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If your Infant or preschooler is developing well, you probably have little if any concern about his eye health or vision. Certainly none of us want to consider glasses for [...]

This article focuses on the need for technology training of teachers in the U.S. Despite all the talk about the lack of funding, or misguided policy, or even poor leadership, teacher training on technology remains to be the issue that concerns many individuals in education. What caused these concern? Basing on the CDW-G survey, 31 percent of teachers received no technology training and 42 percent received less from their schools in the last 12 months, suggesting that teachers are largely self-taught when it comes to their computer skills. So whether on their own or with the support of schools, today's educators need more opportunities for technology-related professional development.

Comments on the attendance to the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 2005. Benefits of educational technology conferences for educators; Number of people who volunteered for the Conference Correspondents program of eSchool News Online journal at NECC; Information on the Educator's Resource Center series.

This article reports on the coverage of the eSchool News Online journal of the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 2005. Sponsors for the journal's 2005 NECC Conference Information Center include: AlphaSmart, American Education Corp., Dell Inc., Sunguard Pentamation, and HP ProCurve. A component of the NECC coverage will be video reporting by winners of the inaugural Student Video Discovery Awards. One will be able to view documentary video shot by the high school students who won the contest. While schools often are the first places where students are exposed to new technologies, there are still administrators and instructors who do not know how to use it to their full advantage. At the same time, there are educators who have managed to make learning relevant to the students because they are not afraid to take risks and be creative with the technology. At eSchool News Online, the evolution is documented not just of the technology, but of the people who work with it. The Educator's Resource Center has expanded with the addition of a resource entitled Presentation Technology in the Classroom.

This article presents the author's comments on the complaint he received about the media's coverage of the educational-technology landscape. I believe that, despite criticisms of the media, at least eSchool News' (eSN) coverage is truly fair and balanced when it comes to the educational-technology world. I know this because most people who approach me at conferences are eager to tell me how much they appreciate our work. I also know it because, for every complaint like this one, there is another accusing us of being unabashed cheerleaders for the educational-technology movement. If we are hearing contradictory criticism from both sides of a debate, then were must be doing a good job. Each day I post links to three off-site news stories in our eSN Online Around the Web feature. I do not look for stories that show bias, just interesting ones. Their relative popularity can be measured by the hits to our Around the Web page. So I decided to do some research. I went back though the first several months of the 2004 to 2005 school year to see which news headlines from other sources drew the most attention at eSN Online. And I found that, while negative headlines do contribute their fair share of Around the Web traffic, they do not have a monopoly.

This section presents and update on the ways in which eSchool News Online meets daily informational needs related to education. One of the things that has helped make the Web site the top education-technology publication site on the Internet is a commitment to providing school technology funding news and information. Such commitment is alive and well in its redesigned Grants & Funding section. There is even more great information that can be searched in the Technology Solutions Center. Users can find white papers describing effective uses of educational technology, product showcases and a complete guide to thousands of technology vendors that market to schools. Through the Educator's Resource Center, years of exclusive content about technology challenges only educators truly appreciate are provided. One is an entire section devoted to mathematics instruction and boosting mathematics scores. This section is sponsored by Hotmath and it allows educators to see how various districts are using technology to improve mathematics instruction. The other section focuses on how schools deal with technology support issues. As technology becomes more integral to education, it is specially important to employ people who are capable of handling the changing hardware and software.

The article reveals the enthusiasm of teachers in incorporating technology into their classrooms. At major educational technology conferences throughout the year, eSchool News invites attending educators to report on workshops and presentations for their colleagues who are unable to attend the event. As part of this project, they are given a high technology tool to use for their reporting. At the Florida Educational Technology Conference and Texas Computer Education Association annual convention, that writing implement was the Neo by AlphaSmart computer companion. Not a single educator returned the Neo saying he or she was not up to the task. Not one failed to see valuable uses for such a device in his or her own school. In fact, many of these educators got more excited about all technology as a result of this experience. It did not have to be a Neo. It could have bee a laptop, handheld, or even a graphing calculator. The majority of educators are really excited about what new technologies could mean for their classrooms. And if their tech-savvy students could see that enthusiasm, it would bring about a greater human connection between the teacher and student, a connection that would bolster the learning environment because the student would see that the teacher is not cut off from the 21st century.

