November 2005
November 30, 2005
Have I been in this meeting...
For sure...very cool.
Edublog awards
Not got your nominations in for the 2005 international Edublog Awards? Well, hurry up. There's only 4 days to go until the nominations are counted up and the short-list is announced. Be sure and get your favorite blogs and bloggers into the running for the Edublog industries most prestigious and desirable award!
Does your company belong in the blogosphere.
When Bob Lutz, the vice chairman of product development at General Motors, wants to get quick feedback from consumers on the company's latest product launch, new strategy, or something as specific as the quality of the sheet-metal fits on the latest Chevrolet, he knows where to go: his corporate blog, http://fastlane.gmblogs.com.
Does Your Company Belong in the Blogosphere? : Technology : HBS Working Knowledge
Quote of the day.
Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don't need to be done.
Andy Rooney
US news commentator (1919 - )
November 29, 2005
A blog is a website.
Angela Booth's Writing Blog: Writing Tip: Yes, you need a Web site -- a blog IS a Web site
The 8 Types of Navigation Pages
When users are searching for content on a site, each page they encounter must do one of two things. Either the page provides the content they are seeking or it delivers them closer to the page that does.
UIE Brain Sparks ? Blog Archive ? The 8 Types of Navigation Pages
Quote of the day.
Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.
Doug Larson
November 28, 2005
I am Captain Jack Sparrow
 |
| You scored as Captain Jack Sparrow. Roguish,quick-witted, and incredibly lucky, Jack Sparrow is a pirate who sometimes ends up being a hero, against his better judgement. Captain Jack looks out for #1, but he can be counted on (usually) to do the right thing. He has an incredibly persuasive tongue, a mind that borders on genius or insanity, and an incredible talent for getting into trouble and getting out of it. Maybe its brains, maybe its genius, or maybe its just plain luck. Or maybe a mixture of all three. Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com |
Quote of the Day.
I don't necessarily agree with everything I say.
Marshall McLuhan
Canadian author, educator, & philosopher (1911 - 1980)
Bloggers' FAQ
As parents wring their hands about Internet predators, many teens are worried about a different kind of online intruder: the school principal.
Students are blogging about schoolyard crushes and feuds, posting gossip about classmates on social-networking sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com, and sharing their party snapshots on public Web pages. Increasingly, their readers include school administrators, who are doling out punishments for online writings that they say cross the line.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
November 27, 2005
Only read if you are mature
This should only be read by those whose level of maturity qualifies them to relate to it...
1975: Long hair
2005: Longing for hair
1975: KEG
2005: EKG
1975: Acid rock
2005: Acid reflux
1975: Moving to California because it's cool
2005: Moving to Arizona because it's warm
1975: Tryin to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2005: Trying NOT to look like MarlonBrando or Liz Taylor
1975: Seeds and stems
2005: Roughage
1975: Hoping for a BMW
2005: Hoping for a BM
1975: Going to a new, hip joint
2005: Receiving a new hip joint
1975: Rolling Stones
2005: Kidney Stones
1975: Being called into the principal's office
2005: Calling the principal's office
1975: Screw the system
2005: Upgrade the system
1975: Disco
2005: Costco
1975: Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2005: Children begging you to get their heads shaved
1975: Passing the drivers' test
2005: Passing the vision test
1975: Whatever
2005: Depends
Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things.
The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1987.
They are too young to remember the first space shuttle blowing up on liftoff.
Their lifetime has always included AIDS.
Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.
The CD was introduced the year they were born.
They have always had an answering machine.
They have always had cable.
They cannot fathom not having a remote control.
Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.
Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.
They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.
They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.
They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.
They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel", or "de plane, Boss, de plane".
They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R.even is.
McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.
They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.
Feeling old yet???
18 Tricks to Teach Your Body
Math, Physics, and Engineering Applets
These are some educational java applets I wrote to help visualize various concepts in math, physics, and engineering.
Math, Physics, and Engineering Applets
The Perfect 404
Oops. Something went wrong. You’re not sure what — was it you? Was it the website? What do you do now?
