Comments on: YottaByte Group: The future for Oregon tech education

By: Rick Turoczy

Rick Turoczy — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:09:00 +0000

Dear anonymous Intel employee “Never Mind,”

If Silicon Florist is the sucky site that ate your comment, I apologize.

Not that you’re going to recreate it, but I’d love to have it as part of the conversation.

If you send it to siliconflorist at gmail, I’ll make sure it gets posted.

By: Never Mind

Never Mind — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:01:55 +0000

Site sucks. Ate my response because it didn’t ‘like’ my email address. Sorry for being so international.

By: Derek Brandow

Derek Brandow — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:28:19 +0000

@ Mike Vogel, You have some great comments about age appropriateness and the use of technology in schools. To clarify, The YB Group is catering to middle and high school students. These kids have reached a couple of places in their development.
Cognitively, kids at this age are moving into a place to think more abstractly. This is critical to what we are cultivating in kids.
Socially, kids are using technology in rich ways. However when they come to school they have to ‘power down’ (see PEW International reports on technology in schools). Generally speaking, they don’t have access to useful technology, or people who engage appropriate uses of technology for learning in schools (although there are many teachers out there blazing bright trails).
We hope to connect with kids as they emerge into a place of abstract thinking, and create a rich environment where they can integrate technology into their process of learning, among other things.
We’ll leave the three ol’ Rs to the established system for the time being.

@Les Tipton- have we met?

By: Mike Vogel

Mike Vogel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:48:31 +0000

I also grew up coding BASIC on a Commodore 64:

10 PRINT “MIKE IS AWESOME”
20 GOTO 10

It’s great for learning logic, but I don’t think that’s how kids engage with technology today. In a sense, computer technology was in its elementary stages the same time as we were, so it was a good match. Not so much anymore.

I point this (and my previous comment) out because I think they are the type of arguments YottaByte may encounter from parents and/or educators. Knowing some of the resistance they face might help them successfully cater their mission.

Also, YottaByte should check out ThinkQuest, which is sponsored by Oracle:
http://www.thinkquest.org/

By: kfox

kfox — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:53:33 +0000

I have met the YB guys before and was very impressed, would love to teach for them some day. There was always a computer in my house, and while it was not central to my early education it was nice being comfortable with the technology when my peers were not.

By: Rick Turoczy

Rick Turoczy — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:09:42 +0000

Not to imply—in any way—that my experience is the appropriate one, but I was introduced to coding on a TRS-80 in third grade. I am sure that this early introduction to technology and logic has shaped who I am today in a very positive way.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:25:58 +0000

Mike is right. You need to be able to read, write and do simple math – and thats the goal of elementary education. The time to specialize is later.

By: Mike Vogel

Mike Vogel — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:47:36 +0000

I’m a total tech enthusiast and a parent. Technology and elementary education don’t really go together. Kids need to learn fundamentals and how to reason and troubleshoot before they can apply those skills to technology.

With the speed of innovation, I can’t imagine most technology used by a first grader would be relevant by the time they got to high school. Will keyboards even be used in ten years?

Also, just to nit-pick their mission statement, I’d rather prepare my kids for a global community, not a global marketplace. Technology gets outsourced, creativity doesn’t.

You can prepare kids for collaboration, innovation and contribution without ever hitting an ON button.

By: Linda George

Linda George — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:34:24 +0000

I am psyched and excited for your students. I think this is a concept, indeed a new paradigm, and I am rooting for everyone’s success!
Pave the way!!

By: Rick Turoczy

Rick Turoczy — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 23:20:35 +0000

I’m sorry, Les. That part was buried right here:

“From my admittedly ignorant standpoint, I see it falling somewhere between the concept of alternative schools and the traditional gifted and talented programs.

“Like an art student focusing on painting or a musical student focusing on an instrument, YottaByte students would work in an environment that allows them to focus on technology and innovation.

“Once up and running, YottaByte promises to create intensive and collaborative schools that help these students exercise their artistic talent—in this case an artistic talent that manifests itself as problem solving and technical discovery—with students around the world.”