Education Futures (ANYONE?)

eSN TechWatch: Redefining 'intelligence' -- July 23, 2007
http://www.eschoolnews.com/video/index.cfm?v=230&f=367

Futurist Andrew Zolli discusses the trends shaping education’s future—including the need to redefine what it means to be “smart.”

Watch with Windows Media
Watch with Quicktime MP4

One "GIANT STEP" towards IRRELEVANCE and One "GIANT LEAP" for DEMOCRACY! YOU BE THE JUDGE!

(MADALYN RUGGIERO/Special to the Free Press)

Paul Bath, 16, of Plymouth calls his parents while waiting for a ride after class at Plymouth High School on Friday. The Plymouth-Canton district says it has tough punishments for using electronic devices inside its schools because of growing concerns about safety, security and cheating.

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(MADALYN RUGGIERO/Special to the Free Press)

Students like Te'Ara Brewington, 15, left, and Desmond Reese, 16, both of Canton, face tougher penalties if caught using electronic devices in school.

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(CNN via Associated Press)

YouTube contributors pose a question to the Democratic presidential candidates at the debate in Charleston, S.C., on Monday night.

Crackdown in the classroom

Use a cell phone in Plymouth-Canton schools and you can wind up suspended

July 24, 2007

BY LORI HIGGINS

FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER

Plymouth-Canton Community Schools is getting tough on students caught using cell phones or iPods in school, going further than most districts in the state by punishing them with automatic suspensions for breaking the rules.

It's an unpopular move with students, but one that the district says is necessary to address a surge in violations of rules. The district says it tackles growing concerns about safety, security and students using electronic devices to cheat during class. And they expect other districts to follow suit

Instead of having the items confiscated and/or serving a detention, students now will be suspended -- one day for a first violation and up to five days for four or more violations.

"Will we have some people who will object? My gosh, of course. But if you look at the statistics, clearly you can see we've got to do something," said Bob Hayes, director for student services.

"This was not done capriciously. It's easy to punish. And punishment doesn't teach. We want to teach people responsible use," Hayes said.

Most districts in metro Detroit have policies similar to the previous rules in Plymouth-Canton, allowing devices on campus as long as they're off and out of sight, but officials in this Wayne County district believe they have good reason to bring down the hammer and suspend students instead of simply taking the devices away.

Hayes said the number of violations of the old policy prohibiting the use of electronic communications devices increased from 563 in 2005-06 to 1,374 in 2006-07. The surge, he said, is a sign that the previous penalties weren't enough of a deterrent.

Dealing with cheating

Cheating is one of the major reasons cited in a letter the district sent to summer school parents, and it is an area of increasing concern.

The Josephson Institute for Ethics in Los Angeles, in its annual report on ethics among American youth, reported that 60% of the 36,000 students surveyed in 2006 said they had cheated during a test at school within the previous 12 months; 35% said they had done so two or more times.

How often students use electronic devices to cheat is unknown.

Patrick Fitzpatrick, an assistant principal at Salem High School, said about 4% of the referrals he gets about students violating the policy on electronic devices are because they've been caught using the devices to cheat. Fitzpatrick is one of six assistant principals at the district's three high schools who handle discipline.

Savvy students can have their cell phones in their pocket and text message test answers to a friend, or ask a friend to give them an answer to a question. An iPod also can be used to cheat. Hayes said he's heard of students downloading difficult math or science formulas onto their iPods, then listening to the formulas during a test.

How do they avoid getting caught? They can hide the iPod in a pocket or under their clothing, snake the earphone cord through their shirt and cover the earpiece with a shirt collar, a hoodie or their hand.

Students are mixed about whether cheating is enough of a concern to warrant tougher penalties. Jing Guan, 17, of Canton, a junior at Plymouth High School, said she's seen students cheat by text-messaging answers to a test.

"Some kids are guilty, but they're treating everyone like they're guilty," Jing said.

But Brad Sullivan, a junior from Canton, said he doesn't think electronic cheating is a problem.

"Normally people cheat the old-fashioned way," said Brad, 16.

Michigan used to make this issue easy for schools. Up until 2004, all electronic devices were banned. But in 2004, the state left it up to districts to decide.

Safety and security

Local school administrators know how distracting, and disruptive, the devices can be, particularly in the classroom. One district, Southfield Public Schools, has more severe penalties for students who have a device that goes off during a class.

Safety and security also are key issues, Hayes said. If there were an emergency at the three high schools, and all students used their cell phones to call home, emergency workers would have a difficult time getting through to communicate with administrators.

Another concern, Hayes said, is that students have used their phones to text message or call each other to meet up for an anticipated fight.

Students not happy about it

Students acknowledge there is a problem, but say suspension isn't the answer.

"They need to get more strict, but they're taking it too far," said Scott Dreaver, 17, of Canton, a senior at Salem High School. He said he's had five violations and thought that automatic suspension would mean students will miss out on classroom work.

Students routinely ignore the rules, which are spelled out in the student code of conduct. Some of the students interviewed said that they never turn their cell phones off, and some acknowledge that they answer calls or text-message during the day. Some of the violations have been from parents calling their children during the school day.

The new penalties kicked in for summer school, but because of the abbreviated nature of the summer classes, a first offense got a three-hour detention instead of suspension. But while the message has clearly been sent, many students are still angry about it.

"There's not a day that goes by that people don't complain about it," said Lexa Dilmore, 16, a junior at Plymouth High School.

Contact LORI HIGGINS at 248-351-3694 or lhiggins@freepress.com.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

YouTube revolutionizes debate

Democrats field online questions

July 24, 2007

BY NEDRA PICKLER

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Young, Internet-savvy voters challenged Democratic presidential hopefuls on gun control, the military draft and the candidates' place in a broken political system, playing starring roles in a provocative, video-driven debate Monday night.

"Wassup?" came the first question, from a voter named Zach, after another, named Chris, opened the CNN-YouTube debate with a barb aimed at the entire eight-candidate field: "Can you as politicians ... actually answer questions rather than beat around the bush?"

The answer was a qualified yes. The candidates faced blunt questions -- from earnest to the ridiculous -- and, in many cases, responded in kind.

To Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois: Are you black enough? "You know, when I'm catching a cab in Manhattan ... I'm giving my credentials," he replied.

To Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York: Are you feminine enough? "I couldn't run as anything other than a woman," she said, drawing a challenge from former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who said he was the best women's advocate onstage.

One voter asked whether young women should register for the draft. Clinton, Obama and Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut said yes.

The debate featured questions submitted to the online video community YouTube and screened by CNN. A talking snowman, two rednecks and a woman speaking from her bathroom were among the twists to the oldest forum in politics: debate.

