One of our teachers came to me last year and asked about student portfolios. Currently, students use manilla folders to categorize and maintain examples of their writing as they move through high school. The folders get passed on from teacher to teacher, and items are added at several points throughout the year. Since this teacher uses Moodle to manage assignments, he would like to have … Continue reading Mahara

Is it just me, or is the story of Google turning in to a James Bond movie? Consider these developments: A few weeks ago, Google launched its own satellite to take high-resolution pictures of the Earth. They plan to sell the high-res pictures, and put lower-resolution ones into the Google Maps and Google Earth products. Remember, when looking up at the sky, to smile. Not … Continue reading Don't Be Evil

My favorite first grade teacher asked me last week if I knew of any good tech money available to teachers. She has iBooks in her room, but they’re definitely showing their age. Working in a school district where sustainability is a huge problem, there’s no plan for her school to replace them. So if she wants updated equipment, she’s on her own. I asked the … Continue reading Grant Opportunities

We’re just finishing up a major SMART Board installation in our district. In the last 15 months, we’ve installed more than 180 boards in our district. So far, the reception has been nothing less than astounding. These boards have had a transformational effect on how instruction is delivered in the classroom. Teachers who were fighting against them a year ago have now threatened to quit … Continue reading SMART Board Resources

I have to say I’m not all that excited about Google’s new browser. Sure, I downloaded it in the first 15 minutes after it was released. Three or four friends and I kicked the tires in that first half hour, and I already had a pretty well-formed opinion about by the time I got home that afternoon. But I’m not sure it’s living up to … Continue reading Chrome if You Want To

Each year, FirstEnergy awards competitive grants to educators and leaders of youth groups to fund math, science, and technology education projects. Teachers and youth leaders in areas where FirstEnergy has facilities or provides service are eligible to apply for up to $500. They’re specifically looking for projects that focus on electricity, but other math/science/technology projects are also eligible. Preference is given to one-time, one-year projects … Continue reading FirstEnergy Grants

APM’s Future Tense reported this week on the prevalence of poor Powerpoint design. Nancy Duarte, author of Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations, isn’t afraid to mince words: We have a very putrid PowerPoint pandemic. It’s done so poorly it really doesn’t take that much effort to stand out among your peers or for your cause. A little bit of extra effort … Continue reading Better Presentations

I’ve always been more in tune with the school year than the calendar year. I was born in the fall. In the northern hemisphere, school traditionally starts in the fall. We’ve had a bit of a rest. It’s not like January at all, where the new year comes as an afterthought to the frenzied Christmas season. January 1 is like that lone rogue firework shooting … Continue reading Happy New Year

There’s not a word yet for old friends who’ve just met. Part heaven, part space, or have I found my place? — Gonzo How is it we can know people we haven’t met yet? After nearly 20 years of doing this, I’m still amazed by that. I never met Lee. I can’t say that I knew her. I talked to her a few times. We … Continue reading New Ways to Remember

“Umm…” Conversations that start that way are never good ones. This was going to be no exception. “No one can log in. Is something wrong with the server?” Apparently, there was. It was late 2000, and I was pretty much on my own when it comes to technology in the district. My predecessor had hired a network consultant eighteen months earlier to set up the … Continue reading No One to Call

I was a few minutes early picking up my daughter, so I parked my car on the street in the residential neighborhood and pulled out the eeePC. There were four wireless access points in range, only one of which was secure. It would have been easy to connect to the unsecured networks. If file sharing were enabled on any of the computers in the house, … Continue reading Securing Wireless Networks

My brother and I had walkie-talkies when we were kids. I think we got them for Christmas one year. They were red, ran on 9-volt batteries, and had ridiculously long antennas. We used them constantly until the batteries died. Then, they fell into disuse (we never seemed to have a battery surplus). In the half-dozen years that followed, occasionally one would be discovered, and a … Continue reading One Walkie-Talkie