The Best Mobile Device? Your Brain

Basic math facts and formulas are essential to many jobs. Imagine a construction worker having to look up a formula every time he wanted to estimate materials for a job, or a nurse who had to look up the definition of medical terminology before caring for a patient. Yes, the Internet is a vast resource, but it is also not always available to everyone all the time.

Terri Koenigsberg
Elementary Technology Specialist
Portage, Pennsylvania, USA

The Big Picture

How many biology definitions do you remember? If you hated biology, probably not a lot. Many children feel the same way, and those with ADHD really struggle with memorization. Facts are only a part of the bigger picture of information fluency. If you give kids facts, they’ll have some knowledge for the test. If you teach them how to find and evaluate facts for themselves, they can have knowledge whenever they need it.

Laura Smith
Technology Coordinator/Instructor
Memphis, Tennsessee, USA

The Art of Conversation

Memorization is an important life skill. When defending a position in a conversation or responding to a question, some details have to be committed to memory. It’s not always practical to say, "Hold on while I pull out my cell phone and check the Internet."

Judy Okazaki
Executive Director, SET Connections
Barrington, Illinois, USA

Lesson in Creativity

Instead of memorizing the date of the Constitution, have students write, create, or present something that describes why it was written. Have them use the date, but allow them to be creative and do something they like. They will memorize the date anyway and will have a sense of accomplishment.

Jeremy Hendrix
Teacher
Glendale, Arizona, USA

Matter of Survival

Mental conditioning is just as important as physical conditioning. As a nation we have become lazy on both counts. When teachers allow students to Google it rather than train a student’s mind, they do them a major disservice. In the military, I had to memorize, among other things, the entire Soviet Naval Arsenal. In combat situations, as with many other life stuations, if you pause to look it up, you lose.

John Peters
Director of Technology
Lyndonville, Vermont, USA

Problem Solvers Rule

Those who can problem solve, find information quickly, analyze the information, and make sure it is valid are far more likely to be successful. The ability to memorize facts does not mean the student understands the concept. Only when they apply them to solve real-world problems will we know they truly understand.

Sue Stoddart
Chair, Curriculum and Instruction
Marian University, Wisconsin, USA

Build a Framework

Memory is essential to learning because it lets you store and retrieve the information you learn. Learning also depends on memory, because the knowledge stored in your memory provides the framework to which you link new knowledge, by association. And the more extensive your framework of existing knowledge, the more easily you link new knowledge to it.

Robin Ruiz
Comment on ISTE.org poll

Ask for Permission

Based on one of the NETS•T standards, which state, "Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources," I have a concern about the tip "Turn YouTube Videos into TeacherTube Videos" [L&L, December/January 2009–10, page 31]. The items posted on YouTube are the intellectual property of the creator. I do not believe it is ethical to "rip" the item from YouTube and repost it on TeacherTube. It would be much easier to ask the creator for permission to use the video to support teaching and learning, and ask them to supply you with an original copy that will probably be much better quality and will play locally on your machine.

Kathy Schrock
Director of Technology
Orleans, Massachusetts, USA

Manage the Information Overload

In former years, it was faster to rely on memory to retrieve information rather than go to the library to look up what you needed. But requiring students to memorize information is an overwhelming task in this day of information overload. The amount of information available to us now has exceeded human capacity to be able to remember it.

Julia Poole
ICT/IML Integration Teacher
Surrey, British Columbia, Canada

Cool Isn't the Same as Educational

Recently I heard a discussion about cool tools for schools [see "S'Cool Tools," L&L, November 2009, pages 12–15]. Someone mentioned a virtual reality environment similar to Second Life. His description began with, "You can make the avatar walk up the steps to the second floor, and you can make the room look like your classroom." Another person mentioned Blabberize and said, "You can upload a picture of a president and have it talk about his presidency." Those were high school teachers. My heart sank.

From now on, when I show someone a "cool tool," I'm going to make certain it matches closely to the NETS•S and Bloom's Digital Taxonomy. I want to be sure that the tool raises the bar and is not just a temporarily fun distraction worthy only of the attention of an elementary student. The tool must cause the student to think. Making a president talk on Blabberize or having an avatar walk up a set of stairs is not an example of the Create level in Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Jim Gates
Ed Tech Consultant and PDE Mentor
Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, USA

Ahead of the Curve

The incredible possibilities outlined by the authors of "The Democritization of Production" [L&L, November 2009, pages 36–37] for "personal production" are indeed fascinating. However, I suggest to all educators that they need look no further than down the hall to the technology education programs in any middle or high school. Visit these labs and you will likely find such systems already integrated into the curriculum and in daily use by students and teachers. Computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), and computer-aided publishing systems have long been a staple in technology education curricula.

Our district introduced computer-numeric-controlled (CNC) lathes and milling machines in the ’80s and more recently have added the computer-controlled die cutters and 3D printers the authors describe. Students from one school can design a product and send the file to another school, where the product can be produced.

Pasquale Drago
Technology Department Supervisor
West Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Tip contributor David Ligon responds:

The referenced article presumes that teachers have obtained the requisite approval from the copyright owner before engaging in the activity. My apologies for not stating that point more clearly and focusing only on
the mechanical aspects.

Letters to Doug Johnson

With much interest, I just read your article about Google's latest attempt to conquer the world—oops, sorry! The article was about cloud computing, my bad! [See "Computing in the Cloud," L&L, December/January 2009–10, pages 16–20.] I use Google Sites, Forms, and Docs and really like their ease of use, flexibility, and price.

I believe the day is fast approaching that schools will be sending all their money to either Scholastic or Google. On that day, we can sit around and talk about the "good old days" when we sat in class with 30–35 other students and listened to a teacher who read from a textbook.

You're a wonderful writer, Doug! I really like your intellect and approach to these issues.

Jim Glazer
Media Coordinator
Cottage Grove, Minnesota, USA

Enjoyed your recent article about cloud computing. Currently Google Docs is blocked for students in our district, as filtering cannot take care of Docs and we would be putting E-Rate funding at risk. Not a direct quote, but close: "Other K–12 organizations use Google Apps and haven't yet got in trouble. We can't afford to lose funding." I think the argument is that access to blogs come with Docs access. Looks like Postini—and probably other third-party solutions—can provide security and filtering. Most filtering issues I see as supervision issues.

I see all of the pluses you do, including equity for students and families that cannot currently afford MS Office and other client apps.

Anonymous
Via e-mail

Doug Johnson responds:

I don't understand how GoogleApps puts E-Rate funding at risk, as CIPA only calls for blocking images that are "obscene, child pornography, or harmful to minors." Nothing about Apps is any of these things. You can enable or disable any Apps feature to students you choose.