From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 3 12:18:53 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Can you be a techie if you can't type? Message-ID: Can you be a techie if you can't type? By Rebecca L. Weber | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Once a week at John Eaton Public School No. 160, each class comes to the computer lab for a session with teacher Susan Eastman. Kids pull an orange plastic cover over the keyboard so that they can't look at the letters and they power on the "Type to Learn" software. Ms. Eastman's computer classes at this Washington, D.C., elementary school used to focus on using technology to enhance academic skills. But three years ago, after watching some kids spend as long as 10 minutes searching for the letters to enter a single Google query, she decided to start formally teaching touch-typing. Now her students in grades three through six are working their way through the self-guided lessons. In some schools, typing classes disappeared at least a couple of decades ago. A skill that once seemed vital - particularly to prepare young women for secretarial jobs - no longer appeared relevant in an age that urged more kids to consider going on to at least some form of higher education. And yet, argue some teachers, the ability to touch-type - or to "keyboard," the term more often used today - has perhaps never been more essential. "You can't word process unless you can keyboard," Ms. Eastman says. "You can't use the Internet, you can't instant message. For some kids with learning disabilities, for those who have messy handwriting, or for whom holding a pencil is awkward, it opens so many tools." Yet many students are not given formal instruction in keyboarding skills. On the one hand, schools and the workplace have increased expectations about basic computer skills, and schools offer most children fairly wide access to computers. But according to the Department of Education's latest report, fewer students than ever before are taking typing or keyboarding classes. Of course, it's not practical to offer such classes to very young students. Most children don't have the manual dexterity to touch type before grade three or four. Most of Eastman's students type at or below 10 words per minute before they work their way through the beginning lessons (about the same speed as they write with a pencil). For her sixth-graders, speeds of 25 to 35 wpm are typical. Today, 30 wpm is often fast enough for a permanent job as an executive secretary, according to Ruthi Postow of Ruthi Postow Staffing. Twenty-five years ago, 50 wpm - tested with an egg timer - was a prerequisite for an administrative assistant position. Ms. Postow says she rarely sees typists with those kinds of skills. And the speedy typists she does encounter, she says, don't necessarily have an edge in the job market. Clients today generally don't specify a minimum speed. "More and more, people care about great computer skills. The administration field is more appealing now to college graduates," Postow says. Document preparation is more likely to involve importing graphics and special formatting than entering text. "You don't have to keep reinventing the wheel with repetitive documents," says Postow. For the most part, executives today answer their own e-mail and jot down their own notes. "I had a request for shorthand and everybody was laughing," she says. "Nobody does that anymore." High schools and colleges today rarely require students to acquire touch-typing skills. Stanley Johnson, director of instructional technology for the District of Columbia Public Schools, agrees that being proficient in technology today is much broader than keyboarding. "We've seen recently the proliferation of cellphones, digital cameras, PDAs," Mr. Johnson says. These new forms of technology are proving to be "just as powerful" as the written word, he adds. "Digital literacy skills need to be introduced as well." The district is currently studying some fourth and fifth graders to see if another software program, "Almena Teaches Touch Typing," significantly improves their word processing output. Johnson notes that many kids have computers at home, which helps their overall performance. Often, however, keyboards at home are designed for larger hands, which impedes touch-typing. In elementary classrooms, keyboards are smaller. Johnson emphasizes that it's output that is most important. "Lots of kids today already have the fundamental stuff in place, even though they may not have the correct finger placement that's used in a traditional keyboarding class," he says. Keyboarding classes are still offered at the senior high schools in the District. Johnson says enrollment overall has been "steady," though in some instances it has dipped because kids get in and find they already have the basic computer skills offered in the class. "That's the challenge: are we preparing them for our world, or the world they're going to inherit? I can't tell you what input device we'll have in 10 years, but 10 years ago I didn't think I'd have a tablet that takes my handwriting and converts it to text. Whatever technology is or becomes, the kids have to be able to transfer their skills." Even with the increase of tablet PCs and voice recognition technology, keyboards are going to be around for the foreseeable future. One added benefit of teaching keyboarding to the youngest learners, at least for Eastman: her own typing speed has improved. On SATs, handwriting counts In 1871 the Remington Typewriter Company's slogan proclaimed that typewriters were the new thing and that schools, pens, and paper would soon be obsolete. But Kate Gladstone - the "Handwriting Repairwoman" of Albany, N.Y. - is happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Gladstone, who teaches the fine art of handwriting, has enjoyed an influx of customers since the College Board announced that one of the SAT sections will be handwritten starting in 2005. Other local and regional tests, such as the MCAS in Massachusetts, also require students to write by hand. "Parents, teachers, sometimes kids call and say, 'I need to be able to write legibly at high speed! Is it even humanly possible?', " she says. But some teachers say they have students who want to learn good penmanship simply because it's an art. Matt Brockwell, who until recently taught 8- and 9-year-olds in Jefferson Elementary School in Oakland, Calif., had just one computer in his classroom. Mr. Brockwell says it didn't occur to him to teach keyboarding. A few kids took it upon themselves to type their own compositions, but most used their computer time for other activities. And, he says, they were very interested in learning cursive. "At that age, they want physical skills they can show their classmates," Brockwell explains, "like dance moves or gymnastics - or to be able to write their name in flowering, flowing script. Skills that have an immediate show-off value are hugely popular," he says. Rigid notions about handwriting may discourage some students from viewing the skill as a creative process, says Gladstone. For instance, she insists, there's no evidence that writing in cursive is faster than printing, and printing isn't necessarily neater than cursive. Those who write faster by hand tend to have taken elements from both, she says. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0803/p14s01-legn.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8325 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040803/671ce721/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 3 13:08:01 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] NIMAS Message-ID: Something rather interesting occurred on 28July04... [excepted] In a landmark announcement for students with sensory and other print disabilities, the U.S. Department of Education endorsed the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), version 1.0 on July 27th, 2004. On behalf of Secretary Paige, Deputy Secretary of Education Gene Hickok discussed the new standard at an event commemorating the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The event was co-sponsored by the Departments of Commerce and Education in Washington, D.C. The voluntary standard will guide the production and electronic distribution of flexible digital instructional materials such as textbooks so they can be more easily converted to Braille, text-to-speech, and other accessible formats. ll students with print disabilities experience the same barrier - inaccessible materials - when core curriculum textbooks presented in print are the primary learning resource. Students who cannot see the words on a page, cannot hold a book or turn its pages, cannot decode the text or cannot comprehend the syntax that supports the written word may each experience different challenges, and they may each require different supports to extract meaning from information that is "book bound" - but the barrier for each is the same. http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=3138 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1986 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040803/c7a7f06d/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 4 15:56:25 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999 Message-ID: <5DBDD456-E650-11D8-B5D9-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999 By Ben Feller The Associated Press WASHINGTON ? Almost 1.1 million students were home-schooled last year, their numbers pushed higher by parents frustrated over school conditions and wanting to include morality and religion with English and math. The estimated number of students taught at home has grown 29 percent since 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department. In surveys, parents offered two main reasons for choosing home-schooling: 31 percent cited concerns about the environment of regular schools, and 30 percent wanted the flexibility to teach religious or moral lessons. A distant third, at 16 percent, was dissatisfaction with academic instruction at schools. The figures were released yesterday. "There's potential for massive growth," said Ian Slatter, spokesman for the National Center for Home Education, which promotes home-schooling and tracks laws that govern it. "Home-schooling is just getting started," he said. "We've gotten through the barriers of questioning the academic ability of home schools, now that we have a sizable number of graduates who are not socially isolated or awkward; they are good, high-quality citizens. We're getting that mainstream recognition and challenging the way education has been done." The 1.1 million home-schooled students account for 2.2 percent of the school-age population in the United States, young people ages 5 through 17. Slatter said the new figures accurately reflect the growth of home-schooling but underestimate the number of children involved; his group says it is 2 million. In the government's view, home-schooling means students who get at least part of their education at home and no more than 25 hours a week in public or private schools. Overall, more than four of five home-schooled students spend no time at traditional schools. A separate federal report showed a rising number of teenagers are skipping school for fear of getting hurt, even though reported school violence is down. That anxiety ? fueled by terrorism warnings, high-profile school shootings and a desire to keep children out of harm's way ? probably has helped home-schooling grow, said Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists. Home-schooling presents several questions that must be considered, he said. Among them: Do parents with no formal training as teachers know how to handle a variety of subjects or to tailor instruction for children of different ages? Do students get the same materials they would have at schools, from books to science labs? Are families with two working parents prepared to go to a single income so one parent can teach at home? Also, Feinberg said, parents must consider whether their children will emerge from home-schooling with limited exposure to other children and various cultures. More federal research is needed to help resolve such questions about home-schooling, he said. "At some point, children are going to have to interact with the rest of the world," he said. "If they haven't had the opportunity to build their emotional muscles so they have that capacity to interact, how effective are they going to be outside their cloistered environment?" http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl? document_id=2001996169&zsection_id=268448413&slug=homeschool04&date=2004 0804 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4376 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040804/bc038984/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 5 14:50:09 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Hospitals move toward 'paperless' age Message-ID: <4683C90C-E710-11D8-BD15-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Hospitals move toward 'paperless' age Wednesday, August 4, 2004 Posted: 10:23 AM EDT (1423 GMT) INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- With no patient chart in sight, Dr. Sheila Gamache strides into Thom Kolby's hospital room to check on him a day after the 54-year-old arrived ashen-faced and perilously close to death with a clogged artery starving his heart of oxygen. Rather than flipping through a clipboard thick with pages of notations and test results, Gamache gets up to speed on Kolby's condition simply by logging onto a wireless notepad she carries on her daily rounds at the Indiana Heart Hospital. Like a handful of others nationwide, the Indianapolis hospital has traded its once scattered medical charts, file folders, X-rays and other documents for a unified electronic records system accessible with a few keystrokes. Federal officials who are trying to convince more hospital executives to go "paperless" say electronic records can make hospitals more efficient, reduce medical errors and lower health-care costs. The costs of the transition can be high, and many physicians are also unwilling to trade the ease of jotting down paperbound notations of their patients' statuses for a system that requires them to type the same information into a computer. But concerns aside, digital records are a leap ahead for records system rooted in cumbersome 19th century filing systems. The Indiana Heart Hospital's year-old digital records system allows Gamache, a cardiologist, to show Kolby an X-ray movie of his beating heart just after he was admitted the day before with a clogged artery and in excruciating pain. "Do you see that right there?" she