Next stop...

...Philadelphia!

Concerning the iPad

Concerning the iPad, Mr. G writes:

If you have $500 to burn, feel free, but realize that you are a beta tester. That hasn't been talked about enough in the 24 hours since the announcement. This is Apple's MO. I know. I have a $400 first-gen iPhone in my pocket. It only took Apple two more generations of the iPhone to come out with what should have been the first product. I'm typing this on a 1,1 MacBook. Within months of buying this MacBook they threw the dual core processor's in that should have been there in the first place.

When iPad 2.0 comes out with it's video camera and multitasking, I'll have my tongue wagging to grab one. Until then I will be staying far, far away. I've learned my lesson with Apple's first-generation products.

As a long-time Apple user, (though one who's also got a soft-spot for Linux), I totally concur. Buying a first generation Apple product is always a dicey investment.

But once their products set into the stride of second and third generations? Well... that's just a whole other kettle of fish. Which is why I think the big subtext to the Apple story from yesterday is next-gen iTunes going cloud-based and the coming 2010 iPhone.

My greatest interest in the iPad itself is what it means in terms of leading to a race to replace paper media with legitimately easy-to-read digital alternatives. That and the rather concerning notion of a single corporation (via iBooks) owning both the media and the device to read and buy the media. In a sense, the iPad experiment, like the iPod, is focused on the realignment of channels of distribution. If iPad wins, it will alter not just the few mom-and-pop bookstores left (they might actually become specialty shops for non-digitally-available media), but could shake up (or shake down) the Amazons, Borders, and B&Ns of the world.

As I said in yesterday's post (as well as in the comments), I see the potential of the iPad (or some similar device) as instigating a movement towards communal computing. That is, a device sitting on the coffee table at the dentist's office or a device I find lying on my pillow when I check into my hotel room. I don't own the device, but rather can use it to access the web and all my stuff.

From the looks of it, the iPad's absolute best use is reading text on the Web. That's been the bane of so many folks who insist on paper, so by combining touchscreens with a larger portable device, Apple can only up the ante for other companies to produce better alternatives to paper books. On this front, a part of me wonders if the first iPhones were just a test to see if folks would go for that sort of interface. Because familiarity with the iPhone has totally set up a swath of the culture now to be perfectly attuned to use the iPad.

Furthermore, I understand the frustrations folks are expressing: no Flash, no phone (barring Skype... maybe?), no multi-tasking, no camera, no audio/video production suite. But again, this is just the beginning. I'm not saying that Apple will (or deserves to) rule the media landscape, but I see this as one of several steps -- throughout culture and across media and consumer outlets -- in taking the act of reading to a paperless place.

As for all of those folks on the tech blogs, (and especially in the comments, jeez... I'm so glad we have 'mature' readers commenting on this blog -- kudos to you), there's been a lot of complaint that this thing is just gonna sell on sex appeal. Well, guess what?

Design matters.

It matters to adults and kids alike. And I think where Apple is getting this right -- no matter what you think of the price (which I personally actually think is pretty reasonable despite the fact that I can't currently afford one... ehem!) and no matter what limitations the device provides for content creation in opposition to content consumption (though we are ultimately the producers of the Internet and we really don't have to rely on Apple's apps and way of doing things with their device just because they want us to) and despite all of the various problems and threats this device holds, it has one advantage over every device I've ever seen meant to provide for reading on the web: it makes you want to use it.

And if we can figure out a way to get these things into the hands of kids who don't like books (boring) and who don't like reading online (headache) we might be able to make the reading experience attractive. I understand that that may seem totally counter-intuitive to any of us who grew up curled around books. But I've got three kids of my own: two of them love books. The other? Not so much. But put him on a computer and he'll read anything. To us, counter-intuitive; to him, not so much.

You should have seen his eyes light up when he caught a glimpse of the web promo of this thing.

Now, what's it all mean?

First of all, the iPad is not -- nor do I think is it meant to be -- a do-everything device. At least in it's initial form, it's a really rad e-reader. And I mean that sincerely. I've read on the Kindle. The Kindle sucks. I feel like I'm stepping back in time when I read on the Kindle. And not in a good way. More like in a creepy way like when you see a movie you thought was funny as a kid and now, seeing it again by chance, you don't find any humor in it.

Second, I love the idea of everything going on the cloud. But I think right now is the time to demand an inclusive method of distribution so that small publishers, independent authors, and alt media outlets aren't excluded. I'll be impressed when I see Apple open up its system to authors regardless of saleability. And yes, I realize that's total idealism.

