Comments on: The bug that never bit http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452 Technology and Education Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:52:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Andrew J http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-1780 Andrew J Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:59:15 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-1780 <blockquote>"However, in my experience, students are seldom shown and taught how the world wide web can actually enhance their education and enrich their lives."</blockquote> It is such a shame that so much energy is spent on warning people off the internet, social networks and so on. I can't remember seeing a news report about technology and kids that put it all in a positive light. From what I have seen in class, students often know how to use the technology for their own lives but not necessarily for their education. If only some of the teachers who are paralysed by fear were to approach technology more positively; with their knowledge and expertise, the potential for its use in education would increase even more.

“However, in my experience, students are seldom shown and taught how the world wide web can actually enhance their education and enrich their lives.”

It is such a shame that so much energy is spent on warning people off the internet, social networks and so on. I can’t remember seeing a news report about technology and kids that put it all in a positive light.

From what I have seen in class, students often know how to use the technology for their own lives but not necessarily for their education. If only some of the teachers who are paralysed by fear were to approach technology more positively; with their knowledge and expertise, the potential for its use in education would increase even more.

]]> By: Andrew J http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-2990 Andrew J Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:59:00 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-2990 <blockquote>"However, in my experience, students are seldom shown and taught how the world wide web can actually enhance their education and enrich their lives."</blockquote> It is such a shame that so much energy is spent on warning people off the internet, social networks and so on. I can't remember seeing a news report about technology and kids that put it all in a positive light. From what I have seen in class, students often know how to use the technology for their own lives but not necessarily for their education. If only some of the teachers who are paralysed by fear were to approach technology more positively; with their knowledge and expertise, the potential for its use in education would increase even more.

“However, in my experience, students are seldom shown and taught how the world wide web can actually enhance their education and enrich their lives.”

It is such a shame that so much energy is spent on warning people off the internet, social networks and so on. I can’t remember seeing a news report about technology and kids that put it all in a positive light.

From what I have seen in class, students often know how to use the technology for their own lives but not necessarily for their education. If only some of the teachers who are paralysed by fear were to approach technology more positively; with their knowledge and expertise, the potential for its use in education would increase even more.

]]> By: dominic_mcg http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-1779 dominic_mcg Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:00:24 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-1779 Great post, José. I always think that the internet should be handled in the same way as an experienced person would handle a dog: treat it with respect and with care and you'll have great experiences with it, don't ever let it know you're scared or afraid of it , always have one eye on it just in case, and never leave it with children unsupervised. Keep up the good work. Great post, José.
I always think that the internet should be handled in the same way as an experienced person would handle a dog: treat it with respect and with care and you’ll have great experiences with it, don’t ever let it know you’re scared or afraid of it , always have one eye on it just in case, and never leave it with children unsupervised.
Keep up the good work.

]]> By: dominic_mcg http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-2989 dominic_mcg Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:00:00 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-2989 Great post, José. I always think that the internet should be handled in the same way as an experienced person would handle a dog: treat it with respect and with care and you'll have great experiences with it, don't ever let it know you're scared or afraid of it , always have one eye on it just in case, and never leave it with children unsupervised. Keep up the good work. Great post, José.
I always think that the internet should be handled in the same way as an experienced person would handle a dog: treat it with respect and with care and you’ll have great experiences with it, don’t ever let it know you’re scared or afraid of it , always have one eye on it just in case, and never leave it with children unsupervised.
Keep up the good work.

]]> By: Marion Hubbard http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-1778 Marion Hubbard Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:35:55 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-1778 that's an interesting coincidence - I'm about to start my next assignment for my counselling course - and am also thinking of writing it around fear, and resultant restricted practice - ie now being afraid to help children in need because we adults are afraid of the consequences.... Re the millenium bug - some of those might have been written by my brother.... it was more cost effective not to program around the date change, which wasn't going to make much difference anyway - however, I believe he did a reasonable trade in going around fixing his own 'bugs'.... that’s an interesting coincidence – I’m about to start my next assignment for my counselling course – and am also thinking of writing it around fear, and resultant restricted practice – ie now being afraid to help children in need because we adults are afraid of the consequences….
Re the millenium bug – some of those might have been written by my brother…. it was more cost effective not to program around the date change, which wasn’t going to make much difference anyway – however, I believe he did a reasonable trade in going around fixing his own ‘bugs’….

