Growing the New Technopolis

This just in from the Chronicle of Higher Ed:

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2901/new-school-for-new-media-at-depaul-u

Direct from the folks at Edublogs:

“We’ve got some pretty big news this week, something we’ve been working on for quite a while and something we think you will love. It’s now simple to create blogs for all your students (or colleagues) without having to leave the comfort of your own blog! All you have to do is visit the ‘Users’ tab in your admin area, pop in a username, email address and blog title and the system will automatically create a blog (you can create up to 15 at once) and email the login details to the new user.”

http://edublogs.org/2008/03/11/simply-create-blogs-and-usernames-for-your-students/

It’s been far too long since either Bob or I has posted anything here at the New Technopolois blog. But don’t let that fool you! We’ve each been busy in our own ways, cultivating interest among our respective institutions and elsewhere for a committed approach to technology integration in an academic-scholarly/service-learning context. Bob’s been doing some great work with the Digital Media Sandbox Consortium, a multi-state collective driven by his campus (TSU) that looks to create a NCAA-style digital media tournament for students at the higher ed level. See www.tnsandbox.com for more on this project.

Meanwhile, I finally finished my master’s degree in information science in December and have been keeping very busy with my work responsibilities here at Carolina Law, where I’ve served since Jan. ‘07 as the assistant dean for IT. But along with that, I’ve been spearheading the iTunes U project for Carolina and am now, along with Bob and another UNC colleague, participating in this year’s Carolina Challenge. The CC is an entrepreneurial competition for UNC students, faculty, and staff with a business track and a social/non-profit track. We’ll be competing in the latter with our DMAC (Digital Media Arts Co-op) serving as the model for that. More news to follow…

I stumbled upon this series of great video tutorials on blogging. I hate to admit that they use Blogger, not WordPress, as their example platform, but there’s lots of good stuff here. This link may only be available through the end of the month, so hurry to check it out. At the bottom of the page, there are a couple tutorials specifically geared towards educators.

Blogging Workshop – Movies

This is great stuff! Found on the thriving Madison, WI citizen media site, MadisonCommons.org, this feature article focuses on the summer podcasting program run for  youth out of a local community center. This is very close to the kind of work for which Bob and I continue to advocate (and apply for grants!).

http://www.madisoncommons.org/article.php?storyid=1091

Fascinating recent post on Jenkins’ blog. An interview with Youth Radio producers and student participants, in which he starts out by debunking what he feels are some of the myths surrounding the whole digital natives vs. digital immigrants construct. This also speaks to youth as active producers of high-quality digital content.

http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/08/youth_radio.html 

It’s been a long hot summer indeed. Too long between posts for this old dog, but following a nice retreat to DC for the Campus Technology Conference (where Bob and I first started to solidify our ideas last year in Boston), I’m headed into the fall academic semester with renewed focus. Bob and I continue to stir the pot through various contacts near and far, and the tri-state digital media “sandbox” consortium (TN, NC, VA) appears to be shaping up quite nicely. More news as it happens, but meanwhile, the MacArthur Foundation continues its focus on digital learning with their second major grant competition…
http://www.dmlcompetition.net/

The time is now to write your congressional representative and ask him/her to support the new ATTAIN bill. Quoting from the EdTech Action Network’s site (which is worth bookmarking):

“The Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act was introduced on May 23rd by Representatives Roybal-Allard, Hinojosa, Biggert and Kind.  This bipartisan bill revamps the No Child Left Behind Act’s (NCLB) Enhancing Education Through Technology program (EETT), and would target federal education technology resources towards technology professional development, systemic reform initiatives with strong technology components, and, most importantly, schools failing to attain proficiency in core curricular subjects.”

Please visit http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/index.html soon to make your voice heard!

A very thoughtful article in T.H.E Journal on improving the quality and accessibility of educational podcasting.

http://www.thejournal.com/articles/20818 

From my THEJournal newsletter:

Kennedy Middle School Stimulates Learning with Multimedia, Computing Power

By Charlie White
Middle school students in Germantown, WI who are eager to learn about the latest technology have a fervent ally in their principal, Steve Bold. As principal of the 890-student Kennedy Middle School there for the last 11 years, he has been a passionate proponent of implementing computer training, presentation technology, and video production into the curriculum whenever he can. The result is more engaged, interested and involved students. We talked to him at his bustling middle school about how he uses tech to teach, experiments with new tools, and how he envisions the use of this technology in the future….

Read Complete Article:
http://www.thejournal.com/articles/20572

Some wonderful work being done halfway between our respective institutions, down in beautiful Asheville, NC. The Media Arts Project has developed a conceptual plan for building what it calls “creative clusters” by way of A Community-Based Media Development Center. (this links to a PDF)

This idea is not unlike the one we’re putting forward: the creation of what we’re calling DMACs, or digital media arts centers, in historically underprivileged neighborhoods. The DMAC model could serve as a powerful multidisciplinary service-learning project that results in all kinds of action research, civic engagement, and social entrepreneurship. The key is to build strong partnerships at the local, state, and even national level to foster such projects along and grow the model out.