Second Semester has been busy — busier than I had expected. In short, I have been taking five courses (Intro to Psych, Hebrew 101, Philosophy and the Arts, Computing: Simulating Reality, and Race and the Pastoral), and, in addition, have been going through Moderation here at Bard (I will write about this in two weeks). I have also been working at SPARC here at Bard, and have continued to Co-Lead the Bard Jewish Students Organization – been fun, but busy.

Anyways, here are three new essays from two courses and the third is for my moderation (actually, it is a revision of a past essay, but I’m adding this one in addition):

“Free Will”, Revised for Moderation download
“What do you see?”, Philosophy and the Arts download
“Identifying Pastoral”, Race & the Pastoral download
Link to my other essays.

Anyways, I will be writing here more as I go on Winter Break in about two weeks – until then, however, I am swamped – projects, essays, exams, and Hanukkah!

Talk to you soon.

KfL.

Even though it’s coming late, this is the final installment of my, “Life in the Cloud” series. In this last, but certainly not least, post, I will provide a criticism of Web 2.0 and cloud computing and raise some questions and implications about the future of the Internet. Before I begin, I just want to thank you all for your comments and suggestions. You really helped make this series what it was.

A Disruptive Innovation

Just as the Ford Model-T changed the world of transportation and provided a new solution and opportunity for getting around, the Internet has changed the way humans interact with information. More specifically, Web 2.0 has created new ways of communicating and sharing information and ideas among individuals, groups, and the public. The Internet has created a new landscape, a “cloud” landscape in which people can innovate in. The Internet disrupts our lives; it has virtually no hierarchy and unlike the modern world of professionals and specialty, it has become easy for every-day people to create, communicate, and develop ideas on the web. The Internet is an incredibly open and decentralized system. One of the main functions and purposes of the Internet is to be transparent – governments, corporations, and individuals use it to show themselves and expose what was once hidden. Today, people live-blog their lives on Twitter and publicly share family moments on YouTube.

Questions

I will briefly present three major issues I have with Web 2.0 and cloud computing.

Trust/Privacy – Every day, I essentially set free hundreds of thoughts and small personal innovations; I send emails to family, tweet my happenings to strangers, and comment on photos of my friends. I live an Internet life parallel to my, well, “real” life. Who owns all of this information? Is it still mine? Since I don’t own and control each website, server, and connection I use each day, I have lost control of my digital life. Ever since Wired published a series about Radical Transparency and the “See Through CEO,” I have tried my best to embrace similar ideals. But it is not easy – I struggle with this exposure every day. As primarily private, autonomous, and self-directed beings, should we really feel comfortable letting vital parts of our own existence out of our own hands?

Quality of Information – Critics of Web 2.0 cite the increasing amount of “unproductively” and bad and inaccurate content that plagues the web (just look at YouTube). Using modernist ideas of truth and quality and relying on ancient ideas about the difference between high (scholarly) and low (popular) culture does not work on the Internet. In order to wholly and truly embrace the Internet, we must abandon our previous opinions about truth, accuracy, and hierarchy. The web should be a new space, not an old one. We must redefine public and private. In order to believe in the future of the Internet and human interaction, we must redetermine the meaning of ownership and copyright.

Access – A big part of Web 2.0, if you’ve been keeping up, is being able to reliably store data on the Internet only and not rely on local copies. This is, sadly, still an unrealistic idea. Not enough people are able to access with freedom the entire Internet wherever they are and not enough places (businesses, schools, governments, etc) are equipped to “handle” the Internet. Open wireless standards are not yet global, and wired and wireless Internet is still not as wide spread as it should be. Smart Phones are attempts to close this gap, but again, the price is too high and the freedom doesn’t exist (not in the United States, at least). Again, to truly embrace the Internet,access should not be an accessory – it should be mandatory. As we move forward, we must be careful about how we use this access, but it is an important part of the future of computing. The Internet must be considered critically and seriously as a life-impacting technology. The true potential of the Internet is not yet being embraced.

