The $150 Laptop: What Happens When Vision is Applied to Education

Nicholas Negroponte isn't an educator, but he certainly understands more about education than some of the claptrap that I read and hear on a regular basis from those who are supposed to be professional educators. Instead of speaking in empty platitudes and meaningless phrases meant to sound good and make the listeners feel good--but have no effect on learning--Negroponte has put his considerable energy and experience where his mouth is. The end result is the $100 laptop (now up to $150) project that is featured in this article at the New York Times.

After overcoming widespread skepticism from the technology sector Negroponte and his team from MIT have produced a device that has the potential to have a profound effect on the lives of children in developing countries. With it's low-cost, low-power LCD screen, solid-state memory in place of a hard drive, sophisticated mesh network capabilities, and ruggedized construction, the laptop that Negroponte's team has developed is easy to maintain, and more importantly, easy to learn how to use.

But what struck me the most in this article was his reaction to the nay-sayers, including Bill Gates, Intel, and members of the education elite of the world. To those who say that the laptop fails to account for the need for teacher training, he responds:

“It’s as if people spent all of their attention focusing on Columbus’s boat and not on where he was going,” he said in an interview (at the Times). “You have to remember that what this is about is education.”

What a concept. An education program that focuses on the needs of students by placing in their hands the power to take control of their own learning.

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Setting Google Straight on Martin Luther King

I wrote previously on the efforts by the educational blogging community to set Google straight on the rank order for searches done at Google for Martin Luther King. In a nutshell, prior to this effort, a search for the famous civil rights leader had a white-supremacist website (martin*luther*king*org) appear as the first result in Google, leading more than a few students to swallow the swill perpetrated by these nut jobs as the gospel truth. While it was a prime example of why students needed to dig deeper into understanding who was behind a particular site and why everything you find on the web should be treated with a large dose of skepticism, the fact that a group devoted to hatred could game Google in such a way finally spurred one person into action.

So, well-deserved kudos go to Tom Hoffman for leading the charge to Google-bomb Dr. King into a more appropriate listing at the search service. As he reports today, Martin*Luther*King*org has now slid down the listing at Google to the middle of the front page, with the top results now showing Stanford University's MLK Research and Education Institute, followed by a biography of Dr. King at the Nobel Prize site, and a link to The Martin Luther King Center.

While some may question the tactics used to game Google in such a manner, as Will Richardson does, in a case like this the efforts of individuals devoted to righting a wrong seems entirely justified to me. If we know that spambots and other automated methods are out there every second of every day attempting to fill your Google results with porn and all other manner of dreck, isn't it appropriate for grown-ups to take steps to make things right?

I think it is, and my thanks to Tom for leading the way on this campaign.

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The Sci-Fi Book Meme

From Mama Musings comes a blog meme that I can relate to. Since I'm about a third of the way through a re-reading of Asimov's Foundation series (actually reading them in order this time around) I thought this would be fun for me. So here goes:

"Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list of the most significant SF novels between 1953-2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love."

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien ***(Have read this literally dozens of times, starting waaaay back in 1980)
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov * (reading now)
3. Dune, Frank Herbert *
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson *
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe * (loved this series, hated others that he's written)
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson * (My favorite trilogy, right after LOTR)
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling * (great storytelling)
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven *
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson * (my new favorite author hands down)
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Gosh, that leaves me with a pretty good reading list to work on. Mayhaps some of these will land on my Christmas list.

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Google Bombing for Righteousness

Most folks who populate the world of the web understand what Google Bombing is all about--the posting of tons of links at blogs, pseudo-sites, and other locations in a bid to game the algorithms that Google uses for results. As a result you end up with amiserable failure search returning a link to George Bush's site as the #1 result. Likewise, a search for waffles returns with John Kerry in the top spot.

A couple of years ago I sat in a presentation by Alan November where he demonstrated a search for Martin Luther King returning a site maintained by a far-right wing splinter group of the KKK (or some such lick-spittle, hate-filled nut jobs) who have a credible looking site filled with articles on how Dr. King was a womanizing, nappy-headed, communist sumbitch. It was a great example of how you have to be careful when evaluating a site's credentials before deciding if it was creditable. A lesson that undoubtedly made its way into many a web research class.

Now, some education bloggers are suggesting more direct action be taken against Martin*Luther*King*org in an attempt to dislodge the onerous site that holds down the #1 spot in Google in a bit of web-n-geneering of Google's results.

Tom Hoffman got things started over at his blog, and others have picked up the thread and posed a few questions along the way:

Miguel wonders if this kind of activity is the antithesis of what transparency on the web is supposed to mean.

