July 3, 2009 by jmmblake.

Schools are hard hit to save money. We will see larger sizes, fewer bus routes, no field trips, less sports programs, no alternative education and more.  US schools will soon mirror schools in third-world nations if the money-drain is not plugged. Schools settling for Netbooks, in my humble opinion, are being short changed. 

Ask this question: Are the folks in high education in your state being told to only use the cheaper, less versatile net devices? I don’t think colleges can sell netbooks to their incoming freshmen wanting to major in computer science, engineering, or video production/media.  A comment on a blog fired me up this morning. It was all about how schools could use netbooks because they are used by “road warriors”. That is a completely difference world. What is good for working on a plane or in you lap waiting for a cab, is not what a 6th graders needs to learn how to master math, science, literature, foreign language, band, and all the 21st Century Skills. Preparing students for jobs that do not even exist is not the same.

What is the purpose of providing laptops in schools? Are they for students just to check their email, watch a PowerPoint(less) presentation of the lesson for today, or other light-weight tasks like this “road warrior” says he uses? If your answer is yes- buy all the netbooks your little heart desires. 

However, if you are about to shout–NO, Heck NO, then stay the heck away from these devices. Students do not use email unless they are trying to create a new MySpace page, or want to receive the latest sales from a retailer. They have cell phones for communication. They never watch the news and most never have time for YouTube, Twitter and this stuff. 

For my tax money, I want students engaged in a rigorous and relevant 1:1 program.  Students using devices that do more than what can be accomplished on much cheaper notebook paper. Worksheets do not build dendrites. 

For those that think spreading a few powerful machines around a school is good enough…well, that is a joke. If schools put a few powerful machines around a school, then tell teachers to roll it around on a cart- what if two classrooms need it at the same time? Just hope your son or daughter has the teacher with the computers that they can figure out more to do with them than watch videos. 

The bottom line to me is this. Netbook devices lock students only being consumers of information (lowest levels of learning). Full-featured laptops in a 1:1 learning program, support students becoming creators and generators of knowledge (higher order thinking skills). 

You get what you pay for. 

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June 21, 2007 by jmmblake.

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April 8, 2007 by jmmblake.

Ok, so check it out, dawg…here’s an example of what you can do with the new “My Maps” feature from Google. Go on…go look.

Now, if your head ain’t swimmin’ with ideas like mine is… My children don’t know it yet, but they just became the map makers for all travel related to the Richardson family. (And we just figured out that the whole clan is going to Australia this summer.) I can’t wait to show them this.

I know this isn’t news, but this is the kind of stuff that still gives me butterflies. Stupid, I know. It’s also the kind of stuff that I want to go running into schools with, shouting “Look what our kids can create! Look what they can contribute!”

It’s a great time to be a learner, isn’t it? Very cool…  Check out Step #19 in the directions

By Will Richardson.

If any of my students go out of town during vacation, I hope to challenge them make their own map. 

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January 10, 2007 by jmmblake.

While strolling around the iPod accessories section at the Crabtree Mall Apple, Inc. store today, I noticed a very small lapel microphone almost on out of reach from the the floor. The company, Xtrememac was one that I had read about on a blog.  The box was labeled MemoMic.  I read the description on the package and it said “This product is compatible with all digital recorders.” Hum, could this work with my Belkin mic?  Last summer, I purchased a new iPod Video and a matching Belkin TuneTalk Stereo microphone.

Prior to owning the Belkin TuneTalk, I used my iMic with my 4th Generation iPod to record podcasts.  My students could not seem to get comfortable with the iPod sitting there.  I experienced the same blank stares from my students when I tried record them with the iPod Video and TuneTalk.  So, I tried using several different external microphones.  I tried using the Griffin Lapel Mic, and a Sony lapel mic.  They did not produce quality audio.  I can not describe the way they sounded.  Maybe I should make a demo of the sound.  You don’t have to believe me, try it yourself.  They just sound crappy. 