Third, any business with a waiting room should do us all a favor and buy a couple of these things. Cancel your magazine subscriptions and let us access our own stuff while sitting around waiting for the root canal.

Fourth, obviously Apple wants to make this thing as ubiquitous as possible. That's the reason for the $499 entry tag. That's also why this thing doesn't have the camera or the multi-tasking or the...

It's about creating a market. And I think it's an interesting experiment. That market is not schools (at least not yet), it's folks who can drop a few Franklins, like great design, and like to read. I know quite a few people like that.

Fifth, this thing ain't (as I've read so much over the last 24 hours) a big iPod Touch. This thing is an experiment in whether Apple can get people either to change the way they read or make the reading experience more pleasurable. And of course capitalize on that in big dollars.

Sixth, I think this whole thing represents something a lot bigger than Apple. I have no stake in the company, but as a teacher and a human-being I do have a stake in the future of the written/printed/digitized word. I recognize that the iPad can't do half the things I use a 'real' computer for (recording and mixing heavy-duty audio, playing video-heavy MMOGs), but I also recognize that that's not the purpose of the device. I'm interested in the outcome, despite whatever the product is; after all, the Google tablet is on the horizon (which may or may not be better for production) and who knows what personal projection and advances in augmented reality hold down the line.

So, I agree with Mr. G that this is basically a consumer device. Will the iPad and the iMac someday merge into a teacher-approved wonder device? Not today.

But will the iPad up the ante in e-readers and force any potential competitors to create devices that don't feel like they were built (and meant to work) in 1990? We'll see.

Hype or no hype, what we're considering here is whether we are going to let technology alter the way we relate to text. Hopefully in round two it'll be in a more interactive way. Can't wait.

Guest Blog: Creating A Space

Counselors are teachers, too!

Here in our second guest post of the day, Shelley Krause talks about EduCon. Shelley is Co-Director of College Counseling at Rutgers Preparatory School. Follow her on Twitter @butwait.


My work with young people locates me in a place full of longing and possibility. I work as a college counselor, and my students often find that the idea of leaving one community for another is fraught with emotion. Some students yearn for a kind of belonging they have yet to experience, while others crave the relief of relative anonymity. But none of them wants to feel alone, I think.

I watch and listen as my students try to imagine themselves into their unknown futures. Sometimes, I edit their questions in my mind. They ask, "What college can I get into?" and I hear, "Do I want to go to college?" The classic "What do I want to be when I grow up?" becomes, "Who do I want to be?" or even, "Do I have to grow up?"

But this kind of imaginary cut and paste results only in my altered version of their story, when what they need is the space to create more fully realized version of theirs.

***

I am heading off to EduCon2.2 this weekend after having missed last year's gathering due to illness. Several members of my school community attended a Building Learning Communities conference and came back raving about it, but I'm not sure I've managed to lure any of them to EduCon2.2.

"Why do you want to go?" someone in my school community asked me with an air of puzzlement. I think they were trying to figure out where I fit into this picture. I am not a classroom teacher. I am not a school leader. My job title does not have the word "technology" in it.

Part of my excitement about EduCon stems from a desire to define myself in terms of what I am rather than what I am not. I say to my students, "You be you." I ask them, "When are the times you've felt most fully alive?" I feel as though in reaching out in search of community, I am listening to my own counsel. I am discovering that I am a member of a school community who also wants to be be an active member of multiple learning communities.

Even if I haven't met a single one of the hundreds of EduCon2.2 attendees prior to this weekend, the lure of that community of learners has been a powerful one for me. Chris Lehmann and the SLA community have worked so hard, not only to share their learning, but to then create a space in which others can share theirs.

***

So I'm heading down to Philadelphia on Friday, unsure of what to expect and excited by the prospect of happily exploring a space so full of energy and possibility. In actively following the threads of my interest, I am trying to model what reaching out to connect with one's tribe looks like. And this spring, when a junior I'm working with lets on that he's both excited and nervous about the prospect of college, I'm going to smile and say, "Can you say a little more about that?" Trying to open up a space.

Guest Post: "I want to use technology as a method -- not has a cool activity."

Today we have two guest posts from folks in the TeachPaperless community! One of my absolute favorite things as a blogger is to be able to provide you all with the authentic voices of teachers making their own way through these digital times. I hope you enjoy reading these pieces as much as I enjoyed publishing them.

Heather Mason is a middle school teacher with 14 years experience in the Language Arts classroom but has only realized the power of technology in education recently. Follow her on Twitter @hrmason.


A confession before I start. The whole paperless thing kind of frightens me a bit. I was raised reading the comics on my dad’s lap, flipping through the pages of a journal and curling up with a paperback book. But one look at the papers stacked up mercilessly on my desk and I know there must be a better way.

