1. I don’t have any confidential information stored in my Dropbox account, unless it’s encrypted. In fact, if someone where to have accessed my Dropbox account yesterday, they likely would have been bored to tears at the files they found. Bottom line: don’t store any confidential information in Dropbox (unless it’s encrypted). More on encryption in a bit.
2. The only confidential information I do store in Dropbox is my 1Password data file, which is encrypted automatically by 1Password. So, if someone would have gained access to this file, it would be a very, very long time (if ever) until they were able to crack the encryption.
3. I checked the events log on the Dropbox website, and found that nobody had accessed or downloaded any of my files. There were no events in the log between 1:54pm PST and 5:46pm PST, the duration of the security breach.
4. Did I mention that I don’t have any confidential information stored in Dropbox?

Encrypting Files

If you insist on storing confidential or sensitive files in Dropbox, make sure the files are encrypted. Some files, like the 1Password data file I mentioned earlier, are encrypted automatically by the application that created them. Most files are not encrypted by default, however. If you really, really, really must store sensitive information, look into using something like TrueCrypt (Windows/Mac/Linux) – here’s an article describing using TrueCrypt with Dropbox – or use some other method such as encrypted zip files or encrypted sparse images. I’ll leave it up to you to research how to use such tools. For me, it’s far easier to simply not store confidential information in Dropbox. (Do I sound like a broken record? Good.)

The fact is, as we move more and more of our information from device to device, service to service, hiccups like the recent security SNAFU are going to happen. By thinking ahead, you can minimize any potential damage.

Nathan Hale High School in Seattle recently caved to the uninformed pressure of a single parent, removing Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World from the curriculum. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident.

MyNorthwest.com ran the story about how a parent complained about the book, succeeding in having it removed from the curriculum for “cultural sensitivity” issues. From the article:

Sarah Sense-Wilson’s daughter was required to read the novel for a class at Nathan Hale. She is Native American, and her heart started to sink as she turned the pages to find more than 30 references to “savage natives.”…

The text has a “high volume of racially offensive derogatory language and misinformation on Native Americans. In addition to the inaccurate imagery, and stereotype views, the text lacks literary value which is relevant to today’s contemporary multicultural society,” she wrote in a complaint earlier this year to Nathan Hale and district administrators.

Instead of using this opportunity to enlighten Ms. Sense-Wilson on the true meaning of the book, and the context surrounding the use of “savage natives” in the text, the school decided to avoid conflict by bowing to her uninformed opinion, even going so far as to issue an apology. Not everyone agreed with the decision, however.

The chair of the language arts department, Shannon Conner, defended the merits of the book calling it a “superb warning book about our future. Huxley cautions his future readers from becoming too reliant on, and compliant with, technology.”

Had the school taken the time to educate Ms. Sense-Wilson, she may have learned that the “savage natives” in the book were the only pocket of humanity left on the planet, and the inhabitants of the dystopian “Brave New World” society, where everything is pre-determined and the government controls everything, are the real villains. The book was written in 1931 and set far in the future (AD 2540). Brave New World offers many opportunities for class discussion on such topics as reproductive technology, consumerism, alienation, the dangers of an all-powerful state, and more. But this isn’t really about Brave New World, or any book in particular.

What’s most troubling about this event is how the school put conflict avoidance above learning. The educators, like the chair of the language arts department, were brushed aside in order to placate a single parent, even though the parent was wrong in her assertions. Valuable lesson plans built around the book had to be scrapped because the school bowed to pressure instead of standing up for the curriculum and the teachers.

Brave New World resources

• Brave New World Wikipedia entry
• Brave New World reading group guide
• Brave New World themes, motifs & symbols
• Who’s Who in Brave New World – major and minor characters

The Language Police

I recently read an excellent book that deals with censorship, titled The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn, so this incident at Nathan Hale High School comes as no surprise. Principals, school boards, and textbook publishers routinely bow to pressure in order to avoid conflict, even if it means sacrificing literary quality or historical accuracy. I highly recommend this book.

Ning announced they will be offering three versions: Ning Pro, Ning Plus, and Ning Mini. What we had for free in the past was closest to Ning Plus, but with the ability to upload videos (something now reserved for Ning Pro). Ning Plus is $199.95 per year, per Ning. Ning Pro is $499.95 per year, and Ning Mini is $19.95 per year.