I left the Apple Store, and went to eat some lunch and returned to the store.  The store audio expert tried to explain how the MemoMic was designed to work the XtremeMac’s iPod recorder.  I just listened to his canned sales pitch and then after he had finished, I asked a simple question.  I asked him if the MemoMic  would work with my Belkin TuneTalk.  I am one of those customers that love to ask questions that stump the experts.  It must be all those years I spend running my sporting goods business.  Some customers must stay up all night coming up with questions to stump the employees.  I was not trying to “show off”, I just wanted to know if they had heard about anyone trying to use the MemoMic with with a non-Xtreme recorder.  I left the store with that question going round and round in my head.  I walked from one end of Crabtree Mall to the other to my truck in the parking lot.  I dug in my computer bag and located my Belkin TuneTalk and turned around and went back to the Apple Store. 

I walked straight to the XtremeMac MemoMic display, and a different clerk came up to me with one of their new handheld checkout devices that scans the UPC and lets you swip your credit card to complete the transaction.  I think the store clerk and audio expert must have seen me come in and ran to keep from having to listen to my crazy question.   Well,  I bought the MemoMic– BAM!  It would not have been the first or last time I have plunked down money on a tech toy that did not work.  I ripped into the box and plugged it into my TuneTalk mic attached to my iPod.  The first two test recordings did not work.  The audio level was almost inaudible.  Then, I noticed the TuneTalk’s gain switch on the bottom was in the off position.  Moving the switch to on, I tried another short recording.   It was very clear and crisp.  The background noise in the Apple Store was like a middle school classoom on Friday at 5 seconds after the bell to go home.  Well, not that bad, but close. 

I was very excited with the way the Xtreme MemoMic works with the Belkin TuneTalk.  I plan to use the device with my students this week to record some podcasts.  I will link to them when they are posted. 

XtremeMac iPod Audio Accessories: MemoMic™ for MicroMemo

Get crisp, clean recordings of your meetings, interviews and presentations

MemoMic™ is a professional-style microphone that clips to a lapel or shirt. This omni-directional mic is designed to pick up meetings, lectures, or any audio hands-free. It’s perfect for capturing every word into a voice recorder (like our MicroMemo™), video camera or through a public address system.

You don’t have to be a big shot to come across like one. Clip it on, plug it in and you’re all set.

* Omnidirectional
* Uses popular 3.5mm plug
* Ideal for voice recorders, camcorders, VoIP
* Inconspicuous 4-foot cable
* Extra windscreen and clip
* 90° angle mini-plug for comfort

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December 28, 2006 by jmmblake.

OpenBeacon is a free design for an active RFID device which operates in the 2.4GHz ISM band. The device contains a unique serial number, but may have other information. OpenBeacon is designed as a transceiver device and therefore both transmits and receives radio waves. The intention of this project is to offer a wide range of use cases such as visitor or item tracking and wireless remote control with a free self-contained and low-cost RFID design.

My dream use of RFID would be for my students to have a locator chip for their homework assignments, their pencils, paper, and textbook. Maybe if parents had to pay for RFID tracking devices on all their kids stuff, they would not try to use the excuses “I don’t have a pencil”. Reading the description of The OpenBeacon hardware that is used to locate volunteer attendees at this year’s CCC conference in Berlin, started me thinking this morning.

One of the project’s leaders, Milosch Meriac, explains the motivation to create the system was to make obvious what is normally hidden in how our technology tracks us. Also– track Quinn Norton (ID 254135) and Wired Digital’s Aaron Swartz (ID 254260), two of nearly 1,000 participants wearing RFID trackers for the duration of the congress.

Wired.com

I have read discussions online about the issues with RFID chips in student ID badges and how easy they would be to clone and be abused by students, and invasion of privacy, but this technology seems to have a different possible application for classrooms. Nordic Semiconductors and Phillips have a technology that may someday help teachers and students. From reading the descriptions on Nordic’s site, they are developing a way to use lasers to connect motion sensing devices and computer mice. One of their application notes describes a low level radio protocol that gives protection against disturbing traffic in the 2.4 GHz band like WLAN and frequency hopping systems like Bluetooth, Cordless phones, etc. A list of applications that they have already dreamed up are as follows:

• Wireless mouse and keyboard
• Wireless joystick
• Wireless headset
• Sports equipment
• Remote control
• Personal Area Networks

