Category: General

OK, I was wrong. The new Apple product was a 2 inch wide desk top computer. Some are complaining the cost is too high – approximately $1200. As a Mac user, this position annoys me. This is a high end machine. If you want something less expensive, the Apple eMac is about $800. Also consider the capabilities of the built-in hardware and software supporting multimedia (iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, etc.). Purchasing an iMac would be overkill if you only want to word process and search the Internet. Maybe you have other types of projects in mind. I would agree that Macs do offer less flexibility in hardware configuration than systems based on other operating systems. We all make a personal decision as to how important this issue is. In my opionion, you either get what you pay for or you add stuff later ’cause what you paid for does not do what you had hoped.

I came across a link to a Copyright WebQuest through a listserv I follow and decided to check it out. It seems to be very well done and worth recommending to others.

I think online video represents a great educational resource of the future. I do not anticipate the value will be in complete presentations (e.g., expert lectures), but in catalogued collections of bits and pieces that can be used to see and hear things that are difficult to describe.

The Open Video Project may represent the beginning of such a collection. This site is worth exploring if even to raise expectations of what might eventually be available.

A survey of more than 1000 students by SBC Communications concludes students find home “high speed access” crucial to their academic work.

The study also reveals:
?? 80 percent of older students, 12- to 17-year-olds, are given Internet assignments to complete at school, and nearly 65 percent go online at home to complete Internet-related homework.
?? Nearly 60 percent of 6- to 11-year-olds are completing Internet projects at school, and more than 30 percent have Internet-related work to complete at home.

Students are using the Internet instead of their textbooks or traditional reference books to complete schoolwork.
?? Among 12- to 17-year-olds, more than four in five use the Internet to look for better information compared with what they can find in their school books.
?? Nearly 60 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds are bypassing the dictionaries, thesauruses and encyclopedias on the bookshelves and going online for these resources.

Many of the general technology publications are running “back to school” topics. Wired magazine has an article on copyright. The article concerns the efforts of software publishers efforts to inform students of copyright responsibilities. Remember the “Weekly Reader” from your days in elementary school? It is an outlet for some of this information.

The New York Times (you may have to register to review this article) ran an article in the Sunday Book Review section entitled (You get what you pay for). This article addresses online sites willing to sell students term papers, book reports, etc. The author describes purchasing some papers and offers a review.

If you are cheap, you paper may be believable. Great …

It is my opinion that tablet PCs are the next big thing for education. Contrary to the promotion of Palm-like products by some very influential sources, the present PDAs lack an adequate display, lack a reasonable method for input, and are simply not powerful enough to provide students useful and efficient tools for education. It is kind of like going back to the old Apple 2e days without the keyboard. An inexpensive tablet (I would hope about $750) would be small enough and powerful enough. I obviously am very interested in Apple products and have been hoping Apple would create a product for the tablet market. I have even predicted (incorrectly) that a tablet Mac would be the big announcement at previous Apple trade shows.

So here are a couple of rumors …
1) A tablet is on the way – see The Register
2) HyperCard will rise again (I can’t reveal my source on this one)