Operating systems: Which OS is best in the classroom?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2009 at 5:43pm

Anne, Not to jump into the fray--the nineties is ancient history when it comes to technology in schools the mid-nineties was FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. I remember my first few years of teaching with ONE Apple 2C in my classroom and saving to floppy disks. Was I cutting edge, oh yes indeedy, do I want to go back? NO WAY. ... and classroom teachers today have completely different focuses with NCLB, high stakes testing. The thought that they would care which OS they were using is laughable to me.

When I did my first websites and introduced students to the internet the least of my worries were sexual predators, uploading innappropriate images, pirating music, movies and software---things were easier then, no matter how much you wish they still were--they aren't.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 28, 2009 at 6:19pm

Nancy,

I didn't come into the fray until the Apple IIe, but I remember when the IIc was highly recommended for gifted students. The Apple IIe was a sturdy, reliable machine, with the OS on one disk, and your data on the other. Didn't IIc have a built in operating system? Or am I not remembering quite well.

In any event, you and I could probably talk about the "good/bad old days" well.

I am trying to keep up, and I'm sorry if my defense of Sim Park seems like I am going backwards. Finding it as abandonware gave me the idea to recommend it to an elementary special ed teacher who recently asked for help with a specific Virginia SOL that involved Life Processes. A few months ago, we did some resources for her on Predator and Prey. Sim Park would have been useful then.

In the case of this teacher, techies are absolutely horrid. When computers are distributed to classrooms in the building, this teacher is usually overlooked because she teaches the low level special ed kids. When she and I were in the same building, the replaced my lab of old MAC classics with 486's running NT (and forgot to buy software for K-2). The principal who was retiring that year, gave me carte-blanche to distribute the MAC classics wherever I chose, and I loaded up those that were working and carted them to the special ed classrooms, including hers, along with the games the kids knew how to play and software for them to grow into. My intention in doing this was to force the administration into keeping those classrooms updated with technology as new technology was distributed in the building. A few months after I left, I heard that the TECHIE issued a statement that the MAC Classics would NOT be supported or replaced!!!

So, if those Classics still worked, the games would still be just as useful for her kids, but without tech support they are no more than boat anchors as they wear out. And, Indigo wonders why I refer to techies as "bad haircuts"? You should have seen the "do" on that guy who wiped out all my efforts to get special ed classes kept up to standards!!!!

Nancy, be glad that you are teaching the TAG kids. If you were teaching the special ed kids, no matter how much you showed admins the usefulness of technology, you would still be treated as if you were one of your students instead of a professional...... And make my day by telling me it is different where you work!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2009 at 7:07pm

Anne, You've got it wrong--historically special ed kids on both ends, reading teachers, speech teachers, and any other specialists are always left out of the technology loop. Those kids' access to computers is suppose to be in the regular classroom. It is different where I work. Our district provides each elementary school with two labs, 2-3 laptop carts. We have seven student stations and two teacher stations in our Center and have access to a mobile lab any time (except when they are doing state assessments). I was not hired to keep my computers running and I DON'T HAVE TIME to do it. Why would I want to?

Here are other comments:
1. If I were a tech person (or district) I WOULD NOT support old computers/printers/projectors. It's like having a car up on cinder blocks in your driveway. Our district keeps computers/printers for the life of the warranty and then out they go---

Tell you friend to write a grant.
I've written grants over the years from $500.00 to $480,000 for technology related items. The largest federal grant was for computers for special ed classrooms.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 28, 2009 at 7:27pm

Nancy,

Thanks for the advice to pass on to Brenda about seeking a grant. Unfortunately, I don't know if she has access to the country grant writer. This county has a bloated central office and they tend not to let teachers do things they don't approve of. That's why I took retirement... It was like kicking a brick wall every day. I wish I could help her with grant writing, but I am more of a fighter than a grant writer. (as you are aware by now).

And, yes, it is true that the speech teachers and reading teachers are often left off the technology round-table, but so are the special ed classes. Last year before retirement I returned to the school where I'd been such a pioneer in the use of the Internet with special ed, and lo-and-behold, not a single one of the special ed classroom these, ten years later, had a computer in it even for the teacher. The teacher who were there now were surprised to hear what had gone on there some years back. They weren't told or encouraged to use the technology. It was moved out of the room and never replaced.

So, I am glad that wherever you are, special ed is held in higher esteem. My sister in PA, with an autistic son has listened to educators, year after year, tell her that her son is too retarded to learn to use a computer. They have computers in the special ed classes there, equipped with games that are used as rewards for good behavior. But the kids aren't taught to use the computers for anything else, and the computer are not used to improve the learning of the stdents. A different problem from what I'd fought against here in VA, but again, a dismissal of the value of special ed students and how they can benefit from technology.

