February 19, 2010 by David Russell.

I have been paying a fair amount of attention to the ideas, successes, and failures that surround 1 to 1 (1:1).  I want to write this blog in order to open it as a discussion point for those involved in this grant program.  The guiding questions for this discussion would be:  What would your students be able to do if each kid had access to a computing device throughout the day?  How do you think this type of school environment or philosophy would impact student achievement?

So here are a few of my initial comments regarding some of these issues.  I attended a conference work session that discussed the idea of a true 1:1 scenario with every kid having a fully functional laptop and that any other device would not be acceptable.  I am not convinced.  I feel that the idea that every kid needs a full blown laptop with a slew of locally loaded applications is short sighted to the needs of the students in balance with the costs associated.  For instance, perhaps the bulk of high school kids need access to a device they can take notes on, write papers, and (most importantly) access the internet.  The idea that the students can do the vast bulk of their work through the use of cloud computing is not new and is gaining momentum.  We want the students to be publishing, collaborating, and archiving their work so the use of the web and some of the great service out there is essential.  Text book publishers are coming along slowly and but other than that what do we need for the kids?  My point is, we have so many resources and tools at our fingertips so lets put it at the kids fingertips on a regular basis.  Close the gap between haves and have-nots.  What are your thoughts?

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January 1, 2010 by David Russell.

I have been having a great deal of fun working on the new and improved curriculum for Web Design II.  The goal for this curriculum is to form an experience for students that gives them a better understanding of the latest trends of Web Design, how to work cooperatively and collaboratively with others, and an authentic project to learn from.  They will be able to use the the projects they produce for portfolio examples and to guide potential career/post secondary choices.  Ryan Smiley is my partner in crime on this re-write so I am hoping that the collaboration between the two of us will bleed through to the students.  As we move forward, I will be working through the E2T2 grant to assist me with the evolution of the structure of this class.  If anyone has a few minutes, please take a look and give me feedback.  Here is the link to the class wiki where all the activities and student collaboration will be organized through.  Please keep in mind that it is a work in progress and the primary reason behind using a wiki for the project is so that it can be open to change by students and other teachers.  It may grow to encompass Web Design 1 and other classes at EVHS.

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November 16, 2009 by David Russell.

So recently I received an invitation to try Google Wave which looks very interesting for some of the types of communication and collaboration we have been using here at work.  Not only could we be using this technology for our own meetings but it would take classroom discussions to the next level.  From what limited exposure I have had to it thus far I feel as though this is the solution to the “laggy” Google Documents (word processing) and a way to have media rich discussions revolving around a topic or goal.  Is anyone else out there testing this yet?  If so, send me an invite to join a wave (be a contact)(david.russell@eagleschools.net).

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