tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65921910939883545282024-03-12T22:09:54.762-04:00Oakland Community GreenhouseThis blog-site was created to serve as a Virtual Meeting Place for Collaboration on Ideas About Learning how to Grow Communities of Learners while Growing FoodJimBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11675329554550730818noreply@blogger.comBlogger188125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-72280453038140384462013-04-26T06:40:00.000-04:002013-04-26T06:40:03.410-04:00Cities & After-School Learning Organizations<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Cities Should Embrace After-School Learning</span></h1>
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<span style="color: blue;">Cities Play a Crucial After-School Role</span></h2>
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By Christopher Coleman, Karl Dean, James Mitchell Jr., Betsy Price, Ronnie Steine</div>
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No longer can leaders of American cities be spectators when it comes to ensuring that our children have the education and skills necessary to succeed in school and life. Competition for jobs within the United States, let alone across the world, is at an all-time high.</div>
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For our cities to remain beacons of hope, it is our responsibility as municipal leaders to help young people develop the skills and talents they need to find gainful employment and become successful adults in a knowledge-based economy. City leaders must work together with schools, parents, and others to help young people thrive, with a shared understanding that their success will determine the success of our cities.</div>
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Maximizing the after-school hours is one important way in which city governments can improve educational outcomes for children and teenagers and reinforce what they learn in the classroom. We know that children spend about 80 percent of their time outside of school. How is that time used?</div>
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As mayors and city council members, we have a unique bully pulpit from which to promote the after-school hours as a time of enrichment and learning. In collaboration with other local partners, we can work collectively to provide all young people in our communities with access to high-quality after-school and expanded-learning opportunities.</div>
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Over the years, municipal leaders have expressed growing interest in supporting after-school programs, as the National League of Cities Institute for Youth, Education, and Families documented in a <a href="http://www.nlc.org/find-city-solutions/institute-for-youth-education-and-families/afterschool/municipal-leadership-for-afterschool-citywide-approaches-spreading-across-the-country" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">2011 report</a> highlighting our cities and 23 others. Why? Because our charge as mayors and council members is to keep our cities safe, spur economic growth, ensure a high quality of life, and provide opportunity for all of our residents. By engaging young people in positive activities while their parents are at work, after-school and expanded-learning opportunities help city officials confront pressing local challenges, such as crime prevention, truancy, low academic achievement and graduation rates, college and career preparation, civic engagement, hunger, and childhood obesity. Providing resources directly to programs or creating partnerships with other organizations that provide quality after-school experiences for children and youths aligns well with our top priorities.</div>
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“As mayors and city council members, we have a unique bully pulpit from which to promote the after-school hours as a time of enrichment and learning.”</div>
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Many municipalities already provide an array of opportunities to their young people through parks and recreation departments, police athletic leagues, libraries, and museums. Often, however, key local actors work in silos and try to solve challenges on their own rather than take a more integrated and effective approach in cooperation with city agencies, schools, businesses, and faith-based and community-based organizations. As part of a growing trend in the nation's cities, municipal officials are increasingly bringing these institutions around the same table to coordinate after-school programs within one citywide system. By working together, local leaders can improve the quality of programs, target investments toward the young people most in need, offer training to after-school-program providers from different organizations, and increase youth-participation rates.</div>
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As mayors and council members, we have made after-school learning a priority in our cities, and we work closely with our school leaders and youth-serving organizations to create, strengthen, and expand after-school learning opportunities. This work is too great for any one of us, but acting in collaboration, we are making important strides on behalf of young people in our communities.</div>
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Despite the extreme pressures on municipal budgets in the last several years, many of us have worked hard to realign existing funding, invest new funding, or at least hold the line to protect after-school budgets. For instance, in Nashville, only one new initiative was funded in an otherwise flat budget environment in 2009: resources for the <a href="http://www.nashvillez.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Nashville After Zone Alliance</a>, or NAZA, to coordinate an after-school network serving middle school youths. Since NAZA's inception, participation in after-school programs has nearly doubled for the targeted, high-need population; the program now serves 562 middle school students.</div>
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Resources to support after-school programs can come from many different places. Since 2001, the city government in Fort Worth has dedicated more than $1.4 million annually in concert with grants from the state to support <a href="http://www.fwisd.org/fwas/Pages/default.aspx" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">94 after-school initiatives</a> in four school districts by drawing on part of the revenue from a one-half-cent sales tax dedicated to its "crime control and prevention district."</div>
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Local officials in Charlotte have also recognized the benefits of after-school programs in preventing juvenile crime and promoting academic success. More than a decade ago, council members and school board leaders made a joint commitment to invest city and school dollars to launch three new after-school programs for middle school students. In the coming year, the city will fund six different providers with a combination of $590,000 in local funds and federal community development block grant dollars.</div>
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Finally, the St. Paul mayor's office has played a central role in leading the city's Second Shift Commission, a broad stakeholder group representing the city, the school district, and community-based organizations. The commission's recommendations led to the development of <a href="http://sprocketssaintpaul.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Sprockets</a>, a coordinating entity that now supports the citywide out-of-school-time network of providers, education leaders, city leaders, and other key participants. The network collaborates to share data and works to improve the quality, availability, and effectiveness of after-school programs.</div>
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One of the first essential steps that educators and others can take to enhance community supports for learning is to reach out to local elected officials and discuss how after-school programs can help fulfill a shared vision for young people. Mayoral and city council champions can raise awareness of the benefits of the programs, draw attention to key challenges, and identify the roles each partner can play in working toward solutions.</div>
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Municipal officials can also help map the distribution of after-school opportunities across their cities. Not only can making this information publicly available help parents gain access to programs, but it can also build political will for after-school investments when local leaders have clear, visual evidence of the lack of accessible programs in certain neighborhoods. Data-driven discussions of these gaps often spark collaborative efforts to reduce barriers to youth participation, ensure programs are of high quality, and evaluate the impact of after-school opportunities on student outcomes.</div>
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When young people are engaged in positive activities, our cities clearly benefit. Supporting after-school programming is a central part of our policies for economic development, neighborhood development, and crime prevention. Our job as municipal officials is to connect those dots.</div>
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Yet we must move forward with an awareness that no entity—be it a city, school district, or nonprofit—can go it alone in its efforts to expand high-quality after-school opportunities. By working across sectors to build coordinated, citywide after-school systems, we can provide every child in our communities with a chance to thrive.</div>
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Christopher Coleman, Karl Dean, and Betsy Price are, respectively, the mayors of St. Paul, Minn.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Fort Worth, Texas. James Mitchell Jr. and Ronnie Steine are, respectively, city council members in Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-42768246751827916442012-09-19T14:50:00.005-04:002012-09-19T14:50:41.668-04:00OCPR (Update)<br />
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span style="color: blue;">Madison Heights park gets do-over</span></span></div>
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPara">By Bill Laitner Free Press Staff Writer</span></div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Long the target of critics who said its parks are too far from where most taxpayers live, Oakland County Parks and Recreation has stepped up efforts to add facilities in the county’s populous southeast corner.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">On Oct. 1, the agency will begin a 25-year lease — at $1 a year — of the 38-acre Madison Heights nature preserve just south of 13 Mile and west of Dequindre.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Budget-strapped Madison Heights laid off its naturalist two years ago and let maintenance of the preserve go.</span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">This month, county foresters are clearing fallen limbs from 1.3 miles of nature trails, felling dead trees, installing benches and repairing the nature center building, all work long overdue, county parks executive officer Dan Stencil said.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“We’re giving those woods a haircut,” Stencil quipped.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Madison Heights Mayor Ed Swanson, who walks in the woods every day with his shih tzu Tiramisu, said he’s delighted with the face-lift.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“We couldn’t keep this up, but the county has budgeted $225,000 a year for it,” Swan-son said. The city had spent $150,000 a year there until July 2010, when all staff were laid off and the yearly budget cut to $8,000, City Manager Jon Austin said.</span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The name of the area will change from the George W. Suarez Friendship Woods, after a former mayor of the city, to Red Oaks Nature Center at Suarez Friendship Woods.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">After adding the nature area, the county parks system will offer a swath of recreation options on 13 Mile Road just east of I-75, including the existing dog park, golf course and the Red Oaks Waterpark.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Seven miles away in South-field, a 24-acre city park of soccer and baseball fields off Greenfield between 11 and 12 Mile roads, had received no upgrades for decades when the county took over its management in 2007, officials said.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Starting Jan. 1, Red Oaks </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Nature Center visitors will need a vehicle parks sticker — $30 a year for county residents, $22 for seniors, $46 for nonresidents. Catalpa Oaks park is free at all times, Oak-land County Parks communications supervisor Desiree Stanfield said.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The improvements make paying the Oakland County parks millage easier to justify for residents of the county’s southeast area, said a former critic of the parks agency, 43rd District Judge Chuck </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Goedert in Hazel Park.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“I commend Oakland County Parks, and I am thrilled to see this,” said Goedert, who lives in Ferndale.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">At the Madison Heights nature center last week, volunteer Jean Linville, 81, scanned the log cabin building filled with nature exhibits.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“We’re very happy the county is taking over because we know now this will stay open,” Linville said.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 2px; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="font-size: 2px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPara" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="InfoComponentTextS" style="font-size: smaller; vertical-align: super;">• </span>CONTACT BILL LAITNER: 313-223-4485 OR <span class=" InfoComponentLink" owc:control="icviewerlink" owc:view-mode="text" style="color: #2222ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" title="Click here to send email: BLAITNER@FREEPRESS.COM">BLAITNER@FREEPRESS.COM </span> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextChunk" owc:control="icviewerchunk" owc:entity-type="Picture" owc:view-mode="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><div class="InfoComponentTextPicture" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana; margin: 0px 8px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextCaption" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Kylie Fournier, 3; Margaret Over-ton, 2; Diana Fournier, 27, and Khloe Fournier, 1, all of Oak Park read on a platform at the top of atree at the Madison Heights Nature Center in Madison Heights.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 2px; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span style="color: red;">MADISON HEIGHTS FALL FESTIVAL</span></span></div>
<span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 4px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">What: 16th annual open house —cider, doughnuts, hayrides, folk music, petting farm Where: Suarez Friendship Woods, 30300 Hales When: Noon-4 p.m. Sept. 30 Cost: Free, but donations, payable to City of Madison Heights Nature Center Open House, can be mailed to 300 W. Thirteen Mile, Madison Heights 48071.</span></span></span></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-73890242075366781542012-09-10T08:13:00.000-04:002012-09-10T08:13:05.003-04:00OCPRC (Update: 2013 Budget)<br />
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<span style="color: red;">County parks commission adopts $22.9 million budget for 2013; dog parks added</span></h1>
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Monday, September 10, 2012 7:47 AM EDT</div>
