The American Library Association has released an updated version of Libraries and the Internet Toolkit:
The American Library Association (ALA) has produced this “toolkit” to assist librarians in managing the Internet and educating their public about how to use it effectively.
As Seth says: Worth skimming if you’re interested in the topic
At a school district near you:
Due to the projected increase in workload in the coming years due to the new master schedule and the No Child Left Behind Act, the district has decided that it can no longer afford for you to take time out of your busy schedule to go to the restroom.
Instead, to increase teacher efficiency the district has gone to considerable expense to remodel your classroom over the summer to accommodate your restroom needs starting in August.
See classroom layout.
The musicians and musician wannabees among you might be interested in the Berklee College of Music’s new offering of free music related instructional material.
The offering includes material in areas like Songwriting & Arranging, Bass lessons, Production & Technology and more. I’m not a musician and can not vouch for the material though I’m sure it is no where near the depth and quality that you’d get attending their regular classes.
Chris Lehman speculates as to why they would provide this free material:
Several reasons, I can imagine… one, it only increases Berklee’s visibility as it recruits students. Two, many of the lessons are then linked to DVDs that Berklee Press sells, so it will, I am sure, drive their publishing division, which is cool, and three, maybe they actually want to see more people become musicians than they know can come to their school, and this is a way to achieve that goal.
No matter what the reason…this is cool stuff.
Via Professor Lessig.
Kevin White at Catallarchy is learning the basics of test taking:
Today we had an exam. This was very easy, once I accepted that the professor thinks a “certain way” and expects the highly subjective questions to be answered from that perspective.
This one caught my eye:True or False: Business leaders have an obligation to see that everyone, particularly those in need, benefit from their firms’ actions.
The answer, in the real world, is so obviously False that it hardly bears discussion. However, within the class, the answer is so obviously True that one scarcely has to stop to consider it.
The basic lesson here applies both inside and outside the classroom. To be successful, and sometimes to survive, you need to understand the perspective of the professor or perhaps the inquisitor. Of course, that does not mean you have to agree with their perspective.
I wonder if there might be a relationship between these two articles. First, is this study that investigated what electronic stuff parents have been putting in their kid’s bedrooms:
The study showed significant percentages of children with TVs in their bedrooms in even the youngest age ranges: 30 percent for kids 3 and under, and 26 percent for kids under 2, compared with 36 percent for all kids 6 and under.
The second story, lost in the headlines about Bank of America taking over FleetBoston Financial is this story about BofA exporting some of their technical jobs:
But virtually no attention was paid just days earlier when BofA said it will move more operations abroad by setting up a subsidiary in India next year to handle key tech functions, many involving sensitive customer information.
Maybe these parents kind of intuitively know that there may not be any challenging work available in the US by the time these 2 year olds reach adulthood and are preparing them for the good life of a skilless job and evenings watching sitcoms or whatever other brain deadening fare is being served up.