I just love this video. Found it on Karl Fisch's Fischbowl.
After you get past the introductory portion about the professors, there is real vision here. They imagine an English department of content creators using Web 2.0 technology and not just the typical, read and write papers curriculum. Fantastic imagination.
For my own personal classes, I consider this a great challenge: Get students ready for a world that is improving faster than schools can keep pace with and the pace will keep getting faster. So what can I do? Chip away at the process by starting students down the road of content creation.
In my 5th six week's period my students this year created videos and we showcased them on this site: VideoProject09.Blogspot.com
It is my hope that the students learn how to create content in a stronger way. And it is my hope that they can move people in a new direction. As they said in the Rutgers video - Content Creation, Creativity through the portal of connected and networked computers.
I am very lucky to have a technology background, but I do believe that any teacher can start down this road and improve it. When I first started my "Video Project" it was merely a power point project. But, as technology has changed we changed with it. And I learned as much from my students as I have passed on to them. That is so much fun for a teacher!
Teachers out there, this is the time - it's summer. Think outside the box and try to find ways to give your students a chance in this new world.
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Monday, June 30, 2008
New Phone - LG EnV2
I finally have found a phone for me. (I hope) Ordered it tonight and it should be here by the end of the week: Review from LaptopWorld One of the biggest problems I am having with my phone is a terrible keypad that makes instant messaging a mess for me. I am not a mad 'skillz' texter. So the clam shell Env2 really helps me. It has a full sized and easy to use keyboard inside.
Oh yeah, and it was free... after a $100 preferred customer rebate (been with Verizon forever) and $50 mail in rebate. So if it's free... it's for me!
According to the PCMag Review Hey parents: want to get hip and keep in touch with the kids in a way they'll appreciate? Head over to Verizon and pick up an LG enV2 VX9100. This cell combines solid call quality with big buttons and has a knack for SMS texting that might actually help the calls-only generation make the move to text messaging.Sweet. One of my biggest things that I do with my phone is to message and send pictures to family and friends. Can't wait to give it a whirl later this week.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Merry Christmas
I found out that I won $300 for winning the fantasy football league that I am in for this year. That started my brain a 'tingling.' At first I wanted to take the money and buy Norma a new laptop. She really deserves one. She has been using an old one that is REALLY slow. Plus, she works late, late into the night on her Economics lessons. She totally deserves a new laptop.
So I started doing the math, looking at laptops, adding up gift cards and cash that we got for Christmas. After finding some really good deals on Dells and HPs.... I decided on the HP Pavilion dv6000 series. These laptops have won design awards and they have improved on previous pavilion models. My 17 inch laptop is loud, mammoth in weight and the power cord port blew out on it. The battery is also now toast.
So I read a lot of reviews on Dell Inspirons and HP Pavilions. Conclusion... they are both great laptops. The Dell is a bit bigger, bulkier... but also quieter. The HP is more slick looking, lighter and a little bit louder on the fan. But, the bottom line from most reviews I read was... they are both great and you can't go wrong with either.
I started looking at pricing and that is where the difference popped up. The HP was being sold by the big box entertainment stores and the prices were really low for more muscled laptops than the mail order Dells. I have a Dell desktop and have had NO trouble with it... so I was tempted to go Dell. But, if they couldn't deliver by next week I would have to drive across town to pick it up from FedEx. That is a huge pain.
The HP Pavilions were about $200+ dollars cheaper and came with a better processor. Plus, I could buy it and have it at home that night. Not a hard decision in the end. The part that got tricky was how I convinced myself that I needed one as well. Go figure. I'm greedy. But, I also use my laptop a lot and also use it for teaching class at night (I teach an accelerated certification class a few nights a month). So the search was on for the best deal at Circuit City and Best Buy.
We purchased the very last $650 HP at Circuit City on Wednesday night. It also came with a free print, fax, scanner and free tax and internet security software. So great deal there. The next day we drove to Baytown to pick up their last HP Pavilion and that one was $849, and it also came with more memory, bigger battery and extra software. It was also a limited edition white ceramic model, which looks really slick.
So far so good. I am playing with Windows Vista now and seeing what I think about it. It seems to take forever to load windows, but once it is loaded it looks pretty stylish and nice... but form isn't everything with me. I would rather it function well. I will have to create a special boot cd of WindowsXP if I want to install that instead because the hard drive on these things is so new the WindowsXP install cd won't actually even see the drive. So that'll be work for another day... if we need to go that direction.
So far so good. I am really loving the new laptops. We will use them all the time so I thought it was a good gift for the both of us. Also we have really worked hard this fall and it was nice to reward each other. We are really lucky to be able to do so.
I'll update in the future on my reviews of these laptops. So far, so good.
