EdVentures in Technology
teaching, learning and change
April 23, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- @elsua: Hey Luis, probably doing a lot of post-winter clean-up, and a bunch of time with my kids! Hope you’re feeling better! #
- @elsua: Good night Luis, catch you later. #
- @davecormier: So how did tonight’s EdTechWeekly show go? #
- Go BoSox! Back to back to back home runs to tie the game at 3. Manny, J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell. I almost feel bad for their pitcher, NOT! #
- NO WAY - Back to back to back to back home runs! Varitek was not to be denied! #
- 4-3 Sox over the hated Yankees on 4, count ‘em 1…2…3…4, back to back homers. I have never seen that! #
- @coolcatteacher: Don’t get me started on IT sabotaging pedagogical uses of tech in learning. My wife is running into that in her school too. #
- OMG I am sooo tired of listening to the ESPN Yankee fanboyz. Give me RemDawg! #
- Enjoying the rest of the Sox-Yankees rivalry, then hitting the rack. G’night all… #
- Sox SWEEP the Yanks!!! #
- Ok, now going to bed. #
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April 14, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Hitting the rack after the Sox beat LAA thanks to Doug Mirabelli! #
- Finished shoveling snow…AGAIN. Another foot of heavy wet stuff. Oh and guess what? A Nor’easter due on Sunday - this is spring? #
- Finished shoveling snow…AGAIN. Another foot of heavy wet stuff. Oh and guess what? A Nor’easter due on Sunday - this is spring? #
- @budtheteacher: Good luck! #
- @timwilson: Wishing I was in San Fran with you. Had some good times there! Grab a sourdough soup bowl for me! #
- @dnorman: Ok, that’s TOO cool! #
- Ok, this is ridiculous. Up to 2+ FEET of snow possible? I may actually get out to go snowboarding this season yet! #
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April 12, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- Ok jutecht your Mariners are beating my Sox 3-0 #
- @jutecht: What is the time differential for you and I? It’s 8:30 EST here. I think -5 GMT but with Daylight savings it’s hard to remember. #
- Ack… Sox losing in a no-hitter thru 6. #
- @dnorman: Does BlogBridge have an autofind function or do you have to manually add all your feeds? #
- At Cafe Monte Alto grabbing my double-decaf cap with a shot of coconut and a touch of cocoa. Mmmmm…. #
- Exploring YackPack (http://yackpack.com) to create new communication channels #
- @elsua: I’m not tracking Johnt, what’s the scoop? #
- @librarianmer: May I add my best wishes on a safe flight - I’m not looking forward to the commute back home tonight from Plymouth, NH! #
- In a Distance Ed Planning meeting #
- In a phone conference with Blackboard #
- Done with the Bb phone conference, thinking about heading home soon due to weather conditions. #
- Working with PBwiki for a faculty workshop tomorrow. #
- Heading home on slippery roads, wish me luck! #
- @coolcatteacher: Vicki I’m so sorry to hear about your dog, will Butterfinger be ok? #
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April 6, 2007 at 11:59 pm · Filed under Twitter Log
- @jutecht: Mornin’ Jeff #
- @jutecht: I’m still recovering from shoveling nasty wet snow - wishing I was somewhere warmer right now
#
- Hitting the rack and looking for inspiration somewhere… #
- Working with a faculty member on a Student Response System pilot. Anyone else using these and have an opinion? #
- Back in my office #
- Working on a review of PacktPub’s Moodle - A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle. #
- @jefflebow: Wish I could head down there with you, PodcampNYC sounds like a blast. #
- @elsua: The problem with snow days is that work in addition to snow accumulate!!! Now I’m shoveling virtual snow
#
- @elsua: I’m ready for spring! Waiting for the rock to dry so I can go climbing! #
- Ok, so the new My Google Maps tool - ROCKS! Here’s to the death of boring history classes! #
- Check out the C-Net vid - http://urltea.com/3xu #
- @elsua: So where are you at geographically these days? #
- Filling out course proposal for #
- Grad course: Teaching & Learning in the 21st-century classroom #
- Heading to lunch #
- Wes Fryer’s podcasts 142 and 143 have thoughts spinning about evolving the model of education we use - it’s broken - how do we fix it? #
- Education leapfrog - abandon an evolution in education in favor of a radical leap forward. #
- Think cell phones in developing nations, they bypassed landlines almost entirely. #
- Education leapfrog - abandon an evolution in education in favor of a radical leap forward. #
- Testing VoIP on campus #
- Turned in winterim course proposal, yea! #
- Dreamhost mySQL FTL? #
- Dreamhost mySQL back #
- Upgrading my WP blogs to 2.1.3 #
- @brlamb, @dnorman: Yah, brag about shorts, we got nuthin’ but snow here.
