Asus Eee PC

Over the past few months I have been intrigued by a little machine called the Asus Eee PC. At the Central Valley CUE Conference (CVCUE). I met Chris Edmonson from the Clovis School District. He had an Asus Eee PC with him. His district is currently using some of these devices in his distrit with students.

This device falls into a category known as ultraportable devices. It is similar to the OLPC or the Intel Classmate PC. While, the Asus did not receive as much press as these other machines, it is still a great option for schools interested in one-to-one computing. It is not a full laptop in the sense that we are used to. Instead it is more like an Internet appliance. What I mean by that is that you can do a lot of the things you would do with a regular laptop, except that instead of traditional software like Microsoft Office you use a lot of innovative open source and web 2.0 applications. These applications encourage collaborating with one another and producing media that can be published and shared on the web.

The interface is really easy to use. It has four tabs on its main screen: Internet, Work, Learn & Play. The Internet tab includes Skype, an e-book reader, a wireless utility, and site links to Wikipedia, Google Docs, and Internet Radio. Under the work tab it includes Open Office 2.0, built in Acobat Reader and Mozilla's Thunderbird web-client for email. The learn tab includes math and science applications primarily designed for high school. The play tab includes multimedia applications. While it doesn't have a lot of memory, users can upload to online storage places such as Flicker and UTube. The Asus has 4 Gig of Flash memory/ 512 MB of RAM. It is Linux based or Windows XP compatible. It has a built-in video camera, microphone and speakers. More specs are available at the Asus site.

The Asus costs about $200. Connie Jaeger, technology coordinator from the Mequon-Thiensville School District brings up a good point though. That is, if your district does not have a strong wireless infrastructure while the device is cheap you will be paying for it through infrastructure costs.

Social Networking Site for One-to-one computing

The Stephens Group has started a social networking site for people interested in one-to-one computing. The purpose is to share resources with one another around this topic.

If you would like to join go to the main website at http://one-to-one-computing.collectivex.com/main/summary .

21st Century Vision

Last week I met with Connie Jaeger, the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Mequon-Thiensville School District. She shared the draft of the new three year information technology plan they are working on. I really liked their vision and how it supports a 21st century learning environment.

To accomplish this vision, the school district must:

• Create an environment that fosters a passion for exploration and discovery.
• Promote and support intellectual curiosity, imagination and excitement for learning.
• Challenge participants to pursue their own learning, and enhance individual achievement while collaborating with others.
• Expect participants to model and practice ethical and responsible use of technology and information resources.
• Prepare participants to manage and evaluate information for accuracy and validity.
• Use technology to interact and share information and to explore personal educational and professional interests.
• Use technology and information resources as a vehicle for understanding other cultures and encouraging global interactions.
• Integrate technology and information resources into curriculum, instruction and assessment.
• Provide all participants with equitable access to technology and information resources

What is the Purpose of Education?

Cal & Theresa Stanley shared this great quote with me this week...

"The principal goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done" ~Jean Piaget

Two great NPR stories on the OLPC

NPR has two great stories on the OLPC.

The first is an interview, One Laptop Per Child Plan Faces Challenges in U.S. , with Mario Armstrong about brining the OLPC to students in Birmingham, Alabama.

Mayor Larry Langford has recently announced that a $3 million deal was signed in order to bring in one laptop per child, or 15,000 XOs in total. Apparently, the schools will become the first in the nation to receive OLPCx, which were sold to the district at $200. Students will receive their machines on April 15, 2008,

Mario talks about how these machines are really designed for collaboration. The idea is not to provide "users of technology" but "creators of technology". It also brings up the digital divide of using technology to promote innovative thinkers.

The other story, Teens Bring Laptops to South Africa, is about OLPC being brought to children in South Africa. What I liked about the recording is it was nice to hear the voices of the recipients of the computers and how the envision using it.