The good

Educational technology is about advancing student learning. Various tools can be used to advance learning, but it’s the learning, not the specific tools, that is the focus. Good educators understand this, and are finding creative ways to engage students and enhance learning. Some of these good educators attend the CUE conference, but it’s painfully obvious they are the minority.

The good news is there are a large number of educators who attend conferences like CUE with an open mind, hoping to learn how to affectively use technology to advance learning. The bad news (more on that later) is it’s a crap-shoot trying to figure out which sessions will be presented by the “good” educators, and which will be a waste of time. Most of the sessions I attended were a waste a time. Luckily, the couple that were worthwhile made up for the rest.

Getting teachers to adopt technology

One of my favorite sessions was “Getting Teachers to Adopt Technology” by Rushton Hurley. In his session, Rushton gave tips and examples for getting reluctant teachers to start using technology to engage students. Real-world solutions to real-world problems – this is the type of session that makes attending CUE worthwhile. I won’t go over the entire presentation, but here are a few nuggets that resonated with me:

• Don’t have teachers require themselves to be technology experts. (I’ve been saying this for years – you don’t have to be a technology expert to use technology with your students. In fact, your students will likely teach you a thing or two about the technology, which can be very powerful for the students. For example, say you give an assignment to create a video based on whatever topic you’re currently covering. Tell your students they have 4 weeks (for example) to finish the project. The students will not receive technical help from you. Students may work with up to 2 other students if they want, and they may opt to create a poster instead of a video. In his experience, Rushton has never had a student opt for the poster, even if they didn’t have a computer at home. The students will find a way to get it done. Every time. You don’t need to know how to make a video, only how to evaluate the videos that are submitted.)
• Do remind teachers of their expertise. (You have the subject matter expertise and shouldn’t let your lack of technology expertise keep your students from utilizing the many great tools available.)
• Don’t blanket the school with expensive hardware. (Get the technology for the teachers that want to use it, and don’t worry about the rest. It’s not about equity. Why would you try to appease those who don’t want to use the technology anyway?)

Teaching Internet literacy as a genre

Another great session was “Teaching Internet Literacy as a Genre” by Heather Wolpert-Gawron. Heather shared specific lessons and activities for teaching Internet literacy, including: reading a website, writing, socializing, collaborating, networking, researching reliably, and netiquette. Internet literacy should be taught in every school and incorporated into as much of the curriculum as possible. Knowing how to judge a good website (source) from a bad one is a critical skill. Knowing how to do a proper web search is absolutely necessary. Knowing the basic rules of netiquette, how to comment on a blog, and online ethics cannot be overlooked.

Each of my co-workers who attended the conference attended a few good/great sessions as well, so collectively we got the value we were looking for from the conference.

The bad

Educational technology is about advancing student learning. Various tools can be used to advance learning, but it’s the learning, not the specific tools, that is the focus. Bad educators don’t understand this, and focus almost entirely on the tools. Some otherwise good educators mistakenly believe that converting existing (old) practices to new tools, without updating the practices, equates to effective use of educational technology.

I’m not going to call out any specific sessions or presenters, but I will never understand the value of an hour-long presentation that does little more than rattle off a list of “cool tools” without any specific strategies or examples of how to utilize those tools in education. Sadly, there’s no shortage of “cool tools” sessions at CUE. Some sessions narrowed the focus down to a single tool, but spent the entire hour showing the nuts-and-bolts of how to use the tool, without giving any indication how the tool might be used to enhance learning.

Other sessions seemed promising on the surface, but the presenters were either disorganized or unable to control the flow of the session, allowing themselves to be easily hijacked by those in the audience. I walked out of more than one session after realizing I wasn’t going to learn anything, which was disappointing given how carefully I had chosen which sessions to attend.

The ugly

Here’s where I get to really vent. As I walked around the conference, or sat in a session waiting for it to begin, I would overhear conversations that made me cringe.

For example, I heard one person telling another that he’s a “technology trainer” at his school, and when asked for some examples of the technology he’s teaching, he replied that he recently taught his teachers how to use “Text Effects” in Microsoft Word, so they could make their text look like marching ants or Las Vegas lights. I almost lost my lunch. Ridiculous text effects is not educational technology, and does nothing to enhance learning. File that overheard conversation under “missing the point entirely.”

In another session, a woman was seated in the front row and kept asking the presenter questions from the very start of the session. When the presenter put up his welcome slide that included his name, contact information, and his degrees, this woman asked where he got his EdTech degree, how did he like the program, what learning management system did they use, etc. I wanted to tell her to shut the hell up and stop wasting our time. We paid good money to attend this conference in the hope of learning something, and we don’t need our time wasted by a single person trying to pick a masters program. She hijacked the presentation several more times, interjecting her own experiences that added nothing of value to the topic.

