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Find more Kappan articles in the POWER TOOLS: FETC-97, Push/Pull, and New Tools DURING the weekend of February 28, I attended the Florida Educational Technology Conference (FETC) in Orlando. Today more than 10,000 people attend FETC, making it one of the largest conferences of its kind -- if not the largest -- in the world. Today FETC is largely in a "push" mode. Before I start discussing the neat stuff that caught my eye at the conference, I want to talk about the difference between "push" and "pull" technology. Push/Pull Sometimes terms come along that in an almost mystical way fit what you've been thinking but haven't been able to put into words. I felt this flash of recognition when I first heard the phrase "push/pull." In a technological sense, a "pull" technology is one you go to to get stuff -- you pull the information or technology to you. The Internet -- specifically the World Wide Web -- is a pull technology. People are so curious about the Web that they go to it and pull information to their desktop computer. A pull technology is effective because people want it or it is inviting. By contrast, a "push" technology is one that is pushed from somewhere else to you. Cable TV is a push technology -- someone else sends it to you. (For sure, the cable TV folks are working to become more "pull" in nature.) Push/pull also applies to classrooms. Teachers, more often than not I am afraid, push lessons on students. "Do this worksheet, use this program, listen to this lesson," says the teacher. Less often -- I think -- teachers use pull technology. "Here is the new interest center or the new World Book Multi-Media Encyclopedia; you might want to try this out," says the teacher. At present most network technology is pull technology. You go get your e-mail, you "surf" the Internet looking for "gems and pearls," or you download the file you need from the server. In short, you go get it. But there are many new, high-tech push technologies. One of the best examples of a push technology is Pointcast (www.pointcast.com). If you install Pointcast's software on a computer with an Internet connection, when your computer goes into screen saver mode you will see the latest news, sports scores, stock market prices, and so on scroll across your idle computer screen. An older example of push technology is a USENET newsgroup. By joining a newsgroup, you automatically receive all new correspondence from the conferees. Lately I've given a lot of thought to push/pull, and I think I favor pull technologies both on the Internet and in the classroom. You might want to think about this some yourself. I started this discussion because a lot of technology was "pushed" at me at FETC-97, but I went there to "pull" in some information. Given this background of push/pull, what was thrown at me, and what I was after (sounds like a disclaimer doesn't it?), here are the things that impressed me at FETC-97. Wireless Ethernet The single most impressive technology at FETC was wireless Ethernet. Here's a common scenario. There are several schools in your district, and they all want Internet access. That is, every one of these schools would like its own dedicated phone line to the Internet (56 kb/s, ISDN, or a T-1 line). Problem is, these dedicated telephone lines cost lots of money -- as much as $800 a month. Invariably, some schools will get the dedicated line and others -- even schools next door -- will not. Enter wireless Ethernet. If your school can't afford its own dedicated data-grade phone line to the Internet, why not hook your school's Local Area Network (LAN) to the nearest school with such a connection? Good idea. However, installing the Ethernet cable from your school to the school nearest you, even if it's only a mile or so distant, is a real challenge. If you go underground, you'll need permits to go under city streets, and on and on. If you go over ground, you'll need to rent pole space and get permits, also a bummer. A relatively new answer to this dilemma is wireless Ethernet. You can effortlessly connect your school's LAN to a nearby school's LAN using wireless Ethernet transceivers or "radios." Thus the two LANS can communicate and share the one dedicated Internet connection. At present the two schools must be within about seven miles of each other. There must be a "line-of-sight" between the schools (no major obstructions like mountains or tall buildings). Generally speaking, the greater the distance, or the greater the bandwidth desired, the higher the cost of the two transceivers. At the low end, a one- to three-mile distance can be spanned with about a 1 megabit/sec connection for $2,000 to $3,000. At the high end, a seven-mile span at 4-8 megabit/sec will cost about $7,000. If you need to go farther than seven miles, you may need a repeater on a tall building, grain elevator, local cell phone tower, or the nearest mountain. At the low end mentioned above, you get close to a T-1 line for a one-time cost of $2,000 to $3,000. At the top end, you get longer distances and/or higher bandwidths -- as much as four T-1 lines! Keep in mind, these are one-time capital outlay costs, not recurring costs like using a data-grade phone company line with a hefty monthly bill. Compared to using the phone company, the wireless Ethernet technology could pay for itself in less than a year. I intend to install some wireless Ethernet connections very soon! Wireless Ethernet transceivers can also be used to create wireless in-building or between-building links and can act as wireless hubs for laptop computers if the laptops are equipped with wireless Ethernet transceivers. Thus wireless Ethernet provides an alternative to retrofitting a school with Ethernet cable. Some of the vendors providing