Bold Leaps

SchoolTube--A New Media Sharing Website

The National Association of Elementary School Principals has launched SchoolTube, a "safe, friendly environment" for student and teachers to showcase activities and accomplishments. It is a free media sharing website that is offers organizations video services including uploading, storing and managing contests.  It also provides information for educators wanting to use technology in the classroom with tutorials, lesson plans, and advice.

It will be interesting to watch if this site takes off as a reasonable alternative to YouTube, a site that has some materials not suitable for the classroom. The big question mark is whether or not it will make it past the filtering process in school districts.

Traveling in a Wired World

I have been traveling the last week and a half with frustrating experiences when it came to staying connected to the internet.  My first impression upon hearing that daily internet in my room at a major hotel was going to be $9.95 a day was that I would just sit in the lobby when I needed to connect--where a wireless connection would be free. Then I thought about lugging the laptop to the lobby--and having to actually put on clothes rather than sitting in my room in my jammies--and a feeling of annoyance crept in.  Why is it that you can go down the road to stay in a much less expensive hotel and get free internet but the major hotel groups charge such an atrocious fee--on top of the already 3 figure fee for the room?  Since I would not pay a daily internet rate on principle, I sucked it up and decided I would make do.  But it got worse.  The rather large meeting room where close to a 150 met every day for a week did not have internet because it was an extra charge the conference planners did not want to pay.  I understand their reasoning but it was a major inconvenience for many of the participants. 

I was in three major airports in the last few days and they ALL charged a daily fee averaging about $9.00 a day for internet access.  Again, I sucked it up, refused to pay, and read from a couple of books I had brought with me.  No Twitter, no email, no connection for many hours at a time.  I felt out of touch, disconnected, and wondering about the business revenue model that has folks paying for internet access.  Once upon a time, it may have made sense, but hasn't internet connection become ubiquitous? Shouldn't it be as available as the water and electricity? Or am I missing something here?  There must be a tipping point soon--perhaps with a more widespread acceptance and use of WiMax.  I was excited about blogging "on the run" and wanted to experiment but alas, with no internet, no chance to practice my new digital skills. 

I feel a kindred spirit for those students in our classrooms that use the technology tools on a frequent basis to produce, create, publish anywhere, anytime EXCEPT in a school.   For many of our students, going to school must be as frustrating as going to the Atlanta airport was for me.    I am sure we share some of the same questions --who are the people making these decisions? Why haven't they asked me, their customer, my ideas and opinions?  When will new business and education models be created to meet the needs of today's digital learners-- of all ages?