Overall, the good at CUE 2010 outweighed the bad. Hopefully, as we move forward, more and more educators will realize that it’s not the technology that matters, but how we use the technology to enhance learning.

It’s not supposed to be a netbook (or a laptop)

Most of the criticisms I’ve read center on the fact the iPad isn’t a netbook or a Macbook in tablet form. Those critics are correct – but miss the point entirely. The iPad isn’t supposed to be a netbook or full-blown laptop in tablet form. Tablet computers have existed for many years, yet none have gained much traction due mostly to the fact the interfaces have been after-thoughts – a set of poorly executed tools bolted on to a desktop operating system. Here’s an excerpt from a review of a current tablet PC running Windows 7:

Windows just doesn’t seem at home when squeezed into this 1.8-pound slab, with a touch-sensitive screen that is 8.9 inches on the diagonal. It’s sluggish, and the controls aren’t adapted to the size of the screen or the fact that there’s no real keyboard or mouse.

On-screen keyboards kept popping up in the wrong places, blocking the fields where I wanted to enter text and the buttons I wanted to push. I struggled to hit the little “x” in the corner of the window to close it, so I had to fall back on guiding the mouse cursor with a small touch pad that’s built into the tablet’s frame.

The poor current state of tablet computers is exactly why Apple didn’t release a Macbook in tablet form, instead opting for a larger enhanced version of the iPhone/iPod Touch user interface. The old way of doing things doesn’t translate well to a touchscreen tablet.

The computer as an appliance – a paradigm shift

Long-time computer geeks are throwing fits and dismissing the iPad because it’s not a general purpose computer that can do whatever they want. Many of these same people slammed Tivo (and other DVRs) because, while they are essentially a full-blown computer, they do only a couple very specialized tasks. The geeks of the world wanted the ability to make their Tivo run ANY program. They wanted a full-blown computer and the operating system to go with it. The rest of the world, however, (including THIS geek) just wanted something that works. I love my Tivo. I never have to worry about it. It does a few very specific tasks, and it does them well. That’s exactly the experience Apple is aiming for with the iPad.

The iPad is intended to be a web browsing, email, and e-book reader, with the ability to add a wide variety of functionality through the App Store. The main difference between this model and a full-blown laptop (or netbook) is that the entire process is simple and requires no technical knowledge whatsoever. You don’t need to know where your downloaded file went, double-click it, then jump through a series of hoops to get it installed. Tap the install button and you’re done. When you want to run an app, just tap its icon.

Mike Monteiro of Mule Design Studio put it this way:

The iPad isn’t the future of computing; it’s a replacement for computing.

It’s the payoff to all the work done by multiple industries over the last 20–30 years. It’s the subtraction of 20lbs of textbooks in my son’s backpack, and the device I finally feel comfortable buying my parents.

Joel Johnson has this to say:

Nerds! You’re not smarter or better than the people who just want to use your creations for their own purpose. You want it both ways: to be able to complain about the incompetency of your family when you’re asked to help them work on their computers, but to swing around the half-understood ideas of dead authors when a company actually decides to build a computer that doesn’t crumble to dust as a matter of course.

Finally, Steven F says:

And to that dramatically greater number of people, what do you think is more important? An easy-to-use, crash-proof device? Or a massively complex tangle of toolbars, menus, and windows because that’s what props up an entrenched software oligarchy?

Fellow Old Worlders, I hate to tell you this: we are a minority. The question is not “will the desktop metaphor go away?” The question is “why has it taken this long for the desktop metaphor to go away?”

Great for e-books (the e-ink myth)

The iPad’s large full color screen makes it an ideal e-book reader, particularly for chart and diagram filled textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. No other e-reader display comes close when it comes to displaying graphics. Competitors, like the Kindle DX, use a technology known as e-ink, which is said to be much easier on the eyes. I don’t doubt that claim, but I very  much doubt how many people will notice a difference in real-world use. If you’re the type to read 3-4 full length novels a month, perhaps a dedicated e-ink reader like the Kindle is your best bet. For the rest of us, a display like that of the iPad is great.

I keep hearing about potential eye strain with the iPad because it uses an LCD screen. I stare at my LCD screen all day long at work and I’m able to read long documents (and websites) without issue. The majority of people using an iPad should have similar success. While e-ink may be easier to read for long periods, I don’t think an LCD screen is unusable by any means. For me, the ability to display crisp graphics and full color far outweigh the loss of e-ink. (Color e-ink prototypes were shown recently at the Consumer Electronics Show, and in each case they underwhelmed.)

The potential of the iPad for the education market is huge. Teachers are already finding innovative ways to incorporate the iPod Touch (and iPhone) into the classroom, and developers have provided a host of educational apps. The iPad opens things up even more, particularly when it comes to digital textbooks.

