Digital City

May 08, 2012

The Internet’s Population Doubled Over the Last Five Years

Royal Pingdom susses out some interesting trends about the world’s 2.27 billion Internet users:

Africa has gone from 34 million to 140 million, a 317% increase.

Asia has gone from 418 million to over 1 billion, a 143% increase.

Europe has gone from 322 million to 501 million, a 56% increase.

The Middle East has gone from 20 to 77 million, a 294% increase.

North America has gone from 233 to 273 million, a 17% increase.

Latin America (South & Central America) has gone from 110 to 236 million, a 114% increase.

Oceania (including Australia) has gone from 19 to 24 million, a 27% increase.

They also note that Asia’s Internet population is almost as large* the entire Internet population was in 2007.

*My original post stated that Asia’s Internet population was almost double, not almost as large. Thanks to Anna for catching that.

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May 08, 2012

The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

digitalnerdisms:

“The digital divide has increasingly become about knowledge and adoption of new technologies rather than access. Which side of the divide are you on - are you a leader or a laggard?” -Courtney Hunt

Read about the The New Digital Divide: Thoughts for Leaders and Laggards

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April 15, 2012

lack of education is not the cause of poverty and economic inequality

John Marsh, author of “Class Dismissed,” discusses with Sasha Lilley why — contrary to conventional wisdom — lack of education is not the cause of poverty and economic inequality.

Against the Grain with Sasha Lilley - April 11, 2012 at 12:00pm

Click to listen (or download)

Video

February 29, 2012

school to prison

Audio

February 26, 2012

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Via: On Point with Tom Ashbrook

audio: listen here

Do charter schools make the grade? A closer look at their mixed report card, and accountability.

The promise of charter schools has clearly not been fully realized. There are successes, to be sure. But the question is: What to do with the failures? At least a third of charter schools do worse than the public schools they replace.

Yet the rate of closure ; a new study reveals that only 6 percent of charters weren’t renewed. Failing schools stay open despite evidence- wasn’t this why charter schools came about in the first place?

This hour, On Point: re-charting the waters for charter schools.

Guests

Christopher Lubienski, Professor of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois. He’s also the co-editor of The Charter School Experiment: Expectations, Evidence, and Implications.

Greg Richmond, CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizer.

Charlene Reid, principal of the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, which is a National Blue Ribbon nominee.

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February 21, 2012

Education Radio: The Chalk Face

@ The Chalk Face by MWF Madison

Link

January 31, 2012

How high stakes corrupt performance on tests, other indicators »

via: Washington Post

By Valerie Strauss

This was written by Larry Cuban, a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, including seven at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District), district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA) and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for 20 years. His latest book is “As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin.” A version of this post appeared onhis blog .

Test scores are the coin of the educational realm in the United States.No Child Left Behind demands that scores be used to reward and punish districts, schools, and teachers for how well or poorly students score on state tests