January 2005
January 31, 2005
The New Association of Online K-12 Schools
Association of Online K-12 Schools
On January 28th 2005 a new association was born. The Association of Online K-12 schools is open and looking for members, if you are affiliated with a k-12 online school you can apply to become a member. The Association will provide learning communities for all the grades 1-9 and subjects communities for all the senior grades. These communities will provide: ****resources that are available no where else on the web. ****resource portal to other subject and grade specific material. ****communication hubs which will assist members in community building and sharing. ****A monthly electronic newletters which will document the association development and vision.
The Association is looking for:
**** individuals who teach K-12 online
****individuals who develop K-12 online materials
****administrators of K-12 online schools
**** K-12 online school who can become school members.
****Blogs that focus on K-12 online education.
This is your chance to assist in the development of an online association, during the first year there will be no fees but members will be asked to share their experise and vision of what they would like the association to become.
Check it out
Association of Online K-12 Schools
January 29, 2005
Teen Gets Prison For Blaster
A federal judge sentenced a teenager to a year and a half of prison Friday for releasing a variant of the Blaster worm that was used to attack more than 48,000 computers.
Wired News: Teen Gets Prison for Blaster
Online Student Evaluation of Teaching for DE.
Given the limited number of currently available resources, one public mid-western university is working to develop and implement an effective and appropriate means for online student evaluation of teaching in distance education courses that is useful and beneficial for all stakeholders.
January 28, 2005
A New Association for K-12 Online Schools
I surf the web, I check the bloggers, I belong to numerous listserves and I have not been able to find an online association for K-12 schools. I have seen through my cyber glasses a multitude of Post-secondary associations but no where can I find a K-12 online school association.
So, two things come to mind, is it because the K-12 online school are too busy teaching in comparison to the universities...(just a fun loving stab at those university profs who teach one hour a day and call it a full day of work. Just kidding, relax.)
Or is it because the teaching K-12 students online is fairly new hence there has not been time to get our act together. Or could the reason be found in the Procrastinators creed
No matter what the reason I think it is time for all bad speler to unit. Wait that is not what I wanted to say...what I wanted to say it is time for all online k-12 school to unite.
Let us examine this event through the cyber glasses and the procrastinator's creed:
1. I do not believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already. I believe it is time to organize the Association of Online K-12 Schools.
2. I shall strive to move quickly and not only to avoid work or develop excuses. I will strive to organize said Association of Online K-12 Schools
3. I will rush into this job before a lifetime of consideration. I have thought about it, I will do it.
4. I believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries and a reprieve from my obligations, except for my obligation to the K-12 online schools, I will develop this Association.
5. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given. Actually this one I do believe, but I will get this Association up and running sometime.
6. I shall never forget that the probability of a miracle, though infinitesimally small is not exactly zero. After all I do run the Saskatoon CATHOLIC Cyber School and you all know that miracles are the Catholic's business.
7. If at first I do not succeed, there is always next year. I will get the Association for Online K-12 Schools up and running before next January but you should refer to number 5.
8. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind. And right now I have decided to start the Association of Online K-12 Schools.
9. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it. Well this is the first step, it is written, now all I need to do is find a second member of the Association of Online K-12 Schools.
10. I obey the law of inverse excuses which demands that the greater the task to be done, the more insignificant the work that must be done prior to beginning the greater task. This is a great rule, I don't know what it means but I am sure it applies somehow to the starting of this association. We might just have to make this our vision statement. Now we definitely need a second member so he/she can explain the above statement to me.
11. I know that the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but is wait/plan/plan. I have been thinking about starting an Association of Online K-12 Schools. I have been planning to do it. I have been planning to write this blog entry. I am close to finishing it so I must be in the start stage of the cycle. Yahoo, the Association of Online K-12 Schools has started.
12. I am the first member, founder and president of the Association of Online K-12 Schools. If you would like to join this Association contact me and I will direct you to the website where you can register your school or yourself.
It is time people if you teach or administer an Online K-12 School contact me and help in the planning of this.
We at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School have developed a set of Learning Communities which span all the grade levels and all the subject areas. These learning communities are populated with resources we have developed, collected and sorted at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School. Upon joining the Association of Online K-12 School you will be given the opportunity to be part of these learning communities. Get in on the ground floor and there will be no charge to join, I know you will find being part of the online learning communities is a worthwhile venture. Contact me and let make it happen.
The paddles please...clear...bam......
