"Unprovided
with original learning, unformed in the habits of
thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I
resolved to write a book." ~Edward Gibbon
On the show:
A reminder to faculty to install the MS compatibility
pack; Panasonic shows off a 128GB SSD; Patch Tuesday
came and went uneventfully; Apple released a new Mac Pro
this week, and soon Office 2008 will be out; Zink is new
at CES; Pew says people use YouTube; Sunny the weather
robot speaks; Newsgator makes their previously for-sale
products free; Microsoft pursues two large companies;
and they sign with the Smithsonian; Blu-ray wins the
fight with HD-DVD; Sony signs with Amazon; and we
feature a book on digital photography. David's
Blackboard feature of the week describes how to use
language packs. Haydn's Teaching with Technology
segment is about communicating with your students.
Chris does our Tech Talk Topic this week about his first
infatuation with the Amazon Kindle.
Technology News Briefs
Expect
to see more Office 2007 documents from students in
2008. To open Office 2007 Word, Excel or
PowerPoint files with the older 2003 version of
Office you need to install the Microsoft
Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
2007 File Formats. If you are ready to
make the change, contact information services to
have Office 2007 installed on your Office computer.
Part-time faculty members can
purchase Office 2007 at a very low price from
the Foundation for California Community Colleges.
If you have installed Office 2007, be sure to
install the Microsoft
Add-in which permits saving Office format
documents in PDF format.
Panasonic displayed a 128GB Solid State drive (SSD)
at the Consumer Electronics Show this week, dealing
yet another blow to the future of Hard Disk Drives.
SSDs run faster, with much lower power consumption
and will last indefinitely because they have no
moving parts. The tipping point will be
reached when capacities increase to HDD standards
and price, the most important factor, declines due
to economies of scale. The new Panasonic drive
should begin to appear in laptops by mid-2008.
(NY
Times).
It was Patch Tuesday this week.
Click here for a description of the critical and
moderate patches applied to your Microsoft products,
and for other vulnerability information.
Apple released a
new Mac Pro this week, an 8-core 3.32 GHz tower
priced at just under $3,000--and a lot more if you
want to trick it out. And to make that new Mac
useful, Office 2008 for Mac is coming very close to
release date (January 15 is the target). It
can be
preordered now at the Apple Store.
There
is a new printing technology announced at this
year's CES called Zink, which stands for "Zero Ink."
Zink embeds cyan, yellow and magenta dye crystals
into a special paper covered with a ploymer
overcoat, the crystals are finely tuned and can be
activated independently with very specific bursts of
heat to produce any possible color. Whether it
will catch on widely will depend on the price of the
paper and the price of the devices needed to
activate the crystals, of course.
Click here for more information.
A new study by the
Pew Internet and American Life Project reveals
that 48% of Internet users have been to a
video-sharing site like YouTube, up 45% from a year
ago. 15% of respondents said they had been to
such a site "yesterday," up 100% from a year ago.
Click here to read the report [PDF].
Speaking of YouTube, see your tax dollars at
work. Sunny the NOAA weather robot
"represents" the federal agency at the Consumer
Electronic Show:
Newsgator RSS feed reading tools are now free.
The company has given up charging for their personal
client products and now offer them completely free.
Click here to find out more.
Microsoft is on the acquisition trail in a
serious way again. They have made a 1.2
billion dollar bid for Norwegian search company Fast
Search and Transfer in "...an effort to add more
tools to its lucrative Office products, but was also
being done with an eye toward fending off
Google" (NY
Times). They are also reported to be
nearing a takeover bid for Zurich-based Logitech,
whose
stock has surged based upon the report.
Not
to be thought entirely grasping, Microsoft this week
singed an agreement with the Library of Congress to
"change the way visitors experience U.S.
history...Through the Microsoft investment of
funding, software and technology expertise, training
and support services, the Library will deliver its
New Visitors Experience through a complex technology
system with interactive kiosks in the Jefferson
Building as well as rich Internet applications
delivered through a robust Web infrastructure"
(MS
Press Release).