In Conclusion

Thank you for bearing with me. This post has turned into more of a manifesto, but I hope it inspires more questions than it answers. This does not signify the end – I will continue to write, think, and invent. Please be in touch.

K.

It’s been a long while since I’ve written, let alone published a blog post. But I’m here today to ask something of all you loyal readers – will you vote for my SXSW 2010 presentation proposal? But I want you to first go to the SXSW PanelPicker, and check out some of the other panels. They’re really cool. Here’s a little video to give you an idea of what I’ll be talking about:

Socrates, Dude: Social Media and Philosophy

Where does the Internet come from? What about “social media”? I show how modern social technologies originate in the Ancient philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristophanes. By looking at specific texts, the clouds in the sky, and the Internet, I will draw connections between the ancient and the modern. I’m dealing with the intersection of philosophy and technology, the old and the new.

Here are the 10 Questions:

What is conversation, in both digital and analog contexts and how can we use new technologies while respecting ancient technologies?
What does Socrates teach us about conversation in the modern age?
What is Socrates’ idea of “self-image” in relation to the Internet?
How can we use decentralized communication systems to enhance our own lives?
How can one use history and philosophy to understand and create new social technologies?
What does the Internet teach us about conversation?
What is a, or the cloud?
What is Social Media?
What is the Internet?
What is philosophy?

Anyways, I’d love your vote. I had an amazing time at SXSW last year, and it would be great to go back and lead a presentation of my own. And, more posts will be coming _soon_. Been busy, even this summer.

kl.

My SXSW Badge

On Tuesday, I got back from Austin, Texas. I was speaking at SXSW Interactive 2009. It was my first time at South-By, and I can say right now that I am going next year – no matter what. My presentation was great (thank you, Alex, for offering me this great opportunity!) – read on for more about my presentation. I met so many incredible people, including Gary Vaynerchuk, Kevin Rose, and danah boyd. Being under 21 at SXSW was tough, since so many after-parties were at 21+ venues, but it worked out. SXSW was overwhelming, especially going for the first time. Basically, it doesn’t stop. Day, night, morning, evening – you name it. There is always something going on at SXSW. Just check my Twitter stream. I reconnected with some “old” friends from the Boston Social Media scene, like Steve Garfield, Clarence Smith, and Chris Brogan. The Bigg Digg Schindigg was amazing – I finally saw a live Diggnation! Check my Flickr for pictures. I’ll be uploading many more in the coming days. The panels I saw were amazing. Gary Vaynerchuk was the most inspirational speaker I saw, up there with the “SHIFT Happens” people and the Web and Feminism panel. I made a PDF of all the tweets I tweeted during SXSW. Download it. Most recent at the top.

SHIFT Happens: Benefits of Visual Thinking

My Presentation

As you all _should_ know, I was on a panel about the future of technology in education, called Blackboards or Backchannels: The Techno-Induced Classroom of Tomorrow. Alex Leavitt Moderated, and I spoke along with Archana Ramachandran, Kelly Sutton, and Diana Kimball. Someone liveblogged our panel, check it out! I spoke of my EduTech project and my feelings about, at least in small class settings, the use of off-hours technology only. For example, in small seminar classes, I see laptops as walls and severe distractions. They might be employed to “enhance” communication, but instead, they replace human-human interaction with superficial and removed conversation. Technology cannot replace or fix bad teaching – I was surprised to see some teachers react negatively to that statement, for surely I thought that they would all be in favor of quality teaching, too. I was also surprised to find out that predominately older K-12 teachers and university professors saw my own (and the groups) views as conservative. I never thought about it that way. The educators in the room appeared to want validation from us students. They wanted us to approve the unbridled use of technology in their classrooms. Not to say that risk-taking and experimentation are bad, because they are very crucial to the learning process, but the successful use of technology in classrooms need to be thoughtfully planned out. Technology cannot be there just to be there. One needs a goal. A teacher should be able to answer the question, “Why are you using technology in your classroom?” A teacher does not, or should not, just assign an essay or exam. Just to let you know, my philosophy of technology and education only applies to small class settings. I have yet to seriously consider the implications of technology in large classrooms, simply because I haven’t been in those situations and, I don’t particularly agree with lecture based styles of education.

