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.
Monday, January 12, 2009
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.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
phenomenal genius guy - Lin Yutang
Like LinYuTang, I am a reasonable nudist. He is a really pretty cool
and I think ready for a surge in popularity. A friend recently said she only skinny dips in her bath tub and it reminded me of this essay.
16
ON BEING NAKED
The Idler » Idle Idols: Lin Yutang
and I think ready for a surge in popularity. A friend recently said she only skinny dips in her bath tub and it reminded me of this essay.
16
ON BEING NAKED
NUDISM has come to America, I am told. Let it come! I
just fail to see what harm it can do. I have been a nudist all
my life without my knowing it.
Now it should be clearly understood at the beginning that
I am a reasonable nudist, as against the doctrinaire and fa
natic nudists, as I always am a reasonable vegetarian as dis
tinguished from the fanatic vegetarians. Like all Chinese,
and following the old doctrine of the Golden Mean, I am all
for nudism at certain hours and in certain circumstances, in
the bathtub, for instance, but I am dead against going down
Broadway in the native garb my mother gave me. I can hon
estly
tell you that it is beautiful to feel naked in one's bath (that's all
I could find online) It's in the book "with love and irony"
His famous book is "The importance of
living". He is 'phenomenal genius guy' of mine, because for all his
smarts he still lives as he pleases. He wrote this about wisdom‘The wisest man is therefore he who loafs most gracefully.’
The Idler » Idle Idols: Lin Yutang
On Wisdom: ‘The wisest man is therefore he who loafs most gracefully.’
Friday, August 03, 2007
It's August, Ya'll
WALT WHITMAN, LEAVES OF GRASS
I know I am solid and sound,
To me the converging objects of the universe perpetually flow,
All are written to me, and I must get what the writing means.
I know I am deathless,
I know this orbit of mine cannot be swept by a carpenter's compass,
I know I shall not pass like a child's carlacue cut with a burnt
stick at night.
I know I am august,
I do not trouble my spirit to vindicate itself or be understood,
I see that the elementary laws never apologize,
I exist as I am, that is enough,
If no other in the world be aware I sit content,
And if each and all be aware I sit content.
My Future Job
IT Development and Training Specialist job in Durham, NC: Technology and Pharmaceutical/Biotech careers - Yahoo HotJobs
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
.Bachelor's degree in Education, Computer Science or related area or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that provides the individual with the required knowledge, skills, and abilities
.Two - Five years experience in the development and delivery of IT training
.Or equivalent combination of education, training and experience that provide the individual with the required knowledge, skills, and abilities
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
.Ability to Design and development of learning and training materials
.Excellent verbal/written communication skills
.Ability to apply adult learning theory
.Model building skills
.Problem-solving abilities
.Ability to understand and apply project management skills
.Performance observation skills
.Ability to understand and apply job tools/aids techniques
.Ability to interact successfully in front of large groups
.Strong presentation skills
.Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to motivate and coach others
.Ability to work independently
.Ability to prioritize well
.Ability to multitask
.Positive attitude and ability to work well with others
.Advanced computer skills
I think the MIT program can give me these skills. Which ones will I focus on? Which need work?
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Ernie Cline's NerdPorn
Dance, Monkeys, Dance - Flash animation
From the guy who brougth you the Dance, Monkeys, Dance animation:
Nerd Porn:
Doug Noon and Stephen Downes write about future education and classroom reform
Good Morning HiFives Readers...
Doug at Borderland pulls together and explains his thoughts after reading Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society and others School 2.0 ideas and resistance to systemic change in schools. The spawn event was working on a committee to rewrite his school's mission statement. Where the idea for a Wiki to complete the work was shot down by a ... reactionary colleague.
I had a similar experience with a volunteer at a Non-Profit, where I volunteer. Without going into detail, when I suggested a blog and wiki to handle some of the admin communication and scheduling, this guy said "I've had this same conversation many times before." My Dad says this to me as well. I think that's a problem of over generalization and wrong headed. However, not being defensive and being very Edward de Bono, I took his perspective and tried to figure out what the real objection. I think I convinced him that, indeed, things have changed since 1999, when he had "the same conversation". The very next week, the org started a new schedule blog. Change happens.