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Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission recently adopted its 2013 operating budget of $22.9 million for its 13-park, 6,700-acre system.<br /><br /> The 13-park system provides 65 miles of trails, day-use parks, campgrounds, dog parks, waterparks, golf courses, nature centers and a county market serving 1.6 million visitors annually. The parks system opened to the public in 1966.<br /><br />Top projects for the commission next year include construction of dog parks at Groveland Oaks County Park near Holly and Waterford Oaks County Park in Waterford Township.<br /><br />Of this amount, $8.6 million comes from charges for services and $2.7 million from planned use of balance. The remaining will come from the system’s one-quarter millage ($11.3 million), income from investments ($262,000), and delinquent taxes from prior years ($30,000). The fiscal year 2013 budget year runs Oct. 1, 2012 through Sept. 30, 2013. The budget will now be forwarded to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners for its approval, as part of a county-wide budget process, at its Sept. 20 meeting.<br /><br />“Currently Oakland County Parks operates three dog parks — one each in Lyon Township, Orion Township and Madison Heights. The demand for off-leash facilities from dog owners is high,” Executive Officer Dan Stencil said.<br /><br />“Our Groveland Oaks campers have consistently asked in surveys for a dog park so their pets can exercise off-leash while their owners camp. Nationally, there is a trend of people camping with their pets. This was an area where we could improve customer service and increase revenue through camping fees and daily or annual vehicle permits for day-use visitors.”<br /><br />A new Capital Improvement Management Plan and 15-year forecast was created to identify active fiscal year projects and forecast future projects. For 2013, the parks system has identified $2 million in active projects for design and construction including:<br /><br />n Continued construction of Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund grant funded trail projects at Lyon, Highland, Red and Rose Oaks county parks.<br /><br />n Construction of a pavilion/retail vending space at Orion Oaks Dog Park.<br /><br />n Installation/replacement of shade structures at Red Oaks Dog Park.<br /><br />n Engineering of a new parking lot for Glen Oaks Golf Course.<br /><br />n Replacement of a playground and construction of a bike rental equipment facility/waterslide ticket booth at Groveland Oaks County Park.<br /><br />Construction projects that will be designed but not built in 2013 include: a boathouse and campground recreation pavilion for Addison Oaks County Park; a new water attraction at Waterford Oaks Waterpark; and a plan to repurpose an estate house at Independence Oaks-North.<br /><br />Currently the parks system improves, maintains and manages more than 200 facilities, buildings and structures within its 6,700 acres. A new 15-year maintenance plan forecasts upkeep and improvements, including roofing, pavement repair, structural inspections, building heating and cooling systems, land management, painting and replacement of windows, doors, carpeting and flooring.<br /><br />“Next year we will have $600,000 in active maintenance projects. Upkeep and improvement of existing facilities remains a consistently high priority,” Stencil said. “Our guests tell us in our biennial countywide recreation needs assessment surveys that they want clean, safe, well-maintained facilities.”<br /><br />For 2013, planned maintenance projects include:<br /><br />n Structural inspections of bridges, dams and towers at 13 parks.<br /><br />n Design irrigation systems to replace aging equipment at Glen Oaks, White Lake Oaks and Springfield Oaks golf courses.<br /><br />n Design electrical improvements to a section of the campground at Groveland Oaks County Park.<br /><br />n Replacement of bleachers in the main event arena at Springfield Oaks County Park.<br /><br />n Dock replacements at Independence Oaks County Park.<br /><br />n Installation/replacement of shade structures at Red Oaks Waterpark.<br /><br />n Improvements/repairs to the dam spillway at Springfield Oaks County Park in collaboration with the Charter Township of Springfield.<br /><br />n Storm water improvements at Waterford Oaks County Park.<br /><br />Stewardship projects for the coming year include continued wildlife surveys and management, invasive species removal, prescribed burns and habitat restoration.<br /><br />Annual permits will remain at $30/Oakland County residents; $46/regular rate in 2013. The permits are good for unlimited entry to eight day-use parks, including three Dog Parks, free parking at Fourth of July Fireworks and the Oakland County Fair on Oakland County Parks Day. For the 11th year, Oakland County Parks Recreation and the Huron-Clinton Metroparks have teamed up to offer a combined pass valid at 19 park locations at a cost of $48. The owner of a $175,000 home pays about $21 annually to acquire, improve and maintain parks.<br /><br />For more information on the 2013 budget, go to <a href="http://www.destinationoakland.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(223, 224, 220); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">www.destinationoakland.com</a>.<br /><br /><em>— Supplied by the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission</em></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-28371498893195169452012-03-22T18:05:00.000-04:002012-03-22T18:05:05.677-04:00SAVE the WINT NATURE CENTER! (Imagination & Innovation Needed)<br />
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<span style="color: #38761d;">Services cut from Wint Nature Center at Independence Oaks County Park</span> <span style="color: red;">WITH VIDEO</span></h1>
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By MONICA DRAKE<br /><a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=monica.drake@oakpress.com" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(223, 224, 220); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">monica.drake@oakpress.com</a>; Twitter: <a href="http://bit.ly/suj2GD" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(223, 224, 220); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">@monica_adele</a></div>
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Wint Nature Center at Independence Oaks County Park will soon be a “visitor center” instead of a nature center after $234,400 was cut from its budget by the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission.<br /><br />The Wint Nature Center now runs on half of its previous budget, despite the voters approving a renewal of Oakland County Parks and Recreation’s 0.2415-mill property tax for the next 10 years. The money cut from the budget was added to the parks’ operating budget.<br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" height="330" id="cs_player" width="425"><embed src="http://eplayer.clipsyndicate.com/cs_api/get_swf/3/&pl_id=21442&wpid=10000&page_count=30&windows=1&show_title=0&va_id=3367023&version=1&auto_start=0&auto_next=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="330"></object><br /><br />Manager of Parks and Recreation Sue Wells said, “We have 29 different budget centers in the park system, and with the shrinking property values, even though we have a millage, that money is less.”<br /><br />The Wint Nature Center, which was built 27 years ago, is currently the only nature center at Oakland County Parks and Recreation after the Lyon Oaks Nature Center closed down about a year ago.<br /><br />Recreation Program Supervisor and Parks Naturalist Lynn Conover said the booking of all interpretative services, such as field trips, outreach services, scout events and birthday parties, are on hold right now per an administrative directive.<br /><br />“Folks seemed to be very disheartened about any sort of scaling back of services because they've come to depend on this facility as a place where they come to gain further knowledge of the natural world, help their children earn their scout badges, have their birthday parties and make memories,” said Conover. “We only have one full-time employee. In efforts to trim the budget, we've given up the cleaning crew. We've absorbed clerical along with operating the facility and trying to maintain the highest level of interpretive programming.”<br /><br />The Nature Center is currently open to walk-in visitors 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. The hours were cut this year from the previous hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to five Sunday.<br /><br />Wells said the building will not close, but it will not be the historical model it had once been.<br /><br />“We still want to provide for school groups. What that looks like, we don't specifically know. We're working that out right now,” Wells said. “There will be a naturalist who will be putting on programs. The programs won’t necessarily be housed in that facility, but we still want to provide quality education programs.”<br /><br />Conover, who has worked for Parks and Recreation for 28 years, said it is increasingly challenging to deliver quality services at the same level with limited resources. Conover said, with less resources, there are less opportunities for field trips and other community activities.<br /><br />“I have a very small and extremely dedicated, professional staff. Right now, we have four part-time staff and one full-time. At one point, there were five full-time here, and there was as many as eight or nine part-time staff,” said Conover.<br /><br />Wells said she doesn't know why the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission decided to cut from the Wint Nature Center.<br /><br />“It was a recommendation under Public Act 261, which is the public act that creates parks and recreation commission. (The parks and recreation commission) has to approve our budget, and then its approved by the county board of commissioners,” said Wells. “Last year, each budget center cut 10 percent of their budget. It's not like this is the only thing that has been looked at. Each supervisor has been trimming their budget each year.”<br /><br />The Wint Nature Center currently still offers live reptiles, amphibian and fish exhibits; mounted displays of native wildlife such as coyotes and beavers; a feeding station for mammals and birds; and limited weekend family programs.<br /><br />Conover said, “The building is an important structure, but I think what really makes memories for people are the relationships they have with Oakland County Parks employees and the services we deliver. We will continue to do our utmost to deliver the highest quality nature experiences so families can continue to build memories. That is definitely number one for us, and we’re trying to continue that despite very challenging circumstances.”<br /><br />FYI — Interested businesses and individuals who would like to host a program or donate to the Wint Nature Center, call 248-858-0906. For individuals who want more information about the cut in funding for the Wint Nature Center or who would like to address the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission, the next meeting is 9 a.m. Wednesday, April 4 at the Parks and Recreation administration office, 2800 Watkins Lake Road in Waterford Township. Wint Nature Center is located at 9501 Sashabaw Road in Independence Township. Their new hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, call 248-625-6473 or visit <a href="http://destinationoakland.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(223, 224, 220); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">DestinationOakland.com</a>.<br /><br />Contact Monica Drake at 248-745-4687 or email her at <a href="https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=monica.drake@oakpress.com" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(223, 224, 220); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: black; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">monica.drake@oakpress.com</a>. Find her on Twitter at monica_adele.</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-30947459447089093542012-03-15T14:18:00.001-04:002012-03-15T14:18:18.039-04:00Scouts Badge Day<img alt="NC 600px" height="85" src="http://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/fancy_images/MIOAKL/2011/06/19044/17301/emarket-head-nc600-1_original_crop.jpg" style="min-height: 85px; width: 600px;" width="600" /><br />
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Weather Badge Day: rain or shine</h1>
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Cub Scouts become weather wise at the <strong>Weather Belt Loop and Pin badge day</strong> on Saturday, <strong>March 24</strong> from 10 a.m. - noon OR 2 - 4 p.m. Scouts learn weather safety plus make a weather vane and weather map.</div>
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While exploring at the Wint Nature Center, scouts are introduced to the water cycle and how clouds and rainbows form. Activities are held indoors and outdoors - be sure to dress accordlingly.</div>
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Badge days fulfill all requirements necessary for badges. Space is limited and come badges fill quickly.</div>
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Pre-registration is required. For details and to register call <a href="tel:248-625-6473" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank" value="+12486256473">248-625-6473</a>.</div>
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The Wint Nature Center is located in Independence Oaks County Park in Clarkston. Nature center information and other program offerings can be found at <a href="http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTIwMzE1LjYxOTA2MjEmbWVzc2FnZWlkPU1EQi1QUkQtQlVMLTIwMTIwMzE1LjYxOTA2MjEmZGF0YWJhc2VpZD0xMDAxJnNlcmlhbD0xNjkxNDE2MiZlbWFpbGlkPWRpZ2l0YWxsZWFybmluZ0BnbWFpbC5jb20mdXNlcmlkPWRpZ2l0YWxsZWFybmluZ0BnbWFpbC5jb20mZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&100&&&http://www.destinationoakland.com/parksandtrails/wintnaturecenter/Pages/default.aspx" style="color: #f87116;" target="_blank">DestinationOakland.com</a>.</div>
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See you rain or shine!</div>
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<em>- Oakland County Parks and Recreation Wint Nature Center staff</em></div>
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Find us on <a href="http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTIwMzE1LjYxOTA2MjEmbWVzc2FnZWlkPU1EQi1QUkQtQlVMLTIwMTIwMzE1LjYxOTA2MjEmZGF0YWJhc2VpZD0xMDAxJnNlcmlhbD0xNjkxNDE2MiZlbWFpbGlkPWRpZ2l0YWxsZWFybmluZ0BnbWFpbC5jb20mdXNlcmlkPWRpZ2l0YWxsZWFybmluZ0BnbWFpbC5jb20mZmw9JmV4dHJhPU11bHRpdmFyaWF0ZUlkPSYmJg==&&&101&&&http://www.destinationoakland.com/media/socialnetworks/Pages/default.aspx" style="color: #f87116;" target="_blank">Facebook</a>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-88039771087819638482012-03-13T06:25:00.000-04:002012-03-13T06:25:10.150-04:00SMART OCPRC Footprint Enlarges "possibilities-thinking"<br />
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara"><span style="color: #38761d;">Farmers market to spruce up with a new name and new look</span></span></span></div>
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPara">By Kathleen Gray Free Press Staff Writer</span></div>
