

One of president Obama’s key campaign promises was to bring innovation to the American educational system. It has never been a more opportune time to closely examine our K-12 system.

The rate of high school dropouts is alarming in many states. The national average of children not completing high school is sky-rocketing. The greatness of our nation today is a testament of the work ethic and commitment of the previous generation – the Warren Buffets of our time. They worked hard, kept at it, and made something of themselves.

The ability to sustain this greatness depends on our current generation of youth. If we fail to produce a generation of well educated and self-enterprising individuals, our future will be reliant on foreign workers (more so than now) or worse yet, foreign companies.

The economy of any great nation will depend on the ability of its workers to produce goods and services of value. As we slide further down the consumption-based economic model, we risk the surrender of our greatest freedoms – to create, to be enterprising, and  most importantly to enjoy what we do while learning and utilizing the skills required to get the job done.

Indeed, if education spirals downward, even the ‘American dream,’ which we have grown to cherish might just be a transitory dream after all!

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Michigan Seeks New Teacher Talent with Alternative Certification

January 25, 2010 By
Learning-general-19

If you’re working as a teacher in a Michigan school, you were most likely trained in a traditional college for teachers. In fact, if you’re a teacher working in any state, you’re likely to have graduated from a traditional teaching college. Why? Because most states require most teachers at elementary and secondary schools to obtain traditional training.

However, this is about to change in Michigan.

The reason being that relying on government funds translates to loosening up some of the rules – this would enable those with alternative certification to work as teachers in Michigan.

An ex-teacher who works for the United Way, Michael Tenbusch, feels that Michigan needs to attract a new breed of schoolteachers in order for its economy to get better. He said in an online report by NPR,  “We need to get more idealists into our classrooms.”

Tenbusch is still optimistic about his hometown and Cody High School in Detroit, but feels he needs others to join the bandwagon in rebuilding the local economy. Despite the fact that the Cody was an ailing school recently, the United Way has assisted in providing funds for its restructuring. Now, the school is divided into more concentrated academies.

The school’s handpicked staff is all set to deliver and the halls are nice and neat, but it will take more talent to improve Detroit’s financial woes, says Tenbusch.

Tenbusch was once a teacher, who had gone to a nontraditional teaching college. He is quick to point out that he did not take up teaching because he went to teaching school, but because he felt he could make a difference. Now, he is supporting alternate certification of teachers in Michigan because he believes it will make a difference.

Jonathan Matthews told NPR, “As we grow we’re going to need to be able to expand our net and pull in professionals from all kinds of fields. As we start looking at going to some specialty courses, we will need engineers, we will need former attorneys, former businesspersons to teach some of these special classes.”

However, there is some alarm being raised by teachers union.

Professor at Eastern Michigan University, Bill Price commented, “We’re talking about a huge, huge need across the country. We have 54 million kids in schools across the United States, so it’s a huge task to prepare that number of people and have all them be outstanding,” reports NPR.

Jacob Cherian writes for SourcingLine

Filed Under: Education, Teachers Tagged With: , , , , ,

Government Funds Emerging Technology in Education

January 25, 2010 By
Learning-general-6

Approximately ten years ago, the question – how can nonprofit organizations like schools can benefit from emerging digital technologies? -  was put forward to the Federal Communications Commission.

And in 2001, it was recommended that a multibillion-dollar fund or ‘venture capital fund’ would be utilized to explore and study learning technology,

After all these years, an organization dubbed the National Center for Congress via the Education Department has approved Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies. The organization was launched on January 25, and it will be offering grants toward the fall of 2010.

“It’s time that education had the equivalent of what the National Science Foundation does for science, Darpa does for the national defense and what N.I.H. does for health,” Lawrence K. Grossman, ex-president of NBC News and PBS was quoted as saying by the New York Times.

“We’re really excited about exploring the opportunities for advanced technology in education,” James H. Shelton III, the Education Department’s assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement said. “The vision that started Digital Promise was well before its time. Its time has finally come.”

