Christmas Eve Greetings

With its highly collaborative, online/offline format — and its attractive price tag (free!) — many schools, businesses and other organizations are ditching their expensive, clunky software for this powerful suite of tools. The way that Google Apps is interactive and easy to share is powerful. My students can share ideas in real time with other…
I like toys. Especially tech toys. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, as long I keep the toys in check. Not everything needs a technological solution, and even when it does, there are always multiple ways of solving the problem. What is really interesting is seeing what others do with technology. A…
Gabriel’s Seeds is a website that allows you to create personalized learning apps from your browser. After a quick sign up, you can browse the apps in the directory or create your own. For ESL teachers there are a multitude of apps in different languages. I started creating my app from one of the supplied…
Putting solar panels on rooftops and arrays is a labor-intensive process. You need people to design and manufacture the panels. Then people to market the panels to homes, businesses, and utilities. Then people to come and install them. It all adds up to a lot of jobs. Even though solar power still provides just a…
Have you ever seen a school data wall? In a struggling Newark, N.J., public school, I’ve seen bulletin boards showing the test scores of each grade compared with state averages. And in one in affluent Silicon Valley, I’ve seen smartboards that track individual students’ math responses in real time. These kinds of public displays send…