Month: January 2004

Cindy bought me a new iBook as a late Christmas present. We visited one of the Apple Stores in Minneapolis last weekend and she could not help herself. Over break I also installed Panther (OSX.3) on my desktop machine. Having two machines upgraded to run Panther gave me the opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for some time to try OpenOffice. I could have probably found a way to do this earlier, but the instructions I had made use of X11. X11 is free, but when I tried to download it before the only version available from the Apple site required 10.3. X11 (X windows I think) allows “UNIX types” a graphical interface and allows OSX users to open a UNIX application on the Mac desktop. Anyway, this is how I understand it and you hardcore UNIX types can certainly correct me if I am wrong. I don’t pretend to know exactly what I am doing here and that is part of what I find encouraging.

OpenOffice is pretty much an Open Source equivalent of MicroSoft Office to word processing, spreadsheet, presentation applications. It is actually a good deal more similar than just offering the same suite of applications. OpenOffice will accept Word, Excel, etc. files and will save back to these same file types.

I have been using OpenOffice now for a week or so (mostly word processing and spreadsheet work) and I have been very impressed. I would certainly encourage anyone using the Panther operating system to give it a try (see the following links for some help). The implementation I installed makes use of a third item that launches both XDarwin and OpenOffice. It is my impression that this makes the entire process easy for those of us without the background to function easily in UNIX. At this point I simply double click the appropriate icon and both X11 and OpenOffice launch. Once you are in the applications, the experience of word processing or using the spreadsheet is pretty much what you are used to (actually I have to keep reminding myself to use the control key instand of the command key).

Some schools, businesses and countries are taking a close look at Open Source software. Why? Well, most of the software is free. I can’t say the money is my personal motivation (I also purchased a student/educator version of Office over break – $129 – so I hope Bill is willing to forgive this post). I think the world of technology will simply be a better place if there continues to be a reasonable level of competition.

OpenOffice Download for the Mac
Educators and Open Source Software

Lego, the company that gave us the universal plastic building block, has fallen on hard financial times. Among the probable cuts is Mindstorms – the product that allowed the building of simple robots and the control of these robots through a computer interface and a simple programming language. When our book contained a chapter on programming, the educational potential of projects developed using such resources was an area of emphasis.

Yahoo News Summary

eSchool News (you may have to enroll for access) recently summarized a report by Market Data Retrieval indicating that schools struggling to meet the No Child Left Behind adequate yearly progress goals were behind in the use of technology.
– use laptop computers – 39% vs. 43%
– high speed Internet access – 75% vs. 80%
– use Internet for instruction – 74% vs. 79%
– teachers “beginners” in using technology – “majority” vs. 18%

Interpretation? Technology causes higher achievement?

My guess – it is all about the money. I would bet one could eliminate the differences by controlling for % of kids receiving reduced cost lunch.

On a related matter: The “Texas Miracle” has become a political example justifying “No Child Left Behind.” Now, the validity of these claims is being disputed – 60 Minutes.

Mac fans probably know that MacWorld is underway and they are watching to see if any new products emerge (still no tablet). There was a cool new music product (Garage Band) that some may find useful. I did not see anything that I felt every educator would immediately have to purchase, but you might want to watch the MacWorld Keynote and draw your own conclusions.

The Educational site of the day (and perhaps week) has to be NASA’s description of the Mars Rover Expedition. The graphics are great and there are lessons for learners of all ages.

Ironically, Cindy reports the Grand Forks Schools’ filtering software prevents access to the site.

Henry Jenkins has been writing an interesting series of articles in Technology Review concerning the importance of parents and educational institutions taking responsibility for developing media literacy. These articles discuss some important issues and offer some useful suggestions.