Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch

NECC 2009 Interview

2009-07-01T20:40:00.003-05:00

After my presentation on Tuesday, ISTE asked to interview me about a few things for the home audience who were watching via Ustream. That video is below. After watching it, I have adopted a couple of new rules for myself.

Don't give an interview directly after presenting to 1500 people. The adrenalin is still flowing and I seem a tad frenetic!
Don't give an interview in a referee's uniform (or any costume for that matter!)
Learn to control my hand movements, thought this will probably be unlikely.
I know I slow down my speech when I present, but, boy, I was whipping through this interview!
Go get lunch first, then do the interview...

However, I don't think I did too bad with the content, so I am happy with that, anyhow!

Google Apps for Education overview

2009-06-14T08:30:00.012-05:00

I receive lots of questions and see lots of posts about the effective use of Google Apps for Education in the K-12 environment. Following are some of my thoughts.

We used a separate domain for the staff and students since staff mail had to be archived (as per the eDiscovery regulations) and student email does not. We purchased staff email archiving from Gaggle who have a Googlemail API that makes it simple. We do not use Gaggle for email accounts, however.

Google Apps for Education works the same way as Google Apps Premier, with a tad less online storage space per user. The wonderful things about it is that any user can limit any publication to just those who are on the domain, if they wish. We use this when we are publishing something for only district staff. In addition, users can always selectively choose outside users (like our students on the other domain) to see their Docs, Calendars, Sites, etc.

When you administer Google Apps for Education, you can chose to allow access (or dis-allow access) to the suite of tools -- Email, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Sites, Video, and Web Pages -- for all users. Google Groups and Blogger are not in the suite, but, of course may be easily used.

We received explicit permission from our parents in grades 6-8 to give their students email accounts. Here is the permission slip we used for this special purpose. If I were to set this up again, I might simply create three domains-- one for staff, one for the middle and high school students with email turned on, and one for the younger students with email turned off, but with log-in access to Docs and Sites, to allow collaborative work to take place in a closed environment. You do not need to have email turned on to use these tools.

We used the last two digits of YOG-last name-first initial for the student accounts. In addition, so their real name did not show up in the header of mail they sent, when setting up the accounts, I used the YOG-last name for the last name of the student and their first initial for their first name.

The use of these Google Apps has moved technology ahead rapidly in our district. Between shared calendars for school-based meetings to internal Google Sites acting as mini-Moodle packages, both teachers and students have made good use of the apps for communication, collaboration, and creation.

Here are some links to Nauset Google pages:

Superintendent's Newsletter : this is coded to look like one of our Web pages, but is a Google Doc that the Superintendent's assistant updates each month. This is an easy way to distribute some of the updating of Web page info to others. She simply overwrites the content in the Google Doc each month and republishes, thus the hyperlink on the Web page remains the same.

Cache the Wave: this is a summer professional development announcement and sign-up Google Site with embedded Google forms

Google Goodies: this is a Google site with three parts-- a round-up of a weekly tip I sent to all staff and students, embedded screencasts for the basic Google Apps usage, and an RSS workshop I created for our adminstrators.

Middle School Newsletter: although dated, this can give you some idea on how to distribute the work involved in your school-produced newsletter since each user can update their own pages of the shared Site. There is one thing different about Sites than Docs, though. When you make a change to a Google Sites page, it automatically goes live and with Docs you can choose to do it that same way or manually publish it when you are ready.

Wolfram Alpha thoughts

2009-05-16T19:33:00.006-05:00

I have spent quite a bit of time with Wolfram Alpha today. It is going to be interesting to introduce this to teachers and students. The user really needs to think about the appropriate time to choose this tool for information.

I suggest you spend a bit of time on the examples page. As you click through the examples, there is a description of the type of search that can be conducted in the search box based on the topic you have chosen. This is a great way to help users to learn the most appropriate use of the tool and the proper syntax for searches.

I have discovered a couple of really cool features about Wolfram Alpha. First, at least on the Mac side, in both Firefox and Safari, a student can simply drag any of the information boxes off of the WA site and the item winds up as a GIF on their computer desktop. It can easily be inserted in a project. (Even all the tables wind up being GIFS!) The student can then add the citation information needed for the GIF they are using.

