Out of Town

Hello Distance Education Village!
After a busy and successful gala event at the Museum of Flight, I am now out of town--same story different location.
Seeking isolation and writing.
You will hear from me soon.
Have you visited zotero.org?
It has free software that gives my current bibliographic software big competition.
But I'm not getting distracted with it right now.
Bye!

Links

I promised some links.
The wiki workshop: Knowledge, Learning, and Teaching
Some music to get in the mood to write by:
The Blue Danube Waltz
Radetzky March
Journals for Publication?
Innovate
Directory of Open Access Journals

Hungry Computers

I must say that my little PC laptop has certain built-in features that I miss on my new MacBook, i.e., voice recognition without having to buy extra software. Also, my Endnote software from both my PC and older iBook does not run on this new one--incompatible operating systems. That being said, I upgraded the Endnote this weekend because the poor little PC overheats and shuts off randomly.
So now, it's time to write. I've loosened up by reading someone else's paper and giving some feedback. She may sic her dog on me afterwards, but I hope not.
The two (make that three) pieces I am working on are, as follows: an overview on the history of distance education, and in-depth account of an online teaching/learning experience, and an in-depth discussion on structural inequality and gender issues.
As I write this, it occurs to me that I prefer to upload a document, rather than post directly to the blog. I will try that next time.
So I have been feeding my computer with software and content for my papers. My determination is great and I have been looking for the ideal circumstances to write--and have discovered that the wee hours--somewhere between 3 and 8am suit me well. Sleep will change accordingly: a few hours sleep after work ( I get home at midnight) and a 90-minute nap in the afternoon--that's the plan.
How am I doing with my writing? Slow but getting there. The inner critic has been fired and I am free. I can do this--I AM doing this. My little Mother (pictured) would have encouraged me to move in this direction. She got my Dad through grad school with her constant, positive encouragement and sometimes even threw cold water on him to get him going in the morning. So it's cold water time for me! Back to writing.

My Commitments for Next Week

Reflections of what I did will be posted to this blog.

I am working on an overview and in-depth discussions of the KLT project.

Also, I will refer to the in-depth discussion on SID and give some links to the related wiki and blog. Two articles for publication will be part of this group, with suggestion of the appropriate journals for submission and according to those guidelines.

The drafts for these will be sent to Distance Education Village on or before Monday, March 3rd.

Do not expect miracles, but at least some progress in the positive direction!

2008: My Ten Year Anniversary of Personal Computing

What I enjoy is accessibility. The cruise ships have installed Internet Cafes in their lobbies and even have "Happy Hour" discounts. I now have an ASUS/Linux traveling computer that is purse-size and has no moving parts--Skype-capable with camera built-in; voice commands, Wi-Fi...and no moving parts (flash memory). I carry it everywhere.
I have wikis and blogs (like this one) and also participate in a blog that offers podcasts of meetings...a technology of inclusion, asynchronicity, learning, collaboration, and community.
At home--even in the kitchen--if technology (any appliance) is involved--cooking is more enjoyable to me. Maybe it's because I come from a legacy of women who worshiped technology as the salvation to womankind. My grandmother waxed and polished all appliances from her washer-dryer to her ice crusher, coffee pot, and blender. All had protective dust covers, as well. My mother's washer-dryer set (in pink) and fascinated me and helped set the tone for my pursuit of all kinds of interesting gadgets--before computers.
I studied electronics. Computers were first introduced to me from the inside out. Industrial computers that ran NC and CNC machinery came into my career-life in 1978. My world consisted of power supplies, amplifiers, integrated circuits, motors, feedback systems and manually-installed operating systems and programs (before floppy disks, we used punched mylar tapes and tape readers). Building, fixing, but not using computers until much later, when the desire to finish college fueled the opportunity to acquire a comouter of my own in 1998. This year I celebrate my tenth anniversary as a personal computer user. I feel like a beginner, but don't mind a bit.

Integrating Technology Exercise Ideas

For the NS07, I thought we might pre-schedule a webex meeting time and demonstrate in real-time how it looks to use this technology and also skype at the same time?...we could use a digital projector for the screen shots, i.e., who is sharing what--desktop, web content, etc.
Also maybe make some time available (post-workshop?) to assist learners in setting up their own blogs and wikis.

Wiki Integration Ideas for Workshop NS07

For the wiki, a great place to see collaborative models begins with viewing the wiki listing in wikipedia.This entry not only traces wiki history, but links to many wiki projects, references, and practical applications that show the versatility and creative approaches to the wiki experience. Some examples include wikipedia, wikiversity, collaborative writing projects and workplace solutions.