]]> By: Marion Hubbard http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-2988 Marion Hubbard Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:35:00 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-2988 that's an interesting coincidence - I'm about to start my next assignment for my counselling course - and am also thinking of writing it around fear, and resultant restricted practice - ie now being afraid to help children in need because we adults are afraid of the consequences.... Re the millenium bug - some of those might have been written by my brother.... it was more cost effective not to program around the date change, which wasn't going to make much difference anyway - however, I believe he did a reasonable trade in going around fixing his own 'bugs'.... that’s an interesting coincidence – I’m about to start my next assignment for my counselling course – and am also thinking of writing it around fear, and resultant restricted practice – ie now being afraid to help children in need because we adults are afraid of the consequences….
Re the millenium bug – some of those might have been written by my brother…. it was more cost effective not to program around the date change, which wasn’t going to make much difference anyway – however, I believe he did a reasonable trade in going around fixing his own ‘bugs’….

]]> By: Simon Howells http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-1777 Simon Howells Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:14:24 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-1777 What a great post Jose. I can't help thinking that the hysterical atmosphere around child protection matters in the UK has moved the debate far too far away from anything resembling a balanced discussion. The resultant over-emphasis on child protection (witness the recent CRB madness) means some schools will choose to give Web 2.0 a wide berth without investigating it properly. A crying shame as it can be a massive motivational lever for us as teaching professionals. Not one uf us thinks these issues aren't important - it's just that we can still see the wood for the trees, I hope! What a great post Jose. I can’t help thinking that the hysterical atmosphere around child protection matters in the UK has moved the debate far too far away from anything resembling a balanced discussion. The resultant over-emphasis on child protection (witness the recent CRB madness) means some schools will choose to give Web 2.0 a wide berth without investigating it properly. A crying shame as it can be a massive motivational lever for us as teaching professionals. Not one uf us thinks these issues aren’t important – it’s just that we can still see the wood for the trees, I hope!

]]> By: Simon Howells http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-2987 Simon Howells Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:14:00 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-2987 What a great post Jose. I can't help thinking that the hysterical atmosphere around child protection matters in the UK has moved the debate far too far away from anything resembling a balanced discussion. The resultant over-emphasis on child protection (witness the recent CRB madness) means some schools will choose to give Web 2.0 a wide berth without investigating it properly. A crying shame as it can be a massive motivational lever for us as teaching professionals. Not one uf us thinks these issues aren't important - it's just that we can still see the wood for the trees, I hope! What a great post Jose. I can’t help thinking that the hysterical atmosphere around child protection matters in the UK has moved the debate far too far away from anything resembling a balanced discussion. The resultant over-emphasis on child protection (witness the recent CRB madness) means some schools will choose to give Web 2.0 a wide berth without investigating it properly. A crying shame as it can be a massive motivational lever for us as teaching professionals. Not one uf us thinks these issues aren’t important – it’s just that we can still see the wood for the trees, I hope!

]]> By: Graham Davies http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-1776 Graham Davies Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:55:34 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-1776 I remember the Millennium Bug scare very well. Partly, there was genuine fear about what would happen with all those old (and still used) COBOL programs that were written when the year was expressed in two digits in order to save memory. Partly, it was a con. A friend of mine who was an ICT consultant bought himself a program for £10 that fixed the date problem on PCs. He would go into businesses and fix all their PCs for £50 a time. It took around one minute per PC to run the program. He made a fortune! I received dozens of letters from ICT managers in schools and universities asking me to confirm that software that I had sold them was millennium-compliant. I answered each one in the same way, saying that I could not do so as I was not aware of anything relating to the millennium bug in software for modern foreign languages and that in any case I would need them to confirm that all their software and hardware was also millennium-compliant. Not one ever wrote back. On 30 December 1999 my father-in-law died. My wife Sally was with him in Belfast at the time, and I had to book flight tickets to get myself over to Belfast immediately and my two daughters a few days later for the funeral. I had no trouble getting tickets at short notice. The flight over to Belfast was only two-thirds full and the flight back for the four of us had plenty of room too. I cannot recall any major disasters resulting from the so-called Millennium Bug. Many countries spent millions on preventing its consequences – all for nothing. I recall that the Italian government chose to ignore it and there were no adverse effects – but they saved a fortune. The Web can be dangerous, so can the road outside my house, so I keep a strong hand on my dog’s collar when I open our front door to tradesmen and visitors and I keep the door locked when my grandchildren are in our house. A sensible degree of caution and foresight is all that is called for. Graham I remember the Millennium Bug scare very well. Partly, there was genuine fear about what would happen with all those old (and still used) COBOL programs that were written when the year was expressed in two digits in order to save memory. Partly, it was a con. A friend of mine who was an ICT consultant bought himself a program for £10 that fixed the date problem on PCs. He would go into businesses and fix all their PCs for £50 a time. It took around one minute per PC to run the program. He made a fortune!

