Monthly Archives: November 2010

Nov 15 2010

Posting 11/16/2010

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

By dougpete • Posted in Links
1
Nov 15 2010

Small Basic

Who didn’t cut their first programming teeth on the BASIC (Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) language.  It’s known for a lot of things:

  • ease of use;
  • powerful yet simple;
  • teaches a certain programming paradigm;
  • available on virtually any platform.

I know that it was one of the first languages that I learned and I still have a copy kicking around on my computers.  Every now and again, I’ll need to write a quick little ditty to do something and I’ll fire up BASIC to do the job.  I still think of it as a great personal programming language and can see many advantages of using it as a first programming platform.

To help the process, Microsoft has developed and released a product called Small Basic.  It’s in a section that they call Kid’s Corner but this big kid likes it too.

It’s a small download but the MSI package lands easily and installs in a couple of minutes.

And then, you’re ready to begin!

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The development window is nice and friendly and there is contextual help every step of the way to help you with the language constructs.

It’s more than just your MSBasic memories though!  Included in the language is the ability to manipulate graphics, play music, and manipulate turtle graphics.  I think it’s the perfect language to interest young programmers.

Small Basic gets social as well.  In the best spirit of collaboration, you don’t have to email code or the like.  The “publish” button sends your work into the cloud and you get a token in exchange.  Share that token with your collaborators and you’re off to the races.

The program comes with a good PDF reference file to learn the language and the syntax.  From a teachers’ perspective, there is great support for learning materials.  Blogs and forums allow for the discussion of materials and there are Powerpoint files to support the teaching of Small Basic.  Even if you’re not looking to use the program itself, the support files should inspire you in ways to create your own lessons.

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If you have a few megs of storage space on your hard drive, this is a handy package to download and have available.  Quite easily, you can hammer out a solution to a problem on a personal basis.  And, for the family computer, it’s a nice place to introduce programming.

Nov 14 2010

links for 2010-11-14

  • Follower Review
    FollowerReview.com makes it easy to review your followers to get a sense of their tweets, and then give you the opportunity to follow them, block them, or mark them as spam.

  • http://www.jerrylewiscomedy.com/announcer.htm
    This is called the announcer’s test. It originated at Radio Central New York in the early 1940′s as a cold reading test given to prospective radio talent to demonstrate their speaking ability.  Use as a warmup for podcasting.

  • 15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid
    15 Google Interview Questions That Will Make You Feel Stupid

  • ImageStamper | Stay Copyright-safe
    ImageStamper is a free tool for keeping dated, independently verified copies of license conditions associated with creative commons images. You can use it to safeguard your use of free images from license changes, or to prove you are the original image creator.

  • Fill Any PDF Form
    FillAnyPDF.com is a website where you upload your PDF form and link to it so other people can fill it out and sign it online. No software is needed. Any PDF form can be used, even if it’s not “interactive”, so you can get started right away. You can even invite a group to fill out your forms and track the results. Anyone that collects signatures or filled out forms will find FillAnyPDF.com to be a valuable time-saving resource.

  • Google Demo Slam
    Demo Slam is a stage where charisma, and creativity counts.  Choose your tech and get the people who would never watch a tech demo to finally discover this coolness.

  • Historic Sites | Historic Holidays | Historvius
    Historvius helps you discover the world’s historic sites, from the most famous national treasures to the oft-forgotten hidden gems. You’ll get information on each historic site, directions, entry and contact details and comments from other users – everything you need for your perfect historic holiday.

  • Welcome to the NZACDITT website | NZACDITT
    The New Zealand Association for Computing, Digital Information Technology Teachers is a new association created to advocate for our subject. The aim of the association is to create a warm, friendly community of teachers where we can share resources and speak with one voice to get our subject area recognised and supported.

 

By dougpete • Posted in Links
0
Nov 14 2010

RockMelt

Earlier this week, I received my invitation to use the RockMelt browser and so decided to give it a go.  It was a relatively quick download and I was ready to go.

