Shawn Wheeler’s Thoughts on Education & Technology

Late last year I changed jobs and I now have a unique situation where I work with and for two separate districts.  It sounds like fun and it is.  However, it does create a few challenges.

We all know email is a wonderful tool but managing two separate email systems with two separate calendars and contact list is a royal pain.  For a few weeks I would send and appointment form one district email system to the other and vice versa but needless to say a few appointments were missed on each calendar and this created issues when trying to schedule meetings.  What I really needed was an assistant to keep track of me but let’s face it, no one deserves THAT job.

Then one day I was talking to a person in the office about his Android phone and his issues with synchronizing his calendar.  He told me that he was using the Google Calendar with Outlook Sync to keep the phone updated.  I thought what a pain, I love my BlackBerry.  Then later that night it hit me.  (Actually is was 2 AM.)  Could I use The Google Calendar to sync up two different Outlook (Exchange) Calendars?   A few minutes on the web reading and YAHOO, the answer is yes. 

Here is how I do this…   You will need:

• Two computers running XP or higher. 

Note:  Google doesn’t support 64 bit XP (at this time).  To be honest I am not sure if it will work on 64 bit anything as my computers are running 32 bit Windows 7.

• Office 2003 or Office 2007 (I tried Office 2010 Beta but it wouldn’t work.)
• Install Google Outlook Sync on each computer

When installing the Outlook Sync set the software to two way sync. 

I set my Sync time to every 15 minutes.

As long as each machine is logged in with Outlook running, my calendars are synchronized.  Every 15 minutes District A computer will sync to the Google Calendar.  Then District B computer will do the same.

In other words if I schedule an appointment at the Elementary District it will be transferred to the Google Calendar every 15 minutes.  Then that appointment will be transferred to the High School District every 15 minutes.

It is a bit of a pain but it works much better than what I was doing.  

Now if I could only get one of these companies to take care of my Task and Contacts life would be even better.

Okay way back when Office 2007 came out, they had a blog template built in.  However the first time I tried to use it, I was not able to connect it to my GoDaddy hosted WordPress blog. Bummer, yeah but I moved on and went back to writing in Word then used my old trusty copy and paste commands.

The week after rebuilding my old Sony computer with the restore CD and running the 5 hours of updates I noticed to some cool new additions in the Windows Live Essentials Arena.   One of them obviously is this tool!  You really should check out the rest of them.  http://download.live.com/

Oh one thing for those of you now running Windows 7 and were a fan of Movie Maker…  It isn’t there so you will have to visit the Windows Live page to get it.  But, you may not be happy as it has changed and in my opinion not for the better.  However that is a rant for another time.  Today I am focusing on whether or not I can type and post in this tool.

Image of Windows Live Writer…

Now to be honest, I am not planning to run through all the cool features yet…  However, if this post works well, I just my find myself using it in the future.  That is if I have something to write about!

Enjoy your weekend or day or…. Well you get the picture.

Shawn

I have been on Twitter for a few years now.  Admittedly I am not an avid Twitter user mostly because what I am eating is not that interesting.  But there are times I find it fascinating to see what other folks are up to.  However, from day one on Twitter, I have always been cautious of who I follow for the same reason I am cautious about who I hang out with in real life.  Some folks are into things I am not into and other folks are into things that really are for private life.

Today I opened up my email to see an alert message from Twitter telling me DelmaSoto448 is now following me.  Now I don’t know Demo so I thought I have better check her out before I agree to follow her back.    The image you see below is the edited version of here profile picture and to be honest, I was hesitant to post this version.

The point we need to take away from this post is simple.  Choose your social networks friends as you would your in person friends.  Find out a little about that person first; Google or Bing them, read some of their post on Twitter before you follow them.  Your online reputation is as important as your in person reputation.   And once it is on the web, it is there forever!

Comments (clean) are always welcome.

Shawn

No, really, I was in Purgatory, Colorado, in a lovely 1 bedroom condominium which I thought would be far better than the Holiday Inn and it was less money.  Plus, Expedia said this place had free WIFI.  Life is good for this Road Warrior who chooses hotels based on free WIFI, a coffee maker and a tiny refrigerator in the room.  But this particular trip I had the family with me so the extra room was a must. 

Regardless of the fact, I was really in Purgatory, Colorado; I was also in internet hell.  To be honest, I am sitting in hell at this moment typing this post.  However, I will need to wait until I get home to post it.  Why you ask?  Because I am in Purgatory. 

Okay, so the point I am really working toward is cloud computing.  I live in Phoenix and internet connectivity even on my Verizon Wireless card for my laptop works well.  However, here in Purgatory, my speed is awful!  Normally my web based mail that loads in under 10 seconds is taking 3 minutes to load.  Replying to email, another 3 and… well you get the picture.  This is bad.

