Switching from Windows to Mac? MacWorld has put together this handy chart to help you. From printers to speakers, it’s all here: For more on this and other Mac articles see: MacWorld. Love Macs? So do we. See more stories at mac. Photo credit: MacWorld Staff
Selected by julielindsay
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Most Topular Stories
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Switching to Mac from Windows? Here a great chart to help the transition [infographic]
Holy Kaw!22 May 2013 | 8:45 am -
Moon or Asteroid? Congress Debates Best Pit Stop to Mars
Mashable22 May 2013 | 9:42 amNASA's plan to lasso an asteroid for astronauts as a deep-space dry run for a future mission to Mars has some members of Congress wondering if the space agency would be better off setting its sights on the moon instead. The asteroid mission was announced when President Barack Obama unveiled his 2014 NASA budget request. The scheme would have NASA use a robotic spacecraft to capture a roughly 23-foot-wide (7 meters) asteroid in deep space, and redirect it to an orbit closer to the moon. Once there, NASA would launch a human mission to rendezvous with the space rock and explore it. But members… -
Google Updates Chrome For Android With Fullscreen Mode For Phones, Simplified Searching From Omnibox
TechCrunch22 May 2013 | 9:30 amChrome 27 for the desktop arrived yesterday and today, Google updated Chrome for Android to version 27 as well. While the desktop update mostly focused on improved speed, the Android version actually includes a number of new features. The most important of these is probably the new fullscreen mode for phones. Just like in the iPhone app (or in the old stock Android browser), the toolbar will now disappear as you scroll down. Update: I have now installed the update on my Galaxy Nexus and I’m not seeing any of the announced changes. I’ve reached out to Google and will update this… -
Let's start with "sorry"
Seth's Blog22 May 2013 | 2:43 amBy the time the phone rings, there's already trouble. When that manager is called or this department is reached, it's because someone is disappointed, angry or stuck. Illness, broken promises or a real urgency have led to this new conversation even taking place. So don't start with, "[Name of company] mumble mumble" as if there's a blank slate just waiting to be written on. There's already a lot of writing on that slate. Don't demand to know the record number or begin with doubt and an edge of dismissal. Be on our team. "It sounds like we've got a situation on our hands..." is a fine way to… -
FBI Kills Ex-MMA Fighter Tied to Boston Bomb Suspect
Wired Top Stories22 May 2013 | 6:48 amAn FBI interview with an Orlando man believed to have known Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev took a deadly and unclear turn early this morning.
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Holy Kaw!
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Switching to Mac from Windows? Here a great chart to help the transition [infographic]
22 May 2013 | 8:45 amSwitching from Windows to Mac? MacWorld has put together this handy chart to help you. From printers to speakers, it’s all here: For more on this and other Mac articles see: MacWorld. Love Macs? So do we. See more stories at mac. Photo credit: MacWorld Staff -
10 places transportation things (subways, bikes) go to when dead
22 May 2013 | 8:33 amWhat happens to old subway cars? Well, in some parts of the world they may end up offshore as part of a reef. Left your bike left in the wrong place at the wrong time in Amsterdam? Could be that you can find it at the FietsDepot – but good luck with that! There are [...] -
38 words with no English equivalent – “grief bacon”?
22 May 2013 | 8:17 amMental Floss has accumulated a list of 38 words that have no equivalent word in English and top of the list is Kummerspeck (German), which means emotional over-eating but is literally translated as “grief bacon”. Here are a few others. For the complete list, see the link to the article, below. Cavoli Riscaldati (Italian) The [...] -
How to decide if a daily aspirin is harmful
22 May 2013 | 8:09 amA new algorithm outlines factors doctors should consider when deciding whether or not a patient would benefit from a daily dose of aspirin. Approximately 50 million people in the United States take a daily aspirin to treat or prevent heart disease. Of these, at least half take more than 100 milligrams of the drug—more than [...] -
Cartilage gets bum rap for osteoarthritis
22 May 2013 | 7:31 amOsteoarthritis, a painful disease thought to be primarily a problem with the cartilage that cushions joints, may actually be caused in large part by the bone underneath. The insight led to a proof-of-concept experiment in which researchers found they could stop progression of the degenerative disease by blocking the action of a critical protein involved [...]