My first impression was – hey, this is Google Chrome.  In fact, it’s based upon the code from the Chromium project and so the initial look and feel shouldn’t have come as a surprise.  RockMelt claims that it will be more than just a piece of software – it will be a way of pulling together your web experience.  Where have we seen that before?  Notably in the Flock browser of which I was a real fan.  However, development for the Macintosh seems delayed so this may be just what I’m looking for.

My internet needs are relatively small – I want to browse securely, I use Facebook, Twitter, and Diigo/Delicious routinely.  It would be nice to find a way to streamline the experience.  To date, that has meant downloading and installing Extensions to Google Chrome.  RockMelt claims to have that done for me and more.

Since it’s built on Chromium, it make sense that I deck it out like I do.  That means adding my favourite extensions like AdThwart, Shareaholic, and Evernote.  And, of course, I need to get a little theme action going – my current choice is the Robot/Android theme.  I also pin my frequently used tabs to the top.  It just takes a few minutes and I’m ready to go.

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RockMelt displays the content relatively inobtrusively.  The extensions and social services that I use are on the right “edge” and a sampling of the folks I’m friends with on Facebook on the left.

They’re all just one click buttons with quick access just a mouse click away.  The Facebook access is nice; it’s really quick with no advertising.  The Twitter access is pretty basic and certainly has nowhere near the power and functionality of Seesmic Desktop.  But there’s something very functional about just opening the browser and being automatically logged in to all of these services.

One of the things that a good learner does is share with others what’s happening.  At the top of the browser window a “Share” button provides one click access to sharing whatever is open in the browser.  A very nice touch.

And then, there’s search.  My initial thought when looking at the browser was that we’re retrograding here.  Instead of the Omnibar that Google Chrome has, there’s actually a search box.  Whaaaa?  Here is the nicest feature so far.

The Omnibar is certainly there.  Type a URL or a search term and you’re searching as you might with Google Chrome.  But, if you type a search term in the search box, a search with results pops up in a window on top of the current page!  This was a feature that I took a shining to immediately.  Rather than leaving the current page to do a search or to open another tab, do the search on top of what’s currently open.  It’s a big jump in productivity.

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Often, I don’t need to go to the actual website to get the information that I need.  The quick summary that a simple search is sometimes enough.

At this juncture, RockMelt is still early in development and only accessible by invitation.  As such, it wouldn’t be fair to get into benchmarks comparing it to other browsers but there’s no noticeable performance delays for my use of the browser.  The whole design is indeed made with the web and the social web in mind.  It’s really worth a download to try a different type of experience.  Whether you stay with it or choose similar add-ons/extensions to your existing browser will be your choice.  RockMelt does give you a good glimpse of what the entire browsing experience could me.

Nov 13 2010

links for 2010-11-13

  • QR Code Awareness | Austin
    Mobile devices have changed the way consumers access the Internet as well as the way marketers are trying to reach customers. Although QR codes and mobile barcodes have been around for several years, the explosion of the smartphone market allowed barcode scanning to grow 700 percent from January 2010 to July 2010.

  • Teacher Magazine: Mr. Administrator, Tear Down This Firewall!
    Hoping to move the debate along, members of the Teacher Leaders Network recently had a very frank discussion of the topic in our 24/7/365 private chat room. Here’s a sample of what we had to say. (To honor our TLN confidentiality agreement, I’ve only used first names here.)

  • Ford Social Media Guidelines
    Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines – We have advised our personnel to observe these guidelines when participating in an online conversation regarding Ford or the automotive industry.

  • A Stop Motion Animation History of Stop Motion Animation
    A Stop Motion Animation History of Stop Motion Animation

  • Tools to Boost Your Social Media Productivity » SocialOomph.com
    Join more than 263,170 satisfied users –>
    We are the trusted and preferred productivity solution for more than 302,530 Twitter accounts.

Nov 13 2010

Aural Happiness

There are a couple of things that come together with the iPad application Aweditorium that I have found so compelling as I’ve enjoyed this application over the past little while.

