Bill MacKenty

Technology strengthens, deepens, and broadens our learning...

I noticed someone tried to leave a comment about the blogging story and my capacha’s aren’t working!  I’ve removed them for now - I think the permissions on the image directory are off. You should be able to leave a comment now.

I’m often asked about blogging. What is it? How do I do it? What does it do? How does it work? And other beginning questions. 

In the spirit of helping others, and not having to repeat myself often, I’d like to offer some answers:

There are basically 3 types of blogs:

1) Personal diaries (for an outstanding example of one, check out Richard Bartles daily blog)
2) Topical blogs (Terra Nova, Huffington Post)
3) Reflective experiential blogs (mine is an example in this category, Terry Real, Confused of Calcutta and of course, Dave McDivitt).

1) Please understand this: blogging is a commitment. You can’t blog for 6 months and then stop - it doesn’t work that way. Commit to 2 years minimum, at least 2 to 3 times a week of writing. One of things blogs do well is build community and become a place where people come and visit to read things they are interested in.  They are visiting your blog because you are talking about something important, in a novel / unique / smart way. So write frequently and for a long time. Or else don’t blog.

2) It’s ok to put links up as blog entries, but your ratio of links to great original stories should be 1:6. So for every one link you post as a blog entry, you should write at least 6 really good posts. If you must post a link, perhaps it could be as a response (like here) to an interesting story. Remember the mantra: people come to visit your blog because it’s updated frequently with really interesting stuff.

3) Start out with typepad or maybe blogger. They are easy to get started with and free. Once you have been blogging for a year, upgrade your typepad account, or switch to Expression Engine. These services offer expanded tools and fine-comb adjustments to your site. Make sure whatever you use has good comment moderation tools.

4) Put links to other sites that are relevant and interesting on your site. This is often called a “blogroll”, and it’s polite.

5) You must write original, topical, relevant, and focused material!  You are blogging because you have something to say

6) Make sure your site Validates and make sure your ATOM / RSS validates

7) Install google analytics (or some other cool visitor statistic program) on your blog.

8) If ANYONE leaves a meaningful comment on your blog ALWAYS respond quickly and fully. If someone cares enough to comment, chances are other people do as well. This builds community.

9) I often re-task emails and questions and post them as blog questions/answers.  I always strip out the identifying details, and write long answers to questions. If you regularly visit a forum or newsgroup you should keep this in mind - anything you write is potential blog material.

Finally, Look at this post it has 10 ideas for making a great blog, and I’ve gotten quite a few comments and questions about the post. 

How_to_protect_your_office_documents.pdf

Should students be allowed to use laptops in your classroom?

Ultimately, the choice belongs to the teacher. No school should impose a policy of “yes” or “no”. Here’s some questions you should think about when you consider if students should have laptops.

1) Are the laptops in use distracting other students?

One of the most common complaints about student-laptops in the classroom is they can be distracting to other students. This can be mitigated by limiting wireless access during class, or filtering during class. It is also mitigated when every student has a laptop.

2) Are the students who are using laptops contributing their notes to a class-website, wiki, or the teacher?

Relating to the digital divide, we must ensure students with laptops are not afforded an unfair advantage over other students. If notes are uploaded and accessible to other students, everyone can share in their notes. Since the school has a public computer lab, and many computers are available in public libraries, sharing electronic notes is a nice way to help students who do not have a computer at home.

Students with laptops might contribute to a weekly notes-book that the entire class can share.

3) Are students who use laptops screwing around?

Laptops make taking notes easier (typing, editing, and sharing). However, the temptation to play games or instant mesasge may prove to great to your students. If you worry about this, you might make a general no-laptop policy. If you want to try with a few students, go ahead! When I suspect a student is up to no good, I approach them and look for a furtive gesture - a quick movement to hide a window. I also stand behind them sometimes to watch their screens.

4) Is your class is lecture-heavy (not experiential, discussion, or lab)?

Lecture classes are better suited for laptops than other types of classes. Whenever there is a large amount of didactic material, laptops can help.

No one knows your students or your teaching better than you. Try out a couple of laptops and see how it works. In some cases, it might be a perfect fit. In other cases, it might not!

One of the common issues in the perennial Mac vs PC debate is cost.  However, when comparing like-systems, the difference is negligible.

This is my experience in schools. I know, you could order a cheap machine from New Egg or Tiger Direct, but what I hope to do here is demonstrate similarly spec’d machines are very close in price. And in fact, Apples come out on top. I’m using educational pricing for one machine - in my experience, volume pricing works out to the same percentage with each vendor.

Neither unit has office, however educational pricing for both platforms is similar.

The contenders:

iMac: $1568
Dell: $1550

Apple:

iMac 20-inch 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
OS X - full version
1GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 1x1GB
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Apple Mighty Mouse
320GB Serial ATA Drive
Apple Keyboard
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
AppleCare Protection Plan
iLife

Dell:

OptiPlex 745 Minitower:
Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E6600 (2.40GHz, 4M, 1066MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows® XP Professional, SP2, x32, with Media
1.0GB DDR2 Non-ECC SDRAM, 667MHz, (2DIMM)
256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO, Dual Monitor VGA (TV-out)
20 inch UltraSharp™ 2007FPW Widescreen, Adjustable Stand, VGA/DVI
Dell USB Enhanced Multimedia Keyboard, English
Dell USB 2-Button Optical Mouse with Scroll
250GB SATA 3.0Gb/s and 8MB DataBurst Cache
1.44MB 3.5 Inch Floppy Drive
Dell™ A225 Speakers
48X32 CDRW/DVD Combo Roxio Creator™ Cyberlink Power DVD™
3 Year NBD Plus (NBD onsite w/ Gold Tech Support)

What iMacs offer (for free) that Dell’s don’t:

integrated video camera and microphone
iLife (iMovie, iTunes, Garage Band, iWeb, iPhoto, and iDVD)
Great speakers
Bigger hard disk
firewire ports
built-in bluetooth support
mail program
instant messaging program
no need for anti-virus
free disk imaging utility (asr)
developer tools

As far as my position on Macs vs PC’s, I am open to both platforms. However, when I ask teachers what they want to do, they usually talk about movies, podcasting, creating websites for their students, etc… All things iMacs do exceedingly well. I prefer OS X and Mac’s (and OS X Server). 

Wow!

My wife and I are back from Brattleboro and we had a brilliant time (pictures here).

We stayed at 40 Putney Road Bed and Breakfast, which is by far the most pleasant and charming inn I have ever enjoyed. Tim and Amy have a perfect setting, and their energy and hospitality were nothing short of perfect.  Amy cooked the most delicious breakfasts every morning, and Tim’s encyclopedic knowledge of beers, wines and the sort made for fantastic evenings at their pub. They were both friendly and genuinely welcoming.  If anyone is planning on visiting Vermont, I heartily recommend this B&B.

We hiked, swam, canoed, biked, shopped, and ate all over Brattleboro.  It was a wonderful trip, and although we are happy to be home, I miss Vermont.