My Name Plate!

The response to our panel was mixed. Following the Twitter hash tag (#sxswed) was interesting: one person thought she should have been on the panel and did not restrain her anger, and others were frustrated with our “non-techno induced” classroom. Questions were engaging, but somewhat strange. One woman suggested that Kelly and I had been brainwashed by the educational systems in this country. Why? Because we both go to smaller liberal arts colleges? Or because at least I (don’t know about Kelly…) had a very progressive education in high school without standards? Anyways, others were more positive. One man raised the issue of learning, in general – how do you learn of find things on the Internet? Another man, who seemed younger, perhaps a recent college graduate, seemed offended by my advocating against the use of technology in the classroom, and proceeded to give various reasons how Twitter had helped him. Just to clarify, I think Twitter is amazing, but, do you really have a need to use it in class? How about on the weekends, when the students and the professor are not in the same room together?

Check out the Twitter search for #sxswed. Again, go back a few pages. You’ll find some interesting responses.

Tote Bag

Overall

I’m gong next year. Meet me there. I will try to get myself on a panel (email me if you have ideas or are interested in having me speak on your panel), but we’ll see. Don’t forget to check out my pre-SXSW interview with SXTXState. Want to meet next year? Email me. Check out Flickr photos, too.

K.

I am only speaking for myself in this post. I cannot vouch for the other panelists. Just FYI.

Photos

@kevinrose

Who doesn’t love LEGO’s?

@alexalbrecht

Slideshow

Video

It has been a while since I finished my EduTech capstone project, and my ideas on Academic Technology have changed. I recently began thinking again about tech in the classroom, especially since I spoke about Academic Technology in Hawai’i in early January, and in March, I will be speaking at SXSW on a panel of students about the future of the classroom.

My Vision

Jeff Han demonstrating his multi-touch technology. Photo Credit: jurvetson

I have complex and radical visions for how technology will be apart of our lives. I imagine classrooms being outfitted with interactive and touch human-friendly technology that allows students to better collaborate and work in groups in and out oft he classroom. I picture libraries actually being great places for study. I picture technologically elaborate and visually appealing technology and multi-media laboratories. I see blackboards being transformed into information hubs (backchannels) that make it easy for students and teachers to share information. Unfortunately, schools do not have money to spare these days and teachers and students are no longer motivated to talk to each other or interested in going to school. Education moves slowly, while technology moves quickly. Education in general does not know how to adapt to the future. Technology budgets are slim and often misspent leaving both teachers and students behind.

Reality

During my capstone project, I mostly experimented with free social internet technologies, like Moodle, Wordpress, Twitter, Tumblr, and others. Throughout most of high school, I had a laptop in front of me. I multitasked; taking notes, looking up terms in science class, and more. However, in college, there has been only one class in which I used my computer (my first semester Media and Society class. Today, I find technology to be more destructive and distracting. Most of the applications and services I praised I now find to be useless inside the classroom. On the other hand, I find technology to be more useful outside the classroom. In college, an environment where oftentimes teachers and students do not communicate outside of the classroom (the division between academics and life are clearly defined), social technology usage outside of the classroom is more effective and really engages students with students, students with teachers, and teachers with teachers. I realize now that technology can not be a replacement for human to human classroom discussion and involvement. Besides, I again am reminded that technology is so often misused and misguided in educational environments. My number one recommendation still stands; in order to successfully use technology inside and outside of the classroom, Academic must be a top priority to students, teachers, and administrators. Technology must be just as thought out as any assigned reading or writing.

Conclusion

As you can see, I’m well on my way to developing my own Educational and Technological philosophy. I will be writing more about this topic. I may even start a blog about it. We’ll see. Please, I beg of you, email me.