</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="font-size: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Oakland County’s Farmers Market is on the verge of becoming simply the Oakland Market in June when management of the popular Waterford site is transferred to the county Parks and Recreation Department.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The transfer has been in the works for two years, and the Oakland County Board of Commissioners is expected to approve the change in several committee meetings this week.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The Parks and Recreation Department is a separate entity funded by its own millage, meaning the county won’t have the nearly $200,000 cost of operating and maintaining the property on its books. It also means that some improvements might be in store for the 57-year old market, which depends on regional vendors and farmers for produce, flowers, a variety of home-baked products and crafts.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The parks department is looking at making the 14-acre site, which attracts 300,000 visitors</span> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">a year, a part of the Water-ford Oaks Park and hopes to eventually create a trail between the two sites.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“We’re looking at some cross-marketing opportunities and making people aware of other parks in the county,” said Dan Stencil, the department’s executive director. “But our biggest </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">and first priority is going to be customer service and enhancing the experience for patrons.”</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Toward that end, there will be parking attendants at the market to help unsnarl traffic on busy summer Saturdays. And Stencil said he’s also working with community organizations, such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">to earn community service awards — and maybe a little extra cash — by helping patrons cart their goods to their cars.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The parks department also plans to spruce up the place with a fresh coat of paint and some colorful banners to more clearly identify the market’s attributes.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 2px; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="font-size: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPara" style="font-size: 13px;">! CONTACT KATHLEEN GRAY: 313-223-4407 OR <span class=" InfoComponentLink" owc:control="icviewerlink" owc:view-mode="text" style="color: #2222ff; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" title="Click here to send email: KGRAY99@FREEPRESS.COM">KGRAY99@FREEPRESS.COM </span> </span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextChunk" owc:control="icviewerchunk" owc:entity-type="Picture" owc:view-mode="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><div class="InfoComponentTextPicture" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-top: 0px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextCaption" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimTagCRD" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">2010 PHOTO BY ROB WIDDIS/SPECIAL TO THE FREE PRESS</span></span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 2px; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="font-size: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The Oakland County Farmers Market is to become the Oakland Market when county Parks and Recreation takes over operations.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; font-size: 2px; height: 10px;">
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</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextChunk" owc:control="icviewerchunk" owc:entity-type="Picture" owc:view-mode="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><div class="InfoComponentTextPicture" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px; margin-top: 0px;">
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<img src="http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Olive/ODE/DFREEP/server/GetContent.asp?contentsrc=primitive&dochref=DFP%2F2012%2F03%2F13&entityid=Pc00410&pageno=4&chunkid=Pc00410&repformat=1.0&primid=Pc0041000&imgext=jpg&type=Content&for=primitive" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 0px; height: 363px; vertical-align: middle; width: 228px;" /></div>
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-48984157327068315572012-03-13T06:23:00.000-04:002012-03-13T06:23:22.902-04:00Something to inform our understanding<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UXZPzuevcPw" width="560"></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-40128225224925940472012-02-07T07:17:00.000-05:002012-02-07T07:17:29.376-05:00THAT'S a WRAP! (National Digital Learning Day 2012)<br />
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<img align="left" alt="Description: AlllianceLogoVertColor.GIF" height="76" hspace="12" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/?ui=2&ik=20ac3f47ce&view=att&th=13554c089e541167&attid=0.2&disp=emb&zw" width="113" /><u></u><b><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><img height="58" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/?ui=2&ik=20ac3f47ce&view=att&th=13554c089e541167&attid=0.3&disp=emb&zw" width="410" /></span></b><b><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">21st Century Digital Learning Environments</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Washington, Michigan 48094</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">E-mail: digitallearning@gmail.com</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Twitter: @digitallearning</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">February 7, 2012<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<u></u><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Dear Jim,<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">What a day! Thank you so much for your contributions to Digital Learning Day. <u>We are thrilled with the enthusiasm that so many educators, districts, and states across the country brought to this first ever Digital Learning Day</u>. Without the support and input from people like you, we could not have put together a program and resources that showed so much of the potential for digital learning to make a difference for students and teachers.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">In addition to the President, Secretary of Education, Chairman of the FCC, and 17 governors joining the celebration, we had nearly 2 million students and 18,000 teachers specifically register for Digital Learning Day; and 39 states and the District of Columbia hosted their own versions of Digital Learning Day. During the morning and afternoon webcasts, we consistently had 2,000 people involved consistently in the live chat; and thousands tuned in for the National Town Hall meeting.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;"><u>We look forward to building upon the success of this first annual day and only increasing the resources, outreach, and partners for next year</u>. Thank you for the work you do every day to maximize the potential of digital learning for students and for dedicating the time and energy to work with us to raise awareness for Digital Learning Day. <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Sincerely,<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<img alt="Description: Bob Wise Sig 1" height="82" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/?ui=2&ik=20ac3f47ce&view=att&th=13554c089e541167&attid=0.6&disp=emb&zw" width="150" /></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Bob Wise<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">President, Alliance for Excellent Education<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18px;">Governor of West Virginia, 2001–2005</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-88003607108050142192012-02-05T18:24:00.002-05:002012-02-05T20:57:55.900-05:00"The Web can turn the World upside down!"<h6 class="kicker" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.4em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; text-transform: uppercase;">OP-ED COLUMNIST</h6><h1 class="articleHeadline" itemprop="headline" style="background-color: white; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 2.4em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.083em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><nyt_headline type=" " version="1.0">After Recess: Change the World</nyt_headline></h1><nyt_byline style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"><span itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"></span></nyt_byline><br />
<h6 class="byline" itemprop="name" style="color: grey; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 2px;"><span itemprop="creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By <a class="meta-per" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per" rel="author" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;" title="More Articles by Nicholas D. Kristof">NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</a></span></h6><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; text-align: left;"></span><br />
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<div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em;">A BATTLE between a class of fourth graders and a major movie studio would seem an unequal fight.</div></div><div class="articleInline runaroundLeft" style="background-color: white; clear: left; color: #333333; display: inline; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px !important; margin-right: 15px !important; margin-top: 6px !important; text-align: left; width: 190px;"><div class="inlineImage module" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; width: 190px;"><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 2px;"><span itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Kristof_New/Kristof_New-articleInline-v2.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><img alt="" height="240" itemprop="url" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/09/16/opinion/Kristof_New/Kristof_New-articleInline-v2.jpg" width="190" /></span></div><h6 class="credit" style="color: #909090; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.223em; margin-bottom: 3px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: right;">Damon Winter/The New York Times</h6><div class="caption" style="color: #666666; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em;">Nicholas D. Kristof</div></div><div class="columnGroup doubleRule" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 1px !important; border-left-width: 1px !important; border-right-width: 1px !important; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px !important; clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 7px; padding-top: 12px; width: auto !important;"><h3 class="sectionHeader" style="color: black; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.4em; line-height: 1.2857em; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">On the Ground</h3><div class="story" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 8px;"><h5 style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Share Your Comments About This Column</a></h5><div class="summary" style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.25em;">Nicholas Kristof addresses reader feedback and posts short takes from his travels.</div></div><div class="singleRule" style="background-image: none !important; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: both; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-top: 8px;"></div><div class="story" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px;"><h6 style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html" style="color: #666699; text-decoration: none;">Go to Columnist Page »</a></h6></div></div></div><div class="inlineLeft" id="readerscomment" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-top-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; clear: left; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 15px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: 190px;"><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: url(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/article/comments/icons/comment_black.gif); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.133em; margin-bottom: 2px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 15px; padding-right: 15px; padding-top: 5px;">Readers’ Comments</h3><div class="content" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-top-color: rgb(226, 226, 226); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; padding-bottom: 13px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 9px;"><blockquote style="font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Share your thoughts.</blockquote><ul class="more" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; list-style-image: initial; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"><li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-size: 11px; line-height: 1.2em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/opinion/sunday/kristof-after-recess-change-the-world.html?_r=1#postcomment" rel="2p" style="color: #666699; font-size: 1em; text-decoration: none !important;">Post a Comment »</a></li>
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</ul></div></div><div class="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 15px; margin-bottom: 1.7em; margin-top: 1.5em; text-align: left;"><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">So it proved to be: the studio buckled. And therein lies a story of how new Internet tools are allowing very ordinary people to defeat some of the most powerful corporate and political interests around — by threatening the titans with the online equivalent of a tarring and feathering.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Take Ted Wells’s fourth-grade class in Brookline, Mass. The kids read the Dr. Seuss story “The Lorax” and admired its emphasis on protecting nature, so they were delighted to hear that Universal Studios would be releasing a movie version in March. But when the kids went to the movie’s Web site, they were crushed that the site seemed to ignore the environmental themes.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">So last month they <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/z-let-the-lorax-speak-for-the-trees" style="color: #666699;">started a petition</a> on Change.org, the go-to site for Web uprisings. They demanded that Universal Studios “let the Lorax speak for the trees.” The petition went viral, quickly gathering more than 57,000 signatures, and the studio updated the movie site with the environmental message that the kids had dictated.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“It was exactly what the kids asked for — the kids were through the roof,” Wells told me, recalling the celebratory party that the children held during their snack break. “These kids are really feeling the glow of making the world a better place. They’re feeling that power.”</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The opportunities for Web naming-and-shaming through Change.org caught my eye when I reported recently on sex traffickers who peddle teenage girls on <a href="http://backpage.com/" style="color: #666699;" target="_">Backpage.com</a>. I learned that a petition on Change.org had gathered 86,000 signatures calling for the company <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-village-voice-media-to-stop-child-sex-trafficking-on-backpagecom" style="color: #666699;">to stop accepting adult ads</a>.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/opinion/sunday/kristof-whats-he-got-to-hide.html" style="color: #666699;">My next column</a> was about journalists being brutalized in Ethiopian prisons. A 19-year-old college freshman in Idaho, Kelsey Crow, read the column and <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/clinton-and-ashton-demand-pardon-of-swedish-journalists-in-ethiopia" style="color: #666699;">started a petition</a> to free those journalists — and in no time gathered more than 4,000 signatures.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Does that matter? Does Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, care what a band of cyber citizens thinks of him? Skepticism is warranted, but so far Change.org petitions have seen some remarkable successes.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Ecuador, for example, used to run a network of “clinics” where lesbians were sometimes abused in the guise of being made heterosexual. A petition denouncing this practice gathered more than 100,000 signatures, leading Ecuador to <a href="http://news.change.org/stories/victory-ecuador-ministry-of-health-investigates-and-closes-ex-gay-torture-clinics" style="color: #666699;">close the clinics</a>, announce a national advertising campaign against homophobia, and appoint a gay-rights activist <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9132448.htm" style="color: #666699;">as health minister</a>.