Growing the New Technopolis

Several things have come down the pipes lately that seem post-worthy, so I thought I’d try to list them in one fell swoop.

- The Carolina portal at iTunesU, for which Doug was mainly responsible for getting going, launched recently. Here’s an article in The Daily Tar Heel about the launch. The content itself can be accessed by pointing your browser to http://itunes.unc.edu.

This is also exciting for me because my department, Communication Studies, will have its own channel for student and faculty content. Good stuff!

- Bob came over to UNC on the day of the launch and he and I met with staff members at UNC’s service learning organization APPLES about getting them involved with Bob’s Digital Media Sandbox Consortium. Bob was very eloquent about the need for digital fluency in service-learning, and the APPLES crew was excited about the possibilities (that was my take on it, anyway). We made plans to get them involved in the podcasting tournament. Then, this week, I had a good meeting with their Associate Director to talk about how they could more sustainably integrate podcasting into their service-learning efforts.

- Finally, a little own-horn-tooting: I have had a paper accepted to the Community Informatics & Development Informatics Conference in Prato, Italy. I am collaborating with the Academic Director of the City of Knowledge at the Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil. If anyone cares to read the first draft (written for a community development class last semester) and offer feedback – well, I just don’t know what I’d do for you. It’s on my website here. It concerns the use of digital storytelling for community and economic development. And, uh, if you have a couple grand’s worth of staff development grants to fly me over there, that’d be nice too!

I’ve been feeling over-worked lately (isn’t it summertime?!), but this is all great news and evidence that some of our hard work is paying off!

This just in from the Chronicle of Higher Ed:

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

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

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!

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

Doug and I presented at the 2007 TLT Conference on Friday, March 23. We received great feedback from our community digital media arts centers presentation from North Carolina School for the Arts and others. The Conference was packed with outstanding presentations which provided much food for thought. In particular, Appalachian State University’s preso on virtual worlds was powerful. Collaboration between TSU and UNC-Chapel Hill continues to develop through conversations with Paul Jones of ibiblio.

Again, anyone interested in convergence of Civic Engagement and Educational Technology should consult the Tennessee Sandbox site at:

www.tnsandbox.com

More later!!

Following on the heals of our presentation later this month at the North Carolina Campus Compact Conference, we’ll also be presenting at the UNC Teaching & Learning with Technology Conference on March 23, in Raleigh, NC. The UNC TLT conference is a wonderful forum for educators across the UNC system and beyond to share ideas, best practices, and strategies for incorporating technology into higher ed. This year’s conference theme seems especially appropriate for our New Technopolis vision: “Building Connections.”

Learn more about the conference here: http://conference.unctlt.org/

(The following press release comes to us courtesy of the Corporation for Community and National Service.)
December 4, 2006
Washington, D.C. – ABC-TV’s Wednesday night “20/20″ broadcast turned the spotlight on a service-learning program at Abington High School in suburban Philadelphia as example of the way Americans give generously of their time and the benefits they receive in return.

The segment was part of an hour-long special edition of “20/20” that looked at charitable giving in America. The program used footage from Learn and Serve America’s “Bring Learning to Life” program video, which features Abington High students engaged in a variety of service-learning activities, including students helping reconstruct a historic building.

In the 20/20 segment, anchor John Stossel describes the positive impacts of service-learning. “Teachers say students who volunteer raise their grades, and get higher SAT scores,” Stossel says. The piece quotes Abington High School student Jeff Rohrbach, “After service-learning started, I got so involved into it, I started paying attention more, picked up my grades.’ Rohrbach now operates his own construction company in his Montgomery County, Penn., community. (more…)

We learned just last week that our proposal entitled, “Real Scholarship, Real Community: Effective Technology Integration for Improved Outcomes & Student Engagement,” has been accepted for next year’s 9th Annual Service-Learning Conference, sponsored by North Carolina Campus Compact. We’re excited to be able to share our vision with high-level service-learning advocates from around the southeast next February 21.

To learn more about the national higher ed service-learning organization, Campus Compact, check out its web site: http://www.campuscompact.org/