Open Education Resources (Handout)

November 23, 2010

Modern technologies have allowed for the increased access to free informal and educational material. TED talks, Podcasts, RSA animated lectures, PBS online, Hulu, YouTube EDU channels, and ITunes U material are ways in which everyone can benefit and learn about creative ideas, thus encouraging lifelong learning.Today, everyone with access to the Internet can generate or contribute to the collective building of knowledge through wikis including Wikipedia, Fotopedia and online education groups (Nings, Grouply). Anyone with an internet connection has access to highly informative blogs and free newspapers including the New York Times, BBC, CNN, and the Guardian. In addition, various universities have increased the publication of their class materials freely to the online world.

Through MIT OpenCourseWare and its expansion to over 120 universities through the OpenCourseWare Consortium, thousands of classes have published their materials online including syllabi, readings, and video lectures. Many have opened forums for discussion and created group learning activities through programs such as OpenStudy and Nixty.…

Integration of Technology in the Classroom (Handout)

November 23, 2010

Traditional classrooms provider an interactive environment where students can socialize and construct a learning setting with their peers. Throughout modern history, classrooms have been the traditional location for instruction. However, as technology increasingly impacts life outside and inside the classroom, it is important for students to be familiar with modern technologies.

Hardware such as a laptops, smartboards and projectors and software such as Powerpoint, Photoshop, Scratch, Skype, and Prezi are increasingly used within the classroom. Blended learning continues to grow as traditional classrooms incorporate online components including learning management systems such as Moodle, Edu 2.0, and Blackboard, among others. Other classrooms have experimented with tools such as podcasts, blogs, and the use of virtual environments such as Second Life.

The level of integration of technology within the traditional classroom varies depending on the project from the use of a basic Powerpoint presentation to one laptop per child initiatives or an algorithm based personalized curriculum.…

Online Education Changes (Handout)

November 23, 2010

According to the Sloan Consortium, Online Education is one of the most rapidly expanding sectors in education with a growth of 17% in 2008 compared to the 1.2% growth for higher education in general in the United States. Accounting for only 9.6% of post-secondary education enrollment in 2002, online education in the United States accounted for 25.3% of enrollment by the fall of 2008. Many universities are increasingly using these technologies to reduce costs, reach a broader audience, and increase the quality of their distance education program. Online education can increase the distribution of educational material, particularly to individuals living in rural areas.

The African Virtual University is one of the best examples of an accredited university with an emphasis on development. The Mexican Government has also used online education to offer a free education to Mexican immigrants in the United States and Canada (http://www.conevyt.org.mx/…

CSCI 8970 – Colloquium Series – Fall 2010 – Eleventh Event
Tor and Censorship: Lessons Learned

Monday, November 22, 2010

Presenter: Roger Dingledine, the Tor Project

Roger Dingledine’s lecture dealt with the intricacies and changes that Tor has experienced since its development and the challenges it currently faces. To start, Roger explained the concept of Tor and how it allows through its relay operators and use of a anonymous network for users to browse the internet without being easily identified. Tor is a non profit organization that unlike other anonymity advocates, the Tor system does not generate a database. Tor has close to 500,000 users and it currently promotes its use to governments (for traffic-analysis resistance), to private citizens (for privacy), to businesses (for network security), and to human rights activists (for reachability). By contacting an ISP provider or a proxy provider, the FBI, the NSA, and other organizations are able to know what individuals or corporations are browsing for.…

CSCI 8970 – Colloquium Series – Fall 2010 – Tenth Event
Data Mining Methods for Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships

Cray Distinguished Speaker Series

Monday, November 15, 2010

Presenter: Stefan Kramer, Technische Universität München

Dr. Kramer’s lecture focused on data mining methods for quantitative structure-activity relationships. He began the lecture by focusing on graph mining in which through a process that focuses on frequency and searching for patterns through different search strategies and the use of substructures in statistical learning models statistical data can be combined into structures such as (O)SAR models. Yet, while this technology is useful, it is also limited. Some of the limitations include long running times, excessive number of frequent or class-correlated substructures.

