For almost 100 years, people have been predicting the end of the use of textbooks in public schools. The cause for the decline of textbook use is often due to some new technology that will forever change classrooms.

For example, in 1913, Thomas Edison was a nay-sayer concerning the future of textbook use.

“Books will soon be obsolete in the schools,” he said. “Our school system will be completely changed in 10 years.”

Edison was talking about replacing textbooks with videos to teach students. Sure, we do use videos today in our classrooms, but textbooks are still the main source of information in most cases.

So, should we be surprised that many education leaders, such as U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, are now pushing for the use of laptops and digital books in the classroom? Using history as our source, the answer is no.

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Cheating today is a lot easier than it was a decade ago. It’s not because Little Sally is much more likely to show Little Timmy her homework assignment before school today than she would have been in the past. Nor is it because school districts feel pressured to attain high standardized test scores and let their students cheat in order to do so – although this has happened. Instead, the main reason that it is much easier for today’s students to cheat is sitting right in front of you right now: the Internet and technology.

Studies confirm this increasing trend in the number of cheaters: 80 to 85 percent of students have cheated at least once by the time they graduate high school. Until they reach the second grade, most of this cheating does occur in the traditional ways, but once they reach third grade, many are turning to the Internet to cheat. Internet plagiarism is on the rise, as is cheating with a cell phone. Students can text each other answers during a test, look up the answers to a problem on their smartphones, or take a picture of an exam and send it to a friend who has not taken the test yet.

So what are concerned parents to do about this problem? How can they keep their kids from becoming cheaters? The answer might be to start combating the issue while children are still young.

“You want to get good behavioral habits established while moral reasoning is developing and deepening,” said Thomas Lickona, Ph.D. and author of Raising Good Children and Character Matters – How to Help Our Children Develop Good Judgement, Integrity, and Other Essential Virtues. “There’s research to suggest that even young children are more sophisticated and morally observant than we might give them credit for.”

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Middle school students at Pottsdam Middle School in Pennsylvania can now add Uggs boots to the list of clothing items that may not be worn to school. It’s common knowledge that many schools have dress codes which prevent the wearing of some articles of clothing, such as baseball caps and extremely baggy pants, but I have never heard of a school banning a particular brand of shoes before.

According to the school, the shoes were causing problems…or more appropriately, it was the items that students were bringing into the school – hidden inside their shoes – that was causing the problems. Many students were hiding their cell phones in their furry boots and then texting during class. After several students were caught in the act, the school decided to ban the shoes in order to address the issue.

Some parents are quite upset about this new banned article of clothing. In addition to the ban being “totally ridiculous,” according to a Facebook post by a parent, some people are saying that the Ugg-ban is sexist against girls, who are the main wearers of the shoes.

“Pockets, bras, socks, what’s next?” one parent wrote on Facebook.

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What do Shannen Doherty and many other average Americans have in common? They have not earned as high of an education as they would like. However, going back to college can be difficult for working adults because of all of the other commitments they already have in their lives, such as friends, family, and their job. Luckily, Shannen has found a way to make her dream of getting a higher education a reality, and with ClassesPlease.com, you can too.

ClassesPlease.com is part of Education Connection, a website that makes it easier to find an educational path that is right for you. Like it’s parent-company, ClassesPlease.com allows users to find a college and major that will work with their schedule and meet their interests. Currently, ClassesPlease.com helps people find educational programs in career fields like information technology, criminal justice, business, culinary arts, and health sciences.

“I’m actually getting my degree in liberal arts,” said Shannen.

Shannen has partnered with the website in order to realize her life-long dream of earning a college degree. On a commercial for the website, Shannen says it’s easy to learn through this program because she can study whenever and wherever she is. Shannen is obviously doing an online program, but ClassesPlease.com also offers information about in-class programs.

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Last week, Apple held a media event in New York City. At this event, the technology-gurus revealed their newest software programs, which could forever change the way that education takes place in the classroom. Currently, there are 1.5 million iPads that are being used in classrooms across the country. There are also more than 20,000 education and learning apps available in the app store. However, these numbers can both be expected to increase in the near future, thanks to the release of these new programs.

So what exactly did Apple announce? On January 19, 2012, Apple announced that it was updating the iBooks app, creating a new category of books in the iBookstore, and also releasing a DIY e-book creator. This means that there are now many more new tools that teachers and students can use in the classroom to learn.