wireless Ethernet are Aironet, Amp, Wave, and BreezeNet.1 I believe that most wired Ethernet vendors have, or will soon have, wireless products. Lots of schools have institutional accounts with a local vendor who sells Amp products. Aironet received PC Magazine's Editor's Choice award (January 1997). Wave just completed a good-looking project for the Prairie Central School District in rural Illinois. I quizzed all four vendors mentioned here, and they all seemed willing to provide on-site demonstrations. Apple Strikes Back Another thing that impressed me at FETC was Apple's new campaign to strike out at its detractors. Apple showcased the world's fastest laptop computer (the 240 mhz PowerBook 3400), introduced the eMate 300 (a $500 to $700 classroom-ready portable computer), and handed out thousands of copies of "The 1997 Apple MacAdvocate CD-ROM." Even if you're not an Apple fan, you should call Apple (800/373-0877) to get your free copy of the MacAdvocate CD-ROM. Among other goodies, the CD has a dozen or so QuickTime versions of famous Mac commercials, including the world's best commercial ever, "1984." (Apple is proud to say that the CD runs on both Macs and PCs running Windows.) Apple's new eMate is tougher to describe than the free CD. The first thing I noticed about the eMate was that all the people who had one didn't want to let it out of their sight -- they really liked this little computer. The eMate is somewhere between a laptop computer and a "personal digital assistant" (PDA) like the Newton -- although it's more like a laptop computer. With a $500 to $700 price tag (depending on quantity purchased), built-in software, a full-sized keyboard, touch screen, shock-resistant case, six- to eight-hour real battery life, and wireless infrared networking, the eMate is quite an innovative bundle. The eMate doesn't even have a disk drive -- it just stores your work in nonvolatile RAM. Frankly, there's nothing like it anywhere, period. To transfer files from one eMate to another or to a teacher workstation, the teacher simply pushes a receive button, and the student aims his or her computer at the teacher's computer and pushes "send." It's that easy to have instant peer-to-peer networking, it's wireless, and it's included at no extra cost. Plus, you can use the business-card-sized PCMCI slots to add memory. There's also a CD-ROM drive, science lab probes, and so on. I can't say if the eMate will be a big hit or not, but I think it will. It's just too portable, too innovative, and too inexpensive not to be a big success for Apple. Regarding Apple's demise, "Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear!" as my father used to say. Perhaps I am one of Apple's evangelists, and, if so, I apologize. If you have PC-Windows stuff as innovative as the above, though, just drop me an e-mail note. Software FETC had hundreds of software vendors demonstrating thousands of products. Here are just a few that caught my eye. Kid's Catalog from COMPanion Corporation, the makers of Alexandria, a popular school library automation package, provides a kid-centric graphical user interface that connects users to what are normally the stuffy catalog records of library automation systems.2 Kid's Catalog opens up libraries to students in grades K-2 -- barely readers. I have found Alexandria to be an unbeatable library automation package and intend to install Kid's Catalog. Sunburst's Web Workshop is a World Wide Web page authoring tool for grades 3 to 8, but I suppose it's okay if adults use it too.3 I tried out Web Workshop, and in about 10 minutes I had designed and saved a Web page. I turned on my modem and opened my new Web page with Netscape Navigator 2.0. Sure enough, the page ran great, and all the buttons/hyperlinks worked fine. I was impressed. I admit, however, that I have some qualms about letting every kid in the world design his or her own Web page, since the Internet doesn't have enough bandwidth as it is. But I guess kids have as much right to the Web as anyone else. Probably the best use of Web Workshop is to let teachers and students design an intranet -- within the school -- Web site. Rainbow and PostCards from Curriculum Associates also grabbed my attention at FETC. Rainbow (K-4) is a collection consisting of an interactive CD-ROM, student books, teacher guides, and audiocassettes on three topics: "A World of Hats," "Walk in My Shoes," and "The House I Live In." Children explore hats, shoes, and houses and thus peoples of the world. PostCards (5-8) is described well by its subtitle, "A Writer's View of Mexico, Ghana, Japan, and Turkey." What impressed me about both Rainbow and PostCards is how subtly they increase the multicultural awareness of children without their even knowing it. In short, these programs are fetching.4 There were dozens of other great new power tools at FETC, but my space here is running out. In an early fall column I intend to publish the results of a side-by-side comparison of K-5 word processors -- e.g., KidPix and Creative Writer -- that I will be conducting with teachers in May. If you have a favorite or a least-favorite word processor for kids, let me know. Don't take off for your summer vacation without the June Kappan! 1. Aironet: 367 Ghent Rd., Suite 300, Fairlawn, OH 44333 (www.aironet.com); ph. 800/3-WIRELESS. Amp: phone 800/835-7240 for the dealer nearest you. Wave: 1748 Independence Blvd., C-5, Sarasota, FL 34234 (www.the-wave-wireless.com); ph. 800/721-9283. Breeze Wireless Communications, Inc.: 2195 Faraday Ave., Suite A, Carlsbad, CA 92008 (www.breezecom.com); ph. 619/431-9880. ROYAL VAN HORN is a professor of education at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville (e-mail: rvanhorn@unf.edu). |
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