What were Papert’s views on children, computers and "powerful ideas”? Are they relevant today? Why should we introduce our kids to programming and how? Find out all the answers to these and more in this article -Computational Thinking, Programming…and the Google App Inventorthat I recently co-authored with Charles Profitt, leader of the NY State Ubuntu Local Community.
(Incidentally my older son was at the Googleplex in Mountain View recently for a 3-week "Computational and Programming Experience" camp for 14-year olds that is designed with similar goals in mind..)
On Feb 3rd, Google launched the "Internet Bus Project". Simply put, this is a campaign to take the internet - quite literally on wheels - right to people in the smaller cities in India who are still not participating in what is now part and parcel of our lives in urban centers. The campaign has been launched in Tamil Nadu where the Bus will visit 15 towns in the next 45 days.
An interesting, and noble, aspect about this initiative is that the focus is the Internet and not Google, per se, as is evidenced by the videos that have been uploaded to the Internet Bus Google page as well as the internetbus channel on youtube (and are shown to visitors on the Bus as well). The video on "Internet for Communication" for example, shows facebook and Yahoo IM as means of social networking and communicating in the same breath as Orkut and Google Talk. Similarly, several sites and online services that work well to make day-to-day life easier for Indians - from online news (in Indian languages in addition to English) to cricket to matrimony to jobs to railways to e-gov - and are showcased in the videos, have nothing to do with Google.
Another worthwhile aspect being highlighted by the Internet Bus is the Indian-language Internet. Communication via the internet, as well as creation and consumption of content in Indian languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, and several others, is possible, but not a well-known feature among certain demographics in India, who perhaps view the internet as a service and convenience that can be enjoyed only in the English language. How many of us have visited the Hindi or Tamil wikipedia (which now has thousands of pages in at least 10 Indian languages, the highest number being in Telugu!)? [On a side note, this 'list of wikipedias' is an interesting page to study.]
The internet is being presented to the Bus visitors in 4 themes - Internet for --
Information
Communication
Education
Entertainment
Also showcased are the tools and services for accessing the Internet for information via mobile devices, for example maps, sms, and local services.
With access (computer hardware as well as connectivity) becoming cheaper by the day, and more and more Indic content as well as Indic language tools being made available to Indians (by Google and others), it just does not make sense for the large percentage of Indians in smaller towns to not avail themselves of the affordances of the internet, and to remain marginalized from the global revolution that is the internet.
Go Google! Go Internet Bus! Go India! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's some press from the launch event in Chennai on Feb 3rd -
Here's an interesting tool that was shared on educatorslog.in yesterday - a live discussion widgetthat can add a chat feature to any blog or website.
It is of particular importance to India, as it incorporates the Google's transliteration API for typing indic scripts for Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. It requires one to be signed in with their Google (gmail) account to make sure that only the signed in users leave comments.
It integrates with Google Talk as well so that people can see their "friend" lists and "presence" cues (online/offline/busy/other status).
I can potentially see a class gathering online for a discussion around a blog post that a teacher has posted as an assignment, or even groups of friends meeting online at a designated time to discuss homework on a class blog. I guess blogs and blogging need to become part of mainstream educational use by teachers and students before tools such as this can be leveraged for collaborative learning.
A neat idea and potentially useful tool nonetheless!
This is a continuation of the thread on technology tools for Geo Education initiated in the previous post where I discussed Google Maps in the classroom. (I have talked about Google Earth as well in some earlier posts that I will link to this one shortly).
Imagine being able to look at a zoomable image of the earth as an observer from space - a view of the Ganges meandering through the Northern Indian plains and then joining the Brahmaputra to form the world's largest delta before it empties into the Bay of Bengal, or a video of the 3D view of all the Olympic locations in Beijing as in this rousing youtube video, or a bird's eye view of the the city you live in and find out the actual lat/lon for your home or school! I've tried it - and it's a thrill, believe me! Just following the Ganga to where it meets the Yamuna to locate my home town of Allahabad and then zooming in to explore the part of this land where I grew up - in a way that I have never done before was truly amazing! I've even sat with my kids and explored Bangalore and located our home and the school they used to go to, and noted the lat/lon coordinates of all these locations - it was a lot of fun! (but don't take my word for it - try it for yourself :-))
With Google Earth, you can do all this, and much, much more.
