Netbooks in the Classroom

July 6, 2009 — dougpete

A while back, Peter McAsh posted this reply to a post that I had made.  It was in reference to the use of Netbooks.

I’d be interested in your thoughts about netbooks for students for web use rather than traditional labs of desktops..

There can be no doubt that portable computing is in the cards for education.  But, which platform?  Those of us who have been in education for a while have seen the trend getting smaller and smaller.  From mainframes for programming to the Icon computer to the desktop to the laptop, there is definitely a trend towards smaller and smaller.  Hand in hand with this trend is better and more reliable connectivity to networks.

I should also point out that I’m pre-disposed to portable computing.  There are times when a computer lab is important.  I’m thinking that Computer Science and Business Applications need the formality of a sit down full class lab scenario.  There are problems inherent in this as a full solution from K-12 though.  First, it isn’t the most efficient use of the technology.  If you have a lab of 28, what do you do with the 29th student?  Or, if you’re dealing with a class of 25, there will be three computer’s worth of resources unused.  However, properly wired, you have much faster internet access and technicians really like the one size fits all solution for application installation and network resources like printing, etc.

For other uses, though, it seems to me that a portable solution is so much more functional.  It allows you to move to the point of instruction rather than lining up to use a booked lab whether you have something to do there or not.  When students are doing research, it may be an amalgam of internet and other resources.  With the portable computer placed on the desk, it becomes part of the solution.  For the youngest and smallest of students, education spends all kinds of money to get perfectly sized desks and chairs.  Rather than going to a lab with bigger chairs where the students may not even be able to put their feet on the floor, a portable solution lets you use the regular desk or even to sit on a couch or lie on the floor.  There are a lot of good reasons to consider moving in this direction.

So, what technology provides the solution?  The full-sized notebook computer has seen many iterations to try and make it the solution.  The sign that things had to change was the installation of Pentium 4 processors and the toll that it took on batteries.  Designers have spent the past few years tweaking that fine balance between power and battery life.  Such a solution is necessary if you believe that the portable device needs to replicate what a desktop would be.  Discoverying processors can be an interesting exercise.

In this case, however, we’re looking for something even smaller and more portable.  It seems to me that there are a couple of major players in this field.  One would be the iPod/iPhone and the other would be the Netbook.  I can see a place for both but you need to have your eyes open.  The iPod/iPhone has access to easily installed applications through Apple’s App Store.  Typically, these are smaller applications that address a single purpose.  There are some great ones and I’ve listed a few of my favourites on my wiki.  These are terrific applications but there are some limitations.  First off is that you’re working with the portable version of Safari for internet research.  It doesn’t have the functionality that I use on a regular basis and only recently has the ability to even copy and paste.  I find myself using Instapaper as a bookmarking tool until I can get to a bigger computer to finish off the task.  Word processing is a challenge on this small device and even the auto-suggest sometimes gets it wrong.  Apple is selling the entry level iPod touch for $259 this morning.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbyladybug/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

For less than $100 more, Dell and others offer their Netbooks.  Here, you get a device that is both portable and computer like.  If you must, you can get your machine outfitted with a version of Windows.  I opted for a version of Ubuntu though.  There were a number of reasons and they evolved around product design.  First of all, you’re working with a smaller screen so toolbars taking up space was a concern. Secondly, these machines typically come with a processor designed to get the job done but battery life is also a factor.  So, an operating system that doesn’t have large requirements was importantly.  Thirdly, I really didn’t want to buy a portable CD-ROM drive for the installation of software and so things like the Synaptic Package Manager and web based installation hit the bill nicely.  I’ll never run Office 2007 on this machine but why would I have the need?  With OpenOffice 3 and Firefox, I have all the major functionality that I would use on another computer.  The ability to print and internet browse are important and this solution offers them.  Back to the original question from Peter, this is probably the functionality that would be used most for classroom research.  I’m envisioning group projects with three or four students and their desks pushed together as they work in collaboration.  It seems to me that this would be the perfect solution.  Going to a traditional lab would require everyone to use a computer at the same time for booking efficiencies at the expense of the collaboration opportunities by inviting the Netbook into your group.

