STUDENTS "SPEAK UP" ON TECHNOLOGY & 21st CENTURY LEARNING NetDay is conducting its third annual Speak Up Event, a national study of technology in education. Both students and teachers are invited to contribute to a national understanding of technology use and technology needs in our nation's schools. The data over the past two years has been used to inform national, state and local policies and plans for education technology. The focus of this year's Speak Up Event is how technology is supporting the development of 21st century learning environments for today's students, both in-school and out-of-school.
On November 9, Julie Evans, CEO of NetDay, will facilitate a panel discussion with students at Rachel Carson Middle School in Herndon, Virginia as part of a national effort to supplement the survey findings with additional student input. Last week, Ms. Evans facilitated a similar discussion with students at Lake Middle School in Denver. Later this month, she will be talking with students at two elementary schools in Costa Mesa, CA. In all of the discussions, students will be sharing their ideas on fair access to technology, using technology for learning, the potential of online learning tools, how they are using technology for science, and their aspirations for the ultimate 21st century classroom, among other topics. All schools are eligible to participate in this year's online Speak Up surveys. Schools can register now at http://www.netday.org. The survey will be open from October 21 - November 18, with a goal of collecting input from 250,000 K-12 students and teachers from all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico and on American military bases worldwide. Amy Cohen NetDay Student Voices Program Director (415) 643-6690 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] || IM: amyatnetday (AIM) http://www.netday.org || http://www.netday.org/SVRC NetDay is a national, education technology non-profit organization. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, November 04, 2005 9:06 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: DIGITALDIVIDE Digest, Vol 17, Issue 4 Send DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of DIGITALDIVIDE digest..." Today's Topics: 1. RE: Regulation and Wifi... (Robert Horvitz) 2. Hardware Acquisition for ctc/computer training room in Third World (Beth Kanter) 3. 'Knowledge divide' must be narrowed through education ? UNESCO (Andy Carvin) 4. Educating the World's Children: Patterns of Growth and Inequality ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) 5. Swedish gov positions and thinking via conferences- audio link (Gail Watt) 6. Blogging the Azerbaijan Election (Katy Pearce) 7. cyberactivism examples (Rawlins, Belinda) 8. Re: Third World (Vasu Murthy) 9. RE: cyberactivism examples (Beth Kanter) 10. Environmentally Conscious (or ethical) printing thoughts - query (Michael Maranda) 11. Re: [ctcnet] Environmentally Conscious (or ethical) printing thoughts - query (Dan Bassill) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 19:55:44 +0100 (CET) From: "Robert Horvitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [DDN] RE: Regulation and Wifi... To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-2" Amos, you will find our website to be a goldmine of information about license exempt radio regulations around the world: http://www.openspectrum.info/ You have an especially interesting situation in your country because the 1992 constitution says "there shall be no law requiring any person to obtain a license as a prerequisite to the establishment or operation of a newspaper, journal Or OTHER MEDIA FOR MASS COMMUNICATION OR INFORMATION..." (emphasis added) (Chapter 12, article 162 Sect. 3) A supreme court case in 1996 found that your government does have the right to license radio, but only to maintain technical order in the spectrum. That gives an unusually strong legal base for arguing for license exemption whenever the risk of interference is low. Despite that, Ghana is one of the few countries that licenses WiFi and charges exorbitant fees for spectrum use - but I don't know how strictly they enforce their rules. See the "Ghana" page on our website. >From this distance, it looks like one could reasonably argue that Ghana's WiFi policy is unconstitutional. If you want to explore that option further, or if you know someone else there who might want to create a test case, contact me. >BOB< Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 09:45:29 +0000 From: "Amos Anyimadu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [DDN] Regulation and Wifi, Regulation and Internet Telephony To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" I am doing a paper on the use of license-exempt radio spectrum - principally for wifi and wimax in Ghana. I am looking at it principally from the policy and regulatory perspectives, in particular, how can regulation enhance the development of Wifi and Wimax in Ghana? For the moment, I am looking directly at Accra's "wireless jungle" but I am also interested in the potential of these technologies for rural telematics and addressing local digital divides. I would be most grateful for all pointers and comparative examples... Amos Anyimadu Technology Assessment Project University of Ghana -- Amos Anyimadu [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Robert Horvitz Stichting Open Spectrum Slavikova 11, 120 00 Prague 2, Czech Republic Gelderlandplein 75 L, 1082 LV Amsterdam, Nederland mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.openspectrum.info/ mob: +420 775024705 tel: +420 222726807 fax: +420 222725688 ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 11:23:44 -0500 From: "Beth Kanter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [DDN] Hardware Acquisition for ctc/computer training room in Third World