•
Most of my consulting work is spent improving corporate web sites as a writer and information architect (check out my client VeriSign. When I write about education, I often find myself searching school district web sites, in awe of the amount of information they provide, the number of people they serve, and the diverse users they must address. Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go to find the ideal way of organizing web-based school content. Many pages are long lists of links and it can be difficult to keep information up to date. Just to throw another wrench in it, increasingly students and parents will be accessing by mobile phone browser than desktop browser. I just read a wonderful report by Jakob Nielsen, usability guru, on mobile phone usability. If you are in the midst of a redesign, make sure you think about your mobile users.
Do you have a favorite school web site? Is somebody really doing this right?
Let me know about it!
•
I’ve met Kathy Rains, Director of Technology of Madison City Schools several times. First, interviewing her for a Learning in the 21st Century report for Project Tomorrow, then as a panelist at a CoSN CTO Forum at the NSBA Technology + Learning Conference. Madison City Schools is one of the fastest growing, highest performing school districts in Alabama. They listen to their students. When students took the Speak Up Survey, the school realized that students did not want a 1 to 1 laptop program. Most of them had their own computers and just wanted to be able to use them on the school network. The district allows students to bring their own devices and connect while on campus. Ubiquitous access seems like a given, but not on typical school campuses. The idea, according to Kathy, is to let the students choose which technology tools work best. If I take notes best with a laptop, I bring that. If a notebook works for me with a calendar on my phone, that’s what I use.
Visit this innovative district on March 25-26, 2009, as part of the NSBA 2009 Education Technology Site Visits.
•
In the mid 1990s, Jim Pelkey asked me to help him with his book on the history of computers and communications technologies. Jim had interviewed the men and women involved in the development of the key companies and organizations that led to the availability of computers and Internet communications that we could all use. Jim connected the history of these industries with the real voices of the people who posed the questions, solved the problems, took the risks, and created the future we take for granted today. Reading these stories helped me understand that the rapid change and innovation we see today is not unprecedented, you just have to know where to look for it in the past. Jim’s humbly titled A History of Computer Communications is a fascinating Web site for anyone who wants to know how we got here and where we might go next. When we talk about preparing our students for the 21st century, keep these innovators of the 20th century in mind. I don’t think problem solving and critical thinking are new skills. They have always been a part of the skills set of innovators and entrepreneurs.
