<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16LE"?> <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"> <channel> <title>Beta Building</title> <link>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Beta-Building.aspx</link> <description>Transparency, collaboration, and rapid iteration create a beta culture displaying open critique and reflective practice. In a world of transparency and open contribution, collective creation and critique, and rapid iteration, &lt;i&gt;beta&lt;/i&gt; status (a stage of testing and refinement) is a norm. But in this world, &lt;i&gt;beta&lt;/i&gt; is fully functional, just open to improvement. &lt;i&gt;Beta&lt;/i&gt; building reflects both a mindset that any product or process can be improved, and the platforms that encourage input and enable revision. Organizations engaging in &lt;i&gt;beta&lt;/i&gt; building must be comfortable with open authorship making things transparent even when  incomplete  and participating in a community of contribution. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Focus on fostering imagination, creativity, thoughtfulness, and collaboration over providing training on specific technologies that will soon be outmoded &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Be a citizen journalist by contributing to &lt;a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;NowPublic&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Create an internal wiki to collaborate within your organization with one of the tools listed at &lt;a href="http://www.wikimatrix.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;WikiMatrix&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Announce real-time organizational updates to the public using &lt;a href="http://www.twitter.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt; or within your organization using &lt;a href="http://www.yammer.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Yammer&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Adopt &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iterative_design" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;iterative design&lt;/a&gt; principles throughout your organization &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt; &lt;/p&gt; &lt;div class="watch-video-desc description"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science &amp;amp; Technology Collections at Stanford, and Henrik Bennetsen from the Stanford Humanities Lab speak on how virtual worlds and sharing of information can have a dramatic impact on education.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2OHKi7_E7ok&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt; </description> <name>Beta Building</name> <atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/Beta-Building" /><feedburner:info uri="beta-building" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><item> <title>Amplified Organization (Driver of Change)</title> <description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Extended human capacity remakes the organization&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Digital natives and technologies of cooperation are combining to create a generation of amplified individuals. These organizational  superheroes will remake organizational models through their highly social, collective, improvisational practices and their augmented human capacities. These new models will thrive in a world of social networks; information proliferation, transparency, and saturation; and rapid change. As digital natives enter learning professions, and as existing educators and students become amplified, their extended human capacities will challenge traditional ways of organizing learning and will amplify schools, districts, and other learning organizations. &lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;How will amplified educators and organizations change the role of school in the broader community?  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;What will the relationships between schools that are amplified and those that are not be like? &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More on This Topic&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Amplified individuals - those who embrace social media applications, human performance augmentations, and collaborative practices - will remake the organization of the future. These individuals are &lt;strong&gt;highly social, collective, improvisational and augmented&lt;/strong&gt;.  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; They use &lt;strong&gt;social media tools&lt;/strong&gt; to reach out and expand their social networks. Applications such as Twitter and Plazes (microblogging applications that coordinate people, place and time), Facebook and other social networking sites make social connections visible.   De.li.cious and Flickr (social bookmarking and tagging) help amplified individuals filter information and share resources.  These individuals engage in &lt;strong&gt;collective practices to create shared resources&lt;/strong&gt; using wikis, and make sense of information with tools such as Digg or Reddit (platforms for prioritizing news and other articles on the basis of collective ratings). &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; Amplified individuals also &lt;strong&gt;experiment and improvise solutions&lt;/strong&gt; using social media and online collaboration.  Virtual environments such as Second Life can serve as shared spaces for experimenting with roles or providing an ad hoc shared space for distributed teams.  They also &lt;strong&gt;use systems, tools, and hacks to enhance the human capacity - &lt;/strong&gt;their memory, attention, and ability to stay alert and focused.  Whether it is nutritional supplements and pharmaceuticals such as Modafinil (which increases alertness and focus) or peripheral devices such as the Chumby (which offloads data streams such as RSS news and blog feeds and instant messaging that can be potential distractions), amplified individuals look for aids to increase their human performance.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, these attributes &lt;strong&gt;enable several amplified organizational practices - &lt;/strong&gt;open leadership and sociability, beta building, collective sensemaking, and transliteracy - that support more flexible responses to change and stimulate innovation.  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Open collaborative platforms&lt;/strong&gt; enable distributed teams and loosely connected networks to self organize and form ad hoc structures to solve problems and implement strategies.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;By circulating resources openly and broadly through social networks, information tends to find the right people at the right place at the right time that allows &lt;strong&gt;ad hoc leaders&lt;/strong&gt; to emerge and apply relevant expertise more quickly.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Such an open, flexible structure facilitates &lt;strong&gt;collective sensemaking - &lt;/strong&gt;a practice by which knowledge and expertise that may not have been visible can rise in response to critical issues. &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Tools ranging from Plazes (a system that lets your social contacts know where you are, what you re doing and when) to Moodle (an open source courseware management system) allow knowledge workers, educators, learners to form their own &lt;strong&gt;smart mobs and self-led teams.  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;The transparency of these systems also helps support &lt;strong&gt;a culture of beta building - &lt;/strong&gt;rapid innovation, in which participants of a social network, distributed team, or smart mob can see information, offer critique, and help iterate solutions and strategies.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Amplified organizations will be&lt;strong&gt; transliterate -&lt;/strong&gt; capable of communicating across multiple media in ways that use specific media platforms and non mediated, face-to-face interactions to develop effective and creative messages. &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Implications for Learning&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;Educators adept at working with these tools and practices will self-organize around learning opportunities, share and remix learning resources, and adapt quickly to meet diverse learning needs.  &lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;They will be able to adapt to &lt;strong&gt;change resource environments&lt;/strong&gt; and the uncertainties of learning deserts (geographies lacking immediate learning assets). &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;As educators collaborate with students using these practices, &lt;strong&gt;pedagogy becomes participatory - &lt;/strong&gt;students become necessary agents in crafting the learning process.  In many ways, amplified individuals, organizations and their practices are enabling pedagogies born in the early 20&lt;sup&gt;th&lt;/sup&gt; century that have not been able to find expression in the current educational system.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Many educators venturing into the amplified world find that &lt;strong&gt;modes of learning using social and collaborative platforms are downright inspiring - &lt;/strong&gt;encouraging the reasons that they chose to teach.  Also, many educators are already engaging in these practices - developing innovative practices using Moodle, wikis, edu-blogging, Ning, and other open educational resources like OER Commons, Curriki, Teacher Tube, iPod University and a host of others.  They simply haven t found the structure or support in the current educational system to function fully.  &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Educator literacy in social media&lt;/strong&gt; is a must in the next decade.  Social media provide ways to connect with today s students and release the collective creativity and intelligence of various learning agents globally.  However, education decision-makers must work to close not just the digital divide - access and familiarity with digital technologies - but also the participation gap - comfort engaging in a culture of contribution, connectivity, sharing, and massive collaboration. &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5 Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Join or form a professional learning community, such as &lt;a href="http://www.classroom20.