education & tech

This is one of the reason why the internet is fantastic, you can get in touch with unimaginable sources that teach you and inspire you. Today, while reading our subscriptions I came across to this post written by the editor of Higher Up and Further In. Lindafay was asked a question by one of her readers and she elaborates her answer recurring to personal experiences that we think can benefit more that her reader alone.

The question was: "I was wondering what your advice would be to get a 12 yr old going in writing. I have neglected this a bit (Ok maybe a lot) and now heading into 7th grade I really need to get him going :) I've been looking over all your narration/composition posts trying to come up with a plan for my 8 yo so we don't end up in the same situation. Thanks for all the great info on your blog!"

I also have a sixth grader with some problems on spelling and if you happen to read this post, I will be glad if you can suggest anything to improve my son's inconveniences.

The inspired by Charlotte Mason Education, writes about the success of her children in the process of writing. She recommends the following activities (We've added only one more):

1. Daily oral and written narrations - In order to become a good writer, everyone must put in their time. Have your son begin writing on a daily basis. Start slow, maybe beginning with just a paragraph a day, but keep raising the bar.

2. I let my children write about their interests as much as possible - No one wants to write about something that bores them...so, even if you are using a writing program, don't be afraid to change the topics to suit your son's interests.

3. Children need an audience - Knowing that they have an audience it makes them keenly aware of their spelling and grammar errors. Everyone loves some show off. Let them do it.

4. Go beyond homework - Teachers have assignments and they need to be completed but the daily narrations are based on your son's personal interests.

Knowinly that your kid loves to play electronics (Gameboy, Playstation, PSP, etc, it's better that you take some of that time and put him to work on his own benefit. Reading and writing time is about you. They (kids) cannot stop playing those games until you made them stop. Do it so, and distribute his/ her time.

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I don't quite use Skype and certainly sometimes I feel afraid to use it, because I don't feel so much familiar with the protocols. I am frequently connected via GTalk (tonnetisalove ID). So, I thought it will be great to share with you Wesley Fryer's post, step-by-step, on how to host and join a skypecast.

Tonight is being held (as all Wednesdays) the next skypecast for a Storychaser Brainstorming Sesion. In a previous post, Fryer list four steps to join a skypecast:

"1. Set up Skype: If you have not already, download and install Skype. Be sure you have a RECENT version. Currently version 3.2 is required for Windows users to join Skypecasts, as far as I know version 2.7 for Mac users. (It is free but you’ll need administrative rights to install new software on the computer you are using.) Log in with your userid and password to Skype. Make sure your microphone is plugged in and working.

2. Website log in: Log in to the main Skype website. You’ll need to be logged in to join the Skypecast when it begins.

3. At the start of the Skypecast (7 pm US Central time tonight) click on this link to visit the Skypecast page. Click the link “Join this Skypecast” which will appear once the Skypecast start time has passed. On a Windows computer you should be presented with a dialog window which asks for your permission to launch an external application (Skype) and you’ll need to click yes to authorize that. Then you should be in the Skypecast. We’ll do introductions for at least the first ten minutes, so if you join late that is fine.

4. Be ready to participate! Depending on the number of participants we have, we may have everyone’s mic on or mics may be muted to minimize background noise. If mics are muted, you’ll want to click the button in the skypecast window which shows the names of all the people online to virtually “raise your hand” and ask to speak. In Skype 3.2 for Windows, this is a button in the Skype window which says “Ask for the mic.” As the skypecast moderator, I’ll unmute participant mics individually so you can speak and have the floor! We should also have a skype chat window available which can be used as a backchannel to ask questions, share ideas, and further challenge everyone’s multi-tasking abilities! I’ll do my best to keep up with the backchannel, but it certainly can be challenging to both read text chat and talk about an idea at the same time."

Check out preparatories before skypecast begins, here.


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If you live in the U.S. I will appreciate deeply you respond to this call to action. Hilary Goldman (ISTE Director of Government Affairs) writes in an email dated 07/15/2008 and originally spread out by M. Guhlin. What is the Preparing Teachers for the Digital Age Program? This program would revamp the existing Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology. The updated program will provide consortia with two options to address the preparation of our nation’s teachers: a) Develop long-term partnerships focused on effective teaching with modern digital tools and content that substantially connect pre-service preparation of teacher candidates with high-needs schools; or, b) Transform the way schools of education teach classroom technology integration to teacher candidates.

