Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Mind the Gap: American Teens Falling into the Digital Divide

The Center for the Digital Future has released the results their international survey of 25,000 people in Asia, Australia, North and South America and Europe on Internet usage.

Among 18-24 year olds, the top countries with Internet usage:

• 100% of British youth
• 98% of Israeli
• Czech Republic and Macao at 96%
• Canada at 95%

By contrast, only 88% of American teens of the same age had access, trailed by Hungary and Singapore, where more than seven in 10 young people use the Internet.

The big takeaway? According to the study:

"Fewer young Americans have Internet access than their peers in the Czech Republic, Canada, Macao and Britain, a survey of 13 countries around the world showed."

While we talk a lot about youth being wired and connected to technology, the reality is that there are also a lot of teens who can't afford computers, mobile phones/devices or Internet access.

For the last five years I've volunteered with a youth organization in San Diego. We've maintained a website, blog, Flickr and Facebook page for the last four years. At a recent awards dinner for the teens, one of the leaders mentioned that they would post the photos from the dinner on Flickr and our website. One of the kids raised his hand and asked, "What if we don't have a computer?"

During a quick survey of the 100 youth attending the banquet, we were shocked to find that only a couple had mobile phones, even less had access to a computer and/or Internet access at home. And while they had access at school, most reported that school computers blocked and filtered so much content, it made it an exercise in frustration.

We had been working on the assumption that because they are teens, they are "wired." The reality is, while they wanted to be totally wired, their economic status prevented them from fully participating in the information and social web revolution.

While I was at Yahoo! working on the youth and education project, I had the opportunity to collaborate with school districts both large and small. Time and time again, I heard from school administrators that their students (and many teachers for that matter) didn't have access to a computer and/or web access from home.

So while we talk about all the really great ways that technology can support learning, get youth involved in the political process or how Gen Y is totally wired, it's important to remember that there are still big chunks of this generation who are unable to participate in the shared experiences taking place in Facebook, MySpace and other virtual environments.

In terms of the digital divide, we've made leaps and bounds, but there's still a long way to go.

Related Resources

• Digital Inclusion: Content, Community & Technology
• Learning 2.0: Digital Social and Always-On
• How Obama Hooked Gen Y

Obama on Education Reform

Recruit, Prepare, Retain, and Reward America's Teachers

* Recruit Teachers: Obama and Biden will create new Teacher Service Scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate teacher education, including high-quality alternative programs for mid-career recruits in exchange for teaching for at least four years in a high-need field or location.

* Prepare Teachers: Obama and Biden will require all schools of education to be accredited. Obama and Biden will also create a voluntary national performance assessment so we can be sure that every new educator is trained and ready to walk into the classroom and start teaching effectively.

Obama and Biden will also create Teacher Residency Programs that will supply 30,000 exceptionally well-prepared recruits to high-need schools.

* Retain Teachers: To support our teachers, the Obama-Biden plan will expand mentoring programs that pair experienced teachers with new recruits. They will also provide incentives to give teachers paid common planning time so they can collaborate to share best practices.

* Reward Teachers: Obama and Biden will promote new and innovative ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. Districts will be able to design programs that reward accomplished educators who serve as a mentor to new teachers with a salary increase.

Districts can reward teachers who work in underserved places like rural areas and inner cities. And if teachers consistently excel in the classroom, that work can be valued and rewarded as well.

Related Resources

• EdTech for Obama
• Seeding a New Community: Yahoo! For Teachers
• Yahoo! Teachers: It's About Relationships
• Research on K12 New Media Literacy

Microsoft to Embrace OpenID

TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft (finally!) has seen the light and will begin rolling out the integration of OpenID into their network of cloud services. Sayeth the DasCrunch:

"Login standard OpenID has gotten a huge boost today from Microsoft, as the company has announced that users will soon be able to login to any OpenID site using their Windows Live IDs.

With over 400 million Windows Live accounts (many of which see frequent use on the Live’s Mail and Messenger services), the announcement is a massive win for OpenID. And Microsoft isn’t just supporting OpenID - the announcement goes as far as to call it the de facto login standard."

In other news, Yahoo! has announced that next week it will launch their open platform application. According to VentureBeat, the Yahoo! Application Platform (Y!AP) will "make Yahoo! more useful by giving third-party applications a way to plug into and link Yahoo services and user data."

