May 9, 2002
Education Week, Vol. 21, Issue 35
IT Infrastructure & Management
Tracking Tech Trends
Despite fiscal belt-tightening and the recent decline in the
technology sector of the U.S. economy, states still made great
strides over the past year in helping students get access to
computers in schools.
Classroom Technology
Students Speak Out
Twelve states now have their own virtual education institutions— state-sponsored schools that provide some or all of their instruction over the Internet, according to Education Week’s 2002 survey of state technology coordinators. Much has been made of the potential of these so-called cyber schools to redefine how we think about teaching and learning in the digital age. At the same time, though, concerns abound about the consequences of an educational style that forgoes face-to-face contact and personal interaction in favor of the potentially isolating world of cyberspace.
Classroom Technology
The Virtual Teaching Life
Becky Huggins sometimes goes undercover in the online classes she
teaches for elementary school youngsters. When discussions among
her students go stale, she logs on under a pseudonym—taking on
the identity of a student—and fires off a provocative question or
comment to jump-start the dialogue.
Professional Development
E-Training Offers Options
In the spring of 2000, Carol Scott Whelan and four of her colleagues at
the state department of education in Louisiana decided to take a course
called Introduction to Online Technology from the University of California,
Los Angeles.
Classroom Technology
One State's Digital Quest
South Dakota, a rural state known to outsiders mostly
as the site of Mount Rushmore, is one of the most wired
in the country. New technology such as Maher’s interactive-
videoconference class—an updated twist on old-school
distance learning—is erasing boundaries and
opening new avenues of learning for the state’s 729
public schools, 78 private schools, and 15 colleges and
universities.
Classroom Technology
E-Defining Education
To appreciate how e-learning is changing the landscape of education, you need only look at the numbers.
Classroom Technology
Higher Ed.'s Online Odyssey
There’s not much time to hit the books after work, PTA meetings, and rushing your 9-year-old son to karate lessons. So when Adrienne Carrington, a soft-spoken, 45-year-old single mother from Baltimore, decided to go back and take some more college classes, she needed a university that could accommodate her harried lifestyle.