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Classroom 2.0&lt;/a&gt;, to pursue ongoing professional development, support other educators, and organize with colleagues &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Host an &lt;a href="https://www.collaborationjam.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Collaboration Jam &lt;/a&gt; to engage students and teachers to develop in developing new ideas for learning &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Download courses from &lt;a href="http://itunes.stanford.edu/" target="_blank"&gt;Stanford University on iTunes&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm" target="_blank"&gt;MIT OpenCourseWare&lt;/a&gt;, or other open access sites for use in your classrorom &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Use data-driven decision-making to assess student learning as well as the effectiveness of learning agents in supporting them &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;When considering instructional technology, focus on how it can support connected, continuous, relevant, and adaptive learning &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/DZEUBSUGdp8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/DZEUBSUGdp8/Amplified-Organization.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/driver/Amplified-Organization.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Transliteracy (Trend)</title> <description>&lt;p&gt;Effective communication depends on the ability to read, write, and interact across multiple media and social platforms. (provided by &lt;a href="http://www.transliteracy.com" target="_blank"&gt;www.transliteracy.com&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Podcasts &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Digital video &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Virtual Worlds &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Microblogs &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Wikis &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Social Networking &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Tagging &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;In the emerging decade, ideas will migrate across multiple social media platforms: podcasts, digital video, virtual worlds, microblogs, wikis, social networking, tagging, etc. The amplified, transliterate organization will have the capacity to communicate across these platforms.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;View or post a video around your lesson plan or around an educational component on &lt;a href="http://www.teachertube.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;TeacherTube&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Try e-learning for your own professional development &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Learn how &lt;a href="http://transliteracies.english.ucsb.edu/category/research-project/definition-of-online-reading" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;The Transliteracies Project&lt;/a&gt; is designing technology to improve the experience of reading for people of all backgrounds &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Explore how archaeology and media can be used in your next class at &lt;a href="http://metamedia.stanford.edu/" class="jive-link-external-small"&gt;MetaMedia&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Download courses from &lt;a href="http://itunes.stanford.edu/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Stanford University on iTunes&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;MIT OpenCourseWare&lt;/a&gt;, or another open access sites for use in your classrorom &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chuck House, executive director of Media X, Stanford University's membership research program on media and technology, talks about the new skills needed for 21st century jobs. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qSFuZDc-7yw&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;&amp;amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/2vJl88KMLsU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/2vJl88KMLsU/Transliteracy.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Transliteracy.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Open Leadership and Sociability (Trend)</title> <description>Open collaborative platforms enable networked teams to self-organize and support ad hoc leaders. New connectivity tools support flexible, self-organizing networks. This new mode of collaboration sociability is best facilitated by building open platforms for leadership, which allow different team members to contribute when they deem most appropriate and effective. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Involve students in your professional learning community &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Join or form a professional learning community, such as &lt;a href="http://www.classroom20.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Classroom 2.0&lt;/a&gt;, to pursue ongoing professional development, support other educators, and organize with colleagues &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Follow colleagues' activites and locations at &lt;a href="http://plazes.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Plazes&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.jaiku.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Jaiku&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Contribute to or create a "citizen reporter" newspaper such as &lt;a href="http://english.ohmynews.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;OhMyNews&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Host an &lt;a href="https://www.collaborationjam.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Innovation Jam&lt;/a&gt; to engage students and teachers in developing new ideas for learning &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Chuck House, executive director of Media X, Stanford University's membership research program on media and technology, talks about the new skills needed for 21st century jobs.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qSFuZDc-7yw&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/DqKiQ_2NMBs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/DqKiQ_2NMBs/Open-Leadership-and-Sociability.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Open-Leadership-and-Sociability.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Collective Sensemaking (Trend)</title> <description>Diverse and abundant data streams increase the need for organizations to tap collective intelligence. New tools and platforms can mobilize collective intelligence for gathering information, sorting through data streams, and aggregating input and interpretation. Knowledge and insights grow from collective contributions. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Use data-driven decision-making to assess student learning as well as the effectiveness of learning agents in supporting them &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Contribute to the ranking of stories on &lt;a href="http://www.digg.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Digg&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.reddit.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Reddit&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Install the &lt;a href="http://del.icio.us/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Del.ico.us&lt;/a&gt; toolbar and start tagging articles and other work for your students or organization &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Improve collaboration and innovation through multiplayer online games with &lt;a href="http://www.seriosity.com/" target="_blank"&gt;Seriosity&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/VflYjsLd69Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/VflYjsLd69Y/Collective-Sensemaking.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Collective-Sensemaking.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Games as Practice (Trend)</title> <description>Gaming platforms become critical training areas for work, problem-solving, and learning. A genre of  serious games  aimed at education, professional training, cultural immersion, cognitive fitness, and exploring ideas is expanding the practice of gaming beyond entertainment for youth. Games are not solely digital many emerging games utilize hand-held mobile technologies to supplement and encourage face-to-face interactions. Blending play, research, and collaboration, games will become a medium and literacy in many facets of life. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;Explore how the forecast for 3D web technoogies, applications, and markets impact your organization at &lt;a href="http://www.metaverseroadmap.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Metaverse Roadmap&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;Use social impact and education games with your students at &lt;a href="http://www.gamesforchange.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Games for Change&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;Participate in the world's first massively multiplayer forecasting game, &lt;a href="http://www.superstructgame.org/" target="_blank"&gt;SuperStruct&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;Stay up to date on the use of games in health, education, training, and public policy at &lt;a href="http://www.seriousgames.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;SeriousGames&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;div class="watch-video-desc description"&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"&gt;Jane McGonigal, Director of Game Research and Development at Institute for the Future, talks the differences in the increased level of engagement and optimism students have with games over the classroom.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OrZiWqGILKs&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/N-mSWCPoIaw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/N-mSWCPoIaw/Games-as-Practice.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Games-as-Practice.