Welcome to the world of the Error 404 page. You’ve requested a page — either by typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking on an out-of-date link and you’ve found yourself in the middle of cyberspace nowhere. A user-friendly website will give you a helping hand while many others will simply do nothing, relying on the browser’s built-in ability to explain what the problem is. We can do better than that, can’t we?
A List Apart: Articles: The Perfect 404
Web colours
This page lists over 500 colours by colour name, Hex value, RGB value and Microsoft Access code number.
500 Named Colours with rgb and hex values
Our Frappr Map
Teaching and Developing Online has created a Frappr map, this will give all of you readers and blogs an opportunity to give a shout out.
Put yourself on the map.
November 25, 2005
THE INTERNET, FRIEND OR FOE OF LEARNING?
A school in the Chilean capital has decided to prohibit students from writing their assignments on computers. "The kids just download material from the Internet and hand it in without making any changes. They don't even read it. Now they will have to write out their assignments by hand, which means they will have to take the time to read them," teacher Josefina Arriagada told IPS.
EDUCATION : THE INTERNET, FRIEND OR FOE OF LEARNING?
Die LMS Die
The PLE project recognises the fundamental flaws in Virtual Learning Environments or Learning Management Systems (VLE, LMS), but falls short in its vision of an alternative. At this stage in the project it is suggesting that the PLE be a desktop application for a student (sounds a bit like my old Perfect LMS idea) or a singular portal online.
Teach and Learn Online: Die LMS die! You too PLE!
Saving the Net from the pipeholders
So the answers were varied; yet one assumption stood out: i's a place, and not just fiber and copper, or a transport system for pumping "content" from producers to consumers. It's something we go on and not just through. Those two concepts — The Net is a Place and The Net is a Transport System — are both true?
The Doc Searls Weblog : Wednesday, November 16, 2005
NetSmartz promotes Internet safety for younger generations
I posted this a few years ago...but as stated it is a great site and deserves a second posting.
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: NetSmartz promotes Internet safety for younger generations
Quote of the Day.
In times like these, it helps to recall that there have always been times like these.
Paul Harvey
Demotivators
I have added a similiar site early...I just think some of the sayings are great.
The Demotivators? Collection - from Despair.com
November 24, 2005
Who's afraid of Google?
It seems no one is safe: Google is doing Wi-Fi; Google is searching inside books; Google has a plan for ecommerce.
Wired 13.12: Who's Afraid of Google? Everyone.
No e-Learning Patents! No Software Patents!
last week was the ongoing dispute about software patents in Europe - the legislation that will not go away, no matter how many times it is defeated, it seems. An outcome of the conference was an initiative struck from the perspective of e-learning to work against this legislation. To me, software patents legislation represents a very bad idea, and the continued attempts to push it through no matter what the cost are damaging not only to the technology community in general but to the idea of representative democracy as a whole.
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ No e-Learning Patents! No Software Patents!
Learning Environment Design for Learners and Teachers
This working paper argues that while a learning management system is suitable for distance learning, the wider scope of e-learning requires not just an LMS but a set of tgools, characterized in seven layers or types of service. Good discussion, moving in the same general direction as other commentators cited here. "The advent of Web 2.0 should enable educators to understand the needs of teachers and learners using technology enabled services, so that education desktops can be simply designed to specifically suit the needs of teachers and learners, and at the same time provide a large set of choices for services, information, and data."
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ Learning Environment Design for Learners and Teachers
Quote of the day.
For every person who wants to teach there are approximately thirty people who don't want to learn--much.
W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman, And Now All This (1932) introduction
Censorshio considered harmful.
This morning, I saw that James Farmers’ Edublogs service is being banned in Australia. Censored. Blocked. Verboten. It irked me, and has been bugging me all day. Now, Brian just posted about it, and I realize I need to publicly demonstrate some form of outrage at this. It’s not enough to quietly grumble, or to simply comment on James’ blog post.