Secondly, all of the source information (both Web-based and print) consulted for that topic is included as a link at the bottom of the results page to both allow for further research and for determining the reliability and credibility of the results. I so love this!!!

Images source:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=icosahedron

Twitter is not for email

2009-05-01T04:45:00.007-05:00

During the past month or so, I have realized people are beginning to use Twitter as their main form of communication. I am a regular Twitter user and follower, but do not keep it open on my desktop all day. I use it how it is intended to be used-- to post quick items of interest or respond with a short message to someone seeking help on a topic. And I think carefully before I answer, to determine whether the response is only useful for the questioner (and DM the answer) or if others might also benefit from the answer (and reply with the @questioner). I try not to clutter up the list with responses that are meaningless to most others. That is part of the Twetiquette (Twitter etiquette).

(Addendum: I was not implying above that people should not post "meaningless" (read "fun") items to Twitter. What I was referring to is the practice of replying to a post via an @username on the list when the actual answer only makes sense to the person who asked the question. It often does not make sense when one sees only an answer.)

I am starting to receive some of the reference questions I receive regularly from educators via Twitter. The direct messages from Twitter show up in my email inbox, and I then have to go open my Twitter client, locate the DM, and respond to the questioner.

It is easy to ask a question in 140 characters, but not so easy to answer with anything meaningful in that number of characters. So, I wind up DM'ing three or four separate messages to the questioner, including having to shorten a URL or two in the Twitter messages.

Twitter is not the place for that kind of communication, in my opinion. If you have a question that you want answered which you know will require me to search the Web and do some research, please don't send it via Twitter.

I am easy enough to find on the Web, and, if you don't have it, here is my email address: kathy@kathyschrock.net

I am always glad to help, but not always in 140-character bursts!

My two favorite things-- shopping and the iPhone

2009-04-23T07:01:00.003-05:00

I just download a new application from the iPhone app store called Coupon Sherpa which defines itself as an "in-store coupon application for the iPhone."

You simply browse for a store or restaurant by category or check the alphabetical list for your favorites. Most coupons show up with barcodes that can be scanned in at the register when checking out. (Others lead you to the offer on the vendor's Web site.) As of this posting, there are 178 coupons in 111 stores in Coupon Sherpa, including many major retailers.

The app is only $1.99, but, in celebration of Earth Day, and to highlight one of Coupon Sherpa's goals "to reduce the amount of paper that is wasted by printing coupons", the application is free until this Friday, April 29. (But well-worth the cost of the app anytime!)

I cannot wait to try it out later today when I go shopping. It will be interesting to see how handing the iPhone to the cashier will go over, but I think they had better get used to it!

YouTube is great!

2009-04-07T07:08:00.011-05:00

I can (seemingly) find anything I want to on YouTube! I find myself searching YouTube for things that come up in general conversation the same way I do with the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).

Having "primary source" information when having a discussion about old television shows, segments on Sesame Street that one remembers, or old footage of a favorite rock band is great! (And this is in addition to the huge number of educational videos to be found there, too.)

Here is today's sequence of events that led to YouTube and continued to amaze me as to its breadth....

1. Talking about the NCAA Final Four championship game with two colleagues.

2. Continued the discussion about the women's Final Four game tonight.

(My son is a UConn student and a rabid fan and is in St. Louis for the game.)

3. He had told me, if UConn men had made the Final Four, that Dale, the "blue and white" guy, was going to try to get back and forth between the women's and the men's games.

4. My colleagues and I then moved on to conversations about other famous "painted" people, most notably the Tin Man and Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz.

5. We discussed how scared we were when Margaret Hamilton would come out as the witch, and one colleague remembered watching an interview with her on Mr. Rogers. She remembered how kind and gentle Ms. Hamilton was during the interview, and how she tried to humanize the witch to make the character less scary for children.

6. One quick search, and I had the clip to show her.

YouTube rocks! (And why is it blocked in so many schools?)

April Fools' Day or not?

2009-04-05T18:59:00.021-05:00

In the "old" days, I used to love the creative things Web page creators came up with on April 1st. The items were always clever and easily understood to be spoofs.

However, with the changes in technology moving so fast in the last few years, I found myself, while doing real work on April 1, trying to decide if the information I was viewing was true or not! It was kinda scary that I could not tell. Are the spoofs getting better? Or is technology changing so fast that I will believe anything?