Related Resources

• Azure: Microsoft's New Cloud Service
• Microsoft & Google to Join Open Content Movement
• Open Publishing: Oprah, Suze & Penguin
• On the Web, Even the Most Secretive Companies Eventually Embrace Openness

ILC 2008: Meet Pixton

Last week I attended the Innovative Learning Conference (ILC) in San Jose, California. Despite what seemed like a very light turnout, it turned out to be a great conference experience. The educators attending ILC were engaging and it gave me a chance to meet up with some of my social networking pals in real life. I also had the opportunity to see some really good presentations.

Like most conferences there was an exhibition hall with lots of vendors touting their goods and services as the latest and greatest learning tool. All the usual ed tech suspects, with their big marketing machines, were there in force.

But what really intrigued me the most was a couple from Vancouver, B.C who have created a mind blowing, game changing and all around awesome web-based comic strip generation tool called Pixton. 

What is Pixton?

Simply stated, Pixton is a social community where anyone can easily create, share, remix and publish their comic strip stories with people around the globe. If you find a great comic in French, you can instantly translate it into English. Or German. Or even Greek. Pretty cool, eh?

There are three versions: Pixtion for Fun (public), Pixton for Schools (education) and Pixton Storyboard (private).

Pixton for Schools provides students with an active and fun learning experience. It's also a good way for teachers to tap into the multiple learning styles of their students. Teachers can also create accounts for students without requiring them to have an email address. Pixton is also an amazing digital tool for students to create digital storytelling projects.

In terms of the educational value of comics, the Pixton team emphasizes the following:

• Pathway to Literacy: Instantly capture students' attention and motivate them to learn, using a familiar medium they understand.

• Collaboration: Foster peer-to-peer interaction between students. Or between students and teachers.

• Visual Learning: Reinforce your lesson through the associative power of words and images.

In terms of teaching, Pixton for Schools has a Lesson Bank where educators can share their lessons with other teachers. Teachers can also create their own private, safe and secure virtual learning environment (VLE) right on Pixton!

Beyond the classroom, Pixton would be a great way to quickly and easily build professional development, training, tutorials or other pre or in-service materials. You can learn more about the how you can use Pixton in an educational setting or the educational value of comics by downloading the free Pixton for Schools information packet (pdf).

The Pixton tool set is very intuitive, easy-to-use, and really fun. If you browse the public gallery, you'll see all the creative ways people are using Pixton and your mind will quickly overflow with ideas.

And there are lots of ways for you to share what you create with others outside the Pixton community. You can embed your Pixton comic in a wiki (like PBwiki), blog, or share a link via email, Twitter or IM. And soon you'll be able to print out your comic too.

Clive and Daina Goodinson have created powerful and fun learning tool that is bound to be a popular and powerful learning tool for the digital and traditional classroom. All in all, Pixton is an exciting edition to the social web.

Following in the footsteps of Flickr, YouTube and Twitter, Pixton is poised to join the short list of cutting-edge, top-tier and truly innovative social web tools. The really exciting thing is that Clive and Daina are just getting started.

I can't wait to see what else they have planned for Pixton and beyond.

Related Resources

• Pixton
• Pixton on Twitter
• Pixton on Facebook
• Pixton Safety Tips
• Pixton > Gregory Corso

Mashup Edu: Research on K-12 New Media Literacy

I am pleased to announce that the book chapter that I co-authored with Dr. Mercedes Fisher, "Pedagogical Mashup: Gen Y, Social Media, and Digital Learning Styles," has officially been accepted for publication in the Handbook of Research on New Media Literacy at the K-12 Level: Issues and Challenges, to be published by IGI Global later this year.

Dr. Fisher and I wish to thank the co-editor of the book, Professor Subramaniam at the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, for his hard work and direction during the writing and peer-review process.

In addition, we appreciate all the members of the peer-review committee for their feedback, suggestions and collaboration on this chapter. It's been a wonderful experience to work with members of the international education technology/media community.

We've saved the links for all the resources and references cited in the book chapter over on the social bookmarking tool delicious, which you can find here: http://del.icio.us/mashup.edu

Related Publications by Mercedes Fisher & Derek E. Baird

• Making mLearning Work: Gen Y, Learning & Mobile Technologies
• Social Software & Online Learning Design
• Social Media & Digital Learning Styles

New York Times: Insight into the World of Teaching

In Lesson Plans, part of the New York Times blog network, a group of teachers chronicle their experiences during the first weeks of the school, offering readers with a first hand account of today's classroom challenges from diverse perspectives.