Untapped potential for apps

The added screen real-estate of the iPad gives iPhone/iPod Touch developers the ability to take their apps to new heights. No longer constrained by a small screen and comparatively slow processor, developers are now free to make the apps they’ve no-doubt wanted to all along.

Joe Hewitt had quite a bit to say on this topic. Joe was one of the earliest developers of the Firefox web browser and is probably best known for creating the Facebook for iPhone app. Here are a few of his thoughts on the iPad:

While the rumor mill was churning with all kinds of crazy possibilities for the Apple tablet, I mostly rolled my eyes, because I felt strongly that all Apple needed to do to revolutionize computing was simply to make an iPhone with a large screen. Anyone who feels underwhelmed by that doesn’t understand how much of the iPhone OS’s potential is still untapped.

…

So, in the end, what it comes down to is that iPad offers new metaphors that will let users engage with their computers with dramatically less friction. That gives me, as a developer, a sense of power and potency and creativity like no other. It makes the software market feel wide open again, like no one’s hegemony is safe. How anyone can feel underwhelmed by that is beyond me.

Final thoughts

I believe the iPad has the potential to be the device that finally breaks down the wall between those who understand technology and those who don’t. The iPad will be embraced by those in my parents generation, as well as Gen-Xers who want a lightweight email and web browsing device that’s not as cramped as a smart phone. It’ll supplement full-blown laptops and desktops for many, and can be a primary computing device for others. It’ll evolve over time, perhaps adding a camera for video conferencing (although I’m not sure I’d want people staring up my nostrils when I’m talking to them, which seems inevitable given how you’re likely to hold the device), and will become a specialized computing appliance for the rest of us. You won’t pry my Macbook Pro from me any time soon, but when given a choice what to bring on vacation or down to the corner coffee shop, I’ll take an iPad every time.

Here’s a telling quote from the Education Week article:

Such a carefully designed rollout, featuring extensive professional development and ongoing support services, does not always occur when districts decide to put the whiteboards in classrooms, critics say. There has been criticism that in too many classrooms, they are nothing more than fancy, expensive chalkboards, especially when their interactive features are ignored by teachers who don’t know how or refuse to use them.

The critics have hit the nail on the head, but are too often misinterpreting their own findings. The problem isn’t the technology, it’s the implementation. In every technology initiative I’ve researched, including a 1-to-1 laptop pilot my school will be rolling out next year, there has been one constant: those schools or districts that took the time to properly research, plan, and train had successful initiatives with positive results. Lack of planning and/or training is sure to doom any technology initiative.

When used properly, with adequate training and curriculum that’s been adapted to take advantage of the technology, IWBs (and laptops, iPods, etc.) can and are improving teaching and learning. All the technology in the world, though, isn’t going to turn a poor teacher into a good one – but may make a good teacher even better.

What is Phishing?

Mozilla defines phishing as follows:

Phishing is a form of identity theft that occurs when a malicious Web site impersonates a legitimate one in order to trick you into giving up sensitive information such as passwords, account details, social security number, or credit card numbers. Phishing attacks usually come from email messages that attempt to lure the recipient into updating their personal information on fake, but very real looking, Web sites. Phishing scams most often appear to come from companies such as banks, credit card companies, online payment services such as PayPal, or other popular sites such as eBay, Facebook, or MySpace.

Here’s an example of a phishing scam email:

Example of a fake PayPal email

Anatomy of a Phishing Email

According to NoPhishing.org, here are the typical steps involved in launching a
phishing attack via email:

• An email arrives in your inbox.
• The email pretends to be from a legitimate organization, business or government agency.
• The email will have a persuasive message designed to entice the recipient to respond.
• The email will convey a sense of urgency.
• The email will have a reassurance of security.
• The email will have a link to a website, pop‐up or web‐based form.
• Clicking on the link will lead to a bogus website where the Phishers are waiting to steal your information. You may be prompted to provide private information such as login credentials and/or account information, PIN, credit card information, etc. If you share this information, you are now officially a victim.

What to Look For in a Potentially Bogus Email

Although Phishers have become quite sophisticated, there are still some telltale
signs common in most Phishing emails:

• The email contains one or more spelling mistakes.
• The email address in the From: line isn’t a real address.
• The link to “verify” your account doesn’t point to the real website. (For example, in the PayPal email above, instead of going to www.paypal.com, it goes to an IP address. Sometimes the scammers will register a similar address, such as www.d.paypal.com, or www.paypal.com.fraud.com, etc., to make it appear legitimate.
• Many phishing emails will warn the user not to fall for phishing scams. (Ironic, isn’t it?)
• Many phishing emails will contain a few real links, such as links to the real company’s actual privacy policy, etc.
• Most phishing emails won’t use your actual name. They’ll refer to you as “valued customer” or something similar…or not include a greeting at all.
• Most phishing emails will try to instill a sense of urgency. For example, tell you that you must log in or something bad will happen…perhaps your account has been compromised, or will be deleted, etc.

