Learning, Teaching & Technology

to      

The day has come when using a 2001 Mac in the Lab at the elementary school isn’t working. We have been fortunate that up until very recently we were able to use these computers to access online sites and create student products using older software. This spring we have run into several realities related to the age of these machines. They are running OSX.3 (Tiger) as they have limited RAM and processing capabilities. This means that we are unable to use the current version of iWork that is owned by the district. Students are creating multi-media presentations using Keynote and they are unable to work on them in the lab if they have ever used a G4 iBook and a newer version of Keynote.

We refer students to http://pbs.org/cyberchase for learning activities, but that site is only one of several where videos and the newest learning games posted online aren’t available in the lab. Google Earth is a wonderful learning tool as we introduce our students to world geography, but it is not available in the lab. There are online sites like http://wordle.net that we have used with older students to view their writing in this visually enhanced way, but the plugins in the lab don’t work with the site.

We have been incredibly fortunate to be able to use the equipment no longer needed at the middle school or the high school for as long as we have. Now it is time to upgrade the lab so that our youngest students can explore multi-media posted online and create their own projects that dislay their learning and introduce them to being knowledgeable consumers of our multi-media world.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS