Information Delivery
Taking a Bite in the Middle
13 Mar 2013 @22:53 — Filed in: Teaching | Technology
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Removing @replies from a Twitter widget
31 Mar 2012 @19:27 — Filed in: Technology
In early 2012, the embedded Twitter widget I used to display tweets in the sidebar of most pages of my website stopped working. I needed a fix, and I wanted to stop the display of any tweets that started with an @reply. That way, my announcements would stay visible, but my conversations would remain a bit more private. Searches for help produced sporadic results, so I’m documenting the steps I took to fix things here.
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Between Print and Web: Digital Portfolios
Many English composition classes currently use portfolios as a means of assessment. These involve countless sheets of paper and some very large staples to collect student work into a single representative document. Some teachers are transitioning to ePortfolios, in which students build a website to host their portfolios, often as a series of individual PDFs.
Based on a poster presentation from last week, I propose a middle ground: digital portfolios that retain the single-document approach of a familiar traditional portfolio, but using documents that employ more advanced design elements to take advantage of the electronic medium.
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Based on a poster presentation from last week, I propose a middle ground: digital portfolios that retain the single-document approach of a familiar traditional portfolio, but using documents that employ more advanced design elements to take advantage of the electronic medium.
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Let's Go Back…to the Future
05 Mar 2012 @09:24 — Filed in: Technology | Commentary
Wrapping up a collection of recent comments on the promising or problematic nature of technological developments in education, I argue that what was thought back in the 1940s should be brought back to our attention, and that the technological developments of the past 40 years have served to distract that attention from the real business of learning: the work and the content.
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The Mechanical Information Network
12 Feb 2012 @09:16 — Filed in: Technology
Back in 1945, Vannevar Bush published an idea for a mechanical device that would link together information we store. I wonder whether his idea would meet with less concern over the deterioration of our minds than the modern Internet seems to get.
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Advocating for Advertising
What does it take for another person to convince you of something? I suspect that, for many of us, the answer is seen in the easily uttered challenge, “Show me.” In many cases, hearing something explained or looking something up to see it in print may have their places, but as humans, we rely on vision more than our other senses. To be truly convincing, one must show, not tell.
I was reminded of this situation in the unlikeliest of places: in Gregory Ulmer’s Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy, in a section essentially proclaiming the merits of advertising. To clarify, that's a discussion of an institution I detest, inside a book that frustrated me, written by an author who annoys me. Despite all this, I find myself in complete agreement…perhaps the most annoying part of all.
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I was reminded of this situation in the unlikeliest of places: in Gregory Ulmer’s Internet Invention: From Literacy to Electracy, in a section essentially proclaiming the merits of advertising. To clarify, that's a discussion of an institution I detest, inside a book that frustrated me, written by an author who annoys me. Despite all this, I find myself in complete agreement…perhaps the most annoying part of all.
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Organization is Old-Fashioned
22 Jun 2011 @09:37 — Filed in: Writing | Text and Print
When I read a book, I expect the author to have organized the information in an efficient manner and to help make that information relevant and accessible. In essence, I want an author to teach me something through the text. A recent trend in thinking seems to make such expectations reminiscent of pre-Internet days.
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Working in a Datacloud
In Datacloud: Toward a New Theory of Online Work, Johndan Johnson-Eilola argues that modern knowledge work cannot fit on a computer screen, no matter how jam-packed we make our application interfaces. He also distinguishes surface interfaces from the deep understanding of processes that professionals must have to effectively do their work. Johnson-Eilola explicitly refers to education on only one page, but a conversation with a peer today suggests that this is a far more relevant concept.
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Getting With the E-book Program
27 May 2011 @08:41 — Filed in: Technology | Text and Print
This morning, my mother sent me a link to E-Book report: Nook is up, iPad still catching up, an article from the Associated Press that’s assessing the major players in the digital-book industry. Her comment: “Come on, Apple…get with the program.”
As I finished my reply, I felt I’d share my thoughts, in case the wider audience wanted to weigh in.
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As I finished my reply, I felt I’d share my thoughts, in case the wider audience wanted to weigh in.
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Digital Parenting
04 May 2011 @16:28 — Filed in: Technology | Text and Print
Giving over parenting responsibility to technology: Does it make kids’ attention problems worse? Do we all suffer from attention problems thanks to the Internet?
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On Creation and Credit
10 Feb 2011 @12:45 — Filed in: Technology
A friend’s referral to a creative musical composition got me thinking about the nature of rights, creativity, composition, and appreciation.
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Read This and Learn Something
Classroom teachers uttering that phrase are usually being rude and dismissive; why do we accept that from distance education?
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