Podcasting 101-How Educators Can Use This New Technology

July 1, 2006

Podcasting 101 -- How Educators Can Use This New Technology
Mike Dionne

How can I create enthusiasm that is contagious? How can I integrate technology into my curriculum? What kinds of enrichment activities are available and affordable? How do I get parents involved?

These are all good questions that we as educators ask ourselves every day. We never stop trying to find the holy grail of education that will ‘do it all.’ I have discovered an activity that comes close. You have probably heard of it already – it’s called “podcasting”. Podcasts are affordable, they’re easy to do, they enhance any curriculum, and you already have the equipment to start. All you need is guidance and creativity.

Here’s an easy definition: Podcasting, a portmanteau of Apple's "iPod" and "broadcasting", is a method of publishing audio files to the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically by subscription, usually at no cost. For a detailed explanation, I suggest you visit the Wikipedia.org entry for “Podcast.”

Now, for all of us non-geeks, podcasting is a short radio-style show that you produce and make available via the Internet, using a simple computer and inexpensive microphone. Once the show is put on the Internet, anyone can listen to it. What makes a podcast so different from anything else on the Internet is the ability through software to subscribe to the show. This means that once you find something you want to subscribe to, your computer will continue to automatically update you with new shows as they are produced.

There are several kinds of software, technically called aggregators, that enables you to subscribe. One of the more popular aggregators, is iTunes – the same wildly-successful music program that made Apple Computer once again a major player. It is free to download at “Download iTunes 6.” If you complete a search on the term podcast you will find several directories that list podcasts. Here are just a few: Podcastingnews, Podcastdirectory, Podcastalley, and Odeo.

Once you’ve listened to a few podcasts and get the feel for how they can be used in your class, it’s time to get creative. Ask yourself these questions. What will my show theme and title be? How will my students contribute? Will they work in groups or individually? How long will each show be?

The theme can be anything, including: classroom news, storytelling, daily school announcements, interviews with students, teachers, parents, community leaders, etc. The theme can relate to just about any classroom activity. Students can create the show’s musical intro or vocal lead in. They can create the outline and scripts and record it on the computer. Students can work in teams or individually. The shows can be from 3-5 or 10-20 minutes long. The teacher can guide the students on each of these choices.

After all of this you are now ready to formulate your plan of attack. Creating lesson plans and outlines for students is the best approach. Outlines for a podcast could include an information sheet with fill-in-the-blanks for students to enter their show name, topics, guests, and sounds effects or music used. Another outline you could use would be the show notes page for the Internet. Give your students time to listen to several podcasts. The easiest way to find podcasts done by other students is to search for them on the Internet. This will help them get the feel for the style and expectations of quality needed to produce a show. Have them complete the outlines you have created and you are ready to have them record. This is the really fun part for everyone. Students will get excited once they put on the headphones and sit in front of the microphone. They will feel like a celebrity. Suddenly everyone will want to do it!

With audio files in hand and show notes complete you are ready to upload these files to the Internet. The only thing left to do is to create the file that allows people to subscribe. This file is known as an RSS feed file. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Software is available to help you create your RSS feed file, which is then uploaded to the Internet as well.

Finally you are ready to advertise to your students’ parents where they can go on the Internet to listen to their sons or daughters. You will gain an immediate audience that is sure to keep coming back!

You may find complete detailed information about the software and outlines used for podcasting in education by emailing Mike Dionne. Edukast.com is the producer of “The GeekPodSquad” and “PSUCast” podcasts for teachers. You can listen to each of these podcasts at EduKast. A CD (Podcast Disk) is available that will walk you through each step of the process of producing and publishing a podcast in your classroom. Edukast also offers a service to create and host your school podcasts. Send your request to Mike.

See Ya Podside!

Michigan Virtual High School meets Michigan Merit Curriculum On-Line Mandate

Michigan Virtual High School "CareerForward" On-line Program

http://www.mivhs.org/content.cfm?ID=693

You might wish to become familiar with this "free program" and explore the "more information" elements (on the top right hand side of the page) particularly, the "preview" and "trailer" items.

Hey Now?

YOU Make IT so!

What Attributes Comprise an "AIM Scholar" 21st Century Digital Learner?

JASON FULFORD AND PAUL SAHRE FOR TIME

Collabulary START 2007

SMART Signs Dead-Ahead!

Loudoun School System Recognized for Technology Initiatives

By Arianne Aryanpur
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 24, 2006; LZ01

Ten years ago, the Loudoun County school system was "limping along" when it came to equipping students with the latest technology, said Assistant Superintendent Sharon D. Ackerman. So school officials pushed up their sleeves and drafted a plan to invest $22 million in technology improvements.

That plan, put before voters in a 1996 bond referendum, called for four computers in every classroom, one computer lab in all elementary schools and four to five computer labs in all middle and high schools. The goal was realized 18 months later, and ever since, Loudoun's public school system has been a leader in introducing the latest technology into classrooms, Ackerman said.

