Chasing the Dragon's Tale

I have been wading through the political rhetoric on a recent CBSMarketWatch.com news story that appears to inadvertently identify a newly defined digital divide: homes with high speed Internet access, and homes with slower speed dial-up access. Not to overlook the obvious, but the divide is even greater between households that have high-speed connections and those that have no connection at all.

The statistics looks something like this:
• 60% of all US households have some type of Internet connection.
• 28.2 million have high-speed access (or roughly 27% of all US households).
• In US households with incomes above $75,000, half have high speed Internet access.
• In US household with incomes below $30,000, fewer than half have any access at all.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 02:00 PM | Permalink

I chuckled at that question a few semesters ago when my son decided to cancel his wired phone service and just use his cellular phone. Evidently, this is a growing trend, particularly among the young and mobile. From BBC News/Technology, "Home phones face uncertain future":

Research by handset maker Nokia shows that more and more people are using their mobile phone for every call they make or take. According to the study, more than 45 million people in the UK, Germany, US and South Korea now only use a mobile. It showed that people keep their fixed line phone because call charges are lower, but most of those questioned said the future was definitely mobile."

That same report also alludes to a generational divide:

"In all the countries where interviews were carried out, older people were more likely to use a fixed line phone more than a mobile. Women aged 50 or above almost never use a mobile phone, the research found."

Thanks to Ray Schroeder at Techno-News Blog for featuring the BBC News article.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:28 AM | Permalink

In several previous posts I have whined about reports that purport to conquering the technology gap that fail to recognize educator training as a key element for success. I have never asked the question: What percentage of a grant should be targeted toward training? From the Courier-Tribune, School gets technology tools...The North Carolina Electronics and Information Technology Association's (NCEITA) Education Foundation awarded a $250,000 grant for the 500 students and faculty at Liberty Elementary School.

"The Liberty staff is determining what technology resources they need for their classrooms. They will also undergo training (20-25 percent of the grant is to be spent on staff development) to learn the best teaching practices for utilizing technology. The project's goal is to demonstrate the educational value of fully incorporating technology as a tool in education and create model schools that the state of North Carolina can review when determining its education investment priorities. The NCEITA Education Foundation is committed to focus efforts on rural and underserved school districts in North Carolina."

Recognizing that teachers need training and that the grant includes a 25% allocation for that training are good indications that this project includes all of the elements to make it successful. Students in the school also responded positively when it was announced that "all teachers would have to do some homework" for the project. The Dragon Smiles :)-

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 09:33 PM | Permalink

By way of elearnspace, comes an connection to Technology Infusion in Higher Education...a good read. From that article is an interesting observation of where technology is gaining ground in higher education and where technology infusion is lagging:

"Notably, the academic computing officers ranked education faculty as being slightly less prepared than their colleagues in the science, business, engineering, mathematics and occupational programs, but they were judged to be better prepared than their colleagues in the fine arts, humanities, and social sciences."

Details are available from the Campus Computing Project 2004 Survey.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 08:47 PM | Permalink

From Winston-Salem's journalnow.com, "Raising the Bar -
Davie philanthropist backs school bonds with the 'Mebane Challenge'...most of the article deals with the politics of a bond program for local schools. Buried at the bottom of the story was this tidbit:

"Barry Adams, a consultant and the Executive of the Year for Apple computers in 1992, spoke to the crowd. He helped create educational technology to meet the needs of students and teachers who use personal computers." "In 18 months time, the hottest thing on the market will be obsolete," Adams said. "Now, in everyday terms, that means if you buy the best there is to offer today, in three years you will want to upgrade."

I have heard statistics like this before and have generally accepted the 18 months to 3 years as understandable with major advancements in technologies that match up with the demands of the consumer. It makes me wonder, however, if I have ever seen those figures included in the stories beneath politically-charged headlines that generally scream, "Look What We Just Spent - We Are Now State-of-the-Art". If indeed what Mr. Adams said is true, then the state-of-the-art label begins to depreciate before the ink has a chance to dry on the check that pays for the latest technology. All of that to say... strategies to beat the Dragon and conquer the digital divide may have to face the reality that conquering a Dragon this year means that there will be a new and improved Dragon to conquer in three years. If that is the reality of the situation, strategies to acquire technology, train educators, and integrate technology into the curricula must add to that, an element of depreciation and future investment in order to stay in the chase. Food for thought...

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 03:57 AM | Permalink

I read with interest PRNewswire's article, eToys Unwraps the Season's Top Educational Toys. For the most part, this year's crop of interactive games are aimed at ages 1 thought 13, with a few notable exceptions that expand that range to 16 year-olds. I may be wrong in my assumption, but most interactive toys (with the exception of action/adventure PlayStation and X-Box types) have traditionally been aimed at these same age groups. Maybe because it is Christmas and that is the season for children to receive the latest and greatest learning toys... So, what happens to these younger generations as they get older? What replaces the void that those child-like-educational games filled? Is that educational feeding terminated and replaced by interactive games that are more about hand/eye coordination than thinking/creating? It is just a thought, but are we creating a generation gap in technology by our failure to continue the Christmas trend of releasing new, better, even more fun educational toys for older generations? with growing concern,
Scrouge

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 08:09 AM | Permalink

An interesting entry into the educational technology field, EduTopia, is targeted at teachers. Interesting read...there are free subscriptions available if you qualify. This is a new venture by George Lucas (of Star Wars fame) and is funded by the George Lucas educational Foundation.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:51 PM | Permalink

From the Louisville Courier-Journal: State will investigate giving laptops to students I am not much on conspiracy theory stuff... but this looks like another case where a school system was sold a silver bullet to conquer the digital divide... with little or no consideration of how that silver bullet would be incorporated into existing curricula and with little or no consideration of the training that teachers will need throughout the school system. To compond the problem in this instance, there are questions regarding the actual bid process to buy the silver bullets (laptops). And I wish I had a dollar for every time I have read the following unsubstantiated claim in print:

"Supporters say take-home laptops will boost student learning time, enrich instruction and bridge the technology gap between students of middle-class and low-income families."

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:34 PM | Permalink

Rolling wheat fields are also Wi-Fi country

"Huge it is. The network is 10 times larger than a proposed citywide Wi-Fi (wireless fidelity) network in Philadelphia -- one that media reports last week inaccurately said would be the largest in the world. Covering parts of Walla Walla, Columbia, Franklin, Benton and Umatilla counties, Columbia Energy's 1,500-square-mile Wi-Fi hot spot is bigger than the state of Rhode Island."

With as much as 75% of rural America still isolated from broadband access, this may become a model for agricultural areas who can benefit greatly from remote access and monitoring of equipment and conditions.

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 05:53 AM | Permalink

In my ongoing effort to stress my calendar to the limit, I proposed a semester of independent study involving individuals who participate in online business social networks. The community that I selected is Ecademy. Two months into this project, I have still not narrowed the focus of the study sufficiently to make a respectable presentation for Belmont's Institutional Research Board. That will have to be this coming week's academic focus...I am running out of semester! What I have discovered is an amazing global community of business people who demonstrate a willingness to share experiences and knowledge without an expectation of immediate financial benefit. There are patterns of use and individual profiles that will be worth more extensive study...beyond this semester. My instincts tell me that there are patterns that will appear in online business networks that will also appear within the adopters of online educational communities. My general perception is that Ecademy's success will out pace acceptance within the K-12 users and to some degree the higher ed users. 'just a dissertation thought to squirrel away. Involvement in Ecademy consumes an average of 3 to 4 hours of my day, nearly every day...that's the bad news. The good news is that my normal 4:00am start matches mid-morning connections with individuals in the UK and EU. I had not considered that my research would take on an ethnographic feel, but immersion in the community will be reflected in the study one way or another. The really bad news is that blogging here on Chasing the Dragon's Tale has suffered...I'll try to keep a pulse going here, but I have been seeing another community. Is that like blog infidelity?

Posted by Paul Chenoweth at 04:25 PM | Permalink