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">The masterminds of the successful campaigns aren’t usually powerful or well-connected. Mostly, they just brim with audacity and are on a first-name basis with social media.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Take <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-bank-of-america-no-5-debit-card-fees" style="color: #666699;">Molly Katchpole</a>. Last fall, as a 22-year-old nanny living in Washington, D.C., she was peeved by a new $5-a-month fee for debit cards announced by Bank of America, with other banks expected to follow. She took an hour to write a petition, her first.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“After a month it had 306,000 signatures,” Katchpole told me. “That’s when the banks backed down.” Bank of America and other financial institutions withdrew plans for the fee.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Soon afterward, she started a <a href="http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-verizon-drop-the-fee-for-paying-bills-online" style="color: #666699;">second petition</a>, protesting a $2 charge imposed by Verizon for paying certain bills online. In 48 hours it had attracted more than 160,000 signatures — and Verizon withdrew the fee.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Katchpole parlayed her successes into a job with a new advocacy group, <a href="http://rebuildthedream.com/" style="color: #666699;">Rebuild the Dream</a>, which seeks to improve the economic well-being of middle-class families.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">As for Change.org, it is growing explosively. Founded in 2007, it is a <a href="http://www.bcorporation.net/change.org" style="color: #666699;">B Corporation</a> — a hybrid of a for-profit company and a charity, seeking to make profits for social good — and began to soar a year ago. It is now growing by one million members a month.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“We’re growing more each month than the total we had in the first four years,” said <a href="http://www.change.org/members/ben" style="color: #666699;">Ben Rattray</a>, 31, the founder. He said that 10,000 petitions are started each month on the site, and that each success leads to countless more copycat campaigns.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Change.org has grown from 20 employees a year ago to 100 now, in offices on four continents. By the end of this year, Rattray plans to have offices in 20 countries and to operate in several more languages, including Arabic and Chinese. He recognizes that the site may be blocked in China, but shrugs.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">“If ultimately we’re not getting leaders to ban our site, we’re not doing our job,” he said.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">Meanwhile, what about those 14 kids in Wells’s fourth-grade class? I asked them what their next initiative on Change.org would be. They are still discussing options, but one possibility is to reduce waste by calling on companies to stop bombarding the public with telephone books and instead distribute them only to people who request them.</div><div itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; margin-bottom: 1em;">It’s absurd to think that 14 fourth graders could accomplish anything so sensible. But then again, they’ve already shown that the Web can turn the world upside down.</div><nyt_author_id></nyt_author_id><br />
<div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em;"><div style="color: black; font-size: 1.5em; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.467em;">I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground" style="color: #666699;">On the Ground</a>. Please also join me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/kristof" style="color: #666699;">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://plus.google.com/102839963139173448834/posts?hl=en" style="color: #666699;">Google+</a>, watch my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/nicholaskristof" style="color: #666699;">YouTube videos</a> and follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/nickkristof" style="color: #666699;">Twitter</a>.</div></div></div>Monica Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16736324493859752438noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-30857338687192940272012-02-04T07:23:00.001-05:002012-02-04T07:23:02.728-05:00Digital Learning Goes Global!<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Digital, Global Learning</span></h1>
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<span class="byline" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By <span class="vcard author" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a class="fn url" href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Anthony Jackson</a></span> on <abbr class="published" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="2012-02-03T04:15:05-05:00">February 3, 2012 4:15 AM</abbr></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.digitallearningday.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Digital Learning Day</a> was an inspiration. It has, for one, inspired me to write about three things I wish to see happen.</div>
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The organizers <a href="http://www.all4ed.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Alliance for Excellent Education</a> defined digital learning as "any instructional practice using technology to strengthen student learning." Educators and policymakers throughout the United States watched and chatted online as experts share best practices and innovative classrooms showcased how they use technology. There was certainly a lot to cover.</div>
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The three things touched very lightly upon, but that I'd like to call out as important goals are:</div>
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Every student should have experiences working with experts and peers around the world on global issues. Students will be graduating into a global knowledge economy that is largely spurred by digital technologies. It's hard to consider authentic education without being digitally connected with the real world. <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2012/02/digital_global_learning.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Connect All Schools</a> has a mission to link every American classroom with one abroad by 2016. It is an important and achievable goal. Steps to get started? See the professional development offered by organizations like <a href="http://www.iearn.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">iEARN</a> or <a href="http://www.tigweb.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Taking IT Global</a>.</div>
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Districts need to stop blocking websites that connect students to the larger world. Many schools cannot access sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter, and many more. However well intentioned the policies that block social media are, they are also failing our students by limiting possibilities for learning about—and from—the world. The right way to approach student activity online is through better education. To start, digital and media literacy help students think critically and act responsibly. Authentic, real-world projects compel students to explore and engage in all the right ways.</div>
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Digital and global learning should be interwoven in pre-service education, trainings, mentoring, continuing education, and evaluations. We cannot realize excellence in digital learning if teacher professional development is not part of the equation. Chances are, the world will not become less digital nor less global in our lifetimes. Anyone responsible for a young person's education needs to be a digital citizen.</div>
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Many of the excellent teachers I meet every day lament these shortcomings. Let's do right by them—and by our rising generation—and meet these goals in a hurry.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-71694121845497321532012-02-04T05:30:00.001-05:002012-02-04T05:30:27.223-05:00Detroit / Wayne County Port Authority (Some more Tinkering Around in Detroit)<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" height="240" id="vp1IUcPs" width="432"><param name="movie" value="http://static.animoto.com/swf/w.swf?w=swf/vp1&e=1327869098&f=IUcPsKDtDYJkTHVuJK2Vkw&d=33&m=b&r=360p&volume=100&start_res=360p&i=m&options=">
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Make your own <a href="http://animoto.com/">slideshow</a> at Animoto.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-82151076478361031672012-02-03T07:26:00.000-05:002012-02-03T07:26:44.226-05:00Taking the Public's Pulse (Will make your heart Skip a Beat!)<br />
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<span style="color: red;">Even With Educated Workforce, U.S. College, Career Issues Loom</span></h1>
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Amid economic anxiety, American policymakers are examining how other nations invest in getting their students ready for life after high school</h2>
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By <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/contributors/caralee.adams_3652335.html" style="color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Caralee J. Adams</a></div>
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If there were ever an argument for investing in career- and college-readiness, the impact of the economic crisis in recent years provides one: In 2009, unemployment globally was more than twice as high for those who did not complete high school compared with university graduates. In the United States, it was three times as high—15.8 percent for high school dropouts, compared with 4.9 percent for college graduates.</div>
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Those numbers offer an indicator that even though the United States overall has one of the most educated workforces in the world, its lead is slipping.</div>
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With 41 percent of the adult population holding a postsecondary degree, the United States ranks among the top five educated countries in the<a href="http://www.edweek.org/media/oecd-16college.pdf" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="blank">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><img align="middle" alt="Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader" border="0" height="16" src="http://www.edweek.org/media/images/pdf.gif" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="16" /></a>, a global network of 34 developed countries that identifies and analyzes issues including education.</div>
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Highlights From the Report</div>
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<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16execsum.h31.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f1f1e2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #5a75a5; display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Executive Summary: Equipping U.S. Schools for the Global Fast Lane</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16overview.h31.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f1f1e2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #5a75a5; display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Overview: U.S. Education Pressured by International Comparisons</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/01/12/16ahn.h31.html" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #f1f1e2; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #5a75a5; display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 1px; padding-top: 3px; text-decoration: none;">Commentary: Education in the Republic of Korea</a></div>
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Full Report</div>
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But among Americans ages 25 to 34, the U.S. ranks 15th in the percentage with a higher education degree compared with other OECD countries. The United States has the distinction of being the only OECD country, in fact, where attainment levels for those just entering the labor market are lower than those about to leave the labor market.</div>
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Globally, higher education is widely embraced as vital to economic growth—but countries differ in their approaches. In Asia, there is a commitment to improving education with national policies and focused curriculum to better prepare students for college. European countries have beefed up vocational systems and modernized career training.</div>
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"They've all gotten strong, while we've stayed the same," says Nancy Hoffman, the author of <i style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.hepg.org/hep/book/148" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Schooling the Workplace</a></i> and the vice president and senior adviser at <a href="http://www.jff.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Jobs for the Future</a>, a national nonprofit organization based in Boston.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Sense of Urgency</span></h2>
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As global competition ramps up, a new sense of urgency has emerged in the United States to learn from other systems and invest in getting students ready for college and careers. President Barack Obama has set a goal for the nation to take the world lead in college-graduation rates by 2020, and nonprofit education organizations have set similar targets. An element of the debate over the federal role in public education involves issues of career- and college-readiness, and the new common-core academic standards emphasize that theme as well.</div>
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In addressing the issue, the nation faces social, political, and structural challenges that include a diverse population, a long-standing commitment to educating all students, and a decentralized education system.</div>
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While there is not a one-size-fits-all solution, many countries that want to improve education face similar challenges, says Jim Hull, the senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Education at the <a href="http://www.nsba.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">National School Boards Association</a>, in Alexandria, Va. "We can learn from other countries. The U.S. is not as unique as we think we are," he says. "Other countries are also dealing with poverty and diversity—sometimes more effectively. If we think we are so unique, it keeps us from looking to others to improve."</div>
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Taking the Public's Pulse</div>
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Opinion surveys over the last five years offer an intriguing—and sometimes contradictory—window into American attitudes toward the nation’s public schools and how well they’re educating students in an era of global competition.</div>
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<b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Future Readiness</b></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">42%</b> of American voters in a 2007 poll said other countries are winning the race to prepare children for 21st-century jobs</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">13%</b> said the United States does a better job</li>
