Monday, October 29, 2001

Scienceman.com today features illustrated directions for installing a (bootable) Sony CD-R/RW in a G3 All-in-one Mac (Artemis). Educators' News traces its roots to the old G3 All-in-one Stop Shop through which I first learned of Joe Martha's excellent Scienceman site. Even if you don't have an All-in-one, Joe's site always offers a good daily dose of science news and tools along with some gorgeous photography.

Barbara Whitaker has an interesting column in yesterday's New York Times, School Plans for 2-Year Kindergarten (free registration required). The Santa Ana Unified School District in Orange County, California is "considering...the establishment of a two-year kindergarten program." The article relates that the district has experimented with the usual array of transitional rooms in the past, but is considering this change because so many of their children come to school without some of the basic developmental and social skills normally expected of an incoming kindergartner.

Jordan Middle School in Palo Alto, California, is now caught up in another of those "a laptop for every student" debates. The San Francisco Chronicle's Diana Walsh reports in 6th-graders' parents told to buy PCs - Class in Palo Alto uses $2,000 laptops, that parents of sixth- graders at Jordan Middle School got a letter two weeks ago "from the school principal and the district's technology director asking them to buy the 5-pound, state-of-the- art laptop for $2,000 as part of the school's new technology program." While the program is described as optional, parent Steve Weinstein is quoted as saying:

An optional program is never really optional. There are a lot of people who don't have $2,000 to spend, but they are going to be forced into it because it's the Palo Alto way: "My kid might be disadvantaged if he's four steps behind, so I've got to do what is necessary."

While affordability was stated to be a primary concern of parents, other issues have caused 35% of the parents to reject the program:

• Are laptops really a good pedagogical tool or just the latest fad in a technology-mad town?
• Isn't it asking too much of 11-year- olds to be responsible for a $2,000 machine?
• How will the extra weight affect their backs?
• Are the classrooms configured to prevent RSI injuries? [my emphasis]

The debate about laptops for all students is sure to continue as more schools examine the option of equipping all students with computers. Just as there is little research currently available about the positive effects of technology in the classroom, there is also little hard evidence that "laptops for all" might not turn out to be another modern math or whole language debacle.

BTW: I'm not sure where the Chronicle got the $2000 figure for the laptops, but the machines in question were iBooks.

Jay Klein Productions has updated their popular commercial gradebook program, Gradebusters: Making the Grade, to version 9.0. Making the Grade offers lots of bells and whistles to the usual spreadsheet type of gradebook, including student birthdays, calendar functions, and a really deluxe seating chart. Demos are available for both Macintosh (1.4 MB) and Windows (2.7 MB). Full versions run $99.95, but also include free updates and upgrades for future versions.

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore is donating $600 million to the California Institute of Technology over the next five years to be used with no restrictions. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the gift is "easily the largest donation ever to a U.S. university."

If you're gearing up for November and Thanksgiving classroom decorations and activities, be sure to check out the Kids Domain's Thanksgiving page. While we do a lot of coloring in my classroom for fine motor development (weightlifting for handwriting), the KD Thanksgiving Coloring Page has some excellent closed line images that convert well for use in a paint program such as ClarisWorks/AppleWorks. Often, such images require a lot of touching up of breaks in the image lines so the whole field won't change color when using the paint bucket tool. The Kids Domain images are solid line and save a good bit of time. I have my kids bring in their floppy disks and send the images home for some paint practice.

James Coates says, "There never has been a better time to consider joining the minority with the best looking machines," in his latest Chicago Tribune column, Apple's best reason yet to pitch your Pentium. Coates writes:

Start messing around with a new Mac running Mac OS X and you will get some of the same thrill that was there the first time you discovered personal computers and got to sit down and play with a new machine.

Writing today's posting feels a bit bit like a writer's hangover after the introduction last week of Microsoft's Windows XP and Apple's iPod. Finding some real news stories about education amidst the twin media blitz of XP and the iPod is a challenge. Interestingly, while Windows XP is a tangible product available today on store shelves everywhere, the iPod remains just a product announcement with availability promised for November 10.

