Google Jockey
This is a great sounding idea which, once again, is only talked about online, I couldn’t find any references to anyone actually trying this out, describing how to best implement using Google Jockey, or what can be some of the pitfalls when trying to use this new implementation of technology in the classroom.
A Google Jockey is a volunteer student who would be using a computer (presented via projector to the rest of the class) to search for terms and other salient aspects of providing support for classroom discussions. While I can imagine a lot of similar kinds of uses for projectors in a classroom environment, I think that Google Jockeying is certainly a worthy means of trying to get the most out of some of the tools which reside in most classrooms.
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/09/google-jockey.html
http://www.educause.edu/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutGoogl/156817
http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/05/19/internet_searching_graduates_to_classroom.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5835/is_200701/ai_n32229144/
Laptops in the classroom
A few years ago, the imitative to provide all students (ALL students, everywhere) with a laptop was all the rage. There was a lot of online talk about $100.00 laptops, and all of the wonderful things students could do when given this liberating technology. It is certainly an uplifting premise, one which presumes a bit upon the innate nobility of humankind, but then again, all uplifting ideas presume a bit upon something or other…
As an atypical college student a few years ago, I saw the beginnings of the laptop revolution on college campuses. I have been waiting to hear about some similar movements on High School campuses. So far, other than on some very nice, upscale, private schools, about all I hear about initiatives to get more laptops into high schools is mildly negative. It seems that the cost of laptops does have an impact upon where and how these tools are used. For instance, in a socio-economically deprived school district, the notion that a $10.00 deposit at the beginning of a school year would be able to forestall major losses and damage to $1,300.00 laptops certainly sounds like some wishful thinking.
I have also heard of some college instructors developing more and more draconian methods to ensure that students don’t spend time in a lecture IM’ing friends or going to Facebook. I’ve ever seen in the news of a college instructor who forbids having laptops in his classrooms for this reason. As with any new technology, tool, or new social paradigm it looks like we are in for a bumpy ride.
http://www.convergemag.com/blog/students/Laptops-Fight-for-Classroom-Time.html
http://www.laptopmag.com/mobile-life/laptop-high.aspx
http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2009/05/06/the-laptop-in-the-classroom/
http://educationalissues.suite101.com/article.cfm/laptops_jury_is_out
http://www.progressiveu.org/124813-laptops-in-the-high-school-classroom-a-reconsideration
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_c59a0c0a-93fe-536e-ab56-1a341bebd640.html
High Tech classrooms
As with laptops in the classroom (even in college) so too are the growing amounts of…well at best a ho-hum attitude, in the implementation of ‘high tech’ classrooms. I think that (even in my post yesterday) it is good to develop new tools and skills, but not at the cost of relinquishing older skills or tools. A poor PowerPoint presentation is certainly much worse than almost any chalkboard lecture. Admittedly there are many cases (as with the fatuous PowerPoint presentations) where it isn’t about whether the old or new technology is valid, better or worse, or of any use. It would seem rather obvious that there a better and worse practitioners of any kind of technology out there.
When I was in college to get my teaching certification, I was impelled to take quite a few classes which related to all kinds of soft science approaches to student behavior. Some of these classes were of real use to me, and there were some other classes which were, quite simply, a waste of time. However, I never even had a chance to take a class (there was none at the college I went to) which would help prepare future teachers to use some of the emerging technology (emerging in the sense that it has been out, in many cases, for a decade…). By this, I would surmise that these sorts of problems are certainly fixable (of course, common sense-ical perspectives like this don’t seem to be as popular in this industry as in some others I’ve worked in…).
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/high-tech-classroom.html
http://aabss.org/journal2000/f11Brown.jmm.html
http://www.thereviewzone.com/books/hightechheretic.html
White board costs versus Wiimote systems
I have been evaluating a Wiimote interactive presentation system for the last week. So far, I can’t see any practical difference in a day to day, typical use situation with this system and the Interactive White Boards which I see implemented in almost every classroom I have been in, in the last three years. There are some big differences in cost though! From the following links you might be able to see that a typical white board implementation in a typical classroom will cost nearly $2,000.00. On the other hand, 3Pinteract (in New Zealand) has a Wiimote system designed for classroom implementation which only costs a little less than $300.00… Actually, for those who are technically inclined (and like to kluge their own devices), I suppose one could make a Rube Goldberg solution for less than $50.00…if you don’t quantify time, skill, and effort.
In any case, the Interactive White Board system costs nearly seven times as much as a complete equivalent system from 3Pinteract… there’s not much more I can say about that (I have a 3Pinteract system as a result!).
http://touchboards.com/smartboards/SmartSB680.asp
http://www.electronicwhiteboardswarehouse.com/
http://www.3pinteract.co.nz/products.html
http://www.3pinteract.co.nz/orders-international.html