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<b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">How the U.S. Stacks Up</b></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">17%</b> gave American public schools an A or B in a 2011 poll</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">30%</b> graded them D or F</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">51%</b> gave their hometown schools an A or B</li>
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<b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Where the U.S. Falls Short</b></div>
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Fewer than half in a 2010 poll said schools do a good job preparing students for:</div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">44%</b> College-level science</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">45%</b> College-level math</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">46%</b> College-level English</li>
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<b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">What’s the Problem</b></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">56%</b> said social problems and misbehaving students are high schools’ biggest problems</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">31%</b> cited low academic standards and outdated curricula</li>
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<b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Hope vs. Reality</b></div>
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<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">94%</b> of parents said it’s likely their children will attend college after graduating from high school</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">only <b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">72%</b> of students finished high school in 2008</li>
<li style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">and about <b style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">70%</b> of those who graduated from high school in 2009 went on to college</li>
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Sources: Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2007); Phi Delta Kappan/Gallup Poll (2011); Public Agenda (2010); National Center for Education Statistics (2009); EPE Research Center (2011)</div>
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The United States is hardly alone in facing the challenge of assuring its workforce remains globally competitive. At an international higher education forum in Washington late last year, officials from the European Union also voiced concern about the relevance of higher education degrees and better matching skills with workforce needs.</div>
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Xavier Prats Monne, the deputy director-general of the European Commission, which takes the lead in implementing E.U. policies, said he was struck by the similarities in the higher education agendas of the European community and the United States. For example, both have set concrete goals to increase postsecondary training by 2020. The main difference, the E.U. official noted, is that the funding for higher education tends to fall more heavily on the individual in America, while Europe makes more of a public investment.</div>
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There is a shared sense of urgency about the need for such schooling, however. At that same forum, U.S. Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter said that education beyond high school is essential in today's knowledge society to move society forward. "We feel we are building a pipeline of people, but our challenge as a nation is to get those people across the finish line and into the jobs," she says.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What's Working</span></h2>
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Experts say the United States is making some progress on defining what it means to be college and career ready. Adoption of the common core by most states has brought together educators from K-12 and higher education to better articulate the expectations for students progressing from high school to college. The high school standards aim to set a rigorous definition of college- and career-readiness and emphasize math, reading, and writing skills that are required in college and the workplace.</div>
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The nation also has been a leader in Advanced Placement and in dual-enrollment and early-college high schools where students can earn college credit while still in high school. Summer bridge programs are another strength of the American system, experts say, providing additional supports to help students transition into college. And states are driving innovation with new approaches to encouraging pathways to postsecondary training.</div>
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Some uniquely American values are woven into the process of moving students through high school and into college and work, according to students of the U.S. system.</div>
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"College for all" is the American approach, while other countries provide the education and training young people need to prepare for a career or calling, Hoffman writes in her book. If students fail or their interests change, they can try another arena. Students aren't forced to commit early to one career path and tracked accordingly.</div>
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"We have a really strong emphasis on preparing for general education," says David Conley, a professor of education policy and leadership in the college of education at the University of Oregon. "Community colleges allow for a second chance. … It's part of the notion that education should be the great equalizer and never be closed off."</div>
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Many nations look to the United States as a model for developing creative thinkers in college and careers.</div>
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Hamilton Gregg, an educational consultant who works for international schools in Beijing, says that although many high school graduates of Asian school systems are well-versed in math and science, they often don't think analytically. "They really learn, but they can't necessarily think creatively," he says. Many Chinese look to come to America for college to experience that freedom, he says.</div>
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The 200-plus early-college high schools in the States are a promising model for propelling low-income and minority students into higher education.</div>
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The <a href="http://daytonearlycollege.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Dayton Early College Academy</a> compresses high school to give urban students a taste of college, says Judy Hennessey, the superintendent of the 426-student academy, in Ohio. From 98 percent to 100 percent of each graduating class goes on to college, and 87 percent of those students will be the first in their families to go. Once there, 84 percent are on track to graduate in four years.</div>
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"Personalization of the school is a big factor," says Hennessey. Teachers become surrogate parents and are accessible outside of school. Also, academics are ratcheted up, and after-school and weekend help sessions are available. "The difference is how hard you will work," she says. "We don't debate if someone is smart enough to go to college."</div>
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Another approach to improving the odds for success in higher education is to reach down earlier to help middle school students identify their aspirations for college and career. Students who consider dropping out do so in middle school, not high school, contends Reza Namin, the superintendent of the 1,980-student <a href="http://www.seb.mec.edu/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District</a> in Spencer, Mass. His district helps middle schoolers create personalized road maps for their studies.</div>
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Beyond that, Namin says students could benefit from public school support into the first two years of college. His vision for Spencer-East Brookfield is to make it the first district in the country to create a P-14 system to provide a seamless transition into postsecondary education. That would save families money in college tuition and give students the incentive they need to continue toward a degree, he says. "Public schools need to be creative."</div>
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Advanced Placement courses have expanded as a college-readiness strategy in recent years, too. About 704,000 students participated in the AP program in nearly 13,000 high schools in 1998-99. By 2009-10, there were 1.8 million students in nearly 17,900 high schools, according to the <a href="http://www.collegeboard.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">College Board</a>.</div>
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"More schools are beginning to understand a minimum curriculum does not prepare students for success in college," says Jim Miller, a past president of the <a href="http://www.nacacnet.org/Pages/default.aspx" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">National Association of College Admission Counseling</a> and the coordinator of enrollment research at the University of Wisconsin-Superior. AP "gives students extra credit and shortens time they need to be in college, but its great value is the rigor, which helps student be more successful in college."</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Transition to Work</span></h2>
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While the American system has its strengths, experts cite lessons from abroad that can be adapted to enhance college- and career-readiness.</div>
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In the past 15 years, states such as California along with the District of Columbia and other urban districts have declared algebra a goal for 8th graders after looking at the example of Japan. Today, more U.S. 8th graders take algebra than any other math course.</div>
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"It's not that they were capable and we were not capable. There is no difference in brain capacity," says Hull of the Center for Public Education. "We might go about teaching it differently, but overall, we are mentally capable."</div>
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Countries with low unemployment for young people and high educational attainment have youth policies that help young people transition from schooling to work and view it as a societal responsibility, says Hoffman of Jobs for the Future.</div>
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Many European systems educate students until age 19 in the upper-secondary schools. Hoffman says there is respect for the vocational system, and in countries with some of the strongest vocational systems—Australia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland—the majority of students choose that path because it provides work experience along with education.</div>
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The Netherlands, in particular, takes strong measures to keep students in postsecondary vocational training, Hoffman notes. A variety of supports, including subsidies for books and transportation, are provided to make sure students complete the program, and an aggressive policy is in force to recapture dropouts and get them into a mix of school and work. The country set a goal in 2002 for 18- to 24-year olds to cut in half the number of students leaving school early. By 2010, the number was down to less than 40,000, from 70,000.</div>
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In a number of nations, such as Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the Nordic countries, employers are engaged with schools. Students can be hired in apprenticeships, and structures have been put in place to orient students and provide on-site training, says Hoffman. "The business sector feels it has a responsibility to the younger generation, and it's in their best interest to be involved in their education because they are the future labor force," says Hoffman. "We don't seem to have that in this country."</div>
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Domenic Giandomenico, the director of education and workforce programs for the <a href="http://www.uschamber.com/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a>, says there is a steady, increasing awareness that the business community needs to get involved with education. "As businesses continue to find themselves in need of talent that simply is not available, and aware of the cost associated with that, they have become more engaged and active in making sure the talent pipeline that we have improves," he says.</div>
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American businesses are looking to partnerships with education, such as ones in Germany, as models for mentoring, apprenticeships, and job-shadowing, Giandomenico says. But while the German system has clearly defined roles for schools, students, and businesses set out by law, attempts in the United States have not always worked because sometimes those expectations are not clear, he says.</div>
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"In too many cases here in the States, you wind up with students sitting around wondering what they should be doing, employers not really knowing what they should be doing with the students, and schools not knowing how they should follow up on those kinds of activities," Giandomenico says. While local business groups can help bridge that communication, he says it's labor-intensive, and many smaller chambers don't have the capacity.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Drawing Lessons</span></h2>
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The lesson for America is not any one policy or practice that can turn education around, says Anthony Jackson, the vice president of education for the New York City-based <a href="http://asiasociety.org/" style="color: #336699; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Asia Society</a>, in Los Angeles. Policies to provide a focused national curriculum and assessment system provide a common pathway for college access and attainment for all students. While a number of the top-performing Asian education systems are working to reduce dependence on a single college-entrance examination, the current systems do provide a relatively level playing field for students seeking to gain admission to higher education.</div>
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"It's a systematic approach from top to bottom," he says. Many initiatives have to work together—teacher recruitment, teacher training, curriculum changes, assessment, technology, and a strong political will for change.</div>
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It's also important, as in the case of Singapore, to create multiple pathways to postsecondary education that include updating vocational and technical education systems, and to establish more competency-based degree programs that are suited to the development of specific, marketable skills, says Jackson.</div>
