Somalia, Yahoo! News, and Kevin Sites

A few weeks ago I mentioned that blogger-journalist Kevin Sites had joined Yahoo! News to provide a unique, multimedia perspective on current events, and in-depth reporting on some of the world's most troubled places. The Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone website had its official launch earlier this week with a feature story on Somalia.

One of the most compelling stories in this inaugural series on is Kevin's story, Somalia's Garbage Scavengers. In this story he chronicles the plight and struggle of two homeless men who live in the trash dumps of Mogadishu.

The combination of multimedia and the "real world" reporting of Kevin Sites provides teachers with a powerful platform for meaningful discussions with students on current events. In this story, Kevin utilizes both digital photography and video to document the plight of the homeless men and women who call the Mogadishu trash dump "home."

Educators can use Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone as a curriculum platform to bring new relevance to social studies, political science, history, or area studies curriculum. Moreover, by utilizing Yahoo! Groups or My Web 2.0 teachers can extend the discussion outside the classroom.

Students can also utilize the myriad of web links and resources which accompany each story to find ways to be a part of the discussion. For example, they can interact directly with the larger Yahoo! community by posting comments on the Kevin Sites blog.

This is a prime example of how social media can provide students with constructivist-based tools which provide them with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the world, its people, and begin to scaffold the larger issues of social equity, poverty, and violence.



Tags: yahoo education kevin+sites yahoo+education learning education+blogging education+multimedia

Academic Research on Tagging

The Structure of Collaborative Tagging Systems (pdf)
Scott A. Golder, Bernardo A. Huberman

In this paper Golder and Huberman, researchers at the Information Dynamics Lab at HP Labs, analyze tagging patterns, user behaviors, and the public structure of tagging systems.

Scott Golder also has a pdf available of his Tag Tuesday presentation, Personal Meaning and Public Structure in Tagging Systems, which is available by clicking here.

*****

A Cognitive Analysis of Tagging (html)
Rashmi Sinha, Ph.D

In this weblog essay Dr. Sinha, a cognitive psychologist by profession, outlines her hypothesis on the cognitive process that takes place when users tag an item, and how tagging differs from categorization.


Tags: tags tagging research+tags education collaboration

Learning and Laptops

$100 Laptop: "The MIT Media Lab has launched a new research initiative to develop a $100 laptop—a technology that could revolutionize how we educate the world's children.

To achieve this goal, a new, non-profit association, One Laptop per Child (OLPC), has been created. The initiative was first announced by Nicholas Negroponte, Lab chairman and co-founder, at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland in January 2005." (via)



Learning & Laptop Links

• Gary Stager >> Laptops and Learning
• Seymour Papert >> From Lunch Boxes to Laptops
• The Maine Learning with Laptop Study
• Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI)

Technorati Tags: MIT MIT+Media+Labs Seymour+Papert laptops+education education

Center on Reinventing Public Education

The Center was founded in 1993 by the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and focuses on examining alternatives that rethink and challenge the current system of public education.
The Center on Reinventing Public Education provides a host of free publications available for downloading in PDF format and will even send you 1 copy free of charge. The site also offers recent journal and professional publications by CRPE researchers.

The "Buried Treasure" report shows how officials can focus on a few key indicators, the seven indicators, that provide "mountains of data" to help schools make decisions about how they are doing.

The 7 indicators are: student achievement, progress and the elimination of the achievement gap, student attraction, student engagement, student retention/completion, teacher attraction/retention and funding.

By focusing on essential information, these key indicators can provide a general sense of how well the system is working and lead the schools toward effectiveness.

The Essence Of Leadership

In The Essence of Leadership Jonathon Byrne captures the elements of effective leadership, discusses the qualities of effective leaders and tells how these qualities can be recognized and developed in others. Some leaders are "natural" leaders, others can be developed.

Today’s educators are passionate about their work, their students and about the schools and organizations in which they work. They are committed to making their organizations a better place and possess the qualities of effective leaders.

Byrne conveys the message that Ambidextrous Leaders need to work with both hands while flying a plane in mid-air to bring about paradigmatic change. Sounds difficult? Sounds like an educator.

Byrne emphasizes the eight essential characteristics needed for leading for paradigmatic change; capacity for passion, perspective, creativity, organizational skills, teamwork, persistence, open-mindedness, and integrity. Today's educators are passionate, persistent, open-minded, creative and team workers of the highest integrity who believe they can leave their footprints in their areas of passion!

