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News

Textbooks dumped in favor of laptops
"No textbooks? No problem. A revolutionary new high school outside
Tucson, Ariz., plans to do away with the bulky, hardcover tomes in favor
of laptop computers, making it one of the first schools in the nation to
abandon the use of traditional textbooks for the educational value of
the internet. . . ."
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryts.cfm?ArticleID=5270
Referred by: eSchool News Online

Back to School and Gaming, Kids
"Back to school for many kids means "back to internet access" in classes
where the best of filtering software is not foolproof, particularly against
seemingly harmless websites used for invasive marketing...Little is
formally being done to shield kids in school or at home from "immersive
advertising" or corporate-sponsored "advergames" such as the Neopets
website, which contains loads of embedded advertising messages and
links to merchandise."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,65011,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_8
Referred by: Wired News

College Debates Its High - Tech Gamble
"BUCKHANNON, W.Va. (AP) -- Small, poor and 45 minutes from the
nearest town with a shopping mall, West Virginia Wesleyan College
couldn't attract enough students to fill its classrooms and improve its
struggling finances. To survive and thrive, it needed to stand out. The
answer, college leaders decided, was technology." This article from the
Associated Press discusses the pros & cons of the decision to focus on
technology made by Wesleyan College ten years ago.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/1094945422

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Funding

BFA 2005 Education Grant Process
"The Beaumont Foundation of America (BFA) is pleased to announce its
2005 Education grant process. The Foundation will award state-of-the-art
Toshiba-branded technology equipment to public, private, parochial, and
charter schools that meet eligibility criteria as noted at
www.bmtfoundation.com/grants/. The Foundation will accept "letters of
Interest" from eligible schools from October 4 through 22, 2004. Successful
submissions will be invited to apply."
http://www.bmtfoundation.com/grants/

Best Buy Te@ch Program to Reward Schools for Use of Interactive Technology
"Best Buy and the Best Buy Children's Foundation are seeking
applications from teachers for the second annual "te@ch" program. The
program is designed to reward schools for successfully integrating
interactive technology into classrooms. The te@ch program will provide
a $2,500 Best Buy Gift Card to schools in recognition of programs or
projects that creatively integrate interactive technology into the
curriculum. This year $3,000,000 will be awarded nationwide to 1,200
schools located within 25 miles of a Best Buy store." Deadline: October 1
http://communications.bestbuy.com/communityrelations/teach.asp
Referred By: The Foundation Center

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Research

Women and Children Last: The Discursive Construction of Weblogs
"Are weblogs inherently "democratizing," in the sense of giving voice to
diverse populations of users? The empirical findings reported for gender
and age at the beginning of this essay suggest that they are. Yet public
commentators on weblogs, including many bloggers themselves, collude
in reproducing gender and age-based hierarchy in the blogosphere,
demonstrating once again that even an open access technology-and
high hopes for its use-cannot guarantee socially equitable outcomes in a
society that continues to embrace hierarchical values."
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/women_and_children.html
Referred by: Blogosphere

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Activities

Pathways to Freedom: Maryland & the Underground Railroad
This website includes a Flash-based storytelling of African-American
history. This web-based storytelling situates children inside the story
and urges them to realize how differently their decision-making can
affect our societal change! "You are a Maryland slave... Travel back to
the 1800s and become an eyewitness to history. You become a young
slave who must make some important and life-changing decisions."
http://pathways.thinkport.org/following/home.cfm
Referred by: Maryland Public Television

We welcome your feedback!

_______________

YouthLearn
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This newsletter is produced by the YouthLearn Initiative at EDC especially for
members of the YouthLearn discussion group. Every two weeks, the newsletter is
compiled from the entries in the YouthLearn News Blog, including summaries
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