tells Kolby gravely, pointing to the looped movie of the blockage displayed on a flat-screen computer in his room. "I'm not kidding, they have a name for these and they're called widow-makers." Kolby, of New Palestine, Indiana, watches the digital movie quietly with his sons Tyler, 14, and Caleb, 12, then observes, "That must have been the pain I was feeling." He tells Gamache he's feeling wonderful and is glad to be alive a day after a surgeon reopened the blocked artery by inserting a stent. After the checkup, Gamache sits down at a computer outside Kolby's room -- one of 650 spread across the 88-bed hospital -- to enter notes and order changes in his blood-thinning medication. And all of it without the typical paper trail filled with scrawled physician handwriting. Cost barrier Despite its digital records system, which cost $15 million to implement, the hospital is not fully paperless. It still generates paper so that it can interface with the majority of the medical community that remains burdened with paper-filled records rooms. To cut that paper load and meet President Bush's goal of making sure most Americans have computerized medical records available within 10 years, the federal government is trying to move things along. On July 21, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson outlined a plan that sets technology standards and provides financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to invest in health care information technology. David J. Brailer, the national coordinator for health information technology appointed by President Bush in May, said cost has been one barrier. He said it can cost tens of millions of dollars for a large hospital, or network of hospitals, to make the change. Getting physicians, nurses and medical technicians to abandon years of routine for a new system is another obstacle. "We don't just automate the old systems -- we change the way the work is done. And sometimes there's resistance to change," Brailer said. Younger physicians are less apt to object. The software must, of course, be reliable and handled with care. A new system at a Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital in Tampa, Florida, was plagued by troubles that delayed surgeries and sparked congressional probes. The VA said last week that it is scrapping that system. Nearly all hospitals do have electronic billing, but adoption of electronic health records has been slow. Just 13 percent of hospitals and 28 percent of physicians' practices had some level of electronic health record systems in 2002, according to HHS. Lofty goals Yet the change appears to carry great benefits. According to a recent analysis by the Institute of Medicine, the routine use of electronic records could help reduce the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries caused by medical mistakes every year. Brailer said paperless systems also cut administrative costs by eliminating the need to produce, maintain and store enormous numbers of paper files. Although it takes doctors longer to enter their patient observations on a computer instead of writing them down, he said digital records save time in the long term. Tapping into this new data stream could advance even loftier goals. The Mayo Clinic and IBM Corp., for example, are collaborating on a project enlisting IBM's powerful supercomputers to analyze electronic medical records and quickly assess patients' responses to new treatments for cancer or other diseases. The project began when the partners integrated millions of patient records once stored in several incompatible formats into a standard system. Those records, when combined with data such as the vast body of information emerging from analysis of the human genome, could help doctors identify disease causes and prevention, Dr. Hugh Smith, chairman of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors, said in a statement. One drawback that electronic records systems pose for hospitals, however, is that they can reduce hospital revenue, Brailer said. That's because more efficient systems eliminate duplicated treatments, shorten hospital stays and get patients out of intensive care units faster. "This is an industry that's not necessary paid on the basis of efficiency. It's paid on the basis of volume," Brailer said. Faster turnaround times Evanston Northwestern Healthcare spent about $30 million to get its three Chicago-area hospitals switched to a full electronic records system that about 6,200 employees began using last year. Mark R. Neaman, the company's president and chief executive office, said the goal is about $10 million in savings in the first year, largely by reducing the data-collection process. Eliminating the time-consuming dictation and transcription process of physicians' patient observations has saved $500,000 alone so far, he said. Neaman said turnaround times for test results have fallen significantly at the three hospitals, which have about 50,000 inpatient admissions and 100,000 emergency room visits annually. Getting mammogram results, for example, now take about a day, not days or weeks. "If you're a patient waiting for a crucial test result, an hour can seem like a day," he said. The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit coalition of business and other groups, is one of several organizations working to encourage hospitals to move to computerized records systems. Suzanne Delbanco, the Washington-based group's chief executive officer, said the biggest impetus for change may come from baby boomers who are less willing than their parents to wait around for test results demanding more efficient medical care. "As patients begin to recognize that hospitals are largely in the dark ages, they will begin to demand that they get the best care possible, which is in part dependent on hospitals using electronic records," she said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/08/04/paperless.hospitals.ap/ index.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8462 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040805/f0affbc9/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 10 18:08:57 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] FYI - Thought this might interest you... Message-ID: http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/a-young-afghans-illustrated-primer-018944.ph p ====================== Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. University of Minnesota Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy and Administration Project Director, School Technology Leadership Initiative Coordinator, Greater Minnesota Data Institutes Affiliate Faculty, Law School Attorney at Law 330 Wulling Hall 86 Pleasant Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0221 (612) 626-0768 (office) (612) 624-3377 (fax) mcleod@umn.edu www.umn.edu/~mcleod www.schooltechleadership.org www.education.umn.edu/datainstitutes -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040810/7ceb3474/attachment.html From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 10 18:18:45 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] LeapPad in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3E98EF3B-EB1B-11D8-8813-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Scott, This is a great application for this kind of technology. I have been a proponent for decentralized publishing and making information available to those who can't ordinarily access digital content. They still have to, in my opinion, ensure that lots of batteries are available. Further, I heard they pulled this off with lobbyists. I also hear that they are about to do something with Iraq along similar lines. I wonder how it will respond to dust? Best Regards, jb On Aug 10, 2004, at 6:08 PM, bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net wrote: > http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/a-young-afghans-illustrated-primer > -018944.php > ? > > > ====================== > > Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. > University of Minnesota > > Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy and > Administration > Project Director, School Technology Leadership Initiative > Coordinator, Greater Minnesota Data Institutes > Affiliate Faculty, Law School > Attorney at Law > > 330 Wulling Hall > 86 Pleasant Street SE > Minneapolis, MN 55455-0221 > > (612) 626-0768 (office) > (612) 624-3377 (fax) > mcleod@umn.edu > > www.umn.edu/~mcleod > www.schooltechleadership.org > www.education.umn.edu/datainstitutes > _______________________________________________ > Bridging_the_divide mailing list > Bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bridging_the_divide > --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4122 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040810/ba70606a/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 08:30:54 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Emerging Forms of School Organization Message-ID: <742E6981-EC5B-11D8-8CCD-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> > Competition for district and school contracts has increased as more > companies have entered the educational marketplace. Schools must become > more discerning buyers of educational services, and avoid naive > assumptions about the attributes of markets. ...the theoretical > benefits > of private delivery systems, finance structures, and ownership > incentives, do not necessarily transfer to public schools whenthey > privatize. School districts, educational policymakers, and the larger > community currently lack understanding, knowledge and wisdom about how > privatization can hinder or promote the goals of public education. > > Patricia Rufo-Lignos and Craig Richards consider the state of our > understanding of the impact of privatization in: > > Emerging Forms of School Organization > > ** This article is featured on TCRecord's home page: > > > http://www.tcrecord.org --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 08:32:43 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Streaming video lawsuits against schools? Message-ID: Acacia to schools: Pay now or we sue From eSchool News staff and wire service reports August 11, 2004 Acacia Research Corp., a company based in Newport Beach, Calif., has sent a "second wave" of letters to dozens of colleges in recent days. The message: Pay up, or risk getting sued. In spite of a legal setback in July, Acacia is escalating claims that schools' use of streaming video for purposes such as distance learning and video lectures violates the company's patents. "Certainly for colleges that do a lot of distance education, this could be a major problem," said Steve Worona, director of policy and networking programs at EDUCAUSE, an association of campus information technology centers. Several colleges say the letters make even broader claims, extending beyond distance learning to cover almost anything a college does that involves moving audio and video files on computer networks. Acacia reportedly told Washington College in Chestertown, Md., that a minimum annual license fee of $5,000 was likely to cover what the company claims it's owed. But Acacia said the deal is only on the table until Sept. 15. Afterward, the price might go up and Acacia might sue for past infringement. Some educators liken it to extortion--or worse. "I think it's kind of like highway robbery or blackmail," Billie Dodge, director of information technology at the 1,400-student college, told the Associated Press. Washington College uses streaming video for things like making lectures available online and showing alumni sports highlights. Some companies have agreed to pay Acacia licensing fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, according to Bob Berman, Acacia's general counsel, but he said he doubts any university streams enough video to owe that much. It's only fair, he contended, that colleges pay up. "Many colleges have patented technologies that their research departments have gotten issued," he said. "On the one hand, they like the revenue they make from their patents. On the other hand, they're saying we should allow them to ignore ours." Acacia's digital media patents, granted to the founders of Greenwich Information Technologies in the 1990s, weren't enforced until Acacia bought them in 2001. Acacia has since secured dozens of licensing deals with companies ranging from adult entertainment sites to The Walt Disney Co. It has also sued large cable and satellite providers. Last year, Acacia sent an initial round of letters to a number of colleges, seeking similar licensing deals (see "Schools targeted in streaming video patent claim,"). A handful signed agreements, but most have resisted. Now Acacia appears to be making another big push. Berman declined to say how many schools had been sent letters in what he acknowledged was a "second wave." But as of Aug. 6, at least 48 colleges had notified the American Council on Education (ACE) that they'd received letters and asked for advice on how to respond. ACE and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a legal group that opposes Acacia's patent claims, are both advising colleges not to pay. "There's a lot of scared schools out there," said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the ACE. In a preliminary ruling in Acacia's dispute with adult entertainment sites in July, a federal judge found that several terms in Acacia's patents were indefinite, a verdict that could weaken potential Acacia cases against other streaming video users. Now, critics of the company are saying that it's trying to make a fast buck off schools nervous about litigation before a federal judge makes a final, potentially crippling ruling in that case. "Honestly, I think it's a sign of desperation," said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Acacia knows the hammer is coming down on its patents, and it's going to extract as much as it can before the apocalypse." Berman denied that, noting several of the company's claims were not hindered by the ruling. Schultz called the company's tactics "a threat to the future of education." "Acacia wants to extract a toll on each and every lesson that a student learns over the internet," he said. "I think that's despicable. Universities are under enough pressure in their budgets right now to try to pay for everything. The last thing they need to do is give a pound of flesh to some tech company that doesn't even make a product." http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5217 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5252 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040812/53387ff4/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 11:06:15 