The Pondering Pixel

A close-up wide angled but abridged look at projectors and other classroom technology, product reviews and releases, tradeshows, debates and conspiracy theories as well as humble observations on schools and screens.

I happened upon an article in the March 2009 edition of Educational Leadership magazine that addressed the issue of plagiarism in schools. Of course, I remember the plagiarism lecture in 6th grade as I prepared my report on Edwin Drake and the Seneca Oil Company. I recalled the way Sister Mary Amadeus, (all 5 feet of her) glowered at us from behind her specs warning us that plagiarizing was an affront to God. It was lying cheating and stealing all rolled up into one whopper of a sin that she’d be able to sniff out the minute the term paper was on her desk.more

Techlearning recently highlighted a study conducted in my home state. The University of Washington’s Center for information and Society has been looking into the work of 38 Boys and Girls Clubs across the country and how that work is contributing to the formation and growth of 21st Century skills among our youth. According the the BGCA website, their mission is to "promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence."more

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is of the mind that schools and colleges should deliver course content to students directly to their cell phones.According to an interview he gave to eCampus News, his feels since teenagers and young adults are using cell phones constantly, technology officials should find ways to send homework, video lectures, and other classroom materials via these devices so students can study wherever they are.more

I have been called “Facebook Enthusiast” as a pejorative and “Information Junkie” as a compliment. I find it confusing that the same people in my life who excoriate social media look at me with misty eyed admiration as I describe events in Iran and offer my humble analysis. The kind of information I’ve been sharing with my offline friends, relatives and colleagues these past weeks was not the result my studies of the region or any keen insight or powers of analysis. It came from my worldwide contacts in connected social networks.more

InfoComm 2009
Unlike the Consumer Electronics Show, where the wow factor dominates and there are new gadgets galore all tailored to the lucrative consumer market, InfoComm focuses on the technology solutions required to build audio visual and information communications systems. So the showroom floor is packed with companies offering new solutions for display and projection, lighting and staging, digital signage, collaborative conferencing and telepresence, networking, signal distribution and digital content creation. They feature products for corporations and small businesses, schools and universities, as well as the religious institution market.more

I’ve been asking why so many were outraged by the Missouri School of Journalism listing either an iPhone or iPod Touch as a required purchase. Having spent some time in university administration in the past, my first thought was that by making the items required, the school was trying to qualify the gadgets for coverage under the Federal Student Loan Program.more

When you’re talking classroom technology in higher education these days, telepresence is an all pervasive term. Telepresence is the experience of being fully present at a live real world location remote from one's own physical location. I’m not talking about circa 1985 videoconferencing. Telepresence enables users to maintain eye contact, read body language and interact in a real-time environment--behaving and receiving stimuli as though physically at the remote site.more

The 21st Century Classroom is clearly the term of choice for anyone remarking on classroom technology in any way shape or form. I have found it to be a predominant and highly charged catch all phrase for everything from a classroom projector and whiteboard to the tiniest webcam or microphone used in a classroom setting.more