It is closed proprietary system with limitations that are meant to drive hardware sales and move the publishing industry into a rental model that insures that even in the worst budgetary times (such as the funding cliff we educators are still facing) districts will have to spend money.

How is it cheaper for anybody?

The average textbook is used for 3-5 years. So lets use 3 years (since that is about how long an iPad will be useful).

Textbook $100 x 4 Textbooks a year x 3 years = $1200 for 1st year but can be used for 2 additional years.

(iPad $500 + (eTextbook $15 x 4 per year x 3 years) = $680 but since each year an iPad and eTextbooks will need to be purchased $680 x 3 = $2040

$2040 – $1200 = $840 more for iPad and eTextbooks over 3 years.

(Edit)
An even more fair and accurate accounting for costs:

With a difference of $660 over 3 years.

Just doesn’t add up…
 

1. Wireless USB Microphone – (I like the xTag, $189)
2. Decent Desktop Speaker System – (Nice Speakers, $50)
3. Mic Audio Pass-Thru – (LineIn, Free)

Put it together and you’ll have 75w of audio enhancement goodness. I found it was even better when using an old 360w THX certified gaming sound system I had, but that would be a bit expensive.

xTag also works awesome for Skype, Podcasting, and audio recognition.

Schwartzman goes on to point out that thinking of a student as a customer drives us towards certain notions about learning and knowledge (some of the parts that I thoughts most interesting):

1. Students, as consumers, will often pick a curriculum based upon what is easiest not what is most rigorous and challenging
2. When we portray knowledge as a commodity, then we imply that it should be as easy as buying something to learn
3. The burden of creating value for education is entirely on the vendor (i.e. teacher)
4. The burden of improving the product(i.e. education/learning) is solely the responsibility of the vendor (i.e. teacher)

The list actually goes on but I think you should read it yourself.

When you take what he says about educational consumerism and think about how you are using an iPad is he right? If you take what he says and apply it to many of the various tech tools folks go gaga over, are we really doing what we need to do as educators or just perpetuating a myth that quality education is like a great wardrobe and can just be bought?

The short answer is business intelligence that drives their recommendation engine. While it may not be appropriate for ever subject it seems like by now we could have a pretty effective intervention system based-upon student profiles. Imagine that students and their teachers would be presented with a menu of learning options based-upon a students profile and preferences. Wouldn’t it be incredible?

Is anybody working on this? Why is the department of ED?

It started by waking up @ 10am….lame but I couldn’t fall asleep until 3am. Time zones are a bear!

The ISTE kick off was fantastic. The acapella group was incredible and it was fun watching their video. It was also awesome to be with a group of my school district peers accepting the Sylvia Charp award from ISTE and THE Journal. Being in the back with other award winners helps energize you. Despite the difficult times for teachers and public education, it was inspiring to be surrounded by hard-working educators doing their best for the kids they serve.

The theme that appears appears to be emerging in my PLN is the conversation about how are we using tools to learn? In a tweet somewhere, I lost it during the day and can’t seem to find, it was mentioned that:

“We need to stop talking about how to deal with web 2.0 policy (i.e. publishing, filtering, access, etc….) and having serious talks about how doesn’t actually contribute to learning.”

In my district we have the tools GAPPS, Blogs, Moodle, etc… but we are still struggling to gain by in from leadership that it is important to use these tools to teach and learn. I hope to find others that have had success in making these things happen in their schools and districts.

We need to move from adaptive change (using technology to do the same things better/faster) to transformative change (using the options available to us with technology to create new and effective learning environments). Do you think you can plan for transformative change or is it something that can only be seen once you look back?

Look forward to three more days of listening, learning, and sharing. And more cheesesteaks…..

