The winter was a rough one for many here in Europe some of the coldest temperatures seem to have hit many of our locations. It seems now we might be slowly coming out from the cold spell.
Over the last month there have been some excellent dialogues through our ICT Forums on iSkoodle. One that particularly attracted my attention is the conversation about 1-1 iPads vs 1-1 Laptops. There is no doubt with the availability of digital devices at lower prices, and different more flexible sizes this generates potential opportunities for schools to seriously think about alternatives to the traditional 1 to 1 laptop model. A resource you might like to spend some time with is this link: Data and Analysis of a High School 1:1 iPad Program.
In the forum threads the idea of eWaste was brought up. Somewhat on the same topic last week a statistic came out of my twitter feed More Wireless Devices Than People. In tandem my department has been supporting our Grade 3 teachers and students with their unit on Recycling. We have been spending time with the students talking about eWaste and also showing them the guts of a laptop and desktop. Sharing some of the local laws about recycling computers, and also highlighted some of the issues eWaste generates for societies. One thing that is clear we have more old digital devices than we know what to do with. In talking about these issues with the Grade 3 students it made me realize that maybe in my own work and facilitation as an IT Director I have not engaged with the issue enough. As educators and IT folks what role should we have in developing an understanding of eWaste, and how do we deal with this in our day to day work. As IT Departments should we collaborate to be more proactive in finding some concrete solutions to this growing problem. I do not have any answers but feel this is a good conversation to have within our own departments and larger community.
I have shared a documentary by Frontline which goes over the specific case of eWaste being shipped to Ghana and the impact on the locally community. With this documentary there are some excellent resources that cover the topic of eWaste in general.
- The Darkside of the Information Age
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/interview/puckett.html - Digital Dumping Ground
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/ghana804/index.html
“Everyday Leadership.”
This short video does a wonderful job of refocusing what true leadership can be and should be in many ways, little else to say but watch this poignant TedX out of Toronto.
Bytes of the Month
- The Ultimate Twitteraholic’s Guide to tweets, hashtags, and all things Twitter by Sue Waters @Edublog http://theedublogger.com/2012/02/13/the-updated-twitteraholics-guide-to-tweets-hashtags-and-all-things-twitter
- http://www.flatclassroombook.com/
‘Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time’. We are very excited. All details at http://flatclassroombook.com Available also on amazon.com as book and Kindle. ePub coming soon. We are also running a Book Club starting mid-March - Ten Websites for Science Teachers
- http://ictmagic.visibli.com/share/sLVho2
Explania! Watch hundreds of animated explanations, interactive tutorials and instructional videos, and ability to embed them on your own web pages. - PBS Teachers Library Media
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/digital-media-literacy/
Professional Development
Mark your calendars!!
- ECIS Leadership Conference
This year’s April Leadership Conference will take place in Vienna, Austria (12-15 April).
The theme of the conference is Forming the Future with the opening keynote speaker being Andy Hargreaves.http://www.ecis.org/page.cfm?p=298
- Finalsite Pre-conference Workshop http://www.finalsite.com/page.cfm?p=1527 Join your colleagues from across the region at this free conference – held just prior to ECIS’ April Administrator’s Conference– highlighting strategies and case studies from schools like yours. School presenters as well as the expert team from finalsite, the leader in international school website solutions and services, will be on hand to share insights.11 April, 2012 (Optional dinner on the 10th)
Hilton Vienna
Vienna, Austria
- September 27, 28 and 29/9/12 2012 1 to 1 Laptop Institute Frankfurt International School
- Leadership event on the afternoon September 27th, full day September 28th, half day September 29th
- Call for presenters will be open on the 19th of March
- Google Apps Education European Summit
- October 13 and 14th 2012 Prague (details to follow)
- March 2013 ECIS ICT Conference ACS Cobham International School.
Watch this space for more details !
Your words, your input…..
Please remember your links, your thoughts, your resources are important to this blog if you have something you wish to have featured drop into our wiki area on iSkoodle and add it there, I will make sure it is featured in our April issue edition.
have a good month!
John Mikton