IT IS ALIVE
The Association of Online K-12 Schools (AOK-12S)
Is Teaching Bad?
Anyway, my point is this: In most of these talks, discussions, and conferences, I've received the impression that "teaching" is nowadays a no-no, and that classes should be run differently so as to encourage student empowerment, decision-making, etc. Of course, all our textbooks say the same, so it's no surprise to me, and to a large extent I agree, **but** I have to be totally honest and say that when I look back on my own learning experience, a lot of my best teachers were exactly that: *teachers* (in the traditional sense)
Susan Marandi's blog and welcome to it!: Another question requiring courage: Is teaching bad?
Plagiarism: Owl website
Academic writing in American institutions is filled with rules that writers often don't know how to follow. A working knowledge of these rules, however, is critically important; inadvertent mistakes can lead to charges of plagiarism or the unacknowledged use of somebody else's words or ideas. While other cultures may not insist so heavily on documenting sources, American institutions do. A charge of plagiarism can have severe consequences, including expulsion from a university. This handout, which does not reflect any official university policy, is designed to help writers develop strategies for knowing how to avoid accidental plagiarism.
more Edu Blogs
It's been a long week. Way too much thinking. I'm tired. So instead of holding forth on some convoluted idea in my brain, here instead is a list of some edu-blogs I've Furled of late.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
January 26, 2005
Passion for Learning
The best learning occurs in a stimulating, active, challenging, interesting, engaging environment. It's how the brain works. The best learning occurs when you move at least some part of your body. The best learning occurs when you're actively involved in co-constructing knowledge in your own head, not passively reading or listening. (Taking notes doesn't really count as being actively involved.) People complain that their kids can't pay attention in school, then their kid comes home and spends two hours studying the elaborate world of Halo 2. Reading, absorbing, problem solving, using sophisticated mental maps, and on it goes. When learning is "presented" in a push model, your brain says, "This is SO not important." You're in for the battle of your life when you try to compete against the brain's natural instinct to scan for unusual, novel, possibly life-threatening or life-enhancing things. Forcing people to sit in a chair and listen (or read) dry, formal words (with perhaps only a few token images thrown in) is the slowest, least effective, and most painful path to learning. Yet it's the approach you see replicated in everything from K-12, to universities, to adult/corporate training.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Finding Our Way
Finding Our Way:
Better Understanding the Needs and Motivations of Teachers in Online Learning
Research among K-12 educators participating in 6-week online professional development modules of study provides insight into their needs and motivations. 324 educators participated in this research through focus groups and an online survey. The most telling findings indicate four themes regarding teacher online professional development: learner expectations, learner support and access, incentives, and content. Overall, this project illuminates issues that we face in formal education online learning environments as we continue to discover how to best serve educators' learning needs.
Wikiversity
Welcome to the Wikiversity, a free, open learning environment and research community. Online courses are being created as a form of co-operative and interactive exchange of knowledge. Wikiversity is still being designed and discussed, see some ideas about Wikiversity.
THE MISSING INSTRUCTOR
The text-based interaction of e-learning arguably creates more work for an instructor. That, coupled with the lack of face-to-face contact with students, makes teacher absenteeism easier to rationalize (and harder to notice). Online instructors often go absent from their classes for spans of time simply not tolerated in the traditional classroom. The irony is that the current model of e-learning sets student needs and instructor workload in opposition-online students need interaction with their instructors far more than their face-to-face counterparts. It may seem politically expedient to ignore such a problem. However, instructors, students and universities would all benefit from practical solutions to this dilemma.
eCornell Research Blog: THE MISSING INSTRUCTOR: DOES E-LEARNING PROMOTE ABSENTEEISM?
A new quote for those online teachers.
As I place the cyber glass upon the top of my head and squeeze my eyes tightly shut a quote comes to mind:
"An online course is never finished, it is just abandoned."
Actually I just changed some words in a famous quote by Paul Valery:
"A poem is never finished, it is just abandoned".
Some of my developer/teachers are starting to feel that way about their courses. It takes us approximately 400-600 hrs to develop 100 hours of student ready material. After 1800-2000 the developer/teachers are willing to show their courses to other content expert. I have yet to hear a developer/teacher say: I am so happy today because the development of my course is finished. However, some day in the future this might happen... but I doubt it.
Worth1000.com
Being an art teacher in my past life this site struck me as being very cool.
Worth1000.com | Photography Contests | Are you Worthy™ | contest
Here are some samples.
January 25, 2005
Smoke Free Website Image
I love this image and have included it in most of the courses that I have taught online.