However, people still continue to amaze me with their creativity on April 1. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

(Link)

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Live Tweeting

2009-03-17T19:05:00.005-05:00

Last week, I set Twitter to follow Rebecca Lobo as she tweeted from the sidelines of one of the UConn Big East games. She kept up a constant conversation, and it was too much to take in, so I quickly "unfollowed".

Today, I was so excited about the new iPhone OS3, that I decided to share the keynote via Twitter. I was not there in person but refreshing a few tech blogs as they posted quotes and photos, most notably Engadget, and summarizing what I saw and read.

The keynote was 90 minutes long, and I tweeted a lot. I tried to stick to the important points, but did interject some personal comments at times. After about 30 minutes, even though I was receiving direct messages from some of my followers who were interested and grateful I was summarizing for them, I became worried. I have over 2600 followers in Twitter and perhaps only a small group of them would be interested in the iPhone information.

Would I lose valuable members of my PLN because I tweeted every 30 seconds for 90 minutes? Would people find it too much to take in, just as I had with Rebecca Lobo's sideline updates? What if someone was receiving their tweets via SMS and they incurred charges for an overage of text messages? Would people be upset, when they opened Twitter or their Twitter client, when tons of messages from me clogged up their screen?

So, what should I have done? Should I have used CoverItLive or some other backchannel tool and just posted the URL to Twitter? Should I have only followed the blogs and put a link in Twitter to the most comprehensive coverage page based on what I had read?

I will have to give it more thought, but I don't think Twitter is the right place to "live blog". Your thoughts?

Old browsers never die...

2009-03-01T07:33:00.016-05:00

I receive monthly statistics about my personal Web site that gives me a lot of data. I can see that the most popular pages at http://kathyschrock.net/ are my blog, Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch, my Unofficial Guide to American Graffiti, and Rockwell Schrock's Boolean Machine, an interactive demonstration of Boolean search strategies usable on an interactive whiteboard.

However, the statistic I also find interesting is the one that tells me which Web browsers the visitors are using who come to my site. This past month, Netscape 4 led the way with Firefox and IE6 not too far behind. Those three covered about 66% of the visitors.

The surprise comes when I look at the bottom of the list. About 10% of the visitors to my site use browsers such as WebTV 1.x and WebTV 2.x, Netscape 2 and 3, Internet Explorer 2, 3, and 5, Safari 1, Firefox 0 and 1, and AOL 3 and 4.

The users of these older Web browsers can probably get to my site, and navigate it, since it does not deploy the use of too many new technologies. I can just imagine the frustration these users feel when they try to visit some cool new sites or employ the use of some new Web 2.0 tools. Granted, their computers may not be able to handle the plug-ins or add-ons that some of these new technologies require, and they will continue to be frustrated until they can get a newer commputer.

Some of your teachers may not realize there are updates available to their Internet browsers that will run on older machines. Or that there are some additional browsers, such as Avant and Opera, that may work for their particular situation.

A short mention of something like this at a PD session or a faculty meeting could provide one of your teachers with the information he or she needs to be able to effectively use their older computer to navigate the Web sites of today.

(And while we are on the subject, perhaps talking about upgrading their Adobe Acrobat Reader to the highest version possible for their machine might make sense, too! You can still find the a download of Acrobat Reader 5 for Windows 95 and 98 if you look around!)

Photo courtesy of OiMax as per the Creative Commons licensing.

Amazon Kindle 2 Thoughts

2009-02-26T21:26:00.012-05:00

Having been an avid Kindle user since it came out, I immediately upgraded to the Kindle 2 when it became available. It arrived today.

There are plenty of unboxing videos and reviews already on the Web, so I am not going to do an in-depth review. I am just going to share some thoughts.

- The new five way control button. It is slower than the previous scroll wheel for moving up and down within menus and books, but definitely useful for moving sideways in the browser, in some of the pop-up boxes, and for use with the updated highlighting feature which actually works like true highlighting!

- The expanded support for conversion of personal document types including Microsoft Word, PDF, HTML, TXT, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI documents is a welcome addition.

- The text-to-speech option which is "interesting" to listen to. I found the female voice, slowed down one notch, was the most pleasant to listen to. I can see using this function while hooked into the aux jack in the car or on the deck after sunset in the summer.

