Thursday - Mar 25, 2010
As research into the importance of cognitive development of children expands, educators are finding new ways to incorporate cognitive development in the classroom.
A recent example of this practice can be found in Gary, Indiana, just outside of downtown Chicago. In January 2010, the Gary Community School Corporation adopted the use of cognitive learning software in Bailly Preparatory Academy, a middle school in the community. The school district was able to implement the software with the help of donations from two prominent citizens of the community.
The software, called BrainWare Safari, is designed to improve the mental processing skills of children and is reportedly being used in over 200 school districts across the nation. Scientific understanding about how children mentally develop is used in the software’s methodology, which incorporates a number of animated characters into 168 levels of a video game format.
“Our children are more drawn to technology,” Bailly Principal Lucille Washington told the Post-Tribune. “Anything like that is a hook.”
Washington’s point about children being drawn to technology is valid, as evidenced by the U.S. Census statistics on computer and Internet use. Computers are commonplace in the household, and they are becoming more commonplace in schools. With such adoption, it makes sense that more schools are implementing technology and the Internet in the classroom.
Though the administrators at Bailly Preparatory Academy claim to already see positive results in students’ daily 45-minute sessions using the BrainWare Safari software, it’s still early. They hope that additional language arts and mathematics assessments in May will yield a clearer picture on the efficacy of the software.
Regardless, it’s encouraging to see more educators recognizing that when carefully assessed and supervised, many technologies can effectively be incorporated into the classroom.
Monday - Mar 22, 2010
Although the Internet gives the illusion of anonymity, nothing could be further from the truth. Unless you take specific steps to conceal your identity, like using a proxy server, which covers your digital tracks. someone will be able to discern a boatload of information about you, including your Social Security number. Given the amount of information that we willingly post online, a very clear picture of who you are begins to emerge.
The New York Times has an interesting article about vanishing privacy in the age of social networking. For instance, as a class project, students at MIT analyzed 4,000 Facebook profiles of fellow students. Based on the friends listed in the profile, the class was able to predict with 78% accuracy whether the profile belonged to a gay male.
Privacy may be an old-fashioned concept, but if you still want at least a modicum of it, here is some sage advice from Jon Kleinberg, a computer science professor at Cornell University: “When you’re doing stuff online, you should behave as if you’re doing it in public — because increasingly, it is.”
Friday - Mar 19, 2010
Under California law, spammers can be fined $1,000 for each unsolicited commercial message. Attorney Daniel Balsam filed suit against Trancos, Inc., a Redwood City company, for sending him seven misleading messages in 2007. A judge has now awarded Balsam $7,000.
It’s a small victory over a huge, growing problem. Estimates vary as to how much e-mail is spam. According to a study last year from Symantec, over 90% of the messages bombarding your Inbox are unsolicited. Still, I enjoyed reading that someone is challenging the bad guys. While most of us can’t take such aggressive action, you can help stop spam by not replying. This annoying practice continues because it works. The day it stops being effective, spam will fade away.