Censorship considered harmful at D’Arcy Norman Dot Net
November 23, 2005
The value of my blog...has gone up.
My blog is worth $8,468.10.
How much is your blog worth?
University Is Accused of Bias Against Christian Schools
But Mr. Young, his teachers and his family fear his beliefs may hurt his chance to attend the university. They say the public university system, which has 10 campuses, discriminates against students from evangelical Christian schools, especially faith-based ones like Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, where Mr. Young is a senior.
University Is Accused of Bias Against Christian Schools - New York Times
University Is Accused of Bias Against Christian Schools
The Last Photo I Ever Took!
This made me laugh so I thought I would share.
Microsoft to "Open" it's file formats.
Microsoft have announced that they will "open" their file formats by submitting them to ECMA International, a standards body. The ECMA is the lowest rung on the standards ladder, and effectively acts as a rubber-stamp for proprietary standards. Unfortunately from the articles circulating, it appears that Microsoft are going for post hoc standardisation, rather than the approach open office took of getting feedback from external third parties. These is also no word on whether Microsoft are going to licence their patents covering the format so parties in countries with software patents (i.e. the US) can legally access the files.
Microsoft to "open" it's file formats | connect.educause.edu
Teaching 2.0
[A] problem I’m facing and I think the point you are making is that teachers, for the most part, just want the tool. They don’t want the conversation. My class is about the conversation and not about the tool and I keep getting teachers coming to me and saying “So why can’t we just learn how to use it?” They don’t see the need for conversation; to them it’s just another thing they can use in their classroom and not something that can, if used in such a way, revolutionize the teaching learning process. Until we realize the conversation is more important then the tool, we will be stuck in a 1.0 world.
Weblogg-ed - The Read/Write Web in the Classroom :
Sorry I did not make the list.
Top 20 Edu Blogs? - while I agree with the names on the list (my connectivism blog included :)), there are so many excellent edu-tech bloggers, I would have a hard time narrowing it down to 20.
elearnspace: Top 20 Edu Blogs?
Quote of the day
To err is human--and to blame it on a computer is even more so.
Robert Orben
The GNU Project
The idea that the proprietary-software social system--the system that says you are not allowed to share or change software--is antisocial, that it is unethical, that it is simply wrong, may come as a surprise to some readers. But what else could we say about a system based on dividing the public and keeping users helpless? Readers who find the idea surprising may have taken proprietary-software social system as given, or judged it on the terms suggested by proprietary software businesses. Software publishers have worked long and hard to convince people that there is only one way to look at the issue.
When software publishers talk about "enforcing" their "rights" or "stopping piracy", what they actually *say* is secondary. The real message of these statements is in the unstated assumptions they take for granted; the public is supposed to accept them uncritically. So let's examine them.
One assumption is that software companies have an unquestionable natural right to own software and thus have power over all its users. (If this were a natural right, then no matter how much harm it does to the public, we could not object.) Interestingly, the US Constitution and legal tradition reject this view; copyright is not a natural right, but an artificial government-imposed monopoly that limits the users' natural right to copy.
Another unstated assumption is that the only important thing about software is what jobs it allows you to do--that we computer users should not care what kind of society we are allowed to have.
A third assumption is that we would have no usable software (or would never have a program to do this or that particular job) if we did not offer a company power over the users of the program. This assumption may have seemed plausible, before the free software movement demonstrated that we can make plenty of useful software without putting chains on it.
If we decline to accept these assumptions, and judge these issues based on ordinary common-sense morality while placing the users first, we arrive at very different conclusions. Computer users should be free to modify programs to fit their needs, and free to share software, because helping other people is the basis of society.
About the GNU Project - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)
November 22, 2005
Edublog Awards 2005
Teaching and Developing Online won this award last year...It would be great if we won it again.
Thanks to all you readers who voted last year.
November 21, 2005
Asynchronous Learning could be the future of education
Wouldn't learning be best if you could invite the teacher into your study when most ready to learn? A wise person once said, "The teacher will appear when the student is ready." Maybe Asynchronous Learning Networks makes this possible, giving students more control and autonomy?
