Saturday, July 01, 2006
Anyone going to NECC 2006 - San Diego?
Are you a fellow Machead/educator going to the National Educational Computing Conference July 4-7?
We might have some things in common! E-mail me if you'd like to meet there, and shake hands. Whether or not you're in a 100% Mac environment like me, or not, I'd love to hear how things work in your school(s).
I'll be blogging and making notes about the conference at my blog, Hendron's Digest.
We might have some things in common! E-mail me if you'd like to meet there, and shake hands. Whether or not you're in a 100% Mac environment like me, or not, I'd love to hear how things work in your school(s).
I'll be blogging and making notes about the conference at my blog, Hendron's Digest.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
The Gap
In this country, public education is for everyone. The “haves” and “have-nots” are both entitled to go to public schools. Because schools are organized around local school boards and communities, sometimes there is an economic disparity from one school community to another. This isn’t news to anyone. But when we talk about the gap in technology, the economic gap plays heavily.
I work in a suburban, middle class, blue-collar community. The school is the focus of a lot of activity, arts, athletics and academics, and we are very proud of our school. Financially, our school doesn’t carry a lot of debt and our facilities are well kept. We vote to pass our budgets each year, and we are competitive with other schools of similar size and demographics. So, on the whole, we are in pretty good shape. But we still have a gap.
Computer technology is very expensive. You could argue that the prices have come down considerably, but the truth is they never get down to zero. Schools have a tendency to purchase computer equipment in spurts. We get a grant or a bond issue, and we buy a lot of computers and then we coast for a couple of years. Depending on the economy, the tax rate, the local politics, sometimes we coast for longer. Then we get the Technology Gap.
The Technology Gap is the difference between what we have currently, and what we should have. Notice I did not say what we would like to have. The truth is we computer people always want something new, something faster. But what we actually need is usually less. Unless we have coasted too long.
You can tell if your school has coasted too long. If the technology that students are bringing in from home is better than what you have at school, you have coasted too long. If your faculty has better machines at home than they do at school, you’ll know. Network people hate this because suddenly they are being inundated with calls to allow people to connect their personal machines to the school network. Of course in the private sector you would be taken out and shot for that, but schools are a different story.
The truth is that teachers buy stuff for their students and classrooms all the time. Sure we have a budget, sure the school provides us with materials and equipment. But sometimes we buy things because it is the path of least resistance. Even computers. I know two different teachers, in my building alone, who bought their own data projectors just so they would always have access and not have to worry about whether someone else had signed it out or not. These machines are not cheap! But the gap between what the teachers needed (or wanted…) was greater than the school district could afford at the time.
In my district we are starting to see a gap with our operating system. I mentioned in a previous column that I purchased a new gradebook program that was native to OS X on my G4 laptop so I could escape from OS 9. The gradebook program is great and every bit as good if not better than what our administrative computer network has. But I still needed to support myself on the Mac platform.
Our school network gap is between Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The district uses Windows 2000. But, almost every student in all my classes uses XP at home. I mean every single one!
When we migrated from Mac to PC’s, one of the reasons often cited was, “We need our kids to use what they are using out in the Real World.” The fact that we were already using M$ Office was kind of lost in the shuffle. So we use Windows & Office 2000. But, the year is now 2006. Some of the things we are trying to do cannot be done because we are not up-to-date with our software, things such as bringing work back and forth from home. I believe this will all change soon, and we will move up to the next OS and Office Suite. But, when you coast, the gap grows.
There are other gaps too. There is a gap between what kids think they know about computers, and what they really do know. Of course, that is where we educators come in. We de-bunk myths, we educate, we raise the consciousness level. It’s a good job.
I work in a suburban, middle class, blue-collar community. The school is the focus of a lot of activity, arts, athletics and academics, and we are very proud of our school. Financially, our school doesn’t carry a lot of debt and our facilities are well kept. We vote to pass our budgets each year, and we are competitive with other schools of similar size and demographics. So, on the whole, we are in pretty good shape. But we still have a gap.
Computer technology is very expensive. You could argue that the prices have come down considerably, but the truth is they never get down to zero. Schools have a tendency to purchase computer equipment in spurts. We get a grant or a bond issue, and we buy a lot of computers and then we coast for a couple of years. Depending on the economy, the tax rate, the local politics, sometimes we coast for longer. Then we get the Technology Gap.
