Teaching: No ‘Fallback’ Career - Room for Debate Blog - NYTimes.com

Teaching: No ‘Fallback’ Career

As private sector professionals lose their jobs or suffer cutbacks in pay and benefits, more and more of them are thinking about second careers. Public service is suddenly popular with all generations. Teaching may not pay a lot, but it comes with relatively good benefits and, in public schools, job security in the form of tenure after three years. But this fallback fantasy may be unrealistic, despite reports of a possible teacher shortage in the next several years. Does such a shortfall really exist? What does it take to become a teacher, let alone a good one?

Cell phones get top marks in class -- dailypress.com

Cell phones get top marks in class -- dailypress.com:

"Students sat in small groups in Tony Neeley's science classroom, staring intently at a projected image at the front of the class. A question popped onto the screen. Neeley gave the students a six-digit number and said, 'Go.' Instantly thumbs began dancing over cell phone keypads. Within seconds, phones trilled the signal that a text message had been sent. At the same time, answers began dropping into view on the screen, one answer for each group of students, identified by a student's cell phone screen name.

In less than an hour, the Mary Passage Middle School students worked their way through more than 70 questions for a semester exam review, with every eighth-grader participating in a drill that looked more like a game show than a quiz.

'They only get one crack at it so they have to make sure they are right,' said Neeley.

Cell phones, considered a nuisance or worse in many schools, are welcome at Passage. At least eight teachers are using them for a range of lessons, from reports to quizzes in English, social studies, science and math classes."

One Cell Phone Per Child

One Cell Phone Per Child - Columns by PC Magazine:

"To get an understanding of the scale of the worldwide mobile revolution, consider that 4.1 billion people subscribe to a mobile phone service, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which is part of the United Nations. More than half of the world's people are connected, right now. High costs and spotty Internet access limit the functionality of those connections for many users, but the infrastructure is there."

It's amazing to think that the cellphone is a major communication/Internet/Computer is our children's hands, and instead of looking for ways to use it for education, we are banning and tightly controlling its use in schools.

Use of mobile phones for quality education

"When the mobile phone was invented, little did we realize how much this piece of technology would be embraced by Filipinos. In fact, “texting” in the Philippines was seen as a social phenomenon in the late 1990s, with the country ranking first in the world in text message use. Even now, wherever you’d go, you’d see somebody clutching a mobile phone. High-level executives conduct a lot of business through the device. Even sari-sari stores in remote areas display “karatola” [posters] advertising pre-paid loads."

The Philippine Text2Teach alliance is composed of Ayala Foundation, Nokia, Globe Telecom, SEAMEO-Innotech, Chikka Asia and PMSI-Dream Broadcasting Systems.

This uniquely Filipino innovation aims to enhance education opportunities for children and resource solutions for teachers in developing countries. BridgeIT believes that Text2Teach can contribute to raising the quality of basic education in the country.

Use of mobile phones for quality education - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos:

What’s In Your Social Media Toolkit?

What’s In Your Social Media Toolkit?:

"You can think of social media as a set of tools that organizations can use for a variety of purposes - customer service, branding, promotion, relationship-management, etc. Just as with any toolkit, you’re not going to use every tool every time.

Sometimes the hammer fits, but if you’re trying to measure something the hammer is pretty much useless. Similarly, sometimes a blog will fit perfectly, while other times YouTube might be a more suitable tool. Sometimes (say it ain’t so!) social media outreach won’t fit at all.

If social media represents a set of tools - what’s in your toolkit?"

How to Grow a Blog

A very good analysis of what's wrong - I see it in my students all the time. Learning takes place during the PROCESS, but they almost always want to skip the process and head to the product and the grade. So they learn nothing really. They cram, get the grade and promptly forget everything. They are not interested in learning anything, just in getting the paper.

