May 2010
12 posts
Learning to single task can save you from a pit of...
from Lifehacker (http://bit.ly/bfiqId ) and the Guardian
“Multitasking makes us feel efficient, but it actually slows down our thinking. Our brains can’t handle more than one higher cognitive function at a time. We may think we’re multitasking, but in fact we’re switchtasking, toggling between one task and another. The phone, the email, the phone, back to the email. And...
Dumbing Down Teachers: Attacking Colleges of...
Prof Henri Giroux, in an article in Truthout: says
“The formative educational culture necessary for creating both critical citizens and a robust democracy is under major attack in the United States. And this is most evident in the assault that Duncan is waging against public schools, teachers and colleges of education.
“By espousing empirically based standards as a fix for...
WatchLiving and Learning in the Cloud: Donald Clark of REANNZ
Web design trends 2010
Smashing Magazine published this week a lengthy and well documented review of the web trends for 2010. Informative commentary too “…it’s about using appropriate metaphors to convey the meaning and purpose of certain design elements in general. Obviously, this approach reduces the complexity of user interaction. Another way to achieve this is by minimizing the appearance of elements or,...
Google's WebM: open source video format
Google unveiled an open-source, royalty-free video format called WebM on Wednesday, “The WebM project is dedicated to developing a high-quality, open video format for the Web that is freely available to everyone”.
From cnet : “The VP8 and WebM specifications as released on May 19th, 2010, are final, and we encourage everyone to use them for developing...
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facebook has gone rogue
This wired article gives an explanation of the implications of Facebook deciding to turn “your” profile page into your identity online, and their “creepy data practices like turning your info over to third parties”.
a 33 slide tutorial from the business insider can help —->
With growing grumbles about default privacy settings on facebook being more public than private,...
collaboration platform - elgg in a nutshell
Jane Hart and Harold Jarche have written a series of postings about the future of the LMS, and Jane has recently posted an update featuring elgg…
“Elgg is a free, open source social engine that lets you create a social environment / collaboration platform. Although iIt has social networking principles at its heart, it is much much more than this as it includes social bookmarking,...
send up to 2GB files for free
WeTransfer sends many files at once, up to 2GB, whereas yousendit’s free version has one file at a time 100MB limit. It’s uncomplicated, you don’t have to register, and your files are automatically scanned for viruses before they’re stored on the wetransfer servers.
Unlike YouSendit this service doesnt appear to remember email addresses from one transfer to the next, but otherwise it...
TED open tv project will air talks for free
“The new initiative will allow television broadcasters around the world to air the talks for free as well as create programming around them. One of the primary goals behind the project is to extend the reach of TED’s idea-spreading mission into the developing world. Interested broadcasters can find out more about how to get involved with the program and are encouraged to generate their own...
The coming melt-down in higher education
from Seth Goden
seems that some of this applies to NZ universities…
1. Most colleges are organized to give an average education to average students. 2. College has gotten expensive far faster than wages have gone up. 3. The definition of ‘best’ is under siege. 4. The correlation between a typical college degree and success is suspect. 5. Accreditation isn’t the solution,...
