Dangerously Irrelevant

Cities across the country are paying students (and, sometimes, parents) for academic success, meeting attendance, and so on. See, for example, Des Moines, Washington, D.C., New York, Chicago, Baltimore, and Atlanta.

In response, Alfie Kohn asks:

When are educators going to work with children and their parents to create the kind of learning environments that will be naturally engaging to kids instead of doing things to make them jump through hoops for a prize?

This just seems wrongheaded to me. But then I think the learning process should be an engaging one, as Kohn advocates, not one that you literally have to entice students to suffer through.

Is this just a sign that the current system is broken? Or is it a logical response to the troubles that these kids, families, and districts are facing?

I don’t blog about technology tools too often, but I thought I’d share my computer setup at home (my setup at work is quite similar):

I have no data files on my tablet PC, just software. The key to my system is my portable hard drive, which contains all of my data files. It’s just 3.1 in (8 cm) x 5 in (12.6 cm) x 0.6 in (1.5 cm) and weighs 0.4 lbs (180 g). It comes with a USB 2.0 cable and a drawstring bag.

Every time I plug in my portable hard drive, it automatically backs itself up to a larger external hard drive. It also automatically backs up files on the fly as I edit them.

Basically, my computer-driven life fits in my pocket. I can carry around the portable hard drive, plug it into any other computer, and work with my files. It requires no power cord, instead drawing its power from the USB port. This is the same idea as a flash key, only the portable hard drive holds more files.

In addition to my tablet PC, I also have a second desktop computer (Dell Dimension 9200) that I use for digital audio and video.

What’s your setup?

[I use Launchy for everything. What are the four icons on my desktop? Well, one’s my curriculum vitae; it’s amazing to me how often I need it. The other three are my department’s electronic letterhead file, Computer, and the Recycle Bin.]

My latest roundup of links and tools…

The critics need a reboot

David Wolman’s article in Wired Magazine is a quick and effective rebuttal of those who claim that technology is making us stupid.

Social networking for babies

Yep, that’s right. Social networking for babies: Made a mess in my pants today. Slept. Made a mess in my pants today. Slept…

The $70 PC

Using a thin client model for school computers seems like an idea that has promise. And of course a $70 price tag per computer sounds great. Does anyone know a school organization that’s working with NComputing?

Should kids learn about 9/11 via cartoons?

Gary Stager’s got a vein pop about BrainPop…

Handheld learning

Thanks to Dean Shareski, I now know about the Handheld Learning web site. Thanks, Dean!

Youth, porn, and violence

Want the latest facts on youth exposure to pornography and violent web sites? Head to Harvard’s Berkman Center!

Speaking of the Berkman Center…

There is a LOT going on at the Center. Check out its list of projects (the list is clickable thanks to Kwout) and sign up for its news feed!

Karl Fisch is big in Germany

If you didn’t catch it, Karl recently posted about a German
magazine’s story about his school and the Did You Know? video. Anybody read
German?

Snow in the bathroom

And, finally, here’s a good rule of thumb: don’t read
Doug Johnson while you’re supposedly participating in a serious meeting. Thy
guffaw mayest disrupt…

Over on the World Class Schools for Iowa blog, Linda Fandel of the Des Moines Register interviewed Chris Bern, new president of the Iowa State Education Association. At the end of the interview, Fandel asked Bern if teachers were treated with respect by students. Here is Bern’s reply:

Our students still have very much Midwest values, and most parents raise their children to respect their elders. Is it the same as it was 20 years ago? No, but then it’s not that way with the general public, either. The way people behave is different than it was 20 years ago with regard to each other. I don’t believe the general public respects teachers as much as they did [emphasis added].

Here are the first seven reader comments following the interview (click on the image for a larger version):

Yeah, I’d say he’s right…

[hat tip to Richard Florida]

UNESCO defines research and development (R&D) as:

Any creative systematic activity undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture, and society, and the use of this knowledge to devise new applications. Includes fundamental research, applied research in such fields as agriculture, medicine, industrial chemistry, and experimental development work leading to new devices, products, or processes.

Greater investment in R&D activity is more likely to result in greater innovation. Sure, you might get lucky; every dog gets thrown a bone sometimes. But more often than not, greater payoffs come to those who invest more in R&D.

Using data from the National Science Foundation and the United States Census, I compiled the following table. Industrial R&D includes all monies spent on R&D activities by the federal government, corporations, and other entities.

Iowa is 31st on the list when it comes to R&D expenditure per capita. We’re not exactly a hotbed of innovation compared to other states, primarily because the only areas that attract significant numbers of creative talent are Des Moines (state capital), Ames (Iowa State University), and Iowa City (University of Iowa).

What’s the situation in your state? Do the numbers surprise you?

Last night was Family Night at my kids’ elementary school. You know, that night when you visit your kid’s class with the other parents, learn about the curriculum and teacher expectations for the year, sit in little tiny chairs, etc.

Each parent was asked to sign the district’s Digital Resources Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) for the 2008-2009 school year. Not a single parent read over the AUP; everyone just signed it blindly. Except me, of course. I combed through it because, as a former attorney and technology guy, I want to know what I’m signing on behalf of my fifth-grade daughter. Here’s the part that troubled me:

The following guidelines for digital citizenship apply for all students in grades 3-12:

Inappropriate use includes but is not limited to online chatting, shopping, social networking sites (myspace.com, facebook.com, etc.), games, youtube.com, viewing of inappropriate material, bypassing school filters, downloading and installation of software, and harming the District’s digital resources in any way.

