Category Archives: Professional

This category of recommendations is for teachers, parents, and all others who are interested in education.

Gooru Learning

Published in All Grades, Professional on February 22, 2012

My friend, Joe Garreck, pointed out a fledgling project that looks interesting. The site describes itself: “Gooru is an online study tool that allows you to explore and study over 2,600 standards-aligned and personalized study guides. Study guides cover fifth grade through high school math and science topics, and resources include digital textbooks, animations, instructor videos and more. All resources are vetted and organized by teachers or Gooru’s content experts, so you don’t have to sort through the mess of subpar educational resources available online yourself. ” I found a fact sheet that gets to the point that was more helpful than the site itself, so I’ll link to that first. Just lop off the url to visit the actual home page.
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The URL: http://www.goorulearning.org/downloads/GooruFactSheet.pdf

The Main Site: http://www.goorulearning.org

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Young Canadians in a Wired World

Published in Professional on February 16, 2012

My pal and co-worker, Theresa Paltzat, pointed out that Media Awareness Network released their latest report of their ongoing study entitled Young Canadians in a Wired World. This third phase has some interesting conclusions such as the fact that students continue to use digital media in very basic terms, often struggling to break out of narrow online habits and to discern truth from fiction. Another interesting discussion talks about how experienced teachers tend to explore technology in their classrooms and the results may surprise you. This is a link to an MNet blog post that summarizes the report. There is a link to the actual report at the bottom.
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The URL: http://www.media-awareness.ca/blog/index.cfm?date=2/2012

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iFixIt Free Repair Manuals

Published in Professional, Senior Grades on February 15, 2012

My poor old workhorse of a Mac is getting pretty long in the keyboard. I replaced the old hard drive last year with the help of iFixIt – a collection of free repair manuals. I’ve since taken my computer apart a couple of times with the help of this site and thought it might be of interest to students learning about repairs or even teachers and departments trying to save a couple of dollars in the old budget. The really interesting part of this project is that it allows users to edit the steps – to add photos or details that are helpful. And – there is a lot of satisfaction in repairing something instead of tossing it in the bin and buying a new one!
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The URL: http://www.ifixit.com

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Retraction – Prezi

Published in Professional on February 14, 2012

I don’t often retract a resource once it’s been recommended but I really feel that pulling my previous references to Prezi is important for this project. I realized last month that Prezi’s terms of service declares that users must be 18 years of age. The specific quote is in section 2 of the Terms of Service page:

“Adults Only. The Prezi Service is intended for adults only. You must be 18 years old – or, if the age of majority in your state or province is greater than 18 years, such age of majority in your state or province – or have obtained the consent of your parent or guardian to use the Prezi Service.”

I inquired about the apparent conflict between their K-12/Edu programs and their “Adults Only” clause. I was told by the sales department that my question is addressed in their FAQ page. On that page, the question about using Prezi if one is under-aged is answered with “You can use Prezi if you are under 18 years old and if you are 13 years or older and have obtained consent from your parent, teacher or school (or other guardian).” I see also, that Prezi is now introducing Prezi U that is intended to support the K-12 and Post-Secondary communities. The terms of use have not changed.

I’m not comfortable with the idea that schools and teachers can arbitrarily provide permission, potentially overruling the wishes and intentions of parents. I’m not a lawyer but it’s a potential conflict to which I can’t seem to find a suitable answer – so my response is to simply retract my recommendation and to be clear about why.

If Prezi addresses the conflict and updates their terms to be more flexible, I’ll certainly have another look.

-Pete

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