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Grids (Trend)</title> <description>Smart-networked resource providers and learning agents create lightweight, modular learning infrastructures. These distributed, decentralized education systems can expand easily, adapt to emerging education needs, and foster communication and coordination. What results are smart education grids, in which learning flows efficiently and synergistically.&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Advocate reward structures that give teachers incentives for sharing and creating collective educational resources &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Advocate for agile and smart school technical infrastructure that enables connections among all devices and has capacity to link to other schools &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Establish educator-business partnerships to develop learning content &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Find opportunities to make use of the range of material or the instructional model offered by the UK's &lt;a href="http://www.open.ac.uk/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Open University&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Take a course from &lt;a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;MIT OpenCourseWare&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Track South Africa's progress in its quest to create a nationwide &lt;a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/South_African_Curriculum" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;open curriculum&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/06nLYC9OEWs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/06nLYC9OEWs/Learning-Grids.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Learning-Grids.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Enabled Innovation (Trend)</title> <description>Neurodiversity, physical enhancements, and disability communities converge, turning marginalized populations into mainstream innovators. People with disabilities are quickly becoming lead users and innovators of sophisticated physical and cognitive enhancements, ones that will make people  better than normal. Neurodiversity, which considers a-typical neural behavior such as autism not as a disability but as a natural human difference, is empowering many marginalized populations to embrace and explore their unique cognitive functioning not &lt;i&gt;dis&lt;/i&gt;abled, but &lt;i&gt;en&lt;/i&gt;abled. Many of these developments will be rapidly adopted back into mainstream use, meanwhile challenging our notions of performance,  normal, and what it means to be human. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Learn why some think a double-leg amputee like &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Pistorius" class="active_link" target="_blank"&gt;Oscar Pistorius&lt;/a&gt; has an unfair advantage in racing&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;View the parody site &lt;a href="http://isnt.autistics.org/archived.html" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Institute for the Neurologically Typical&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;See how the Asperger's Syndrome community is banding together at &lt;a href="http://www.wrongplanet.net/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;WrongPlanet.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/UOAqDroUIc8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/UOAqDroUIc8/Enabled-Innovation.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Enabled-Innovation.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Lightweight Community-Based Manufacturing (Trend)</title> <description>Ad hoc factories and job shops enable flexible, fast, and customized production, unlike fabrication by assembly lines and dedicated factories. Physical goods can be made - or recycled and remade - on small, specific scales, ideal for personal or local projects. Anyone can become a player - buyer, producer, designer - in the manufacturing arena. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Reduce your manufacturing costs with &lt;a href="http://pchchinasolutions.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;PCH International&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Use a &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tool-lending_libraries" class="active_link" target="_blank"&gt;tool library&lt;/a&gt; near you to create your own learning project &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Find out if your community gives new life to old electronics, as does the &lt;a href="http://www.accrc.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Alameda County Computer Resource Center (ACCRC)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Donate or procure hands-on learning materials from &lt;a href="http://www.raft.net/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Resource Area for Teacher (RAFT)&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Donate 3-D production tools from &lt;a href="http://www.zcorp.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Z Corporation&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.shopbottools.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;ShopBot Tools&lt;/a&gt; to your local school, library, or community center &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Diane Demee-Benoit, previously with the George Lucas Foundation, notes how open-source programs and products are changing the economy, and by engaging the collective wisdom of others we have the opportunity to create new services for others.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CCclMnFNCLo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp&amp;showinfo=0;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" allowscriptaccess="always" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/gyBT84FOHbs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/gyBT84FOHbs/Lightweight-Community-Based-Manufacturing.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Lightweight-Community-Based-Manufacturing.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Personal Fabrication and Design (Trend)</title> <description>Better desktop tools, 3D printers, and digital machinery democratize the machine shop. Anyone can experiment with making cool things. Cheaper, more user-friendly interfaces empower individuals to draft their own designs and even manufacture them themselves. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Create t-shirts for events or schools &lt;a href="http://www.cafepress.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;CafePress&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a href="http://www.threadless.com" target="_blank"&gt;Threadless&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Use &lt;a href="http://www.fabathome.org" target="_blank"&gt;Fab@home&lt;/a&gt; as an inspiration for your next learning project &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Customize a gift for your favorite digital citizen with &lt;a href="http://www.fabjectory.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Fabjectory&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Bring  your digital creations to life with 3D printing (see &lt;a href="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article1839765.ece" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt; Microtrends: Printing in 3D &lt;/a&gt;) &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Create and sell your own ideas and goods at &lt;a href="http://www.ponoko.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Ponoko&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Diane Demee-Benoit, previously with the George Lucas Foundation, notes how open-source programs and products are changing the economy, and by engaging the collective wisdom of others we have the opportunity to create new services for others.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CCclMnFNCLo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/P7Jj5h9DWak" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/P7Jj5h9DWak/Personal-Fabrication-and-Design.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Personal-Fabrication-and-Design.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Citizen R&amp;D (Trend)</title> <description>Makers reach out to their markets and communities to ideate, iterate, and solicit feedback. Research and development is no longer relegated to a lab where only  experts are welcome. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Ways to Start Taking Action&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;ol&gt; &lt;li&gt;Explore the love of a father for his daughter on &lt;a href="http://mydaughtersdna.org/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;My Daughter s DNA&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Use courses and protocols in biology and engineering for your next lesson plan from &lt;a href="http://openwetware.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank"&gt;Open Wetware &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Contribute to the body of global climate data through the NASA &lt;a href="http://www.globe.gov/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;GLOBE&lt;/a&gt; project&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Earn money for research on various projects at &lt;a href="http://www.innocentive.com/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;Innocentive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Donate your idle time on your computer to science through the &lt;a href="http://folding.stanford.edu/" target="_blank"&gt;Folding@home &lt;/a&gt;project or the &lt;a href="http://boinc.berkeley.edu/" class="jive-link-external-small" target="_blank"&gt;BOINC&lt;/a&gt; project&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ol&gt; &lt;p style="margin-bottom: 0in"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Diane Demee-Benoit, previously with the George Lucas Foundation, notes how open-source programs and products are changing the economy, and by engaging the collective wisdom of others we have the opportunity to create new services for others.&lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt; &lt;a href="&lt;object width=" height="364"&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CCclMnFNCLo&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0&amp;amp;border=1" width="445" height="364" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" /&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/fdSnZgBG7JY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/fdSnZgBG7JY/Citizen-RD.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/trend/Citizen-RD.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Student Inventor (Signal)</title> <description>A 14-year old student at a medical magnet school invented a new way to stitch up incisions in hysterectomy patients. During a summer hospital internship, he created the new technique which uses novel instruments and orients the stitching vertically to reduce complications in certain patients.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/vgmQxKi9DhM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/vgmQxKi9DhM/Student-Inventor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Student-Inventor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Beta Robots Will Amplify Human Capacities (Signal)</title> <description>A new generation of robots creates new possibilities for expanding human capacities by taking on such tasks as cooking and caring for the elderly.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/EBTEYOL-jmc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/EBTEYOL-jmc/Beta-Robots-Will-Amplify-Human-Capacities.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Beta-Robots-Will-Amplify-Human-Capacities.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learnings from Toy Story.... (Signal)</title> <description>Sid, not Andy, from Toy Story is really the one learning from his toys.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/gsSsnmMDOKs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/gsSsnmMDOKs/Learnings-from-Toy-Story.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Learnings-from-Toy-Story.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Classroom 2.0 (Signal)</title> <description>This is a social network for people interested in the use of Web 2.0 and other collaborative technologies in education.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/qSiKtYkmqp0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/qSiKtYkmqp0/Classroom-20.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Classroom-20.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Flat Classrooms (Signal)</title> <description>Middle and high school students from around the world participate in a flat classroom, using Web 2.0 tools to communicate. Students study topics in the Thomas Friedman book, The World is Flat.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/gXpDOO6wVkU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/gXpDOO6wVkU/Flat-Classrooms.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Flat-Classrooms.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Moodle (Signal)</title> <description>Moodle is an open source software package that allows educators to create on-line learning communities for their students. Each new element  from creating quiz questions to using wikis  is released first in beta so users can try it out and offer comments.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/Sz8t0G9U5ko" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/Sz8t0G9U5ko/Moodle.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Moodle.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Seriosity (Signal)</title> <description>A gaming interface tracks internal email exchanges in large organizations and helps identify flows of responsibility, importance, and internal development.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/yjca7WsdK9c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/yjca7WsdK9c/Seriosity.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Seriosity.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Del.icio.us (Signal)</title> <description>Del.icio.us also invites users to post favorite links, but by asking for tags on the posts, it also creates a new, user-generated taxonomy for the web.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/1Ngt6T_jlE4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/1Ngt6T_jlE4/Delicious.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Delicious.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Reddit (Signal)</title> <description>Users highlight important and interesting websites, articles, and news, providing a community-created filter for what s hot on the Internet.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/o1yQpoVigAw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/o1yQpoVigAw/Reddit.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Reddit.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>NowPublic (Signal)</title> <description>Citizen journalism sites, such as NowPublic, allow users to edit articles, add links, and post photos and videos. Many articles, especially those on important developments, are built real-time through collective contribution and remain, in a sense, in perpetual beta, constantly evolving as more information and content changes the article.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/iDfwwCpVP70" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/iDfwwCpVP70/NowPublic.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/NowPublic.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Linux (Signal)</title> <description>The open-source Linux operating system is constantly tweaked, revised, and updated.  The source code is open, and the user community suggests improvements, adds features, and fixes bugs.  Meanwhile, the operating system is fully functional and capable of performing essential computer functions e.g. internet browsing, word processing, ftp file sharing, etc.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/hpvUUkgvxmI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/hpvUUkgvxmI/Linux.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Linux.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Digg (Signal)</title> <description>Digg users submit online articles, images or video that they like. Those items that are submitted in the greatest volume appear on the home page, in what amounts to a collaborative editorial process for selecting items of most interest. Users can also connect directly with submissions from others who share their particular interests and look at the Digg histories of their friends.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/QatUL8Vx4LQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/QatUL8Vx4LQ/Digg.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/signal/Digg.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Education Sousveyor (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Education sousveyors will keep the learning process transparent and will stimulate public discussion around it. Through mechanisms such as blog posts, pictures, podcasts, and videos, they will keep learning on the forefront of stakeholders minds.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/bzFYjEUDE-k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/bzFYjEUDE-k/Education-Sousveyor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Education-Sousveyor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Community Intelligence Cartographer (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Community intelligence cartographers will tap the collective intelligence of their local communities. They will leverage social networking strategies to develop swarms and smart mobs in order to identify emerging learning opportunities in the community, organize community members, and locate community resources.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/-c-rsEzSIPI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/-c-rsEzSIPI/Community-Intelligence-Cartographer.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Community-Intelligence-Cartographer.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Partner (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Students who test for compatible personalities but who have different cognitive strengths will be matched to support each other throughout the year, maintaining a constant thread amid shifting peer relationships.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/WNSWts5tM8M" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/WNSWts5tM8M/Learning-Partner.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Learning-Partner.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning Journey Mentor (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Learning journey mentors will work with personal education advisors, learning fitness instructors, community intelligence cartographers, and assessment designers to co-create and navigate learning itineraries with small groups of students.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/U9yPN3LKs3Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/U9yPN3LKs3Y/Learning-Journey-Mentor.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Learning-Journey-Mentor.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Assessment Designer (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Using social networks and insights into cognitive functioning, assessment designers will create appropriate methods for evaluating media literacy, learning discovery journeys, and other innovative forms of instruction.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/ciqSEOHCyio" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/ciqSEOHCyio/Assessment-Designer.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Assessment-Designer.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Edu-vator (Learning Agent)</title> <description>Edu-vators will build platform prototypes, experiment with new tools, evaluate new practices, and generally explore innovations in the learning sphere. They will team with learners, who will get credit for being in  edu-vation workshops. &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/ogvkpRTb-RA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/ogvkpRTb-RA/Edu-vator.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/learningagent/Edu-vator.