Just thought I’d mention I posted two new essays on my website I wrote as final projects for two different classes. The first is called “Free Will,” which I wrote for my Intro to Philosophy class, and the second is called “The Apprehensive,” which I wrote for my First Year Seminar. “Free Will” is about whether or not human beings have freedom of will, using the texts of Descartes, Nietzsche, and Richard Linklater. “The Apprehensive” is about the role of philosopher in society according to Descartes.

Download “Free Will” and “The Apprehensive” as PDF’s. Let me know what you think!

Also, be sure to check out some of the other essays I’ve written – I plan to keep that page updated over time.

My Blog Moleskine.

My blogging practices have evolved a lot lately, especially now that my entire life is structured differently (being in college and all). i’ve been thinking a lot about the purpose of my blog, especially since I made several design improvements over the past few weeks. I thought I’d give a brief outline of how I blog and my thoughts and ideas for the future of the blog, content wise.

How I Blog

During the 3 week intensive workshop in Language and Thinking I took in August as part of my matriculation into Bard College, my instructor had us write, by hand, for five minutes each morning – a free write, no limits, no directions, just write. I enjoyed putting pen to paper, I have never enjoyed it so much in my life. I hand write almost everything these days, from essays to blog posts. I urge you all to try writing freely for five minutes each morning – it helped connect my thoughts with my pen. I have a Moleskine dedicated to blog posts. Not every post I write in the notebook makes it to the blog. Hand writing gives me the opportunity to get all of my ideas out freely, and hand writing makes a great first draft – it is, in my opinoin, much easier to edit my own writing when going from pen and paper to the computer. After I hand-write a rough draft, I type it up directly in Wordpress, and modify specific words, add subsections and images, and check the overall spelling and grammar of the post. When I hand-write, my honest opinion comes out, my exact thoughts. I also try to write my first draft away from the computer, so the post contains my true, honest thoughts (the computer is also really distracting). Whereas when I write on the computer, it feels detached. Blogging has greatly improved my own writing (in and out of school), and I’m willing to bet that it will have the same effect on your writing too.

Future of the Blog

THis is a personal blog, it’s not for tech news and reviews (that’s what my podcast, Nerd News Radio, is for), but it is for content relating to my life. At times, a review of some sort may pop up, only if it has a direct impact on the way I conduct my life. In the future, I see myself writing more about technological philosophy and politics. Now that I am separated from the EduTech program I created in high school, I will probably write less about academic technology, but we’ll see. I also added Skribit, a “blog topic suggestion application,” to the blog, so please, make suggestions!

Conclusion

Now that I started writing by hand, I find it much easier to sit down and focus on writing a blog post without the distractions of the Internet (don’t worry, I still love the Internet, but at times, it needs to be quiet!). I used to hate writing with pen and paper, but today I love it, so give it a try. Please give me suggestions, I want to hear what you think about the blog and what you would like me to write about.

How do you blog?

I’ve been at Bard College for a month now; the Workshop in Language and Thinking is over, and I began my “real” courses last Monday. I went home last weekend to see family, pick up my bike, tennis rackets, and relax. It feels very different having upperclassmen on campus now(they arrived last weekend), Language and Thinking was a lot like high school, everyone had (almost) the same schedule, and studied similar material, but now that courses have started, everyone seems a lot more independent.

L&T was truly amazing – now that the workshop has ended, I appreciate what I learned even more. My teacher was fantastic, and I’m happy to have him as my First Year Seminar teacher, too. He helped me most with my writing and development of ideas. He is also the reason I’m now taking Ancient Greek. During L&T, we read such amazing texts; Hannah Arendt, Aristotle, Samuel Beckett, Susan Sontag, Franz Kafka, Charles Darwin, Prigogine and Stengers, and more. My final essay was surrounded around the question, “Why do we speak?” It was a political analysis of communication and media throughout history. I talked about the idea that speech makes us human, and humans are, by nature, “political animals,” in reference to Aristotle and Arendt. I also talked about Internet Censorship in china, and the importance of sharing our opinions using free new media tools available on the Internet. I touched upon sousveillance, or inverse-surveillance, surveillance as a means of speaking. You can read my essay, but please don’t steal it or use parts of it without my permission. Download it as a PDF.

