Assignment #2

Log onto the class blog at http://www.leed6820.blogspot.com. In the upper left hand corner of the blog, you will see "Links to Technology Sites". Go the site for "Technology Standards for Administrators, Teachers and Students". This will take you to the "International Society for Technology in Education" site. Once there, go to the lower right-hand corner of the site and click on "NETS for Administrators, 2009". You will see a listing of the five Standards and their supporting Performance Indicators. Choose the one standard (you may only choose one) that you think is the most important one for administrators to model.

After carefully reviewing the Standards, go to your blog and set forth in a posting your arguments as to why you think this one standard is the most important one for administrators to model. You must make your posting by September 30. After September 30, read the postings of at least five of your classmates and post a comment to their blog about whether you support their choice or not and why. The second postings are due October 7.

Computer Skills Test

North Carolina students who failed a state mandated computer skills test now have a new avenue to get their high school diploma. School systems received word Wednesday that students who did not receive a high school diploma because they did not pass the computer test can petition for a diploma. Legislators voted last month to stop requiring a passing grade on the computer competency test because of budget cuts and concerns that the test had lost much of its relevance. June Atkinson said there needs to be a shift in how schools teach computer skills, moving toward integration into all curriculums, rather than separate course work.
Students have been tested on computer literacy in the eighth grade since 1996. In the 2007-08 school year, 82 percent of students tested proficient by the end of the eighth grade. Students who are still in school but failed the computer test in the eighth grade will not have to pass it to graduate. The state's decision does leave several big question marks for school systems. No Child Left Behind , the federal education act, requires school districts to verify students' computer literacy. Atkinson said state officials are working on that issue and will have a new system in place this school year.(J. Brian Ewing, THE NEWS & RECORD, 9/17/09).

Personal Email in School Computer

A case that will be argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court in November could set a precedent that affects the way educators and other public employees use their eMail. The court has agreed to hear a case that will determine whether the public's right to know what its government is doing extends to reading personal eMails of teachers sent while at work--and legal experts say the employees in question, and all public school employees in general, might not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. "The whole idea of a concept of expectation of privacy as a public employee is really sort of illusory. There's not an awful lot of privacy, and one shouldn't assume that there is," said Kathy Ahearn, partner at the Guercio & Guercio law firm in New York. "And I think this case, no matter how it's decided ... is really a cautionary red flag to everyone to not use their eMail for personal reasons unless it's very minor and very incidental."

The case began when a private citizen filed a public-records request asking the Wisconsin Rapids School District to provide eMail messages sent "from the computer [the teachers] use[d] during their school work day" between March 1 and April 13, 2007. Five teachers objected to the release of purely personal eMail messages that did not relate to the school district or to any official acts of government, and they argued that the school district should at least remove purely personal text and any personal eMail addresses prior to the release of the messages. The circuit court ruled in favor of the district. The district argued that the teachers' privacy interests are weakened because they were aware of its computer policy, which warns users their eMail could be monitored. "I think all employees have to be aware that if they have signed off on an electronic communications use policy and their eMails are running through the network, then essentially those communications become the property of that employer--and the employer [might] have certain legal obligations,".

Next Assignment

Having read the two articles by Prensky that were assigned the first week of class, do you believe that these "digital natives" are in our classrooms today? If so, what will you as an educational leader do to assist your teachers in changing their teaching strategies to "reach" these students? If you do not believe that these students are already here, when do you think they will show up in our classrooms? Regardless, do we need to make changes in the way we teach and test these students no matter when they show up in class? Post your responses to each question to your blog.

Subscribe to your classmate's blogs. After you have posted your response to the questions above, read each response as posted to your classmate's blogs. You may comment on their postings if you wish.

Online Education

Five-year-olds entering public school for the first time this year can get a complete, computer-based education without ever leaving home. As early as kindergarten, Palm Beach and Broward County (FL) students can bypass traditional schools by enrolling in a full-time virtual-school program. They can take it all the way to high school graduation. Mostly for convenience, South Florida families in growing numbers are choosing state-sanctioned online instruction over classrooms, commuting and even home schooling.

In fact, Florida ranked first among all states last year in online-education policies and programs, according to report from the Center for Digital Education, a California-based research group. Nearly 60,000 Florida students took virtual courses. About 55 county public middle and high school students take all of their classes online, with hundreds of other students choosing to supplement their traditional or home school curriculum with virtual courses. Their teachers work for Florida Virtual School, which operates from Orlando, and Palm Beach Virtual, a franchise of Florida Virtual based in West Palm Beach.

Maine Laptop Project

Despite school budget shortfalls, about half the high schools in Maine have opted to move forward this fall in helping the state expand a program to put a laptop computer in the hands of every student, while the other half explore ways to provide students with an economically viable technological alternative.
In 2002, under the leadership of then-Gov. Angus King, Maine became the first state to launch a one-to-one laptop program, called the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, or MLTI, designed to equip every 7th and 8th grader with one of the portable computers. Now state education leaders are applying the lessons they’ve learned from that program to expand the opportunity to high school students across Maine.

Schools "tweeting"

The Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Irving and Coppell school districts (Dallas, TX area) set up Twitter accounts in recent months, and each has several hundred people following its posts, or tweets. And on the first day of classes Monday, Plano ISD launched a Facebook page and quickly amassed hundreds of fans. "It's great to go to where people are already communicating," said Lesley Range-Stanton, the director of communications for Plano ISD. "Instead of making them come to our Web site for information, we are going to where they are. "We're opening ourselves up to more people." She said the district is targeting parents as its audience. Students are still blocked from using Facebook on district computers during the school day.