iSean

just in case you’re curious, the MACUL conference speaker proposals are due tomorrow. i have been presenting at this conference since i moved to Michigan in 2000 and it’s a great little conference. i say little, but it’s probably one of the largest state technology in education conferences around. it’s really a regional conference and thousands of educators will flock to the conference. last year was in Detroit and this year is in my backyard — Grand Rapids. i am running into a problem as I’d like to present on something novel and innovative and i can’t decide what to do. hmmm. last year i talked did a presentation titled, “Wiki, Wiki, Wiki . . . Textbook?” and i have since switched to the idea of an open source textbook, but not using the wiki. so, i guess i jumped the gun by trying to be too innovative, eh? that being said, the theme of the conference is, “Technology: 21st Century Learning Tools” so an innovative focus would probably be welcomed.

however, i would really like to focus on assessment and the method of curriculum-based measurement (CBM) — describing strategies for how technology can really enhance the process and make it all possible, etc. i could demonstrate how i am doing this in my classroom with weekly surveys and how easy it is to make curricular changes and adjustments and all of that jazz. as exciting as this is to me, i can also picture a potential attendee reading about assessment and CBM and thinking, “ewwww.” heh. so therein lies my dilemma . . . do i want to potentially impact more people or do i want to present a really meaningful session for a small number of participants? i think i’ll actually stick with the CBM idea, but i’ll fiddle with ways to make the session sounds as exciting as i think it can be. time will tell if it works or not. for that matter, i still have to be accepted. ;~)

Technorati Tags: MACUL, CBM, assessment, technology, technology in education

well, earlier yesterday Google released the next web-app to their set of office apps and it’s presentation software . . . named appropriately: Presentation. Here’s the snippet Google writes in their own intro:

Starting today, presentations — whether imported from existing files or created using the new slide editor — are listed alongside documents and spreadsheets in the Google Docs document list. They can be edited, shared, and published using the familiar Google Docs interface, with several collaborators working on a slide deck simultaneously, in real time. When it’s time to present, participants can simply click a link to follow along as the presenter takes the audience through the slideshow. Participants are connected through Google Talk and can chat about the presentation as they’re watching.

i have been playing with Spresent in my classes and i even have my students using spresent this week; however, i fiddled with Google’s Presentation and I am impressed. I added a photo from my computer to a slide and then decided i wanted it on another slide. i right-clicked the photo and cut it. i went to the next slide and chose paste and the photo appeared on the next slide. worked like a charm. now granted, this is a web-based application so it’s not yet a PowerPoint killer, but it also does things that PowerPoint can’t do. the collaboration tool that goes along with the this app is fantastic. i am sure this has a great use for my online teaching, but i don’t yet have synchronized sessions so the live collaboration piece is not high on my list, but i could certainly see how folks could be working on a presentation together and using the live chat built into this app.

and, like i always do with these free web-based apps . . . i certainly hope this new set of office applications gives some schools cause for consideration. i have no clue why any grade school would be trying to justify purchasing Microsoft Office for their computers when stuff like OpenOffice and/or these web-based solutions exist. Much money could be saved with little inconvenience to teachers and students.

hard to beat free and that’s how much Presentation is.

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Presentation, OpenOffice, spresent

when the iPhone first came out, i nearly went out and bought an 8 GB one for $599. i decided to wait, which was very hard to do as my wife had given me the okay to buy one. well, with the recent news of Apple dropping the price of the iPhone by $200, i knew it was time to buy. instead of going for the 8 GB iPhone, i decided to buy 2 of the 4 GB iPhones at $299 for the same total price i nearly bought 1 a few months back. i won’t write a review of the iPhone because they’re everywhere, but i do have to say that i held off because i had some reservations . . . and now having owned one i can’t believe i waited. browsing the internet from anywhere is awesome. and, it’s not a watered down cell phone internet; rather, it’s real, real real.

i can tell AT&T is not as good as Verizon in my area because the signal strength isn’t as strong, but so far it’s working even when i get down to 1 bar. this post is more about something that sort of irks me — being charged for ringtones. This isn’t Apple; rather, it’s the music industry. i can see being charged for a midi file that is different than the songs on the iTunes Music Store as it has the vocals removed and all that jazz . . . but being charged for the same exact song???

while i think downloading illegal music is wrong and it’s something i won’t do . . . i also think there’s just something about buying a ringtone that i won’t do. i have bought the music already. i can play the music on my iPod or burn it to a CD and play it on CD player and in DVD players and i can play the music in my car or on a home stereo. why should i pay to also have this same song play on the same device just because a call comes in? the notion that ringtones are somehow in a need of a new license agreement that i’ll pay for again is ludicrous. i bought it to play on my iPhone and it plays on my iPhone and now they want me to pay again so i can play it again on my iPhone? PUHHHLEASE!!!!!! the RIAA can go after illegal downloaders like crazy for all i care, but this is just too much. why do customers put up with this?

Technorati Tags: RIAA, iPhone, iTunes, ringtones

i am a big fan of open source tools. i like the whole open source movement . . . mostly because i am in education and acquiring the funds for expensive commercial applications is not always possible. supporting open source, on the other hand, ensures that quality products are available for all of us. but how do you know whether an open source product can work for you? for one, you first need to figure out what needs you have. if you know what you need then you can seek solutions. but merely reading about various tools is not enough to make a big decision as to whether the tool is going to work. you could download the tool(s) and test it on a computer or on a server. downloading products to your computer is easy. if you want to test the open source browser called Firefox then you download and install and you’re up and running in a matter of minutes. easy.

but what about web-based open source tools? even if you can create a database and download and then upload the files, there is a lot of time involved in doing this. i updated a family photo gallery the other day and even on broadband, i bet it took me about 20 minutes to get all of the new files for Menalto’s Gallery uploaded on top of my current installation. there’s no way i’d take that time just to test drive a potential tool. fortunately, there are solutions. the one i’d recommend is called OpenSourceCMS and it’s free to use. the website provides users with access to many of the most popular open source tools that are web-based (which means that they most likely require a MySQL database). here’s an example of their menu where i’ve opened the folder showing the open source e-Learning tools:

if you click on Moodle, for example, you are presented with an information page about Moodle. the page provides readers with direct links to the test a Moodle site’s Front Page and Admin Login. the login information is also supplied:
Username- admin
Password- demo

once you login, you can have near full administrative access to really test the behind the scenes goings-on for each tool. they also provide a plethora of user feedback to help you save time and learn from others. neat tool and well worth exploring the next time you have a problem and want to try seeking an open source solution.

Technorati Tags: CMS, ed tech, open source, technology in education