Category: EdTech

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Working with the Flip Mino

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Working with the Flip Mino
EdTech, Gear, Photography

Flip Mino

One of the perks of my job is that I get to try to try out lots of new tech toys. One of our curriculum coordinators had requested one of the little Flip Mino video cameras. She graciously let me give it a whirl before giving it back to her.

Even though this device (or some version of it) has been out for about a year now, I hadn’t gotten very excited about it. High-quality video cameras are now very reasonably priced, and now even point-n-shoot cameras come with a video mode. The question was – Is the Flip redundant? Would you be better off applying the cost of the Flip toward a better point-n-shoot? I really needed to find out because I’ve got several others requesting these, and needed to know how best to spend our equipment funds.

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Four “B”‘s for Successful Blogging

Posted on By Tom No Comments on Four “B”‘s for Successful Blogging
EdTech

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of addressing the Lambda Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International on the topic of blogging for educators. I modified one of my previous presentations, bringing it up to date a bit. Usually I start out by asking the teachers what they think of when they hear the word … Read More “Four “B”‘s for Successful Blogging” »

Recycling and Life on the Edge

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Recycling and Life on the Edge
EdTech

It’s just Wednesday. However, this half-week has been much more strenuous that many of my full weeks. Most of that has been due to the computer recycling company that we used to remove the old computers from our schools.

Old computers are a MAJOR problem for schools. First, computers take a lot of abuse in a school setting. You just can’t get as many years of service from a school computer as you can from one in a home setting. It’s hard to explain this to a taxpayer. For non-functioning computers there is the problem of disposal. We can’t send these to a landfill. It’s an even bigger problem if the computer is still functioning. Because of concerns with student data on hard drives, we can no longer just sell the computers.

So, last spring our school board authorized me to work with a computer recycling group that would give written assurance of drive erasure. I made the arrangements, and on Tuesday a truck showed up to pick up our nearly 700+ computers, plus some odds and ends of non-functioning equipment. The fun was just about to begin.

First, the crew arrived at our district office. From appearances, these characters were ones I’d never want to meet alone on the street. One actually came into our office with an unlit cigarette in one hand and a lighter in the other. I was beginning to worry.

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