Assessment for a Smoke free School Policy.
The policy contains a clear statement describing the need for a completely tobacco free school environment.
School Policy Checklist
No More Butts: Peer Leader's Guide
No More Butts! is a peer-led stop smoking program for high school-aged students who smoke daily and want to quit.
Making It Work
Guidelines for Creating Effective Smoke-Free School-Based Policies.
No More Butts: Implementation Guide
This document allows is the Implementation Guide for the No More Butts Program.
No More Butts: Buddy Handbook
The Nova Scotia Department Of Health published this Buddy Handbook in December 2002.
January 24, 2005
Inspirational Message Collection
The Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School shows a weekly inspirational message on it's home page. These messages are now available in a collection websites. These messages are constructed by our Father Andrew Wychucki.
Inspirational Messages for SCCS
Free-ESL-Blogs.com
These are custom made blogs especially for ESL teachers and students. Here you'll find blogs from teaching in Japan to living in Greece to studying in China to... well all kinds of stories from all around the world from both teachers and students of English.
Free-ESL-Blogs - 100% free blogs
January 23, 2005
Assessing Student Needs in DE
Over the past decade, distance education programs have developed at an extraordinary rate. Web-based distance education has emerged in higher education as a means for providing a variety of educational opportunities to a diverse community of individuals. As the number of participants continues to increase, so to does the importance of providing effective instruction that focuses on the needs of learners. Successful distance education is believed to revolve around a learner-centered system of instruction designed to meet the needs of individual learners. The first step in developing a learner-centered system of web-based instruction is to determine the needs of students. Assessing student needs provides instructors with information necessary to select appropriate technology and instructional strategies to develop an online learning environment that is appropriate, responsive, and beneficial for both the learners and the instructor. The goal of this paper is to provide direction for evaluating student needs in web-based distance education courses by identifying necessary assessment areas and outlining a process for assessing student needs.
In defense of learning "management"
In an excellent post James Farmer has started a dialogue on blogs and the future of online learning environments, making a most valid contrast between educational software designed to provide closed, centralized control (chorus of booing) vs. software that allows open, decentralized learner independence (delirious applause). In this context he also makes a critical point regarding the issue of learner blog "ownership", which I won't summarize here, but which really, really needs to be defined by both educators and their institutions.
January 22, 2005
Debit Card Fraud.
Canadians use debit cards more than anybody else in the world. They've changed the way we shop and how we bank. But what most debit card users don't know is that along with the convenience comes a very real risk.
Lorne Turcotte of Kingston, Ontario, knows all about it. One Sunday morning in July he went to his bank to take out some money and to his surprise his account was frozen. According to the bank his account had been "compromised."
Hand Coding HTML vs Page Editors
Interestingly, Page Editors like Hotdog, Dreamweaver, Frontpage, Adobe Go Live, etc, etc... were created to provide ease of use in creating webpages. Early developments were editors that merely provided click and insert html code so you didn't have to type it in... speed was the factor. Then as generations of software are apt to do...improvements... WYSIWYG... was the next desire... just let me lay out the page as I would in programs like Pagemaker, Printshop, etc, etc. This led to developments such as Frontpage, and Dreamweaver... from there they just kept getting better and better. To the point that teams of people now use editors to work on the same pages (files are locked out, notes are posted and available, ownership of a particular file is displayed, objects of almost any nature can be dropped, manipulated changed... etc etc.
Commercially, if you want to make money, (now read that as the best product in the least amount of time) you need a good visual editor (such as Dreamweaver MX) and have to have good hand coding skills. Time is money, and it is faster to use an editor for layout than hand coding... it is easier to work with what the product will look like as you create it. But all editors have their weaknesses, and inevitably hand coding becomes necessary, thus the need for an understanding of HTML. And the best way to get that is by doing.
As a developer I turned down a lot of work offered to me from people who had their pages built by someone using Frontpage. There are editors that place to much extraneous coding in the page that make the work more demanding. Virtually every professional web designer and developer in my community uses Dreamweaver exclusively.
Even the most hard core hand coder will use a "simple editor" program... if for nothing else than the color coding and formatting it provides to view the code.
Programming of any type at some time or another requires debugging... the old oops... didn't mean to delete that... now oh oh... just what did I delete... or a table doesn't work the way it was suppose to.. and its nested 4 or 5 times
A few good tools I've used over the years for web page development:
'Smartdraw' for all your flowcharting needs.
