Edweek.org was undergoing changes and introducing new technologies and features at a rapid pace. In Behind the Scenes, we talked about our plans and ideas, and the nuts & bolts of working on a Web site devoted to journalism, research, and service to our readers, all revolving around K-12 Education. This blog is no longer being updated.
Education
edweek.org Redesign Launches
Dear Readers,
As you have probably noticed, over the holidays we launched a redesign of our web site, edweek.org. Last Summer, we applied a similar update to the Teacher Magazine site, teachermagazine.org, and now we have carried many of the same design concepts over to the site of our flagship publication Education Week — including additional features and enhancements which will migrate back to the Teacher site once we're finished. There are a few additional features and tweaks scheduled to roll out over the coming weeks. After that, we plan to finish the job, updating our "about" and Research Center pages later this Winter, and finally updating the look of Agent K-12 as part of a general upgrade of its software and user interface.
As you have probably noticed, over the holidays we launched a redesign of our web site, edweek.org. Last Summer, we applied a similar update to the Teacher Magazine site, teachermagazine.org, and now we have carried many of the same design concepts over to the site of our flagship publication Education Week — including additional features and enhancements which will migrate back to the Teacher site once we're finished. There are a few additional features and tweaks scheduled to roll out over the coming weeks. After that, we plan to finish the job, updating our "about" and Research Center pages later this Winter, and finally updating the look of Agent K-12 as part of a general upgrade of its software and user interface.
Education
A Former Mennonite Reports on the Amish
I was reporting on an education conference in a downtown Washington hotel when I noticed TV monitors in the lobby were turned on to CNN and Fox news and broadcasters were reporting on an attack on a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa. My first thought was, “What is our society coming to when violence erupts among the Amish, who want to be left alone by the world and live as peacefully as possible?” The Amish have a long tradition of nonviolence, such as refusing to participate in the military.
Education
Digital Photography
Most professional photographers began shooting with digital cameras before the year 2000. I was a late-comer, finally buying in February 2001. By then, the pressure to turn around assignments within a couple of hours made using film impossible. Editors at daily newspapers have come to expect images in-house within an hour or so of an assignment ending—whether the assignment is in the same city or 3,000 miles away.
Education
The Edweek Exchange
Got something to say? We know you do. That's why we post a TalkBack online discussion forum with at least one commentary in every issue of Education Week. We're also planning to let readers post comments to all Education Week articles. We want to know what interests our readers, and we consider TalkBack one gauge of popular interest. But maybe it's not a good yardstick. Maybe you don't have time to participate even if the topic does interest you. Maybe the people who post responses are only those who like to hear themselves talk (or type...).
Education
Getting Creative With Content: Podcasting
Podcasting. Heard of it? Maybe you have (it's been in popular use since 2004). Do you know what it means? You probably do have a fair idea by now, but this link will help you out, too. Do you know how to create a podcast? This might be more of a test, but don't worry, we're not entirely sure ourselves yet, although we're a lot closer to knowing than we were six days ago.
Education
Push for Multimedia
You might have heard the term "multimedia storytelling" before. It has been around even before broadband connection was available to consumers. Now, with broadband connection at almost 60 percent of U.S. households, multimedia is everywhere. You can hardly visit a major news site without seeing something labeled as “multimedia” (or sometime categorized as “interactive”).
Education
The New Teacher
We’re happy to announce that the new Teacher Magazine site is now live. Actually, it was been live for a few days now—we were just too frazzled to actually write anything about it earlier. (But we did make our launch deadline—not by much, but we made it.)
Education
Comments now fixed!
We're sorry, but it was pointed out to us that the comment feature wasn't working on this blog. We've been switching our templates around to implement methods of combating spam in comments and trackbacks, and hadn't updated this old blog to use them.
Education
Edweek.org: Registration v. Subscription
(Alexander Russo, in This Week in Education, posted a short entry describing our pricing structure last week. Stefanie Hemmingson, Education Week's director of audience development , details below our web site pricing structure and its reasons.)
Education
Redesigning Teacher
Our biggest project this summer has been redesigning the Teacher Magazine site. As Jeanne mentions below, we're sort of queasy about giving firm dates for the completion of new projects (with good reason). But in this case, there was a press release going out, so we were cornered. We committed to Monday, Aug. 14, as the go-live date for the new design. (Originally, the launch was scheduled for Friday, Aug. 11, but I managed to buy us an extra weekend just in case: I’ve been through site redesigns before.)
Education
And Sometimes We Miss ...
edweek.org has a research center (raise your hand if you knew that, please). It's the research arm of Editorial Projects in Education, our parent company, and has a lot of incredibly talented, smart, research-y people working there, headed by the inimitable Chris Swanson. It publishes a lot of reports during the year, as supplements to regular EdWeek issues and articles. Quality Counts and Technology Counts are the center's two major publications, familiar to most readers, along with other special reports.
Education
Welcome Back
Allow me to reintroduce myself, and this blog. I'm Paul Hyland, now the Executive Producer of edweek.org, which means I oversee content production and technology development on this site. I arrived at this position from the technology side, being involved in software development and technology management here and elsewhere; but I have been a news junkie for decades, and also spent several years as a content producer for the education and music channels at AOL.
Education
How to Get Education Week Premium Content
We are now charging for premium Education Week content on www.edweek.org. That will probably cause a few initial roadblocks for some of you, making you wonder what’s going on.
Education
What's in It for Teachers?
As others have mentioned in this space, not everything on edweek.org is going to require a paid subscription. Ed Week’s executives resolved early on that the parts of the site catering mainly to teachers and students would remain free of charge. The thinking was that we absolutely did not want to exclude or deny these users—who make up a big part of edweek.org’s audience and are obviously key members of the education community.