The Technology Gap is the difference between what we have currently, and what we should have. Notice I did not say what we would like to have. The truth is we computer people always want something new, something faster. But what we actually need is usually less. Unless we have coasted too long.
You can tell if your school has coasted too long. If the technology that students are bringing in from home is better than what you have at school, you have coasted too long. If your faculty has better machines at home than they do at school, you’ll know. Network people hate this because suddenly they are being inundated with calls to allow people to connect their personal machines to the school network. Of course in the private sector you would be taken out and shot for that, but schools are a different story.
The truth is that teachers buy stuff for their students and classrooms all the time. Sure we have a budget, sure the school provides us with materials and equipment. But sometimes we buy things because it is the path of least resistance. Even computers. I know two different teachers, in my building alone, who bought their own data projectors just so they would always have access and not have to worry about whether someone else had signed it out or not. These machines are not cheap! But the gap between what the teachers needed (or wanted…) was greater than the school district could afford at the time.
In my district we are starting to see a gap with our operating system. I mentioned in a previous column that I purchased a new gradebook program that was native to OS X on my G4 laptop so I could escape from OS 9. The gradebook program is great and every bit as good if not better than what our administrative computer network has. But I still needed to support myself on the Mac platform.
Our school network gap is between Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The district uses Windows 2000. But, almost every student in all my classes uses XP at home. I mean every single one!
When we migrated from Mac to PC’s, one of the reasons often cited was, “We need our kids to use what they are using out in the Real World.” The fact that we were already using M$ Office was kind of lost in the shuffle. So we use Windows & Office 2000. But, the year is now 2006. Some of the things we are trying to do cannot be done because we are not up-to-date with our software, things such as bringing work back and forth from home. I believe this will all change soon, and we will move up to the next OS and Office Suite. But, when you coast, the gap grows.
There are other gaps too. There is a gap between what kids think they know about computers, and what they really do know. Of course, that is where we educators come in. We de-bunk myths, we educate, we raise the consciousness level. It’s a good job.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Mac Blogging Educators
The beginning of the year is here for us in Virginia, and in my school district, we are un-veiling a new county-wide initiative to turn each educator into a blogger.
We are planning on using Tiger's Blojsom server, but I have some questions for the crowd. Anyone used this in production? It seems very easy to set up and use, but... my concern is for teachers who want to upload pictures and multimedia. The regular Blojsom install seems to handle this well-enough, but the functionality is "turned off" by default in the Apple implementation.
I came up with a work around, setting up FTP, but I'd love to avoid all need for HTML for my teachers.
I am looking forward to this, and many of the teachers who have seen it at play so far have too been excited. We plan to have this in place by the end of September.
We are planning on using Tiger's Blojsom server, but I have some questions for the crowd. Anyone used this in production? It seems very easy to set up and use, but... my concern is for teachers who want to upload pictures and multimedia. The regular Blojsom install seems to handle this well-enough, but the functionality is "turned off" by default in the Apple implementation.
I came up with a work around, setting up FTP, but I'd love to avoid all need for HTML for my teachers.
I am looking forward to this, and many of the teachers who have seen it at play so far have too been excited. We plan to have this in place by the end of September.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
Kids Today Got It So Good...
A while back I wrote a column about how I wasn’t in a hurry to have my daughters getting on the Internet. My rationale was that as long as they had better things to do, there was no sense in rushing things.
I have been a two-Mac user for years. I had a desktop at school and a laptop to carry around. But when you move from classroom to office to home a lot, it becomes a pain to remember where all your files are. Yes, I could synchronize my files using my .mac account, or even other programs, but I was using the account space for other things and didn’t really want to use it up with just documents on the iDisk. Also, frankly, I was relying on the Powerbook more and more and just doing maintenance on the desktop. So I decided to set the desktop up at home for the family. How magnanimous…
We put the computer in a “public” area rather than in one of the girl’s bedrooms. Our thoughts were that we could supervise it and restrict use if necessary. Our internet isn’t filtered and also we don’t want them on it all night. Plus, there would be a fight if it was located in one bedroom and not the other.
At first the kids just used the computer to play some games they found buried on the hard drive. Then one day I was burning a music CD from iTunes (all legally paid for…) and the girls saw that. Next thing I know I am burning CD’s for them for their dance class and they are using the computer as a jukebox. I added some Altec Lansing speakers with a big sub-woofer and they had a nice stereo. This was pretty much all right with me, because all the music was from my collection anyway, so I was passing along the music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to my daughters… (no disco, no country…)
Our local cable provider runs counter to prevailing public opinion about the cable company. They are always nice to me on the phone and I seem to always buy the next service they offer. We already have a big cable TV bill, and my wife was looking at me with disgust. So I did what any nerdy gadget driven guy would do, I signed up for digital phone service. The people who come to install these things are very tech oriented and I always have great conversations with them. Nerd bonding…
Well, as you can imagine, it was only a short leap to give up dial-up and get cable-based broadband. As I explained it to my very patient spouse, “We’re saving money because now we have TV, Phone, and ISP with the same company!” We probably are saving money, but I admit it isn’t my biggest motivator…
The Cable Woman (Gal sounds pejorative…) told me to run down to Radio Shack for a LinkSys Router and I would have a physical firewall and be able to split my internet connection to both my desktop and laptop computers. I considered going wireless, but because I had gone cheap when purchasing both computers, neither had a wireless card. So we’re wired. Maybe next time…
I did have trouble setting up some sub-accounts so everyone in the family would have separate email. Time-Warner has an on-line feature where you can chat with a support person. It worked great and the problem was solved in about 10 minutes. I am a big fan of this type of support.
The girls were on the internet in about a New York minute! All of a sudden there was stuff to look up for school. My oldest was very involved in looking up stuff for the election. It amazed me that a 12 year old was that interested. There were recipes to download from cooking shows. Emeril and Rachel Ray are the current favorites. We got some books from Amazon, and bought some presents on eBay. Because my younger daughter and I are on a Hot Air Balloon Chase crew, we check our crew schedule and the weather all the time. We also post our pictures from balloon festivals.
So now we have a fast connection, each kid has email, and we’re in the new age. I printed up little business cards for the kids to take to school to hand their email address out to friends. We need to have a training session about not giving our email address out to servers on-line, but so far I am the only one who has broken that rule (see last post…) Our kids still read and do well in school and we aren’t having to fight to get them off the computer. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop…
I have been a two-Mac user for years. I had a desktop at school and a laptop to carry around. But when you move from classroom to office to home a lot, it becomes a pain to remember where all your files are. Yes, I could synchronize my files using my .mac account, or even other programs, but I was using the account space for other things and didn’t really want to use it up with just documents on the iDisk. Also, frankly, I was relying on the Powerbook more and more and just doing maintenance on the desktop. So I decided to set the desktop up at home for the family. How magnanimous…
We put the computer in a “public” area rather than in one of the girl’s bedrooms. Our thoughts were that we could supervise it and restrict use if necessary. Our internet isn’t filtered and also we don’t want them on it all night. Plus, there would be a fight if it was located in one bedroom and not the other.
At first the kids just used the computer to play some games they found buried on the hard drive. Then one day I was burning a music CD from iTunes (all legally paid for…) and the girls saw that. Next thing I know I am burning CD’s for them for their dance class and they are using the computer as a jukebox. I added some Altec Lansing speakers with a big sub-woofer and they had a nice stereo. This was pretty much all right with me, because all the music was from my collection anyway, so I was passing along the music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s to my daughters… (no disco, no country…)
Our local cable provider runs counter to prevailing public opinion about the cable company. They are always nice to me on the phone and I seem to always buy the next service they offer. We already have a big cable TV bill, and my wife was looking at me with disgust. So I did what any nerdy gadget driven guy would do, I signed up for digital phone service. The people who come to install these things are very tech oriented and I always have great conversations with them. Nerd bonding…
Well, as you can imagine, it was only a short leap to give up dial-up and get cable-based broadband. As I explained it to my very patient spouse, “We’re saving money because now we have TV, Phone, and ISP with the same company!” We probably are saving money, but I admit it isn’t my biggest motivator…
The Cable Woman (Gal sounds pejorative…) told me to run down to Radio Shack for a LinkSys Router and I would have a physical firewall and be able to split my internet connection to both my desktop and laptop computers. I considered going wireless, but because I had gone cheap when purchasing both computers, neither had a wireless card. So we’re wired. Maybe next time…
I did have trouble setting up some sub-accounts so everyone in the family would have separate email. Time-Warner has an on-line feature where you can chat with a support person. It worked great and the problem was solved in about 10 minutes. I am a big fan of this type of support.