Wireless joysticks could be used to integrate with whiteboards and HD monitors. Wireless headsets, I am not excited about, because kids are kids, and if they can find a way, they will not be listening to a scholarly discussion of Plato or biochemistry if their favorite Rap star or country music can be piped in. Sports equipment, hum this might be a way to help society combat obesity, and monitor drugs. Oh hello- invasion of privacy again!!! That would never work. Remote control is interesting. Maybe a court appointed probation officer could carry a monitoring device and when a youth offender’s blood pressure exceeded a certain level indicating stress, the probation officer could remotely control a speaker and remind the felon of his next court date…this is too good…I could think of some better responses to the remote control, but that would not be very professional of me. But on a positive note, intervention in crucial for some folks to succeed. Last on their list is PAN, personal area networks. Keeping up with their work. Students that need organizational skills may benefit from Nordic’s technology. Place an RFID tag on each assignment, project, notebook, textbook, and pencil could help them locate their stuff. Can you see the veterinarian’s expression when they locate an RFID chip in a stool sample of a school kid’s dog? “The dog eat your homework again?”

I have enough physics background to realize that this could be used in schools and to know I do not know enough about all this to be an expert. However, it has me dreaming about how this technology may change the way my grandchildren’s kids classroom may look and replace our current networks and devices.

The latest device in Nordic Semiconductors extensive portfolio of 2.4GHz wireless IC’s merges high speed with ultra-low power and ultra-low cost. The new nRF24L01 will enable ultra-low cost and power applications such as wireless desktops and intelligent sports equipment. The chip is a perfect fit for advanced multimedia solutions like Voice over IP (VoIP). This is possible through the innovative MultiCeiver solution in which on-chip hardware supports up to six simultaneous wireless devices.

NordicSemi

Will this be coming to a classroom soon?

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October 30, 2006 by jmmblake.

While reading the show notes over on Podcast for Teachers,

ran across this teacher tool resource which may be really good for face to face pd.  In an email this morning, a member of my staff as responding to a link highlighting our students participating in Red Ribbon week.  The staff member was working today, which is a optional teacher work day.  When the school calendar puts a teacher work day on Monday, there is no way I am working.  Three-day weekends are equivalent to bonus pay– well almost. 

This is all the time I am going to spend on school stuff today!  Check out the cool edu-junk treasures over at Google For Educators.

“Google recognizes the central role that teachers play in breaking down the barriers between people and information, and we support educators who work each day to empower their students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. This website is one of the ways we’re working to bolster that support and explore how Google and educators can work together.  As a start, we’re inviting you to share your best ideas for using technology to innovate in the classroom. To your left, you’ll find a teacher’s guide to Google products, including basic information about each tool, examples of how educators are using them, and lesson ideas. You’ll also find lesson plans and videos from our partners at Discovery Education focusing on two of our most popular teaching tools: Google Earth and Google SketchUp.”

Google For Educators

technorati tags:PFT, google, teachers, k-12

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September 10, 2006 by jmmblake.

Reading my Earthlink Reader this morning and I ran across this really cool tool for classroom use. Love everything about it except the high price. Hopefully, other companies will come out with cheaper copies of this or FFV will make a home version.

Fast Forward Video has just begun shipping the imaginatively named NDT 200, a new hard drive-based digital video recorder for video professionals in the field. This $1,500 DVR plugs into existing video cameras and can record footage onto its removable drive. It has an iPod-like interface on the front, with a jog wheel and screen to access various files. The NDT 200 records in QuickTime or in FFV secure video formats and has various selectable compressions ratios, ranging from 4:1 to 30:1, and supports dual channel audio, and analog composite and S-Video inputs and connects to a computer via USB 2.0.

myEarthLink Reader - All Recently Updated

technorati tags:NDT, DVR

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August 16, 2006 by jmmblake.

Moodle is three years old!

by Martin Dougiamas.

Moodle 1.0 was released three years ago today on August 20th - looking back we’ve come a long way in that time, and the future still looks good. So,

Happy birthday to Moodle!

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August 15, 2006 by jmmblake.

