Deb Kim
What are the benefits to converting a business or school district to cloud computing? Here are some benefits to converting school district to cloud computing. 1. All about $$$ I always carry my external hard drive, because I don’t want to save all my work (including notes, lessons, templates, ideas, projects, marks, and other confidential items) in […]
Continue reading Week 8- Discussion #2: Changing to Clouds Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud I’m currently teaching secondary Math (grades 8-10) at a Tech Immersion Program in Vancouver and studying part-time at the same time. This course is my 5th MET course (already!) and I’m planning to complete the MET program by April 2013. I use a variety of cloud-based applications as Math courses that I’m presently teaching are Tech […]
Continue reading Deb’s “CLOUD” Bio Posted in: Week 08: Files in the Cloud
Hi, Deb, It sounds a bit like you share one of Jim’s main cloud concerns – upload speed. Without good speed in both directions, it becomes less useful.
As you know, some offline programs autosave, too, but, like you, I especially apreciate their autosave features when working with students. I can’t tell you how many times Corel Presentations or PowerPoint have crashed and lost info on kids – a program like Prezi autosaves so often that you almost forget that you ever had to keep saving as you went in mind.
I agree with you. Uploading speed for online programs (clouds) is much more appreciated than that for offline programs. I also experienced PowerPoint getting crashed while I was working on the first assignment. I broke out in a cold sweat because I didn’t save any of my work. Good thing is that I didn’t do a lot of work when it got crashed. What a relief!
Deb
We have silent reading time during the second period at my school. During that time, students must read a novel which is not studied in their English class. We don’t allow textbooks, newspaper, magazines, and manga/comics as they could be skimmed rather than read. ALso, it is “reading for pleasure”, so homework or studying would […]
Continue reading eBooks for SR? Posted in: Week 06: eBooks Hi David (or someone who can answer my questions), I have a few questions regarding my second assignment as well as our group assignment. For the second assignment, where are we supposed to turn it in? Should we email you or post the assignment here? If we need to post it here, could you make […]
Continue reading Where to submit Assignment #1? Posted in: Questions & Answers My first experience with an eBook would be when I installed apps called Stanza and Classics to my iPhone about 2 years ago. Stanza is an app which you can download a selection of more than 50,000 contemporary books from its partner stores. It also allows you to download classics and recent works from Project Gutenberg, Feedbooks, and other sources. […]
Continue reading My eBook Experience Posted in: Week 06: eBooks
I agree with your health issues. I guess we need to moderate the use of eBook (especially with children). Getting a pair of eyeglass is not cheap.
@ Schiong: I agree with you. In addition to glasses, affording eBook or iPad is expensive as well. But, eyes also hurt when we read a book in the dark or watch TV. We might need glasses even though we don’t use eBook. Which one do you think is worth possessing more in the end? eBook or paper books?
Many people like eBook for its convenience and portability. However, it’s more expensive than buying paper books. On the other hand, since my eBook, for example, has more than 50 000 novels, buying eBook is a lot cheaper than buying 50 000 paper books in the end.
Not considering health issues (eyes), then eBook is very useful, isn’t it?
Deb
The following is the post Bill Gates left on his Facebook wall regarding Steve Jobs’ premature demise. “I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work. Steve and I first met nearly 30 years […]
Continue reading Bill Gates’ Message on Facebook Posted in: Blog Café
Hi Deb,
I recently had a peek at an Apple Store information session at UBC, and was impressed with the legacy Steve Jobs has left behind with the numerous stores opening every nine days around the world. To read Bill Gates’ condolences, especially his admirable comment about being competitors, makes me wonder what computing would have been like if these two friends worked together for the past thirty years, but that ship has sailed :-/
One more innovation that needs commenting upon is Steve’s other business, reinventing the film industry with Pixar Studio. This great article does a great job summarizing his contribution to the best-made animation in the last decade and a half. While I am sure other studio heads are drafting their sympathetic statements, Variety’s David Cohen (quoted in the article) says it best: “the influence that Steve Jobs had on Hollywood has not even been fully realized…He was a master at disruptive technologies.”
Thanks for the information. To tell you the truth, Steve Jobs and Apple have never occurred to be my interest until recently when I saw his speech on TV. But even after that, what I liked about Apple is its products, not Steve Jobs. No matter what other people say, I do believe that his contribution to technologies and animation is amazing. I’m curious if Apple and Microsoft can still be competitors after Jobs’ passing.
