Tech Disruptions

The iPad: the Ultimate CONSUMEr Gadget

Cathie: Steve Jobs is truly an amazing creator of electronic gadgets.
Elliot: Coming from a diehard “I’m a PC” that is quite a statement.
Cathie: Well, the latest device, Apple’s iPad gives new meaning to the term “consumer electronics.”
Elliot: Now it is your turn to be enigmatic.
Cathie: Look, he and Apple designed the iPod…
Elliot: …Yes, an MP3 player...
Cathie: …No, a music consuming device, a device that, in concert with the iTunes store enables consumers to consume music… enormous quantities of music.
Elliot: Yes, Apple’s iTunes store sells more music than any other store in the world – more than even WalMart.
Cathie: People see the iPod as a music playing device, but Apple sees it as a music purchasing device.
Elliot: And the iPhone is a…
Cathie: … an application purchasing device.
Elliot: But look at the jobs that Apple has created with its iTunes App Store.
Cathie: Absolutely!  It is wonderful what Apple has enabled –
Elliot: …they created a whole new marketplace for software developers …
Cathie: … and all those young developers like the students in your smartphone programming class at UMich…
Elliot: … absolutely – those young-in’s don’t know they can’t fly  so they create all manner of incredible, provocative, stuff!
Cathie: iVeryRudeNoise - provocative?? Well, provocative or not, Apple takes a nice chunk of the price for merely providing digital shelf space…
Elliot: …that costs Apple virtually nothing. So following your line of thinking, the iPad is a media purchasing device!
Cathie: Ah, your keen sense for the obvious has returned.
Elliot: I am resistant to your taunts; my clothes are made of kryptonite!
Cathie: Oh, so that’s why you are dressed so badly.
Elliot:  Oh oh oh -I don’t have a chance…  So, what you are really saying is that Apple is actually trying to be the largest retailer of digital media and entertainment in the world – bigger even than Amazon.
Cathie: Well, remember when Apple Computer, Inc., dropped the “computer” from their name?
Elliot: When Apple, Inc. was selling music on their iTunes store.
Cathie: Bingo! For Apple, selling computers is merely a means to an end.
Elliot: Apple creates devices…
Cathie: …that they sell for premium prices…
Elliot: … that consumers use to purchase more stuff from Apple.
Cathie: The iPad enables consumers to consume books, magazines, newspapers, video and games.
Elliot: So, when will Apple change the name of the iTunes store. 
Cathie: Never!  iTunes has become iconic for a retail media store in cyberspace.
Elliot: Cyberspace? Very clever - an antiquated term but one that is most appropriate in this context!
Cathie:  So, I wonder what Apple will think up next?
Elliot: The iPlate.
Cathie: Oh boy, here he goes…
Elliot: Yes, the iPlate so folks on diets can purchase iFoods .
Cathie: Yup, that’s the end of this blog posting!
Elliot: Hey, I was warming up.
Cathie: Couldn’t tell by me…. Oooops!

“It takes a village and it takes a leader”

Elliot:  Some folks always manage to figure out a way to do what they want to do.
Cathie: You are being your usual enigmatic self; what are you saying?
Elliot: Well, public schools are always in need of funds to carry out new initiatives.
Cathie: There’s that keen sense for the obvious again…
Elliot: Ok , ok  all the schools have the same problem but, some school district people figure out how to raise the money.
Cathie: You are talking about Kyle Menchhofer, right?
Elliot: Why do you always know what I’m thinking???
Cathie: <smiles enigmatically>
Elliot: Yes, Kyle has figured out how to raise funds for the district’s 1:1, cellphone computer initiative.
Cathie: St Marys, a small town in north-western Ohio, where Kyle is the school district’s Director of  Technology, doesn’t have a growing tax base and isn’t raising bond money.
Elliot: But, St Marys leads the nation in the use of cellphone computers in the classroom! Kyle has managed to find funding to support for over over 600 mobile learning devices in the classroom. 
Cathie: His superintendent, Mary Riepenhoff,  is totally supportive of putting mobile learning devices in the hands of each and every student in St. Marys.
Elliot: And Kyle has asked for funds from everyone. Recently he wrangled over $3,000 from the St. Marys VFW Post 9289 and he convinced the town’s East and West PTO’s to contribute about $3,000 each and building principals have donated $2,000 each from their principals’ funds.
Cathie: Rotary Club, Eagles Club, and American Legion – get out your checkbooks!  It’s really wonderful to see people pitching in to help educate all the children in their city. 
Elliot: I am glad we’re in education; what we do matters.
Cathie: And, I am glad we know people like Kyle because he is closing the digital divide for lots of students in rural Ohio. What he does, matters.

From Convergent Analysis to Project RED: Understanding How Technology Impacts Teaching and Learning

Cathie: “Under what conditions do computers lead to increased student achievement?”
Elliot:  Good question!
Cathie: I know, we asked it 10 years ago.
Elliot: We did?
Cathie: How could you forget Convergent Analysis?
Elliot: Oh THAT Convergent Analysis. Now I remember.
Cathie: No you don’t.
Elliot: You are right; no I don’t.
Cathie: In 1999, under funding from the Milken Family Foundation….
Elliot: … it’s coming back… Cheryl Lemke was running the Foundation then …
Cathie: We did a deep dive into the research literature on technology’s use in K-12 to try to answer that question. And we invented a method for comparing and contrasting research studies to abstract the key findings.
Elliot: Yeah, THAT “convergent analysis.”  Our intent was to provide guidance for classroom teachers – specific suggestions, not vague generalizations.
Cathie: That’s right –  vague generalizations such as “more time spent using a word processor results in better writing.”
Elliot: Ha ha… right! But did the literature provide guidance when a teacher doesn’t have a lot of time for having her students writing with a computer -- what activities might the teacher use under those conditions?
Cathie: Yes,  And 10 years later, Project RED is attempting to answer the same question…
Elliot: …But this time, they are starting with surveying schools since technology is much more prevalent in the schools …
Cathie: … things have changed in a decade!
Elliot: Thank goodness.
Cathie: And Project RED shares our same goal - avoid generalities and try to ferret out real nuggets of wisdom.
Elliot: Project RED has some good folks running it. Leslie Wilson and Michael Gielniak of the One-to-One Institute, Tom Greaves,  and Jeanne Hayes. That’s important since we all know that statistics can be used  and ….
Cathie: … misused!
Elliot: Project RED has extended the deadline for schools to fill out their short online survey. The more schools participate, the more reliable the findings.
Cathie: While some early results are already posted, we look forward to the thorough…
Elliot: … and provocative…
Cathie: final report.

