Blurts

Engadget provides this description of the Kno. It looks too big to me, but I am paying attention because Cengage is evidently interested in the project.

ATT announced today that it is changing the pricing structure for 3G access. Instead of the original $19.95 fee for unlimited information downloads, it now appears that a new price structure related to the amount of content downloaded will be applied. Pairing with ATT is Apple’s achilles heel. Perhaps the load the iPhone and iPad put on wireless providers would be too much for any carrier, but the link between Apple and ATT does not allow this possibility to be tested.

Jarvis on the AT&T and iPad “Bait and switch“

MacWorld account

Oh well, welcome to my world. Those of you in most parts of the world at least can complain about being mistreated by Apple and ATT. Me – I cannot have access no matter what the cost.

Notice to Steve Jobs – North Dakota is part of the U.S. I am less interested in how many countries now have access to the iPhone and Ipad than I am whether it will come to ND.

The National Association of College Stores Foundation conducted a survey to determine college student interest in different instructional content formats (ebooks, books, etc.). 74% still prefer the traditional book.

Just located this wiki – focused on iPad education applications.

I have been spending some time the past couple of days learning about the version of Glogster developed for education. It really is a great product – flexible and easy to learn to use.

I have spent considerable time attempting to understand are the security features of the service. I think that educators and parents may be overly sensitive regarding this topic, but security is certainly an issue that must be understood when students work online. Glogsters describes the educational version as security conscious. Teachers enroll students and can easily watch over what students create. Only the teacher can make student products public and may decide to limit access to members of the class.

This sounded good to me, but as I explored I thought I was having difficulty figuring out how to use the security settings. I created a teacher account and also enrolled myself as a student. Because Glogster requires a “gibberish” username for students (a security measure), I was having difficulty remember the student “username” I had been assigned. In dealing with this issue, I copied the URL for the site I had created as a student and discovered that even though the site was designated as incomplete and was not shared by me in my other role as teacher, the site was fully accessible (see this demo). I understand that there would be little change of guessing the username of the student and finding such a site, but there is still the possibility that the student could be the “weak” link in the security scheme. What if the student decides to share a project he/she is working on with friends by sharing the URL?

I would not be afraid to have students use Glogster, but I think it is worth noting that student products are quite accessible.

I think the iPad has great potential as an educational device. However, the issue with the iPad and flash now causes me some problems. For example, I think Glogster (edu) offers teachers and students interesting opportunities to express what they are learning. Glogster relies on flash. This is kind of a schizophrenic state – use the iPad, use Glogster.