Moore’s and Metcalf’s law

Think of some situations where Moore's law has applied (or not applied) to your own use of technology.
I deal with Moore’s law all the time! I confess to being a bit of a gadget freak. Actually I’m typing this on my brand new MacBook Pro! To buy this MacBook I had to save and save - anyone with a family to support can relate! Anyway, part of my problem was the fact that in a few months Apple will release a new model. Should I have waited? Well I could have waited but I am sure that in a few months again there would have been other updates etc. A never ending cycle? Price? Well my colleagues at school all brought their Macs a year ago. The price was the same as what I just paid but the machines were not as fast or had as much HDD.
What impact does Moore's law have on adoption of ICTs.
There is a HUGE debate going on at my school.
To go Mac or not to go Mac? It’s the question of the year. Indonesia has been romanced by Apple. You can get them everywhere! My school administrators are concerned that Macs are double what a PC costs. I can understand how that affects their decision even more together with the problem of just how fast technology outdates itself. The teacher’s argument is that we want to have both platforms in the school to give an even greater advantage to our students. We are a very expensive school but as always we must keep to a strict budget.
I’m wondering how often do other institutions upgrade their hardware? At my school computers used until the machines don’t work anymore. I think that the term is ‘run into the ground’, only after that are news ones purchased. I totally understand that but it can be very frustrating to have to work on a PC that has only 2GB HDD and it’s not even Pentium 2! This is what I have in my classroom!

Working on Assignment 1

I have found after a bit of searching a free video hosting site that is safe for children. www.dropshots.com It is safe because you can't see what is hosted there. It gives you the coding fr free unlike many sites that make you pay for that. You can have hosted up to 20 videos but they must be under 2 minutes. I have decided to make my kG page about blogs and vlogs as I realize that I have a lot of inside info that I can share. I hadn't realized that by using blogs in my classroom fr 6 months would have taught me so much. Actually, the students taught me. I find it works much better if you let them be the expert - after all they are the digital natives.

Sooooooooooooo Slack at Posting!

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything on here for 10 days! Well now that school has broken up I intend to catch up.
Hmmmm Christmas is coming. I got myself a little present - a MacBook Pro! Wow this will take a little getting used to. I have never owned a Mac before. I felt the pressure to own one as Mac is booming in Indonesia and many schools are switching over.
It was the most expensive computer that I have ever bought! Rp 19,200.000! Yikes! I paid with cash and it was like passing over a 'brick' of rupiahs. There were some other European customers in the shop that they were laughing at me! It did look pretty funny! I got a great Christmas deal that included a mighty mouse and in earphones.
Now I have to learn to get used to the differences. What was the first thing that I did with the new Mac? Play games of course! Mac games are really pretty - nice graphics. I also made a virtual book of some recent photos and it was so easy. Everything is just click and drag.

Dropshots

Today I tried out Dropshots for hosting video and pictures. It is free and you can put videos of under 2 minutes there also. I can password it for my students so that they can choose which photo they want to use. It is so hard to work at school using Flash drives. The students flash drives are usually full of virus'. I can't risk my own computer. It takes so long to scan each drive when there are 20 kids lined up waiting!

Googlepages Process

We started working out the page navigation today. Some kids can't get the point of consistent navigation. It's hard for me to explain this when we have almost no time in the school lab. The breadcrumb really isn't an option as I have no real time to teach it in. I will be happy if they can get a basic site to work.

A Online Environment for Kids

As a part of my group work for Online Environments I have looked into an environment for children.
I was impressed with the clear rules stating that users must:
* display respectful behavior
* keep personal details confidential
* no talk about drugs or alcohol
* no cheating
* no using real names
I also liked that the parent had to create the account for the child.

Safe Video Hosting

Now that I've decided to look into Vlogging in education, I need to find a video hosting site that is safe for minors. You Tube and Google videos have lots of adult content. I need to be able to send my students to upload small clips in a safe site. There are a few that the user pays but I need a free site. I have just registered to http://www. mediamax.com
This site allows you 25GB free for hosting videos, audio and images. I hope that it works. I want my students to link a few small video clips that I took of them building circuits to their websites. I hope to be able to embed the videos.