I think therefore I blog :-)

Cold!

2012-01-21T12:29:00.003-06:00

It's -13 in Fahrenheit Taken Jan 21 at 9 am

Actions against PIPA and SOPA Acts

2012-01-18T12:08:00.001-06:00

Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge... Do you follow the actions taken in response to PIPA and SOPA Acts?

Protect IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) are the two controversial bills in Congress that propose to impose some strict regulations and consequences related to the online piracy. While the concern is legitimate it is also believed that the act will stifle the creativity, freedom of speech and impose impossible to maintain restrictions on some file sharing and open source services.

In response many major services taken actions in protest:

English language Wikipedia blocked out their services for 24 hours.
Polish Wikipedia decided not to block their services not to punish Polish citizens for the actions of American politicians, but they posted announcement of support and a reminder that we are all responsible for the ethical behavior in the cyber space.
Google put the petition to sign urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA.
Flickr.com offers its users option of darkening their and other photos for 24 hours.
Twitter is trending #stopsopa and #sopa
Wired.com cover page is censored and links to the article "Why we've Censored Wired.com"

Wikipedia blacked out in protest Jan 18, 2012

Google call to take action and sign the petition

Flick allow users to darken photos for 24 hours

Wired.com blocked with rollover effect

Google homepage

Polish Wikipedia posted an article in solidarity with the American version

Happy Saint Nicholas day!

2011-12-04T11:15:00.000-06:00

In Poland and large part Eurasia (Catholic and Orthodox Christians) we are observing Saint Nicholas Day (in Polish: Święty Mikołaj) . It always falls on December 6.

In a nutshell: Nicholas is an original St.Claus . He lived in 4th century in modern day Turkey. He was a bishop and he used his entire inheritance and powers to help people in need. He was doing it secretly.

"Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:34)

The traditions and many legends vary from country to country but the spirit of love and giving is the main theme.

These days on December 5 before going to bed, children clean and put their shoes out hoping that St.Nick will bring them little gifts (small toys or sweets). In some homes St.Nicholas is putting gifts under the pillow. This is also a good time to leave in the shoe or under the pillow the christmas wish list:-)

Because St. Nicholas is a symbol of giving and helping poor - many parents use his story to teach kids that it is better to give than to receive. Some parents help their kids to look through their toys and pick one good toy or use the allowance to buy one and to donate to less privileged. I am thinking about doing that with Lucy this year. We are reading now the Rainbow Fish story by Marcus Pfister that should nicely reinforce the idea of giving. My mom read to us The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen to help us understand tragedy of poor but I think I was older.

Once Saint Nicholas was portrayed as a bishop wearing mitre on his head, dressed in bishop's robes and holding the pastoral staff. Now more and more is morphing to the American version of Santa Claus. Here is a pretty good website about the St. Nicholas, although the description of celebration in Poland is rather dated and not quite right. http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/home/

Tomorrow I am going to tell the story of Święty Mikołaj to Lucy's group at Child Development Center.

image wikimedia

iSad :-(

2011-10-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Thank you Steve Jobs for thinking different and for changing the way we use technology today. RIP

Exorcist (2011). Brilliant Ad!

2011-06-10T11:33:00.000-05:00

Try to guess what it is about. I bet you can't. No cheating!

http://vimeo.com/22984504

Promethean PD with Lucy

2011-05-03T13:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Rob introduced Lucy (4 years old next month ) to the Promethean board.
She seemed to have fun and adapted pretty fast to the brand new environment. The pen could be more responsive and perhaps the tools and functions could be enhanced with the voice over, but overall I think she was excited to interact!

100th anniversary of the International Women's Day

2011-03-08T13:22:00.002-06:00

image from internationalwomensday.com

Today (March 8) is an International Women's Day!
Best wishes to all the extraordinary ladies in my life!

It is a major global event devoted to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women of past, present and future. This year is extra special as we are celebrating for the 100th time!

This year's celebration theme is “Access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work.”

Secretary Hillary Clinton launched the "100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchanges" a year-long series of events bringing 100 women leaders from 92 countries to the United States to talk about key issues directly affecting women and girls worldwide.

