Blurts

I have explored ChromeOS Plex and written about in previous posts. I downloaded the OS to a thumb drive and tried it out on an old Windows machine and an old Macbook Air I own. After spending a few minutes to make certain the computer seemed to work like a Chromebook I moved on. My explorations were safe because I was running the machine from the thumb drive and I had not messed with the actual computers.

For those unfamiliar with ChromeOS Plex, it is an operating system created to be installed as a version of Chrome on older machines offering users a way to safely continue using these machines. As operating systems are reworked to become more powerful, take advantage of newer hardware, and be safer, the software cannot always be made backwardly compatible. At some point, the OSs for Windows, Macs, and Chromebooks are considered aged out. ChromeOS Plex offers a way to continue to use this equipment in a relatively safe way as the OS works in a similar manner to that installed on current Chromebooks.

I am now in a situation that makes the real use of ChromeOS Plex practical. We are soon to travel in Europe and I want a small and less expensive laptop I can carry to write and upload photos. I maintain a travel blog when we travel and I also take many photos. I had an old MacBook Air that is perfect for this situation. You may know that Apple devices were recently shown to be vulnerable to hackers and owners were warned to update their operating systems. I tried to do this and found I could not update because the old MacBook had such a small memory that the newest MacOS would not install. My efforts to install the new OS ended up filling the storage to the point other uses were no longer possible. Using Plex now seemed worth the permanent change and so I installed it. I have explained how to do this in my earlier exploration of Plex, but here is a more detailed description if this sounds like something you would do.

I am writing this post using my old Air with Chromebook Flex installed. A few early observations. Not everything works and there are other challenges that are the result of differences you may not anticipate. I use a password manager that allows me to apply multiple complex passwords. ChromeOS Plex uses your Google login to launch the computer. This means I have to constantly look up the complex password for Google my password manager would normally automatically access once I logged into my other devices. Remembering this lengthy string of random symbols would not be practical. I use my phone to access the password each time I want to use this old computer and won’t change to a simple password for Google applications because I have too much of value invested in Google services. For some reason, I also cannot launch the password manager once I have the new OS launched. I can save passwords to the browser once launched, but this is really the situation I use a password manager to avoid. My solution has been to consider the applications I plan to use on my trip. I have done what is necessary to store passwords for these applications and limit my vulnerability to these applications.

I don’t want to overstate the challenges I have encountered. Starting from scratch in a setting like a school these challenges would not exist at a serious level.

I have always been interested in what seems like the desire of the public for free online services and the costs to the companies trying both to provide interesting services and make a profit. Ads have often been the answer, but now ads have become a target as companies who want to buy ads want them to be targeted. Targeting requires that online services collect information about users to provide the data necessary to target ads to viewers likely to be interested in the ads. The other issues associated with ads aside, ads are not to appear on educational material.

I was recently surprised to learn that Edmodo would be shutting down before the beginning of the new school year. This was a surprise because I knew Edmodo to be a popular service with classroom educators. I was able to find one of my posts from 2014 in which Edmodo was described as the Facebook for education. What happened? I assumed the problem was the inability to find a business model that would cover costs. I explored a bit and found that the lack of a way to convert educator interest into revenue had been a problem others had asked almost from the beginning.

BTW – if you are an Edmodo users you are asked to download your content yet this summer. Use the first link in this post to review the Edmodo directions.

PEW has just released its 2022 survey on Teens and Social Media. Some trends noted in the data:

• TikTok and YouTube dominate teen social media activity with Facebook and Twitter in decline.
• Most teens have access to the devices necessary to participate online with phones the most common technology for access (95%).
  • 91% of teens 13-14, the youngest in the study have access to a phone
  • Access equity seems most different when it comes to having multiple devices – phone, computer, and gaming console (at home). 71% have access to all three
    • Black and hispanic teens report the most use of social media

I have been doing more literature research on the difference between comprehension in reading from paper and the screen. I came across a meta-analysis by Delgado and colleagues.

One of the factors in the research was whether the content involved narrative or informational text. The researchers found a significant difference when the genre was informational, but not narrative. The authors speculate this may be an example of the “shallowing hypothesis“. This hypothesis proposes that as readers frequently use a given medium for shallow interactions they will have greater difficulty using it for other purposes.

When I read about taking Smart Notes, I found the recommendation that the reader take particular attention when information ran counter to personal beliefs. The Delgado finding would seem to fit this recommendation as I am more likely to rely on screen reading when I am involved with informational text. I do this because I can use annotation more effectively on a digital device. This is a priority I have followed now for many years. My history of reading information-rich texts in a digital format would not refute the shallowing hypothesis because my history with this approach means I come to reading with a different mindset than many other readers.

Assuming that the shallowing hypothesis offers a valid interpretation of the frequently found advantage of paper over screen, what is it that educators should take from these studies? Some have decided there is evidence learning from paper is the only approach suited to learning tasks. Given the high volume of information we all encounter online, I think this is the wrong decision. The hypothesis could also be interpreted to mean that when learners only use digital reading for casual experiences, they will tend to carry over this shallow approach. The remedy could be argued to be more assigned meaningful tasks that rely on deep reading with digital media.

Delgado, P., Vargas, C., Ackerman, R., & Salmerón, L. (2018). Don’t throw away your printed books: A meta-analysis on the effects of reading media on reading comprehension. Educational Research Review, 25, 23-38.

I was thinking this may be the time of year that school IT administrators should be contacting parents to alert them to government programs intended to lower the cost of home high-speed internet access. The savings should allow access for a rate between $30 and $50 dollars a month. Two links follow that might be forwarded with recommendations for review.

Office of Educational Technology

White House – Get Internet

K12 schools will soon open their doors for the new school year and many schools are still dealing with a shortage of teachers. This article from The Hill does a nice job of identifying common explanations for the challenge.

The causes identified include:

• Stress associated with COVID, COVID-related changes in how instruction is to be delivered, and public questioning of education.
• Low salaries. The article indicates that the starting salary in 2019/20 was $41,000.
• A decline in the number of education graduates. Nationwide the total number of education degrees was 200,000 or so in the 1970s and 90,000 in 2019.
• Occupations options for women – 36% of grads in 1970 were focused on education and 6% in 2019.
• These factors in combination – many of these factors feed on each other increasing the impact. Fewer teachers mean more demand on those who are working. Low pay means other occupations will be more attractive. etc.