Google Wants Chicks

38% of Yahoo's employees are women

~30% of Google's employees are women   

Source AP 

There is a pervasive gender imbalance in the tech industry. When I was studying to be an engineer, guys outnumbered girls at least 3 to 1 in all my classes. Decades later, women are still lagging behind men in pursuing science and engineering (http://www.usnews.com/news/stem-solutions/articles/2014/05/05/getting-girls-to-study-stem-its-about-more-than-just-making-science-cool).

Less than 1% of girls consider comp. sci. 

The number of females studying computer science has actually dropped since the 1980s. We need to encourage middle school age girls and high school girls to become more involved in computer science. Google is leading the charge with a new campaign, Made With Code. On their Web site they feature young women girls can identify with talking about their career using code.

Show female role models in tech.

Girls and young women want to make a difference in their world. They choose career pursuits that help people. I think if we can help girls see how computer science affects people and makes the world a better place they will consider becoming coders. 

Connect technology to a personal outcome.

Encourage a teenage girl you know to check out "Made With Code".

I'll be showing it to my CyberChicks when school is back in session.

Grammar Snobs TXT 2

I am a stickler about grammar, but I love to text. I use abbreviations and incomplete sentences when I text, but not when I write more formally.  I think there is a place for both.  Last week model Kate Moss said she doesn't like to text.  She is a stickler for grammar, so she says texting takes too long because she attends to the grammatical details of her messages.  I think she is forgetting about another important writing rule - remember your purpose and audience.  Your audience when texting is normally a close friend or family member.  My children know that I can spell the word "too", but I can type it faster in a text as "2".  My purpose in a text is to convey my meaning clearly in a brief message.  So cutting corners on spelling and grammar is acceptable.  However, I would never use that informal, abbreviated style in a work email.  The audience and purpose are totally different. Last night on the John Tesh radio show he mentioned the importance of grammar in the work place and blamed texting for the declining grammar skills of our nation.  I do think we should all be precise in our formal writing.  I do consider myself a grammar snob and enjoy reading Grammar Girl's posts, but I don't think that means I can't text my friends using a different set of rules.  KNIM?

Aching Feet

I have 30 computers in my lab. On average there are 24 students in the classes that come for a weekly computer elective. That means that I turn on 30 computers and login about 50 times each day. Last week when I was copying files to the machines I sat down (or leaned and typed on the keyboard from standing)at each one at least 5 times.

Before, in between and after my classes I go to other classrooms (usually munching on part of my lunch as I walk) to work on their computer problems then hurry back to my room make notes about what I did or did not fix and move on to the next item on the agenda.

It is no wonder that I have been going to bed at 9:30 this week!

I am trying to work smarter. On Thursday I found a shared hard drive where I could copy files instead of carrying them from computer to computer. That probably saved me a half mile of walking each day. I also learned about a program called Synchroneyes, that will allow me to control all the computers in the lab from one central location. With an $800 price tag I decided that I need to work on my marketing spiel before I bring it up to the principal.

He does owe me though. After 8 days of teaching AND fighting more technical fires than you can imagine he brought me news that I will also be teaching second grade. That was not part of our original deal and means there is virtually no time to work with other teachers. Bummer!

But WOW do I love being a teacher again!

Technorati Tags: k-12 technology elementary synchroneyes

Local Schools Show Their Stuff

Students and teachers from Durham Public Schools showed off their technology talents on Thursday, May 31st at the First Annual Technology Showcase. There was a lot to brag about too!

Several elementary schools had claymation projects. The quality of these one or two minute animated movies was awesome! According to the teachers at Watts and E.K. Powe, the projects only took a few weeks to complete. Students storyboard their ideas on paper and make their clay characters. Then they act out the story and take hundreds of digital pictures to knit together into a movie. The students even put the pictures together into the movie using the Clay Animation kit.

One kindergarten teacher gave her students a digital camera and challenged them to find shapes around the school. The kids put the pictures and their description of the shape into a PowerPoint slideshow.

Middle school students from Chewning were programming Lego robots after school. How's that for motivation! They won third place in a recent robotic competition.

District representatives had information on Internet safety and online access to school catalogs.

Perhaps the best judges of the showcase were my two children. They were entranced by the projects. My eight year old brought a book, Harry Potter, of course. And my six year old brought her Leapster. And they didn't even look at them. They bounced from claymation movies to online subscription services to the robots to a free programming tool.

I talked to Dottie Black, coordinator of the event. This was the first annual and they expect to start planning next year's event in the fall. I will be expecting great things. Way to go DPS, Duke and Pepsico!

Technorati Tags: k-12 technology DPS Duke Pepsico

The Job of Integration is Done?!

Yesterday the President cut funding to states for educational technology. The justification was that the work of integrating technology is done. I beg to differ!

Are your school-age children learning to conduct effective research on the Internet? Can they construct persuasive arguments in compelling ways - using audio, video, and text? Are they communicating with experts on topics they are studying? Are they learning about other cultures by interacting with people who live in those cultures? Do they use technology seamlessly in their daily classroom activities?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonnny/110936654/

Well mine aren't - not on a regular basis anyway. These are the things that they need to be doing everyday. There are moments of great innovation and change breaking through in our schools, but the systemic reform that we need to prepare children for their future has not happened. We must continue to fund this initiative!

So I sent a message to all my congressional representatives. I encourage you to do the same.
Find your representative: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

Here is my message to Congress:

I encourage you to restore funding to Title II D of the No Child Left Behind Act, Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT). The work of integrating technology into education is NOT done.

I have two daughters in public schools in North Carolina. They each have one computer in their classroom that is rarely used by students. They go to a computer lab once a week for instruction. This is not good enough!

They should have at least have a group of 3 computers in their classroom. Students should be using them on a regular basis as a natural part of their assignments.

Employers and educators alike have repeatedly stated that students need to be technologically proficient to succeed.

• http://caret.iste.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=questions&topicID=1
• http://www.21stcenturyskills.org
• http://www.conference-board.org/publications/describe.cfm?id=1218

Even Time magazine recently called for further reform and modernization of America's schools.

• http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1568480-1,00.html

North Carolina has taken a strong position in educating our students for the 21st century. The federal government must support our state by reinstating funding that will further our efforts to put technology in our schools and train our teachers how best to use it.

I am very passionate about this subject and would be happy to talk with you further about this issue.

Respectfully,

Laura B. Fogle

Technorati Tags: Congress, EETT, technology

Free Tutorials Online

Do you know the difference between the microphone jack and the line in jack on a sound card? Want to learn some of the basics behind networks?

This great Web site, Kidz Online Tech Training, offers short video tutorials on basic technology topics: digital audio, digital video, digital imaging, networking and more. They even have a special gURL Tech feature to promote females in technology.

This is a great resource for the person wanting to expand their technology background knowledge.

Technorati Tags: free, Kidz online, technology, tutorial, women