Why we need to keep reminding the world about our achievements? Check out the provocative video created for March 8 by weareequals.org

You can find more information about that day at:
http://www.un.org/en/events/women/iwd/2011/index.shtml
http://www.internationalwomensday.com
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/02/157107.htm

Happy Valentines!

2011-02-14T11:10:00.001-06:00

Some people criticizing it as a Hallmark holiday and we know that contrary to it's today message it has
dark origins, but common, who doesn't like to be loved? Even if it is just one day gesture it's worth the effort!
Below is a scene from Before Sunrise where Celine and Jesse are talking about love. I especially like what Celine says:

If there's any kind of magic in this world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone, sharing something. I know it's almost impossible to succeed but who cares really?

I know that valentine day is more about lovers rather than love but I like the scene:-) Here is the link to my post from couple years ago, where I included links to my favorite love scenes.

Lost for words? The Conversationator from the Feed to the rescue!

2010-10-18T10:59:00.006-05:00

Have fun wasting your precious work time ;-)

Our Twin Girls are here!

2010-09-23T19:36:00.001-05:00

Lilian Eva (left) and Vivian Lee (right). Lili & Vivi

Lilian 6lbs 12oz and Vivian 6lbs 14oz. Both seem healthy. Everyone is doing well.

Is the Web Dead ?!

2010-08-25T11:31:00.007-05:00

The newest issue of Wired magazine (September 2010) proclaimed on the cover page that the World Wide Web is Dead!

Intrigued and ready to disagree I hurried to read the article (the only paper magazine I still subscribe to) and… well… I had to agree with the authors. To some extend. With the smart phones and many cool apps popping every day going to the static web is becoming obsolete. But we are still using dynamic websites!

In the article “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet” Chris Anderson and Michael Wolff explain that we are abandoning the Web for “simpler and sleeker services”.

I quickly analyzed my yesterday on the grid:

Tuesday morning:
-Video-conference with parents in Poland (Skype app)
-Check Mail (mail app.)
-Quick check of the Facebook and NaszaKlasa (polish SN service)- both web based, and off to school
-At work we are using the Web for our classes, all fused with eLearning- Blackboard course management system and class Blog
-Afternoon, in my office jumped to my google reader to browse through the fresh RSS feeds
-Quick look at the tweets updates on Tweetie app
-Music background from iTunes
-Constant checking of the mail and keeping an eye on FB, and tweets is just a second nature;
-At home short break from the net to read a paper copy (!) of Wired
-Skype-to-phone call to my friend in NYC
-At night we were watching DVR recorded Rachel Maddow show and Colbert report (our 3 years old is hijacking the TV before her bed time),
and off to bed
-to read a little bit on my Kindle before switching to the Morpheus world.

Realization: As much as I am relying on the internet access throughout my entire day, I really don't use that much web. However I am still blogging and maintaining my daughter website and I don't think that it will go away any time soon. So as much as authors of the article made few valid observations related to the Internet trends, I also think that they exaggerate a bit by pronouncing the dead of the web.

PS. Now the Web needs to go on to Larry King to denounce its dead. Just like Bill Cosby did :-)

What Google Suggests?

2010-06-16T07:50:00.008-05:00

I love the Google Suggest in the search box on Safari.

Not too long ago I decided to do a little research on Anderson Cooper's sexuality. I have to admit, I use to have crash on this boyishly handsome, gray haired CNN anchor. This month he turned 43 and he is still single (in the official definition of being single).

Anyway, I started typing my query in the google search box and here is the result just after "is andreson cooper". I guess I am not the only one who's wondering :-)

BTW, I tried to find the good bio source about Cooper to link this post to and nothing bits Wikipedia! Why so many teachers are still so opposed to this resource?

Here is how Google Suggest works explained in their own words:

As you type, Google Suggest returns search queries based on other users' search activities. These searches are algorithmically determined based on a number of purely objective factors (including popularity of search terms) without human intervention. All of the queries shown in Suggest have been typed previously by other Google users. The Suggest dataset is updated frequently to offer fresh and rising search queries. In addition, if you're signed in to your Google Account and have Web History enabled, you'll see search queries from relevant searches that you've done in the past.

