Fun & Exciting Stuff

This is just amazing. 438 students are freshmen this year.

# Percentage of first-year applicants who applied online in 2003: 33%.
# Percentage of applicants who did last year: 89%.
# Year that an incoming Amherst College class first created a Facebook group so that they could socialize and otherwise get to know each other prior to arriving on campus: 2006.
# By the end of August 2008 the total number of members and posts at the Amherst College Class of 2012 Facebook group: 432 members and 3,225 posts.
# Students in the class of 2012 who registered computers, IPhones, game consoles, etc. on the campus network by the end of the day on August 24th, the day they moved into their dorm rooms: 370 students registered 443 devices.
# Number of students in the class of 2012 who brought desktop computers to campus: 14.
# Number that brought iPhones/iTouches: 93.

And I am running dittos and using a textbook. Sheesh. I have never felt like an old lady driving a 1970 Pinto in the slow lane of the 6 lane super highway. Teaching is passing us by.

Extra-curriculars have taken up a lot of my recent time. The planning and execution of the grand American tradition of homecoming has taken up the last few weeks of my time. Next week will be when we put all of our plans into action. One component of that is to build a “float”. Now you may have seen the Macy’s floats at Thanksgiving or the Rose Bowl parade on New Year’s Day. This is similar to that in that there is movement to the float. We obviously don’t have the big budgets that they do, so we are limited in what we can use for our supplies. Cardboard has been our main component (Thank you ALPCO recycling) and we have spent the last two Saturdays working on a Wizard of Oz themed float. And for a group that has little skill in creating something like this, we haven’t done have bad. We aren’t going to come in first, but we probably aren’t going to come in last.

Which brings me to my title. The kids wanted to play Wizard of Oz music as we are marching. So the question comes up, “Does anyone have a battery-powered CD player?” Now,  it took me a minute, but I finally figured out what they were asking for. They wanted what I call a regular CD player. A big radio, with a CD player and some speakers. They all had iPod docks. Feeling every bit of my years, said “Why yes, I have 3 of them, at least.”

When did I get so old.

The spectacular Will Richardson has this post on technology changes happening at colleges. Colleges are moving from 300 person lecture halls to wikis, RSS, all the favorites. He ends with this quote, which I think will come back to haunt the High School teachers of the US sooner, rather than later.

Dang. Does this mean we have to start preparing our high school kids for that?

Yep. And now we are in big trouble.

I have found a couple of links, I think might be interesting to some people:

Simplespark a search engine for web-based apps.

Time.com’s list of the 25 sites the author can’t live withou. No surprises. (ie Google, Amazon, etc.)

Our recent home building project at school made the paper and got some good press. Check it out for another perspective on the whole sh-bang.

There’s an oil shock going on. It started April 30, 2007. The world oil supply is falling short of demand – by 1.5% at first, but it’s expected to increase to 3% or more throughout 2007.This is a real-life simulation that uses all sorts of Web 2.0 resources.

World Without Oil.

I think feed readers are underrated. The above showed up in my Google Reader ™ and I think it is a great idea for a Web 2.0 project that will have both a real world impact and demonstrate new uses of technology. This would be a great simulation for school. Here is a great example of how they are using new technology tools to get the message out there.

What is going on here?

WORLD WITHOUT OIL is an alternate reality event, a serious game for the public good.

It invites everyone to help simulate a global oil shock. People participate by contributing original online stories, created as though the oil shock were really happening.

The game’s masters rank the participants (“players”) according to their contributions to our realistic portrayal of the oil shock. The game also places value on player-created communities, collaborative stories, and collective efforts.

Each contribution helps the game arrive at a larger truth. No team of experts knows better than a given individual what effect an oil shock would have upon that individual’s life, or what action he or she will take to cope. Personal reactions to our simulated oil shock, placed in context with many other points of view, will help us all realize what’s at stake in our oil-fired culture.

All these videos are probably taking up all your time

Pay Attention

School 1.0 vs. School 2.0
Enjoy!

I hope that the people involved in today’s horrific shooting at Virginia Tech. will be able to find peace in some way.

I noticed one thing on today’s national news broadcast that illustrated to me the conclusion that blogs/social networking/Web 2.0 will eventually lead to the end of traditional media. ABC spent time showing how Tech students were using Facebook, text messaging, blogs, etc. to check on each other. The journalist _read_ blog and Facebook posts to a national audience. I felt like I was watching old footage of students practicing a nuclear bomb drill by hiding under their desks. 5 -10 years from now, we will look back on broadcasts like this and shake our heads at how primitive this seemed.

Meanwhile I am sitting here, wirelessly, hitting refresh on the wikipedia page of the event learning more in 5 minutes than I learned in 30.