Ryan Collins

Your assignment: 20 minutes on your DS before school

// March 31st, 2008 // No Comments » // 21st Century Skills, Hardware, Mobile Computing

Scottish authorities have begun other trials of ‘More Brain Training with Dr Kawashima’ on the Nintendo DS in 16 schools:

A 20-minute burst of the ‘brain training’ exercises on Nintendo’s DS console at the start of the day apparently improves performance in maths tests by as much as 10 per cent, according to a Scottish study.

The results of the completed 10 week study certainly are fascinating:

In a maths test at the end of the trial, their performance improved by an average 10 per cent, and the time to complete the test also dropped from 17 minutes to 13 minutes and nine seconds.

Pretty impressive results, although I don’t know what game they’re talking about, unless it happens to be Brain Age 2. Checking Amazon UK shows a DS game called More Brain Traing, which may just be a relabel Brain Age 2. I guess I’ll have to do some more checking. What a solid return on your investment though. It would cost a class of 25 $3,750 to outfit the entire class with a DS. Throw in the DS Browser and you have even more ways to integrate it into your classroom.

How long until a company comes out with a mobile version of Brain Age 2 that you can play from any mobile computing device?

Paradox of choice

// March 28th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Hardware, Op Ed, Software, Time Management

photo credit: javYliz

In the technology world it seems we’re continually confronted with new products, services, software, hardware, etc. And for those of us who have a tough time focusing on one thing at a time, this dizzying array of choices can easily distract us or keep us from finishing previous tasks.

In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz it describes why this is a problem:

“We normally assume in America that more options (“easy fit” or “relaxed fit”?) will make us happier, but Schwartz shows the opposite is true, arguing that having all these choices actually goes so far as to erode our psychological well-being.”

As a technology coordinator, I’m constantly trying out new things, and it’s very hard to decide whether to actually implement something. Will this new product be easy enough for staff and students to use? Is the learning curve mild enough that my users will learn this product and use it?

When you ask others in the educational technology community what’s the best wiki, blogging software, operating system, etc. you’ll get a ton of choices. So many choices may ultimately lead you to either never be satisfied with your final choice, or worse, never make a decision.

In this blog I am going to try to only give one or two choices for solutions to specific problems. They may not be the best choice, but in the long run, they will be good enough to be of use (I hope).

Inventory control

// March 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hardware, RC Tips

Keeping track of inventory can be a difficult, and it seems like every four months someone is asking about what product to get to use for inventory control. I created a simple database in Filemaker Pro to keep track of our inventory. Why Filemaker Pro?

• We already had it.
• I didn’t need anything that fancy.
• We also had FMP Server and FMP Unlimited (version 5.5) so I could easily publish the database onto the web, that way it can be updated from anywhere with a web connection.

I’m not a big fan of using barcodes on our equipment. Our asset tag numbers are only 5 digits long, it doesn’t take time at all to easily type them. We do use a barcode reader when inventorying new equipment. It cuts down on errors when entering serial numbers or MAC addresses. The barcode reader can read the barcodes right off of the box.

To enter new equipment, we use a spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is filled out, it is imported into the FMP database.

I don’t track help desk requests along with hardware. We have approximately 700 machines, and it’s very rare that a piece of equipment will have one hardware failure, let alone multiple failures that need to be tracked.

The iPod Touch Trial

// March 13th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // 21st Century Skills, Hardware, Mobile Computing

I’ve ordered three iPod Touches to be used in a trial at the high school, middle school, and elementary level. Stealing some ideas from John Schinker, I’m putting forth the following questions for the participants to answer:

Does this device work well enough to have a place in our schools?

How could this be used effectively with students?

What limitations are there that would affect its usefulness?

Are there solutions to overcome those limitations?

What technical hurdles would have to be overcome to make the use of these devices successful?

If we were to start using these computers, what could they replace? What could we buy fewer of to make this cost effective?

Are these durable enough for student use?

Is the iPod Touch too complicated / different / cumbersome / annoying to be used in this environment?

I’ve started to come up with some ideas on how they can be used. My main goal to start is to focus mainly on communication. I’ve setup the Prologue theme for Wordpress, and am currently recruiting teachers to try it out. I’ve also installed the Elgg.org Open Source social network software at the HS and am investigating ways that it can be used in the classroom.

What are some of the important aspects that you can see implementing with a 1-to-1 program?

p.s. I’m trying out publishing from Google Docs, let’s see how well that works!

Day 4 with the iPod Touch

// March 5th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hardware, Mobile Computing

The honeymoon isn’t over yet with the Touch. The battery so far hasn’t had a problem lasting through the day, and that is with me using wifi a lot! The keyboard is interesting. As long as I keep typing the autocorrect really does its thing, making email and this post pretty easy to do. I do have problems typing certain characters, but I think that is a combination of me learning and the case I have.

I ordered a couple for the district and will have a couple of teachers trying of our in their classrooms.

The iPod Touch

// March 2nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Hardware, Mobile Computing

I picked up an iPod Touch on Saturday, and am I impressed. I have been testing out the Nokia N800, but when it comes to Internet usability, the Touch wins hands down. Surfing is very, very usable.

I’m still getting used to the onscreen keyboard, but it is already a lot better than the N800. The question I have remaining, “Is the touch more useful I’m the classroom than the Asus eeePC?

Test post from N800

// January 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hardware, Mobile Computing

Test post from N800

// January 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Hardware, Mobile Computing

Test post from Nokia N800!

The $50 interactive whiteboard

// December 10th, 2007 // 2 Comments » // Hardware

Take a $40 Wiimote, an infrared emitting pen and you have the makings of an interactive whiteboard (No Nintendo Wii required). Johnny Chung Lee has been experimenting with the Wiimote. The Wiimote connects to the computer over bluetooth, and inside it is an infrared camera that can track up to 4 LED sources.

Check out the video of it in action:

Now to find a source for some infrared penlights or make my own and try this out. With projectors costing less than $800-$900 this would be a very inexpensive way to bring interactive whiteboard technologies into the classroom.

Technology give parents control of student lunches

// February 22nd, 2006 // No Comments » // Hardware, Software

According to CNN.com, Houston School’s will soon be able to allow parents control of their student’s lunches:

Primero Food Service Solutions, developed by Houston-based Cybersoft Technologies, allows parents to set up prepaid lunch accounts so children don’t have to carry money, said Ray Barger, Cybersoft’s director of sales and marketing.