- The new experimental Web browser is great! It is more like a real browser in how it functions, and the 16 shades of gray make the images much, much clearer. Using the mobile versions of Facebook and Twitter, I was able to read and post, so my PLN is available to me while I am reading on the Kindle, too!

- The note-taking feature is easier to get to and the new keyboard works just fine, although I liked the tilted keys on the thumb board of the previous version a bit better. There is also no @ key on the keyboard, and it takes an extra step to get to it on the symbol button.

- Audible books can be loaded in the top two qualities (4 and enhanced) only, which means they take up more of the internal storage space than the lesser quality spoken word files. (This info is from Amazon's site. Audible seems to allow one to download formats 2, 3, 4 and enhanced, but I have not tried it.)

- Being able to load MP3 files directly into the internal storage is much easier than having to put them on an SD card and re-insert it each time in the back of the previous version. (Update: You can also move from MP3 file to MP3 file on the Kindle 2, whereas on the first version you had to just play them all without any control other than on and off.)

- The 3G network connection is speedy. And the page turns seem speedier.

- The smaller buttons make it easier to hold without turning pages, especially since I do not use the leather cover and hold the coverless Kindle while reading, opting for a zippered Belkin case to keep the Kindle clean and protected.

- There is still a "flash to black" as the electronic ink refreshes between pages. That's how electronic ink works, but after reading about 10 pages on a Kindle, you'll never notice that again.

- Oh, by the way, the Kindle 2, as with the previous version, does a super job of letting you carry lots of books with you and easily reading them! The electronic ink is never tiring to my eyes and the ability to use the Kindle in bright sunlight and other natural light is great!

Update March 3, 2009

Amazon releases the Kindle Reader for the iPhone and Touch!

The free Kindle app for the iPhone/Touch works great! With adjustable type sizes and some navigation options, it allows non-Kindle users to purchase books (via their computer or the browser on the device) from the Kindle bookstore and download them to their iPhone/Touch. This works both over 3G and the 802.11x connections.

For Kindle owners, it also does another cool thing-- it syncs your place in the book so, when you open the book on either device, it asks you if you want to move ahead to the place where you left off reading on the other device.

There is no widescreen support for the Kindle app (yet!), magazines and newspapers are not supported, you can add bookmarks, and you are able to read the notes you entered via your Kindle, but you cannot add new notes via the Kindle app.

I have read ebooks for years on small devices via Palm's Reader and with Windows CE/Mobile devices. The clarity of the iPhone/Touch screen makes the experience much more pleasant, but I do have to turn down the backlight so the reading is easier on my eyes. (At least this might extend the rather poor battery life of the iPhone!)

I would rather read an entire novel on the Kindle 2, but having the same books with me all the time for reference or relaxation is great!

Added: 4/19/09

One commenter asked about the number of Audible recordings the Kindle 2 would hold if he had no books on the device. (The original Kindle had an SSD card slot, so you were only limited by the size of the SD card.) The answer to that question needs some explanation as to how Audible works. Audible offers its audiobook recordings in different quality formats. The Kindle 2 can play formats 2, 3, or 4, with format-4 being the best quality.

I chose a title, Bill Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country", to use for determining the answer to this question. Bryson's print book is 352 pages in length. Audible's format-2 of his book is 46mb in file size, format-3 is 86mb, and format 4 is 172mb. That seems to indicate that, on the Kindle's 2GB storage drive, you could have forty-five format-2 Audible recordings, twenty-four format-3 recordings, or twelve format-4 recordings. (And of course, various numbers of the combination of the formats.)

According to these figures, each page of this print book takes up .13mb for format-2, .24mb for format-3, and .5mb for format-4. Does this hold true for all Audible recordings? I am not sure, but at least this gives the commenter some broad idea of how many Audible recordings would fit on the Kindle 2.

Geek Alert: Netbooks & the Airport Extreme

2009-02-23T07:24:00.005-05:00

I know that many of us attend and run conferences and professional development sessions, and with more educators getting netbooks, I wanted to share a problem that I experienced, and the solution, in case you are ever encounter it.

I just purchased my fourth netbook, the MSI Wind, with b/g/n network ability and it worked like a dream on the wireless network at home (Apple Airport Express) and out and about at public WiFi hotspots.