Click here for a demo on pre-Comumbian artifacts
(Silverlight required (and will be installed if you
do not have it) if you want to watch the animation).
Apparently the blu-ray vs. HD-DVD war is nearly
over, and blu-ray, unsurprisingly, has won.
Warner agreed last week to support blu-ray
exclusively, and Universal and Paramount are
poised to do so. It proves your purchase
of the PS3 was a wise one... What does this
mean for XBox owners?
Even Microsoft is now waffling on format
support.
Sony BMG signed this week with Amazon.com to provide
DRM free music at the Amazon MP3 store. This
completes an all major label alignment with Amazon
(Universal, EMI and Warner had previously signed
with Amazon) and is the final death blow for Digital
Rights Management for music. The record
companies have two goals: 1) to destabilize
the downloadable music market dominance of Apple;
and 2) to stop coming across like Big Nurse with
their highly unpopular DRM strategy. (Oh yeah,
and their third goal is to make lots more money, but
that goes without saying).
Featured
Safari Tech Book Online:
Photopedia: The Ultimate Digital Photography
Resource, by Michael Miller. "Whether you
own a low-cost point-and-shoot camera or an
expensive digital SLR, great photographs are within
your reach–with the help of this book. Photopedia:
The Ultimate Digital Photography Resource shows you
everything you need to know to take great-looking
digital photos, from basic camera operation to
advanced Photoshop techniques. "
Palomar maintains a subscription to Tech Books
Online, and the books can be accessed from any
computer on the campus network.
Contact the library for information about off-campus
access.
Training Opportunities
Academic Technology Workshops
We have published our spring 2008 Academic
Technology training schedule.
Click here to read it. For TBA training
call (760) 744-1150 ext. 2341.
Next week, on January 17 from 7:15 to 9pm in
room LL-109 Haydn Davis and Terry Gray will present
"What's New in Academic Technology" as a breakout
session for part-time plenary night.
Elluminate Training
Elluminate is our new econferencing system.
There are many excellent training resources
available through the
Elluminate training center. Live,
instructor led training seminars--conducted through
the Elluminate interface--occur regularly and
may be scheduled through their web site.
@ONE Training
The @ONE Winter Institute--three days of hands
on, instructor facilitated training--will be held at
Los Angeles City College on January 16-18. The
cost, including meals, is only $75.
Click here for information.
In
Palomar’s Blackboard system the default language
setting, for fairly obvious reasons, is set to
English (United States). However, there may be
reasons to change the language, either for a user of
for a course. So I’d like to expound a bit on the
language options in Blackboard.
If a user wants to change their language setting,
they can either select one of the language choices
down at the bottom of the gateway page prior to
logging in to Blackboard, or go into the Personal
Information area and click the Select Language Pack
link. By default this language is set to “System
Default”, but can be changed to any language on the
list. Once submitted, much of the content in
Blackboard will be displayed in the new language. Be
careful; if you set your language to one you do not
understand, you may have trouble changing it back
again!
An instructor can specify the language set for a
course site, too. In the lower left of the Control
Panel is a link to Settings. On this list, along
with Course Availability, is a link for Set Language
Pack. Again the desired language can be selected,
and upon submission the Blackboard “boilerplate” and
system messages will show in the new language.
If a course is set to a specific language, and a
user has set their account to a different language,
the course will show in the different language for
the user. However, if an instructor wants to force
all students to see the course in that specific
language there is a check box to Enforce Language
Pack in the course site, which overrides user
preferences. This could be used to, for example,
force an English as a Second Language course to
always show up in English, or a Spanish course to
always show up in Spanish.
Bear in mind that this is not a translator; all
the language changes are in the Blackboard dialog
boxes and menus, any content loaded in the course
will still be in the original language. Language
Packs only handle the program interface, translating
the meat of the course is, as always, up to you.
Of the thirteen languages currently available on
our Blackboard system, eleven are… real. However if
you are looking for something to shake your students
up, be aware of the Pig Latin and Pirate Arrr
languages (the last of use on International Talk
Like A Pirate Day).