A Clio man asked about gun control while brandishing a firearm.

"He needs help," Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware snapped.

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

Five Minds for "Good Work!"

The Good Work Project: http://www.goodworkproject.org

The Good Work Project Overview (PDF)
http://goodworkproject.org/docs/papers/GW%20Overview%201_06.pdf

NGA Conference / Update Education

(AMY LEANG/DFP)

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is at the wheel of a 1960 Cadillac Eldorado convertible Friday with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who chairs this weekend's meeting of the National Governors Association in the Traverse City area.

2 governors share similar backgrounds

This weekend, they're in spotlight

July 21, 2007

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF

FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF

She leads a state where she wasn't born and is an ex-federal prosecutor and attorney general who in her 40s was elected governor as a likable, moderate Democrat, replacing a Republican. Four years later she trounced a Christian conservative challenger.

Went to college in California. Earned a law degree from an elite Eastern school.

The description fits Jennifer Granholm, Michigan's governor. And Janet Napolitano, Arizona's governor. Their careers have had striking parallels.

As new governors in 2003, both faced billion-dollar deficits and Republican legislatures. Both stress education and innovative businesses as crucial to their economies.

Both will be in the spotlight at the National Governors Association conference in the Traverse City area this weekend, Granholm as host and Napolitano chairing a gathering that will mix policy with parties in one of Michigan's premier playgrounds.

It's Granholm's job to show off her state's best side.

It's Napolitano's job to oversee discussions of global warming, online child predators and -- her main focus -- education as the key to lucrative, innovative markets for the United States.

In an interview this week, Napolitano said improving college education is crucial as the United States competes with other nations. Still, she said, the issue hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. The federal No Child Left Behind law for K-12 schools dominates the debate but, Napolitano said, doesn't go far enough in its testing requirements.

"They don't really tell you if your students have the capacity for innovation and creativity, the things that will allow us to compete with the Beijings, the New Delhis, the Dubais, the Dublins of the world," Napolitano said.

"What helps here is the opportunity for governors to share with each other what they are doing. Frankly, my experience at these governors meetings is some of the valuable conversations are in the background, in the hallways, as to what you tried that didn't work very well or maybe cost way more money than it produced."

Napolitano chose Granholm to chair the NGA committee on economic development and federal energy policies. Granholm said they struck a friendship in 1999, after they were elected attorneys general.

Napolitano is Arizona's third woman elected governor. In 2005, she was named one of the five best governors in the country by Time magazine. Conservatives label her a big spender. Democrats considered her a possible running mate for presidential nominee John Kerry in 2004.

She bridged a polarized Arizona government and made friends with business, said Earl de Berg, a pollster with Behavior Research Center in Phoenix.

"She's a pretty savvy gal. She has an intuitive understanding of where the public is in Arizona with respect to their frustration with past politics," de Berg said. "She's slightly left of center, but she gives the impression she's open to all, and it's really struck a chord with the public."

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

NGA Conference / Update

Governors' conference kicks off in Traverse City

July 21, 2007

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF

FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU CHIEF

TRAVERSE CITY -- Nearly 40 of the nation's governors kicked off their summer conference here Saturday, as Gov. Jennifer Granholm welcomed them against a backdrop of Grand Traverse Bay's blue surf and spectacular, sunny weather.

Granholm said the conference theme of innovation and the economy is especially pertinent to Michigan, which leads the nation in unemployment and, she said, is transforming from an auto-dominated economy, yet must retain the auto industry as part of its economic base.

"We know the importance of investing and diversifying an economy," she told reporters on the grounds of Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Campus.

She said governors will discuss, among other things, how to use the creativity of state universities and as magnets for economic growth -- a topic led by NGA chairperson, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who joined Granholm at the opening event.

The opening event also drew comments on global climate change. Granholm said while it's important for states to limit carbon dioxide emissions, and said all 2008 presidential candidates should insist that U.S. trade partners agree to limit carbon emissions as well.

"We can do all we want in the Unites States, but if there is no global lessening of emissions out of China, than it is nothing," she said. "We have to have a global policy."

Also attending the press conference were Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, chair of the NGA; Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III. Ritter said some European nations are looking to U.S.states to take step that will drive this nation's debate on global warming.

Thirty-five governors were expected to attend the conference at the Grand Traverse Resort.

They were to hear presentations Saturday by Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, and Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T, on the topic of innovation and the economy.

Granholm used the occasion to tout her economic plan to diversify the state's economy using money from the new 21st Century Jobs fund to attract high-tech, innovative industries, and new, tougher high school curriculum standards.

Napolitano said states should focus more on higher education and producing products that no other countries produce and market.

"What do we need to do as governors, state by state, to make sure the next generation is fully prepared for the globalization of the 21st Century?" she said."How do we make the U.S.a place were jobs are in-sourced, not out-sourced, as a result of our mental capital?"

She added, "Governors have a key role."

Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.

NSF ITEST STEM Grant / Urgent Response FINAL!

Proposed Revisions/Clarifications for Proposal, 07-37326, Fostering Interest in Information Technology, submitted by the University of Michigan

Project Design

Q1. The ITEST program mandates two consecutive years of participation in Youth-Based Projects. Although this is mentioned in the narrative, please confirm that students will participate for two years and provide an outline of activities for Years 1-2. Why do students not begin until 1 year after the program begins?

A1. We confirm that for the three-year duration, the proposed project will have two cohort groups, each participating in two consecutive years of project activities with an overlap in the second year so that all participating students will receive two years of enrichment activities.

The proposed project will be implemented from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2011. Participating students for the first cohort will begin the project in early fall of 2008. However, the project will implement a series of recruitment activities for the first cohort before the end of the previous school year in the winter and spring of 2008 and prepare over the summer for a fall start (before the 3-year “official” duration of the project begins in July 2008). Similar recruitment activities will be conducted for the second cohort in the winter and spring of 2009.

The outline of activities and events for the first cohort are as follows.

Year 1: Capacity Building (July 1, 2008 – August 30, 2009). The year starts with a preparation activity involving a summer course for K-12 STEM teachers, followed by a kickoff meeting as the school year begins, a set of IT intensive STEM area workshops for students during the year, and seminar meetings near the end of the fall and winter semesters. The year concludes with real-world field-based experiences during the following summer with opportunities for students to work directly with IT and STEM professionals and see examples of real-world workplace applications.

1. IT/STEM Summer Course

2. Kickoff Meeting

3. Level 1 Workshops

4. Seminar Meeting 1

5. Level 2 Workshops

6. Seminar Meeting 2

7. Summer Externship

By improving the IT/STEM readiness of participating students through capacity building activities and field-based experiences, all students will be prepared to undertake the work of designing IT-intensive authentic projects within the context of STEM, work that will start during the program explorations and continue into the second year.

