3rd Grade: Runescape vs. Math Workbook

I have the privilege of being a "pal" with a 3rd grader at one of our local schools. (This is different than a "mentor", since as you see, we're both learning from each other.)

During my visit yesterday, I took along the EEEpc (see previous post) to ask for his input. He was impressed at the size, and at first struggled a bit with the trackpad, but once we added a mouse, he was fluid. I asked him to open the web browser and show me his favorite web site.

"How do you spell ruin-escape?"
"Ruin, as in ancient ruins? R-U-I-N."
"No, it's a game, ruin-scape."
"Let's google it... OH, RUNESCAPE."

After he typed the address in, what I saw was nothing short of amazing. A 3rd grader who struggles with reading and math took ME to school on the intricacies of this game. Here's a summary of his narrative...

First you get signed in, and then here's my character. (He's quickly using the arrow keys to move).

So at the bottom are all of the things I've collected. You fight with the goblins and get points, and then they drop things that you can pick up. (As he's killing a goblin)... yeah, he doesn't have anything.

These other people moving around are other players... but some of them aren't real people, but I can tell the difference. You can fight with them and take what they have. (I ask why the guy right there doesn't just whack him and take his stuff.) Oh, you have to be in a certain place, like the coliseum.

Here's a store, let's go in. Naw, there's nothing here that I want. Let's go over here to the exchange... see all of these people? They're trading things, so if I go to this screen (an online auction), I can sell some of my things. There are some things that are expensive, like this easter egg for (some bajillion points), but some things are pretty inexpensive, too.

So here's a discussion area, and this person was swearing, you can tell by the ****'s. Can you remember this for me? j134ssa (or some login), and now we have to report him. So I go over here and, what was that login again?, and we mark it as "inappropriate language", and now a message pops up down here.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I thought I got to be the cool person with the laptop, and I was quickly humbled by all that my pal could do, but also the core skills he was demonstrating. Math skills in understanding the value/buy/sell of his possessions, spatial/geographic awareness in moving from place to place, ethics in understanding what wasn't appropriate, and certainly reading in the things that showed up on the screen.

Our Futures Task Force is struggling with the question of what a 21st century learning environment looks like, and the word "relevance" keeps flashing before me. My pal is a very bright student who is willing to put forth the energy into the things he sees relevant. Very eye-opening...

EEEpc: Essential Environmental Elements?

I'm glad that Susan has purchased an Asus EEEpc. I've been playing with one for a week (thanks, Jeff!) and we're ordering a couple to continue learning with. In answer to her question, I'd like to move from the technical things and ask:

What are the Essential Environmental Elements necessary for life and success with the EEEpc?

My BIG observation about this (and any similar) device: It fundamentally challenges our current notion of technology in the classroom. Not because it's cool, not because it's small, not because I don't need as much electricity...but because at it's very core are assumptions (probably correct) about the way kids need to be connected and learning. If we crack the hood and start ripping out Skype and Messenger and ... and ... and ... to get it back to a pseudo-Web-1.0 device, we're totally missing the point.

As an IT director, here are the questions I'm excited to begin wrestling with.
Hear me clearly: these are NOT gripes, these are observations and challenges for my own self-reflection.

1) Do you have wireless access?

• If not, that's what this little guy is about.
• If you do, can anyone bring in a EEE and connect?
• What does getting started / technical support look and feel like?
• Does the access you have / services you are blocking feel significantly different at school than at home?

2) The first icon you see is for Web Mail. Your choice of 4 services ~ Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL.

• If a district doesn't provide e-mail to students, or even if it does, are these services blocked for students?
• What is our responsibility to monitor their e-mail?

3) iGoogle and Google

• Rather than developing secure "lockers" on school file servers for students to use, this ad-hoc sharing environment allows students to choose who gets what rights to their content.
• Some of it may be "academic", some not.
• Teachers don't have an override to peek into those electronic lockers, either.

4) Messenger and Skype

• If the current frustration of texting with cell phones is any indication, having Skype and messaging could be enough of a tipping factor to discourage use in the classroom. (Karl Fisch has a good, recent blog post on Skype).
• Video and audio features built in.

5) Wikipedia

• You now have an encyclopedia "loaded" on a laptop (see #1).
• Are you having the primary source discussions?

6) Internet Radio

• Not really high on my list-of-critical-network-services-that-taxpayers-spend-money-for, and really, it's just an alias to http://www.mediayou.net/

7) The Learn Tab

• So what resources will get loaded?
• Textbook content?
• Static versus online?

8) Printers

• While printing a hard copy is still very much needed, does the ability to have things stored in Google Docs or on a flash drive change the need to have a printer INSTALLED on the device?
• One option could be walking up and plugging in to a USB printer. Not sure about compatibility...I was able to log in to our MS Active Directory network and choose a network printer, but there were several steps involved.

9) Ownership

• Current paradigm: If the district or school purchases a device, IT is expected to support it. Whatever necessary anti-virus protection we need, making sure only authorized things are installed, etc., etc.
• If you bring one from home, do we need to "manage" it any differently?

So I will continue to wind down this path, moving from technical considerations to philosophical musings to classroom management and hope that teachers who are embracing these will give us input and wisdom to make the path clearer.

I need a WII...and some safety glasses

OK, I've been VERY remiss in blogging the last 6 months, so I need to make up for lost time.

If you haven't seen the wiimote project, watch this video by Johnny Lee. Amazing.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jd3-eiid-Uw