That record recently drew national recognition. Last month, Loudoun was one of three school districts in the nation to win the National School Boards Association's Technology Salute District award. In March, a group of national educators will visit Loudoun and the two other districts -- the Kyrene school district in Tempe, Ariz., and the Kokomo-Center Consolidated School Corp. in Kokomo, Ind. -- to see how those jurisdictions have used technology to enhance learning.

One advanced-technology tool that Loudoun uses is the SMART Board -- a touch-screen white board that eliminates the traditional chalk and erasers associated with teaching. A teacher writes on the screen with a finger, and whatever is written is stored electronically. Students can retrieve the information later by visiting the teacher's Web site.

Betty Korte, a math teacher at Stone Bridge High School, said the technology has made it easier to teach her ninth- and 10th-grade students.

"In math, where a lot of abstract concepts need to be understood, I can use a lot of the features to make it more real for the kids," Korte said. "I've been able to see the difference in their ability to understand these concepts before and after using the tool. In my mind, there's just no comparison."

Since adopting the technology last year, Loudoun has equipped each of its 45 schools with one or two SMART Boards. Stone Bridge has 12, one in every math classroom, and the Academy of Science at Dominion High School has one in every classroom. The school system aims to have a SMART Board in every classroom by 2010, said Preston Coppels, the system's director of instructional services.

"It's probably the most explosive technology in education," he said.

In citing Loudoun for the award, the national association noted the district's offering of online courses, which the county began providing five years ago. Through a partnership with George Mason University and the school systems in Stafford and Warren counties, students who otherwise can't complete classes -- because of long-term illness or lack of time in their schedules -- may register for online classes hosted by the GMU Web site.

The classes are self-taught, but teachers from Loudoun, Stafford and Warren counties answer questions via e-mail and chat. Coppels said that the pass rate for online courses has been exceptionally high and that students have given the service high marks.

The association also cited Loudoun's plans to establish next year a comprehensive online database of student information, including grades and standardized-test results, that will put information about each student at a teacher's fingertips.

Ackerman said the national recognition demonstrates Loudoun's ability to keep itself current with technological advances. And the school system will always have its eye on the next big thing, she said.

"I really think wireless is the future," she said. "The ability to roll the computers in . . . you don't eat up a whole room with a permanent computer lab, and every student can have them on their desks. We are looking in the future to go wireless."

A Holiday Wish for All of You!

A Christmas Canon by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

http://www.trans-siberian.com/multimedia/video.shtml

Lyrics:

Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas

The hope that he brings
The hope that he brings
The hope that he brings
The hope that he brings

This night
We pray
Our lives
Will show

This dream
He had
Each child
Still knows

We are waiting
We have not forgotten

On this night
On this night
On this very Christmas night

This "Digital Forum" Requires Participation!

The "Digital TICKET" for the Train-Ride to YOUR 21st Century Learning!

ALL ABOARD! The "little train" that could!

Yokomi Elementary School Educates Fresno ’s Littlest Scientists

Six-year-olds Kellyn and Julissa hunch over a bottle containing a mysterious liquid, examining it with a flashlight. These students at Akira Yokomi Elementary School in Fresno, California, may only be in first grade, but they already understand how to use words like “transparent” and “opaque” to discuss the properties of liquid. Down the hall, sixth grade students dressed in white laboratory coats peer through their goggles into microscopes, type their observations into laptop computers, and project their findings onto interactive whiteboards. With its high-tech classrooms, hands-on curriculum, and intense focus on science and preparing students for success in the 21st century, Yokomi is not an average elementary school.

Yokomi was born out of a clarion call issued in a report on economic development, education, and workforce issues in 2005 by the Fresno County Grand Jury. The report cited the need for Fresno students to receive additional educational opportunities to build technological literacy and practice skills in applied science and technology fields. In August 2005, Yokomi opened in downtown Fresno as a way of answering this call.

Breaking the Cycle of Underachievement

The new, two-story technology-infused building stands out against the backdrop of a community that was identified in 2005 as having the highest concentration of poverty in the United States by the Washington, DC-based nonprofit Brookings Institution. The school currently serves a population of 660 students in kindergarten through sixth grade who are 67 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African American, 12 percent Asian, eight percent white, and less than one percent Filipino, Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native. More than 70 percent of Yokomi students are from families who do not speak English as their primary language, and 42 percent are designated as English language learners (ELLs). As a magnet school, Yokomi pulls students from across local districts, but over half live in the low-income neighborhood surrounding the school.

Studies show that certain family risk factors, such as poverty or the language spoken in the home, present challenges to students’ educational achievement and progress. For example, The Condition of Education 2006 from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) revealed that in 2005, fourth grade students in the highest poverty public schools scored lower on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Mathematics Assessment than their peers in the lowest poverty public schools. The same report also showed that the number of school-age children who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke English with difficulty increased between 1979 and 2004.

