InfoComm 2009: Video Conferencing and Collaboration Systems
Glowpoint’s Video Network Operations Center offers complete management for a school or college’s video conferencing environment. Glowpoint’s unified user portal is a secure web site dedicated to scheduling daily and…
InfoComm 2009: Video Editing and Production
The myriad features in Broadcast Pix’s Slate G Series integrated production system means schools and colleges won’t need a team of IT experts to piece together a live or recorded…
School officials Twittering cautiously to avoid violating open-records laws
Social networking sites present a record-keeping quandary for public agencies and officials who must follow Florida’s open government and public-records laws, reports the Naples Daily News.
Rendell: Science, math pros needed to teach school
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell is asking the state Legislature to create a “fast track” into the teaching ranks for technology and engineering professionals, reports the Associated Press.
Digital games: Playing for learning and health
Video game researchers gathered June 23 to discuss ways gaming can help address the gaps in U.S. students’ educational performance, while also helping to improve their health.
Key words: educational gaming, educational technology, 21st century skills
Cheaper eBook reader challenges Kindle
With the popularity of electronic reading devices on the rise, and a handful of colleges set to pilot Amazon.com’s Kindle DX this fall, a new eBook reading device from New York-based Interead, called the COOL-ER, offers a less expensive alternative that its creator, Neil Jones, says educators could find appealing.
Key words: Interead COOL-ER, eBook, electronic reading devices, Kindle DX
Education Change.org videos
William Farren, an advocate of education reform focusing on well-being and the elephant in the edu-living room called environmental stewardship, produced “Did You Ever Wonder?” as a response to “Did You Know?” Pairing these videos brings out fundamental questions about the purpose of education. Also, Wyntergrace Williams, daughter of Montel Williams, speaks out in favor of vegetarian school lunch options in a new television commercial.
LSU-led Black Hole Simulation Wins First Prize at International Competition
A team of 13 LSU researchers and students, led by faculty at the LSU Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, conducted a presentation and demonstration that won first prize at the SCALE 2009 challenge at CCGrid09, a premier conference for cluster and Grid computing. The SCALE 2009 competition, which took place in Shanghai, China, involved researchers demonstrating real-world problem solving using scalable computing, in which scientists use computer systems that can easily adapt, or scale up, to provide greater performance and computing power and give them greater capability to solve complex problems. The CCT-led demonstration showcased a scalable, interactive system to simulate and visualize black holes to study the physics of gravitational waves. This complex process involves many challenges that scientists are only now able to address with modern cyberinfrastructure, including scalable computing systems.
Japan’s Robot Teacher
In May, students at a Japanese elementary school had a parallel experience when they came to class one day and found Saya, the face robot, sitting at the front of the room. Hiroshi Kobayashi, a mechanical engineering professor at the Tokyo University of Science, developed Saya in 2004 to be a university receptionist. Kobayashi said robots need humans, and Saya — who is operated via remote control by a human watching the teacher’s interactions through a camera — was created “just for fun.”