Lots of good stuff has either slid through the podcatcher or across the TV screen lately. Thought you’d be interested in these two. #
Frontline is looking very seriously at the future of news as well as what it means to keep secrets in a four part series called NewsWar. A teacher’s guide is in the works and you can already view some of the show online. (Frontline also keeps a collection of episodes online for viewing. I love PBS. And WGBH.)
Open Source the radio show recently did an hour on the One Laptop per Child program. I’m wondering how to get one of those machines in hand so that I can fiddle a little bit — but I’m guessing that won’t happen anytime soon. One concern I have about the program is the notion that the computers are a magical solution. I hope no one expects that simply distributing laptops will create a better educated world. #
i have to agree with bud on this one. just because we give out laptops to students doesn’t mean that everything that is wrong with education or the classroom will be solved. in fact, i could see it creating a whole new set of problems for teachers to deal with. granted, technology is very important to social life as well as education, but i think we are putting too much emphasis on computers in the classroom. being an english major i am all about the material, books that is. the more reliant students become on computers the more they lose respect and admiration for the books themselves. while computers can help with education i don’t think they can fix it or make it perfect.