A List Apart: Articles: Elevate Web Design at the University Level: "We need to connect educators and practicing professionals through web and educational conferences. We need to encourage conversation between local web professionals and higher educational institutions."
Institutions risk becoming irrelevant if they are not in touch with the needs of industry and the workplace.
I'm very glad that my program - The Master's of Instructional Technology at UNCW - has a strong tie to and focus on job preparation. They do this through genuine, authentic projects which are featured in every course. And, interaction and involvement from community members and alumni.
It's my hope that they drive further with this philosophy and increase the community involvement. There aren't alot of examples of this and I hope they take their rightful position of leadership in affecting positive change in the industry and school.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Inspired by Obama, cyclist riding from L.A. to D.C. | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC
Inspired by Obama, cyclist riding from L.A. to D.C. | StarNewsOnline.com | Star-News | Wilmington, NC: "Once Ryan Bowen decided to ride a bicycle from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., for Barack Obama’s inauguration, almost everything else took care of itself."
Just went down to the Durham Bike Co-Op yesterday and got the bike all fixed up. This story is inspiring me to ride to work... but it's cold outside.
Just went down to the Durham Bike Co-Op yesterday and got the bike all fixed up. This story is inspiring me to ride to work... but it's cold outside.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
An interesting link and an update
RefWorks Home Page: "RefWorks -- an online research management, writing and collaboration tool -- is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies."
That's the interesting link. I think it might be a cool information sharing tool - like Diigo and Delicious - but it uses the existing University / scholarly standards of APA and bibliographies.
Anyway, a professor at DUSON (Duke school of nursing) turned me on to it and it's being used in the Duke Library. I am living and working in Durham NC now as a support specialist. Basically, it's the same thing that I was doing in Wilmington at UNC W, but I have my own office (WITH MY NAME ON THE DOOR!). I've been here about two months and I'm beginning to settle in. I'm sharing a house with a law student and his dog, Cosmo.
With the new job, I've been involved in many topics in instructional design and technology. Currently -- this weekend -- I've been interested in assessment and measurement. I've been tasked with evaluating courses at work. I want to get involved with the Blackboard exemplary course program. And Doug Noon is thinking about it. And Shane Baptista is thinking about it. So, I'm thinking about it, too.
We really become what we measure. This of course is a universal. ( I always find the universal. )For instance, high school measures memorization of vocabulary. It's easy. It's standardized. The results are students who can repeat vocabulary for a multiple-choice test, but who cannot use that vocabulary with understanding for problem solving and analysis.
Okay -- I'll tell a story. Bonnie Hellgate, my 9th grade English teacher. She was doing vocabulary tests -- basically spelling tests. The word was S T I N G Y. STINGY. I knew the definition and how to spell it. She had never asked how to pronounce it... Before that day. Anyway, I didn't get that question right. And as I recall, I had to take ninth-grade English again that summer.
Moral of the story -- We are what we measure. I didn't know she would measure pronunciation. So, I didn't know how to pronounce it. Universally speaking, I think this idea of measurement extends beyond the classroom. One of my favorite Bob Marley lyrics is "I know you don't know/what this life is really worth ". Perhaps Bob implies that he knows what life is really worth. That he could develop a test for a worthy life. But I don't think so. I think the reason he knows I don't know, is that he doesn't know himself. And he wants people to stop judging him. So I think it circles back to non-judgment.
So perhaps the take away is to assess/evaluate/measure without judgment. Can that be done? How can we assess students learning/progression/ability/competency without cold, critical judgment, which I think disrespects the learner and ... well, soul crushing.
School shouldn't crush the soul.
Have fun out there and be good.
n
That's the interesting link. I think it might be a cool information sharing tool - like Diigo and Delicious - but it uses the existing University / scholarly standards of APA and bibliographies.
Anyway, a professor at DUSON (Duke school of nursing) turned me on to it and it's being used in the Duke Library. I am living and working in Durham NC now as a support specialist. Basically, it's the same thing that I was doing in Wilmington at UNC W, but I have my own office (WITH MY NAME ON THE DOOR!). I've been here about two months and I'm beginning to settle in. I'm sharing a house with a law student and his dog, Cosmo.
With the new job, I've been involved in many topics in instructional design and technology. Currently -- this weekend -- I've been interested in assessment and measurement. I've been tasked with evaluating courses at work. I want to get involved with the Blackboard exemplary course program. And Doug Noon is thinking about it. And Shane Baptista is thinking about it. So, I'm thinking about it, too.
We really become what we measure. This of course is a universal. ( I always find the universal. )For instance, high school measures memorization of vocabulary. It's easy. It's standardized. The results are students who can repeat vocabulary for a multiple-choice test, but who cannot use that vocabulary with understanding for problem solving and analysis.
Okay -- I'll tell a story. Bonnie Hellgate, my 9th grade English teacher. She was doing vocabulary tests -- basically spelling tests. The word was S T I N G Y. STINGY. I knew the definition and how to spell it. She had never asked how to pronounce it... Before that day. Anyway, I didn't get that question right. And as I recall, I had to take ninth-grade English again that summer.
Moral of the story -- We are what we measure. I didn't know she would measure pronunciation. So, I didn't know how to pronounce it. Universally speaking, I think this idea of measurement extends beyond the classroom. One of my favorite Bob Marley lyrics is "I know you don't know/what this life is really worth ". Perhaps Bob implies that he knows what life is really worth. That he could develop a test for a worthy life. But I don't think so. I think the reason he knows I don't know, is that he doesn't know himself. And he wants people to stop judging him. So I think it circles back to non-judgment.