Phishing Websites

If a phishing email is successful in getting you to click a link, you’ll be taken to a bogus website made to look as much like the real website as possible. It’s here where they’ll ask you to log in and/or enter information to “verify” your identity. Once you enter that information, their scam is complete. They now have (at least) your login information, and possibly much more such as your social security number, ATM PIN number, etc.

A fake/spoofed PayPal website

The example above is made to look just like the real PayPal website. If you enter your account information, the scammers will now be able to log in to your PayPal account, where they can transfer funds, get banking information, etc.

What if you suspect a bogus website?

Most modern browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome, and even the latest version of Internet Explorer have built‐in Phishing Protection, but sometimes very new fake sites will slip through the cracks. If you think you may have stumbled upon a fake site, try logging in with a FAKE PASSWORD. If the site appears to “log” you in after you’ve entered a fake password, then you KNOW it’s fake.

Firefox's Phishing Protection in action

You can test this yourself by pointing your browser at the following address: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/its‐a‐trap.html

If you’re brave, you can try out the Phishing protection on some real websites. You can find a list of recently submitted phishing sites here: http://www.phishtank.com/

Additional help and information

Lifehacker.com has an excellent article with additional tips to help keep you safe, including such gems as “Ignore Web Site Popups Saying You Have a Virus”.

If you’re still unclear about Phishing, you can watch the short video here: http://www.commoncraft.com/phishing

Bottom Line

Getting help with your computer

Today I came across a blog post at the WorkAwesome website titled “How to get IT to Solve Your Problem” that said a lot of what I’ve been thinking lately. Here are some highlights:

But you need to write down all the details of what you were doing while it is still fresh. Someone is going to ask these things. While you’re at it, write down what programs you’re running. No, just don’t say word processing. Get specific. Are you using Word? What browser are you running?

Don’t just note what program (Word, Excel, Firefox, Safari, etc.), but what version of that program. Mac users can usually find the version in the application menu. For example: Firefox–>About Mozilla Firefox will tell you what version of Firefox you’re using. Windows users can usually find the version in the help menu. For example: Help–>About Mozilla Firefox.

It’s also helpful to note what operating system (and version) you’re using. For example, are you using Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7? Or, are you using Mac OS 10.5, 10.6, etc.?

Hey, is everything plugged in correctly? Are all your cables securely connected? Is it possible to restart the computer?

Try all the easy fixes. Note everything you’re doing. It can help someone help you.

If you’re having an actual problem (as opposed to just wondering how to do something) always try these fixes first, especially restarting the computer. I’m going to have you do it anyway, so you might as well give it a shot before calling/emailing me.

If you have any kind of access, try the Internet. Enter some keywords like “[stupid program]freezing multiple documents open.” See if there is anything about your problem. It’s really unlikely that you’re the first to discover this glitch.

This is how I find answers to most tech questions, so I know it works. If you don’t find what you’re looking for on the first try, you’ll want to re-word your search and try again. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, then it’s time to call in the big guns – ask the IT person.

If you need help with searching, check out the “Google search basics: Basic search help” page.

Solving math problems on the computer

I debated making this a separate post, but laziness won the battle. I saw a post today about using the Wolfram|Alpha “computational knowledge engine” to solve complex math problems. The post, on the WolframAlpha Blog is titled “Step-by-Step Math“.

Have you ever given up working on a math problem because you couldn’t figure out the next step? Wolfram|Alpha can guide you step by step through the process of solving many mathematical problems, from solving a simple quadratic equation to taking the integral of a complex function.

When trying to find the roots of 3×2+x–7=4x, Wolfram|Alpha can break down the steps for you if you click the “Show steps” button in the Result pod.

Here’s a screenshot:

Other types of problems

The steps used to solve computer problems can be applied to just about anything. Having problems getting your DVR to record only new episodes of your favorite program? Try to figure out what model number you have, then get on the Internet and see if you can find the answer. You’ll be surprised how much information you can find by doing a simple search.

Why study bad writing?

Getting teens to read is a good thing, and Twilight is accomplishing that goal. Since the kids are reading the books anyway, why not use it as an opportunity to show what not to do when writing fiction? The Twilight books are a case study in poor grammar and purple prose, have huge plot holes (although, really, there isn’t much of a plot at all,) fall back on lazy literary devices to get out of jams, lack any sort of character development, and break several other rules of fiction writing. At least one of these books should be required reading for every creative writing class in the country.

For some humorous examples of bad writing in Twilight, see Yoni’s article.

Sending the wrong message

In addition to the bad writing, Twilight sends the wrong message to young girls about relationships, romance, and independence (or, in Bella’s case, dependence.) Some have hailed Twilight as a shining example of abstinence, to be held up as an example to teen girls everywhere. The problem is, the main character (Bella) drops everything (school, other relationships) and allows her entire existence to be wrapped up in her adoration for Edward. The overarching message is that abusive relationships are cool and girls should allow themselves to be defined by the boys they obsess over. How is that a good thing?