How to Ace the SAT tests - Sound Advice by Mr.Colbert

2010-05-22T11:15:00.006-05:00

It is time of preparations for SAT. That brings the memory of my prep courses, and hours of study for the Maturity exams, and then college entry exams in Poland brrr... it still gives me the chills and bad dreams once in a while!

Anyway, here is a Sound Advice from Steven Colbert. Enjoy :-)

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Sound Advice - How to Ace the SATs

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Fox News

Good luck to you all!

Steve Jobs i Bill Gates

2010-05-07T12:15:00.010-05:00

Ktos mi niedawno przeslal to w masowym mailu. Za oknem deszcz i znaczne ochlodzenie a do tego koniec semestru i dziesiatki prac do ocenienia. Zatem mail jak ten poprawil mi humor i dal mi pretekst zeby na chwilke oderwac sie od projetow. Nie znam zrodla orginalu ale ryzykuje i zamieszczam, a autor niech sie zglosi po laury :-)

PS. Ja chce iPad!

Twins news!

2010-04-29T13:46:00.005-05:00

We just have an ultrasound (17 weeks) and found out that twin A is a girl and twin B is.... also a girl!
Lucy will have two little sisters. The kids are healthy. No sign of club feet. On the pictures below two little heads and the girls faces. I am grateful for the ultrasound technology that helps monitor my kids and let me take a peek inside my belly. I wonder, should I share the babies images with Lucy? Will she understand what she sees? Could it spook her? After all, they look like little aliens:-)

Wow, house full of estrogen. LOL! Brace yourself daddy.
Rob's reaction in the car "we will spent the fortune on weddings" :-D

Being a Change Agent aka The Status Quo Sucks

2010-04-19T12:38:00.020-05:00

Today was the last lecture for our EdTech & Design class. Our carefully chosen lecture topic was "Being a Change Agent in Your School". All to often we hear from our students that we are the only ones who are preaching and also infusing technology in to teaching and learning. All to often our students who graduate with heads and hearts full of great innovative ideas meet the wall of problems created by stubborn or sick with apprehension teachers and technology coordinators in their new workplaces. Ronald Regan once said “Status quo, you know, that is Latin for ''the mess we're in."

How many of our students will stand up against status quo? How many will be changed by the old cadre?

We polled them today during our regular backchannel discussion via the coveritlive! The results are promising:

Morning lecture:
afternoon lecture:
Dr.Z quoted Robert F. Kennedy

Some men see things as they are and ask “Why?”
I dream things that never were and ask “Why Not?

Good luck guys! You are a smart bunch. Just don't lose the enthusiasm, dream big, and never stop learning! As my friend, Martajek, says: "Those who don't keep marching perish"

photo by Blackwood

Twitter overload!

2010-04-19T10:54:00.002-05:00

MeBeam girls - not here :-(

2010-03-29T15:21:00.014-05:00

About three years ago I blog about exciting new video conferencing/social network system MeBeam. Since then MeBeam with it's ease of use and full anonymity gained great popularity among people interested in looking for sexual content and "adult" meetings.

It is fascinating to observe how many people accidentally landing on my blog post while searching for MeBeam girls, adult rooms, or porn :-) I found it strangely addicting watching it on FEEDJIT Live - the real time traffic feed for blogs.

Mebeam rooms are used to fulfill users’ needs. Whether it is need for entertainment, escapism, hedonistic pleasure, aesthetic enjoyment, emotional release, sexual arousal or social interaction it seems to be an important part of human needs.

Reflection: When it comes to sex the world has no boundaries... I will take that over the war

Check that out:

Vancouver 2010 - How Colbert save the dying art

2010-02-17T15:22:00.015-06:00

On February 11, Stephen Colbert revealed The Colbert Report's official poster for the Vancouver Olympics, created by Shepard Fairey (you can download the full poster version here). He introduced it to his guest David Ross in the context of the discussion how sports have create art. It is interesting how Olympic posters changed over the years. I think that political and cultural correctness had a lot to do with it.