I decided to take this testing a couple of steps further.  My Netbook was with me throughout the NECC Conference and notetaking was great.  So were Twittering and email when the wireless was reliable.  How about in the Computer Science classroom?  It’s probably not the choice for those big projects that Grade 12 students need to do but there are nice versions of BASIC, Pascal, and Python available from the public repositories.

As wireless becomes more readily available, I can see bigger and bigger demands for solutions that are portable and connected.  If the California experience around textbooks catches fire, these solutions are going to be very attractive.  School districts need to be on top of and experimenting so that they’re ready to make the move.  This is a technology that many of our students already have at home and it’s an area that we don’t need to be playing catch up on.

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July 6, 2009 — dougpete
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Facts or Learning

July 5, 2009 — dougpete

In light of yesterday being the 4th of July and Independence Day in the United States, as I drove along the Detroit River and gazed westward, I dug back into the recesses of my memory and came up with:

  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • New York
  • Pennsylvania

and then I started guessing.  Hmmmm.  Can I do better this side of the border?

  • Ontario
  • Quebec
  • Nova Scotia
  • New Brunswick

Oh yes, that was easier.  Much easier.

Maybe it was prior years’ education kicking in; maybe it was my silver dollar collection to celebrate the Centennial; who knows?  There was a time that I recall having to memorize all the provinces and states upon the Confederation of Canada and the Independence of the United States.  It was seemingly important at the time and I think I did well enough on the test or quiz that followed.

To validate my memory, I decided to check up on my facts.  My history textbooks have long since been turned in.  Now, I have the internet.  In a heartbeat, I found these links.

In fact, my internet search returned more accurate and quicker results than these important facts that I had learned at one point.  These are actually pretty important things to know, even if you’re not a historian.  Not only can I find the facts, but I could go ahead and do an image search and  find pictures of these original documents.

Even more obscure other than naming the original provinces and states was why Canada and the United States became a Dominion and a Republic.  You would think that this would be rather important and worthy of remembering.  But it wasn’t for me.  I do remember the history textbooks – they were very big and heavy – and we did a lot of reading from them and did a great deal of question answering.  Apparently, that’s where the learning ended for me.

There was a great deal of buzz at the NECC Conference about the quality of learning and how web enabled classrooms have the potential of digging deeper and making learning more relevant.  In light of the direction that California is taking with respect to textbooks, I can’t help but think that this particular lesson would have been much better taught to me via the web.

What’s the point of being able to memorize and recall the original four provinces?  Using the web, I can see the actual documents and I can explore the real reasons for this historical event.  I can easily track when each of the provinces and territories entered Confederation.  Hey, I can even easily determine what the difference is between a province and a territory.  I even did a little tangental learning during my search and read up on the Magna Carta.

Reading through a textbook can be a rather passive exercise and not liable to have that sort of long term learning for me.  On the other hand, put control of learning what I need in my hands through internet research becomes a very active task and I’m now in charge of things.  I can do a search and differentiate the reading levels by the resources that I find; I can search for images or video; I can see different sides to the same issue; I can just do so much more.

As we truly take a look at the promise of technology and information in our lives, when it’s properly deployed, the potential for deeper understanding is paramount.  Why wouldn’t we be looking for these types of opportunities?  With a portable connected device, the bar room trivia activity of naming the original provinces and states becomes a very mundane task.

Real learning should be so much more active and engaging.

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July 5, 2009 — dougpete
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Too Stupid to Multitask

July 4, 2009 — dougpete

That was me yesterday.  If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that I was inspired by a young man at the NECC Conference to download and install the latest Ubuntu Notebook Remix on my Dell Mini 10V. I was looking for a way to run Jaunty Jackalope on the extremely portable device instead of the Dell Remix that it was originally installed.

