I finally upgraded to WordPress 2.51. The transition was NOT flawless, in fact it brought the site down. Luckily D’arcy was there to save me! Thanks again Darcy.
Excuse the new theme, I’m in transition as I figure out the new look for this space.
Jun 252008
Jun 182008
The latest Edtech Posse podcast has been released. The conversation provides thoughts on the recent TLT conference and edupunk. Dean Shareski, Rob Wall, and Rick Schwier were present. Heather and I were unable to make it.
More information and shownotes can be found at edtechposse.ca.
Mar 232008
This is almost too crazy to be real, but the link to Google Maps is authentic. NotCot.org points to this very focused view in Google streetview in Chicago.
The zoom/street view on Google Maps is crazy, here’s another great find – in Chicago of a car break in . Yes, this is real.
Now I can’t tell exactly what this individual is doing. NotCot reports a car theft, but I do not see verification of that anywhere else. For all I can tell, it could be two people trading baseball cards.
Google Maps, amazing, but still more than a bit scary. See also “Top 15 Google Street View Sightings“.
Jan 112008
This first week of teaching my online Graduate course was as expected, many technical issues, some student frustration, and a few early successes. Here are some highlights (the good and the bad) of the week.
1) Adobe Connect was working fairly well in most of the tests I had with Twitterverse members prior to the beginning of the course. However, I have some criticisms of its performance so far.
- - Audio conferencing performance has been poor.
- Screensharing features cause crashes.
- Session recordings are missing significant chunks of audio.
- Connect needs more granular permissions, if students are able audio/video enabled, then can then do a lot more (e.g., opening, closing Windows which effect all users).
The experience was better as we went along. However, it looks like I will be trying (the much more expensive) Elluminate next week.
and Yugma Skype. Yugma is a simple and very nice screen-sharing tool. However, Yugma lacks integrated audio. YugmaSkype is a modified version which integrates Skype directly into Yugma. While certainly you can just run both applications at the same time, it is nice to have these tools a bit more integrated, especially for novice users.
I’m thinking about Yugma and how it could be used as a tool for the hands-on sessions in my course. YugmaSkype would work fine for these, with groups under 10 participants. For larger groups, I’d have to find an alternate audio-conferencing tool as there are limitations on Skype conference calls.
Note: Yugma is now giving away free Premium accounts (connect up to 10 people) to bloggers show sign up before Jan 31, 2008.
I tried setting up a Skypecast, but I was never able to get a session running. I have tried Skypecasts from 5-7 times since they’ve been available, and I have yet to have one work. I am not sure what the issues is.
I then tried setting up several audio conferences through highspeedconferencing.com and each conference worked very well, and I connected up to 10 people without a problem. And, the pricing seems reasonable for this type of service. Participants are given the option to call via Skype (free), a toll free number or a toll number.
3) As a sort of personal note, I somehow managed to hit #1 on Tweeterboard.com this week. I am not sure what that means, it’s really more silly than meaningful. I know many people have done so already, but at some points I am going to write something on the importance of Twitter for my own personal learning. Honestly, it has been unbelievable. I love my network, and I have benefited so much from my new and old connections.
4) Oh, and one last thing. I am having a great time with the 366/2008 photo pool project thingy (inspired by D’Arcy Norman’s very impressive work). Check out my 366/2008 photo set here, or check out the 366/2008 Flickr group with 28 current members. There are some great photos here!
To be continued.
Nov 242007
It’s Grey Cup 2007 tomorrow where our Saskatchewan Roughriders will face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Our Riders have no been to the Grey Cup in 10 years, so Sunday is a HUGE day for our Green and White. Wish us luck!
Go Riders!!!
Nov 012007
Here’s an interesting article from Inside Higher Ed titled “A Skeptic’s Take on Academic Blogs.”
Here’s my favorite piece, on that supports the decentralized argument. The author is talking about moving from a decentralized form of blogging (people have their own blogs) vs. a group blog format.
