Sometimes I think I may have been a real sick in the mud when it comes to laptop computing in my district. Its not that I don't believe in the concept - just that our ability to execute has always been marginal at best. "Shared" computers often get treated like shared textbooks - no one takes ownership over them and then end up getting treated pretty awfully. This is true of any shared computing environment (consider your "swing" labs where there is no teacher who looks out for it.. what shape is in in come May?) but is especially evident with mobile labs where there is so much more that can (and will) go wrong.

In thinking about how to try 1:1 more effectively, I've been rethinking the idea of mobile labs as being the ideal environment for cross-curricular use. In the past, we have used laptop carts as a way of "bringing the technology to the classroom"for teachers in diverse subject areas that often don't have access to a lab, presumably because "computer" course are scheduled in there. The fault in this has been that we are giving the most tentative and temperamental tools to those who often have the least tolerance for failure (a geography teacher has a hard time of thinking about troubleshooting wireless connections as a "teachable moment"). Combine this with the fact that the carts are shared, and you have a recipe for failure in many cases.

So in rethinking, why not put the laptops with the teachers/students where they are most likely to struggle through the learning curve (say, in our BTT1O courses - a bread and butter computer course in our district) and get them out of the labs. This has the effect of freeing up reliable labs for other curriculum areas, and also can help break up the pedagogy in BTT from being a pure "applications" type course and refocus on the business aspects of the curriculum.

One approach we are considering is a 1;1 laptop program where the BTT students in out test school would be assigned a personal laptop for the entire semester. It would be theirs to take home/bring to other classes right up until they finish the course. Buying 2 or 3 class sets of 'netbooks (considering the new revision of the Intel Classmate, likely with Windows, but who knows,,,) isn't over the top expensive - especially when you consider that it frees up a lab in the school.

Still just hashing the idea around, but I'd love to hear if any of this rings true to your own laptop experiences...

There has been lots of chatter over the last week or so about whether learning styles are a real phenomenon, or just a posit that was let loose and has become a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts.

I can't help but wonder, even if they do exist, do they matter? Is it my learning style, or my learning patterns that matter? As a teacher, am I wasting my time trying to adapt teaching to fit their learning styles while force fitting them into a pre-defined learning pattern that is cold and unnatural to many of them?

I have increasingly over the last 6 months found myself wanting to spend more time talking to student about this question - which I see as a key to unlocking what might be wrong with education today...

"How do you learn when you WANT to learn?"

So, I'll pose the question first to any of you reading this. How do you learn when you want to learn? Do you follow the patterns you had imprinted on you in your days as a student? Have you patterns changed? How has technology changed them?

I've got to figure out a way to try and get some honest answers to this question from students, as I am sure there is a lot we can uncover that might help us reach more of them...

Not sure what I make of this, but though provoking none the less.

(maybe not a good time to post this  - right after so many have just left summer institutes where differentiated instruction seems to be the theme of the day...)

I've had this poster/image up on a bulletin board in my office for about a year now. I had always intended to share it, as there is lots of great stuff in it to unpack and think about, but lost the bookmark to the original and couldn't find it! (when did the Internet get so big???)

Anyway, here it is in all its glory 4mb jpg glory!

http://elearningargentina.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/informal-learning.jpg

(source Jay Cross, "Internet Time")

Just in case anyone missed it (I would have if my wife hadn't brought her copy home), the latest ETFO magazine ("Voice") had 3 great articles

http://www.etfo.ca/Publications/Voice/Pages/default.aspx

(coincidentally, 2 of the articles were about/by Commun-IT.org members!)

Also of note on the graphic novels idea, OSAPAC has announced that licensing a piece of software to help teachers/students author their own graphic novels/comics this year (http://www.osapac.org)

Scrabulous aside, I often recommend that teachers and administrators setup at least a basic facebook profile. News out of Manitoba today reaffirms that idea...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080506.wlfacebook

Stake your claim to your digital footprint before someone else does! Incidentally, if you aren't the #1 hit on a google search of your name, are you comfortable with the person who is???

I wanted to share something we have been working on (here in Ottawa) for the last little bit to help make tings easier for teachers interested in podcasting/video sharing in a safe environment. Its called "Netcaster". It is essentially a home grown podcast/video streaming server, where teachers can easily host their content/student produced work in a safe (yet still social!) environment.

Rather than over describe it, here is a (too long, I know...) screencast showing how it works. Feedback appreciated as well as any ideas to improve it. I will eventually clean up the code and publish it somewhere (just working out some additional features for a progress bar showing upload of larger files, and hopefully automatic conversion of video to flash video a la Youtube...)