http://flickr.com/photos/63586135@N00/448631253 #
- Correct snowfall pic link: http://flickr.com/photos/edventures/448631253/ #
- Heading home to celebrate Hunter’s 7th & Ethan’s 3rd birthdays tomorrow. Yup, you got it same day three years apart. #
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January 4, 2007 at 9:41 pm · Filed under TechTalk
Ok, so we just posted about LEDs providing backlight to LCD screens in laptops and the potential for increasing battery life in systems. Now consider what it might mean to have a flash-based hard drive (or drives) in your laptop. How much more life might we eek out of the battery and how much less heat might the system produce without moving parts? Thanks to SanDisk, we’ll find out soon enough.
I’d heard rumors about flash-based hard drives before but now ZD-Net UK has posted a piece on SanDisk’s new product. These are 32GB solid-state drives, and if SanDisk is to be believed, blazingly fast.
In its own tests, SanDisk says its flash drive can boot up WindowsVista — the next version of the Windows operating system — in 35seconds, 28 seconds faster than the 55-second boot-up time requiredwith a conventional drive.
ZD-Net was quick to point out that the drives will cost about $600 initially but if we compare this to the initial cost of flash drives when they first came out and what they run now, I would venture that the cost of these drives will fall substantially as they gain a mass market.
They also mentioned that hard drive manufacturers were claiming that flash based drives were no threat to their market, but has anyone reminded them that in only a few years flash drives have grown from 16MB to 32GB?
technorati tags:flash, drive, laptop
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December 21, 2006 at 4:00 pm · Filed under Connectivism, Creativity, Random Thoughts
Ok, this might seem to be a bit off subject but I think it speaks volumes to how the cunning application of technology can engage learners.
I heard rumors that J. K. Rowling had announced the release of her 7th and final Harry Potter title. I had intended to visit her site but my ADD got the better of me. Then I came across a post by one of my most recent blog favorites, Wes Fryer,entitled Discover the final Harry Potter book title. Wes was reporting on a CNN link which provides directions on how Potter fans could learn the title of this last book. I won’t play spoiler for those who want to find out for themselves, but it turns out that J. K. Rowling’s website has hidden a number of “easter eggs” which in turn lead to a game which upon successful completion reveals the final title.
As I followed the instructions, it occurred to me that this sort of engaging, challenging and creative application of technology is what makes learning so much fun. It is not the rote memorization, it is not the regurgitation of meaningless factoids - it is in the exploration and experiential interaction engage our learners and this engagement generates excitement and passion which translates into lasting memories and this retention leads to a greater likelihood that these memories will be around to contribute to the cultivation of new knowledge.
Very cool indeed!
And to add to the novelty, this 7th installment will be available on the 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th year of the 2000 millenium, or 7 on 7-7-7. Hmm…
[tags][/tags]
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November 16, 2006 at 3:47 pm · Filed under Higher Education, Random Thoughts
Ok, so this really is shameless self-promotion but an incredible opportunity nonetheless!
As part of the USNH e-Portfolio Summit, our convening committee invited Dr. Helen Barrett to give the keynote address. Since she is in town this evening, the opportunity arose to invite her to dinner. From my perspective, the opportunity to share a meal with someone of Dr. Barrett’s stature is rare and so I am really looking forward to this evening.
I’ve had the opportunity to hear Dr. Barrett at the 2006 WebCT IMPACT Conference in Chicago this past July where she spoke about her current focus, digital storytelling. While the focus of the USNH summit is much more basic, more along the lines of an introduction to the world of electronic portfolios, I’ve not had the opportunity to hear Dr. Barrett speak at this level. So while it may be old hat, it will be new to me and I look forward to hearing her thoughts. But that’s tomorrow, and who knows what this evening’s conversation will bring. Although after having read and enjoyed her whitepaper on Authentic Assessment, at least I have a few things to take somewhat intelligently on.
