Here at the Friday Institute at NC State University, we have a number of new projects evaluating educational innovations, including virtual schools, 1-1 computing programs in middle and high schools, virtual computing applied to high school and community college engineering programs, technology integration projects, professional development programs, and state-wide policies and programs related to e-learning and 21st century skills. As a result, we are currently seeking to hire 8 additional researchers, 4 at the associate level and 4 at the senior associate level, to further build our existing research and evaluation team. I’ve attached the job description for each level position. Please spread the word to former students (masters and doctoral level), post-docs, and others who would be qualified and interested. Questions or requests for further information should be directed to Marj Santoro (msantor@ncsu.edu), who is coordinating the search process.
Thanks,
Glenn
Glenn Kleiman
Executive Director, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
College of Education
North Carolina State University
1890 Main Campus Drive
919-513-8509
glenn_kleiman@ncsu.edu
Senior Research Associate
(Multiple positions are available)
The mission of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University is to advance education through innovation in teaching, learning, and leadership. We conduct research, create resources, advocate to improve teaching and learning, and provide services to educators and policymakers. Our work focuses on innovations that will help prepare all students, from preschool through college, to live and work successfully in the 21st century.
The Senior Research Associate (SRA) will work on several projects to evaluate the implementation and impact of technology-enabled innovations in K-12 classrooms. This individual will assume a central role in the evaluation process and will manage the day-to-day operations of evaluation projects. The SRA will serve as the primary liaison between school personnel, project team members, graduate assistants, and the faculty members serving as principal investigators. The SRA will oversee all data gathering, data management, and data analysis activities related to the project. In addition, the SRA will be responsible for managing the production of reports for the LEAs and schools participating in the study, the funding agencies, and interested educators, researchers, and policymakers. The SRA will also be centrally involved with presentations and publications arising from the projects, and will contribute to proposals for additional evaluation projects. Multiple positions may be available.
This is a one-year appointment under a term contract, subject to renewal depending upon job performance and anticipated continuation of funding.
Qualifications:
• M.A. required, Ph.D. strongly preferred, in relevant field such as education or psychology;
• Training in Evaluation, Educational Psychology, Education or related fields.
• Strong methodological skills, including research design, quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, measurement, and knowledgeable in using SPSS or SAS.
• Strong writing skills.
• Good project management and organizational skills.
• Ability to interact well with teachers, principals and other administrators in public schools at the elementary and middle level.
• Experience working in an elementary or middle school setting.
To Apply:
To apply please visit http://jobs.ncsu.edu and search for position number 03-27-0802.
AA/EOE. In addition, NC State welcomes all persons without regard to sexual orientation.
Anyone who works for an educational institution will recognize this large scale explanation of the tension between old style organizations and the new model of Internet bred collaboration.
The examples here should be familiar to you. What’s intriguing is that this TED talk took place 3 years ago and is fresh and on point right now. Shirky predicts a revolution based on free collaborative technologies that will lead to 50 years of chaos in communications communities. Based on what I saw at NECC 2008, the ideas are just beginning to trickle into institutionalized learning & we need a little chaos to break the logjam that is clogging innovation in education.
In this prescient 2005 talk, Clay Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles…
I’d like to share a wiki I created as part of a presentation I gave for D2L at NECC in San Antonio last week. Bottom line: The Virtual Classroom is a Web 2.0 Tool.
A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt:) (Download the latest version) http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ has been developed to assist Web authors in improving the accessibility and usability of HTML documents. By checking Web pages for barriers to accessibility and making repairs to correct any problems, A-Prompt will ensure that you are reaching the widest possible audience. (Note: PC only at this time.)
Cynthia Says http://www.cynthiasays.com/ This is a new site backed by internationally recognized accessibility expert, Cynthia Waddell. The site is a web content accessibility validation solution, it is designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. The main purpose of this portal is to educate web site developers in the development Web Based content that is accessible to all. This online test only validates one page at a time. Note this demo will test about one (1) page per minute / per site.
Wave 3.0 Web Accessibility Tool http://www.wave.webaim.org/index.jsp You can test a web address or upload a page from your hard drive for an online report. Clear advice and a graphic readout make this tool less intimidating that a typical Bobby Report. Provides a side by side WCAG 1.0 & 508 report. Consider using this tool if Lift or Bobby seem too complex.
Word Press XHTML Validation Plug-in accessibility resource for the popular blog software Wordpress. Takes some technical expertise to install and use, but it will address common problems associated with blogs.
For the cost of the call, groups of up to 30 students in grades 5-12 can schedule a one-hour session. Current offerings include a course on the Constitution and an introduction to the National Archives
Generation Yes was a great idea in the last century. It’s a great program in the 21st Century. Check it out! ~ Dennis
Great news! Establish a GenYES program now and never spend another penny to keep it going.
Announcing GenYES 2.0, an all new update to be released Fall 2008.
GenYES 2.0 teaches students to support YOUR teachers, staff, and
administrators with technology — anytime, any technology, any grade level.
GenYES empowers digital age students to take charge of their own learning
and solve real problems facing today’s schools as they help teachers
integrate technology into classrooms. Twelve years of research results
demonstrate that GenYES students increase the use of technology school-wide.