Ocean Explorer

Explore the depths of the ocean without getting your feet wet. Present day explorers can feel the excitement of discovery while perusing Ocean Explorer.

"Armchair oceanographers use the site to follow NOAA-sponsored ocean explorations in near real time. And, in the near future, thanks to QuickTime 7 and robotic vehicles equipped with high-definition cameras that prowl the ocean depths, they’ll be able to see the world far under the waves in HD."

The site is loaded with lesson plans plus a great gallery of images, slideshows, audio, and videos to use for your students or your own discovery.

Requires Quicktime

Kids With Cameras Photo Contest

Kids with Cameras, a non-profit organization who's goal is to empower marginalized children through learning the art of photography is co-sponsoring (along with ThinkFilm and Ritz Camera) the 2005 Kids with Cameras Photo Contest.


About Kids With Cameras

Photographic art has the power to do many things: express, captivate, empower and even inspire. With this in mind, Kids With Cameras was founded to teach the art of photography to marginalized children in communities around the world. Photography is used to capture the imaginations of the children, empower them, and to build their confidence, self-esteem and hope.

We share their vision and voices with the world through exhibitions, books, websites and film. We are committed to furthering their general education beyond photography either by linking with local organizations to provide scholarships or by developing our own schools with a focus on leadership and the arts. (via)


Tags: photography+education education digital+photography

2005 Leader of the Year

"Tell us how you lead by using technology in education. Enter yourself or a colleague in T&L's 2005 Leader of the Year Program.

You inspire, encourage, empower and give wings to others' dreams. Now it's your turn. Technology & Learning's 2005 Leader of the Year Program is once again honoring K-12 administrators, technology coordinators, and teachers who use technology in innovative ways to help teachers teach and help students learn.

We invite you to share your teaching, training, and managing success stories with our judges. Four finalists will win prizes, gain national recognition and be profiled in T&L's 2005 Awards Issue." (via)

• Click here for rules and more information
• Click here for the Online Entry Form

UPDATE: Deadline Extended to September 29th, 2005

FlickrEDU

FlickrEDU is about the different ways educators are using Flickr in their classrooms. Feel free to share curriculum ideas, student feedback, add photos from student Flickr projects, or anything else you think will contribute to our discussion.

Links

• View BlendedEDU + Flickr
• Flickr + Art History
• FlickrEDU Social Software Goes to School

Tags: flickr social+software education FlickrEDU online+community yahoo yahoo+education education+digital+photos

Digital Photo Contest for Kids

Students, Get Published! Teachers, Showcase Your Lesson Plans!

Technology & Learning's Digital Photo Contest for Kids
Sponsored by Adobe Digital Kids Club

What: Technology & Learning invites K-12 students to participate in the fifth annual digital photography contest. This year's theme, "Express Yourself," encourages you to capture and share your own unique vision with our editors and readers. The subject of your photo is entirely up to you.

How: Enter the best possible photo. Your photo may be submitted "as is" or you can manipulate it using photo editing software. If you do choose to manipulate your photo digitally, submit both the original and the manipulated photo so we can compare.

Write: A short description of no more than fifty words about how your photograph reflects your personal universe. (For manipulated photos only: A description of what kind of software you used and how you manipulated your photo).

For tips and help on photo manipulation - see "Photo Tips and Guidelines". To see last year's winners, visit our online gallery. To learn more the contest, including rules, ownership rights, and to obtain student conset forms, please click here.



Tags: photography+education education adobe+education digital+photography

Duke University Podcasting Symposium

Duke's two-day Podcasting Symposium, which takes place September 27-28, will include discussions of the academic and artistic implications of the technology, along with presentations on the economic and legal issues. The symposium proceedings will also be webcasted, videocasted, and (of course) podcasted.

The two-day event will feature a hands-on podcasting workshop, as well as panel discussions of the economic/business, legal, political, journalistic, and cultural impacts of podcasting by bringing together prominent members of the podcasting community with policymakers, scholars, and media experts.

All events are free and open to the public. Registration required.



Tags: ipod podcast education+ipod education podcast+education learning duke+university

Got Meebo?

Meebo is a new web-based (AJAX) chat service that provides support for AIM/ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, or Jabber client.