This article provides an update on the free Web site eSchool News Online, as of February 1, 2005. In the past few months, eSchool News Online has added a feature called Ed-Tech Insider, an interactive community of school technology experts who offer valuable advice to those trying to integrate technology into their curricula. It has also added a complete Conference Information Center (CIC) for those interested in school technology conferences. In the CIC, users can find schedules, workshop sessions, speaker biographies and other items updated regularly to reflect new information as it emerges. Also, the Web site enlists volunteer educators to offer their own views of the event through the Conference Correspondents program. The site is adding another entry into its popular Educator's Resource Center series. The latest topic, titled Assessment and Achievement, is made possible with financial support from Software Technology Inc.

This article provides an update on the creation of a year-round Conference Information Center at eSchool News Online in relation to results of a poll among readers who have plans of attending a conference on educational technology. According to the author, online readers are particularly tech-savy and passionate about making new technologies work for schools, and to anything that would benefit students. One of the major conferences on educational technology, the Florida Educational Technology Conference will take place in Orlando, Florida in late January 2005. Conferences on educational technology will be covered to create awareness and spread information to those concerned and interested. Speaking of educator communities that are passionate about learning with technology, the author recommended the new Ed-Tech Insider at eSN Online. A group of ed-tech experts who post daily tips, tricks, and best practices was brought together.

This article presents the author's opinion on the disadvantage of educational technologies. The constant evolution of school technology reminds us just how much the world has changed. In the education field, however, any form of change can be a scary thing. I know this because I learned it 20 years ago in a college course I only took because friends has assured me the professor was really good. The subject matter was the history of American high schools, and the course was meant to give students an appreciation of the challenges teachers and administrators face. The really good professor's name was Ted Sizer. Sizer was a rising star among educators back then, but he had not yet gained national recognition as one of the leading advocates for U.S. school reform. Yet even in those days before he became a legend, his lectures were mesmerizing. From Day One, Sizer told us that the biggest handicap American educators face is a misguided but undying notion within most communities that each generation of children should receive the same educational experience as their parents. This mindset is the major, underlying obstacle to all school reform, because key stakeholders such as parents and politicians often are unwilling to accept even minor alternations.

This section presents the author's opinion on eSchool News Online's plans to venture into blogging. Chat rooms, email and other forms of online communication deserve a place at the table in schools if only because they encourage self-expression through writing. In practice, that expression is often less than literate and it is sometimes less than civil but it always requires the written word and it always leaves room for creativity and insight. At eSchool News Online, we are committed to providing educators with a community space for discussing the latest technology trends and how these aid classroom instructors. We offer, the educator, a chance to participate in what we hope will become the most influential web logs or blogs devoted to examining the convergence of education and technology. This new frontier, already gaining momentum on the Internet, helps the educator connect with colleagues from across the U.S., encouraging a high school level of discussion not unlike the spirited dialogue of those students in suburban Chicago, Illinois. We will enable readers to participate in our coverage of major events and share in the daily musings of several educational blog veterans including teachers, technology directors and fundraisers who have graciously volunteered to share their work for us.

The article calls for increased usage or visits of eSchool News Online. All readers of both the print publication and the web site are encouraged to visit online forums and join in a discussion of educational technology. Forums are not the only rapidly changing part of eSchool News Online. On July 1, 2004, a new, graphically enhanced site design is unveiled. As always, eSchool News Online remains the only home for the popular Educators' Resource Centers in which the finest eSchool News content related to specific hot topics are aggregated. For an even more interactive user experience, eSchool News Online and CaseNEX offer a comprehensive catalogue of online professional development courses, many of which can be taken for graduate-level credit. The web edition of the National Educational Computing Conference 2004 roundup is an expanded version of the news that one will find in the August 2004 issue of eSchool News because while space in print can be limited, space on the web site is not.

This article deals with the information resources offered by eSchool News Online to educators. The publication had begun to address the needs of special educators through the comprehensive Educator's Resource Center (ERC). The publication can direct the site's members and visitors to solutions for many challenges, enabling them to find a wealth of information all linked off one page. Some of the topics found at ERC are defeating email threats, empowered education, state-of-the-art solutions for school districts, pathways to improved student performance and data management. Several leading education technology companies have made it possible for eSchool News Online to present the resources, including RAE Internet, Sprint, JDL Technologies, Pearson NCS and Dell. One education challenges is so universal as to demand a complete section of eSchool News Online all to itself: the Professional Development Resource Center (PDRC). The center features online access to general education courses from CaseNEX, an organization founded by education professors, and high technology courses and technical journals from ElementK. Just as the ERC lets educators target browsing on a specific topic of interest, the PDRC gives them the opportunity to enroll in any of more than 100 online courses.