My class schedule.

I started courses on Monday, Labor Day. Here’s what I’m taking: First Year Seminar, Media and Society, Intro to Philosophy: Philosophical Classics, and Ancient Greek. All of my courses have been great so far, though I have spent a fortune on books, 22 in total. To me, it is strange having most classes only twice a week.

My side of the room.

College has been an overwhelming positive experience, so far. On Friday night, I attended Shabbat services at Beit Shalom Salaam – twenty people showed up, in contrast to the two or three who would show up last year, the upperclassmen tell me. The school just got a new Rabbi, who really wants to reinvigorate Jewish life at Bard. I helped cook dinner, too – we made Challah, lasagna, and salad. I have not yet recorded a new episode of Nerd News Radio, but hopefully I’ll get around to that next weekend.

What was your college experience like?

I go to college this Saturday, August 9th, 2008. I will be a freshman at Bard College, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. I have a little more packing to do (misc items and clothes). Bard College starts rather early, as they have a three week workshop for freshman, called “Language and Thinking.” I’m not so excited about doing work during summer, but at least it’s better than going right into a 4-5 course schedule.

Map of campus.

My roommate is from China, which is totally rad. I’m in the dorm Oberholzer, a 5-10 minute walk from campus. I’m excited and nervous. I’m happy I’m not going to be across the country, I’ll be 3.5 hours away from home, and 2 hours away from New York City. Also, it will be nice to go to school with a few people I know (there are 3 from my high school going to Bard, in addition to a few others).

The one thing I’m upset about, is that Apple hasn’t yet released new MacBook Pro’s. My college technology “situation” will be simple(r), as I’ll only have one computer (my MacBook, and in the future, a MBP). I’ve made a few purchases (hard drives, mouse, keyboard, monitor), but nothing major.

I can’t promise anything, but I hope to keep blogging and podcasting, maybe even more regularly. I’m sure my Twitter stream will be over-active, particularly in the first few days and weeks, and I’m going to take lots of photos. I’m bringing my (new) portable recorder, USB interface, and my microphone, so I’ll be well equipped to podcast. I’ll probably write a blog post a week after I settle in, but if I’m feeling particularly lonely, you may hear from me sooner.

Wish me luck.

PodCamp Boston 3 was amazing. The venue this year was unbelievable, thank you, Harvard! It was easier to run into people this year, which was fun. PodCamp Boston 2 was nice and big, but this year the event was very close knit. I was more social at PCB3, and this year overall – last year I was very reserved. I also knew more people in general, those I had met on Twitter and at various Social Media Breakfasts. (For those interested in the Academic Technology session I led at PodCamp, check the end of the post.)

My junior achievement award. Photo Credit: Gradon Tripp

I won a Junior achievement award this year! Thank you, Adam Zand (I think, at least.) Unfortunately, I was the only teenager (I knew of) at PodCamp Boston 3. Last year, I was 1 of 2, this year, I was 1 of 1. I had hoped more teens would show up. I did know a few who wanted to come, but couldn’t. Next year!

Jamming at PodCamp.

Being social and having fun makes a huge difference. Don’t be afraid, introduce yourself to everyone. We have so much virtual, or digital, contact with each other, it makes such a huge difference to get together and have fun in person. Twitter went down for maintenance on Saturday July 19th, during PodCamp, and I think it actually was for the better – it helped people actually connect with each other. Not to say that Twitter is bad; sometimes, the best part of the session was the conversation taking place on Twitter. Check out the PCB3 tag on Twitter Search.

Steven Sherlock.

