I would suggest to take a look at LyteRAD at http://www.lytecube.com you can build many kinds of custom apps without code, and they work well on netbooks. And they have a free edition too.

I must say I cringe when I hear folks advocate for total replacement of Textbooks. It makes me feel old fashioned and a little bit like a luddite to be skeptical of a world without textbooks, but I must remember that they refer to “textbooks” as we know them today. I know that after seeing the complimentary materials to our school’s Algebra textbook, which included full digital version of the textbook with tons of supplementary materials including online video’s illustrating every concept, and online tools like full fledged graphing calculators, I was amazed at the increase in access this provided to students (Anywhere, anytime access to the resources they need to learn). AGain, not that ALL these tools packaged together are not available individually online somewhere in this day in age, but this “package” does provide value inso much as it provides access to materials organized in a meaningful way for this teacher and their students. Does it mean that this publishers ‘scope and sequence’ is the only way to get access to Algebra – absolutely not. But I do think this publisher has been preparing for a world where “textbooks” look much different than those we know today. A world where students will be carrying around a device, not a backpack full of textbooks.

The example of how many LESS dictionaries we need in schools today can also provide some perspective. Just the other day I had a teacher in the computer lab ask me for a DICTIONARY because the suggested replacement for a misspelled words on a student’s word processing screen did not have the correct choice. My offer to help them learn other approaches available to them because they were sitting at a computer was seen as my “missing the opportunity” to teach this student the value of a dictionary as that teacher knew it. I think incidences like this are part of the motivation behind the “no more textbook” evangelist. It was almost as if this teacher was comforted by the opportunity to ‘teach the dictionary’. Are we holding on to old methods in a way that impedes forward moving approaches to problem solving (such as matching new learning approaches to the exponential increase of information available).

Its no wonder I feel like I’m standing still as the fast paced change in the world leaves me standing in the dust. And I use to be known as the progressive cutting edge one amongst my peers.. gulp!

To me, client vs. cloud is analogous to how we need to shift our thinking about instruction. I think many people still see learning as “client-side” (students have to be in specific room with all of the materials & knowledge contained in that room, just like all files and applications used to reside on a single device). I’ve noticed that people who start to work in the cloud start to see learning differently. For us, much of that shift has been tied to the collaborative possibilities with GoogleApps.

I’m surprised, though, that Google would be proprietary with its OS, and I hope that isn’t the case. But, whether we are using Chrome, Linux, Windows, or Mac, the shift to web-based apps might be the real game changer not only for the infusion of technology into learning environments but also for a shift in how we approach learning at the classroom level.

I believe this will limit the initial uptake but a few years down the line we will probably see a much bigger use of “the cloud”.

I found an article that will allow you to run Chrome OS with VMWare on a USB drive. http://www.ghacks.net/2009/11/20/google-chrome-os-first-looks-first-impressions/

Are client-side applications dead? Not yet, but they are dying. Linux now even has an OS the will boot from the internet. The internet replaces the hard drive. Maybe it is the hard drive that is dying.