Edgeek

From iPhone Dev Team's blog:

Woz likes his iPhoned pwned! Free your iPhone!

Yesterday, the blue-haired-girl came back from Tunja. She was invited to be keynote speaker at the Colombian History Conference (Congreso Colombiano de Historia). She presented the Bicentennial project and had awesome responses. The saddest of all: your project is awesome, wonderful, amazing... pitty it comes from the (this) government. Sigh.

Anyway... she listened to a few Ted Talks on the bus on the way back and pointed me to one I hadn't seen: David Pogue, When it comes to tech, simplicity sells. If you get through the lousy song he opened with, you'll laugh like crazy. A few gems:

1. Someone called tech support at Apple and said the mouse was squeaking. It squeaks when I move it across the screen. Why are you moving it across the screen? Well, it said click here?
2. More tech. support: I can't turn off the computer. I got an error and I can't restart even if I type 11. Why are you typing 11? It says "Error type 11".
3. Why do you shut down a Windows PC by clicking a button called "Start"?
4. Why do you have to scroll down a menu at the shutdown screen when there are only four options?
5. PalmOne has empoyees in charge of "tap counting". No task on the Palm Pilot can be more than 3 taps away.

A short while ago I listened to a Ted Talk called "Five dangerous things you should let your children do." It was fun. Today I read a post on Open Education on the same topic and got thinking about that again. I watched the Talk again.

Gever Tulley, who runs a summer school where fourth graders play with power tools and "come back pretty bloody and scraped" suggests children should learn to manage dangerous and unsafe things by actually getting to experience them. How else do you learn, someone could say?

Here's his list:

1. Play with fire: I did it. I was allowed to light the fireplace on my own, taught to do it by my father and did it in bonfires in friends' farms. I learned how to "control fire" and feel proud of doing it. Check. Thanks, mom and dad!
2. Own a pocket knife: I was given my first pocket knife by my mom. It was actually just a blade. I was allowed to play with it all the time. Even throwing it at stuff in the back yard (stuff... never people, plants or animals). My parents, cousins and uncles always taught me to cut away from my body and be careful with knifes. They let me play with it and tended my cuts when I made a mistake and cut myself. I know how to use a knife. Thanks, mom and dad!
3. Throw a spear: I don't remember throwing spears except javelins in phys. ed. class in middle school. However I was allowed  to own and play with a sling, throw rocks and participate in the greatest "guerras de bodoques"  with my neighboorhood friends. I don't have good aim, but this was all a lot of fun. It sometimes hurt and I got bruises, but it was great fun! Thanks, mom and dad!
4. Deconstruct appliances: I was never a big fan of breaking things appart. I actually do it more now than before. But I did my share of damage. My cousin has always been awesome at it and always had projects: a home-built remote control car, radios, etc. I slept over and played with his deconstructed appliances. I also learned how to use power tools with my dad, not putting things appart but fixing them. He taught me how to use a drill, a hammer, a saw, an electric saw. I still enjoy "bricolage" and do some things. I am proud of my toolbox and recently bought my own drill. I also played with the old car, the Renault 6, since I was about 12, seeing how they fixed it and eventually fixing simple things in it myself. Later, when I owned my own motorcycle, I had to learn how to fix the carburator, the clutch and many other things, mostly by tinkering with it and breaking it. Thanks, mom and dad!
5. Break the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act): No comment.
6. Which is the second part of 5: Drive a car: My mom took me out driving since I was about twelve. The city was smaller and there were very empty streets close to home. On weekends we went out and I drove around. When I was even younger, my mom let me shift the gears in her car while she drove. I think I'm a pretty good driver and attribute part of it to being allowed to drive since I was young. Thanks, mom! And thanks dad, who always let me drive his car, even when I crashed it (driving without a license at age 15, remember, Jaime?) and got it stolen (at age 17).

I do agree that doing these dangerous things helped learn my limits and how to cope with some level of danger. I don't break easily and feel I'm still quite tough even though I never exercise. All this helped me grow up.

I sometimes feel children are nowadays way too overprotected by their parents and supervising adults. I don't have kids... but it seems I'm not the only one who thinks that. Writing about an English organization that promotes play in children (including "dangerous" play), Open education says:

PlayEngland’s focus this year has been on one of the most traditional of child behavior’s, climbing a tree. The group found that half of children aged 7-12 years reported they were not allowed to climb a tree without adult supervision while the other half reported they had been stopped from climbing trees because it was considered to be too dangerous.

I remember being in the third or fourth grade and having lots of fun climbing a tree behind the art classrom. Me and my friends (I don't remember who were my friends back then) had about a month of fun before Alice de Cuervo, the primary school director found out we were up there and made us climb down. Years later, when I was a teacher back in the same school, the tree had been felled. I missed it. It was a beatuful evergreen with sort of a roof top where we used play when we climbed. I also used to climb lots of trees around my parent's house with my neighborhood friends. It was also great fun and nobody ever told me to climb down. When I went to the park with my mom she even helped me climb trees that were to high for me to reach on my own. Wasn't she awesome?