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Learning to Change, Changing to Learn: Global Lessons (Resource)</title> <description>As part of the Future of Education Interview Series, Keith Krueger, CEO of the Consortium for School Networking, spoke about global research on the effectiveness of technology in education, and the strong collaborative leadership and clear vision and commitment to quality professional development.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/57g22yA8Hm8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/57g22yA8Hm8/Learning-to-Change2c-Changing-to-Learn-Global-Lessons.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Learning-to-Change2c-Changing-to-Learn-Global-Lessons.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Chuck House speaks on workforce skills needed for 21st century jobs (Resource)</title> <description>Chuck House, executive director of Media X, Stanford University's membership research program on media and technology, talks about the new skills needed for 21st century jobs.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/Ib-bNpTLdAc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/Ib-bNpTLdAc/Chuck-House-speaks-on-workforce-skills-needed-for-21st-century-jobs.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Chuck-House-speaks-on-workforce-skills-needed-for-21st-century-jobs.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Henry Lowood and Henrik Bennetsen speak on how technology can improve the human condition (Resource)</title> <description>Henry Lowood, Curator for History of Science &amp;amp; Technology Collections at Stanford, and Henrik Bennetsen from the Stanford Humanities Lab speak on how virtual worlds and sharing of information can have a dramatic impact on education.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/CyMxsjLKWd8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/CyMxsjLKWd8/Henry-Lowood-and-Henrik-Bennetsen-speak-on-how-technology-can-improve-the-human-condition.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Henry-Lowood-and-Henrik-Bennetsen-speak-on-how-technology-can-improve-the-human-condition.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Future of Education Community (Resource)</title> <description>This community is devoted to providing an opportunity for those who care about education to share their voices and ideas with others. It's a place for thoughtful discussion on an incredibly important topic.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/WTx4ZblAkvw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/WTx4ZblAkvw/Future-of-Education-Community.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Future-of-Education-Community.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Command Decision-Making: Experience Counts (Resource)</title> <description>Monograph by U.S. Army officer Kelly A. Wolgast outlining forms of decision-making in a VUCA world.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/3yQ8_yG-23c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/3yQ8_yG-23c/Command-Decision-Making-Experience-Counts.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Command-Decision-Making-Experience-Counts.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Ubiquitous Computing (Resource)</title> <description>From Wikipedia. Ubiqitous computing is an aspect of lightweight infrastructure.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/vsSbypEiBUU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/vsSbypEiBUU/Ubiquitous-Computing.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Ubiquitous-Computing.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Teen Trades Hacked IPhone for New Car (Resource)</title> <description>George Hotz, age 17, has unlocked an iPhone and is using it on T-Mobile's network. Hotz broke the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&amp;T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cell phone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones carriers. The job took 500 hours, or about 8 hours a day since the iPhone's June 29 launch. Hotz reached a deal with CertiCell, a Louisville, Ky.-based mobile phone repair company to trade his modified iPhone for a Nissan 350Z and three 8GB iPhones.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/aIzuUiJViOU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/aIzuUiJViOU/Teen-Trades-Hacked-IPhone-for-New-Car.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Teen-Trades-Hacked-IPhone-for-New-Car.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>High-Tech Combat Equipment Expedited for Use in Ir (Resource)</title> <description>The U.S. Army will deliver key technologies to ground forces in war zones 3 years ahead of schedule as part of its $160 billion combat modernization program led by Boeing and SAIC. Senior Army officials said that changes to the Future Combat Systems program will expedite the use of high-tech equipment, including unmanned sensors and robotics, to infantry brigades fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan by 2011. Portions of the program were expected to be used by armored units by 2014, but Army officials say the technology is needed for the current war effort. Accelerating FCS and other complementary programs may fill in gaps created by huge demands on infantry brigades, and may increase the effectiveness and safety of U.S. soldiers. However, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., and Hawaii Democrat Neil Abercrombie, chairman of the air and land subcommittee are concerned that the new plan "may not allow for adequate testing of the equipment due to its very tight schedule."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/MBRetcK9dwo" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/MBRetcK9dwo/High-Tech-Combat-Equipment-Expedited-for-Use-in-Ir.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/High-Tech-Combat-Equipment-Expedited-for-Use-in-Ir.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Data Breach Reports Up 69% in 2008 (Resource)</title> <description>Businesses, governments and universities reported a record number of data breaches in the first half of this year, a 69% increase over the same period in 2007 driven by a spike in data thefts attributed to employees and contractors, according to an analysis by identity theft experts. The San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center tracked 342 data breach reports from Jan. 1 to June 27. Nearly 37% of reports came from businesses -- an increase from almost 29% last year. Data breach reports from health care providers (14.9% of the total) and banks (10%) continued to rise, while breaches from educational institutions (21.3% of the total), government entities and the military (17%) declined for the 3rd year in a row, the ITRC found. Hacking was the least-cited cause of data breaches in the first 6 months of 2008 (11.7% of the total). Instead, lost or stolen laptops and other digital storage media remain the most often cited cause of data breaches, more than 20% of all reported cases, the ITRC found. Posting of personal and financial data online prompted roughly 15% of the data breach disclosures. Data breaches due to information stolen by someone inside the company increased from just 6% of the total in 2007 to nearly 16% this year. Another 13.5% of breaches came from subcontractors who lost or stole their clients' customer data.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/qysqo2Ot6rc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/qysqo2Ot6rc/Data-Breach-Reports-Up-69-in-2008.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Data-Breach-Reports-Up-69-in-2008.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Evolving Business Forms for the Knowledge Economy (Resource)</title> <description>Offers a tool that might be used for tracking the exchange of tangible and intangible learning assets that flow between public schools and the rest of the learning economy.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/Y4XwKarFNo4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/Y4XwKarFNo4/Evolving-Business-Forms-for-the-Knowledge-Economy.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Evolving-Business-Forms-for-the-Knowledge-Economy.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title> 101+ Web Resources for Students (Resource)</title> <description>Over 100 useful resources on the web for students&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/-77BfJfW1tY" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/-77BfJfW1tY/-1012b-Web-Resources-for-Students.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/-1012b-Web-Resources-for-Students.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Coup D'Oeil: Strategic Intuition in Army Planning (Resource)</title> <description>This publication reviews the U.S. Army s standard methods for problem solving and decision-making to see how they might use intuitive thinking for strategic planning.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/MShvSygHz-k" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/MShvSygHz-k/Coup-DOeil--Strategic-Intuition-in-Army-Planning.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Coup-DOeil--Strategic-Intuition-in-Army-Planning.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Lifelong Learning, Knowledge Exchange And Collaboration In The E-Learning City (Resource)</title> <description>By Katriina Schrey-Niemenmaa and Michael Duhaime. The city of Espoo, Finland, won the European Union prize for e-learning in 2006&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/fJxw9YFoKZk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/fJxw9YFoKZk/Lifelong-Learning2c-Knowledge-Exchange-And-Collaboration-In-The-E-Learning-City.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Lifelong-Learning2c-Knowledge-Exchange-And-Collaboration-In-The-E-Learning-City.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>"BioMobileLab" Offers Top-Notch Science Lessons (Resource)</title> <description>Schmahl Science brings together Silicon Valley's scientists, teachers and science professionals for student workshops in classrooms that spark interest in science and technology. The  BioMobileLab (traveling science laboratory) is designed to serve junior and senior high school students in San Jose, California's poorest neighborhoods. The BioMobileLab - which runs on bio-diesel - provides the equipment for advanced biology experiments, including powerful microscopes whose images can be projected on a flat video screen. The lab also has a DNA thermocycler which takes small amounts of DNA for analysis. It lets students conduct college-level scientific investigations in molecular biology, chromatography, cell culture and cancer biology, plant biology, microbiology and biochemistry.