People often miss the opportunity to enjoy what they do because they focus all their attention on the outcome, rather than savoring the steps along the way. Where does the pleasure in singing come from - finishing the song, or producing each note or phrase? … To be overly concerned with the ultimate goal often interferes with performance. If a tennis player thinks only of winning the match, she won’t be able to respond to her opponent’s powerful serve … our primary concern here is not with what constitutes a successful performance, but with the quality of experience during performance. If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.

"In education, however, the product - the grade, the final draft, the test mark - still often takes precedence over the process of learning - the sense of personal journey without which the final destination is meaningless. What is even worse is that many of our students are very comfortable with that idea. To them, school is often about “playing the game.” They follow along, raise hands, submit assignments, study for tests. Of course, there is nothing wrong with these activities as long as they do not impede their progress as independent thinkers, researchers, and writers. Unfortunately, most of the time, “playing the game” means following the rules that we’ve set up for the students. We bring in the hoops, and the students jump through them. It’s an easy process for everyone involved."

Read more here:

Google Moderator

"What does it do? It lets anyone ask a question and then people can vote up the questions that they’d like answered. "

Sounds like a really useful tool to use in large lectures and classes - as immediate as twitter, but more specific, especially as you can prioritise questions...

Read more here:

New issue of the International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

Vol. 5, No. 2 (2009) of International Journal of Education and Development using ICT has now been published online at http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewissue.php?id=20


Research in Progress
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Data Completeness Analysis of Malaysian Educational Management Information System
Azlinah Mohamed, Universiti Teknologi MARA
Nik Abdullah Nik Abdul Kadir, Ministry of Education
May-Lin Yap, Universiti Teknologi MARA
Shuzlina Abdul Rahman, Universiti Teknologi MARA
Noor Habibah Arshad, Universiti Teknologi MARA
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=477

From the Field

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e-Education Systems Implementation Success Model
Saadiah Yahya, associate profesor
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=601


Refereed Articles
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The conditions and level of ICT integration in Malaysian Smart Schools
Wan Zah Wan Ali, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Hajar Mohd Nor, Ministry of Education, Malaysia
Azimi Hamzah, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
Nor Hayati Alwi, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=618


Literature Reviews
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Growth and Improvement of Information Communication Technology in Kenya
Gatana G Kariuki,
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=667


Project Sheets
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The Computers for Education Forum COF (www.cof-cameroon.ning.com): Working with 57 rural schools (Ngoketunjia, North West Region, Cameroon)
Tamara R Palamakumbura, Partners for Community Development Initiative (PCDI)
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=684


Editorial
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Technology integration and adoption in education and the community
Stewart Marshall, The University of the West Indies, Barbados, West Indies
Wal Taylor,
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=734


Refereed Articles
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Action research practices and media for development
Jo Tacchi, QUT
Marcus Foth, QUT
Greg Hearn, QUT
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=560

From the Field

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Brazilian Teachers’ Agency in a Web-based U.S. Reform Project
Eduardo S. Junqueira, Universidade Federal do Ceará
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=617


Literature Reviews
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Effective Technology Integration: Old Topic, New Thoughts
Bude Su, CSU Monterey Bay
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=620


Refereed Articles
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A Problem-based approach to accounting education: Pragmatic appraisal of a technologically enabled solution
Carla L Wilkin, Monash University
Phillip A Collier, University of Melbourne
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=658

From the Field

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Essential Features of Teaching Chemistry Using Computer in the Iranian High Schools
Zohreh Abedi Kargiban,
Saedah Siraj,
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=691


Refereed Articles
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Analyzing the usage patterns and challenges of telecenters among rural communities: experience from four selected telecenters in Tanzania
Wulystan Pius Mtega, Sokoine University of Agriculture
Andrew Watson Malekani, Sokoine University of Agriculture
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=625

Development and validation of a computer instructional package on electrochemistry for secondary schools in Nigeria.
Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
Adekunle Solomon Olorundare, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/viewarticle.php?id=677


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International Journal of Education and Development using ICT
http://ijedict.dec.uwi.edu/