Will Richardson joins the campaign but has some questions of his own and some good comments posted at his blog.

Finally, just to really generate some good linkage, the campaign gets Scobelized here.

My opinion? Actually if it's in your power to make a change and right a wrong, why wouldn't you? Clearly this site holds the top position in Google because they're done something underhanded. So bombing back at them is just a way to push things in another direction and get relevant links appearing as they should. So here we go:

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King

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Web Publishing and Bermuda Public Schools

I'm taking some time off from the day job this week to go on my coolest speaking gig yet--three days with the Bermuda Union of Teachers and their first-ever educational technology conference.

The focus of my presentations will revolve around the world of web publishing and how teachers and students can communicate and collaborate with each other and with the wider world. As I prepare my talks I'm really focusing on those topics more than I am on the software that I'll be demonstrating. Even when I'm going to be talking about specific products or services I always try to approach these events from the perspective of the audience with what we in the education world call "guiding questions". Here are the questions I'll be trying to answer in my time on the stage this week:

What skills are needed to publish online?

How can teachers combine the software they're already familiar with for web-based publication?

How can Bermuda's teachers easily publish to the web?

What barriers exist to prevent teachers and students from publishing online?

How can student work that is published online be used as motivation to affect student performance?

What creative tools can students use for online publishing?

How can web and graphic design be integrated into the curriculum?

How can students employ animation and interactivity to create simulations and demonstrations?

What tools allow video and audio to be incorporated into classroom lessons?

What higher-order thinking skills are strengthened through project-based lessons that can be published online?

How can students and teachers in Bermuda collaborate in real-time across the web with each other and with classrooms in other countries?

What support systems, servers, and hardware are required to establish a robust web presence for the island of Bermuda?

Now of course since this is an Adobe-sponsored trip I have software titles firmly in mind for my talks, but it's important in any presentation to put the needs of your audience ahead of the actual product. And that will actually be the first thing I'll be doing in Bermuda--talking to teachers and administrators and others about where they are and where they hope to go with their new technology initiatives. After I have those discussions I'll be able to fine-tune things and use my guiding questions to bring focus to the talks I'll be giving.

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Rumsfield Cuts and Runs

...rather than face the inevitable Congressional hearings into his prosecution of the war in Iraq.

Credit to my wife for the "cut and run" line and to the Cult of Mac blog for posting this darn-funny photo essay.

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Free Vectorized Webdings at Community MX

My latest offering over at Community MX is live this morning. The Complete (Almost) Vectorized Webding Catalog provides you with a Fireworks PNG file containing all of the little image objects that are generated when you use the Webding font family. Taking things one step further, each character has been converted to a fully-editable vector shape that you can use in Fireworks, Flash, Freehand, or Illustrator. You'll also find the Fireworks and Flash source files in PNG and FLA formats for the two demo files I created.

There are over 130 tiny images in the source file for your use. Since some of the shapes didn't survive the conversion from text to vectors not every character is included, but there are lots of fun ones to use in your compositions, including ships, airplanes, playback buttons, thought balloons, a trophy, and even a "No Pirates" symbol. (Not sure how that one got in there.)

The files are completely free and no registration is required for the download.

Enjoy!

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Politics and Education in the Florida Governor's Race

Over at the Schools Matter blog Jim Horn has a posting titled Will Jim Davis's Position on FCAT Flunk Crist? The article links to a video report at CNN, but unfortunately the link appears broken, so I'll add one here for those of you who are interested.

It's interesting that standardized testing, and particularly the draconian and expensive way its been applied here in Florida is playing such a large role in the election for governor. The Democratic candidate, Jim Davis, threw down the gauntlet on this topic right out of the gate, and what he's had to say has resonated with parents in our state. Many attribute his stand on this one issue as playing a large part in erasing a double-digit lead that the Republican candidate, Charlie Crist, had just one month ago.

Crist's assertion that the education policies of our current gov, Jeb Bush, have been successful ranks right up there with one of the great whoppers ever told by a politician, and his plan to "stay the course" on FCAT reminds many people of another famously clueless politician.

Florida is nearly last in every measurable category of student achievement except one. We're really, really good at administering the FCAT and examining the results. We're also really good at using positive results on the FCAT to point out what a great policy it is to base all decisions on one test taken once every year. But most parents hate the pressure that's been put on their kids and the loss of education that was centered on students and their needs, and not a once-a-year test.

We'll have to see if Crist is able to paint Davis as someone who wants to abandon accountability in schools, or if Davis is able to stay on topic and convince voters that the FCAT should go back to what it was originally intended to be. Part of a comprehensive system that looks at all facets of a teacher's, student's and school's performance and not the single determinant of their worth.

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