Consider the following task, given a database of tens of thousands (or more) structures, how can one find all the substructures that are over-represented in one class of activity and under-represented in another (produces bad results)?…

Hope Ranch – Comparative Analysis Final

November 15, 2010

Hope Academy middle school’s norms and mission statement emphasized the importance of STEM subjects and a natural science focused curriculum. Promoting “love, order, progress” and encouraging obedience to rules, hard work, and diligence, the school supported a positivistic philosophy (Comte, 1848, p. 7).  Hope Academy’s administration had a scientific approach to education through which it attempted to educate all students and manage its staff. Despite having students and staff members from different cultures, backgrounds, environments, and world views, its scientific approach to education followed the premise of “one size fits all”.

The school emphasized obedience to superiors within a clearly delineated hierarchical structure. As argued by Weber (1922), “the authority to give the commands . . . [was] distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules” (Weber, p. 73). The rules by which the school was regulated were extensive.…

Using the concepts of Memes, Design, and Culture, please construct a 3-page DramaTech in which you act as national-level consultant to the Dominican Republic for the purpose of helping that entity create its projected 22nd Century before 2050.

You should quickly review which sections of your previous readings have relevance for this assignment, and you should bring your work into a synergistic relationship with your term paper project.

November 15, 2010

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Scenario: By using a future oriented development plan, the Dominican Republic has achieved a higher standard of living than most countries in the region and the world. Seen as the pearl of the Caribbean, it is difficult to ignore the advantages that the Dominican Republic has over other countries in the region. In addition, the Dominican Republic along with other Latin American countries to bring Haiti out of the pervasiveness of poverty. Haiti, the first Latin American country to become independent in 1811 has not faced a major humanitarian crisis in 20 years.…

Hope Academy – Comparative Analysis 

November 15, 2010

Hope Academy middle school’s norms and mission statement emphasized the importance of STEM subjects and a natural science focused curriculum. Promoting “love, order, progress” and encouraging obedience to rules, hard work, and diligence, the school supported a positivistic philosophy (Comte, 1848, p. 7).  Hope Academy’s administration had a scientific approach to education through which it attempted to educate all students and manage its staff. Despite having students and staff members from different cultures, backgrounds, environments, and world views, its scientific approach to education followed the premise of “one size fits all”.

The school emphasized obedience to superiors within a clearly delineated hierarchical structure. As argued by Weber (1964), “the authority to give the commands . . . (was) distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules” (p. 73). The rules by which the school was regulated were extensive. As Frederick Taylor (1926) suggested, both students and teachers had clear “daily written instructions .…

Journals and Goals

November 13, 2010

Journals:

Comparative Education Society

Comparative Education

International Education

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

The Open Education Journal

Latin America Research Review

Latin American Perspectives

Associations

CIES – Comparative and International Education Society

LASA – Latin American Studies Association

IATED – International Association for Technology, Education and Development

ISTE – International Society for Technology in Education

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Plan / Meetings

Submit abstract to CIES conference

Submit abstract to INTED (IATED) conference

Meet with Dr. Chapman once more this semester

Meet with Dr. Doering regarding an Online Education Certificate

Meet with Dr. Harkins about the innovation lab and future studies

Meet with Dr. Fry

The “Digital Divide”: Present, Futures, and Development Implications

The “digital divide,” a term coined in the late 20th century, highlights the growing disparity in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) between and within countries (Norris, 2001; Compaine, 2001; Warschauer, 2003).  This concept, its meaning, and its implications for states across the world have been topics of widespread research and debate since the beginning of the 21^st century (OECD, 2000; Attewell, 2001; Goldfarb & Prince, 2007; Katz, 2008; Trucano, 2005; Mar, 2004; Chapman & Mahlck, 2004). Within the United States and abroad, public libraries and public computing centers have attempted to diminish the gap between technology haves and have nots, but some areas, and some people, still lack access to computers, broadband internet, and even mobile phones (Krebeck, 2010; InfoDev, 2010; The Economist, 2010; The Economist, 2005; Richardson et al., 2000). In addition, while the use of mobile phones is growing; smart phones remain inaccessible for the majority of individuals in developing countries.…