Doug is great about spreading around the good links. He linked this Downes article and I found the following quote
Half an Hour: To The School or Classroom 2.0 Advocates
I feel this is exactly what Sandra and Mr. Meador are trying to do with Topsail High School here in Pender Co. They are making a Project based curriculum around a school new production. And it reminds me of the project at St. Martin De Porres High school in Cleveland (Thanks Karen Nestor) ... And it is exactly what I want to do with the MIT program in UNCW.
Now here is the Edu-Gaming part - Thank you Stephen Downes. YES! This is what I think of when I play WoW (the famously popular World of Warcraft) hmmm... enough for now.. Thanks for the inspiration.
Doug at Borderland pulls together and explains his thoughts after reading Ivan Illich’s Deschooling Society and others School 2.0 ideas and resistance to systemic change in schools. The spawn event was working on a committee to rewrite his school's mission statement. Where the idea for a Wiki to complete the work was shot down by a ... reactionary colleague.
I had a similar experience with a volunteer at a Non-Profit, where I volunteer. Without going into detail, when I suggested a blog and wiki to handle some of the admin communication and scheduling, this guy said "I've had this same conversation many times before." My Dad says this to me as well. I think that's a problem of over generalization and wrong headed. However, not being defensive and being very Edward de Bono, I took his perspective and tried to figure out what the real objection. I think I convinced him that, indeed, things have changed since 1999, when he had "the same conversation". The very next week, the org started a new schedule blog. Change happens.
Doug is great about spreading around the good links. He linked this Downes article and I found the following quote
Half an Hour: To The School or Classroom 2.0 Advocates
We need to stop employing students as fast-food servers and sales clerks. They are capable of much better than that, and an exercise in corporate demeaning is probably not the best way to introduce them to society.
We should begin offering students full-time employment in certain fields as alternatives to their formal studies. Such a program should logically begin at the higher grades (grades 11 and 12) as well as being brought on-stream as an alternative to college and university.
Most such employment involves the creation of some sort of content or another. The ranges of possible employment are covered in my diagram:
- students could provide ultra-local news, entertainment and sports reporting
- students could provide up-to-date surveying and inventories of civic property
- students could conduct scientific field-research such as bird-counting, ecosystem sampling, pollution-measuring and the like
- students could help supervise younger children
and more - the possibilities are limited only by our imaginations.
I feel this is exactly what Sandra and Mr. Meador are trying to do with Topsail High School here in Pender Co. They are making a Project based curriculum around a school new production. And it reminds me of the project at St. Martin De Porres High school in Cleveland (Thanks Karen Nestor) ... And it is exactly what I want to do with the MIT program in UNCW.
The trick to making this attractive is to present it, not as the dog-eat-dog struggle for survival that characterizes our existing economy, but rather as a large and complex game, played partially on the computer and partially in RL, in which they play an increasingly important role.
Now here is the Edu-Gaming part - Thank you Stephen Downes. YES! This is what I think of when I play WoW (the famously popular World of Warcraft) hmmm... enough for now.. Thanks for the inspiration.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
It's My Birthday!
I so happy to make it here.
I've always loved my Birthday - not for the attention and presents (Those things just embarassed me) - But for the cool stuff that happened. It was the date in 1856 that the first English Colony in North America gave up and went home - thus creating "The Lost Colony" and possibly the strange blue eyes and light color hair in the Lumbee Indian tribe in my Mother's hometown of Lumberton, NC.
It was also the date that American Slaves were freed and it's celebrated each year with a big festival called "Juneteenth".
The past two years I've gone down to the beach for my birthday - Last year, I went with the incredible, beautiful Sasa Bear. She and I spent the weekend touring the north east coast of Taiwan and had a long hike along a historic trail through the forest, along a stream and up a mountain - did I say it was long :)
Sasa also sent the best Birthday card I've ever recieved in all my 34 years - Thanks Sarah!
My Mom called to wake me up with birthday greetings, yesterday. I guess she is using last year's calendar. Sally chimed in with a nice Birthday email.