Meebo is a valuable e-learning tool because it provides students (and teachers!) with an instant messaging interface they can access from any web-enabled computer or handheld device (think mLearning!). This is a perfect solution for students who can’t install IM software on a school, work, or public computer.

Many e-learning programs utilize IM technologies to facilitate synchronous interaction between students and teachers, and the ability to interact using any IM service is an important usability consideration for online course design.

Despite being in the very early stages of alpha development, Meebo does a nice job creating a cross-platorm instant messaging interface. As the Meembo community grows, and new features are added (file and picture sharing?), I have no doubt that very soon people will be asking each other, "Got Meebo?"


Meebo Links

• Meebo
• Meebo Blog
• Meebo Feed
• Meebo Forum

Tags: meebo IM AIM yahoo+messenger gtalk

Learn Spanish via Podcast

Trying To Learn Spanish: "A podcast for adult learners of Spanish. Reviews and commentaries on available resources, including CDs, tapes, books, Internet radio, immersion language schools, and more."

• Subscribe via Feedburner
• Subscribe via Odeo

Tags: education+ipod spanish+podcast ipod educational+podcast language+podcast education odeo+education blendedEDU+podcast espanol+podcast learn+spanish

Teachers' TV

Teachers' TV: "Teachers' TV is a channel for everyone who works in education...Programmes take you inside classrooms and schools across the country to see how good teachers are bringing the curriculum to life and improving schools.

In the General Zone there is a weekly half hour news programme and documentaries on the educational issues and controversies of the day, and lively programmes specially made for use in the classroom."

This is a great professional development resource for teachers or school technology administrators. There are hundreds of video-based examples of new pedagogy, analysis of digital media, or reviews of resources relating to a subject and a programme for classroom use.

If you register with the Teachers' TV, you'll receive customized e-mail alerts, access to full video downloads, and program guides for topics you or your students are interested in learning more about.

Here are two Teachers' TV programs that pertain to the use of social media and technology in learning that I found particularly interesting:

Blogosphere: "Steve O'Hear, one of Britain's digital evangelists, explores how blogs can be used in schools. Steve finds some enthusiastic primary age bloggers and sees how it helps in literacy, ICT skills and a range of other subjects." This segment also includes a discussion on how weblogs are being used to help students with autism.

• Watch Video (Requires Window Media Player)
• Other Resources

E-Schooling: "Introducing learning and teaching styles that recognise the impact of the internet. In this programme Dan Buckley, vice-principal of Eggbuckland Community College in Plymouth, talks about his responsibility for turning the school into an e-learning organisation." This program includes a good discussion of students and "digital creativity."

• Watch Video (Requires Windows Media Player)
• Other Resources

Tags: tv+education education learning educational+weblogs elearning

The FrenchPodClass

Enseignez à vos étudiants le français avec un podcast! Use this podcast-based class to learn the French language and discover more about French culture.

Each podcast lesson has an excercise work sheet (pdf) which allows the students to learn French in a situated context through the use of grammar, vocabulary, movie or book reviews to construct a better understanding of the French language.

The course is divided into three sections: lessons, excercises, and links. The audio feed is available directly from the website, iTunes, or Odeo.

This is an exemplary use of social media in an educational context! As one FrenchPodClass student commented, " I love your podcast. It's been very helpful to me this semester as I learn French.... Keep up the great work! "

Oui en effet ! Maintenez le bon travail...

Links

• Le feed du Verbcast podcast (de Partners in Excellence) - Vraiment interressant pour aller plus loin dans la conjugaison des verbes francais.
• Le feed pour The FrenchPodClass

education+ipod french+podcast ipod educational+podcast language+podcast odeo+education blendedEDU+podcast education+podcast education

Lifelong Process

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn. — Peter F. Drucker

GUS 101: Google University Services

College Life, powered by Google: "You spend your life dealing with information. A lot of it is academic, a lot more is personal, it all matters, and you can probably use better tools for handling it effectively. On this page, we’d like to introduce you to a few of them."





google+education google

Podcasting in Higher Education

A Soundtrack for Study
Shola Adenekan >> Guardian Unlimited

"Academics across the Atlantic have developed an appetite for new technology and are now embracing podcasting...Just when academics were beginning to get to grips with blogging, along came podcasting." Read More >>>




ipod podcast education+ipod education podcast+education learning

Online Science Museum

Did you know that the brick-and-mortar Science Museum (based in London, UK), also has an extensive array of web-based science education resources for both teachers and students?

