Monthly Archives: April 2005

New typeface combats dyslexia

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As a certified typography geek I was very interested to discover the new Read Regular typeface that is designed specifically to address the letterforms that cause difficulty for persons with dyslexia. A quick look at a type sample reveals some significant changes. Two examples: the “b” and “d” letters are no longer mirror images and the “a” looks the way people usually write it. Additional information is available in the background documentation. According to an article in The Guardian at least one textbook manufacturer, Chrysalis Books, is planning to use the new typeface.

No purchasing information is available yet, so it’s unclear how expensive it would be to buy this typeface and install it on a school’s computers. And it should be said that there’s no scientific evidence that the new typeface is actually easier to read. We’ll have to take anecdotal evidence for now.

First seen at the STLI blog.

Moodle update

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I installed Moodle on a spare server last June as an experiment. Since my district was an online learning pioneer in Minnesota and continues to work in that area as part of the Northern Star Online collaborative, it seemed logical to see if some of our teachers who have gained experience teaching online might be interested in incorporating some of those skills into their face-to-face courses. The results, at least in terms of popularity, have been dramatic.

What began as a little-promoted experiment has turned into a system that serves nearly 1,600 students in 150 courses across the district. We’ve got teachers and students doing online forums, journaling, sharing links, making wikis, and using many of the other standard Moodle modules. Most of the teachers are using Moodle as a simple course Web page system, posting links to relevant Web sites and uploading course documents, but the flexibility of the Moodle system makes it possible to start simple and add more interactive elements later.

I don’t know how long we can sustain the current growth rate, but I look for Moodle to take off in our elementary schools next. The elementary teachers who are using it love how easy it is to assess their students’ writing. I’m also planning to explore how Moodle can be used to support online staff development. So much Moodling, so little time.

Google Maps in the social studies classroom

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One of the best parts of my job is the opportunity to get into our district’s schools and see what’s going on in the classrooms. I see something really cool nearly every time. Earlier this week I was in a 4th grade class at Glen Lake Elementary watching a teacher do a social studies lesson about the Southwest and its climate using her laptop, an LCD projector, and some of the online resources that our new social studies curriculum provides.

She let me jump in and show her students the new satellite mapping feature of the Google Maps site. I opened a couple browser tabs and loaded a view of the Twin Cities metro area on one and the Phoenix area on the other. After switching to the satellite view and doing some zooming in and out, the differences in landforms were obvious and I think it really made sense for the students. They also really got a kick out of zooming in on a satellite view of their school and finding their homes in the surrounding neighborhoods.

That quick lesson was just the latest example of how “always on” access to technology can change the way teachers and students operate. No one would march their students down to the computer lab for a 10-minute Google Maps experience. Having the technology in the classroom, ready to use at a moment’s notice, makes it possible to blur the line between learning about technology and learning with technology. I get excited when I consider the kinds of questions that these students can ask and answer on their own with the Google Maps site alone.

UThink at the U.

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Besides my day job as a tech integration guy, I’m a Ph.D. student in Learning Technologies at the U. of Minnesota. Imagine my surprise when I received a notice via email of a lunchtime presentation about the U.’s UThink project, a free blogging site for faculty, staff, and students. I’d never even heard of it.

Apparently others have heard about it because, as of its 1st birthday on April 12, UThink has 1,231 indvidual blogs, 2,200 blog authors, 17,654 entries, and 12,486 comments. Shane Nackerud has more information in his post at the UThink site. I think this paragraph is especially interesting:

Overall I am thrilled with the success of the project so far, especially considering that we really haven’t advertised its existence. It has been fun just watching UThink become what it is supposed to become. I must admit that I am surprised that graduate students are the dominant bloggers on the system given the sheer number of undergraduates at the University. It seems that undergraduates are sticking with tools like Xanga or Livejournal for their personal blogging needs probably because of issues like the lack of anonymity on UThink, or because they simply don’t know about UThink. A side effect of graduate student dominance on the system though is that UThink is much more “academic” than I would have expected. Blogs on the system have more of an academic tone than I thought they would have. This, of course, is wonderful and it provides UThink a solid niche in the ever expanding blogging market.

I get a little green when I think about how much freedom the U. has because they’re not working with the under-18 crowd. Some quick browsing at the UThink Blog Directory turns up quite a few topics that would never be acceptable for high school students blogging on an official school server. That said, I would love the chance to give it a try with our students anyway. You never know until you try.

Making the case for Web standards

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A post at the Web Standards Project alerted me to some great Web standards materials at the MACCAWS site. I don’t know about you, but when I look around at most school Web sites I see a lot of sites that could use Web standards makeovers. If you’re looking for a Web standards primer for yourself or a well-written document that you can give to a decision maker in your organization, the MACCAWS articles look like a great start.

Google does Q&A

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Lots of people have posted today about Google’s new Q&A service. SearchEngineWatch, for example, has a useful summary.

Let’s try some sample Q’s and check Google’s A’s:

Not bad. Google is getting to be a better crossword puzzle helper all the time. The value of factual knowledge continues to approach $0.00 and we keep asking students to memorize this stuff.

Update: Google Weblog is making a list of other kinds of questions that Google Q&A can answer.

Science Night at Mississippi Elementary

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My wife’s elementary school is having a “Science Night” tonight and I’m having fun walking around and seeing the cool things that the kids are doing. Chemistry students from Anoka High School are here too helping the elementary students work on experiments like “Blast Off!” (citric acid and sodim bicarbonate rockets), “Rock with rocks” (smash up rocks and look inside), “Mini Mysteries” (fun with microscopes), “DNA Dental Detective” (make impressions of your teeth), and others. Lots of parents are here and the kids seem to be having a great time. I’m tempted to suggest that a Technology Night would be a good idea, but I think it would be even more valuable to embed the technology in curriculum nights like this. We need to show the public that the technology work we’re doing is a key component of the curriculum and not just an add-on.