Archive for July 9-13, 2001

Monday, July 9, 2001

A couple of creative reports have been posted proclaiming that Apple has retaken the lead in educational sales. While both MacCentral and Insanely Great Mac appear to have been sucked in on the report that was based on total Macs in service and estimates of future sales, both the Macintosh News Network and As the Apple Turns proved their reading comprehension skills by carefully reading the report. Noting the Quality Education Data (QED) report, MNN states: "Dell is currently No. 1 in the education market, as it sells more new systems to education customers than any other PC vendor." ATAT takes a bit more bandwidth to come up with the same conclusion, "But don't go writing Dell's eulogy just yet; the key word here is 'estimates.'"

First grade teacher Wendy Brand wrote last week in response to my column Great Classroom Computer Buys on a Coke and Lunch Money Budget -- 68K Macs. She's in the unusual position of having plenty of Macs, but needs to network them to make her life a bit easier. (Sneakernet + 22 kids = 1 tired teacher.)

: Thanks for your column. I am not a techie so I can't do much other than maintain what I have, but my district gives me all the old Macs I want because I'm the only one in the district with the nerve to use more than 3 computers in my classroom. I teach First Grade and this year, for the first time, (they are switching to PCs, much to my dismay) will probably be able to have enough Macs (most with CD-ROMs) for each child to be able to use one. My only constraint is space since I have a regular classroom of about 22 or so kids. Since I have to save each child's work on a floppy every day and print them all out on my desktop printer (printers take up too much space and I need the space for more computers), I can't use an iMac because any external drives are too slow. Therefore, older Macs serve my purpose best. Any advice about speeding up this process since that's the most time-consuming task of using so many computers? The 2 programs I use most often are The Children's Writing and Publishing Center (daily) and EasyBook.; Are there any books out there for absolutely green novices (me) who might like to start doing real SIMPLE tech work like changing batteries on vintage Macs ?

I suggested that Wendy look into networking her Macs and sent a few MacAddict references that may help:

MacAddict 15: Nov. 97, Hook Up Your Macs with Superfast Ethernet by David Reynolds, pp. 51-53
MacAddict 24: Aug. 98, Power Up: How to Share Your Printer by Buz Zoller, pp. 80-81

I also suggested The Macintosh Bible by Peachpit Press and MacWorld Mac Secrets by David Pogue and Joseph Schorr. You may have some better or additional advice for Wendy. If so, why not drop her an email.

This week's MacHome Classroom Weekly Newsletter suggests three excellent sites for students, teachers, and just about anyone interested in science. You can sign up for the newsletter by visiting Joe "Scienceman" Martha's site.

Oceans Alive - #1: This Australian site is a very interesting combination - you can learn about whale watching, kelp forests, sponge gardens, and an interesting fact page is also included with all sorts of ocean trivia.
: All about Oceans and Seas: This Enchanted Learning site answers all sorts of questions about oceans and seas - why is the ocean salty? What causes waves? What causes tides? Good links are included, as are some wonderful ocean animal printouts and crafts that would be great for the classroom.
: Oceans Alive - #2: Same name, even more content! This site does a fantastic job of explaining how oceans fit into the theory of plate tectonics, and has extensive info on ocean physical features, the water cycle, and ocean profiles. This is definitely a prime ocean research site.

Ken Kashmarek sent along a link to an interesting Houston Chronicle column, High-Definition Television Could Change Telecourses and Online Learning. The column discusses the promise and problems of specialized telecourses using high-definition television, (HDTV) delivered over the web. Currently, the biggest problem in such a setup is bandwidth, as delivering such information simply overwhelms most school's internet connections. From experience, I know that while my school is connected to a T-1 line, we rarely have the bandwidth for such things. T-1 could do it, but our connection funnels into a consortium that includes almost all the schools in southern Indiana. At midday, the system bogs down to the point where it's actually slower than a dial-up connection!

Bare Bones Software Friday released Super Get Info (1.2 MB) for Mac OS X only. According to the Bare Bones site, Super Get Info allows you to:

Open more than one info window at a time
View and edit the Macintosh type and creator codes associated with a file
View and edit the Unix owner, group, and permission settings associated with a file or folder
Change a file or folder's creation and modification dates
Copy (or drag and drop) a file or folder's path info

It appears that Bare Bones Software has beat Nifty Neato Software to the punch on this one, but it will be interesting to see what Mitch Jones, author of Nifty Neato's Snitch, comes up with in response. Both sharewares run $20 each.

I'm going to tuck this last item in where it belongs -- on the bottom. The Institute for Policy Innovation has put out a press release, Inputs Don't Equal Outputs in Education Equation. The last line of the press release reveals the Institute's bent: "If we want inputs to once again equal outputs in the education equation, we must increase schools' accountability to parents, instead of bureaucrats. And the most feasible way to do this is through school choice."

