Students learning 21st century skills through network

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Michael Cardwell, 15, a Kaiserslautern Middle School eighth-grader, updates a blog Monday at the school in Vogelweh, Germany. A system for students to keep in touch with deployed parents has evolved into a network that includes student-to-student messaging, blogs and electronic homework assignments.


Students learning 21st century skills through network
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Wednesday, February 13, 2008

What started as an in-house e-mail system for students to keep in touch with deployed parents has evolved into a computer network that includes student-to-student messaging, blogs and electronic homework assignments.

DODDS-E Net was started four years ago to increase contact between students and parents, but educators are now incorporating the technology into the daily class work, said Pat Ridge, educational technologist for Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe.

In addition to e-mail, students at schools such as Kaiserslautern Middle School and Bamberg Middle School are using more modern Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs, to share information, Ridge said.

For example, a class discussion might have time for only a few students to contribute. But in an online discussion, the whole class has the chance to make comments on a particular topic, he said.

Some schools also are using a “digital locker” that allows students to store files online and then access them on a home computer in the evening.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52428