Ed Tech Review

iLife ‘09 is out and has some amazing new features.  iPhoto particularly has some great enhancements including face recognition and improved editing abilities.  iMovie has also added significant editing capabilities.  It is now possible to edit audio length seperate from the video length.  The interface is also far more usable, and capability is a huge leap from prvious versions.  With all of these great features it makes you want to upgrade quickly.  So should we all go out and make the leap to ‘09.  If iLife 09 is the only thing you wan’t to purchase then go right ahead, but if you are considering iWork ‘09 also there may be reason to wait.  Apple is bundling OS X Leapord, iLife, and iWork in what is called the Mac Boxed Set for $169.  This is a great deal, but it will be an even better deal when the new Version of OS X is released later this year.  We are only a few months away from an upgrade and the new opperating system will likely be included in this Bundle.  If you are patient enough to wait for the new operating system this will be a great deal.

I have been very impressed by the rave reviews I’ve been hearing for the Beta of Windows 7.  Unfortunately, reviews and reality are two seperate things.  I was quick to join the beta program when it became publicly availible because I was excited to try out the “Vista that works”.  After trying a few times, with some aggrivation I got it installed.  It was late so I let the install finnish while I went home to bed.  The next morning I launched the beautifull new Windows 7.  After clicking through several nags for not having an antivirus, and permission for my Amazon Unbox app (I had to do this every time I boot about 6 times before it quits popping up) I finally lauch my first application.  I use a Promethean Digital Whiteboard and I started up the software for the first lesson.  It started great! I opened the slide show for the Mornings lesson and it came write up.  I clicked on the X to get rid of the splash screen, and my screen went black.  This does not look good, then I notice that my machine is rebooting.  I have had a few crashes in my day.  Sometimes when a machine gets a virus attack it will get overloaded and crash.  Sometimes there are hardware malfunctions or the processor overheats and it will immediately shut down.  This is the first time I’ve been running a program where it is perfectly reproducable every time.  I must have this application as part of what I do, so I realized that I needed to downgrade back to Vista.  I decided to do somthing productive on 7 before I bailed ship, so I launched IE 8 to make this post on Ed Tech Review.  When I tried to log into the admin, IE 8 Beta also crashed.  To be fair both applications are Beta and as such you can expect problems, but, I personally don’t have the time to play when two of the applications I use most consistantly crash my machine.  I put Vista on the machine about two weeks before I tried the upgrade and it seemed to be working fine, but it looks like I will be waiting for Version 7 sp1 before my other XP machines will see an upgrade.

Often we who love technology spend a great deal of time and effort implementing technology in our classrooms. In most cases it is a bennificial endevor, but there are times when we get to focused on the tech that learning suffers. The biggest trap is time. Often we will spend inordinate ammounts of time on a project with limited learning potential in order to implement a technology aspect to it. Other traps we fall into is testing a technology with the class and finding we need to use time to trouble shoot instead of teach. Upgrading to the most rexoent versions of software can also present problems. One example of this is that I have upgraded to the most recient version of office on my teacher computer but the student lab is still on the previous version. When I show students how to do something it does not match what they will see when they try it. Technology can be a great enhancement to our teaching but we must be aware of it’s use to make surebit does not get in the way.

Apple announced an update to it’s iLife suite of software at MacWorld Expo today.  This update was expected, but iLife 09 has some significant enhancements.  The biggest enhancements are in iPhoto, but there were also some good size bumps in the iMovie, and Garage Band applications.  Unfortunately, iWeb only received minor upgrades.  iWeb had a lot of potential to be a great app for the classroom, but I do not believe that it stepped up to the plate like it could have.  I will be downloading the trials and provide further reviews to determine whether it will be worth the upgrade for teachers.