The potential of this tool to make geography (and many other subjects) so much more engaging and interesting and meaningful is undeniable. The Google of Educators site has a superb introduction to the features of this tool in addition to a listing of ideas for the classroom -
"Google's satellite imagery-based mapping product puts the whole world on a student's computer. It enables users to "fly" from space to street level to find geographic information and explore places around the world. Like a video game and a search engine rolled into one, Earth is basically a 3D model of the entire planet that lets you grab, spin and zoom down into any place on Earth. Now, with Google Earth 4.3, you can tour distant cities with Google StreetView, view photo-realistic 3D buildings, and even show your students sunset around the world with the new Sunlight feature.
From literature to environmental science, Google Earth can help you bring a world of information alive for your students. You can use Google Earth demos to get your students excited about geography, and use different Google Earth layers to study economics, demographics, and transportation in specific contexts. For instance:
you can use real-time coordinates to demonstrate distance calculations and verify the results using our measurement tools;
view tectonic plate-shift evidence by examining whole continents, mountain ranges and areas of volcanic activity;
study impact craters, dry lake beds and other major land forms.
Students can also use Google Earth to explore topics like the progress of human civilization, the growth of cities, the impact of civilization on the natural environment, and the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Using Google SketchUp and historic overlays, students can recreate entire ancient cities. The only limit to Google Earth's classroom uses is your imagination.
Don't limit your imagination to our lonely planet, though, launch your student's imagination with Sky in Google Earth. And if you prefer to explore the night sky from your browser, you can now try Google Sky on the web. Whether you stargaze, explore Hubble telescope images, or check out current astronomical events, you'll capture the wonder of the universe without leaving your classroom.
Here are some other ideas for using Google Earth in your classroom:
Imagine a History assignment where a student must submit a write-up on Mughal Architecture (or the form it takes as an oft-asked question in exams - "the contributions of Shah Jahan to Indian Archtecture"). Or a "project" on the temples of India. Think of the way this is usually done - a hand-written write-up with pictures cut and pasted into the notebook. Or in schools where students have access to computers this would take the form of a Word document with text and images or perhaps a powerpoint presentation with text and images. While the latter may be much more appealing as an exercise and as a product, and uses technology for collating and presenting the information, it pales in comparison to the use of some of the coolest new tools on the Internet that would make all the sense for use in such an assignment, and result in much more meaningful and engaging learning - and of course, the end product would be way more cool too!
I'm talking about the use of Google Maps - Google's powerful but really easy-to-use mapping tool accessed at http://maps.google.com. These maps are very well developed - with comprehensive information on local businesses too - for countries such as the US; they're fairly decently developed for Indian metros, and developing - slowly but surely for other parts of India too (thanks to mapmaker.google.com). In addition to local maps and landmark information, Google Maps also provides terrain maps, satellite imagery, and for some places (mainly in the US) a photographic “street view” of the real world. Using the “My Maps” feature anyone can create their own custom maps by adding new annotations or markers for just about any spot anywhere for which maps exist with some level of detail. These placemarkers can have a title and include text (which can be formatted like any Word document - with bullets, fonts - style and size, and other usual text formatting). What's most exciting is that it's also possible to include images, web links and video. These personalized maps can be saved, emailed and embedded (using the unique web address that each of these maps is given), and more than one person can collaborate to create one!
Now envision a work product for that history assignment - a map of North and Central India with placemarkers for all the monuments built during the Mughal period, with factual information such as dates, materials, architectural features and other details, along with images and videos from youtube. Not only is it visually more informative with the text, images and videos associated with each monument, but the location-based information conveys so much better the history, the spread and impact of the Mughal Empire in India.
