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The Way I See It.
. . Our Name has Changed At many of the fall meetings I added, it is apparent that our new name is not one that is easily recognized or remembered. Cengage is a coined term coming from “Center of Engagement.” Perhaps knowing that background will make it easier to recognize us as Cengage Learning. Fortunately, the widely-recognized South-Western and Course Technology names will be featured prominently on all publications. We are getting new banners and hopefully it will be easier to find us at upcoming meetings. Same good products; same good service; just a new name. Topics of Interest During the past few months, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the need for change in the accounting curriculum to include more financial analysis. While this is truly an important area for high school students, it is also challenging to make certain that the students have the correct understanding of accounting basis before moving into the analysis area. Talks also continue on the potential of an AP Accounting class, but that is still several years away from implementation. The need for articulation between junior high school and high school keeps becoming more important. Not only do we have the new-key learning issue (called keyboarding in many cases), but the coverage of basic word processing, presentation, and spreadsheet at the lower levels also means that computer applications will need to be addressed. I would encourage each high school teacher to start regular discussions with the feeder junior and middle schools so that a progression of learning can be planned rather than a repetition of learning. If you are looking for a document for discussion purposes, please refer to our suggested Scope and Sequence K-12. It is posted as a Word document so that you can adjust any learning to a grade level that might better match your district’s goals. Office 2007 continues to sell extremely well in the consumer market, and those educators who have made the change to this new version speak highly of the integrated styles. While there are format changes for all of us, the consistency among documents, the ease of reading, and ribbon/path structure make this a major improvement. Our new journalism text will publish any day, and I have been surprised at the number of career and technical programs offering this course. I had not thought of the direct link between the technologies and the writing process, but it is a natural. Convergence is a major topic in journalism, and there is a natural fit with the course taught in business education. If you have not thought of including this course in your business programs, now would be a great time to readdress that issue. Request a copy of our new text and take a look…….author Lorrie Lynch has created an outstanding, up-to-date text. In This Issue In this issue you will find two excellent research articles—one on reading and one on internships. All of us in business and computer education are challenged to help improve reading scores and the article by Charlotte Boling provides excellent information. Dr. Carla Thomson and Dr. Jill White present research regarding the importance of technology internships. While internships have become an important component of high school and postsecondary students, it is good to read the information on the inclusion of technology. Balance Sheet Articles Needed We continue to need articles for posting. Please consider sharing some of your best practices or curriculum trends with others. Well……that’s how I see it for this issue. I welcome your comments and thoughts Karen Schmohe |