My Session

I led a session at PodCamp Boston about Academic Technology, mostly outlining the work I did at the Cambridge School of Weston, for my Capstone Project. If you’re interested in the presentation, you can see it on Slideshare, download it as a PDF, and download the audio recording.

Here is the video from my capstone presentation. It’s about 35 minutes, and the audio isn’t great (I was only using the built-in microphone of the video camera). Anyways, hope you enjoy!

Here are the materials associated with my capstone:

• Presentation in PDF Format
• Reflection in PDF Format
• Recommended Technologies Wiki

The Video

Capstone Presentation from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

On Friday May 2nd, I had the privilege to attend a Digital Natives Forum at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. The event was labeled as an “interdisciplinary roundtable discussion: Investigating young people’s use of digital and networked technologies.” When I arrived, I was surprised to discover that I was the only teenager, or “young person”, at the meeting. I already felt out of place.

Background

The event was amazing – I found out how adults observe and understand teenagers’ use of technology and the Internet. At the beginning of the meeting, there was a short presentation by Andrea Flores and John Francis citing research conducted about kids using technology. They talked about identity, privacy, skills and tools for teenagers and adults, and the importance of design. For more about the content of the forum, check out this blog post and my Twitter, I live-blogged most of the meeting.

Silence

I didn’t speak during the entire meeting, only to some people individually during lunch. I wish I had spoken up. I learned, but didn’t teach. It felt like people in the room didn’t understand what kids were about. With the exception of a few, it seemed that people were only beginning to formulate their opinions; it was too early to introduce the young-person’s point of view. Being a teen in the room, it felt like we were being addressed as the problem that needed fixing. Per usual, adults were assigning issues to kids. As the group discussed how some kids feel safer sharing their thoughts online versus offline, I only felt comfortable sharing my thoughts on Twitter. I let the group silence me.

For next time…

The only problem, I can think of, was the lack of primary sources, or “young people,” in the room. Yes, case studies and reports were cited throughout, but as my history teachers tell me, you need primary sources to support your argument. I was the only teen in the room, and I wasn’t even previously involved with the project. It is difficult to discuss teens, or any other group of people, without them present. Not only that, it is undiplomatic to discuss and refer to teens as if they’re not in the room, when in fact, I was sitting right there. My presence was never acknowledged – the adults failed to exploit me as a resource. It felt weird having adults tell me how I used technology.

Video about the event

Digital Navies Forum from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Or on Viddler.

Kabren Levinson
kabren@kabrenlevinson.com
www.kabrenlevinson.com

I will be streaming my capstone presentation tomorrow, Wednesday May 21st at 12:00 PM EST. My capstone was all the Academic/Educational Technology work I’ve been doing over the past many months. Check it out. Join in in the discussion remotely! I hope the stream will work, school Internet is slow.

Click here to watch the stream, or look below. Here’s the Facebook event.

Stream:
Broadcast powered by Ustream.TV

Chat:

Read this blog post to understand what I’m talking about. Also, those videos I’ve talked about will be put up on Sunday – I got a little busy.

A Tech Fellow

Working with Martha was a job for a “tech fellow,” a crucial part of my educational technology program. Over the past few days, with the help of the assistant head of the school, I’ve been rethinking the roles of the “tech fellow.” Much of our conversation had to do with the marketing and branding of the “Tech Fellows” program. We used the Geek Squad as an example; they have uniforms, they’re easy to identify; they have phone numbers, they’re easy to contact; they have cars, they come to YOU. A “tech fellow” just doesn’t sound right – if I were a teacher, and was deciding between contactacting a “tech fellow” or the “tech squad,” for example, I’d probably call the “tech squad.” We need to make it known who we are, make sure it’s easy to contact us, and make it clear that we (the student) will come to YOU (the teacher). Of course, since this is high school, we won’t actually have the uniforms and cars (I wish), but metaphorically, we will.

