More children into primary school
The number of children without access to education has fallen by a quarter, says Unesco – as it reports on a global drive for universal primary schooling.

Although the subject of the article caught my eye, there were even more important facts in the text.

There will also need to be 18 million more primary school teachers recruited and an additional investment of $11bn to achieve the goal, says the report.

…Girls are still disproportionately likely to miss out on schooling, particularly in Arab and south Asian countries, says the report.

…It also highlights the “global disgrace” of adult illiteracy – in which 774 million adults cannot read or write.

The greatest problem exists in eight countries which account for three-quarters of the world’s illiterate adults – Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7120977.stm

Do something.

• promote reading, learning to read – groups already working on this, local effort, technology support, needs, collaboration
• information for teaching reading, learning to read – availability, distribution, promotion, creation
• how can I help? – leverage existing information, resources – process, online collaboration, support

Reading project

• current status, needs, opportunities – research
• who / what / how
• scale, leverage – maximize people helped, encourage locals to direct learning for others in community, 1:several – recruit, train, support

Discoveries

• global – reading not just English language – French, Hindi

Teaching Children to Read, the 2000 report of the National Reading Panel, which serves as the basis for the information in this brochure, visit www.nationalreadingpanel.org

(1) Alphabetics, (2) Fluency, (3) Comprehension, (4) Teacher Education and Reading Instruction, and (5) Computer Technology and Reading Instruction

Global Women’s Leadership Network
Santa Clara University – Leavey School of Business

The Quality of Women’s Leadership equals the Quality of Life on this planet

Through training, community building and in-country mentorship programs, GWLN is liberating women leaders to create a new world, built on human rights, gender equality, sustainable development and global integrity.

http://www.gwln.org
http://www.scu.edu/business/gwln/

Global Fund for Women

online support for women leaders – community, discussion, resources
workshops – goals, outline, leaders’ guide, participant resources

good free web site for a community group
Ning.com, Groupsites.com, Drupal

universal design for learning (UDL)

The Center for Applied Technology has defined universal design for learning as: “Multiple means of representation, to give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge; Multiple means of expression, to provide learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know; and Multiple means of engagement, to tap into learners’ interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increase motivation” (http://www.cast.org/research/index.html)

Applications of universal design in architecture, electronics and civil engineering have had great success in making the world more accessible to all users. Most recently, it has been used extensively to make the world-wide-web accessible to all users (Roberts, 2004; Burgstahler, 2002; IBM, 2005; Pearson & Koppi, 2003). While universal design has been successful in making online courses more accessible in the realms of physical and sensory needs, the design method doesn’t fully address the need for varied learning needs. …

Universal design for learning (UDL) has been promoted over the past decade as a way to make learning accessible to more users, based on an array of choices made by the learner (Hall, Strangman & Meyer, 2005). Widely recommended as a tool for differentiation of instruction in K-12 classrooms, only recently have a few studies begun to discuss its use in postsecondary settings (Field, Sarver, & Shaw, 2003).

Solomon and Felder online assessment at http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html (Solomon & Felder, 1999) and report their summarized results. Participants were asked to report on four axes of learning styles. They could be at either end of the axis for each pair, or in the middle, showing no preference for either end. The four pairs were (a) reflective vs. active; (b) sensing vs. intuitive; (c) visual vs. verbal; and (d) sequential vs. global.

studies that have examined the relationships between personality preferences, learning styles and instructional methods used in online courses, making recommendations based on their findings (Irani, Telg, Scherler, & Harrington, 2003; Higgins, 2002; Kim & Schniederjans, 2004; Jenkins & Downs, 2003). In some cases, there have been surprising results when applying MBTI types to internet activity preferences (Desmedt & Valcke, 2006; Amichai-Hamburger, Wainapel, & Fox, 2003, Bonebrake, 2002; Nussbaum et. al, 2004; Contreras, 2004)

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no2/engleman.htm

Learn more….

surprising results when applying MBTI types to internet activity preferences (Desmedt & Valcke, 2006; Amichai-Hamburger, Wainapel, & Fox, 2003, Bonebrake, 2002; Nussbaum et. al, 2004; Contreras, 2004)

Desmedt, E., & Valcke, M. (2006). Mapping the learning styles “jungle”: An overview of the literature based on citation analysis. Educational Psychology, 24(4) 445-464.

Amichai-Hamburger, Y, Wainapel, G, & Fox, S. (2002). “On the internet, no one knows I’m an introvert”: Extroversion, neuroticism, and internet interaction. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 5(2), 125-128.

Nussbaum, E., Hartley, K., Sinatra G., Reynolds, R. & Bendixen, L. (2004). Personality interactions and scaffolding in on-line discussions. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 30(1&2), 113-137.

Contreras, C. (2004). Predicting computer self-confidence from demographic and personality variables and computer use. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 5(3), 173-181.

I have been grading my class so that students who do all the work reasonably well get an A. I have a problem with this and grade inflation in general. On the other hand, online classes are difficult and there is a lot work involved in completing all the assignments. There is a high drop rate – either students drop or I drop them for “absences” / non-participation. Most quarters there are a few students who stick with the course and don’t get an A.

Reading this course outline got me thinking about how I grade. I’m going to revise the criteria somewhat so that the A’s go only to the exceptional students. They deserve to be rewarded. There will be some unhappy campers who “only” get a B, but I think that is more appropriate for most students who do all the work, but don’t knock my socks off.

F is a very bad grade. It means you failed to demonstrate sufficient mastery of the material to pass the course.

D is also a bad grade, but you at least passed the course, although with some work missing or significantly worse than average performance. D’s, like F’s, often have unpleasant consequences (academic probation, delayed graduation, etc.) such as failure to enter the Communication program as a major. Please know that we will not (and, ethically, cannot) be influenced by these unfortunate but preventable effects on your academic career.

C is a good grade. It means that you passed. You met all of the expectations for students noted in this syllabus, and you did all of the required work at a level of competence that was comparable to most of the others in the class.

B is a very good grade. It means you did all of the required work and performed in class at a level that was noticeably and demonstrably superior to many of your classmates.

A is an extremely good grade. “A” means that your work and performance were consistently better than that of nearly everyone else in the class. Many people today seem to confuse the criteria for A’s with the criteria for C’s. But if “A” means that you merely did what you were asked to do, it is no different than “C,” and it therefore means nothing at all, to you or anyone else. Call us old-fashioned, call us hard-nosed, but don’t call us to wail about the A you didn’t get unless you have an extremely good case.

http://www.well.com/user/willard/comm1210-syl.htm

Note: I was ready to post to faculty.deanza.edu but there was no there there. Arg! What is the good of having a faculty web site that you can’t update when you want to.

Stay-Slim Secrets of America’s Top Chefs
These 5 food pros cook and eat for a living–and lost weight anyway. Here’s how.

If you were constantly surrounded by chocolate lava cake, fettuccine Alfredo, raisin-nut bread, bacon-wrapped filet mignon, and other mouthwatering foods, how would you avoid gaining weight, let alone lose it? These five women–a television chef, a chef/cookbook author, a food publicist, a restaurateur, and a food writer–have done exactly that.

http://www.prevention.com/