Teaching with Netbooks
With a new school year around the corner and my school’s implementation of two grades of Intel Classmate Convertibles (Nobis from Equus), I’m spending much of my “free time” this summer looking for resources to help make the implementation successful. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you probably know that I’ve been working with the Classmate Convertibles since last fall, a couple of months before they were officially available. This spring, we did a pilot of the Nobis in our 6th grade with the help of Equus, who provided us with 25 demo models for use in the classroom and by teachers. With the success of the pilot, we’ve decided to adopt the Classmates and begin 1-1 implementation in 6th and 7th grades this fall.
We’ve had 1-1 in our middle school since 2003, so our teachers are experienced teaching with laptops as a significant tool for teaching and learning. But there are some significiant differences between netbooks like the Classmates and the traditional pcs we’ve used heavily in the past (most recently Toshiba A8s and M700s). Here’s a comparison of my experiences so far.
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Advantages of Netbooks |
Disadvantages of Netbooks |
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Lightweight – Netbooks are smaller, lighter, and easier to transport. Their small desktop footprint means more room for other items on the desk – books, manipulatives, etc. |
Smaller screen size – less screen real estate will require some adaptation for many users |
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Less expensive – Netbooks start around $250 for a very basic model w/1 year warranty and Linux operating system. Expect to pay more depending upon features you choose. A tablet netbook with Windows XP Home should start in the $500 range. Expect to pay an extra $100 or more if you would like an extended, no-fault warranty. Even with these added features, you’re paying less than for most traditional pcs. |
Smaller keyboard – If users are accustomed to larger keyboards, adjustment will be necessary. For kids who haven’t use keyboards much yet, this doesn’t take long. |
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Additional Advantages of Some Models: |
Potential Advantages in 1-1 Implementation:
Netbooks have a less powerful processor than professional-grade business laptops and no built in CD/DVD drive, so students in 1-1 implementations are less likely to use them for “gaming” machines. Yes, kids can find work-arounds, but they’re more likely to use home hardware for this purpose.
Most netbooks have smaller hard drives/built-in storage, so users are less likely to use them for their only music/video storage. This doesn’t mean kids won’t download music on the netbooks, but it does mean that, with careful training, students will be less likely to rely on the netbook as backup/storage for their entertainment devices. |
In preparation for life with netbooks, I’ve written a post about how I help users maximize the screen real estate on a smaller screen and have created a new Diigo Group called Teaching with Netbooks. I’m hoping this group will help build a collaborative community of educators using and interested in using netbooks as a tool for teaching and learning.
I’ve shared my bookmarks about netbooks on the Diigo group. Here are a few I think may be helpful to educators new to using the netbooks with kids:
- Doug Belshaw’s Google Preso about Interesting Ways to use Netbooks in the Classroom
- Tony Vincent’s Learning in Hand entry on Netbooks
- Netbook Lessons.com, a blog about a 1-1 implementation in an elementary classroom
- 1-1 Netbook Trial, a Ning to support a 1-1 netbook implementation in Victoria, Australia
I’m working on a list of classroom applications of netbooks which will include:
- Netbook-friendly instructional software
- Netbook-friendly online tools
- Classroom management techniques to make netbook use more effective for students and teachers (adaptations of what we’re already doing with our laptop and tablet implementations)
- Student and teacher “cheat-sheets” and training
I’m looking forward to collaborating with anyone else involved or interested in using netbooks in their schools. As always, suggestions appreciated!
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 07/03/2009
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Web 2.0 Tools and Applications – Go2web20
Amazed at how many I’ve never heard of!
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ArtisanCam – Activities – Super Action Comic Maker
Very cool – would be great on netbooks w/kids for creative writing or in the digital storytelling toolbox!
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NECC 2009 @Web English Teacher
This PDF handout explains how to set Word to look for specific lapses.
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This PDF handout explains how to set Word to look for specific lapses.
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Lifehacker – PortableApps.com Suite 1.5 Improves Menu Looks, Customization – Thumb drive
Windows only: The PortableApps.com Suite, a full-featured app package that runs from a USB drive, has upgraded with a crisper-looking and more customizable menu, the latest versions of a ton of great freeware, and more.