Customer Service

Another aspect of being a “tech fellow” or on a “tech squad” is customer service. Instead of walking into the job with an agenda, we need to make an “ego-less swoop.” A tech fellow neds to make sure the teacher is in control; we ask what the teacher wants to accomplish with technology, before jumping into what we think they should be doing. Even though my school is a progressive school, for teachers, suddenly having students be the “smart ones” will be tough, and perhaps, frightening.

It’s a Brand

A lot of the issues I’m facing right now have to do with marketing and branding – how can I get teachers to use and enjoy an educational implementation of the Geek Squad. As the assistant head of my school said, you’d be more likely to call upon “Mr. Fix-It” than “Boston Electric” because “Mr. Fix-It” contains the word fix – Mr. Fix-It will fix my problem.

Video

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been focusing primarily on the Tech Fellows aspect of my EduTech project. A few weeks ago, I began working with Martha, a History teacher at my school, to figure out how she could use technology more in her classroom. We talked a lot about her use of the school’s discussion forum – she’s an early adopter. I figured she should start a blog that would allow her to post items for the class and would require students to post, comment, and respond to other students’ work. You can see her blog here: http://marthasclass.edublogs.org.

Conversation

One of the problems with her use of the forum, was that it wasn’t being used to start a conversation – basically, it was an alternative way for the students to turn in the homework. Even though a discussion forum is a fantastic way to have a group conversation, conversation and response weren’t identified as requirements. On her new blog, students are being graded on their ability to comment and respond on other students’ work.

This mod, each of you will be responsible for writing 1 starter post (about 250 - 500 words) and commenting on other people’s posts 3 times a week.

Right now, a students posted homework assignment has 22 comments! To me, that’s a successful conversation.

Confidence

When Martha first asked students to post their homework assignments to the forum, students started complaining about the use of the forum, on the forum. I saw two major complaints: they didn’t understand why they were posting to the forum and they were uncomfortable with their work being available to other students (they were nervous). First of all, I was amazed that this conversation hating on the forum was happening on the forum – without the forum, the technology, the students would never have shared their ideas in such a way. Martha and I decided that one of the goals for her new blog needed to be about helping them become more confident in themselves and more comfortable sharing their ideas with classmates. I have gotten a lot from blogging; these days, I’m not afraid to write to the world, and my writing skill has improved (practice makes perfect).

Is it working?

So far, I haven’t heard, or seen, any public outcry about the blog on the blog – seems this is working out. There’s one other teacher at the school I know of using a blog to post homework assignments, and hopefully, I will be able to use these two teachers as evidence that installing Wordpress MU (Multi-User) would be a good thing for the school.

It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post – and that doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening. In fact, a lot has been happening, in life, in technology, in everything. I’ve been accepted to two colleges in the past week! It’s reassuring, you know, to get into a school or two.

To start this off, spring is right around the corner. I love spring, it’s my favorite season, fall comes next, and summer and winter can fight it out. Everything just feels fresh in spring, metaphorically and literally. But spring isn’t all new beginnings, because, as a student, you’ve still got about a quarter of the year to finish up. So, spring is the earth refreshing itself, but it doesn’t forget what went on. Damn.

My technology program has been going well. I successfully deployed my technology survey around the school – now I am beginning the process of evaluation, going through each one and extracting the data we want right now. What we’re most interested in is laptop ownership around the school, and whether students thought computers were a vital educational resource. The main aspect of my project I’m focusing on now, is a Student Tech Fellows program, which would allow for students to work one-on-one with faculty and staff members on technology, whether it be designing course curricula that employs technology successfully, or simply learning how to set up a projector. Students would be able to get School Service credit for participating in the program, and they’d also have an official title, “Technology Fellow,” they could put on resumes and college applications. I’m designing the “rigorous” selection process for the program, because if it’s too easy to get in, or become a member, it won’t be as successful – we need to make sure people feel like they need to work to accomplish the title of “Technology Fellow.” Things have been going well, I think.