So getting back to my long time concern with cloud computing.  These web based applications work very well if you live in a major metropolitan area.  For that matter, they may work well down the road in Durango.   But up here on the mountain, I am all but out of luck.   And what about the other folks that live in the area?  What about the folks who live up the road in Silverton?

Now I do realize there will be a few (thousand) cloud computing fans that I will completely alienate with this post but I feel cloud computing is not ready for prime time.  I would also add to the argument that now I work on the road and spend 5 to 10 hours a week in an airplane, cloud computing doesn’t work even when you are soaring through the clouds. J

Okay, so that is my quick vent on the internet in Purgatory.  For those who love cloud computing, bring on the arguments.

Shawn

I sat down at my computer this past week and attempted to load Moodle on my hosted web site.  Luckily, for me, the process is quite simple.  Click the link that reads, “Install”.   The short of the long story here is I was successful in installing Moodle but that is not the real reason for this post.  The real reason for the post is the reason for installing Moodle in the first place. I have created two classes and placed them on my Moodle Server for all to enjoy.

The first class is titled Exploring Web 2.0 and when I started to write this class, my intention was to make the course available to the world once it had been vetted.  Well, I have run this class twice with a few teachers in PUSD and outside of being told, it was very rigorous, the course is now ready.  To be clear, I am not going to provide feedback if you choose to work through this course however, if you are interested in Web 2.0 and you are willing to do some work on your own, this is a great opportunity.   It is also important to realize this is course is not a definitive course on Web 2.0.  The course was completed in late 2008 so there is an outstanding chance there are new Web 2.0 tool available that are not in the class.  Welcome to Web 2.0, new tools are created daily!

The second class is titled Multimedia and Moodle and it is really not a class but more of a framework of a topics I taught in a live class.  Students who participated in the course had an opportunity to learn how to create audio and video to embed into their own Moodle courses.  It is notable that the students who participated in this course were using Windows based computers.  I do realize there are different methods when using a Macintosh however those are not included in this course.  In time, I hope to add to this course thus making it truly on-line.

Finally, I have made these two courses available for you to use on your Moodle LMS if you so choose and they are licensed under Creative Commons.

Are you ready to check out these two courses?  Click this link.  At the login screen, choose Guest.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

One of my favorite things to teach people is what they can do with a product they own that they didn’t know about!  Think about it, do you ever read the instruction manual?  Of course you don’t.  That is why it is so much fun to see a person’s face light up when they learn something and that is what I hope to do now.

The video link below is the long version of a demo I have done during live workshops called “Boring to Bitchen in 60 Seconds”.  Because of the screen recording slowed me down a bit, the video is 3 minutes but it is well worth your time.

Click here to watch Boring to Bitchen in 60 Seconds in full screen.  It is worth it!!!!

This is a follow-up post to Upgrading to Windows Vista

Twenty-three days ago I put a new hard drive in my laptop and loaded a clean copy of Windows Vista Business Edition. I still don’t see what people have been complaining about. Yeah, it has a couple of things that are a bit different but nothing to make me lose sleep. I do realize by the time I sit down to create this post Windows Vista has been out for over a year but I didn’t run out to watch ET either.

So let me set the stage for you. I have had a copy of Windows Vista for a number of months and I did make an effort to use it 6 months ago. However, I discovered my 5-year old Sony didn’t have the horse power in the video card and I really didn’t feel like shelling out any money to upgrade. What can I say… I am cheap. Now, with the Vista OS loaded on my laptop and 23-days under my belt, I am ready to share what I have learned so far. I will also share with you what a good friend of mine does and does not like about Vista. In some cases, I agree while in others I have to refute his complaints because I either like the change or find it to be less than significant.

Let’s start with what I like.

Gadgets - My first thought when I looked at the Gadgets was… “Gee, isn’t that cute, Mac like and for the most part useless.” After 23 days and looking at the several hundred Gadgets posted on the Microsoft site, I can say that I have found a few that I find useful. Yeah, there are some on that site that are useless too!

I have been a SnagIt user for years. In fact, it is the second application I install on my machine right after Office. I was very pleased to stumble on the Screen Snaper Gadget. This has the basic functions of SnagIt without the out of pocket cost. The Gadget allows me to snap a screen capture of the Desktop, Window or Region and I can put the screen snap to in the clipboard or save it as an image. While I am not willing to give up SnagIt as it has a functions that Screen Snaper doesn’t, it has proven handy on several occasions in the past 23 days and it has a home on my Gadget bar.

Dealing with multiple servers throughout the day, I have maintained a folder in my Quick Start Menu for years with Remote Desktop setting to the various servers I need to work on. I found a Remote Desktop Gadget that really fits my needs. I had a way to deal with remote machines in XP and that method easily transferred to Vista, I have to say I like this Gadget and it saves me a few clicks. Gee, I must be getting really lazy… But clicks are clicks and fewer clicks equal time saved.