Dave's Pavilion - ceramic white
Norma's black Pavilion
So I started doing the math, looking at laptops, adding up gift cards and cash that we got for Christmas. After finding some really good deals on Dells and HPs.... I decided on the HP Pavilion dv6000 series. These laptops have won design awards and they have improved on previous pavilion models. My 17 inch laptop is loud, mammoth in weight and the power cord port blew out on it. The battery is also now toast.
So I read a lot of reviews on Dell Inspirons and HP Pavilions. Conclusion... they are both great laptops. The Dell is a bit bigger, bulkier... but also quieter. The HP is more slick looking, lighter and a little bit louder on the fan. But, the bottom line from most reviews I read was... they are both great and you can't go wrong with either.
I started looking at pricing and that is where the difference popped up. The HP was being sold by the big box entertainment stores and the prices were really low for more muscled laptops than the mail order Dells. I have a Dell desktop and have had NO trouble with it... so I was tempted to go Dell. But, if they couldn't deliver by next week I would have to drive across town to pick it up from FedEx. That is a huge pain.
The HP Pavilions were about $200+ dollars cheaper and came with a better processor. Plus, I could buy it and have it at home that night. Not a hard decision in the end. The part that got tricky was how I convinced myself that I needed one as well. Go figure. I'm greedy. But, I also use my laptop a lot and also use it for teaching class at night (I teach an accelerated certification class a few nights a month). So the search was on for the best deal at Circuit City and Best Buy.
We purchased the very last $650 HP at Circuit City on Wednesday night. It also came with a free print, fax, scanner and free tax and internet security software. So great deal there. The next day we drove to Baytown to pick up their last HP Pavilion and that one was $849, and it also came with more memory, bigger battery and extra software. It was also a limited edition white ceramic model, which looks really slick.
So far so good. I am playing with Windows Vista now and seeing what I think about it. It seems to take forever to load windows, but once it is loaded it looks pretty stylish and nice... but form isn't everything with me. I would rather it function well. I will have to create a special boot cd of WindowsXP if I want to install that instead because the hard drive on these things is so new the WindowsXP install cd won't actually even see the drive. So that'll be work for another day... if we need to go that direction.
So far so good. I am really loving the new laptops. We will use them all the time so I thought it was a good gift for the both of us. Also we have really worked hard this fall and it was nice to reward each other. We are really lucky to be able to do so.
I'll update in the future on my reviews of these laptops. So far, so good.
Dave's Pavilion - ceramic white
Norma's black Pavilion
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Norma's New Cell
Norma got a new phone today: It's an LG VX8600. Pretty sweet. It took this picture of Aidan today:
From what I can tell, it's going to be a nice phone for her. We needed one for the trip to PA because her old phone couldn't hold a charge and really was staggering on it's last legs.
She likes it! So I am happy.
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From what I can tell, it's going to be a nice phone for her. We needed one for the trip to PA because her old phone couldn't hold a charge and really was staggering on it's last legs.
She likes it! So I am happy.
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
New Camera: Sony DCR-SR200 Digital Camcorder
JR.com: Sony DCR-SR200 Digital Camcorder
Got it for $644.88 including shipping. It was going for $850 at BestBuy. A great deal and the cheapest price I could find on the web. I really, really like this camera. It has an internal hard drive that is 30 Gig. It also has a memory card slot so that it is a hybrid of sorts. If the hard drive ever goes out, or you fill it up on a long shoot or vacation, you can store to the memory card.
What I like best about this camcorder is that it is also a great digital camera. 4 megapixel, which is a higher quality than I have my digital camera set on to take images now. Plus, as you are shooting video there is also a seamless picture taking feature as well. Which means you can take a still image shot as you are also recording live video. Neat.
I am really looking forward to using this on our trip to PA this summer. It will be awesome to shoot some video and be able to immediately edit it and load it to the computer. I will also have much, much better quality video here on the blog of Aidan. :)
Can't wait until it arrives next week!
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Got it for $644.88 including shipping. It was going for $850 at BestBuy. A great deal and the cheapest price I could find on the web. I really, really like this camera. It has an internal hard drive that is 30 Gig. It also has a memory card slot so that it is a hybrid of sorts. If the hard drive ever goes out, or you fill it up on a long shoot or vacation, you can store to the memory card.
What I like best about this camcorder is that it is also a great digital camera. 4 megapixel, which is a higher quality than I have my digital camera set on to take images now. Plus, as you are shooting video there is also a seamless picture taking feature as well. Which means you can take a still image shot as you are also recording live video. Neat.
I am really looking forward to using this on our trip to PA this summer. It will be awesome to shoot some video and be able to immediately edit it and load it to the computer. I will also have much, much better quality video here on the blog of Aidan. :)
Can't wait until it arrives next week!
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track the comments on this entry at co.mments.com
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