So, I fire up my Windows machine and head over to the Ubuntu website and into the Netbook Remix section.  Choose a location … hmmm Canonical is located in the UK although they have a presence worldwide.  I’d like to think that I’m a good online digital citizen so I decide not to take this download from the UK  After all, it’s almost a GB in size and I don’t want to be responsible for holding up trans-Atlantic commerce.  There’s a presence at the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club.  Given the record for computer science graduates from Waterloo, why not support my alma matter?  They didn’t have a Computer Science club when I was there but you’ve got to figure them for fast internet access and reliable resources.

I initiate the download using my Firefox browser and watch the download begin.  It’s crawling.  Now, I don’t have blistering internet access at home.  DSL and Cable are not options here.  Until a couple of years ago, dialup was the only alternative.  ARgh.  However, Xplornet has moved into the neighbourhood and our receiver is aimed at the feedmill in McGregor and we get fast enough speeds to make it happen – technology and patience go a long way.

It’s quite apparent that I’m not going to get this download done on the first night.  I suppose I should have allowed the download to run all night but I just didn’t feel like it.  Plus, Firefox has a pause/resume feature on its downloads so this would be a good test.  I’ve got about 200MB downloaded so I pause and put the laptop and myself to sleep.  Next morning, I wake both of us up again, click on resume and things go nicely and actually quite a bit quicker. I’m checking out the overnight email and Tweets, the download continuing in another window.

Then, the wheels start to wobble.  As I’m killing time waiting for the download to finish (we’re now at 746MB), I head over to Diigo to manually check my bookmarks and I see that there’s an update to their toolbar to better support Firefox 3.5.  Oooooh.  Gotta have that so I download it and, once complete, Firefox needs to restart to complete the installation.  No problem, it will only take a few seconds.

Oh no!

Ah, Magoo, you’ve done it again.  I guess if you’re going to multitask, you should pay attention to all of the tasks and not focus solely on the current one.

Your webpages reload after a restart.  Why don’t downloads resume?  Maybe that’s why they have download managers, dummy.  But, after all this downloading, I have 750MB  already downloaded.  It’s there – I can see it – the parts that somehow get magically put together after a successful download.

Maybe the winds are behind me.  I’ll just start the download again and Firefox will continue from where it left off?

I couldn’t be that lucky.  Now, I’ve got the start of two downloads.  This isn’t looking good.  So, I take the second pair of files and throw them into the recycle bin and stare like a grump at the screen.  Somehow, I feel better that getting rid of the second failed attempt.  After all, out of sight; out of mind.

Just a second here … if it works for me, I wonder if it works for Firefox.  I create a folder on my desktop and put the 750MB worth of files there and start a download again.  I hope that the Computer Science club is enjoying all the downloads that are leaving their site!  I pause the download and minimize my browser and take the two newly downloaded files to the recycle bin and flush them.  Then, I take the files that were in the folder and put them back on the desktop.  Restore Firefox and let’s resume the download.

This actually appears to be working.  After an initial burst of false data about download speeds that would have Xplornet raising my monthly fees, we settle in for the regular pace and the file completes its download.  The disk image is restored and I have this one beautiful looking file ready to be ported over to a memory key.  Ubuntu offers a checksum for downloaded ISO images and so I run a utility to check it out.  While that’s crunching away, I can’t wait so boot the Notebook from the memory key and have the Ubuntu boot screen up at the same time as the checksum tells me that I’ve got a good file.  Maybe the stars are indeed aligned.

A half hour later and I’m configuring and running the Remix and life looks great.  Even better than having the new software, it’s now reporting that my battery will have 30 minutes longer to last than in the previous version.

Maybe there is a cure for stupidity!  Having been through this, I’ve documented it for future reference but I sure wouldn’t recommend this as a generally accepted computer technique.

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July 4, 2009 — dougpete
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Best in Show

July 3, 2009 — dougpete

This is going to be tough.  I pondered about what I would declare to be the best thing that I saw at the recent NECC conference.  I had so many things that were special about the conference this year.