When asked what I would want for technology if money was no object, my first thought wasn’t a new gadget or piece of hardware. They always seen to be outdated right after the PO is put in. Plus those tools often stay in the classroom.

As a writing teacher, I know that when kids write for me they are concerned with how many paragraphs do they need to get a good grade. But when they write for others, the grade no longer matters. They want to know how to make their writing good enough to pass peer inspection. Tech is no different. A tool that never leaves the classroom will only provide learning that stays in the classroom. I want something more.

In order to get more, though, we have to do a better job putting the tech into student hands, both at school and at home. Computers, and more specifically the internet, are now a ubiquitous part of our lives. The problem is they aren’t really a useful part of many students’ lives.

I know there is this myth of the digital native better able to communicate through electronic means that traditional ones. There is truth to that for some, but for many kids technology is only a new means to pass notes, and beyond their cell phone and MySpace/Facebook account, they have no experience in using technology to serve a purpose. Recently I told a few kids they could email me their presentations; only one knew how to add an attachment to an email. During parent conferences, many parents have confessed to getting rid of internet for safety concerns or monetary troubles. And recently I took a poll of my students and almost a quarter of them don’t text; some don’t even have cell phones. No new gadget in my classroom will overcome that.

I work in a system that supports technology, but doesn’t have the funding to fully realize its dream. There are two computer labs at my school: one for the business classroom, one in the media center, and one in its own room. I get to use one about once every two months or so, sometimes not even that much. That means that instead of making tech a key part of my class, it becomes a project… a unit that I have to plan specially for. And if we can’t finish in the two days I signed up for, well… students are out of luck unless they are already familiar with the tool we’re using and have access to a computer at home.

I’m not complaining, some schools don’t even have one lab. I have a doc cam and projector with cables strung across my floor like booby traps, but I know teachers who are still using the overhead out of necessity.

While I am happy with what I have, I want to use technology as a method -- not has a cool activity.

I want to teach students to manipulate many different forms of text. I want students to think of email and blogs as the main way to turn in papers, slide shows, photo essays, movies, whatever means of creating they choose, not as a thing for only the few special kids who happen to have internet and know how to use if effectively. I want to get them beyond passing notes. That’s where I see myself going over the next few years.

Meanwhile, I have a stack of papers to grade. Sigh.

First Thoughts About the iPad

Immediate Reaction to the Announcement of the iPad:

1. Apple is taking on the mobile phone industry and Amazon at the same time. Wow.

2. The plug-in keyboard/charger is the future-now of mobile computing. Hands down.

3. They actually priced this right; and with no contract required.

4. I'm thinking about cancelling my cell phones and my home DSL, Craigslisting my various computer crap, and buying two of these on the 3G plan.

*add 3:41PM: But @deangroom just reminded me that you can't play WoW on this thing... guess I'll keep my home LAN for the time being and just ditch the phones ; )

***

More nuanced immediate reaction:

I think there's something that's largely going unsaid here.

In making iTunes cloud-based, this device really doesn't have to be 'owned' by anyone. What I mean is: this is just a device for connecting to your content (and record collection, and games, and magazines, and bookshelf) on the cloud. Which means that we could see these popping up in every hotel room and on the coffee tables of every office; we could see these things lying around for public use in the faculty room, in student centers, and in libraries.

I think what I'm suggesting is that this could sort of mash up what we think about when we think about personal computing.

Instead, could we be looking at the dawn of communal computing? Where the device is ubiquitous and shared -- sort of the Zip Car of computing. The real essence of what's going on is that the 'stuff' is out there on the cloud; all we really need is an easy to use device to access and play with our stuff.

We own our stuff; who cares who owns the device?

That said, I'm sort of envisioning one or two at home with one hooked up to an LCD projection to watch movies and whatnot. But I'm also imagining communal Pads lining bookshelves at school and a Pad or two sitting where the magazines used to be at the Jiffy Lube.

One place where I definitely see a future if this thing takes off (and it will) is in accessories. You're gonna need some way to carry that thing. Enter skinny bike messenger iPad bag.

I'll take two.

EduConversation: What Free Improvisational Music and Networked Learning Have in Common

Hey there, kids! Going to EduCon?

Well, if you're looking for fun stuff to do and happen to get the chance to pop in to our conversation on Saturday, don't forget to bring something to make noise with.

Noise!

That's right: you can expect the session to be 'highly participatory'; which is ed speak for "We're gonna raise a racket."

What do free improvised music and networked learning have in common? Bring your noisemakers this Saturday and find out.

