Lightning in a Bottle

You know, there might be such as thing as too much access to information.

I just re-discovered The Internet Archive. This is yet another astounding online collection of documents, images, sounds, music, and films. There aren’t enough hours in my life to explore what’s in here. Not that I won’t try, of course. Life in the digital age is dangerous for an info junkie like me.

This is also home to the “Internet Wayback Machine.” On their main page, you can enter the address for any web page and look at archived versions of it from the past. For an agency like ours, it’s like looking at old high school photos. “What were we thinking when we designed that?”

There’s a new article at the Christian Science Monitor about virtual home schools. It doesn’t say too much more than earlier articles I’ve referenced, but it does include a few interesting comments from a sophomore from Forks, Washington about what it’s like being a student from a very isolated location taking online classes from the national Virtual High School.

A lot of the discomfort is not on the online nature of the learning, but on the role of for-profit companies in many virtual charter schools. In particular, the K12 company founded by William Bennett keeps coming up, not only for it’s for-profit status but for the quality of the curriculum they provide.

The article does also point out that, contrary to what many people might assume, online learning is not necessarily an impersonal experience. Properly constructed, there can be better student-to-student interaction and student-teacher interaction than in many classrooms. With the spread of high-speed home Internet access and simple videoconferencing systems like iChat and Yahoo messenger, it’s possible now for students to converse with each other and their teachers (although I’m not familiar with any virtual schools doing this as yet). In three or four years, it will be such a commonplace technology that it will seem as normal as a telephone for many of our kids. As a matter of fact, it will probably BE a telephone!

A panel of educators from across Florida has recommended that the state pursue a one-to-one laptop program for students. Convened by a state legislator, the 15 educators studied laptop initiatives across the country, and also examined the level of infrastructure currently in place in Florida before deciding that the model can be effective, and that the state can handle the task.

Chaired by Dr. Tina Barrios, supervisor for instructional technology for Manatee County schools, the panel felt the time was right for such a program. However, it has to be done correctly. In making the announcement, Dr. Barrios said this:

“We tried to take the best of the best, because certainly some of the laptop initiatives were not as successful. In some cases, what they did was find a pot of money and dumped the laptops in the schools but they didn’t have the infrastructure to support it, they didn’t have professional development, they didn’t have buy in from the staff and they didn’t have a good implementation plan.”

I’d say that pretty well says it all. The entire article is at www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/8417454.htm.

What is it like to be a student at on online high school? Student Cody Wall has written an article about the Utah Electric High School, published appropriately enough in their online school newspaper The Electric Buzz.

Now ten years old, the school has over 19,000 students enrolled, and employs 88 teachers. Cody’s article gives a history of the development school, and an overview of how it operates today. It’s an interesting student-eye view of this educational trend. You can read it at www.my.highschooljournalism.org/ut/saltlakecity/ehs/article.cfm?eid=1661&aid=21562.

A number of school districts are moving to a new kind of assessment that replaces traditional standardized testing. These tests are taken via computer, and adapt dynamically to the skills of the student during the course of the test. More capable students are given harder questions, and struggling students are given easier questions. This allows the test to fine tune it’s measure of the students’ capabilities.

An added advantage is that results are available in just a few days, rather than the months it takes with paper tests. Feedback from the assessment can be used almost immediately to fine-tune instruction and student assignments, instead of being used at the start of the following school year. Tests can also be aligned with state standards, rather than a generic national test.

The tests are often less costly than paper and pencil tests. The tradeoff is arranging for all the technology to make the test possible.

1,100 districts nationwide are using the Measures of Academic Progress (or MAP) test from the Northwest Evaluation Association in Portland. You can read about the experiences of a school in Philadelphia at www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/7439046.htm.

I thought you PDA-heads would find this interesting:
http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg/archives/001880.html

Next week Antelope Technologies will be releasing a small modular computer about the size of a deck of cards. The central core module is 5 x 3 x 3/4 inches, and contains 256 megabytes of RAM, a ten or fifteen gigabyte hard drive, and a one gigahertz processor. It runs the full version of Windows XP.

The core module doesn’t operate by itself, however. It “docks” with a desktop monitor and keyboard, or into a rugged handheld case with a 6.3 inch screen that display 1024 x 768 pixels. The handheld module has ports for VGA monitors, USB for a variety of peripheral add-ons, PCMCIA slot for expansion cards, and audio in and out. It also weighs a hefty 1.6 pounds!

The computer is targeted at business markets, and doesn’t directly affect education right now. (Especially at a cost of $4,000.) It is an indication, however, of where the trends are going that could impact us in the future.

New Scientist has an overview at www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994315. The homepage for Antelope Technologies is www.antelopetech.com/en/index.aspx.

Feel free to use the attached show in any way you please. You will need to make a new path to the Elliot Soloway video found at his learningathand website.
http://www.psesd.org/weblogs/edtech/archives/Palm%20presentation.ppt