As an avid Podcaster and Blogger, an RSS feed Gadget is a no brainer. However, I didn’t like the one that came preloaded with Vista, I did find several others that I like better. These are more about personal taste than functionality. If you are running Vista and want an RSS Gadget, try them out until you find one that fits.

The other Gadget I just love is Remove Drive Safely. It allows me to choose what USB drive I want to release from the computer. Yes, I could do that without the Gadget but… I never did, I would just pull them out of the machine. I know… Shame on me. Now, I have no excuse not to do it the correct way!

With all of that said, I did remove the analog clock, there is a digital clock in the task tray that works fine and I have an analog clock on my wrist. Then, there is the picture rotator. It was cute and I left it on the screen for several days. Much to my surprise, it was more of a distraction so I removed it. What can I say… I am getting more ADD by the minute. What was I talking about?

Search Rocks - For years I have labored to find files, music, etc… I was so excited the first time I installed Windows Desktop Search on my XP box as it allowed me to find files I had been looking for and do it quickly. Vista HAD the same or similar cool tool called Instant Search. However, it was hidden in Vista with the release of SP1. While the basic search in Vista is still better than the old days, the Instant Search is THAT much better. If you want to try it out, press the Windows Key + F. You can thank the good folks at Google for this change. Read more about this and other SP 1 changes at Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows. Click here for his review of SP 1.

All Programs - Now this is where my friend and I agree yet disagree. The view for all programs is dramatically different in Vista vs. XP. While I hate the way XP manages view, I don’t love what Vista did to it either. Note the two images below.

However, I have to say I do love the fact that I can type or rather start to type the name of the program I want to open in the Start Search field and Vista will return a list of programs. Considering I often don’t remember the full name or the folder the file is hidden in, this is a killer change.

Start button Default vs Classic - If you remember the heartburn you felt when we upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, the Start button menu was a sore spot for many users and noted above, it still is for some. I guess that is why Microsoft has given us the option to set it back to the classic view. Yuck.. I have an analogy for this but I need to keep this blog family oriented.

The photo viewer is another change to Vista. This to me is more of a garnish change but it does give you quick access to some handy tools. For instance, you can quickly fix a picture by using the Auto Adjust, Exposure, Color, Crop and you can even fix Red Eye. Although, if you take a crummy picture, it isn’t going to fix that. Sorry.

One interesting thing I discovered was the ability to edit ID3 tags for audio files is built-in. However, I didn’t notice this until after I had installed AudioShell which I use on my XP box. I just assumed this was not available with Vista.

Movie Maker really should be listed under it got better but… This program has been around for some time now and is really in dire need of an update. Now I realize that a 100 bucks will buy Pinnacle or Ulead but this software desperately needs a makeover.

What did improve? Well, Microsoft added some of the cool Ken Burns panning effect that make Photo Story so cool. However, you do not have the control over these effects the way you do in Photo Story. While this is an improvement, it could have been better. What really bugged me was the removal of the snapshot tool. This tool allowed you to take a still shot of a single frame in a video. A minimal feature I realize, but one I used. I really would love to see a burn to DVD feature in Movie Maker. I have heard it is available in Windows Vista Home and Ultimate Editions but I have not been able to verify this. I was able to verify there is software called DVD Maker in the Home Premium and Ultimate Editions so I assume this hooks into Movie Maker.

Okay, on to what I don’t like and/or my friend doesn’t like.

I had a heck of a time getting my USB microphone to work. To be honest, I am not sure this was totally a Vista issue as much as a laptop setting. Once I figured out that the thing was defaulting to the built-in microphone, life has been good.

The folder navigation is very different in Vista. Okay, very is a bit over the top, but it is different enough to force a second look. To be honest, I didn’t like the default view. However, once I clicked the browse folders link and was able to view my trusty folders again, I could breathe a sigh of relief. Is this a major deal? It could be to some. If you hear someone complaining about this, point out the browse folder link. See the two images below.

My friend told me the time it took to copy files in Vista was ridiculous. Given the fact this was talked about in Paul Thurrott’s review of Vista SP 1, I can only assume he had a valid complaint. From what I have read and heard on various Podcasts, this issue has been resolved. I will note that I did find a Gadget for RoboCopy that looked promising and RoboCopy beats Window GUI copy any day of the week. The RoboCopy Gadget helps those of us who are scripting challenged!

The Network Connection view just bugged me. I had a heck of a time adding my wireless router at home partly due to getting the security key installed correctly, work was slightly better. Again, this is more of an issue of the different look to this old dog.