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/aBG6WXsgJao" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/aBG6WXsgJao/BioMobileLab-Offers-Top-Notch-Science-Lessons.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/BioMobileLab-Offers-Top-Notch-Science-Lessons.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Japan Eyes Robots to Support Aging Population (Resource)</title> <description>Japanese researchers are racing to build smart robots to serve the needs of the elderly in a country where 40% of the population will be over 65 by 2055. New types of robots will play a major role as there won't be enough people to do many jobs. Researchers from University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Information Science and Technology now work with counterparts from 7 leading Japanese firms to develop robotic and information technology leading to a new generation of robots in the next 15 years.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/UV4m7vRmq3c" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/UV4m7vRmq3c/Japan-Eyes-Robots-to-Support-Aging-Population.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Japan-Eyes-Robots-to-Support-Aging-Population.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>More Students Finish School, Given the Time (Resource)</title> <description>With over 70,000 students who are years behind in credits needed to graduate from high school, New York City recognizes that, for many students, high school may take more than 4 years. The city has spent $37 million to identify and help students who are at the biggest risk of dropping out and has contracted for $31 million more in programs. For students past the traditional graduation age, the city has established special centers to provide counseling, night classes, and an environment designed to avoid the stigma of being college age but in class with 14-year-olds. Some students also earn credits through summer school and community college classes.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/TBJ4ZWIClN8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/TBJ4ZWIClN8/More-Students-Finish-School2c-Given-the-Time.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/More-Students-Finish-School2c-Given-the-Time.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>The Soul of a New Vaccine (Resource)</title> <description>Sanaria Inc. is making a vaccine with gamma rays. Avoiding modern recombinant DNA technology that injects tiny fragments of parasite protein to prime an immune response, Sanaria uses the whole parasite, extracted by hand from the mosquito s salivary glands, and weakened so it cannot multiply. Because the world now fights malaria  ineptly  with nets, insecticides and drugs, a vaccine is desperately needed. Sanaria s is the sole vaccine using the whole parasite. Injected into a capillary, it rides the bloodstream to the liver and starts making proteins. But after about three days, it stops, and it never floods the blood with copies of itself. Radiation-weakened parasites have protected many lab mice and a handful of humans, but making a vaccine that can be mass produced is a huge challenge. The lucrative market is made up of tourists and the world s military forces. The larger goal is to protect the 3,000 children who die of malaria each day.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/ZoxjwxL_olc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/ZoxjwxL_olc/The-Soul-of-a-New-Vaccine.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/The-Soul-of-a-New-Vaccine.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>I.B.M. Plan Ties Training and Accounts (Resource)</title> <description>Corporations search for efficient, low-cost sources of labor, and American workers seek to improve their skills with training and education. Training costs often go to employees and increase their sense of economic insecurity. I.B.M. is taking a step to address help workers, and it hopes other companies will follow to help encourage a change in tax policy. At a recent conference in Washington, I.B. M. announced that it will offer its U. S. employees specialized savings accounts for training and education. The  learning accounts will be modeled on 401(k) retirement accounts. Workers will put up to $1,000 a year into the accounts, and I.B.M. will contribute 50 cents for every dollar put in by the employee. The employee decides how and when to spend the money, held in an interest-bearing account. When employees leave I.B.M., they take their accounts with them. I.B.M. spends over $600 million a year on education programs, to upgrade workers skills for their next job in the company. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a professor at the Harvard Business School said,  The significance is that it s controlled by the individual, as opposed to programs that are part of a career scheme that the company has in mind. &lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/n5ptVrw6feI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/n5ptVrw6feI/IBM-Plan-Ties-Training-and-Accounts.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/IBM-Plan-Ties-Training-and-Accounts.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>E-textbooks May Not Be Cheaper than Printed Ones (Resource)</title> <description>Critics of high-cost college textbooks have pointed to online digital textbooks, usually half the price of print editions, as an affordable alternative. However, a new report says commercial e-textbooks are no cheaper than hard-copy editions considering that students can sell print books back to the bookstore for half the cover price. And restrictions on printing and online access make commercial e-books unfeasible for many students.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/osbOa3fb4JI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/osbOa3fb4JI/E-textbooks-May-Not-Be-Cheaper-than-Printed-Ones.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/E-textbooks-May-Not-Be-Cheaper-than-Printed-Ones.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Institute for the Future Technology Horizons Program (Resource)</title> <description>Given concerns for security, flexibility, and health risks, centralized infrastructure will no longer be key to economic progress. New materials and technologies will make it possible to use more flexible infrastructures for transportation, people and information.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/dN6ydLNX_50" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/dN6ydLNX_50/Institute-for-the-Future-Technology-Horizons-Program.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Institute-for-the-Future-Technology-Horizons-Program.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>One Laptop Per Child Book &amp; Music Drive and XO Hackathon (Resource)</title> <description>SJ Klein, director of community content for OLPC notes a collaboration between One Laptop per Child, Creative Commons, and Textbookrevolution.org.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/VSEbJAgHfM8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/VSEbJAgHfM8/One-Laptop-Per-Child-Book--Music-Drive-and-XO-Hackathon.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/One-Laptop-Per-Child-Book--Music-Drive-and-XO-Hackathon.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>John Moravec's Chart of Education 3.0 Features (Resource)</title> <description>This chart depicts a networked education system in an open learning economy...&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/q5BzZn3qbik" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/q5BzZn3qbik/John-Moravecs-Chart-of-Education-30-Features.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/John-Moravecs-Chart-of-Education-30-Features.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Hewlett-Packard Awards $7 Million Through  Technology for Teaching Intitiative (Resource)</title> <description>Hewlett-Packard has announced cash and in-kind grants of more than $7 million to 172 schools across the United States and Puerto Rico as part of its HP Technology for Teaching initiative.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/O_kkhWp49Ik" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/O_kkhWp49Ik/Hewlett-Packard-Awards-247-Million-Through-e2809cTechnology-for-Teachinge2809d-Intitiative.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Hewlett-Packard-Awards-247-Million-Through-e2809cTechnology-for-Teachinge2809d-Intitiative.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Facebook Social Network (Resource)</title> <description>Facebook is a social utility that helps people better understand the world around them and allows users to share information through social networks on-line the same they would in the real world.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/ND3ngbH0IHk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/ND3ngbH0IHk/Facebook-Social-Network.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Facebook-Social-Network.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Purdue Puts Emergency Texting to the Test (Resource)</title> <description>Concern about rapid notification of school staffs and students in the event of a crisis has increased since Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people. Officials say the successful results of a recent experiment conducted at Purdue University, to test cell-phone text messages as a form of emergency communication, may be a promising step to equip college campuses with reliable and adequate emergency response plans. Nearly 3,000 of the 9,979 volunteers who signed up for the experiment replied to the test text message on their cell-phones within 10 minutes. To see how well text messaging works in comparison with eMail as a form of emergency communication, Purdue also sent out an experimental eMail message to the 56,882 people with campus eMail addresses. The results suggested that, while eMail was faster for initially sending out messages, students generally didn't notice the eMail messages or respond as quickly.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/8uPg4zzhTNU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/8uPg4zzhTNU/Purdue-Puts-Emergency-Texting-to-the-Test.