Below is the text of Goldman's e-mail:

I just learned from Senate staff that no decision has been made yet about the Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners program inclusion in the final higher education reauthorization bill, and that the program is still in the mix of conversations. NOW is the time to voice your support for this program. You can send a letter of support through the URL below, or call your Senators offices directly, you can find the telephone number on www.senate.gov and ask to speak to the legislative aide who handles education issues.

Action: Contact your U.S. Senators and Representative to request that the “Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners” program be included in the final Higher Education Act Reauthorization bill. Use this URL to send a letter to your two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative: http://capwiz.com/edtech/issues/alert/?alertid=11056961&type=CO

This URL will bring you to a prepared letter that can be edited to personalize with your comments as well as an area to type your name and address. Make sure to authenticate and click send.

Background: Many of you may already be aware that the “Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners” program that the ISTE SIGTE developed for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act has been included in the House bill as Title II-B of H.R. 4137, The College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.” The program is not included in the Senate bill. House and Senate negotiators are meeting to work out the differences between the two chambers’ passed bills. Members of Congress must hear support for this program from their constituents if the program is to be included in the final bill.

For more information about the Preparing Teachers for Digital Age Learners program and a copy of the legislation please go to: http://www.iste.org/Advocacy/Feb08-support

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Hilary Goldmann at hgoldmann@iste.org or 202 861-7777.

Hilary Goldmann
Director of Government Affairs
International Society for Technology in Education
1710 Rhode Island Avenue
Washington, DC 20036
202.861.7777 x-119 fax: 202.861.0888
Membership Services: 1.800.336.5191

Join in , support the education of your relatives, your friends and the next generation of american citizens!

If you want to receive my future posts regularly for FREE, please subscribe in a reader or by e-mail. If you have concerns, Contact Me at anytime.

It was seen at deanstalk.net but since they just moved the post I have to link to the orirginal source which is teachingtips blog and written by Laura Miilligan.

'Before you can toss out the textbook and replace it with technology tools, you’ll need to understand how your students — whatever their age — respond to and work with technology', Milligan points out.

And she list 100 assessments you should watch for, of which we've included only the very first ones.

1. Assessing What Students Learn in Technology-Based Learning Environments: Read this report to understand what students gain from technology tools in the classroom.
2. GT Prof: Students Learn Better Via iPod Versus Lecture: This article from Campus Technology cites a Georgia Tech professor who believes that iPods are more effective teaching tools for some students.
3. Critical Issue: Using Technology to Improve Student Achievement: Chapters in this report include "Technology and Youth: Wired Schools and Wired Lives," and "Inclusion: Reaching All Students."
4. Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students: From change in student and teacher roles to more collaboration with peers, this report argues for using technology in the classroom.
5. Students’ Evolving Use of Technology: This article considers a study of how college students use and benefit from information technology systems.
6. Kids Outsmart Web Filters: Sometimes, teachers are faced with students who know way more about technology than they do. Learn how to prepare yourself by reading this article.
7. In Class, I Have to Power Down: This article questions "why are schools lagging so far behind" their students when it comes to using and understanding technology.
8. Better Students Through Technology!: This guide helps teachers in their plan to implement technology-rich lesson plans and environments.
9. College Students Score Higher in Classes That Incorporate Instructional Technology Than in Traditional Classes: ScienceDaily reports that technology in higher education classes is very beneficial to older students.
10. Regular Computer Use for Work, But Not Play, Aids Student Test Performance: Find out how computer practice helps students perform on standardized tests.

The human brain is arguably God’s greatest creation – it has the ability to continue growing in intelligence and sponging up knowledge for as long as you live. All you need are the catalysts called enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. Though we are inundated with phrases, nuances, pronunciations and words from one or more languages from the time we’re born, there’s no doubt that if we up and moved to a different country where a totally new tongue is spoken, we’d learn the local lingo in just a couple of months.

Being a linguist offers various advantages – at work, you can interact with people from other cultures more freely, on vacation you can fit right in if you speak the language of the locals, and of course, generally speaking, you can show off your multiple tongues in the presence of the opposite sex.