Keller ISD Wins Bragging Rights for their Mobile Learning Project

Elliot: Only Texas would have an award entitled “Bragging Rights.”
Cathie: That’s because Michigan has so much to brag about – having the highest unemployment in the nation, having the highest school dropout rate in the nation….
Elliot: Ahh, well…
Cathie: and did I mention some of the worst weather?
Elliot: Well, cough, cough … Your state has this great award entitled “Bragging Rights” that Keller ISD just won for their mobile learning project in 2009. 
Cathie: Yes, Yes - I just saw an email from Matt Cook, one of the two 5th grade teachers in the project ….
Elliot: … Cyndi Varella was the language arts and social studies teacher in the two teacher team…
Cathie: …  announcing the award made by the Texas School Business Magazine.
Elliot: It’s pretty amazing - 50 students and two teachers using cellphone computers  beat out all the other educational technology projects in the state – and Texas is a BIG STATE with many, many innovative educational technology projects.
Cathie: The magazine clearly thinks that mobile learning and cellphone computers are important and relevant for education.
Elliot: At the same time that 99% of the schools in Texas…
Cathie.. and the nation…
Elliot:.. ban cellphones from the classroom.
Cathie: I hope the other schools in Texas, at least, don’t miss this clear message!
Elliot: Like any recognized educational technology project Matt and Cyndi’s classrooms had great administrative support.
Cathie: Yes, Joe Griffin, Executive Director of Technology, worked with the vendors Verizon Wireless, HTC, Microsoft, and GoKnow* while Ron Myers, principal of Trinity Meadows Intermediate worked the back channel.
Elliot: And Len Avecilla, a parent, was the interface between the mobile learning project and students’ parents.
Cathie: The Pearson Foundation has created a wonderful 6.5 minute video that captured how the students used the Cellphone computers for their lessons.
Elliot: Keller definitely earned its Bragging Rights…
Cathie: … they are leaders.  In 2010 many more schools will be implementing mobile learning using cellphone computers and Netbooks, but Keller ISD has lead the way!

*Full Disclosure: Cathie and Elliot are co-founders of GoKnow, Inc.

Enough with the Mobile Already?

Elliot: Blog readers, we are in a quandary.
Cathie: Recently, we have blogged about mobile technologies and blogged about mobile technologies and … Are we overwhelming you? Are we boring you? We ask that because here is another blog posting about mobile technologies!
Elliot: In a recent article the following statement was made: “Also anticipating mobile device growth, investment bank Morgan Stanley expects that within five years, more people will access the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs.”
Cathie: Mobile isn’t just a trend; mobile is a MEGA-trend. Nothing grows at 50%--except mobile – if you believe the pundits.
Elliot: The heck with the pundits; when we open our eyes, it is easy to see how pervasive mobile is coming to be. And “we ain’t seen nuthin yet” as those pundits would say.
Cathie: Curious kind of pundit. Are you talking to yourself again, Elliot?
Elliot: Sometimes you are too witty by half. 
Cathie: You’re such an easy mark, my friend; you know I am only joking, of course.
Elliot: Of course, of course! Actually, I miss half your zingers anyhow since I am pretty oblivious.
Cathie: Oblivious? You’re a male; comes with the territory.
Elliot: Being serious for a moment…
Cathie: … Give it a shot, Elliot …
Elliot: eSchoolNews just published their 10 “top news stories” of 2009 and mobile technologies played no role in any of the 10 top stories. For K-12, at least according to eSchool News, mobile is not even a trend, let alone a mega-trend.
Cathie: But K-12 has historically been several years behind the world of commerce in its adoption of technology.
Elliot: 1:1 has been pervasive in knowledge-work professions and industries for years.
Cathie: 1:1? Hardly! In schools we measure it as “students per computer” but in the business world it is measured in “computers per individual.”
Elliot: Yes, and that is with mobile computers playing a rapidly increasing role in the business world. As Ned Hooper, Cisco’s chief strategy officer comments: “We expect the market for mobile data to double every year through 2013.”
Cathie: But, our educationally oriented blog readers…
Elliot: … if you are tired hearing about mobile, raise your hand – folks, raise’em high so we can see, please.
Cathie: <Spoken quietly lest “he” overhears:>  I don’t have the heart to tell Elliot that there’s no way for him to see your raised hands.
Elliot: See, Cathie; I see no raised hands; folks are not tired of our mobile blog posts. We continue with all things mobile. Yahoo!
Cathie: Why are you calling out a website’s name?  Well, Blog Readers, I will do my best to moderate mobile blog posts. But, I can only do so much; Elliot keeps changing the password on our blog posting site – to keep out burglars, he tells me.
Elliot: I hear you talking behind my back – again! But I know you are just joking.
Cathie: Just joking… oh yeah… just joking…