Author: grabe

I like computer conferences of any type. Big ones, small ones ??? if I have the opportunity, I am going. I enjoy the opportunity to interact and to pick up ideas from practitioners.

The conference in North Dakota is called T-N-T (Teaching and Technology). This is the 14th year for this conference and I have had the opportunity to attend many. North Dakota is obviously one of the smallest states (in population), so a group of several hundred people at a technology conference in North Dakota is a reasonable turnout.

Elliot Soloway and Cathie Norris (GoKnow) provided the opening keynote. If you know the recent work of these individuals, you might anticipate the topic ??? ???sub-laptops??? (hand helds). I have not been a fan of this position, but today???s presentation was quite persuasive. They seem to have anticipated many of my counter-arguments. In addition to building on the willingness of students to work with small devices (cell-phones, Game Boys, etc.), the core logic is to use tools that are cost effective and task appropriate. They claim sub-laptops can perform 80% of academic jobs for 20% of the cost. So, the idea is to combine a 1:1 sub laptop initiative with a few Internet-connected classroom computers. What are the 80% of tasks ??? drill, writing, reading, etc.

Another of my personal issues ??? input. The presenters strongly recommended the device and a keyboard as making up the basic unit.

LeTendre and Baker, authors of a book on international differences in academic achievement, challenge the position that differences in homework are associated with differences in achievement. Using data from TIMMS (the international study of math and science), they conclude that relying on homework may increase differences associated with out of school variables. Homework may lead to frustration unless the environment outside of school is consistent with learning from home work assignments.

Here is a summary of some of projects underway to develop very inexpensive computers. The motivation for these companies varies – from providing technology in under-developed companies to challenging existing computer powers. Ignore the anti-Microsoft, etc. tone of this piece. I am adding this post as a source of information about new hardware alternatives and not to take an anti- “evil empire” position. It is true that Microsoft and other companies with proprietary operating systems increase the cost of computers and the proportion the operating system would add on very inexpensive systems would be substantial. Must be some way to achieve a middle ground here.

PanLogic provides a new “white paper” offering data on home use of the Internet.

The paper offers additional support for the significance of the net generation concluding that younger family members are the most sophisticated users of the net with 88% of primary school children using it at home and 95% of eleven-to-eighteen year-olds.

Federal money for technology has slipped. Now, it appears that money schools have for technology is being spent in different ways. You guessed it – more money for student data collection and organization (Education Week).

The author concludes:
“Underlying this spending trend, the report says, is a philosophical shift in the White House concerning the role of technology in education. During the Clinton administration, federal leaders largely viewed technology as a way to open new educational horizons. Now, under the Bush administration and the demands of the No Child Left Behind law, the emphasis is on technology as a tool for analyzing achievement data.”

What does e-rate fraud look like? Here is a “case study” published by the Washington Post.

eSchool News reports that the Supplemental Educational Services market associated with NCLB is worth approximately $2 billion annually. Supplemental educational services are tutoring options that must be offered to students from underperforming schools.

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) also has set up a division to monitor SES programs and provide guidance to parents and teachers. Tutors for Kids