The Wiki Prayer

Please grant me the serenity to accept the pages I cannot edit,

The courage to edit the pages I can, 

And the wisdom to know the difference

— The Wiki Prayer

I saw this in "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms" by Will Richardson (3rd Edition, 2010) and chuckled. 


As we start our class wiki, I think many of us, myself included, are a little apprehensive on where to start. I think that we don't want to be stepping on anyone's toes. But at the same time we have to start somewhere. I have a feeling that this is going to be a little like a snowball. It's going to start off small, but after a little we'll get the ball rolling and it will turn into something substantial (my hope at least).


I think wikis are a little bit scattered and messy by their nature, so there's no way we can effectively organize and assign the collaboration of 20 people. So I think we need to just jump in head first and get started, which may be the most difficult step.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

-Lao-tzu

...And the creation of our class wiki begins with a single entry. Here goes nothing.

Lynda.com: A Supplement For Instruction

Working in education and the digital media fields, it is important to stay on top of the latest software and technologies.

There are a variety of ways keep up:

• Simply tinkering with new software with no guide or manual (one of my favorite ways)
• Reading the software manual or visiting the developer's website
• Reading third-party books (either online or physical books)
• Searching the web for instructions on how to perform specific tasks
• Watching tutorial videos

While all of these methods have their merits, I would like to recommend a service called Lynda.com, which provides high-quality video tutorials.

Courtesy of Channels.com

The three big advantages of using Lynda.com are: 

1. The instructors are excellent. Most of the instructors work as professionals in the fields where they are providing instruction. They really know the software inside and out.
2. The quality of the videos is superb. Have you ever tried to watch a video tutorial on YouTube where the camera is shaking and the audio is either too loud or too soft? I think it makes the video unwatchable. The production value with Lynda.com doesn't distract from the content.
3. It's (almost) always up-to-date. Upon the release of new versions of software, Lynda.com usually has a tutorial posted shortly thereafter. And it's much better than having a bookshelf full of books for old software.

If you are in need of any software training, checkout Lynda.com. Their testimonials speak for themselves. Access to the online training library costs about $25/month. You can view some training modules before you decide to sign-up. 

I've used it for several months and it's virtually replaced buying any more software books, which will probably be out-of-date as soon as I bring them home.

Has anyone tried Lynda.com or any other video training service? What is your favorite method of learning new software and tech tools?

Homework: 20 Minutes of Twittering

This week we are starting a class wiki about "Using Online tools to increase connectivity and communication with students". Upon thinking about this wiki, I remembered an episode of The Simpsons from last year where they get new, tech-savvy teacher who assigns "20 minutes of twittering" for homework. 

Thought I'd share something mildy amusing since it's a Friday.

(note: all text on the video is flipped)

Real Page Numbers For Kindle Books

Amazon recently announced that they will be assigning real page numbers to their Kindle books.

One of the great features of the Kindle is the ability to change font and text size in their e-books. But for scholarly types, this makes citations difficult when using electronic books. Hopefully this make citations easier for those using e-books.

While this is an improvement for those needing to make citations, David Pogue, NY Times tech writer, calls this an imperfect solution.

I think adding real page numbers is an improvement because it provides an absolute location that is the same whether you are using dead-tree media or electronic media. Before this change, the "location numbers" didn't easily translate to those reading physical books.

What are your thoughts?