Comments for EduTechGeek - Ron Houtman

Comment on As learning tools, tablets don’t cut it. by Ben Rousch

Ben Rousch — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:09:18 +0000

I would like to point out that many of the things that Dr. Gary Strager complains about “tablets” not being able to do, can be accomplished on Android tablets. The limitations he experiences are mainly on Apple’s iOS devices. The cuprit is the locked down Apple devices and app distribution channel, not the tablet form-factor.

Using Android, you can create programs for Android on the tablet itself with free apps such as AIDE or TerminalIDE. The programming tools are still not as easy to use as on a laptop, but they are coming around. The best part is that students and educators can contribute to the Android ecosystem for free. Apps are free to develop on any computer (windows, Linux, OSX, or Android) and you can distribute them for free via your own website or on the Play Store for $25. One student or school can create an educational tool, and other schools can use it for free.

If your Android device is rooted, you can even install a Linux environment on top of Android (Linux on Android) and have access to most of the capabilities of a regular Linux laptop. This includes a full development toolchain and tools used by the majority of open source developers.

Though they are just coming out, there are some Android and robotics projects like mover-bot.

On top of being more capable in both software and hardware, Android tablets are less expensive than iPads and come in more varieties. For instance, I just used a $100 ruggedized 5″ Android tablet for kids (Nabi Jr) yesterday. It had a front and rear camera, microphone, SD card slot, speakers, and bluetooth. It came with a custom UI on top of a regular Android install to make it more kid and Mom friendly.

In his article, Dan Brenner also only mentions the iPad. He mentions that the school is digitizing their own materials then distributing them via a website and email. There’s really no reason these things could not also be done with a less expensive, more capable Android tablet.

I’m not sure why schools seem to only look at iPads when they consider tablets, but if they would expand their search a bit they could save money and provide students with more capable technology.

Comment on An Introduction to Technology Integration by Update: Diigo in Education group (weekly) | ChalkTech

Update: Diigo in Education group (weekly) | ChalkTech — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:56:23 +0000

[...] An Introduction to Technology Integration [...]

Comment on An Introduction to Technology Integration by Group Link Post 01/16/2013 | KJsDiigoBookmarks

Group Link Post 01/16/2013 | KJsDiigoBookmarks — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 08:32:47 +0000

[...] An Introduction to Technology Integration [...]

Comment on Copy Pasta! by Ron Houtman

Ron Houtman — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:27:26 +0000

I’ll drop you an email and see what I can do to help.

Comment on Copy Pasta! by Sarah Kolkman (Westveer)

Sarah Kolkman (Westveer) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:00:46 +0000

Hey Prof. Houtman!
I was in one of your classes at Cornerstone and I have a question about some research that I am doing with Autism and Ipads – do you think you could give me some information?

Thanks!

~Sarah

Comment on Every Presentation Ever: Communication FAIL by Growing Leaders

Growing Leaders — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:58:38 +0000

We just posted a new version of “Every Presentation Ever” at http://youtu.be/rIABo0d9MVE

Comment on Technology in the classroom – thoughts on the 2011 CDW-G Classroom Report by Jaclyn

Jaclyn — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:20:49 +0000

I know how much my 5th and 6th graders love it when every I use any type of technology with them. I have never considered asking them the question how they could use technology to help their learning. I agree that I’m not sure they know what types of technology are out there that could help them. All the same, I am now quite curious as to what they would come up with.
I am starting to integrate using Google Docs more with them. I plan on starting them out with Google Docs as a way for them to peer edit short stories and move into some collaboration type work.

Comment on Technology in the classroom – thoughts on the 2011 CDW-G Classroom Report by L Lawliet

L Lawliet — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:22:03 +0000

These teachers aren’t turning to technology because they’ve forgotten their role. they’re turning to technology because of two reasons; because being able to utilize technology is imperative in our world and to enhance, not replace, themselves and their teaching roles

Comment on Technology in the classroom – thoughts on the 2011 CDW-G Classroom Report by afroditi

afroditi — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 09:47:25 +0000

I gather the use of technology in classroom will never motivate the students as much as the loving feelings of a teacher who really wants to inspire students.The field of technology shouldn’t encroach on the field of actual classroom teaching.The students are human beings expecting to be intringued by another human being – their TEACHER and not by gadgets.Have we teachers forgotten our meaningful role in classroom and turn to gadgets to help us discipline and enlighten our students?

Comment on Hard to believe these don’t exist – Modular Laptop Power Supplies by Ron Houtman

Ron Houtman — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:34:51 +0000

Ron – I did a pretty extensive search and can’t find anyone building such an animal. The only solutions I found were internal power strips with each laptop p/s plugged into them, which is where we are right now. Again – it’s hard to believe that Dell, HP or Apple for that matter have not built something that meets the needs of EDU markets.