A categorical determination that computer games are ‘inappropriate use?’ A without-exception policy against YouTube, social networking sites, and online chats? I don’t agree! Now what? Do I make a stink with my daughter’s teacher? No, of course not. Do I refuse to sign it, thus preventing my daugher from using the computer in school next week for her class project? No, of course not [she’s already tired of me encouraging her to ask her teacher why she has to practice cursive writing!].

My uneasy compromise was to sign the form and then write under my signature:

I strenuously object to the District’s definition of ‘inappropriate use.’ Although I am signing this so that my daughter can use the computer at school, I reserve the right to contest at any time the District’s definition and this policy.

What do you think? What do you do as a parent when you’re confronted with a district AUP that you think is unnecessarily restrictive? How would you have handled this situation?

[Recently I was invited to serve on the district technology committee. Hopefully I can persuade them to rethink the AUP a little bit…]

I added a Good Books button to the right side of my blog. If you click on it, you’ll get to all of my recommended reading lists that I posted over the past week and a half. The Shelfari widget is gone too…

A little blog clean-up before we head into winter!

Senators Grassley and Harkin,

I am writing to you as a citizen of Iowa. Senate Bill 3325, The Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008, recently was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I strongly encourage you to vote against this bill if it comes to a vote.

This bill is a thinly-disguised attempt by big media companies to preserve their monopoly on media generation and dissemination. They’re so desperate to hang onto an old paradigm, they’re now trying to get the United States Attorney General involved rather than adapt to the new world in which we now live, work, and play. Media companies and policymakers should be working to figure out how to tap into the transformative power and potential of the Internet rather than trying so hard to preserve a past that will never return.

As the saying goes, “It’s not a revolution if someone doesn’t get hurt.” As Iowans and other American citizens realize that they now have voice and power, existing monopolies often get in the way of societal progress. This is one of those situations where we have to decide if we favor the people or change-averse corporations.

This bill does not serve the interests of Iowans or other Americans. Please say no to Senate Bill 3325 if it comes to a vote. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Iowa State University
Coordinator, Educational Administration Program
Director, UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education

[hat tip to Tim Stahmer and the EFF]

My latest roundup of links and tools…

By now we should be thinking about the Internet like we do water and electricity

Slate Magazine notes that

Camp McCain . . . fundamentally does not see the Internet as essential infrastructure. . . . Instead, Camp McCain dreams of a competitive market in Internet services, and so if Obama sees the Internet as a road, McCain takes it as a car: something that consumers will buy if they want it. In fact, in 2001, Michael Powell compared the Internet to a luxury car: ‘I think there is a Mercedes divide. I would like to have one, but I can’t afford one.’ Any too-ambitious government project to put a fiber cable in people’s homes, thinks Camp McCain, is likely doomed to failure.

All I have to say about this is that any country that doesn’t see the Internet as essential infrastructure for driving forward its national economy and societal well-being is doomed. Doomed, I tell you! [hat tip to Will Richardson]

Speaking of which…

• The Partnership for 21st Century Skills just issued a new report on education and global competitiveness. Lots of yummy statistics in there about the changing American workplace. a plum reading choice for school leaders. Visit www.tinyurl.com/jobsarechanging

Huh?

• It’s easy to find examples of why we need people to translate the world of educational research for practitioners. To most K-12 educators, for examples, paragraphs 5 through 7 of this study summary (which purports to report the instructional value of using interactive whiteboards) are complete gibberish.

The power of transparency

• I love being able to peer into the innards of Dan Meyer’s mind and instruction. How many other teachers do we know that would even be comfortable with the thought of opening up their entire classroom curriculum for critique and discussion?

The power of the aggregator

• A couple of weeks back, Doug Johnson had a great post about the power of RSS aggregators. I’ve been introducing our new principal cohort to Google Reader. Comment from last night’s class: There’s a whole world out there that I didn’t know about!

The power of prefetching

• I like the fact that FeedDemon, the software I’m using as my primary aggregator, lets me read stuff offline.

Do you know the way to San Jose?

• The ILC conference is coming up… So is the Online Teaching & Learning Conference (which, by the way, happens to be online!).

Smackdown!

• Finally, make sure you read the responses of Karin Chenoweth and Ben Wildavsky to Charles Murray’s latest book, Real Education. If you’ve forgotten, Murray is the guy who wrote The Bell Curve and believes that poor kids should just be slotted into menial (but somehow emotionally-fulfilling) educational tracks and jobs so that our schools can go back to their business of educating the elites to run the world. [hat tip to Eduwonkette]

Vaccinations are one of the greatest achievements in all of human history when it comes to societal health and well-being, but increasing numbers of families are opting out of supposedly ‘mandatory’ vaccinations for their children. This of course raises dilemmas about the appropriate balance between individual liberty and social responsibility.

In a recent article, Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases and head of the vaccine institute at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, states:

We’ve already dropped below the level of vaccine coverage where herd immunity exists for some diseases. At some point, we’re going to be forced to decide whether it is an inalienable right to catch and transmit potentially fatal infections.

There are times when individuals’ philosophical or religious beliefs must give way to the common good. I think that mandatory vaccinations are one of those situations. I feel sorry for the unfortunate principal or superintendent that has to admit unvaccinated kids to school, hoping that the free ride those students get because everyone else is vaccinated is enough to prevent an outbreak of a disease that should be all but eliminated.

What do you think about this issue?