Year 2: Design (September 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010). The design year consists of a series of site-based sessions for each individual design team and a whole-group seminar meeting near to the end of the school year. The overarching task of each design team in this year is to design inquiry-based authentic projects that are of at least science fair quality using one or more content-specific IT tools explored during the previous capacity building year and stimulating ideas/experiences gained during the field trips. The design year will end with a techno/career fair during the following summer of 2010.

8. Step 1: Ask (takes place during the summer externship)

9. Step 2: Investigation (takes place during the summer externship)

10. Step 3: Create

11. Step 4: Discuss

12. Step 5: Reflect

13. Seminar Meeting 3

14. Techno/Career Fair

The second cohort goes through the same set of activities in Year 1 (July 1, 2009 – August 30, 2010) and Year 2 (September 1, 2010 – June 30, 2011).

Q2. Funding is requested for materials development but the narrative does not adequately describe the curriculum materials to be produced. How many modules will be produced and by whom? Are there some existing materials that can be used?

A2. The proposed project will produce a total of four Curriculum Guides, one for each STEM subject matter area. They will be developed by the leadership of each design team (Drs. Zitzewitz, Medjahed, Orady, and Höft) in collaboration with the post-secondary STEM content expert and K-12 STEM teacher involved in each design team of the project. Each curriculum guide will include the following four modules:

1. The first one will be related to the summer course for teachers,
2. The second one will be related to the capacity building phase activities,
3. The third one will be devoted to summer externship activities,
4. The fourth one will deal with the design phase activities.

The project leadership will combine these four curriculum guides into a STEM guide book that will include a total of 4*4=16 modules.

We are not familiar with any existing curriculum guides for individual STEM subject matter areas that linked to the State content expectations and tested out with participating students.

Q3. How will the four student teams interact? How will student teams be organized if students self-select and the membership is not balanced?

A3. During Year Two: Design of each cohort, four student teams will interact through whole-group activities and events--Seminar Meeting 3 and Techno/Career Fair. Throughout the year, the project’s Web site, blog, and podcasting sites will also be utilized to extend student interaction outside the confines of the formal scheduled events.

Students’ interest in a specific STEM area is the main criteria for the organization of the design teams. At the end of the Level 1 Workshops, we will assist students to narrow down their interest to two specific STEM related fields. Level 2 Workshops will allow students to narrow down their interest to one specific STEM area. This multi-level structure is expected to provide a relatively balanced membership for four STEM area design teams. However, we will also ask students to provide an alternate team besides their main interest so that the project leadership could be more flexible with assigning students into four design teams in a balanced fashion. Possible multi-disciplinary projects from combined areas of STEM to be designed by students will help them find interest in more than one STEM area. This will also help the project leadership to balance the membership assignments for the design teams.

Q4. Please describe the student internship (what happens beside the field trips) and the teacher summer course in more detail.

A4. The student internship will consist of field-based experiences and preparation for Design activities.

During the two-week summer program, students will meet and observe the work of scientists and professionals in IT/STEM fields. The project will facilitate eight different day-long field trips (two for each STEM design team); each emphasizing IT related career and educational pathways within the context of STEM, and including debriefing activities after each one. Collaborating business, industry, government, and university sectors will host these sessions. This will help students to determine their real world projects and utilize the IT-STEM area professionals to research and develop meaningful projects that contribute to scientific advancement through collaboration and digital connectivity.

As part of the summer program, aligned with the Cyclic Inquiry Model’s 5 major steps (Ask, Investigate, Create, Discuss and Reflect), the project will also facilitate collaborative learning experiences where students learn how to design and conduct inquiry-based authentic projects; more specifically they learn how to Ask, Investigate, Create, Discuss, and Reflect. These theoretical discussions will then be linked to students’ authentic projects to provide practical applications. Step 1: Ask will take place during the summer program. Lead by one specialized member of the project leadership team, each STEM area will hold a series of meetings to discuss IT-intensive authentic project ideas aligned with appropriate federal and state standards within the focus area of each design team. At this stage, each student begins to focus on a question or problem, defining and describing it. Students will be assisted in the process by members of the leadership team, design team members, IT-STEM professionals from partnering business, industry, and government sectors, parents, and supporting partners. During this process, the project leadership team will closely survey the focus and interest of each participating student to facilitate individual, small-group, or multidisciplinary projects. Step 2: Investigate will also take place during the summer program and will be conducted in a similarly to Step 1. Students will begin to collect information about their questions. This process will include research using reading, observing, interviewing, or doing exploratory experiments.

The leading members of the STEM area design teams, Drs. Zitzewitz, Medjahed, Orady, and Höft will collaboratively design and teach an IT-intensive STEM area summer course for high-school STEM teachers. Ten to fifteen teachers from partnering school districts are expected to enroll in this three credit-hour summer course to learn, experience, and use information technologies within the context of STEM. The course will consist of presentations followed by hands-on activities to provide participating teachers the opportunity to learn advanced use of IT toolsets within the context of STEM. Four teachers (one from each STEM area) will be selected to participate in the proposed project based on their performance in this course. This will also allow the project leaderships to identify alternates for participating teachers those who would become unavailable to continue with the program.

Q5. What strategies will be used to identify parents with IT backgrounds to assist with the project? What evidence is there that a pool of parents with this expertise exists among the target population? How will parents access technology needed to participate electronically?

A5. Student recruitment information will identify parents’ work experience and parent/significant others’ willingness to assist in the program. In addition, the scheduled seminars and outreach opportunities will help us to survey parents and their professional background and expertise.

Participating school district, Detroit Public Schools is located in the Detroit Metropolitan area, where the “big three” automotive companies, their vendors and suppliers are located in Southeastern Michigan. Therefore, we have anecdotal information indicating that there is a considerable number of parents among the targeted population whose expertise are in IT-STEM fields.

The project will establish a parental Blog site to facilitate collaboration and exchange among parents, students, and other members of the project. Sponsored by the project’s participating school district, each student will have 24/7 access to a laptop and a Pocked PC throughout the program. This will allow parents to access these technologies at home for electronic communication as needed. Local libraries are also available for public access to Internet, WWW, and email.

Project Team, Management, and Audience

Q6. Who will serve on the project advisory board? Please provide letters of support to confirm commitment.

A6. The following individuals will serve on the project advisory board. Please see the appendix for the copy of the email confirmations of the commitment. We will provide official letters of support as we receive.

