Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

Key assistive technology group closes its doors

NCTI helped researchers and educators develop assistive technology solutions for students.

After 10 years in the assistive technology and educational technology fields, the National Center for Technology Innovation (NCTI) closed operations with the end of its federal funding on Sept. 30.

NCTI served as a resource for special-education advocates, researchers, and ed-tech stakeholders. The organization helped bring together those different groups to create innovative assistive technologies and learning resources for students, especially those with special needs.

NCTI has received a no-cost extension through Dec. 31, after which time the grant that funds the center will expire. Officially, the center’s grant from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) expired Sept. 30, but the no-cost extension lets NCTI staff make upgrades to the organization’s Tech Matrix and close out any current work.…Read More

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The Daring Librarian: Wikipedia is not wicked!

My name is Gwyneth and I use Wikipedia every day. There, I said it. Somehow that’s pretty freeing! Wikipedia is NOT a dirty word, says Gwyneth Anne Jones, who works as a teacher-librarian in Laurel, Md., and who writes The Daring Librarian blog, for the Washington Post. We’re doing a disservice by not teaching our kids HOW to use it and how to cite it selectively and with forethought. Sadly, I don’t believe teachers and college professors are ready to wrap their mind around or admit a study by Nature magazine that showed Wikipedia to be only somewhat less accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica.on selected topics (see below for more on this study, which Britannica contested and Nature defended**)...

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