File this under cool website for mindless (?) fun. tested the last geekreflection post... "Your English is 80 percent Shakespearean.
The waters of the Avon almost lap at your feet." #Bradley education makes good.
'via Blog this'
Friday, September 30, 2011
How Shakespearean are you? | OxfordWords blog
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Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Missing the Clouds -- how we do a disservice to students in the name of security
Disclaimer: This is not a rant about Brebeuf Jesuit. While I can opine eloquently on why the school should loosen its death grip on social networks, the school is relatively open to cloud computing and is a Google School through its AMDG system.
It is perhaps because of these experiences:
Dateline: Today, Location: Sidener Academy -- The only 4-star school in Indianapolis Public Schools and home to two of my three precious (precocious?) children.
I quietly listened to an all-too-short and harried explanation of Title I services available followed by a description (marketing pitch?) of the wonderful things my girls were able to do as a result of their presence in these halls of learning. I was happy to hear the presenter describe the high-tech opportunities to which the kids were exposed (although, don't get me started on Daughter Prime's netbook -- that thing has got to go).
After the meeting, the chair of the PTA and I walked down to the library to fire up their macbooks (ooh, shiny! pretty!) access our choice of browsers (firefox or safari) and test the new PTA directory form that had been created using Google Forms (if you have not tried this simple tool for getting information quickly, it is an educator must).
KER-BLOCK unable to access the form. odd. the link was relatively simple.
Oh well, we had embedded the form into a blog already so we could check there and test. hmmm the blog shows but there is a hauntingly familiar "Cannot access this post" message.
Google Docs KER-BLOCK
gMail KER-BLOCK
taking the time to walk through the specific error messages, the school had blocked all traffic that could possibly link to file storage (Dropbox: KER-BLOCK), communications (gVoice; gTalk: KER-BLOCKx2); and apparently every https:// site by rule (Brebeuf Jesuit's Email system: KER-wait for it-BLOCK).
wow.
In a school that take pride in its use of technology...
in a district so desperate to save money that it cannot provide full transportation for students during its new "balanced calendar" system...
in a curriculum that focuses on creating rational thinkers who can use tools to think outside traditional boxes...
BLOCKED.
What is the most disappointing to me is not that parents will have to go home to fill out the gDocs created form, or that my daughters will have to wait until high-school or a change of district heart to begin learning about cloud computing (although they use dropbox and gDocs at home to communicate with their parents), but that these tools and the thought-processes that go with them are EXACTLY what schools should be promoting.
What is my goal?
What resources do i have available?
How can i best communicate this to others?
Do i need to work on this elsewhere?
Can i work with someone?
How do we work together?
What tool will get me toward my goal quickly and easily?
These questions are at the foundation of every adult project, of every authentic student assignment. And they are naturally asked by the presence and implementation of these tools.
When I asked the lead educator of the school about this problem I received a slightly confused look that seemed to say "well, you know, technology and such. so confusing. Who knows?" This is no longer an acceptable response for educational leaders.
It is time for educators to demand better tools from its technology staff partners. Security, safety, etc. must be balanced with educational opportunity. Resources should be spent on increased access rather than on shiny and pretty drill-and-kill boxes. Administrators need to educate themselves in order to have conversations that open tools and opportunities to students rather than close them behind walls that protect little and cost a lot.
but Poptopia and Cool Math Games were unblocked. so, you know, there's that.
It is perhaps because of these experiences:
- watching students collaborate on presentations across from the tables or across the city;
- listening to student comfortably describe uploading, downloading, and sharing documents and their associated ideas;
- helping student think around the corners of file storage that used to stymie users (recently in a music creation class, we discussed the four ways to store, share, and protect files)
Dateline: Today, Location: Sidener Academy -- The only 4-star school in Indianapolis Public Schools and home to two of my three precious (precocious?) children.
