Monthly Archives: September 2011

Sep 12 2011

OTR Links for 09/12/2011

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

Sep 11 2011

September 11

Forever more, this date will have significant meaning to everyone.  I’m sure that bloggers everywhere will share their thoughts on this date.  I’d like to add my own.  A common theme will undoubtedly be – where were you?  I’m sure that everyone who lived it recalls it as vividly as if it happened yesterday.

In my case, I was in Essex helping our IBM representative set up new computers at our professional learning centre.  The phone rang and it was my secretary who was very terse.  “Turn on the television.”  I knew from the tone in her voice that something was up and I asked which channel.  “It doesn’t matter.”  The television had previously been on WDIV, Channel 4 in Detroit and it was literally within seconds that we saw the second airplane crash into the second Trade Centre tower.

Two other things stick in my memory from that date.  Later in the day, I had to return to the offce and for some reason I took Riverside Drive which passes under the Ambassador Bridge.  I recall Windsor Police stationed all around the base of the bridge.  Even later that day as I headed home, I remember there being no aircraft in the sky – a rather unique event since flight paths in and out of Detroit Metro Airport are such that there are always planes to be seen.

We now know what happened, of course, and our world has never been the same.  The longest, friendliest border in the world is not nearly as friendly.  Flying is more of a planned event because of the extra planning.  I even had to get a passport.  My Ontario driver’s license was no longer sufficient for something as simple as going to a Detroit Tigers’ baseball game.

But, on that morning, it was bizarre.  It didn’t matter what channel that you changed to.  Every channel was reporting about the same thing.  I wonder if any other historical event has ever commanded so much news coverage.  As the 10th year anniversary of the event approaches, stories are all over the news again.

It is the volume of news reports and memories that will remain with us.  To help understand the events of that day, the Internet Archive has pulled together news from September 11 to September 17 from news channels worldwide.

The resource is entitled “Understanding 9/11″ and available here.  Starting with September 11 at 8:00am ET, witness the reporting for the following week from AZT, BBC, BET, CCTV3, CNN, GLVSN, IRAQ, MCM, NEWSW, NHK, NTV, TCN, WETA, WJLA, WORLDNET, WRC, WSBK, WTTG, and WUSA.  The newsclips are divided into roughly 30 second videos and arranged on a timeline.  Hover over the indicators on the top of the timeline for a summary of what was happening at that moment.

It’s not a resource that I’m happy to share with readers of this blog but it is an important resource.  It reminds me of that day and the video and memories will never go away.

Where were you?  What are your memories?

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Sep 11 2011

OTR Links for 09/11/2011

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

Sep 10 2011

Make BYOD Meaningful

There seems to be a great deal of discussion about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) lately and where it might fit into the big scheme of things – if only students were allowed to bring their own personal device into the classroom with them. 

Things like on demand internet access are often touted as great reasons for allowing this sort of things to happen.  Then, students could write their blog.  Yep.  Then, they could do work on some applications.  Yep.  And, the cloud.  The cloud is so important and they could connect to the cloud for things like Google Documents, Dropbox or Evernote.  Yep.

All of these are great examples of what a personal device means to the student.  But, I think that in order to be most successful, we also have to look at a way to make the device so personal that she can’t live without it.  I remember when laptops were mentioned as possible teacher tools.  As long as they were community property, that’s one thing.  But, when that device becomes personal and contains all of your life on it, it takes on much greater utility. 

I think that the same logic extends to students as well.  How can we make that device so useful, so personal, so important that it becomes a crucial part of their educational lives?  I suppose the easiest way to personalize the functionality would be through your own copy of Angry Birds but …  It was then that I turned my view away from the "app de jour" and turned instead to something that is so important and that is the personal agenda/planner. 

I narrowed my focus to iDevices as they seem to be the area where so many people focus their attention but the same logic could apply to any platform.  Something becomes of such crucial value when it’s your go-to device on a daily basis.

So, I went in search of the perfect planner.  In my search, I looked at iHomework, iProcrastinate, and iStudiez.  The product that came closest to what I would look for was iStudiez. 