Deb
JK Tomas & Associates Ltd. is a professional learning network company for educational leaders. They are organizing webinars on the following dates. October 6: Active Learning in the Classroom November 10: Technology to Support Teaching and Learning December 1: Developiing a Digital-Rich Curriculum January 12: Must-Have Technology for the Ideal Classroom January 19: Web 2.0 […]
Continue reading Creating A Digital-Rich Classroom Posted in: Blog Café WordPress is one of the most popular open-source web applications for publishing. I have used it for my teaching since two years ago and have created 7 blogs, including my MET ePortfolio. “7 Things You Should Know About WORDPRESS” answers the following 7 questions: What is it? How does it work? Who’s doing it? Why […]
Continue reading WORDPRESS as a Blog Posted in: Week 02: The Edtech Marketplace
Deb,
I am a big fan of wordpress and is currently using it for my class blog. It has been very interesting and engaging so far. So far, it is making teaching and learning much easier. Some students have long hours in the face-to-face interactions and as a result are unable to produce at their very best. However, with wordpress, they are now able to rest and participate at a time convenient to them. You can have a look @http://evertonwalker.literacystudiesja.info/
Everton
Hi Everton,
Thank you so much for the link.
I’m also a big fan of WordPress. As I’m currently teaching Math in Tech Immersion Program, I use WordPress as a course blog for my students.
As you mentioned, “it is making teaching and learning much easier”. In addition to that, I’m enjoying teaching through technology as well.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
You can also have a look at my wordpress blogs.
Math 8 Tech class: http://math8techkg.wordpress.com
Please use
Username: kgparents
Password: math8techkg
as it’s marked private.
Deb
Hello everyone, First of all, please accept my sincere apology for posting my introduction so late. The first week of new school year went crazy as I moved to a new school. Now, I finally get to breathe. Here’s my introduction. My name is Deb Kim and I live in Burnaby, a small city next […]
Continue reading Hello from Burnaby Posted in: Week 01: Introductions
Hi DEb,
You are not alone in the late post. Nice to meet you and hope to learn and grow intellectually in ETEC 532
I heard from my coursemates in other courses that this course is lots of fun. I’m looking forward to it. 🙂
Deb
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
bcourey 3:55 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good points made Deb! Has anyone wondered what would happen if all of that data suddenly became unavailable because of some kind of server disruption wherever the data is stored? Or perhaps the companies that “own” the servers suddenly become “owners” of the data? I don’t mean to be paranoid, but are we too trusting that the cloud is the safest place to put all of our institutional information? It is one thing to lose our pictures and our blog posts, but yet another to lose educational/health/financial data. Does anyone remember the wee scare we had when Yahoo gave Delicious up? Didn’t some of us panic and move over to Diigo for a spell?
khenry 6:50 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb and Courey,
Echoing Courey, Deb raised some good points indeed. I have also experienced benefits of not having to walk with my computer, harddrive et al., as have students but woe be unto us when the connection isn’t working. It really disrupts the schedule and even though we can find alternatives, at times we are left deep in the mud.
Like Courey I have wondered what would happen if one day the net just crashed and all that information was lost. Along with such considerations for storage and safety, data ownership is paramount. Think of even the new changes to facebook http://mashable.com/2009/02/16/facebook-tos-privacy/. Very important considerations!
Kerry-Ann
Deb Kim 8:47 am on October 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Good point, Brenda and Kerry-Ann.
While reading some of the coursemates’ posts, I also wondered if I was “too trusting that the cloud is the safest place”. I discover myself to be relying on cloud-based apps more than offline programs. I’d be frustrated if server disruption happens all of a sudden and the connection isn’t working. That’s probably why I started carrying my harddrive with me again (but once in a while) and save my work in it.
Deb
ashleyross 1:15 am on October 30, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Deb,
I recently posted a reply to Tamara after she made similar comments on security in the cloud. I won’t repeat everything that I wrote there but my thoughts are that Google has a lot more money to spend on data security and backup infrastructure than I do so I feel pretty confident that they will never lose my information as long as they suddenly don’t go out of business. 🙂 They do provide you with the ability to download your email and documents though, so I suppose I could start doing that if I ever got nervous. 🙂
I also use cloud storage through Dropbox ( http://www.dropbox.com/) though, which I guess is exactly the same as having an extra hard drive. I alternate between my PC and my laptop and so each of those has a synced copy of my Dropbox in addition to the one that is stored on on their servers. So at any time I have the information stored in three places. That way if I lose a computer or they disappear, I still have other copies. I like the convenience of always having access to my data, but having it backed up in multiple locations is also great. What I really like though is that I can actually access my Dropbox through my mobile phone and download files if I need them.
Ashley