Even if you don’t want to try a course Language
Pack, while you’re in the Settings area of the
Control Panel don’t forget that you will have to
manually make your course available before your
students can access the site.
Today’s Teaching with Technology tip consists of
reminding us of something we already know and a fun
but useful resource.
First
the reminder. What is the single most important
factor in whether or not students talking glowingly
of a class? Erudite lectures? Stimulating
assignments? Thought provoking writing assignments?
Easy grading? None of the above? I would argue that
none of the above is the correct answer. When I hear
students rave about a class and recommend the class
to their friends it is always because the professor
engaged them. And what is the most important factor
in determining whether or not students feel engaged
by a professor? A good sense of humor? Providing
entertaining and informative lectures? Those
qualities certainly don’t hurt but I think there is
another factor that is even more important and I
think educational research on the subject will
support my contention. What is it?
To answer that question I want to refer briefly
to Chickering and Gamson’s research which was
summarized in their seminal paper Seven Principles
of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. The
first of these principles is, I believe, the answer
to the question I posed above. Perhaps the single
most important factor in motivating students and
making them feel engaged with a course is them
feeling a personal connection with the professor. It
is hard to overestimate the effect we have on
students by simply showing a sincere interest in
them and expressing concern and encouragement when
appropriate. The first of the seven principles is:
Good Practice Encourages Contacts Between Students
and Faculty.
One
of the best ways to begin to connect with students
in on-campus classes is to learn their names. I have
digital photos taken of my students during the first
week or so of class with their name written below
their photo. Over the next couple of weeks or so I
make an effort to associate their names and faces –
it really isn’t that difficult, even with a class
size of 45 or so students. Other instructors connect
with their students in other ways. One of the most
popular, best liked professors on campus doesn’t
ever learn students’ names. But he does connect with
his students by showing them he is interested and
concerned about them.
But what about if you teach an online class? In some
ways there is even more of an opportunity to have
ongoing contacts with online students.
For example, most online classes make a class
discussion board an important part of the class. If
you monitor the discussion board very closely the
first couple of weeks and provide feedback to
students’ comments you will establish a personal
connection with students that will be instrumental
in their appraisal of the class.
A fun but still useful resource for those who use
the Blackboard system is to liven up your Blackboard
site by adding a colorful banner. The following web
site makes creating a banner a piece of cake. You
simply choose one of the pre-made banners, add
whatever text you like, save it to your desktop, and
then upload it into your Blackboard class. While the
pre-made animations at the site will work just fine
in Blackboard I’d be careful with these as they can
be distracting after the first couple of times.
See
the index of Haydn's previous
"Teaching with Technology" segments.
Tech-Talk-Topic - Chris Norcross
The
Amazon Kindle - Part 1
Our own Chris Norcross began a review of the new
Amazon Kindle this week, and here are his first
impressions.
Amazon.com launched the Kindle, an electronic
book reading device, in November 2007. I finally got
my hands on one this week.
Overall I am very pleased with how the device
operates. The display is very easy to read,
especially when compared to reading on a computer
monitor. At only 10 ounces it is very easy to carry
and fits easily in a book bag or briefcase.
Click here to see a photo slideshow of the
“unboxing” of my Kindle.
Here is a summary of my thoughts on the device so
far:
Pros
E-Ink display looks great
Easy to use
Small and lightweight
Wireless download of books from anywhere in
the U.S.
Easy to read in sunlight
Lightweight
Long battery life (?)
Great customer service
Can store hundreds of books
88,000+ titles available at launch
Cons
Expensive (currently $399)
No color display
No backlight (can't read in the dark)
Textbooks not available
RSS feeds require subscription fee
Converting some types of files to Kindle
format difficult or not possible
See
an index of previous "Tech Talk
Topics" segments.
Music
The
music for today's show was provided by
Magnatune.com,
and is used through their Creative
Commons license for podcasts.
