Today (January 18th) many of you may have noticed Wikipedia was blacked out (shut down) as well as Craigslist - Google and Mozilla censored themselves...All this was in protest to the SOPA bill (Stop Online Piracy Act) that is in congress right now.
Do I think piracy a global issue? The answer obviously is yes. Should the US government have absolute power to shut down global websites with no questions asked? This is not quite as obvious. SOPA would allow the government to censor and shut down websites that might have copyright infringements but would allow the US government to sidestep due process, a kind of shoot-first-ask-questions-later power.
Educationally this causes some worries with websites like the Open Coursware project which shares textbooks online between colleges or Wikipedia which, although monitored, is all public built (and not everyone understands copyright law).
There are definite first amendment issues here at risk as well. In 2011 we saw the fall of more than a few dictatorships in countries like Egypt that literally turned off the internet in their countries to stop citizens from grouping up and organizing. At this point the internet and communication is too big to stop. With that said, there are still illegitimate websites that are pirating and uploading copyrighted intellectual property. How should these sites be policed? Who should do the policing? These are important questions and as this digital frontier continues to evolve, our students will most likely be the ones in the future with the answers...
Sometimes I like to stop and think how far we have come in the last few years. I remember waiting for my sisters to get off the phone (a landline back then) so I could make some calls to my friends in high school. Around that time email and the internet were just taking off - this was the very early 1990's. Just think, in 1992 the first text message was sent!
Fast-forward to today and we can scarecely think of a time when we did not have cell phones, internet, texting, and email. However, now we are seeing the rise of a new era - a collaborative era! With technology today there is no reason to work on anything alone. That was the power of the internet after all, the whole world at your fingertips but that is more true today than it was in 1992.
This ability to share, collaborate, and network with others makes our ideas, our work, and our knowledge elevate to a whole new level. The following are just a few ways we have been collaborating at Lopatcong:
- Our teachers are working on curriculum and other documents together using Google Docs. The teachers don't have to spend time in a meeting or even at school discussing lessons. They can sit comfortably in front of their tv's while chatting inside a Google Doc and working on documents in real time together. Google Docs in Plain English
- Have a question that is beyond the scope of Lopatcong's four walls? No problem - just hop on Skype (http://www.skype.com). Just last month I was trying to describe to the 8th grade what Web Design is. However, I will be the first to admit I am no expert...So we Skyped a friend of mine in from Philadelphia that owns his own web design company and the students asked him 15 minutes worth of questions. Now THAT is POWERFUL!
- My Big Campus is the first big step for our students to collaborate using technology (www.mybigcampus.com). The students have always worked in groups in school but now the students can continue to work together outside of school. In the safe environment of My Big Campus students blog together, discuss homework together, and comment on each other's work.
These are just a few examples of how the students are collaborating today. This is so important because the jobs they will have (jobs that probably don't even exist yet) will require them to be able to work collaboratively with their peers from around the world. Our students will begin a work day by joining an online meeting with their sister offices in England, India, and Japan - just another typical day at the office for our students here at Lopat.
As the holidays approach, a slew of new devices are coming out for the shopping season. This week alone will see the roll out of the Asus Slider, the Kindle Fire, and the Nook Color Tablet. There are so many to choose from and so many questions arise:
- which features are most important?
- what is the magical price that makes tablets affordable?
- how would we manage 100, 200, 500 devices anyways?
Why are the tablet wars so important? Here are a few reasons why I keep such a close eye on these new technologies.
LEARNING There are so many ways to use computers and interactive devices to enhance learning and to promote creativity. Having so much power and knowledge at their fingertips, students can stop memorizing and can focus more on crtical thinking.
OWNERSHIP Imagine every student had their own device to use 24X7 (okay - maybe we should unplug to sleep at some point). Students would have a much more consistent technology experience not using different devices during the course of the day - they would be masters of their one device. Also, if this is the student's device, they would treat it like GOLD!
THE REAL WORLD A tablet for every student would prepare students for life after high school (or college). In the work force, employers will expect that these students will have the necessary computer skills to achieve (and make money) in the working world.
As tablets get cheaper and cheaper we will begin to see many schools considering a one-to-one program but many things will have to change. Teachers will have to run their classes differently to harness the power of students with information at their fingertips. Students will have to learn netiquette, digital citizenship, and appropriate use very quickly. Parents will have to understand how connected their children's world will be in 10, 20, 50 years! The Indian government has subsidized tablets for their students so they are as cheap as $35 brand new! (http://www.akashtablet.com/) As tablets get closer to having everything students need (digital textbooks, notetaking, internet, and more), we will have to adopt a piece of the changing world into education. What tablet will be the best choice? Only time will tell.
This week we saw the loss of one of the most brilliant minds in the tech world, Steve Jobs. Many of our students only know a very successful Steve Jobs. Since our students were born after 1998, they do not remember a time without iPods (the term 'podcast' came from iPod+broadcast). Steve Jobs can be credited with the iPhone and recently the iPad. Literally the last decade of technology has been dictated by this man and his company, Apple.