It’s a commercial application (like the other two) that you can try out before you make the purchase.  There are some limitations that make the Lite version unsuitable for production – one is that you’re limited to a single semester and the other is that you’re limited to three courses in that one semester.  You can’t really test it fully for a semester; but you can get a flavour for it and then decide whether you want to pay for the full product or not.  I downloaded the Lite version to my iPad to give it a shot.

Upon loading, the interface looks very familiar.  It looks just like the calendar application that comes with the iPad.  Setup is pretty tedious as you would expect.  It’s not exactly putting a bird into a slingshot.  But, you create a semester; create your course; schedule it; add your teacher(s); room/location; and then tell the application the start and end dates.  At that point, you calendar is good to go.  I like the way that it reaches out to your existing calendar and merges that into iStudiez.  All of my friends’ birthdays as well as previously scheduled events are there.  Of course, the next step is to go through and insert the individual holidays.  There is just something so satisfying as to go to October 10 and delete classes to make way for Thanksgiving!

In your planner, you have the option of a daily view or a weekly view.  I suspect that the daily view, as shown above, would be the most helpful.  On the left, you’ll have your daily schedule and on the right the assignments that are due today.  I got a chuckle when I added an assignment because, in addition to a due date, you could also assign a low, medium, or high priority to each.  Everything in MY class better be a high priority.  In addition, you have the opportunity to add a partner to the assignment.  In fact, iStudiez looks into your contacts to see who you might already have on your device ready to go.  That’s a nice feature if you have teachers who are assigning a great deal of teamwork.

Upon the return of your assignment, you can keep track of the marks earned.  Over the course of a semester, this could really turn into a single point of reference for all of a student’s scheduling and tracking needs.  It would be nice to have a shortcut with assignments so that you could easily associated a document in progress or a link to the class wiki to read the requirements for the assignments.

Towards the end of a semester, depending upon the course, there may be a final examination.  iStudiez lets you schedule your exams as well.  It seems to me that this package has it all…at least from a traditional view of a planner.

But, there’s more.  Suppose the student has a laptop AND an iPad or iPhone.  The Pro version of iStudiez features a "Cloud Synch" feature so that your laptop and portable device talk to each other so that you’ve always got the latest version no matter what device you happen to be using.

I know that many LMS systems have a good job of providing a schedule.  I see iStudiez as going above and beyond the needs of scheduling classes.  The cloud synching and the ability to merge your real (non-academic) life with your academic life is a realistic approach to take. 

So, while BYOD has all kinds of possibilities when working on projects and assignments, I think that a personal planner takes it one step further.  If that device becomes a cornerstone to everything that a student is doing academically, it gets us closer to a vision of a connected student, firing on all cylinders.

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Sep 10 2011

OTR Links for 09/10/2011

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

Sep 9 2011

Co-Learning with Ontario Educators

  • I don’t get it;
  • I know parts of it but want to know more;
  • I’ve always wanted to do this but my board doesn’t do PD;
  • I want to know if I’m doing it right;
  • I know I’m just missing something.

If you have ever said any of the above, then a Minds on Media event may be exactly what you’re looking for.  It’s not a formal learning place where you click here, here, and here and get to learn what an instructor has laid on for you.  Instead, it’s a place where you can wander the hall looking for the sort of professional dialogue that would help put you over the top.  You are empowered to take control of your own learning.

I’m mindful of Stephen Downes’ thoughts about “Open” so I’m a little hesitant to use that term in this context.  Yes, there is a cost to a Minds on Media event but typically it’s only to cover the cost of the facility, internet access, and food.

I often get comments after a Minds on Media event from folks who wish that they had known so that they could attend.  When’s the next event?  It’s Saturday, October 22.  It’s the culminating event to the 2011 ECOO Conference.  Strategically scheduled for a Saturday, it recognizes that there are many teachers who wish this sort of professional learning activity but funding and availability is difficult to obtain in school districts these days.

So, in a ballroom at the Sheridan Parkway North Hotel in Richmond Hill, educators from Ontario are invited to a day of incredibly active learning when constructionists meet connectionists in a context designed for the Ontario Educational environment.  The web, Ontario licensed software, and open source software meet pedagogy and inspiration for success in classrooms.