PS: Andrew can do quite a bit with the computer at home, and a computer was not only specified for his parents to provide in his new group home, but they had to update the computer from what he'd been working on at home! But, at school he's too retarded to use a computer ... go figure ...

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 28, 2009 at 5:52pm

Oh dear, Indigo, you are argumentative

Here is Wiki's version of the History of the Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Notice that in the 1960's the only connection between computer terminals was a cord - so calling PLATE "Online Education" is a stretch.

I cam onboard in 1987 when I added a 1200 baud modem to my Apple IIe. Through Compuserve, I met some friends who are still friends, some of who go back a few years to when one dialed into a specific machine to leave a message for someone to get later when they dialed into that specific machine. Virginia PEN came into existance about '89 or '90 and provided an 800 number to dial into the server in Richmond. It provided free accounts and access to the number to any teacher in Virginia. Tim Sigmon had developed Virginia's PEN in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Education. It was the first teacher network other than FREDmail that was used prior to the Big Sky Network of one-room schools in Montana.

Perhaps PLATO was the program in use in the Isaac Asimov story "The Fun They Had" http://www.educationalsynthesis.org/language/FunHad.html

Maybe you could match history stories with your own history instead of relying on Wiki????? Oh, well, "come after"......

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2009 at 5:58pm

Aren't you two getting exhausted? I'm exhausted reading this thread and I've got the feeling neither of you will quit!!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2009 at 6:54pm

Indigo, No offense taken--I'm one of the most non-confrontational people you could ever meet. I won't even tell my sons to put down the toilet seat and the oldest one is 33!! I'm pretty impressed that you can keep the discussion threads straight! N.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 28, 2009 at 6:32pm

Indigo,

My first use of computers was also with punch cards in the seventies. I couldn't bear to cut up a cat, so instead of taking the Biology II lab, I opted for a course in computer programming. It was on a mainframe. Until the mid 80's I did not have any contact with computers. I took a course on Appleworks, and saw that it could make my life as a teacher so much more efficient than the electric typewriter I was using. Hubby talked me into laying out the funds.

BTW, in the nineties, I had a friend who was a doctoral student at Syracuse. The years are wrong for that to have been your father. If your father was getting his doctorate in computer science, he may have been one of the pioneers at Syracuse on Bitnet. Perhaps I should be talking old time with your father? If he was getting his doctorate in something else other than education or psychology, I probably didn't know him if he stayed on at Syracuse after getting his paper. In any event, Syracuse fixes in my mind as the great center for research in autism.

You really should read "The Fun They Had" to understand the difference between the PLATO system and the "online education" that I was predicting in the mid-nineties.

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on March 28, 2009 at 7:14pm

I've recently read The Fun They Had to my students, you should have invented Blackboard or Moodle and you could have been a millionaire.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 28, 2009 at 7:39pm

Nancy,

I wish I had invented Blackboard or Moodle. I still don't know what Moddle is --- I hear the word flashed around on here a lot. Blackboard is nice. I used that when I took online classes with Cal State to get my online teaching and learning certificate a few years back.

In any event, instead, I've "invented" a website that provides resources for teachers. Much of what I have is still focused on printables, and the popularity of those pages indicates that there is still a great need for teachers to print what they can use. I've done a few flash videos and games/quizzes, and they are also popular. But, I'm not a programmer so I can't make or even update the really good stuff that is needed especially for elementary classes. I'm pretty much homebound, and rural, so finding a business for Brenda won't be easy.

You are right that it is my past experiences that picture Indigo with the face of a particularly obnoxious techie who caused me all sorts of problems. I have seen some truly awful examples of admins, along with a few good ones. But, when someone starts out dictating what teachers should have to make do with, I come out swinging.

BTW, if you know of Internet sites that can provide similar to the Sims games, please let me know. Then I will get off the Sims kick. I've got a webquest that I made a few years ago that I updated and want to extend across the grades. I'll put up other discussions for those quesitons.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Baird on March 29, 2009 at 5:36am

Hi Anne, Just wanted to let you know that Blackboard and Moodle are similar. They both allow teachers to set up a "course" and students can interact with the material in that "course." Blackboard costs and Moodle is free. It seems to me that more colleges use Blackboard while more K-12 schools use Moodle, although I have no stats to back this up. It's just my impression of what the schools in our area use. You can find out more about Moodle at moodle.org.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Pemberton on March 29, 2009 at 5:44am

Thanks, Julie,

I'll look up the information, and if appropriate, hang it on my website for teachers. I know Blackboard is costly.

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