One of the problems that all of the productivity suites have is the level of complexity for the younger students. Many adult users do not come close to the full capacity of their productivity suite and students particularly in the younger years certainly wont.

So imagine my suprise when this morning Miguel Guhlin and Julie Lindsay both posted in there blogs about OOo4Kids – open Office for Kids.

This is great. Its still in Beta, but the screenshots look excellent and I have downloaded the Beta to trial.

The layout is simplified, the icons larger and clear and better suited for the younger learners. The removal of the majority of the buttons makes its more applicable (see below). I am looking forward to this coming out of Beta and into Gold.

So it suits younger users, is free, small download, is ethical (you are not pirating it). Excellent

http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Main_Page

Download – http://wiki.ooo4kids.org/index.php/Download

Video demo – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJkyPcP-TeU&feature=player_embedded

The clip shows the students engaged in various actvities using their OLPC’s as the report wanders around. Its great to see and it raises a number of questions/statements for me.

1. Why are we not seeing more of this? I would love to see more examples of OLPC’s being integrated into schools. The OLPC site has a link to countries with the programme embedded – its a google map. If you look at the list of countries utilising this its not that extensive. They include: Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, haiti Rwanda, Afganistan, Nepal & ethiopia and some others – there are (excluding the USA) 27 countries.
2. While many third world countries are unable to provide such facilities and rely on charity, why are we not seeing more 1st world nations embedding portable technology programs?
3. Some people are adopting these programs and on a wide scale – New South Wales announced its Netbook program.  200,000 units to every year 9 student in the state. WOW! This is a great start, but I started to read some of the fine print on this and I did have concerns with the hardware spec and the software pack. A Netbook with 1Gb Ram Running MS Office and The Adobe CS4 suite. These are serious software packages. This raises the questions for me about suitability. With my students I teach them to design products that are

• suitable for the audience
• suitable for the purpose

Is the hardware they have selected suitable for the software they have choosen? Don’t get me wrong on this. I am very pleased that NSW has taken this step!. Each product is a winner in its own right, but I wonder if its abit like giving the kids a single lane mountainbike track (a netbook) and providing them with a high performance road racing bike (The software). The two seem mismatched.

4. Another NSW Question.  What were the educational goals and objectives defined for this program and how did the Netbook  with this software load match these drivers? I would hate to see a paradigm breaking program like this damaged by technical barriers.

The two strands of this post are tied together really with this question of suitability for audience and purpose. In both the OLPC and NSW Netbooks there is a need that is being met or attempting to be met. Each component is in its own right educationally powerful, enabling, transformative and useful. But I do wonder about the selections being made. With the OLPC the software is selected and deployed with a focus on cost and functionality. With the NSW netbook, the software selected is not, I believe well matched to the hardware platform. I would hate to try Photoshoping an image on a netbook with only 1Gb of ram or working with multiple documents and embedded images and media. or…

“Using this software, students will be able to create videos, edit photos and make presentations for class assignments and projects,” Rees said. “Students and teachers will also be able to set up video conferencing and collaborate on assignments using the built in Web cameras and software within the department’s secure network.”  Source: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/297696/nsw_education_drops_150m_267_000_school_notebooks

I have to say OLPC gets a tick the netbook with Office and CS4 gets a X. Each in their own right is good but together…well….

The NetGen Project is the brain child of the flatclassroom project leaders Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis. These two teachers working together with Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics and grown up digital, have developed an amazing collaborative project.

The students from around the globe have researched different aspects of the Horizon projects K-12 report and the different charactoristics of the Net Generation and developed a collaborative wiki. They have then individually produced a video on their particular area. BUT!!!!! But the videos were produced by outsourcing the various takes to members of the NetGen project, a brilliant example of one of the charactoristics of Net Generation students – COLLABORATION.

Well, last night in Second life on reaction grid the students, teachers and organisers had the prizegiving and two of my students were placed. An excellent effort and one I am very proud of. there were some excellent entries from round the planet.

http://netgened.grownupdigital.com/profiles/blogs/awards-announcement-for-net

http://netgened.wikispaces.com/

http://netgened.wikispaces.com/8A+Innovation+and+Mobiles

http://netgened.wikispaces.com/5B+Collaboration+and+Cloud+Computing

http://123elearning.blogspot.com/2009/04/virtually-awardedand-more.html

THIS IS NOT NICE. IT IS NOT PLEASANT OR FUN, BUT YOU SHOULD WATCH IT ANYWAY!

This is the latest video from Mediastorm. This video looks at the aftermath of the atrocities in Rwanda, particularly the effect it has had on the women who were brutalized.

http://www.mediastorm.org/0024.htm

Here is the introduction

“During the 1994 genocide, Rwandan women were subjected to massive sexual violence, perpetrated by members of the infamous Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe. Among the survivors, those who are most isolated are the women who have borne children as a result of being raped. Their families have rejected both them and their children, compounding their already unimaginable emotional distress.

