Dr Kapp is a professor at Bloomsburg and is writing a book about games
for education. His blog often reflects that interest, as does this post,
in part. It's in response to the article that reported that kids are
using ipods to cheat so schools are now banning ipods. Dr Kapp argues
that we've got it all backwards.
"Don't teach kids that the only way to be successful is to memorize
information and then regurgitate it on a paper-and-pencil test. That is
obscene and a lie."

Interesting article. I just wish I could get my mind around the use of
cell phones in school. I've still not seen nor heard of a compelling
example for how it could be used. And, are we struggling to make a force
fit with it? Besides the logistics of who will pay for the minutes the
kids use for class purposes, there is no way to filter the internet,
something that the Government says we HAVE to do. But, I guess that's
material for another day.

I think that Tech Directors all across the country are going to HAVE to find a way to get it across to their school boards that they MUST purchase more bandwidth. I know a school that has but one t1 line for the whole district! I'm sure that's nothing new to lots of folks. The tech directors in those districts are going to have to study up on this wave of applications that are is hitting the web and SOMEHOW find a way to make the point clear to those that control the purse strings.

If I was a tech director and curriculum director (combined position, I guess) I would immediately STOP paying for Microsoft licenses for my students. Not another penny. Instead, I'd get them up on Google Docs or Zoho Office of ThinkFree Office. Online storage of documents PLUS the ability to collaborate. (Remember the new NETS standards?) And, they'd use the online versions of excel, as well. No more Powerpoint. They'd use the Open Office version to make the presentations, then post them using slideshare or Spresents. They'd have 24/7 access to their files from any browser. They would use the online tools to, as the NETS puts it, "Create Knowledge." They would be using Skype (perhaps only on the teacher's machine) to connect with classrooms across the world. They'd be using Moodle for their classroom gathering point where they'd be building wikis and blogging and commenting on RSS feeds gathered by the teacher. They'd maybe have a Joomla or Drupal site in the English or Journalism classes in which they'd build out their student newspapers or blog about the books they're reading. They'd be ONLINE!

They'd be watching streaming video from their local IU's (A Pennsylvania thing), and they'd be creating their own videos and posting them on TeacherTube or other such sites. They'd be podcasting regularly. Their entire year would be eyeball deep with technology, and all of it focused on classroom CONTENT.

But, what will allow that to happen is enough bandwidth that students can access the sites or watch the videos etc without having to wait for it. It HAS to be fast. Districts HAVE to have the bandwidth! Get 100 megs (minimum) to the Internet. Get 100 megs (minimum) to your local WAN. Get a GIG! In my opinion, this is no longer an option.

I learned about it here: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/04/30/silverlight-the-web-just-got-richer/ - a techcrunch article. That artice does a VERY nice job explaining the site, so stop there first.

Then RUSH over to http://silverlight.net/ and click the Watch It button on the right side to watch movie that demonstrtes some of the power of this tool.

Make special note of his statements at the end f that video. You can get the code to embed this into a blog! Talk about power!!

Now, hurry on over there to see this stuff before it gets blocked!

:-/

Karl Fisch pointed to this blog post, but for a different reason. I'd seen the other commercials on this page but I hadn't seen the top video on this page.

It's hard for me to imagine that people on the other side of this (ever-shrinking) planet could be touched by the news of the horror at Virginia Tech. But, that's exactly what happened. And who would you think would be most or least likely to plant 32 trees in honor of those killed? Russians? French? Iraquis? Iranians? Palestinians? Israelis? Watch this video. Does this show of support touch you as it did me?

As you're watching, note the armed soldiers watching the proceedings. We hold rallies and marches while side-armed police watch, but never with automatic rifles. I'm SO VERY thankful to be living in this country!