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Mashable
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Moon or Asteroid? Congress Debates Best Pit Stop to Mars
22 May 2013 | 9:42 amNASA's plan to lasso an asteroid for astronauts as a deep-space dry run for a future mission to Mars has some members of Congress wondering if the space agency would be better off setting its sights on the moon instead. The asteroid mission was announced when President Barack Obama unveiled his 2014 NASA budget request. The scheme would have NASA use a robotic spacecraft to capture a roughly 23-foot-wide (7 meters) asteroid in deep space, and redirect it to an orbit closer to the moon. Once there, NASA would launch a human mission to rendezvous with the space rock and explore it. But members… -
The Zaniest Recurring 'Arrested Development' Gags
22 May 2013 | 9:31 amArrested Development returns this Sunday for a new season on Netflix, which means that you have less than 100 hours to catch up on all the hijinks and hilarity of the Bluth family Feeling overwhelmed? No need to have an anxiety attack of Buster-Bluth proportionsSlackstory has created an uber-supercut of the 18 funniest recurring jokes that Arrested Development writers have used time and time again for a surefire chuckle SEE ALSO: 8 Quirky 'Arrested Development' Protest Posters And if you need an even more structured way to remember the running jokes in the show, check out this interactive… -
Orchestra Plays 'Carmen' Entirely on Mobile Devices
22 May 2013 | 9:19 amFans booed when Bob Dylan went electric in 1965, but in 2013 in the Czech Republic no one seemed to bat an eye when the Czech National Symphony Orchestra one-upped Dylan by also going mobile. As part of a stunt to promote a new "all-digital" bank in Europe called Hello Bank!, BNP Paribas and ad agency B-Roll wired up 60 musicians with smartphones and tablets for a rousing rendition of "Carmen." According to a behind-the-scenes video, the effort required 227 different interfaces that were hooked up to Wi-Fi The point: You and your mobile device can make beautiful music together. Or something… -
20 Hot London Startups You Need to Watch
22 May 2013 | 8:54 amMost entrepreneurs assume they’ll have to move to Silicon Valley to make it big. Let’s face it, some regions are more abundant with investors, resources and talent than others. But if you’re in or near London, you might consider staying put — the startups below prove that building a great company with staying power can be done in The Big Smoke SEE ALSO: 25 Startups In Surprising Places Most operate in London exclusively, while companies that serve many regions are noted. If you live in London, which of these startups would you want to work for? If you're outside of… -
Scientists Build a Robot Cheetah
22 May 2013 | 8:53 amThis robot can sprint 13.6 miles per hour, making it the second-fastest robot on land. (Here's the fastest one, which can run 18 miles an hour.) While the scientist dubbed it "cheetah robot," it's a bit slower than the real thing. Cheetahs can reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour SEE ALSO: Robot Alarm Clock Dances by Your Bedside Image courtesy of NowThis News Read more...More about Robots, Science, Robotics, Tech, and Dev Design
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TechCrunch
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Google Updates Chrome For Android With Fullscreen Mode For Phones, Simplified Searching From Omnibox
22 May 2013 | 9:30 amChrome 27 for the desktop arrived yesterday and today, Google updated Chrome for Android to version 27 as well. While the desktop update mostly focused on improved speed, the Android version actually includes a number of new features. The most important of these is probably the new fullscreen mode for phones. Just like in the iPhone app (or in the old stock Android browser), the toolbar will now disappear as you scroll down. Update: I have now installed the update on my Galaxy Nexus and I’m not seeing any of the announced changes. I’ve reached out to Google and will update this… -
Skyhigh Networks Raises $20M For Service That Discovers, Analyzes And Controls Apps Employees Use
22 May 2013 | 9:27 amSkyhigh Networks discovers,manages and analyzes data from all the apps that people use at work. Today the company raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital with participation from existing investor Greylock Partners. Skyhigh discovers, analyzes and controls the cloud services that a customer’s employee uses. It sees the cloud services customers use and all the associated security issues associated with it. It analyzes the services to find the abnormalities and ways the company can save costs on subscriptions. It also adds an element of control by enforcing IT… -
Recargo And Xatori Merge To Make PlugShare The Essential App For Electric Car Drivers
22 May 2013 | 9:21 amPeople are afraid that if they drive an electric vehicle, they’ll run out of juice somewhere. So to convince more people to buy electric cars and dominate the charging station locator market, Xatori and Recargo are merging. The combined charge finder developers will go by the name Recargo to promote their station map and trip planner app PlugShare. Xatori and its co-founders Forrest North (CEO) and Armen Petrosian (CTO) had raised $400,000 in 2011 for its suite of apps. PlugShare is North America’s largest network of EV charging stations, boasting 15,000 locations and 100,000… -
Foursquare Introduces ‘Super-Specific' Search And Filter Options For iOS And Android To Help You Find New Venues
22 May 2013 | 9:18 amAs Foursquare evolves, it wants to help you find either new places to check out or lead you to places where your friends have already been. Mixed in with that is recommendation technology to show you places that you might be interested in based on where you’ve been before. Today, Foursquare updated its iOS and Android apps with an advanced search option that lets you control how the service seeks out new venues for you. In its blog post today, Foursquare “dares” you to get “super specific” with your searches. Basically, the company is saying that they have enough… -
Photo Albums Are Stupid. Moju Labs Is Building What Comes Next.
22 May 2013 | 9:09 amWith years of digital exhaust now behind us – over 240 billion photos on Facebook, 8 billion on Flickr, and not to mention the 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every month – we’re now transitioning to a time when we’re in need of smarter tools for organizing and accessing our personal data archives. Only a few companies, so far, have dared to step into this space because the technical challenges its presents. One which shows some promise is the stealthy Moju Labs, a new consumer “big data” startup, which is soon preparing to launch. Founded by the…
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Seth's Blog
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Let's start with "sorry"
22 May 2013 | 2:43 amBy the time the phone rings, there's already trouble. When that manager is called or this department is reached, it's because someone is disappointed, angry or stuck. Illness, broken promises or a real urgency have led to this new conversation even taking place. So don't start with, "[Name of company] mumble mumble" as if there's a blank slate just waiting to be written on. There's already a lot of writing on that slate. Don't demand to know the record number or begin with doubt and an edge of dismissal. Be on our team. "It sounds like we've got a situation on our hands..." is a fine way to… -
Levels of marketing magic, the placebo effects of desire
21 May 2013 | 2:45 amANTICIPATION: Before the product is released, the true fans are buzzing and speculating and waiting in line. The anticipation is self-reinforcing, a placebo effect of desire. UTILITY: The album is good, the software is useful, the book changes things. It works better than we hoped. Exceeding expectations pays significant dividends. REMARK: It's purple. Remarkable. Worth talking about. The word spreads. Ten people tell ten people and suddenly, it's abuzz. Not because of PR or hype, but because the remarkability is built right into the product or service itself. And more people enjoy things… -
You should buy the book
20 May 2013 | 8:33 amMitch Joel is a generous and perceptive blogger. Well worth the daily read. He has a new book. You should buy it. David Meerman Scott writes an essential blog, daily. His book is a classic. You should buy it. Tom Asacker writes a very thoughtful blog about marketing. Worth the read. He has a new book. You should buy it, too. Every day, Mark Frauenfelder and Corey Doctorow blog tons of goodness at Boingboing. They each have books. You should buy them and share them. Bernadette Jiwa's blog keeps getting better and better and you are probably already reading it. She has a new book on the way. -
No Signal
20 May 2013 | 2:00 amAt a party the other day, I saw a dead TV monitor. On the screen it said something like, "No signal... check power, cable and source selection..." It doesn't matter at all how hard the DVD player was trying to put on a show. It is irrelevant how good the show on cable was. If it's not getting through, no one sees it. All of us own our own media companies now. We each have the ability to speak up, to tell our stories, and if we're good and if we're lucky, to be heard. Too often, though, there's no signal. You may be pumping noise through your social media outlets, but noise isn't signal. It's… -
Learning by analogy
19 May 2013 | 2:36 amThe story of Hansel and Gretel is not actually about Hansel or Gretel. You are surrounded by examples and lessons and case studies that clearly aren't exactly about your project. There's never been a book written precisely about the situation you are facing right now, either. Perhaps one day they will publish, "Marketing Low-Cost Coaching Services to Small Businesses Specializing in .Graphic Design in the Upper Peninsula for Dummies" but don't hold your breath. Marketing, like all forms of art, requires us to learn to see. To see what's working and to transplant it, change it and amplify it.
