- 2006.03.13
I am at the California Computer Using Educator's (CUE) conference in Palm Springs, California
today (March 9) and tomorrow. I'm taking some time from going to
sessions to browse the vendor booths, talk to some teachers, and pass
along what I'm observing at the conference.
First, it's encouraging that so many of the vendors are using Macs -
or at least offering Mac-compatible software. For example, Quizdom
offers a radio frequency-based clicker system that comes with Mac
compatible software even though the demo equipment was running on a
PC.
I can't say that a majority of vendors were using Macs, but well
over a quarter of them were.
Apple was present in force, sponsoring workshops which were so
popular - particularly iLife 6 and iPod in education-based workshops -
that the lines waiting to get in to the sessions stretched down the
hall and around the corner for some well-attended sessions.
Podcasting is hot, and you can tell. Children showed podcasts they
had created for download as school projects, for example.
Full disclosure: Your humble correspondent was present because the
local Computer Using Educator's chapter (East Bay CUE) nominated him for the annual
Outstanding Educator of the Year award for the state of California. The
award, a sculpted apple on a wooden base, was given to me in a ceremony
at the general session of the conference on Friday morning.
I owe a debt to Sharon Smith, Peggy O'Neill, Maria McClain, and
other teachers at Deer Valley High School for supporting my application
- not to mention Dan Knight for allowing me this pulpit from which I
occasionally emit information. The award recognizes teachers who make
significant contributions to education using technology - and I believe
my contributions to Low End Mac, astronomyteacher.com, and other
projects had a direct bearing on that decision.
My good friend Sharon Smith received one of three gold disk awards
for service to the CUE organization and was widely hailed and
congratulated for her contributions to education technology in
California. She has been a steady supporter of my work on LEM and is
guilty of occasionally forwarding articles to other members of our
district.
George Lucas was given an award as well, but he couldn't attend in
person. He did attend via a taped award acceptance speech, which was
nice, and had a proxy attend to collect the award. I had hopes of
meeting him, but such is life. Still, getting an award just after
George Lucas got an award is an experience I'm not likely to
repeat.
Also during the ceremony, Robert X. Cringely, the noted columnist,
gave an entertaining speech about his early experiences in computing.
He claimed credit for inventing the trash can icon and the ubiquitous
2-step deletion process we all use now (put it in trash, empty the
trash) after losing a 90,000 word book by pressing the wrong button
while working on a mainframe. "We've all had that moment where we
think, 'If I don't lift my finger from the keyboard . . . I
can still reach the phone to call for help,'" he said during the
presentation.
Yup. Been there. Done that.
I've read Cringely's work online on occasion, and now he is
sponsoring a new television venture called NerdTV on pbs.org. These are
unedited (because nerds are "skeptical") interviews with interesting
figures in the tech world, and I suggest you check it out.
The conference is host to perhaps 3,000 educators who use
technology. Hundreds of vendors and dozens of sessions provided plenty
to keep educators busy. If you are interested in educational technology
(or in selling it), you should consider attending the annual CUE
conference in California, the oldest educational computing conference
in the country - over 25 years and counting, as I recall.
For my part, as a representative of LEM, I decided to visit a couple
of booths to see what was going on with Apple's new hardware
announcements. I saw a new Intel iMac and talked to a
couple of Apple reps at the booth (located directly at the entrance to
the CUE vendor area) about issues of concern to the LEM community.
I had a rather protracted conversation with Kris Kokosko, who was
working the booth and answering questions. As a recent PC switcher now
working for Apple, Kris gamely tackled my questions regarding the
relationship of Apple to its older fans and education customers.
I confirmed with Ms. Kokosko the reports that future versions of Mac
OS X will not run Classic in any form. She pointed out that the
OS X transition has been going on for over five years, and Apple
considers this a gentle transition period, not abrupt at all. She gave
me a detailed explanation of the Rosetta translator and how Universal
Binary applications are the only ones which will run at full speed.
These details are explained better by others on many other Mac
sites, so I will not repeat them here. She agreed with my assessment
that the current transition was similar to the one Apple underwent when
it changed from the old 68k processors to PowerPC and the transition
from OS 9 to OS X; the transition to Intel provides similar
challenges and objections, but the viewpoint of the company (she said)
is that it is "time to move on to the future."
Officially, Apple plans to be Classic-free (100% Intel-based, in
other words) by the end of 2006, although the release schedule has been
faster than expected. Already 20" G5 iMacs, 15" G4 PowerBooks, and G4
minis are sold out; only Intel models are available.
If you want to buy a new Mac that supports Classic, your days are
numbered, so you'd better make a decision quick. The last
Classic-enabled machine might be sold as early as this summer.
As I do whenever I meet an Apple representative, I made a pitch for
releasing OS 7,8, and 9 as free downloads. Then the talking point
about "moving on to the future" made a reappearance, and so I moved on
to the other vendors.
The conference had sessions on everything from Hyperstudio (a
HyperCard alternative - which only runs in Classic, unfortunately) to
how to use iPods in education. My friend Gary Hensley did the
Hyperstudio workshop and reported a good number of participants still
interested in using the software. Like HyperCard, Hyperstudio has fans
who would love to have an updated OS X version available.
Vendors provided the usual sales pitches, brochures, and catalogs.
Every other booth had a digital projector, showing how to use
electronic microscopes, document displays, interactive whiteboards,
quiz programs, assessment tools, and similar offerings.
Microsoft had some sort of a giant van in the far corner of the
vendor area. It was blue, I think.
The conference is similar to a Macworld, but with a broader focus.
At a Macworld you get the subtle feeling that everyone present "gets"
the idea that the approach used by the Macintosh is a better way to use
a computer, and if you could just get a naysayer to try it out for a
while, they'd be hooked.
At a CUE conference, it's the same feeling, but the message is that
educational technology can do amazing things to motivate and excite
students, and if your colleagues would just try it out, they'd see the
payoff is worth the effort. There's the same evangelistic mood,
tempered with the caution of being accused of believing you have a
panacea one time too often.
The CUE organization is associated with the larger National
Education Computing Conference (NECC) that will be held in San Diego in
July. This conference will have an order of magnitude more attendees
and 500 vendors. If you're interested in educational technology, you
should check it out.
As for CUE, there are local chapters all over the country, and it's
a great way to reduce the isolation many tech oriented teachers feel
when their colleagues are, how shall we say it, technologically
challenged.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
