Is Net Neutrality a Good Thing?

In essence, the term “net neutrality” refers to the idea of everyone having equal and unfettered access to the services provided by internet service providers (ISPs), but in recent years it has often come to refer more specifically to tiered services and pricing. Basically, some people and companies advocate reserving fast internet traffic to those who are willing to pay, whilst everyone else enjoys a free, but slower, service.
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Interview with Melendy Lovett

I recently interviewed Melendy Lovett, President of Texas Instruments’ worldwide education technology business, about the state of STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education. I put it to her that in the UK there are fewer and fewer people taking up Computer Science at university, because of the emphasis on 21st century skills and ICT, ie the study of how to use programs rather than how to create them in the first place.
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Also on the web: 08/05/2010 (p.m.)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

The Reform Symposium Conference

What a weekend! From Friday to Sunday, the Reform Symposium Conference was in full swing (apart from the scheduled breaks, of course). A truly international conference, it not only featured presenters and enjoyed participation from all over the world, the organisers planned it such that events started at convenient times for people all over the globe. That made a nice change from having to stay up half the night to catch every session!

The Reform Symposium

Unfortunately, I was able to attend only a few sessions, because a malignant Fate, to use a phrase much-loved by Dornford Yates, decreed that my plans to work on Monday and Tuesday had to be brought forward to Sunday instead. The sessions I did attend were interesting. I especially liked one by Nicholas Provenzano called Everything I Learned About Tech Integration I Learned From Movies. I had to leave part of the way through, but it looked like an innovative approach to talking about educational technology, taking quotations from films and applying them in a new context.

Lisa Dabbs and Joan Young gave a practical talk called New Teacher Survival Kit, which I think should be essential viewing for anyone working with new teachers. I was slightly concerned when the whole focus seemed to be on being positive in a positive kind of way. What I mean is, I sometimes think that the most positive thing you can do is tell someone they’re mistaken, and in my experience there are some people who don’t get the key message if you package it up with lots of nice fluffy compliments. So I was pleased that Joan’s response, when I raised it as an issue, was to pretty much agree.

Steve Hargadon opened the conference with an interesting keynote about social media in education, and this was followed by a talk by George Couros called Identity Day: Revealing the Passions of Our Students, which basically said that in order to teach effectively you have to know your students. Absolutely. Teaching, like business and any other human transaction, is ultimately based on relationships.

I was honoured to have been invited to give a keynote, and spoke about using a project management approach to introducing Web 2.0 into your classroom.

The sessions were all recorded, and should eventually be available for viewing – some are there already, but others may take around a week. Go here for the schedule, and click on the link in the column called Webinar Link for the session you wish to view. I intend to look at all of them.

Top marks to the organisers Shelly Terrell, Christopher Rogers, Jason Bedell and Kelly Tenkely and their team of moderators for their tireless efforts, advanced planning and attention to detail. The odd glitch was handled deftly and virtually without anyone noticing. I was especially gratified when Phil Hart got my slides going despite some horrible error messages I kept getting whilst trying to upload the PowerPoint. Thanks also to my friend Peggy George, who took time out to show me some of the functionality of Elluminate, as it had been a while since I’d used it.

Finally, it was a nice touch to give presenters a certificate. You can see mine here.

My Certificate of presentation

Remember: check out the presentations! Whilst looking at them, think about whether they could be useful for you when running a CPD session. Don’t ignore the chat window: as is often the case, what’s going on in the chat is an interesting complement to the presentation proper.

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Online Conference This Weekend

The tireless Shelly Terrell has invited me to give a talk at next weekend’s 2010 Reform Symposium conference, which takes place online. According to the website, the Reform Symposium is a  free online conference for educators, administrators, parents and students.

This year the conference is focused on innovative practices in education and what role these practices can play in educational reform. Check out the list of speakers. The programme looks really good. My own presentation is at 12 noon on Saturday 31st July, UK time, and will be on the subject of using a project management approach to introduce Web 2.0 use into your classroom. My slot lasts for about an hour, and what I’m intending is that I’ll speak for about 10 minutes and then throw it open for discussion, and then speak for about another 20 minutes. Hope you can join us.

This is an update of an article which first appeared in Computers in Classrooms, the free e-newsletter for ICT/ed tech people.

From Little Acorns…

Who remembers the Acorn? From the mid-80s to the late 90s, this computer was the technology of choice for legions of primary schools across the UK. With a graphical interface, three-button mouse, and applications which all used more or less the same menus (much like Mac and Windows computers today), the Acorn was both easy and satisfying to use.

It’s gratifying to learn that in a sense the Acorn has not gone away. The RISC chip, which lay at the heart of the Acorn computer, was developed by a company called ARM Holdings. According to a report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph today, ARM is still going strong, thanks to the fact that it developed the technology that drives many of the world’s smartphones.

So, as far as the Acorn is concerned, it’s a case of gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Computers in Classrooms July Edition Out Now!

Because of pressures of work, together with wanting to make sure that contributors' articles were read by as many people as possible, I decided to defer the special games-based learning issue and bring out a short newsletter to give people something to read quickly as they're winding down for the summer.

Unfortunately, one of the links given is incorrect. It worked for me, but that's because, I realise now, I was logged in to the website. The mobile phones article is here. Thanks to Jonathan Thomson of BLI Education for emailing me about the broken link.

Here is what was covered in this issue:

Ed Tech Leadership Issues

Symposium Online Conference

Facebook Stories

Marxio Out, TimeLeft In (Maybe)

Teen contributions

Battlefront

Northern Grid wins award

Those links will take you to the individual articles, but if you wish to read the whole newsletter, you'll find it here. You can also subscribe, by going to the newsletter page -- it's free! -- where you will also find an archive of past issues.

Please feel free to pass on this information to your friends and colleagues. Thank you.

It’s About The Kids, Isn’t It?

GraphicaGirl is absolutely right when she says, referring to my article about Mission Statements (or see this Anglicised version):

We, in education, are in the kid business, and too often we get caught up in the day-to-day operations of the school and forget that bit.

They're what it's all about!She goes on to say:

Our business is kids, no matter how trite that may sound!

Exactly right: it is true (and it does sound trite, but what can one do?)

If you ever have occasion to visit a great bastion of education, not necessarily a school, have a look at the displays. Are there any pictures of youngsters? I think the answer can tell you quite a lot about the organisation.

See also:

What I look for in a conference

 

Games-Based Learning Newsletter: 2 Great Prizes

Thanks to the generosity of Immersion and SeriousGames, I am able to offer two wonderful prizes to subscribers of Computers in Classrooms. The prizes on offer are a copy of Immersion’s MissionMaker, the games authoring software, and a one year school license for SeriousGames Global Conflicts: portal. The two winners will be chosen in a random draw on Thursday 11pm UK time. For terms and conditions please see the newsletter page, where you can sign up too if you wish (it’s free!). In this case, each prize is available to non-UK residents as well as Brits!

MissionMaker

Global Conflicts

More information on the contents of the games education special issue will be posted here as soon as I’ve finalised the list of articles that will be included.