The Connected Classroom column was originally intended to be a forum for explor- ing the educational implications of connecting classrooms to one another and to the world.
Today, this includes re-examining the relationship
of printed publications to online media. As L&L
makes the jump to a digital channel following this
final print issue (see Issue Oriented, page 4), the
Connected Classroom will also be transitioning
to a new format and updating its focus. Look for
more details in July at iste.org/LL.
Transitions provide a useful opportunity to
reflect. In 1976, near the dawn of the internet,
I commissioned the University of Virginia’s
School of Engineering to design and fabricate a
microcomputer. This machine had 4 kilobytes
of memory and a 300-baud acoustic coupler
that connected the university with local teachers. That modem, although slow by today’s
standards, demonstrated the power of network
connections. After the internet protocol was
standardized in 1982, we created Virginia’s Public Education Network to connect all 2,000 of
Virginia’s schools.
Networks and Physical Connections
My first article for L&L (then called The
Computing Teacher) appeared in 1982, and since then I
have written more than 200 articles and columns
in ISTE publications. I have explored two main
themes throughout this body of work: networked
connections in schools and student interactions
with the physical world.
Educational visionary Seymour Papert influ-
enced both perspectives. Papert’s vision for com-
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puting in schools included manifesting control
of physical objects—which today has evolved
into the Internet of Things and 3D data. This
movement has also resulted in technology such
as the Lego Mindstorms robotic construction
kit, which has introduced thousands of children
to educational robotics. This work continues
today through the leadership of the Lego Papert
Professor of Learning Research, Mitchel Resn-ick, and his MIT Media Lab colleagues, who
continue to explore ideas that lie at the intersection of toys, computers, and learning.
Desktop Factories
It was clear even back in 1982 that networks
would create significant educational opportunities. But we never imagined in our wildest
dreams that the internet would transmit physical objects from one school to another. In 2005,
Neil Gershenfeld described the advent of fabrication laboratories (fablabs) featuring personal
fabricators, such as desktop 3D printers. He suggested that, just as personal computers and computer networks changed society in the previous
generation, personal fabricators would unleash
new possibilities in the next generation.
For the past three years, the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education has been exploring the implications through a National Science Foundation grant (#1030865) for the fablab
classroom. Two Virginia schools, the Buford
Engineering Design Academy and the Sutherland Engineering Design Academy, provide test
beds for this work, described in “Fabricating the
Future” ( goo.gl/VlHYke).
The Fablab Classroom
A digitized copy of the Wright Flyer allows
viewers to closely inspect details, such as
the chain drive and motor, as the object
rotates in three dimensions.