First of all, I really enjoy listening to new music.  It’s one thing to dig into iTunes and listen to your own collection or to listen to streaming radio.  After a while, it does get to be a little tedious.  Aweditorium provides a publishing platform for acts that I’ve never heard before, from a wide variety of genres.  For all of these new (to me at least) artists, access is as simple as loading the Aweditorium application and picking one of the dim thumbnails that are displayed on the landscape presentation.

From there, it’s a quick zoom to a quality image of the artist(s) and the song attached begins to play.  The application does recommend headphones so that you can enjoy the music.  As you would expect that you could do with music, you can control the play, share it with others, favourite it, and so much more.  I love the little popups that provide more specific details about the act as well.  This method of browsing the unknown is addictive.  You’ll find yourself picking and choosing artists or swiping your way through the grid in no time.  It’s like a magical, musical puzzle with more interesting content at each step along the way.

The other thing that I find intriguing about this and so many other iPad applications is how they use the technology to do different things.  With a keyboard and/or a mouse, you’re pretty much limited as to how you can navigate an applications.  Aweditorium takes interesting liberties with things like pinching and tapping to navigate through the application.

If you’re looking for something new and completely different, you’ve got to give this free application a try.  If you like random music from very creative sources without a predictable pattern, be prepared to become quickly addicted.

Nov 13 2010

links for 2010-11-12

  • Skype Education
    A free directory that connects teachers and helps them use Skype to enrich students’ educational experience.

  • Firefox 4 beta 7 – Fast, but Chrome and Opera are faster | ZDNet

    Mozilla have managed to up the horsepower of the new Firefox 4 beta 7 JavaScript engine, but it still has a way to go before it can catch up with Chrome and Opera.

  • Check Out The Technology Inside The Google Self-Driving Car

    You’ve probably heard that Google has these cool cars that can drive themselves. Below is a video of one of them driving down Freeway 280 that I shot almost a year ago (I had no idea I was driving next to a car that was capable of driving itself.

  • Teach | Redu: Rethink / Reform / Rebuild Education

    According to the US Dept. of Education, even in the toughest economic times, we hire between 80,000 and 120,000 new teachers every year. In addition to needing more applicants from minority communities, school districts are also experiencing a shortage of applicants for teachers of math, science, special education, and English as a second language.

  • 21stcenturylearning – home

    The 21st Century Collaborative wiki is a dynamic and evergrowing collection of my adventures and interests.
    Please feel free to utilize these resources as you work toward transforming education
    in your sphere of influence and in your own personal learning pursuits.

  • Facebook Games: 10 Eye-Opening Statistics [Infographic] | pamorama

    Facebook is one of the stickiest Web sites in the world, and the popularity of Facebook games is part of the reason why. Whether you love them or loathe them, games have become an integral part of the Facebook experience. All Facebook compiled some interesting stats about Facebook games and created a nice infographic to illustrate the data.

  • Make stories – storify.com

    Turn what people post on social media into compelling stories.
    You collect the best photos, video, tweets and more to publish them as simple, beautiful stories that can be embedded anywhere.

  • What Is…every file format in the world – A through E

    Almost Every file format in the world!

  • Out of this world – a Prezi | Bright ideas

    The following Prezi has been created to support the Year 9 English unit on Science Fiction. The boys study The giver in this unit and are also required to read a sci-fi novel of their choice

  • JFK: Unpublished, Never-Seen Photos – Photo Gallery – LIFE

    Here, on the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s victory, LIFE.com presents never-seen, unpublished photographs of an enigmatic, intensely ambitious man making history, and ushering in the poignantly brief American era known ever after as “Camelot.” Above: A previously unpublished photo of JFK on the campaign trail in the summer of 1960.
Nov 12 2010

FollowFriday Leadership

The Educational Computing Organization of Ontario is in the midst of holding its annual conference in Toronto.  If you were on Twitter yesterday, you may have noticed that the hashtap #ECOO2010 was very actively capturing and sharing the excitement that comes when like minded educators are working together, and pulling in the same direction.

It’s not always easy being a leader in technology innovation with so many different hands, agendas, and priorities all competing for the attention of educators.  Yet, there are those who have elected to lead, showing the way, to illustrate by best practices the compelling and motivating ways that technology captures the student imagination.

