"Good News for Ed Tech in the Economic Stimulus Bills" (THE Journal, 02/09)

There is good reason to believe that educators in ed tech may have the opportunity to use some of the federal dollars in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to improve student achievement with technology. In the current version of the bills, there are a number of opportunities for technology. It is possible that the legislative process will change certain aspects of the bill, but the sections on education in both the House and Senate versions are very similar, so significant change is unlikely.

"Technology empowers differentiated instruction" (eSchoolNews, 02/02/09)

ISTE webinar offers new strategies for ensuring that all students learn by tailoring instruction to their abilities, needs, and interests

"Click and Jane" (NYTimes, 1/30/09)

Reading books is an operation with paper. Playing games on the Web is something else entirely. I need to admit this to myself, too. I try to believe that reading online is reading-plus, with the text searchable, hyperlinked and accompanied by video, audio, photography and graphics. But maybe it’s just not reading at all. Just as screens aren’t books.

"States Team for High School Makeover With Eye Toward '21st-Century Skills'" (EdWeek, 01/06/09)

The New England Secondary School Consortium aims to create high schools that are "flexible, borderless, multidimensional community learning centers" in which students would have the chance to study at the secondary and postsecondary levels, do research in their communities, build real-world skills through internships, and immerse themselves in technology.

"Waivers free high school students to study online, off-campus" (Detroit Free Press, 01/0

Eleven Michigan school districts and one charter school can now allow students to take more courses -- and in some cases all of their classes -- online and off-campus, moves that could further cement the state's reputation as a leader in online education.

Yearbooks Fade as Networking Sites Propagate

Thanks to technology cultural shifts and the immediacy offered by social-networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, annual yearbooks might be dying out among the college crowd.

Understanding Students Who Were 'Born Digital'

John Palfrey and Urs Gasser have written a book that they hope will bridge the generation gap, at least when it comes to an understanding of the different habits, learning styles and ideas about privacy attributed to so-called “digital natives.”

On the Way: Nation's First Tech-Literacy Exam

For the first time ever, technological literacy will become part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, the test's governing board has announced.

Beginning in 2012, the test will measure students' proficiency with technology in addition to reading, math, science, history, writing, and other subjects. The new test will mark the first time students' technology literacy has been assessed on a national level.

Challenging Conventional Wisdom on STEM Supply

A speaker at the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said that the worry about a shortage of qualified individuals in science and technology is part of a cyclical trend. Inside Higher Ed, September 17, 2008

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

Facebook's News Feed, Twitter, Flickr, and other forms of incessant online contact have created a brave new electronic world of "ambient awareness." The New York Times, September 5, 2008

The future of the book

This Ithaca Journal article describes how "Digital screens provide new option for literary lovers"--and the enduring interest in "old-fashioned" paper-based books.