Category: Education

WordPress app for iPhone/Touch

by Jason Alley
iphone-1
Photo © 2009, Apple Inc.

I grabbed my wife’s iPod Touch and searched for a WordPress app and found one. I thought it made sense to post my findings using the app, so here I am in Talbots while Mb shops. Here’s what I found:

  • Setup was easy once I properly configured my WordPress site to use the XML-RPC publishing protocol.
  • I can manage a number of WordPress sites from the app.
  • I can assign posts to a category, but cannot create new categories from the app. I can also assign tags to posts.
  • I can designate my post’s publishing status (e.g., published, draft, pending review).
  • Writing is simple and very basic, though I would like to see some basic HTML editing like lists and bold. Also, the ability to add pics from the iPhone/Touch would be handy. Maybe I’m asking for a bit much with the latter.
  • If the name of a WordPress site changes it will not propogate down to the app.

I like the app, but I just realized that Mb shopped the entire time while I played the role of the husband who ostracized himself from the entire shopping experience. Not sure that’s what I was going for.

Southpaw dilemma

by Jason Alley
eraser
Photo by noahfrenzy from Flickr

Last weekend my daughter went to an 80s musical at my my mother-in-law’s school. After the show she visited my mother-in-law’s classroom (she’s a math teacher) and wrote on the chalkboard. Unfortunately, as my mother-in-law explained, my daughter erased the letters as she was writing them because as a lefty her elbow dragged on the board. Pretty amusing, though I’m sure she’ll learn to compensate over time.

Another lefty dilemma came to me today. I was chatting with a few of my colleagues, one of whom is left-handed, and she told me that she was having trouble using the SmartBoard because she’s left-handed. It’s not so much that’s she’s left-handed, but more because she typically uses a mouse in her right hand, which has made her right hand her dominant hand when interacting with a computer. However, she is unable to transfer her right-handed interactions with a mouse over to the larger motions required to use a SmartBoard.

It really is a brave new world.

What I’m reading

by Jason Alley
Photo by foxypar4 from Flickr
Photo by foxypar4 from Flickr

In the interest of the greater good, and for selfish reasons to help preserve my own education, I thought it would be helpful to list what I’m reading now as it relates to teaching and learning as well as to the technical world in which I find myself for many hours of the day:

Some materials I am, have, or want to be reading:

  • Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
    I thought this would be an interesting read because it focuses on how social computing (e.g., blogs, YouTube, social bookmarking) can be used to grow a business. I think there may be some application to education by accident in this book, but I’m not far enough along to be sure. Once I return it, this book will be available at the Lafayette library.
  • Born Digital by John Palfrey and Urs Gasser (Just finished)
    This was a good read, especially after the first few chapters of gloom and doom. This is a book that every parent, teacher, and administrator should be required to read. I think more people would be able to put into context any fear mongering the media has wrought of online predators as well as find the value in being content creators and not just consumers. This book is available at the Lafayette library.
  • Weblogg-ed, a blog by Will Richardson
    Will is short of an educational wizard in my opinion. He’s someone who understands that schools need to change their approach and that technology can help serve as a means of assisting, but is by know means the driver. He updates frequently and gets a lot of comments on his posts. I also follow him on Twitter @willrich45 and he is offering change through his Powerful Learning Practices professional development model. He wrote a great, easy-to-read book titled,     Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.
  • “Leading and Learning,” a publication from ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)
    This is ISTE’s major magazine publication, which I swipe from my wife’s bag all of the time. I find some useful bits in here. The issue I’m reading now is focusing on how much flexibility online courses provide high school students, though my wife tells me they’re a major drain on district budgets.
  • “Journal of Research on Technology in Education,” a peer-reviewed journal published by ISTE
    I was thrilled to know Lafayette subscribes to this journal. The most recent series in the archives has a major research project all to do with student response systems (a.k.a. clickers) and varying pedagogical approaches to using them. I realized tonight I need to start devoting more time in my work day to reading these types of materials.

I’d love to know what others are reading as it relates to more project-based, student-centered teaching and how technology is transparently helping to make that happen.