Great interview! As usually, Colbert combines entrainment with intelligence and a good dose of narcissism :-)

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

David Ross

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Skate Expectations

Why it is such an interest to me? Because, as a citizen of Colbert Nation I also helped to support US Speedskating team :-)

Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T09:28:00.011-06:00

Valentine's day is one of the older and more popular traditions around the world. Interestingly, St.Valentine was a martyr and there is nothing romantic about his life and death. There is not much information about the guy (or guys) period. Go figure!

Nevertheless, it is nice to love someone and be loved! Happy Valentine's!

You can read my Valentine post from last year. I included there my favorite love-sex-relationship movie clips.

In the picture is my Don Quixote :-) I love you baby!

The visible invisible

2010-01-31T20:32:00.014-06:00

One of the classrooms close to my office are used by CIEP students (The Culture and Intensive English Program). The building I am working in is logistical nightmare and no one is surprised seeing people running circles in search for a room which according to every logic should be next to rooms with similar numbers but it is not! Once in a while some poor soul asks me where to find the restroom or classroom. But recently it happened twice that after pointed to the right place the foreign student could not find the man restroom. Finally I decided to investigate the problem.

Imagine that you are a foreign student still struggling with English (or generally with Latin-based alphabet). While looking in the direction where the bathroom should be you are arriving to the generic door and here is what you see at first (eye level)How would you interpret this symbol?

Still not sure what you are looking at and despite the sign to "keep closed" you are opening the door and here it is what you see:

The image is not quite showing the actual depth, but after opening the door one can see fairly long corridor - The fire escape route?
Now, if you only looked up you would see the sign: men. But remember, you really need to use the restroom and you already run circles around the crazy building! Also, as a world traveler you are use to the symbols marking the restroom and other pivotal places, not just words!

Does the fire door sticker really communicate the message? What exactly is that message about anyway? It it universal enough to be correctly interpreted by anyone? How would you improve the visibility of the restroom?

Help for Haiti

2010-01-17T10:16:00.018-06:00

On January 12, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. Majority of Port-au-Prince is destroyed and tone of people are buried dead or alive under the fallen buildings. The Red Cross counts about 3 million people killed, injured or homeless...
I cannot even begin to imagine how the survives feel. Many of them will never find their loved ones, as many of the dead bodies are being buried in the mass graves. For those who survived new challenges are paling up. How to feed the family? How to find the missing close ones? How to put together shattered life? How to survive in chaos after the quake? Libraries, churches, schools, archives are destroyed and with that, big part of historical and cultural artifacts. Peoples' personal belongings, photos and keepsakes are gone. Official documents are gone! Haitian who are dealing with extreme poverty anyway (the poorest country in the entire western hemisphere) will have to face the whole another level of challenges.

The silver lining of the tragedy is that the whole world jumped to help.

Within only two days Red cross raised $4 million just via text donations (brilliant and convenient!). Private people and businesses are donating money to their favorite organizations. Celebrities are donating and/or raising private money. 11 networks will air "Hope for Haiti" telethon lead by Gorge Clooney, Wyclef Jean, and CNN's Anderson Cooper. Almost all popular websites have some kind of button linking to the charities or offering products raising the money to help Haiti (below the screen captures from: amazon, google, itunes, e-online, ebay, overstock, cafe press, target, yahoo, and mtv).

I wonder how the tragedy will influence (and vice verse) tonight Golden Globes Ceremony?

You can bid on PAT ROBERTSON VOODOO DOLL! All proceeds Go To Haiti relief and so far the highest bid is $560! Pat Robertson showed his lack of empathy and unchristian behavior when he blamed Haitian tragedy on their pact with the Devil.

There is a will to help and there are the money in the world. Now let's hope that all the money will be used to the best and won't dissapear in some corrupted hands...

Here are the places I chose to support (and why).

SMS text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts (because it was cool idea to use SMS)
SMS text “HAITI” to 20222 and $10 will be given to the Clinton Foundation's Haiti Relief Fund (because I trust Bill Clinton)
Go to www.unicefusa.org to donate any money to help children (because it is a first place I am going to when the disaster strikes in the world, and I trust that organization).