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Wired Top Stories
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FBI Kills Ex-MMA Fighter Tied to Boston Bomb Suspect
22 May 2013 | 6:48 amAn FBI interview with an Orlando man believed to have known Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev took a deadly and unclear turn early this morning. -
How Disney and Threadless Built a 200K-Person Design Team
22 May 2013 | 6:30 amDesigners love creating homages to their favorite Disney characters (e.g., turning the iconic princesses into zombies and hipsters), but if they ever tried to sell those designs they would be faced with a foe scarier than Cruella de Vil ? Disney's legal department. -
New York Can Fight Airbnb and Uber, But the Sharing Economy Is Here to Stay
22 May 2013 | 6:30 amFreelance innkeepers across New York City shuddered this week as a judge found that a man renting out his East Village apartment on Airbnb was violating the state's occupancy code. The decision isn't the first time that city and state laws in New York have stymied the so-called sharing economy. -
BMW Guggenheim Lab Maps the Trends Shaping Our Cities
22 May 2013 | 3:30 amThe BMW Guggenheim Lab released today their full list of urban trends gleaned from almost six months' worth of workshops held in Mumbai, Berlin, and New York City. -
Bitcoin ATMs: Handy Vending Machines or Money-Laundering Nightmares?
22 May 2013 | 3:30 amYou can think of it as an ATM for Bitcoins. For a few glorious days this past weekend, on a conference center floor in San Jose, California, the Robocoin machine dished out thousands of dollars in exchange for Bitcoins, the world's most popular digital currency. The two brothers who built the thing -- Mark and John Russell, of Las Vegas -- are still trying to figure out what to do with this contraption. But one thing's certain: They don't want to operate it on their own. Mark Russell isn't even sure if it's legal.
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ReadWrite
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If Google+ Is Good, Why Does Google Force It On Us?
22 May 2013 | 7:02 amGoogle really, really wants us to like Google+. Google is embedding Google+ into each of its products, making it increasingly difficult to use its services without embracing the Google+ borg, whether you want to or not. Judging by Google+'s still stagnant market share, you generally do not want to use the social service, or whatever it is. When prodded by complaints that Google is forcing Google+ into its disparate products, despite not necesssarily fitting very well, Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president over Google+, rejected the criticism at Google I/O: I'm not sure that… -
The Sky Is Falling For Smartphone Maker HTC
22 May 2013 | 6:15 amSmartphone manufacturer HTC is in disarray. According to a report from The Verge, the company is hemorrhaging executives from its Seattle-based office amid poor sales, internal turmoil and controversy. Within the last several months, HTC has lost its chief produdct officer Kouji Kodera, VP of global communications Jason Gordon and product strategy manager Eric Lin among several others. In a classic "the sky is falling" scenario, everybody is blaming everybody else. Many in HTC blame Facebook for the problems selling the HTC First - "The Facebook Phone" - while others blame… -
Why Your App Design Doesn't Have To Be All Thumbs
22 May 2013 | 6:03 amThe debate about app design largely centers around screen size. What if designers worried about digit size instead? Luke Wrobleski, a respected designer who sold a company to Twitter and more recently founded Polar, an app maker, thinks it's time to reconsider mobile design principles. Instead of worrying about questions like whether to upsize smartphone apps for tablets, designers should start by asking how their users will physically interact with their devices when using an app. The technical term for this is input type—keyboard versus touchscreen, one-handed or two-handed interactions,… -
How Google Is Wooing Developers To Make Apps For Android First
22 May 2013 | 5:03 amThis post is the first in the ReadWrite series "Making Android Pay," in which we'll explore the opportunities and challenges mobile developers face in trying to make money from Android apps. In December 2011, Google chairman Eric Schmidt predicted that mobile developers would be building apps for Android first instead of iOS by the middle of 2012. That obviously hasn’t happened. But Google has doubled down on its push for more Android-first apps, largely by making it easier for developers to make money from them. "It has taken a long time, it is slower than we like, but we are getting… -
Xbox One: The Most Restrictive Game Console Ever Made
22 May 2013 | 3:56 amIf the Xbox One is the future of gaming, then that future is as grim as everyone feared. In an event Tuesday morning that felt like a casual bar conversation compared to Sony's brain-exploding extravaganza back in February, Microsoft unveiled the next-gen Xbox — not in a giant conference center, but in a tent set up on a soccer field at its Redmond campus. With a hard-line focus on the One's television connectivity and a smart decision to actually show off the physical console, Microsoft pulled off a tight one-hour presentation that glazed over the trickier undercurrents at…
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Cool Cat Teacher Blog
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End of Year Focus Groups: Kids Ask me to Share how to get more followers so here it is!