[tags]eportfolio, barrett, portfolio, electronic, usnh, summit, digital, storytelling
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March 17, 2006 at 1:53 pm · Filed under Random Thoughts
Ok, so I made some mod somewhere in my blog config that entirely blew out my theme and then tried to perpetually redirect the URL so that I couldn’t log in. Out of sheer frustration, I blew out my old installation and re-installed v2.0.2 from scratch. Thankfully I only had one or two original posts that I can recreate and Zach’s remote_rss script allowed me to import my WordPress blog entries so I’ve recovered most of my data but I am concerned that I have no idea what caused this snafu in the first place.
Ah, technology!
February 14, 2006 at 6:56 pm · Filed under Web Expressions
Class: Lab and field experience
Exercise: Student survey (visit online survey to assess current skill set)
Field Experience: Security Fair visitation
Learning Objectives: Students should be able to:
- Explain the technology that allows us to view web pages
- Explain how email is created, delivered and read
- Explain how the Internet impacts one’s privacy
- Identify and explain the impact of:
- spyware
- adware
- viruses
- worms
- phishing
- Define and explain “cookies”
Internet Basics
Please visit the Learn The Net website and explore the links that discuss the following:
- Connecting to the Internet (this animation deals with dial-up accounts, please be able to explain how your on-campus or apartment account differs)
- How the web works(please be able to discuss what hardware and software is required to be able to access the Internet)
- How e-mail works (Please be able to explain how you access your email here on campus and what is required in order to be able to send and/or receive email)
This online quiz will help you assess your knowledge of the Internet.
Privacy and security on the Internet
Phishing IQ test: This is an excellent test as it shows how difficult it is to distinguish legitimate emails from phishing attempts. Particularly informative are the explanations located on the solution page.
There is also a PDF advising how to evaluate possible phishing attempts called: Top Ten Tips for Finding a Phish
Here is a recent article from Slashdot that discusses the more sophisticated vectors of attack that hackers are employing in their efforts to elicit your personal and account information.
UPDATE: After our discussion of phishing what should arrive in our University HelpDesk email but the following (note the link address):
Cookies
Wikipedia has an excellent article on cookies.
As does the following Cookie Central website.
This article provides quick and easy tips on how to view the cookies that reside on your computer and provide information about your Internet habits. Make a note to explore the links on the side that explain about the darker side of cookies. They also have an FAQ page that will tell you everything you never wanted to know about cookies.
These are questions you should be able to answer once you have explored these cookie resources.
- How could cookies divulge private information about you?
- What other dangers exist using cookies?
- What advantages exist to using cookies?
Now let’s examine the cookies that exist on your M: drive.
You can find them here: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Cookies
- What do you think?
- Will you delete your cookies?
- Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
Now that you know where they are, here is how you can delete your cookies:
IE: Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Cookies and then click “OK”
FireFox: Tools -> Clear Private Data -> Check the Cookies box and click “Clear Private Data Now”
Spyware
Again, wikipedia has a terrific definition on what spyware is.
Compare this to how they define viruses, or more properly virii.
See if you can answer the following questions:
- What characteristics distinguish spyware from other forms of malicious software?
- How is spyware similar to viruses?
- How does spyware get installed on your computer?
- What can you do to avoid/remove spyware?
Look at a few instances of spyware and describe their effects.
Provide an example of spyware masquerading as a spyware removal tool.
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February 9, 2006 at 10:09 pm · Filed under Web Expressions
Ok, here’s the other assignment for tonight. And it is pretty straight-forward. Find a blog. What’s the catch? When you find the blog, you need to subscribe to the blog using your feed reader selected in the last post. When that is done, post your find as an entry to your blog. Explain what attracted you to this blog and how it will assist your creative muse.
And speaking of creative muses, there is some incredible creative thought already on display in the blog entries of your classmates. Check them out and use them to fuel your own imagination.
Happy hunting and we’ll see you on Thursday!
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