U.K. Mulls Blogging, Tweeting, Podcasting in Primary School Curriculum

Blogging, tweeting, and podcasting are all good and fun, but what about including them in the school curriculum? Folks in the U.K. are considering an overhaul of their elementary school curriculum—and a draft proposal requires kids to master these Web technologies, reports the Guardian.

The proposed curriculum—which would also give teachers more freedom to decide what students concentrate on in classes—marks the biggest change to the U.K.’s primary school education in a decade, and “strips away hundreds of specifications about the scientific, geographical and historical knowledge pupils must accumulate before they are 11,” the Guardian says. more » » »

A Vision of Students Today

Project targets new teachers' tech use

National study to examine best ways to prepare new teachers to use technology

How best to prepare new teachers to use technology is the focus of new federal research

Indiana University’s School of Education is embarking on a $3.1 million study of how current and emerging technologies are being used most effectively in classrooms—and how best to prepare new teachers to use these tools.

http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=50618;_hbguid=f18205f9-07a5-4617-8d7d-04b1b7df8abc

Art Education 2.0

http://arted20.ning.com/
Craig Roland created this site for fellow travelers and art educators in order to help colleagues find out how to use new technologies in their classrooms.

First-time visitors will need to start out by signing up for a free account, and after that they are most welcome to participate in forums, groups, blogs, RSS feeds, and photo and video sharing. Some of the groups include "Art Partners", "Students of Art Education 2.0", and "First Year Art Teachers".

The forums are quite useful, and recently they have included discussions on summer research opportunities, arts censuses, and the use of streaming video in the classroom.

For art educators, this site is quite a find, and others who are interested in art and technology more generally will also find it useful.

Embracing Technology in the Classroom: One Professor's Story

By Chris Procello

Laurel Amtower, professor of English and comparative literature, was becoming concerned about how to reach her students. Each semester her classes became larger, and, correspondingly, students were banking on their anonymity. Class attendance had become more sporadic and a good portion of her students sat in the back of her classes, not engaged. Assigned papers were seen as hurdles where students saw no connection between what they were being asked to do and what skills they are supposed to gain as a result of the class.

Read on ...