The Rational Radical
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Chrome and GoogleDrive arrive in iOS today. 0 Comments -
Why everyone hates the iPad (except for consumers) 0 Comments -
![world-shaker:
emergentfutures:
iPad, I Saw, I Waited: The State of E-Textbooks
“About 90 percent of the time, the cheapest option is still to buy a used book and then resell that book,” says Jonathan Robinson, founder of FreeTextbooks.com, an online retailer of discount books. “That is really an obstacle for widespread adoption [of e-textbooks], because smarter consumers realize that and are not going to leap into the digital movement until the pricing evens out.”
Full Story: Gadget Lab
I’ve mentioned the sheer lunacy of ereaders to folks before, but it’s true—until a compelling affordable option comes along, or is built into a device students already have or want, it’s not going to take off in the way we expect.
After all, many readers don’t want to have to pay for a device that gives them the privilege of paying for books.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqlzfaOE941qz5ttno1_1280.jpg)
iPad, I Saw, I Waited: The State of E-Textbooks
“About 90 percent of the time, the cheapest option is still to buy a used book and then resell that book,” says Jonathan Robinson, founder of FreeTextbooks.com, an online retailer of discount books. “That is really an obstacle for widespread adoption [of e-textbooks], because smarter consumers realize that and are not going to leap into the digital movement until the pricing evens out.”Full Story: Gadget Lab
I’ve mentioned the sheer lunacy of ereaders to folks before, but it’s true—until a compelling affordable option comes along, or is built into a device students already have or want, it’s not going to take off in the way we expect.
After all, many readers don’t want to have to pay for a device that gives them the privilege of paying for books.
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Nerd Talk
On a road trip with 3 other folks who have completed or are completing continuing education. Right now the topic is how to use MLA to cite a passage from an electronic text with no page numbers.
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Research in the 21st Century
My masters project on Flash applets for Calculus topics is wrapping up this week. In writing up the applets, I did some research to justify my choices. I hadn’t done real research in a few years, and I was blown away with how different it was. Even though I am constantly engaging in my digital reality, I am always awestruck by how much change has taken place. For example, most of the journal articles I needed (ranging from the early 1980’s to present) were available online. No need to search through miles of stacks to find one 10-page piece. I figured I would find some online but not such a high proportion. There were some, however, that I needed to look up at CSU’s library. The day of this field trip, I forgot all my currency at home. No worry! I just snapped iPhone photos of the pages and uploaded them to my Evernote account. Not only were the articles now available to me on all my devices, but Evernote indexed them to make them searchable. They were as readable as a photocopy.
Who needs a flying car?
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I snapped this ad from a 1991 journal. I can only imagine how awesome this was. Also, I can’t believe how far we’ve come.
I can’t imagine paying that much for something that does so little and having to write the company to order it.
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Sketchpad Explorer for the iPad This is a game changer for me. I have often said that if my students could access Sktechpad on their own device in class, I would use it in every course nearly every day. This brings that possibility one leap closer.
For the record, I have no specific bias for GSP over Geogebra. My school purchased GSP and I like what I know. I think the real battle for the best virtual geometry playground will be in the mobile integration.
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What is a technology resource you tried out in the classroom that you abandoned soon after?
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I thought this was a really cool overview of how one teacher (and their students) are able to use Google Docs in a really constructive way.
Google Doc Management (by kernkelley)
Pretty cool use of Forms and Docs, though at our school this year, Haiku will perform a similar function by itself.
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So I don’t hate math per se; I hate its current representations. Have you ever tried multiplying roman numerals? It’s incredibly, ridiculously difficult. That’s why, before the 14th century, everyone thought that multiplication was an incredibly difficult concept, and only for the mathematical elite. Then arabic numerals came along, with their nice place values, and we discovered that even seven-year-olds can handle multiplication just fine. There was nothing difficult about the concept of multiplication — the problem was that numbers, at the time, had abad user interface.Bret Victor, former Apple UI Designer and creator of this sweet prototype interface.
yes. YES!
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