(The Snow Can't Stop This Blog!) BusinessWeek: Rethinking Computers in the Classroom

This is a picture I took of my sherpa and me as we traversed the DA parking lot up here in Connecticut on Friday afternoon. I reached my car safely but Nanook, unfortunately, was never found. A 45 minute commute mutated into five hours. Needless to say, it was quite a storm.

But getting back to products! Last week, BusinessWeek ran an article raising the question: have computers helped schools improve learning?

"Schools are enthusiastic about the technology's promise, but short of the money and trained faculty to extract many of its benefits. The debate over the efficacy of PCs in schools is gaining new charge as President-elect Barack Obama proposes new federal spending to outfit classrooms with computers and wire schools for Internet access as part of his economic stimulus plan."

The article relied heavily on contributions from new DA columnist and computer science prof Elliot Soloway, whose "Tech Disruptions" column will appear regularly in our magazine. One interesting example cited is the Keller (Texas) School District, which will begin handing out HTC smartphones to students in January, with Soloway as a consultant. The overall gist of the article? Technology can be useful, but you need professional development to make full use of it. I'm sensing a theme. Here's another one: drive slowly out there!

Touchscreen next-gen Intel Classmate PC to be officially released at CES 2009

I blogged about the very cool second generation Intel Classmate PC back in August when the company first demonstrated the design concept at their Developer's Forum. This week, Laptop Magazine is reporting that Intel plans to officially release the unit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The first generation design--see the MPC TXTbook, for a great example--isn't disappearing, don't worry.

This is a really significant little device, you might think a compact 8.9 inch netbook isn't too special these days, but this one is specifically designed for K12 students, as a touchscreen tablet with built-in carry handle and durable design. It also comes preloaded with multiple software programs that utilize the touchscreen, including one called Vision Objects Pen Input, which turns handwriting into editable text and also includes an onscreen keyboard. Plans are also apparently in place to collaborate with McGraw-Hill to provide educational content specifically for the Classmate. Sigh. I want to go back to grade school.

Put away your checkbook! SAS Curriculum Pathways is now free!

From the "Products You Used to Buy That Are Now Free" file here at District Administration World Headquarters:

SAS® Curriculum Pathways®, used by thousands of teachers in more than 30 states, is now available for free to every educator in America. SAS Curriculum Pathways provides content in the core disciplines of English, mathematics, social studies, science and Spanish. Aligned with state standards, it has more than 200 InterActivities and 855 ready-to-use lessons that enable technology-rich instruction and engage higher-order thinking skills. It is primarily for use in grades 8-12, though middle school content is in development.

Read more...

Nintendo and HarperCollins partner to provide literature on DS

You may have read my previous postings about the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader Digital Book devices earlier this year, both of them pretty exciting technologies that enable users to carry around a couple hundred books or newspapers at a time, and purchase and download from a selection of thousands online. There are rumors that each company has their sights set on the education market, and will soon begin to make textbooks available.

They're not the only ones. Nintendo has announced a partnership with HarperCollins this week in the UK, to provide the "100 Classic Book Collection" on the Nintendo DS, the portable game system that has sold two million units in Britain. Available on December 26, the title includes 100 classics from Austen, Dickens, Shakespeare, Bronte, Twain and more. Check it out on Amazon UK.

It's a great marketing ploy on two fronts: first, most of those two million users are students who will probably have to read the classics in school and would probably enjoy them on their Nintendo more, and secondly, it targets a new market of adults who would love the convenience of huge classic books in a tiny package, at less than half the price of a Kindle or Reader.

If it's a success, Nintendo says they will roll it out stateside. (Over 20 million DS's have been sold in North America alone). Watch for it: "Okay class, everyone take out your Nintendos and turn to Macbeth, Act III, scene II."

American Education Corp. releases new early reading titles....

The AEC has added two new supplemental early reading curriculum titles to its A+nyWhere Learning System product line. Storybook Phonics I and II are targeted toward grades K–2 and 1–2, respectively. Each title is composed of 15 e-books/stories that contain a study guide, practice and mastery tests, as well as an age-appropriate essay.