I'm sure some of you may have tons of ideas already buzzing around in your head about the tremendous possibilities of the use of these in any subject or context where maps of the world have meaning. Here are some more ideas of the use of this tool -
in geography (maps with geological information; and for developing spatial and directional skills),
in literature and language ("literary field trips" on google maps),
in science (animal and plant habitats around the world),
in social studies (map neighbourhoods and local communities),
or simply have students document their field trips or holidays with their personal photographs and narratives (a great language arts activity).
If you and your students have access to the Internet, it does not make sense to ignore the potential of Google Maps as a learning tool. If you're enthused enough to give it a try, here's a video from the Google channel on youtube that'll help - it explains well how to create personalized maps --
Barely 2 weeks ago I blogged about my brush with Indic Language Support in Blogger - a post which garnered several comments from the Hindi blogging world - with most of the comments being in Hindi. Most of the Hindi bloggers who left comments maintained solo blogs while being on several group blogs as well. One such group blog - Buno Kahani (Weave a Story) is an interesting attempt at collaborative story writing by a group of Hindi bloggers!
Clearly, that one post did much for my appreciation of a phenomenon that I was simply not (consciously) cognizant of - how a large percentage of India's populace is enjoying access to the several Indic language web tools that allow them to express themselves in an Indian language of their choice.
In the comments was also one by priyankar who urged me to take some time out to write a similar blog in Hindi - share my thoughts on education and technology in a language that will serve the Indian Hindi speaking and reading population as well -
"आपके शैक्षिक और तकनीकी अनुभव का कुछ लाभ हिंदी के माध्यम से भी देश के लोगों को मिलना चाहिए . इसके लिए थोड़ा समय निकालें - यही अनुरोध है"
Well, thankfully, Google's new English-Hindi-English translation tool obviates any extra effort on my part to make this wish come true! See the "Read this blog in Hindi" link on the top right of this page? Thanks to Google, an automated Hindi translation of this blog can be produced at the click of a button. Go ahead and try it - right here, right now!
Even though the translation is nowhere near perfect yet, the potential for this in India is HUGE! Think about it! Any page on the web in English hitherto inaccessible to someone who cannot read English, is now available in Hindi as well. Imagine what this could mean for education in parts of small-town and rural India where there is Internet penetration, but where English is neither spoken nor read. Vast amounts of educational content on the Internet in English were until now out of the reach of the non-English literate population of India. Not anymore!
Here's a snapshot of the educatorlog.in home page in Hindi. As you can see, the translation is not quite perfect, but still, one can get the gist of the text. It's enough to get my head buzzing with ideas and possibilities :)
(...as are so many things on the web these days (or at least seemingly so :))
Thus readeth the tag line of this amazing site for free documentaries that a friend shared last night. Freedocumentaries.org has about 125 documentaries that are also categorized by themes and regions of the world.
I spotted some well-known ones like those by Michael Moore and the Century of Self series from BBC, but there are several others that I know I will be watching over the coming days (and nights). WE: Arundhati Roy seems promising, as also this one titled The Slow Poisoning of India (it's all about one's context, isn't it?) -
"a 26-minute documentary film depicting the effects of modern pesticide use on local farmers. India is one of the largest users of pesticide in Asia and also one of the largest manufactures. Farmers often use the wrong chemicals, while others overuse."
Most of the documentaries load from Google Video or youtube (the shorter teasers/trailers) so I guess all this site does is point to all the freely available documentaries already up on Google Video. (Just an educated guess that it was not the other way around - it wasn't these guys that put up the stuff on Google Video and then pointed to it from here...)
Which made me curious about the rationale behind freedocumentaries.org (on their 'About Us' page) -
"a site where anyone with an internet connection can watch a movie to educate themselves or simply explore another perspective whenever they please. These movies aren't just for education but are also for entertainment.
As a secondary objective freedocumentaires.org allows independent filmmakers to have their message heard by viewers that they may not normally reach.