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] New format hastens textbook accessibility Message-ID: <27D5FEB2-EC71-11D8-8CCD-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> New format hastens textbook accessibility By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News August 12, 2004 Students with disabilities can anticipate faster access to curriculum materials now that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has formally endorsed a voluntary national publishing paradigm known as the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). The standard will make it easier to convert traditional textbooks into formats such as Braille or text-to-speech. The department made the announcement in July at an event marking the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. "President Bush believes that every single child can learn and deserves the opportunity to learn," said Eugene Hickok, deputy secretary of education, on behalf of Secretary Rod Paige. "We're taking another step toward this goal with a new, voluntary standard that will enable students and teachers to more quickly access general curriculum materials, thereby opening more doors of opportunity to students." The endorsement is significant because a handful of states, including Arizona, Kentucky, New Mexico, and, New York, already had passed laws that require publishers to provide electronic copies of textbooks in whatever file format ED endorses. NIMAS was developed and agreed upon last fall by a federally funded 40-member panel representing content-transformation organizations, educators, disability advocates, and curriculum publishers. William (Skip) Stahl, director of technical assistance for the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), attributes the timing of ED's decision to the deadlock in Congress over the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). "Because the IDEA reauthorization didn't look like it was moving forward before the election, the department wanted to finally put its stake in the sand and endorse" the format, Stahl said. Both the House and Senate versions of the IDEA reauthorization bills contain a mandate to states to adopt NIMAS as a requirement for receiving IDEA funds. Both versions have passed their respective chambers of Congress but still must go to a joint conference committee to reconcile the differences and then be adopted in final form in the House and Senate before going to the President. "The endorsement is [also] significant because we don't know if the references to NIMAS will remain there," Stahl said. At least 26 states have passed accessible textbook legislation, and these states have asked the textbook publishers to provide electronic versions of students' textbooks in a variety of formats--in some cases, Microsoft Word; in others, ASCII or QuarkXpress files. "If that procedure were to continue, we might end up with 50 different file formats," Stahl said. NIMAS simply asks publishers to provide an XML (Extensible Markup Language) version alongside each book, so the organizations that transform textbooks into accessible formats can do so more easily. The panel chose XML as its standard file format because it allows publishers to tag the structural and semantic components of textbooks--such as chapters, chapter headings, glossaries, indexes, images, tables of contents, or key questions. The XML file will not be a student-ready version, but it nevertheless will give organizations a single, consistent file format so they can streamline their entire transformation operations and get books out to students faster. "Right now, to get a Braille version of any textbook can take six weeks to six months. With the adoption of NIMAS, there shouldn't be any delay at all," Stahl said. Getting materials to students with disabilities in a timely manner could help schools meet their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, too, he added. The American Association of Publishers, which represents textbook publishers such as McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin, has supported the new publishing standard, despite the extra burden it puts on publishers. "It's going to add additional levels of cost and complexity," said Stephan Driesler, executive director of the group's school division. "This XML file format is not something [publishers] are using routinely." But, down the road, it will be better than bending to the file-format whims of all 50 states, Driesler said. Plus, publishers have up to two years to implement the standard, assuming it is mandated in the final reauthorization of IDEA. NIMAS was developed under the leadership of the federally funded National Center for Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) at CAST, a nonprofit education research and development organization. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5218 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5465 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040812/9a0555c7/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Sat Aug 14 21:47:45 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] DVD players now a commodity Message-ID: <1AA2CD2D-EE5D-11D8-A476-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Since DVD players attached to a TV can be used with a TUI book, I would imagine this continues to bridge the digital divide by reducing the cost to deliver educational content. DVD player profits down to $1 Published: August 9, 2004, 1:46 PM PDT By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com The revolution in consumer electronics that was supposed to make everyone rich apparently isn't. Commoditization is hitting China's DVD player manufacturers hard, according to researcher iSuppli. Between January and May, the average selling price of a DVD player exported out of the Guangdong province came to $40.80, leaving just about $1 in profit margins for the manufacturers. The province accounts for 84.2 percent of China's exports of DVD players and exported 34.5 million of the players during the January to May period. China is no slouch when it comes to making DVD players. More than 80 percent of the chipsets for making DVD players that got produced worldwide in the first half of the year were shipped to China, where they were incorporated into DVD players that will eventually get sold under a wide variety of brand names. "Without possessing core technologies, these DVD player manufacturers can earn only limited processing and assembly fees, and they must pay royalty fees to the holders of intellectual property," analyst Byron Wu wrote in a report Monday. "The best scenario for the DVD player sector is an acceleration of the consolidation process, with larger firms taking over smaller shops." Thirty Chinese DVD player makers declared bankruptcy in the first half of the year, Wu noted. Technology products typically endure steep price declines as popularity grows because of the pervasiveness of standardization. The declines in DVD player prices, however, have been particularly severe, analysts have noted. Despite the difficulty of the market, it has paved the way for the emergence of companies such as Apex. DVD players have also served as a vehicle for Chinese manufacturers, which traditionally serve as contract manufacturers, to sell products under their own brand names in Europe and North America. Some manufacturers, including Jiangsu Shinco Electronic Group, have diversified into slightly higher-margin categories, such as portable DVD players. Despite the difficulty in eking out a profit, the popularity of players remains unabated. Shipments in 2004 should increase to 110 million units, according to Wu, up from 90 million in 2003. http://news.com.com/DVD+player+profits+down+to+%241/2100-1041_3 -5302728.html?tag=st.pop --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3933 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040814/b775b807/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 17 07:29:50 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] educating with video games Message-ID: Kids, Play With Your Food? Associated Press Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html 11:48 AM Aug. 15, 2004 PT WASHINGTON -- In an effort to educate the nation's neediest children on nutrition, a new project uses the familiar medium of video games to broadcast its message. The Fantastic Food Challenge, a package of four computer games, is designed to teach people who get nutrition aid such as federal food stamps how to make better use of their food. Because so many young adults played such games as kids, they ought to be able to learn more easily from them, too, said the project's director. "We wanted to create a game that didn't just feel like you were learning something," said Brian Winn, an assistant professor of telecommunication, information studies and media at Michigan State University in East Lansing. The player feels like a contestant in a marathon of futuristic television game shows that also happen to give instruction about how to buy food at the lowest cost, store it properly and prepare healthy meals, Winn said. One game is called Store It Safe. It involves placing baked beans, tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator. In another game, a version of Concentration, players turn over blank cards that flash a food and a menu item made with that ingredient, then try to remember which card had the milk that matches the macaroni and cheese. The on-screen opponent is a sore-loser robot that blows steam out of its ears when it guesses wrong, but which gets better as the game becomes more difficult. In the Great Meal Deal, players test their knowledge of the five food groups (milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and grains) by dragging randomly generated bananas, peanuts, applesauce and other items into the correct group. Players in the Price Makes Sense have to use their math skills to figure out the best food deal; for instance, that six servings of eggs at $1.20 is cheaper per serving than five servings of chicken at $2.00. The program is being distributed to employees in Michigan's extension offices who teach food aid recipients how to be efficient shoppers. So far, they seem to like it better than the usual brochures and charts, said Gayle Coleman, the extension service's interim state program leader for family consumer science. Food stamp users are not the only people who can benefit from these kinds of projects, said Melinda Johnson, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. But the poor may need the help more because they have fewer options, she said. For example, people in every income level have to squeeze healthy meals into busy lives, although those who are better off do not feel the budget pinch when they buy prepared meals at the supermarket, Johnson said. Researchers also have tried computer games to improve eating habits for about 1,600 fourth graders in Houston. They played a medieval-themed game called Squire's Quest, developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine's Children's Nutrition Research Center. Kids win by getting promoted from squire to knight. But the real goal is to get them to eat more fruits and vegetables. In the game, players advance by learning such things as how to talk a parent into serving orange juice for breakfast and they gain negotiation skills by accepting pineapple juice if that is available instead, said Tom Baranowski, lead scientist in the game's development. "We do role-playing to encourage the kid to go home and ask Mom," he said. http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4525 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040817/e6f7db4d/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 17 10:53:24 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Discovery Education buys AIMS Multimedia Message-ID: <30D9515B-F05D-11D8-A1EB-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Discovery Education buys top competitor By Corey Murray, Assistant Editor, eSchool News August 17, 2004 Discovery Communications has acquired AIMS Multimedia, one of its largest competitors in the instructional video market, for an undisclosed sum. Company executives say the deal, announced Aug. 16, will expand the content and services available to educators through the cable programmer's rapidly growing digital library--making its newly formed Discovery Education business unit the largest distributor of streaming media content to K-12 schools in the United States. "The acquisition of AIMS Multimedia solidifies Discovery's position as a leader and innovator in the world of digital video-based learning," said Judith McHale, president and chief executive officer of Discovery. "Discovery Education will continue to lead the industry with the very best educational video content and online services that engage and excite students and improve their academic performance." With more than 1 billion subscribers and 60 networks worldwide, the global media provider, headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., is perhaps best known for its brand of explorative, offbeat television programs, such as "Trading Spaces" and "Monster Garage." But in schools, Discovery is often recognized for another attribute: its proven ability to raise student achievement. Discovery reaffirmed its educational roots with last year's purchase of United Learning. The Evanston, Ill.