Look at the schedule…

  • Hard Fun with Scratch! – Kat Goodale, creative genius at the Linden School, Toronto: @katgoodale
  • Playing together with Voicethread – Jaclyn Calder, ICT Consultant, Simcoe County District School Board: @jaccalder
  • Publishing in the Primary Grades with Pixie and Clicker Paint – Danuta Woloszynowicz, OSAPAC: @dwtech
  • Working and Playing Together with Google Collaborative Documents – Richard Grignon, Google Certified Teacher & Barbara McLaughlin, ICT Consultant, Ottawa Carleton District School Board: @grignonr @barbaram
  • Putting a Face to Online and eLearning – Danika Barker, English Teacher, Thames Valley District School Board: @danikabarker
  • Creating & Nurturing your Professional Learning Network (PLN) – Doug Peterson, & Kelly Moore, Greater Essex County District School Board: @dougpete @kellmoor
  • The Power of Images – Colin Jagoe & Jeff Brown; consultants with Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board: @colinjagoe @techguy1717
  • Global projects with TakingITGlobal – Katherine Walraven, Education Program Manager, TIG: @katwalraven
  • Constructing media texts with Frames – Kent Manning, Hastings & Prince Edward County District Ed-Tech Teacher & Melinda Kolk, Owner,Tech4Learning: @kentmanning @melindak
  • Mobile Technology – Doug Sadler, Vice Principal Online Learning St. Michael’s Catholic High School Windsor: @sadone
  • Website Versatility and Simplicity with Google Sites – Peter Beens, Tech Director, Beamsville District Secondary School: @pbeens

Where else can you get such a wide array of opportunities?  You just bring your laptop or other computing device and go and sit with the topic(s) that intrigue you.  In addition, there are pedagogistas who are on the prowl to handle overflow and any additional questions or topics that are of interest.  There has been known to be a get together the night before a Minds on Media event so that you can meet with colleagues and begin the learning.

If this interests you, then you’ll definitely want to check out the logistics and see about your availability on October 22.  The event will probably cap at 200 participants so register early to avoid being shut out.

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Sep 9 2011

OTR Links for 09/09/2011

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

Sep 8 2011

The Evolution of the Web

I happened to visit a website yesterday using my Google Chrome browser when I was presented with the message “You have an unsupported browser – make sure that you are using Netscape 4 or better or Internet Explorer 6 or better.  Whoa!  What a flashback that was.

I had a positive flashback to Netscape and how I used to use Composer as a webpage editing tool.  Ah, that takes me back.  But, how far?  I decided to do some research and find out just how far.  It was then that I ran into the resource “The Evolution of the Web“, a very well done, interactive walk through the history of web browsers.

It’s a wonderful and incredibly useful display of web technologies and the browsers that support and/or drove it.  Did you know that there really was an HTML 1.0?  How far back in time do you have to go  to find it?  For those of us who have been connected for a while, it really is a nice review of just how far we’ve come.

For those web historians or classrooms that are teaching about the various web technologies and applications, it would be a terrific launching pad for research.  Even the presentation shows how the various components weave the web that we all enjoy today.

And, for those who are checking browsers when people visit your website – maybe it’s a wake up call to see if you can’t make more contemporary recommendations for browsers!  Do we really want to see a Mosaic revival?

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Sep 8 2011

OTR Links for 09/08/2011

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

Sep 7 2011

Life of a Link

This is a very interesting bit of insight about sharing links on Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve always tried to have my blog post up and available at 5am ET whenever I can.  The results from this Bit.ly study make me wonder now.  They’ve made the following interesting observation.

So we looked at the half life of 1,000 popular bitly links and the results were surprisingly similar. The mean half life of a link on twitter is 2.8 hours, on facebook it’s 3.2 hours and via ‘direct’ sources (like email or IM clients) it’s 3.4 hours. So you can expect, on average, an extra 24 minutes of attention if you post on facebook than if you post on twitter.

That would seem to indicate that any link I post at 5am is toast by 7:45am-ish.  Is that a bad thing – i.e. people miss reading the link or a good thing – he publishes it then so I don’t have to be interrupted by it.

It also makes sense that some sources repost their links multiple times a day – thinking Alltop here – so that they reach different audiences.  It makes sense in a global reading audience that people are reading at all hours of the day or night your time, but a ritual on their time.

The logic goes away for people who use RSS but for the spur of the moment readers, it probably is a big deal.  Something to think about.

Read the entire summary of the research here.

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