The Newsletter has adopted a new quick read and scan format. First, we present the issue, next we provide you with the facts/new pieces of information, and then we give you some ideas of their implications or the take-away message. All of these are color coded to help you read them more clearly.

The Issue:

There is a wide perception that there are fewer computer science jobs in the US now after the dot com bust than before. The perception is wrong, according to Stanford Professor, Eric Roberts

The Facts

"There are more jobs in the U.S. today than there were at the height of the dot-com boom," says Roberts, the John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, whose talk is part of a panel titled "New Approaches to the Development of the U.S. Computing Work Force. "We're training far fewer people than we need to fill the available positions."

The lack of adequate computer science education in high schools is another major factor contributing to the dire state of computer science enrollment in colleges.

Waning interest, according to Roberts, largely has resulted from the prevalent but mistaken belief that computer science job opportunities have declined since the dot-com crash. Recent media focus on offshoring has heightened the perception that the U.S. computing industry is declining, raising the concern that jobs are rapidly moving to China and India. Although demand for talent has led companies to seek new employees abroad, more new jobs are created each year in the U.S. high-tech industry than are moved overseas, says Roberts.

The Implications/Take-Away Message

We need to improve computer science training in schools and stop spreading the misperception that computer related jobs have all been outsourced

ONLINE LEARNING DRAMATICALLY INCREASES IN K-12

The Issue

What will happen to our schools as the popularity of online learning expands?

Facts

According to the Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/18/more_students_across_us_logging_
on_to_online_classrooms/

"Nearly half the states offer public school classes online, and last year Michigan became the first to require students to take an online course to graduate from high school."

"In California, a state senator introduced a bill last month to allow public high school students to take online classes without depriving schools of the state funding they receive for attendance."

"According to Ken Ellwein, executive director of the Lutheran high school, which created its online school last year, "Online learning is going to reinvent high school in the United States."

"Other parts of the nation have a head start on virtual schooling, with 24 states running online schools. Nearly 30,000 students take classes at Florida Virtual School, which has a $43 million annual budget and, at nearly a decade old, is the nation's oldest and largest statewide online public school."

Take Away Message

Everyone from homeschoolers through schools and universities need to do more to evaluate the quality of online courses-for example "University of California has seen such an increase in applicants taking online courses that last fall the faculty established criteria for evaluating the classes, said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate admissions."

Issue: What are the trendlines today driving Intenet use? What are the implications for online learning?

The Pew Charitable Trust has just completed an important survey

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/rYZ81kwNphXllV/One-in-Three-Web-Surfers-Choose-Wireless.xhtml

Facts:

Roughly one-third of Internet surfers in the United States have connected to the Web wirelessly, according to a report released Sunday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The survey also found that wireless Internet users check e-mail and news sites much more frequently than wired users.

Laptops are the device of choice for wireless access, according to the survey. Nearly 40 percent of Internet users have a laptop. Of that number, some 80 percent said they use a wireless network to go online. The bulk of respondents using wireless-enabled laptops, 88 percent, also reported that most of the time they log onto the Web from their home, and 57 percent said they had logged in from a location other than work or home, as well. Thirty-six percent said that their workplace offered wireless connectivity.

Take away Message

The trend is for connectivity by everyone all day--anywhere. Are we ready tor this? Are educators prepared to keep up with the demand for topicality and impact that users will increasingly need to keep them engaged (not just entertained)?
CyberLearning's 24x7 mentoring is one way to meet the new demands for customized help and just in time assistance that is part of the larger trend.