GenYES 2.0 has even more project-based technology curriculum units with
relevant, interesting lessons and activities. New online tools provide your
students and teachers with the most innovative Web 2.0 project management
tools and a student tech support help desk. And we provide intensive
step-by-step support to make GenYES 2.0 your best technology integration
tool.
The biggest news of all is that we are taking the radical step of changing
GenYES from an annual license to a purchase once, use forever license.
At Generation YES, we like radical ideas.
It’s a radical idea to put students in the forefront of making technology
integration happen. But, it works in thousands of GenYES schools around the
world.
It’s a radical idea to put students in charge of mentoring every middle
school student as they become technology literate. And yet, that’s exactly
what TechYES students do every day.
Simply put, Generation YES is about radical ideas that work. Now, it’s a
radical idea you can afford.
But that’s not all.
Our new TechYES Science program ensures all middle school students are
certified as technology literate - in existing science classes. TechYES
Science combines science projects with technology literacy to meet the
urgent call for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education
that engages students.
I was asked recently if web publishing pictures of kids at a summer camp on a school website was a violation of the alphabet’s soup of federal law (Coppa, Cipa, Ferpa).
Feeling compelled to ask this question and worrying about the answers says a lot about the media hyped climate of fear swirling around kids use of Web 2.0 technologies. Schools feel responsible and vulnerable and tend to react by locking things down. Lock downs may stifle the use of web tech in schools — one place where kids could learn the evaluation skills needed to protect themselves on the web. Ugly Irony.
Here’s a briefing update on new research sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation. It doesn’t surprise me that Kids aren’t learning Web 2.0 skills in school. Perhaps outside of school is where this kind of education is destined to take place?
PALO ALTO, Calif.–Among the generation of kids growing up wired, many teens are hyper-motivated to learn a special skill like how to create a podcast, direct a YouTube video, publish an anime site, or hack an iPhone. ”
Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA): http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html This federal law addresses privacy of student records and parent & student rights to access those educational records. Photos of kids at summer camp aren’t protected educational records.
Children’s Internet Protection Act (Cipa): http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cipa.html “Is a federal law enacted by Congress in December 2000 to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers.” This law regulates school & libraries receiving federal e-rate funding. It requires establishing internet safety policies and filtering technology to protect kids. See what the ALA has to say about CIPA: http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woissues/civilliberties/cipaweb/cipa.cfm
Photos of kids at summer camp aren’t harmful online content.
This is the law that is likely the source of confusion: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)http://www.coppa.org/coppa.htm
This is an FTC act aimed at website collection of personal information from kids under 13 for commercial purposes. The FTC is regulating commercial sites directed at children. Photographs are not mentioned in the act.
Personal information is defined as:
“The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and Rule apply to individually identifiable information about a child that is collected online, such as full name, home address, email address, telephone number or any other information that would allow someone to identify or contact the child. The Act and Rule also cover other types of information — for example, hobbies, interests and information collected through cookies or other types of tracking mechanisms — when they are tied to individually identifiable information.”
We are not collecting photographs online via sign-up forms designed to attract kids. COPPA Parent notification and permissions are tied to data collection directly from kids by a commercial website. Posting pictures of kids having fun on a school website is clearly not the object of COPPA regulations.
Dealing with the climate of fear… It helps to understand the problem…
Here’s some serious content to absorb. A great mix of content on issues involving search, google, and everything in between.
UC Berkeley (my alma mater) has established a YouTube Channel. This allows the university much long video (hours and hours) than you typically see on YouTube.
Free Atomic Learning Videos: Google DocsProvides an overview of basic googledoc info. Short video clips provide a series of video how to tutorials. Atomic learning format downloads quickly and has adequate resolution. Well done free set of ‘teasers’(tags: googledocsvideo)
has raised some eyebrows. Careful examination of this helpful site will lay to rest the worries of many in the open source ‘alternative’ computing community. Everything is going to be fine! They made it better.
online curriculum for writing and research using technology tools. It’s about how to write research using the net. Aimed at middle school students, this work could be used for beginning research methods in graduate school. Superb instructional design. A hidden gem. Brilliant!
I have a slew of quizzes to move from WebCT to Moodle. I’m investigating Respondus, a tool for creating and managing online quizzes and surveys. I’ve bookmarked the Moodle.org notes on the import plug developed by the Moodle user community and adopted by Respondus. Smart move since Moodle is looking better and better given the slugfest going on between D2L & Blackboard.
Quizzes and surveys take so long to create and perfect that once you build them you want to use them forever (or at least while they are relevant to content. If I can move quizzes work from one course management system to another, I’ll be more likely to invest the time needed to get them right. (We’ll see how Respondus treats us!)
Strong online citation system for both print and electronic sources. MLA APA Chicago styles. Be sure to indicate which kind of resource you are citing (Print or Electronic). Relatively uncluttered interface makes this a good choice for creating citations.
I’m spelunking in the ISTE Learning & Leading data base of previous articles. You have to be a memeber to access past issues and this resource alone more than justifies the cost of a years sub. Go see for yourself! Join ISTE and connect with a community of teachers making a difference.
FridayInst_SeniorResAssoc.doc
Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Firefox
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