However, in my office, with the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, the minute I connected to the wireless, the netbook would lock up my Airport Extreme. I thought I was imagining it the first couple of times and reset the base station and the cable router, only to have it happen each and every time.

I did some Internet research and found the combination of the MSI Wind (and a few models of the Asus eeePC) and the Airport Extreme Base Station can cause a problem. However, I also found the solution below. It is an easy fix on the netbook.

If you are using the standard Windows wireless configuration utility

Right click on the wireless connection in the taskbar and select STATUS
Click on PROPERTIES
You should be on the GENERAL tab
Choose CONFIGURE next to the wireless adapter box
Choose the ADVANCED tab
Scroll down the list and click on POWER SAVING MODE
Change the value to CAM (Constantly Awake Mode)
Click OK

Go to START, SETTINGS, CONTROL PANEL
Choose the SYSTEM option
Choose the HARDWARE tab
Choose the DEVICE MANAGER button
Expand the NETWORK ADAPTERS entry on the list
Double-click on your wireless adapter
Choose the ADVANCED tab
Scroll down the list and click on POWER SAVING MODE
Change the value to CAM (Constantly Awake Mode)
Click OK

If you are using the Ralink wireless configuration utility
(I am not, so cannot verify these instructions)

Uncheck POWER SAVING MODE
Enable CAM (Constantly Awake Mode)

I only post this for those of you that might run into this either at a conference you are attending or running, or at a WiFi hotspot using the Airport Extreme base station. Hope it helps!

Digital Pioneer: The Movie

2009-02-20T13:12:00.004-05:00

A digital version of a blog post I made earlier this year and my (non-successful) ADE application video.

Digital Pioneer: The Movie on Vimeo.

Maiden name in Facebook

2009-02-20T08:58:00.003-05:00

A little known fact in Facebook is that you do not have to put your maiden name as part of your full profile name for others to find you by your "former" name.

Instructions to make your maiden name searchable (for those that knew you "when") are as follows, quoted from Facebook's help file:

"There is a section for users to list their maiden name or alternate name. Please note that this name will not show up in your profile, and is only used to find you in search. To submit your alternate name, navigate to the Account Settings page, and click on "change" in the "Name" section. In the "Former Name" box, please be sure to include your full former name. You will now be found in search by your current name (as listed in your profile) and this alternate name."

This would also be useful if you use some variant of your first name (i.e. Elizabeth vs. Beth), too.

Tools for Schools: Live Online Conferencing

2009-02-18T13:37:00.018-05:00

As an Adobe Education Leader, I am lucky enough to have access to a full version of Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, a full-featured video conferencing and synchronous collaboration tool. (If anyone ever wants to see how it works, please let me know and we can set up a time for a meeting demo!)

Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro is not free, and I have yet to find a no-cost option for schools that comes close to its capabilities. However, here are a few free options that provide more than just video-calling (like Skype and ooVoo). The sites listed below will allow you to experiment with a more full-featured toolset and, perhaps, provide enough justification in your school or district for the purchase of a full-fledged system!

These are just brief overviews of the capabilities of each of these systems. Each system often adds new features, so take the time to give each of them a try and re-visit them regularly.

Adobe ConnectNow
http://www.adobe.com/acom/connectnow/
...includes many of the features of Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro, such as video and VOIP for all, screen sharing, whiteboards, etc., but only allows three users to participate in the conference; I would strongly suggest this one for small synchronous sessions

Vyew
http://vyew.com
...this tool is very full-featured, and the free version allows only 5 users and the site is ad-supported; there is an easy-screenshot feature, lots of plug-ins such as a YouTube Player, a graphing calculator, desktop sharing, and much more

DimDim
http://dimdim.com/
...the no-cost version of this tool only allows for the presenter's video feed, and four users with voice, but does allow 20 users in the room, and includes a whiteboard, a chat area, and some screensharing

Yugma
http://www.yugma.com
...the free version of Yugma requires registration by each of the (up to 20) attendees you host for a meeting. There is a download of Java required as well as a small client. The free version basically allows screen-sharing and chat. There is a Skype version of the client that utilizes the audio and chat within Skype as well.