The best way to pick up a new language is to be surrounded by people who speak only in that tongue at all times – desperation and a sense of survival force you to learn the lingo or be left out. But there’s no need to move to Rome in order to be able to speak fluent Italian, not with Second Life around. The virtual world has made headlines for various things, one of them being the ease with which foreign languages are taught and picked up by interested students.

The advantages to learning a new tongue on Second Life are many:

- The courses are more cost-effective than those offered in the real world. Some of them are even free of cost.
- There are instructional videos which teach you the right pronunciation and diction, things you would find hard to pick up from a book of phrases.
- Voice chat options allow you to correct your pronunciation.
- You can interact with other students and probably set up a study group so you can practice what you’ve learned using other members.
- And best of all, there are virtual cities that communicate entirely in foreign languages. So if you’re learning French, hang around a French community and practice what you’ve learned. It’s the next best thing to (and much more economical than) moving to France!

That Second Life has 5,000 language students and 1,000 instructors, numbers which are growing by the day, is itself a testimonial to how this application which began life as a virtual game, morphed into one of the best online, interactive educational tools of our time.

(*)Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of Capella University review. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

I won't provide detailed information here about all the Photoshop Brushes but I would like to introduce to you a very resourceful blog and webpage where you can find all (or almost all) information about graphics and illustration explained in a easy way in tutorial and how-to explanations that even the inexperienced can catch it in a fly.

Photoshop is so far, the most popular graphics editing program. Produced by Adobe, its latest version is CS3. Having hundreds of plug-ins, brushes and gradient packs, Photoshop is increasing in utility every day.

Why am I writing about graphics-illustrations.com? The answer is the picture below.

Silvia is the person behind all this work, she's Croatian and before establishing graphic-illustrations. com she was writing for blogspot hosting blogs but even when she's concentrated in her page she also holds two more pages Blogffiliate, Squidoo Photoshop Brushes and BSilvia.com where she continues working with Photoshop graphics (over 600 dollars you might need to get it) and where tallking about her home country, she points out:

...for many Croatians it’s just not easy to go to Croatia, spend time to find the old roots. And even if you go there for a few days the weather is lousy, it rains or it’s too foggy to make a nice shot of your ancestors place.

Silvia was holding a contest for Entrecard Cards and still is offering for free some over here. And that's how we met Silvia and how she was able to design some Entrecards, as that on top right of our page.

She's all into business but we haven't paid a buck and we are not being paid for this review. It's the quality of her job and the social networking which compel us to write about Silvia. She's updating her page every Monday and Thursday, so stay tuned and in the mean time check out her newest Valentine Photo Contest!

Technorati: photoshop, brushes, graphics, graphic+illustrations, how-to, tutorials, blogging

haven't time to write much these days but while browsing my Google Reader Subscription I've came across something you all bloggers might be interested, the problem of duplicate content when in search the results come from your feeds. Joost de Valk has being following the trend in Europe and gives some recommendations of how to avoid this problem with your blog articles:

...In my opinion they do lead to duplicate content problems too, so there’s really only one thing you can do, and that’s block ‘em. But I’d like to block those feeds without loosing the nice side effect of their links going into my posts

Now, the duplicate content can be also caused by spam and specially if you're not paying hosting as is the case with Blog spot blogs. In order to understand better the situation I would like to suggest check out the PhD Thesis from Pram Kolari who has plenty of information about this matter.

This post stroked me hard. The problem is that everyone agrees Technorati is on the chopping block but people that were on Technorati’s Top list are not precisely on the Techmeme Leaderboard and now word of mouth is saying that Techmeme threatens Technorati. What do you think? My own experience, I don't like the positioning of my blog from Technorati!

Maybe you didn't come for this library stuff. However, being and educated person as I am thinking you are you cannot walk away without reading what's going on with this new tip, the wikipedia's growing pain.

Finally, this is out of context definitively. This is a blog anyway. Shame on AT&T, I am a subscriber but not for Internet service. What the hell is wrong with these guys. Do they forgot they're making businesses in America? Free speech, duh!

When I say 'even myself' that's what I really mean it. Easy explanation of what you should be doing in order to rank high for the crawling search robots. Talk of Search Engines Optimization is not easy at least you're an experienced web developer as our dear Techzilo for example, but the article I am about to quote is easy to understand and I am paying attention what's Joe Hayes is saying:

"...any search engines goal is to return the most relevant results for the user’s query. Your site must be more relevant for that particular search than any of your competition. Once your site is crawlable or otherwise search engine friendly, it pretty much comes down to backlinks. All things being equal, the site with the most (relevant, powerful, and in quantity) backlinks will win. Things like the age of the backlinks, sudden surges in recent backlinks, relevancy (have I mentioned relevancy?), and strength of the backlinks among the things that play a part in how your website ranks today. Once you get top 10 exposure, writing the best content should get you to the top eventually.

