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New Technologies
Connecting our Community PAA Conference
April 23/04By Alec Couros
• "[This device] appealed at once to the eye and to the ear, thus naturally forming the habit of attention, which is so difficult to form by the study of books .... Whenever a pupil does not fully understand, [it] will have the opportunity ... of enlarging and making intelligible."
• "[These instruments are] not uncommon, but are but little resorted to by the teacher.”
• "The teacher knows almost as little how to use it as his pupils.”
Quotes from the 1840’s and 1850’s regarding the use of the chalkboard, from UPAEP.
• "...the existing system is utterly inefficient. The teacher...may pour it in the ear, or extract it from the printed page,...but unless he teaches through the eye...no satisfactory instruction can be conveyed."
Sir David Brewer (1856) regarding the magic lantern and stereoscope.
• "[It] is going to make school so attractive that a big army with swords and guns couldn't keep boys and girls out of it."
Thomas Edison (1911) regarding motion pictures/film.
• Edison continued …“Mix moving pictures with education and you'll have something that makes kids want to go to school. You'll have to lick 'em to keep 'em away." (1911)
Introduction
• The following is a survey of some of the emerging tools being used in Education. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and perhaps not all of them may be considered absolutely ‘new’. However, many of these tools are beginning to make an impact on our schools.
Types of New Technologies
• Speech/Character Recognition
• Web Communication/Creation Tools
• Open Source / Free Software
• Thin Client Systems
• Other Notable Technologies
Speech/Character Recognition
• Voice recognition has been attempted since 1870 (Bell) ... has proved very difficult.
• Major accomplishments have come since about 1936 for text-to-speech and since 1970 for speech-to-text (speech recognition).
• AT&T labs (Natural Voices) was a pioneer in readable text (text-to-speech) – see demo.– http://www.research.att.com/projects/tts/demo.html
• Useful, but still not perfect.– See Hamlet examples.
Types of Technology
• There are varying types of speech recognition technology. The key distinctions are:– Does the system work with one user, or does
it recognize only one voice/user?– How large of a vocabulary does the system
support?– Does it permit the user to speak naturally?
Source: Tom Weston, Stanford University
Source: Tom Weston, Stanford University
Source: Tom Weston, Stanford University
Source: Tom Weston, Stanford University
Major Consumer Packages
• Naturally Speaking – Dragon• ViaVoice – IBM• Microsoft Office 2003/XP also has VR
(demo)
– These can be integrated into all aspects of your computer applications (e.g., Microsoft Office, or any text-related applications).
– These packages are up to 98% accurate, and run up to 140 words per minute. The capabilities of these packages has grown dramatically as hardware has become more capable of handling the requirements.
Character Recognition
• Character recognition has also become popular. Examples include:– Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on most
scanner software (OmniPage Pro used to be THE package to purchase, but now many proprietary systems work well).
– “Graffiti”-type software on Palm Pilots (PDA’s)– Wacom Graphire Pads (demo)– Logitech io Personal Digital Pen
The Future of …
• Speech and character recognition will continue to expand as the tools get better.
• Already, there are systems in place where you can publish to a webpage or query Google through a telephone line.
• The future will be interesting.
Web Communication/Creation
• HTML editing tools like Dreamweaver, FrontPage, GoLive, etc. have been popular, and may continue to be important. However, there is a an easier “solution” to managing web creation through various new(er) tools.
• CMS, Blogs and CSS are just some of the new tools to know about.
Content Management Systems
• What is a CMS? • “A system used to manage the content
of a Web site. Can allow a content manager or author, who may not know Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), to manage the creation, modification, and removal of content from a Web site without needing the expertise of a Webmaster.” (NoMensa)
• Let’s see one in action (demo).
Source: NoNomensa.com
Blogs (Web Logs)
• Web Logs use a specialized CMS software, and have various uses – mostly web type journals/logs.
• Popular services include:– Blogger (demo), LiveJournal, TypePad, Pitas
, etc. (100’s more).• Blogs have many uses, and are becoming
popular in many facets of education.• See a blog about blogging in education:
– Weblogg-ed - http://www.weblogg-ed.com/
Cascading Style Sheets
• With CSS, “styles define how to display HTML elements, these styles are normally stored in Style Sheets (a separate file sent with an HTML page). Multiple style definitions will cascade into one, depending on the browser being used.”
• In other words, the style and content of an html page are kept separate.
• See a great example here: CSS-ZenGardener
Open Source / Free Software
• The Open Source / Free Software movement is complex … but what you need to know, there are a lot of free tools (software and content) that is available for your use, for free.
• The most common examples include Linux, Apache (web server) and Open Office.
• Open Source software offers a strong alternative to proprietary software (e.g., Windows).
What’s available for free?
• All sorts of software is available:– Entire operating systems (Linux)– Web Servers (Apache)– Content Management Systems (Nuke)– Graphics Programs (The GIMP)– Typing Tutors (Tux Type)– School Administration (Open Admin)– Office Suites (Open Office) – demo
… So many more …
And there’s content …
• The Open Movement has inspired free learning objects, and even course content.– MIT’s Open CourseWare Initiative– CreativeCommons.org– MERLOT– CAREO’– Project Gutenberg
Many more here:http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CIE/AOP/LO_collections.html
Places to Start (for OS / FS)
• School Forge– http://www.schoolforge.net/
• Open Source Education Foundation– http://www.osef.org/
• Open Source Schools– http://opensourceschools.org/
• K-12 Linux Project (terminal server)– http://www.k12ltsp.org/
Thin Client Systems
• … an approach to computer networking wherein the processing horsepower to run applications and data storage are placed on a central server and the user interface is placed on a desktop computer that accesses the server to execute applications.
• The idea of thin-client systems has been around since the time of the mainframe computer. Improvements in affordable server power has increased thin-client feasibility.
In Saskatchewan
• Major implementations of thin-client systems have taken place in Moose Jaw and North Battleford.
• While results and opinions vary on this implementation, it’s likely that thin-client is not going away soon.
Notable Technologies
• Personal Digital Assistants– E.g., Full implementation into
Garden Valley Collegiate (Manitoba)• Wireless Technologies
– Apple Wireless Mobile Lab• Writing Related Technologies
– Endnote (bibliographic software)– Turnitin.com (plagiarism detection)
• Online Course Conferencing Tools– WebTrain
Conclusion
• New technologies are all around us, and are being invented daily.
• The most powerful and relevant technologies allow us to transform teaching and learning.
• How do we find time to become familiar with new technologies, to take risks and further benefit our profession?
Keeping Up On New Technologies
• Network of Innovative Schools• SlashDot (news for nerds, stuff that matters)• Weblogg-ed• SchoolForge• Canopener• NewScientist.com
• My own Blog and resource site:http://www.educationaltechnology.caYou can download today’s presentation from here as well.