I have come to the conclusion that what was so good about the original disorganized format of the University Without Condition conversations was precisely that it was so decentralized. This feature allowed it to escape one of the major pitfalls of conversations based in blog comments — the inherently hierarchical nature of the format. In blog comments, someone has written out a thoughtful post in what they will often regard as their own personal space. They have an established community of commenters who are, for the most part, sympathetic to the author’s point of view. Thus, when someone comes along and starts criticizing the original post, there is naturally a temptation toward “circling the wagons.†Additionally, comment forms are generally cumbersome and difficult to use for in-depth conversation — with the paradoxical result that one will either dash off a quick comment that by definition cannot match the rigor of the original post, or else an overly long comment that people will experience as an imposition. Having various people responding on their own personal blogs rather than in comments gets around all these problems — the conversation is decentered, not localized to anyone’s “turf,†and people are more likely to write lengthier, more thoughtful responses if they are producing it for the sake of their own blog instead of writing something that will be hidden away in some obscure corner of someone else’s comment sections.
There’s some great insight, capturing a bit what I’ve learned being involved in an academic blog.
Oct 312007
TechCrunch has featured a story on the growing problem of “virtual pedophilia on Second Life. Check out this Sky News inside report.
Beyond my disgust, I continue to see that such virtual worlds and user-generated content can bring up some unique moral and legal issues. While I’ve never believed that video game violence is directly related to real-world violence, I think very differently about those fantasizing about sexual encounters with children.
Oct 312007
D’Arcy Norman writes that today that “CAREO, the learning object repository we built at The University of Calgary, is being officially decommissioned. Unplugged, mothballed, and put into storage.” I’ve always though this was a very impressive initiative, but I agree with D’Arcy that there is no longer a need for this type of institutional repository.
CAREO was important, back in 2001-2004, as a prototype. As a sandbox for trying out some of these concepts. As a place to easily host metadata and content and try the repository model. From that perspective, I think it was a huge success. Without CAREO, I would likely still be saying that we need centralized institutional repositories to tightly manage resources.
But, because of CAREO, I now know that we don’t need repositories at the institutional level. Personal repositories are much more powerful, effective, and manageable. They’re called blogs, maybe you’ve heard of them? And small pieces, loosely joined. Want to manage photos online? Use Flickr. Videos? Use YouTube/GoogleVideo/etc… We don’t need a monolithic institutional repository.
A job well done D’Arcy, we’ve all learned a lot about knowledge in the last few years, and the LORs were another important and crucial step for our overall understanding. Here’s to celebrating this piece of collective achievement.
Oct 122007
Why have I not seen this before? This looks like a terrific idea!
Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.
Does anyone know if this is still happening, if this is a live project?
Oct 062007
I’m working with teachers in a small-town Saskatchewan school. My role involves getting these volunteers to begin using current forms of technology in the classroom, to research the process and to begin a technology-related mentorship program. These teachers will eventually become mentors to others in the division. It’s important to note that these teachers are very new to technology in the classroom and are beginners in this area.
After some initial conferencing, I decided that blogging would be a great place to start. The following documents the process with the first teacher.
I thought I’d start at WordPress.com. It’s been really reliable, and although (philosophically) I prefer edublogs.org, it has been buggy for me and my students in the past. I found out quickly that WordPress.com was blocked by the school filter. So, we tried edublogs.org. It worked!
We started the sign-up process. Everything went well. But, when we went to check the authorization email that was to be sent from edublogs.org, we realized that the school mail filter rejected the message from edublogs.org. Uggh. We tried again, but first I had the teacher sign-up with a Gmail account. This worked, but we had to choose a new userid and URL for edublogs. But that’s OK, we’re getting there.
In edublogs.org, I had the teacher change the presentation (theme) and the temporary password. When we came to create our first post, I noticed something missing. The ONLY browser on the school computers was IE 6. For some reason, the visual editor in WordPress did not show up. This was another big issue, but at least we could post basic messages.
Next we tried attachments. We could upload files in IE6 in edublogs, but when you went to attach the file to the post, it would not work. Another IE 6.0 issue it seemed. Then we went to embed a Youtube video. Nope, YouTube blocked. Oh, we could get to TeacherTube … but, wow, no Flash player installed on these machines either.