Quote of the day.
Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, "The Little Prince", 1943
French writer (1900 - 1944)
November 20, 2005
Machines and objects to overtake humans on the Internet
Machines will overtake humans to become the biggest users of the Internet in a brave new world of electronic sensors, smart homes, and tags that track users’ movements and habits, the UN’s telecommunications agency predicted.
Time, gentleman (and ladies) please...
Same to you... Rob Wall, it was nice to talk to you finally.
Rob Wall says...Sitting in the hotel lobby checking my e-mail yesterday, and looking up to see a fellow conference attendee working on his laptop. As I said hello I took a quick look at his name tag and saw that it was Darren Cannell, who has been on in my RSS aggregator for a long time. We had a nice little discussion afterwards. It was great getting to meet you in person, Darren.
StigmergicWeb
November 19, 2005
Open source versus Microsoft
Computer experts tend to refer to such large companies as Microsoft, Webct, Blackboard, and others as bad companies. I might not agree with the way Microsoft does many things but without that company, where would the internet and computers be today? I am not against open source, what I am against is anyone who becomes versed in computers and starts to see open source as the way of the future but forgets that 90 percent of computer users will not ever get to the stage where they can or will be willing to be part of an open source movement. What they want is a computer that does the simple things that they want to do within the computing world and the internet. These people who are not versed in computers still make up the majority of users, and it is important that they are recognized. The concept of open source is important and always results in a better product in the end, however the movement itself does not have to portray anything that is not open source as negative. Computer users should be able to have choices. The visionaries in the computer world forget that and tend to forget the reason we have even got to this stage of computer development, internet and e-learning is because of the microsofts, webct and blackboards of the world. You need to have a starting point. Any visionaries within the computer world at one time started on their first machine and I will bet they did not start on a machine that had linux or unix. They might have started on Dos if they are old enough.
Anyways, my point is that open source is good, microsoft is good, LMS is good, everything is good. I am not sure if I explained this well.
The computer, internet and e-learning would not be where they are today without those "evil" companies. It is possible to sell a movement like open source without portraying the other as bad.
90% of users are still using the 'evil' products so the reality is today we need to work within their structures and frameworks to reach those users and work with those 'evil' companies to move towards a more open source approach.
November 18, 2005
On Being Radical
I listened to Stephen Downes presentation today and found it to be very interesting. I liked all of his comments, but I still find his fear of a LMS to be out of character. He mentioned a few time during the talk that if you are being restricted by a boss, email system or structure be radical and work around it, don't stand for it. The limitations within any LMS, and they all have them just means one has to be creative and work around them. What an LMS gives you is a structure in which you can start to achieve some of the objectives you might have.
An example of a creative use of a LMS is the "Association of Online K-12 schools". This associations uses a combination of blogs and webct to create a system in which it is possible to build community and categorize and share resources.
http://www.scs.sk.ca/cyber/aok12s/home.htm
Once again Stephen has tickled my interest with his talk...Stephen continues to keep up the good work.
Stephen's Web ~ by Stephen Downes ~ On Being Radical
Task Number three
My third website for review this weekend.
Writely - The Web Word Processor
Net vibe
My second site to play with this weekend.
Quote of the day
When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.
Thomas Szasz, "The Second Sin"
My weekend task
This weekend I am going to play with this...
November 17, 2005
Character Statistics
Here is a follow up posting to one done a few days ago.
Below are the character matches that have been submitted to the Which Fantasy/SciFi Character Are You? survey. Keep in mind the above numbers may be influenced by ballot stuffers.
A call for participation
I need help from the blogosphere, please place this entry in your blog to let your interested blog readers know about this blog.
I have started a blog called "Blackboard and Webct are One."
The purpose of this blog is to start the discussion about what we would like to see from this new "joint" company. I have posted such questions as...What are the best tools found in Webct? What are the worst tools found in Webct? and the same for blackboard and many other questions.