With the challenges that face low-income and ELL students in mind, Yokomi works to provide enriching educational opportunities and extra support to students so that regardless of their socio-economic status or native language, all may experience academic success. This approach appears to be paying off since, in its first year of operation, Yokomi met all targets for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and results from the 2006 California Standard Tests (CSTs) show that fourth grade students are reaching district performance goals in English language arts and surpassing those goals in mathematics.

A Technology-Infused Environment

Yokomi administrators and teachers believe that, with the support of appropriate technology and engaging instruction, all students – from those who may be at risk for academic failure to those who are performing above grade level – can master key concepts in core subjects and perform to high levels. At Yokomi, technology does not mean a row of dusty computers in the back of a classroom with outdated software and slow dial-up modems. Rather, technology means digital projectors, scanners, and wireless slates that are used to enhance the curriculum, provide assistance to students who may need extra help, and get teachers excited about teaching and students passionate about learning.

During a recent visit to Fresno, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Morgan Brown took a tour of Yokomi and noted, “This is an amazing school to walk into. The concept of integrating technology and science into a school curriculum is not unusual, but it usually does not happen for students until they are in middle or high school.”

Yokomi’s classrooms are equipped with at least one laptop computer, a digital projector, and document cameras. Students in kindergarten through second grade learn basic keyboarding skills on special word-processing laptops, while older students use traditional laptops as learning tools. Additionally, teachers wear wireless microphones that amplify their voices through surround-sound systems so students are able to clearly hear lesson instructions. Possibly the most frequently used piece of classroom equipment is the Smart Board. This interactive whiteboard looks much like a traditional mounted writing surface, but the touch-sensitive display enables teachers and students to access and control computer and multimedia applications, the Internet, CD-ROMs, and DVDs with their fingertips. The Smart Board may be connected to a computer and projector so that it functions as a giant computer screen. Teachers and students can write on the whiteboard with digital “ink” and save their work for future study or review.

Yokomi’s principal, Steve Gonzales, notes, “Every one of our teachers, from kindergarten through sixth grade, has embraced this technology wholeheartedly. And parents say that their children come home from school excited about what they’ve just learned, largely due to the technology-infused lessons.”

Although Yokomi has a technology and science theme, all academic subjects are taught with the same level of rigor, based on state standards. Students participate in English language arts, reading, mathematics, science, history, and social studies, as well as art and music classes. As a matter of fact, music has a special place in the Yokomi curriculum based on research that has indicated a powerful connection between the subject and the development of key cognitive skills. Students engage in a specialized music curriculum that combines the use of musical instruments and computers so that students may make music and observe how it relates to other disciplines, such as mathematics.

Science: The Yokomi Way

Science instruction occurs daily and is designed to improve students’ literacy levels while enhancing their inquiry and problem-solving skills. Students in kindergarten through third grade spend about 70 minutes each day studying and exploring science concepts, and students in fourth through sixth grade spend about 120 minutes working with the subject. For half of this time, students learn in specially designed elementary science laboratories that are fitted with child-sized furniture and equipment. In addition to laboratory work, every day for 45 to 60 minutes, students participate in science-based literacy instruction where they learn key vocabulary terms, read scientific journals and articles, and practice writing. For the first time this year, the school also is instituting the Lego Engineering curriculum so that students may apply skills they learn in science and mathematics to build their own robots.

The overall science curriculum at Yokomi is based on Harcourt Science and the Full Option Science System (FOSS), the latter of which was developed by the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkley. FOSS is a research-based science curriculum for students in kindergarten through eighth grade and an ongoing research project. The project began over 20 years ago, and its development continues to be shaped by advances in the understanding of how children think and learn. The Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) has been implementing FOSS in its classrooms since 1993, with teachers receiving ongoing training.

FOSS has three goals: 1.) to promote scientific literacy by providing all students with science experiences that are grade-level appropriate and that serve as a foundation for more advanced ideas; 2.) to be instructionally efficient by providing teachers with a complete, easy-to-use science program; and 3.) to promote systemic reform by providing real experiences for students that reflect National Science Education Standards.

The FOSS kindergarten through sixth grade program used at Yokomi consists of 26 modules in scientific reasoning and technology, and life , physical , and earth sciences. Twice per year, Yokomi students create science fair projects that are based on one of the FOSS modules they have studied. The inaugural science fair last year focused on physical science using modules such as Solar Energy, Magnetism and Electricity, and Solids and Liquids. As a testament to how dedicated the community and parents are to Yokomi, over 500 family and community members attended the fair.

Microscopes and Computers are Great, but Parents are Key

In fact, the school was created with parents in mind. Parents who work near Yokomi in the downtown area are offered priority in the school’s application and lottery processes so that they are closer to their children and freer to visit the school during the day. Parents also are involved with the daily operations at Yokomi. For example, the School Site Council and English Language Learner Committee, which prepare the budget and programming for the school, are open to families. Also, the Student Study Team (SST), which assists students who may be experiencing academic, behavioral, or emotional issues, has parents actively participate in meetings. Parents interact with resource specialist teachers, classroom teachers, the principal, and often the school psychologist and speech therapist to determine how best to support individual students.