Intended Consequences chronicles the lives of these women. Their narratives are embodied in portrait photographs, interviews and oral reflections. ”

source: http://www.mediastorm.org/0024.htm

PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO.

Perhaps if we watch this and understand the scale of this crime, we can ensure that it NEVER, EVER happens again. Perhaps if we watch this, we won’t stand by and watch anything like this again.

Visit Foundation Rwanda, maybe we can help now.

http://www.mediastorm.org/

DON’T IGNORE THIS VIDEO OR THE PLIGHT OF THESE WOMEN

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoqiRRMQ0fs

Don’t stop it 1/2 way through. Watch it all. Do you recognise some of these beliefs? Do you hold some of them?

The video is by Don Tapscott of wikinomics fame and its very very good.

What if the earth’s population was reduced to just 100 people. http://www.miniature-earth.com

Here are some of th

This is a fascinating insight into the demographics of the world we live in by reducing it to 100 individuals. The Miniature earth site hosts a very captivating video that is worth watching (and downloading for a $5 donation). Alternatively you can view the video on Youtube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvTFKpIaQhM

Here are some interesting statistics:

Racial breakdown

• 61 Asians
• 12 Europeans
• 8 North Americans
• 5 South Americans
• 13 Africans
• 1 Oceania

50:50 Male to female ratio

• 47 people live in urban locations
• 9 are disabled

Religious Affliations

• 33 Christians
• 18 Muslim
• 14 Hindu
• 6 Buddists
• 13 practice other religions
• 16 Non religious

Education

• 14 can’t read
• 7 are educated to secondary level
• 12 own a computer
• 3 have an internet connection

Health

• 13 are Hungry or malnurished
• 43 have no basic sanitation
• 18 have no improved water
• 1 adult has HIV

This is the 3rd version of the Miniature earth – the original version (text) is available at www.sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn338villageed

Tool or technology:GIS or Geographical Information System. Google Earth – Downloaded and installed client, internet connection required

Curriculum area:

Humanities

Synopsis:

This starter sheet looks at the power of Google Earth. While it only looks at one aspect of the tool, the Global Awareness Layers, particularly the Crisis in Darfur, this tool has a range of other uses in a wide variety of subject areas especially science with the Google sky feature, the Global volcanism projects and alike.

Link: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/Starter+Sheets

http://drc.ushahidi.com/

This is crowd sourcing. Its also an open source project.

This image is from the TED Blog. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TEDBlog/~3/446039989/ushahidi_lauche.php

They, as children, survived the ravages and deprivations of the concentration camps and the Nazi pogrom against the Jewish people of Europe and immigrated to New Zealand.

Bob and Freda are ordinary people, who came to us to tell an extraordinary message. A message that we can ignore, a message that we can’t deny, a message that we can not claim is fiction. Bob, when asked in an interview by one of the students, why he had survived the Theresienstad concentration camp when under 10% of the 15,000 children imprisioned there had, said “Luck”, he does not know why he of the thousands survived, but he and Freda believe they must tell their story, they must do their part to insure that this NEVER happens again.

Listener Article – http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3546/features/10925/i_was_nine_wanted_to_go_on_a_train_trip_.html

Bob and Freda spoke first to the assembled year 10 and history students, then gave us 20 minutes of their time to do do a video interview. Their message is clear, honest and heart felt. They spoke of loss and survival, of acceptance in their new homeland of New Zealand and in an insightful interview of whether forgiveness is possible.

One comment from Bob stuck with me, it is attributed to Edmund Burke 17th Century Politican

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”

If we cast our eyes, so empowered by technology, around the planet – there for all to see are the consequences of inaction, the consequences of narrow agendas and the consequences of greed.

Perhaps it is time for us to do something in:

• the Congo
• Darfur
• Wider Ethiopia
• HIV ravaged sub Saharan Africa
• In the poorest of the Mountain Countries in Asia
• In the Pacific
• and perhaps if we look hard enough in our own suburbs

The message for me was inaction is not acceptable. Injustice, prejudice, hatred, lack of understanding, racism and bigotry led to the death of six million people in the extermination camps  in Europe. Rape, murder and terror are daily events in Darfur. Ethnic cleansing is a term we have heard too often. It is a term without place that should never be heard again, should never be contemplated and never enacted.

What can you do? What can we do? What can I do?

As a teacher, I can help to shape my students understanding, through education we can prevent this. This is also Bob and Freda Narev’s message too.

We must remember, we share, we must explain and most important we must understand. Because through this we can make sure that such events are never repeated. We will remember them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

• “For the Fallen” (1914), fourth verse – Laurence Binyon

http://www.holocaustcentre.org.nz/

http://www.holocausttaskforce.org

http://www.holocausttaskforce.org/teachers/index.php?content=guidelines/menu.php

http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3546/features/10925/i_was_nine_wanted_to_go_on_a_train_trip_.html

This is my EdTalk on a collaborative project between 4 schools in Auckland, Brisbane, Qatar and Vienna

http://edtalks.org/play.php?vid=149

The wiki and collaboration was fun project and its so rewarding.