In order to shore up support for the project, the organization has developed three models: One is a video for bio students, entitled ‘Immune Attack.’ Another is a game for museums, titled ‘Discovering Babylon.’ And the third prototype is a simulation on a computer about training firefighters. These are basic models of projects the organization will be funding.

Jacob Cherian writes for SourcingLine.

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California Schools, Students Suffer from Budget Crisis

January 25, 2010 By
learning-general-10

According to published reports, the education system in the U.S. is likely to take some twists and turns, following an economic downturn that roiled financial markets stemming from the subprime housing crisis.

With teacher layoffs, economic difficulty in schools, and larger classrooms with higher student to teacher ratios becoming the norm in many schools, the recession has already taken a toll on American students.

Among the most impacted is the state of California with its large population and minority groups. California’s budget crisis is forcing cuts across its classrooms, and its students are suffering, cite reports.

A survey done by University of California Los Angeles’ Institute of Democracy, Education and Access polled 87 principals from elementary, middle and high schools throughout the state to examine the effects of the recession on the welfare of students and their learning environments.

Incidentally, ahead of the recession, California’s K-12 public schools were some of the nation’s topmost since the 1960s. However, the recession has taken these premier schools near rock bottom in the country in terms of academics.

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Technology helping educate the third world.

January 25, 2010 By
Learning-general-1

We live in an age where technology has become commoditized. Bandwidth availability is now a global phenomenon. People in third world countries have cell phones where land lines are not even an option. Technology is a great enabler. Although it cannot feed someone (directly), it can help bring learning and awareness to remote areas where it was once impossible. Take for example the charitable organization OLPC (One Laptop Per Child ). They have created a very inexpensive laptop which is an innovative replacement for your standard books and blackboard teaching methodology.  Communities in impoverished areas of the world are able to prevent the next generation of children from following in the self destructive cycle of poverty, violence and hopelessness.  The OLPC laptop empowers teachers to aggregate and distribute information lot more effectively.  It also is more exciting and intriguing for young children to use a computer than pencil and paper.   Schools also have access to the Internet connecting them to a global community and an expanded learning network.

In the coming years we will witness the transformation of the hip social networks into something more substantive and service centric.  We will see the evolution of “Educational” social networks or “Medical” social networks.  These services will allow  the creation of a global virtual community sharing and utilizing knowledge  as it is created.

Click PLAY to watch the following video.

Visit OLPC : http://Laptop.org
Marcus Cherian
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Getting Kids Interested in School Post-Recession

January 22, 2010 By
Learning-general-18

With America on the rebound from an aching recession, there’s a lot of area that needs fixing up. And President Obama is the right person for it, many say.

Among the list of areas that require fixin’ is banking, insurance, healthcare and most importantly education. It is no surprise that our kids might not be able to ‘eat off the fat of the land’ as the 40-something generation was able to.

With more and more yuppies now moving back with their parents, it is time to give education a good look in the eye.

How can we motivate the young in America to be kinder, gentler and smarter?

To start with, there are a host of websites tailored to meet the educational requirements of your children. However, you would need to weed through them so you get an idea of what the good stuff out there really is.

With homeschooling becoming a common phenomenon, it is high time that parents took responsibility for their education from a very young age. How do you do this? The easiest thing is to buy a CD and put your kids in front of a computer.

But there might be times when you will need to have some interaction with your toddlers so they begin to obtain the wealth of experience that you have as a parent.

One such website that you can tap into, is learninginfinity.com. For more information on what how the site can be fun and entertaining and educational at the same time, you can go to Learning Infinity FAQ. And in case you’re interested in the learninginfinity blog, click here.

Jacob Cherian writes for OffshoreAdvisor.com

Tags: Learning , Children’s Learning Websi , Homeschooling , Children’s Stories , Children’s Books

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