22 May 2013 | 7:08 amCreated with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad Four Questions for End of Year Focus Groups with Students Yesterday was focus groups in my class. I have the students answer four questions: What was your favorite thing we did this year? What was your least favorite thing we did? What was the most important thing you learned? What was something you wish we'd spent more time doing? Voting for the Lesson for the Last Day of Class Out of that conversation, I had all four classes echo that they wanted to know "how to get more followers on social media like you've done, 'Miss' Vicki." I… -
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 05/22/2013
22 May 2013 | 2:30 amWhy the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal - The Oatmeal This great cartoon can be used to talk about eyes and color but is also funny. You might want to share this with students if your class talks about these topics. Wow, the Mantis Shrimp has the ability to see this many colors? tags: cartoon news education science color eyes biology 15 Incredible Cat Photobombs (PHOTOS) If you need a laugh for the end of the year, the 15 incredible cat photobombs are great for a laugh. tags: education news humor Anchornote - iPhone - English - Evernote Trunk Another award winner - this is a cool app… -
5 Important Ingredients of Good Preservice Teacher Education
20 May 2013 | 3:36 amEva Brown @ebrownoramais a highered teacherpreneurwho helps her classroom matterby connecting teachersto others throughout theworld. Listen to the interview Eva Brown @ebrownorama is a teacher educator from Canada. We recently sat down to record another episode of Every Classroom Matters and she gave me 5 very clear ingredients for excellent preservice teacher education. For those of you not familiar with the term "preservice" (it is called different things in different countries) - this means, Eva teachers people how to be teachers before they enter the classroom. 1. Create… -
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 05/19/2013
19 May 2013 | 2:33 amBikes & Bullets - YouTube This YouTube channel is an example of how parents MUST sign off on genius project. The final video "go Pro hero" is the only "officially submiited" video for this student's genius project. But he runs a youtube channel that has a bit of a cult following. I don't approve of the stunts, etc. but the child's mother does. He also did all the work at home except for the final. This is one of those challenging ones and is something to be aware that you can deal with when you have genius projects. I have parent sign off on anything students do. tags: education news… -
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 05/17/2013
17 May 2013 | 2:30 amHow To Handle A Student Who Habitually Calls Out — Smart Classroom Management This is a tough one and I've had two or three this year who will call out - in a disruptive way. Sometimes it is when I'm speaking. I have one great class that causes me to struggle because of several who have a bit of a problem with knowing the appropriate time to engage (not in the middle of a question or when someone else is talking.) I encourage kids to have a pencil and paper or a tablet in hand to jot down notes of what they want to say - sometimes they are afraid they'll forget. Other times, when it is…
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Ideas and Thoughts
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A Culture of Joy: Part 1
16 May 2013 | 10:20 pmTwo places I spend a lot of time in are schools and airplanes. What I’ve noticed after the time spent in these places is that cultures are pretty easy to identify. In Canada, the two major airlines, Air Canada and Westjet have very distinct cultures. I mostly fly Air Canada for a number of reasons and must say I’ve had very good experiences. However, if you ask most Canadians about these two airlines, the general belief is that Westjet offers the better customer service. Air Canada is the more formal, serves the business traveller and Westjet has a more inclusive approach… -
If You Hate Doing Assessment, You’re Doing it Wrong
27 Apr 2013 | 10:31 amFor many teachers, grading and assessment are the duties of teaching most would rather avoid. I get it. For many these things get it the way of learning in that they are contrived , mandated, artificial and time consuming. My personal evolution with assessment is well documented here but as I continue to tweak my workflow and process have to come see this has a powerfully enjoyable experience. For my students final assessment here was their task: Tech Tasks A simple summary and assessment about the quality, consistency and timeliness of your work. Grade yourself between 20-30% percent of… -
Connected From The Start
10 Apr 2013 | 7:38 pmIt’s my pleasure to announce the publishing of Kathy Cassidy’s new book about primary learners. Kathy is a long time friend and colleague who I’ve long admired and watched her own growth as a connected learner and teacher. I was privileged to be ask to write the foreword which I’ll share here: In my personal journey with technology, there are two very distinct “aha” moments. Number one came in 1997 when I created my first webpage using something called html. Inputting some weird symbols on a screen, sending them up to something called a web server, using something… -
I.S.S. The Collaborative Lip Dub
9 Apr 2013 | 7:46 pmI love this song. I love what Commander Hadfield has been doing as part of his mission. He’s done an outstanding job in bringing us into the world of space travel and along the way reminding us what a wonderful world we live in. I love lip dubs. I’ve been part of making a few. While they’ve been around for a while I think they represent the power of connected media and storytelling quite well. If you’ve ever participated in one, the weird sense of community and joy is palpable. I love how my class works and connects young pre-service teachers with great teachers and… -
Great Stories of IT
8 Apr 2013 | 9:54 amWeird title I know. Next week I’m speaking to a mix of educators and IT people essentially about how the boxes and wires folks can and should work together with the teaching and learning folks. The dominant narrative seems to be that often these two groups don’t get along all that well, mostly from teachers wanting to innovative feeling confined and restricted. My personal experience is pretty positive and I recognize that’s not how everyone sees this. I think more examples and stories are helpful.I’m trying to offer ways and means that these two groups can work…
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Moving at the Speed of Creativity
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Why Your School Needs a Scratch Club [VIDEO]
22 May 2013 | 8:26 am(cross-posted from the Yukon Public Schools’ Learning Showcase website) This past year, fourth and fifth grade students at Independence Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, have had the opportunity to participate in an after-school Scratch Club led by STEM teacher Chris Simon. Scratch is a free program from the MIT Media Lab, which permits learners of any age to create games, tell stories, make animations, and much more. In its new 2.0 version, Scratch is entirely web-based, so it can even run on a Chromebook! Yesterday was the final day of “Scratch Club” for students at… -