Ning also announced that Ning would continue to be free for education – sort of:

We’ve also heard from many Network Creators who use Ning in the classroom as an integral part of their curriculum. I am particularly excited to announce that a major education company will be sponsoring Ning Mini Networks for educators in primary and secondary education. Ning will remain free for K-12 educators and their students. We’ll have details on this program soon!

I see two huge problems with the so-called free Ning for education:

1. Ning Mini is free, not Ning Plus or Ning Pro. Ning Mini is nowhere near what educators have been using, and is nearly unusable: only 1GB of storage, no video uploads, no audio uploads, no groups, no events, no notes and pages, etc. So, in other words, all the things that made Ning useful for education are no longer part of the free service.
2. Even if you could get by with the free Ning Mini for education, it’s only free because a “major education company” is sponsoring the service. What happens if that major education company decides it’s no longer prudent to do so? What happens if Ning decides $19.95 per year isn’t enough to sustain their business model?

There was a very interesting discussion about the Ning announcement on #edchat today. Some felt a sense of entitlement: everything should be free, all the time, for educators. This sense of entitlement is wrong. Nobody is entitled to anything they want, free of charge, no matter how noble their use or intentions.

This is a perfect opportunity to move existing Nings to free and open source tools, hosted on district servers. Having worked in IT at the district level, I know there’s often pushback on new initiatives. However, this is a golden opportunity to get some great tools like BuddyPress or Elgg installed at the district level. (I’m leaning towards recommending BuddyPress installed on top of WordPress MU.) There is financial incentive to do so, and district IT departments are often worried about information hosted outside of their control – use this to your advantage. Help them see the value of hosting services at the district level.

The good

Educational technology is about advancing student learning. Various tools can be used to advance learning, but it’s the learning, not the specific tools, that is the focus. Good educators understand this, and are finding creative ways to engage students and enhance learning. Some of these good educators attend the CUE conference, but it’s painfully obvious they are the minority.

The good news is there are a large number of educators who attend conferences like CUE with an open mind, hoping to learn how to affectively use technology to advance learning. The bad news (more on that later) is it’s a crap-shoot trying to figure out which sessions will be presented by the “good” educators, and which will be a waste of time. Most of the sessions I attended were a waste a time. Luckily, the couple that were worthwhile made up for the rest.

Getting teachers to adopt technology

One of my favorite sessions was “Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology” by Rushton Hurley. In his session, Rushton gave tips and examples for getting reluctant teachers to start using technology to engage students. Real-world solutions to real-world problems – this is the type of session that makes attending CUE worthwhile. I won’t go over the entire presentation, but here are a few nuggets that resonated with me:

• Don’t have teachers require themselves to be technology experts. (I’ve been saying this for years – you don’t have to be a technology expert to use technology with your students. In fact, your students will likely teach you a thing or two about the technology, which can be very powerful for the students. For example, say you give an assignment to create a video based on whatever topic you’re currently covering. Tell your students they have 4 weeks (for example) to finish the project. The students will not receive technical help from you. Students may work with up to 2 other students if they want, and they may opt to create a poster instead of a video. In his experience, Rushton has never had a student opt for the poster, even if they didn’t have a computer at home. The students will find a way to get it done. Every time. You don’t need to know how to make a video, only how to evaluate the videos that are submitted.)
• Do remind teachers of their expertise. (You have the subject matter expertise and shouldn’t let your lack of technology expertise keep your students from utilizing the many great tools available.)
• Don’t blanket the school with expensive hardware. (Get the technology for the teachers that want to use it, and don’t worry about the rest. It’s not about equity. Why would you try to appease those who don’t want to use the technology anyway?)

Teaching Internet literacy as a genre

Another great session was “Teaching Internet Literacy as a Genre” by Heather Wolpert-Gawron. Heather shared specific lessons and activities for teaching Internet literacy, including: reading a website, writing, socializing, collaborating, networking, researching reliably, and netiquette. Internet literacy should be taught in every school and incorporated into as much of the curriculum as possible. Knowing how to judge a good website (source) from a bad one is a critical skill. Knowing how to do a proper web search is absolutely necessary. Knowing the basic rules of netiquette, how to comment on a blog, and online ethics cannot be overlooked.

Each of my co-workers who attended the conference attended a few good/great sessions as well, so collectively we got the value we were looking for from the conference.

