New Video & Blog About Mobile Learning

Two of my favorite educators are Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway (who have been evangelizing mobile learning for nearly a decade now). This dynamic duo are featured in a new video from the Mobile Learning Institute's video series A 21st Century Education. In the video Cathie and Elliot speak with teachers and students as they travel to some handheld-using schools. While en route, Cathie and Elliot talk about mobile learning. Here are some quotes from the artistic video:

"Mobile computers are the future. Laptops are very 90s. They're your daddy's computer. They're your parents' computers. They're not the kids' computers." - Elliot Soloway

"Just like a business person uses the computer 24/7--they use the computer for everything they do. That's the way we now conceptualize the way we use mobile computers." -Elliot Soloway

"It's going to be amazing to see how many of them [schools] go to cell phone computers rapidly because they're seeing that every child has one, every child knows how to use one, and that's why when we see districts like Keller saying, 'You know what? Rather then fight it, let's see if we can take advantage of it. Let's use the infrastructure that the tel co has. Rather than us spending our money building a wireless infrastructure, let's just use the tel co's structure.'" -Cathie Norris

"Mobile technologies are going to make a bigger change to our lives than the PC and Internet together. I mean, the PC changed everything. The Internet changed everything. But the mobile technologies is every bigger than that." - Elliot Soloway

Cathie and Elliot work tirelessly to deliver their message to anyone who will listen. I'm really pleased that together they have started a blog called Tech Disruptions. Here's how they describe their blog: "We will address topical issues that arise as technology continues in its inexorable way to engender changes in K12. Here is your opportunity to express opinions about the changes that technology has wrought."

I really enjoy the format of the blog--it's written as a transcript of a jovial conversation between Cathie and Elliot. So far Tech Disruptions has tackled topics like eBooks, mobile phone bans, and cloud computing.

2008 Sketchy Animation Contest

It time to start working on your submissions for GoKnow's Spring 2008 Students and Teacher Sketchy Contest. Sketchy is software for Palm handhelds, Pocket PCs, and Nova 5000s that lets you draw directly on the screen. Drawing on multiple frames and playing them in order creates an animation. While teachers are responsible for sending in the submissions, students are encouraged to enter one Sketchy animation into one of these categories: Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, or Other Curriculum. Teachers can enter and have their own category.

Even if you haven't purchased Sketchy, you can enter the contest using the 45-day free trial of the software. Sketchy is one of my favorite handheld applications ever and students absolutely love it. Be sure students examine the Past Contests Archives for examples and inspiration.

Submissions are due April 22, 2008. Good luck!