Two students from Spelman College recently won The 2010 AT&T Big Mobile on Campus Challenge (SM). Jonecia Keel and Jazmine Miller, both of whom are dual degree majors in computer science and computer engineering, developed an iPhone App called HBCU Buddy.
I was so excited to learn about this application that I immediately grabbed my iPhone and visited Apple's App Store to download the app. Jonecia and Jazmine have become producers and I LOVE it. Hopefully, other HBCU's who do not have their students engaged in such competitions or at least include opportunities to develop mobile application for platforms such as the iPhone and the iPad as part of their computer science curriculum.
After downloading the app it was great to see the splash page which credits Miss Keel and Miss Miller and the INVENTORS and DEVELOPERS of the application. These two young women have joined the ranks of Garrett Morgan and Lewis Latimer as inventors and producers of products using the technology of the time. This helps our young people to identify and believe that we belong in this space.
The application provides quite a bit of functionality for its first release. HBCU Buddy includes an extensive list of HBCU's that you can view alphabetically. You can also list the institutions by ranking, region, and state. Once you select the HBCU of your choice, you are provided with a wealth of information regarding that school.
For example, I selected Fisk University, and I immediately learned that its overall HBCU rank is 4. I also learned that the average ACT score is 17-21 and that instate tuition is $17,000. There is also section that lists all of the majors offered. For high school students preparing for their college careers, having this information at their fingertips could prove to be quite useful.
There is also contact information on each HBCU to include maps and directions as well as the ability to navigate to the schools website from within HBCU buddy. I have only given a glimpse of what HBCU Buddy can do.
It also includes a social media component and I understand our young inventors are hard at work to enhance the virtual features, and hopefully we can expect a version optimized for the iPad in the near future as well as versions for BlackBerry and Android devices.
At this time HBCU Buddy is a free app that you can download from Apple's App Store. You can learn more about HBCU Buddy here.
Congratulations Jonecia and Jazmine on a job well done!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Friday, November 19, 2010
Computer Science Education Week
December 5th thru 11th is Computer Science Education Week. CSEdWeek 2010 is a call to action to raise awareness about computer science education and computing careers. CSEdWeek is endorsed by the U.S. Congress and is in recognition of the birthday of computing pioneer Admiral Grace Hopper (December 9, 1906). You can learn more by visiting http://www.csedweek.org/
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Buy a Book Once. Read It Everywhere
Most of what I read has to do with personal development since I intend to continue to improve myself as long as I am on the planet. My goal is to be the best Kai Dupé that I can be before my time is done. The idea that people who continue to learn are the most successful has been documented for many years.
Technology is moving so fast these days it is hard to keep pace. Now there are many ways for active learners to consume knowledge. I think this is very exciting. Big changes are happening with books. We now have digital books. We have e-books and we also have books online via Google Books.
I have over 500 books in my library. This creation of eBooks reminds me of when the music industry moved from cassettes to compact discs. I remember rebuilding my entire collection. It was very expensive. One of my favorite albums of all time is Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall. I had that recording in 8-track. I subsequently purchase the cassette, cd, and now mp3 version of the record to listen to on my iPod.
I found myself doing the same thing now when it comes to my library of books. It is not quite as expensive this time since I have learned to only rebuild those members of my library that I truly love. There are so books that I have enjoyed and I will keep them, but I see no reason to have copies in several media. What I have done is develop a strategy for purchasing new books for my library. Here is my strategy:
1. I purchase a print copy of the book. This may be hardcopy or paperback. But this is going to be my master copy. This copy stays in my office on my bookshelf. Since I do actually enjoying reading a print copy I will read this copy of the book if I am reading at home.
2. I also purchase a Kindle version of the same book. This usually costs me $9.99 on Amazon’s Kindle store.
3. I have downloaded Kindle Readers (these are free from Amazon). I have a reader for my mac, iPad, desktop PC, iPhone, and Kindle. Now when I am traveling or at work, or in the gym I wish to read a book from my library I can read it any where and I only paid for the content once.
This strategy has worked great for me. I have actually found scenarios to use each one of the readers. I have been on line at the grocery store and found myself spending a few minutes reading on my iPhone. Sometimes on breaks in a meeting I have found myself reading on my iPad.
I also read quite a bit in my hotel room from the iPad. I find when I am relaxing maybe outside or reading a book that is not work related that I choose to read on my Kindle. The Kindle is also nice on flights when I am dedicated to reading and do not wish to serve the web or check email
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Mastering the technology of the Mind
Recent research by Jane Margolis and Mark Warschauer regarding why certain groups are under-represented in computing suggests that it is a social issue as much as it is an access issue. Much has been written regarding the achievement gap between African Americans and their counterparts.
In virtually every metric of educational achievement African Americans are behind. In this knowledge-based economy, this concern has moved forward with concerns regarding digital equity, and the digital divide, the gap between African Americans and their contemporaries in terms of adoption of technology.
These problems begin with the mindset that many African American students adopt as young students. The first piece of technology that students must master is their mind. They must master their thoughts and protect them from the toxic messages of under achievement they may have received from well-meaning teachers, students, peers and leaders.