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You are now entering the Renewable World where you can explore the diversity of renewable materials and their role in building a sustainable future.
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Digi Parent – Digital Citizenship for Understanding
Learn about today’s social landscape, discover the pressing need for digital citizenship, and act to become better digital citizens.
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Kind of like an online only OneNote
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Web 2.0 Tools for Educators Home – Web 2.0 Tools for Educators
Web 2.0 is a cool buzzword floating around, but its meaning has become somewhat diluted and obscured like a spoken story handed down from generation to generation. So many people limit their thinking of Web 2.0 to blogs and wikis, but it’s so much more. So here’s my working definition of this thing we call Web 2.0:
- the next generation of the internet where the content of the web is created or edited by end-users (either individually or collaboratively) rather than those few geeky computer nerds. Further, these sites often allow collaboration, sharing, and assimilation to bring about exchanges of ideas from many different perspectives in the form of text, photos, videos, and/or other multimedia components.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Adjusting to a smaller screen
This summer, many of our teachers are having their Toshiba R10s swapped out for Toshiba M700s. This fall, we’re downsizing our student computers – Toshiba A8s just a couple of years ago to mostly Intel Classmate Convertibles (with one grade of Toshiba M700s remaining from a pilot last year). In doing so, users will get lighter, less expensive machines, but they’re giving up some screen real estate. (Note: As a former English teacher, I have no problem giving kids a paperback with much less screen real estate and fewer accessibility options than these computers. For those of you making similar transitions, I’ve noticed that most of our faculty tend to protest less when I ask them the dimensions of the books they read and the font size of their newspapers/magazines.)
The screen size/resolution changes:
- R10 – 14.1 inch w/1024 x 768 pixels
- M700 -12.1 inch w/1280 x 800 pixels
- A8 – 15.4 inch w/1280 x 800 pixels
- Classmate Convertible – 8.9 inches w/1024 x 600 pixels
With this apparent shrinkage of display, I’m trying to have some ideas for folks coping with a smaller screen to maximize the screen real estate available. We don’t have any students or faculty “visually impaired” or requiring special adaptations, but I want to respect the fact that we have a number of folks with corrected vision or hoping to avoid eye strain.
Here’s my list of basic adaptations so far:
- Start with a dark desktop image so desktop icons have a good contrast. (See instructions for changing.) If a solid background isn’t appealing, choose an image that’s darker and contrasts well with your icons.
- Increase the size of your icons so they’re easier to identify. This is especially handy on touch screen tablets in swivel mode. (See instructions for changing.) Note: The Classmate comes with an app called Blue Dolphin – a dark background, large icon interface great with touch screen or traditional use. It accomplishes #1 & #2 automatically.
- Increase default font size to large. (See instructions for changing.) I’d avoid extra large. The increase in default font, especially to extra large, may cause readability issues, especially for files with larger names.
- Use large icons on your Start menu. (See instructions for changing.)
- When using Office applications, especially Word, increase document size to at least 125% or page width. Do the same in other apps, such as Acrobat. This doesn’t change the actual page size, but it does make the page easier to navigate for most users. Using the page width option means you don’t lose the margin around the edges, so you don’t lose text.
- While on the Internet, you can usually increase the font size in your browser. There are a number of ways to do this, but hitting Ctrl and + simultaneously seems to increase font size in most browsers, including IE and Firefox. Ctrl and – decreases font size. Ctrl and 0 (zero) returns to the default size.
- Use F11 to browse the Internet full-screen (no menu or address bars visible).
- Hide the taskbar when you’re not using it using Autohide.
I avoid (but sometimes choose as a last resort):
- Changing screen resolution. This causes issues when using projectors ans many applications. It often degrades overall visual quality and makes the display fuzzy.
- Increasing the size or appearance of the cursor. With touch screen and tablets, larger cursors seem to impede navigation. You’ll also need to recalibrate once you’ve made the change.
