Bill Gates Takes On Education's Biggest Bureaucratic Beast With Video Games

Bill Gates Takes On Education's Biggest Bureaucratic Beast With Video Games | Fast Company

"Around the country, a new career-minded education standard is slowly edging out the old academic focus on Lord Of the Flies book summaries and five-paragraph essays. So far 42 states have pledged to adopt the (coercively) voluntary standards championed by President Obama, the National Governors Association, and billionaire education crusader, Bill Gates.

While educators are slowly dipping their feet into the pool of critical thinking, persuasive communications, and exploratory learning, the Gates foundation is looking to swing the direction of the standards with a mega-investment in digital learning.

Gates has previously financially supported YouTube sensation Sal Khan, funded the game-centered Quest2Learn school, and most recently, invested millions more in educational video games, hoping their addictive quality can lead to scientific curiosity.

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Home-schooling parents turn to blogs, Facebook for help

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"Carolyn Morrison home-schooled her two children from 1993 to 2004 — and the tools she had available to her then seem primitive today.

'Our computer was used primarily for e-mail, word processing and games, with CD-ROM resources filling in the gaps left by the paltry online reference sites,' she said. 'We even pre-dated Google!'

And for sure, that was before the term 'social networking' was part of the vernacular.

Internet resources now available to parents who home-school their children not only include the vast amount of information that's online; parents are turning to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and blogs geared to their home-schooling interests for help, humor and how-tos.

'What a fantastic blessing that can be to someone who lives an hour's drive from the nearest library or bookstore,' said Morrison, of Marshalltown, Iowa, who has a popular blog, Guilt-Free Homeschooling.

'Online resources have truly shrunk the world to manageable proportions: There is no longer either a time barrier or a distance barrier between people.'

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Big Universe Taking Book Website to the Next Level

Big Universe Taking Book Website to the Next Level: "Big Universe Inc., an award-winning Internet newcomer, is taking its educational service to the next level with the launch of its premium subscription, which multiplies benefits on this children's picture books website.

The premium subscription enables online members to read the most beautiful story books in children's publishing in their entirety, as well as print the books they have written using the site's innovative Big Universe Author tool. The website is a cost-effective option for educators struggling with budget cuts during the current economic crisis.

"The buzz this company is making is phenomenal," said Anil Hemrajani, founder and CEO of Big Universe Inc. "Publishers, educators and parents can't wait to get involved with this new service, but that's not that surprising," explained the website's creator. "We have put together a really strong value proposition for teachers and parents, as well as for the children's book publishers, who are partnering with us on this venture."

Members have created more than 5,500 books to date -- stories which can be shared with other site users once the books have been submitted and approved by a review board. Users can track reader feedback and stock personal favorites on virtual bookshelves. Kids can share their favorite books with others and improve their reading, writing and computer skills, as well as their hand-eye coordination as they learn to place text, pictures and animation in self-generated e-books."

Back-to-School Internet Safety Tips

By Dory Devlin

Since there can never be too many reminders for kids on how to stay safe online, here are seven from the Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan. She joined with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Microsoft, Best Buy and the Geek Squad, and an Illinois retail association to spread the word on safe online practices. Best Buy and other retailers will be distributing 20,000 mouse pads emblazoned with these seven tips during Back-to-School shopping days:

• Never post personal information online.
• Don't put strangers on your buddy list.
• Don't post potentially embarrassing images of yourself online.
• Remember that anyone can read blogs.
• Communicate only with friends and family.
• Tell your parents if you receive anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.
• Think before you post any information about yourself—a message long touted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

All good advice, nothing groundbreaking. But the more reminders to young kids and teens, the better. For more tips for parents, teens, and younger kids, take a look at the AG's pointers in these longer docs. Then check out the post link below to see why just telling kids not to post personal information is merely the start of what should be an ongoing conversation.

Study: Online Safety Warning for Kids Need Work