Moving forward

I will be teaching at a middle school this Fall for eight weeks before travelling to Ireland to teach for another eight weeks. I am getting very excited for these opportunities and the chance to see how technology is implemented in each of these classrooms. In my last placement at a High School in Duluth, I was a little spoiled by the S.M.A.R.T boards they had and was a tad disappointed at the resources available at my new location when I briefly previewed it. The classroom was low tech, but full of energy and opportunity so I don't think it will be hard to succeed.  Still little information on Ireland other than I have purchased my tickets and am going no matter what at this point.

As far as specific technology advances in the educational realm, I checked out Edubuntu recently and may be installing it as the dedicated OS on my Uncle's laptop for his two children (7 and 5 years old). I would love the chance to introduce them to open source opportunities at such a young age. I can remember my curiosity with computers when I was younger and with the availability and accessibility of these Ubuntu forks I think they will have many pathways to explore if they so choose.

Khan academy has some interesting news. Recently, they launched a computer science channel and are giving people the oppertunity to explore programming. Check it out here! The programs they use are free (although in the video the teacher is using a python program for windows, for debian users or other linux distributions there are other alternatives) and the ability to pause, rewind and fast forward the lesson makes it possible for any person to learn at their own pace. I have started the first lesson and will record my progress in this blog in the future hopefully :)

Seems like tablets are always in the news these days. Here is my prediction, Ipads will be initially dominant in the school systems but eventually android or some other unknown OS will out compete apple for the educational market. I think that the cost of the machines, ease of student integration and app purchases will drive this market and who ever can meet these needs will be the winner. I am pushing for android or open source alternatives like the Vavaldi Tablet, but with the recent price drops for high quality android devices, it is very possible that these will win the race. I believe this because students could become more familiar and comfortable with these devices due to their availability. A parent who wants to get a child a tablet will most likely spring for the cheaper device. Why get your teenager a $500 Ipad when a $200 Nexus or Kindle Fire can meet their needs? They are at a higher risk of breaking/damaging the device or getting it stolen so why would the parent heavily invest in it?

Ok, enough ranting and raving, I have got to get some coffee in me and then head off to my first teach workshop before the school year at my middle school.