-based company, known for its popular "unitedstreaming" video-on-demand (VOD) service, was acquired to bolster Discovery's own vast digital library with its thousands of hours of educational video clips. The acquisition of United Learning also gave Discovery another medium through which to supply its content: streaming video. Discovery streams the short, teacher-selected snippets to schools in exchange for a yearly fee. The videos, proven to bolster student achievement in math, science, and social studies through two independent studies (see "Video on demand boosts students' math scores") have become a hot commodity in schools, as teachers search for ways to meet the rigorous testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). So far, more than 26,000 schools have adopted the service, which Discovery will supply for free to one non-subscribing school in every United States school district during the coming school year as part of its "VOD Pass" initiative. With the addition of AIMS Multimedia, Discovery will increase its presence in U.S. schools "by a significant margin," according to Steve Sidel, executive vice president for the company's education division. Sidel said Discovery is excited about the merger because it will enable the company to grow by expanding the breadth of its services while continuing to provide educational videos that are correlated to state standards. In 2000, AIMS introduced DigitalCurriculum.com, an internet-based online streaming video-on-demand library. Seen by many as unitedstreaming's only substantial competition, the online subscription service offers access to more than 8,000 different video images for use in the classroom. Coupled with unitedstreaming's popular VOD service, the latest deal gives Discovery access to more than 35,000 educational-style, standards-based video segments spanning all subject areas from kindergarten through 12th grade, including social studies, science, history, geography, health, language arts, and math, the company said. "Video is special," added Sidel, because it enables educators to exploit those often-rare "teachable moments," inviting students to visualize key concepts and see those concepts applied in real-world situations. Discovery said it has no immediate plans to alter the services provided by either company, so schools needn't worry about the fate of existing contracts heading into the new school year. Over the next several months, Discovery will evaluate the two services and decide how best to combine their resources to meet the evolving needs of its school customers, said David Pendery, a spokesman for Discovery Education. The landmark deal was inked despite a burgeoning legal battle that some say could derail schools' ability to use streaming media applications in the classroom. Acacia Research Corp. of Newport Beach, Calif., recently sent a second wave of letters to U.S. colleges, claiming that it owns the patent for the technology that enables streaming media. The letters reportedly ask users to pay up to a 2-percent royalty for every video streamed or stop using the technology immediately. (See " Acacia to schools: Pay now or we sue") Though Discovery contends it has yet to receive notice from Acacia regarding its own streaming media applications, company executives say they are monitoring the situation and see no reason the skirmish should keep Discovery from providing the service to its customers. "We tend not to comment on things going on in the legal venue," Sidel said. "But this is not something that is slowing us down." He said Discovery will continue to work with its customers to assure them their interests are well-protected. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5221 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6038 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040817/f94ddb4f/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 18 10:55:36 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 18 16:10:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] TouchSmart Publishing in the news Message-ID: 'Smartpaper' tech to transform learning By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News August 18, 2004 A new textbook publishing method that uses infrared technology to combine traditional books with digital content might ultimately decrease the cost of textbooks, make them much more interactive for users, and remove barriers for students who have difficulty accessing traditional texts. The interactive textbook works a lot like LeapFrog's popular LeapPad reading device, where a paper book sits inside a cradle that contains touch-sensitive panels. But instead of accessing audio files stored on a cartridge, the book calls up video, audio, or other multimedia content by sending an infrared signal to a nearby internet-connected computer or a DVD player connected to a television. "The book becomes a remote control, so to speak," said Jason Barkeloo, president of TouchSmart Publishing LLC, a company that is planning to make math, science, and special-needs textbooks using the so-called "Smartpaper" technology. A student studying polynomials, for example, could read the assigned chapter and then touch a diagram with his or her finger to pull up a 30-second video clip of a teacher working through a problem, or an audio file of another teacher explaining the problem in a different way. "Just by touching a picture or text, you go right to a digital or audio file or a web site," said Alan Chaplin, chief executive officer of Smartpaper Networks Corp., a four-year-old start-up company that developed the Smartpaper technology. The book's electronic components are housed in what looks like an oversized DVD case. "The difference is, the case contains touch-sensitive panels on either side," Chaplin said. The technology reportedly works with computers, game players, and DVD players--anything with an infrared receiver. The books are completely functional either offline or online, because each Smartpaper book will come with its own DVD that contains the multimedia content, such as movie clips and audio. Many traditional books come with companion products such as DVDs, noted Chalplin, but "our product & provides a more engaging and enriching experience. It takes two things that we are familiar with--print and video--and links them together." Because DVD players now cost a fraction of the price of a multimedia computer, students without internet access or computers at home still can receive digital content. With a Smartpaper book, "the student can crawl up on the couch, push the picture of kinetic energy, and see the video on it," Barkeloo said. Barkeloo also figures Smartpaper textbooks will cost less than traditional textbooks, because much of the content will be digital. "Books are priced on mass. If I have a physiology or anatomy textbook, that may be 500 pages," he said. Additionally, Smartpaper books might better engage students in their textbooks. The technology "brings a new level of excitement, because I don't know what's hiding behind the content. It's like an Easter egg hunt," Barkeloo said. Also, the web-based model could track which students are visiting which URLs, or web site addresses, giving teachers specific reports on textbook use. One caveat of the Smartpaper concept, however, is making sure the URLs never change. For that reason, TouchSmart plans to create all of the online content itself and have this content reside either on its server or the school's server. If something needs to be updated, the file can easily change but the URL will remain the same. The Smartpaper concept is still in the prototype stage, but "most of the technological hurdles have been overcome," Chaplin said. The company, which holds several patents on the technology, expects products to be on the market in time for the 2005-2006 school year. Chaplin estimates that each SmartCase, which houses the books, will cost $40 wholesale. "That doesn't take into account the cost of producing the content," he said. TouchSmart expects its first book to be an early reading book for special-needs children written by reading and special-needs experts. The book will contain links to animations and audio files of the story being read out loud. The math and science textbooks will start at the kindergarten level and progress to grade 12, and each will be about 50 pages long with digital content links embedded throughout, Barkeloo said. During the dot-com boom, Wired and Forge magazines both tested a bar-code method for linking web content and books together. The magazines distributed bar-code scanners and software to their readers, then began publishing bar codes alongside their articles. Readers would scan these bar codes, which would take them directly to a web site. Chaplin said the bar-code concept failed because it had a complicated installation process. "People don't want to go to all that trouble to look at advertising," he added. Smartpaper is looking for schools to test its products in an educational setting, as well as educators who would like to serve on its advisory board, Chaplin said. Links: Smartpaper Networks Corp. http://www.smartpaper.net TouchSmart Publishing LLC http://www.touchsmart.net http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5222 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6126 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040818/48d62aea/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 14:09:02 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 25 14:09:10 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) report Message-ID: Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clear.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/f8784b40/clear.gif -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Play Attention Training System - Bringing Life into Focus.url Type: application/octet-stream Size: 145 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/6c126474/PlayAttentionTrainingSystem-BringingLifeintoFocus.obj From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 17:29:42 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 25 17:32:38 2004 Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?[Bridging=5Fthe=5Fdigital=5Fdivide]?= Play Attention Training System -=?ISO-8859-1?Q? Bringing?= Life In-Reply-To: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> References: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> Message-ID: bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net writes: >Hi: This is one of the programs we plan to implement this Fall. We have >a student body with a very high percentage of learners who will benefit. >It could be a good companion piece for the Touchsmart system. Jacci Hall > > [ http://www.playattention.com/main.php >]http://www.playattention.com/main.php_______________________________________________ Thanks for the heads up on this. I am passing it on to our Administrative and ASsistive Teams. Sharon Betts, DIrector of Ed. Tech, MSAD#71 From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 22:55:43 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Wed Aug 25 22:55:58 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] HP Science Grant Message-ID: <6BDB9C39-F70B-11D8-89EF-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Hewlett-Packard Middle School Science Leadership Grant Deadline: October 8th, 2004 Hewlett-Packard has recently issued a Request for Proposals for middle schools who would like to attend the LASER Middle School Science Leadership Symposium to be held in Atlanta, GA this coming December. Districts in which more than 50% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch may apply for this grant from HP. Up to 11 middle school teams will be selected to receive a scholarship package that covers the cost of symposium registration as well as a "presentation package" of HP technology valued at approximately $6,000 (laptop, projector, and digital camera). The HP grant application and LASER registration must be completed and returned to the NSRC before October 8th. To apply or obtain more information, schools may visit http://grants.hp.com/us/programs/science_leadership.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1517 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/8144e5bb/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 26 17:56:44 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Thu Aug 26 17:56:51 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Play Attention Training System - Bringing Life into Focus In-Reply-To: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> References: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> Message-ID: Jacci, This is a fascinating product. Have you seen it used? How do special needs students - particularly those with physical limitations do with it? Cheers, jb On Aug 25, 2004, at 5:19 PM, bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net wrote: > Hi:? This is one of the programs we plan to implement this Fall.? We > have a student body with a very high percentage of learners who will > benefit.? It could be a good companion piece for the Touchsmart > system. Jacci Hall > > ?http://www.playattention.com/main.php - Bringing Life into > Focus.url>_______________________________________________ > Bridging_the_divide mailing list > Bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bridging_the_divide > --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Fri Aug 27 13:01:20 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Fri Aug 27 13:01:27 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] PBS & ISTE TeacherLine Certification Program Message-ID: Technology Leaders Enroll in the new PBS TeacherLine ISTE Capstone Certificate Program today! Open enrollment?for the FREE Capstone Introduction course begins August 18 and ends September 21, 2004.? To enroll, go to http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/ then "Earn a Certificate."? View details for the course?titled, ?TECH400 Capstone Introduction,? then follow enrollment instructions.?? Take the Capstone Introduction to: ????????? Learn the requirements for?earning a Capstone Certificate.? ????????? Review the ISTE NETS?T. ????????? Participate in online discussions with peers and colleagues. ????????? Build an exhibit plan that aligns with the ISTE NETS?T.?? Course Description This self-paced mini-course is designed to introduce learners to the PBS TeacherLine/ISTE Capstone Certificate Program, which culminates in a Certificate of Proficiency in the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS?T). It offers learners an opportunity to explore the standards and learn about what the Capstone program entails so that they will have a clear understanding of what to expect and what is expected of them. Learners will have a chance to brainstorm ideas for the portfolio exhibits they will create in the?Capstone courses. The Capstone Introduction is a prerequisite for enrollment in Capstone I:? Teaching with Technology?and Capstone II: Empowering Students with Technology.???? ? Don?t miss out on this opportunity to earn the PBS TeacherLine ISTE Capstone Certificate! Note: You must be a registered PBS TeacherLine user in order to enroll in this course Instructions on how to register are located on the PBS webpage. For additional information on this program contact Charmona Whitfield, PBS TeacherLine Assistant Director of Certificate Programs at cwhitfield@pbs.org or (703) 739-8609. --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4261 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040827/d72eb100/attachment.