Michele Catalano, in her review of Twilight had this to say:

Bella, presented as a strong willed, independent girl, throws herself into a situation that she knows could endanger her life. Her absolute dependence on Edward to even breathe – she can barely exist when she’s out of his sight line – is both worrisome and disturbing. Her every thought is about him. Her every movement is dictated by her obsession with him. She throws herself at him to the extent that she is willing to be turned into a vampire just to spend eternity with him. Edward plays on all Bella’s emotions like a man who gets off on adoration. He follows her, he appears in her room at night, he listens in, telepathically, on her friends’ conversations. He is there in every dangerous situation brought on by Bella’s clumsiness to rescue her and make her feel like she just could not make it another day alive without his knighthood. I don’t know about you, but over here we call that stalking. Yet Bella seems unperturbed by Edward’s hovering and unflinchingly goes headlong into a dangerous, life threatening, almost one sided romance with him.

Time for some examples

Not convinced that Twilight is bad writing that should be studied in order to avoid the same mistakes? Hopefully these examples will help you see the light:

He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare.

You’ll find similar examples of adjective abuse throughout the books. It would be difficult to find a sentence that doesn’t overuse adjectives.

Time passes. Even when it seems impossible. Even when each tick of the second hand aches like the pulse of blood behind a bruise. It passes unevenly in strange lurches and dragging lulls, but pass it does. Even for me.

Please tell me you understand just how bad that passage is. Please?

Before you, Bella, my life was like a moonless night. Very dark, but there were stars –points of light and reason….And then you shot across my sky like a meteor. Suddenly everything was on fire; there was brilliancy, there was beauty. When you were gone, when the meteor had fallen over the horizon, everything went black. Nothing had changed, but my eyes were blinded by light. I couldn’t see the stars anymore. And there was no more reason for anything.

Just shoot me. Shoot me now.

After he left, I sat at the old square oak table in front of the three unmatching chairs and examined his kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and the linoleum floor.

Thank you, Ms. Meyer, for wasting our time with useless details. I realize it helps fulfill your word count, but c’mon.

The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front.

Perfect example of a dangling modifier.

I could go on (and on, and on, and on,) but I’ll spare you.

If you’re interested in reading other reviews of Twilight, here are some links:

• Book Review: Twilight
• Twilight review – the not-so-lost diary of becks
• I want to beat Edward Cullen with a stick. (Bad Book Month)
• Bad Writing: An Ode to Twilight (This is one of my favorites…)
• Why I Hate Twilight
• Arzim’s Rebuttals – Very long and comprehensive look at several aspects of the books. Well worth the read. Here are the topics covered by Arzim:
  1. “Edward is abusive”
  2. “Fantasy does not excuse a lack of realism”
  3. “The books are sexist”
  4. “The books (Twilight specifically) have no plot/character development”
  5. “Bella and Edward are in lust, not love”
  6. “Bella is an idiot (aka Meyer tells and doesn’t show“)
  7. “Imprinting IS sexual no matter what (aka imprinting is sexist and pedophilic)”
  8. “Twilight sends bad messages… and it DOES matter”
  9. “Science: Why Nessie can’t exist”
  10. “Science: Meyer fails at it”
  11. “Choice: What Feminism isn’t, and what Bella doesn’t have”

Finally, the movies

The second of two movies opened last night to packed theaters. Both movies will sell a lot of tickets, but both have also been trashed by the critics. The first movie received 49% on the Tomatomenter (meaning, out of 193 reviews 98 were bad.) The second movie is faring even worse, currently at 30% (91 bad reviews out of 130.) Here are just a few examples of what people are saying about the Twilight movies:

No, it’s not as bad as you think. It’s actually worse.

The film adaptation of Twilight isn’t nearly as bad in its own medium as the source material was, though it’s still quite a chore to endure.

The narrative is choppy, the pace is slow, it’s way too long and, well, not a lot really happens.

A big bowl of adolescent romantic mush garnished with horror-lite action scenes and a rushed road trip, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is a mess.

The first sequel to Twilight has the feel of a placeholder … but Twi-hards, like Bella, have mastered the art of willing themselves to see only what they want to see.

Finally, some recommendations

If you’re looking for vampire literature that’s actually well written, give these a try:

• The Vampire Chronicles (Anne Rice)
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Note: This book is in the public domain and can be downloaded free at Project Gutenberg.)

For vampire movies that are much better than Twilight, check out the film versions of the Anne Rice books, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For something new and different, though, you must see the foreign film Let the Right One In, a true gem from 2008 that received 98% on the Tomatometer (142 good reviews out of 145.) Here’s what the critics had to say about Let the Right One In:

It’s everything Twilight wanted to be but wasn’t: beautiful to gaze at, achingly romantic, emotionally involving, unexpectedly terrifying.