I got accepted to the beta of Aviary, “a suite of web-based applications (RIAs) for people who create. From image editing to typography to music to 3D to video, we have a tool for artists of all genres.” So far I’m impressed that this is all happening on the web. A few weeks ago, when I applied for the beta, I thought that this was like Adobe Creative Suite. So far, these seem to be amazing web applications that are taking the web in another direction. Expect a full review soon. The one bad thing: it seems to be based off M$ .NET ASP architecture junk. Eek.

I’ve missed blogging. I’ll do more.

Photo Credits:
Kabren Levinson
Aviary
visbeek

Edit: Sorry guys, my parents made me remove the video. Maybe I’ll rerecord it tomorrow, we’ll see.

-Kabren

Thought I’d post another video. Here’s an update on my technology project.

Let me know what you think.

tech@csw from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Yesterday morning, I found out about Educon 2.0 from Whitney Hoffman on Twitter. I really wish I could attend the conference. Yesterday, I was watching a session about “Learning to Teach: First Year Teaching in a Progressive School,” and today I’m watching two sessions, one on Student Voice, and one on Student Led Technical Support. It’s right up my alley. These educators have radical ideas about the future of education.

Sometime in the next two weeks, I will be leading a 1.5 hour faculty seminar at my school, the Cambridge School of Weston, about podcasting. I spoke for about 5 minutes at the faculty meeting on Thursday about my project, they seemed impressed. My hope is to get some of the faculty/staff to sign up for my course which will be offered in Mod 5 (starting February 11th and lasts approximately 5 weeks). The course title is “New Social Media: Podcasting, Blogging, and Internet Journalism”. I can only fit 10 people in the class, so far, I have three or four faculty/staff members interested (I have 10 interested in my seminar so far). This is really exciting for me. Right now, I’m designing what the seminar will look like and creating a Keynote presentation.

(photo credit: taylorkoa22)

I realize now that my program is less about technology and learning/teaching technical skills and more about radically shifting the power paradigm in education. I need some help. I need resources on education, teaching, and technology. What do you think of the course? Would you take it, as a student or a teacher?

Feel free to email me.

At my high school, The Cambridge School of Weston, I am creating a technology program for my senior project. Quite a project, eh? At school, I see this initiative more than necessary. The school has been left behind technologically; for example, the main line for Internet is a T1 (1MB up, 1MB down), servicing over 300 people, including 80 boarding students.

Late last month, Dan Coleman, the assistant head of the school, approached me asking if we wanted to talk about technology in the school. Before Dan and I spoke, a teacher had said “Hey, has Dan talked to you yet?,” and a good friend said that Dan would be talking to me to create a technology committee. Well, we started talking. I spoke about how the school is falling behind – it’s so progressive in its academics and the arts, but what happened to technology? I came to the idea that there should be a student-led/created curriculum and a student technology committee. And that’s where it started.

So, this mod, I started working with him in “School Service” on these courses and the committee. But I realized, this should be a whole program, not just a few courses, but an entire program. Since I started working with him, I’ve turned this venture into my Capstone senior project. I am now creating a technology program at my school.

The program is called “tech@csw” . This program will have four components; a Student Information Technology Strategy Team (the ITST), a student-led and created curriculum on technology, partnerships, and special student technology initiatives. Right now I am writing a main proposal (vision, mission, and description) for the project, and several “mini proposals” for the components. The ITST has already met twice and has a Facebook group. Right now I’m designing a website for the program and the team.

Since I began writing this post about a week ago, new things have happened. Instead of overplanning the program, I want to jump into action and get things moving. One of the teachers at the last ITST meeting (yesterday), gave me the idea of leading a faculty seminar on something about technology (probably recording a podcast or setting up a blog, or both). That will (hopefully) happen within the next few weeks. After that, starting sometime in February, I will (hopefully) be teaching my first course, giving the program more credibility and momentum.

I want to hear what you all think. I want your input. This is huge for me. I never thought I’d be doing something like this… Here’s my email address: kabren@kabrenlevinson.com. Please don’t hesitate.