Public Learning Media Laboratory

Greetings, fellow texters!

The New York Times has a wonderful, short article on the costs of text messaging. It’s a brief, worthwhile read - especially for those of you who imagine that your monthly plan saves you cash. The lowdown? Basically, text messages are sent across communication channels that are largely free for wireless carriers - and yet, the costs are $0.20 per message (to send, let’s not talk about receiving them!).

If you’d like to discuss a real-world and relevant math problem with your students, read this brief article and try this one on: Do they save money by purchasing the all-you-can-eat plans (one point of view) or instead, do they simply enrich the company while paying for a no-cost commodity?

in text-speak, talk t u l8r,

–Dave

The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) drafted a set of suggestions for Obama’s presidency. Chief among them is the suggestion that Computer Science should become a core component of Math and Science curriculum.

“Computing education benefits all students, not just those interested in pursuing computer science or information technology careers,” said Bobby Schnabel, chair of ACM’s Education Policy Committee (EPC).  “But students often do not have many opportunities to engage in rigorous computer science study at the K-12 level,” said Schnabel, dean of the Indiana University School of Informatics.  “To meet the nation’s educational and professional needs in the face of insufficient numbers of undergraduates majoring in computer science, we need to work harder to increase interest at the K-12 level, and to expand the pipeline supplying the necessary workforce for an information-based economy.” Read the full set of recommendations on the ACM Press Website.

Clearly, there remains much to address in the system, including (as one component) the redesign of STEM curriculum. While there has been much criticism, and have been many suggestions for “strengthening the pipeline” from college to employment, I wonder about the prioritization of Computer Science competencies in the face of critical skill gaps in basic math, science and reading abilities (see: The Nation’s Educational Reportcard).

Or, would it be possible for CS to be integrated meaningfully across the curriculum? How would you do it? Readers, respond!

Please take a moment out of your busy schedules to vote for this important program on Change.org. Winning entries will be featured at the Presidential Inauguration this coming January!

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/mobilize_mentors_tutors_and_citizen_teachers_to_help_kids_succeed

Greetings, friends!

Several months ago, during a PLML meeting, we hit upon the challenge that there was no technology to help small nonprofit organizations (like PLML) harness the power of volunteer technologists. Sure, there were volunteering technologies (like idealist.org), but nothing that accommodated nonprofits, distance technology volunteers and the kinds of relationships that would make this match-making successful.

So what did we do? True to form, we plopped ourselves down, drew up some sketches, developed CodeKindness, and have just - gasp! - released it!

Cheers, and stay tuned for CK updates (and the next technologies that we’re building),
–Dave

Greetings!

In addition to our news about CodeKindness, we’re also pleased to release Boolify 1.x, at http://www.boolify.org. Boolify’s interface has developed over the past few months, and we’re pleased really, really pleased at your enthusiastic response. A diverse range of educators (from around the world!) are using this tool.

Cheers, and stay tuned for future updates!

–Dave