It happens daily in Ontario classrooms and FollowFridays have been my ways of giving a tip of the hat to those who are on the cutting and sometimes frustrating edge doing things that are good for students.  On this date, I think that it’s time to pause and give special recognition to those who are behind the ECOO Conference.

You’ll find some of the names at the ECOO website.  But, a big event like this takes more than the efforts of a handful of folks.  There are sub-committees of volunteers who work so hard to make sure that all goes well.  Digging even further, you’ll see the presenters and facilitators of the sessions.  The conference program is packed with sessions and descriptors, second to none, and reflect many of the initiatives that are going on provincially.  It’s always a incredible event and I sure wish that I could have been there this year.

Special kudos have to be given to @brendasherry, as chairperson who manages to pull all of it together.  In Ontario, we are so fortunate to have the skills of educators like Brenda who know the possibilities and stand as champions to try and make them happen for the benefit of the students in the province.

Seemingly, though, in a flash, it’s over.  The real test of effectiveness will be the impact and change that happens in Ontario classrooms.  As I look through the program, it’s difficult not to see so many possibilities.  Congratulations to all of the educational leaders who are taking the time to share and make it happen.

Nov 11 2010

links for 2010-11-11

By dougpete • Posted in Uncategorized
2
Nov 11 2010

Mailing it in

Today is Day 1 of the Educational Computing Organization of Ontario‘s annual conference for teachers interested in learning and sharing the use of computers and computer technology in education.

Like most great conferences, there is a full slate of presentations, keynote speakers, and a vendors’ exhibition area.  It’s a pretty intensive two days of professional development.  Oh, and a Tweetup.  What would any good event be without a Tweetup?

On the first day, there’s also another event.  Minds on Media is a unique break from the traditional conference fare.  Instead of passively sitting through presentations, participants are expected to bring their own laptops and spend half a day immersed in the construction and learning of Media and Communications.  Led by the genius of Ontario educator Peter Skillen, participants are invited to a number of different stations where they can sit down and satisfy the need to learn or the curiosity of a new application for technology.

As I type this, there will be stations initially titled Childhood Communities, Adobe Youth Voices, Google in the Classroom, Photography & Photo Editing, Classroom Googling, Filmschool 101, Drilling Down Digitally,  Cultivate Critical Thinking – Hyperstudio, Augmented Reality, TakingITGlobal, and Ministry Licensed Media On Demand.  I say initially because this sort of a session has the ability to scaffold far beyond the original premise based upon the needs and demands of the participants.

Last year, I participated as one of the Pedagogistas – a term given to a group of volunteers who wandered the hall helping out at all of the stations so that the facilitator could stay on track.  Formally, the role is described as:

"A pedagogista has responsibility for educational leadership of several schools, a role which involves mentoring staff, developing awareness of the theories which support their practice, and leading the collective discussions of teachers and parents from those schools as they explore ways of building upon children’s enthusiasms and activities. This reflective, responsive approach, which puts the child at the centre of the educational process, is directly at odds with the concept of an externally imposed national curriculum and the implementation of mandatory and standardized attainment tests."

This year, I was scheduled to facilitate my own station.  (It would be a great deal less work!)  I was invited to share the techniques that we described in this blog a while back dealing with Childhood Communities.  This concept matching Google’s Streetview with a variety of software and techniques creates powerful opportunities in digital storytelling for students.  I was prepared to take on this challenge and have been batting around some additional ideas and was hoping to collaborate with others to see if they would fly.  Unfortunately, as it happens, I’m not able to attend this year’s ECOO Conference.

But…that doesn’t mean that the show won’t go on.  The Minds on Media event is wiki-driven with its resources and ideas for participants.  So, from my chair here in the sanctum, I was able to add and update some of the resources that I would have used.  The Minds on Media will be an excellent opportunity for ECOO attendees and makes it very unique among technology conferences.  I wish the organizers and participants all the best for a wonderful learning event over the next couple of days.

I wish I could be there but, for now, I’ll just have to mail it in. 

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