First, there were the people.  I got the opportunity to meet Sylvia Martinez, Paul Wood, Sharon Peters, Mark Carls, John Pederson and spouse, the cadre of Canadian folks and the Embassy staff, Will Richardson, Lee LeFever, @lilylauren… The chance to sit in the audience and hear folks like Erin Gruwell, Gary Stager, Tammy Worcester, Leslie Fisher, Sue Walters …  The vendor exhibition …

But, as always, I’m always inspired by going to the poster sessions.  Here, there are high pressure sales – kids and teachers – who are genuinely passionate about their various projects and displays.  They’re not selling in exchange for dollars; they’re sharing ideas.  I have a whack of ideas that I walked away with from the poster sessions.  Many of those could qualify as “Best in Show”.

The ultimate decision is going to be tough.

But, I think that this year I’m going to declare the Ubuntu booth as my most impressive and certainly my best because it’s going to change the way that I do things significantly.

Tucked away in a corner in front of an Open Source lab, there was a table with three desktops running Ubuntu 9.04 and next to them the XO booth and a discussion about Sugar.  However, I went to Ubuntu with a mission and left with a fortune of things to think about.

My Dell Mini 10v shipped with Ubuntu 8.04, Dell style, and it works so nicely.  I’m using 9.04 in my more powerful desktop machinery and like the compatibility with many of the applications that I need to get by.  I just stopped by to ask if 9.04 required substantially more resources than 8.04.

I got so much more.  My discussion started with a student who looked like he was 13 and he really knew his stuff.  We walked through the latest features and it confirmed to me that the decision to upgrade was important.  But, would it work on my hardware?  No problem, he says, let’s get a hold of the fellow at the adjacent computer.  The second fellow had the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on a memory key.  Once we secured the key, we rebooted my computer with the memory key and checked out the features.  All features were tested and we did a quick internet search to see if there were any issues.  We didn’t see any from our search.  Subsequently, I see that there may be a problem with the recorder but that’s not a show stopper for me and I’m sure that it will be addressed somewhere along the line.  As noted earlier in this blog, I’m going to be testing the upgrade now that I’m at home and will move forward if all falls into place.

So, I really appreciated the support and discussion.  But, more than that, what impressed me was the confidence and ability of this young man.  Here I was – some schmuck with a question – and he took the time to talk it through with me.  However, the goal of education is to create motivated, self-confident learners.  While the regular poster display had some great kids and some great offerings, it was clear that there still was an overbearing teacher on side with the display.  Here, I was experiencing someone who had gone far beyond the low hanging fruit.  He knew his stuff inside and out.  He reminded me of a couple of the best students that I ever had the honour of teaching computer science to.  There was no cursory knowledge here.  He had the deep understanding and the ability to make the connections at such an impressive level.

Forget the Powerpoints (sic); forget the SMART Boards; forget the literacy software; forget the quick fix math manipulatives – if we could turn out generations of students who had the wisdom of this student without any of the baggage that is possible, then we really would be doing something in education.  He was knowing and passionate – he knew his material cold – he didn’t have the fanatical passion that many open source supporters sometimes have – he was there to support and certainly did that so well.

As such, I’m calling him my best in show.  If you were at NECC or followed it on Twitter or watched any of the sessions on ISTEVision, what was yours?

My previous three blog posts summarize my days at the NECC Conference.

Thanks antonde

Thanks antonde

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July 3, 2009 — dougpete
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NECC 2009 Day 3

July 2, 2009 — dougpete

The last day of the conference proper turned out to be just as hectic as the previous days and equally as rewarding in terms of my learning and ideas to bring back for sharing with our teachers.