With its strong support network for students and innovative curriculum, Akira Yokomi Elementary School is giving Fresno ’s littlest scientists a strong academic foundation that will assist them in their pursuit of higher education and work in the 21 st century. Yokomi graduates are particularly well prepared to enroll in the science/medical middle and high school choices that FUSD offers, such as Fort Miller Medical Careers Academy , Sequoia Middle, Duncan Polytechnical High School , and the Sunnyside High School Doctors’ Academy (see Innovator, July 18, 2005). A Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant from the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education helped create Yokomi – the only FUSD elementary school with a science focus, and the most technologically advanced school in Central California.

Note: The featured program is innovative; however, it does not yet have evidence of effectiveness from a rigorous evaluation.

Resources

• Akira Yokomi Elementary School
• Magnet Schools Assistance Program

Creative "Higher-Ordered" Thinking Can Lead to Breakthrough Innovations!

Techlearning blog

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Valuing student creativity

What are the ultimate aims of K-12 education? In our current era of high-stakes testing and accountability in the United States, many people might answer "helping students and the schools they attend achieve high scores on standardized assessments." Yet if we think about it, this goal falls far short of encompassing many of the reasons parents send their children to school and taxpayers support them in this effort. All parents want their students to learn and be prepared for the challenges they will face in the future as adults and fulltime members of the workforce (in some capacity) and society in general. Most will acknowledge, if pressed, that the work environment and challenges of the future are difficult if not impossible to predict with certainty. Given these realities, many people can agree that helping students LEARN TO THINK more critically is a key educational goal.

So how do we determine if educational environments, tasks, and experiences help students develop their thinking skills? Bloom's Taxonomy was first proposed in the mid 1950s to motivate educators to focus on three different domains: the affective, psychomotor, and cognitive. Many people think of Bloom's Taxonomy and its well known pyramid of levels in only the cognative domain, but it is important to remember it includes affective and psychomotor domains as well:

Often in K-12 classrooms, lessons and their related student outcomes focus predominantly on the lower knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Lower-level recitation of facts and details should form a part of the cognitive learning landscape for students, but to truly help them learn to THINK more critically and with more depth, lesson outcomes must focus on higher levels. Traditionally, using Bloom's taxonomy, that meant helping students analyze, synthesize, and evaluate ideas and information. If students reached the "evaluation" level of thinking as a result of a teacher's lesson or assigned task, those students were considered to have achieved the ultimate level of cognitive development for the given context.

In 2001, however, Lorin Anderson and David Krathwohl proposed a revision to Bloom's taxonomy that has important implications for learners, particularly in our era of web-based read/write tools. Anderson and Krathwohl placed THE CREATION of new knowledge (including knowledge products) at the top of their taxonomy:

This may sound reasonable, but I think it is actually a revolutionary proposal for most K-12 educational settings. Many adults seem to accept as an article of faith that educational systems exist primarily to transmit knowledge from the old to the young. The purpose and mission of students in schools is believed (fallaciously, I contend) to be sitting quietly, reading their assigned materials, participating in class discussions on cue, and dutifully completing assignments and tests which focus primarily on the knowledge/comprehension level of Bloom's taxonomy. To summarize rather bluntly, students are expected to "sit and get" and regurgitate accurately upon demand. (We generally call those moments "tests.")

I think more educational constituents (broadly defined to include not only educators and administrators, but also parents, board members, and other community members) should be challenged to think about cognative learning outcomes through the lens of Anderson and Krathwohl's revised pyramid of the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy. If this happened, perhaps we would value STUDENT CREATIVITY more highly that we do in schools today, where the suggestion that students should be remixing and authoring original content via blogs, digital stories, and collaborative wikis strikes many as fanciful idealism at best, or dangerous heresy at worst.

How do we help parents, school board members, and community members in general expand their vision of what teaching and learning should mean in the 21st Century? I think a big part of this answer depends on LEADERSHIP. We need visionary educational leadership that understands and effectively communicates the importance of emphasizing student CREATIVITY and the creation of original (and remixed) knowledge products. Absent this leadership, we're likely to continue with the short-sighted focus on summative assessment that defines many K-12 classrooms and educational environments today.

*Additionally, CREATIVITY IS FUN! And it while we are having FUN that we learn the most.

Posted by Wesley Fryer on December 16, 2006 12:34 AM | Permalink

USER Generated CONTENT! Hey NOW!

A Search for Ourselves

User-Generated Content Dominates Google's 2006 Hot List

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; D01

Here's a way to test your Web savvy: Have you searched for the word Bebo?

On Google's annual top 10 list of the hottest search words and phrases, Bebo -- an online social network that's popular in Britain and starting to gain traction in the United States -- took the top spot, followed by MySpace, World Cup, Metacafe and Radioblog.

Each year, Google, the most popular search engine, releases an annual "zeitgeist" of the search terms that gained the most in usage in 2006, giving the world a peek behind its bare-bones home page and a window into the world's mind. This year, in addition to the predictable current events, celebrities and trends summing up 2006, Google's list seems to support the idea behind Time magazine's Person of the Year award, which was given to "You."

