The general consensus among educators using technology is that IT are the enemies. Obviously this is a generalization but when you listen to teachers, read weblogs, this is a clear message. Not for me. I’ve touched on this before and am currently working with our IT manager on a presentation at Tlt in a few weeks that deals with how we work together. Today I...

I’ve been on a bit of a Clay Shirky kick for the past couple of months. I’m about half way through “Here Comes Everybody“, been reading his blog, watched a nice video of a recent lecture and trying to synthesize his ideas. The older concept that struck me in a new way is the fact that while many understand the significant shift in society that...

As my wife makes a number of renovations in our house, I’ve felt inspired to make a few to this blog. The recent upgrade to WordPress 2.5 (now 2.5.1) was as usual easy and as many know offers some very nice features. I’ve added a widget sidebar which is much easier to manage. WordPress now offers instant upgrades of plugins as well. I took a page out of...

Many of our schools are wanting to put interactive whiteboards in their classrooms. Currently the debate is which board is the best: SmartBoard or Promethean. I have no strong feelings about this but am usually the go-to-guy about all things technology. So I oblige and since I have limited experience here I go to my network. Here are the early returns: I’m...

I’ll take these kind of interruptions any day. Working in my office, the familiar Skype chat box sound alerts me to someone wanting my attention. It was Matthew, a grade one student in Kathy’s class. He wanted to chat. This is our conversation: Matthew: are teechr sas yes you can cum from Mathew. Me: I will come over tomorrow if that’s...