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 3 12:18:53 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:18 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Can you be a techie if you can't type? Message-ID: Can you be a techie if you can't type? By Rebecca L. Weber | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Once a week at John Eaton Public School No. 160, each class comes to the computer lab for a session with teacher Susan Eastman. Kids pull an orange plastic cover over the keyboard so that they can't look at the letters and they power on the "Type to Learn" software. Ms. Eastman's computer classes at this Washington, D.C., elementary school used to focus on using technology to enhance academic skills. But three years ago, after watching some kids spend as long as 10 minutes searching for the letters to enter a single Google query, she decided to start formally teaching touch-typing. Now her students in grades three through six are working their way through the self-guided lessons. In some schools, typing classes disappeared at least a couple of decades ago. A skill that once seemed vital - particularly to prepare young women for secretarial jobs - no longer appeared relevant in an age that urged more kids to consider going on to at least some form of higher education. And yet, argue some teachers, the ability to touch-type - or to "keyboard," the term more often used today - has perhaps never been more essential. "You can't word process unless you can keyboard," Ms. Eastman says. "You can't use the Internet, you can't instant message. For some kids with learning disabilities, for those who have messy handwriting, or for whom holding a pencil is awkward, it opens so many tools." Yet many students are not given formal instruction in keyboarding skills. On the one hand, schools and the workplace have increased expectations about basic computer skills, and schools offer most children fairly wide access to computers. But according to the Department of Education's latest report, fewer students than ever before are taking typing or keyboarding classes. Of course, it's not practical to offer such classes to very young students. Most children don't have the manual dexterity to touch type before grade three or four. Most of Eastman's students type at or below 10 words per minute before they work their way through the beginning lessons (about the same speed as they write with a pencil). For her sixth-graders, speeds of 25 to 35 wpm are typical. Today, 30 wpm is often fast enough for a permanent job as an executive secretary, according to Ruthi Postow of Ruthi Postow Staffing. Twenty-five years ago, 50 wpm - tested with an egg timer - was a prerequisite for an administrative assistant position. Ms. Postow says she rarely sees typists with those kinds of skills. And the speedy typists she does encounter, she says, don't necessarily have an edge in the job market. Clients today generally don't specify a minimum speed. "More and more, people care about great computer skills. The administration field is more appealing now to college graduates," Postow says. Document preparation is more likely to involve importing graphics and special formatting than entering text. "You don't have to keep reinventing the wheel with repetitive documents," says Postow. For the most part, executives today answer their own e-mail and jot down their own notes. "I had a request for shorthand and everybody was laughing," she says. "Nobody does that anymore." High schools and colleges today rarely require students to acquire touch-typing skills. Stanley Johnson, director of instructional technology for the District of Columbia Public Schools, agrees that being proficient in technology today is much broader than keyboarding. "We've seen recently the proliferation of cellphones, digital cameras, PDAs," Mr. Johnson says. These new forms of technology are proving to be "just as powerful" as the written word, he adds. "Digital literacy skills need to be introduced as well." The district is currently studying some fourth and fifth graders to see if another software program, "Almena Teaches Touch Typing," significantly improves their word processing output. Johnson notes that many kids have computers at home, which helps their overall performance. Often, however, keyboards at home are designed for larger hands, which impedes touch-typing. In elementary classrooms, keyboards are smaller. Johnson emphasizes that it's output that is most important. "Lots of kids today already have the fundamental stuff in place, even though they may not have the correct finger placement that's used in a traditional keyboarding class," he says. Keyboarding classes are still offered at the senior high schools in the District. Johnson says enrollment overall has been "steady," though in some instances it has dipped because kids get in and find they already have the basic computer skills offered in the class. "That's the challenge: are we preparing them for our world, or the world they're going to inherit? I can't tell you what input device we'll have in 10 years, but 10 years ago I didn't think I'd have a tablet that takes my handwriting and converts it to text. Whatever technology is or becomes, the kids have to be able to transfer their skills." Even with the increase of tablet PCs and voice recognition technology, keyboards are going to be around for the foreseeable future. One added benefit of teaching keyboarding to the youngest learners, at least for Eastman: her own typing speed has improved. On SATs, handwriting counts In 1871 the Remington Typewriter Company's slogan proclaimed that typewriters were the new thing and that schools, pens, and paper would soon be obsolete. But Kate Gladstone - the "Handwriting Repairwoman" of Albany, N.Y. - is happy to report that nothing could be further from the truth. Ms. Gladstone, who teaches the fine art of handwriting, has enjoyed an influx of customers since the College Board announced that one of the SAT sections will be handwritten starting in 2005. Other local and regional tests, such as the MCAS in Massachusetts, also require students to write by hand. "Parents, teachers, sometimes kids call and say, 'I need to be able to write legibly at high speed! Is it even humanly possible?', " she says. But some teachers say they have students who want to learn good penmanship simply because it's an art. Matt Brockwell, who until recently taught 8- and 9-year-olds in Jefferson Elementary School in Oakland, Calif., had just one computer in his classroom. Mr. Brockwell says it didn't occur to him to teach keyboarding. A few kids took it upon themselves to type their own compositions, but most used their computer time for other activities. And, he says, they were very interested in learning cursive. "At that age, they want physical skills they can show their classmates," Brockwell explains, "like dance moves or gymnastics - or to be able to write their name in flowering, flowing script. Skills that have an immediate show-off value are hugely popular," he says. Rigid notions about handwriting may discourage some students from viewing the skill as a creative process, says Gladstone. For instance, she insists, there's no evidence that writing in cursive is faster than printing, and printing isn't necessarily neater than cursive. Those who write faster by hand tend to have taken elements from both, she says. http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0803/p14s01-legn.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8325 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040803/671ce721/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 3 13:08:01 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:18 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] NIMAS Message-ID: Something rather interesting occurred on 28July04... [excepted] In a landmark announcement for students with sensory and other print disabilities, the U.S. Department of Education endorsed the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS), version 1.0 on July 27th, 2004. On behalf of Secretary Paige, Deputy Secretary of Education Gene Hickok discussed the new standard at an event commemorating the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The event was co-sponsored by the Departments of Commerce and Education in Washington, D.C. The voluntary standard will guide the production and electronic distribution of flexible digital instructional materials such as textbooks so they can be more easily converted to Braille, text-to-speech, and other accessible formats. ll students with print disabilities experience the same barrier - inaccessible materials - when core curriculum textbooks presented in print are the primary learning resource. Students who cannot see the words on a page, cannot hold a book or turn its pages, cannot decode the text or cannot comprehend the syntax that supports the written word may each experience different challenges, and they may each require different supports to extract meaning from information that is "book bound" - but the barrier for each is the same. http://www.cast.org/ncac/index.cfm?i=3138 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1986 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040803/c7a7f06d/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 4 15:56:25 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:18 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999 Message-ID: <5DBDD456-E650-11D8-B5D9-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Home-schooling up 29 percent since 1999 By Ben Feller The Associated Press WASHINGTON ? Almost 1.1 million students were home-schooled last year, their numbers pushed higher by parents frustrated over school conditions and wanting to include morality and religion with English and math. The estimated number of students taught at home has grown 29 percent since 1999, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department. In surveys, parents offered two main reasons for choosing home-schooling: 31 percent cited concerns about the environment of regular schools, and 30 percent wanted the flexibility to teach religious or moral lessons. A distant third, at 16 percent, was dissatisfaction with academic instruction at schools. The figures were released yesterday. "There's potential for massive growth," said Ian Slatter, spokesman for the National Center for Home Education, which promotes home-schooling and tracks laws that govern it. "Home-schooling is just getting started," he said. "We've gotten through the barriers of questioning the academic ability of home schools, now that we have a sizable number of graduates who are not socially isolated or awkward; they are good, high-quality citizens. We're getting that mainstream recognition and challenging the way education has been done." The 1.1 million home-schooled students account for 2.2 percent of the school-age population in the United States, young people ages 5 through 17. Slatter said the new figures accurately reflect the growth of home-schooling but underestimate the number of children involved; his group says it is 2 million. In the government's view, home-schooling means students who get at least part of their education at home and no more than 25 hours a week in public or private schools. Overall, more than four of five home-schooled students spend no time at traditional schools. A separate federal report showed a rising number of teenagers are skipping school for fear of getting hurt, even though reported school violence is down. That anxiety ? fueled by terrorism warnings, high-profile school shootings and a desire to keep children out of harm's way ? probably has helped home-schooling grow, said Ted Feinberg, assistant executive director of the National Association of School Psychologists. Home-schooling presents several questions that must be considered, he said. Among them: Do parents with no formal training as teachers know how to handle a variety of subjects or to tailor instruction for children of different ages? Do students get the same materials they would have at schools, from books to science labs? Are families with two working parents prepared to go to a single income so one parent can teach at home? Also, Feinberg said, parents must consider whether their children will emerge from home-schooling with limited exposure to other children and various cultures. More federal research is needed to help resolve such questions about home-schooling, he said. "At some point, children are going to have to interact with the rest of the world," he said. "If they haven't had the opportunity to build their emotional muscles so they have that capacity to interact, how effective are they going to be outside their cloistered environment?" http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl? document_id=2001996169&zsection_id=268448413&slug=homeschool04&date=2004 0804 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4376 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040804/bc038984/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 5 14:50:09 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Hospitals move toward 'paperless' age Message-ID: <4683C90C-E710-11D8-BD15-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Hospitals move toward 'paperless' age Wednesday, August 4, 2004 Posted: 10:23 AM EDT (1423 GMT) INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (AP) -- With no patient chart in sight, Dr. Sheila Gamache strides into Thom Kolby's hospital room to check on him a day after the 54-year-old arrived ashen-faced and perilously close to death with a clogged artery starving his heart of oxygen. Rather than flipping through a clipboard thick with pages of notations and test results, Gamache gets up to speed on Kolby's condition simply by logging onto a wireless notepad she carries on her daily rounds at the Indiana Heart Hospital. Like a handful of others nationwide, the Indianapolis hospital has traded its once scattered medical charts, file folders, X-rays and other documents for a unified electronic records system accessible with a few keystrokes. Federal officials who are trying to convince more hospital executives to go "paperless" say electronic records can make hospitals more efficient, reduce medical errors and lower health-care costs. The costs of the transition can be high, and many physicians are also unwilling to trade the ease of jotting down paperbound notations of their patients' statuses for a system that requires them to type the same information into a computer. But concerns aside, digital records are a leap ahead for records system rooted in cumbersome 19th century filing systems. The Indiana Heart Hospital's year-old digital records system allows Gamache, a cardiologist, to show Kolby an X-ray movie of his beating heart just after he was admitted the day before with a clogged artery and in excruciating pain. "Do you see that right there?" she tells Kolby gravely, pointing to the looped movie of the blockage displayed on a flat-screen computer in his room. "I'm