The bad

Educational technology is about advancing student learning. Various tools can be used to advance learning, but it’s the learning, not the specific tools, that is the focus. Bad educators don’t understand this, and focus almost entirely on the tools. Some otherwise good educators mistakenly believe that converting existing (old) practices to new tools, without updating the practices, equates to effective use of educational technology.

I’m not going to call out any specific sessions or presenters, but I will never understand the value of an hour-long presentation that does little more than rattle off a list of “cool tools” without any specific strategies or examples of how to utilize those tools in education. Sadly, there’s no shortage of “cool tools” sessions at CUE. Some sessions narrowed the focus down to a single tool, but spent the entire hour showing the nuts-and-bolts of how to use the tool, without giving any indication how the tool might be used to enhance learning.

Other sessions seemed promising on the surface, but the presenters were either disorganized or unable to control the flow of the session, allowing themselves to be easily hijacked by those in the audience. I walked out of more than one session after realizing I wasn’t going to learn anything, which was disappointing given how carefully I had chosen which sessions to attend.

The ugly

Here’s where I get to really vent. As I walked around the conference, or sat in a session waiting for it to begin, I would overhear conversations that made me cringe.

For example, I heard one person telling another that he’s a “technology trainer” at his school, and when asked for some examples of the technology he’s teaching, he replied that he recently taught his teachers how to use “Text Effects” in Microsoft Word, so they could make their text look like marching ants or Las Vegas lights. I almost lost my lunch. Ridiculous text effects is not educational technology, and does nothing to enhance learning. File that overheard conversation under “missing the point entirely.”

In another session, a woman was seated in the front row and kept asking the presenter questions from the very start of the session. When the presenter put up his welcome slide that included his name, contact information, and his degrees, this woman asked where he got his EdTech degree, how did he like the program, what learning management system did they use, etc. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up and stop wasting our time. We paid good money to attend this conference in the hope of learning something, and we don’t need our time wasted by a single person trying to pick a masters program. She hijacked the presentation several more times, interjecting her own experiences that added nothing of value to the topic.

Overall, the good at CUE 2010 outweighed the bad. Hopefully, as we move forward, more and more educators will realize that it’s not the technology that matters, but how we use the technology to enhance learning.

It’s not supposed to be a netbook (or a laptop)

Most of the criticisms I’ve read center on the fact the iPad isn’t a netbook or a Macbook in tablet form. Those critics are correct – but miss the point entirely. The iPad isn’t supposed to be a netbook or full-blown laptop in tablet form. Tablet computers have existed for many years, yet none have gained much traction due mostly to the fact the interfaces have been after-thoughts – a set of poorly executed tools bolted on to a desktop operating system. Here’s an excerpt from a review of a current tablet PC running Windows 7:

Windows just doesn’t seem at home when squeezed into this 1.8-pound slab, with a touch-sensitive screen that is 8.9 inches on the diagonal. It’s sluggish, and the controls aren’t adapted to the size of the screen or the fact that there’s no real keyboard or mouse.

On-screen keyboards kept popping up in the wrong places, blocking the fields where I wanted to enter text and the buttons I wanted to push. I struggled to hit the little “x” in the corner of the window to close it, so I had to fall back on guiding the mouse cursor with a small touch pad that’s built into the tablet’s frame.

The poor current state of tablet computers is exactly why Apple didn’t release a Macbook in tablet form, instead opting for a larger enhanced version of the iPhone/iPod Touch user interface. The old way of doing things doesn’t translate well to a touchscreen tablet.

The computer as an appliance – a paradigm shift

Long-time computer geeks are throwing fits and dismissing the iPad because it’s not a general purpose computer that can do whatever they want. Many of these same people slammed Tivo (and other DVRs) because, while they are essentially a full-blown computer, they do only a couple very specialized tasks. The geeks of the world wanted the ability to make their Tivo run ANY program. They wanted a full-blown computer and the operating system to go with it. The rest of the world, however, (including THIS geek) just wanted something that works. I love my Tivo. I never have to worry about it. It does a few very specific tasks, and it does them well. That’s exactly the experience Apple is aiming for with the iPad.

The iPad is intended to be a web browsing, email, and e-book reader, with the ability to add a wide variety of functionality through the App Store. The main difference between this model and a full-blown laptop (or netbook) is that the entire process is simple and requires no technical knowledge whatsoever. You don’t need to know where your downloaded file went, double-click it, then jump through a series of hoops to get it installed. Tap the install button and you’re done. When you want to run an app, just tap its icon.

