Category: General

You do not always need a high-end graphics products to accomplish common graphics tasks. Consider using the tools available in PowerPoint or Keynote.

I walked out of my office today and noticed the sign in front of the campus church across the street. It seemed perfect for my last post before Christmas.

A simple message for a complex time.

Peace!

It is time for end of the year lists – song of the year, news event of the year, etc.

Here is the Washington Post year in technology. It is fun to read what others feel were the major developments (and to see how many of these developments were discussed on this blog). The site allows you to cast your vote for your own favorite.

Looking to explore some new tech tools over the holidays. Try Blogdigger – a blog search engine.

Steven Levy, one of my favorite technology writers, has a Newsweek article summarizing the year for Google. The article describes the combination of developments in searching and the business opportunities such services make available.

An article from Edweek comments on young learner search skills and common problems faced in implementing searches (e.g., spelling errors, poor selection of search terms) and identifies alternatives to common search engines that may help.

The K-12 establishment in North Dakota is upset after learning that the plan advanced to establish elementary teachers as highly qualified has been rejected. Part of the frustration is that the 120 day federal review period had long passed (19 months later).

While it is hard to be against providing students access to “qualified teachers”, I was involved in developing the skills of at least some of these teachers and to me the issues are much more complex than NCLB makes it seem. Perhaps the feds have a plan for attracting highly qualified elementary teachers to rural classrooms for 10K less than they can make elsewhere. Perhaps there is a plan for encouraging older teachers in these same settings to spend the time and money necessary to “upgrade” when retirement seems so much easier.

A recent EdWeek article describes the qualification of veteran teachers as a common problem.