WizIQ
http://www.wiziq.com
...WizIQ is intended to allow users to teach within their system. It allows uploads of presentations, audio for all participants, sharing of a whiteboard, and video for the instructor

Addition (4/30/09)
Zorap
http://zorap.com/
...synchronous audio and the ability to share photos, files, and videos makes this tool very cool; you need to install a local client to use it, but you do not have to have an account to join a room

__________________________________
Photo located in a Creative Commons search in Flickr.
http://flickr.com/photos/mrkimmi/2922784425/
"Video Conferencing" by mrkimmi

Searching the Twitterverse

2009-02-14T07:35:00.008-05:00

Since I very rarely visit the official browser-based Twitter site, finding it better for my workflow to run a computer-based client called twhirl, I had forgotten about the search tools available on the official Twitter site.

One of my concerns about Twitter is the amount of information that seems to be non-permanent. My Twitter feed is constantly flowing with all types of great information from my ed-tech PLN, and there are times that I want to get back to something from a month ago. (In addition, I also would like to see what the rest of the world is tweeting about, too!)

Twitter has a robust advanced search page which I recommend you try out.

As you can see from the screenshot below, it is easy to limit or broaden your search by filling in multiple pieces of information.

Screenshot courtesy of twitter.com, 2/14/09

In addition to the advanced search page, Twitter also offers a handy list of operators you can use right from the simple search box to conduct a search.

Once you conduct a search, you can easily choose to add the RSS feed for that search to your newsreader (Bloglines, Netvibes, Google Reader, etc.) to follow that person, topic, or even just be notified when a word that you are interested in is included in a tweet.

Screenshot courtesy of twitter.com, 2/14/09

Take some time to conduct complex searches using the Twitter advanced search page or conduct a search and aggregate it for "watching". At least you are guaranteed each entry is short and quick to read!

Pesonal laptops on the school network

2009-01-29T21:38:00.004-05:00

I have been noticing a lot more of our students are bringing their personal laptops to school. (I have not seen any netbooks yet, though.) The main reasons seem to be both for taking notes in class and for moving files onto a flash drive in order to use one of the school's computers to print their homework.

I began to think about allowing students onto the wireless network with their personal computers for both printing and for Internet access. In addition, they all have Google Apps for Education accounts and would be able to work in their online space. They would still be behind the content filter, so that would be covered. The only real problem I considered is that we would have to make it very clear to them why we only allow streaming at certain times of the day (lack of bandwidth).

I posted a quick note on Twitter, asking my esteemed PLN about the process at their school or district. I received 16 answers in about ten minutes (hardly a scientific sample) but I really just wanted to get a feel for what others are doing.

Results:
11 allow the use of personal laptops at least over the wireless network
4 do not allow the use of personal laptops
1 will be offering it soon

The interesting part was the anecdotal 140-character explanations. Here are a few.

_______________________

"Our district won't allow our teachers to connect laptops (purchased by the school) to connect to our network!"

"No official policy on it but the practice is to let students/teachers/staff/student teachers/outside consultants on network."

"We encourage, but do not yet require student laptops -- allow access to hot spots."

"Not allowing interfaces at present but anticipate allowing wireless interface in near future."

"We do, but there is a process in which they need to participate."

"We officially let kids on with personal laptops if they have testing on file that indicates the need. Unofficially- we let all."

"None of the 13 school districts allow any of their students OR teachers to hook their personal laptops to the school network."

______________________

I envisioned just giving students the wireless access code to use, but then, after surfing right through the WAP and the content filter with my iPhone to any site I wanted to visit, I realized that not all devices would be allowed to be on the internal network and the WAP code would have to remain a secret. I will do some more testing, but the iPhone seemed to go directly through the filter for some sites that I know are filtered out by the Sonic Wall subscription.

Just beginning to think about the possibilities....

7 Things You Don’t Really Need to Know About Me

2008-12-31T20:28:00.008-05:00

Today I was tagged in a Twitter meme entitled "7 Things You Don't Really Need to Know About Me". I have been on the Web for so long, and never have hesitated to share, but here are some things that you might have missed!

1. I had perfect attendance in high school.
2. I was my high school mascot.
3. I watch Days of Our Lives every day (and that is not a cardboard cut-out!)
4. I have ridden motorcycles since I was 7 years old.
5. I maintain the Unofficial American Graffiti home page.
6. I maintain the Dave DeBusschere Sports Card site.
7. We live in a geodesic dome and our son's middle name is Buckminster.

