Re: [NTLK] eMate software [aside]

A rant if you will.

I am enjoying the exploration of educational software for the newton
eMate, but must confesses a few irritations that this conversation
brings.

When the eMate came out I called Apple and nearly begged them to sell
one to me at full price. And they generously allowed me to pay more
than $800 for a new eMate 300 because my son though verbally and
mathematically genius had a learning disability. Additionally I paid
More than $140 for the internal memory expansion. And I don't
remember what was paid for a Modem.

MONEY WELL SPENT.

For me this was an educational technology that offered full PIM tools
to a child that only existed now. Yesterday and tomorrow were
interesting concepts. Since motor control was difficult for him the
word processing capacity allowed him to listen and take notes at the
same time. The graphing calculator allowed his math teacher, who was
hung up on his not doing home work, to see that his understanding of
math allowed him to write the equation for a daisy and more meaningful
things as well. For more than five years this eMate never left his
side. It was how he organized his life. Well into college. My
introduction to the Newton came when the idiots at a local computer
shop charged me for their failure to see that the one of the backlight
wires was broken. Still I saw a 2100 with keyboard and decided to get
one. I repaired the eMate and found Newton Talk.

I truly never viewed the eMate as a game machine for educational
software. I viewed it as a durable (survived a gravy spill in the
cafeteria) affordable, email capable laptop. And all of the best
qualities of this device shipped with it, except the memory expansion.

The best education add ons were the scientific instrumentation which
still continue to be fully supported by Vernier. They still sell the
serial box and all of the probes. At full price as you would expect
of scientific instruments.

I have spent many years in the academic arena and believe that the
typewriter does not create writers, the adding machine does not create
mathematicians, and though I admire the contributions of Dr. Skinner
to our understanding of learning, his Technology of Teaching has had
minimal impact upon the institution of education. The guidance in
learning that teaching provides is not replaced with software, though
the Speak and Spell may be an exception.

I have never viewed the eMate as a player for educational software, I
saw it then and see it now as a valid tool for learning. While it can
be used to amuse young children, and there is nothing wrong with that,
it was intended to be an affordable personal computer.

I hope you don't think that I have spent too many moments this evening
with the single malts of Scotland.

Woody

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Received on Sun Mar 2 22:25:53 2008