Help My Son’s Debate Teacher Whose Home Was Destroyed by the Moore Tornado
22 May 2013 | 8:05 amLonda Mandron, my 9th grade son’s debate teacher at Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City, lost her entire home in the devastating tornado which hit Moore, Oklahoma, on Monday, May 20, 2013. Several people have contacted me about things they can do, or their class at school can do, to help in the wake of this terrible tragedy. In addition to the options to send money which I shared on Monday, this is an excellent opportunity to help a specific person and family. Catherine Armitage, another ClassenSAS parent, has created a list of items Mrs. Madron’s family needs on… -
Read an Enhanced eBook in the Chrome Browser with Readium
21 May 2013 | 11:48 amThis past semester, third graders in Ms. Moore’s classroom (in Oklahoma City Public Schools) wrote and published an original book titled, “Our Favorite Books.” They used an iPad Mini and the wonderful app, “Book Creator” by Red Jumper to include photographs of their artwork, their written text, and audio recordings of their voices reading each section of the book. The book is available as an enhanced ePUB ebook, a PDF (without audio), a printed color paperback on Lulu.com, and as a YouTube screencast. All these versions are linked on… -
Using Student Videos on YouTube to Demonstrate Proper School Procedures
21 May 2013 | 9:42 am(cross-posted from the Yukon Public Schools’ Learning Showcase website) Jennie Wilmes, the K-3 librarian at Shedeck Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma, has been working with teachers this semester on a new “digital way” to help students learn proper procedures at school. Using some very talented student actors, Mrs. Wilmes created and published six short videos to her Library YouTube channel which showcase proper procedures for using the bathroom, walking in the hallway, attending the morning “sunrise” assembly, eating in the cafeteria, staying safe on the… -
Share Words and Pictures of Encouragement and Love with #moorehugs
21 May 2013 | 9:07 amIf you and your students are creating or thinking about creating artwork, poems, recorded messages, essays, or digital video projects to express encouragement, love and support to the families affected by the deadly tornadoes yesterday in Moore, Oklahoma, consider sharing them on social media websites with the hashtag #moorehugs. By using a hashtag on Twitter, Instagram, or other social platforms, those messages can be readily collected and shared with others. A hashtag can “amplify” a message on social media to a wider audience. If your students create artwork for families in…
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The Thinking Stick
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New GAFE Course Begins June 3rd!
19 May 2013 | 6:33 amJust a quick announcement that I will be running the Google Apps for Education (GAFE) course over the summer for those who are interested in learning more about Google Apps. The second cohort is about a week away from finishing and it has been great to learn with people on this journey into Google Apps. It really is a love/hate relationship. I love all that I learn from people and things they teach me as Google moves so fast. Also I hate it as it makes it hard to keep the content up to date. I’ll be going back and redoing the Google+ videos with the new announcements for sure. You can… -
Google I/O Reflection
18 May 2013 | 9:01 amNow I have admitted before that I am a google fan boy. I love Google, I love their products, I love the way they take risks in development, I love the future they are trying to make a reality. So it should be no surprise that on Wednesday I prepared myself for the 3 hour Keynote that kicked off Google I/O Developers Conference this year. The conference has now ended and it is time to write my own reflection on the event and how I think this all relates to education. Let’s start with the educational announcements: Facts from the above video: Google Apps 25 Million educational users all… -
The Bright Side of Google Reader Leaving Us
5 Apr 2013 | 9:25 amPhoto Credit: jypsygen via Compfight cc Now don’t get me wrong, the announcement that Google Reader will no longer be after July 1st came as a shocker….but then again…not really. We know where Google is headed…everything tied to Google+ and Google+ integration across all apps. Which now that I see that and treat the Google ecosystem that way, well, it turns out it is a pretty nice feature. But what this means is that apps that don’t “fit” into Google+ are probably on the outs (worried about Google Sites as well…who else uses them besides education?). So instead… -
Preparing for the Next Three Years
3 Apr 2013 | 9:27 amA couple of interesting things over the past 6 months or so that I have been a part of and/or witnessed that I wanted to share and reflect on. I have been working with a lot of International schools over the past six months. I find it fascinating that in a lot of these schools, I end up having conversations with the administrative team where someone (usually the head of school) will say something along the lines of: “You have spent a couple of days with us now, how do we compare to other International Schools you have worked with in the region?” There is this sense that we need to keep up… -
Hot Box
1 Apr 2013 | 10:42 pm(Stories from my side of the field parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) “Ok, let’s go play!” My dad says as the three of us jump up and down and head in three different directions. My youngest brother heads to the kichen, opens up the cupboard and grabs two white paper plates. My other brother (the middle one) hustles to the back porch and grabs an incrediball, while I run upstairs and grab our gloves. “Greg…where’s your glove?” I holler down the stairs. “In my room in the corner!” He hollers back. My mom walks over to the coat closet, opens it up and…
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Graham Wegner - Open Educator
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Sliding Into Apathy
2 May 2013 | 5:04 amApril got away from me. It was the first month since starting this blog that I failed to post anything at all. Maybe I am suffering some form of social media fatigue. I’m still reading and scouring the web as much as ever but I’m picking and pecking through my Google Reader feeds rather than reading feverishly, and my Twitter presence has dwindled down to virtually nothing. Ironically, I’m still picking up new followers but I’m not sure what I’m offering them. I reckon Dean Groom hit the nail on the head the other day when he wrote: The dark-side is that social… -
Middle Aged Gaming