I am hoping to build this blog into an area where blackboard users, webct user and open source users can have a voice which I hope will be heard by the developers of the new platform which will merger from the joining of the two largest LMS in the world. At first I was a little cynical and thought that money is going to dictate the look of the next LMS but with a strong enough united voice we might be able to have some influence. Anyways...let see if we can make it happen.
If you have a question you would like people to respond to...just email me and I will make sure it is added to the blog. This blog is meant to be a community and I am inviting you all to join and make a difference.
See ya online.
BlackBoard & WebCT
The Ethics of Tracking
The Ethics of Tracking - this article from Lisa Neal - editor-in-chief at eLearn Magazine should make very educator using an LMS stop and take a few deep breaths.....it's has been a niggling thought at the back of my mind from 2 perspectives:
1) are there any organisations that actually do this....? Probably!
2) how many learners do know that this can be done!!
Learning Technologies: The Ethics of Tracking
Quote of the Day
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
US author & physician (1809 - 1894)
November 16, 2005
Unintended consequences
Jonathan Weinberg's Wackiest web names ever article raises a few eyebrows, offers a touch of humor, and includes a word of caution in your choice of domain name:
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Unintended consequences - be careful in choosing your domain name
Quote of the day.
Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.
Doug Larson
November 15, 2005
Teachers Improving Learning with Technology
This is a great find from someone who’s also getting stuck into edublogs.org and learnerblogs.org.
Fundamentally TILT TV is a broadcast (or vidcast) of funky tools and teachers doing cool stuff with technology (sort of like edugadget just with moving pictures)
TILT TV - Teachers Improving Learning with Technology at incorporated subversion
Which Fantasy/SciFi Character Are You?
I took the test. I selected an answer for each of the questions, then clicked Score Results. There was no right or wrong answers, merely virtues and traits that I most adhere to. Then I was matched with the fantasy or science fiction character that I have the most in common with.
If you would like to try click on the image below...make sure you come back and let us know who you are...
A venerated sage with vast power and knowledge, you gently guide forces around you while serving as a champion of the light.
Judge me by my size, do you? And well you should not - for my ally is the Force. And a powerful ally it is. Life greets it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminescent beings are we, not this crude matter! You must feel the Force around you, everywhere.
Yoda is a is a character in the Star Wars universe.
I think that is cool, I like that Yoda guy.
Quote of the day
Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.
Malcolm Forbes, in Forbes Magazine
US art collector, author, & publisher (1919 - 1990)
Forbes "Attack of the Blogs"
There are almost predictable stages, phases, plateaus in the ongoing sweep of significant transformation of a social, economic and political landscape occasioned by the introduction and uptake of revolutionizing technology and the sociology that grows as the technology's use takes root and penetrates many areas of human activity.
Wirearchy :: Forbes "Attack of the Blogs" .... Another Milestone Along The Way
The personal creativity cycle and the organizational innovation cycle
Dave Pollard, in his How to Save the World weblog, recently posted a thoughtful essay on the inter-relationships between personal creativity and organizational innovation. He does so by integrating a cyclical model for personal creativity developed by a knowledge management director from a Swedish company with another cyclical process model for organizational innovation that Dave developed.
Innovation Weblog - The personal creativity cycle and the organizational innovation cycle
November 14, 2005
Online tools for classroom use.
A great pile of Tools.
The Icing on the Cake: Online Tools for Classroom Use
Is E-Mail Becoming the New Snail Mail?
The instant message appears to be catching up to e-mail as the favored way to communicate using the Internet, suggests a new survey conducted by America Online.
Is E-Mail Becoming the New Snail Mail?