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Rather than looking for a silver bullet, the United States has to do the hard work and set up systems to reach its education goals, Jackson says. "It is the ticket to economic viability and growth in an information-driven world."</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-2035240360927484232012-02-03T07:25:00.000-05:002012-02-03T07:25:33.258-05:00National Digital Learning Day (Webcast & National Town Hall Videos)<object width="600" height="268"><param name="movie" value="http://newmediamanager2.net/sites/all/modules/newmediamill/flashclip/player_4_6/player-licensed.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="gapro.accountid=UA-19354152-1&plugins=gapro-1%2Chttp%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fplugins%2Fsharing.swf&playlist=right&sharing.code=true&autostart=false&streamer=rtmp%3A%2F%2Ffl.newmediamill.net%2Faee&provider=rtmp&repeat=list&dock=true&skin=http%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fskins%2Faee%2Faeeskin.swf&playlistsize=160&file=http%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fnode%2F2443%2Fplaylist"></param><embed src="http://newmediamanager2.net/sites/all/modules/newmediamill/flashclip/player_4_6/player-licensed.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="600" height="268" flashvars="gapro.accountid=UA-19354152-1&plugins=gapro-1%2Chttp%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fplugins%2Fsharing.swf&playlist=right&sharing.code=true&autostart=false&streamer=rtmp%3A%2F%2Ffl.newmediamill.net%2Faee&provider=rtmp&repeat=list&dock=true&skin=http%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fskins%2Faee%2Faeeskin.swf&playlistsize=160&file=http%3A%2F%2Fnewmediamanager2.net%2Fnode%2F2443%2Fplaylist"></embed></object>
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<span style="color: red;">Apple and the Education-Information Chasm</span></h1>
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<a href="http://entropyeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/EE-EduComm-Orlando-06.15.11-v1.1.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-166" height="172" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/bretswanson/files/2012/01/Price-of-Edu-Info-1-300x172.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: right; margin-bottom: 20px; margin-left: 20px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.forbes.com/companies/apple/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Apple</a>’s <u>digital textbook venture, launched yesterday in <a href="http://www.forbes.com/places/ny/new-york/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">New York</a>, is just the latest attempt to bridge a yawning gulf between technology and learning. It’s still the beginning. The gulf is so large, it will take decades and thousands of experiments to cross. But we’ve begun, and things will move fast</u>.</div>
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Student loan debt now stands around $1 trillion. <a href="http://www.forbes.com/education/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Education</a> is often a great investment – but the proposition is more in question every day. Higher education prices increased 440% over the last 25 years – four times the rate of inflation, and twice as bad as health care. Elementary and secondary ed prices have skyrocketed, too, with not even adequate outcomes.</div>
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On the other side of the ledger is the Moore’s law ecosystem, the most ruthless force in technology and the world economy. Last quarter <a href="http://www.forbes.com/companies/netflix/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Netflix</a>streamed two billion hours worth of video – or 228,000 years worth in three months. In just the last <em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">week</em> of December, smartphone and tablet owners gobbled up 1.2 billion apps – 43% by Americans. Twenty years ago, a terabyte hard drive, if such a thing had existed, might have cost $5 million. Today, you can pick one up for $69.</div>
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<u>The price of information plummets. Yet the price of education soars. These two trends cannot both continue. Guess which will crack first</u>.</div>
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In the month of December, Salman Khan’s Khan Academy had four million unique visitors. This one-man free online school has now delivered 111,228,761 Internet lessons – brilliantly concise explanations of differential equations, organic chemistry, simple addition, and everything in between.</div>
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The <a href="http://www.forbes.com/colleges/massachusetts-institute-of-technology/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</a> is expanding its free Open Courseware initiative into a full-blown MITx online program that may soon grant degrees. Enjoy the entire curriculum for free – if you like, pay a modest fee for certification that you’ve mastered the material.</div>
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The original university model was based on the geography of information. Knowledge was housed in a physical library. Students needed physical proximity to professors, and professors proximity to each other. <u>The Internet’s chief attribute is shrinking the geography of information, and thus expanding its reach. The less the space, the more the room</u>.</div>
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No, college campuses aren’t going away. But not all of them will survive. There’s far too much administrative and facility overhead. Some will adapt. There will be hybrid schools. Some fields require physical proximity more than others. <u>New models will emerge</u>. Including the idea of not going to college. Venture capitalist <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-thiel/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Peter Thiel</a> is paying high schoolers $100,000 to skip higher ed for real ed – in the entrepreneurial business world.</div>
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But the technological forces that lead Thiel to steer youngsters away from college and which allow <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bill Gates</a>, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-jobs/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Steve Jobs</a>, and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mark Zuckerberg</a> to drop out and succeed don’t necessarily mean game over for educators. The Internet is a general purpose platform on which enterprising professors and teachers can recreate the academic world – both at the broadest global scale and in the tiniest niches of custom learning. The Internet may replace some educators, but for many more it should expand their powers and allow them to specialize, increasing their value. Ebay entrepreneurs, independent iPhone app developers, and Sal Khan have shown the way.</div>
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<u>Because the current model is so old and obese, it is difficult to know what the other side of the education-information chasm looks like. We need a huge number of new experiments to find out what value is to students, parents, employers, educators, and society. We need experiments in curricula, delivery media, teaching methods, teacher types, and school organization, all at varying price points – ideally without massive subsidies from government to inflate prices and muck up feedback loops</u>.</div>
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<a href="http://entropyeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/EE-EduComm-Orlando-06.15.11-v1.1.pdf" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-170" height="286" src="http://blogs-images.forbes.com/bretswanson/files/2012/01/Price-Cost-Edu-Info-1-e1327084307173.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="500" /></a><br />
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<u>The shift will not happen overnight</u>. Our culture has come to believe certain things about PhDs, BAs from particular schools, and high school graduates. </div>
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<u>Culture takes time. As we cross this education-information chasm, many questions will emerge, and, in time, be answered. Do employers merely value skills? Do they still want four-year degrees? How much are we willing to pay for status versus learning? What kinds of credentials matter? Do students and parents want pure academics, or do we want the “college experience”? What can we afford</u>?</div>
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And more: Are too many students going to college? What’s up with American boys? Hooray for girls, but what does it say that they are almost 60% of college students? Are modern boys, raised on video games, defective in some way? Are we failing young boys academically and morally? Or is the drop in male college success a leading indicator of a higher ed bubble? After all, even in our egalitarian society, it’s still the case that men must work for a living, where women have more choices. Perhaps the male retreat just demonstrates college is no longer a good deal for many.</div>
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<u>Education is not solely information. But the information content of education is high enough that the digital revolution will impart twisting, wrenching, and yes, wonderful change on the sector – and the American economy</u>.</div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-77766235915387695202012-01-23T16:19:00.001-05:002012-01-23T16:19:44.768-05:00Alignment to Purpose<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Times serif'; font-size: 32px; text-align: justify;">Snyder: Put more money in schools</span><br />
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<span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara"><span style="color: blue;">Governor promises more specifics when he unveils 2012-13 budget Feb. 9</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">By Paul Egan and Dawson Bell Free Press Lansing Bureau</span></span></div>
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</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="font-size: 2px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">LANSING — After complaints that his second State of the State address was short on specifics, Gov. Rick Snyder told the Free Press on Thursday that he’s going to invest more state money in public schools in the coming year and press the Legislature to find a better way to pay for roads and bridges.</span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"></span></span><br />
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<span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text">
<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">He also detailed one option for replacing the personal property tax that businesses pay on equipment. The tax, he said, puts Michigan manufacturers at a disadvantage to their counterparts in other states.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Snyder, who cut K-12 funding last year to help balance the budget, said he wants to </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">boost spending for schools, but with strings attached.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“<u>Our intention is, from where we were last year, is hopefully to invest more in education,” Snyder said. But he stressed he wants to “invest more, not just spend more,” and funding would be tied to “best practices” </u></span></span></span><u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial;"></span></u><span class="InfoComponentTextChunk" owc:control="icviewerchunk" owc:entity-type="Article" owc:view-mode="text" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial;"><span class="InfoComponentTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Verdana;"><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara"><u>and measurable results</u>.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">More details, he said, would come Feb. 9 when he presents his 2012-13 budget to the Legislature.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Though his Wednesday speech was widely panned as uninspiring and lacking specifics, Snyder said he “expected that.” He rejected suggestions he is losing the boldness that spurred what many saw as remarkable changes in tax, spending and regulatory policy in 2011.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“I think we’re continuing to be bold,” but it’s important to gather public input on significant and long-standing issues, such as how to pay for roads in Michigan and make up a $1.4-billion annual shortfall there, he said.</span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">He said in many areas, he wants to focus this year on “not so much the flashy stuff,” but “let’s run a really good government,” and “it’s hard for people to get fired up about implementation.”</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Though deeper cuts were initially called for, public schools ended up with a 2% funding cut last year. Officials said the effect on classrooms was more dramatic because of hikes in costs, such as health care.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Brad Biladeau, associate executive for government relations for the Michigan Association of School Administrators, said districts are “reeling” from funding cuts and more money for schools is “very welcome news.”</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The association, which represents more than 600 superintendents and frontline administrators, is ready to work with Snyder on pursuing efficiencies and measurable results, </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Biladeau said.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">For example, “we have been and will continue to share services and consolidate services” among districts.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Republicans in the Legislature are working on proposals to address the rising cost of public school pensions, and some have suggested those costs to local schools could be offset by directing additional state funding into retirement rather than simply increasing the per-pupil foundation grant.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Snyder did not directly address</span> </span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">that idea in his Free Press interview.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The governor also said figuring out road funding is a problem that goes back decades.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Deciding on a funding formula, a regional approach to roads, sewer and water line improvements, and the proposed new public bridge to Canada is a “whole package … Iwould really like to see get done this year.”</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">But he declined to endorse specific revenue proposals — raising fuel taxes or registration fees, for instance — instead urging the Legislature to get going on the public discussion of alternatives.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Another high priority is repealing the personal property tax that businesses pay on their </span></span><span class="InfoComponentTextPrimitive" owc:control="primitive" owc:view-mode="text"><span class="InfoComponentTextPara">equipment.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">The problem, he said, is that the tax funds local governments and a replacement for the local government revenue stream is needed if the tax is repealed.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">Snyder said money now going to pay industrial tax credits may be part of the solution. The state eliminated most such tax credits in 2011with the repeal of the Michigan Business Tax but is continuing to honor tax credits that were promised earlier.</span><div class="InfoComponentTextLineBreak" style="font-family: Tahoma; height: 10px;">
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<span class="InfoComponentTextIndent" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 4px; padding-right: 4px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="InfoComponentTextPara">“As they roll off, there’s actually a future opportunity for revenue coming in,” he said. “That could be the major element to deal with this reform.”</span></span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-86257348438134440262012-01-23T16:18:00.001-05:002012-01-23T16:18:52.944-05:00Contextualized Learning Content (WEB 2.0)<br />