1. Charlotte A. Otto, Associate Provost and Professor of Chemistry, University of Michigan-Dearborn.
2. Dr. Bill Cobern, Director of t he George G. Mallinson Institute for Science Education
3. Patricia Pickett, Principal, Northwestern High School, Detroit Public Schools
4. Jeff Bush, Consultant, Design and Technological Studies, Oakland Schools
5. Michael Souden, Learning Services, Oakland Schools

In addition to the current members of the advisory board, we will continue our effort to include at least one representative from the region’s business, industry, and government sectors, and parents and volunteers.

Q7. What is the role of the industry collaborators?

A7. The primary role of the industry collaborators is to provide the "real world" applications. They will also have roles in other aspects of the projects. They will assist in providing the digital toolsets needed to do authentic research and development that contributes to the existing body of scientific knowledge. They will also provide technical tours and time of qualified personnel to mentor and guide student teams in the four areas of STEM. This would help provide real life problem solving techniques to the participating students. Industry collaborators have also a critical role to play in the development of what 21st century digital and academic toolsets are needed to facilitate a smooth transition from K-12 to college and then to the world of work. The cooperative relationship between business, industry and the education community is expected to result in the establishment of the following:

1. Permanent internships with participating businesses,
2. Greater sense of corporate responsibility
3. The creation of mutual advisory boards,
4. To inspire students to view the business world as part of their larger career path,

5. For all participating groups to demonstrate their products, projects, business plans, goals, strengths and weaknesses,
6. Businesses will help students to enhance their understanding of the general way in which participating businesses work, and
7. For businesses to receive students at the work place to see skills and STEM transferred to the world of work.

Q8. Which members of the project team (PI and Co-PIs) that are leading the science, technology, mathematics, and engineering design team, have expertise working with the target audience of high school youth?

A8. All members of the project leadership team who will be leading the STEM area design teams have previous experiences in working with high-school students and/or have been involved in funded projects in this area.

Dr. Mesut Duran, Associate Professor of Technology in the School of Education, will be overseeing the design team activities. He is a former high school teacher with three-year teaching experience in 9-12 grades. His current research titled Michigan Teachers’ Technology Education Network (MITTEN) has also involved considerable number of high school teachers and their students from six different school districts in Southeastern Michigan.

Paul Zitzewitz, Professor of Physics and Science Education in the Natural Sciences Department, will lead the Science design team. He has authored a high school physics textbook.

Dr. Brahim Medjahed, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer & Information Science, will lead the Technology design team. He has previously designed and taught computer science labs to high school students.

Dr. Elsayed Orady, Professor and the Coordinator of the Manufacturing Engineering Program in the Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, will lead the Engineering design team. He worked with Detroit area Pre-College Engineering Program (DAPCEP) students.

Dr. Margret Höft, Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, will lead the Mathematics design. She worked with several K-12 teachers and their students in the MITTEN project.

Q9. One reviewer was concerned that objectives 2, 4, and 5 are overlay ambitious for a three-year project. How will they be accomplished?

A9. Working closely with higher education and industry experts, monitoring student activities and progress in two consecutive years will bring real-world experiences to K-12 STEM teachers. Their engagement in the development of STEM area Curriculum Guides will provide significant strategies for replication and expanded awareness of additional opportunities and possibilities for their future students. Similarly, post-secondary faculty members’ ability to design and deliver IT/STEM enrichment experiences and opportunities for K-12 STEM teachers will increase within this collaborative engagement.

The “Community of Designers” idea that the proposed project will implement promotes collaborative engagement among high-school students, K-12 STEM teachers, U/GSAs, and post-secondary STEM content experts. Utilizing new technologies such as videoconferencing, streaming video, Web-based enabled collaboration tools such as blogs and poscasting will accelerate traditional time consuming analog deliverables and methodologies allowing the formation of a self-sustaining professional development network.

Q10. What schools will be targeted for recruitment and what are the characteristics of the target audience?

A10. The incoming 9^th Grade students will be recruited from a total of 6 high schools within the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) system for the first cohort. The students from Northwestern, Southeastern, Mumford, Cass Technical, Martin Luther King, and Renaissance high schools will be invited to participate. In addition to DPS, project leadership will invite the Oakland Schools and other surrounding school districts to participate in the project’s second cohort as part of its long term vision. Students will have to maintain Grade Point Levels above the minimum of 2.0 in addition to having acceptable attendance and behavior for the school year (9^th Grade). Students will be required to proved evidence of their freshman year performance for completion of the application process.

For both cohorts, the target audience is minority students, students with special needs, and female students. These students will join the project at the beginning of their 10^th grade and complete the two-year-long project activities at the end of their 11th grade, transitioning into their senior year as future college students.

The recruitment of students will be done via visits to invited schools and/or classrooms by representatives of the program. These visits will include STEM courses and activities ongoing in the targeted schools, coupled with letters of invitation to students as selected and/or nominated by the STEM instructors and school administrators. Students will be provided an application for active participation in the project. To support and maintain the levels of student participation, an alternate list of students will be created and provide replacements for any student moving from the targeted school or otherwise unavailable to continue with the program. Incentives will be provided for all involved students for the duration of the program.

Q11. Will student IT and STEM knowledge be considered as part of the admission process? What criteria will be used for high school and college student participation?

A11. Students’ interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math will be the most important focus areas for admission to the project. We will survey students for math, science, and computer courses taken and grades earned. However, high GPA is not required to enter the program.

We will recruit college students from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines. Their STEM strengths, IT comfort levels, outstanding GPA with excellent communication and teaching skills will be considered as selection criteria. We will also take into account students’ prior experiences working with the target high-school youth (e.g., tutoring, volunteering activities, and community services).

Q12. What is the plan for student retention? The PI predicts that the project will have 100% retention which may be unrealistic.

A12. The retention plan includes combination of academic and financial support systems. The project will regularly emphasize the “goal oriented” nature of the program rather than a “degree/certificate” which is considered one of the working strategies for student retention. Student retention is also “high” when program activities highlight a competition. With their projects designed during the FI³T program, students will be encouraged, advised, and supported to participate in nationwide pre-college competitions such as the Intel Science Talent Search and the International Science and Engineering Fair. Provided by the project’s K-12 partner, Detroit Public Schools (DPS), and equipped with special software needed for their projects, students will have access to a laptop and a Pocket PC during their participation in the project. Providing such educational and motivational tools and resources will have a positive impact on student retention. The social environment surrounding students with supporting parents, teachers, content experts, project leaders, business partners, and community members will also positively impact student retention. We are also aware of that urban environments face great uncertainty every day and those factors, transportation, fractured families, economics, etc., pose the greatest threat to retention and most importantly are unpredictable.

Evaluation and Budget

Q13. What are the benchmarks for project success which are critical for the evaluation and sustainability plans?

