pennsylvania food
apparently google has me in the top 10 for pennsylvania food because i've reposted two central foods in pennsylvania, scrapple and birch beer, which of course should not be taken together when driving on long twisty roads you used to be able to get both at the dutch pantry restaurant
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Thu, 11 Sep 2003 03:22:06 GMT
Discussion Board Revitalization Kit: Wooden Stake? Weird Costumes? Magic Pansy Juice?.
I love what James Farmer has to say about the Discussion Board. I mean, how many of us have started out feeling fairly enthusiastic about participation and posting, just to watch the dog roll over and play dead. All the factors he mentions – rigid format, inflexible interface, blah graphics, counterproductive semiotic content – just absolutely eviscerate good, creative, spontaneous writing energy. It’s definitely sad to see.
Here are a few other issues:
1—Required Postings. In theory, this is a great idea. It’s a kind of “guided” discussion, and it provides incentives (fear of a bad grade) for posting. Sometimes the discussion gets going in spite of the grim overhang of pressure knowing that you’re expected to say something articulate, insightful, profound, and sage. No wonder people freeze up with terminal writer’s block. No wonder they resort to paraphrasing the required texts or lecture notes. Granted – one needs to reward participation. The key is making the switch from motivation based on fear of punishment to motivation based on intrinsic rewards.
2—Unintended Public Humiliation by Prof. This is more prevalent than you might think. I’ve seen it happen over and over again – by nice, kind-hearted souls, who would never DREAM of making rude or disparaging comments to a student in class. Yet, in the public forum of a Discussion Board, they suddenly become harsh, unintentionally (one hopes) sarcastic, and abrupt. Or, they are transparently cheerleader-ish, which is humiliating in its own right because it comes across as either patronizing or harried (no time to read and contemplate the comments, so let’s just placate them with a pat on the head).
3—Threads Resembling Gordian Knots. I remember catching a part of an old Star Trek that dealt with something called a “Gordian Knot,” which was based on the story of Midas and the intricate (and impossible to untangle) knot, which had no ends exposed. The more you try to untangle it, the more it bunches up, turns in on itself, and is impossible to follow. In theory, if a string or a thread turns into this, perhaps there are intriguing reasons for it. In practice, it’s because posters aren’t really responding to each other on any sort of deep level. Instead, they are hung up on one particular posting (rather than the evolution of ideas), or are simply repeating what they want to say. It’s not a conversation at all, but a series of shrieks and moans.
I’ve decided to experiment with a few alternative strategies this semester to see if it will make a positive difference in the quality and quantity of postings.
1—I Like it! / I Hate it! Encourage discussions to express real opinions about the course content – not just parrot something from the text in order to satisfy the posting requirement part of their grade.
2—Alter Egos, Inc. Ask students to assume “alter egos” – perhaps a persona based on something or someone from the course. For example, if it’s an American History course, perhaps someone could assume the role of Andrew Jackson. Another person could be Andrew Jackson’s nemesis. The key is to allow students to choose roles they feel they can develop an affinity with. Make sure that everyone knows that there is an emphasis on “play” in the idea of “role play” !!
3—The Beautiful Letdown. Let students express their disappointments in the text, the readings, the people you’re studying. Encourage them to problem-solve and propose alternative scenarios or solutions.
4—Helping Hands. Encourage problem-focused groups and/or discussions. Assign collaborative projects which will require individuals to overcome their natural reticence, or their fear of uploading. The best groups are often ones that come together in a natural way in order to help solve a problem or develop a team project. Sometimes group and collaborative work needs to be choreographed, at least at first. One way to encourage a helpful attitude is to open up a discussion thread, “A Cry for Help!” and encourage students to post their problems, fears, questions, etc. – but one must definitely set limits and protocols to keep from problems from springing up.
The suggestions listed above are but a few ideas of the many, many ideas that are out there to try. The key is to think of yourself in the role of facilitator, playmaster, emcee, clown (okay maybe not that). Discussion boards need to be a bit polemical in order to be effective. Be innovative. Let yourself be a bit wacky. You’ll be glad you did (even if some of your students are confused at first).
[Xplana]
this goes in the teaching category as i'm getting ready to revise some syllabi and actually restructure to some extent the goals of my primary teaching duties soon. this is the sort of thing that i can use though.
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Thu, 11 Sep 2003 03:19:15 GMT
September 12th. As September 11th approaches and we are confronted with difficult memories and emotions, its important to keep in mind all the good in the world. September12th.org is self-organizing social movement with a simple mission: each participant commit to making 10… [Ross Mayfield's Weblog]
12 smiles is always easy, i've found that usually i can get someone to smile by smiling at them, make it a mission, it's worth it.
September 10, 2003 No Comments
goodbye netscape enterprise server and iplanet docs
well, I've had netscape enterprise server docs and iplanet server docs since '98 when i last had it running. To the best of my knowledge the last server at this university using that technology was taken offline this july so there is no need for this expertise and knowledge base anymore. sad to say that it is going to be one more bit of useless knowledge that i once knew and no longer have any use for:(
ahh well, expertise cultures wain and die, i suppose just like anything else…..
it is somewhat a sad thing to finally say goodbye to something that just could-have-been so central. at one time, we also had a copy of Cold Fusion installed on those servers, but that never took off and I went to apache+php+mysql .