Mike Monteiro of Mule Design Studio put it this way:

The iPad isn’t the future of computing; it’s a replacement for computing.

It’s the payoff to all the work done by multiple industries over the last 20–30 years. It’s the subtraction of 20lbs of textbooks in my son’s backpack, and the device I finally feel comfortable buying my parents.

Joel Johnson has this to say:

Nerds! You’re not smarter or better than the people who just want to use your creations for their own purpose. You want it both ways: to be able to complain about the incompetency of your family when you’re asked to help them work on their computers, but to swing around the half-understood ideas of dead authors when a company actually decides to build a computer that doesn’t crumble to dust as a matter of course.

Finally, Steven F says:

And to that dramatically greater number of people, what do you think is more important? An easy-to-use, crash-proof device? Or a massively complex tangle of toolbars, menus, and windows because that’s what props up an entrenched software oligarchy?

Fellow Old Worlders, I hate to tell you this: we are a minority. The question is not “will the desktop metaphor go away?” The question is “why has it taken this long for the desktop metaphor to go away?”

Great for e-books (the e-ink myth)

The iPad’s large full color screen makes it an ideal e-book reader, particularly for chart and diagram filled textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. No other e-reader display comes close when it comes to displaying graphics. Competitors, like the Kindle DX, use a technology known as e-ink, which is said to be much easier on the eyes. I don’t doubt that claim, but I very  much doubt how many people will notice a difference in real-world use. If you’re the type to read 3-4 full length novels a month, perhaps a dedicated e-ink reader like the Kindle is your best bet. For the rest of us, a display like that of the iPad is great.

I keep hearing about potential eye strain with the iPad because it uses an LCD screen. I stare at my LCD screen all day long at work and I’m able to read long documents (and websites) without issue. The majority of people using an iPad should have similar success. While e-ink may be easier to read for long periods, I don’t think an LCD screen is unusable by any means. For me, the ability to display crisp graphics and full color far outweigh the loss of e-ink. (Color e-ink prototypes were shown recently at the Consumer Electronics Show, and in each case they underwhelmed.)

The potential of the iPad for the education market is huge. Teachers are already finding innovative ways to incorporate the iPod Touch (and iPhone) into the classroom, and developers have provided a host of educational apps. The iPad opens things up even more, particularly when it comes to digital textbooks.

Untapped potential for apps

The added screen real-estate of the iPad gives iPhone/iPod Touch developers the ability to take their apps to new heights. No longer constrained by a small screen and comparatively slow processor, developers are now free to make the apps they’ve no-doubt wanted to all along.

Joe Hewitt had quite a bit to say on this topic. Joe was one of the earliest developers of the Firefox web browser and is probably best known for creating the Facebook for iPhone app. Here are a few of his thoughts on the iPad:

While the rumor mill was churning with all kinds of crazy possibilities for the Apple tablet, I mostly rolled my eyes, because I felt strongly that all Apple needed to do to revolutionize computing was simply to make an iPhone with a large screen. Anyone who feels underwhelmed by that doesn’t understand how much of the iPhone OS’s potential is still untapped.

…

So, in the end, what it comes down to is that iPad offers new metaphors that will let users engage with their computers with dramatically less friction. That gives me, as a developer, a sense of power and potency and creativity like no other. It makes the software market feel wide open again, like no one’s hegemony is safe. How anyone can feel underwhelmed by that is beyond me.

Final thoughts

I believe the iPad has the potential to be the device that finally breaks down the wall between those who understand technology and those who don’t. The iPad will be embraced by those in my parents generation, as well as Gen-Xers who want a lightweight email and web browsing device that’s not as cramped as a smart phone. It’ll supplement full-blown laptops and desktops for many, and can be a primary computing device for others. It’ll evolve over time, perhaps adding a camera for video conferencing (although I’m not sure I’d want people staring up my nostrils when I’m talking to them, which seems inevitable given how you’re likely to hold the device), and will become a specialized computing appliance for the rest of us. You won’t pry my Macbook Pro from me any time soon, but when given a choice what to bring on vacation or down to the corner coffee shop, I’ll take an iPad every time.