For the list of whole bunch of other relief organizations and the relevant to Haiti materials you can visit Google crisis response page

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T09:13:00.005-06:00

Comics like life

2009-12-17T18:25:00.012-06:00

I enjoy reading PHD comics (Piled Higher and Deeper a grad student comic strip). Despite the fact that I am not a graduate student anymore it is still so very close to my life. Especially the last couple comic strips were right on target:

Here is the first one from the Dec 2. Let me explain...It is white and pretty outside, we are thinking about Christmas and all the fun that comes with that time of the year. But It is also the finals week, I am buried under the grading, my reviews on ratemyprofessors.com contradict each other, and all the grading is on the computer.
Well, let me show you how I feel these days...

OK, maybe it is not that bad. True, I don't have the windows in my office but thanks to the google reader, Facebook , Nasza Klasa, Twitter and other social networks I can peek what is going on in the world and with my friends. Plus, I do love my MacBook and today I started to see the light on the end of the grading tunnel :-)

The second comic strip (Dec 14) is even more self explanatory since my parents, family and some of my best friends live in Europe ...

I love Skype! I think that I may mentioned it in my previous posts :-)

Have a great holidays everyone!

Thanksgiving cleaning

2009-11-25T22:31:00.010-06:00

My very first personal website (2002) is officially off the server!
Here are a picture collages that were featured on the page devoted to family and friends. Few things changed since then. We gain new friends, there are more beautiful kids among us and we had to say final goodbye to my grandma. I am thankful for the technology advancement that allow me to keep in touch with my loved ones. I am thankful for all my family and friends and for my little girl who is running right now around house happy to see her American grandparents and the godparents. Soon we will be joined by Rob's sister and her family and we will sit down to the Thanksgiving dinner. Life is good! Well... it would be even better if we had dishwasher! It may be challenging to do the after Thanksgiving cleaning with belly full of L-Tryptophan and Carbohydrates :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now my professional website can be seen on the uni.edu/maggda and Lucy's page lucygalloway.com

Serwisy Społecznosciowe w szkolach - za czy przeciw?

2009-11-02T13:03:00.001-06:00

Swietny pomysl i jednoczesnie zmora administratorow, niektorych rodzicow i nauczycieli. Wciaz trwa walka opinii pomiedzy latwym dostepem ucznia do internetu a limitowanym dostepem pod scisla kontrola. W wielu szkolach w moim Stanie (Iowa) serwisy spolecznosciowe jak YouTube, Facebook czy Wikipedia sa po prostu blokowane. Czy podobne obostrzenia wystepuja w polskich szkolach?

Najpopularniejsze argumeny strony opowiadajacej sie przeciwko liberalnemu dostepowi do internetu to:

Troska o bezpieczenstwo dziecka (propaganda, strony pornograficzne, predatorzy, cyber przemoc, ochrona danych osobowych…);
Bezpieczenstwo cennego komputera (wirusy, hakerzy…);
Utrzymywanie kontroli w klasie (sciaganie, odbieganie od tematu zajec, niemozliwosc sledzenia kazdego ucznia);
Obawa przed utrata twarzy, autorytetu i zaburzeniem status quo (Technologia to nie moja domena, co jesli wiem mniej niz uczniowie?, Przez 20 lat uczylam z powodzeniem w ten sposob i nie widze powodu na nagle zmiany…)

Moim zdaniem jest to kolejny nieszczesny krok poglebiajacy przepasc pomiedzy zyciem codziennym ucznia a szkola.

Oczywiscie, ze uczniowie skaczac ze strony na strone moga sie natknac na nieodpowiednie materialy! Dlatego tez uczenie krytycznego myslenia i sceptycznego oceniania informacji pochodzacych z nie sprawdzonych zrodel powinno byc mysla przewodnia w ukladaniu kazdego planu lekcji.

