The National Ed Tech Plan: Online data systems use powered [and] transforming assessment resources

In spite of Wordle being so overplayed, I think it's still useful for occasionally getting a quick visual on what seems to be currently occupying the thoughts of those who write. For example, here's a quick Wordle built from the U.S. National Educational Technology Plan.


First, it's nice to see "learning" so prominent in the plan.

Now, take out a few of the words you'd most likely expect in an ed-tech plan and you're left with the heart of the matter:

Online data systems use powered [and] transforming assessment resources.

Certainly a different conversation than we ever heard ten years ago.

My initial impressions of the iPad

Well, after three hours on the thing, here they are:

- This thing is designed for reading, reading, reading. The NY Times and USA Today app make the Kindle feel like kindy-garten.

- Typingnon thfis thing is a horrinle experience. Yesterday on Twitter I said that I thought that because of the iPad, we were seeing the beginning of the end of keyboarding instruction as we know it. I was wrong. Give me the liberty of my keyboard or give death.

- As bad as typing on this thing can be, working with NO MOUSE is equally delightful. Fast and furious, but with lots of...

- Fingerprints, fingerprints, fingerprints.

- Man, I hope I don't drop this thing!

- I look forward to messing with the Pages and Numbers apps, but think the whole "save your files by emailing them to yourself" idea seems weak (and yes, I'm wary of using iTunes to manage my file sharing). Crossing my fingers that the whole experience turns out better than I'm imagining it.

- The Netflix app: Better than Bit Torrent and legal-er, too.

- It's a big iPod. Really. But the big screen and improved apps are huge.

- The new Mail app is decent, Safari rocks, and the Calendar app seems to be worth it's weight in fingerprints.

- If you're really buying into the whole "there's 150,000 apps out there already in the App Store for your iPad" idea, then you'd better get used to this kind of view.


Yeah, you can enlarge the screen, but then it's pixelated. The good news, though, is that apps are being ported over in droves. I can't wait for Tweetie, reQall, Simplenote and Icy Escort. :-)

- All in all, I'm excited to get this into the kids' hands. Can't you hear it now?

"Teacher... When don we get to play with the big iPods?"

Until next time...

Sent from my iPhad

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Cross posted at Thinking Out Loud... Let's learn together.

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