Thursday, March 25, 2010

The end of textbooks as we know them?

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Open source textbook makers may be the wave of the future. Imagine using a textbook that is not only custom made for a particular school, but even for a specific teacher.

The pitch made here seems pretty compelling to me. I'm pretty sure that if this development dovetails with the tablet revolution, we are indeed looking at a new model.

Of course, I've never loved textbooks to begin with. People debate the suggestion of one of my personal intellectual heroes, Neil Postman's suggestion that we'd be better off without them. But his arguments resonate with me.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Why don't they get it?

If we really do want to experiment with using tablets and bluetooth projectors next year, we should probably already start thinking about what we'll want to purchase and do it before the school year ends.

Projectors seem about the same, although we'll need to get ones that will work in rooms without shades.

For some reason, it looks like the tablet options are going to be few. Aside from the now classic style of tablet PC, there seem to be few successes in and attempt to compete with the iPad.  

So far, the attempts are either  crazy expensive, or are receiving terrible reviews like these bombs.
What mistake are they making? It seems to always be the same one: using a laptop OS. iPad is using a version of the iPod/iPhone OS. The reviewers are quite explicit about this, yet nobody seems to be listening.

Where does this leave us? What should we buy? When should we buy it? Any thoughts?

Friday, March 12, 2010

Office suites.

I'd like to compare and contrast 3 possible options for teachers and students to create documents, presentations and spreadsheets. Microsoft Office seems to be the default that most people use. The other two I'd like to consider are Open Office and Google Docs. Let's start with a chart: (which I made using Open Office, by the way)



Microsoft Office Open Office Google Docs
1. Universal compatibility x / /
2. Full Features / / x
3. Cloud storage x x /
4. Cloud collaboration x x /
5. Free to all x / /
6. Needs Online connection x x /
7. Download x / /


Now to address the differences.
1. It seems to me that since staff and students use Macs and PCs, and we may be introducing Linux netbooks next year, cross operating system capability is really advantageous. Strike one for MS.
2. Google docs only has really basic features, which is what we use 98% of the time. But the other two do leave it in the dust.
3. Is it better to store docs on your hard drive and the school network, or let Google store it? That's the choice here. 
4. Only Google docs allows teachers and/or students collaborate in real time. Anywhere on the planet. 
5. Free and works without local tech support beats expensive and glitchy. 
6. The biggest downside of Google docs. If your offline, you can't work.
7. Yeah, anyone anywhere can use it. 

It seems to me that depending on specific need, Google and Open office are the best options. Other than inertia, I see little advantage to MS office. Perhaps the best option is working in Open office and storing docs on Google for backup.
Can you guys experiment with these two free resources, please, and post your comments below?