A13. Each sub group involved with the proposed project will have group benchmark and self-imposed significant steps in their path toward success. The following benchmarks will help us identify student and project success.

Students:

1. Increased use of computers, handhelds and other personal computing devices.
2. Increased use of business technology: Display devices, Cameras, projection equipment, etc.
3. Increased understanding and use of 3D software and the significant application of same.
4. The growth of team work skills associated with working on a professional team.
5. Increased understanding of project benchmarks, time lines and accountability to the larger picture.
6. Develop better organizational skills relative to project management as it relates to all aspects of the larger picture.
7. Students will report out regularly on their project components and predetermined evaluation benchmarks.
8. Students will demonstrate enhance ability to self-evaluate based on their benchmarks and goals.
9. Students will demonstrate competence with internet technologies, such as Blogs, podcasting, and other meaningful open-sourced technologies.
10. Student Blogs and Web sites will spread the word to the “digital natives” about the program and this will help to benchmark the progress of each group.

Program Success:

1. The 2nd year applications from students and teachers will increase.
2. Additional districts will surface and request participation in the program.
3. The program will see greater participation from business and industry.
4. The legislature will increase their cooperative understanding and begin supporting the program in spirit and dollars.
5. The tentacles of understanding will have penetrated other educational institutions and requests for replication will be made.
6. Community groups will express interest in participating in the project in increased fashion.
7. Corporations will realize the value of seeking out young unencumbered minds to focus on real world issues.
8. Corporate student mentorship’s will develop as a result of this project and signify a small success.
9. Industry continues their willingness to cooperate with higher education and K-12.

Q14. Reviewers noted that the some aspects of the evaluation plan are not clear including the number of lessons to be evaluated, and the assessment of teacher STEM knowledge, resources, and the website. The evaluation might also be strengthened by including student interviews. Please address these concerns.

A14. Assessment measures for all stakeholders will be developed in collaboration with project staff as specific goals and activities are finalized. Collaboration is strengthened by the evaluators’ inclusion on the project management team. Assessments include teachers’ growth in skill and use of IT, understanding of STEM content, and changes in instructional practice. Evaluation of project-related professional development, learning resources, and websites will be done from rubrics based on specific objectives and applicable professional standards, as described in the narrative.

Assessment and documentation of participating high school teachers’ ability to design and deliver IT/STEM enrichment experiences for their students consist of multiple measures. One will be an annual pre/post survey addressing frequency of use of IT hardware/software and various instructional practices to look for changes that might occur because of project-related learning. Other pre/post questionnaires will be aligned with project-specific teacher learning goals. Observations of professional development will be conducted as feasible. Teacher interviews will be conducted at least annually, following up on specific project activities and exploring teachers’ thoughts about applicability of new learning to their teaching. Finally, transfer of teachers’ changing practice will be documented by conducting annual observations in their home school classrooms. The first observations would be conducted early in Year 01 of each cohort and the last ones late in Year 02.

Similarly, student learning about information technology and the STEM disciplines as well as their growing understanding and sense of fit within STEM will be also measured in a variety of ways. Pre/post surveys and tests of content knowledge can assess gains in understanding and use of target technologies and STEM content. In addition, student growth can be assessed from work they produce, performance tasks developed by teachers and other project staff, self- and other-reports, and personal interviews. Conducted in the course of the two-year cohort programs, observations and student interviews can yield formative data about students’ responses to the many learning experiences as well as their attraction to study and work in STEM-related fields.

Q15. How many teachers will be involved in the project and trained to work in the youth program?

A15. Each design team will include a STEM area high school teacher. Four high school teachers (one from each STEM area) will participate in each cohort. With in two cohorts, a total of eight teachers will participate in the three-year duration of the project life.

Q16. How will the project be sustained beyond the period of NSF funding, especially with the high salary request including the design personnel?

A16. The proposed project will sustain its impact over and beyond the three-year duration of the project life through the following:

1. Further use of IT learning resources and deliverables that the project will develop and disseminate—project Web site, blog, and podcasting site, student projects, teacher developed Curriculum Guide, STEM guide book, and faculty developed IT-STEM course syllabi and materials,
2. Further use of its self-sustaining professional development network among high-school students, school teachers, U/GSAs, and IT-intensive STEM content experts,
3. Further leadership roles of school teachers in their respective schools districts, and
4. Further leadership roles of post-secondary faculty in their respective colleges and schools.

The Genie is Out of the Bottle!

New Generations, New Media Challenges

By Jonathan Fanton

Tuesday, Jun. 19 2007

Children coming of age today are the first generation to grow up digital. In
their world, the use of computers, the Internet, cell phones and interactive
video games is commonplace.

We used to worry that computer technology would remain in the hands of the
privileged; now it is carried in the backpacks and shirt pockets of those from
all walks of life.

On Saturday, the 2007 National Media Education Conference gets underway in St.
Louis. The theme of the four-day series of workshops and screenings — the
nation's largest gathering of media educators — is "iPods, Blogs and Beyond:
Evolving Media Literacy for the 21st Century."

Clearly, access to technology no longer is the central issue. More than 90
percent of those between the ages of 12 and 17 are online. The number of
high-speed Internet connections, necessary for the richest content experience,
is growing by 40 percent annually. Participation in the all-digital virtual
world known as Second Life has risen dramatically — from 500,000 to nearly 5
million people in two years.

Today's young people increasingly express themselves and build communities with these powerful tools of technology. The real gap between tomorrow's digital haves and have-nots will be a lag in competence and confidence in the fast-paced variegated digital universe building and breeding outside schoolhouse walls.

Research, some of it funded by the MacArthur Foundation, is just beginning to fathom how deeply our children have absorbed new technology: the role it plays in their lives and how it affects their learning, play and socialization. What this research suggests is that today's digital youth are in the process of creating a new kind of literacy; this evolving skill extends beyond the traditions of reading and writing into a community of expression and problem-solving that not only is changing their world but ours, too:

— They have created communities the size of whole nations by channeling personal affiliations through message boards or meta-games or dedicated
websites such as Facebook, Friendster and MySpace.

— They have mastered digital tools to create new techniques for personal
expression: modding, digital sampling, mash-ups and zines — not to mention new
paths of distribution for personal works of video and text.

— They have redefined the notion of "play" to include complex problem-solving, mentoring, the archiving of knowledge and real-time conversations on issues of policy and politics of global interest and importance.

Henry Jenkins, director of the media studies program at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, calls this a new "participatory culture," one that
presents low barriers to artistic expression and social engagement that suggests that a richer environment for learning may lie outside the classroom.

