Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement

Infobox Company
company_name = Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement
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company_type = Non Profit Organization
foundation = 2002
location = Washington, DC
Rockville, MD
key_people = Michael Douma, Executive Director
Horace Dediu, Financial Director
Sally E. Smith, Communications Director
Zuri Walker, Evaluation
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homepage = http://www.idea.org/
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The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that recognizes the Internet’s potential to transform the learning process by making information accessible and engaging. The organization is dedicated to identifying unique challenges that prevent the Web from reaching its educational potential, and developing creative, innovative approaches and technologies to solve those problems. Established in 2002, IDEA has completed a number of projects designed to enrich learning, has published research on the theoretical underpinnings of its applications, and has released many of its applications as open source tools.

Programs and Projects

While working closely with public sector organizations, IDEA strives to initiate, promote, and advance the learning process through the strategic implementation of creative technological solutions. The organization’s programs and projects include:

WebExhibits

As an interactive web-based museum that encourages visitors to think about and explore scientific and cultural phenomena in new ways, WebExhibits includes “Investigating Bellini’s Feast of the Gods,” “Causes of Color,” “Color Vision & Art,” Pigments through the Ages,” “Butter,” “Van Gogh’s Letters,” and “Family Tree of the Greek Gods,” “Calendars through the Ages,” and “Daylight Saving Time.”

National Clocks

IDEA designs and produces National Clocks for countries around the world so that users can conveniently access their official national time. IDEA designed the user interfaces for the United States National Clock and the Malaysian National Clock.

Recipes for Success

Recipes for Success is IDEA’s free online journal, which serves to bridge the academic and practical worlds by addressing the challenges posed by using technology to disseminate information. “Recipes for Success” provides people working in a variety of fields with solutions to common problems, as well as a forum to share their own solutions for overcoming obstacles while furthering dynamic education.

Health Information

IDEA’s ProstateCalculator is a public service web site that provides in-depth medical information about prostate cancer and makes individual, pattern-based risk predictions. After entering relevant personal information, visitors are provided with information about estimated survival, treatment failure and recurrence, estimated cancer stage, and estimated biopsy outcome.

cience and Art

In conjunction with a project called “New Internet Exhibits to Teach Science and Art,” IDEA has designed online exhibits, taught art classes, and lectured to audiences about the convergence of science and art. In collaboration with the Diatrope Institute, IDEA provides promotional and communication infrastructure support for Diatrope’s Art & Science Discussion group, which promotes research and instruction in visual studies.

Color Vision

IDEA has developed a web-based tool that simulates the vision of people with color blindness or cataracts. Based on the underlying physical causes of these vision deficiencies, this tool allows people to visualize images the way those with color blindness or cataracts do, and enables web site designers and developers to select colors and designs that are accessible to those with these conditions.

External links

* [http://www.idea.org Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement] IDEA’s organizational web site
* [http://webexhibits.org/ WebExhibits] IDEA’s interactive Web museum.
* [http://time.gov/ U.S. National Clock] The official clock of the United States.
* [http://mst.sirim.my/ Malaysian National Clock] The official clock of Malaysia.
* [http://prostatecalculator.org/ ProstateCalculator] Interactive predictive tool for those with prostate cancer.