Trzeba tez zachowac doze zdrowego rozsadku. Tworzenie zakaznych owocow kusi od poczatku historii czlowieka. Jak mowi Zamachowski w reklamowce przewodnika dla rodzicow Bezpieczne Media: “Nic nie zastapi jednak rozmowy z dzieckiem. Hasla, kody ani inne zabezpieczenia”. Ustal zasady i granice, pokaz zaufanie, upewnij sie, ze dziecko wie gdzie sie zglosic w razie potrzeby i ze poza pomocnymi stronami jak helpline.org.pl ty tez jestes zaufanym zrodlem pomocy a nie egzekutorem kary za wpakowanie sie w klopoty.

Uczniowie musza nie tylko byc zapoznani z ogolnymi zasadami bezpieczenstwa w cyberprzestrzenieni i netykiety. Strony jak bezpiecznyinternet.org czy broszura wydana przez Ministerstwo Infrastruktury swietnie w tym pomagaja. Rzecz w tym, ze mlodzi ludzie tez musza to "czuc". Co innego uczyc sie o zagrozeniach a co innego rozumiec konsekwencje i samodzielnie, bez kontroli czy grozby kary podejmowac odpowiednie decyzje. Tak sie moze stac tylko jesli czlowiek nie czuje sie sterowany czy zmuszany i moze sie sam wyobrazic w podobnej sytuacji.

Jak na razie nie znalazlam naprawde dobrego polskiego filmiku przemawiajacego do mlodego czlowieka i wzbudzajcego empatie tak potrzebna do zrozumienia problemu. Ponizej podaje adresy do kilku moich ulubionych filmow w jezyku angielskim:

Think U know (Myslisz ze wiesz) – pokazujacy konsekwencje umawiania sie z nieznajomym poznanym w internecine i jak latwo mozna temu zapobiec

Think Before You Post (Pomysl zanim wyslesz) – uswiadamiajacy, ze wszystko co umieszczamy na swojej stronie jest dostepne dla kazdego , niekoniecznie przyjaciela.

Talent Show (Pokaz talentow). Przewrotny sposob na wzbudzenie empatii. Slowa bola. Jesli nie nadaja sie do powiedzenia komus prosto w twarz, dlaczego mialyby byc dobre w cyberprzestrzeni? Wykasuj cyberprzemoc. Nie tworz jej, Nie przesylaj dalej.

A co do niepewnosci i obawy przed zmianami? Jak mawia moj przyjaciel Martajek "Kto nie maszeruje ten ginie". Praca nauczyciela to ciagla nauka. Jesli nie lubisz sie uczyc to moze pora pomyslec o zmianie kariery. Wyobrazasz sobie chirurga ktory praktykuje jedynie metody i technologie ktore poznal w szkole medycznej 30 lat temu? Zmiany nalezy przyjac jako nieuniknione. Mlodsze pokolenie zawsze ma lepsze pojecie o technologii niz my. My tez kiedys pomagalismy nauczycielowi wlozyc tasme do video :-)

Pokolenie Y

2009-10-28T12:59:00.016-05:00

Niedawno natknelam sie na dobry artkul na edunews.pl podpowiadajacy wspolczesnemu nauczycielowi co zrobic zeby dogonic XXI wiek i dotrzec lepiej do nowego pokolenia uczniow czy studentow.

Wiekszosc nauczycieli (bez wzgledu na kontynent) wciaz tkwi w realiach stworzonych przez pokolenie X . Tymczasem nie jest tajemnica, ze nowe pokolenie, generacja Y zwana tez pokoleniem milenijnym albo generacja WE (MY) widzi swiat przez zupelnie inne okulary. Nie powinno byc tajemnica, ze stare metody nauczania nie sa juz tak skuteczne a rodzaje informacji juz nie tak kluczowe do osiagniecia sukcesu jak byly kilka dekad temu . Swiat sie zmiena i zadaniem nauczyciela jest przygotowanie mlodego czlowieka do zycia w nowym swiecie otwartch granic, globalnej komunikacji, wspolpracy i wspolzawodnictwa.