Just a snippet of the post in Spanish below...

Today I met with Camilo, the student who has been helping me with the school website. By the end of the meeting he asked me if he could have a blog in the school website. I didn't doubt. Yes! Of course! I said. I immediately granted permissions for him to blog. He posted his first entry tonight... and some unforeseen problems came through... Today I also told him about the Sites teachers will be making, some changes in the school curriculum and the laptops we're getting for students. He blogged about that, of course, and some of it, especially the curriculum change is something the Principal and Academic Director should inform the students of, not a blog post froma peer that still has some incomplete information... possibly confusing. News fly in the blogosphere, doesn't it? The post was up for about two and half hours before I read it, and I could see some people got the chance to read it... some 15 visitors to the site. The decision wasn't easy, but I put it in the moderation queue and modified the settings so blog posts submitted by students will always be moderated before publication. Teachers and administrators will be able to override this setting, but students' posts won't be immediately publised. I feel like somewhat of a fascist, but can't see a way out. I don't think I'll have to censor students (only extreme cases would merit this), but this taught me something I should have known... I won't be able to predict or control what is published in student blogs (or any other for that matter)... sure, that is the point... I'll have to be more careful with the things I tell students before they are "officially released" and think a little more about how to manage student blogs. I don't like the hypercontrolling scheme I put up with every post requiring moderation. It think I'll have to discuss this with the principal. Students should have blogs. That's my standing. They should be allowed to talk about whatever they want... they should be able to leak information (as "real" journalists do)... but just for now, before school begins, I can't priviledge one student, however hard he has been working to get the website up and running. I guess I'm saying I'll allow unmoderated blog posts once school starts. I feel really fascist by unpublishing Camilo's post.

Esta semana empezó como una carrera. Así suelen ser las primeras semanas en los colegios. En dos días he corrido como hacía tiempo no lo hacía (literalmente, corrido de un lado para otro). Profesores nuevos necesitan que sus usuarios para la Intranet y el correo electrónico funcionen y algunos de ellos son bastante novatos en el uso de computadores. Además, hemos tenido algunos problemas preparando los sistemas que deben usar para la planeación anual y esto ha complicado las agendas. Hoy tuvimos que mover toda la agenda de dos días por esas demoras, en parte culpa mía (del mi departamento) y en parte de procesos que no están funcionando bien entre distintas áreas. Espero que mañana a primera hora pueda estar listo, pero estoy temiendo que no lo esté, pues no me han llamdo a confirmar y todavía no puedo entrar al sistema... cruzo los dedos.

Entre los cambios a las agendas, hoy hice la presentación del Plan de Tecnología que estaba preparando para mañana. Le faltaban detalles, pero estaba casi lista y pude hacerla. No funcionó perfectamente, más que nada porque el video beam no tiene demasiada luz ni el salón donde se presentó demasiada oscuridad, pero funcionó bastante bien. Recibí unos cuantos buenos comentarios. Los profesores quedaron muy contentos con la idea de que les paguemos alguiler por los portátiles personales que usan para su trabajo y con poder comprar un computador a través del proveedor que nos venda los que compraremos para los estudiantes. Creo que así les podemos conseguir muy buenos precios.

FInalmente... el tema del título... hoy estuve reunido con Camilo, el estudiante que me ha estado ayudando con la página web del colegio y me preguntó si le podía dar permiso de crear su blog en la página del colegio. No lo pensé dos veces y le di permisos de crear entradas de blog. Hace un rato vi su primera entrada, ¡qué pilera! Aunque excelente, me generó algunos problemas... en su post cuenta chismes que aún no queremos divulgar a los estudiantes sobre cambios en el colegio y algunas de las nuevas consas tecnológicas. Son noticias que deben oir de la rectora y directora académica y no como un chisme... Las maravillas del mundo de los blogs. Las noticias vuelan en la bogosfera. Para evitar problemas puse su blog en la cola de moderación mientras empieza todo y puede soltar las "chivas"... no fue una decisión fácil y me siente un poco facho.

One of the strategies I am putting together as part of the schools ed. tech. plan, is to have a few people blog. I am sure this will improve communication with parents and students, and withing the staff. The bloggers will initially be the principal, vice-principals and academic director. Aweome people to accept doing this in the first place. I will, of course, also keep a blog in the school website.

My first blog post welcomed the department heads last week and I have just posted my second entry. I used the chance to point everyone to Randy Pausch's last lecture. I just recently read he died two weeks ago. It is an awesome lecture if you haven't had the change to check it out. You can find it in my blog at the school website.