23 Mar 2013 | 4:59 amWe bought a new Xbox during the Christmas holidays, complete with Kinect. Apart from the bundled games, the first game my youngest son bought was NBA 2K13 as the house has sort of gone basketball mad over the last 18 months. Despite my interest in games, I have never really gotten into any serious games. Until now. The first thing I like about this game is that is a sports sim. It may well be a product of my childhood where I wasn’t given any opportunity to play any form of competitive sport until I was sent away to boarding school at the age of twelve. I had just started wearing… -
Put The Spoon Away
6 Mar 2013 | 2:38 amTrue story. Names not used and context changed to protect those who need protection. Leader in a school sends out email to primary school staff informing them about the new Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, and includes a link to the website. Receives an email back from staff member complaining that the link doesn’t work and could the correct one be emailed back out. When will some teachers give up the expectation to be spoon fed everything? It literally takes less than a minute to type in “aitsl teacher standards” into Google, click on the first link and… -
What Your Classroom Says About You, The Educator
28 Jan 2013 | 3:02 amWalking into a vacant classroom and having a look around (even without the students being there) can tell you a lot about the sort of learning that goes on in there. How the furniture is laid out, the posters and work samples on the wall, the artifacts and resources available all tell a story of what is valued and what is possible for the students assigned to that classroom. I’m picturing a couple of classrooms (fictional but typical of some that I have seen) in my head as I type. I’m not going to identify when, where or who – but one I’m thinking of had class desks… -
Penguins In Decline
12 Jan 2013 | 2:03 amThe family got back yesterday from a few days down on the Fleurieu Peninsula, basing ourselves at Goolwa. This is the third time in three years and it really is a nice part of the world to kick back and take things easy for a bit. We were looking forward to some nice weather but Wednesday was a bit cooler than expected so we changed our plans around a bit, trading in a day at the beach for a walk across the causeway to Granite Island at Victor Harbor, and to check out the Little Penguin centre on the island. Recuperating little penguins from Granite Island at the Penguin Centre. Here a small…
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Blue Skunk Blog
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Japanese illiteracy
19 May 2013 | 11:37 amSunday afternoon Tokyo time sitting in the Delta business lounge of Narita airport which feels sorta like my second home. Flight doesn't go for a couple hours so I get a chance to think a bit about this interesting trip, my first time in Japan outside the airport. I would consider this one of the most language-difficult places I've visited. A very low percentage of signs are in English as well as Japanese (better in the tourist areas) and I found very few fluent English speaking natives, even in the service industries. Although I am sure I had much better luck in this regard than any hapless… -
Tech lessons from Tokyo
18 May 2013 | 3:59 pmHeading home from Tokyo this morning. It's been a pretty amazing week. While did a lot of touristy things I'll document in another post, I had three experiences with technology that made me think. Ouch. Vending machines here are ubiquitous and wonderfully easy to use since any currency under the value of Y10,000 ($10) is a coin. I loved that coffee was readily available, but I was surprised when I found this can of was served hot instead of cold. How nice and how practical. Such a simple twist to the very old technology of the vending machine. Made me wonder how many old devices could… -
BFTP: Humility builders
12 May 2013 | 4:00 amA weekend Blue Skunk "feature" will be a revision of an old post. I'm calling this BFTP: Blast from the Past. Original post April 28, 2008. The garage door I write about below was replaced (by a professional) less than a year after I installed this one. Here is the new garage door I installed this weekend on the "shed." Don't look too hard or too close. It's on. It goes up and it goes down. It looks much better than the one I removed. My skinned knuckles are healing nicely. The project didn't require a trip into town for more parts. Nobody called the police on account of bad… -
The lost souls of technology training
11 May 2013 | 4:04 amAs I was walking down a hallway at one of our elementary buildings yesterday afternoon, I bumped into a lady I did not recognize. She introduced herself as Laurie, a reading paraprofessional, and I replied I was the technology director. "Oh good," she said, "I have tech problem you might be able to help me with." (I shuddered since my department worries when I try to fix hardware.) She held out an iPad with a program running on it. "How do I get this off my screen?" "Just push the big button on the bottom," I sagely suggested. "I tried, but screen stays the same but I just get a row of… -
Indispensable Librarian, 2nd edition published
9 May 2013 | 4:39 pmIn last evening's e-mail: Dear Doug,The Indispensable Librarian: Surviving and Thriving in School Libraries in the Information Age, Second Edition published today, May 9th, 2013. Please reply to this message with your current mailing address to ensure timely delivery of your complimentary copies. Once you have verified your address, allow 4-6 weeks for processing and delivery of your complimentary copies. Thank you, Jenn ...Project CoordinatorABC-CLIO 4-6 weeks is timely? No wonder the print business is having problems. According to my records, I sent the…
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judyoconnell.com
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Meet the future!
12 May 2013 | 7:12 pmHaving followed the tweets of Commander Chris Hadfield, remaining all the while in awe at the connections between social media and reality (including the intersections with learning and teaching experiences), I could only gasp at the implications of the video below that has gone viral. Amazing. The future is more than a Space Oddity! The future is amazing and we need to remember that – always – in whatever field of education that we work. Related articles Space Oddity: Hadfield Records First Music Video from Space (universetoday.com) Chris Hadfield Bids Farewell To Space… -
Picture panic!
9 May 2013 | 6:23 amBack to blogging, and of course one of my ‘go to’ tools is my FlickrCC Attribution Helper. Heart-stopping moment is over – my Greasemonkey script wasn’t working!! Luckily all it was – I was due for an update. If you want to learn more about this really cool tool from my pal CogDog then read about GreaseMonkey and Flickr for the Adventurous. Alan tells us more about his latest coding venture and fix (and the story behind it all) of the script Flickr CC Attribution Helper Fixed. Check out Find Free Images Online for other image source and management ideas. Trust… -
Concepts and Practices for a Digital Age!