Let’s take a look at all of the new options that Apple is offering to make learning even more interactive and technologically-based:

• The new iBookstore will have a textbook category. These textbooks will be media-rich and interactive, allowing students to watch videos, play with diagrams, view pictures, and of course, read. These books will be available for students in grades K-12.
• The new books available in iBooks 2 will have search options, making it easier to find what you are looking for in the index, glossary, dictionary, or the book itself. You will also be able to highlight important information in the books, a feature that many students find very useful.
• Many of the books will feature a Question & Answer section at the end of every chapter. This will allow students to gauge how well they are learning the material and receive instant feedback on their progress.
• The books on iBooks will cost $14.99 or less. This is much cheaper than traditional textbooks, which cost about $75 each. For schools that are facing budget cuts or need to save some cash, this will be a great way to do so.
• A new app, iTunes U, will allow teachers to post their class syllabus, lectures, course assignments, and much more for students to see and access. This new app will allow teachers and students in grades K-12 use it; a previous version was only available for students at certain universities.
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If you are an Apple fanatic like me, then you have probably heard that the company is holding a media event on Thursday, January 19, 2012. What is Apple releasing this time? According to ArsTechnica.com, the company will be announcing a new platform that will be the “GarageBand for e-books.” Basically, it will be a distribution platform for digital books and textbooks.

Although some makers of e-books claim that the process of making an e-book from a physical copy of a book is very simple, the truth is that the entire process can be very difficult and frustrating. This could all be changing very soon, if Apple does in fact announce a “GarageBand for e-books” software later this week.

Matt MacInnis worked for Apple until 2009, when he left the company and started his own company, Inkling, which creates digital textbooks. MacInis thinks that Apple is about to make it much easier to actually create these books.

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For many people, learning a new skill is a great New Year’s Resolution. You could sign up for expensive private lessons, take classes at your school, or do what Dr. John McClure did and take lessons from someone who lives on the other side of the country.

McClure, who lives in Minnesota, was learning how to play the bagpipes from a friend and was really enjoying his new-found hobby. However, when his friend moved away, McClure had to find an alternative way to continue learning. So he turned to Jori Chisholm – a bagpipe player who won first-place at the 2010 Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon, Scotland, and who currently lives in Seattle – to help him continue improving. So how does McClure receive his lessons? Does he fly across the country every week in order to take the lessons? Of course not. The two men use Skype in order to connect and practice; sometimes they even have a lesson when McClure, a pathologist, is at work.

“I’ve been on call, waiting for a specimen from the O.R., and I’ll do a lesson with Jori,” McClure said. He uses a practice chanter, which is basically a bagpipe without a bag, in order to keep the lessons quiet and hospital-friendly.

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The first grade students at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, Indiana, are a little bit different from other elementary school students their age across the country. They do not look any different, nor are they learning from a different curriculum. However, they do have a blog.

Last August, the Indiana Department of Education gave a $200,000 grant to the school, allowing students in kindergarten through fifth grade to have their own iPads. The teachers also received their own iPads.

“It has been a wonderful experience, for the students and for me, ” said Stefanie Onieal, a first-grade teacher who was also one of the authors of the grant.

So what can you find on the blog that these students have created. Among many other things, you can find students’ recent letters to Santa (which they wrote on their iPads), photos of nouns found in their classrooms (the pictures were taken on the iPads), and a fire safety public service announcement (which, of course, was created on the iPads).The blog is viewable for parents at any time, which helps them stay up to date on what their children are learning in school.

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Salman Khan is like most people: when he used to think of YouTube, he thought of “cats playing the piano. No place for serious mathematics.” However, that changed recently when Khan started helping his cousins study for their math classes. Khan lives in Boston and his cousins live in New Orleans, so the easiest way to reach them was online. Now, Khan has extended his tutoring services to more people than just his family through Khan Academy, and with more than 3.5 million students using his videos to study each month, I would have to say that Khan has become pretty successful as an online tutor.

One person who has taken an interest in Khan and his online academy is Bill Gates, who in 2010 said he watched Khan Academy videos with his own children. Then, the Gates Foundation and Google made a $2 million donation to Khan Academy, which really helped Khan make progress on his pet-project. The money is currently being used to translate the materials into 10 languages.

So what is so special about Khan Academy and Khan’s way of teaching? Khan says he wants to help all students learn more effectively by moving away from the traditional lecture to homework to exams methodology of teaching.

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Have you ever wondered what are the top 10 things that have shaped your life in the past 10 years? Or maybe you have wondered where most college students use their smart phones? Or even if the cost of college is really worth it? You could spend hours conducting your own research on these various subjects, or you can just head on over to eCampus.com and check out their new InfoGraphics section.

In the past, eCampus.com has been known for renting college textbooks online. Now, they are venturing into the more entertaining market of creating infographics for students who are “wondering how your shenanigans will affect your future.” Infographics are a visually-pleasing way to present information and are rapidly gaining popularity as an aid during presentations.

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