BH-BL Technology Framework

Emerging Technologies and Learning Cultures

Internet 2 - Led by more than 200 U.S. universities, working with industry and government, Internet2 develops and deploys advanced network applications and technologies for research and higher education, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet.

Citrix - Access Infrastructure for Education. On-demand Education, Anywhere, Anytime Citrix® Access Infrastructure Solutions in Education provide students, teachers, faculty and administrators seamless, secure access to instructional and administrative applications and information required to enable continuous learning. With Citrix, applications and information are easily Web-enabled and rapidly delivered to any device, at any location, over any connection—including low-bandwidth and wireless. This lets schools and universities operate more efficiently and manage their limited IT resources more effectively.

Tablet PCs - Modern tablet computing harkens back to 1989 when GRiD Systems Corporation introduced the first pen-based computer that could "read" handwriting; however, GRiD's products never really caught on. In August 1993, pen-based computing became a significant commercial business with the introduction of Apple's Newton Message Pad and for nearly five years Apple dominated the nascent handheld personal organizer market. Apple's initial success spawned an industry of handheld computers dominated by systems based on the Palm OS and Microsoft's Windows Mobile. Full-sized tablets have not fared so well. According to Paul Torres, senior product manager at Gateway, the traditional slate tablet "has been better for vertical markets such as medical and insurance." With the introduction over the past couple years of convertible tablets and the recent introduction of Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005, the tablet PC market has finally begun to grow. According to an IDC report, tablet PC sales may exceed 1 million units as 2004 comes to a close. 
Almost everything a student can do with a regular piece of paper can now be done on a tablet PC (except fold it into an airplane-tablets are not very aerodynamic). Students can take notes on a tablet and then file those notes using Microsoft One Note software. They can use compelling new student learning tools designed specifically for the tablet PC. Teachers can use the tablet as an interactive whiteboard and then convert the files to be published on the Internet. Students can send a teacher a homework assignment via e-mail and then the teacher can mark it up just like they always have, albeit with a much larger color palette.

Pentop Computing - More and more computer power is being crammed into smaller and smaller spaces.  One result?  The pen as computer.  We're not talking about handheld computers or tablet PCs, in which the pen is a simple stylus.  These are pens that are computers.

Blogging and Collabortive Authoring - Emerging online communication tools have the potential to unleash a new level of creative thought in the classroom.  Blogging -- or Web logging -- most often is thought of as an activity for high school students. Did you know, however, that students as young as kindergarten now blog on a daily basis in a variety of exciting ways?

Educators know that students write better when they have a real audience -- not just a teacher with a red pen. In the past, finding such an audience was a challenge. But with Internet access and some basic software, any student can write for the world to see. Although blogging in schools is still in its infancy, anecdotal evidence suggests that students' interest in, and quantity of, writing increases when their work is published online and -- perhaps even more importantly -- when it is subject to reader comments.

So, what do students in grades K-6 blog about? In its blog, Mr. Brune's 4th grade class at Mamaroneck Avenue School in Mamaroneck, New York, has created an online commentary on today's news stories.

At Shepard Elementary School in Columbia, Missouri, Mr. Villasana assigns to each of his fourth graders a day as class reporter. The assigned student must record the day's happenings on the Studio Four-News blog. In Tampa, Florida, Mr. Roemer's Grade 5 Polar Bears also chronicle the day's happenings in detail -- action photos accompany most entries.

Upper elementary students aren't the only ones having the fun, however. At Willowdale Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska, students writing for Mrs. Greenwald's First Grade Blog describe one topic -- from the solar system to the history of Nebraska -- every two weeks; class photos and student drawings are included.

eContent - eContent, including eBooks and eAudiobooks isn't new to libraries. What is new is the ever-widening array of choices and eResources available through the Web. As formats, languages and technologies multiply, so does the challenge to manage and deliver quality content — in ways that will work both today and tomorrow.

Open Source Software - Open Source Software is created by a worldwide community of developers rather than a single vendor. The software is FREE and is associated with greater reliability than commercial software.  Advocates of open source in the global K-12 environment believe it's an economic, political, and academic mandate.