Can you please add any other factor I should be considering to rank high?

The self-described "book whisperer" has been writing a series of three articles in the Teacher Magazine. She's presenting reader-engagement techniques in her first article. The second one has to be with process of motivating reluctant readers and last one where she discusses a good way to create in-class reading time and how to raise test scores in reading. Donalyn Miller, also includes a list of thirteen recommended books that should be read before you turn 13.

All those top recommendations are planned to be run in 6th graders. But 5th graders also have a saying not only after exercised their reading skills but after being coached by a good teacher. Clarence Fisher post about what his students had understood in the very first days of class about what it means to be writing and blogging at the same time. There are three points he's quoting from his youngsters: voice, safety and culture. Please if you want to follow up in the development of his class you might want to follow Shyla, Kate or Michael blogs. Remember though, they are only about 10 years old which a 5th grader is this far.

I remember when I was studying for HS tests and the time I used to spent trying to memorize facts that I've never used after. Being a good student meant to get higher grades and getting high grades meant to recite everything exactly as the teacher said.

The question is: How to learn more and study less, because as the author states, the time spent studying not always means learning. The answer is what has been called Holistic Learning, much related with the Holistic Education. There are some tools that can help you shift your learning habits so they become more holistic, why not give it a try:

1. Visceralize, take all of your senses and connecting it to information.
2. Metaphor, these are literary devices that link two things that normally don’t go together.
3. Ten Year Old Rule, “dumb down” an idea enough so it seems obvious to yourself.
4. Trace Back, relate that idea to another concept in your subject.
5. Refresher Scan, quickly link that information back to existing ideas through viscerlization and metaphor.
6. Compress Information, find ways to group information into smaller chunks of memory through pictures or mnemonics.
7. Write, cribble and use abbreviations to link the ideas together.

This week I was talking with a friend of mine about his iPhone. He was very disapointed with the very first bill he just received, the deal was closed and the clerk told him that the increase in his bill will be only 40 dollars but he was reading a large bill that overpassed the 700 hundreds! Why the iPhone has to be so expensive and so closed?

Europa has already mastered a way to get the iPhone working in their networks, copying information from the Subscriber Identity Module, a small card with a chip that identifies a subscriber to the cell-phone network. Being this expensive gadget available only in the US for now it's quite useful to have George Hotz from NJ, to get your iPhone unlocked an working with the only carrier which is compatible with, T-Mobile. This young teen outlines 10 steps to unlock the iPhone but you better be careful it is not that easy and you screw it up then your phone will become a piece of junk. The hack is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software, and missteps may result in the iPhone becoming useless, so it's unlikely to become a household procedure.

Once again do not intent to unlock it by yourself, Hotz had four more guys for helpers, two of them from Rusia. He didn't waste his summer, as some of his friends have been saying. The following promise to be a easier way to unlock this phone trhought software implementation.

Tags: iphone, cellphones, tmobile

I don't like to yell nobody just to be heard or use Gmail with emoticons/smileys just to look kool as many of you will be thinking. This post pretend to show you some issues still Blogger has to work on.

Error Performing Your Request bX-vjhbsj. Is one of the most typical issues TonNet has to face once in while trying to republish a post or editing the template.

Once you cache get to know what language are you using to blog, Blogger neglects to switch a different one, something so obvious that shouldn't need a drop down box!

If you already had bought a domain through Blogger you must be happy whether all the process of redirection is working but if you tried *.mil as an option then you might get into trouble.

Surely you are using Firefox (if not is time to get it) and even when this browser works beautifully we still have some tricks to learn, have you ever tried a faster way to type Internet addresses? Go and grab it!

Have a wonderful beginning of week!

Thanks to our dear friend Avatar we've got to know this new tool for publishing online, IMfied. Still in Beta but certanly it "is a productivity tool that offers instant access to a growing number of web applications over your instant messaging client. Imified simply helps you get things done faster", according to Dave & Anthony, their dvelopers.