Before African Americans, or any group for that matter, deals with the programming of their most important technology, their minds, it does not matter how much reform is put in place or how much money is spent on equipment and programs. Here are a few of the ways we are planting the seeds of educational technology incompetence.
Labeling Students
Let’s stop referring to our students using labels. A few that are particularly disturbing to me are at-risk, under-performing, under-achieving, disadvantaged, and low-income. We don’t label the teachers. Why label the students? After all, isn’t this all about the students? If we simply must label students, although I'm not sure why we need to, why not give them an empowering moniker such as improved, developing, or performing-at-his-or-her pace?
If it is known that students learn in different ways, should not our approaches to educating them be varied as well? These labels send messages to the students. They become thoughts as well as beliefs and soon the students themselves begin to question their own abilities. If you label and program them to fail and underachieve, that is exactly what they are going to do.
Negative Conditioning
All students need to affirm and be affirmed. It would also help if they could connect with the idea that they can be innovators and producers of technology. Students who are of minority ethnic groups need to be able to see and identify with people who look like them as engineers, computer scientists and technologists. There is much in the literature regarding how well students perform when teachers have higher expectations of them.
It has been reported recently that minority students and women are discouraged during their college years by instructors from pursuing careers in science. The word discourage consists of the prefix dis- which means to remove and of course the word courage. Discourage means to remove courage. Obviously, this does not seem ideal that instructors are removing courage from students who wish to enter the science fields.
But this makes my point precisely. The first thing that must happen to improve this situation is that students must be ENCOURAGED. Courage is defined as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. The key words in this definition are quality of mind. This is where the difference is made in the mind. This is where the change needs to take place, not only with the students but also as mentioned above with those whom have been entrusted with the awesome responsibility and privilege of educating our youth.
Programming for Success
The first piece of technology that needs to be integrated by student and teacher is the technology of the mind. Parents, teachers, leaders, and the students themselves need to practice being mindful of their thoughts and words.
Any idea, thought, or practice that is not uplifting or encouraging needs to done away with. Teachers need to replace thoughts such as “I’m not computer literate” with something more positive such as “I have not learned this technology yet, but I will learn it to be a better model for my students and a more effective educator.” There is no technology or social media that can do this for you. But if the mind is programmed first the rest will follow.
Hotep!
In virtually every metric of educational achievement African Americans are behind. In this knowledge-based economy, this concern has moved forward with concerns regarding digital equity, and the digital divide, the gap between African Americans and their contemporaries in terms of adoption of technology.
These problems begin with the mindset that many African American students adopt as young students. The first piece of technology that students must master is their mind. They must master their thoughts and protect them from the toxic messages of under achievement they may have received from well-meaning teachers, students, peers and leaders.
Before African Americans, or any group for that matter, deals with the programming of their most important technology, their minds, it does not matter how much reform is put in place or how much money is spent on equipment and programs. Here are a few of the ways we are planting the seeds of educational technology incompetence.
Labeling Students
Let’s stop referring to our students using labels. A few that are particularly disturbing to me are at-risk, under-performing, under-achieving, disadvantaged, and low-income. We don’t label the teachers. Why label the students? After all, isn’t this all about the students? If we simply must label students, although I'm not sure why we need to, why not give them an empowering moniker such as improved, developing, or performing-at-his-or-her pace?
If it is known that students learn in different ways, should not our approaches to educating them be varied as well? These labels send messages to the students. They become thoughts as well as beliefs and soon the students themselves begin to question their own abilities. If you label and program them to fail and underachieve, that is exactly what they are going to do.
Negative Conditioning
All students need to affirm and be affirmed. It would also help if they could connect with the idea that they can be innovators and producers of technology. Students who are of minority ethnic groups need to be able to see and identify with people who look like them as engineers, computer scientists and technologists. There is much in the literature regarding how well students perform when teachers have higher expectations of them.
It has been reported recently that minority students and women are discouraged during their college years by instructors from pursuing careers in science. The word discourage consists of the prefix dis- which means to remove and of course the word courage. Discourage means to remove courage. Obviously, this does not seem ideal that instructors are removing courage from students who wish to enter the science fields.
But this makes my point precisely. The first thing that must happen to improve this situation is that students must be ENCOURAGED. Courage is defined as the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery. The key words in this definition are quality of mind. This is where the difference is made in the mind. This is where the change needs to take place, not only with the students but also as mentioned above with those whom have been entrusted with the awesome responsibility and privilege of educating our youth.
Programming for Success
The first piece of technology that needs to be integrated by student and teacher is the technology of the mind. Parents, teachers, leaders, and the students themselves need to practice being mindful of their thoughts and words.
Any idea, thought, or practice that is not uplifting or encouraging needs to done away with. Teachers need to replace thoughts such as “I’m not computer literate” with something more positive such as “I have not learned this technology yet, but I will learn it to be a better model for my students and a more effective educator.” There is no technology or social media that can do this for you. But if the mind is programmed first the rest will follow.
Hotep!
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