Students and businesses interested in taking part in the SciTechsperience internship program can now complete online applications at MHTA.org. SciTechsperience is Minnesota’s paid internship opportunity for students studying in STEM fields. It is a new MHTA program made possible by funding through the Minnesota Science & Technology Authority.

SciTechsperience is a key economic development initiative aimed at expanding Minnesota’s talented STEM workforce by providing hands-on experience for talented college students. The idea is to keep those students living and working in Minnesota once they graduate in order to strengthen and advance the state’s knowledge-based economy.

Qualified businesses can receive a dollar for dollar match up to 50% of an intern’s wages for a maximum of $2,500. There are other eligibility requirements students and businesses should check out before they apply to take part in the program. You can read them and complete the applications at MHTA’s SciTechsperience program page.

Good luck!

Mankato has joined the growing Bring Your Own Technology movement that allows students to use their own Netbooks, laptops, and tablets — anything that connects to the school’s wireless network — during class time.

“By allowing kids to bring in their own devices, you free up school resources for the kids who don’t have access,” says Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the Mankato Public School System. (Johnson wrote the book — literally — on the subject; The Classroom Teacher’s Technology Survival Guide is published this month.) For example, in classrooms that have a group of four computers, finding time for all 30 students to use them can be challenging. In Mankato, 90% of the students have some sort of wireless-capable device, which leaves only eight students in a typical class who will need to use the class computers.

It’s an interesting concept. On one level, I think it’s a practical solution. Having some kids bring in their own computers does mean fewer computers required to cover the kids who don’t have their own. So it can level the playing the field during the school day, in that everyone has a computer. (Although I imagine the playing field isn’t too equal when there is such a wide range of devices out there. Forget about hand-me-down sweaters, imagine going to school with your cousin’s Commodore 64!)

From a management perspective I think this has got to be a challenge. The article brings up the broadband issue of having to plan for enough bandwidth to meet all needs. I think that’s a good problem to have and one we should be striving to solve regardless. The real issue is managing the tech support. Is each kid responsible for the upkeep on his computer? When the computer quits in the middle of the class, who helps? How do you protect the network and computers from viruses and what do you do about security and privacy? Do you allow sharing via flash drives or is everything in the cloud? (Sounds like Mankato is cloud-based but that probably works better with some devices than others.)

The article brings up similar points…

Mobile phones, and especially those that aren’t smart phones, obviously don’t have the same capabilities as computers. But when tablets and Netbooks enter the picture, it becomes less of an argument against insufficient technology and more an argument against managing multiple technologies. Stager adds that in a class full of students handling his or her own device, each one different from the other, will only “amplify [teachers'] anxiety and reduce use.”

From a teaching perspective, how do you handle so many devices and different reactions/reaction times across a classroom? I was a computer teacher in a grade school for a very short time. We had about 12 computer, 8 of which might be working at any one time. Everything was donated; everything was unique. And the network used a dialup connection to the Internet. The class was much less about teaching computer skills than about trying to repair computer issues. It sounds like the situation is Mankato is much better, but is every school so well prepared?

And although Johnson [Doug Johnson, director of media and technology for the Mankato Public School System] admits that more traditional teachers resist or are overwhelmed by this type of learning, students will need little support because they’re already familiar with their own devices. If the bandwidth and infrastructure are in place for students to access the school network, Johnson says they’ll be able to do their work with little oversight.

The advent of devices is a disruptive technology – and I applaud Mankato for taking it on. I am curious to see how this plan pans out in the long term. I think (maybe I hope) there will be a lot of trial and error in education as educators and administrator try to unleash the potential and prepare students for jobs of tomorrow – not the job of today. We can’t be afraid to fail when it comes to integrating technology into the schools - because I think by doing nothing we’re already failing the workforce of tomorrow. (That’s not to say that I think Mankato will fail – but I think their policy may see a few iterations as technology, financing and needs change.)

“We gathered good people to formulate these recommendations and action items in order to support innovation in schools and districts,” said State Superintendent Tony Evers. “Schools shouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to figuring out how best to use technology. This plan will serve as a roadmap of best practices and maximum impacts.”

