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Technology made difference in educating children.

I thought the word "satchel" was already obsolete? HA! And does anyone else agree that they use the term "obsolete" very loosely in some of their explanations - for example HOMEWORK - doesn't "some work at school and some work at home" still constitute homework? And about Standardized TEACHING - until Standardized TESTING goes away, HG and supporters can advocate for this type of teaching reform, but try as we might (and many of us do offer alternative lessons and assignments to take advantage of the multiple intelligences within our classroom), end of the day, we still have to get our kids to pass those tests. It is how we as students, teachers, schools, districts, states and a nation are continually evaluated as being successful.

I think this article is a little odd too. I think that a lot of times, writers of articles want to make these large shocking claims in their headlines. When you read the actual body of the text though, it becomes evident that the term "obsolete" isn't what they're after - but rather, it's about renaming or altering the way we think about current systems. Also, I was interested in what they meant by changing the actual architecture of schools. When I looked into the gallery though, it was a group of photos of a bunch of weird structures that didn't really show anything about schools (maybe the outsides?).

I am familiar with BitTorrent, and it's interesting Chris that you came about it excited for its uses in education. But have you read or heard about the controversy surrounding it? In a nutshell- BitTorrent is a technology that allows large collections of files and data to be shared across the internet in a decentralized, peer-to-peer manner. A person who has the original files decides to share them via BitTorrent, so others can download from him/her. But as the others begin downloading the files, they also start sharing the pieces they've downloaded with the ever-growing set of new users asking for the file. BitTorrent works like a growing web- in order to download files shared via BitTorrent - you have to share the pieces you get with others. More downloaders = more uploaders as well, ensuring popular files will always be accessible. The benefits - this is cheap and decentralized, no need to pay to host the files on the web. The users who have the file are sharing the file from their own computers with others requesting it. And this can be permanent - if you host a BitTorrent to share a file, you have that sharing channel last forever (not relying on external services that cost $ or can be shut down).

BitTorrent is a really powerful technology that allows large amounts of files and data to be shared quickly with a limitless number of people. It's scalability at no cost. Could be a great tool for educators to share content across the globe in a hassle-free way. Even the folks at Khan Academy are excited to use it: from: http://blog.vipeers.com/vipeers/2008/10/bittorrent-is-a.html "For Khan Academy, BitTorrent was a natural extension for it stated mission of "a world-class education for anyone anywhere," Sal Khan tells Fast Company. Kahn was excited for activist educators to be able to download the Academy's entire portforlio, burn it on a CD, and distribute it to rural or underdeveloped areas otherwise unable to access it without a broadband connection. "I think the single most fun thing about BitTorrent," Khan adds, "is this content will never die. A nuclear bomb could hit our offices tomorrow and could take down our servers, but its going to sitting somewhere in the world on somebody's server." He added, "We don't care about monetizing the content; we just care that it gets used."