Roland's Cube

The Thanksgiving Holiday is over and school is back in session. I have just finished writing a thank you email to folks I met at the recent MassCUE Educational conference in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Didn't have a lot of contacts because we were in a distributor's booth (couldn't afford our own booth this year) and it's hard to get educators to focus on a random person standing in someone else's booth. Most of the questions I received were about other company products. Oh well, I hope I earned my keep.

I have just tried to upload a GollyGee Blocks picture but get an error message saying the server is not available. I don't know who's problem that is, so maybe I'll try again later.

Posted by Roland Blocksom at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I haven't quite learned how to resize the images I am placing into MarsEdit yet. I just experimented with the HTML and changed the sizing/aspect ratio of the GollyGee Blocks snapshot that I made.

As we approach the holiday season, we would like to wish you all many happy times over this Thanksgiving holiday. We have many things to be thankful for and hope you do as well.

Posted by Roland Blocksom at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Below you will see who is working and who is playing! This is my boss checking out the new Dunkin Donuts shop across the street from his office. Who is that guy next to him?

Posted by Roland Blocksom at 09:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ARE THESE GOOD FOR SCHOOLS & BUSINESS - A Rant!

I'm reading an article in the ISTE "LEARNING & LEADING" Magazine on the subject. While I would agree on some of the points the author makes that schools can benefit from these relationships, as a small businessman I see a lot of problems. Let me explain from my perspective. School partnerships are more generally favorable to larger, well established firms with product recognition. For the small business this is definitely a issue! Larger businesses have the marketing resources that allow them to do these arrangements where it is generally more difficult for a small business.

Part of the problem is the expectations in a partnership. Like contracts, School partnerships are more likely to be situations where "goods" are rendered for "considerations given" rather than a more platonic relationship. The "goods" are generally free/discounted hardware/software/textbooks/other product by the partnering company and the school "considerations" are generally promotion of the companies product/product line in some way. We all know that word of mouth recommendations in the educational market is extremely desirable.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not against the concept in general, because I think if it is done right it can offer the many benefits the L&L Magazine article author proffers that aren't just a way to get around financial constraints. I just want a level playing field with the bigger companies. Competition is generally the accepted law of the land in government contracting (although this area too is filled with many documented abuses). One company should not have an advantage on another because they can donate more hardware, software or some other material service. Partnerships should be structured to promote learning in the schools with help in tutoring, technical assistance, or some other educational service without an expectation of an endorsement or goods transfer.

I suspect a lot of school administrators will disagree with me - but they aren't running a small business either! Let me know your thoughts.

Posted by Roland Blocksom at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the neat features of GollyGee Blocks is the ability to look inside a geometric shape or one of the pre-defined objects. The first step is bringing a 3D shape (we'll only do the shapes this time) into a scene like this:

Then, clicking on the "wireframe" icon on the right side of the screen the picture becomes this:

In this picture both the 3D shapes and 3D text are shown in wireframe. Now, this is a great opportunity to construct a lesson on prepositions (language arts) or math where the location of an object can be discussed. In the first step, you place another geometric shape or an object inside the current shape (you do this by having stack unselected - in stack the shape/object will stack itself on the first shape/object). You will see that you are merging the shape/object because it will disappear into the first shape/object. Now go to "wireframe" and see the shape/object "inside" the other shape/object. In math, you can compare shape sizes (smaller than). Remember, many kids are visual learners!

Posted by Roland Blocksom at 02:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)