"Apple hasn't quite delivered on the promise of the 'post-PC world' yet with the iPad."

A thoughtful examination of the iPad from ReadWrite Web: "Two Years With the iPad:  Was it Worth it?"

Did the early adopters get their money's worth? 

"Consume-Only":  This is the most worrisome thing in terms of adopting this in a 1:1 model for schools.  Why not just get inexpensive laptops?

From:  Joe Brockmeier / March 15, 2012 

"Most of my iPad usage is read-only. That is, I use Reeder extensively to skim RSS/Atom feeds. I browse the Web anywhere in the house. I play games, read eBooks and watch movies. But for creating content? Not so much."

As RWW founder Richard MacManus wrote last year in his conclusion, the iPad "really is about consumption."

Another thing, if I were to buy one, I wouldn't consider getting it without the 3G connectivity.  My Kindle Fire is pretty worthless away from home.  I would expect that the same is true of the iPad without 3G/LTE functionality (which they are apparently overcharging for!).

Cybrary Man's Update Education Twitter hashtags

Popular Education Hashtags

This education hashtag listing is a refined list based on the one available through Cybrary Man. Please visit his site for more hashtag options. Also, follow leading educators using many of these hashtags by visiting this page of the same site. You can easily reach this listing by visiting http://www.novemberlearning.com/twitterhashtags.

General Education #Education – General Education #edchat – General Education #educhat – General Education #ntchat – New Teachers #curriculum – Curriculum #k12 – K12 Education #passiondriven – Passion Driven Educators Subject Areas #artsed – Art Education #arted – Art Education #engchat – English Education #mathchat – Math Education #musedchat – Music Education #sschat – Social Studies Education #socialstudies – Social Studies Education #scichat – Science Education #langchat – Foreign Language Education #historyteacher – History Education #physed – Physical Education Specialty Areas #edtech – Technology in Education #edapp – iOS Apps in Education #ipadchat - iPads in Education #ellchat – ELL Education #esl – ESL Education #gtchat – Gifted and Talented Education #spedchat – Special Education #sped – Special Education #isedchat – Independent Schools  – Counselors #elearning – E-Learning #librarians – Librarians #tlchat – Librarians #library – Librarians #stem – STEM Education #flipclass – Flipped Classrooms

Administrators #cpchat – Connected Principals #edadmin – School Administrators Education Levels #earlyed – Early Age Education #preschool – Preschool #kedu – Kindergarten Education #kinderchat – Kindergarten Education #elemchat – Elementary Grade Educators #midleved – Middle Grades Education #highered – Higher Education Issues #edreform – Education Reform #ptchat – Parent Teacher Issues #parenting – Parenting #bullying – Bullying #cybersafety – Cyber Safety #dyslexia – Dyslexia #adhd – Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder #infolit – Information Literacy #literacy – Literacy #profdev - Professional Development November Learning #nlearning #blc11

I am lurking at the SXSWedu Tweets

South by Southwest in Austin is a conference I have always been wanting to attend.  It is now one of the world's largest tech conferences.
So I decided to follow #sxswedu and check out what's happening.  My twitter people are there and I can only participate virtually, so I decided to embed some tweets I'm reading to show you how this conference connects to the world of education.

Arne Duncan: our teachers are nation builders but we don't view them as such in this country. #sxswedu
— Tina Barseghian (@MindShiftKQED) March 8, 2012

#Sxswedu blog post- What studies of FB/Twitter use in college teach us:futura.edublogs.org/2012/03/10/sxs…
— WHS Library (@Whslibraryrocks) March 10, 2012

Science website enlists gamers help solving enormously complex problems thru multiplayer games: Jane McGonigal #sxswedu twitter.com/summerintx/sta…
— Susan Raybuck (@summerintx) March 10, 2012

A successful hands on conf session. Here's what worked k12opened.com/blog/archives/… #p2pu #sxswedu
— Karen Fasimpaur (@kfasimpaur) March 10, 2012

RT @cinjo: "We have 21st century kids walking into 20th century classrooms. It's a cultural disconnect." @scraigwatkins #sxswedu
— edutopia (@edutopia) March 7, 2012

"If there is no sharing happening, there is no education happening" - @opencontent #sxswedu
— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) March 6, 2012

Methods for Collecting Ideas

Notetaking sounds like the winner here. Kleon even has a notepad in his shower! Cause we all know the best ideas take shape in the shower. It's called Aquanotes, for those of you interested:

Awesome Poetry Project: Newspaper Blackout

Grab a marker; make some poetry

The $5 Textbook

View more PowerPoint from David Wiley

Much to learn; I will tune in again tomorrow!