I am passing this on to the following:
1.Meg Ormiston
2.Jim Wenzloff
3.Leslie Fisher
4.Lisa Thumann
5.Leigh Zeitz

iPhone apps that sync

2008-12-18T13:15:00.004-05:00

When the App Store opened for the iPod Touch and the iPhone, I first found myself drawn to the applications that took advantage of the great graphics, the well-crafted touchscreen, and the built-in accelerometer which enhances the use of some very cool apps!

However, as time progressed, I began to look at applications that would increase my productivity and also have a desktop component. I like a desktop component for both the ease of lots of data entry and for peace of mind, since the data is backed up on both the handheld and desktop devices.

One piece of software that I received as a demo, SplashShopper, created by SplashData, I have found easy-to-use and very useful!

SplashShopper is just what it sounds like-- it is a shopping list application, and comes with pre-populated shopping lists for all types of things, including books, gifts, groceries, movies, etc. However, it is very easy to re-create these lists to meet your specific needs and even create your own list.

The lists, especially the grocery list, can get very detailed. However, I did not care about some of the fields, so I just entered the item, the broad category, and the aisle fields when entering my grocery store's items. I used the desktop component for entering all 174 items.

I love having my grocery list with me all of the time, arranged by store aisle, and only seeing the items I need! The iPhone makes use of this application so easy, since the touch screen is so responsive one can push the cart and use the electronic shopping list at the same time! (And, if you still like the paper list, you can email a text version of the shopping list to yourself before you go to the store!)

Kathy

Cool little photo scanner

2008-12-08T19:41:00.008-05:00

Many years ago I had a stand-alone photo scanner, back in the days when flatbed scanners were really expensive. It worked (most of the time)! I find archiving old photos on a flatbed to be very time-consuming. Just recently, I ran across the Pandigital Photolink One-Touch Scanner. As you can see from the photo comparison, the scanner is very small- it is 6"x 2" x 1.5". It only can scan up to a 4" wide image, but it is perfect for the 4"x"6 photo size.

Here's how it works. It comes with an SD card, but has a 5-in-1 card reader (Compact Flash-Type 1, MemoryStick, MS Pro, MS Pro Duo and DUO (with adapters), MMC, SD and all the little SD versions with an adapter, and xD (H-type and M-type) on the back side.

You just plug in the AC adapter, and scan your images through the scanner, one at a time, and they are saved on the card in an 1800x1200 resolution at 300dpi. It is speedy to scan multiple photos, and, although this is not a high resolution, the colors are true, and those old photos from the pre-digital camera age of the 60's, 70's and 80's look just great!

You can hook the scanner up to a desktop and it acts as a card reader, too, and you can easily move the photos off the memory card and onto the desktop for burning to your archival CD, posting to flickr or Facebook, or making your PhotoStory.

Here is an old photo I scanned and did not retouch. (This is from 1966, before I hit those awkward teenage years!) I intentionally chose one with a lot of reds to show that they did not bleed, as sometimes happens with that color. (Okay, this was also before I had any fashion sense, too, based on the colors I was wearing!)

The Networked Student

2008-12-06T08:36:00.005-05:00

Created in the style of the Common Craft videos (with permission) here is a well-done video about the networked student, Web 2.0 tools, and the networked teacher. Thanks to Wendy Drexler and her son for creating this!

Living with the iPhone

2008-11-27T08:11:00.005-05:00

Well, after living with the Apple iPhone for four months today, I have to say that I still love it! I can do most of what I need to do on a daily basis and the interface cannot be beat!

It was not until the App Store launched, and I installed the OS upgrade on my iPod touch to try the App Store, that I realized the power of having a well-engineered, converged device. I have been a smartphone user for years (both Palm and Windows Mobile) and there is truly no comparison. I have been following the other new devices, like the Android and Storm, and do not feel a bit of techno-lust!

The only downside is the poor battery life. I know I can shut off some functionality to prolong the battery life, but that is an inconvenience. (However, I guess it is MORE of an inconvenience to have no battery life left!) I have just purchased a small battery life extender (Kensington Mini Battery Extender) and that should solve my problem.

