Hiding the iGoogle Chat gadget

by Jason Alley

picture-2Google, whom I’ve been having a love affair with for quite sometime because they offer so many incredibly awesome tools for free, has again caused me to lose a bit of faith in them. Last week, a flaw in Google Docs caused less than 0.5% of its users’ documents to be potentially exposed to those to which they have shared other Google Docs. Strike one.

Then, sometime in the last few months Google decided to invade my iGoogle and happily place a Chat gadget on my screen. They didn’t ask. They just assumed I’d want to use. Well, I DON’T! I found a setting that makes it possible to hide the Chat gadget, but it still leaves a link on my iGoogle to “Enable Chat.” When I check to hide it I expect it to be hidden…completely. Strike two.

In my Google love affair world they will most likely need more than three strikes before they’re “out,” but this recent blunder and this most annoying Chat gadget doesn’t impress me. Google, I want the ability to complete remove all remnants of Chat from my iGoogle.

Help me bring back the love.

Web 2.0 put into silos

by Jason Alley
Photo by timailius from Flickr
Photo by timailius from Flickr

I know, I know. Silos in the work place is ick. We want people to be willing to go outside of their comfort zones and work with one another. To do great things together. Luckily, I’m not talking about putting people into silos, but rather putting some commonly used online apps into task-oriented “buckets” or “categories.”

My wife’s boss recently attended the National Association of Secondary School Principals conference where Chris Lehmann, principal at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia spoke. In his “School 2.0: Combining Progressive Pedagogy and 21 Century Tools” presentation he grouped a number of apps many of us find indispensable (almost all of which are free) into tasks we generally find ourselves applying these tools. His categories looked like:

Research Collaborate Create Network Present
RSS Wikis Blogging Twitter UStream
Delicious Google Docs Drupal Skype Flickr
Google Moodle Podcasting Facebook iTunes U
Wikipedia Digital Films IM Voicethread
Email

This list is certainly not exhaustive, nor do I suspect Lehmann thinks so. I also realize that some of these apps could “live” in more than one column (e.g., Delicious also fits in “Network”). However, I think categorizing these apps into manageable chunks might help the masses of hesitant teachers/professors and maybe even students to see more easily the practical application of these tools.

Feel free to add other popular programs in the comments below. Where does YouTube belong?

**Lehmann will be speaking at Web 2.0 Visioning Boot Camp for Educational Leaders in Philadelphia this summer. This “boot camp” is organized by Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and is limited to only 25 people. I suspect this will be a good one to attend.

Naming is hard

by Jason Alley
general_lee
Photo by ACKman16 from Flickr

It almost seems silly, but deciding on a blog name for this site is hard. I spent the weekend thinking of names while also peppering my wife for the same. I then turned on my co-workers, particularly Ken, today. Here’s a brief sampling of what I’m able to remember:

  • Blog
    Because I couldn’t think of a better name (current)
  • Boss Blog (for those who watched the “Dukes of Hazard”)
  • Paper or Plastic?
    Readying to make a choice
  • Crow’s Nest
    Looking ahead
  • Bourne Digital (a mashup of Jason Bourne and Born Digital)
    Kicking ass in education
  • Lincoln Blogs (has nothing to do with me since I’m not a Lincoln, but I brainstormed it and thought someone might like to use it)

Assuming I can stick with it, this site will focus on my readings, thoughts, and observations about education and education reform both in higher ed and K-12 as well as all things Lafayette. I’d love some suggestions no matter how plain or strange.

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.