SpitzerTech.com

The Federal Communications Commission today voted to continue banning cell phone use on airline flights!  Hooray for the quiet folks . . . I cannot imagine enduring a 2 or 3 hour flight having to listen to someone talking on their cell phone.

I once took Amtrak from Tampa to Orlando, Florida, and had to listen to a woman speaking on her cell phone the entire two hour trip.  It was nothing short of maddening!

Click here for CNN’s story on the ban and FCC vote.

Note though, that the FCC reserves the right to revisit the ban in the future if additional technical information becomes available. . . . so it’s peace and quiet . . . . for now.

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Adobe announced just yesterday the release of an updated Dreamweaver (didn’t we just get an updated version???).

You should see some of the features available, though.  Check out this site:

Adobe Dreamweaver CS

Have you met Microsoft’s Crabby Lady?  She writes some fun columns about technology.  Check her out at

The Microsoft Crabby Lady

You never know who you are interacting with online!  Even though you may think you know . . . you can’t really be sure.  So, here are some quick rules to follow when interacting through a chat room or instant message or when you create profiles on sites like MySpace:

1. Never give out personal information such as your home address, telephone number, parents’ work address/telephone number, or the name and location of your school without your parents’ permission.
 
2. Never agree to get together with someone you “meet” online without first checking with your parents and then taking them along when you go. 
 
3. Never send a person your picture.
 
4. Do not respond to any messages that are mean.
 
5. Never give out your Internet password to anyone other than your parents (not even your best friends).
 
6. Be a good online citizen and do not do anything that hurts other people or is against the law.

7. Help your parents understand how to have fun and learn things online and teach them things about the Internet, computers and other technology!

Adapted from http://www.safekids.com/kidsrules.htm
 

If you like TrackStar, the tool that lets teachers organize a series of URLs, annotate them, and post them in an easily accessible web site, you’ll like some of the other tools available at 4Teachers.org. Click below.

4Teachers.org

Inspiration is a concept-mapping application. You can download a free 30-day trial version and learn much, much more about this engaging software at their web site. Click below.

Inspiration

OK, so I’ve taken a bit of a break with the ol’ blog so far this term. I can’t really say why I haven’t posted much, but I’m hoping to be “back in the blog saddle” over the next couple of weeks.

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As for my classes who are reading this as part of the quiz . . . this is not one of the posts you should respond to. Check out the entries under “edtech talk” and “teacher tools” or read some of the other posts under this heading, “general gabs”.

So we’re headed into Finals Week here at Indiana University South Bend and all its accompanying emotional ups and downs.

First, the ups . . .

• The Winter Break
  Students (and faculty, too!) look forward to a few weeks of “pressure’s off.” Of course, students find themselves catching up on all that’s been put aside for the last several weeks (or months? (laundry? cleaning out those green growing things in the back of the fridge?)), and faculty get a chance to dig into some serious writing that’s been neglected due to the demands of teaching and committee work piled on their plates since late August. It’s a time, though, of setting one’s own schedule and taking advantage of large blocks of uninterrupted time.
• A Clean Slate
  With the coming new semester, everyone gets a chance to start over . . . old habits developed over the past term can be broken with self-promises of doing things differently next semester. As a faculty member, I always look forward to the start of a new semester and a new group of students (not that I don’t like my soon-to-be former students!).
• Holiday Celebrations
  There’s a lot to be said for celebrating the holidays, whether you’re a lover of Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, or just a fan of celebrating family and those close to you. Building lasting relationships and celebrating those relationships seems to be much keener in our minds and hearts at this time of year. My wife and I will spend time with my family this year in Iowa, and I’m looking forward to that very much.

Of course, there are always some disadvantages to Finals Week . . .

• Stress . . .
  The media talk a lot about “high stakes testing” in public schools brought about (or made more critical) by No Child Left Behind. At the collegiate level, students find themselves pressured by high stakes testing every semester at this time. Faculty, too, find themselves stressed over grading work quickly so that grades can be submitted in a timely fashion (IU requires final grades within 48 hours of the final), yet grading thoroughly enough to make a competent assessment of students’ knowledge.
• End of Class
  I’ll admit it. I really like my students. I spent several years in corporate training and didn’t much like it. Why? Training sessions of 1 to 5 days didn’t allow for the types of relationships that are built when I see students over a 15-week semester; I really missed that. Now that classes are coming to an end, I wonder if my students know how much of an impression they’ve made on me? I hope they know how much I enjoy being their teacher, mentor, and guide.

Whether you focus on the ups or dwell on the downs, Finals Week is here . . . keep smiling, and think about Thursday, December 14. Sometime late that afternoon, it’ll all be over.

You gotta read this posting . . .

It’s on a site called “Creating Passionate Users” and I think it says much that is directly related to my most recent posting, “Good Enough Probably Isn’t.”

Dilbert and the Zone of Medocrity