There are all types of apps for the iPhone, and many of the ones that I have installed have been free and low-cost. Some of my favorite add-ons include:

Twitterfon: for keeping up with my tweeting colleagues
MobileFiles: read-only access to my iDisk files
Google: text search and the great new voice search functionality
MightyDocs: read-only access to all my Google docs
YouNote: write, draw, or record a to-do for yourself
Pandora Radio and AOL Radio: two different types of streaming radio
GPS Tracker: open it up and family members can follow your whereabouts
iWant: based on your current location, find local essential services
Ruler, Compass, and Dual Level: handy tools to have with you at all times
AirMe: send your photos taken with the phone right to the Web
Panolab: create a panoramic photo with the iPhone
fring: access to Skype
Google Earth: it is amazing how well it can be used on the iPhone
HanDBase: the great database program now for use on the iPhone
iTalk: an easy-to-use voice recorder that can sync with your computer
Say Who: voice-dialing program
SportsTap: easy access to sport scores of all types
i.TV: based on your location, get the TV show lineup
SnapTell: take a photo of a book, CD, or DVD cover in the store and get pricing
Facebook and AIM: I could not be without them
SearchMe: a search engine that returns "coverflow-like" results
Games that take advantage of the touchscreen and the accelerometer like iBowl, TapTap Revenge, magic8Ball

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch and want to share your favorite apps and a short description, please do!

Update 12/6/08:
I have purchased Tweetie for using Twitter on the iPhone. It is a full-featured Twitter client that is very easy to use and parses well on the device.

The Kensington Mini Battery Extender arrived it and works very well! First it charges up the device, and then, when you use the iPhone, it supplies the power until it runs out of power and then you start using the iPhone battery again.

Here is a list of 50 iPhone apps for education that came out right after this post.

Macbook Unboxing

2008-10-27T07:03:00.002-05:00

08opened

My new Macbook after I left work on Thursday to drive to Tech Forum NE (which was great, by the way!)

Many of you have asked for photos of the unboxing, so, if you are interested, they may be found in a Flickr set here

Web 2.0 Tools Database

2008-10-26T03:08:00.003-05:00

I signed up for blist, an new online database tool today. I created a database but kept it private. Apparently, when I chose to post it to Blogger, even though I received a message that it did not work, it DID work, but, of course, no one could view it because it was private! (It was going to be a place for teachers to enter their favorite tools.)

I have to work on figuring out how one offers the entry form, not the back end data. Creating databases is simple...figuring out how to share the entry form, not so much.

I may just do it in Zoho or Google Forms if I cannot figure it out.

Kathy

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, and Digital Pioneers

2008-10-12T16:35:00.001-05:00

I have long bristled at being called a "digital immigrant". I know the difference between the understood explanation of the "digital natives" and "digital immigrants" as outlined by Marc Prensky.

I did not grow up with technology. It grew up with me, and I was there every step of the way. I think those of us who have been there since the beginning, and have adopted each technology as it came about, should not be called digital immigrants. I do not turn to the printed manual first. I always choose reputable Internet sites to locate information. And I do speak the correct language (and still do not accept Google as a verb!) There are very few technology skills that are foreign to me.

I want to be in a third category of technology users called "digital pioneers". This group of users grew up as technology grew up. This group of users has mastered both the skills (learned from years of technology risk-taking and experimentation) and the processes (learned from the real world and the online world) of information literacy and choosing the correct tool for the task.

These users are the technology mentors and evangelists in the education field and are very passionate about the topic. They are constantly looking for new and old technologies that will support teaching and learning in a meaningful way and they always share their findings with others. There will only ever be a finite group of technology pioneers since, by the definition of growing up as technology grew up, the digital pioneers would have to be 50 years old or older at this point.

Many so-called digital immigrants, teachers who came later to the technology arena, are doing a wonderful job infusing technology meaningfully into teaching and learning. These tech-savvy educators are teaching to the current generation of so-called digital natives in ways that support these students' varied learning styles.

But please call me a "digital pioneer".

Fun with photos...

2008-09-14T07:28:00.002-05:00

I used one of the cool options on Dumpr for my Facebook icon and lots of people have asked about it. I discovered it a while ago and have been meaning to share.

Dumpr is an easy-to-use site for creating fun photos! It would be a great site for students to use for their "about me" slide in a presentation. No registration is required to use the site to upload an image and download the project.