This week's readings

Well it’s obvious I’m not much of a blogger. I did enjoy this week’s podcast and found I like listening to the podcast a lot better than reading a 25 page report. I think the Maine initiative is showing some great results.

I did have a few questions I thought of while listening to the podcast. The first was why they are blocking IM ports. It would seem if they want students to communicate and collaborate they would have these ports open.

The second is more a larger problem than a question. How can we get affordable DSL or broadband to everyone including rural areas? I have a friend now that lives between Waterloo and Denver IA. The only connection he can get is dialup or satellite. He has thought about getting satellite but is finding it hard to justify the $400 setup fee and the $80 a month service fee. He also has to sign a 2 year contract for this service. His main reason for looking into it is that he has one daughter in high school and one nearing that age. His daughter is complaining that their dial up is too slow when trying to download pictures, video, or any other large files.
I see a couple of solutions to this problem one would be for government to subsidize companies to install service to these areas the second would be for the government to mandate that if a company is going to service the large metropolitan areas they must also serve the rural areas.

The other part of the podcast I found interesting was the “Leadership training for principles.” This is the first time I have heard of this type of training in the area of technology and after listening it just seemed to make sense. They are the leaders of the schools they really need to know.