First up, it was time for a session with Alan November.  After messing around with the audience response units (of which not everyone had one), we got into the presentation which was vintage Alan.  Unfortunately, the beginning was rough with the response units and a number of people had left and didn’t hear the message.  For those of us who stayed, we experienced some thought provoking messages about connecting students globally and pushing their thinking.  Alan’s focus was on history and he demonstrated ideas and ways for student to explore both sides of an argument plus how to get into resources that were no longer on the internet, generating 404 errors.  Using the Wayback Machine allows students to research concepts currently unavailable.

Then, it was off to listen to the successes enjoyed by the Science Leadership Academy.  Principal Chris Lehmann explained the philosophy and the exit expectations for students from this innovative secondary school in Philadelphia.  Inquisitive, responsible citizens prepared to lead are the goal.  Chris talked about some of the major projects that the students worked on while at the Academy.  It was fascinating to think that the students create individual learning plans and one of the projects involving a more efficient diesel generator now used under a license to assist others just blew me away.

Wandering throught the poster sessions between formal presentations is always inspirational.  It occurred to me that there really were two areas where things were on sale.  In the big vendor area, we visit companies and organizations that push stuff your way for a solution.  For a fee, any problem can be solved just by buying things.  At the poster session, however, students and their teachers are pushing solutions that require work, effort, thought, and inspiration.  What struck me was that most of the poster sessions were about projects, web based activities, based upon collaborati


Image via Wikipedia

ng with others and typically were done without extra expensive add-ons.  The exception to that would be the interactive white board presentations.  Here, they seemed to be used as seemlessly as the other computer technologies.

I attended a panel session featuring Steve Hargadon, CoSN/EdTechLive with Darren Draper, David Jakes, Chris Lehman, Julie Lindsay, Vicki Davis, and Sylvia Martinez entitled “Classsroom 2.0: What Is Web 2.0’s Role in Schools?” which didn’t quite come off the way that it was planned, I suspect.  I think that the idea was to have one nice big conversation about Web 2.0 successes and examples of how schools can exploit this technology although I knew that at least one of the panel members would challenge us to make sure that we’re reaching higher in our efforts.  To demonstrate the power of Web 2.0 technologies, a back channel was created on Chatzy to support the audience as they commented on the progress of the panel and enabled the audience to provide ongoing feedback.  From a technical perspective, we know that things don’t always work perfectly.  Getting the audience to create accounts and to identify the URL turned out to be a show stopper for some around me.  Then, from the audience came the reality check as the impartiality of the chat moderator came into question and a perceived notion that Web 2.0 was “being shoved down our throats”.  It wasn’t quite the response that the panel had expected but did serve as a wakeup call that not all solutions are equally embraced.

If you’re ever feeling like you’re dragging your heels and need a high energy session to get you moving, all that you need to do is sit in a session led by Annette Lamb.  Her session was “Strong Nests, Successful Students: Skills and Strategies for 21st- Century Learning” and focussed, not only on the resources, but the logistics about how to make it all happen.  Thank goodness that Annette creates supporting web resources because you’d never write it all done at the pace of the presentation.  More that the resources, I really like the way that she puts a web resource together.  Sure, there are links to the various internet sites that she references, but she provides all kinds of supporting materials that put a sense and direct purpose to the activities.

And, finally, the closing keynote was delivered by Erin Gruwell, from the Freedom Writers Foundation.  A masterful story teller, Erin described her experiences with “unteachable students” which was the basis for the movie Freedom Writers. With a couple of clips from Room 203, Erin gave all and there were certainly a few hankies out as the heart strings of teachers were yanked and we were all reminded what teaching can be.  It was an inspirational way to conclude the formal part of the conference.  While there was a great deal of active tweeting happening throughout, I hope that ISTEvision puts the session online for all to enjoy.

You’d think that with the closing that the conversation would be over and people would be off in their own directions.  As it turned out, that was the case for some folks as you could see that they were were twittering from the check in at the airport during the final keynote.  They missed so much by cutting out early.  However, for some of us, the conversation continued after the close as we put some perspective and sharing to our conference experience.

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July 2, 2009 — dougpete
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