'NetObjects Script Builder' for all your JScript, VBScript, JavaScript, and Perl programming
Hand coding html skills are important... like spelling to wordprocessing (you can have a spell checker but it doesn't catch everything, sea and see; there and their)
I think of hand coding and simple html editors as the typewriter compared to the wordprocessor. Both will get the job done. And an excellent typist could probably create this entire posting faster than me, but in the big scheme of things... I'd rather be using a wordprocessor.
Interestingly, as I went back over my personal web site... I found instances of nested font as in...font...font.../font.../font. But when I viewed how many characters I had to remove on any given page it was miniscule.
So for anyone who is not familiar with what these programs do when creating a page... here is the code for the same page (a blank webpage except for the words Test Page on it) created in Dreamweaver and in MSWord.
Both sets of code produce the same looking page.
Comparison of the code for a simple page with only the words Test Page on it created in Dreamweaver MX and MSWord. Whoa what a difference!!!
Now you might understand why I wouldn't take any work from people who's entire sites had been created in Frontpage. Try working in the code of 50 very intricately created web pages with 100's of lines of "junk code" in it.
Now lest anyone think I'm doing the old, this package is better than this package... and I'm sure this probably sounds like that... I need to point out... that each web page editor is a good product when applied to the purpose to which it was created. MSWord was never meant to be used for creating web sites... although many people use it for such a purpose.
Personally I'd rather hand code if I can't use a good page editor... and if I'm using a page editor... I want it to assist me in viewing and editing the code by hand. Note the color coding to indicate where html tags start and end. Note the indentations to assist scanning through the code. Indispensable tools when working on tough projects.
Thanks to Richard Giroday for this entry.
January 20, 2005
Five Evolutions I'd Like to See in LMS Platforms
After giving this some thought, I've come up with a list of five features or functionality sets that are missing from current LMS offerings. I'm certain that some very smart people are working on some of these even as I write. At least I hope so. Because if online learning is going to evolve and be ultimately successful, it will be necessary for pedagogy to get back into the driver's seat. And for that to happen, the current technology behind today's platforms will have to evolve considerably.
The Teacher List.
The Teacher List: Daily Email for Teachers
How to communicate...
Pioneering teachers are getting their classes to post writing assignments online so other students can easily read and critique them. They're letting kids practice foreign languages in electronic forums instead of pen-and-paper journals. They're passing out PDAs to use in scientific experiments and infrared gadgets that let students answer questions in class with the touch of a button. And in the process, the educators are beginning to interact with students, parents and each other in ways they never have before.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
wwwtools for Education
wwwtools is designed to keep you informed and to save valuable time in tracking down information and resources on the World Wide Web.
Like it or Not, Blogs Have Legs.
Nevertheless, we are in the midst of a new kind of internet boom, thanks in large part to this weblog phenomenon. It's not an economic bubble, where scores of startup companies run by fresh-faced 20-somethings are blowing through wads of venture capital in the hopes of becoming the first eBay or Amazon.com in their digital niches. Rather, it's a revolution in the dissemination of intellectual capital.
Wired News: Like It or Not, Blogs Have Legs
The Blog Participation Gap
Yet there is a technology gap between the clued-in and the clueless: 27 percent of Internet users surveyed said they read blogs, and 12 percent have posted comments to them; but 62 percent of Americans said they don't know how to define the term blog.
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: The Blog Participation Gap, Clued-in or Clueless?
January 19, 2005
Web Pages that Suck
I went through every Daily Sucker for the last year and I've come up with a list of what I think were the biggest web design mistakes.
These mistakes apply only to real sites -- not personal, band, music, art, movie, experimental, fashion, and (some) sports sites.
Web Pages That Suck learn usability and good Web design by looking at bad Web design
Usable Web
970 links about web usability
Global Usability Service
Leveraging on our international experience, we will be sharing our insights for working in cross-cultural environments. Please join us in Montreal for the following four sessions at the upcoming Usability Professionals Association conference, Bridging Cultures:
Double the usability of your web site
You can double the usability of your web site by following these guidelines: for two sample sites studied in Sun's Science Office, we improved measured usability by 159% and 124% by rewriting the content according to the guidelines.
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website
Jakob's column on Web usability
Durability of Usability Guidelines (Jan. 17)
About 90% of usability guidelines from 1986 are still valid, though several guidelines are less important because they relate to design elements that are rarely used today.
useit.com: Jakob Nielsen on Usability and Web Design
January 18, 2005
XML Reference
XML reference - exploring XML - webreference.com
CGI101.com
Would you like to learn:
How to decode web forms (such as guestbooks, polls/quizzes, and order forms)?