Our goal is to have everyone that watches a film at freedocumentaries.org learn something; whether it be a new perspective on a topic, simply understanding a conflict, or being more accepting of a certain belief system. We are proud to say that the vast majority of people that watch our films are glad they did so. In fact many people become addicted to watching documentaries after seeing a movie on our site."
Whatever the rationale, I'm glad for this effort, and hope teachers and parents will use it to educate themselves, their students/kids, and use these to trigger discussions and debate....
I've been playing around with Google's Custom Search Engine tool, and am currently experimenting with CSEs for Math resources on the internet. I've created a couple of them - one for elementary and middle school level Math and another for high school math. You may follow the links or use the boxes on the top right of this blog.
These are still works in progress, so please do try them out and let me know how well they work (or not).
I have had the good fortune of being peripherally involved in efforts in India to explore the use of technology to help children with Autism. It is with much excitement, therefore, that I share this YouTube video I stumbled upon last night, which adds a new technology tool to the wealth of resources already amassed on educatorslog.in to help teachers, parents and care-givers of children with Autism in India. Google SketchUp has already been talked about in the past here, in the context of a good design tool that is freely available. However, this YouTube video uploaded by Google shares some inspiring stories of how SketchUp has helped kids with Autism (who are known to often have advanced visual and spatial thinking abilities) express themselves. There appears to be an entire research project (Project Spectrum) that is devoted to studying this.
As a matter of fact, Google SketchUp has great potential in any classroom setting. It's "a powerful yet easy-to-learn 3D software tool that combines a simple, yet robust tool-set with an intelligent drawing system that streamlines and simplifies 3D design." It's a great companion tool to use with Google Earth - once you've built your models, you can place them in Google Earth.
[Here's another one on Google searching, kid-safe Internet browsing, critical thinking, "topical research" on the internet...Click on the appropriate tags below to see other posts on this topic]
Tired to having to monitor your children's Internet activity? Unable to monitor your child's time on the Internet? Concerned about what your child may run into on the Internet?
Consider installing a "Safe Internet Browser" for your child. Instead of trying to control what sites your child visits on the Internet via google searches; or being worried about inappropriate ads and other windows "popping up" on the screen, just rely on an Internet browser which automatically restricts the sites your kids can visit, and what your kids can do while on the Internet.
Buddy Browser (which happens to be one of a few "children's Safe Internet browsers" available for free), boasts of the following features (among others) --
Secure and Safe Kids Browser without popup windows (No spyware or adware)
No Internet Chat Rooms
Safe Buddy Messenger for Kids
No Internet Surfing
Kids Safe Search
Individually Reviewed Quality Sites for Kids
Educational Learning Channels - Science, School, Nature, Animals and More
Privacy Assured
100% Free!
I think this could be a useful option for young kids (elementary school), not just from a safety point-of-view. Kids spend (waste?) a lot of time doing aimless Internet searches ("researching a topic") as they put it, which is not effective and that requires a lot of critical evaluation of websites and material that kids are usually incapable of doing. Having a list of pre-approved sites to go to for "Internet research" (the sites available through Buddy Browser are exhaustive and kid-friendly) would not be such a bad idea anyway!
Perhaps it could be argued that kids need to learn how to sift through the vast amounts of information and make sense of it - as a 21st Century skill. I agree with this need, but also think that kids only above 12 years or so - (i.e. starting in Middle School) should be taught this skill and made to hone it through their various projects.
Until that age, a kid-safe browser such as Buddy Browser should suffice for exposing kids to the Internet
(I have to preface whatever I write with stating that I am a technophile and I usually embrace technology in every shape and form... ) I personally have started to push my children and students more towards the library these days simply because I am beginning to get leary of the whole "Wikipedia culture" of getting information that is unfiltered and very often grade- & level-inappropriate. I ask my sons to first browse all the encyclopedias and other reference books we have at home for "basic" information on a topic and go to the Internet (which to them is synonymous with going to the Wikipedia most of the time) only for specific pieces of information that they don't find in books/magazines. The richness of the images that accompany the text in most encyclopedias and the fact that the information is somewhat "contained" is something I find comfort in. (Finding a decent alternative website to WIkipedia is also oftentimes high on my agenda and I strongly suggest teachers of kids in elementary school, if not middle school as well, to do the same.).