Every Summer I try to read some books outside of the education/ed tech genre. I a quest to find “Reality is Broken” and ended up with “Linked“. Basically it is book that explains how complexity is new challenge of science and that understanding networks will lead to a complete understanding of the natural world. I love the analogy he uses, “Science of today is like a toddler that took something apart, but can’t figure out how to put it back together.” In the after-effects of NCLB, I think that most teacher feel as though learning has been completely deconstructed to its component parts (i.e. standards/Performance Objectives) but just know what those parts are is not enough to put together a compelling or relevant education.

That being said, I don’t think that the type of network the author discusses and the vision of a “networked” classroom (i.e. lots of tech and gadgets) are one and the same. Here are just a few thoughts:

1. We have it wrong, learning is based on the principles of a network but that doesn’t mean you have to be on a network to learn.

   What I mean is that you don’t need any technology to create a brilliantly networked learning system. In many cases the technology is just smoke and mirrors for poor learning and teaching. But what if we started to think about student learning in a 3D web instead of a linear progression? Everything suggests that this or something even more complex is a more realistic portrayal of our neural networks.

2. If learning is built upon a network model maybe differentiated nodes can explain learning modalities and intelligences.

   I think that many of the components that have always been there in educational thinking get pulled together when you think of learning as a network system. What if Gardner’s Intelligences represent some of the many pathways for students to engage in content. Maybe learning modalities (i.e. touch, auditory, visual, etc…) are just separate nodes that can all connect to the same content knowledge. What if in some learners the content requires that you go through a visual lesson full of analytical thinking to get to the concept? If you think about the process of learning as the development of a network then many of these things seem to compliment each other better than ever before.

3. If we do have differentiated learning nodes then it should be possible to diagnose a path that could be effective.

   Much like with medicine, will there come a time when assessments will be able to provide a learner with what is most likely the most effective way for them to learn? I don’t just mean in the traditional since of you are a visual learner so I’ll let you draw your book report. But what if we can define clear pathways for the many hundreds of different ways to learn a concept and proscribe the version that best suits your learning based upon your existing learning network?

4. We need to develop metrics for these things.

   What type of Star Trek like technologies are we going to need to make this happen? Is that what was already happening on Vulcan in those little learning chambers?

Pretty compelling idea to think that in something as complex as learning there is most likely an underlying network that can eventually be decoded and then used to bring us a level of customization and personalization that we have never experienced.

There is nothing new in the idea that the Internet is allowing fringe groups and eccentrics to cluster together on the Internet. You can argue whether that is a good or bad thing, but it was interesting to think about how our own preferences searching with Google are being tailored to our tastes without our knowledge.

In a world with unlimited information we are coming to so heavily rely on search to help us find things. What can we done to prevent the “wool” from being pulled over our eyes by our own choices and preferences?

I often find inspiration in the odd article that challenges my thinking or shows my something that is way outside my “normal” worldview. Can I have a tab that allows me to see some of the articles that Google doesn’t think I’ll like?

“Everywhere we turn, it seems there are experts claiming that the best path forward is to engage people with elements of competitive play.”

The article is a good overview and summary of some of the emerging conversations around the area of worker motivation and productivity.

Anybody who doesn’t think this has huge significance in education is asleep at the wheel. Just the thought of gaming, both video and paper/board based, bring back fond adolescent memories of every from D&D, Sonic the Hedgehog, BattleTech, Street Fighter, etc… I can actually see how many of the games I played as youth shaped my critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Most importantly this goes beyond merit badges and silly point boards. There is an honor and prestige to being the first solve a difficult game or find an unexpected hack/bug. This should and can be transferred to learning and exploring.

I think we all need to go read, “Reality is Broken“.

In today’s world, I believe there are to many folks that just don’t know anything about programming or basic computer programming concepts. This limits there ability to leverage computers for simple and repetitive tasks. Plus if all you’re doing is spending time doing those tasks, maybe you should be replaced by a computer.

With that in mind check out these great tutorial and programming links that have come through the blogosphere lately:

• Waterbear, easy javascripting
• Free Ruby Books, from ReadWriteWeb
• Learn to Code Online, Mashable
• 3 Books on jQuery, from ReadWriteWeb