Storybook Phonics I and II offer a story-based approach to reading fluency and are ideal for
independent and team study. The titles are also compatible with interactive whiteboards for
whole-class instruction. All stories are voiced, beautifully illustrated in full color, and include
character animations. Words are highlighted in synchronicity with the narrator’s voice to facilitate
student comprehension. Additionally, each lesson contains a variety of fun and engaging games that
are designed to enhance blending and segmenting skills for fluent reading and accurate spelling.
The game design reinforces words from the stories and also provides activities that facilitate reading
comprehension.

National Geographic's JASON Project debuts new edugame...

The JASON Project, the 5th-8th grade science curriculum founded by famed oceanographer and discoverer of the Titanic Bob Ballard, continues to ramp up its offerings. The first unit introduced was a weather curriculum called Operation: Monster Storms, this summer an Ecology curriculum, Operation: Resilient Planet was launched, and in November a new game developed with Filament Games was introduced (still in Beta) to complement the Ecology unit.
In the Operation: Resilient Planet Game, students navigate the deep ocean in a Remotely Operated Vehicle, guided by real-life National Geographic Explorer Enric Sala, on a "mission" to analyze the effect of a growing shark population on monk seals in Hawaii. Players receive points by successfully deploying their realistic tools and instruments, effectively collecting data and constructing scientifically sound arguments. High scorers are posted in the JASON Mission Center, an online gathering place where players can also discuss the game on moderated message boards .
My favorite part: as the press release says, players "analyze specimens... including the contents of shark vomit!" Now who can resist that?

Siemens, Discovery Education Present Free Online Science Content...

From the overflowing "Cool Free Classroom Content File" here at DA World Headquarters: The Siemens Foundation has operated its Science Day program since 2005, but this week they announced that the product of their new partnership with Discovery Education has gone live. The new Siemens Science Day site includes free videos, tools and revealing hands-on activities for students in grades 4 through 6 for earth, life and physical science. Each of the 10 activities include how-to information, step-by-step directions, materials lists and at-home extensions. 10 more activities are planned to be added in the next few months. You can also enter the Ultimate Cool School Science Day Sweepstakes for a chance to win the most "spellbinding" science assembly your school has ever seen....

Microsoft's 2008 School of the Future Summit kicks off....

(photo: Microsoft's experimental School of the Future in Philadelphia, opened 2006)

The fourth annual School of the Future World Summit is being held right now at Microsoft's headquarters in Washington, the theme question this year being "What's possible?" 250 administrators and policymakers from 30 countries are in attendance. Yesterday was the kickoff, with Microsoft head of marketing and business development for education products Martin Bean giving a keynote address that urged educators to....wait for it.... wait for it... surprise! "Embrace technology and meld it into the classroom." There must have been an audible gasp in the room when he uttered the words. Fainting. Objects hurled at the stage. Riots. Cars burned. Incredulous outrage.
But seriously now, how do we do this? If the challenge is to "keep up with students' digital lifestyles," and consumer technology moves along at a blistering pace, how do schools keep up? One answer could lie in one of the buzz phrases at the summit, "private-public partnership," with corporate professional development and leadership training from powerhouse companies like Microsoft. Certainly an interesting idea... I wonder what the downside is? How does one intersect free market capitalism and education? Are Apple computers allowed in this School of the Future, for example? iPhones? iPods? Linux? If an Apple lab was opened, does the Microsoft funding stop? Would teachers be fired? Does this private-public partnership turn educators into "Yes Men" for the corporations funding them? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts and comments.
 Here's a good insider article on the first day of the summit by the man in the field, Joseph Tartakoff of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

When HD just isn't enough: Canon's REALiS WUX10

From the "Too Cool" file: Canon announced the REALiS WUX10 back in June at InfoComm, I watched a demonstration there and was pretty amazed by the color, resolution and picture quality: 3200 lumens of brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio... but the real kickers are widescreen 16:10 aspect ratio and WUXGA resolution, that's 1920 X 1200, enough pixels to make HD look downright blurry. Okay, maybe not blurry, but it is actually higher resolution that full quality 1080p HD. And, lest you think your only projector options involve 3LCD and DLP chips, this model uses Canon's LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) chip, which the company claims completely eliminates the "screen door effect" of less advanced technology.
Now admittedly, at its $12,999 MSRP, this could be moved from the "Too Cool" file to the "Too Cool For School" file for now, but it's a pretty unique and amazing technology that I couldn't resist highlighting. And who knows? Maybe Black Friday 2009 will see this for some incredible price.