Ed's+Page


 * Reaction to “We Are The Web”**

I think it is hard to imagine what form intelligence will take emerging from this pan-global network. We are introducing many virtual systems into our physical systems. These virtual systems are now running on other virtual systems. This seems to be the key to allowing the emergence of some new intelligence. I doubt that electronic hardware can generate intelligence, but these limitations seem to disappear in a virtual realm.

What is a little daunting is what our place becomes in this vast intelligent machine. It is hard for someone who lived prior to the web-linked world to imagine being comfortable in a world with a thinking web. However, my daughter feels lost if she is without her Face Book for any length of time. She feels comfortable immersed in that networked world. As the article points out many people are now integrating their social network into a web based social network. The level of communication among her friends surpasses anything my generation had, and they find it uncomfortable to be without it. As much as the web is still a tool I work with it has become an extension of what she does. She is already part of that machine in ways I will never be. Her children will probably find themselves even more bound to the web machine.

Rather than the burden many people now imagine, future generations will probably find it difficult to fathom a world not linked through an intelligent network. Like us trying to imagine ourselves surviving with Stone Age technology. We might be able to pull it off, but would be so uncomfortable we probably would never choose to try it.

=** What is Literacy in the 21st Century? **= In science we need to increase our use of digital media in collecting information in the lab. Most science teachers are using technology to research and process research information. Students know how to use these media. We do need to expend more energy teaching students to discern between legitimate and bogus information.

The introduction of this media will not likely increase student understanding. By increasing our use of digital media in collecting lab data we will increase the relevance of the exercise to our students. It will be presented in a way they are more familiar with and more likely to engage in when they leave us and work in a real world setting. Few lab techs still use glass thermometers immersed in beakers recording data every 30 seconds. We now use probes that record continuous streams of data. That data is then fed into a piece of software to produce a readable graphic format. Students are already familiare with processing information through digital media from their use of games, the net and social sites. All of this will make the activities presented in digital formats more familiar to their life experience.

http://voicethread.com/share/108225/
 * VoiceThread link**

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Classroom 2.0

How does your school district support technology?
Posted by [|Stu] on May 2, 2008 at 3:48am in [|Site Features Discussion] [[[|http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A137250&page=2&commentId=649749%3AComment%3A141521&x=1#|Add] as friend]] [|View Discussions] I work in a small to mid size rural district with what I consider to be a fair amount of tech resources available. I'm curious as to how other districts support technology as far as Network administrators, technicians, etc. When something breaks what is the process to get it fixed? How many people make up your tech support team? Do you HAVE a tech support team? What size district do you work? Tags: [|support], [|technology]

__**My Resonse**__

Reply by [|Ed Fontana-Daguerre] on May 13, 2008 at 2:57pm [|http://www.classroom20.com/forum/topic/show?id=649749%3ATopic%3A137250&page=2&commentId=649749%3AComment%3A141521&x=1#|DeleteI] work in a large suburban district which also has a good deal of tech resources available. They are good about providing hardware and we have not had many problems with getting the tech people in to service hardware issues.

However, applications, updates and access are becoming such an issue that the use of technology has started to be crippled. It is not uncommon to find that the web site you were planning to use for a lesson has been blocked or that you need the latest version of an add-on to use the application. We are unable to download updates. There are differences in the level of access available on different machines, so we have to be careful to try everything on the machines we will be using with a student using their account. A perfect example of this issue is that our district is offering technology classes has had sites we were using blocked.
 * __My Posting__**

Goggle Docs for Group Projects.
Posted by Ed Fontana-Daguerre on May 13, 2008 at 2:37pm in Help or Feedback Needed We do quarterly projects in our science classes. I encourage the students to work together, but there is always the issue of balance in the students sharing the work. In an attempt to manage this I thought to use Google docs.

I was wondering if others have tried this and if they had how it worked. Also, if anyone has suggestions for other applications I’d be interested in hearing about those.

__**Their Response**__

Replies to This Discussion
 Permalink Reply by Chris Murphy on May 13, 2008 at 2:45pm I also have had problems with students working in groups. Every year I run into issues the day before a project is due. Accusations of doing all the work or the project isn't ready because THEY didn't do their part. I've tried having the students keep a log book and documenting their activities but there is no way for me to check if they're true.

I'd like to see how using something like Google Docs works.

=**May 27, 2008 Blog Reactions**=

__David Warlick Another Naysayer Stirs the Pot Posted May 20th, 2008__

This entry struck a cord with me. The frustrations I've had lately relate to the attitudes David Warlick is working to change. Warlick out lines Mark Bauerlein's attack on the use of web based media by teens. Bauerlein feels that popular culture overwhelms the educationally useful information on the web. Warlick correctly points out that same claim has been made before for other technologies. Television and comics were once viewed as a distraction that only impeded student learning. However, today we have video monitors in almost every class and many programs have adopted graphic novels, comics. The antiquated notions of Bauerlein handicap education in two ways. First, these notions make it difficult to fully adapt technology to our programs in a useful manner. Our district, in addressing concerns similar to Bauerlein's, has made the web filter so restrictive as to render it useless in some cases. Second, we are not seeking to implement these technologies in a manner relevant to the way society at large uses them. As more and more people accustomed to the level of communication the web offers through social networks and the like enter the workforce it will become an essential skill. This generation will have the expectation that they can use these tools in all aspects of their lives. Warlick sums up the problem well in his closing. "Computers and the Internet are the pencil and paper of our time — and insisting that our children can learned to be ready for their future by scratching and stamping text on paper and reading published textbooks, is like saying that children could learn with clay tablets, long after paper was widely used." We just have to convince the people who prefer clay tablets.

__Will Richardson The Shifts - Many Models__ __May 11, 2008__ This entry dealt with the physical layout of schools and how that facilitates different styles of learning. While it is possible to implement different styles of learning in any physical environment, creating a learning environment that is designed to facilitate a style will enhance the success of that style for the students.

Richardson relates his experience of visiting two schools in Australia. One, a new urban school, was designed with open spaces to promote project learning and individual creativity. The other was an older school in the country. The layout allowed for students to be involved with food preparation, tending to live stock and working the farm. He notes that despite the very different roles technology plays in each school they are both central to the student experience. This is contrasted with the standard cookie cutter design of American schools. As Richardson notes not only is it hard to discern one school from the next, from the air it is hard to tell them apart from industrial buildings. I would agree with his closing statement that it would serve us well to begin to consider changing our idea of what a school is. If we can envision different physical layouts it can help us envision different approaches to learning.

=**Presentation**=



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