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Purdue-Puts-Emergency-Texting-to-the-Test.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Power Users Drive Pedagogy (Resource)</title> <description>This article from Eschool News explains that, according to a new survey of educators, students who excel in the use of technology are driving change in classroom instruction,. Dubbed "Power Users," these ultra tech-savvy students have a growing influence over what--and how--teachers now teach, the survey said.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/-N8qauZeOfg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/-N8qauZeOfg/Power-Users-Drive-Pedagogy.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Power-Users-Drive-Pedagogy.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Postyourtest.Com Raises Ethical Concerns (Resource)</title> <description>As a student at St. Louis Univ., Demir Oral met students acing exams because they could access a bank of previous tests of the same professor. Fraternities and sororities compiled exams from prior years and made them available to members as a study tool during pressure-packed final exams. So last Nov., Oral launched Postyourtest.com, as a free online service to democratize the sharing of college exams. Educators have become wary of the potential for academic dishonesty. Experts say such sites may change how professors, aware that previous versions of their questions might be available in cyberspace, assemble their tests. Exams on Postyourtest.com give students a better idea of what may appear on upcoming tests, and they don't give students a cheat sheet. The proliferation of sites that post exams could rattle longtime college faculty members and force them to create brand-new tests every semester, instead of recycling exams repeatedly.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/PrmcFttBn2Q" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/PrmcFttBn2Q/PostyourtestCom-Raises-Ethical-Concerns.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/PostyourtestCom-Raises-Ethical-Concerns.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Online-learning Patent Dispute Heats up (Resource)</title> <description>The patent dispute is intensifying between enterprise software makers Blackboard Inc. and Desire2Learn Inc. over patent rights that Blackboard was granted in January 2006 for its course-management software and other eLearning products.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/SnsHcQgdm3o" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/SnsHcQgdm3o/Online-learning-Patent-Dispute-Heats-up.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Online-learning-Patent-Dispute-Heats-up.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Microsoft Debuts Math Software: Homework Help (Resource)</title> <description>Microsoft is diving into the educational-software business with Microsoft Math 3.0, a downloadable program intended to help students and their parents work through math homework together. "Many parents don't feel comfortable helping students with math," said Microsoft program manager Ben Kunz. With the new software, "parents can sit side-by-side with their child while they work through the steps."&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/hNTAk4QBOPc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/hNTAk4QBOPc/Microsoft-Debuts-Math-Software-Homework-Help.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Microsoft-Debuts-Math-Software-Homework-Help.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Google s New Online Reference Tool (Resource)</title> <description>Google is unveiling a free internet encyclopedia so people can profit from their expertise on any topic. Anyone with a Google login can submit an article and have ads displayed through Google s marketing system. The contributing author and Google will share revenue generated from the topic-related ads for the knol (unit of knowledge). The project is Google s answer to Wikipedia, (the web's leading reference tool drawn from the collective wisdom of unpaid, anonymous contributors, with nearly 2.5 million English-language articles and millions more in other languages). Contributors may use expertise shared on Google s knol to improve Wikipedia's entries. Google won t screen submissions for accuracy but will rely on its search formulas to highlight articles that readers find credible. Readers will rate articles on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, as on Google's YouTube.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/QfqjQ2FaElk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/QfqjQ2FaElk/Googlee28099s-New-Online-Reference-Tool.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Googlee28099s-New-Online-Reference-Tool.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Free Web Browser for Autistic Children: "Zac Brows" (Resource)</title> <description>Although the web has created important communication and educational opportunities for some people with cognitive impairments, computers can also introduce new headaches for families trying to navigate the contours of disability. A Las Vegas software developer created a free web browser designed specifically for use by autistic children. John LeSieur is in the software business, so he took particular interest when computers seemed mostly useless to his 6-year-old grandson, Zackary. The boy has autism, and the whirlwind of options presented by PCs so confounded him that he threw the mouse in frustration. LeSieur tried to find online tools that could guide autistic kids around the web, but he couldn't find anything satisfactory. So he had one built, named it the  Zac Browser for Autistic Children in honor of his grandson, and made it available to anyone free of charge. Zac Browser presents a hand-picked slate of choices from free, public web sites, with an emphasis on educational games, music, videos, and visually entertaining images, such as a virtual aquarium. LeSieur's browser essentially takes over the computer and reduces the controls available for children such as Zackary, who may find too many choices overwhelming. Zac Browser disables extraneous keyboard buttons such as "Print Screen" and turns off the right button on the mouse. Zac Browser eliminates commands most children don't need anyway, and it reduces the chance an autistic child will lose confidence after making a counterproductive click. Children using the Zac Browser select activities by clicking on larger-than-normal icons, like a soccer ball for games and a stack of books for "stories." The Zac Browser also configures the view so no advertisements or other flashing distractions appear. LeSieur plans to tweak the program so parents can suggest new content to add.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/rXkcbw7r0GU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/rXkcbw7r0GU/Free-Web-Browser-for-Autistic-Children-Zac-Brows.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Free-Web-Browser-for-Autistic-Children-Zac-Brows.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Rapid Rise in How-To Instructions Online (Resource)</title> <description>What is eHow.com? Whatever a person wants to learn to do (Tie a tie, lose weight, negotiate a raise, etc.) the eHow"! database of over 100,000 articles can help. It's the popular place to find instructions on how to do almost everything. Monthly, over 8 million people visit the site. It has more than 100,000 articles professionally written with directions on how to do things. It also has a growing library of articles created by eHow's members. Members love sharing their knowledge with the world and use this platform for everyone to share their knowledge with others. Anyone who becomes an eHow member will be able to comment on articles and interact with other members through a robust set of social networking tools. They can even write their own How -To articles with the easy-to-use publishing tools that let members express their knowledge through text, images, and video. eHow's community is changing the way people share and learn information.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/oQrK5cvFeII" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/oQrK5cvFeII/Rapid-Rise-in-How-To-Instructions-Online.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Rapid-Rise-in-How-To-Instructions-Online.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Comfortable Classrooms: Students Don't Have to Squeeze (Resource)</title> <description>Most public schools today are 20th century adaptations of the schools in the original American colonies. In the industrial version of schools, students became products to be passed from grade to grade until sufficiently educated to work in a factory. School buildings reflected this ultimate goal, with classroom after similar classroom aligned along each side of a corridor, and regimental rows of hard chairs symbolizing strict attention and serious purpose. Nothing about the industrial school model required comfort as a precondition for success. Even though no research or evidence supports this idea, a myth persists to this day that an uncomfortable school is probably good because it creates self-disciplined kids, not pampered softies. A considerable body of research about environmental design shows the positive effect comfort can have on learning, human productivity and creativity. In this Edutopia article, Prakash Nair and Randall Fielding argue for greater investments in softer seating, cleaner and fresher air, noise controls, adaptive and flexible learning spaces, access to healthy food, smaller learning communities, and creating environments where students can feel both secure and significant.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/h0u-cGd1wlI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/h0u-cGd1wlI/Comfortable-Classrooms-Students-Dont-Have-to-Squeeze.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Comfortable-Classrooms-Students-Dont-Have-to-Squeeze.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Planning for Neomillenial Learning Style, Educause Quarterly (Resource)</title> <description>This article explains how shifts in students learning styles will prompt a shift to active construction of knowledge through mediated immersion.