Online Science Museum resources include: interactive exhibits, teaching materials, and science homework resources. In addition, the Science Museum Library features "collections form an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical change since the eighteenth century."

Also available on the website are Exhiblets, mini digital exhibitions which "use the Museum's collections to describe important events, discoveries and personalities in science and technology."

Students can use Exhiblets to learn about Amy Johnson--the first female pilot to fly from England to Australia. Or Garrett Morgan, the African-American inventor of both the gas mask and the first electric traffic signal.

This is an all-around great learning resource for teachers, students, or anyone interested in a wide variety science.

Links

• Online Exhibits
• Adult Learning Resources
• Exhiblets
• Teach & Learn

education science+education social+media+education london virtual+field+trips science+museum

Designing for students with learning difficulties

Today I was looking at the public MyWeb 2.0 pages, and discovered this very good article covering web usability/accessibilty design issues for users with learning disabilities.

via Juicy Studio: "When people think about accessibility of web content, there's a tendency to concentrate on people with visual impairments. People with cognitive impairments and learning difficulties are often overlooked.

This article by Roger Hudson, Russ Weakley, and Peter Firminger, examines the types of problems visitors may encounter when using the web, with insightful and practical suggestions on how to develop websites that are inclusive for people with cognitive impairments and learning difficulties."

• Detailed Version
• Shorter Version

I agree with the authors that this is an area that online educators and course designers often overlook. Hopefully this article will serve as a reminder make sure online course designers take the needs of learners with cognitive imparments and other learning difficulties into consideration as they design e-learning websites.

my+web+2.0 usability education online learning web+design juicy+studio

If Higher Education Listened to Me

"Today's students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach." Marc Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

This thought-provoking article in the September/October issue of Educause Review gives explicit ideas about the possibilities of technology in curriculum that step away from the standard syllabi and will have a profound impact on your students learning.

Failing to Educate Pupils

Yes they get good results but by God are they bored
Guardian Unlimited >> Jenni Russell

"In the spring of this year my diligent 16-year-old came back from school to tell me that she was about to start studying the Vietnam war for GCSE. "Good," I said, enthusiastically. "I've got some interesting books you could read." Her eyes widened in alarm. "I don't think I should till after the exam," she said, "because, you know that stuff you gave me to read on civil rights? Well, I did really badly on that paper in the mocks, cos my teacher said I'd put in lots of irrelevant stuff."

My daughter has learned the important lesson of today's examinees. Learn what you have to know, and not an iota beyond it. Don't pursue an interest, because a deeper understanding is not only superfluous, it is a positive disadvantage. Examination boards freely admit that people who know more than the syllabus demands find it harder to do well." (via)

Read More >>>

Open Source Textbook Project

"The California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP) is a collaborative, public/private undertaking. It has been created to address the high cost, content range, and consistent shortages of K-12 textbooks in California.

In cooperation with Wiikpedia a World History pilot for 9th grade World History-Social Studies based on California State Curriculum Standards. Go here for more details." (via)

Links

• Why Use Open Textbooks?
• Wikibooks
• Wikibooks: Community Portal
• Wiki Bookshelves

wiki education wiki+education open+source+education open+source web+2.0 textbooks california+education wikipedia

Kevin Sites & Yahoo! In The Hot Zone

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Yahoo! has been putting together a wide breadth of resources that are of particular interest to the education community. Today it was announced that journalist-blogger Kevin Sites will "join Yahoo! News to provide a unique, multimedia perspective on some of the world's most troubled and dangerous places."

via Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone: "One of the world's most respected war correspondents, Kevin Sites has spent the past five years covering global war and disaster for several national TV networks....A solo journalist ("SoJo"), Sites will carry a backpack of portable digital technology to shoot, write, edit, and transmit daily reports from nearly every region of the world. You'll be able to follow his endeavor through stories, photos, video and audio, and you'll be able to interact with him."

This new venture between Kevin Sites and Yahoo! may yield some very interesting education related opportunities for students and teachers alike. Students, for example, can view Kevin's photos, blog, audio, video and other multimedia reports and use it to construct a deeper understanding of world events and "the scope of world conflict." In addition, the Hot Zone will provide students with active "ways to be part of the solutions- through dialogue, debate, and avenues for action."