Wednesday, October 31, 2001

Priscilla Vail begins a three part series this week about testing and LD students on the SchwabLearning.org. A related column gives Test-Taking Strategies that may be helpful for parents and teachers in preparing special learners for standardized and other tests. The update of the Assistive Technology Guide continues this week with Assistive Technology - Calculators and Electronic Math Worksheets. Finally, the fall issue of the SchwabLearning.org quarterly print publication, LD Matters, is now available.

Friday, November 2, 2001

A New York Times column today, States Biding for Time in Microsoft Settlement Plan (free registration required), says the 18 states involved in the Microsoft antitrust trial will ask U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly for more time to study a proposed settlement of the case. Judge Kollar-Kotelly had set today as a deadline for reaching a settlement. CNET has reported that the states' representatives find the remedy tentatively agreed to by the Department of Justice and Microsoft as "toothless."

The Dallas Morning News yesterday carried the column Paige predicts education accord. News writer Christopher Lee says that Secretary of Education Rod Paige has said agreement on the stalled education reform act should be reached in the next "10-14 days."

Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker has proposed that "Philadelphia put private companies in charge of teaching its struggling students, a move that has implications for failing school systems across the country."

Pennsylvania governor proposes placing 60 Philadelphia schools under private management tells of Governor Mark Schweiker's plan to "put private companies in charge of teaching its struggling students." The column notes that Edison Schools Inc., "hired by former Gov. Tom Ridge to perform a $2.7 million study of the district's finances and educational program," stands to profit from the new plan. A Philadelphia Daily News article, Edison, Charters, & Special-Needs Kids, suggests Edison may not be up to the task.

November virus definitions are now available for download from all the major antivirus sources: Symantec; Virex; and VirusBarrier.

Saturday, November 3, 2001

Ohio educator Joe Taylor sent the following message and link. I can't think of any way to say it better. "The fun here never stops - those wacky folks at the Ohio Supreme Court are at it again:" Supreme Court to reconsider school-funding decision.

The plot in the state takeover of Philadelphia public schools thickens with the Philadelphia Inquirer story yesterday, Edison CEO wants multiyear pact. While previous news items have mentioned a variety of options if the state takes over control of the city schools, the Inquirer column carries an interesting quote from the for-profit Edison Schools Inc. -- interesting because it mentions only profit and loss, rather than kids learning and Edison taking over the entire school system.

CEO Christopher Whittle said yesterday that a contract to run the city's 264 public schools would help the company turn a profit quicker - maybe by next year - and for the first time in its 10-year history.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday added its two cents to the privatization of public schools issue with the editorial, Prescription for public schools. The editorial states:

If Georgians and the nation really want fundamental reform...that should include private management of failing schools, as is planned for Philadelphia, charter schools, which are public schools free from bureaucratic regulations, and, most importantly, vouchers.

Gotcha. The editorial, Spin city, again from the Philadelphia Inquirer, presents a more objective analysis of the situation in Philadelphia. It notes that the Philadelphia schools have been chronically underfunded by the state and asks some hard questions about the ties between the Edison corporation and those pushing the plan. It also sounds as if it were written by someone who is truly interested in improving schools.

Prerelease version 2.6 of the iCab Mac web browser is now available for download. The iCab site states: "The preview version will expire end of January 2002." Versions for Power Mac (1.7 MB), OS X (1.6 MB), and 68K (1.4 MB) are available.

Computerworld reports that while the Department of Justice and Microsoft have reached a settlement in the penalty phase of the Microsoft antitrust case. The 18 states involved in the case have not as yet agreed to the settlement. Microsoft, DOJ reach settlement; states' backing uncertain, by Patrick Thibodeau, presents some comments by the states' representative that may indicate the states will eventually go along with the agreement.

CNET presents a more hard hitting analysis of the agreement in Settlement is a Reward by John Borland.

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