The top search terms were words related to user-generated content, such as blogs, social networking sites and podcasts.

Metacafe is a competitor to YouTube, the leading online video site, which surprisingly did not make Google's global top 10 list, while Radioblog is a tool used for streaming audio on a Web site.

"Zeitgeist, to us, is a measure of the pushpins in the bulletin board of worldwide understanding of what we want to know," said Douglas Merrill, Google's vice president of engineering, who analyzes the most rapidly growing search terms every week for clues about the online world's interests. "It's things in the world we want to care about."

In terms of news, the world is unequivocally interested in Paris Hilton, the socialite celebrity who topped Google's most-searched-for on the search engine's news site, which posts the most current news stories from a variety of outlets. Hilton was followed by actor Orlando Bloom and then cancer.

This year's news list contained a hodgepodge of topics, from serious to frivolous. Podcasting came in at No. 4, followed by Hurricane Katrina and bankruptcy. The list continues with Martina Hingis, a tennis star; autism; the NFL draft; and "Celebrity Big Brother."

"It shows exactly what the Web does brilliantly: It unites the famous and infamous and high and low culture," said Lucian James, president of Agenda Inc., a pop-culture branding company in San Francisco. "It shows how quickly the Web creates new things and recycles old ideas."

Among those who type their searches in the form of a question, there's interest in current events and prescription drugs. Aside from Hezbollah, which came in first, users were looking for definitions of carisoprodol (a muscle relaxant), acyclovir (an antiviral medication used to slow the growth of herpes), alprazolam (an anti-anxiety medication) and Xenical (a drug that reduces fat absorption). Also in the top 10 was a request for the definition of Ajax, a computer technology for building interactive Web applications.

The list of "how to" questions typed into Google's search box shows that Web surfers want to know more about creating their own online content. At the top of the list was "how to refinance," a reflection of the changing real estate market. But after that, users were interested in knowing how to wiki, podcast and blog.

Google said its annual list does not reflect the most-searched-for terms by volume; rather, it selects the fastest-growing search terms and removes those that are always very popular, such as searches for Web sites that host free e-mail accounts or adult content. Google does not reveal how many searches it takes to reach the top 10, but it said millions of searches are conducted each day.

"We view Google as the entryway for things to the Internet," Merrill said. "We're looking for things that have changed this year and what's new and interesting."

One larger trend, Merrill said, is that this year's Google searches reflect more of an international audience -- the eighth-fastest-growing search term this year was "rebelde," the name of a popular Spanish-language soap opera and a Mexican pop band.

The list also sheds some light on how people are using Google beyond just searching. Bebo and MySpace appearing in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions doesn't necessarily mean that people are trying to learn more about the social networking sites, Google said. Instead, many people choose to type the name of the Web site into the search box rather than type the Web address into the browser.

John Battelle, author of "The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture," said the list shows that young people conduct a high volume of Internet searches and explains how they use the search engine.

"For a very large number of people, Google is the navigational tool, not the navigational bar at the top" of a Web browser, he said. Up to 20 percent of all searches are used as a means to get to a specific Web site, not to find information, he said.

Battelle said Google's annual list is a "tease" of all that Google knows about Internet users and their habits. The list "makes you think, 'Wow, what do they know that we don't know, and how powerful the company is to have this information and refine their products and services based on those answers,' " Battelle said.

Nano, Nano Alert!

Teaching the Notion of Nanotechnology

Science of Manipulating Super-Small Objects Inches Its Way Into Classrooms

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 19, 2006; A10

Scientist Robert P.H. Chang of Northwestern University had no trouble persuading education officials in Mexico to introduce the burgeoning field of nanotechnology to schools there, but it's been a far tougher sell in the United States.

In Mexico, Chang said he had only to speak about the subject to top government officials, who then simply ordered school officials to teach it.

For better or worse, things work differently here at home.

Multiple factors make it tough for new fields such as nanotechnology -- manipulating matter at the smallest of scales to create new materials -- to get introduced in classrooms in a broad way, educators say. They include:

· 15,000 school systems in the country, each with its own curriculum.

· Differing state standards that spell out what kids should know.

· Different high-stakes standardized tests that assess whether students meet the standards.

Recognizing that changing curricula can be next to impossible, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network is developing and distributing programs aimed at engaging schools in nanoscale science and engineering education, said Carol Lynn Alpert, director of strategic projects at the Museum of Science, Boston, and a co-principal investigator of the network.

It is vital, she said, for Americans to have some understanding of today's scientific revolutions and the risks and benefits they offer.

"We are living in a democracy, imperfect as it is, in which the notion is that we jointly make decisions about the investment of our research dollars," Alpert said. "It's important that people have a sense of what is the new science."

Nanotechnology presents an especially difficult challenge in education. It is not a traditional discipline but rather a combination involving physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering and technology.

It holds the promise of creating more effective medicines, cleaner fuel and other products to improve quality of life, according to Andrew Maynard, science adviser to the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies. And it is likely to force changes in the way universities organize their departments and how students are taught.