Google to offer web traffic analysis services
Google has officially launched Analytics, a robust new web analysis system that provides site owners with traffic metrics and massive amounts of useful marketing data. Based on technology originally developed by a Californian company called Urchin that Google acquired in March, Analytics integrates with Google's popular AdWords system, and will vastly improve the quality and quantity of data provided to existing AdWords users. Those of you that don't use AdWords can still use Analytics by adding a simple javascript snippet to your web site
Google to offer web traffic analysis services
Google to offer web traffic analysis services
Bloggin Jargon
It took readers to point out the obvious to me. I wrote a post denouncing jargon and dared to include this sentence in it: Jargon is like proprietary software in a world moving toward open-source.
Stephen Downes Presentation continued.
EdTechUK: Stephen Downes cont.
Stephen Downes presentation
Diversity comes when individuals in the network make their decisions autonomously – no one tells them what to do. They do so in the context of the network, and their actions have impacts upon those networks (interwoven) – learning is not separate from everything else we do. Open standards and interoperability then becomes crucial for us to take best advantage of the systems we’re embedded in and creating.
EdTechUK: Sound bites from Stephen Downes's presentation
University Administrators "Infiltrate" LMS Sites
The Chronicle reports that because of a recent strike by graduate students at NYU, university administrators decided to add themselves as instructors on course management sites. The intent was to monitor whether or not grad students were continuing to teach during the strike. However, they also mistakenly added themselves to many faculty sites:
University Administrators "Infiltrate" LMS Sites | Kairosnews
Digital Divide Statistics
"A gap remains between users and nonusers or between 'haves' and 'have-nots'," according to Eurostat, the European Uniion's statistics agency.
The survey found that 85 percent of school or university students aged 16 to 24 used the Internet, while only 13 percent of people aged between 55 and 74 went online during the survey. The poll was conducted across the 25-nation EU between April and June 2004, questioning 204,029 people. No margin of error was given.
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Digital Divide statistics
Quote of the day.
If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect.
Ted Turner
Blogs for schools
Basically it seems like there’s three camps; the ’start a blog’ service, the ‘let us set up a community of blogs for you’ service and the ‘use me to set up your own community of blogs’ service. The start a blog service (such as learnerblogs.org) is obviously ‘free’ as quite simply you’re not going to do well as any blog service if you charge, the ’set up for you’ guys are obviously the ones who charge (as that’s what they charge for) and the set-your-own-up are mostly also free (although there are some ‘premium’ solutions it’d be a bit silly to use them if you’re able to host your own).
Blogs for schools - What’s going on? at incorporated subversion
November 10, 2005
Collaboration and Teacher Reflection
Weblogs offers several key features that I believe can support a constructive, collaborative, reflective environment. For one, it’s convenient. The medium supports self-expression and “voice.” Collaboration and connectivity can be conducted efficiently especially interms of participants’ time or place. You can access and link to a number of appropriate resources. It provides multiple communication channels (e.g., you can write, record and/or cast your thoughts). Publishing your thoughts online forces you to concretize your thoughts.
Collaboration and Teacher Reflection at D’Arcy Norman Dot Net
Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School Blog System
We at the Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School will be in the next few months working on our blog system. This system will allow an educator within our school division the ability to use a blog for communicating with their students and their parents. This blog system will also be offered as a perk to the members of the Association of Online K-12 schools.
Check out the association, join and get your blog.
Association of Online K-12 Schools
November 9, 2005
Five Email tics
The liberal use of the "VERY HIGH PRIORITY!!!" flag
The 18-line sig about all the Bad Things that will happen to me if I ever reveal the contents of your privileged, confidential (and unencrypted) message
The unrequested press release (and the serial ignoring of the "Unsubscribe" I sent you for the previous seven press releases)
The graphical background, font and table tags, and remaining 14k of HTML cruft associated with every. single. message. you've ever sent
The including of my -- plus 98 other strangers' -- personal email addresses in the "To:" line of your friendly reminder about Tyler's birthday party
Five email tics I'd love for you to lose | 43 Folders
Bloggers to Microsoft.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates sees "disruptive" changes on the horizon, and wants to make sure his executives are paying attention.