Conversely, teachers can use the Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone website as a platform to bring new relevance to social studies, political science, history, or area studies curriculum. The combination of multimedia and the "real world" reporting of Kevin Sites will provide teachers with a powerful platform for meaningful discussions with students on current events. Moreover, by utilizing Yahoo! Groups or MyWeb 2.0 teachers can extend the discussion outside the classroom.

As neo-millennial, and Generation C students begin to flood classrooms, they will expect activities that allow them to pick and choose multiple types of social media to support their digital learning styles. In the end this is the type of innovative blend of education and new media that will appeal to neo-millenial learners and make the curriculum more interesting and relevant....

Additional Kevin Sites Links

• NPR Interview
• Chat from the War Zone >> LA Times
• Kevin Sites Blog

yahoo education my+web+2.0 kevin+sites yahoo+education learning education+blogging education+multimedia

Digital American Literature Research

A Kaleidoscope of Digital American Literature
Martha L. Brogan with assistance from Daphnée Rentfrow
Council on Library and Information Resources and Digital Library Federation

Summary

"This report will be useful to anyone interested in the current state of online American literature resources. Its purpose is twofold: to offer a sampling of the types of digital resources currently available or under development in support of American literature; and to identify the prevailing concerns of specialists in the field as expressed during interviews conducted between July 2004 and May 2005. Part two of the report consolidates the results of these interviews with an exploration of resources currently available.

Part three examines six categories of digital work in progress: (1) quality-controlled subject gateways, (2) author studies, (3) public domain e-book collections and alternative publishing models, (4) proprietary reference resources and full-text primary source collections, (5) collections by design, and (6) teaching applications. This survey is informed by a selective review of the recent literature.

Print copies of this publication will be available in September 2005. Information about how to order this publication will be placed on this page in the near future." (via)

View PDF (file size 1.4MB)



education american+literature Martha+Brogan Daphnee+Rentfrow digital+american+literature

Aid & Resources for Katrina Victims

The devastation brought on by Hurricane Katrina is unfathomable; no one who lived in the New Orleans area really believed this would happen in his or her lifetime.

Though life will never be the same for these people, life is being made easier through the generosity of many educational institutions and organizations that are offering help to the tens of thousands of displaced people.

While the light has gone dim for many, others have been very busy working all hours to be of assistance to those in need.

• www tools for education
• HURRICANE KATRINA DISASTER FUND: Nicholls State University
• Free Online College Course for Displaced Students- Sloan Semester
• Our Lady of the Lake University - San Antonio, Texas
• Loyola University Students Welcomed by Sister Jesuit Institutions
• Tulane University Blog
• List of Institutions offering assistance to those affected by Katrina
• Cragslist Online Community: Help for Katrina Survivors
• Network for Good
  

Imagine Katrina before the advent of social networking tools!

edublog

edublogs: "edublogs.org is a non-profit adventure into providing free WordPress blogs and hosting for teachers, students, researchers, librarians, writers and anyone who is interested in or working in education."

roxomatic@edublog: A German language education weblog hosted at edublogs, that features resources (technology, foriegn language, media) for teachers. (en version) (de version)



blogs+education edublogging deutsch+blogs+education education educational+weblogs

Vamos Blogar?

Vamos Blogar?: Conhecimento compartilhado sobre tecnologias educacionais informatizadas.

Vamos Blogar? is a Portuguese language weblog for teachers talking about the use of educational technology in Brazillian schools. Other topics include learning, teaching, weblogs, wiki's and educational games.
(en version)



blogs+education edublogging portuguese+blogs+education education+technology education Brazil+education Brazil+blogs educational+weblogs

Active Worlds: 3D Virtual Learning Environment

Active Worlds, is a virtual reality platform that lets you visit and chat in 3D worlds that are built by other users. Active Worlds has been actively embraced by the education community and as a result Active Worlds has launched The Active Worlds Educational Universe (AWEDU).

According to their website:

"AWEDU is a unique educational community that makes the Active Worlds technology available to educational institutions, teachers, students, and individual programs in a focused setting. Via this community, educators are able to explore new concepts, learning theories, creative curriculum design, and discover new paradigms in social learning."

As discussed here before, social interaction is at the heart of any effective constructivist-based learning environment, and this is probably even more important in an online space, where students may have limited opportunities for face-to-face interaction.