Looking farther back, our students may not realize how revolutionary Steve Jobs was. After dropping out of Reed college, Jobs & Wozniak went on to create some of the first personal computers, computers that used a new, hot peripheral (the mouse), and created their own operating systems (macintosh).
I believe many students are huge Apple fans and I hope they will be inspired by Steve Jobs' achievements over the last 30 years. I know that educational technology would not be where it is today without the vision and persaverance of Steve Jobs.
This is a topic we cannot discuss enough. Teachers should talk about it - parents should talk about it - students should talk about it...
DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP
Students: On September 15th and 16th I will be doing a presentation for all middle school students on appropriate use of Internet tools and social networking. What makes a good online citizen? How harmful can bullying be on the Internet? What happens if I post something on the web that is inappropriate or downright harmful to others?
Parents: October 12th I will be presenting Internet Safety to you at teh PTA meeting. Please come and please feel free to bring others!
Teachers: Always take every opportunity to stress safety during research projects, online games, etc!
Remember... "With great power comes great responsibility..."
- Uncle Ben from Spiderman
It is the end of June and many of us tech folk went to the ISTE Conference in Philadelphia. There were over 500 vendors onsite and workshops around the clock. Here are a few things that caught my eye that are a focus in education right now:
Interactive Whiteboards: Smart Boards, Prometheans, and more - these are not going away and educators are finding more and more ways to capture the attention and creativity of students. Multi touch, extended boards, and wheel cahir accessible boards were a few exciting things to see!
Social Networking for Schools: When our students graduate, they will be using even more digital tools to communicate and collaborate. It appears the education world understands this and there were many vendors on site: My Big Campus, Edmodo, Gaggle, and ePals are just a few of the names. Our students love to interact on the web and these tools give us a safe, productive, and fun way to do that!
Gadgets: No conference would be complete without crazy gadgets that are just coming out now! Tablets of course take front and center. HP is releasing the HP TouchPad which runs Palm Web OS - it looked and felt great and I can't wait to test it out! Asus is releasing a netbook/tablet device. Need to be productive? use the Asus 'Transofrmer' netbook to type away! Need to be on the go - detach the tablet off the keyboard and away you go - the best of both worlds!
Education Technology is really taking off right now. Lopatcong looks forward to introducing our students to all of this tech...someday these students will be creating and using these gadgets!
As summer draws nearer we begin to prepare for the work ahead of us and there is plenty to do for technology! Here are a few things on the horizon:
- New Website - the new website should be live by the first week of July. It looks great and should be much easier to navigate around with lots of useful info on the site!
- Netbooks - we will be loading up a few more netbook carts (mainly for 4th grade) and a few more all-in-one PC's for classrooms.
- My Big Campus - If you are reading this blog, you can already see some parts of MBC - blogs, discussions, and more all online and all secure!
- Meals Plus - after a issue with Lunchbox, we will be switching to a new lunch program (Meals Plus). Don't forget those PIN numbers for lunch!
- BYO - we are reviewing our acceptable use policy this summer but in the fall students will be able to bring their own eReaders for panther period and English class. In the future we may allow use of devices in other curriculum but we have to start somewhere!
That is just a few of the Tech projects starting up now but rest assured we will hit September 6th running! Keep an eye out for our new website for more news!
It is no secret that as great as Microsoft is, they don't seem to 'get' the mobile market. Microsoft is responsible for such mobile failures as the Kin, Windows Phone 6.5, and Windows CE. For $8.5 billion dollars, will Skype become the latest victim?
Skype is world renown for its pc-to-pc phone calls including easy to use video conferencing. With 155 million world wide users, Skype could be a game changer for Microsoft...or not. As iOS and Android run away with the market, is there anything Microsoft can do to keep up on the mobile stage?
Skype is a great tool in education. Students get to chat with other classrooms around the country and globe, grandparents can read to their kindergarten grandchildren from 3 hours away, and teachers can skype professors with tough questions from the classroom. Lets hope Skype continues its positive climb!
The results from the Kid's Vote are in: Lopat will start allowing Kindles and other eReaders in the building! For the immediate future we are looking at allowing the eReaders for Panther period and/or any classes where there is reading.
What does the big picture look like? This summer the board of education will take another look at the Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). Making a few changes in the policy will sqaure away any issues that we may have to deal with. Some issues of course are that students will use the eReaders and devices in a responsible and appropriate manner but we also have to raise awareness of any theft or damage issues to personal property (theft has never been a big issue at Lopat but we have to cover everything).
What does the REALLY BIG PICTURE look like? This may be a stepping stone into the future of education technology. We are going to start with just panther period. However, someday there may come a time when we encourage students to bring their own devices in to use in class all day long...and then take your device home to continue to do homework. In the future this will give tools to students to have these tools available 24X7 - you do the work when it fits yoru style most! Some students do their work immediately after school - some prefer later at night - some prefer the weekends. The educational world is changing and the tablet devices and My Big Campus are just the beginning.
Stay tuned for more on this topic: one-to-one!
What is Digital Citizenship? What does netiquette mean? What is an Acceptable Use Policy and what happens if I break the policy? These are great questions that I will cover in my presentation for Digital Citizenship for middle school students. Keep checking my blog for more...