I quietly listened to an all-too-short and harried explanation of Title I services available followed by a description (marketing pitch?) of the wonderful things my girls were able to do as a result of their presence in these halls of learning. I was happy to hear the presenter describe the high-tech opportunities to which the kids were exposed (although, don't get me started on Daughter Prime's netbook -- that thing has got to go).
After the meeting, the chair of the PTA and I walked down to the library to fire up their macbooks (ooh, shiny! pretty!) access our choice of browsers (firefox or safari) and test the new PTA directory form that had been created using Google Forms (if you have not tried this simple tool for getting information quickly, it is an educator must).
KER-BLOCK unable to access the form. odd. the link was relatively simple.
Oh well, we had embedded the form into a blog already so we could check there and test. hmmm the blog shows but there is a hauntingly familiar "Cannot access this post" message.
Google Docs KER-BLOCK
gMail KER-BLOCK
taking the time to walk through the specific error messages, the school had blocked all traffic that could possibly link to file storage (Dropbox: KER-BLOCK), communications (gVoice; gTalk: KER-BLOCKx2); and apparently every https:// site by rule (Brebeuf Jesuit's Email system: KER-wait for it-BLOCK).
wow.
In a school that take pride in its use of technology...
in a district so desperate to save money that it cannot provide full transportation for students during its new "balanced calendar" system...
in a curriculum that focuses on creating rational thinkers who can use tools to think outside traditional boxes...
BLOCKED.
What is the most disappointing to me is not that parents will have to go home to fill out the gDocs created form, or that my daughters will have to wait until high-school or a change of district heart to begin learning about cloud computing (although they use dropbox and gDocs at home to communicate with their parents), but that these tools and the thought-processes that go with them are EXACTLY what schools should be promoting.
What is my goal?
What resources do i have available?
How can i best communicate this to others?
Do i need to work on this elsewhere?
Can i work with someone?
How do we work together?
What tool will get me toward my goal quickly and easily?
These questions are at the foundation of every adult project, of every authentic student assignment. And they are naturally asked by the presence and implementation of these tools.
When I asked the lead educator of the school about this problem I received a slightly confused look that seemed to say "well, you know, technology and such. so confusing. Who knows?" This is no longer an acceptable response for educational leaders.
It is time for educators to demand better tools from its technology staff partners. Security, safety, etc. must be balanced with educational opportunity. Resources should be spent on increased access rather than on shiny and pretty drill-and-kill boxes. Administrators need to educate themselves in order to have conversations that open tools and opportunities to students rather than close them behind walls that protect little and cost a lot.
but Poptopia and Cool Math Games were unblocked. so, you know, there's that.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
What the iPad (and other technology) can’t replace in education - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post
I feel like the articles are beginning to catch on to it...only took a few years...and yet, we still fight the onslaught of the shiny-pretty.
To recap:
What is your learning objective?
How will students learn?
What is the best way to demonstrate that learning (from the student point of view? from the teacher?)?
What role does technology play in the objective? the learning? the demonstration?
It's question number 4. not number 1.
'via Blog this'
Monday, September 12, 2011
Monitor: What would Jesus hack? | The Economist
Monitor: What would Jesus hack? | The Economist:
had it on my list this week to start updating the blog with some of the summer activities at Brebeuf Jesuit (BYOT preparations, new wireless adventures, AMDG powered by Google, and the chromecart), but this was too good not to post.
I want this bumpersticker.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
A cart full of chrome...
Just finished loading brebeuf jesuit's newest cart: chromebooks! Total setup time? About two minutes per machine. We have these ready to go faster than we get MAC addresses for windows imaging! #geeklove
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Blackboard purchased
Educated Buy? Providence Equity Partners To Acquire Blackboard For $1.64 Billion In Cash
Could be a shake up. Hopefully doesn't change the trajectory of their app buildout. Strong iOS and android apps + mobile. Haven't been able to afford it yet for our school but certainly on the radar.
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