I am a regular reader of Steve Sloan’s great blog.  When I read his post below, it made me think about the many hours I spent this summer conducting of interviews and late nights editing the poor audio to turn out some podcasts for a consortium.  I researched several different devices to use to conduct my interviews, and finally settled on using Griffin Industries iMic and Lapel Mic.  Well, the audio really was not ready for CNN.  However, that is also part of the “allure” or authentic podcasting.  Sure Steve, aggree 100% with you– as a webcam is no substitute for a 10 Megapixel Nikon digital camera, so is a computer with a cheap mic a replacement for a high quality digital recorder.  Still, we podcasters have to be true to our craft-  the Marantz is professional grade, but this all make me think about watching my middle school students wipe off the cut grass clipping from the $200 basketball shoes.  I laugh at them as ask them if they think that a $200 pair of shoes will actually make them a better basketball player.  It make them mad as heck.  So, I am not going to bad mouth anyone that uses a Marantz recorder to create a podcast.  I would use one if I had the money to spend on one too, don’t get me wrong.  But, it is impossible for me to justify spending that kind of money on something that just records audio.  I like the iAudio U2 for the best bag for the buck.  Check this out, for $90, we can buy a refurbished one from CowonAmerica.  I like Creative’s Zen M with the 30 harddrive with built-in microphone too.

I certainly hope Steve reads this, because I too struggled with audio quality from hell.  I replaced the iMic and LapelMic with an Andrea anti-noise USB NC-7100 headset w/mic.  Immediately, the audio quality I was able to attain got much better while recording audio in Garageband.  For example, I was able to dub my interview questions into an interview. 

Also, I am in the process of migrating from Garageband to Ubercaster.  I have been very impressed with Ubercaster’s audio filtering, which includes many of the features available in Audacity.  Garageband is easier for me to include photos, pre-recorded intros and outros on my Mac.  Ubercaster make me have to keep files, that I can not preview or search for like Garageband does in iTunes and iPhoto.  In Ubercaster, however, I am able to make use of either auto fade of segments, or adjust the levels manually of individual segment within the same track.  I have not learned how to do that Garageband. 

I actually had saved my money up for a Marantz 660, and looked long and hard at the Edirol R09 but did not like the Edirol because I needed two mic to conduct my interview series.  But, when it came down to time to order the device, I heard a podcast created by Aaron Smith  over at Acdemic Aesthetic.  He uses an iPod Video and Belkin TuneTalk stereo mic.  His podcast sound really clear.  I use video clips to help my students learn science concepts.  I want to be able to grab images from my digital camera’s memory stick using the add on device to connect the usb cable directly from my camera to the iPod video and then clear off the memory stick and keep on shooting images.

Computers make lousy recorders for podcasting

I have found using a serious recording device has caused the audio quality of my podcasts to take a huge jump forward. Would I take a step backwards? No way! I started off recording into a mic attached to my computer, I moved to a mic attached to an iPod and have graduated to a real quality field recorder. This has worked to me and I am no audiophile.

Here is my field kit list of equipment for doing good quality audio podcasting. Some of this I have, some I am saving up to buy:

• Shure PG14/PG185 Wireless Lavalier System on instructor
• Marantz PMD 660 Recorder, run automatic level control on the recorder
• Floor Stand
• Wired Floor Mike (optional wireless mike) like a Shure SM58 Dynamic Handheld Microphone
• Both audio channels going into the two channels on the recorder or into a mixer
• Mix both tracks to mono in post production on the computer using Audacity

technorati tags:podcasting, Marantz, iPod

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August 15, 2006 by jmmblake.

Ads coming to texbooks

Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won’t pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko’s and Pura Vida coffee.

If this means Kinko’s or Pura Vida are coming to the country– bring them on.

Here are some of the advantages of working for FedEx Kinko’s:

• Proven track record of success
• On-going employment, education and advancement opportunities in a multitude of locations
• Competitive incentive programs
• Excellent benefits and 401(k) plan
• Friendly working atmosphere
• Active nationwide recruitment network
• An innovative, dynamic and visionary spirit

technorati tags:textbooks, k-12, news

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