Each year, as NECC (the National Educational Computing Conference) comes and goes, it is fun to wander the show floor and dream. For example, imagine the implications for classrooms of a legal-pad sized iPod Touch. Lets call it the iPod Jumbo.
Children could swipe, stretch and pinch their way down to street level on Google Earth, or tilt the screen back to change the horizon, as they can on the small version. The worksheet sized screen could offer up an endless supply of soft correcting worksheets, synced in real time with the school’s server. No more #2 pencils.
The concept of such a device was rumored last year but that was before Apple’s 35,000th app.
Steve, we know the Apple board of directors may need to be convinced about the iPod Jumbo project. First of all, consider the competitors. Jeff Bezos has his larger sized-Kindle, plus there are now dozens of Atom-powered netbook choices for tech coordinators on the show floor. Sure, they run Windows, but they’re cheap, and some have touch screens. But here’s the biggest reason. You could make a fortune. This year 50 million computer-free backpacks will make their way to 97,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the US, and before the school year is out, an estimated $489 billion will be spent on their largely non-digital, non-connected education (see http://nces.ed.gov).
You might be wondering, who would program such a device? That one’s easy. The army of iPhone/iPod Touch app programmers could fill up the jumbo-app store, guided by a community of picky raters.
Forty years ago, on July 20, 1969, I was a 10-year-old attending a summer camp in Michigan. I can clearly recall the day we were herded into the camp’s mess hall to watch the moon landing by way of a small black and white TV.
We sat on our hands as Walter Cronkite described the events in his familiar, newsy voice. From where I was, it was difficult to see the TV screen, but it didn’t really matter because everything was so blurry anyway. The signal, after all, was coming all the way from the moon. I walked out of the mess hall filled with wonder and frustration. The idea that people were walking on the moon was amazing, but why did everything have to be in slow motion? And why do grownups have to talk so much? I had experienced a state-of-the-art 1969 multimedia experience; akin to drinking the information through a straw.
Contrast that 2009’s view of the moon landing. Check out the sites listed on page 4 and at LittleClickers. One of these, We Choose the Moon (on page 18 and shown on this month’s cover) is the exact opposite of my camp experience. The Apollo 11 event is layed-out, buffet style, complete with a timeline with each key moment. You can control your exploration, or let the events unfold naturally in real time. If you want to stand on the launchpad, you can, and browse real photos or videos taken by the astronauts themselves. You can listen in on the actual radio transmissions, or you can read them as a Twitter stream. Choice and active learning has replaced the didactic lecture, a sure-fire recipe for better learning.
There’s a lot of other products to get excited about in this issue. At the top of our tester’s list is Wii Sports Resort. Discovery Kids: Smart Animals Scanopedia embeds hundreds of animal facts on a poster sized page. In case you’re stuck in a home with a pack of bored kids, two wonderful movie-based games can help save the day: G-Force Video Game, and Ice Age 3 Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Both run on multiple platforms.
Enjoy the issue!
Warren Buckleitner
PS. Our town’s Mediatech Foundation is turning five! And our experimental community technology center, located in our town library, has never been busier. Last month set new attendance and circulation records, with 605 people signing in and 444 video games circulated. To celebrate, we’re having a party the weekend of August 7 that will include a real time attempt at Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight using Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. Two 15 year old game testers will try to stay awake for the entire flight— 33.5 hours, in real-time weather. If you’re in the Flemington, NJ area, stop in and watch “history” being remade.