EduGeek Journal

Sorry for the very long delay in posting. The new job and my one-year-old are taking up 113% of my time.  Just wanted to let you know about a new tool a co-worker discovered at Educause Southwest Regional.  Drop.io is a file hosting site that gives users the ability to upload images, documents, audio, video, [...]

The push for the semantic web continues: The New York Times has an interesting article on how search engines are trying to learn how to peer in to the endless abyss that is the deep web (“Exploring a ‘Deep Web’ That Google Can’t Grasp“).  You thought Google gave you a million results now?  It can’t [...]

Some of the EduGeeks will be traveling to conferences in the near future, even doing some presentations.  Come hang out with us over a meal or something and talk geek stuff if you are at any of these.  Of course, the economy could change our plans for these, but we’re still planning to go as [...]

Maybe it was just me, but it seems like a large number of updates and emails I got this week were about eBooks.  They’ve been around forever it seems without really ever catching on.  For a while, it seemed like it was one of those cool SciFi ideas that looked great in the movies, but [...]

“Recent studies suggest that laptops in class detract from lecture-based learning” Lecture-based learning?  Isn’t that an oxymoron?  How much can you really learn by sitting and soaking?  :) Okay, so I’m showing my constructivism bias here.  The article I am reading, Can I have your half-attention, please?, actually is an interesting read about how instructors [...]

Educators are grappling with how to deal with some of the problems that arise when students and teachers use online social networks such as FaceBook. No one is going to get it perfect to start with. So, while we are shaking these tools out and trying to learn what is good and what is wrong, [...]

..maybe you need to get a little more creative.  Like these people: Those are real apps that those students are playing – they really do turn your iPhone into a woodwind instrument called the Ocarina. The interesting thing is that there is also and iPhone app that turns the iPhone into a guitar.  Guess the [...]

Someday, hopefully soon, I will publish a chapter in a book about Web 2.0 and education on the future of the Internet.  My article passed about three rounds of review, but I haven’t heard from them in a while.  I hope the chapter gets publish before all of the predictions in there come true.  At [...]

The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology published an excellent article at the end of last year titled “An absolutely riveting online course: Nine principles for excellence in web-based teaching.”  My short time as an instructional designer has taught me that all of these principles are true.  Also of interest is how this article includes [...]