So let’s go through the list of things of issues:
- Filtering blocked some really important, educational sites.
- No visual editor in WordPress because of IE 6 (it seems).
- No ability to attach files to blogposts.
- No Flash player.
Frustrating!
Solution:
I setup a wireless network (probably against board policy) in about 10 seconds using my Airport Express. I take this tool with me everywhere, to every classroom I work in, to every hotel I stay in and to every conference I present at. Setting up a wireless network is idiot-proof with this tool, and this is by far the best $100ish I have every spent.
While on the Wireless networked, I noticed that I could get to any site using Firefox on my MacBook Pro. As I had a few USB sticks with me, I thought I’d try installing Firefox Portable onto a stick and see if it would work on the school computers. If you don’t know much about portable apps, basically these applications run from a USB stick with no need to install on the local computer. In placing this USB stick into the school machine, I quickly realized that we were now able to do everything we wanted to do including bypassing the school filter. For some reason, the entire web proxy system was closely tied to IE, so when we used Firefox, we no longer had limits. Edublogs.org now worked perfectly on Portable Firefox. We now had the visual editor and could attach files. We were free!
I quickly realized that it would be useful for these teachers to have their own sticks. Thus I purchased 8 sticks (one for each teacher) and included the following apps, most of them available at portableapps.com.
- 7-Zip Portable: Compression utility (WinZip equivalent).
- AbiWord Portable: MS Word replacement.
- Audacity Portable: Audio-editing utility.
- FileZilla Portable: FTP utility.
- Firefox Portable: Web browser.
- GIMP Portable: Imaging editing app (Photoshop-like).
- Open Office Portable: Includes Write, Calc, Impress, Base, Draw, Math (MS Office replacement plus).
- VLC Portable: The best cross-platform video player (plays almost everything).
- Opera USB: Another web-browser. I added this because it seems to have the Flash player built in the browser, Firefox Portable doesn’t.
There are a number of other portable apps which I did not include simply because I don’t think the teachers needed the apps (too techy), yet.
Distributing these USB sticks to teachers is done as an interim measure. For now, this will allow these teachers to get to many great resources and will allow them to use powerful Web 2.0 tools. Teachers will also be able to show their students the resources they choose and deem appropriate. I have dubbed these loaded USB devices “freedom sticks” as this was exactly what was gained from this experience.
Sep 242007
Mrs. Owens, one of our digital interns, is just beginning her use of technology in the classroom as she moves into her internship. One of the first tools she’s used in her Grade 8 classroom is a wikispaces wiki.
Mrs. Owens’ first assignment was based around the phrase “what I know is …”, a fairly simple assignment where these Grade 8 students were asked to share their experiences. Expectations were a bit low for the assignment, but the resulting writing blew us all away, both in the amount and depth of the writing.
Here’s one particular passage of note:
What I know is that life is rough. I am only fourteen, but have already overcome a lot of things that most fourteen year olds have yet to experience. Like having my mother pass. Like being forced out of my own home. I am officially alone. The fact of having life thrown at me in one shot at a time. The fact that I am alone I am happy I can’t tell you why. I can’t honestly say the reason of who or what I have in this world. But make sure to make up for your mistakes and life will be allot easier on you. I can not tell you the reason god is being so hard on me but if the people I lost were meant to pass than that is what he wanted that was his plan. Well all I know is that like takes it’s toll and times it can be hard and you and you wont understand but if you live for the moment your life will never end. The experiences i have been through are some no teenager should ever go through this is why I say life can be as hard a a rock or easier than anything before. That is why I say life is what you make it so make it better than ever before. Sure I have not been through everything that is going to happin to me but I sure have been through allot some hard some even worse but no matter what happens to me. I will always be myself.
Perhaps what’s most remarkable, but certainly not surprising, is that (as reported by Mrs. Owens) the students really gained interest and became motivated when they were told that their writing would be shared by a world-wide audience.
I don’t believe this will be surprising to any one reading this either. However, here’s another story to share for those that have not yet come to see this for themselves.
