At the core of my new configuration is the use of a wonderful little Linux OS called Slax. It is designed to run "live". My particular set up is somewhat unique in that I have replaced the normal clunky, noisy hard disks with compact flash drives using a CF to IDE adapter. I purchased my adapters for around $4 each off eBay. The CF drives are 1 GB and were bought from Amazon. I also downloaded a wonderful utility called MySlax Creator that allowed me to customize and reproduce 22 identical configurations in an incredibly short period of time. The results are tremendous and I no longer worry about students sabotaging the settings on a computer because when the computer is re-booted, everything is exactly like it was when it was started. There is also much less heat and noise generated by my computers as well. I hope to be able to use these computers for a few more years and I think that it will only be possible utilizing this type of arrangement.]]>
Stay tuned for more developments as students help me pursue my vision of Classroom 2.0]]>
They're loving it and so am I!]]>
First, some background. When I came to my present school, Soddy Daisy Middle, 5 years ago in August of 2002, I thought then that students should have access to computers for a variety of reasons. Yet I really didn't do a great deal with them and they wound up being rewards for students who finished their work early. We did manage to put together a few power points but they weren't much to talk about.
Fast forward 3 years...well about 2 1/2. I really began to see that to really do the "computers in the classroom" thing right, I needed a computer for every student. So I scraped together pieces and parts (all thanks to ebay) and had 22 laptop computers. It was neat at first but the novelty began to wear off, and I really hadn't thought about or planned how to implement a classroom with them. Plus, they were antiques, the students didn't take care of them and I became so frustrated that I took them all out after winter break that year. It was sad.
I'm giving it another go. I've got much better technology this time. In fact, every laptop is identical. I have a much better idea of how I plan on using them and I firmly believe that the students are in for a real treat. I'm in for a treat as well.
So this site will serve as my place of reflection on this new experiment in Classroom 2.0. I will hopefully post pictures and videos of what we do this coming school year. It will be interesting...]]>