Tomorrow, tomorrow...

I never would have predicted this as the school year started. But that is just how fast technology changes.

I now have four XO laptops in my third grade classroom. We also have 12 screaming multimedia machines, 2 laser printers, and 5 wireless laptops.

Playing with Mark's XO
Originally uploaded by timlauer

Guess which computers are in the highest demand? The XO laptops, of course. Slow-mo, no matter. Small screens and limited processing speed, so what? If you are a kid, these machines are irresistable. Heck , if you're a grown-up, they're pretty cool, too.

Today we turned a page and leapt into another dimension. We started a chat with somebody in east Texas - Longview, to be exact. On the Internet, via a Jabber server.

My kids were really stunned. They had been having a great time the past week chatting with each other in class. But when somebody is writing to you, realtime, from 1,000 miles away, well, it makes you put down your crayons.

When the school day was over I connected with "Hans" again, via chat. I set up one more of our XO's and joined it to the chat. I got another teacher to be in charge of that one. We soon switched to "Record". Take a picture on your XO, and everybody sees it. Record a video on your XO, and everybody sees it.

Real time. All three of us contributing - at once. We took pictures, we made videos. Everything each of us captured was available to all of us - immediately. This is such amazing technology, and the potential is so exciting.

My kids will have a fun day tomorrow. That IS what it's all about.

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