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<a href="http://clomedia.com/" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4cafd5; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="Chief Learning Officer Solutions for Enterprise Productivity" border="0" class="printlogo" height="129" src="http://clomedia.com/images/clo_logo_sm.png" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="198" /></a></div>
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Context is King</h1>
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With the current economic situation, learning organizations have been forced to look at more innovative ways to impact the business. Informal learning has risen to the top as one of the more desired approaches to extend our reach into the lines of business we support and show more direct business impact.</div>
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The trouble is, few have actualized these expectations. A recent study through the eLearning Guild by Jane Bozarth on the adoption of social media in learning shows that although 76 percent of learning organizations aspire to include social media in their learning offerings, only 20 to 30 percent succeed. Another study by Allison Rossett and James Marshall in T+D magazine showed that except for higher education, little informal learning is in practice, even things as simple and dated as discussion boards — even though most organizations’ top aspiration is personalized learning.</div>
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<u>With all the hype, desire, tools and incentives, why have we struggled to make the transition from formal to informal learning</u>? My experience has been that we lack a key perspective to drive utilization and adoption: context.</div>
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In the 1990s, there was a saying in our industry: “Content is king.” We were riding the wave of technologies such as e-learning and the LMS; our ability to publish, distribute, track and maintain learning content was at an all-time high. Our efforts focused on making learning assets available on a scale never seen before. The Internet was the tipping point. The danger was that our design models focused on accessibility and not always on relevance. Our main objective was getting information and training out there, tracking it and grading it, while driving certification, credentials and compliance. Content truly was king, and it was justified.</div>
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<u>Informal learning is a different animal</u>. Availability is the easy part. Adoption and consumption are another matter. The fundamental difference between formal instruction and informal is its intent from the learner’s perspective. Formal learning, be it just-in-time or classroom-based, is something we’ve been able to mandate, track and grade. Learners see it as meeting a very specific need: knowledge gain. It helps them learn something for the first time or learn more based on prior knowledge. This is a powerful and important need, but counter to what drives informal learning consumption.</div>
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<u>Informal learning meets three other needs</u>: trying to remember or apply what’s already been learned, keeping up with change and troubleshooting a problem. Content designed to support knowledge gain is often not constructed in a way that supports these three needs.</div>
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For informal learning modalities such as embedded learning, performance support, social media and even mobile learning to work, they need to be delivered in a more contextual way. The design and integration needs to be driven by the learner’s workflow, job role or problem to be solved.</div>
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For example, many communities of practice and Web 2.0 tools struggle to gain traction because they are seen as something extra to do, not as contextual environments that help the learner solve a business problem or perform better. Social media thrives outside the workplace because it is seen as a powerful means of keeping in touch with friends, enriching hobbies or keeping up with topics of interest. In other words, the tool enhances the context in which it is used. <u>We haven’t made this same contextual connection in the workplace. We haven’t positioned these tools as something of value based on the need being served</u>. When a voluntary option is seen as taking time away from what’s most important and helpful, it simply won’t be consumed.</div>
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If content was king in the 1990s, when we were growing our just-in-time technologies and formal offerings, then context becomes king in driving the same level of effectiveness and adoption on the informal side today. Organizations that are rewiring their thinking around these moments of need are succeeding; those that don’t will continue to struggle.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-640531566133457822012-01-23T16:11:00.003-05:002012-01-27T07:39:22.247-05:009 Days to national Digital Learning Day!<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="Description: cid:image001.jpg@01CCCAFC.C5D8C970" height="58" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/?ui=2&ik=20ac3f47ce&view=att&th=1350c5dfca4c728f&attid=0.1&disp=emb&zw" width="410" /></span></b>
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<span style="color: red;">Strategies for Blog-Powered Instruction</span></h3>
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Blogs are one of the oldest components of the web 2.0 toolkit, but their strengths as an instructional tool are still being discovered. It's all too easy to fall into the trap of seeing blogs as a substitute for online discussion boards or a new delivery system for traditional academic writing. As with any educational technology, blogs work best when instructors harness their unique features to supplement learning in the classroom.</div>
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"Blogs highlight individual contributions more than wikis," remarks Stuart Glogoff, senior consultant in the Office of Instruction and Assessment at the <a href="http://www.arizona.edu/" target="_blank">University of Arizona</a>. "They're more flexible than threaded discussion forums, and they provide more room for expressing ideas than <a href="http://www.twitter.com/" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. Blogs provide an individual space where students can write publicly, where students can comment on each other's work, and where the professor's participation can subtly call attention to the best student work as a way of raising the bar for the rest of the class."</div>
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Glogoff has helped implement a variety of blogging initiatives at UA. In an upper-level Spanish course, for example, students wrote Spanish-language responses to the professor's posts on a shared blog. And in a recent Honors College "reading groups" initiative, students posted insights to their individual blogs on a variety of topics, such as ideas for economic development gleaned after meetings with local community leaders. "The blogs create an opportunity for shared understanding and an open exchange of ideas," explains Glogoff.</div>
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<strong>Blogging the Learning Process</strong><br />Just as blogs can help foster conversation among students and faculty, instructors are discovering that they can also serve a more personal role, as a tool of reflection and self-appraisal. "The blog's biggest strength is in the development and authentication of the student voice in learning," notes Ruth Reynard, associate professor of education and the director of the Center for Instructional Technology at <a href="http://www.trevecca.edu/" target="_blank">Trevecca Nazarene University</a> (TN).</div>
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Reynard uses blogs as a way to get students to reflect on their coursework--essentially by keeping an online journal in which they track their learning. As opposed to a traditional journal that is read only by the instructor, student blogs are digital, immediate, and published--raising the stakes and increasing the students' investment in their reflective writing.</div>
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"Also, visually, you have a track of how the students' thinking has developed throughout the course," explains Reynard. "Students can see where they've changed their minds, or where they became stronger thinkers. By showcasing that development, the blog empowers students to develop an authentic voice and to see themselves as growing experts in that field of study."</div>
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When used as a tool for reflection, blogs allow students to write at length about their own experiences as learners, and to read and comment on the insights posted on their classmates' blogs. This type of public, shared self-reflection is difficult to achieve in other forms of collaborative online writing, such as discussion boards. "If the students were to post this type of self-reflective piece in an online discussion board, it would throw the discussion off track," says Reynard. "In a blog, though, it's your environment, your voice, and you can take your time to say what you need to say."</div>
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Reynard has also found that blogs are a great tool for helping her graduate students learn to write academically. She requires her graduate students to embed hyperlinks to online sources that are influencing their thinking in their reflective blog posts.</div>
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"Referencing the authors and sources is a learned skill," explains Reynard. "Because blogs are naturally a hyperlink environment, they can link directly to articles in library databases. Then, when it comes time to write a reflective paper, they can just cut and paste from their blog, because they've essentially been writing small pieces of that reflective paper throughout the course."</div>
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<strong>Free-Range Writing</strong><br />Gardner Campbell, director of professional development and innovative initiatives in the Division of Learning Technologies at <a href="http://www.vt.edu/" target="_blank">Virginia Tech</a>, is also a strong proponent of blogs as tools for academic reflection. But he warns against falling into the trap of having blog posts become term papers by other means or just another kind of assignment that students must fit into their schoolwork.</div>
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Campbell prefers "free-range" blogging. In his courses, blogging is a requirement, not an assignment. It is graded as a participation component of the course. Students are given no prompts about what they should write, nor must they fulfill a specific word count.</div>
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"Blogs are a place where a student can find his own voice as a learner in an unusually powerful way," explains Campbell. "They offer a chance to get something that really comes from the whole person. They offer a window into the students' cognition. Blogs give you a fighting chance of seeing the work of understanding in its molten state, before it's congealed, before everything is rigid and turned to stone."</div>
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Campbell has found that free-range blogging--and the blogging platform itself--is also a great antidote to the tendency of students to write only what they think their professor wants them to write, rather than pushing themselves to discover what they truly understand about a topic. "Blogging seems to short-circuit that tendency and get students past that jam," notes Campbell. "Because blogging is so malleable, it's a wonderful platform for creativity."</div>
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At Virginia Tech, Campbell's students build their blogs on the <a href="http://www.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress</a> platform, and he encourages them to spend time customizing the look of their blog, creating their own roll of blogs they follow, and incorporating audio and video elements into their posts.</div>
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Campbell, Reynard, and Glogoff all agree that blogging works best when it's blended into the curriculum, so posts are seen both as an extension of the discussions in the classroom and as an inspiration for future classroom conversations. "A student recently wrote a blog post that beautifully synthesized a number of classroom discussions and activities on various topics from the past month," recalls Campbell. "He'd obviously been mulling these ideas over in class, and had spoken up and participated. But it wasn't until he was able to get away and push at it on his own, and then share his ideas in the social context of the blog, that this powerful synthesis came out.</div>
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"When something like that happens, it draws from class. It pulls the coursework together in a way that's authentic to the individual learner, and then it is shared on the blog where classmates can comment on it. Then it comes back into the classroom discussion the next time we meet face-to-face. Learning becomes a virtuous cycle where the blog feeds the classroom and the classroom feeds the blog."</div>
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<strong>5 Tips for Blogging</strong></div>
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<li>Have a clear pedagogical purpose for incorporating blogs into the instruction, and clearly state the purpose and requirements of student blogging on the class syllabus. "Students need to see a purpose for the blog, and they need guidelines for entries and comments," explains Stuart Glogoff, senior consultant in the Office of Instruction and Assessment at the University of Arizona. "In the cases where faculty have incorporated blogs without establishing their purpose, student participation has been uniformly low."</li>
<li>Blog contributions and comments should be a graded element of the course. "Your grade is your currency for your course," explains Ruth Reynard, associate professor of education and the director of the Center for Instructional Technology at Trevecca Nazarene University (TN). "If you don't assign a score to blogging, students aren't going to take it seriously or treat it as a priority because they're too busy doing the work that they're earning scores for."</li>
<li>Don't assume that students are familiar with the practical aspects of blogging. Exercises on uploading images and videos, embedding text links, and writing constructive comments on peer blogs should be required before content-specific blog entries are due.</li>
<li>Model best practices by contributing to your own blog and commenting on students' blogs. "There's no shortcut to this," advises Reynard. "If you don't comment, then students feel as if they're talking to the air. Commenting gives you the opportunity to connect directly with each student, and makes students feel as though they're getting direct tutoring, which is actually the best way to teach."</li>
<li>Simplify navigation between student blogs by having students subscribe to each other's blogs via RSS feeds, dividing students into small groups to comment on each other's work, or building a mother blog--a front page for the course that aggregates recent blog posts, comments, updates from course-related websites, and social-networking feeds. "I like the mother blog because it's a great lesson in how to make the web work for you," explains Gardner Campbell, director of professional development and innovative initiatives in the Division of Learning Technologies at Virginia Tech. "Understanding how to create a site where chosen content is aggregated onto a single page is a best practice, not just for the classroom but for living on the web in general."</li>
