[MACEP] Parent's Guide to Computers in Education--Free book from Dave Moursund

[Rory Bowman]

Thanks very much for yet another great resource. I always appreciate 
your ebooks and haven't said thank you enough. Thank you. I'm only 
about halfway through but I especially appreciate the "islands of 
expertise" concept, cautioning parents against "gee-whiz-bang" 
intimidation and the emerging distinction between knowledge and 
wisdom.

You prompt me to prepare for the autumn onslaught of questions about 
"what computer is best for my child" questions and the shocked looks 
as I usually answer "none." I wish that more folks took the time to 
consider what the Alliance For Children has called "fool's gold" and 
what Clifford Stohl called "silicon snake oil." To a large extent I 
fear that computers are the new "plug in drug" and that Jerry Mander 
should rewrite his four arguments to include an afterward on other 
technology.

One of the more interesting developmental arguments I have heard is 
how electronic media (such as computers and television) inhibit the 
development of imagination in school ages before puberty. Aside from 
the "big bad wolf" fear of sexual predation on the Internet, I see 
the real-world use of computers becoming less and less like books and 
more and more like cable television.

My own thoughts on this are at http://weblog.macrory.com this week, 
but a few resources very much worth noting in addition to your book 
are at the Alliance for Childhood at 
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/projects/computers/

As technology educators I find that often people come to us expecting 
us to be cheerleaders for tech rather than as thinking adults who 
care deeply about the longer-term health of children and society. 
Certainly there is a lot of food for thought between now and 
curriculum night open house!

  - R

At 9:33 AM -0700 8/17/06, David Moursund wrote:
>Hi:
>
>I have just completed a 100 page book titled Parent's Guide to 
>Computers in Education. It is available for free download from my 
>Website:
>
><http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/Books/Parents/Parents-Guide.html>http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/Books/Parents/Parents-Guide.html
>
>The book is intended for parents of K-12 students, preservice 
>teachers, and inservice teachers. It consists of 19 short chapters, 
>each ending with some specific advice to parents. The first chapter 
>is the longest. It is 7 pages covering Threats and Opportunities. 
>Most chapters are 4 pages in length, each covering a single topic.
>
>This is the eighth in my current series of free books. 
>See <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/dave/Free.html>http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/dave/Free.html.
>
>
>Dave Moursund
>
>Teacher Education, College of Education
>
>University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403
>
><http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/dave/index.htm>http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~moursund/dave/index.htm
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Rory Bowman, MacRory at macrory.com, (360) 695-6929
MacRory.Com Macintosh Consulting, Services & Training
"I optimize Macs & teach people to use them." http://www.macrory.com