I just returned from New York city, having attended a day-long “Technology in Education: Classrooms of the 21st Century” conference co-sponsored by the New York Institute of Technology and the Milken Institute. There were a number of fascinating presentations by some real heavy-hitters, including Carmen Farina, the New York City Schools Deputy Chancellor for Teaching and Learning; Paul Vallas, Philadelphia Schools Superintendent; Stanley Litow, President of the IBM Foundation; Ted Mitchell, CEO of the New Schools Venture Fund and former dean of the UCLA School of Education and former President of Occidental College; and Dale Mann, managing director, Interactive, Inc. and professor emeritus, Teachers College, Columbia University. But amongst all of these luminaries, it was a little Fly that ended up stealing the show.

With me on the lunch hour “demos” stage was Jim Marggraff of LeapFrog Enterprises. Jim showed off LeapFrog’s new Fly “pentop” computer, a sort of hybrid computer-writing instrument, complete with optical scanner, voice output speaker, and dock for software cartridges. As highlighted in an article appearing in November’s Wired magazine, the Fly uses a novel approach to human-computer interaction:

For the Fly, the paper and writing are the input and the speaker is the output. The major difference is that a screen’s utput, and image, registers on the display and stays there. The Fly’s audio output enters your ears and causes an image to form in your mind. That gives you a much greater sense of figuring things out for yourself — the Fly is merely helping. And the familiar and flexible nature of paper makes the whole interaction seem far less restrictive.

It was a treat watching Jim run through is very polished demo (that judging from the article, was the same demo given to the Wired reporter). Jim “drew” a working calculator and a musical piano keyboard, interacted with a specially designed interactive Fly paper lesson on the Civil War, and added a reminder alarm to his Fly-based calendar (that gently interrupted him when he reached his 20 minute time limit). It was hard to wrap your mind around the concept; after all, we”ve practically internalized the conventional WIMP-based interface. But as the presentation went on, you began to “get it.” And judging from the audience’s reaction, they got it indeed. Throughout the presentation, you could hear “oohs” and “ahhs” from the roomful of K-12 educators (the target market for the Fly is the “tweeners,” children between the ages of 9-12). And much as I hate to admit it, of all of us presenters, Jim was the only one to receive that pure, spontaneous applause we all hope for when presenting. I’m sure the execs back at LeapFrog will be excited to hear that the only questions asked of Jim were “how much does it cost?” and “when and where can we get one?” (In case you’re wondering, the answers are: $99, now, and Target.)

Beyond the entertaining theatre, Jim’s presentation reminded me that as educators we must always keep an open mind to exploring new approaches to teaching and learning. After all, no-one wants to be the last dinosaur standing (and dying) as a new paradigm shift rushes by.

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