So he sent them a memo last month, outlining the importance of online advertising and services as new revenue sources. Gates' memo refers to an earlier letter sent to employees by Ray Ozzie, which included a list of missed opportunities and threats from rivals including Google, Skype, Research In Motion and Apple.
Bloggers to Microsoft: Take a memo | News.blog | CNET News.com
Managing Large Volumes of Assignments
A system designed to cope with a growing volume of assignments has lowered costs, reduced errors, and increased satisfaction of students and faculty
EDUCAUSE Quarterly | Volume 28 Number 2 2005
Teacher Toolkit
"My history teacher referred us to this site and it's AWESOME! In the past few days it's made life so much easier as an honors sophomore student."
Switching Colleges Is Common
A new survey has found that it is common for college students to switch schools or to take courses at more than one school, and that such peripatetic students are less engaged in the intellectual and social life of their campuses.
Switching Colleges Is Common but Takes a Toll, Study Finds - New York Times
Switching Colleges Is Common
Quote of the day.
The generation of random numbers is too important to be left to chance.
Robert R. Coveyou, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
November 8, 2005
When is a blog, a blog?
“More generally, however, a blog is a way of thinking. It’s a way of recording the argument you are having with yourself, admitting that you may be about to be wrong, and ensuring that, when you are wrong, you make your wrongness available as a public record. A blog is Socratic that way; it knows that it does not know. So we begin a blog, as we begin a show, as an act of good faith, a sign that we are working hard to get this right.”
Portals and KM: When is a Blog, A Blog?
Yahoo Think Tank
Yahoo Australia is sponsoring a two-week experiment in online creativity called the Yahoo! Think Tank. Rotating teams of creative people from ad agencies in Australia and New Zealand are living and working in a "transparent," fully-functioning creative studio, complete with a desk, PC and whiteboards. Six webcams enable people from around the world to watch these creatives at work, 24/7. It's quite interactive:
Innovation Weblog - Yahoo Think Tank explores the limits of online creativity
Quote of the day.
Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell
English essayist, novelist, & satirist (1903 - 1950)
November 7, 2005
American readers say blogs are mainstream
30% of those surveyed read blogs. That's a lot, people.
Blogcount.com: American readers say blogs are mainstream
Bloggers: Some Formal Definitions
There word “blogger” gets thrown around quite a bit these days, with shape-shifting definitions. Having studied this over the past year, I thought it best to cleave out four senses of a definition.
Bloggers: Some Formal Definitions | Civilities
Open source turns money-spinner
Open source code, written by a community of thousands of software developers, has always been made freely available. But there are ways of making money from it, as David Reid finds out in Amsterdam.
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click Online | Open source turns money-spinner
Quote of the day.
The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future" (Clarke's second law)
English physicist & science fiction author (1917 - )
November 4, 2005
Effective Information Management
This article draws together a number of 'critical success factors' for information management projects. These do not provide an exhaustive list, but do offer a series of principles that can be used to guide the planning and implementation of information management activities.
10 principles of effective information management
Self-Imposed Digital Divide.
A greater concern, however, is that the remaining lag in usage may also be self-imposed. "The most worrying factor," says Ms. Williamson, "is that a large percentage of African Americans don't appear to be interested in going online, even if they have the money and education to do it."
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Self-imposed digital divide
Teens find 'voice' on blogs
"Frankly, in my opinion, it's quite healthy and [adults should] not to be discouraged. Teens have always had opinions. They have rarely had a voice. The Internet gives them a place to be heard," said Jim Lenkner, the education technology coordinator for 3 Rivers Connect, a tech nonprofit Downtown (Pittsburg).
Chasing the Dragon's Tale: Teens find 'voice' on blogs - social networks
I want to...
I want to..." or "I need to" or "How do I?" These are all questions we all ask all the time. This is a small collection of resources that will help to answer those questions. It is not complete, nor will it ever be. I will be adding to this on a regular basis, so feel free to bookmark it and come back and visit.
I want to - a page of utilities that help you do stuff you want to
Quote of the day.
When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.
Bernard Bailey