My friend doesn’t like the integrated Search in the tools menu bar. Ironically, I had not noticed it until he sent me the email with his list of likes and dislikes. I guess this is an area where he and I will have to agree to disagree. When I tried it out, I liked it. If I remember to use it, I will like it even more.

He also told me he didn’t like the bloated OS as it had too many cute things. I don’t know how bloated it really is, but, do know it requires more space than XP did on a hard drive. However, so did XP compared to Windows 2000 compared to Windows Me & 98… You get the point.

As for cute things… Yeah there are some cute things that we don’t need and you can shut some of them off or ignore them. Probably the cutest yet useless thing is the Aero desktop. In fact, I didn’t realize I was not running it until Mike in my office pointed it out last week after he installed Vista. It is cute but I lived for two weeks without it just fine. (Apparently I had shut if off when I was first messing around after the install.)

My final complaint really isn’t against Vista per se, my complaint is with the multiple versions. As an enterprise customer, (school districts are enterprise customers), I understand Microsoft has a different marketing strategy for us compared to home users. However, education is not your normal enterprise and some of those features included in the Home and Ultimate Editions of Vista would be very helpful to the education world. Think about it, they have 5 versions now, (Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise, (see the details)), what is one more for education.

I would love to see Microsoft offer an education version of Vista with an updated version of Movie Maker that would go head-to-head with iMovie. For that matter, I would like to see an Education version that had the tools to go head-to-head with iLife and of course this should include some podcasting tools!

The end result, 23-days in, I like Vista and wish I had it on my home machine. When I buy a new one, I will welcome Vista with open arms. Of course, I will make sure it is running Vista Ultimate so I can have all the bell and whistles.

 

 Windows Vista… 23-days and I like Vista [9:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Have you looked at a student trying to carry their backpack home lately?  Some of our children are walking home with backpacks as large as they are, while others drag small-wheeled suitcases behind them.  Either way, children are dragging home hundreds dollars worth of textbooks to say nothing of the weight.Is there a technology out there to help this age-old problem?

Last Christmas Amazon.com unveiled the Kindle.  Like you, I read about it, listened to the news reports and wished I had 400 bucks burning a hole in my wallet.  Six months later, the Kindle has dropped to $359.00 so I could buy it and a couple books if I only had 400 bucks I didn’t need for gas!  Stay with me as I really do have a point.

A few months back my boss sent me an email with a link to an article that discussed a bill which would allow traditional textbooks to be replaced with a digital version.  The money normally allocated toward textbooks would be used to purchase computers.  I read the article and responded to the email with a link to the Kindle and a statement that the device could be considered as a mobile textbook platform once the textbook companies get on board.  What I meant to say is when the textbook companies figure out they would be better off working with technology rather than fighting it.

Think about it… we send our students home each day with more money in textbooks than the Kindle cost and we are stuck with these books for five to ten years.  That is great if you are studying something that never changes like the number of planets in our solar system or the fact that Yugoslavia is the country east of Italy. <Smile> If we were to use the Kindle, our students could access the most up-to-date material about a given topic.  Textbook publishers could sell their digital textbooks based on a subscription model which would allow them a steady flow of revenue and school districts could use the millions of dollars spent on aging text books on other educational enhancements.   Yes, some of those enhancements would include refreshing technology tools at the end of their life span.

I also had this conversation with another friend I used to work with.  He told me it wasn’t a bad idea but it would be better if the Kindle had more computer type functions.  I thought about this for a moment but retreated back to my initial opinion.  Having been heavily involved in several laptop deployments, I am acutely aware of the technical issues with deploying wireless laptops in a school environment, as well as the requirements for professional development to fully utilize the computer.  Beyond those issues, they are still expensive.  Oh and they are bit heavy, fragile, and have you purchased a replacement battery?

Two days ago, I tripped over the article Digital college textbooks which discusses how Princeton University will begin publishing Kindle-edition textbooks.  The article goes on to state Yale, Oxford and the University of California are also planning to use the Kindle.  I would imagine like the iPod and iTunes University, the Kindle will also be a success and in time, we will see the Kindle make its way into our K-12 classrooms. 

Of course, after reading that article, I sent the link to several of my colleagues.  A few hours later, I received a link to the article Textbook Piracy Grows Online, Prompting a Counterattack from Publishers.  I found this article reminiscent of the many RIAA articles I have read over the past several years.  What strikes me is these companies seem to be putting more resources into fighting these digital copies rather than working to embrace the concept of digital copies of their books.  While there will always be those individuals who will cheat the system regardless of cost, I believe the majority of people are honest and would rather pay for an affordable legal copy of the textbook required for their class.

Where will we be five years from now?  I am not 100% sure, but I am willing to wager an electronic reader, (possibly the Kindle), and digital textbooks will be part of that world.   

 

 Drop the Paper Weight [3:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download