The girls were on the internet in about a New York minute! All of a sudden there was stuff to look up for school. My oldest was very involved in looking up stuff for the election. It amazed me that a 12 year old was that interested. There were recipes to download from cooking shows. Emeril and Rachel Ray are the current favorites. We got some books from Amazon, and bought some presents on eBay. Because my younger daughter and I are on a Hot Air Balloon Chase crew, we check our crew schedule and the weather all the time. We also post our pictures from balloon festivals.
So now we have a fast connection, each kid has email, and we’re in the new age. I printed up little business cards for the kids to take to school to hand their email address out to friends. We need to have a training session about not giving our email address out to servers on-line, but so far I am the only one who has broken that rule (see last post…) Our kids still read and do well in school and we aren’t having to fight to get them off the computer. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop…
Friday, June 17, 2005
The Use of Audio
Some call our students "screenagers," in other words, they live within a culture with a center, many times, focused on the boob tube. And we're happy to oblige in schools with video, and even pictures... no doubt, visuals help many kids learn. Experts agree, mix visuals with audio, and you've got a strong medium for learning.
Have you ever considered doing audio by itself? It has its applications. This week I'm presenting a two-day seminar on using audio; teachers will leave with a new lesson plan they create. I've posted some of the details, but we'll be looking at: Audacity, podcasting, Audio Recoder, Vox Machina, iMovie, and more... all on Macs.
I had never considered making "psuedo-movies" before, but examples I found were interesting... basically, it's like a movie, but uses still pictures and narration. It was amazing the amount of information you could include with each image; lives up to the addage a picture is worth a thousand words.
Have you ever considered doing audio by itself? It has its applications. This week I'm presenting a two-day seminar on using audio; teachers will leave with a new lesson plan they create. I've posted some of the details, but we'll be looking at: Audacity, podcasting, Audio Recoder, Vox Machina, iMovie, and more... all on Macs.
I had never considered making "psuedo-movies" before, but examples I found were interesting... basically, it's like a movie, but uses still pictures and narration. It was amazing the amount of information you could include with each image; lives up to the addage a picture is worth a thousand words.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Tiger Doesn't Like Apple Remote Desktop 1.2
Old news for some...
For those of you who rely on Apple Remote Desktop...Apple pulled a zinger. I discovered this today after I upgraded my machine to Tiger.
If you install Tiger, you will quickly discover that ARD 1.2 no longer works. It reports that the software was not installed correctly. ARD 1.2 worked fine under Panther.
I find it insane that a piece of software release in 2003 (ARD 1.2) is not compatible with an OS released in 2005. By the same company, no less! Apple's solution - spend several hundred dollars and upgrade to ARD 2.2. There doesn't seem to be an upgrade price. You have to pay the $299 to get the full version.
I will post a followup if I receive any more information or corrections.
For those of you who rely on Apple Remote Desktop...Apple pulled a zinger. I discovered this today after I upgraded my machine to Tiger.
If you install Tiger, you will quickly discover that ARD 1.2 no longer works. It reports that the software was not installed correctly. ARD 1.2 worked fine under Panther.
I find it insane that a piece of software release in 2003 (ARD 1.2) is not compatible with an OS released in 2005. By the same company, no less! Apple's solution - spend several hundred dollars and upgrade to ARD 2.2. There doesn't seem to be an upgrade price. You have to pay the $299 to get the full version.
I will post a followup if I receive any more information or corrections.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
It Can Happen To The Best Of Us…
A couple of months ago I switched to a cable-based internet service provider because I needed speed and bandwidth. Also, there was a pretty good deal going with digital cable and digital phone. We gadget guys… I had to have it.
The first consequence was I immediately needed to buy a switch to split my signal from the cable modem to two computers. No problem, it wasn’t that expensive and had the added advantage of acting as a physical firewall. Not that I worried too much, my Mac is immune to those “virus thingees.”