Microsoft and Dell Computer have teamed to award $1,100,000 in grants "to support technology enrichment and create opportunities for teens in underserved communities" in four South Florida schools. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates appeared at Booker T. Washington Senior High School to make the awards and stated, "Our goal with today's grants is to create a technology experience for educators and their students that helps every child realize their potential."

Ken Kashmarek sent along a link that I'd previously seen, but not followed, that presents another view of Microsoft in relating to schools. Damien Cave's Microsoft to schools: Give us your lunch money! appears on the Salon.com site. It tells the story of a teacher who installed Office beyond the school's legal licenses and got caught. While I referred to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) as the "Software Police" last week in a posting, you can find yourself in a world of hurt when they come visiting. BSA members include such giants as Adobe, Apple Computer, Intel, IBM, Macromedia, and Microsoft. The column quotes Los Angeles school board member David Tokofsky, referring to a 1996 BSA investigation:

This column is really a "must read" item for those of us who supervise software installations, whether like me in just one classroom, or for a whole school or school system. My thanks again to Ken for bringing this piece to my attention.

This week the SchwabLearning.org again features several new columns of interest for parents and educators:

In the teacher's guide area, The Earth Day Network offers What's Up with the Earth (503K PDF document).

The New York Times Diana Jean Schemo reports Bush Seems to Ease His Stance on Schools' Accountability (free registration required). A Bush spokesperson is said to have related that "the administration wanted a law that would spur improvement without labeling all schools as failures, as he contended the House bill would do." Apparently, President Bush will lend his support to the Senate version of the education reform bill accountability standards. Ms. Schemo notes that the administration's education budget plan calls for $19 million, while the House version requests $23 million and the Senate version $31.3 million. While President Bush has frequently urged Congress to get the education reform bill out of committee and onto his desk for signature into law, this column suggests that "nothing will leave the conference committee until after the appropriations process in September."

If just the word "pacer" gives you a headache from speed-reading training, get ready. Stepware has updated their $25 trainer, Ace Reader to version 2.3c. Ace Reader is available for both Mac and PC, in the original or Pro version at Stepware's download page.

Boston University Chancellor John Silber takes on teachers' unions and early retirement in Teachers' early retirement fails kids. In his Boston Herald column, Silber calls Massachusetts' teacher retirement bill a "boondoggle" which will increase the current teacher shortage and "will drain the education budget." Silber blames the teachers' union for the new early retirement package. Silber states:

As one of those enriched union members, I have to point out that one doesn't improve teacher recruitment by diluting benefits. I also object to Silber's simplistic attack on teachers' unions and the assertion that school problems could be cured if the unions would simply support the "right" legislation. While the new Massachusetts retirement bill sounds very generous, it sounds as if Chancellor Silber has an "ax to grind" with the Massachusetts Teachers Association and teachers in general.

The day wasn't a total loss, however, as I had a lot of fun cleaning and photographing the 7500 during the cleanup. Processing the digital photos on my cheapie Mac IIfx with two displays was also a kick. I used GraphicConverter and placed the main photo on the left screen, with the browser and tool palettes were on the right screen.

If you read the column posted above, yes, I did sit down and again watch one of our favorite family movies, The Princess Bride.

According to a CNN Education article, New York public school systems need to hire between 8,000-9,000 new teachers before fall. School officials are "recruiting teachers from Italy, Spain, Barbados, Jamaica and Austria." Reasons listed for the teacher shortage include "retirements, rising enrollment and low pay relative to other professions."

Microsoft has posted a press release that says "that it is offering computer manufacturers greater flexibility in configuring desktop versions of the Microsoft^® Windows^® operating system in light of the recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals." Changes in the coming Windows XP operating system are not expected to delay its scheduled release date of October 25. The press release says that PC manufacturers and customers will see the following changes in the new release:

Articles continue to be posted to Mac web sites proclaiming Apple has retaken the lead in educational sales. (See Monday's posting.) Such reports are based on a Quality Education Data report ($299) which notes Apple leads in estimated computers in use in schools and on estimated sales for the 2001-2002 school year. Yesterday, highly respected columnist (at least by me), Charles Haddad, added to the list of those proclaiming Apple has retaken the lead in a Business Week Online column, How Apple Is Reclaiming the Classroom. The subhead to the column begins, "Jobs & Co. is again No. 1 in education..."

As an educator who prefers to use a Mac, I'd love to see Apple increase its marketshare in education and regain leadership in sales of new units to schools. But I think it's bad reporting (often bad headlining) to suggest Apple has retaken the lead on the projections of one source, however well respected. It's sort of like claiming you've already won the game when it's only the top of the fifth inning!

While it may have something to do with it being Friday the thirteenth, or maybe it's just the pre-MacWorld Expo news slump, there's just not much going on out there today.