The first thing many of you teachers are thinking is that I misspelled Cricket, and some are thinking what would I do with a noisy insect.  But for those familiar with the Cricut Machine from Provo Craft you will understand why I am suggesting this machine a a gift.  The Cricut Machine is simply a giant leap up from you old diacut machines.  The Cricut works much like a printer, or more like a plotter with a blade.  You choose from a wide selection of cartridges that range from $40 to $60 that either cuts out shapes or letters.  This would be the equivalent of buying a dai set for your old diacut machines.  The difference is that the cricut can cut in a variety of sizes, from tiny letters up to 24″ tall letters if you get the larger Cricut Expression Machine.  This is perfect for bulletin boards, class activities, and hands on instruction.  Although the Cricut was originally designed for scrapbookers, they have released several cartridges that are specifically for teachers.

The best place I’ve found for Cricut Machines is CricutDirect.com . There Prices are great, and the service is fantastic. Go take a look to learn more about these amazing machines, and the wide variety of cartridges availible.

K-12 can be a rough place for computers, so Lenovo has an idea designed with students (and budgets) in mind: the durable Lenovo® ThinkPad® T400 notebook featuring Intel® Centrino® 2 with vPro™ technology. It is tough enough to stand up to everyday notebook accidents to help your school avoid replacement costs.

Roll Cage: The Lenovo ThinkPad T400 notebook can take a tumble with its durable carbon-reinforced roll cage. The material is lightweight so you can keep your ideas portable and protected.

Spill-Proof Keyboard: One spill can do a lot of damage. Protect your hard work with this special keyboard. It is sealed and contained in a tray with drain holes.

Active Protection System™: Like an airbag’s sensor, Active Protection System can detect sudden changes in motion and temporarily stop the hard drive to help protect your valuable data from some crashes that could occur due to everyday notebook accidents.

Stainless Steel Hinges: Designed to withstand frequent opening and closing of the notebook.

One-touch Rescue and Recovery: This one-button rescue solution includes a set of self-recovery tools to help you recover from a virus or other software crash, even if the primary operating system will not boot. With one touch of a button, you can get back to work fast.All of these features make the notebook tough enough to last in the K-12 environment.

We have a new look and a new plan for our site.  As you can see the fresh new look provides a cleaner interface that is a little easier to navigate and find the information you need.  The ohter change is in regards to content.  I have been extreemly busy and have not been able to post as much as I like.  Even if I wre able to post daily it would not be enough to cover and informs the fast moving field of education technology.  I would like this to move to more of a community based model where all of us teachers who use technology can share our successes and failures.  I will be allowing teachers and tech advocates accounts on edTechReview as writers.  Details will follow soon.

I have been waiting to upgrade my windows machines to Vista for a variety of reasons. First XP works well. I just did not see compelling reasons or features that made it a must have. Second were the early compatibility issues, many of which are no longer an issue. Third is a few of my key apps did not support Vista untill reciently. Most of these reasons are no longer an issue, but a recient announcement made it clear that it is still not time to upgrade. Windows 7 is comming this year and it seems based on the early reviews it is worth the wait. Asside from the increased stability, it’s best feature is that it requires less system resources. Yes,Microsoft released a version that actualy runs more efficiently than it’s predicessor. This is critical for schools that run older and less powerfull hardware. I could be happy in running XP but there is a danger of becoming obsolete. I have downloaded the Beta and will be telling you how it goes when I give it a try.

I have been using the Activboard with the Activate from Promethean for about 1 month now, and it has had a significant impact on the way I teach.  I assume that the use of any electronic whiteboard technology would have a similar impact but I have been very happy with the Promethean products.  Promethean focuses only on the education market so their products and software work great for schools.  They have a rich database of ready made activities so preparation is minimal.  Even if I do need to create activities from scratch, the software is easy to learn and easy to use so I can create lessons fast.

The best part of the combination is the instant feedback I recieve when using the activote system.  The Activote is a remote where studetns can submit a multiple choice answer with up to 6 options, and the results are instantly recorded and with a tap of the board are displayed.  I often will do a poll on the fly just by writing the question with a marker so that I can instantly know whether or not the students understand a concept. I am converting my multiple choice tests to the Activote system because I can create the test for Activote in about half the time it takes to grade the test by hand.

