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In his inaugural attempt using the application, Ferriter posted VoiceThreads about a variety of topics online, encouraging students to comment on them voluntarily on their own time. He got dozens -- even hundreds -- of comments on each. It was a revelation. "I can basically extend my classroom," he says.

Ferriter says more students participate more actively in digital discussions than in the classroom. "You don't have to be the loud one or the popular one," he points out. When he asked his students about their online involvement, he said they cited the sense of safety: "They can think about their comments beforehand." They also liked the fact that any VoiceThread has multiple conversations going on at once. "In a classroom conversation, there's generally one strand of conversation going at any one time, and if you're bored by that particular strand, you're completely disengaged," says Ferriter.

Ferriter says more students participate more actively in digital discussions than in the classroom. "You don't have to be the loud one or the popular one," he points out. When he asked his students about their online involvement, he said they cited the sense of safety: "They can think about their comments beforehand."

The most prominent is <a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=269">Article 9 - “Accessibility”</a>, which places accessibility of information, communication, and technologies (ICT) at the same level as Articles on “The right to life”, “Equal recognition before the law”, “Access to justice”, and “Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. You can see that accessible ICT is being taken very seriously.

<p id="first_paragraph"> Put your graphical user interface to this test: Adjust the contrast on your display until the screen is completely black. </p> <p>Now, perform basic e-mail, word processing and Web-browsing tasks.</p> <p>What? Having a problem?</p> <p>Welcome to the world of the 1.3 million Americans who are blind.</p>

The only job that a university degree directly qualifies you for is another university degree. Sitting in a classroom, writing essays and answering tests is not the workplace. Solving real problems, of importance to others, within existing constraints - is what most work is about.

Well-integrated technology opens social networks for students and allows children to develop key social skills, according to two recent studies conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

<p><em><strong>Information</strong></em></p> <ul> <li>Don’t let people know how well they’re performing.</li> <li>Give people misleading information about how well they’re performing.</li> <li>Hide from people what’s expected of them.</li> <li>Give people little or no guidance about how to perform well.</li></ul>

Within each TOP AWARD TOOLS and TOP AWARD RESOURCES category there is a directory associated with that product or resource category. You can pay a small annual listing fee to include your product or service in those directories.

In 2003, there was a study that showed that all this writing online was actually making kids <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20030520/1943254_F.shtml">more comfortable</a> with writing in general. In 2004, a study showed (like this one) that with a little instruction kids easily <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20041223/1427218.shtml">understood the difference</a> between texting and writing. In 2005, a study actually found that kids were <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20051031/1836235.shtml">better writers</a> than in the past "using far more complex sentence structures, a wider vocabulary and a more accurate use of capital letters, punctuation and spelling" even if they sometimes let a txtism into their writing. And, in 2006, a study showed that students showed <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060731/1938242.shtml">no ill effects</a> from widespread text and IM messaging.