Tonight - it's a BBQ and a Game 7 Stanley Cup final. Should be a good and memorable day.
much love,
nsl
I've always loved my Birthday - not for the attention and presents (Those things just embarassed me) - But for the cool stuff that happened. It was the date in 1856 that the first English Colony in North America gave up and went home - thus creating "The Lost Colony" and possibly the strange blue eyes and light color hair in the Lumbee Indian tribe in my Mother's hometown of Lumberton, NC.
It was also the date that American Slaves were freed and it's celebrated each year with a big festival called "Juneteenth".
The past two years I've gone down to the beach for my birthday - Last year, I went with the incredible, beautiful Sasa Bear. She and I spent the weekend touring the north east coast of Taiwan and had a long hike along a historic trail through the forest, along a stream and up a mountain - did I say it was long :)
Sasa also sent the best Birthday card I've ever recieved in all my 34 years - Thanks Sarah!
My Mom called to wake me up with birthday greetings, yesterday. I guess she is using last year's calendar. Sally chimed in with a nice Birthday email.
Tonight - it's a BBQ and a Game 7 Stanley Cup final. Should be a good and memorable day.
much love,
nsl
Sunday, June 11, 2006
World Naked Bike Ride day - June 10th, 2006
MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of nude cyclists pedaled around Spanish cities on Saturday to protest against car-clogged streets and demand greater respect for pollution-free transport.
With slogans like "one car less" and "bio methanol" painted on their backs, the naked cyclists staged Spain's third annual Ciclonudista or "Nudecycle" in Madrid, Barcelona and Pamplona.
The protest was part of world-wide naked bike riding events on Saturday across Europe, North America and South America.
for more... no pictures
but wait... Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/worldnakedbikeride/
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Waiting for Ray ...
Chilling out inside on a stormy day here in North Carolina.
radio david bryne is helping tremendously.
Check out the avant pop this month on Radio David Byrne.com perfect for a rainy beach day.
radio david bryne is helping tremendously.
Avant Pop
Glitchy squiggly pop is more like it. Spanning 30+ years here are 3 hours of music that sounds like it all branched from the same tree trunk. A tree with roots that strangely matches that imagined by the creators of 60s Sci Fi movies and TV shows, but fully realized only now, in the 21st century, their future. This music's forerunner was heard in the movie scene where the weirdly beautiful woman sings and plays an instrument that looks like a 3D spider web. Or something similar. Odd how the future turned out to be almost exactly as it was imagined. As if those TV shows and movies were prescriptive not just imaginative. As if the fictional possibilities as writers imagined them and presented to us defined the scope of our imaginations — we will build the future but only as we can imagine it. You can't make it happen unless you visualize it first. How could we do otherwise?
So movie scenes and the soundtracks are like words — we think in concepts as defined and restricted by our language, and we imagine, create and hear only that which is within our grammar of sounds.
There are alternate futures, alternate music, but we will never experience them as our present as they were never imagined, or were imagined and then forgotten. There is music out there that we cannot hear, because it does not fit our definition of what music is. Someday that music will be imagined, and then inevitably, created.
The grooves here tend to be skittery, the percussion like the sounds of distant cutlery rattling, but the structures are often surprisingly (and comfortably) traditional — clear-cut verses and choruses. Voices lean towards the intimate, breathy, slightly mournful. Whispering strange and very personal messages in our ears. These are folk songs. Folk songs from a culture made of ones and zeros.
— DB
Check out the avant pop this month on Radio David Byrne.com perfect for a rainy beach day.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Gabba Gabba Hey,,, yo?
trailerHD_320.mov (video/quicktime Object)
The cookies were good. And they helped.
So, I'm sad and depressed.
But then I click on this link and I was changed. I inspired me to write this. Get ready to be totally freaked out, in a good way.
Yogabbagabba!
PS: oh, that popping sound you will hear is 21st century children's programing in high Def.
The cookies were good. And they helped.
So, I'm sad and depressed.
But then I click on this link and I was changed. I inspired me to write this. Get ready to be totally freaked out, in a good way.
Yogabbagabba!
PS: oh, that popping sound you will hear is 21st century children's programing in high Def.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