- Moving the taskbar. (Although helpful to some users, it’s a real pain to navigate if something goes wrong – especially if I have to fix it!)
I’d appreciate suggestions for further tips. What works for your users? I’ll happily revise this post and reTweet!
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 07/02/2009
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50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom | Teaching Degree.org
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CPSR – The Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics
Written by the Computer Ethics Institute
by the Computer Ethics Institute1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s computer files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not copy or use proprietary software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization or proper compensation.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you are writing or the system you are designing.
10. Thou shalt always use a computer in ways that ensure consideration and respect for your fellow humans. -
Welcome to the website for the new CoSN K-12 Open Technologies Leadership Initiative. The initiative is sponsored by IBM, Cisco, Pearson Education, and SAS to support the adoption and utilization of open technologies in K-12 education around the world.
Open source software, open standards and open hardware are poised to make a profound impact on K-12 education. The convergence of web technologies and a new spirit of collaboration in the education community makes this an exciting time to get involved.
The goal of this Web site is to help educators and technologists with the planning, evaluation, decision-making, and implementation processes associated with adopting Open Technologies in K-12. Initially, the site will focus on the fundamentals of the open technologies movement in education. Over time – with your help, we hope – the site’s content will grow in quantity, sophistication and direct relevance to you.
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Boiling the frog: Incremental changes may
well not be noticed.- Make the changes very quietly and slowly without telling anyone, so each small change is hardly noticeable. For example:
* Make temporary changes that become long-term.
* Slip things in whilst people are distracted elsewhere.
* Bury changes in larger items.
* Gradually isolate unwanted people and organizations. – post by brasst
- Make the changes very quietly and slowly without telling anyone, so each small change is hardly noticeable. For example:
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Evidence for change: Cold, hard data to show
need for change.- Find evidence that supports the need for change.
Use surveys and similar data to show need for change. – post by brasst
- Find evidence that supports the need for change.
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Evidence stream: Show them time and
again that the change is happening.- This can be done on a small-scale for many users – show them how far they’ve come to encourage them to continue evolution. – post by brasst
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Education: Learn them to change.
- Provide training to support the change. – post by brasst
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First steps: Make it easy to get going.
- Step-sheets, cheat-sheets, easy instructions, hand-holding… – post by brasst
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Institutionalization: Building
change into the formal systems and structures.- Make it part of how we do business. – post by brasst
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Involvement: Give them an important role.
- Especially important with potential nay-sayers and those with more valued opinions. – post by brasst
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#iCyte enables you to highlight and save text on any webpage, allowing you to recall the most relevant information. You can save sections of webpages or the whole thing.
#Powerful search tools
Webpages you Cyte are saved forever on our server, letting you return to your research even if the webpage has been deleted or modified.
#Simple user sharing
Invite colleages and friends to join your projects, discover new research, and share information. -
ISTE | NETS for Administrators 2009 – Annotated
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1. Visionary Leadership
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inspire and lead development and implementation of a shared vision
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use of digital-age resources to meet and exceed learning goals
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ongoing process
- SO MANY administrators see integration as a “We’re finally done” event rather than an ongoing process. Once it’s successful, they want to keep things status quo rather than continuing the evolution/revolution. The process is huge! – post by brasst
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advocate
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2. Digital Age Learning Culture
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create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students.
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3. Excellence in Professional Practice
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empowers educators
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allocate time, resources, and access to ensure ongoing professional growth in technology fluency and integration.
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facilitate and participate in learning communities
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4. Systemic Improvement
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provide digital-age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through the effective use of information and technology resources
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collaborate to establish metrics, collect and analyze data, interpret results, and share findings to improve staff performance and student learning.
- Ongoing evaluation process – post by brasst
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recruit and retain highly competent personnel who use technology creatively and proficiently to advance academic and operational goals.
- Technological skill and integration should be partial criteria for hire – a standard expectation that contributes to instructional expertise – post by brasst
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5. Digital Citizenship
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model and facilitate understanding of social, ethical and legal issues
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promote, model and establish policies for safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology.