But the truth is that kids today do need to learn how to scout cleverly for the information they need, and make sense of huge amounts of information, evaluate the information critically, and to use the Internet and Google to their advantage. Little kids (younger than 12-13 years of age) are incapable of performing effective searches anyway, so the process must be scaffolded for them.
Clearly, there are pros and cons to extensive use of Google, which is why it makes for an interesting debate!
It's no coincidence that to write an article about the wikipedia, and explain a term that will soon be as much a part of our vocabulary as the term 'wikipedia' is, I am citing a link to the wikipedia itself!
If you are a teacher who uses google for your everyday searching on the Internet, then you must know that for most of the topics that we discuss in class or give our students assignments to "find out about" - a lot of our information today is picked up from this "wiki" that has put been together by thousands of unknown names and faces. We all - teachers and students - are relying on a mass of information put up by anyone and we never really stop to question the quality of this information. In a recent article I read on the issue of the indiscriminate use of the internet in the classroom - this is what I came across (I have not tried it but I am inclined to believe the stats) -
"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dominates all of these searches, appearing in the top ten every time.
China - Wikipedia = #1
acid rain - Wikipedia = #4
Montreal - Wikipedia = #3
Charles de Gaulle - Wikipedia = #1
Virginia Woolf - Wikipedia = #1"
Anyway, as it turns out, the founders of the Wikipedia are also worried about this trend; and so we have a Citizendium in the works!
"Citizendium works much like Wikipedia in many ways. Both are considered wikis, which are collaborative web sites that represent the ongoing, collective work of many authors. (Similar to a blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit, delete, or modify content that has been placed on the site--including the work of previous authors--using only a browser interface.)"
But unlike the wikipedia, the Citizendium will require contributors to register their names and the project has tapped subject-matter experts to serve as content editors.
I'm sure this will herald even more reckless use of information from the Internet, the only difference will be that the recklessness with the new wiki will be less problematic as far as the quality and sanctity of the information is concerned.
[I wrote this article recently and have sent it to a local newspaper for publishing as well.]
More often than not, teachers and parents of teens are blissfully unaware of what their kids are up to when they are on the Internet. For those of us keeping tabs on issues of kid safety on the Internet, nary a week goes by these days without the mention of some nightmarish teen experience related to their Internet explorations, or what the big players in the Internet “Social Networking” space (Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and others) are doing (or rather attempting to do) to make their software tools safer for teen-use. The truth is that nothing works better than raising awareness levels among schools, teachers, parents, and above all, kids themselves, of the potential dangers that lurk in Internet chat rooms and social spaces, as well as in the seemingly innocuous act of music/video file sharing.
At a recent workshop I conducted for teachers of Mallya Aditi International school, Bangalore, on issues of Internet use by teachers and kids in their teaching & learning, the section on safe use of the Internet was an eye-opener, and prompted a session dedicated solely to this topic, with parents of middle-schoolers in the same school. This article is prompted by the earnest plea of the teachers and parents who attended these sessions that I get the word out and reach many more parents/teachers who live in blissful ignorance of these very real dangers.
Types of Risks The 4 types of risks that I associate with Internet use among kids in urban India are –
Harmful relationships with online strangers
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing
Access to Inappropriate Material, and,
Loss of Privacy - which is a potential danger inherent in almost all online interactions with others, especially strangers.