Apple's iPad Event 2012

Comparison from Cool Cat Teacher's Tweet: iPad2 and the New iPad: Engadget

The new iPad vs. iPad 2: what's changed?

By Daniel Cooper 

iPad 2

New iPad

Display	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD	9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD
Resolution	1024 x 768	2048 x 1536 "Retina Display"
CPU	1GHz dual-core Apple A5	dual-core Apple A5X
Graphics	PowerVR SGX 543MP2	TBA (but "Quad-Core," our first guess a PowerVR SGX MP4+)
Memory	512MB RAM	TBA
Storage	16GB / 32GB / 64GB	16GB / 32GB / 64GB
Front Camera	VGA (640 x 480)	VGA (640 x 480)
Rear Camera	0.7-megapixel	5-megapixel
Cellular	EDGE plus Quadband HSPA or CDMA EV-Do Rev.A (Verizon)	"World-Ready" 3G, HSPA+, DC-HSPA, 4G LTE (AT&T, Verizon)
WiFi	802.11 a/b/g/n	802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	4.0
Accelerometer	3-axis	3-axis
Gyroscope	3-axis	3-axis
Thickness	0.34-inch (8.8mm)	0.37-inch (9.4mm)
Weight (WiFi)	1.33 pounds (601 grams)	1.44 pounds (652 grams)
Weight (3G / LTE)	AT&T 1.35 pounds (613 grams) Verizon 1.34 pounds (607 grams)	1.46 pounds (662 grams)
Battery Life	25-watt-hour lithium polymer (rated 10 Hours)	42.5-watt-hour lithium polymer (rated 10 hours / 9 on 4G)
Ports	30-pin dock, 3.5mm headphone	30-pin dock, 3.5mm headphone
Location (WiFi)	WiFi, Digital Compass	WiFi, Digital Compass
Location (3G / LTE)	aGPS, 3G, Digital Compass, WiFi	aGPS, 3G, 4G, Digital Compass, WiFi

As we consider the New Trier ipad roll out for some classes in Fall 2012...

Is it worth considering how "green" the ipads really are?  Will we be constantly upgrading our technology and dumping the old stuff into landfills?


Is the possibility of a paperless classroom ecologically sound? According to a UK Guardian Environmental blog, no one is really certain.


Tom Dowdall (Greenpeace International) describes how difficult this is to assess:

"Replacing laptop/desktop use with iPad use will use less energy, but most users will buy this in addition to a laptop, smart phone and other gadgets…
It's also very hard to answer whether digital media is more green/sustainable than traditional media. There are many studies but again it depends on the weight you give to different factors" (CO2 only, emissions, resources use, toxics etc.)

In a New York Times piece "How Green is My iPad?", writers  Daniel Goleman and Gregory Norris delve into more detail on materials, manufacture, transportation, reading, and disposal in comparing print books and ereaders.

Some shocking facts:

• One e-reader requires the extraction of 33 pounds of minerals.
• One e-reader also requires 79 gallons of water to produce its batteries and printed wiring boards.
• The manufacture of one e-reader requires  100 kilowatt hours of fossil fuels, resulting in 66 lbs. CO2

Transportation ,  disposal and health considerations make the ereader even less ecologically friendly.  I like what Goleman and Norris suggest:

"All in all, the most ecologically virtuous way to read a book starts by walking to your local library."

Everything is a Remix: Parts 1 -2 -3 -4

Everything is a Remix is produced by Kirby Ferguson, a New York-based filmmaker. This site is a companion piece to the four-part video series.

Watch Part I


Watch Part II

Everything is a Remix Part 2 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Watch Part III: Creativity

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

Watch Part IV: Copy, Transform, Combine

Everything is a Remix Part 4 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

New Twitter Has Now Completed its Rollout

See New Twitter tips which includes embedding tweets and also keyboard shortcuts:

Here's a Tweet about how powerful Twitter is becoming; it's not really a social network so much as it is an organizer of information around topics/interests:

Six lessons from Social Media Week bit.ly/AuEwQ4 (via Poynter)

— PBS MediaShift (@PBSMediaShift) February 16, 2012