Blurts

Nuzzle has gone the way of other free services I found useful. Nuzzle would scan your Twitter feed and rank the top submissions from those you followed. This was handy because you typically follow those who offer content you find useful and if several of this individuals would tweet something containing a common link there is a good chance you would want to it out. It was simply a check when you didn’t have the time to constantly scroll through your feed.

I noticed when I checked my Nuzzel app that there was nothing new since May 4 and after investigating I found that the service had been terminated.

Nuzzel was purchased by Twitter and the word is that it may be repurposed as a newsletter. The newsletter format has become a revenue generation format for some services and content creators, but this would mean a new version of Nuzzle would become a subscription service.

TweetShelf has been developed to provide some of the same services. There is a free and a $7 per month pro version. I have not purchased the pro version so I have no opinion on whether the extra capabilities justify the cost.

I seem to find myself arguing against research showing the disadvantages of digital content. First, there was the research arguing students learn more effectively when reading from paper in comparison to the screen. The data are always the data, but the methodology is key to understanding. I wonder about the time learners have spent learning from paper versus learning from a screen. We spend a lot of time reading from a screen, much of this experience is focused on short reads and reading for enjoyment. Reading extended documents is far less common, but I guess it could be problematic for other reasons. I keep coming back to why I read long form content on a device. Mostly, I do this because I am interested in reading in preparation for something else. In service of the future use of what I read, I highlight and annotate knowing that I have reason to return to resources at some time in the future and the notes and highlights are very helpful for this purpose. I think there is a difference between reading and studying lengthy documents.

I encountered a recent review of digital content that brought up the paper versus screen controversy, but went further to express concern that academics were using video and audio recordings in place of reading. The author of this summary proposes that students would rather watch or listen than read, but cites research showing that reading results in superior retention. I agree with this conclusion partly because the position agrees with my personal experience. My personal observation is that it is far too easy to lose focus while listening or viewing and this does not seem as possible while reading. The audio or video continues to play even when you are daydreaming or focusing elsewhere, but the flow of text stops as soon as you stop paying attention.

I believe that video could be used more effectively. Services allow layering questions and annotations on video. Digital control of listening or viewing can make scrubbing back to revisit content when you lose focus. It is not the same as being in a classroom when the live presentation continues whether you are paying attention or not. Like highlighting and annotating digital text while reading, the more active engagement with video or audio is possible, but requires a commitment to what is possible. There are several services you might explore – YiNote makes a good example.

I happened across a blog post with what seemed like a dire warning (Your Gmail, Photos and Drive could be deleted as Google introduces new rules next month). Reading further, there was no need to panic, but Google has instituted a warning that inactive accounts and free accounts with more than 15GB of content may eventually be deleted. Note you have more than a year to take action.

It is easy enough to check you Google data consumption. If you login to any of the Google services you use, you should find your picture in the upper right-hand corner. Select this picture and you should see the link to manage your account.

This link should reveal a source summarizing the total of your stored data. You can obtain additional information if you are interested. Multiple services you use (Gmail, Drive, photos) contribute to this total so you may not recognize the cumulative amount. I purchase an extra 100 GB for $2 a month. I see I coud double this allocation for $30 a year.

I have blogged for many years and I follow many bloggers. I have a sense that social media is replacing blogs for many, but I still find great value in finding bloggers who provide content that interests me and following them using an RSS reader (more on RSS later).

I decided to write this post after reading a post from Control Alt Achieve offering a list of 75 education blogs to follow. I admit that in going through the list I found several that were new to me and I did not find mine. Such is life in the blogosphere.

If you are looking to explore education blogs, here is a little different approach you might try. In reviewing many of the blogs on the Control Alt Achieve list, I found many that had not been updated lately and some focusing on topics that did not interest me. I use a specialized RSS reader I can host myself and for those interested in exploring blogs to see what might interest them, I offer access to this feed reader to scan recent posts (day by day) from many different education bloggers.

The reader I operate is called FreshRSS and it can be accessed by anyone from my site. Because others cannot sign in, reviewing recent posts does not cause these posts to disappear which is the way a typical RSS reader works. The reader is to discover new content and as you scroll through the list of posts once read items on the list disappear. If you take a look at my reader, note the two icons I have enclosed in a red box that appear at the top of the screen. The “book” icon provides full access to the content from the blogs I follow. Reviewing topics and what the authors have to say is the way I would recommend finding blogs you want to follow. The “rewind” icon updates the feed if newer content is not displayed at the top of the feed.

I recommend Feedly if you want to use RSS to follow blogs.

The chrome OS provides chromebook users some useful diagnostics. Here is how these diagnostics can be accessed.

Begin with the “gear” icon.

From the settings menu select “About Chrome OS”.

The “About menu” should include the option to launch diagnostics.

Several diagnostics are provided. The data I found most useful concerned the health of my battery as replacing the battery in an aging Chromebook would be a decision point for when to purchase new equipment. I am not a heavy user of my Chromebook and use it to remain familiar with chromebook capabilities and this level of use is reflected in the cycle count for my Google Pixelbook.

The K12 school year is drawing to a close and districts are using different models to finish out the year – all face to face, a combination of face to face a few days a week and remote the rest of the time, students/families pick. Assuming that things continue to improve with the pandemic and the level of COVID illness is drastically reduced in the Fall, what will happen with remote learning?

The Rand Corporation contacted 375 school districts and charter organizations to request insight into the present thinking on where K12 will be at in the Fall.

Some findings:

1. 20% are considering adding a virtual school option to more traditional offerings.
2. The pandemic has brought attention to certain issues that will continue to be highlighted going forward – social-emotional climate, disparities in learner experiences, and funding.