How to send form data to your e-mail address, or save the data to a file or database?
How to write a page counter?
How to build an online shopping cart?
How to use web cookies to track visitors to your site?
How to create a password-protected website, and how to allow users
to register for the site?
How to write your own web message board or web log program?
CGI101 - Learn CGI Today!
Athabasca University Virtual Helpdesk
Javascript.com
EarthWeb.com
EarthWeb.com: The IT Industry Portal -- JavaScripts
JavaScript World
January 17, 2005
Colour table for developing pages.
WebGraphics Optimizer
WebGraphics Optimizer are perfect tools for optimizing and compressing images for online and internet use, mainly World Wide Web pages. Most images can be greatly reduced in size, and it's amazing to see how much you can improve the speed of your Web site and reduce the necessary webspace.
WebGraphics Optimizer - The Ultimate Image Optimization Tool!
JPEGCompress
JPEGCompress is a simple application designed to help you compress existing images with JPEG Compression. You can choose any level of compression and see the results immediately, allowing you to preview your images before saving them.
Dreamscape Software - JPEGCompress
January 13, 2005
HTML Validation tools
Don't get caught with uncompliant code, validate your pages and code now.
Web / Authoring / HTML / Validation - WebReference.com
Why We Shouldn't Focus on Cheating
should start this off by saying that there are definitely some things I don't believe in.
I don't believe in having to use Number 2 pencils, or in in having recess just once a day. I don't believe school lunches are good for anybody and I don't believe the lights should ever be dimmed in a lecture class. I don't believe everything Crash Davis said in Bull Durham (mainly the part about Susan Sontag) and, in spite of what I always say, I don't really believe that the best moment in a relationship is the fifteen seconds before the first kiss. But more than anything else, I do not believe you can modify a person's behavior effectively, over a long period of time, with rules and sanctions.
Online May Not Be Such a Lonely Place
By the end of the course, almost everybody knew everybody. However, when the time came to write the final paper, I dreaded the experience. I knew I could not perform without my instructor's help. Had she had an office, I would have taken my paper to her for some guidelines and recommendations. I submitted my paper anyway, and awaited the results nervously. Soon my instructor sent my draft back with detailed suggestions and instructions for improvement. I wrote it again and again, until she was satisfied with the quality of my work. She answered my questions within forty eight hours. She was friendly, supportive, communicative, yet, "sticking to her arms," insisting on high expectations.
Techlearning > > Online May Not Be Such a Lonely Place > January 1, 2005
Why People Don't Share What they Know.
I commented to Jonathan: That's a great list for starters. New territory, so probably a question of getting started - if it is possible to find the right 'host' organisation/community. I think they would need to have:
1 A culture that encouraged bottom-up ideas development and sharing
2 Some online enthusiasts - existing or potential
3 People with influence and resources in the organisation prepared to join in, even if they weren't leading
4 Preparedness to take a few risks and get out of their boxes
Designing for Civil Society: Why people don't share what they know
Bill Gates rewrites Godwin's Law
Bill Gates was busy last week. Not only did he get drunk with Conan O'Brien and wake up with a Macintosh, but he did an interview with CNET that's being blogged around the world. The attention-getting quote came in this exchange:
EDUCAUSE | Resources | EDUCAUSE Blogs
January 12, 2005
The Sloan Consortium
"The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve the quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines. "The Sloan Consortium
Keeping an education-related online diary
The following article was displayed in a Dawn
Pakistan's most widely circulated English Language Newspaper.
By Hafsa Ahsan
Blogs, or weblogs, have caught on fast with computer users all over the world. Alongside email, instant messengers and forums, blogs are the next best thing to communicate thoughts and feelings. Those who don't know what a blog stands for, it is actually short for 'web log' - a diary written online for anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to see and comment on.
As is often the case with new technology, this development has given rise to its own nomenclature. Those who write such web logs or blogs are referred to as 'bloggers' and the practice is now called 'blogging'. The fact that blogs are being used increasingly to share information on an academic level comes as a surprise to many - but, not so to the holder and winners of the EduBlog Weblog Awards 2004.
January 11, 2005
Aware Center
Welcome to the homepage of the HTML Writers Guild's AWARE Center. AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and our mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility.
