Old school prof sees benefits of technology

This story from Campus Technology bucks the widely held belief that experienced teachers are against technology in the classroom. Virginia Tech professor Dr. Charles Bostian shares why in his own words.

Tablet PC Conference CFP Mar 14!

The Workshop on the Impact of Pen-based Technology on Education (WIPTE) will start accepting propoals March 14 for its fall 2008 event. I have attended the Purdue University-hosted event the past two years, and it has been the best single event to talk about Tablet PCs with educators. WIPTE has seen attendees representing 100 institutions from 5 countries covering 15 academic disciplines. Check out this info sheet for more reasons why you should send a proposal and attend.

Meet you at FETC

The New Year is here and that means...planning for FETC, among other things. Yes, it is 20 degrees here and I will soon have to suffer through a +60 degree change in Orlando. I bet Floridians like visitors because they are always in a good mood. You might see me in the HP booth #814 or buzzing around the exhibit floor talking with customers and partners. I am excited to give some hints about our upcoming release. The 5.1 upgrade is scheduled for GA in June, so January is a good time to get some informal feedback to compare to our alpha and beta testing. Drop me a line if you want to meet up!

Being a student in the 21st century

Students are multitasking. The lecture hall is passe. The world is getting flatter. A friend passed me a profound video on this topic.

State of PA laptops keep rolling out

The second wave of laptops and interactive whiteboards are being doled out in Pennsylvania as part of the governor's Classrooms for the Future program to put a laptop on every desk in state high schools. PA's program is the latest to give laptops to students following Maine, Michigan, and South Dakota.

The PA project started last year with these 79 high schools and now we are starting to hear some reactions from schools on how things are going.

First off, you probably know that each awarded school gets money to purchase some or all of the following products:

• Lenovo(R) ThinkPad(TM) laptops


• Software including Microsoft Office 2007, Inspiration, Adobe Creative Suite


• Futurekids, Inc. professional development and training


• Promethean or Polyvision interactive white boards


• D-Link access points


• HP multimedia printer and digital camera


• Canon video camera


• Bretford mobile laptop carts


• Epson projector


• Logitech webcam and speakers

There is potentially lots of great stuff here, but are schools being educated on how it all fits together? Not to point fingers at program organizers because this is a huge job, but I think they would agree that not all the equipment available is appropriate for every school. I personally believe that laptops are the ideal, but what if school network infrastructure isn't ready? Also, one school reminded me that interactive whiteboards can work against classroom laptops. Why? Well, an IWB is teacher-centric and laptops are student-centric. Other schools are going beyond the state grant and purchasing integrated PRS or "clickers" from the whiteboard companies, but I am afraid this will seal the fate of student laptops to be in a storage closet.

Of course I am biased toward screen-sharing or classroom management software, but I noticed that no software of this kind is included on the laptops. MS Office is required, Inspiration is ok for personal concept-mapping, what what about software that would give teacher and students a reason to use laptops interactively in the classroom? What about teachers who dread having to compete with students emailing or IM-ing? Sure, software like DyKnow is not magical but it sure can be relevant for both teacher and student in the laptop classroom.

One thing is for sure: there is much more to come from Classrooms for the Future and many lessons to learn, too! Stay tuned.

Intel does Academy Awards for schools

Congrats to the recipients of the Intel Schools of Distinction Awards. Since DyKnow was a sponsor of this year's awards for exemplary math and science education, I happen to know that our president was invited on stage to present this past week in D.C. I gotta tell you that I would have been nervous up there in a penguin suit reading from the teleprompter. However, when the champagne is gone and diamond purses put away, it comes down to these school leaders making things happen in a largely ordinary setting. Best of luck specifically to Conyers Middle School and Escalante Elementary as they start their DyKnow deployments.

New 1:1 in Wilson County, North Carolina

Congrats to Hunt High School and the press that just came out on their 1:1. story. Teachers sound pretty excited about using this mystery software:

“They can actually do assignments in class on the computer, and send it directly to my computer.

“It's going to make the class more interesting for the kids because they're going to be actively learning,” said Angie London, an English teacher.

Even with laptops at their fingertips, students can’t just randomly surf the internet or check email in the middle of class. Through a special program, teachers can keep a close eye on every computer screen.

“We have a program where we can look on our computers and see what's on all of their computers,” explained London. “We can look and say, ‘You’re supposed to be on this website, but you're checking your email.’ We can automatically lock their computers and send them a message, ‘Get back to work.’”

Ok, I give in: I am proud to say that they are using DyKnow software!