21ST CENTURY SKILLS
Wiring Up a Knowledge Revolution in Rural India
INTERNET
Fighting the Idea That All the Internet Is Free
SPECTRUM
Consumer Coalition to FCC: More Spectrum for Unlicensed Wireless
Broadband
EDTECH
Microsoft, Philadelphia to Build School
Commentary: How Teachers Can Stop Cheaters
New Resource for Schools: E-Rate Survival Guide
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21ST CENTURY SKILLS
WIRING UP A KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION IN RURAL INDIA
In the former French colony of Pondicherry, on the southeast coast of India,
the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation's Information Village Project has
opened 12 telecenters targeting nearly 40 rural villages. Over the last five
years, the initiative has helped village women with only primary school
educations learn how to use the Internet for tracking crop prices, accessing
e-government resources and securing employment. "The Knowledge Center has
become a place everybody flocks to," says program volunteer D. Usha Rani.
"Villagers get information on all kinds of situations and problems --
weather, crops, livestock, health, everything. We have even mediated
disputes." Adds project scientist J. Gobu: "Rural women take to technology
like fish take to water. We have to make sure the information is dynamic and
not only academic. It has to be user-driven and gender-friendly. The
villagers decide what they wish to do."
SOURCE: OneWorld.net; AUTHOR: Lalitha Sridhar, OneWorld South Asia
INTERNET
FIGHTING THE IDEA THAT ALL THE INTERNET IS FREE
The music industry is attempting to reverse the mentality of millions of
Internet users who believe that music, like other types of Internet content,
is meant to be shared freely. In addition to bringing lawsuits against
individual music "pirates," the Recording Industry Association of America is
offering an amnesty program exempts from legal action file sharers who erase
their illegal music files and promise "never to do it again." Economist Hal
R. Varian says the industry must also close the economic gap: "The industry
has to increase the price of illegal file sharing and make it more
attractive to download music legally or purchase CDs." Initiatives such as
Apple Computer's iTunes, which allows users to download songs for 99 cents
each, and Real Networks' Rhapsody online music service, are positive
examples of addressing the challenge. In the United States, about half of
all young people ages 12 to 22 with access to the Internet have downloaded
music from file-sharing networks like KaZaA and Morpheus, according to a
survey conducted by Forrester Research in July. Of those, 68 percent said
they would stop downloading music if there was a "serious risk" of being
fined or sued.
SOURCE: The New York Times; AUTHOR: Steve Lohr
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/technology/09FREE.html
SPECTRUM
CONSUMER COALITION TO FCC: MORE SPECTRUM FOR UNLICENSED WIRELESS BROADBAND
On Monday, a consumer coalition filed FCC comments urging the commission to
open more "license exempt" spectrum for citizen use -- an action that would
help bring affordable wireless broadband Internet to underserved
communities. The coalition, led by the New America Foundation, Media Access
Project and the Benton Foundation, responded to FCC-proposed changes to the
so-called "ITFS/MDS" spectrum bands currently licensed for private use by
educational organizations. Many argue that these bands are vastly underused,
and the FCC has allowed license holders to lease these airwaves to private
firms. The FCC-proposed changes would further reduce educational-use
spectrum and encourage the sale of spectrum licenses to private companies.
As an alternative, the coalition proposes that one half of the band be
dedicated to public unlicensed use for wireless broadband Internet services,
like Wi-Fi. The coalition also recommends that spectrum equivalent to the
current educational allocation be preserved for educational uses, but opened
for unlicensed sharing to maximize citizen access.
SOURCE: New America Foundation; AUTHOR: Matt Barranca
http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Pub_File_1350_1.pdf
EDTECH
MICROSOFT, PHILADELPHIA TO BUILD SCHOOL
In partnerships with Microsoft, the Philadelphia School District is planning
to build a $46 million "school of the future" to open by September 2006.
Microsoft's contribution will not be monetary; rather, it will provide
services such as planning and design expertise, staff training, continuing
technology support and an on-site project manager. Students will get
personal digital assistants and 24-hour access to homework help and class
assignments. Other potential features of the school include interactive
digital textbooks, electronic play diagrams for the basketball team, and
wireless, mobile technology for functions ranging from recording attendance
to ordering meals and school supplies. Anthony Salcito of Microsoft said the
school would operate "more effectively and more efficiently." He explained,
"We're looking at how technology can impact all aspects of the school -- the
way learning and teaching goes on in the classroom, and also in how the
school is operated." Ellen Savitz, the district's chief development officer,
assured critics that Microsoft would not manage the school. "There's no fear
of a corporation somehow overtaking the educational focus," she said.
SOURCE: The Philadelphia Inquirer; AUTHOR: Susan Snyder
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/education/6694777.htm
HOW TEACHERS CAN STOP CHEATERS
[Commentary] University of Virginia English professor Mark Edmundson
examines the disturbing rise of academic cheating, much of it driven by
websites that allow students to purchase term papers and other pre-fab
research. Edmundson notes a recent survey that suggests nearly 40 percent of
students admit to "cut and paste" plagiarism -- ie, taking exact sentences
or paragraphs from other sources and passing them off as their own. Three
years ago, a similar survey pegged the number of cheaters at only 10
percent. Edmundson acknowledges educators who have been successful fighting
fire with fire -- using technology to identify plagiarized student work --
but suggests that educators should not rely on technology alone to address
the problem. Educators must not rest of their laurels and have students
spend their time regurgitating generic analysis of scholarly content.
Instead, teachers must actively engage them, press students for their
opinions on how literature and other topics resonate with them on a personal
level. "I'm sure that there are plenty of essays to be had over the Internet
on Wordsworthian nature and Shakespearean eros," he writes. "But you cannot
buy your own opinion from someone else."
SOURCE: New York Times; AUTHOR: Mark Edmundson
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/opinion/09EDMU.html
NEW RESOURCE FOR SCHOOLS: E-RATE SURVIVAL GUIDE
The federal E-Rate program, which provides subsidized telecommunications
services to schools and libraries, has been under attack of late. According
to eSchool News, hundreds of millions of E-Rate discounts are at risk, as
applications are rejected on technical grounds. eSchool News has created a
free online "E-Rate Survival Guide and Tool Kit" to help educators
understand the issues and maximize the E-Rate funding they receive. The
website provides a summary of news coverage on the issue, links to
organizations doing E-Rate research and advocacy work and practical tools to
assist schools in applying for the program.
SOURCE: eSchool News; AUTHOR: Gregg Downey
http://www.eschoolnews.com/resources/reports/erate/index.cfm
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