The new speed was great! I could see pages much faster, didn’t find myself giving up on a page that loaded a little slower, I could download updates and large files from home and not worry about doing it at work. It was the perfect solution to modern man’s short attention span.
But the best consequence was, by leaving my old email address behind, I left behind all the spam I had been getting! We had been using that old email address for about 10 years. In that time a lot of spammers had added me to their lists. I simply sent out a notice to everyone in my address book that I had “moved” and things went pretty smooth. It was nice to have a “clean” In box everyday. Can you almost hear the other shoe dropping through the air?
But, I am stupid. I was on a site that I go to everyday. I read their columns, participate in forums, all Mac stuff. Don’t ask me which one it was, there are a half dozen on my browser button bar that I read everyday, and I am not sure which one it is. Don’t think less of me… Anyway, I clicked on something that said I could win a free iPod. About halfway through refusing to sign up for a bunch of ads and free trials, I realized my mistake. “Oh No, this is one of those!” I backed out and attempted to erase all my data. Too late.
Okay, I know you are all laughing at me. What was I thinking? I know better! I teach this stuff in a class for heaven’s sake! Why did I do it? Nobody’s gets stuff for free, nobody gives away a free lunch. Not even to Mac people on Mac-oriented sites. Really.
It wasn’t because I was tired, had been drinking, or teased by the other kids. I guess I thought because it was on a site I had been going to regularly it was legit. When I realized it wasn’t, I tried to undo and thought I had. The very next day I started getting spam from the site. I made a Junk Mail Rule. But it is too late. The stuff is coming in from so many different places. I even considered trying to email the site and asking them to take me off the list. Then I thought, “What, am I crazy?” I am thinking of changing my .mac account information. I don’t even know if I can, and it would be a pain. I never knew how good I had it until it was over…
So now I am going with it. I am making a rule for every piece of junk mail, I am even sending back the unsubscribe emails. I am experimenting to see just how bad it can get. It has gotten pretty bad. Learn from me people! Sure this makes a good story. I can use the experience to teach others. But I want my In Box BACK!
The first consequence was I immediately needed to buy a switch to split my signal from the cable modem to two computers. No problem, it wasn’t that expensive and had the added advantage of acting as a physical firewall. Not that I worried too much, my Mac is immune to those “virus thingees.”
The new speed was great! I could see pages much faster, didn’t find myself giving up on a page that loaded a little slower, I could download updates and large files from home and not worry about doing it at work. It was the perfect solution to modern man’s short attention span.
But the best consequence was, by leaving my old email address behind, I left behind all the spam I had been getting! We had been using that old email address for about 10 years. In that time a lot of spammers had added me to their lists. I simply sent out a notice to everyone in my address book that I had “moved” and things went pretty smooth. It was nice to have a “clean” In box everyday. Can you almost hear the other shoe dropping through the air?
But, I am stupid. I was on a site that I go to everyday. I read their columns, participate in forums, all Mac stuff. Don’t ask me which one it was, there are a half dozen on my browser button bar that I read everyday, and I am not sure which one it is. Don’t think less of me… Anyway, I clicked on something that said I could win a free iPod. About halfway through refusing to sign up for a bunch of ads and free trials, I realized my mistake. “Oh No, this is one of those!” I backed out and attempted to erase all my data. Too late.
Okay, I know you are all laughing at me. What was I thinking? I know better! I teach this stuff in a class for heaven’s sake! Why did I do it? Nobody’s gets stuff for free, nobody gives away a free lunch. Not even to Mac people on Mac-oriented sites. Really.
It wasn’t because I was tired, had been drinking, or teased by the other kids. I guess I thought because it was on a site I had been going to regularly it was legit. When I realized it wasn’t, I tried to undo and thought I had. The very next day I started getting spam from the site. I made a Junk Mail Rule. But it is too late. The stuff is coming in from so many different places. I even considered trying to email the site and asking them to take me off the list. Then I thought, “What, am I crazy?” I am thinking of changing my .mac account information. I don’t even know if I can, and it would be a pain. I never knew how good I had it until it was over…
So now I am going with it. I am making a rule for every piece of junk mail, I am even sending back the unsubscribe emails. I am experimenting to see just how bad it can get. It has gotten pretty bad. Learn from me people! Sure this makes a good story. I can use the experience to teach others. But I want my In Box BACK!
