Students Around the World Try to Go 24 Hours Without Media

What happens when college students unplug from media and technology? A new study from the International Center for Media & the Public Affairs (ICMPA) in partnership with the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change asked students from around the world to refrain from using any media for 24 hours. The results showed that not only was it nearly impossible for them to avoid media for even one day, but many students couldn’t resist the temptation.

Survey Reveals How Educators Really Use Interactive White Boards

Sales for interactive whiteboards (IWBs) grew by 33.8% from the 2008-09 school year to 2009-10 (Technology Buying Trends: Documenting the Shift From Print to Digital in the K-12 Market, EMR), but how does this market penetration play out among grades and subjects? How are educators using IWBs? A new report from Education Market Research (EMR), the National Survey of Interactive Whiteboard Usage, looks more closely at how educators are incorporating IWBs into daily classroom instruction.

The eBookstore as a Community: an Interview with Neal Goff

While there are many online places for educators to purchase eBooks, Neal Goff, President of Egremont Associates and AEP Board President-elect, wanted to create more than a new shopping destination for teachers. In an interview with AEP, Goff talks about his plans for his new eBookstore K12TeacherStore.com and how he is building a bridge between educators and publishers through an online community focused on digital instructional materials.

Q. Why did you decide to create an eBookstore? What need did you see in the industry that you are trying to fill?

Obviously, more and more teachers are looking to use digital materials in the classroom. And while eBooks are available to teachers in a number of places, very few eBookstores are designed to make it really easy for teachers to find what they are looking for.

Q. Beyond selling eBooks, what is the goal of the store? What type of dialogue do you hope to create between publishers and educators regarding digital materials?

What I hope to do at K12TeacherStore.com is not just provide products that teachers can use but also provide a lot of useful information to them. In addition, we are building in feedback loops from educators to get a better handle on what they want so that we can refine the offering over time.