I am not writing that often in this blog. I am doing most of my writing in my School Blog. I felt I was duplicating many items over here. Perhaps things will pick up later in the year. If you are a regular reader of this blog, please switch your links to the above blog.
Thanks.
Does your school utilize iPods and technology? I know that schools are worried about students “voting with their attention”. And I understand administrators don’t want to spend the day dealing with missing iPods.
But could we buy an old iPod for $100 and use them for podcast creation and broadcast, audio recorders, display of video, etc…?
When will we see the tipping point when educators insist on using these tools and force administrators to figure out all the issues? I get frustrated sometimes…
cross posted on SHS Web Design.
There is an interesting article in the NYTimes. A teacher in New Jersey is assigning homework to his students and their parents. The parents need to log-in occasionally (once per week or so) to comment on the topics in class. Research is clear that meaningful parental involvement in school is very important for student success. This article seems to show that the teacher is providing thoughtful and productive assignments. I am certain that if teachers, parents, and students learn together it is a far more productive environment.
Shouldn’t our expectations be:
If only the student is learning something new I think it is much less fun, productive, effective, or efficient. Modeling life-long learning is probably the most important thing we can do in a world that will be changing drastically. Remember, we are training you for jobs that don’t even exist yet, to solve problems we don’t even know about yet (for example, the internet industry is HUGE; but didn’t exist ten years ago).
A parent in this article says “I’m too busy, and I’m done with school! I graduated.”. Lets accept as a truism that successful parents and student are way too busy. I agree. I also obviously agree that any “assignment” must be truly collaborative and meaningful for all.
But, shouldn’t parents be very involved in classroom work? Is this type of parental involvement more meaningful than helping with fundraisers or other activities? What do you think?
I remember how a few months back many bloggers were excited that a 17 year old student unlocked the iPhone. Now I am not so sure it was a good idea.
What part of the technology does the consumer own? The actual phone, the software, or the concept that one can change anything on the phone? As networks become wireless and we all keep our documents at Google, our photos at flickr, and our movies on YouTube will there be a push back from corporate America? Apple and AT&T view the iPhone and the network as a tangible asset (hence the two-year agreements). If it was my computer Dell would not care if I rebuilt the machine (but they would void the warranty).