But first they need to know what it is.

Leah Gonzalez, 14, certainly didn't know what it was when she, along with other kids on Team Tikki of McLean, first learned that it would be the theme for a 2006 competition sponsored by the First Lego League, an international children's program that promotes interest in science with a hands-on interactive robotics program in a sportslike atmosphere.

She'd never heard about it in school, she said, and for that matter, her mother, the team's sponsor, didn't know what nanotechnology was, either.

But they learned about it through Internet research and by visiting the Wilson Center's nanotechnology program, ultimately settling on a project involving a quest for a more comfortable prosthesis to help injured people. The team landed in next year's final competition.

"Everybody should learn what it is," said Leah, an eighth-grader at Longfellow Middle School in Falls Church. "It could be incorporated into science curriculum for different age groups and taught differently. But I think it would be great to teach students about the new science that they might be working in when they grow up."

Chang's university is part of a consortium of 14 museums, research centers and educational outreach institutions also working to educate the public -- inside and outside of schools -- about nanotechnology.

"The informal is very important," said Gerry Wheeler, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association. "Count up the minutes a kid is in the classroom and the kid is outside the classroom. Family involvement, outside learning, is very important."

Museums also are developing exhibits, demonstrations and activities for people of all ages to learn about the field. There's also a proliferation of supplemental materials being created -- including learning modules with ready-made experiments, fact sheets and teaching tips -- that educators can insert into their standard curricula.

That's what Chang has been developing as he directs Northwestern's new national center for the university's Materials World Modules program, charged with creating materials on nanotechnology for students in grades seven through 12.

Part of the goal, Chang said, is that young people will become interested enough to want to enter the field, which he said needs tens of thousands nano-literate workers. Helping kids understand how science directly applies to the quality of their lives is crucial to attracting more workers, he and other scientists said.

It is unclear whether the current array of educational efforts will be enough to accomplish their goals. Wheeler said he doubts it. Supplemental materials and many professional development programs are helpful for some teachers but often don't reach far enough, he said.

"The alpha science teacher does look forward to these new things and finds a way to get the subject into his or her classroom," Wheeler said. "But they really can't put a lot of time into that because of the standards and the testing."

Dollars Go Digital!

Pennsylvania Expands High-Speed Internet to Schools Across State

Dec 15, 2006 News Release

Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today said students in 25 counties will have better opportunities for learning as the state invests $10 million to help connect intermediate units and school districts to the Internet with high-speed technology.

The Educational Technology Fund (E-Fund) grants strengthen the governor's commitment to improving educational opportunities in schools by expanding schools' access to technology.

"In Pennsylvania, we are striving to deliver a high-quality education to every student, regardless of if they live in rural, urban or suburban Pennsylvania," Rendell said. "A quality telecommunications infrastructure is vital for schools in today's globally-competitive economy. But too many of our rural and disadvantaged schools lack access to the high-speed technology that's necessary for students to succeed. These E-Fund grants change that."

Over $5 million in 2006-07 Broadband Connectivity Grants, which are used to boost broadband Internet capacity and develop technological infrastructure to provide opportunities for economic growth, are being awarded to nine consortiums comprised of 134 school districts, 20 Career and Technical Centers and Area Vocational Technical Schools, one charter school, and one non-public school.

Rendell signed Act 183 in 2004, establishing the E-Fund to help school districts without access to high-speed Internet purchase quality broadband access and service. E-Fund grants, funded by Pennsylvania's telecommunications industry, will be available until 2011 to help schools acquire telecommunications services, hardware and technical assistance and provide distance education.

Grant recipients are encouraged to provide connectivity to large geographic areas that have low speed or no connectivity by forming consortiums to leverage costs and services or to provide distance-learning resources and quality professional development.

You are the PERSON OF THE YEAR!

CONGRATULATIONS!

PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION FOR TIME BY ARTHUR HOCHSTEIN, WITH PHOTOGRAPHS BY SPENCER JONES—GLASSHOUSE

YOU ARE THE DECIDERS! (AND the END-GAME)

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December 17, 2006

From Lips of Children, Tips to Ears of Investors

By MATT RICHTEL

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16 — Wanted: investment adviser, the younger the better.

In a nod to the wisdom of youth, many wealthy, highly connected and well-educated technology investors are taking counsel and investment tips from their children, summer interns and twentysomething receptionists.

These venture capital investors say there is good reason to ask young people to help them assess new technology: as the investors themselves are aging, the technology — including social networking Web sites and mobile gadgets — is designed for, used by and sometimes built by people half their age.

“Children are a secret weapon in my arsenal for making investment decisions,” said Heidi Roizen, a managing director at Mobius Venture Capital, a Silicon Valley firm.

Last year, Ms. Roizen asked her daughters, Niki and Marleyna Mohler, ages 13 and 11, to check out a handheld video player she was thinking about backing. The daughters quickly tired of the gadget, so Ms. Roizen did not invest.