AWARE Center Homepage -- HTML Writers Guild
HTML HOme Page
This is W3C's home page for the HTML Activity. Here you will find pointers to our specifications for HTML/XHTML, guidelines on how to use HTML/XHTML to the best effect, and pointers to related work at W3C. When W3C decides to become involved in an area of Web technology or policy, it initiates an activity in that area. HTML is one of many Activities currently being pursued. You can learn more about the HTML Activity from the HTML Activity Statement.
CSS Tutorial
This short tutorial is meant for people who want to start using CSS and have never written a CSS style sheet before.
It does not explain much of CSS. It just explains how to create an HTML file, a CSS file and how to make them work together. After that, you can read any of a number of other tutorials to add more features to the HTML and CSS files. Or you can switch to using a dedicated HTML or CSS editor, that helps you set up complex sites.
W3C World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding. On this page, you'll find W3C news, links to W3C technologies and ways to get involved. New visitors can find help in Finding Your Way at W3C. We encourage you to read the Prospectus and learn more about W3C.
W3 Schools
At W3Schools you will find all the Web-building tutorials you need,
from basic HTML and XHTML to advanced XML, XSL, Multimedia and WAP.
W3Schools - The Largest Web Developers Site On The Net
W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
Web Style Guide
THE FIRST STEP in designing any Web site is to define your goals. Without a clearly stated mission and objectives the project will drift, bog down, or continue past an appropriate endpoint. Careful planning and a clear purpose are the keys to success in building Web sites, particularly when you are working as part of a development team.
Writing HTML
By the time you have reached the end of this tutorial you will be able to construct a series of linked web pages for any subject that includes formatted text, pictures, and hypertext links to other web pages on the Internet. If you follow the steps for the Basic Level (lessons 1-14) you will develop a page about volcanoes and if you go on to the Advanced Level (lessons 15-29), you will create an enhanced volcano web site.
HTML Goodies
EchoEcho.com Tutorials :HTML
You can use this tutorial either as a complete introduction or as an A-Z reference to HTML.
The pages are packed with:
Easy to understand explanations, massive examples, tips, smart workarounds and useful quick references.
If you're completely new to HTML you should start with the section that covers HTML Basics.
Otherwise, just jump directly to the relevant pages.
The Bare Bones Guide to HTML
Thanks to my Masters Course at Athabasca for these sites on HTML.
Bare Bones Guide to HTML -- download page
What Makes a Design Seem 'Intuitive'?
In a recent usability test, I once again witnessed something I've seen a hundred times before: a frustrated user claiming he knows exactly what is wrong with the interface he was fighting with. What was his suggestion? "These guys need to make this thing a lot more intuitive. The problem is that this program isn't intuitive enough. It needs to be more intuitive!"
I think he used the I-Word no less than 25 times during the session. His frustration was real and his desire was great. So, why wasn't the interface 'intuitive'? Well, it's probably because it's really, really hard to do.
What Makes a Design Seem 'Intuitive'?
January 10, 2005
Bright Outlook for Educational Technology
This was definitely an evolutionary year for the CES, as opposed to a revolutionary one. Many of the products seen here were telegraphed long ago via PR releases or had already been shown at other electronics shows like CeBIT. If anything, this year had more sanity mixed in with the oxygen and normal quantities of speculative hype. As a result, I think there is more solid ground for stepping out into the future and looking at what's important here for education.
E-learning gets top marks
Electronic learning is set for take off as learners graduate from learning basic IT skills to using information technology to round off their education, say companies offering such courseware.
Ronel Bornman, general manager at online degree institution eDegree, says she expects the growth in online learning to triple this year for the whole South African market.
"Online learning, whether it is for a degree or a course of some kind, is growing fast as people and companies realise the benefits," she says
Cost, Reach, and Richness in Distance Education
Is the money allocated to institutional distance education getting the results on the back end in terms of student achievement? A literature review of cost analysis studies on distance education is presented with three themes factored out from those studies: Costs (Institutional and student costs), Reach, and Richness (cost to the student). A synopsis of a study that produced evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of three distance educations strategies ( live , video , and web ) for enhancing the science learning of 94 midwestern elementary school teachers who were participating in a five-year professional development project is referred to throughout this piece. The results of this analysis suggest there is a sliding scale when looking at cost, reach, and richness in distance education.
Investigating the Relationship Between Cost, Reach, and Richness in Distance Education
Technology Gap for Churches
"Church size was the primary factor in technology reliance, according to the latest study from Ellison Research": Study finds big technology gap between large and small churches
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Technology gap for churches widens based upon membership size
Future of the Internet.