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Education Week’s Digital Directions: Transforming Classrooms Into 21st-Century Work Spaces
classrooms with banks of wired and wireless computers, ceiling-mounted projectors, interactive whiteboards, and mobile tech-enabled work carts for teachers, all linked to allow for dynamic, multimedia presentations that inspire learning
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classrooms with banks of wired and wireless computers, ceiling-mounted projectors, interactive whiteboards, and mobile tech-enabled work carts for teachers, all linked to allow for dynamic, multimedia presentations that inspire learning
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The modern “learning environments” would be expandable spaces that could accommodate everything from lectures to projects, one-on-one instruction to large-group interactive presentations.
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“For the kind of learning they’re going to engage in, boxes aren’t going to do it,” Larick says of the traditional 30-by-30-foot classroom. “The spaces are going to have to facilitate students’ sharing information, working together in teams, small- and large-group instruction, and having access to multimedia tools.”
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A Web portal allows students at the school to forgo traditional textbooks and log in for lessons and instructional materials.
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They carry their work on USB flash drives, pocket-size data devices that plug into any computer.
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Classes meet for assemblies and presentations in a double-wide portable classroom designed for multiage groupings and team teaching.
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Teachers at Tracy stay connected with students, parents, and colleagues through the Web, and use laptops for meetings in shared work areas or to interact with colleagues through collaborative Web sites.
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Unused classrooms have been equipped as demonstration areas, where students can present the projects in the required multimedia format.
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So often, renovation and modernization of a school are looked at as finishes and lighting, leaving out the importance of the configuration of the learning environment
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From Revolution to Reconstruction
A Hypertext on American History from the colonial period until Modern Times
Department of Humanities Computing & Department of American Studies University of Groningen, The NetherlandsThe main body of this hypertext project, which was started in 1994, comes from a number of USIA-publications: An Outline of American History, An Outline of the American Economy, An Outline of American Government, and An Outline of American Literature. The text of these Outlines has not been changed, but they have been enriched with hypertext-links to relevant documents, original essays, other Internet sites, and to other Outlines.
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Students interact with music, movies, software, and other digital content every day. Do they understand the rules that dictate the ethical use of these digital files, and do they understand why these issues are relevant?
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Online debate community for logical, passionate people – CreateDebate
CreateDebate is a social tool that democratizes the decision-making process through online debate. Join Now!
* Find a debate you care about.
* Read arguments and vote the best up and the worst down.
* Earn points and become a thought leader! -
16 bitchin’ commands and shortcuts for Twitter | Blog | Econsultancy – Annotated
GET username
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I assume you already know how to reply (@username), direct message (D username), retweet (RT @username) and so on
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GET username
This simply grabs the last tweets from a user, for example if you ‘tweet’ ‘GET lakey’ you’ll be presented with my last tweet (and you won’t actually tweet anything).
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WHOIS username
A quick way of checking out a user is to use the WHOIS command. Tweet ‘WHOIS lakey’ and you’ll see the following, in a dropdown (and once again, you won’t tweet anything yourself):
“Chris Lake, since Sep 2008. bio: Editor in Chief at Econsultancy, blogger and entrepreneur. location: London, UK web: http://econsultancy.com”
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FAV username
This adds the last tweet by that user to your favourites.
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FROM
To see the tweets I have sent simply enter the following query: ‘from:lakey’
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TO
Who has been publicly messaging me recently? Find out by searching for ‘TO:lakey’
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CITATIONS
Pretty straightforward, I know, but you can search for ‘@lakey‘ to see tweets where I have been mentioned. Includes retweets, rather than tweets aimed directly at me.
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Drilling down into search
In the same way that you can use various commands and operators in Google to filter results, you can tweak Twitter search queries so that only relevant results are returned…
- Read the blog for details – same methods one uses in Google work in Twitter searches – post by brasst
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The National Gallery of Writing is a virtual space—a website—where people who perhaps have never thought of themselves as writers—mothers, bus drivers, fathers, veterans, nurses, firefighters, sanitation workers, stockbrokers—select and post one thing they have written that is important to them. The Gallery accommodates any composition format—from word processing to photography, audio recording to text messages—and all types of writing—from letters to lists, memoirs to memos.