And this year, Ms. Roizen bought Niki a subscription to World of Warcraft, the popular online role-playing game. The idea was to get her daughter familiar with the genre so she could offer advice about an investment Ms. Roizen had made in another game company.

“I was a guinea pig, a lab rat,” Niki said of the experience, in a tone that suggested she was also experimenting with sarcasm.

While the idea of testing products on consumers is hardly new, its emergence in the world of venture capitalists is something of a sea change. After all, this is an industry of independent-minded investors who have historically made decisions by trusting their knowledge of engineering, strict analytics and their own gut instincts — along with a bit of the herd mentality.

Unlike the formal consumer tests and focus groups at large companies like Procter & Gamble, these inquiries are taking place closer to home, with friends and family. But their impact can be broad, because venture capitalists not only help steer the development of new ideas but also invest billions of dollars in those ideas on behalf of investment groups and wealthy individuals.

To some, the approach looks like a product of the desperation felt by investors trying to identify the next YouTube or iPod.

“There is something comical, and maybe silly, about relying on kids,” said Paul Romer, a professor of economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. “It seems risky.”

But Mr. Romer noted that it was getting tougher to pick the winners among start-ups. Young people, Mr. Romer said, may be better equipped than investors, who tend to be in their 30s or older, to see nuances and identify trends.

“The people making the decisions may not appreciate some of the small differences that might be apparent to end users,” he said.

Those end users include Mariana and Tatiana Megevand, who live in Geneva. Last year, Neil Rimer, their uncle, heard the girls, 14 and 12, talking about one of their favorite Web sites, Stardoll.com.

The site lets visitors create and dress up virtual paper dolls. Mr. Rimer is not just an uncle but also a venture capitalist, a partner with Index Ventures, based in Geneva. He decided that his nieces’ interest constituted one of the better tips he had heard in a while.

“The next Monday I went in and talked about it with my partners,” he said, “and that week we were on the phone to the company.”

Index and other firms, including the venerable Sequoia Capital, have invested more than $10 million in Stardoll this year, and the company has moved to Geneva from Finland. Mr. Rimer says he still talks to the girls about what they like and what they would improve. He has given them some incentive, too: a small stake in Stardoll that could be valuable if the company prospers.

Other firms have started surveying groups of children. IDG Ventures, a Boston firm, recently asked one of its associates to visit its partners’ homes and ask their children to assess a new social networking site.

The trend may indicate the rise of something new in the venture capital industry itself: humility. A notoriously self-assured bunch, these investors are admitting that some innovations may be lost on their g-g-generation.

“The funniest thing is when we sit around and say, ‘I’m not sure because I would never use this,’ ” said Jeff Fagnan, 36, a general partner with Atlas Ventures.

The investors said consulting with younger people would have been unheard of in the dot-com boom of the 1990s. Then, investors were immersed in the very technology they were financing, ordering books on Amazon, downloading music from Napster and buying and selling on eBay. But now, in the so-called Web 2.0 era, venture capitalists’ personal interests have strayed from the sweet spot of innovation: Web sites like MySpace intended to connect people, free Internet calling tools like Skype or software for mobile phones.

And people now in junior high and high school have spent their lives with technology. “This is the first generation for whom the computer is a native language,” said Jim Gauer, managing director of Palomar Ventures, a Los Angeles firm. “We’re all going to have to get re-educated and learn that language.”

Or they can do what Palomar and others have: hire a native speaker. Last summer, the firm had an intern, Adam Gottesfeld, 21, who was heading into his senior year as an international studies major at Princeton. Mr. Gottesfeld so impressed the firm with his technological knowledge that it has offered him a job as an associate when he graduates.

After Niki, Ms. Roizen’s daughter, became proficient at World of Warcraft, her mother took her to visit Perpetual Entertainment, a game company in San Francisco she had invested in. Niki had some criticisms of the company’s game, a role-playing epic called Gods and Heroes, telling its developers that it seemed unpolished and choppy. The game makers, taking advice from Niki and others, improved the product by the time she visited again.

“When she picked me up, she said, ‘Did you like it? Was it more fun?’ And I said yes, the whole car ride home,” Niki said.

Niki is not only teaching, it seems, but also learning about business. A couple of years ago, Ms. Roizen said, her daughter was looking at Neopets.com, a Web site where people play with virtual pets.

“She said, ‘I don’t get their business model,’ ” Ms. Roizen recalled. “She was 11.”

*Bring it on!

AIM "Season Celebration" Invitation

Web Communications

Instructional Design Elements / "Rules of Engagement"

http://www.iitsec.org/documents/E_2139_001.pdf

TRUTH, TRUST, DEEDS! (and of course in that order)

What Every Company (Everyone) Should Know
by Ram Charan

Lead by Putting Purpose Before Self
by Ram Charan

Thursday, December 7, 2006

In an era when many business leaders seek celebrity at the expense of their companies, others are quietly focused on something else entirely: the business.


What they care most about is carrying out the mission of the business, delivering the promised results, and building an organization they can be proud of.