So perhaps the take away is to assess/evaluate/measure without judgment. Can that be done? How can we assess students learning/progression/ability/competency without cold, critical judgment, which I think disrespects the learner and ... well, soul crushing.
School shouldn't crush the soul.
Have fun out there and be good.
n
Friday, September 19, 2008
Connectivism & Connective Knowledge
Connectivism & Connective Knowledge
Stephen Downes and George Siemens, along with Dave Cormier have an interesting project going on... the more I know about it, the more I like it. These dudes are the smartest in the room - because the 'KNOW' more? No, because there are creating the biggest networks.
boom!
Stephen Downes and George Siemens, along with Dave Cormier have an interesting project going on... the more I know about it, the more I like it. These dudes are the smartest in the room - because the 'KNOW' more? No, because there are creating the biggest networks.
boom!
Sunday, April 06, 2008
(Video) Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do : DivineCaroline
(Video) Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do : DivineCaroline: "Tinkering School"
A great short video about raising kids in a modern overly safe world.
Why I think it's cool: It made me think of a few things actually. 1) I'm reading a book by Mel Levine in which he talks about spoiled, over protected children who can't deal with adult non-parent mediated life. You can't deal with it b/c they were never taught about it. I think problem based learning can fix this - meaning setting learners/users/students/kids loose on a problem and let them make mistakes/get cut or bruised/break something - the key is not a safe physical environment, it's a safe emotional environment. The teacher/parent/designer says I'll protect you when you get hurt, not "I'll protect you from getting hurt".
okay 2) I thought about my Grandfather. He taught me to do dangerous things safely. He taught me to shoot, gave me pocket knifes constantly. He taught me to drive (that was tuff on him) and he taught me about gasoline and fire. All of this was done in the context of his farm and with such reverence and care for the dangers of life, that I'm forever grateful.
3) Millennial students are moving farther away from this type of experience and are become risk averse AND careless/ reckless at the same time. The aren't learning the lessons from grandpa on the farm. If they carry a pocket knife - they might use it to stab someone, or if they carry a gun...
Why I think you should watch the video: I think we all have to do our part to help childern we interact with to understand dangers and learn the lessons of safety... learn by doing, not listen to adults lecture or reading safety labels.
To find out more about the speaker, Gever Tulley and "The tinkering school", check out the blog - http://www.tinkeringschool.com/blog/
A great short video about raising kids in a modern overly safe world.
Why I think it's cool: It made me think of a few things actually. 1) I'm reading a book by Mel Levine in which he talks about spoiled, over protected children who can't deal with adult non-parent mediated life. You can't deal with it b/c they were never taught about it. I think problem based learning can fix this - meaning setting learners/users/students/kids loose on a problem and let them make mistakes/get cut or bruised/break something - the key is not a safe physical environment, it's a safe emotional environment. The teacher/parent/designer says I'll protect you when you get hurt, not "I'll protect you from getting hurt".
okay 2) I thought about my Grandfather. He taught me to do dangerous things safely. He taught me to shoot, gave me pocket knifes constantly. He taught me to drive (that was tuff on him) and he taught me about gasoline and fire. All of this was done in the context of his farm and with such reverence and care for the dangers of life, that I'm forever grateful.
3) Millennial students are moving farther away from this type of experience and are become risk averse AND careless/ reckless at the same time. The aren't learning the lessons from grandpa on the farm. If they carry a pocket knife - they might use it to stab someone, or if they carry a gun...
Why I think you should watch the video: I think we all have to do our part to help childern we interact with to understand dangers and learn the lessons of safety... learn by doing, not listen to adults lecture or reading safety labels.
To find out more about the speaker, Gever Tulley and "The tinkering school", check out the blog - http://www.tinkeringschool.com/blog/
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Hello 2008
Bathroom Sink Popup and Stopper Problems from the Natural Handyman Home Repair and Do It Yourself website
Without going into too much detail, this site and this graphic helped me out tremendously this morning. ... It's a good thing. hehe - I clogged the drain when I shaved off my beard on the day of the epiphany which happened also to be the day my Grandfather, John, died.
He was a good guy. He may have been a Taoist - Christian Taoist.
yep
Without going into too much detail, this site and this graphic helped me out tremendously this morning. ... It's a good thing. hehe - I clogged the drain when I shaved off my beard on the day of the epiphany which happened also to be the day my Grandfather, John, died.
He was a good guy. He may have been a Taoist - Christian Taoist.
yep
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Infinite Thinking Machine
Infinite Thinking Machine: "I'll frequently ask my audiences of educational technologists why Apache, MySQL, PHP, and/or Python--all current building blocks of the Web, and which can be obtained for free and run on older computers--aren't being taught in schools"
Oh yes!
Sorry about the long Hiatus (sp?) from posting but I'm been busy (! /smile)
Anyway, I'm all about educational paradox and FOSS. The paradox is that this stuff is free and useful, yet school continue to teach with stuff that's expensive and pointless.
Oh yes!
Sorry about the long Hiatus (sp?) from posting but I'm been busy (! /smile)
Anyway, I'm all about educational paradox and FOSS. The paradox is that this stuff is free and useful, yet school continue to teach with stuff that's expensive and pointless.
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