Here’s a telling quote from the Education Week article:

Such a carefully designed rollout, featuring extensive professional development and ongoing support services, does not always occur when districts decide to put the whiteboards in classrooms, critics say. There has been criticism that in too many classrooms, they are nothing more than fancy, expensive chalkboards, especially when their interactive features are ignored by teachers who don’t know how or refuse to use them.

The critics have hit the nail on the head, but are too often misinterpreting their own findings. The problem isn’t the technology, it’s the implementation. In every technology initiative I’ve researched, including a 1-to-1 laptop pilot my school will be rolling out next year, there has been one constant: those schools or districts that took the time to properly research, plan, and train had successful initiatives with positive results. Lack of planning and/or training is sure to doom any technology initiative.

When used properly, with adequate training and curriculum that’s been adapted to take advantage of the technology, IWBs (and laptops, iPods, etc.) can and are improving teaching and learning. All the technology in the world, though, isn’t going to turn a poor teacher into a good one – but may make a good teacher even better.

Getting help with your computer

Today I came across a blog post at the WorkAwesome website titled “How to get IT to Solve Your Problem” that said a lot of what I’ve been thinking lately. Here are some highlights:

But you need to write down all the details of what you were doing while it is still fresh. Someone is going to ask these things. While you’re at it, write down what programs you’re running. No, just don’t say word processing. Get specific. Are you using Word? What browser are you running?

Don’t just note what program (Word, Excel, Firefox, Safari, etc.), but what version of that program. Mac users can usually find the version in the application menu. For example: Firefox–>About Mozilla Firefox will tell you what version of Firefox you’re using. Windows users can usually find the version in the help menu. For example: Help–>About Mozilla Firefox.

It’s also helpful to note what operating system (and version) you’re using. For example, are you using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7? Or, are you using Mac OS 10.5, 10.6, etc.?

Hey, is everything plugged in correctly? Are all your cables securely connected? Is it possible to restart the computer?

Try all the easy fixes. Note everything you’re doing. It can help someone help you.

If you’re having an actual problem (as opposed to just wondering how to do something) always try these fixes first, especially restarting the computer. I’m going to have you do it anyway, so you might as well give it a shot before calling/emailing me.

If you have any kind of access, try the Internet. Enter some keywords like “[stupid program]freezing multiple documents open.” See if there is anything about your problem. It’s really unlikely that you’re the first to discover this glitch.

This is how I find answers to most tech questions, so I know it works. If you don’t find what you’re looking for on the first try, you’ll want to re-word your search and try again. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, then it’s time to call in the big guns – ask the IT person.

If you need help with searching, check out the “Google search basics: Basic search help” page.

Solving math problems on the computer

I debated making this a separate post, but laziness won the battle. I saw a post today about using the Wolfram|Alpha “computational knowledge engine” to solve complex math problems. The post, on the WolframAlpha Blog is titled “Step-by-Step Math“.

Have you ever given up working on a math problem because you couldn’t figure out the next step? Wolfram|Alpha can guide you step by step through the process of solving many mathematical problems, from solving a simple quadratic equation to taking the integral of a complex function.

When trying to find the roots of 3×2+x–7=4x, Wolfram|Alpha can break down the steps for you if you click the “Show steps” button in the Result pod.

Here’s a screenshot:

Other types of problems

The steps used to solve computer problems can be applied to just about anything. Having problems getting your DVR to record only new episodes of your favorite program? Try to figure out what model number you have, then get on the Internet and see if you can find the answer. You’ll be surprised how much information you can find by doing a simple search.

Why study bad writing?

Getting teens to read is a good thing, and Twilight is accomplishing that goal. Since the kids are reading the books anyway, why not use it as an opportunity to show what not to do when writing fiction? The Twilight books are a case study in poor grammar and purple prose, have huge plot holes (although, really, there isn’t much of a plot at all,) fall back on lazy literary devices to get out of jams, lack any sort of character development, and break several other rules of fiction writing. At least one of these books should be required reading for every creative writing class in the country.

For some humorous examples of bad writing in Twilight, see Yoni’s article.

Sending the wrong message

In addition to the bad writing, Twilight sends the wrong message to young girls about relationships, romance, and independence (or, in Bella’s case, dependence.) Some have hailed Twilight as a shining example of abstinence, to be held up as an example to teen girls everywhere. The problem is, the main character (Bella) drops everything (school, other relationships) and allows her entire existence to be wrapped up in her adoration for Edward. The overarching message is that abusive relationships are cool and girls should allow themselves to be defined by the boys they obsess over. How is that a good thing?