Elon University and the Pew Internet & American Life Project have released a study of the future of the Internet, including opinions and forecasts from nearly 1,300 technology experts and scholars.
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Future of the Internet - new predictions from technologists and scholars
Year of the Blog QandA
Sue Wuetcher, from the campus Reporter asked me to participate in a Q&A about blogging and such. I suspect (hope) that she will end up cutting this down so that it is more concise and makes more sense, but here it is in the uncut version.
Alex Halavais » Year of the blog Q&A
January 9, 2005
Teacher Humor
A collection of websites dedicated to Teacher Humor.
Using Humor
This paper discusses reasons for using humor in the statistics classroom. Humor strengthens the relationship between student and teacher, reduces stress, makes a course more interesting, and, if relevant to the subject, may even enhance recall of the material. The authors provide examples of humorous material for teaching students such topics as descriptive statistics, probability and independence, sampling, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and regression and forecasting. Also, some references, summarized strategies, and suggestions for becoming more humorous in the classroom are provided.
Journal of Statistics Education, V10N3: Friedman
Top 6 Keys to Being a Successful Teacher.
The most successful teachers share some common characteristics. Here are the top six keys to being a successful teacher. Every teacher can benefit from focusing on these important qualities. Success in teaching, as in most areas of life, depends almost entirely on your attitude and your approach.
Top Six Keys to Being a Successful Teacher
HUMOROUS GRAMMAR RULES
This list is based on material collected by me over the past 20 years while teaching. Additions have come from the collections or creations of fellow teachers, friends, and visitors to the Creative Teaching Web Site. The rules I've obtained from outside sources were created by people I know, or were identified as written anonymously, or gave no indication of authorship. Many are my own original creations.
Humour in Medical Teaching
A "laughing room" was established recently at a hospital in New South Wales.1 This move was inspired by the many claims of clinical benefit from the use of humour, and much research showing that humour and laughter have psychological, physiological, and immunological benefits and other positive effects.2 Humour has been claimed to reduce pain, anxiety, depression, and stress; to reduce blood pressure; to enhance humoral (no pun intended) immune responses; and to improve coping with death and dying.2 Indeed, the association of humour and medicine has a long history: in the medieval commedia dell'arte puppet theatre the doctor appeared alongside the clown and the ballerina. A little more recently, the perceived healing properties of humour have led to the use of clowns in children's hospitals, namely the Robin Williams character in the Patch Adams motion picture, and Dr Peter Spitzer and his clown doctor colleagues of the Humour Foundation at Sydney Children's Hospital.
eMJA: Ziegler, Humour in medical teaching
Teaching with humor
He strapped on his safety goggles and smiled at his students.
As light gleamed off of his head, he shook the plastic bottle filled with alcohol over a growing flame.
He smiled again.
When the time was right, the makeshift rocket propelled off the soda can launch pad, leaving a trail of flames on the counter. Smoke loomed over the professor's head, disappearing in seconds. The students cheered and applauded.
CSULB Online 49er: v8n69: Teaching with humor
Humor and The Multiple Intelligences
A sense of humor is what holds things together when everything is falling apart. Without a sense of humor, the unexpected problems and challenges in life would become unbearable--without a sense of humor, everyday life could become pretty boring. In our opinion, a sense of humor is a basic skill that needs to be nurtured and cultivated, and it can enliven any school subject. Classrooms in which laughter is welcome help bring learning to life.
New Horizons for Learning: Teaching and Learning Strategies
Signature quotes
I always like the people who have a funny quote attached to their signature on their emails. It works if the person changes them once in a while. The person who always has the same one, even if it is funny, it gets old fast.
So this is for you... a list of new signature quotes for people's email.
Feel free to add to the list in the comment area, try to keep them clean.
Here is the one I used for a few months, until I sent an email to my wife, then I was forced to change it.
"If a married man standing in the forest without his wife makes a statement...is he still wrong."
Anyways here is the list:
Daddy, why doesn't this magnet pick up this floppy disk?
I.R.S.: We've got what it takes to take what you've got!
"Very funny, Scotty. Now beam down my clothes."
Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.
The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
C program run. C program crash. C programmer quit.
We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse.
Pentiums melt in your PC, not in your hand.
Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!
He who laughs last thinks slowest!
Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
A flashlight is a case for holding dead batteries.
Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.
Error, no keyboard - press F1 to continue.
There's too much blood in my caffeine system.
Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity.
Hard work has a future payoff. Laziness pays off now.