What Blacksmiths Can Teach Us About Teaching

Spent the weekend pounding on things with hammers.

For 16 hours -- my swollen fingers and aching back are both happy it took place spread across two days -- I attended blacksmith classes at the Carroll County Farm Museum's Academy of Traditional Arts.

Led by master blacksmith Bill Clemens, (whose license-plate reads 'Blxsmith'), my classmates and I -- eight guys, mostly sporting beards -- learned the basics of metallurgy, coal firing, hammer-and-anvil technique, and forge welding.

And when I say 'learned', I mean 'LEARNED'.

There were no PowerPoints. No lectures. There were no required textbooks and there weren't any tests.

Just learning.

Blacksmith Bill would demo a technique slowly, and then once again at full speed. And then it was our turn. We went off to our forges and banged stuff out.

In a way, it reminded me of the Aikido classes I took sometime ago. In both cases, technique is modeled by a teacher and then learned and reinforced through actual practice. The sensei doesn't grade your understanding of Aikido by whether or not you can pass a multiple choice test; she assesses your understanding by judging whether or not you have figured out how to roll safely on a mat after having been thrown over the shoulder of a burly classmate. She assesses whether you've learned how to defend yourself from a sword attack by seeing if you keep getting hit by a sword or not.

Likewise, in blacksmithing, you demonstrate your understanding of pig tail scrolls and tab hooks by banging out pig tail scrolls and tab hooks. You learn which part of a two-and-a-half foot rod of mild steel is safe to touch by burning your fingers. You learn how to bring a shaft of glowing hot steel to a point by messing up over and over and over again until you get it right.

And once you do get it right you feel SO GOOD about yourself. And you want to do it again and you want to show everyone what you did and you want to learn more.

I'm going back in a few weeks to take the intermediate class. And then it's on to knife-making. My wife isn't crazy about the fact that I've got burns on six fingers and the slash of a scar above my elbow where a hot shard of steel knicked me, but she was nonetheless supportive of my wanting to build a brick forge in the backyard.

I learned a lot this weekend, and more than anything I learned about what really motivates folks: it's stuff we "can't" do, but nonetheless figure out how to do. And for eight guys who sweat and labored over anvils for a weekend in January, we figured out that you learn by doing and do by learning.

Thought for the Day

The very fact that we teach children that certain words are "SAT Words" illustrates the fact that an enormous swath of folks involved in the education of American children have little to no understanding either of what constitutes an authentic approach to language or any concept of what it means to motivate children to want to learn.

Is Your School Whale Blubber?

The record age was just a blip. It was a bit like if you had a source of whale blubber in the 1840s and it could be used as fuel. Before gas came along, if you traded in whale blubber, you were the richest man on Earth. Then gas came along and you'd be stuck with your whale blubber. Sorry mate – history's moving along. Recorded music equals whale blubber. Eventually, something else will replace it.

- Brian Eno quoted January 2010 in The Guardian newspaper

Eno's talking about records and the music industry here, but I think quite a good analogy is to be made to mass-produced printed books, institutionalized/industrialized public education, and a number of things the digital landscape is rendering obsolete.

And I think every teacher, admin, schoolboard member, and super oughta be reviewing the recent history of the past 15 years of the music industry -- from the rise of low-cost digital alternatives to traditional analog studio recording to the rapid decline in profit and usefulness of cassettes and CDs. [You do remember cassettes, right? If you are like me, your most recent auto is the first you've owned that hasn't had a cassette player.]

'Alternatives' and 'Usefulness': they are the key words.

Oh yeah, and 'Whale Blubber'.

We don't need digital textbooks any more than we needed paper textbooks.

This is a big mistake:

The maker of the iPhone is discussing ways to include McGraw-Hill and Hachette e-book titles on its tablet, due to be introduced Jan. 27

If Apple really wanted to help out in education, it's new tablet would automatically erase e-textbooks.

We don't need digital textbooks any more than we needed paper textbooks.

Kids need primary sources and smart teachers, not manufactured questions and one-size-fits-all standards.

[Thanks to @NMHS_Principal for Tweeting out the original article.]

Printed Books vs. An Unlimited Literature

It was never about Paper vs. Digital.

It was never about No Tech vs. Tech.


It's always been about Static vs. Dynamic.

Passive vs. Active.

Inflexible vs. Flexible.

Rote vs. Improvisatory.

Manufactured Printed Books vs. The Unlimited Literature of Humanness.


We tried for 400-some years to use printed books to get the word out to more and more people. But we also used books as a means to limit authority and make lots and lots of money for a relative selected few.

We're at the end of that era. And nostalgia and comfort notwithstanding, I say we're all the better for it.