Michele Catalano, in her review of Twilight had this to say:

Bella, presented as a strong willed, independent girl, throws herself into a situation that she knows could endanger her life. Her absolute dependence on Edward to even breathe – she can barely exist when she’s out of his sight line – is both worrisome and disturbing. Her every thought is about him. Her every movement is dictated by her obsession with him. She throws herself at him to the extent that she is willing to be turned into a vampire just to spend eternity with him. Edward plays on all Bella’s emotions like a man who gets off on adoration. He follows her, he appears in her room at night, he listens in, telepathically, on her friends’ conversations. He is there in every dangerous situation brought on by Bella’s clumsiness to rescue her and make her feel like she just could not make it another day alive without his knighthood. I don’t know about you, but over here we call that stalking. Yet Bella seems unperturbed by Edward’s hovering and unflinchingly goes headlong into a dangerous, life threatening, almost one sided romance with him.

Time for some examples

Not convinced that Twilight is bad writing that should be studied in order to avoid the same mistakes? Hopefully these examples will help you see the light:

He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.

You’ll find similar examples of adjective abuse throughout the books. It would be difficult to find a sentence that doesn’t overuse adjectives.

Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.

Please tell me you understand just how bad that passage is. Please?

Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars –points of light and reason….And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything.

Just shoot me. Shoot me now.

After he left, I sat at the old square oak table in front of the three unmatching chairs and examined his kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and the linoleum floor.

Thank you, Ms. Meyer, for wasting our time with useless details. I realize it helps fulfill your word count, but c’mon.

The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front.

Perfect example of a dangling modifier.

I could go on (and on, and on, and on,) but I’ll spare you.

If you’re interested in reading other reviews of Twilight, here are some links:

• Book Review: Twilight
• Twilight review – the not-so-lost diary of becks
• I want to beat Edward Cullen with a stick. (Bad Book Month)
• Bad Writing: An Ode to Twilight (This is one of my favorites…)
• Why I Hate Twilight
• Arzim’s Rebuttals – Very long and comprehensive look at several aspects of the books. Well worth the read. Here are the topics covered by Arzim:
  1. “Edward is abusive”
  2. “Fantasy does not excuse a lack of realism”
  3. “The books are sexist”
  4. “The books (Twilight specifically) have no plot/character development”
  5. “Bella and Edward are in lust, not love”
  6. “Bella is an idiot (aka Meyer tells and doesn’t show“)
  7. “Imprinting IS sexual no matter what (aka imprinting is sexist and pedophilic)”
  8. “Twilight sends bad messages… and it DOES matter”
  9. “Science: Why Nessie can’t exist”
  10. “Science: Meyer fails at it”
  11. “Choice: What Feminism isn’t, and what Bella doesn’t have”

Finally, the movies

The second of two movies opened last night to packed theaters. Both movies will sell a lot of tickets, but both have also been trashed by the critics. The first movie received 49% on the Tomatomenter (meaning, out of 193 reviews 98 were bad.) The second movie is faring even worse, currently at 30% (91 bad reviews out of 130.) Here are just a few examples of what people are saying about the Twilight movies:

No, it’s not as bad as you think. It’s actually worse.

The film adaptation of Twilight isn’t nearly as bad in its own medium as the source material was, though it’s still quite a chore to endure.

The narrative is choppy, the pace is slow, it’s way too long and, well, not a lot really happens.

A big bowl of adolescent romantic mush garnished with horror-lite action scenes and a rushed road trip, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a mess.

The first sequel to Twilight has the feel of a placeholder … but Twi-hards, like Bella, have mastered the art of willing themselves to see only what they want to see.

Finally, some recommendations

If you’re looking for vampire literature that’s actually well written, give these a try:

• The Vampire Chronicles (Anne Rice)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Note: This book is in the public domain and can be downloaded free at Project Gutenberg.)

For vampire movies that are much better than Twilight, check out the film versions of the Anne Rice books, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For something new and different, though, you must see the foreign film Let the Right One In, a true gem from 2008 that received 98% on the Tomatometer (142 good reviews out of 145.) Here’s what the critics had to say about Let the Right One In:

It’s everything Twilight wanted to be but wasn’t: beautiful to gaze at, achingly romantic, emotionally involving, unexpectedly terrifying.