To: "'The Digital Divide Network discussion group'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello all, I am seeking some advice for a project we're planning to implement in Cambodia next year for The Sharing Foundation (www.sharingfoundation.org). The Sharing Foundation supports many different development projects in a small village about an hour outside of Phnom Penh. Education is at the center. We have a pre-school, support the village school, support english program and school library for K-8, a khmer literacy headstart school for poorest residents as well as high school and now college scholarships. We are hoping to add computer instruction K-8 as well as for high school/college students. Right now focusing on the K-8 - we'd like to add a mobile computer lab (using laptops) that can be used in the various locations. We're looking at all the issues (instructional support, curriculum, hardware, software, sustainability, etc.). But, I have a question about hardware acqusition which is not my strong expertise. We have some options. Option A: Get donated laptops in US, recondition them, have staff hand-carry on the plane to Cambodia or raise money to purchase refurbished laptops from a place like pcretro. (Note, we have lots of individuals who support us and we could do a little campaign where donors contribute and they get their name on a screensaver or something) There are local sources for repair as I understand it, although not fast repair. I'm also researching locally to see if there are particular computer brands available and only limit donations to those types. Also, there are students who are studying this in local colleges - so we could provide some employment for a student. Option B: Purchase computers in country. There is a small, but growing market. I've had some referrals to vendors who have worked with ngos in country. The pricing is comparative to US market and vendors also offer support. We'd have to raise a lot more money to go this route. So, I'd like to know about your experiences with hardware acqusition in third world countries. I want to know the success stories and the horror stories. For that matter, I'm also seeking any case studies, best practice guides, etc of running computer training room in third world country. I know there are a lot of differences based on local issues, but I'm sure there are some basic best practices. Advice, help would be appreciated. Thank you. ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 09:06:50 -0500 From: Andy Carvin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [DDN] 'Knowledge divide' must be narrowed through education ? UNESCO To: The Digital Divide Network discussion group <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed From the United Nations... I haven't found the actual report yet, though. The link in the press release leads to another press release, and the link to the report there appears to be dead. -ac 'Knowledge divide' must be narrowed through education UNESCO http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=16455&Cr=information&Cr1=summit 3 November 2005 With 90 per cent of all Internet users living in developed countries, governments must narrow the gap between North and South by expanding quality education for all, increasing community access to information and communication technology, and sharing scientific knowledge across borders, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report released today says. The report, "Towards Knowledge Societies," launched today on the eve of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), analyses the increasingly important role played by knowledge in economic growth and advances that it can serve as a new springboard for development in the countries of the South. "Those countries and communities that don't recognize this huge reliance on knowledge as a driving force will be left behind," Elizabeth Longworth, Director of UNESCO's Information Society Division, told a press conference at UN Headquarters in New York. She added that those countries and communities that recognize the importance of cognitive skills and make the resulting investment in education, lifelong learning and cultural facilities and in their research and innovation systems will prosper. Knowledge societies contribute to the well-being of individuals and communities, and encompass social, ethical and political dimensions while information societies are based on technological breakthroughs that risk providing little more than "a mass of indistinct data" for those who don't have the skills to benefit from it, according to the report. An example of a successful "knowledge society" is Singapore, which started out as a developing country of shantytowns at independence and achieved economic growth rates that surpass those of most industrialized nations in just four decades by promoting education and creativity. The work is the first in a new series of UNESCO reports, to be published every two years, focusing on subjects at the heart of the Organization's mission such as cultural diversity and sustainable development. -- ----------------------------------- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media & Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://katrina05.blogspot.com Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com ----------------------------------- ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 02:21:13 EST From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [DDN] Educating the World's Children: Patterns of Growth and Inequality To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" "Many developing countries have made dramatic progress over the past several decades to enroll their children in school. Still, too many childrenb _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
