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Wow.

Ok, this post is big-time. I'm not only socially bookmarking this, but it's going into my Chrome web browser too. I'm also emailing this guy for the policies. I agree with him in that none of us have a sustainable way to instate 1 to1 environments. Yes, we have projects, and yes we could do a one-time investment for one to one. But, sustainably? No. The only way to go one to one in a sustainable way that does not place too much burden on the tech department is to allow students to bring their own computers into school. We are already seriously considering cell phones.

Agreed. One question: how will you deal with the limited access students have to the Internet? Will students who bring their laptops to school have more access? For example, I know that I cannot show TED talks unless I arrange with the tech folks to grant access. Same issue with 3G, I think. I admit I don't completely understand how all of this works, but it seems that if I am using my cell phone, I can access sites the school computers can't access. I am concerned about the way schools currently limit access to the Internet. I know we are trying to ensure our students don't access troubling sites, and at the same time we are limiting them from finding good stuff, like TED.

It's ridiculous that we block TED talks, I know. But that may be a bandwidth issue, not a content issue. Streaming video takes up an inordinate amount of bandwidth, and at times slows down other internet-based programming. As access increases (3G and bandwidth), we will have to embrace filters and firewalls that are more pedagogically constructivist calibrated. McLeod does a great bit on the absurdness of how we block content on the internet. He did this at the WASDA fall conference. The link for all the stuff he did at the fall conference is http://dangerouslyirrelevant.org/wasda

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