The teachers participating in this conversation cover a variety of topics ranging from multi-cultural education, the 2008 presidential election, teaching students with autism and sharing their day-to-day struggles in the classroom.

At a time when there is much discussion on how to reform our public school system, it's easy to forget that our educators are doing the best job they can. Hopefully the NYT Lesson Plans series will provide "civilians" with some insight into the world of education.

My hope is that Lesson Plans will lead everyone involved in education --parents, teachers and politicians--with a better understanding of the challenges, issues and move us all towards our shared goal of providing our kids with the best education possible.

Related Resources

• Meet Mr. Basler. Science Teacher, Guru
• iCue > Election 2008
• Video Games & Learning: No Brainer
• NYT Magazine > College Issue

Vicki Davis: Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom

The Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom workshop was created by Vicki Davis, recognized Web 2.0 expert and creator of the Cool Cat Teacher blog, for Atomic Learning.

In the Seven Steps to a Flat Classroom workshop, Davis herself utilizes Atomic Learning’s short, show-and-tell video tutorials to guide users through flattening their classroom by expanding it to include global communities and collaboration tools.

The workshop is a valuable resource for educators seeking to integrate technology and includes over 80 tutorials on topics such as Applying ISTE NETS standards to your project, Connecting Classrooms online, Digital Citizenship and Safety and many more.

View the workshop by clicking here.

Related Resources

• Flat Classroom Conference
• Atomic Learning
• PBwiki Back-to-School Challenge
• Flat Bobby Flickr Project

OLPC Partners with Amazon.com

The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has announced that they have partnered with Amazon.com to revive the Give One, Get One program. This program, first launched last year, allows consumers to purchase two XO laptops, one is shipped to the buyer, and the other is sent to a student in a developing nation.

According to PC World, Amazon.com will start selling XO laptops in late November, around the time of Thanksgiving in the U.S. Sales will likely extend through to around the end of December.

Related Resources

• One Laptop Per Child Program
  
• 1:1 Computing: Moving from Theory to Practice
• Gary Stager >> Laptops and Learning
• Seymour Papert >> From Lunch Boxes to Laptops
• The Maine Learning with Laptop Study
• Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI)

PBwiki Weekly Webinar: Get Live Help

Did you know that PBwiki hosts complimentary Office Hours each week? Yep, it's true. Join PBwiki every – Wednesday at 1 P.M EST to speak to the staff and get help getting the most out of using a wiki in your classroom.

• Sign up for PBwiki Office Hours here.

Don't forget! PBwiki is hosting a Back to School Challenge! From now until October 31st you can earn a free premium wiki plus great classroom resources. Learn more at www.backtoschoolchallenge.com

Related Resources

• PBwiki
• blip.tv > Getting Started with PBwiki
• Wes Fryer > Using Wikis for Collaboration & Learning
  

Atomic Learning: Microsoft Office 2008 Tutorials

Through September 10, 2008 Atomic Learning will offer a free series on Microsoft Office 2008 will be offered free of charge The free series, Office Suite 2008 - What’s New includes more than 30 short, show-and-tell movies that guide users through the new features in Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2008.

Topics include using SmartArt™ graphics, using Automators workflows, using compatibility mode, understanding the new XML file format, opening files from earlier versions and more.

The series is an important resource for schools and organizations planning to transition to Office Suite 2008. Schools and districts find Atomic Learning to be especially useful for professional development purposes and incorporating technology into curriculum.

Be sure to also check out the new Office Live Workspace, a free service from Microsoft that allows you to easily and privately share files online with students, colleagues or parents. This is an easy way to create an online hub for your classroom. You can also use one of the many free templates to easily create school calendars, tests & quizzes or electronic grade book.

Related Resources

• Office Live Workspace
• Atomic Learning
• Microsoft Education Resources for Teachers
• Yahoo! Back-to-School Guide 2008

K12 Open Minds Conference

If you have an interest in Open Source Software and its benefits for K-12 schools, I hope you will consider attending and/or presenting at the 2008 K12 Open Minds Conference, September 25-27, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This is an unparalleled opportunity to talk with teachers, administrators and technology staff from around the U.S. and the world. Here are some important links:

• General conference information at http://www.k12openminds.org
• Call for speakers information at http://www.k12openminds.org/conference/call-for-speakers/
• Sponsorship information at http://www.k12openminds.org/sponsors.html/

The conference expects more than 600 attendees, from the US, Europe, Asia and North and South America. Dozens of sessions that address teaching and learning, leadership and policy, and technology and infrastructure issues related to open technologies make this conference a "must attend" event.