Active Worlds Educational Resources

• AWEDU Event Transcripts
• VLearn Initiative

Moreover, current research has shown that using social media as a means for students to create social bonds can be equally as important as the course content. In short, it's about relationships. Not technology.

Virtual spaces like Active Worlds are important for the online education space because they provide students with the necessary tools to create a social system of learners, self-regulate their level of interaction, control their identity, and ultimately share their knowledge within the social context of an online learning community.

active+worlds education online+community web+2.0 constructivist+learning social+software virtual+learning+environments

Louisiana Library Disaster Relief Fund

Here's an organization you may not have heard of that might be added to your list of educational groups: The Louisiana Library Disaster Relief Fund.

The Louisiana Library Association (LLA) has set up a disaster relief fund to help Southeastern Louisiana school, public, and academic libraries weather Hurricane Katrina’s brutal aftermath.

Donations can be sent directly to the LLA at 421 South 4th Street, Eunice, LA 70535. Make checks payable to: LLA-Disaster Relief. For up-to-date information, visit the LLA’s website or email office@llaonline.org

Xplora Science Education Resources & Community

Xplora , run by European Schoolnet, is aimed at teachers, pupils, scientists, science communicators and science educators. The website offers news, information, tools, projects, and other resources for science education.

Pedagogical ideas, activities and resources

Teachers and other science educators share their knowledge about science pedagogy in this section. There you can also find details on current prizes and awards for excellence in science education.

• Get insight into innovative practical science approaches and projects
• Innovative teaching examples

Activities and resources

Xplora offers online activities plus a searchable database of teaching and learning websites and other resources. Teachers also share their favourite websites with others.

• Activities for pupils
• Favourite websites chosen by science teachers from around Europe
• Searchable database of websites and digital learning resources for science education

Online Community Tools

• Tools for creating online communities and online discussions
• Download free Open Source tools for science education, and get guidance from your peers on how to integrate Xplora into your curriculum
• Xplora is open to contributions from teachers, museums, EU projects and others working in the field of science education

Tech Tags: xplora science+education education european+schoolnet social+software science

NEA Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

If you would like to assist members, leaders, and staff with the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing, consider donating to the National Education Association HIN (Health Information Network) Hurricane Relief Fund.

Send your tax-deductible contribution to:

NEA HIN/Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
1201 16th Street NW
Suite 216
Washington, DC 20036

More Opportunities to Get Involved


hurricane+education hurricane+katrina NEA

Assist Students Displaced by Hurricane

The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is coordinating the collection of school supplies for displaced students. Donations can be sent to:

HISD Warehouse Central Receiving
228 McCarty
Houston, TX 77029
ATTN. Anne Silver

In addition, HISD is collecting donations for student uniforms. Donations can be sent to:

HISD Louisiana Evacuee Assistance
HISD's Office of Strategic Partnerships
3830 Richmond Avenue
Houston, TX 77027-5838



hurricane+education hurricane+katrina HISD

Education Community Responds to Hurricane Katrina

Like so many of you, I’ve been terribly upset and horrified at both the utter devastation and depth of human suffering of those hit this week by Hurricane Katrina. In particular, the images out of New Orleans have hit especially close to home.

My friend and fellow BlendedEdu co-author, MaryAnne Campo, is a native of New Orleans. Both Maryanne and her husband, Frank-John, hail from The Big Easy. We are all thankful that their family members down in New Orleans were able to escape the flooding and full wrath of Katrina.

But this is just the beginning of what will be a long process back to “normal life” for them and the hundreds of thousands of families along the Gulf Coast. If you haven’t already, please donate to the Red Cross, or other charity to help the people impacted by this storm take the first steps towards rebuilding their lives.

One of the current priorities of the Louisiana Department of Education is to set up temporary school facilities for the 135,000 school age students displaced by the storm. The goal is to get the children back into some semblance of a normal routine and keep them from falling behind in their education.

As education relief efforts become more organized and requests for specific types of education assistance (supplies, books, teaching resources) become more concrete, we will be posting them here in BlendedEdu so our readers can, if they choose, help the children and teachers in Mississippi and Louisiana.


Education Relief Efforts & Information

• The Education Wonks: This education blog has several posts and links on how the education community is responding to Hurricane Katrina.
• National Catholic Educational Association: The NCEA has started the Child to Child: A Catholic Campaign to Aid Education.”