Monday, December 31, 2007

The Selfless Teacher

What would a student version of The Selfless Teacher look like?

It has arrived!

The information below is pulled directly from "K–12 ONLINE LEARNING: A SURVEY OF U.S. SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS."

The nationwide survey, conducted during the 2005-2006 academic year, finds
  • almost two out of three (63 %) school districts had one or more students enrolled in either a fully online or a blended course, which combines online learning with traditional face-to-face instruction.
  • over 60% of school districts with students enrolled in online courses anticipate their online enrollments will grow. Over the next two years districts predict online enrollments will increase by 19% and blended enrollments by 23%.
  • the overall number of K-12 students engaged in online courses in 2005-2006, is estimated at 700,000.

http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/K-12_06.asp

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Web 2.0 Videos

Wondering how to use Web 2.0 tools?

Videos in Plain English

Blogs
RSS
Social Bookmarking
Social Networking
Wikis

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Worth Watching

This blog is worth keeping an eye on . . .

Students 2.0

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Time to Contemplate

The internet has the power to connect people in ways we have not even begun to imagine & we need to contemplate the possibilities in educating our youth.

Social Networking

Second Life

Virtual Conference

Saturday, December 15, 2007

42 words

Can you explicitly state what needs to be said in 42 words or less with immeasurable quality and crystal clear clarity?

Try Teaching Brevity ,
or Creative Constraints ,
or Twittories .

Reminiscent of
Poetry Forms
Advertising Techniques
Comic Strips
Film Techniques .

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

180 days

The 180 days video raised the question, "Where did the number come from?" . . . which led to the article A Short History of United States' Education 1900 to 2006 . . . containing the research . . .


In 1900. . .
school year consisted of 99 days
half of school-age children were enrolled
8% of enrolled students graduated from high school

In 1910. . .
35% of 17-year-olds were in high school

In the 1920s. . .
17% of enrolled students graduated
grade promotion based on age instead of test scores

In the 1930s. . .
50% of 14-16 year olds attended school

In 1940. . .
30% of city dwellers & 12% of farmers graduated from high school

In the 1950s. . .
school year consisted of 158 days
70% of 17 year olds attended school
two types of high schools: specialized & comprehensive
35% of students attended college

In 1960. . .
69% of population graduated from high school
high school diploma required for employment

In the 1970s. . .
decline in K-12 enrollment

In the 1980s. . .
69-71% graduation rate

In 1990. . .
9 out of 10 5-19 year olds were enrolled
83% of population 25 or older graduated from high school

In 2000. . .
94% of 9-12 graders were enrolled
84% graduation rate


Sears, L. A. A short history of united states' education 1900 to 2006. History of Literacy, from http://www.historyliteracy.org/publications.html