Lightning in a Bottle

The Tom Snyder company has just released a new entry in their “Workshop Book” series called Handhelds for Teachers and Administrators. The contains many classroom activities and comes with a CD containing a variety of programs for integration into classroom instruction.
The software and lessons are designed for both Palm and PocketPC devices.

I haven’t seen the book yet, but the Tom Snyder materials are consistently of high quality, so it’s definitely worth a look. The book description is at www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=JANHAN, and a press release with more info is at www.eschoolnews.com/resources/businessbriefs/showrelease.cfm?ReleaseID=433.

The Plimoth Plantation website has a very well-designed online activity for students to uncover details about the original Thanksgiving. It provides original source material and other information through interactive multimedia, and has a teacher guide to help with classroom use. You can visit the activity at www.plimoth.org/olc.

CNET has a well-written article looking at the arguments around the impact and importance of school computers. It’s a very extensive article, and covers a lot of different viewpoints. It’s part two of a three-part series, so check out the other parts, too!

/news.com.com/2009-1023-5103805.html.

One year after introduction, the Tablet PC has not made much headway in sales. Only a few hundred thousand have been sold, representing just a tiny part of the overall portable computer market. One of the reasons is thought to be pricing, and some manufacturers are blaming Microsoft. The Tablet PC operating system costs the vendors significantly more than the standard Windows XP operating system, and those higher costs make the tablets more expensive. Sales have actually declined over the previous quarter.

This becomes a chicken-and-egg situation. If the tablets don’t sell better, developers won’t write new software to take advantage of the device. If there isn’t software that integrates specifically into the new technology, then there isn’t much reason to buy it. ZDNET has a report at zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5103941.html.

I think the tablet format holds great promise for education. It just might not be a
Tablet PC, but perhaps a souped-up personal digital assistant or handheld. Fujitsu just upped the ante in the progress in screen resolution, showing off a demonstration Pocket PC with a full 800×600 resolution screen. If that takes off (and we can read the teeny, weeny print), then who needs a big, bulky tablet? Here’s an article about the Fujitsu device: http://www.brighthand.com/article/Fujitsu_Demos_SVGA_Prototype.

The University of North Texas has backed away from a plan to set up the first completely online public school in Texas. The proposal was very controversial, and there are no standards currently in place for approving such a charter school program. The University has decided to wait until such standards are in place before resubmitting their application. (Sounds like a good idea to me - don’t you want to know what the expectations are for a project before actually turning it in?)

The article is online at www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/education/2201115.

HP and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) have partnered to provide $10,000,000 in technology grants and training to teachers across the country. The applications are targeted at teams of five teachers from a school, “who’s work is related to the school’s goals for bringing technology into the classroom.” Each team member will receive from HP a laptop, projector, and a $500 stipend. ISTE will provide customized online professional development and mentoring program. 150 teams will be selected.

You can read more about the grant and how to apply at www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2003/031015b.html. Applications are due by March 1, 2004.

ASCD has released a neat new book called Visual Literacy: Learn to See, See to Learn by Lynell Burmark. It’s an overview of how images and colors affect our students, how they learn and process visual information, and how our teaching can be adapted to our students’ benefit. Lynell is one of the team of educators that works with David Thornburg, and has a ton of teaching, technology and presentation experience to draw on. The book is well-written, entertaining and very accessible.

It’s available at Amazon.com here.

Amazon.com has disabled the print function of their new search mechanism. (See “Searching the Amazon.com” on Oct. 23 in the archive at www.psesd.org/weblogs/edtech/archives/2003_10.html.) This new search option searches the full text of 150,000 books, as well as the title and author name. The pages with the desired text can then be viewed on the screen. Originally, the text could be printed as well, but some authors complained about this option, worrying that that the ability to print some kinds of information (for instance, recipes or hotel recommendations) would cost book sales.