To pokolenie urodzone w latach osiemdziesiatych i dziewiecdziesiatych ma inna etyke i inne struktury myslenia. Dzieci z generacji Y wychowane sa zazwyczaj przez niezwykle kochajacych i poblazliwych rodzicow. Od mlodosci wpaja im sie poczucie wlasnej wartosci, sukcesu ale tez czesto przymyka sie oko na niekonsewencje i brak dyscypliny. To dzieci multimedialne wychowane z technologia za pan brat, potrafiace poruszac sie po cyber przestrzeni, biorace udzial w globalnej wymianie informacji, nie tylko czerpiac pelnymi garsciami z intenetowych zrodel ale tez dodajac wlane materialy (filmiki na YouTube , blogi, wiki, strony internetowe…) To pokolenie nie obawiajace sie otwartosci w wyrazaniu uczuc, stawiajace na prace w zespole, kolaboracje, smiala wymiane mysli i opinii. Na codzien komunikuje sie uzywajac serwisow spolecznosciowch i sms-ow (e-mail to dla nich relikt). Wideo-konferencja z kims z innego kraju nie stanowi dla nich problemu.

Wracajac, do wpomnianego na poczatku arykulu, autor, Marcin Polak oferuje dziesiec podpowiedzi dla edukatora epoki cyfrowej. W nastepnym wpisie postaram sie dodac do jego podpowiedzi moje konkretne przyklady i narzedzia Web2.0

Image: The Missouri School of Journalism

New girl, new challenge, new joy!

2009-06-25T11:53:00.018-05:00

My great friends just become the parents. Their beautiful and so much awaited daughter was born on June 19 after almost 24 hours of labor. She is absolutely adorable! (6 lbs 9 oz (2990 grams) and 19.5 inches (50cm)). The C-section saved her all the blotchiness from squishing and pulling related to the traditional delivery.

The only wrinkle in the whole event is that she was born with a Down syndrome.

The news was delivered to the parents at the birth and in a split second turned their world up side down. Initially we were all shocked and felt sorry for them, but as the hours went by, and we learned that girl’s heart is healthy, and that besides a little jaundice all seem to be good, everything started to look in better colors. There are worse things in the world that are happening to parents and to children. When my daughter was born with the clubfeet I was crying my eyes out. Then we went to the Orthopedics and Rehabilitation Clinic in Iowa City and we saw all the kids with variety of disabilities much, MUCH worse than treatable condition of Lucy’s feet. We saw kids in the full body casts, kids permanently unable to walk, incapable of lifting their head up, or without limbs. That put our “tragedy” in to the right perspective.

People with Down syndrome are able to fully function and participate in the social life. Kids are growing and reaching all the stages of cuteness and annoyance just like any other kids are. They are able to attend regular school, have friends, hobbies, work, contribute to the society… well you got a picture.

How about all the dreams for the girl, the lofty bright future that her parents were planning during the pregnancy?
The great Janusz Korczak once said :

"Feelings that have no outlet become daydreams. And daydreams become the internal script of life. If we knew how to interpret them, we would find they come true. But not always in the way we expect."

Not too long ago I was reading in educatednation.com interesting article about overachieving parents. The basic idea was that parents should “let it go”. Kids are not here to make their parents look good. Their job is to be happy and to grow in to themselves. I also stumbled upon a nice quote by Hodding Carter, Jr.

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings".

Welcome to this world little girl. Be healthy and be happy. And with parents like yours, with all your family and friends, I am certain that your roots will be strong and your wings will spread wide. Oh, and remember, you will always have an aunt to support you. Just clap your hands… or dial the number :-)

image 2003-2009 www.clipart.com

Reality has become a commodity

2009-04-19T12:33:00.009-05:00

I just stumble upon one of the older "Words" from ingenious Stephen Colbert . Stephen has a long history of making fun of Wikipedia, he even created spoof version of Wikipedia, Wikiality.

Wikiality.com, the Truthiness Encyclopedia. The new place to be on The Internets. Unlike Wikipedia, entries here are judged on their truthiness; if it feels right it's probably truthy.

