Technology Reshapes America's Classrooms

Technology Reshapes America's Classrooms

BOSTON, Massachusetts (Reuters) - From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.

Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers.

She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game.

"It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's FASTT Math software in which she and other students compete for high scores by completing mathematical equations. "This makes me learn better. It's like playing a game," she said.

Education experts say her school, the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, offers a glimpse into the future.

It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's Web site.

"The dog ate my homework" is no excuse here.

Read more at:

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-usa-education-technology.html

The Facebooker Who Friended Obama

Technology

The Facebooker Who Friended Obama

By BRIAN STELTER
Published: July 7, 2008 for The New Work Times

When a Clinton strategist said Barack Obama’s supporters “look like Facebook,” Chris Hughes took it as a compliment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/technology/07hughes.html?ex=1373169600&en=8411d0bdc1c39837&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

San Francisco Passes The Largest Municipal Solar Incentive

San Francisco Passes The Largest Municipal Solar Incentive

San Francisco, California, passed legislation on June 10 to implement a 10-year solar incentive program that will be the largest municipal solar program in the United States.

The incentive program provides solar rebates to local residents ranging from $3,000-$6,000. It provides up to $10,000 for non-profits and businesses that install solar. It also provides up to $30,000 for non-profit affordable housing. These rebates incentivize local building owners and leverage about 80% of the average solar installation cost from non-city sources (state, federal and the owner’s investment), promoting the installation of significant new amounts of solar with fairly limited resources. The highest residential incentive is reserved for residents or businesses who use an installer that hires graduates of the City’s workforce development program.

The San Francisco Solar Taskforce met for 12 months and crafted the program. The Taskforce concluded that an inclusive solar rebate program open to all local rooftops was the single most effective way to greatly increase solar in San Francisco.

The program enjoys the strong support of the full range of environmental groups and environmental justice advocates, including the Sierra Club, Vote Solar, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute, SPUR, Literacy for Environmental Justice, and the Neighborhood Parks Council, among others.