Writing vs rtng August 27, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
There was an interesting conversation at work today where one parent worried about their child’s spelling habits of including IM acronyms. I mentioned that IM was more like a separate language and that their child was spelling correctly, just not for English. The differences for communication between generations is outlined in a special News.com feature: Digital Kids. In it, Cindy Post Senning (great-granddaughter of Emily Post) talks about her new book. One of the more interesting points:
Nonetheless, Seiter believes that the propensity of kids and teens to use e-mail and IM makes them better able to write and communicate, even if it’s not on paper. “All types of writing helps all other types of writing,” she said. “The important thing about writing is formulating thoughts and ideas.”
The full article “Say So Long to Letter Writing” can be found here:
http://news.com.com/Say+so+long+to+traditional+letter+writing/2009-1025_3-6204248.html
Green Student Computer - Zonbu August 27, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in OLPC.add a comment
This option for a low cost computer is also not a laptop, but hey, it says it is ecological, and the name sounds like web 2.0 goodness. It can be purchased for $99 but that also requires a $12.95 monthly online storage subscription. This is starting to sound like a cell phone.
http://www.zonbu.com/home/index.htm
Collective Intellegence Question August 18, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
Ewan McIntosh, from edu.blogs.com, poses an interesting question about individual vs. collective intelligence.
“So we reach a key question in trying to work out where the collective intelligence boon of the web begins: how do we know the tipping point where collective creativity and collective pulling of knowledge is greater than the specialisation and ingenuity of one person or a smaller number of these ‘ingenious individuals’?”
I posted a comment in response, which is also copied here below:
There may be no understandable answer to your question. I’m not sure that individuals can see as clearly the full range of implications of collective intelligence as they can the work of one or more ingenious individuals. Take the growth of a city over time into consideration.
No one person had a vision for the city where I live. In fact, much of the early effort that shaped its character was the result of specific local necessity and not work committed in tandem. As a result, we have streets that follow a river in one area, while they are east/west and north/south in others. Most individuals don’t realize the difference in street directions nor do they know how that impacts the character of the city itself, but it clearly defines ‘downtown’.
Just as I’m mostly aware of my own neighborhood and only marginally connected to the vast majority of events of the city around me, the collective impact of dozens of neighborhoods and their citizens is undeniable but complicated and difficult to assess. It isn’t necessary for individual components of large collective systems to work toward the same goal in order to have significant outcomes. It is, however, much harder for those components to understand or impact those outcomes.
It may be informative to add Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation about the ‘one genius’ vs ‘many smart guys’ from the New Yorker Magazine’s ‘Genius: 2012′ conference to the discussion. http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2007/gladwell
As for the suggestion of Second Life or the Sims as a great piece of art, I can only point to early cave paintings as the closest equivalent in terms of historical significance. Over time, these specific digital artifacts will be seen as very primitive efforts and not the pinnacle of a reformation.
http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2007/08/kevin-kellypopt.html#comment-79892069
Comment Terms of Use August 15, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Opinion.add a comment
One Man’s Blog has posted a terms of use for comments. I’ve struggled to define for myself what constitutes a valid comment, and the role a blog owner plays in moderating comments. This list makes a good attempt at stating what is and is not proper commenting behavior. I don’t get many comments, so I’m not sure it is worth the time to develop one of my own. Until that time, this list of terms for comments will do.
http://onemansblog.com/terms-of-use/
Teens Use Social-Networking - Who Knew? August 14, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Data.add a comment
eSchool News is reporting that 96% of online teens (9-17) connect with their peers using social networking tools. I’m just guessing, but I’ll bet close to 96% of all schools respond to social networking by blocking access. Seems like a disconnect here somewhere.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=7304
OLPC Under The Hood August 12, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.add a comment
Google EngEDU host a series of videos on a wide range of topics. In this one hour video, Ivan Krstic, from the One Laptop Per Child organization explains some of the reasons for the project and technical details about how the laptop itself will work when deployed. This is definitely a technical overview.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4285568518538296189
$100 Laptop Review August 10, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.add a comment
Freedom to Tinker has posted a review of one of the laptops from the One Laptop Per Child organization. The review was actually written by a 12 year old. It makes for good reading and gives perspective from the point of view of someone in the target age group.
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1187
Blog Example #9 - Media Publishing August 8, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Edublogs.add a comment
Blogs often include an easy way to upload and host media files, such as podcasts. Our City Podcast may or may not actually be a blog, but it serves as a nice example of a collection of student podcasts. Each episode is a specific type of podcast called a city podcast, or an episode dedicated to information about a specific city.
http://www.learninginhand.com/OurCity/index.html
Room 208, sponsored by Bob Sprankle, might be a better example, but he moved on to be the tech integrator at Wells Elementary. While he was the teacher in room 208, his students were frequent podcasters. http://bobsprankle.com/blog/C1697218367/index.html
Wells Elementary also has a repository of student podcasting. From their home page, click the link for “Featured Work.” http://www.weskids.com/
Web 2.0 Tools for Visual Learners August 7, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.add a comment
Looks like today is all about web 2.0 collections. Go2Web20.net has a very nice visual map of web 2.0 tools. They can be sorted by tag, which is very helpful if you are looking for a specific kind of tool. By the way, this is my 100th post. I guess that deserves a small celebration of some kind.
Read/Write Web updates Collection of Web 2.0 Collectors August 7, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.add a comment
Keeping with a theme today, Read/Write Web has updated their list of sites that track Web 2.0 sites, just in case you needed a dose of information overload.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/keeping_tabs_on_web_20_lists.php
Educational Web2.0 Collection August 7, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Tools.add a comment
Judy Brown has posted a great collection of Web 2.0 applications specific to education. Tools are collected into categories like academic, bookmarks, collaboration, forms, polls, presentation, spreadsheet, video, and many more.
http://www.judybrown.com/tools.html
$100 Laptop - Intel Style - $225 and up August 6, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, OLPC.add a comment
Forbes posted video coverage of Intel’s ClassMate, a low cost $225 laptop. So many choices for the emerging markets around the world that traditionally have not participated in global communications in the classroom. It will be interesting to see how access will impact those classrooms.
http://www.forbes.com/video/?video=fvn/tech/ms_classmate080607&partner=yahootix
NCLB for the 21st Century August 6, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos.add a comment
eSchool News is reporting that Rep. George Miller, the chairman of the House Education Committee, wants to add 21st century skills, “such as problem solving, critical thinking, and collaboration” to a renewal of the No Child Left Behind Act. As with any legislation, time will tell if these changes will be included, be effective, or even be passed at all.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showStoryRSS.cfm?ArticleID=7296
Toddler Vocabulary Growth August 5, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos.add a comment
Children’s Health, a part of WebMD, has posted a short article on the conditions that encourage vocabulary development in toddlers. In short, young children need repitition, more than single isolated words at a time, and a mix of easy and more difficult words together. If additional research supports these findings, it should have implications for children’s media, early childhood educational practices, and parenting strategies.
http://children.webmd.com/news/20070803/why-toddlers-vocabulary-grows-quickly?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Research Advice August 4, 2007
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos.add a comment
Life Hack has published a list of 10 steps toward better research for students. This list does a nice job of breaking down the task of researching. Each step comes with further description. My favorite is to “Have a research question in mind” when you start.
“As you come across new material, ask yourself if it looks like it will help you answer your question.”