One more time Colbert in his twisted way is reminding us that we have to be critical consumers and don't believe everything that is pushed upon us via mass-media. Use your brain people! But enough from me, just listen to the master :-)

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - Wikilobbying

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

NASA Name Contest

BTW: There is still no definition of wikilobbying in the Wikipedia, but the term found it's place in the Urban Dictionary

O, and there is no Colbert proposed Wikipedia entry under Reality :-(

Panta rei- never more true Mr.Heraclitus

2009-04-15T08:56:00.013-05:00

Ah it was so nice to escape for a day form university and... well visit another university haha. I guess my private universe revolves around the universities :-)

Yesterday we went to Iowa State University to attend Get Connected: ComETS Spring 2009 Symposium. ComETS stands for Community of Educational Technology Support. Mission of this new group, is bring together all ISU people interested in technology, and to promote dialog focused on technology in learning & teaching . We were invited by Travis Kramer as a guests.

Morning workshop was led by George Siemens from the University of Manitoba. Siemens is a scholar, writes and international speaker and consultant, assisting organizations to develop integrated learning structures and changes that they must make in order to address the challenges of an increasingly complex and overload with information world. Workshops were filled with interesting academic discussions traditionally not leading to any bigger conclusions. As much as I enjoyed listening to Siemens presentation and my colleagues exchange of thoughts, I could also see it being held in the nice bar with beers in our hands :-) But I had fun even sans beer :-)

Siemens was also a keynote speaker opening afternoon events. His presentation "The Impact of Connectivism and Networked Learning" was really interesting. His main idea was based on the fact that learning is a social process and knowledge is based on creating connections, the meanings between various external sources of information and our own knowledge base. This preached by Siemens idea of connectivism have four major principals:
1. Knowledge is networked and distributed.
2. The experience of learning is one of forming new neural, conceptual, and external networks.
3. Occurs in complex, chaotic, shifting spaces.
4 Increasingly aided by technology

The symposium was toped with "Lightning Strikes"- a ten minute presentations about emerging technologies and its usefulness in academia. I really enjoyed the Scott McLeod's (on a picture) presentation about Twitter. Hi presented the case for Twitter in academics in series of captured Twits.

What I took from that all day event? The main change in the perception of education is to realize that teacher is no longer be a gatekeeper to the information and with the information overload and complexity of the fast changing world it is impossible to be an expert in everything. Often students have more knowledge in some aspects (i.e. technology) than a teacher and a teacher must be prepared to embrace that and use it to support students learning (making connections). The concept of the teacher as a facilitator rather than disseminator is not new, but changing the models of teaching-learning never felt so urgent. These days we are getting knew knowledge from many resources we are creating our personal learning networks (PLN) that may include peers, parents, teachers, spiritual leaders, but also not-human resources like blogs, websites, TV, radio, books, magazines... It is important to realize how we choose elements of information to connect them to create meaning for ourselves. How to critically sort through all the information? We are constructing our knowledge through the matrix of our own experience, hence we are more receptive to see connections with something that we already know. Since teacher theoretically should has larger knowledge base than student, his or her role is to help students to make the connections with knew information.

Panta rei - Everything is in a state of flux, said famously Heraclitus the Ephesian some two and a half thousand years ago. World is changing, technology is changing, deal with it!

Twitter experiment

2009-04-03T10:00:00.023-05:00

I am a co writer of the next best selling novel! OK, maybe not quite the best selling and not quite a novel yet :-) Let me start from the beginning:

Twitter user dcannell announced:

Feel like helping, we need your next 140 characters, your creativity, together writing the next best seller http://bit.ly/14lBrK
A story built 140 characters at a time. If you are a twitter users...log on and add your line...add a hashmark #tothesky and I will add your line to the story.

So I did :-)
In case you have no idea what I am writing about, Twitter is another form of social networking and micro-blogging that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Here you can find a great video explaining it in "plain English" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

Are you ready to pick up the challenge? Hop on Twitter and add your 140 words to the story.

See below the Twitter challenge announced via YouTube video. I think that this kind of fun, collective and creative writing could be a cool activity in the classroom.

PS. To better see all the people I follow on Twitter I am using Twitterrific, twitter app for Mac OS, iPhone and iPod touch. You can download it here: http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific