Tweet Deal

The microblogging tool, Twitter, is becoming increasingly visible. Twitter allows you to publish short posts, or "tweets" to a list of "followers," those who subscribe to your Twitter identity. I found out recently that our astronomy teacher, John Blackwell, director of Grainger Observatory, is now using Twitter to keep his students apprised of the weather so they'll know whether to come out to the observatory. How convenient! John has integrated his tweets into the observatory website (see image at right) but chose Twitter because students could subscribe to it on various media (phone, web, email). Stellar use of a new web 2.0 tool (pun intended).

Mobility and Convergence

Today I played with my friend's new Dell Mini 9, a netbook (little, light, and, well, incredibly inexpensive laptop) that is about 2 pounds and runs a Linux Ubuntu Operating System. It is small and light and the battery lasts over 5 hours and it is reasonably easy to type on and the screen is great. I am thinking of getting one of these netbooks just for the convenience of having a laptop with me wherever I go. It is really most useful for using the Internet, although it has OpenOffice on it, so I could certainly do some of my "productivity" work, like writing documents and using spreadsheets, but I still couldn't run my calendar, except by using the web client. Experience may prove that for 99% of what I do, I will only need the Internet, but I'm not sure. In the meantime, it is fun to try these new devices.

I'm still waiting for the "perfect" device, though. Initially I thought that it was going to be an iPhone-like device that would run the Office productivity suite I need to use for my work but still let me have all the creature comforts I would like (such as the ability to plug in to a projector or external monitor, and to use a keyboard and/or mouse for those big document edits or for when I'm grading papers). Now, I'm not so sure. I would like a tablet version of the mini, something that I could write on with a pen for the times I want to grade papers or use to take less conspicuous electronic notes in a meeting. Somehow the noiseless pen doesn't bother people in meetings, but the clicking of the keyboard does, and now that I work out of three different buildings, I've made a real commitment to taking all of my notes electronically so I'll have them wherever I am. I also love having my music with me, but since there are now many Internet radio services (like Pandora and Last.FM), that is less of an issue now, although I try not to use it at work so I'm not hogging the bandwidth for my personal enjoyment.

I had hoped I'd be able to carry one device in my pocket that was phone, camera, document editor, music player, and presenter. The mini is getting very close to that, although I still can't carry it in my pocket (but I could put it in a purse or backpack very easily). As for the camera, I could pay a few more dollars for an integrated webcam (I would probably do that) or connect a little camera/webcam, and as for the phone, Skype is now providing an application that I could use to place Internet calls as long as I was in a WiFi hotspot.

Things are converging. We are moving into a new era where devices are getting much more portable and access to services is almost entirely web-based, so we're no longer tethered to offices and classrooms and desks and the equipment sitting on them (see The Netbook article below). That is good, since I'm finding myself a mobile worker right now. It is also an interesting time to find out what software and hardware we can't live without and how those amagingly creative engineers out there can figure out how to integrate those still-must-have tools and services into our mobile devices.

Cool Conference Opportunity

I attended this conference last year and found it valuable, first to learn a little more about what's out there for Web 2.0 tools, but mostly to meet other instructional technology afficionados.

http://www.iste-community.org/events/teaching-with-new-and-emerging

Citrix

Here at Exeter we use a number of applications to expand what students learn in the classroom. into their homework time. Examples include Fathom and Graphical Analysis and Mathematica. So that students (and teachers) can access this software from anywhere, we host many applications that are used in the classroom on our Citrix applications server. This way, students can use them whenever they need them, from the dorm, from home, or anywhere they can get an Internet connection. No excuses that they couldn't get to the computer lab! And teachers who live on campus and off, or who need to travel, can also access these programs remotely. Pretty neat.

The Netbook

Interesting article. I might just have to shell out a couple of bucks to get one of these cute little netbooks. :)

The Netbook Effect: How Cheap Little Laptops Hit the Big Time

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