Watch the sparks fly!
In the Foundry we cast ideas from technology and education and other raw materials.
Virtual Friends
Julia Fischer | February 2, 2010The question “Do you know who your kids are playing with?” takes on a whole new meaning to parents today compared with parents of 30 years ago. My parents could just look out the front window or head to the neighborhood park and answer those questions because of who we were with. They took us to “play dates” or we even hung out at the community pool. The friend we played with were the ones they could see. Of course they weren’t with us every waking minute of the day- and there those friends that you only had at school but for the most part it was a pretty straight forward question with a straight forward answer.Read more...
Knowledge Navigator, where are you?
Thor Prichard | January 28, 2010Over twenty years ago, Apple released a concept video to illustrate a vision about computers in the future. The video, simply titled Knowledge Navigator, anticipated wireless networks, steaming video, the World Wide Web and truly portable netbook style computing. To this day, no company has succeeded in achieving that vision. Maybe after 23 years Apple would introduce a product that does. With the launch of the iPad yesterday, we might be waiting a little bit longer.Read more...
Is Technological Socializing Making Us Less Social?
Peggy Grant | December 21, 2009The Pew Internet and American Life Project is a great resource for current research about the role that technology plays in our daily lives. In November, 2009, they released the findings from a new study, Social Isolation and New Technology, on mobile phones, the internet, and Americans’ social networks. This research contradicts a 2006 study claiming that these kinds of technology were making people more isolated. (Unfortunately, all the links I found to this original study seem to be broken, so it must not be available any more.)Read more...
Net Neutrality: Should Educators Care?
Peggy Grant | December 16, 2009If you’re at all interested in technology, you’ve probably heard a lot of buzz lately about “net neutrality.” Net neutrality is the principle that, basically, all content on the internet is equal. With a “neutral” net, people use the internet in any lawful way they like without anyone judging what they should or shouldn’t be able to do.
In October, the recently appointment chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, released a notice in support of net neutrality. Some of his recommendations stated that broadband internet service providers could notRead more...
New Ways of Seeing the (Web) World
Steve Burt | December 8, 2009We all get email newsletters. And, presumably, we all delete them (if they even make it to our inbox and don't proceed directly to junk). However, there are a couple that I actually do read and enjoy immensely. One of those is Adobe's Flash newsletter, Adobe Edge. Each month the technology evangelists and product managers at Adobe compile this newsletter which focus on developments in the Flash world along with loads of examples of cutting edge sites and tools. This month was no exception and, frankly, I was struck by just how creative some of these sites are and, in a way, how they point to some of the potential and shortcomings of technology in the classroom. Read more...
Tech Savvy Consumers
Julia Fischer | December 1, 2009I have to preface that I have not fully taken the plunge to shopping online but I know many people who have. After getting up and going shopping at 3 am on Black Friday I wondered if I had missed an opportunity to fully use technology to enhance my shopping experience. Many of the stores also support online retail and the deals that were present in the stores were also available online. Would I have been better off shopping from home in my pajamas instead of getting dressed and going out in the cold and rain to get the deals I desired? I decided that I didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision and should research some alternatives so I can make an informed decision next year. Read more...
Will cursive be lost to technology???
Julia Fischer | October 30, 2009Recently a friend wrote a note to my son. When I asked him what it said he responded “I don’t know I can’t read it.” Now it wasn’t because of the handwriting – well okay maybe it was a bit – but it was because of the cursive. He has gotten use to seeing text in the printed form – I mean come on how many of us select and use a font that looks like cursive? We don’t. It is difficult to read- needs to be a larger font in order for others to make sense of what is being shared. I mean newspapers must have been on to something because they have been using type print since newspapers started.Read more...
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