The fact that it doesn’t feel like a vampire flick at all makes it one of the best of its kind.

Let the Right One In manages its own sense of doubleness with uncommon daring: you don’t see many love stories that bring together pubescence and vampirism in such an elegant clinch.

Beautifully crafted and expertly acted, Let The Right One In eschews the easy options of excessive gore and cheap laughs to create a haunting, emotionally involving journey into the macabre. It can only become a classic of the genre.

Why OpenOffice?

OpenOffice is a free and open-source office suite that comes with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, drawing/graphing program, and database. OpenOffice can read Microsoft Office files, including the new Office 2007/2008 file formats, and can write to older MS Office formats (.doc, .xls, etc.)

The main benefit of OpenOffice is the price: free. Since many school districts (and families) are tightening budgets and looking for ways to save money, using a free alternative to Microsoft Office just makes sense. I’ve been asked many times by teachers to recommend an alternative to Microsoft Office for their students to use at home. Not all computers come with MS Office, and many that do have only a trial version. I always recommend OpenOffice, since it has pretty good interoperability with MS Office. For what most of our students are doing (mostly writing papers,) OpenOffice is more than enough. OpenOffice is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, so anybody can use it.

Arguments Against OpenOffice – Red Herrings

I’ve heard a few arguments against using OpenOffice in school or recommending it to students for use at home. I have yet to hear a compelling argument against OpenOffice, however. The arguments I’ve heard are mostly red herrings.

“We can’t use OpenOffice because Microsoft Office is used in the corporate world, so that’s what our students need to learn.” I hear that argument all the time, and it’s completely wrong. For one thing, prior to MS Office the standard in the corporate world was WordPerfect. Before WordPerfect was WordStar (and Lotus 1-2-3, Jazz, etc.) Things change. Students need to learn how to adapt and use whatever software applications they may come across.

The worst thing educators can do is teach a narrowly focused technology curriculum based on false assumptions. Sure, there are exceptions – mostly in vocational schools – when specific applications should be taught. Architectural students should learn the complexities of AutoCAD. Film students should learn the ins-and-outs of AVID and/or Final Cut Pro. But for everyday word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, students should learn the basic concepts of how these programs work rather than step-by-step guides to one specific suite.

Teach Concepts, Not Applications

One thing I know from almost 30 years of using computers is that there are more similarities between software applications than there are differences. You can usually find the Print command in the File menu. You can probably find the Cut/Copy/Paste command in the Edit menu. The icons for editing text (bold, italic, underline, center, right-justify, etc.) look very similar from one application to the next. Once you learn the basics, it’s easy to move from one application to the next. Can’t find something in one place, look in another. Concepts, not specific applications.

I tried an experiment about a year ago in one of our school’s computer labs. I installed Ubuntu Linux on one of the lab computers without telling anyone. I installed OpenOffice and Firefox, and put the icons on the desktop. Then I waited. Nobody noticed for over a month that the computer wasn’t running Windows. I asked our resource center staff if that computer got much use, and they said it got used as much as the others. Students were doing online research, editing and printing papers, etc., without skipping a beat.

If I had told someone I planned to put a Linux machine in the computer lab, I would have received so much push-back you would have thought the world was coming to an end. “Who’s going to train the students? Who’s going to support them? What about the staff? They need to know Windows…” and on and on. The reality was, the general concepts of the operating system and the software applications being used are so similar the students may not have even realized they weren’t on Windows.

The bottom line is, we need to equip students with the ability to adapt to whatever new technology comes their way. Handing out step-by-step guides and isolating them in one suite of tools does not help the students in the long run, it hurts them.

Patrick hit the nail on the head when he wrote:

If you use technology as a carrot to impress students into doing the same work you once did with pencil and paper, your efforts will be counterproductive. With time, your students won’t care about the shiny new toys designed to help them learn. But, if you embrace the idea that technology can make courses more meaningful by providing new ways of learning that are collaborative, student-centered, and creative, then your changing the quality of your instruction.

The question is, how do we get to the point where all teachers are embracing the idea that proper use of technology can make learning more meaningful? The resources are out there. Example lesson plans exist. How do we get past the inertia? How do we convince teachers to seek out new ways of using technology?