The fact that it doesn’t feel like a vampire flick at all makes it one of the best of its kind.

Let the Right One In manages its own sense of doubleness with uncommon daring: you don’t see many love stories that bring together pubescence and vampirism in such an elegant clinch.

Beautifully crafted and expertly acted, Let The Right One In eschews the easy options of excessive gore and cheap laughs to create a haunting, emotionally involving journey into the macabre. It can only become a classic of the genre.

Here are just a few of the articles I found interesting over the past several weeks.

• MYTH BUSTED: Internet Use Doesn’t Lead to Isolation

  Stan Schroeder takes a look at a study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project that asserts online activities such as social networking, sending emails, and blogging can lead to larger and more diverse real-world social networks.

  For the most part, the study conducted on 2,512 adults simply confirms what most of us know already: people use all this new technology to get in touch with their family and friends; for example, people call each person in their circle of closes friends on 195 days in a year, but they also see each of them face to face 210 days in a year. Same goes for Facebook and MySpace, as 71% of users have listed at least one member of their core network of friends as a friend on one of these services.

• plagium – plagiarism tracker & checker

  Copy and paste some text into the box, and plagium will attempt to discover if the text has been plagiarised.

• That Quiz – Math Test Activities

  That Quiz has some online quizzes for integers, fractions, math concepts, geometry, vocabulary, geography, and science.

• What Exactly Is Differentiation?

  Steven W. Anderson recaps and discusses a recent #edchat that asked “what is differentiation?”

  Differentiation is not specific to one group. In the past I have read and been told that differentiation applies only to “labeled” students. I even have a book on my shelf called Differentiated Instruction which stresses the needs for DI in the Special Education classroom. DI is not just for Special Ed, gifted, ESL, whatever label you want to apply. Its for all students.

• Teach Your Teachers Well

  Susan Engel offers opinions on the state of teacher education programs and how to fix them.

  Our best universities have, paradoxically, typically looked down their noses at education, as if it were intellectually inferior. The result is that the strongest students are often in colleges that have no interest in education, while the most inspiring professors aren’t working with students who want to teach. This means that comparatively weaker students in less intellectually rigorous programs are the ones preparing to become teachers.

• How to Avoid Plagiarism

  While this guide was written for ESL learners, all students could benefit from these tips to avoid plagiarism.

  Text on the Internet is no different than text in a book or newspaper. Anything that another person writes, including email, is copyright protected. Internet plagiarism often involves copying text or images from websites, blogs, forums and social media sites.

Who/What I’m Following on Twitter

Added in the last week: @tlenker, @cyndidannerkuhn, @ParkerALynch

Here are just a few of the articles I found interesting over the past several weeks. Yes, I’m still getting caught up. Not sure it’ll ever happen at this point…

• Marge Beatty, Nebraska ESU 16, talks about 1:1 laptop programs

  Scott McLeod interviews Marge Beatty, chief administrator for the ESU 16 in Nebraska, about their 1:1 laptop programs. Eight of the sixteen districts in ESU 16 have 1:1 laptop programs. This is a great video interview that talks about the hows and whys of their implementation. Definitely worth a watch.

• Google Translate & Julius Caesar

  Andrew B. Watt used Google Translate to help his international students read Julius Caesar’s Commentaries on the Civil Wars.

  Thanks to Google Translate, we’ve gone around the problem of the English being too difficult for the international students in our school. The original text is a public-domain text from the English version of Project Gutenberg. We stripped the carriage returns, and loaded it into a wiki page. Then we ran blocks of text through Google Translate. That produced our text in four languages now, and we’re working on a fifth — Simplified Chinese, Korean, Spanish and English (with Japanese on the way). I’m even thinking that by next year, I want to have a parallel Latin translation.

• Job Security No More

  Jen Wagner talks about how she’s shifted her focus from hoarding knowledge to striving to put herself out of a job. I have the same focus…

  You see – for many many (too many) years …I was the holder of all tech wisdom. (100% mostly for my gratification and my ego). The false sense of pride of being the “techie know it all” not only alienated and limited my staff but also was selfish to myself and the burden I placed upon myself…because of my unwillingness to share the information.

  So now I am consciously striving to put myself out of a job.

  Jen goes on to list some things she’s doing or no longer doing to help achieve her goal. I can relate to most all of her listed items. Here are just a few samples:

  • Refusing to touch the mouse when I am called in to help a teacher but letting them drive.
  • Writing up “HOW TO “ worksheets and placing them on the server and no longer hoping staff will read them, but directing staff to read them before jumping in to trouble shoot something they could troubleshoot on their own.
  • When receiving emails of “Jen, do you think this is a hoax” returning the email with “what does snopes say about it”? and other various ways of not always being the know it all.
  • No longer saying “Yes, I can” but saying “Yes, you can.”