not kidding, they have a name for these and they're called widow-makers." Kolby, of New Palestine, Indiana, watches the digital movie quietly with his sons Tyler, 14, and Caleb, 12, then observes, "That must have been the pain I was feeling." He tells Gamache he's feeling wonderful and is glad to be alive a day after a surgeon reopened the blocked artery by inserting a stent. After the checkup, Gamache sits down at a computer outside Kolby's room -- one of 650 spread across the 88-bed hospital -- to enter notes and order changes in his blood-thinning medication. And all of it without the typical paper trail filled with scrawled physician handwriting. Cost barrier Despite its digital records system, which cost $15 million to implement, the hospital is not fully paperless. It still generates paper so that it can interface with the majority of the medical community that remains burdened with paper-filled records rooms. To cut that paper load and meet President Bush's goal of making sure most Americans have computerized medical records available within 10 years, the federal government is trying to move things along. On July 21, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson outlined a plan that sets technology standards and provides financial incentives for doctors and hospitals to invest in health care information technology. David J. Brailer, the national coordinator for health information technology appointed by President Bush in May, said cost has been one barrier. He said it can cost tens of millions of dollars for a large hospital, or network of hospitals, to make the change. Getting physicians, nurses and medical technicians to abandon years of routine for a new system is another obstacle. "We don't just automate the old systems -- we change the way the work is done. And sometimes there's resistance to change," Brailer said. Younger physicians are less apt to object. The software must, of course, be reliable and handled with care. A new system at a Department of Veterans Affairs' hospital in Tampa, Florida, was plagued by troubles that delayed surgeries and sparked congressional probes. The VA said last week that it is scrapping that system. Nearly all hospitals do have electronic billing, but adoption of electronic health records has been slow. Just 13 percent of hospitals and 28 percent of physicians' practices had some level of electronic health record systems in 2002, according to HHS. Lofty goals Yet the change appears to carry great benefits. According to a recent analysis by the Institute of Medicine, the routine use of electronic records could help reduce the tens of thousands of deaths and injuries caused by medical mistakes every year. Brailer said paperless systems also cut administrative costs by eliminating the need to produce, maintain and store enormous numbers of paper files. Although it takes doctors longer to enter their patient observations on a computer instead of writing them down, he said digital records save time in the long term. Tapping into this new data stream could advance even loftier goals. The Mayo Clinic and IBM Corp., for example, are collaborating on a project enlisting IBM's powerful supercomputers to analyze electronic medical records and quickly assess patients' responses to new treatments for cancer or other diseases. The project began when the partners integrated millions of patient records once stored in several incompatible formats into a standard system. Those records, when combined with data such as the vast body of information emerging from analysis of the human genome, could help doctors identify disease causes and prevention, Dr. Hugh Smith, chairman of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors, said in a statement. One drawback that electronic records systems pose for hospitals, however, is that they can reduce hospital revenue, Brailer said. That's because more efficient systems eliminate duplicated treatments, shorten hospital stays and get patients out of intensive care units faster. "This is an industry that's not necessary paid on the basis of efficiency. It's paid on the basis of volume," Brailer said. Faster turnaround times Evanston Northwestern Healthcare spent about $30 million to get its three Chicago-area hospitals switched to a full electronic records system that about 6,200 employees began using last year. Mark R. Neaman, the company's president and chief executive office, said the goal is about $10 million in savings in the first year, largely by reducing the data-collection process. Eliminating the time-consuming dictation and transcription process of physicians' patient observations has saved $500,000 alone so far, he said. Neaman said turnaround times for test results have fallen significantly at the three hospitals, which have about 50,000 inpatient admissions and 100,000 emergency room visits annually. Getting mammogram results, for example, now take about a day, not days or weeks. "If you're a patient waiting for a crucial test result, an hour can seem like a day," he said. The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit coalition of business and other groups, is one of several organizations working to encourage hospitals to move to computerized records systems. Suzanne Delbanco, the Washington-based group's chief executive officer, said the biggest impetus for change may come from baby boomers who are less willing than their parents to wait around for test results demanding more efficient medical care. "As patients begin to recognize that hospitals are largely in the dark ages, they will begin to demand that they get the best care possible, which is in part dependent on hospitals using electronic records," she said. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/biztech/08/04/paperless.hospitals.ap/ index.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 8462 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040805/f0affbc9/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 10 18:08:57 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] FYI - Thought this might interest you... Message-ID: http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/a-young-afghans-illustrated-primer-018944.ph p ====================== Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. University of Minnesota Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy and Administration Project Director, School Technology Leadership Initiative Coordinator, Greater Minnesota Data Institutes Affiliate Faculty, Law School Attorney at Law 330 Wulling Hall 86 Pleasant Street SE Minneapolis, MN 55455-0221 (612) 626-0768 (office) (612) 624-3377 (fax) mcleod@umn.edu www.umn.edu/~mcleod www.schooltechleadership.org www.education.umn.edu/datainstitutes -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040810/7ceb3474/attachment-0001.html From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 10 18:18:45 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] LeapPad in Afghanistan In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <3E98EF3B-EB1B-11D8-8813-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Scott, This is a great application for this kind of technology. I have been a proponent for decentralized publishing and making information available to those who can't ordinarily access digital content. They still have to, in my opinion, ensure that lots of batteries are available. Further, I heard they pulled this off with lobbyists. I also hear that they are about to do something with Iraq along similar lines. I wonder how it will respond to dust? Best Regards, jb On Aug 10, 2004, at 6:08 PM, bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net wrote: > http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/a-young-afghans-illustrated-primer > -018944.php > ? > > > ====================== > > Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D. > University of Minnesota > > Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Policy and > Administration > Project Director, School Technology Leadership Initiative > Coordinator, Greater Minnesota Data Institutes > Affiliate Faculty, Law School > Attorney at Law > > 330 Wulling Hall > 86 Pleasant Street SE > Minneapolis, MN 55455-0221 > > (612) 626-0768 (office) > (612) 624-3377 (fax) > mcleod@umn.edu > > www.umn.edu/~mcleod > www.schooltechleadership.org > www.education.umn.edu/datainstitutes > _______________________________________________ > Bridging_the_divide mailing list > Bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bridging_the_divide > --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4122 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040810/ba70606a/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 08:30:54 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Emerging Forms of School Organization Message-ID: <742E6981-EC5B-11D8-8CCD-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> > Competition for district and school contracts has increased as more > companies have entered the educational marketplace. Schools must become > more discerning buyers of educational services, and avoid naive > assumptions about the attributes of markets. ...the theoretical > benefits > of private delivery systems, finance structures, and ownership > incentives, do not necessarily transfer to public schools whenthey > privatize. School districts, educational policymakers, and the larger > community currently lack understanding, knowledge and wisdom about how > privatization can hinder or promote the goals of public education. > > Patricia Rufo-Lignos and Craig Richards consider the state of our > understanding of the impact of privatization in: > > Emerging Forms of School Organization > > ** This article is featured on TCRecord's home page: > > > http://www.tcrecord.org --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 08:32:43 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Streaming video lawsuits against schools? Message-ID: Acacia to schools: Pay now or we sue From eSchool News staff and wire service reports August 11, 2004 Acacia Research Corp., a company based in Newport Beach, Calif., has sent a "second wave" of letters to dozens of colleges in recent days. The message: Pay up, or risk getting sued. In spite of a legal setback in July, Acacia is escalating claims that schools' use of streaming video for purposes such as distance learning and video lectures violates the company's patents. "Certainly for colleges that do a lot of distance education, this could be a major problem," said Steve Worona, director of policy and networking programs at EDUCAUSE, an association of campus information technology centers. Several colleges say the letters make even broader claims, extending beyond distance learning to cover almost anything a college does that involves moving audio and video files on computer networks. Acacia reportedly told Washington College in Chestertown, Md., that a minimum annual license fee of $5,000 was likely to cover what the company claims it's owed. But Acacia said the deal is only on the table until Sept. 15. Afterward, the price might go up and Acacia might sue for past infringement. Some educators liken it to extortion--or worse. "I think it's kind of like highway robbery or blackmail," Billie Dodge, director of information technology at the 1,400-student college, told the Associated Press. Washington College uses streaming video for things like making lectures available online and showing alumni sports highlights. Some companies have agreed to pay Acacia licensing fees amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, according to Bob Berman, Acacia's general counsel, but he said he doubts any university streams enough video to owe that much. It's only fair, he contended, that colleges pay up. "Many colleges have patented technologies that their research departments have gotten issued," he said. "On the one hand, they like the revenue they make from their patents. On the other hand, they're saying we should allow them to ignore ours." Acacia's digital media patents, granted to the founders of Greenwich Information Technologies in the 1990s, weren't enforced until Acacia bought them in 2001. Acacia has since secured dozens of licensing deals with companies ranging from adult entertainment sites to The Walt Disney Co. It has also sued large cable and satellite providers. Last year, Acacia sent an initial round of letters to a number of colleges, seeking similar licensing deals (see "Schools targeted in streaming video patent claim,"). A handful signed agreements, but most have resisted. Now Acacia appears to be making another big push. Berman declined to say how many schools had been sent letters in what he acknowledged was a "second wave." But as of Aug. 6, at least 48 colleges had notified the American Council on Education (ACE) that they'd received letters and asked for advice on how to respond. ACE and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a legal group that opposes Acacia's patent claims, are both advising colleges not to pay. "There's a lot of scared schools out there," said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the ACE. In a preliminary ruling in Acacia's dispute with adult entertainment sites in July, a federal judge found that several terms in Acacia's patents were indefinite, a verdict that could weaken potential Acacia cases against other streaming video users. Now, critics of the company are saying that it's trying to make a fast buck off schools nervous about litigation before a federal judge makes a final, potentially crippling ruling in that case. "Honestly, I think it's a sign of desperation," said Jason Schultz, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Acacia knows the hammer is coming down on its patents, and it's going to extract as much as it can before the apocalypse." Berman denied that, noting several of the company's claims were not hindered by the ruling. Schultz called the company's tactics "a threat to the future of education." "Acacia wants to extract a toll on each and every lesson that a student learns over the internet," he said. "I think that's despicable. Universities are under enough pressure in their budgets right now to try to pay for everything. The last thing they need to do is give a pound of flesh to some tech company that doesn't even make a product." http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5217 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5252 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040812/53387ff4/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 12 11:06:15 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] New format hastens textbook accessibility Message-ID: <27D5FEB2-EC71-11D8-8CCD-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> New format hastens textbook accessibility By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News August 12, 2004 Students with disabilities can anticipate faster access to curriculum materials now that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) has formally endorsed a voluntary national publishing paradigm known as the National Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard (NIMAS). The standard will make it easier to convert traditional textbooks into formats such as Braille or text-to-speech. The department made the announcement in July at an event marking the 14th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. "President Bush believes that every single child can learn and deserves the opportunity to learn," said Eugene Hickok, deputy secretary of education, on behalf of Secretary Rod Paige. "We're taking another step toward this goal with a new, voluntary standard that will enable students and teachers to more quickly access general curriculum materials, thereby opening more doors of opportunity to students." The endorsement is significant because a handful of states, including Arizona, Kentucky, New Mexico, and, New York, already had passed laws that require publishers to provide electronic copies of textbooks in whatever file format ED endorses. NIMAS was developed and agreed upon last fall by a federally funded 40-member panel representing content-transformation organizations, educators, disability advocates, and curriculum publishers. William (Skip) Stahl, director of technical assistance for the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), attributes the timing of ED's decision to the deadlock in Congress over the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). "Because the IDEA reauthorization didn't look like it was moving forward before the election, the department wanted to finally put its stake in the sand and endorse" the format, Stahl said. Both the House and Senate versions of the IDEA reauthorization bills contain a mandate to states to adopt NIMAS as a requirement for receiving IDEA funds. Both versions have passed their respective chambers of Congress but still must go to a joint conference committee to reconcile the differences and then be adopted in final form in the House and Senate before going to the President. "The endorsement is [also] significant because we don't know if the references to NIMAS will remain there," Stahl said. At least 26 states have passed accessible textbook legislation, and these states have asked the textbook publishers to provide electronic versions of students' textbooks in a variety of formats--in some cases, Microsoft Word; in others, ASCII or QuarkXpress files. "If that procedure were to continue, we might end up with 50 different file formats," Stahl said. NIMAS simply asks publishers to provide an XML (Extensible Markup Language) version alongside each book, so the organizations that transform textbooks into accessible formats can do so more easily. The panel chose XML as its standard file format because it allows publishers to tag the structural and semantic components of textbooks--such as chapters, chapter headings, glossaries, indexes, images, tables of contents, or key questions. The XML file will not be a student-ready version, but it nevertheless will give organizations a single, consistent file format so they can streamline their entire transformation operations and get books out to students faster. "Right now, to get a Braille version of any textbook can take six weeks to six months. With the adoption of NIMAS, there shouldn't be any delay at all," Stahl said. Getting materials to students with disabilities in a timely manner could help schools meet their Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act, too, he added. The American Association of Publishers, which represents textbook publishers such as McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin, has supported the new publishing standard, despite the extra burden it puts on publishers. "It's going to add additional levels of cost and complexity," said Stephan Driesler, executive director of the group's school division. "This XML file format is not something [publishers] are using routinely." But, down the road, it will be better than bending to the file-format whims of all 50 states, Driesler said. Plus, publishers have up to two years to implement the standard, assuming it is mandated in the final reauthorization of IDEA. NIMAS was developed under the leadership of the federally funded National Center for Accessing the General Curriculum (NCAC) at CAST, a nonprofit education research and development organization. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5218 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 5465 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040812/9a0555c7/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Sat Aug 14 21:47:45 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] DVD players now a commodity Message-ID: <1AA2CD2D-EE5D-11D8-A476-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Since DVD players attached to a TV can be used with a TUI book, I would imagine this continues to bridge the digital divide by reducing the cost to deliver educational content. DVD player profits down to $1 Published: August 9, 2004, 1:46 PM PDT By Michael Kanellos Staff Writer, CNET News.com The revolution in consumer electronics that was supposed to make everyone rich apparently isn't. Commoditization is hitting China's DVD player manufacturers hard, according to researcher iSuppli. Between January and May, the average selling price of a DVD player exported out of the Guangdong province came to $40.80, leaving just about $1 in profit margins for the manufacturers. The province accounts for 84.2 percent of China's exports of DVD players and exported 34.5 million of the players during the January to May period. China is no slouch when it comes to making DVD players. More than 80 percent of the chipsets for making DVD players that got produced worldwide in the first half of the year were shipped to China, where they were incorporated into DVD players that will eventually get sold under a wide variety of brand names. "Without possessing core technologies, these DVD player manufacturers can earn only limited processing and assembly fees, and they must pay royalty fees to the holders of intellectual property," analyst Byron Wu wrote in a report Monday. "The best scenario for the DVD player sector is an acceleration of the consolidation process, with larger firms taking over smaller shops." Thirty Chinese DVD player makers declared bankruptcy in the first half of the year, Wu noted. Technology products typically endure steep price declines as popularity grows because of the pervasiveness of standardization. The declines in DVD player prices, however, have been particularly severe, analysts have noted. Despite the difficulty of the market, it has paved the way for the emergence of companies such as Apex. DVD players have also served as a vehicle for Chinese manufacturers, which traditionally serve as contract manufacturers, to sell products under their own brand names in Europe and North America. Some manufacturers, including Jiangsu Shinco Electronic Group, have diversified into slightly higher-margin categories, such as portable DVD players. Despite the difficulty in eking out a profit, the popularity of players remains unabated. Shipments in 2004 should increase to 110 million units, according to Wu, up from 90 million in 2003. http://news.com.com/DVD+player+profits+down+to+%241/2100-1041_3 -5302728.html?tag=st.pop --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 3933 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040814/b775b807/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 17 07:29:50 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] educating with video games Message-ID: Kids, Play With Your Food? Associated Press Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html 11:48 AM Aug. 15, 2004 PT WASHINGTON -- In an effort to educate the nation's neediest children on nutrition, a new project uses the familiar medium of video games to broadcast its message. The Fantastic Food Challenge, a package of four computer games, is designed to teach people who get nutrition aid such as federal food stamps how to make better use of their food. Because so many young adults played such games as kids, they ought to be able to learn more easily from them, too, said the project's director. "We wanted to create a game that didn't just feel like you were learning something," said Brian Winn, an assistant professor of telecommunication, information studies and media at Michigan State University in East Lansing. The player feels like a contestant in a marathon of futuristic television game shows that also happen to give instruction about how to buy food at the lowest cost, store it properly and prepare healthy meals, Winn said. One game is called Store It Safe. It involves placing baked beans, tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator. In another game, a version of Concentration, players turn over blank cards that flash a food and a menu item made with that ingredient, then try to remember which card had the milk that matches the macaroni and cheese. The on-screen opponent is a sore-loser robot that blows steam out of its ears when it guesses wrong, but which gets better as the game becomes more difficult. In the Great Meal Deal, players test their knowledge of the five food groups (milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and grains) by dragging randomly generated bananas, peanuts, applesauce and other items into the correct group. Players in the Price Makes Sense have to use their math skills to figure out the best food deal; for instance, that six servings of eggs at $1.20 is cheaper per serving than five servings of chicken at $2.00. The program is being distributed to employees in Michigan's extension offices who teach food aid recipients how to be efficient shoppers. So far, they seem to like it better than the usual brochures and charts, said Gayle Coleman, the extension service's interim state program leader for family consumer science. Food stamp users are not the only people who can benefit from these kinds of projects, said Melinda Johnson, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. But the poor may need the help more because they have fewer options, she said. For example, people in every income level have to squeeze healthy meals into busy lives, although those who are better off do not feel the budget pinch when they buy prepared meals at the supermarket, Johnson said. Researchers also have tried computer games to improve eating habits for about 1,600 fourth graders in Houston. They played a medieval-themed game called Squire's Quest, developed by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine's Children's Nutrition Research Center. Kids win by getting promoted from squire to knight. But the real goal is to get them to eat more fruits and vegetables. In the game, players advance by learning such things as how to talk a parent into serving orange juice for breakfast and they gain negotiation skills by accepting pineapple juice if that is available instead, said Tom Baranowski, lead scientist in the game's development. "We do role-playing to encourage the kid to go home and ask Mom," he said. http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,64593,00.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 4525 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040817/e6f7db4d/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Tue Aug 17 10:53:24 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Discovery Education buys AIMS Multimedia Message-ID: <30D9515B-F05D-11D8-A1EB-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Discovery Education buys top competitor By Corey Murray, Assistant Editor, eSchool News August 17, 2004 Discovery Communications has acquired AIMS Multimedia, one of its largest competitors in the instructional video market, for an undisclosed sum. Company executives say the deal, announced Aug. 16, will expand the content and services available to educators through the cable programmer's rapidly growing digital library--making its newly formed Discovery Education business unit the largest distributor of streaming media content to K-12 schools in the United States. "The acquisition of AIMS Multimedia solidifies Discovery's position as a leader and innovator in the world of digital video-based learning," said Judith McHale, president and chief executive officer of Discovery. "Discovery Education will continue to lead the industry with the very best educational video content and online services that engage and excite students and improve their academic performance." With more than 1 billion subscribers and 60 networks worldwide, the global media provider, headquartered in Silver Spring, Md., is perhaps best known for its brand of explorative, offbeat television programs, such as "Trading Spaces" and "Monster Garage." But in schools, Discovery is often recognized for another attribute: its proven ability to raise student achievement. Discovery reaffirmed its educational roots with last year's purchase of United Learning. The Evanston, Ill.