The Activboard has many features beyond the typical writing on the board that make it very powerful. The layers feature makes it possible to do many cool and fun activities. The multimedia tools work well.  The orginization of the file system is it’s one caveat.  It is a little difficult to figure out how they organize things, but over all it is great.

I have been using Filemaker’s Bento for a few months now and it has worked well for me.  I purchased it for $49 and although I don’t think it is worth more I was happy with the purchase.  It is basically a dumbed down easy to use Database application that tightly integrates with Mac OSX applications.  Because it does not have Professional Database capabilities it does not have a Professional Database price.  48 Days after my purchase they released Version 2.  Unlike almost all other applications, Filemaker did not offer any discounted upgrade price.  Bento 2 has a few upgrades and a lot of bug fixes, but it is not worth an additional $49.  This upgrade came less than a year since the release of the software.  There are a few that are saying it’s only $50 bucks what’s the big deal.  The big deal is that this is consumer level software which averages $20 – $30.  This certainly does not compare with it’s big brother Filemaker which has a professional level price.  It is not a professional app, and $100 in 10 months is certainly far too high of a price for what you get.  I will be using the original application for a few existing databases that I need until next summer, but new data will find a home in a different app

(Update FileMaker Response)

You can be assured that all of us at FileMaker are aware that some existing Bento users are disappointed about the fact that we have not provided an upgrade pricing path for Bento 2. We regret that you, along with these users, are disappointed.  We firmly believe that Bento is very fairly priced at just $49 and is a great value for the price.  Our decision to forego an upgrade pricing program is modeled after Apple’s iWork/iLife program, which, as you may know, does not offer an upgrade pricing program.

Kevin Mallon
Sr.  Public Relations Manager
FileMaker, Inc.

I do take issue with the ilife comparison because iLife because it comes free on every Mac so it’s only pricing is upgrade pricing.  I would be happy to pay for the upgrade if the first version came free. As for iWork they are correct, Apple also has a poor pricing policy.  But they also have educational discounts, perhaps filemaker could follow Apples lead and offer educational discounts for Bento.

Here are a few recommended alternatives for Bento 2:

Yojimbo from barebones software.  Barebones has provided great products, at reasonable prices for many years.  The retail price is $39 and they have an eductional discount for $29

http://www.barebones.com/products/Yojimbo/

Circus Ponies NoteBook 3.0

It’s not exactly the same but gets many of the Jobs that Bento is used for done.  It also has some other cool features. They do offer upgrade pricing, and if your purchases in 2008 the upgrade is free. see there are a few companies that care about their customers.  Retail $49 Academic $29

http://www.circusponies.com/store/

Process 3.0.5

Jumsoft Business Trio

This trio of applications can do anything you would want’s to do in Bento and much much more.  It is a little more $59 but you get a lot more.  They also have educational discounts, but you must contact them directly,because they do not publish the educational price.

http://www.jumsoft.com/businesstrio/

Kexi

If you need a powerful yet easy to use alternative to Filemaker or for Windows users you can’t beat Kexi.  Kexi is open source and free to use.  It has about the same learning curve as Filemaker, and just as much power.  It is great.

http://www.kexi-project.org/about.html

Panorama from Provue

If you need a Professional alternative to Filemaker that has the professional support you need Panorama from Provue is your answer.  It is easy to learn and very powerful.  and with a generous 45 day trial you have plenty of time to figure it out.

http://www.provue.com/index.html

It is clear that there are a lot of alternatives when it comes to organizing your data.  There is no need to support poor companies like Filemaker and there pathetic policies regarding upgrades.  Join me in moving to better companies, and put our money in the hands good companies that value their customers. Filemaker will not receive another penny from me until they change their upgrade policies.