I you check their forum you will notice they ( the community) is working real quick to provide integration with other application like Facebook, Powce and the New Blogger itself.

The process of registration is very easy but you will need to have an account i any of the mayor IM providers, add imfied as a friend and ther you go. I just made it. Quick and easy. I haven't tried though, but I do believe what Avatar is saying about this application. Imagine all people who use IM now with chances to publish their blogs without even sign out of IM clients! Is this productivity? I don't know but as for me it really sounds interesting. Let's see what happens in the days to come.

The following is a post written by Debasmita Chanda, who trays to explain something sometimes unexplicable. What I really like about women? Have you ever ask this question? You better find and answer before you meet a woman today!

[...The women have something that attract men is that they have a different way of seeing the world. Without getting into the whole emotional/logical thing, it is true that women (or at least the ones I know) just see things differently than men. They notice different angles or aspects of a situation that most men will miss, and having women involved on projects (work, church, planning a camping trip, whatever) helps broaden men's view about life. Though women don't always present a logic but still they have a different way of proving themselves which is unique and men get so thrilled with the angle they present. Women sometimes present angles in a very simple way but it might bring a lot of meaning top men as they always search for meanings in it. So in a way men want to be dependant on them as they are sure that these women will surely take care of them and will support them in need...]

Sometimes I feel tented to publish whatever I want. Excuse these posts that have nothing to do with Education or Technology. I remember a friend of mine telling me, hey, I was reading your blog and I couldn't find what is the field you write about. I went like, what? Don't you see what I do every day? But after a while I do consider sometimes I just publish about everything, mea culpa. Still recall the old days in College when you had to write about a particular topic just because you needed a grade!

When Technorati is down we need to find other procedures to keep track of who's linking to us and I am pretty sure you already know many systems, but if this post [Rose DesRochers] is missing something or there are some other system you are using please drop us a line in the comment section.

There is always a good way to attract readers to our blogs, doing nothing illegal against googlebot or any other robot tracker.

Thanks to Tim Ferris. More about Google Reader here

If you're like TonNet who had to spend many hours trying to understand how the hosting thingy worked in Blogger, then this is your lucky day (for those slow minded people as myself, though). Wolo.es[ES] just past me the solution that I would like to share with you. From now on you will see a new address in this blog: http://blog.miltonramirez.com. You don't have to do nothing because Google itself will redirect everything from our old address.

Google Apps and Blogger use the same ghs.google.com. So what happen is Blogger sees another file hosted in Google Apps and produces an error as the 'title of this post'. What we should do? Wolo explains: Simply, go to www.google.com/a/, sign in if necessary, input your domain and disable web pages (later you will enable back with another address) or change the web address (now is blog.miltonramirez.com
-our case-) for whateveryouwant.miltonramirez.com or the second by default http://www.miltonramirez.com-a.googlepages.com (my case)

Await around 5 to 10 minutes until all changes have taken place (this is the time for me) and voilá you can start using your new domain.

I've always believed that a product gets better sold if it is very well known or advertised. But this is the market and real products. What happened when you have to sell content, knowledge, information?

The market, by 2011 will grow to a whopping $4.3B, Steve Rubel quotes but, it will be very hard competition to grab a penny of that market. There is when the socialnetwork comes just in hand. If I have a circle of friends who happen to visit this blog at least one hundred times a day, that means something for a advertiser or any maketing expert. I do belong to many social networks and the intention is precisely grow the circle of people who can at least see our blog, read our content and eventually buy something from this blog.

Is socialnetworking a waste of time? Please, think twice and let us know we all are not wrong about the buzz.

Arc90lab: 25 New Ways To Use RSS

Technology is inexorably tied to progress, but when it busts into our lives and subtly tells us that we're doing something that might help "us" in our daily activities we've got think in new ways to use and spend money. Cindy Aleo-Carreira has written an article under Banking 2.0 and is in this post where she is pointing out a new service that I think will change that way the banks operate, besides PayPal, eBay, Kiva and Google itself. She is talking about Obopay or the money transfer by cell phones!

This new service has nothing to do with the research results with the use of Internet in UK youngsters. Students are typically early adopters of services such as mobile Internet, and the trial clearly demonstrates that operators should address such issues as downtime, web page layout and rich web functionality.

Yahoo! is doing some updates for MyBlogLog Just in time...!