Watch the sparks fly!
In the Foundry we cast ideas from technology and education and other raw materials.
Taking time to think ahead
Thor Prichard | July 28, 2010As you can probably extrapolate from the gap in entries here, I've been slightly busy the last six months. (And for that, I offer my sincerest apologies to you, dear reader.) But even with such a pace, one must take time to pause, catch one's breath and look up to see what's ahead; otherwise, one will not see the obstacles ahead. To accomplish this, I tried something entirely different: I took a day trip on the train.Read more...
Can You Read with Your Ears
Peggy Grant | March 25, 2010I love audiobooks. I have a monthly subscription to audible.com and love the free books from librivox.org. So lately I’ve been thinking about the use of audiobooks in the classroom.
I’ll start with the obvious. Listening to a book is pleasant. For very young children, it’s more than enjoyable, it’s a critical part of their literacy development. Listening to books helps children develop a positive attitude about books and increases their motivation to read.
When formal reading instruction begins, audiobooks can be a powerful instructional tool. Following a written text while listening gives students examples of fluent reading and helps them develop decoding skills. It’s fun and can inspire students to read printed books on their own.
In addition, many assigned texts, such as Shakespeare, The Odyssey, and literature with dialect, are much more accessible when they are heard read aloud by a good reader. I found mp3 versions of many standard high school literature texts available for download from my local library. These audiobooks could be a great help to students and teachers.Read more...
Conference Takeaways
Julia Fischer | March 23, 2010Last week I attended the 30th Microcomputers in Education Conference (MEC). Over the past 18 years I have been in Arizona I have attended the conference a number of times and each time I walk away with something new to think about. This year was no exception, in fact there were three things that stood out to me; STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), cyber safety, and accessing Web 2.0 in the classroom.Read more...
HTML 5
Steve Burt | March 17, 2010Sure the iPad and SXSWi have been grabbing all the headlines lately, but HTML 5 might have an even bigger impact. Okay, maybe an equal impact to the iPad. But, like many I've found myself wondering just what HTML 5 is.
For the most part it is being billed as a "Flash killer" capable of replacing Flash for embedded movies and animations on sites. Because Apple has been loath to support Flash on the iPad and iPhone versions of their Safari browser lots of sites simply wont work. For instance, Hulu. Assuming HTML 5 can do as good a job of support video, what else will it do?Read more...
The disappearing perimeter
Malcolm Heath | March 10, 2010Much of the way that we concieve of our network design comes out of prior models of computing, and as such, isn't necessarily applicable to modern situations. Primary among these conceptions is that our networks have a "perimeter", a logical dividing line between what is "inside" our network, and what is "outside". More and more, drawing such a line does not equate with the reality of network access, which has significant ramifications for network design, and security.Read more...
Back to Apps
Stefanie Hausman | March 9, 2010Have an i-phone? Want to keep up-to-date with ed apps? I recently came across EduTecher, an app and Web site with links to education apps, or so I thought. Using it, I discovered several apps, such as issuu, Word Magnets, doris, and many more. Here’s what I liked and didn’t like about the app.Read more...
Virtual Friends
Julia Fischer | February 16, 2010The question “Do you know who your kids are playing with?” takes on a whole new meaning to parents today compared with parents of 30 years ago. My parents could just look out the front window or head to the neighborhood park and answer those questions because of who we were with. They took us to “play dates” or we even hung out at the community pool. The friend we played with were the ones they could see. Of course they weren’t with us every waking minute of the day- and there those friends that you only had at school but for the most part it was a pretty straight forward question with a straight forward answer.Read more...
It's 4am, do you know where your data is?
Malcolm Heath | February 5, 2010This morning, I got to be a hero. This happens occasionally in the life of a systems administrator, and I think it would be lying to say that I don't enjoy it. So much of the work that folks like me do is behind the scenes, unglamourous, and doesn't make the headlines. Read more...
Knowledge Navigator, where are you?
Thor Prichard | January 28, 2010Over twenty years ago, Apple released a concept video to illustrate a vision about computers in the future. The video, simply titled Knowledge Navigator, anticipated wireless networks, steaming video, the World Wide Web and truly portable netbook style computing. To this day, no company has succeeded in achieving that vision. Maybe after 23 years Apple would introduce a product that does. With the launch of the iPad yesterday, we might be waiting a little bit longer.Read more...
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