Last month, I wrote an article on flipped classrooms in Stillwater and potential issues with assuming all students have adequate access to broadband and technology to participate in a flipped curriculum. (Quick reminder, a flipped classroom instructs students to learn, often via video at home and practice skills in the classroom.) The article spurred a discussion (online, but via Facebook so semi-private) where someone thought access to broadband was probably not an issue in Stillwater. Maybe not – but it is an issue in other areas. I think lifting the discussion to a statewide level rather than community level as Wisconsin has done, helps minimize education gaps. My hope is that it sets a standard that helps raise education goals – but it also requires the schools to consider inequities in broadband access – and helps build the case for ubiquitous coverage.

But to get back to Wisconsin and delve into the specifics, the press release highlighted recommendations…

• Providing students the opportunity to take online and blended courses before graduating from high school
• Exploring methods that allow teachers to maximize their efforts, such as the “flipped classroom”—where the tradition of transferring knowledge via lecture is replaced with a digital homework assignment such as a podcast; meanwhile, students do homework in the classroom, where teachers can engage in improved coaching and assessment
• Invigorating collaborative efforts with businesses and industries
• Allowing students to use their own devices for learning
• Ensuring sufficient and affordable broadband access for schools and students, and equitable access for every household with students
• Developing a statewide, online environment for Wisconsin educators to share and explore quality teaching resources and methods, to avoid redundant curriculum development tasks and to share best practices

The vision is a website it is divided into the following areas:

1. Pedagogy & Instruction – nice shift to teachers as facilitators
2. Curriculum & Assessment – nice focus on collaboration
3. Professional Learning & Leadership
4. Data & Information Systems – nice balance of assessing students and systems, which should mean more strive to improve
5. Policies & Procedures – good connection to workplace
6. Hardware & Infrastructure

I have to pull out just one comment from the Hardware and Infrastructure section because it hits on an issue that I think is important…

The FCC’s “Household Broadband Guide” recommends households with four computers have between 6-15 Mbps, even if just one of those computers is used for an application such as streaming video, video conferencing, or online gaming. “Broadband” is defined as having a minimum of 4 Mbps connection to the Internet.

Finally the site includes a list of action items. I suspect or hope that progress towards achieving those items will be tracked as time goes on. (Given that the vision is less than a week old, it makes sense that nothing is crossed out yet.) The format of the report is easy to follow. It seems as if they had the right people in the room to create a vision that addresses the needs of teachers, administrators, students, families and future employers; it also presents technology as a solution to those needs – not another issue to be addressed.

The vision is built somewhat upon the same structure as the National Broadband Plan – where the required steps will be filled in as the path is followed. Due to many fewer moving pieces, this is a lot easier to grasp than the National Broadband Plan. It would be a nice model for the Minnesota Broadband Task Force’s vision/outline too.

The Internet has opened up a world of at-home learning opportunities, but how much should we rely on those when many families still don’t have Internet access?

The author spoke about flipped math classes now offered to fifth graders in Stillwater, MN, where students watch video lessons at home and spend class time working on problems – or what many of us traditionally think of as homework. (Khan Academy is one of the most famous flipped class structures.) I suppose it’s not surprising that I think flipped classrooms are a great idea but it was interesting to read an article that pointed out potential issues with the structure – the first being access to broadband.

Access to broadband – and home computers – is undeniably a big barrier for the flipped classroom. But I’d like to see that as an opportunity to work with families to get them beyond that roadblock to : 1) provide computers and/or lower cost broadband access in a perfect world or 2) provide after-school access to the technology in the school as a Plan B. Otherwise I think we’re playing to the lowest technology common denominator rather than trying to raise the bar for everyone. That not only cheats the students, it seems like a bad investment in our community.

Ironically, Stillwater’s Flipped Classroom website describes the move towards flipped learning as a move away from targeting the lower common denominator…

A traditional teaching technique for math is one where the primary purpose of the classroom time is for the teacher to present content. Generally, the pacing of the content targets the average or slower learner.

I’m excited to see that Stillwater has chosen the road less taken to raise the potential for all of their fifth graders.