The National Gallery of Writing includes three types of display spaces where writing can be found:
1. The Gallery of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) represents a broad cross-section of writing hosted by the National Council of Teachers of English.
2. National Partner Galleries include writing that corresponds to a theme or purpose identified by one of the National Partners participating in this initiative.
3. Local Partner Galleries include works from writers in a classroom, school, club, workplace, city, or other local entity. -
Cheater or Collaborator? – Annotated
As more social technologies and processes enter the classroom, new questions arise about how these tools and processes serve teaching and learning.
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Take social bookmarking, for instance. Suppose you are a biology teacher who has asked students to research a variety of topics in life science—for example, stem-cell research.
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Let’s suppose three students have chosen this topic and are working on answering an essential question regarding the ethical considerations of this type of biological research and are doing so independently. Let’s also say that each has an account at a social bookmarking site like del.icio.us and has tagged a variety of resources about stem-cell research. Student A knowingly goes to Students B’s and C’s site, examines the tag for stemcellresearch, finds some new resources, and tags them into Student A’s account at del.icio.us. Is this appropriate or a violation of academic integrity?
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Many would consider this cheating and would equate the process to a situation in which one student photocopied several research articles, left them on a table, and then another student came along and took them. Yet anyone with a del.icio.us account knows that calling the actions of the above student inappropriate is absolute nonsense and that the ability to reach into another account to see resources is part of the game.
- For most behaviors online, there’s a corresponding offline behavior that could give digital immigrants a frame of reference. I find this analogy interesting because they are, at least on the surface, similar.
The more I think about it, it shows the flaw in past (and in some case current) practice. Teachers need to have a clear concept of what their desired outcomes are – is it learning to research? learning about the concept? a little of both? This should guide what the right/wrong of the situation might be and should be communicated clearly to students. It will help clear the haze for all involved. Few kids would intentionally violate an honor code or their teachers’ expectations; it’s the teachers’ responsibility to structure the assignment in such a way that his or her outcomes are well-understood by all. – post by brasst
- For most behaviors online, there’s a corresponding offline behavior that could give digital immigrants a frame of reference. I find this analogy interesting because they are, at least on the surface, similar.
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The scenarios described above relates only to the socialbookmarking aspect of research in the digital age, just one component of a complex social system for information sharing and learning. We still have a long way to go before we understand, and negotiate systemically, what these collaborative sharing environments mean to student learning.
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National Digital Library : Home
Welcome to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s online digital media library. Here you will find a wide assortment of selected images, publications, video and audio clips that are in the public domain. You are free to use them as you wish – no permission is necessary. We do ask that you give credit to the photographer or creator and the US Fish and Wildlife Service in a format similar to the example below.
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Imagine a learning experience where students are thrust into the everyday hustle and bustle of a century or two ago. Where they find themselves enslaved in an antebellum town, or caught up in a strike in a Massachusetts textile mill, or riding the rails in the Depression. Where they’ll need to have all their wits about them to survive in these unfamiliar environments
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Daily Diigo Bookmarks 07/01/2009
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Would LOVE to try one out!
Ever imagine it would be possible to combine Interactive Whiteboard, Wireless Slate and Student Response System features into one complete, yet affordable solution? Imagination is now reality with AVerPen, a true 21st Century Classroom solution that combines the intuitive features of existing Interactive White Board technologies into a mobile, collaborative learning solution to stimulate teacher, student and group engagement and immediate feedback. All from virtually any surface in the room!
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Home ?(Google Apps Education Community)?
This site is brought to you by Google – especially for Google Apps educators and students. Come join and help us build it!
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100 Best Blogs for Journalism Students – Learn-gasm
Today’s journalism students are entering an industry that’s facing a crossroads. These days, newspapers and media in general are adapting and growing at a rapid pace, and it’s essential that students keep up, or they’ll be left in the dust. By reading these blogs, you can keep an ear to the ground on the latest developments that matter the most to journalism students.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.