Blog Juice for Educational Technology

I’m on my way to Pennsylvania, where I’ll speak to a group of coaches.  They aren’t sports coaches, in the traditional sense.  But they will be going forth, to lead their schools in the exciting sport of “redesigning education.”   It’s certainly going to require teamwork, and it’s going to require that team to exercise their thinking and to their very notions of what it means to be a teacher.  It’s going to take stamina, enthusiasm, dedication, and hustle.  And it’s going to take, perhaps more than anything else, imagination.

Here is the list of technologies that each high school core (English, Math, Social Studies, & Science) classroom will receive.  It’s pretty impressive, in my opinion, not in how much and how cool this stuff is — but in how a classroom like this might stir the imagination of a truly inventive educator.

• one laptop per student desk (cart of 25)
• a teacher laptop
• a printer/scanner
• imaging software
• productivity software
• a web cam
• an electronic whiteboard
• a projector
• up to three digital still cameras (per eligible school)
• up to five digital video cameras (per eligible school)
• Infrastructure (wireless network, servers)
• technical support

So, in what fundamental ways might a school be transformed, when every core classroom can provide this kind of access to a networked, digital, and overwhelming world of information? PS, During my talk, tonight, I’ll also be making a case for figuring out how to integrate the creative arts into the mission of this $200 million state initiative.