Harmful Relationships With Online Strangers This is very likely to happen if your kids are visiting unmoderated chat rooms, chatting on MSN Messenger, Yahoo Instant Messaging, Skype or GMail chat. Pedophiles have been known to frequent chat rooms that are popular with children and teens. This may also happen through the vast number of “social networking” and blogging sites that have burgeoned on the Internet. Social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Google’s Orkut, MSN Spaces, Xanga and Hi5 are becoming increasingly popular with teens even in India, for chatting, exchanging photos and extending their network of “friends”. While several of these mandate a minimum age requirement of 14 or 15, there is obviously no system of verification. Recent stories from the US such as the assault on a teenager that was linked to her presence on Myspace and that of teen Justin Berry, while extreme and not everyday occurrences, stand as testimonials to the horrific turn that some innocent Internet explorations can take, especially when kids use webcams along with Chat.
Child Safety Tips for Chatting and Blogging and “Social Networking” on the Internet- • Do not visit unmoderated chat rooms. • Only chat with people you know and have met in person, preferably kids your own age. • Keep your profile as anonymous as possible. Do not provide your full name, address, phone number, or school information in your user profile. • Because many spammers use names they can easily collect from a chat room, consider having a "chat" screen name. This name would be one that is different than your e-mail address. This could help prevent unwanted Spam mail from coming to you. • Never agree to give out personal information in a chat conversation with anyone. • Never to agree to get together with anyone you meet in a chat room without first checking with your parents. • Always remember that people are not always who they seem to be on the Internet. • Be wary of the use of webcams. • Never post a photograph on the Internet without getting your parents’ permission. In general, avoid posting photos. Remember that things have a way of staying online forever; what may be done with your photos (even ones you send to “friends”) may be beyond your control. • Don’t lie about your age on social networking sites. If you are too young to sign up, have your parents find an alternative that is age-appropriate for you.
Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Does your child download mp3 music files off of the Internet? Chances are the he/she is doing this in violation of the law. Hundreds of children in urban India are using Peer-to-Peer or P2P file sharing applications such as Kazaa, Limewire and Morpheus to illegally download copyrighted music files from the Internet. These programs work by providing access to a portion of your computer to everyone else on the network and vice versa. The risks and downsides to doing this are many- · Computers on P2P networks are vulnerable to viruses, spyware and other malignant code. A harmless-looking music file may be bundled with a virus or spyware that then gets access to your computer · More that 35% of the total P2P traffic is pornographic in nature. Your child may inadvertently download age-inappropriate, sexually explicit material. · There is a danger of strangers getting access to sensitive information on your computer, related to your finances or employment. · Some day the law may catch up with violators of Copyright Law. Music sharing through these means is illegal.
So what is the solution to this? Join a paid music club and download music legally.
Access to Inappropriate Material on the Internet ...is usually just a click away! This material could be of a sexually explicit nature, be violent and hateful, or may advocate and glorify the use of drugs, weapons, alcohol or tobacco.
Ever misspelled a URL (a website address) and had a pornographic site load up? Not long ago, misspelling google.com with an extra ‘l’ brought up an asian porn site. Several parents and teachers have had embarrassing experiences with children searching on school-related material using seemingly innocuous keywords on Google. Among the tricks pornographers have been known to use is the linking of kid-friendly keywords such as “pokemon” and “Action Man” to porn sites.
The solution?
Encourage kids to use kid-safe search engines such as Onekey and ensure that you are using “Strict” Search Preferences on Google.
Educate your kids about the presence of inappropriate material.
Bookmark child-friendly web sites. This allows your children to easily get to safe sites that they have used before.
Teach children to crash and tell. If they encounter a bad experience, they should feel comfortable in immediately turning off the computer and talking with you about the experience
Teach children to never open email from someone they don't know.
Never respond to an ‘Unsubscribe’ on a pornographic email.
So what else can you do as a parent or teacher?
Place your computer in an open room with the monitor in plain view. This allows you to keep tabs on your child's online activities.
Limit the amount of time your kids spend on the Internet.
Have up-to-date anti-virus software protection for your computer
Consider installing software that filters specific sites and/or monitors online activity.
Consider not allowing your kids to go online when you are not home.