  I’ve been trying hard to teach our teachers and staff how to fish instead of continually giving them handouts. It’s working for some, while others are struggling to get past the antiquated idea that everything should be done for them because they’re “not a techie.” Sorry folks, that excuse doesn’t cut it anymore (if it ever really did.) I will provide all the help and support you should ever need, but I’m not going continually do things for you, over and over. My goal is to teach you how to figure things out for yourself.

• Schools Can’t Change

  Michael Smith pens a brilliant piece of satire on school change. This rings so very true, but sadly some who read it will miss the satire (and the point.)

  In my estimation, progress is way overrated. Schools were good enough for my grandparents (if they attended, and some did — at least until the 6th grade), so they should be good enough for today’s students. Progress is for the next generation. It’s for the person who takes my job. (I know you’re out there.)

• How To Connect Your Students Globally

  Kim Cofino lists some good ways to get started using globally collaborative projects in your classroom, along with links to some great resources.

  The key component for me was connecting students, both face to face and virtually, from a variety of backgrounds to work together to solve a common problem. Although we might not have the luxury of bringing together diverse groups of students every day, we certainly have the capability to connect them using technology. No matter what subject you teach, I truly believe adding a global component is not only possible, but necessary to prepare students for our increasingly connected world.

• 
  Education Needs to Be Turned on Its Head

  Leo Babauta gives his thoughts on our current educational system, and how/why it should be turned on its head.

  People often grow up to be competent learners, and achieve great things, after going through the traditional school system. But this is in spite of the system, not because of it. We are pretty adaptable people, inherently curious, and we can learn without an authority, but the current school system tries to beat this down. It usually fails to some degree, but to the degree it succeeds, it harms people.

  This was certainly true of my schooling. Luckily I had a couple really great teachers that did things differently and were able to light a fire in me, enabling me to become a lifelong learner. Those teachers were the exception, though, and without them I doubt I would have become so passionate about learning new things.

  The way we need to be taught to learn is completely different. It’s this: learn about what interests you, gets you curious, gets you excited. Figure out where to get the information you need. Read about it, talk to someone about it, find out about it. Try it. Do it, make mistakes. Figure out how to correct the mistakes. Figure out how to solve the problems you encounter. Repeat.

  That’s precisely how we, as adults, learn. (At least it should be…I know plenty of adults that seem to lack this ability.) Why not help guide students down this same path?

  Three, also realize that we don’t need to be hands-off. We can be hands-on, if we’re facilitators instead of directors or dictators. We can help kids find things they’re interested in, expose them to worlds of fun (like science and math), teach them games that they might like, help them solve problems so they’ll learn how to do it on their own, guide them to resources and people who will give them mountains of information. Be there for them, as guides.

Who/What I’m Following on Twitter

Added in the last week: @djainslie, @readinator, @jstephengy

At its most basic level, social bookmarking allows you to store, organize, and retrieve your bookmarks from any computer (or smartphone) that’s connected to the Internet. The social part comes in to play when you begin to share (and discover) bookmarks with the rest of the world through the use of tags. The nice folks at Common Craft have a fantastic video that explains social bookmarking in plain English:

Click here to view the embedded video.

A comparison of two social bookmarking sites: Delicious and Diigo

Now that you (hopefully) have a better idea what social bookmarking is all about, let’s look at two of the most popular social bookmarking sites: del.icio.us (or just Delicous) and diigo. Both offer similar functionality, but with a few differences. Which one you use is up to you.

Delicious

Delicious began life as del.icio.us in 2003 as one of the first social bookmarking sites and was acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. Yahoo! officially changed the name to “Delicous,” but the old URL still works.

One of the main benefits of Delicious is that it’s used by a LOT of people. More people = more opportunities to discover good bookmarks. A look at the “Popular Bookmarks” section of Delicious as I’m writing this shows 315 bookmarks added in the last minute with the most popular bookmarks saved by over 100 people each, some approaching 200. By comparison, the “Hot Bookmarks” on Diigo have all been saved by less than 50 people.

In addition to the large user-base, Delicious benefits from being owned by Yahoo! This means there’s a good chance it’ll stick around. A couple years ago, a new social bookmarking site popped up that was supposed to blow Delicious out of the water. The site was ma.gnolia. In January of 2009, ma.gnolia suffered a major server crash and all user data was lost. Ma.gnolia then went offline only to re-appear in a limited beta as gnolia.com. (Both Delicious and diigo have the ability to back up your bookmarks to your computer, so if catastrophe strikes you’ll at least have your bookmarks up until the last time you backed up.)

diigo

Diigo came onto the scene in July of 2006 and offered a host of new features to differentiate itself from Delicious and other social bookmarking sites. In addition to bookmarking, diigo allows users to highlight any part of a webpage and annotate the page with sticky notes. These highlights and sticky notes can be private or shared within a diigo group. In theory this is a great feature, but in practice its usefulness is still up in the air.