Online and after school, youths in this new participatory culture are
assimilating new languages and rules, vast troves of research and perspectives
on the nature of order and community that vault across traditional boundaries
of race or creed or culture.

In meta-games such as Civilization III and SimCity, participants develop and
manipulate dynamic models of real life; they teach and legislate, create and
share, connect and collaborate, reflecting the value of team-building and consensus over autonomous solutions.

Moreover, through virtual characters and identities — even some that disturb
parents — teens can experiment through trial and error, make poor moral choices
or learn the downside of risk-taking without jeopardizing actual careers or
lives. They learn to value challenge and appreciate complexity, even as they assimilate facts and assess developments at breathtaking speed.

The downside may be that in the sunset of the old information culture, we are not understanding this new media literacy soon enough. Those who have no opportunity or desire to be part of these revolutionary digital communities may be deprived of vital virtual skills that would prepare them for full
participation in the real world of tomorrow.

In this new media age, the ability to negotiate and evaluate information online, to recognize manipulation and propaganda and to assimilate ethical values is becoming as basic to education as reading and writing. The children who truly will be left behind in the evolving digital culture are those who fail to bridge this participation gap.

Our challenge is to develop these educational forces, opening up our classrooms to the learning in which children now engage largely outside of school. In the end, we may find that the best way to institutionalize and encourage this new media literacy is to understand and harness what our young digital culture seems to be doing pretty well on its own.

Jonathan Fanton is president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which is funding a $50 million initiative to understand how digital technologies are changing kids and learning.

SPecial to the St. louis Post-Dispatch

DTE Energy MATH Enrichment Grant Program

DTE Energy MATH Enrichment Grant Program (Blog-site)
http://dtemath.blogspot.com

Uncover and Discover YOUR ........................

When The Thrill Is Gone, So Are They

by Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans

Do you help your employees find the work they love to do? It may not always be easy, and you may even risk losing some of them. But if you don’t partner with your talented employees to find work they are passionate about, you will no doubt lose them anyway.

Passion for work means that people find what they do to be so exciting that it sometimes doesn't even feel like work -- so exciting that it brings exhilaration, a "high." Granted, even those who have this passion seldom have it every day -- but they do know that feeling, and they know when they lose it.

Do you know what your employees are passionate about? Do you have any idea what gets each of them up in the morning feeling anticipation and eagerness about the day? When we asked dozens of people about their work passions, here is some of what we heard:

• "I love creating something new, something no one has ever seen or even imagined before."
• "I get a kick out of working on such an elite team. There is so much brilliance here."
• "I love drawing, welding, building something."
• "I love numbers. I'd rather work with them than with people."
• "I really get excited when I discover a new rule in math."
• "I love to help someone get better at something and get happier in the process."
• "I love managing others. What a kick it is to motivate and guide a team to do great things."
• "My passion is turnaround -- taking something that is broken and fixing it."

A common theme surfaces among these diverse answers: When people are doing what they love, they are at their best. If you help connect your employees' passions to their jobs, you and they will reap the rewards.

Passions are wired into the real world more directly than our workday routines are. If you love something, you'll bring so much of yourself to it that it will create your future -- Francis Ford Coppola.

Uncover and Discover

So what can you do to help people find work that engages them deeply? First, ask. Ask several ways because people respond differently to different words. Try, "What work do you really love to do?" or "What are you passionate about?" or "What gives you the greatest thrill or kicks at work?" As they answer, dig a little deeper. Then think creatively about how you might put their passions to work.

When one manager had the "passion conversation" with his em­ployee, here is how it went:

• Manager: What do you love to do? What are you passionate about?
• Tara: I've recently learned to use some desktop publishing software, and I've created brochures for my church. I'm having a ball with it.
• Manager: I wonder if there is a way we could use your talent and interest here at work.
• Tara: I've been thinking about it and wondered if I could take on the layout of the new company newsletter we've been talking about.
• Manager: How would that work out with your current heavy workload?
• Tara: I will definitely get my work done. You know that about me. This project will be above and beyond my current workload.
• Manager: Let's give it a try. Keep me posted as you work on the first issue. Let me know what's working and what's not.

Tara was feeling pretty bored with her job. She'd been doing the same work for years, and the thrill was gone. She had even been thinking of leaving. She poured herself into the new project, teamed with colleagues, and turned out a first-rate newsletter. Her teammates and boss praised her and were astounded at her accomplishment.

Since that event, Tara has expanded her job to include multiple graphic arts projects. Her boss worked with her to restructure her job so that some of her former duties went to other people. Tara's energy and productivity have soared, and she wakes up eager to go to work. The key to her renewed enthusiasm is that her boss collaborated with her to uncover and then capitalize on her passion.

Passion Igniters

Most managers need a little help building passionate teams. Here are a few passion igniters to consider:

Hire for Passion

Why not select for passion in the first place? Find out if the candidate has a passion for making a difference or for your company's product or service. What about a passion for the work your unit does or for working on a team? If you build a team of passionate people, they'll not only produce for you -- they'll actually help retain each other.

Show Your Passion

"I see a world of possibilities where people who approach their work with passion, who take calculated risks for the good of the company, and who dare to test their own limits will reap unparalleled benefits in terms of excitement, fun, and personal satisfaction."-- J.P. Garnier, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline

What would it be like to work in an organization where leaders at all levels shared this CEO's approach? Share the passion you have for the work with your team. Your actions model what you expect from others.

Share a Meaningful Mission

Why does your team or organization exist? What is your mission? Share that mission with your employees. Then, clearly link employees' work to the mission. Tell them how their work contributes to it. Tell them how critical they are to you, to the mission of the team, and to the or­ga­nization.

"I've been the janitor and maintenance expert here for 30 years. We take care of old people who need nursing care and help with their daily living. They deserve the best, after all they have done and given in their lives. I love my work. I help make this building beautiful and safe for the people who work here and the people who live here. The director here gave me an award for my service and told everyone how critical I am to serving our residents. That award hangs on my wall at home." -- Maintenance expert, nursing home.

This man is crystal-clear about the value of his work. He is inspired by the mission of the organization and the reason for his being there.

What prevents you from giving your employees different work or more of the kind of work they love? The list is often lengthy. You might think that in reality you don't have enough of the following:

• Time
• Money
• Staff
• Management support

These constraints may be real. But remember, if you don't help your talented employees find work they love in your organization, you will lose them. Do you have enough time, money, and staff to deal with their loss and replacement? People who do what they love usually do it very well. If passion is missing at work, your best people may not bring their best to work. So collaborate with them to uncover and discover what they love to do. Link them and their work to your mission, and help them remove the barriers to doing what they love. You'll gain enthusiastic employees who will stay engaged and productive -- and on your team.

