Learning by Doing: Pathways to High Performance Students

By Edward J. Barboni,
Senior Advisor,
Council of Independent Colleges,
and Independent Consultant

I was re-reading “Learning for the 21st Century” the other day as background material on a forthcoming undergraduate teacher preparation project. I was struck by how well the report navigates the political waters of educational reform, so decided to use this Viewpoint to bring this report to the attention of those who have not yet read it.

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Who Will Train the Next Generation of IT Professionals?

The InformationTechnology Association of America annual report on IT diversity shows a decline in the percentage of women in IT; Latino and African-American employment in IT also is declining. Without new recruitment campaigns these trends will continue, and as the US IT workforce is aging, foreign-born workers are leaving the United States to head up tech companies in their own countries.

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NSF Backs Next-Gen Internet Plans

Writing in the June 17 issue of Federal Computer Week, Aliya Sternstein reports that The National Science Foundation has awarded MIT’s David Clark a grant to begin preliminary research on developing a new architecture for the next Internet. Clark, who has been active in the evolution of the Internet for 30 years, will focus his research on making the next Internet more secure. Clark says: “I don’t want to have a sudden meltdown, blackout or have the Internet used as a vector for a widespread terrorist attack

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Review Panel Turns up Little Evidence to Back Teacher Ed. Practices

In the June 22, 2005 issue of Education Week, Debra Viadero reports on an AERA (American Educational Research Association) study that questions whether we have empirical evidence to support common practices in the field of teacher preparation.

The Children’s Partnership: Impacts of Technology on Outcomes for Youth

A 2005 Review has gathered valuable data on a myriad of benefits of technology in the fields of education, health care, economic opportunity, and civic participation.

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Engaging Students in the ePortfolio Process

By Phill Miller
ANGEL Learning, Inc.

When users of the ANGEL Learning Management System identified ePortfolio as one of their most desired product enhancements, ANGEL Learning instituted an ePortfolio initiative in response. The initiative began in 2003 with in-depth conversations with customers to determine how ANGEL Learning could help them achieve their objectives.

In the case of the ePortfolio initiative a “problem” quickly surfaced: different schools, departments, even individual faculty members defined “ePortfolio” differently, from program and institutional portfolios to course and personal portfolios. To clarify user needs, the product development team investigated institutions that were implementing ePortfolio initiatives, both successfully and unsuccessfully. The analysis revealed that successful ePortfolio initiatives engaged the learners in the ePortfolio process, with users recognizing the value of an ePortfolio and spending time building high-quality ePortfolios.

HP Labs Working on ‘Semantic Blogging’

HP Labs demonstrates “semantic blogging” research efforts underway to make blogging “cooler” and more userful by organizing blog content in meaningful ways

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From the Reader Response Forum