-based company, known for its popular "unitedstreaming" video-on-demand (VOD) service, was acquired to bolster Discovery's own vast digital library with its thousands of hours of educational video clips. The acquisition of United Learning also gave Discovery another medium through which to supply its content: streaming video. Discovery streams the short, teacher-selected snippets to schools in exchange for a yearly fee. The videos, proven to bolster student achievement in math, science, and social studies through two independent studies (see "Video on demand boosts students' math scores") have become a hot commodity in schools, as teachers search for ways to meet the rigorous testing requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). So far, more than 26,000 schools have adopted the service, which Discovery will supply for free to one non-subscribing school in every United States school district during the coming school year as part of its "VOD Pass" initiative. With the addition of AIMS Multimedia, Discovery will increase its presence in U.S. schools "by a significant margin," according to Steve Sidel, executive vice president for the company's education division. Sidel said Discovery is excited about the merger because it will enable the company to grow by expanding the breadth of its services while continuing to provide educational videos that are correlated to state standards. In 2000, AIMS introduced DigitalCurriculum.com, an internet-based online streaming video-on-demand library. Seen by many as unitedstreaming's only substantial competition, the online subscription service offers access to more than 8,000 different video images for use in the classroom. Coupled with unitedstreaming's popular VOD service, the latest deal gives Discovery access to more than 35,000 educational-style, standards-based video segments spanning all subject areas from kindergarten through 12th grade, including social studies, science, history, geography, health, language arts, and math, the company said. "Video is special," added Sidel, because it enables educators to exploit those often-rare "teachable moments," inviting students to visualize key concepts and see those concepts applied in real-world situations. Discovery said it has no immediate plans to alter the services provided by either company, so schools needn't worry about the fate of existing contracts heading into the new school year. Over the next several months, Discovery will evaluate the two services and decide how best to combine their resources to meet the evolving needs of its school customers, said David Pendery, a spokesman for Discovery Education. The landmark deal was inked despite a burgeoning legal battle that some say could derail schools' ability to use streaming media applications in the classroom. Acacia Research Corp. of Newport Beach, Calif., recently sent a second wave of letters to U.S. colleges, claiming that it owns the patent for the technology that enables streaming media. The letters reportedly ask users to pay up to a 2-percent royalty for every video streamed or stop using the technology immediately. (See " Acacia to schools: Pay now or we sue") Though Discovery contends it has yet to receive notice from Acacia regarding its own streaming media applications, company executives say they are monitoring the situation and see no reason the skirmish should keep Discovery from providing the service to its customers. "We tend not to comment on things going on in the legal venue," Sidel said. "But this is not something that is slowing us down." He said Discovery will continue to work with its customers to assure them their interests are well-protected. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5221 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6038 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040817/f94ddb4f/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 18 10:55:36 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] TouchSmart Publishing in the news Message-ID: 'Smartpaper' tech to transform learning By Cara Branigan, Associate Editor, eSchool News August 18, 2004 A new textbook publishing method that uses infrared technology to combine traditional books with digital content might ultimately decrease the cost of textbooks, make them much more interactive for users, and remove barriers for students who have difficulty accessing traditional texts. The interactive textbook works a lot like LeapFrog's popular LeapPad reading device, where a paper book sits inside a cradle that contains touch-sensitive panels. But instead of accessing audio files stored on a cartridge, the book calls up video, audio, or other multimedia content by sending an infrared signal to a nearby internet-connected computer or a DVD player connected to a television. "The book becomes a remote control, so to speak," said Jason Barkeloo, president of TouchSmart Publishing LLC, a company that is planning to make math, science, and special-needs textbooks using the so-called "Smartpaper" technology. A student studying polynomials, for example, could read the assigned chapter and then touch a diagram with his or her finger to pull up a 30-second video clip of a teacher working through a problem, or an audio file of another teacher explaining the problem in a different way. "Just by touching a picture or text, you go right to a digital or audio file or a web site," said Alan Chaplin, chief executive officer of Smartpaper Networks Corp., a four-year-old start-up company that developed the Smartpaper technology. The book's electronic components are housed in what looks like an oversized DVD case. "The difference is, the case contains touch-sensitive panels on either side," Chaplin said. The technology reportedly works with computers, game players, and DVD players--anything with an infrared receiver. The books are completely functional either offline or online, because each Smartpaper book will come with its own DVD that contains the multimedia content, such as movie clips and audio. Many traditional books come with companion products such as DVDs, noted Chalplin, but "our product & provides a more engaging and enriching experience. It takes two things that we are familiar with--print and video--and links them together." Because DVD players now cost a fraction of the price of a multimedia computer, students without internet access or computers at home still can receive digital content. With a Smartpaper book, "the student can crawl up on the couch, push the picture of kinetic energy, and see the video on it," Barkeloo said. Barkeloo also figures Smartpaper textbooks will cost less than traditional textbooks, because much of the content will be digital. "Books are priced on mass. If I have a physiology or anatomy textbook, that may be 500 pages," he said. Additionally, Smartpaper books might better engage students in their textbooks. The technology "brings a new level of excitement, because I don't know what's hiding behind the content. It's like an Easter egg hunt," Barkeloo said. Also, the web-based model could track which students are visiting which URLs, or web site addresses, giving teachers specific reports on textbook use. One caveat of the Smartpaper concept, however, is making sure the URLs never change. For that reason, TouchSmart plans to create all of the online content itself and have this content reside either on its server or the school's server. If something needs to be updated, the file can easily change but the URL will remain the same. The Smartpaper concept is still in the prototype stage, but "most of the technological hurdles have been overcome," Chaplin said. The company, which holds several patents on the technology, expects products to be on the market in time for the 2005-2006 school year. Chaplin estimates that each SmartCase, which houses the books, will cost $40 wholesale. "That doesn't take into account the cost of producing the content," he said. TouchSmart expects its first book to be an early reading book for special-needs children written by reading and special-needs experts. The book will contain links to animations and audio files of the story being read out loud. The math and science textbooks will start at the kindergarten level and progress to grade 12, and each will be about 50 pages long with digital content links embedded throughout, Barkeloo said. During the dot-com boom, Wired and Forge magazines both tested a bar-code method for linking web content and books together. The magazines distributed bar-code scanners and software to their readers, then began publishing bar codes alongside their articles. Readers would scan these bar codes, which would take them directly to a web site. Chaplin said the bar-code concept failed because it had a complicated installation process. "People don't want to go to all that trouble to look at advertising," he added. Smartpaper is looking for schools to test its products in an educational setting, as well as educators who would like to serve on its advisory board, Chaplin said. Links: Smartpaper Networks Corp. http://www.smartpaper.net TouchSmart Publishing LLC http://www.touchsmart.net http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5222 --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 6126 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040818/48d62aea/attachment-0001.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 14:09:02 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) report Message-ID: Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: clear.gif Type: image/gif Size: 43 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/f8784b40/clear-0004.gif -------------- next part -------------- Skipped content of type multipart/alternative-------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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Name: Play Attention Training System - Bringing Life into Focus.url Type: application/octet-stream Size: 145 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/6c126474/PlayAttentionTrainingSystem-BringingLifeintoFocus-0002.obj From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 17:29:42 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?[Bridging=5Fthe=5Fdigital=5Fdivide]?= Play Attention Training System -=?ISO-8859-1?Q? Bringing?= Life In-Reply-To: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> References: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> Message-ID: bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net writes: >Hi: This is one of the programs we plan to implement this Fall. We have >a student body with a very high percentage of learners who will benefit. >It could be a good companion piece for the Touchsmart system. Jacci Hall > > [ http://www.playattention.com/main.php >]http://www.playattention.com/main.php_______________________________________________ Thanks for the heads up on this. I am passing it on to our Administrative and ASsistive Teams. Sharon Betts, DIrector of Ed. Tech, MSAD#71 From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Wed Aug 25 22:55:43 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] HP Science Grant Message-ID: <6BDB9C39-F70B-11D8-89EF-000A95A5E63A@touchsmart.net> Hewlett-Packard Middle School Science Leadership Grant Deadline: October 8th, 2004 Hewlett-Packard has recently issued a Request for Proposals for middle schools who would like to attend the LASER Middle School Science Leadership Symposium to be held in Atlanta, GA this coming December. Districts in which more than 50% of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch may apply for this grant from HP. Up to 11 middle school teams will be selected to receive a scholarship package that covers the cost of symposium registration as well as a "presentation package" of HP technology valued at approximately $6,000 (laptop, projector, and digital camera). The HP grant application and LASER registration must be completed and returned to the NSRC before October 8th. To apply or obtain more information, schools may visit http://grants.hp.com/us/programs/science_leadership.html --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 1517 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/bridging_the_divide/attachments/20040825/8144e5bb/attachment-0002.bin From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Thu Aug 26 17:56:44 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] Play Attention Training System - Bringing Life into Focus In-Reply-To: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> References: <000901c48ae9$3ad3ab20$4e770d82@adcarmel.org> Message-ID: Jacci, This is a fascinating product. Have you seen it used? How do special needs students - particularly those with physical limitations do with it? Cheers, jb On Aug 25, 2004, at 5:19 PM, bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net wrote: > Hi:? This is one of the programs we plan to implement this Fall.? We > have a student body with a very high percentage of learners who will > benefit.? It could be a good companion piece for the Touchsmart > system. Jacci Hall > > ?http://www.playattention.com/main.php - Bringing Life into > Focus.url>_______________________________________________ > Bridging_the_divide mailing list > Bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/bridging_the_divide > --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. From bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net Fri Aug 27 13:01:20 2004 From: bridging_the_divide at touchsmart.net (bridging_the_divide@touchsmart.net) Date: Sat Nov 20 05:29:19 2004 Subject: [Bridging_the_digital_divide] PBS & ISTE TeacherLine Certification Program Message-ID: Technology Leaders Enroll in the new PBS TeacherLine ISTE Capstone Certificate Program today! Open enrollment?for the FREE Capstone Introduction course begins August 18 and ends September 21, 2004.? To enroll, go to http://teacherline.pbs.org/teacherline/ then "Earn a Certificate."? View details for the course?titled, ?TECH400 Capstone Introduction,? then follow enrollment instructions.?? Take the Capstone Introduction to: ????????? Learn the requirements for?earning a Capstone Certificate.? ????????? Review the ISTE NETS?T. ????????? Participate in online discussions with peers and colleagues. ????????? Build an exhibit plan that aligns with the ISTE NETS?T.?? Course Description This self-paced mini-course is designed to introduce learners to the PBS TeacherLine/ISTE Capstone Certificate Program, which culminates in a Certificate of Proficiency in the ISTE National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS?T). It offers learners an opportunity to explore the standards and learn about what the Capstone program entails so that they will have a clear understanding of what to expect and what is expected of them. Learners will have a chance to brainstorm ideas for the portfolio exhibits they will create in the?Capstone courses. The Capstone Introduction is a prerequisite for enrollment in Capstone I:? Teaching with Technology?and Capstone II: Empowering Students with Technology.???? ? Don?t miss out on this opportunity to earn the PBS TeacherLine ISTE Capstone Certificate! Note: You must be a registered PBS TeacherLine user in order to enroll in this course Instructions on how to register are located on the PBS webpage. For additional information on this program contact Charmona Whitfield, PBS TeacherLine Assistant Director of Certificate Programs at cwhitfield@pbs.org or (703) 739-8609. --- Jason Barkeloo President TouchSmart Publishing http://www.touchsmart.net t: 513.225.8765 f: 206.666.4856 This electronic mail (email) communication, and any files transmitted with it, are confidential, and intended solely for the indicated recipient(s). Any review, use, or distribution by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, or are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, and delete all copies immediately. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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