Yeah, but really "what does the school of the future look like?" (Not Found Here!)

Building the School of the Future

Introducing Philadelphia's new high-tech high school

By Lindsay Oishi
URL: http://www.schoolcio.com/showArticle.php?articleID=192501205

Microsoft and the School District of Philadelphia have worked together for three years to create the School of the Future, an innovative model for incorporating technology into education that opens on September 7, 2006. Rob Stevens, the project’s architect for software solutions, and Mary Cullinane, group manager for Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program, spoke to School CIO about how IT leaders can learn from the School of the Future’s vision and approach.

Q. How much has the school cost so far?
A. The entire project is funded at $63 million, which is a traditional budget for the School District of Philadelphi. The money required toa operate a school is mostly spent on maintenance. But we’ve used LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification guidelines, so that the overall cost of maintenance will be less than the cost for schools that don’t follow these guidelines.

Q. What technologies are you providing students with?
A. Wherever these kids go, whenever there’s a learning opportunity, they have access to an infrastructure has been built to give them an appropriate environment. That means wireless throughout the school, experts from around the world coming in via streaming media, and infrastructure allowing them to communicate with teachers and parents. The collaborative environment will be very powerful. The other area that will be very powerful is the Virtual Teaching Assistant and Virtual Library. With these, we hope to foster a community of learning.

Q. Tell me more about the Virtual Teaching Assistant.
A. One of the principles of this school is to create an adaptive learning environment. When we went to school, every kid had to turn the page at the same time. With the Virtual Teaching Assistant, the class can have an individualized pace. As a teacher, you can put together a quiz, give it to your students, and immediately ascertain where your class is. The quiz comes up as a window on the students’ machines—they each have their own laptop computer. The results go back to the teacher right away, and if a student gets a certain pattern of questions wrong, the teacher can give them extra help in that area.

Q. How do you keep student data secure?
A. We’re relying entirely on credentialed access. Once you log into the operating system, we know who you are. You don’t have to remember multiple passwords. We have very secure passwords that allow, for example, parents to be identified only with their children, so parents will not be able to get information on another child. We’re not custodians of extremely sensitive information. But we do have the ability to protect it. It’s a well-bounded community of learners—people from the outside will have great difficulty getting information.

Q. Which technologies offer the highest return on investment?
A. First, the multimedia capabilities available through Windows Media services give students a wealth of resources that are visual and online. These are the most valuable in terms of the ultimate product, which is educational accomplishment. The Virtual Library, for example, is a repository for different types of digital media. It allows movies, documents, Web sites, and other content to be stored together. Second, we have automatic mechanisms for student enrollment. Whenever a student is added to the school, they automatically get a Windows account for school portals, e-mail, and a personal Web site. This translates into savings of time and administrative effort, which also reduces cost.

Q. How do school portals work?
A. The school has portals for students, the extended community, and faculty and staff. When you log in to your computer, you’re automatically logged in to your portal. If you’re a student, the portal knows what classes you have and shows you a picture of everyone in your classes. The extended community portals allow parents to be more familiar with their students’ teachers, and to find out what happened in the classroom. Faculty and staff can also use their private portal to communicate about students or even view pay stubs online.

Q. Do you have advice about making public-private partnerships work?
A. CIOs shouldn’t limit themselves to the most obvious asset a partner can bring to the table. When someone thinks about Microsoft, they think of software. But the School District of Philadelphia got to see how we hire people, motivate people, and create the culture of our organization. The other thing to remember is that money is great, but people are better. Individuals and their thinking are valuable resources. We’ve had over 45 people at Microsoft touch this project in various ways, and you can’t put a price tag on that.

Q. How can CIOs keep informed about the school?
A. Every step of the strategic planning has been documented on the Web site, for all schools that are interested in following a similar process. U.S. Partners in Learning will host quarterly briefings with schools across the country, and there is also an annual global forum where school leaders can get together and discuss the results of these innovations.

Lindsay Oishi is a graduate student in Learning Sciences and Technology Design at Stanford University.

© School CIO

ADD: Economics 101: Cheaper, Better, Faster! (Anymore?)

Nine Excellent Reasons for Technology in Education

By John Page
July 1, 2007
URL: http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604531

from Educators' eZine

Two events prodded me to write this. The first was my involvement in formulating a technology plan for a technologically advanced local school. During this process I became increasingly concerned that while the school intuitively knew it should improve in this area, it did not really know why.

The second event was an email I got from a teacher concerning my web site Math Open Reference. In it she said, to paraphrase: 'Thank you so much! Now I have something to do with those laptops they gave me!.' You can visualize the scene: a school decided to move technology into the classroom so it gave the teacher the computers. This is putting the solution before the problem. Again I wondered if this school really knew why they wanted the technology. In what way precisely would the education be better?

So here they are. Nine fundamental reasons why I think technology is important in education. Hopefully, they can act as the rationale for technology plans in schools. If you disagree, or find things missing, my contact information is at the end.

Reason 1. Expansion of time and place

In a typical high school a student has access to a teacher for one hour each day. That means she has access to the teacher approximately for 6% of a 16-hour waking day, and even that time is shared with 25 classmates. But she has access to the Internet 100% of the time. That's a lot better — some twenty times better. Yes, technology is no substitute for an inspiring teacher. However, on-line materials are FAR more available. As shown above, some twenty times more available.

Using the traditional textbook + classroom approach, the places where learning can occur are limited. A portable wireless computer has access to the teacher's course material and the entire Internet almost anywhere. And this is a vastly larger resource than can be practically carried on paper in a backpack.

Bottom line: information technology allows learning anywhere, anytime; not just in one particular classroom for one hour a day.

Reason 2. Depth of Understanding

Interactive simulations and illustrations can produce a much greater depth of understanding of a particular concept. When virtual manipulatives are used in a classroom setting they can go far beyond chalk and talk. Using a projector, the teacher can conduct onscreen investigations and demonstrate concepts far more easily than with just words and arm-waving. For example see Subtended Angle. Combine this class demonstration with access to the same tools over the web, and the student can reinforce the ideas by playing with the simulations themselves, any time, any where.

Reason 3. Learning vs. Teaching

Technology allows the tables to be turned. Instead of teaching (push), students can be given projects that require them to learn (pull) the necessary material themselves. Key to this is the ability to get the information they need any time anywhere, without being in the physical presence of a teacher. This project-based pull approach makes learning far more interesting for the student. I have seen firsthand how students cannot wait to get out of regular classes to go to the after-school robotics project.

