<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)">On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 9:49 AM, Richard Lowenberg </span><span dir="ltr" style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"><<a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org" target="_blank">rl@1st-mile.org</a>></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:rgb(34,34,34)"> wrote:</span><br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">
<div>From the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.</div><div><br></div><div>In addition to Adobe and Prezi, many other companies are partnering on this initiative, </div><div>including Autodesk, which is offering free software, licenses, training and certification</div>
<div>to every school in the US, through its Digital STEAM program. </div><div><br></div><div>Are New Mexico schools stepping up to take advantage of these programs?</div><div><br></div><div>RL</div><div>--------</div></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">Wow! This is impressive. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">You ask "Are New Mexico schools stepping up to take advantage of these programs?"</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">I browsed around some of the links but didn't see details on what the states need to do to take part. Is it simply a matter for our state Reps and Senators? Or for the state education folks? Or the individual school districts? Or god forbid, our city council?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
Thanks for the pointer.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">
-- Owen</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><h1><font size="5">Helping More Schools Be “Future Ready”</font></h1>
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Posted by <span>Kumar Garg and James Sanders</span> on March 02, 2014 at 04:07 PM EST </div><div><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/03/02/helping-more-schools-be-future-ready" target="_blank">http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/03/02/helping-more-schools-be-future-ready</a> </div>
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</div></a></div><div></div></div><p>Last Friday, the President welcomed students from around the
country to the first-ever White House Film Festival, featuring short
films made by students about the intersection of technology and
education. The Festival was part of a series of events in recent weeks
highlighting the President’s ConnectED initiative, which aims to connect
99% of K-12 students to high-speed Internet within the next five years.</p><p>Students submitted more than 2,000 videos showcasing not only how
they use technology in the classroom today but also the impact they
envision technology will have on education in the future.</p><p>Earlier this month, at Buck Lodge Middle School, the President
articulated that to achieve the goal of harnessing technology for
excellence in education, the public and private sectors will have to
collaborate in four critical areas: leadership; empowering teachers;
providing access to high quality content solutions and low cost devices;
and robust high-speed Internet connectivity. </p><p>This kind of cooperation was on display today in the form of a number
of new commitments announced at the Film Festival. For example, Adobe
announced it would make available over $300 million worth of software
for free to teachers and students, and Prezi, which makes a software
tool for creating memorable presentations, will provide $100 million in
Edu Pro licenses for high schools and educators across America. This
pushes the total value of private-sector commitments to the ConnectED
initiative to over $1 billion.</p><p>Also today, Digital Promise, a non-profit focused on spurring
innovation in education, announced a new “Future Ready” pledge. For
many, this pledge will act as their first step—by showing commitment to
the President’s goal in each of the four critical areas above. The
pledge includes promises to provide links to important resources, and to
take actions that can help get individual schools on track—actions like
taking an Internet speed test. </p><p>In a related effort, EducationSuperHighway, a non-profit focused on
getting an accurate picture of classroom connectivity in order to better
focus policy and resources, is announcing it will offer a “Future
Ready” badge to every school that takes this important step.</p><p>The badge can be placed on a school’s website, not just to show
parents and administrators that it is taking positive steps but also to
help raise awareness—like wearing a sticker that says “I voted today”.</p><p>By partnering with educators, researchers, and technologists, Digital
Promise and Education Superhighway aim to provide guidance and
resources to help schools create learning environments that prepare
students for the ever-changing future.</p><p>For more information on the “Future Ready” pledge, you can visit: <a href="http://www.digitalpromise.org/FutureReady/" target="_blank">http://www.digitalpromise.org/FutureReady/</a> .</p>
<p>For more information on Internet speed tests or the “Future Ready” badge, you can visit: <a href="http://schoolspeedtest.org/futureready/" target="_blank">http://schoolspeedtest.org/futureready/</a> .</p><p><em>Kumar Garg is Assistant Director for Learning and Innovation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and </em><em>James Sanders is a Presidential Innovation Fellow at the Department of Education.</em></p>
<div>------</div><div><br></div><div>Also from the White House OSTP:</div><div><h1><font size="4">Connecting Kids from Diverse Backgrounds to Tech Skills</font></h1><div><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/02/28/connecting-kids-diverse-backgrounds-tech-skills" target="_blank">http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/02/28/connecting-kids-diverse-backgrounds-tech-skills</a></div>
</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>
<div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div style="word-wrap:break-word"><div><div>---------------------------------------------------------</div><div>Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director</div>
<div>1st-Mile Institute <a href="http://www.1st-mile.org" target="_blank">www.1st-mile.org</a> </div><div>P. O. Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504</div><div><a href="tel:505-603-5200" value="+15056035200" target="_blank">505-603-5200</a> <a href="mailto:rl@1st-mile.org" target="_blank">rl@1st-mile.org</a></div>
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