FCC Approves E-rate Modernization Along Partisan Lines

Interesting blog, and it has me torn on the issue.  Funding for improving technology in schools seems always a good thing, but on the other hand I think there are more significant gaps in education to address.



FCC Approves E-rate Modernization Along Partisan Lines

Social Media, an energy field created by all living things, that surrounds and penetrates living beings and binds the galaxy together.

So I came across a Facebook post regarding the inspiring story of Katie Goldman that got me really thinking about the power of Web 2.0.  If you are not familiar with the story you can read the full article here, but the gist is this.  Katie at 7 years-old was harassed and teased for being a girl who liked Star Wars, and her mother wrote about it in her blog.  Her story went viral when it was picked up by the 501st Legion, a network of Star Wars fans and cosplayers which tweeted support under #maytheforcebewithkatie and sent Star Wars swag to the little girl.  Two years later, the 501st rallied through social media yet again to assemble an authentic stormtrooper Halloween costume for the young fan.  Katie proudly wore it on numerous occasions.

The story could end there, but doesn't.  Two years later, the 501st contacted Katie about another young girl being bullied in a similar fashion.  Katie eagerly passed her prized costume to Allison, creating 'The Sisterhood of the Traveling Stormtrooper Costume."  They 501st put the story out on Instagram, and added #HeartOfTheForce #BadGuysDoingGood #PayItForward to it.  

And the saga continues.  This past spring, the mother of a bullied boy in Florida sought out the support of the 501st Legion.  In addition to bullying, her son suffers from severe ADHD and she was looking for Star Wars-themed learning resources that would inspire the young fan.  The group rallied at a Books-A-Million in Lakeland to show support and gather resources for the young boy.  You can read the full story here. 

PLN Problems

I have been developing my PLN, looking for experts on intelligence organizations and intelligence analysis.  I have joined a group with this expertise on LinkedIn and I am starting to follow their discussions and read their articles.  However, I am struggling with directing activities towards my specific interests within the community.  I have not had any response to the discussions I have attempted to start, and most of the material I have found through lurking is not providing me with what I want to learn from the PLN.  Part of it I believe is because I am a newcomer and not an industry insider.  I am trying to connect with group members that I feel may offer useful information, but I am awaiting their response.  My biggest hope is that in ten days I will be attending an intelligence industry conference and I will be able to make some direct personal connections that I can then incorporate into my online PLN.  Until then, I will keep hammering away at it.

Fingers crossed!

FERPA Fears and Social Media

In response to the week's discussion on FERPA guidelines and social media, I went looking and found this blog article Is Your Use of Social Media FERPA Compliant? (EDUCAUSE Review) | EDUCAUSE.edu "Is Your Use of Social Media FERPA Compliant?" by Perry Drake.  This is a really informative article, and provides answers to a number of questions regarding this issue.  The author uses a number of examples and cites case law as well to drive home the points he is making.  The primary point is that digital media is not specifically covered by FERPA.  Amidst all the insights Drake supplies, he distills his advice to these two points: 

1. "When using Twitter, Facebook, or other social platforms, never reveal information about students that might indicate their grades, course enrollments, class schedules, and so on. Doing so could be noted as a FERPA violation if called out by the student.
2. We must realize what is and is not subject to "inspect and review" regarding our actions with others and students. Any document or communication (digital or not) that is considered an educational record for purposes of FERPA is subject to the "inspect and review" privilege by the student." (Retrieved 7/5/2014 from http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/your-use-social-media-ferpa-compliant)

 For more, follow the link above to the article.

Giving the More Complicated a Try....

I really got excited about Meemoo.  I have had ideas for a number of GIFs and simple apps in the past, and I thought that if I took some time to play with it I would have another great tool at my disposal.  The intro video had me thoroughly hooked, and conceptually it is brilliant.  However, the current stage it is at is too advanced for the casual novice to pick up in a few hours.  The introductory tutorial does not provide enough instruction, it is not as intuitive as other programs I have used, and there are no help menus.  I am not being negative, only realistic.  You need to have some experience with writing code and doing this kind of work "the hard way" in order to quickly understand, appreciate and utilize what it offers.  Otherwise, you will need to invest some serious time.  I do not have the time to get the hang of this right now, but I will return to it in the future.  I do want to be able to use it!

Things Not Turning Out as Expected

This was one of those weeks where you end up in unexpected places.  And that I wasn't going the where I expected.  I also found that someplace I'd been had more to offer than I realized.

Early this week, I saw a lot of interest in Edmodo.  A few of my peers were highly enthused about the tool, a couple lauding it as superior to Blackboard.  So I spent time there as a student and a teacher.  I like the simplicity of the service, but I found it too basic.  As much as I have complained about Blackboard as an instructor, I have never had trouble with it as a student.  And while the interface can be cumbersome on both sides of this online classroom, the wealth of resources and tools it provides make it far superior to Edmodo.  I can see it of great utility for secondary education, but college educators need more than it has to offer--at least in my humble opinion.

What surprised me was Fakebook. It seemed too simplistic and gimmicky to be useful to me as an instructor.  However, after touring it for awhile I found a couple of ideas for class assignments percolating to the surface.  My only disappointment is that you can only create single pages.  I would like to be able to link pages together, so that you can really exploit interrelationships between public figures.  This would make it very powerful and quite useful to me.

Google Maps is a tool with which I was already familiar, and I frequently use Google Earth, a companion product.  What was surprised me was the fact that Google had made their Maps engine a collaborative tool.  I knew that users could contribute content to Google Earth Community, but the shareable personal maps was new to me.  This inspired new ideas for other assignments that leveraged this collaboration.  It also had me take a look at other features from Google Maps Engine, the one I found most interesting was that it was capable of supporting app creation and mobility enabled content.  This is yet another tool I really want to spend some time exploring.

I Am Not Alone Shouting (Posting) in the Dark!

I was perusing my features in Blogger and found the stats tab that tallies my page views.  I was happy to learn that although I was only getting a few comments on every other blog, I was getting a lot of traffic on it!  355 in the past month is not bad at all, and is really encouraging.  This is nice feedback to have.

I also found it interesting that you can examine where your page views are originating by looking at Traffic Sources.   I thought that this would be fairly useful, particularly if you want to consider making changes to your blog service.

Then I stumbled on the really neat service they provide.  They provide stats on your audience in terms of browsers used, operating systems, and country.  I found it interesting that I was getting views from Russia, France, and Ukraine, and I was wondering how many of my fellow students are studying from abroad?  Or were these chance encounters?  In any case, I like seeing that my work is going global!