Después de mucho trabajo y con mucha ayuda de Alejandro (el ingeniero) y algunos estudiantes del colegio, especialmente Camilo Garzón, salió al aire una primera versión del nuevo portal web del Gimnasio La Montaña. La curva de aprendizaje para usar Drupal es bastante empinada y me ha tomado tiempo entender cómo funciona, pero estoy muy contento con las posibilidades de la plataforma. Aún hay mucho por hacer, pero los invito a conocer el sitio en www.glm.edu.co y enviarme sus comentarios, especialmente sobre la facilidad de navegación.

After a lot of work and a lot of help from Alejandro (the server-guy) and some students, especially Camilo Garzón, the first version of Gimnasio La Montaña's new web portal. Drupal's learning curve is pretty steep and it has taken time to understand how it works, but I'm happy withe the platform's possibilities. There's still a lot of work to be done, but I invite my readers to check it out (at www.glm.edu.co) and send me their feedback, especially in relation to the ease of navigation (usability). Thanks!

Through Stephen Downe's olDaily I got interested in an article about educational uses of peer to peer file transfer.BitTorrent: An Educational Autopsy of the Hydra by bavtuesdays. It has a good explanation of what bit-torrents is and how it works, as well as an explanation of the debates around it. I also got directed to check out a project at Harvard School of Engineering... Tribler, a p2p system that, as far as I can tell, uses bandwidth as currency (to give incentives to users who "seed"). I am about to download it and try it out. You can find it here: http://tv.seas.harvard.edu/. I have to options to download a client: Minimize upload to others and maximize download 15% or simetrical download/upload, normal speed download. I don't know what to pick. Seems weird. I get better download if I don't reciprocate? I think I'm not getting it. The FAQ says:

"If you select the right download version, the Tribler client will upload as much as it downloads. This version is "balanced" in the sense that for every piece that you want to download you also have to upload a piece of the same size. If you select the left download version, the Tribler client will optimize the file sharing algorithm to speed up your downloads, minimizing your upload to others. While this improves the speed of your personal video downloads, other users will not be able to benefit from your videos as much as with the right version which then consequently reduces their download speed."

But then it also says:

"Obviously, the upload/download ratio averaged over the whole file sharing network has to be 1:1. Thus, it is a serious problem that many users have an asymmetric Internet connection. This is one of the biggest problems with the BitTorrent protocol, where most trades happen with a tit-for-tat mechanism. Thus, even though you might have 1Mbit of download bandwidth, your 125kbit upload bandwidth prevents you from fast downloads. With virtual credits, we want to alleviate this problem. The idea is that when you leave your computer on (over night, during vacation, when you are working,...) you can earn credits such that when you actually want to download a video (or watch something on demand) you will get get the full download speed."

I have an asymmetric connection, of course. Nevertheless, I'll go for the symmetrical version of the client and upload more. I guess this decision is part of their research. I choose to share more in order to get, in the end, faster download speeds. Am I reasoning this right? Finally here's a video on Tribler:

We'd had some trouble installing Knowledge Forum on the Windows 2003 r2 server at school. Granted, the school engineer and me aren't the best qualified to do it (I've never managed a server), but we couldn't manage yesterday. Today, Alejandro, one of our contract programmers (who does know about Windows servers and pretty much administers the one at school) managed pretty quickly. Even enhanced mode worked well. I haven't been able to run lite mode, but that's another problem. I can't even run it from the KF site!

Hopefully it will be up online in about a week, as well as the new school website using Drupal. Right now both run locally. That makes me happy. I still have a lot of work to do on the website and the students who were to help me on vacation haven't come through... we'll see how much we manage to get ready for the the first week of August, when the teachers come in.

As some of my readers may know, I recently started a new job as educational technology director at Gimnasio La Montaña, a private school in Bogotá. One of the innovations we are going to start next year is the use of Knowledge Forum for two Knowledge Building (KB) projects (one Social Studies, one Science), in some areas (Religion, Philosophy, Language Arts...) and in teacher lesson study. KB is one of the most interesting and powerful ideas about education I have come across (thanks to Kate Bielaczyc at HGSE) and I love what KF can do.

I have been preparing a professional development course for the initial group of teachers and came across something I hadn't seen before. The Institute for Knowledge Innovation and Technology at the University of Toronto, where Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter work, holds a yearly institute on KB. We couldn't attend this year, but I found some great resource from previous institutes at the IKIT site. Last year, a group of teachers presented their research on lesson study. I wish there were a video of the presentation, but I found the slides and the videos of them teaching and discussing lessons. Awesome resources for my course! There's a lot more video available. Thanks IKIT for making that available! I wish you could do this year's Institute live (or link to participants' blogging or live-blogging) or publish everything pretty quickly.

IKIT Video site: http://video.ikit.org/si2007/slides

Edit: I'm desperately looking for professional development materials in Spanish for some of my teachers, especially translations of articles by Scardamalia and Bereiter like "Collective Cognitive Responsibility" and the article in "Encyclopedia of Education". Found a little in the COMConeixer site, but no more... any pointers will be appreciated.

Edit: Proofread and linked to Kate's profile at NIE.