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With the arrival on February 1, 2012 of the first-ever national <a href="http://www.digitallearningday.org/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Digital Learning Day">Digital Learning Day</a>, the disruptive innovation of K-12 online learning—from in blended-learning environments to remote ones—seems to be taking yet another step toward the mainstream.</div>
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For over a couple decades, supporters of technology in education have talked of its potential benefits in transforming education. But beyond a set of enthusiastic early adopters, the use of technology in formal education remained largely stalled. Its talked-about benefits remained unrealized at best, as the cramming of computers produced few notable results that scaled.</div>
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With the rise of online learning, that began to change. Its growth is rapid and undeniable. Increasingly we’re seeing online learning stretch beyond areas of nonconsumption—where the alternative is nothing at all and where disruptive innovations first take root.</div>
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The shift from print to digital, <a href="http://gettingsmart.com/blog/2011/12/how-will-the-shift-to-digital-learning-happen/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Shift to digital">as Tom Vander Ark so succinctly puts it</a>, is upon us. Singapore for some time has had an <a href="http://www.inacol.org/col/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Singapore iNACOL">e-learning week</a>.</div>
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Now we have our first Digital Learning Day.</div>
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As we approach this day, and as district schools, charter schools, and states around the country participate, we must make sure that this doesn’t become a day that is all about technology for technology’s sake.</div>
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The critical thing is to fashion a student-centric system powered by digital learning that allows each child to realize his or her fullest human potential. Technology in this vision becomes the backbone that helps us to customize an education for each child’s unique learning needs, not the gadget that’s just there because it’s cool or because we simply think learning through or with technology is the way we should do it now.</div>
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To do this right, it’s important to bear in mind the definition of digital learning from <a href="http://digitallearningnow.com/roadmap-to-reform/" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="Digital Learning Now Roadmap to Reform">Digital Learning Now’s Roadmap for Reform</a>: “Digital learning is learning facilitated by technology that gives students some element of control over time, place, path, and/or pace.” The document defines each of these elements and offers the following line: “Digital learning is more than just providing students with a laptop.”</div>
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As our formal education systems move into the digital age, we should do so with the student and his or her learning at the center, not technology.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-83811053442634855482012-01-18T15:42:00.000-05:002012-01-18T15:42:50.926-05:00Another Quick Visual Lesson from Sir Ken Robinson<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zDZFcDGpL4U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-51921422223802903872012-01-18T15:40:00.000-05:002012-01-18T15:40:46.672-05:00A favorite quote that relates to our work in many ways...<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">"The aspects of things that are most important for us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> (One is unable to notice something — because it is always before one's eyes.) The real foundations of his enquiry do not strike a man at all. Unless that fact has at some time struck him. — And this means: we fail to be struck by what, once seen, is most striking and most powerful." Ludwig Wittgenstein</span>Monica Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16736324493859752438noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-25524308554586358762012-01-17T11:28:00.000-05:002012-01-17T11:28:27.948-05:00DIY PRIMER: 21st Century Digital Learning Collaboration<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1935543172/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link" style="background-color: white; color: #003399; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: center; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="The Connected Educator: Learning and Leading in a Digital Age" border="0" height="300" id="prodImage" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T6%2Bl90yuL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="300" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-80298423209544188952012-01-15T22:11:00.000-05:002012-01-15T22:11:07.231-05:00Community Service by Design<br />
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<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>The Risks & Potential of Required Community Service</b></span></h2>
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Alfie Kohn on January 10, 2012, 11:51 AM</div>
<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/bt_assets/system/idea_thumbnails/41879/original/community_service.jpg?1326214260" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Community_service" class="left thumbnail" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/bt_assets/system/idea_thumbnails/41879/large/community_service.jpg?1326214260" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q. </strong> We are facing a proposal to require community service for all high school students. I am very concerned about the mixed message this will send to our students about freely giving of themselves in service to others. What are your thoughts on community service as a requirement for graduation? </div>
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<strong style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A. </strong> I roll my eyes a bit when those up above reach for coercion to improve those down below: We'll just mandate community service (or character education, or tougher graduation requirements, or whatever) and watch students improve. But while a service requirement hardly guarantees any benefits -- which are contingent, among other things, on the extent to which your staff and the students themselves take the activities seriously -- neither does it preclude such benefits. <u>Much depends on how (and by whom) the activities are designed</u>.</div>
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First of all, I have some concerns about bland activities undertaken by individual students. If, however, you were to redefine "community service" as an opportunity for collective action, genuine democratic involvement, and work for social justice -- that would be as exciting as it is rare. (See Joseph Kahne & Joel Westheimer's article "Teaching Democracy: What Schools Need to Do" in the September 2003 issue of <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Phi Delta Kappan</em>, as well as other writings by both of these authors.)</div>
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<u>Second, for anything of value to come out of this, students need to be involved at all points -- in thinking about the rationale for doing some sort of service and in working together to plan every detail of the activities: deciding democratically how many options will be available to each student and discussing the rationale for each option, making contact with people in the community to set things up, making arrangements to evaluate the activities themselves as well as the students' experiences afterwards, and so on. The process probably ought to be framed as "How can we make our town/ our state / our country /the world a better place? What needs doing? Who requires our care and our help?" -- rather than "How can we fulfill this requirement?" Sandwiching the activity itself between planning (before) and reflection (after) -- and having the students play a key role in every stage (rather than just giving a menu of options to each student individually) -- could turn out to be as valuable, both intellectually and socially, as the activities themselves</u>.</div>
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<u>Finally, what one doesn't do can be as important as what one does</u>. I hope it goes without saying that any benefit potentially derived from this activity would likely be wiped out by (1) rewarding students for their participation or (2) setting up some sort of competition between students (individuals or groups).</div>
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Some mandates are inherently useless, if not counterproductive, and should be actively resisted. (See under: NCLB.) But my hunch is that this lemon can be made into lemonade. For school administrators to treat students the same way the administrators are treated by policymakers would instead be to turn salmon into salmonella.</div>
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<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alfie Kohn (</span><a href="http://www.alfiekohn.org/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">www.alfiekohn.org</a><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">) is the author of twelve books, including </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">PUNISHED BY REWARDS,</em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE SCHOOLS OUR CHILDREN DESERVE</em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">UNCONDITIONAL PARENTING,</em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">THE HOMEWORK MYTH</em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">, and, most recently, </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">FEEL-BAD EDUCATION</em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has been described by </span><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time </span></em><span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 12px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">magazine as “perhaps the country’s most outspoken critic of education’s fixation on grades [and] test scores.”</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6592191093988354528.post-72744954412258777242012-01-15T22:06:00.001-05:002012-01-15T22:06:42.775-05:00Just "Google It!"<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/bt_assets/system/idea_thumbnails/41875/original/2226178289_3f9556c08f_z.jpg?1326199980" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="2226178289_3f9556c08f_z" class="left thumbnail" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/bt_assets/system/idea_thumbnails/41875/large/2226178289_3f9556c08f_z.jpg?1326199980" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; float: left; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;">CAN SCHOOLS</span> <span style="color: red;">TAKE A</span> <span style="color: blue;">G</span><span style="color: red;">O</span><span style="color: yellow;">O</span><span style="color: blue;">G</span><span style="color: lime;">L</span><span style="color: red;">E</span> <span style="color: red;">APPROACH</span></b></span></div>
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I recently revisited <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Would-Google-Jeff-Jarvis/dp/0061709719" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">What Would Google Do?</a></em> by Jeff Jarvis and was struck by how it spoke to me about the needs of today's schools. Here are a few points that really resonated with me.</div>
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<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>New Relationships are Forming</b></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Give the people control and we will use it. Don't and you will lose it"</em>(p. 11).<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em></div>
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Are school leaders losing students (i.e., as physical, emotional, or intellectual dropouts) simply because they are trying to control the system? <u>What would happen if students and teachers had more control over the learning process? What if these stakeholders controlled what they learn, when they learn, how they learn, and why they learn it? Co-collaboration / co-learning / co-construction could be the norm</u>.<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </em></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Your worst customer [student] is your best friend" </em>(p. 20).</div>
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What if leaders of schools looked at those students who are performing worst and treated them as allies? These students know what is not working in the system and probably have lots of great ideas about what could be done to improve things. On the flip side, Jarvis says that <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Your best customer [student] is your partner"</em> (p. 22). Ensuring that students are happy and getting the education they want / desire / deserve makes them happy customers. These customers / students are the best salespersons of the school. <u>What we do now is say to students that we, as leaders, know what is best for all students' futures. This is despite the fact that we have no idea what the future holds or what specific skills they will need for jobs that simply do not exist yet</u>. This has been discussed <a href="http://moneyland.time.com/2011/11/21/nine-jobs-of-the-near-future/#jobs" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">here</a>, <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/Jobs-of-the-Future" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.tonywagner.com/" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #e85422; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">here</a>.</div>
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<span style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>There is a New Ethic Out There</b></span></div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Make mistakes well" </em>(p. 91).</div>
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Today's accountability system is great at telling students what they did right and rewarding them for it. But what if schools were more concerned with what students did wrong and gave them the liberty to fail often? Or, better yet, what if we allowed teachers to get it wrong from time to time? Do we reward students and teachers for sorting out how they did something wrong or do we reward them for only those things they got right? </div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Life is a beta"</em> (p. 93).</div>
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<u>Today's school system is set up into disparate parts and silos</u>. That is, students take subjects in given time slots for a given number of weeks to earn a given grade. Thus the end of the course indicates the end of learning for that silo. Does this reflect life after the classroom? <u>What if school was a big experiment - a constant work in progress</u>? In the real world, our intellectual skills are not used one at time for a given number of minutes per day. Instead, we use multiple skills to accomplish the task at hand, knowing full well that that task may morph tomorrow.</div>
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<em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Be honest"</em> (p. 95) and <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"be transparent"</em> (p. 97) and <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"collaborate"</em> (p. 98).</div>
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These points ring true for students, teachers, and leaders. <u>As leaders we should be asking ourselves how we support environments that allow everyone to tell their truth, in an open and honest manner, and in a way that invites others into our learning space</u>.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0