9 May 2013 | 6:07 amGreat title don’t you think? This very title is the name of a new subject – foundation subject no less – that is in the pipeline for 2014 for the new degree that I have been immersed in developing. As mentioned in my post a while back, I have had my head down and tail up for the last six weeks working live a navvy on scoping this new and exciting degree for next year. Still a big secret in terms of the whole course program and content of course, because the final approval isn’t through yet. We still have the last hurdle to face, but fingers crossed, we’ll… -
Learning in Networks of Knowledge
9 May 2013 | 4:57 amFor me, knowledge networks is what it’s all about! I was honoured to speak with the staff of the State Library of NSW about the issues and drivers that we consider as we work with students in our tertiary learning environments. Learning in Networks of Knowledge was just the beginning of a bigger conversation. Thank you to the wonderful innovation team [see my last post] for this opportunity. Filed under: Communication Tools, Constructivism, Higher Education Tagged: education, Online Teaching and Learning, State Library of New South Wales -
23 Mobile Things everyone should know
16 Apr 2013 | 3:44 pmHoliday time or not, the time is right for you all to go and investigate 23 Mobile Things – a wonderful professionally delivered opportunity to learn a few important life-skills for working and living in online environments! The background I’m sure most of you have heard about 23 Things for Professional Development - an open-source program for librarians. There are many variants of this course which was first developed in 2006 by Helene Blowers and the team at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County, and now the newish kid on the block is 23 Mobile Things, a course…
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Learning In a Flat World
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Developing Future Faculty
8 May 2013 | 12:16 pmI joined Jeff Nugent and David McLeod for a final podcast for this Spring’s GRAD-602 class. For the past 15 weeks, we explored “Teaching, Learning and Technology” with our VCU Preparing Future Faculty students. We comment today on our perceptions about this class and the future they face in higher education. Give a listen! -
300 Years of Distance Learning Evolution
1 May 2013 | 9:57 amWith hat tip to @AdoptAGldn, this is an interesting infographic from DistanceLearning.Com posted at LearnDash: Created by: www.DistanceLearning.com -
Roundtable Discussion on Assessment
18 Apr 2013 | 11:49 amLast week in GRAD-602, Jeff Nugent led an exploration on assessment. We noted that a distinction can be made between learning for mastery versus the traditional approach that typically leads to sorting and sifting students. This provided a segway to the evening’s focus on formative and summative assessment. In class, we brainstormed ways in which we have experienced assessment within our disciplines, and tests, quizzes, papers and performance observations were the traditional practices that came to the surface. These forms of assessment, while very important, are often the only… -
The Hyperconnected Life
15 Apr 2013 | 12:10 pmInteresting infographic from InternetProvider.Org on the positive and negative influences of hyperconnectiveness, based on the Pew Internet and American Life Project. -
Emerging Technologies
19 Mar 2013 | 1:25 pmMuhammad Saleem sent this cool infographic based on the New Media Consortium’s 12 emerging technologies to watch.
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E-Learning Journeys
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Global Education Highlights (weekly)
19 May 2013 | 3:31 am6 Steps to Add Voice Comments to Google Docs ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning tags: googleapps education Inspired by Finland – 5 Goals I’m Setting Now « Penn-Finn Learnings 2013 tags: education Finland Global Education Leaders' Program | The Global Education Leaders’ Program is a community of key education system leaders, policy-makers, thought-leaders and world-class consultants collaborating to transform education at local, national and international levels. The aim of these transformations is to equip every learner with the skills, expertise and knowledge to survive and… -
Flat and Connected Learning: A Recipe for Success
15 May 2013 | 4:32 amMy proposition today, and for many years past, is that learning is 'flat' and has to be 'flat'. Learners need to connect themselves to networks, many networks, and learn from and with the immediate as well as wider world. I am talking about a change in mindset, a shift in pedagogy and an essential purpose for the integration of technology across the curriculum - including mobile computing.'Flat' or 'Connected' learning is the use of technology to virtually eliminate the walls of the classroom. The walls are 'flattened' through bringing the world into the classroom and opening the classroom,… -
Global Education Highlights (weekly)
12 May 2013 | 3:31 amiTunes U: A Course Creation Guide for Educators - Download Free Content from The Ohio State University on iTunes tags: iTunes education course tgstech_learning The Teacher's Guide To Google Glass | Edudemic tags: tgstech_ubiq tgstech_learning education Google wearabletechnology Qatar Academy teachers fret as former colleague jailed over alleged insults to Islam | Doha News A not so good story about international teaching. This is the school I was IT Director in for 2 years. A reminder that education for cross-cultural understanding needs to be applied for all ages. tags: culturalawareness… -
Global Education Highlights (weekly)
5 May 2013 | 3:31 amInfographic: What Will It Take to Achieve Learning For All? tags: challengebasedlearning education 10 Key Components of Customized Learning | Multiple Pathways tags: education customization Maine picks laptops – but not Apples Interesting decision made by Maine to go with HP rather than Apple next year.tags: laptop 1:1 education apple tgstech_ubiq 11 Steps to Create A Google Plus Community for your Class ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning "One of the best services Google+ provides to its users is called " communities ". Any Google Plus user can easily create and host his/her… -
Digital Portfolio Journey - A story of change in an online world
28 Apr 2013 | 5:24 pmSharing my passion and involvement with digital portfolios across 10+ yearsIn 2002, as part of my Masters degree in Educational Technology Leadership at the George Washington University, I completed a subject called 'Digital Portfolios'. There was no going back! I was totally engaged and driven to create and maintain an online portfolio. I was also totally driven to share my knowledge with others. My first digital portfolio was created using Dreamweaver - yes, can you believe it...there was no access to Web 2.0 tools back then. So, I did my apprenticeship with HTML and tools where…