September 10, 2003 No Comments
categories gone
pomes, places, and todolists are all gone from my blog now
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Wed, 10 Sep 2003 16:38:33 GMT
Assessment of 5 leading open source CMS from Commonwealth of Learning.
Not sure how this one got past me, must have been the summer doldrums, but back in June this report commissioned by the Commonwealth of Learning evaluating the field of current open source course management systems was released. It provides a fairly extensive analysis of the 5 shortlisted products (Moodle, LON-CAPA, ILIAS, dotLRN and ATutor) and ends up recommending ATutor for adoption with ILIAS coming in second.
It's an interesting recommendation. One could contrast it with the recent piece from Rob Reynolds at xplana that looked at some of the same products, but with a very different evaluation framework. It's also a bit unfortunate that it wasn't able to assess Stanford's Coursework, which was only then being released. I guess the other small fault I would find with it is that it takes a naive view of product selection based on feature assessment, as it simply provides a total of the various assessments, thus considering all features as being of equal weight, though it does separate out systemic issues from functional features. And if I was the Moodle guy, I think I might cry foul over a few of their 'subjective assessments.' Still, a very worthwhile resource and reference. – SWL
COL always does interesting and useful studies like this. I like moodle and claroline best, because i've installed and played with them. Subjectively, then they should be ranked higher.
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Wed, 10 Sep 2003 14:31:54 GMT
Linux and Microsoft in Brazil.
WSJ writes that “President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is finalizing a policy recommending that federal ministries, agencies and state enterprises install open-source software, such as Linux, instead of proprietary software, such as Microsoft's Windows, in new computer equipment. Sergio Amadeu, Mr. da Silva's information-technology adviser, says the goal is for at least 80% of government computers bought next year to feature open-source software, though the guidelines aren't binding.” This could tilt the scales against Microsoft.
Ninad Mehta summarises the challenges Microsoft faces in the emerging markets nicely: “(1) Protecting against software piracy and (2) Preserving Microsoft's market share against Linux.”
is there a new first/second/third world in computing like there was in socioeconomic systems? I think so. your first world is the multinational corporations paying huge money for proprietary software, your second world is your growing install base of open source/free software, and your third world is the have nots.
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Wed, 10 Sep 2003 14:28:52 GMT
It's the (Military Industrial Complex's) Economy, Stupid. The nervous nellies in Congress just don't get it. As soon as they see the price tag they start whining… [Fanatical Apathy]
oil, oil, oil, oil, …. oil, oil, oil, oil, ….
you get the picture, spend a little now, control iraqi reserves leverage that to break the opec cartel on oil and voila, you make tons of money, well Big Oil makes tons of money.
September 10, 2003 No Comments
apple strategem
A Mac-Style Spercomputer: “Virginia Tech is tying 1,100 G5s together to achieve top-dollar performance for a relative bargain, a ringing endorsement for Apple's latest machine.” (BusinessWeek via MyAppleMenu) [MyAppleMenu] [Universal Rule]
just goes to show you that people all around the world are noticing this move….
September 10, 2003 No Comments
Symposium Gender & ICT: Strategies of Inclusion
Symposium Gender & ICT: Strategies of Inclusion
Research on the inter-relations between Gender and Information &
Communication Technologies is dynamic, multidisciplinary, engaging and
creative.
In January 2003 the symposium 'Gender and ICT: Where are we at' was held in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We aim to pursue the discussions begun there
and therefore we are pleased to announce the symposium entitled:
Gender & ICT: Strategies of Inclusion
This symposium aims to be a meeting point for researchers from different
disciplines and research schools that are familiar with ICT and gender
studies, women's studies or feminist studies.
The symposium will be held in Brussels on 20 January 2004.
We invite abstracts on the following themes :
- Women, Work and Computerization
- Gendered Relations towards ICT in Daily Life
- Gender issues in ICT at School and Informatics Education
- Gendering Technology: Structure and Design
Examples of possible paper sections in the different themes:
Women, Work and Computerization
Job profiles and the influence of ICT, the impact of ICT skills in the job
function classifications, influence of ICT on work organisation,
computerization of work and surveillance, portrayal of ICT (functions), etc.
Gendered Relations towards ICT in Daily Life
Possession and use of ICT, domestication, ICT-literacy, user and skill
divide, consequences of use of ICT in the organisation of daily work and
private life, ICT and family life, privacy and ethics, wearables and
biometrics, on-line activities, interaction, Participation and democracy, etc.
Gender issues in ICT at School and Informatics Education
Gender differences in ICT-use in school contexts
Computer attitudes, learning styles, informatics curriculum, e-learning,
feminist pedagogies, ICT and lifelong learning, etc.
Gendering Technology: Structure and Design
Women designing and shaping contents and systems of the new technologies,
social shaping of technology, production of ICT, feminist critiques of
computing, gender scripts of technology, participatory design,
user-friendlessness, adaptivity, etc.
The deadline for abstracts (max. 500 words) is November 15.
The final programme will be available by December 15.
The working language of the symposium will be English.
September 10, 2003 No Comments