Reason 4. New media for self-expression

In the old days, students could write in a notebook, and what they wrote was seen only by the teacher. Using modern technology, they can: make a PowerPoint presentation, record/edit spoken word, do digital photography, make a video, run a class newspaper, run a web based school radio or TV station, do claymation, compose digital music on a synthesizer, make a website, and/or create a blog.

Reason 5. Collaboration

A vital skill in the new digital world is the ability to work collaboratively on projects with others who may not be physically close. This can best be done using modern computer tools such as the Web, Email, instant messaging and cell phone. Rather than laboring alone on homework, students can work in small groups wherever they happen to be and at any time. They are doing this already – it can now be formalized and taught as a vital skill. Many university projects are undertaken by teams spread around the world. Your students need to be prepared for this.

Reason 6. Going Global

The worldview of the student can be expanded because of the zero cost of communicating with other people around the globe. The internet permits free video conferencing which permits interaction in real time with sister schools in other countries. From an educational viewpoint, what could be more important than understanding other cultures through direct dialog and collaboration?

Reason 7. Individual pacing and sequence

Students are, of course, all different. Information technologies can permit them to break step with the class and go at a pace and order that suits each student better. Without disrupting the class, they can repeat difficult lessons and explore what they find interesting. With time, it will become more like having a private tutor rather than being lost in a large class.

Reason 8. Weight

Three textbooks and three binders easily weigh over 25 pounds. A laptop computer weighs about 5 pounds and provides access to infinitely more material via its own storage and the Internet. A 40Gb hard drive can hold 2 million pages with illustrations; the Web is unfathomably large. Right now, students are getting back injuries lugging around a tiny subset of what they need in the form of black marks printed on slices of a substance not all that different from the papyrus used by the ancient Egyptians. And it's just static boring text.

Reason 9. Personal Productivity

Students need productivity tools for the same reasons you do. They need to write, read, communicate, organize and schedule. A student's life is not much different from that of any knowledge worker, and they need similar tools. Even if they are never used in the classroom, portable personal computers will make a student's (and teacher's) life more effective. To cash in this benefit, schools need to go paperless.

In summary, if education is about knowledge and intellectual skills, then information technology lies at the heart of it all. We have only just begun this transition. School will eventually look very different. Get ready.

Michigan House Representative, Tim Melton, District 29 (SPEAKS VOLUMES)

"SURRENDER" to the TRUTH! Or simply be terrified.

Young ad stars show old pros new tricks

By Gavin Haycock
Reuters
Sunday, July 1, 2007; 11:29 AM

LONDON (Reuters) - To court new generations of consumers, advertising executives are discovering that experience has become an impediment.

It is a far cry from the glory days of advertising, when newcomers spent years working their way to the top. But unprecedented change in media and technology has given teenagers and kids an advantage in forecasting what products will appeal to consumers.

Put simply, too many executives have grown up with traditional media -- television and newspapers -- which is now losing audience and revenue to Web sites, cell phones, chat rooms, social networking sites and online games.

"I would say you have experts at the age of 14 of fantastic value because those people are extremely intelligent, they have time and they produce a lot of very good counseling on technological issues," said Pierre Bellanger, chief executive and co-founder of Skyblog, Europe's top social network site.

Many of the most impressive bloggers are teenagers, with some particularly linguistic and tech-literate authors punching well above their weight at age 13, Bellanger told Reuters.

Jacques Veyrat, chief executive of Neuf Cegetel , France's second-largest fixed-line telecoms operator, says his company will often provide work to young programmers and developers.

"I always try to pick young, talented people and let them develop what they want to develop," he said, adding that many were happy to problem-solve and apply their creative talent on small or short-term ventures.

Some executives, particularly in advertising, find the changes taking place to be disconcerting as digital media plays an ever greater role in our lives. For the young, such shifts in popular culture and technology are just a fact of life.

"Teenagers ... think they are too sophisticated and they are immune to advertising messages. Of course nothing could be further from the truth," said Jeffrey Cole, a director at the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.

HOLLYWOOD IN THEIR POCKET

Younger people spend more time online than watching television, have access to millions of on-demand content channels and are fueling a boom in video gaming, an industry that is bigger in terms of sales than Hollywood's box office.

As some media executives note, who needs Hollywood when almost every teenager carries a personalized film studio in a phone in their back pocket?

"The people coming into and out of college don't look at things in terms of media or marketing. They look at what is cool," said James Hilton, co-founder and executive creative director of advertising consultancy Akqa.

This was borne out at the Cannes' Advertising festival earlier this month, where thousands of advertising executives met to brainstorm on the next big idea.

Akqa held a creative competition at the festival inviting young talent to draft an ad campaign using tools not available five years ago.

Art director Todd Parker, 27, and copywriter Peter Trueblood, 26, picked up joint trophies for an Earth Day campaign using 3-D City-making imaging and Google mapping to show the future impact of global warming.

Interacting with the campaign triggered snow falls on mountain peaks to symbolize how action makes a difference.

"Technologic advances, changing media landscape and the way messages are consumed has turned convention on its head," the two said in an e-mail response. "There are only two possible reactions to this -- terror or excitement. We choose both, we're terrified about how excited we are."

Some ideas that didn't make it to the winners' podium owed more to science fiction and looked to be a little beyond the grasp of contemporary thinking.

Try selling a campaign to an account manager that involves cheoptic holograms -- a way of using free-floating video or haptic sensory technology, eye-tracking or brain scans.

David Brown, who studies at the Miami Ad School, picked up a trophy for an interactive campaign he created for Prevent Child Abuse America. One element of this showed a digital billboard whose image changed as donations were texted to a specified phone number, transforming a sad child into a happy one.

Although Brown is only 25, he looks to his teenage brother for inspiration.

"The scary thing is that, when I watch my younger brother and his friends, I'm amazed at the stuff they pull off with their camera phones and cutting video and editing and making songs," said Brown. "It's great to be in this industry now when you never know what's going to happen tomorrow."

YAPO Summer Program Students / YOUTH DAY Participants!

Local News

Posted: Wednesday, 11 July 2007 10:11AM Youth Day Draws Thousands to Belle Isle Scott Ryan, Ron Dewey Reporting

Detroit -- The 25th Metro Detroit Youth Day on Belle Isle brought thousands of kids to the island Wednesday. The event gives kids a chance to exercise their minds and bodies. Kathy Leach, who works in the Biology Department at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, told WWJ's Ron Dewey that she was there to encourage students to stay on the right path in life. "We want to encourage students to stay involved in school, perhaps intrigue someone into a science career," Leach said. Youth Day co-founder Ed Deeb said they also award students college scholarships. "Over the years now we've given out over 500 scholarships," Deeb said, adding that 45 more were being given out Wednesday. Counselors and mentors were also part of the fun, showing students positive ways to use their time and energy.