August 4th, 2009
Intel Summer Tech Day (or "Why couldn't I live in California?")
Despite our non-stop rain this summer, long winters, crippling ice storms, and plagues of mosquitoes and black flies, I really love New England. The people are pragmatic and would give you the shirts off their back (at least once they get to know you) and here in Massachusetts, clam chowder that isn’t white and creamy is illegal (and it better be good, or there’s going to be problems). However, when Intel hosts a “Summer Tech Day” on a gorgeous sunny day in San Francisco (it rained here in central Mass) and the Intel PR folks send emails saying, “Wish you were here,” I long for the left coast.
Northern California press and their kids spent the day at the California Academy of Sciences last week, roaming the museum equipped with convertible Classmate PCs. Their experiences echoed my own, as well as those of the other teachers and parents to whom I’ve loaned Classmates. While adults occasionally struggle with the form factor, tablet conversion, or some of the software (photo, video, or even ArtRage), young kids simply begin using them. Training and modeling obviously make them more useful, but the form factor and the device itself is quite natural for most kids.
According to Jeff Galinovsky’s (Intel Regional Manager for Intel’s classmate PC activities in North America) blog,
Intel sponsored a Summer Tech Day event here that brought in a handful of press and Intel, their kids, and a bunch of Intel-powered classmate PCs for some cool activities…So all the kids in attendance, including my 10 year old daughter Mackenzie, got to use a classmate PC to run through an organized curriculum of science explorations. They got a bit of training before they embarked by myself and Mackenzie on how to use the classmates and how they were going to use them in the exhibit.
Well, I couldn’t attend the event myself, but it certainly gives me some good ideas for using our Classmates next year. Check out the rest of his blog for some interesting models and talk back with innovative ways you’ve used Classmates or other 1:1 devices in (and out of) the classroom.
Follow Chris Dawson on Twitter! Christopher Dawson is the technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts and a member of the Internet Press Guild. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations, but always keep in mind that the opinions expressed here are his own and not those of his daytime employer, even if he talks incessantly about his day job.
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