Today's album is
The Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo
Violin by
Lara St. John. "When most
classical artists record technically
challenging works like this one, they
typically have to repeat certain phrases
over and over during the recording
process, but when Lara St John recorded
this album at Skywalker Ranch, she
played only complete versions of each
movement, so the resulting music sounds
incredibly fresh and alive."
"Nothing is
impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it
himself" ~
A. H. Weiler
Podcast
for January 11, 2008 - Episode 81
On the show:
A reminder to faculty to install the MS compatibility
pack; Panasonic shows off a 128GB SSD; Patch Tuesday
came and went uneventfully; Apple released a new Mac Pro
this week, and soon Office 2008 will be out; Zink is new
at CES; Pew says people use YouTube; Sunny the weather
robot speaks; Newsgator makes their previously for-sale
products free; Microsoft pursues two large companies;
and they sign with the Smithsonian; Blu-ray wins the
fight with HD-DVD; Sony signs with Amazon; and we
feature a book on digital photography. David's
Blackboard feature of the week describes how to use
language packs. Haydn's Teaching with Technology
segment is about communicating with your students.
Chris does our Tech Talk Topic this week about his first
infatuation with the Amazon Kindle.
Expect
to see more Office 2007 documents from students in
2008. To open Office 2007 Word, Excel or
PowerPoint files with the older 2003 version of
Office you need to install the Microsoft
There
is a new printing technology announced at this
year's CES called Zink, which stands for "Zero Ink."
Zink embeds cyan, yellow and magenta dye crystals
into a special paper covered with a ploymer
overcoat, the crystals are finely tuned and can be
activated independently with very specific bursts of
heat to produce any possible color. Whether it
will catch on widely will depend on the price of the
paper and the price of the devices needed to
activate the crystals, of course.
Not
to be thought entirely grasping, Microsoft this week
singed an agreement with the Library of Congress to
"change the way visitors experience U.S.
history...Through the Microsoft investment of
funding, software and technology expertise, training
and support services, the Library will deliver its
New Visitors Experience through a complex technology
system with interactive kiosks in the Jefferson
Building as well as rich Internet applications
delivered through a robust Web infrastructure"
(
Featured
Safari Tech Book Online:
Photopedia: The Ultimate Digital Photography
Resource, by Michael Miller. "Whether you
own a low-cost point-and-shoot camera or an
expensive digital SLR, great photographs are within
your reach–with the help of this book. Photopedia:
The Ultimate Digital Photography Resource shows you
everything you need to know to take great-looking
digital photos, from basic camera operation to
advanced Photoshop techniques. "
Palomar maintains a subscription to Tech Books
Online, and the books can be accessed from any
computer on the campus network.
In
Palomar’s Blackboard system the default language
setting, for fairly obvious reasons, is set to
English (United States). However, there may be
reasons to change the language, either for a user of
for a course. So I’d like to expound a bit on the
language options in Blackboard.
First
the reminder. What is the single most important
factor in whether or not students talking glowingly
of a class? Erudite lectures? Stimulating
assignments? Thought provoking writing assignments?
Easy grading? None of the above? I would argue that
none of the above is the correct answer. When I hear
students rave about a class and recommend the class
to their friends it is always because the professor
engaged them. And what is the most important factor
in determining whether or not students feel engaged
by a professor? A good sense of humor? Providing
entertaining and informative lectures? Those
qualities certainly don’t hurt but I think there is
another factor that is even more important and I
think educational research on the subject will
support my contention. What is it? 
One
of the best ways to begin to connect with students
in on-campus classes is to learn their names. I have
digital photos taken of my students during the first
week or so of class with their name written below
their photo. Over the next couple of weeks or so I
make an effort to associate their names and faces –
it really isn’t that difficult, even with a class
size of 45 or so students. Other instructors connect
with their students in other ways. One of the most
popular, best liked professors on campus doesn’t
ever learn students’ names. But he does connect with
his students by showing them he is interested and
concerned about them.
The
Amazon Kindle - Part 1
The
music for today's show was provided by
