The Internet’s impact in Chicago

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

The Chicago Tribune published an article this weekend about the impact that the Internet can have on the lives of people who are trying to make ends meet. The article mentions the WiMax rollout in Chicago, and the Lt. Governor of Illinois' recently introduced ordinance to provide 15,000 low-cost laptops ...

In depth look at a mobile device in the classroom

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

The teachermate is a handheld computer, like a Nintendo Gameboy or a Sony PSP, and they have been in use in Chicago public school classrooms for the past school year. The Teachers' Podcast did a review of the device last month. A couple weeks ago I got the opportunity to see ...

Chicago Public Library’s digital divide plan

Monday, May 12th, 2008

I spoke with Chicago Public Library's marketing director, Ruth Lednicer, about what they are doing for city residents. I asked her about the Cyber Explorer program, which pays college students to teach library patrons how to use the Internet, and about other ways the library is working on fulfilling ...

Just another inexpensive computer for education?

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

The Teachermate is targeted at kindergarden through third grade. The XO laptop is designed to be easy to learn for kids of all ages around the world Intel's Classmate is slightly more powerful than the XO, but lacks custom software. A new low-cost handheld computer called the Teachermate was introduced in March by ...