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Betchablog
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My Other Computer is a Data Centre
20 May 2013 | 11:15 pmOne of the most common questions I get asked by teachers is how to include video in their online resources. Whether it’s including video clips in Moodle or embedding a video into a wiki or blog, the use of video can be a powerful tool for helping students learn. As someone once said to me “Give me 3 minutes and the right piece of video, and I can teach you almost anything”. Working with video has a reputation for being complicated. I remember doing an online video project about 13 years ago with a school in Japan and we were literally air-mailing VHS cassettes to each other… -
Changing the Bathwater, Keeping the Baby
9 May 2013 | 8:06 amIt’s clear that there is quite a lot about this thing we call “school” that probably needs to change and that there are many schools around the world that are embracing and leading that change with some really innovative ideas about teaching and learning. However, from what I can tell, innovation and genuine change for the better in education is still rather patchy and relies greatly on the passion and drive of individual teachers, many of whom fly “under the radar” in order to make positive change in their own educational circumstance. There are certainly… -
I’m a Horribly Inefficient Teacher
27 Mar 2013 | 6:25 amI’m a horribly inefficient teacher. Honestly. I look around at what other teachers do, and I’m amazed at their productivity and efficiency. They get so much more done than me. It makes me embarrassed at just how inefficient I am as a teacher. I hate to have to admit it but it takes me literally hours to plan courseware, projects and assessments. I’d be a whole lot better if I just resisted the temptation to reinvent everything each year. Can you believe that I’ve been teaching now for over 25 years and I still haven’t really latched onto the idea that I could… -
Being Visible Is Hard
14 Mar 2013 | 6:53 amI was talking to a couple of people today about the way we use blogs with our students. At my school we have a number of students and classes blogging, and every one of these blogs is completely open and visible to the public web. These folk were asking, with an obvious degree of concern, how we deal with this public visibility of student blogs and what steps were we taking to prevent them being seen by “just anyone”. I’ve tried to convince many people to try blogging over the years. Usually, their biggest objection is “why would anyone want to read what I… -
Why I don’t want to lose Google Reader
13 Mar 2013 | 10:03 pmI just left a comment on Larry Ferlazzo’s blog Websites of the Day, in response to a post called The Best Alternatives To Google Reader Now That It’s Being Shut Down. As the title suggests, after Google dropped the bombshell today about closing down Google Reader, Larry was very helpfully suggesting some alternatives. And they are good suggestions of course, but I think this decision to shut down Reader is more far-reaching than just finding an alternative tool. Anyway, I left quite a long comment on the post with a few ideas that were on my mind, so I thought I’d crosspost it…
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e-Learning Leadership Blog
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Live from ASTD ICE - Day 2 Recap
22 May 2013 | 7:13 amAngel Green, senior instructional strategist@learneradvocate The second day of ASTD ICE 2013 was once again all about connecting! The day started with the keynote speech by John Seely Brown. His advice to us, as learning professionals, is to organizationally embrace the culture necessary for learning today. Through a series of examples ranging from surfers learning tricks from online videos to organizations, like SAP, creating networks and communities of practice; Dr. Brown drove home the point that learners today are entrepreneurial. They seek information from their personal learning… -
Live from ASTD ICE 2013
21 May 2013 | 5:20 amAngel Green, senior instructional strategist@learneradvocate Yesterday was the first official day of the ASTD ICE 2013 conference here in Dallas, Texas and we are off to a great start to the conference. Though my feet were aching at the end of the day, I was glad to have the chance to spend the majority of my time in the Allen Interactions booth. I love getting to meet people, talking to them about their unique and interesting companies and jobs. Where else but at an international conference do you have the opportunity to talk to someone from Saudi Arabia who is developing leadership… -
Iterations: What Makes Award-Winning e-Learning [Ep. 6]
14 May 2013 | 8:19 amIn this episode of Iterations, Richard Sites and Angel Green discuss AutoNation’s award-winning e-learning course and the CCAF Design Model consisting of Context, Challenge, Activity, and Feedback and how this approach created an effective learning environment for AutoNation’s Sales Associates. Download the AutoNation case study Richard Sitesvice president - client services and co-author of Leaving ADDIE for SAMFollow Richard on Twitter ▶ Angel Greensenior instructional strategistFollow Angel on Twitter ▶ -
Give Us AdvICE on What to Check Out at ICE!
10 May 2013 | 11:10 amby Richard Sites, vice president - client services@rhillsites It is May and that means it is once again time to come together at the annual ASTD International Conference & Exposition (ICE). This year, many from the Allen Interactions team are headed to Dallas and we look forward to meeting our blog readers. Last year I started a conversation about Leaving ADDIE. Since then, there have been a lot of things happening in our industry and our company. Leaving ADDIE for SAM was published, we hosted countless webinars, created Iterations, our new video blog, and our… -
Celebrating Award-Winning e-Learning!
8 May 2013 | 11:39 amWe are proud to announce award-winning recognition to the tune of 6 awards – 3 Communicator Awards & 3 Horizon Interactive Awards! Congratulations to our wonderful clients and studios for creating award-winning e-learning experiences that are meaningful, memorable, and motivational for their employees! You can view our case studies and course demos or get a glimpse of the Gold award-winning Manhattan Associates course by checking out the on-demand webinar here. Communicator AwardsGold, Manhattan Associates, Supply Chain Fundamentals Silver, HD Supply, Lessons for Sales…