That'll Be Three Less Textbooks...

Teaching West Civ for the first time this year.

Today, convinced my two West Civ teaching colleagues to dump the CD-Rom textbook and instead use the resources at BBC History Online and the Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History as the basis for our curriculum.

One of the two checked in with the chair of our department who responded: "Sure, sounds good."

Ah, the sweet joy of bringing down the publishing industry one textbook at a time.

Ted circa 1897

Is it satire if it's true, or because it's true?

Spencer takes on Ted in another installment of Adventures in Pencil Integration (aka The Best Damn Ed Tech Blog that Could Have Been Written By Jonathan Swift or Mark Twain on the Internet).

Time for you to subscribe.

EduCon

Pretty durned excited about the upcoming EduCon!

And I'm looking forward both to leading a conversation and meeting many of the folks from my PLN f2f. Let's get together and think about what's outside the stuff outside the box.

Heard in the Hall...

"I can't believe we're not gonna have tests."

"I know, I mean, this class is gonna be so much WORK."

On the Deeper Connections Built Into Throw-Away Questions

So the Tweet goes...

Latin Students: How many museums can you find on Twitter? +10 pt coupon to anybody who Tweets 20 museums with collections in Ancient Art!

A throw-away question like this -- casually posted after school -- can create so much opportunity, so much grist for the next day's classroom discussion, such a great compilation of resources to be bookmarked up on Delicious, so much potential for future investigation.

I call it a throw-away question because in-and-of-itself, it's just a simple question of the first type Bloom recognized.

But we're living in a world where even throw-away questions can produce stunning by-products.

For we are living in an age in which questions themselves -- questions of all varieties and supposed levels -- are capable of tapping into links far beyond whatever our initial thought or intention of the question originally was.

Certainly, this has long been the case with questions. But now, a simple question like "How Many?" Produces results like "I didn't know they had Twitter in Italy!" and "Why do all these museums need to be on Twitter?" and "Do they have Greek Art in museums in China?" and -- one of my favorites -- "How did you know about all of this stuff before the Internet?"

The kids are ready for the Network.

That is, of course, if you've prepped 'em to use social media effectively.

The best way to do that is to make social media -- and the whole instant global connected network itself -- a regular and ordinary part of your classroom environment.

Students don't need you lecture them on how to use it; they just need to see you use it.

They'll pick it up.

Especially if they get to see immediate benefits. Like when you let them use Twitter as a lifeline to their classmates on a test. Or when you let them access Delicious during an in class essay.

Or when you let a throw-away question veer off into the philosophical.

Your use of social media doesn't have to be flashy to produce good results. There was nothing flashy about Socrates.

Sometimes the simplicity of asking students to Tweet a list of resources is not only enough to fill several days' worth of classroom conversation and 'homework browsing', but it's also an investment in the future connection your kids are making with social media and networked learning itself.

It's the difference between a throw-away question (i.e. 'I wonder how many museums are on Twitter?') and a deeper connection.

Only 70 years behind the times...

And you think your school is behind the curve?

The Vienna Philharmonic has finally caught up to the 'War Years'... as in the 1940's.

To accompany your easy listening, here's a bit of knowledge about what the computer landscape looked like in 1945 courtesy of the Computer History Museum.

Real Life and Death

Real life and death, just a mouse-click away.

Go ahead, click: Haiti: 500 Patients Treated in 24 Hours at Carrefour Hospital. This is something you and your students need to see. Need to talk about.

And Doctors Without Borders is just one of many organizations trying to help down in Haiti. They are among the millions of folks on the ground dealing with these real life and death issues.

Here's two things you all (we) can do to help no matter where you all (we) are in the world: 1) Give a few bucks to MSF or your favorite charity working to get water and meds into Haiti. 2) Share the story and conversation of what's going on in that country with your kids.

Talk to your students about it.

In History class. In Math class.

Just talk.

With them. Together.

And be thankful that you can.

A Teacher's Pictures of Haiti Before the Quake

Check out Pete's pictures.

So Much for Instructional Manuals

Had a little Craigslist-driven yard sale today. Mostly cleaning older pieces of musical equipment out of my studio.

Interesting thing happened during the sale of a particularly difficult-to-operate synthesizer. This particular model sported a series of manually programmable oscillators and multi-mode filters -- all sorts of devices of an especially technical nature essentially made for making cool sound effects.

Well, I had the sale ready to go, but couldn't find the instruction manual.

"Great," I thought, "You have to be crazy to buy this thing without the manual."

"No problem," said the kid as he hands me the cash, "I'm sure there's someone explaining how to use it on YouTube."