- 1001 Flat World Tales Project
An annual, globally collaborative wiki writing workshop.
Join NOW for April-May 2010:
Read and hear 2008's prize-winning HS tales on the 1001 Tales website -
Flickr Photos
More Photos
Nov
14
The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades…
November 14, 2007 | 1 Comment
A couple of things happened today that really didn’t mean much at the time, but have me reflecting this evening.
This afternoon I was working with a group of Grade 6 students as I spent time with a colleague and her young learners introducing them to the use of wireless laptops in their class. I was introducing them to proper search techniques (which will eventually lead to information assessment).
Naturally, some of the kids were more interested in learning how to change their screen background, which many of the students did immediately and easily. I had my standard response…”you find out and then tell me how you did it”. It didn’t take long for more computer saavy classmates offered to help – a new learning community.
I try to encourage teachers not to teach kids how to use applications or the basics of the technology (except where I assess that it is immediate and necessary to facilitate a learning opportunity), especially common software like word processors and presentation software. Instead, by encouraging active learning communities and challenging learners to find the information (as opposed to me telling them) I hope to promote lifelong learning practices.
Then tonight, I stumbled upon a feature in sitemeter that I didn’t even know existed. It allows subscribers to monitor the OS of visitors to their site. I was looking at the analytics for my blog and noticed that, while various versions of Windows accounted for just over half of the visitors and another quarter were running Macs (which always makes me smile!), over one in five visitors were running versions of Linux.
Frankly, the fact that almost as many users are running Linux boxes as Macs surprised me! I will be the first to admit that I am not a programmer and wouldn’t even know where to start with a Linux box, the collaborative and participatory nature of both Web 2.0 tools and open source software and operating systems is encouraging.
Noting that the Linux-based OS on the XO laptop of OLPC (see previous post) is non-proprietary and the immense capabilities of learners (when given the opportunity) to share, connect and learn together, I am heartened to think of the possibilities outside the the Microsofts, Googles and Apples of the world.
tags: technology, education, learning, whipple, olpc
1 Comment so far
Hey Jeff, You might want to install google analytics on your blog. It’s very comprehensive with the type of data it collects on your visitors, where they came from, keywords to find you, etc.