I won't rise to the occasion, but I'll slide over to it.
Ever notice how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.
Double your drive space - delete Windows!
What is a "free" gift ? Aren't all gifts free?
Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.
Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.
I used to have a handle on life, then it broke.
Don't take life too seriously, you won't get out alive.
I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.
Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.
When there's a will, I want to be in it.
Okay, who put a "stop payment" on my reality check?
We have enough youth, how about a fountain of SMART?
All generalizations are false, including this one.
Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
50 percent of people are below average.
Frogs have it easy. They can eat what bugs them.
It's amazing what a man can accomplish when he's not worried about who will get the credit.
Faith is believing in something common sense tells us not to.
Minds, like parachutes, function best when open.
"Economics is an entire scientific discipline of not knowing what you're talking about."
When I was young, I was put in a school for retarded kids for two years before they realized I actually had a hearing loss. And they called ME slow!
Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
Before you open your mouth to speak, please make sure it's an improvement upon the silence.
You can't scare me. I drive a school bus!
Take interest in your future. It's where you're going to spend the rest of your life.
"Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
--Will Rogers
Never get into fights with ugly people, they have nothing to lose.
Nothing's impossible for those who don't have to do it.
Looking for a helping hand? There's one on your arm.
Sometimes you're the bug, and sometimes you're the windshield.
Don't play stupid with me - I'm better at it!
Pi R squared. Nooo! Pie R round, cornbread R square!
The probability of someone watching you is proportional to the stupidity of your action.
Deja Vu: The feeling that somehow, somewhere, you've been kicked in the head like this before.
Never put off till tomorrow what you can avoid all together.
School - Siglets.com - Signature Files for your E-mail
From now on my Cyber Glass should be viewing a new signature quote on all our email.
New Virus Called Work
There is a new virus. The code name is "WORK". If you receive WORK from
your colleagues, your boss, via e-mail, or from anyone else, do not touch it under any circumstances.
This virus wipes out your private life completely. If you should happen to come in contact with this virus, take two friends and go straight to the nearest bar. Order drinks immediately; and after three rounds, you will find that WORK has been completely deleted from your system.
Forward this virus warning immediately to at least five friends. Should you realize you do not have five friends, this means you are already infected by this virus and WORK already controls your life. If this is the case, go to the bar and stay until you make at least five friends.
I think I have five friends, but I am not entirely positive, so I'm headed for the bar anyway.....it never hurts to be safe.
January 7, 2005
Even Now
Positive Pause
Wonder of it all.
Goodness of Life
January 6, 2005
The Principals' Partnership
Union Pacific recognizes the vital role that high school principals play in our nation's education system, and we are committed to their growth and success. To fulfill this commitment, we have created the High School Principals' Partnership, a program designed to assist principals in selected Union Pacific communities to meet their leadership needs and professional growth objectives.
Virtual Schools for Jocks
"The online school gives me the flexibility I need," says Hunt. "The workload is the same, but I can do it anywhere. It's nicer to ask a question face-to-face with a teacher, but in some ways it prepares me better for college because I have to be more independent." A year ago, Hunt's world junior ranking was 886; now it's 110.
TIME Global Advisor: Virtual Schools for Jocks -- Jan. 10, 2005
Student surfers fail the grade
More Shanghai University students than ever before have failed courses and been forced to drop out of school, the Xinmin Evening News has reported.
Eighty-one Shanghai University students were persuaded to quit school in the middle of last month after failing more than the allowed number of courses in a given time.
The failures are blamed on too much time spent surfing the Internet.
Student surfers fail the grade
Parents Monitor Their Children
Concerned about child predators and vast amounts of questionable content on the Internet, more than 95 percent of America's parents say they monitor their children's online activities, The Conference Board reports today.
This seems a bit high...did they ask how often they monitor?
More Than 95 Percent Of Parents Monitor Their Children’s Online Activities
Server Issues
As I sit here doing a blog entry for the first time since before New Years, I realize how much of an enjoyable activity blogging has been for me in the last year. I missed very few days in 2004 and I am continuously surprised at the amount of useful material that is available on this fad called the internet. For the pass six or so days the server that houses the Teaching and Developing Online Blog has be down. Each day that went by with no blogging felt like an incomplete day. I hope the readers have missed the blog as much as I have missed doing the entries.
Here is to 2005...another year of blogging.
I would like to tip my cyber glasses to all the hard working techies at University of British Columbia who have saved the data on the blogs and have got it back up and running. You techies rock!!!