The author asks a second question that doesn’t directly involve technology as much as I think touch upon a byproduct technology has brought to modern life…

When society is already wringing its hands about how much homework is appropriate, what would it mean to place so much of the burden of learning on the home?

I don’t know if more time is spent working on “homework” in the flipped model versus the traditional model. I do know that last night’s homework for my oldest kid involved her saying – “quiz me on cells”. If you have a middle schooler, you know that general knowledge does not help much. They need their quiz answers to match the reading exactly. Even the younger kid’s homework started with “you know Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”. Frankly, I feel I could pass an essay test on Alexander – but not a pop quiz.

So I can tell you that as a parent, I think watching the video with the student would save my time. I feel like it would save their time too – because we wouldn’t be barking up wrong trees and we wouldn’t be making drives back to school for the text-book because “Google answers aren’t allowed”. And I feel like it would be preparing my kids for tools that are being used in the workplace today. Think about it – when is the last time you watched a video to learn something; now when it the last time you picked up a reference book. (As I librarian I type that with some sadness, but I type it.) Part of the benefit of the flipped classroom is preparing kids for technology of this century, not last century.

The other point the author raises is that school shouldn’t bleed into the whole day…

But students also have lives outside of school. They play sports. They participate in church groups. They join clubs.

In some ways I think that’s the most compelling argument – but I think where you land on that issue probably aligns with how you feel about the workday bleeding into the whole day. In this case, yes technology does potentially make for more hours of work for a kid – but just as with an increasing number of work schedules, perhaps that hours could become more flexible. So perhaps I find this criticism most compelling because it highlights the fact that so many opportunities present themselves in education when we use technology that it challenges us to reevaluate traditional teaching methods. That’s exciting and scary – but again I think to not challenge the “regular” way will leave our children unprepared for the new century.

The technology behind DriveScribe has been licensed exclusively to Drive Power by the University of Minnesota’s Office for Technology Commercialization. Developed by U mechanical engineering researchers, DriveScribe combines several functions to promote safe driving. It provides real-time driver feedback and blocks phone calls, emails and text messages while the vehicles is in operation. The app will also notify parents of traffic violations and log activity to a web portal for later review.

Ironic that a cell phone can help someone drive better. I like the idea of fighting fire with fire – and while I suspect that tech savvy teens may find a way around it – I think that if they’re smart they won’t. And of course danger of losing car privileges is a big incentive to be smart, as I recall. The article goes on to say that while this app is starting with the teen driving market, there are other areas for them to grow…

DrvieScribe will likely expand beyond the teen market to help senior drivers, commercial vehicle fleets and insurance companies. For now, it uses social comparisons, points and rewards and a sophisticated scoring system to quantify the attributes of safe driving. It is known as the Safe Driver Score.

Lily was the Black Bear that gave birth in Ely, Minnesota last year. This year her sister is stepping in…

Three-year-old Jewel is the younger sister of Lily, who gave birth in January 2010 to Hope. The birth and early days were followed by millions of viewers over the Internet. A hunter killed Hope last year and biologists say it was a blow to their research.

This is the third year the institute and the North American Bear Center are broadcasting from dens in northeastern Minnesota.

I think it has been a huge opportunity for the Wildlife Research Institute to raise both awareness and funds. They are apparently expecting her to give birth any day now. I checked it out and it is kind of amazing how much they are learning through the webcams.

Thanks to a grant from the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities Program (MIRC), WGTN-TV 3, formerly only accessible for cable subscribers in Worthington, can now be accessed through the Internet.

Available at www.wgtntv3.com, anyone with an Internet connection can watch live coverage of local sports games, community meetings and other events covered by WGTN-TV 3.

The events will also be archived for viewing at anytime.

The benefit for snow birds and other seasonal or past residents is easy to imagine. And although it’s tough to imagine that we’ll ever see snow in Minnesota – it will come. And when it does it will be more difficult for many people to get around; viewing programs at home is more reasonable for folks with any mobility issues.

The ability to view anytime may be at least as valuable. People lead busy lives and attending local community meetings can be impractical – but imagine being able to view at your leisure. Suddenly it is possible to keep up on the Nobles County Board or Worthington City Council. And once you’re informed, it’s easier and makes more sense to get involved.