I received dozens of letters from ICT managers in schools and universities asking me to confirm that software that I had sold them was millennium-compliant. I answered each one in the same way, saying that I could not do so as I was not aware of anything relating to the millennium bug in software for modern foreign languages and that in any case I would need them to confirm that all their software and hardware was also millennium-compliant. Not one ever wrote back.

On 30 December 1999 my father-in-law died. My wife Sally was with him in Belfast at the time, and I had to book flight tickets to get myself over to Belfast immediately and my two daughters a few days later for the funeral. I had no trouble getting tickets at short notice. The flight over to Belfast was only two-thirds full and the flight back for the four of us had plenty of room too.

I cannot recall any major disasters resulting from the so-called Millennium Bug. Many countries spent millions on preventing its consequences – all for nothing. I recall that the Italian government chose to ignore it and there were no adverse effects – but they saved a fortune.

The Web can be dangerous, so can the road outside my house, so I keep a strong hand on my dog’s collar when I open our front door to tradesmen and visitors and I keep the door locked when my grandchildren are in our house. A sensible degree of caution and foresight is all that is called for.

Graham

]]> By: Graham Davies http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452&cpage=1#comment-2986 Graham Davies Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:55:00 +0000 http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=1452#comment-2986 I remember the Millennium Bug scare very well. Partly, there was genuine fear about what would happen with all those old (and still used) COBOL programs that were written when the year was expressed in two digits in order to save memory. Partly, it was a con. A friend of mine who was an ICT consultant bought himself a program for £10 that fixed the date problem on PCs. He would go into businesses and fix all their PCs for £50 a time. It took around one minute per PC to run the program. He made a fortune! I received dozens of letters from ICT managers in schools and universities asking me to confirm that software that I had sold them was millennium-compliant. I answered each one in the same way, saying that I could not do so as I was not aware of anything relating to the millennium bug in software for modern foreign languages and that in any case I would need them to confirm that all their software and hardware was also millennium-compliant. Not one ever wrote back. On 30 December 1999 my father-in-law died. My wife Sally was with him in Belfast at the time, and I had to book flight tickets to get myself over to Belfast immediately and my two daughters a few days later for the funeral. I had no trouble getting tickets at short notice. The flight over to Belfast was only two-thirds full and the flight back for the four of us had plenty of room too. I cannot recall any major disasters resulting from the so-called Millennium Bug. Many countries spent millions on preventing its consequences – all for nothing. I recall that the Italian government chose to ignore it and there were no adverse effects – but they saved a fortune. The Web can be dangerous, so can the road outside my house, so I keep a strong hand on my dog’s collar when I open our front door to tradesmen and visitors and I keep the door locked when my grandchildren are in our house. A sensible degree of caution and foresight is all that is called for. Graham I remember the Millennium Bug scare very well. Partly, there was genuine fear about what would happen with all those old (and still used) COBOL programs that were written when the year was expressed in two digits in order to save memory. Partly, it was a con. A friend of mine who was an ICT consultant bought himself a program for £10 that fixed the date problem on PCs. He would go into businesses and fix all their PCs for £50 a time. It took around one minute per PC to run the program. He made a fortune!

I received dozens of letters from ICT managers in schools and universities asking me to confirm that software that I had sold them was millennium-compliant. I answered each one in the same way, saying that I could not do so as I was not aware of anything relating to the millennium bug in software for modern foreign languages and that in any case I would need them to confirm that all their software and hardware was also millennium-compliant. Not one ever wrote back.

On 30 December 1999 my father-in-law died. My wife Sally was with him in Belfast at the time, and I had to book flight tickets to get myself over to Belfast immediately and my two daughters a few days later for the funeral. I had no trouble getting tickets at short notice. The flight over to Belfast was only two-thirds full and the flight back for the four of us had plenty of room too.

I cannot recall any major disasters resulting from the so-called Millennium Bug. Many countries spent millions on preventing its consequences – all for nothing. I recall that the Italian government chose to ignore it and there were no adverse effects – but they saved a fortune.

The Web can be dangerous, so can the road outside my house, so I keep a strong hand on my dog’s collar when I open our front door to tradesmen and visitors and I keep the door locked when my grandchildren are in our house. A sensible degree of caution and foresight is all that is called for.

Graham

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