The second major new feature of diigo is the ability to take a snapshot of a page. Have you ever saved a bookmark only to go back later and find the page no longer exists? With the snapshot feature of diigo, you can take a snapshot of the page as it was when you bookmarked it, and pull it up in the future even if the page is no longer available. This is a very useful feature, but you have to remember to save a snapshot or it can’t help you.

Why should you care?

If you use social bookmarking for nothing more than organizing your own bookmarks you’ll still be way ahead of the game. The old way of saving bookmarks locally on every web browser you use, only to have the list grow to unusable and unorganized proportions, is over. With social bookmarking and tags you’ll be able to find any bookmark, no matter how old, very easily. Once you start taking advantage of the social aspects, you’ll wonder how you ever got along without social bookmarking.

Additional resources

Here are some additional resources to help you learn more about social bookmarking:

• Ultimate Guide to Social Bookmarking
  
• The Several Habits of Wildly Successful del.icio.us Users
• Diigo tour (video)
• Diigo Tutorials

Here are just a few of the articles I found interesting over the past several weeks:

• Cheating?

  This article is in response to another article regarding student cheating, asking if perhaps we need to redefine what is or isn’t cheating.

  While it is true that cheating has always been an issue and will always continue to be an issue, for some time now I’ve been having conversations with colleagues about the difference between cheating in school and the nature of how we get our work done. Based on the parameters of what we consider cheating to be, I think I could be accused of cheating just about everyday day of the week at work.

  Can you imagine if your weren’t allowed to reference anything to get your job done at work, but had to do it all from memory? Yet, that’s exactly what students are expected to do.

  At work, we have documents on our computers, binders full of information, the Internet, meeting notes, etc. We learn how to organize and retrieve that information quickly in order to do our jobs. In school, we don’t allow students to do the same, and punish them if they try. Odd. One of the comments on the original article had a good idea: give each student a half sheet of paper to use during the test. The act of creating the cheat sheet will involve studying. Great idea.

• Managing Social Media Risks

  Good advise for organizations looking to use social media. Also applies to individuals.

  The risks organizations face as a result of participating in social media are real, but so too are the benefits. Don’t let risk blind you from taking advantage of the transformational communication opportunities that arise from social media.

• Making the Case for Cell Phones in Schools

  An oldie but goodie about why cell phones should be allowed and encouraged in schools.

  He is incredulous that we punish the tools and not the person. That he can’t take a pair of scissors on an airplane and yet, scissors are a standard item in every classroom in schools. And yet he can take a cell phone and use it openly and freely anywhere and yet the cell phone is what is banned in most schools.

  The article goes on to list 10 good reasons why cell phones should be allowed in schools, and ideas for how to “deal” with cell phones. (Hint: just like we “deal” with scissors.)

• Building a Personal Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter

  Sandy K shares the process she went through building a PLN on Twitter. Good reflection on the process she went through and what she learned along the way.

  The Personal Learning Network (PLN) that I’ve built on Twitter over the past couple of months has become an amazing resource for learning about what’s going on in the educational technology world. I was excited when I had an opportunity last week to present using Twitter as a tool for personal learning to some of my colleagues. Although I knew I wouldn’t have time to share everything I’ve learned or done over the past couple of months with them, I wound up reflecting back in some detail on my own journey as I prepared for the presentation.

• The rise of digital textbooks

  A look at how one school district is switching to “living texbooks” as poar tof 21st century learning.

  The main reason the school wants to switch to digital textbooks is a financial one, explained Saunders. Besides not having to buy new books, “it will help with replacement costs when books are lost or damaged.”

  Saunders said digital texts will help keep items fluid as well. “Once a book is printed, until the next edition is in print, you are stuck with that current text. With technology, [textbook] items can change as quickly as a download of new information.”

• 
  Multiple Pathways: Bringing School to Life

  What is a “multiple-pathways” school> Read this article to find out.

  These two California high schools are among of a growing number nationwide exploring a “multiple pathways” approach to their curricula. The core elements of multiple pathways, and the learning principles that support them, include rigorous coursework infused with practical applications, high academic expectations, and detracking. These and other curricular, structural, and school culture elements have long been recognized as having merit in efforts to enhance student motivation and learning. What distinguishes multiple-pathways schools, however, is that they emphasize and extend student-adult relationships—both within the school and outside of it, with members of the larger community—as a way of weaving exemplary practices into a coherent school reform.

Who/What I’m Following on Twitter

Added in the last week: @tee62, @englishteach8, @FluffTheBunny, @englishraven, @SimpleCEO, @Mary_a_Myers, @mrpkup, @RussAdams, @pepepacha, @bwwojci