Lightning in a Bottle

There have been a number of stories coming out in the technology press over the last few months regarding the loss of data on stored recordable CDs. One website has a very informative list of comments and links to articles at www.macintouch.com/cdrfailure3.html. Given the amount of data many of us now record to CDs, it’s really important to pay attention to this issue. (It’s going to make for a sad day if you go to open a student’s electronic portfolio for their college application and the CD doesn’t work anymore!)

There is a nice, one-page list of recommendations on handling CDs at the National Institute of Standards and Technology at www.itl.nist.gov/div895/carefordisc/disccare.html. The most important tips on the list are:

- Don’t ever put labels on CDs
- Only write on them with non-solvent based felt-tip pens, and only on the little circle in the center where there is no data recorded
- Only use quality, brand-name CD blanks, because cheaper ones break down much faster

While we always focus on the bottom side of the CD while we handle them, the data is actually recorded right under the top layer, meaning that using the wrong kind of pen on the top side (or a label) can directly destroy the data on the CD.

Actually, after much research, the National Archives finally announced that the best, most stable, most reliable technology for archiving information is…paper.

Last week’s OSPI conference offered many good presentations with valuable information, but that isn’t much help if you weren’t able to attend (or able to get into the very crowded rooms). The good news is that most of the Powerpoint presentations and many of the handouts are available to download from OSPI’s website at www.k12.wa.us/conferences/JanConf2004/Materials.aspx.

I think it’s an interesting statement of how widespread some uses of technology are - almost every presenter has a PowerPoint presentation. I only saw one overhead in the two days, and that was used side-by-side with the LCD projector and PowerPoint.

ASCD is hosting a one-hour seminar with Jay McTighe on “Balanced Classroom Assessment” on February 10, from 12:30 to 1:30 Pacific time. He will lead the online presentation live. You can read more about it and get registration information atwww.ascd.org/cms/index.cfm?TheViewID=2264.

As a techie-type person, I find the idea of a web-based seminar to be really interesting and possibly a promising method of disseminating information. Unfortunately, I find the idea of charging $99 for a one-hour presentation to be less appealing. Perhaps it’s geared at higher-ups, and they want to keep the number of participants low to increase the opportunity for interaction. It still seems like a lot to pay for an hour, though, especially for something web-based.

Philips Electronics has announced a new product to be ready for market soon. It’s a five-inch grayscale screen that can be rolled up into a tube the size of a pen. It’s intended for electronic publications such as newspapers that you can download and stick in your pocket for further reading. They should start shipping next year - you can read about it at story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/tech_philips_displays_dc.

The Sacramento Bee has a fun article about how a teacher is able to work with his students while home recovering from surgery. With a cell phone and software that lets him remotely view student computer screens, he is able to do much of his normal instruction in a computer aided design class. A substitute teacher provides the in-class structure while he is working one-on-one with his students. The article is at www.sacbee.com/content/news/education/story/8096785p-9029177c.html.

I came across an interesting site as I was researching online learning and pedagogy. It visually demonstrates how educational theory has developed over time and how the concepts involved relate to one another. The Interactive Exploration allows you to explore your own theoretical and practical interests, and perhaps discover some new ones. For me, this was a great review of those ed theory classes I took long ago and helped put constructivism in its proper context.

Go to http://www.nyucolp.org/pedagogy.shtml, click the link on the bottom of the page and explore! Everything is clickable.

If you’re tired of using the same old templates in your PowerPoint presentations (or seeing your students using them), you can download several dozen new education-themed templates at www.websiteestates.com/education/templatesindex.html. You need to download them one at a time, so it will take a little bit of time. (Of course, if you are willing to pay for them, you can download them all at once.) Much of the site is ads, but there is good free stuff tucked between the paid displays.

By the way, if you’re using a Mac, when the directions say to “Right click on the link,” you should click and hold on the link. The option to download will pop up after a short moment.

I hope you’ve recovered from the snow, ice and slush.

There are some great math education resources at the website for the National Center for Education Statistics. (I know, it sure doesn’t sound like a fun site.) They have variety of resources, including math teasers for 4th and 8th graders, and a well-designed “Build Your Own Graph” page that lets you easily create very sophisticated graphs that can be saved for use in other programs. The site is at nces.ed.gov/nceskids.

Happy New Year!

The Christian Science Monitor has published an excellent article on the topic of online bullying, including text messaging on phones, instant messaging, camera phones and websites. It’s an issue that teachers and principals should be very aware of, because these online tools can make an already distressing problem into a much more powerful attack on students. It also makes anti-bullying efforts an even higher priority, as our wired world makes it so much easier for students to act on impulse to harrass one of their peers. We need to target the behavior, because the tools aren’t going away.

The article is at www.csmonitor.com/2003/1230/p11s01-legn.html.