Archive for September, 2006

When I talk to profs. who are not particular comfortable with technology, but who use WebCT or Blackboard, I ask them what it is they use these course management programs for. Most commmonly the response is that professors want is the ability to have their syllabus on line, and the ability to post assignments, and …..

Kairosnews has an article about the use of plagiarism detection software. Kairosnews and the related Cyberdash recommend against the use of these services. These two articles breakdown a host of reasons why using these services is a bad idea. For me the major concern here is this reflects a poor use of technology: technology to …..

In case you needed another reason to stop using Internet Explorer and to get a broswer that works correctly. Check out this article, apparently one needs only one line of code to make Internet Explorer crash. (Thanks Russell)

A brief note on Pocket Flock which Jenn is using in her blogging class: If students are using Pocket Flock when they close the application it clears out all of their passwords (as any good portable app should do). The result however is that when students lauch Flock again they need to select Account Settings …..

Devon posted the following to their blog today. If you have been thinking about purchasing Devon Agent this might be of interest. I would never recommend buying software without trying it out, especially something like Devon Agent or Think, but I recommend both of these. I find myself using them more and more. Get DEVONagent …..

And last but not least for the first week of setting up the blogging classroom: What Jenn will cover on the first day of the computer lab. I am going to outline the “lecture” (not really a lecture but whatever. . .) here step by step in broad terms. A few of the specific steps …..

I started to write up a post about the organization for Jenn’s first day at the computer lab, that is the day helping students learn to blog and read blogs, but in the end I realized I can’t go any further without getting into RSS, and how it is going to play a critical role …..

So Jenn’s class started last week (St. Rose is one of those schools that starts before Labor Day). In class she surveyed (informally) the students about blogging and their use of technology, only one student currently had a blog, and none of them responded that they use an RSS reader. The first think that Jenn …..

In a similar strand to the post below here is a brief list of the things occuring in the world of education last week, with a particular focus on a series of disturbing and related issues threatening open education. First up, if you haven’t already, and are interested in blogging in the classroom check out …..

Back from my vacation, and looking to catch up on many things, the largest of which is the Blog Project. But while I work on that there are some things of interest that happened last week in the world of software for education. Here is a rundown: Mellel got an update. This update is free …..