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/YqsNMgrv_Ts" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/YqsNMgrv_Ts/Planning-for-Neomillenial-Learning-Style2c-Educause-Quarterly.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Planning-for-Neomillenial-Learning-Style2c-Educause-Quarterly.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Cheap-Laptop Project Sees Major Advance (Resource)</title> <description>The One Laptop Per Child program and Intel recently said that the chip maker would join the board of the nonprofit and contribute funding. The nonprofit effort  known as the  $100 laptop because of the low price it hopes to reach with mass production  has been trying to line up governments in several countries to buy the machines, which for now cost $175. However, Intel, with its Classmate's price is expected to fall to near $200 this year, signed a deal to sell 700,000 of its machines in Pakistan. The negotiated compromise stipulates that One Laptop Per Child's computers will continue to use processors from Intel rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc., but Intel is expected to work with the project on future technical developments.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/dvGuArPXapg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/dvGuArPXapg/Cheap-Laptop-Project-Sees-Major-Advance.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Cheap-Laptop-Project-Sees-Major-Advance.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Venture Fund Fueling Push for New Schools (Resource)</title> <description>Analysts suggest NewSchools biggest impact has been to help firmly establish charter-management organizations nonprofits that spawn and operate clusters of like-minded charter schools as part of the education marketplace...&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/7MHcMBaFZec" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/7MHcMBaFZec/Venture-Fund-Fueling-Push-for-New-Schools.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Venture-Fund-Fueling-Push-for-New-Schools.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Genetically Modified Mosquitoes May Combat Malaria (Resource)</title> <description>Scientists have genetically modified hundreds of mosquitoes, hoping to stop them from spreading their killer diseases. The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has found the work so promising it has invested nearly $38 million into genetic strategies to stop mosquitoes from transmitting diseases like malaria and dengue fever. Malaria kills nearly three million people worldwide every year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. "This is one of those high-tech, high risk innovations that would fundamentally change the struggle between humans and mosquitoes. Mosquitoes bred to be immune to malaria could break the disease's transmission cycle." said Dr. Regina Rabinovich, director of infectious diseases development at the Gates Foundation.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/ClZoZw4uzBA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/ClZoZw4uzBA/Genetically-Modified-Mosquitoes-May-Combat-Malaria.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Genetically-Modified-Mosquitoes-May-Combat-Malaria.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Philanthropic Travel Connects Tourists with World (Resource)</title> <description>Clients of the luxury travel agency Artisans of Leisure are embracing an off-the-map concept known as philanthropic travel. They donate cows - or even a water buffaloes - to impoverished villages. And they follow up by sponsoring a ceremony and a big party. "Our clients are really looking for human connections," said founder Ashley Ganz. Artisans of Leisure is experiencing a boom in this ethically complicated niche. Likewise, Ritz Carlton Hotels and Resorts has just launched a 71-hotel program called Give Back Getaways, allowing guests to participate in music therapy programs for the disabled in Istanbul or home restoration in the ancient water town of Wuzhen, China. Guests will shell out between US$50-100,000 for the experience, part of which is forwarded to the local charity. American Express Travel is set to launch its own package for its elite Platinum Card members, one of which will include an Orient-Express train trip through Botswana and South Africa that will offer visits to soup kitchens and basket-weaving projects en route. The cost: US$13,000 per person, and evidently, the company sees a future from this kind of demand. In the past week they received many calls from travelers who wanted to go help out in Myanmar. Operators and social theorists surmise that this jet set generosity could be the loud echo-effect of anti-poverty crusaders Bono, Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie, and Brad Pitt. Others attribute the trend to niche positioning in a competitive luxury market.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/YtTMLf1HTcg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/YtTMLf1HTcg/Philanthropic-Travel-Connects-Tourists-with-World.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Philanthropic-Travel-Connects-Tourists-with-World.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>U.S. Schools May Join Inexpensive Laptop Project (Resource)</title> <description>The nonprofit "One Laptop per Child" project said on it might sell versions of its kid-friendly laptops in the United States, reversing its previous position of only distributing them to the poorest nations. "We can't ignore the United States. ... We are looking at it very seriously," said Nicholas Negroponte, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology academic who founded the project. Once known as the $100 laptop, the lime-green-and-white devices would go at a higher price to U.S. schools, because more resources are invested in American education than in developing nations. The laptop features a string pulley to charge its battery, a keyboard that switches between languages, a digital video camera, wireless connectivity and Linux open-source operating software tailored for remote regions. The display switches from color to black and white for viewing in direct sunlight. It requires just two watts of power and does away with hard drives, relying instead on flash memory and four USB ports. A minute of yanking on its pulley generates 10 minutes of electricity. Negroponte said U.S. schools could receive the laptops by the end of the year in response to interest from 19 governors.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/rzNymjT3PmE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/rzNymjT3PmE/US-Schools-May-Join-Inexpensive-Laptop-Project.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/US-Schools-May-Join-Inexpensive-Laptop-Project.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Program Could Turn Arkansas' School Buses into Classrooms (Resource)</title> <description>Prof. Julie Hudson of Vanderbilt Univ. and program director for the Aspirnaut Initiative (AI), recently told a legislative panel the AI program turns what would be idle time into productive learning time. "Many students in rural Arkansas, and many rural states in the U.S., have long school bus rides. Students sit perhaps between 1.5 to 2 hours on the longest routes each way, each day of the week," Hudson told the House and Senate education committees. A pilot program has transformed school buses into mobile virtual classrooms in one Arkansas district seems worth expanding across the state, coordinators say. The  Aspirnaut Initiative equips students with laptop computers and iPods and allows them to take online math and science courses while traveling to and from school. The program turns what would otherwise be idle time into productive learning time. Students in the pilot program have completed 14 semesters of study with their regular course load. The students are given headphones which help them tune out noise from other students on the bus who are not in the program. Connectivity may be an issue for bus routes so remote that they don't even have cell service.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/K5_yO_EPpUc" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/K5_yO_EPpUc/Program-Could-Turn-Arkansas-School-Buses-into-Classrooms.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Program-Could-Turn-Arkansas-School-Buses-into-Classrooms.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>Mind Shifts (Resource)</title> <description>The June, 2008 issue of American School and University: Shaping Facilities and Business Decisions, features and cover story entitled,  Mind Shifts: Schools and Mental Health  Business, Legal, Security and Facilities Implications .&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/K1AQtBeqxuQ" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/K1AQtBeqxuQ/Mind-Shifts.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/Mind-Shifts.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>A Call to Fund the Young and Risky (Resource)</title> <description>In a recent white paper,  ARISE: Advancing Research in Science and Engineering from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a coalition of researchers urged greater commitment among policy makers, universities, and private donors to support scientists early in their careers and encourage potentially  high-risk, high-reward ventures. The report offered recommendations to alter longstanding federal funding and peer-review mechanisms and foster a new generation of scientists and stimulate the daring investigations that will generate competitive advantage in a global economy.&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/vXuYGnY234E" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/vXuYGnY234E/A-Call-to-Fund-the-Young-and-Risky.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/A-Call-to-Fund-the-Young-and-Risky.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> <item> <title>11 Tips for Managing Millenials (Resource)</title> <description>11 Tips for hiring, managing, and working with Generation Y&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Beta-Building/~4/tvjVQAz_R9I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description> <link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Beta-Building/~3/tvjVQAz_R9I/11-Tips-for-Managing-Millenials.aspx</link> <feedburner:origLink>http://www.futureofed.org/resource/11-Tips-for-Managing-Millenials.aspx</feedburner:origLink></item> </channel> </rss>