We’re switching webmail systems in our district in a few weeks. We’ve been using OpenXchange for the last few years, but are switching to Squirrelmail because of its simplicity and extendability. We initially set up OpenXchange with the hopes of implementing a district-wide groupware solution, but the reluctance of some people to give up their Franklin planners, along with Microsoft Outlook’s inability to handle IMAP … Continue reading 21st Century Illiteracy

My favorite first grade teacher finally has a blog. I was talking with her about it a couple weeks ago, and it was interesting to hear why she wanted to blog. Her school district provides a web site creation tool. They can easily put announcements, homework, classroom rules, and schedule information online. They can choose the neat animated graphics that elementary schools seem to love. … Continue reading Why Blog?

Back in August, the National School Boards Association concluded that social networking isn’t so bad after all. The study that they commissioned found a significant disparity between the things students are doing online, the things schools are allowing, and the risks associated with participation in online social networks. The materials from an August 14 news briefing are also available online, and were used for the … Continue reading Social Networking in Schools

This is the third installment of my notes on using Linux as a desktop OS. You can catch up in the Desktop Linux category if you’re interested in the background. Real work kind of got in the way on Friday, and I found myself trying to do some things with OpenOffice on this new Linux box. Basically, the problem was this: I wanted to compare … Continue reading Almost Just Like

Are you going to the conference this year? If you have the time, immerse yourself in the content. Interact with the other participants and the presenters. Reflect on the things they’re talking about, and post about it on the conference site, or on your blog, or on my blog. The second annual K-12 Online Conference begins Monday, October 8, at midnight GMT. I know. i … Continue reading It's Conference Time

This is part 2 of my Linux journey. See what you’ve missed.  Ubuntu installed without any problems. Upon restarting, I logged in with the account I configured during the installation. The first order of business was fixing the video settings. I was stuck in 800×600 mode, because the installer didn’t correctly identify my video card. It took a little Googling to get it resolved, but … Continue reading So Far, So Good

I’ve been playing with this all week. Go over to Mutating Pictures. You’ll see a computer-generated image. Rate how much (on a scale of 0-10) the image looks like a face. The system “learns” from the ratings people give it, and over time, the images improve. What’s really going on? Philipp Lenssen started with 1000 random images. These images produce “offspring” with mutations. Initially, up … Continue reading Natural Selection

Dave’s been trying to get me to try Ubuntu out as a desktop OS. I’ve tried to run Linux on the desktop several times. It just always seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth. I can’t find the drivers I need. Or I can’t run the applications I use. Or it’s just too much of a pain to use. I’ve tried a bunch of … Continue reading The Journey Begins

I always enjoy reading JDub’s Technospud Blog. She does a lot of reflecting about technology and education, and frequently asks some great questions and provokes some wonderful discussions. Earlier this week, she commented on teachers’ reluctance to use technology. She’s frustrated by the perspective that her teachers have of technology as an add-on. It’s one more thing they have to do. They don’t voluntarily use … Continue reading A Snail's Pace

I was listening to the September 11 edition of Women of Web 2.0 this morning when a comment by Vicki Davis stopped me in my tracks. She was talking about how difficult it is to teach students to be critical of information they find on the web. If it’s in Google, it must be true. While making her point, she sited this example: When email … Continue reading Email Peeves

The main criticism of Wikipedia is that anyone can edit it. I don’t know the first thing about the Napoleonic wars. But I can go to the Wikipedia article and edit the entry and act like I was there. I can change anything I want. When I save it, it looks just like the rest of the information on Wikipedia. But it’s not accurate. A … Continue reading Validating Wikipedia

To whom it may concern: I would like to add my endorsement for Jeff Lebow as Technology & Learning Leader of the Year. Through his Worldbridges communities, he has made it possible for countless education professionals from all over the world to interact with one another, share resources, and build personal learning communities. My involvement with Worldbridges began in 2005 while searching for education-related podcasts. … Continue reading Jeff Lebow