They have a sense of purpose that goes beyond their own personal desire for extraordinary wealth, status, self-aggrandizement, or power. They put a broader purpose before interests that benefit only them.


Right on Target

Such leaders are often unsung heroes. Take, for example, Target -- a company widely recognized for its combination of savvy marketing, value pricing, and an emphasis on design that has wooed shoppers from both Wal-Mart and department stores.


Can you name the leader behind Target's success? Probably not. Bob Ulrich isn't a household name, though he's used his superb business savvy and leadership skills to build a strong business.


Today, after some 20 years of consistent, rhythmic work, Target is setting a standard against which its larger competitor, Wal-Mart, is being compared.


Magnetic Leadership

Look around your organization and you'll likely see leaders who are always thinking of what's best for them or what will make them look good.


Then there are others who are driven to create something meaningful and enduring. Their purpose might be to make the organization the most respected in its industry, or to develop the best workforce in the world. One CEO I know has made it his purpose to recast his company as an innovation-driven organization.


These are the leaders people typically gravitate toward. The ones we trust, and who we want to be more like -- not because of how much money they make, how much power they have, or how well-known they are, but because of who they really are, their inner substance.


Given the public transparency of the 21st century, leaders who put purpose before self are the ones to follow -- and to emulate.


Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Some leaders make impassioned speeches about their glorious mission or lofty goals, but their actions reveal their true motivations. They want their own fame, power, and fortune more than anything.


Are you the type who says the right things, or the type who does the right things? Is your self-interest served by meeting a higher purpose?


Put yourself to the test by being intellectually honest in answering the following questions:


1. Are you willing to give up some of your turf for a broader purpose?

In 2005, a $20 billion company underwent a major reorganization, and one of the senior executives approached the CEO to tell him a portion of the executive's new job really should belong to someone else.


What was he thinking? He was in a horse race to succeed the CEO and already had the smallest scope of all his peers and fellow contenders for the top job. Under those circumstances, many leaders would try to expand their span of control. But he believed the organization would work better if certain areas went to someone else.


This leader was not naïve or unambitious. It's just that he truly wanted the business to succeed. Of course he hoped that his thinking would be recognized and appreciated. When his boss and the board get close to the succession decision, no doubt they'll remember that this person revealed he's not a greedy empire builder.



Caring about the good of the organization can mean ceding a portion of your span of control, voluntarily agreeing to cut back on projects in order to meet a budget goal, or sharing part of your leadership responsibilities with an up-and-coming leader who needs a development opportunity.


It might also mean giving up valued team members who would better serve the organization in a different capacity. In today's global organization, letting go of good people is almost an imperative.


2. Do you place a high value on relationships?

Leaders who lead with a purpose understand that they must build and sustain relationships -- with customers, suppliers, employees, colleagues, and others whose favor or contributions are important to their organization's success.


They don't see relationships as an immediate exchange of benefits. Their primary concern is not "What's in it for me?" In fact, it may not even be clear exactly how a relationship could ultimately prove beneficial. Nonetheless, they're happy to devote the time and energy.


One legendary leader who understood this was John Weinberg, the former head of Goldman Sachs. He was famous for regularly calling to check in on clients, even when he had nothing to sell them. He just wanted to be available to them to help with any issue he could.


The payoff was that he built deep, trusting relationships with his clients, who would often turn to him for advice. These relationships in turn helped solidify the reputation and strength of his business. It's part of what brought him recognition as a great leader.


3. Can you value -- and leverage -- different perspectives?

If you lead with purpose, you understand that there's little value -- and much short-sighted paranoia -- in dismissing or deflecting viewpoints that differ from your own.


If you try to create a picture from a higher altitude, namely the corporate viewpoint rather than a departmental or divisional viewpoint, you'll be better able to reconcile conflicts. To do that, you have to be able to step into someone else's shoes and see things through their eyes.


Are you given to clashing with other leaders in your company, or do you seek to build strong working relationships with them based on your shared commitment to the common good of the organization? Do you automatically push back on customer demands for earlier delivery dates, discounts, or more favorable credit terms, or do you try to understand why these requests are being made and work with the customer to arrive at solutions that benefit both parties?


Leaders who put purpose before self can recognize, accept, and even leverage different perspectives -- often to tremendous advantage


4. Are you comfortable with transparency -- because you have nothing to hide?

Transparency is the order of the day, and people are more willing to work with, work for, and partner with people they trust. Trust is, after all, the crucial glue of collaboration.


Those who are narcissistic, who cut corners, and seek the easy path when the right path appears too difficult, and who clearly put themselves first, are less effective because they're held in much lower regard.


If, on the other hand, a higher purpose guides your actions, others will know where you stand and what you're about because you have nothing to hide.


Mark Twain observed that if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. He offered this as a humorous observation, but as a leader you should take the spirit of the message seriously. If you put purpose before self, you'll spend little time covering your tracks, "spinning" bad news, brandishing your image, or seeking to rebuild trust with others. And, as a result, you'll have that much more energy to devote to your purpose.