Alas, My Last

Alas, I fear this is my last blog. But before the end, I have but a few things to say. While I hated blogging, I did enjoy putting my own spin on my personal blogs. That changed when it became an assignment. Maybe my blogs weren’t up to par with technology per say, but they were all my stories. Maybe I didn’t focus on how technology changed the story of how I live and learn. I could have started my blogs with, “When I was a girl, we had to walk to school. Mind you, my school was just across a small field. There were no such things as calculators….we had to count on our fingers. We listened to radio and watched black and white TV’s, not because we were poor (well we weren’t rich), but because everyone did, there was no such thing as colored TV's for anyone. We only had 3 channels, 2 of which were French. For 25 cents, I could buy myself a chip, bar and pop if I brought an empty bottle back for the 2 cent deposit.” Now, how boring a blog would that have been? Yesteryear seems like so long ago…who am I kidding; it was a long time ago. And as for what I expect 10 years from now,...at my age? "Que Sera Sera" (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).

Etch-A-Sketch Tech Support

Frequently Asked Questions for Etch-A-Sketch Technical Support
Q: My Etch-A-Sketch has all of these funny little lines all over the screen
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I turn my Etch-A-Sketch off?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: What's the shortcut for Undo?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I create a New Document window?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I set the background and foreground to the same color?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: What is the proper procedure for rebooting my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I delete a document on my Etch-A-Sketch?
A: Pick it up and shake it.
Q: How do I save my Etch-A-Sketch document?
A: Don't shake it.

The Social Web

Wow! What is not to worry about in terms of students sharing with the world via the web? After what we’ve learned about all the non-privacy that goes on within the net, we certainly need to educate students on cyber-etiquette. Pictures, home addresses, personal profiles, all of these things entice cyber predators to lure some unsuspecting student into their lair.

#1 rule: You control their online environment. Do not give strangers permission to view their profiles.
#2 rule: Have the teacher and students do research. Carefully investigate any online social network they may want to join.
#3 rule: Educate the students on how to protect their friends. Teach students to be careful of what they are posting on the internet about them.

Assignment-Wiki Wiki

I haven’t made it a secret about how much I hate technology, so maybe there is something that I’m missing, but I feel the entire student projects can be done on blogs:

There is great potential for Weblogs. Author participation is a great way to involve students in novel studies. What better way than to actually collaborate with the author. This would make it so much more interesting than just reading the book.

The two first nation schools can bridge the gape between their provinces and learn the similarities and differences of their native cultures through blogging. We’ve already learned that videos and music can be incorporated into the blogs.

Daily science journals are similar to what we are doing now with our personal blogs.

Creative writing with peer review is pretty much the same as Jeff wanting students to comment on our blogs.

Again, I'm probably way off base, we’ll see.

Does Not Compute!

I am the first one to admit that I am not into technology. One of my sons is a computer technician, another is a software specialist, and my daughter has her multi-media course along with graphic design and my husband works with computers all day. Even my youngest who has a number of disabilities knows more about his games and computers than I do. My whole family is computer literate, but not me. I’ve never had to be. If I ever had a problem, I just had to get a member of my family to get me out of any computer jam I had gotten myself into. I am struggling in this course and this is one time they can’t help me, I’m on my own. If this sounds like I’m feeling sorry for myself…you’re darn tootin’! It is time for us computer illiterates to band together and come to blows with this cyber war. Throw your mice away, take a stand, move around the room, smell the fresh air. Liberate yourselves! Burn your bra…no wait one second there, I did that is the sixties and I’m still paying for it. They hang down to my waist now. Regardless, it is time to get back to basics. Back to when things were simpler, well maybe not simpler; we just thought they were because we didn’t have to remember as much as we do today. I’m just trying to get my two cents worth out there. I know there are people that feel the same way I do. Join the revolution!!!


Not so long ago....

An application was for employment
A program was a TV show
A cursor used profanity
A keyboard was a piano!
Memory was something that you lost with age.
A CD was a bank account
Compress was something you did to garbage not to a file.
And if you unzipped anything in public you'd be in jail for awhile!
Log on was adding wood to a fire.
Hard drive was a long trip on the road.
A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.
And a backup happened to your commode!
Cut - you did with a pocket knife.
Paste you did with glue.
A web was a spider's home.
And a virus was the flu!
I guess I'll stick to my pad and paper.
And the memory in my head.
I hear nobody's been killed in a computer crash but when it happens they wish they were dead!

Really Real

It was great having Jeff Whipple in our class on Wednesday evening, the actual real life teacher and not a face on a screen. Despite the fact that we lost video feed a number of times, he continued to talk about technology and our class didn’t have to miss a beat. It was fascinating stuff! Well, it’s probably been interesting stuff all along, but it’s hard to imagine that when there is always another glitch and we are continually being kicked off-line. We could engage in real conversation and not have to wonder when it was going to happen again. That night technology grabbed my interest. Now putting all my focus on the next assignment (response paper) is another thing.

1. Home is where you hang your @
2. The E-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail.
3. A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click.
4. You can't teach a new mouse old clicks.
5. Great groups from little icons grow.
6. Speak softly and carry a cellular phone.
7. C:\ is the root of all directories.
8. Don't put all your hypes in one home page.
9. The modem is the message.
10. Too many clicks spoil the browse.. 1
11. The geek shall inherit the earth.
12. A chat has nine lives.
13. Don't byte off more than you can view.
14. Fax is stranger than fiction.
15. What boots up must come down.
16. Windows will never cease.
17. Virtual reality is its own reward.
18. Modulation in all things.
19. A user and his leisure time are soon parted.
20. There's no place like http://www.home.com
21. Know what to expect before you connect.
22. Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice.
23. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks

Diffusion Conclusion

I am so excited!!! I couldn’t wait to share the news with my loyal blogger buddies…that is if they’re really reading my blogs. If you are out there, I know you are just waiting with baited breath. I’ve found a relic hair dryer. I just can’t believe it!!! And if you’re thinking that I found it at some yard sale, you’re wrong. After looking forever, down one aisle and up the other, I finally came across one hidden behind tons of new fangled, overdressed, over functioning gadgets that are more hype than hip. After wiping off the dust to reveal a price tag comparable to it’s age, I hugged it. She is so beautiful, not in that outwardly appearance, but in a more subtle sense. Just two toddle switches…one for temperature and one for speed, but not too much speed, just enough to make it a wonderful, soothing, unrushed drying experience. Life is good again!!!

Tech Support: “I need you to right-click on the Desktop.”
Customer: “Ok.”
Tech Support: “Did you get a pop-up menu?”
Customer: “No.”
Tech Support: “Ok. Right-click again. Do you see a pop-up menu?”
Customer: “No.”
Tech Support: “Ok, sir. Can you tell me what you have done up until this point?”
Customer: “Sure, you told me to write ‘click’ and I wrote click’.”