We met at the Brandon Center in the School of Education. It was quite the impressive space, with multiple areas for collaboration and a free drink machine. If SI had a lounge like that, I would be in there all the time. The Brandon Center was a suitable space for our discussion on technology. With a large touch screen, and a sound system, we were perfectly equipped to explore some technology standards, new technology such as the Raspberry Pi, and examples of student work using technology.
The student projects on Glogster were really interesting. On the one hand, I was impressed that students enjoyed the technology enough to create posters on geography outside of school. On the other hand, the students were having a hard time with the amount and type of content they placed on their online posters. The content was mainly copy/pasted from other websites, and there were no clear labels as to what links led where. The librarian really has her work cut out for her when teaching learning with understanding, especially if the students have previously only completed projects such as these examples from Glogster.
The Raspberry Pi is a neat little thing - just a computer that you can plug into a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. But it has a lot of uses! First, kids can see what a computer looks like, and that it is not magic, but a machine. This may make the computer seem less scary. Also, Raspberry Pis are cheap. Schools can keep their old monitors for students to plug their Raspberry Pis into, and this would cost a lot less for those schools struggling financially. Second, this little computer can do a lot - including programming, such as Scratch for kids. I think kids would also enjoy having their own little portable computer, and yet parents can still exert control - such as unplugging their kid from the monitor before bed.
I think your thoughts on parental control and the Raspberry Pi are really smart - I hadn't thought of that and I wonder how the product being so small may play into that as a threat... If you can't see your lovely little angel hiding it under the pillow, how do you make sure that they're going to bed after you shut the door?
ReplyDeleteThe downside of Raspberry Pi in terms of schools is that you cannot reuse old monitors unless they have an HDMI port. On one hand, HDMI means awesome grahics. On the other, more up-front expense. Imagine a world where the monitor costs 4x the computer??
ReplyDeleteSI's lounge SHOULD be like that. Our lounge is much too small for the amount of people that like to be in there. That's part of the reason why I avoid it. There could still be quiet study spaces with areas for socializing, but a little bit bigger and with more separated areas. I guess I'll just be spending my last few weeks at school in the School of Ed building instead :)
ReplyDeleteCompletely agreed that SI's lounge should be like the Brandon Center! It seems to embody everything we're about more than our own lounge.
Deleteour lounge and the meeting rooms too! If we had those booths like the Brandon Center, they would always be in use! and their technology, don't get me started!
DeleteGood point, we're the tech school, why don't we have the techy lounge?
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a techy lounge probably because of "design by committee". Do you think the Brandon Center is a true learning commons because the focus of the building is on education? Our building is focused on HCI User Experience- maybe that's why we have a series of project rooms with no windows. We are just supposed to be looking at our computer screens:( I've also heard our lounge was supposed to be closer to the SI departmental offices on the 3rd and 4th floors. I'm sure Kristin could enlighten us a bit on that. But at least now we have coat hooks!
ReplyDeleteI agree that I would love the SI lounge to be more like the Brandon Center, however that has become the place I escape to when I need a break from SI! It is so quiet and I can actually get work done as opposed to the SI Lounge which seems to be set up for chatting and being social.
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