A Lesson in Technology: It's Virtual Tug of War, but the Rope Burns Are Real A nice way to introduce the topic of 'haptics' - two teams play tug of war against each other, but the teams are 15 km apart and a computerized system acts as an intermediary. Taken from the Greek word haptein, which means "to fasten" or "to touch," haptics is the science of transmitting touch and pressure long distances through phone lines and computers. By Barbara Stewart, New York Times, October 24, 2001.[Refer]

School Panel to Urge Ban on Advertising More on the campaign to remove advertising - including the in-school television service, Channel One - from Seattle schools. By Keith Ervin, Seattle Times, October 24, 2001.[Refer]

Cyber Schools Carving Out Charter Niche Good analysis of the regulatory and policy issues that arise when charter schools receive government funding and then turn around and set up cyber schools, thus avoiding such expensive frills as building and transportation costs. A lot of people are opposed to the idea and several lawsuits have been started on the grounds that taxpayer money was not internded to support online learning. The charter school founders, on the other hand, argue that the regulatory framework is inadequate to deal with this new form of learning. "We're part of a revolution," say the founders, "and the system wants to shut us down." True - but which revolution? By Andrew Trotter, Education Week, October 24, 2001.[Refer]

The Classroom Of the Future This is interesting: eleven luminaries - including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Seymour Papert and more - discuss in a few paragraphs how they view the world of education in the year 2025. Some strong themes emerge: the use of wireless pads, the emergence of education on demand, the changing role of teachers. As Danny Hillis says, "There is a medieval notion that education is about preloading people with the knowledge they will need later in life. The world is too complicated for that now." By unknown, Newsweek, October 29, 2001.[Refer]

Technology in Education: The Boom Is Behind Us This study disturbs me because it looks at all the wrong indicators in order to draw an incorrect conclusion. The authors measure the amount of money spent by schools on technology, the ratio of computers to students in schools, and the time spent by teachers and students in schools using computers. And it concludes that etchnology adoption in education is on the wane. But that's like studying a volkswagen and concluding that there have been no advances in transportation for thirty years. But what's interesting in online learning is happening outside of the traditional education environment. The authors should have looked at home computer ownership and use, the availability and use of educational software and websites, and the rise of nontraditional alternatives to the traditional school system. By Michael Molenda and Michael Sullivan, TECHNOS Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 3, Fall, 2001.[Refer]

Peak Performance Introduction to and overview of the role of the Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) in organizations. As the article says, "CKOs are designers and architects. They develop comprehensive knowledge-sharing systems that stretch across an enterprise. They establish procedures that coordinate and integrate diverse communities throughout a corporation. CKOs design routines that knit together the information in databases, legacy applications, file cabinets, intranets, and employees' informal knowledge." By Katherine C. Adams, Intelligent KM, October 24, 2001.[Refer]

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