Report on International Development

‘Mapping the Global Future' is the latest unclassified report from the US National Intelligence Council. This forward-looking scenario based report focuses on the contradictions of globalization, the impact of the rise of China and India, and new security risks. As our world becomes smaller, it is increasingly important to think globally.

Report on International Development

‘Mapping the Global Future' is the latest unclassified report from the US National Intelligence Council. This forward-looking scenario based report focuses on the contradictions of globalization, the impact of the rise of China and India, and new security risks. As our world becomes smaller, it is increasingly important to think globally.

Podcasting and Education

There is no hotter application in educational technology other than podcasting. Interestingly, the question as to "why podcasting", isn't a driving issue. Rather, the question of the hour is really "how does one create podcasts"? Given the rapid adoption of the podcasting technology, it is a distribution platform that is perceived as too valuable to miss the opportunity to deliver to. But the question remains, as to "why", or more importantly, "what is the potential educational value from podcasting"?

On a recent visit to The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University, we had the chance to meet a graduate student who was involved in an educational training project that provides great insight into the value of podcasting. You must listen to Lodges' work on how the production of a podcast impacted the literacy skills of middle school school students.

The Friday Institute has also created a great resource on podcasting in education that you should be sure to check out.

Finally, this month Technology and Learning has created a good primer on how educators can use podcasting with their Podcasting: 101 resource.

Latest from Internet & American Life Project

Thanks to Andy Carvin information about the latest report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is now available.

The report focuses on home broadband access in the United States
and who's posting content to the Internet. Broadband access is up
across the board, with middle income family access growing at the
fastest rate. English-speaking Latinos are now almost as likely (41%) to
have broadband at home as white families (42%), while African American
families lag a bit behind (31%). Income and education levels continue to
remain major barriers, though growth was seen at all levels. DSL access
has become more affordable, though many more households cite speed as
their reason for getting broadband (57%) compared to the lowering of
cost (3%), suggesting that more people are willing to pay for it in
order to gain the benefits of high-speed access.

The most interesting part of the report focuses on online
content publishing. Overall, 35% of Internet users - 48 million people -
have posted content to the Internet. Broadband users are more likely to
post online content than dialup users - 42% versus 27%. This is
especially true of bloggers and people who manage their own websites.
While an average of eight percent of Internet users publish their own
blog, 11% of broadband users had blogs, compared to only four percent of
dialup users. And interestingly, lower-income users were a bit more likely
to post content online than higher-income users, while whites _lagged_
behind African Americans and English-speaking Latinos - 32%, 39% and 42%
respectively.

Nortel and Nortel LearniT Support Bring Your Child to Work Day

Thursday, April 28, 2006 -- Richardson, TX and Raleigh, NC

In celebration of the national "Bring Your Child to Work Day" event, Nortel LearniT joined with Nortel to host events for participants to learn about technology in a fun, interactive way.

Beth Kolman (Nortel-Richardson TX) and Edgar Murphy (Nortel-Raliegh, NC) hosted a twist on the popular television game show Jeopardy. Nortel LearniT Jeopardy iT is an interactive quiz with kids in the audience viewing a short video tutorial and participating in answering questions for 'points'. All the participating kids are winners, both in learning more about technology AND in the tasty treats they received as prizes.

For more information on how your group can replicate a fun activity like Nortel LearniT, please contact us at staff@NortelLearniT.org

Cyber Safety Initiatives

A number of states, including Virginia, have recently enacted laws or new policies to begin including Cyber Safety and New Media Literacy skills in the public school curriculum. Partially a reaction to the significant increase in undesirable activity online (e.g. child solicitation, identify theft, fraud, spamming, phishing, etc.) most states are exploring the best approach to embed the teaching of these skills in existing curriculuar objectives.

Nortel LearniT has a number of free online resources that specifically address these issues of Cyber Safety AND they are designed to be simply integrated or used alongside other instructional activities. Nortel LearniT also provides free lesson plans to help teachers get started on an integration approach to use these resources. Be sure to check out our FREE online Cyber Safety Guide Sheet for more information.

Copyright By Comic

This cool new resource by the Duke University Law School explains copyright, public domain and fair use in the digital age, through an innovative approach; by comic book. Look under the Nortel LearniT Support iT category, under Discover iT to see the full comic book.

New Developments at Nortel LearniT

Be sure to check out the updated links for Nortel LearniT.

We're excited about our work with the Project Chapleau (Innovation Centre) and the CARE Academy.