"Amusing, puzzling and horrifying." That's how Erika Shaker describes a "Roundup" column that I write for Our Schools, Our Selves, a Canadian education journal published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The column consists of short items, many related to
technology. This is the first of posts
from that Our Schools Roundup column.
Replace teachers with
computers
That is the recipe for the future of education as seen by
Rupert Murdoch. Not content with
promoting a lack of ethics in his newspapers, he wants to undermine education
as well. "The digital age opens up
a tremendous opportunity in education," he told the Times of London.
Murdoch's solution to education--"with the aid of
technology, schools could use only the finest teachers in every course...and
make them available to every child."
This was his plan in purchasing Wireless Generation, which
makes teaching assistance and student data software. His move into education came just as the wiretapping
of the sad and the famous came to light and he had to abandon News of the World. He threatened to do the same to education.
Wireless Generation had a $27million no-bid contract with
education in New York State. After the
light shone on the wiretapping, the state returned the contract saying it was
incomplete because it didn't deal with the "responsibility issues involving the parent company."
********
Twitter terrorist
teacher
A Mexican teacher was held in jail for passing on a message
to her brother-in-law about a potential terrorist attack at a school near Vera
Cruz. The relative retweeted the
message. Both were picked up for causing mass hysteria and dozens of car
accidents. Another 30 tweeters are
under investigation.
Maybe they heard about Murdoch taking over education and
panicked.
*******
Tweet that university
application
The University of Iowa School of Management lets students
use the 140-characters of Twitter to submit an admission application. The Columbia University Business School is
more generous--it allows 200-character answer to "What is your post MBA
professional goal?"
Of course, the applicant can always include a link to their
blog or web site if they can interest the admissions officer to go beyond the
tweet.
***********
Not while on your
bike
The Chicago city council has adopted an ordinance
"barring bicyclists from using their cellphones to text message or talk on
the phone without a hands-free
device." The council was told there
had been 1600 crashes and five people killed during the year in phone-related
crashes.
In a hearing, one presenter said "I've actually seen
people riding and texting with both hands."
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