It’s also now easier to get involved on the other side of the camera – the article indicates that there may be more opportunity for local programming – and I suspect the incentive may be higher when you know there’s a chance for a greater audience. The Daily Globe reports..

“As time goes on, we’ll try to further develop other programs within the community,” Reeves said.

“We’re hoping that this will also encourage and help people become more involved with how to film,” Schnieder said. “Staff-wise, the station is limited, but maybe we can get something going with community education classes. There are a lot of talented people in the area, and we’d like to get them involved.”

It will be interesting to hear if there is an increase in civic participation and community engagement.

Foley, MN December 19, 2011: With help from funding through Living Connected in Benton County, Independent Lifestyles of Sauk Rapids is helping enable the disabled and others with the use of technology and the internet through a project they call BRAVE – Broadband, Resources and Vocational Education. Funding helped Independent Lifestyles purchase computer equipment to start a technology center within their facility and also provides an opportunity for Independent Lifestyles’ staff to teach a variety of classes and work one-on-one with community members to build computer and internet skills.

The technology center at Independent Lifestyles is open free of charge for use by their consumers and the public. Along with the usual computer equipment, the technology center is also set up with rubber, indestructible keyboards, large style keyboards and roller ball and joystick style mice for easier computer navigation. “Many of our consumers and community members, both with and without disabilities, have taken full advantage of our technology center,” said Jennifer Harmanson, staff member at Independent Lifestyles. “We have many who are looking up job information or are using social networks as well as working on general computer skills.”

The availability of the technology center allows Independent Lifestyles’ staff to conduct classes and hold one-on-one training sessions. Classes that will be held in the technology center starting in January include Introduction to Computers, I took the picture, now what?, Learn Word and Create a Resume and Learn Excel and Create a Household Budget. Past classes included Social Media and Email, How Does it Work? “I have been able to somewhat tailor the classes to the needs of the students attending so everyone gets the information that they are looking to get out of the classes,” stated Harmanson.

For many Americans with disabilities barriers in their communities take away or severely limit their choices. Independent Lifestyles, Inc. (ILICIL) was founded in 1997 to help persons with disabilities break down these barriers. For more information about Independent Lifestyles or the classes they offer call 320-529-9000 or visit www.independentlifestyles.org.

Living Connected in Benton County www.bentoncountyconnected.org is a project partner in the Minnesota Intelligent Rural Communities Initiative (MIRC). MIRC is a coalition of 19 statewide partners and 11 demonstration communities funded in large part through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant. The work of the coalition focuses on bringing the full promise of broadband technologies to rural Minnesota communities, businesses and people. Blandin Foundation serves as the project administrator. More about MIRC is available at www.blandinfoundation.org.

A $200,000 grant will boost Hiawatha Broadband Communications and give Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical a new curriculum niche.

The Minnesota Department for Employment and Economic Development recently awarded the grant under its Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership. Southeast Technical will train 140 HBC workers, DEED said, starting with 35 people to maintain licensure as power limited technicians. Riverland Community College will assist with the licensing classes.

It’s nice to see that broadband deployment is creating new jobs. It would be nice to see Minnesota train folks for the region – and it would be nice to see those folks keep busy deploying broadband across all corners of the state.

Mankato, Minn. – Nov. 30, 2011 – HickoryTech (NASDAQ: HTCO) announces today it is accepting entries for its My Life My Internet video contest. As a leading regional broadband provider, HickoryTech wants to encourage broadband adoption and encourage students and educators to share their stories about why the Internet is important in their lives. The contest, which targets entries from the HickoryTech service area, requires video submissions that present ideas around how students and teachers connect, learn, recharge, study and socialize at school and at home using broadband Internet access.

HickoryTech will award contest winners a hand-held video camera, as well as five hand-held video camera’s for their school. “HickoryTech supports technology integration in the classroom and wants to provide an incentive for students, teachers and schools to adopt new technologies which help students enhance learning through broadband adoption,” said Jennifer Spaude, director of Investor Relations and Marketing.

Complete contest details and rules are available at www.hickorytech.com/MyLifeMyInternet. All entries must be submitted by January 31, 2012.