nlowell's Page

I'm having a reflective day today.



A page fell out of my scrap book this morning and reminded me that April, 1965, was when I won second prize in the junior high school science fair for my home-built computer. It was a five-bit binary adder. It only won second prize because the high school science and math teachers doing the judging really didn't see the value in an arithmetic that had only a 1 and a 0.



Over the last forty-odd years, I've changed base technology about every… Continue

Chris Craft made an excellent point in our discussion yesterday:

After all, this is about the kids sitting in my classroom right now, and what is best for them, where best is defined as supported by

research, best practice, etc.

This has been echoing in my head ever since I read it.



I agree and support this sentiment.



But I feel compelled to point out that driver's ed teachers need to know how to drive. Part of what makes a… Continue

I picked up this item in my 'gator from Doc Searls.



For those who thought that blogging was something new, ten years ago today, Dave Winer started blogging.



Despite the date today, I believe this is the real birthday of blogs.



Some will dispute this -- there's no acknowledgement of Dave Winer in the Wikipedia entry, for example… Continue

Last night I put my money where my mouth is and applied for a Technology Director job in a small school district in rural Texas.



It seems to me that the leverage points are going to be where people are really anxious to change and are willing to actually do something to make it happen. What I run into mostly is people who want to do the same silly stuff but get different outcomes. My goal is to take my 40 years of experience with technology and my 10 years experience with education and… Continue

So, I was chatting with a friend on IM tonight and it occured to me that one facet that's been missing in this discussion is that we keep talking about adding these tools to our practice. Or transforming our practice to incorporate the various technologies.



The problem is, that's not how the tools work.



It's 9.30pm here in Colorado. This is the online prime time. The Right Coast is winding down. The Left Coast is ramping up. It's the middle of the afternoon in Adelaide, but… Continue