Featured Speakers include:

• Donna Benjamin - Executive Director of Creative Contingencies and board member of Open Source Industry Australia;

• Alex Inman -- Director of Technology at Whitfield School, St. Louis, MO - an Essential School using open source;

• Chris Lehman -- Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA.;

• Dr. David Thornburg - Director of Global Operations for the Thornburg Center and author of several books including, When the Best is Free.

Related Resources

• Open Yale Courses
• Didactics World: Bridging the Digital Content Divide
• Textbooks, Piracy & Old Media

Tavis Smiley Launches America I AM

“Would America have been America without her Negro people?” W.E.B. DuBois

Earlier this week Tavis Smiley announced his involvement and sponsorship of the America I AM, a traveling museum exhibit showcasing "400 years of African American contributions to the nation through artifacts, documents, multimedia, photos and music." An interactive companion website will be launched later this summer.

In addition, there is an "America I AM" ambassador program. There aren't too many details on this yet, but I'm assuming it's an opportunity to be a museum docent. You can sign up for updates and more information by clicking here (pdf).

Mr. Smiley is the host of a syndicated talk show on PBS. In addition, he also hosts a daily show on Public Radio International. Newsweek profiled him as one of the "20 people changing how Americans get their news" and dubbed him one of the nation's "captains of the airwaves." For me, his PBS show is "must see tv." He is hands down, one of the best interviewers/journalists on tv.

America I AM is a wonderful opportunity for educators to take students on a field trip--either in person to the traveling exhibition or through the to be launched virtual exhibit to learn more about African American experience and contributions.

Related Resources

• Press Release > America I AM (pdf)
• Tavis Smiley > Twitter
• Tour Schedule
• TeacherVision: Black History Resources

HP Launches 7,000 Mini Laptops in Fresno Schools

Last week at the 2008 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC), HP announced that they would be deploying 7,000 of their HP Mini Note laptops in the Fresno Unified School District.

This is part of a growing trend, kicked off with the introduction of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative, of personal computer companies providing more students with access to computers and the vast array of resources on the web.

In addition to providing students with affordable technology, the program also includes free online professional development courses to help educators learn how to effectively integrate technology into their curriculum.

This is a smart move by HP. So many vendor's throw technology at teachers without any support or professional development resources or handouts. When I was working on the Yahoo! Teachers project we made a conscious effort to provide relevant, easy-to-follow and just in time professional development materials for educators and they really appreciated that we went the extra step to provide those materials.

Related Resources

• HP K-12 Technology for Teaching Grants
• eSchool News > HP unveils Student Laptops
• Maine Laptop Initiative
• Dell TechKnow
• NECC 2008: Social Media & Education

Free Cartoon Animation Software

via Open Source on LearnHub: "There are many cartoon animation programs available that offer free trial downloads. Here are three cartoon animation programs that are completely open-source, which means they are free for you to use.

Though they vary in complexity, ease of use and features you will likely find one that best suits your animation needs."

Related Resources

• LearnHub
• Pencil
• Synfig
• Creatoon
• Pixton: Learning with Comics

DailyLit: Take a Bite Into Shakespeare

DailyLit is a cool web tool that breaks up books into chunks and sends them to you on a daily basis via email or a RSS feed. They have a wide variety of titles and currently offer over 750 books. There are both free and fee-based subscriptions available.

In addition, they recently added Wikipedia to the content mix. These new "Wikipedia Tours" will provide subscribers with a tour of a Wikipedia topic.

Finally, they have a Forum where you can, in true Oprah fashion, discuss a book with other bibliophiles. This might be the perfect way for Gen Y to squeeze some Faulkner, Cather, or a Wikipedia Tour of Greek Mythology into that Sidekick or iPhone.

Related Resources

• TwitLit
• DailyLit > Wikipedia Tours: Famous Women
• Just Do It: Learning to Blog
• Read the Words (hat tip @ mr. mayo)