Posts

Showing posts from July, 2011

My list of accomplishments ....

After seeing a feed of somewhat contrasting and entertaining comments on the current reality TV shizer, I feel it is time to list my accomplishments: I have never : Rang a phone in to vote for anyone or anything, so was therefore amused over the previous controversy Bought the Daily Mail, so could not share the nations ire over ‘Sach’s Gate’ Watched the apprentice, any series or any incarnation. Seen Dragons Den or any other mythical creatures, alcohol induced or otherwise Watched any episode of Big Brother, I have read 1984 (more than once) but feel that for many I am risking being too intellectual Watched X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, Pop Idol or anything similar, I don’t particularly recall the 70’s or 80’s incarnations of these either. I am sure this makes me dull and therefore unaccomplished and lacking as a member of our society.

For F**K sake PowerPoint is NOT a multimedia application ....

Had a good conversation with some educational professionals today, amongst the many topics we were discussing in the murky world of computing education was the topic of multimedia. With a passion and a collective vehemence we all united on one key topic, the dire mindset that educators out there are teaching our youth that PowerPoint is a multimedia application. Lets face it, its good for presentations, that’s what it does, it has some animated text features BUT THIS DOES NOT mean that it can be used to teach our youth that the multimedia industry uses this to create multimedia resources. As there are no timelines, keyframes, interaction, programmable elements, media controls, streaming resources amongst many more reasons. That should be answer enough by itself. The fact that the industry would P**S itself laughing if some poor student said that they are now a multimedia professional because they have used PowerPoint is even more of a reason. So, teachers, if you are delivering

It is not a one stop shop (yet)?

Hmmmm first review of Google+ is that it [currently] lacks the one stop shop ness , that I like about twitter and facebook. I am sure this will come, when it does, and I can integrate all of it into one mechanism that comes to me, then I may be interested. Until then .... Ho hum

Why do you quote, quotes ...

A good quote is often worth a great deal, reminding us (me actually) that nobody is perfect and the human condition is one of frailty. As some consider the words of religious texts, I like to mix this up with wisdom from many sources, secular and faith based. None are better, no particular source is worse. You often see the same souls repeatedly cited, with Churchill, Einstein, Barber (Twain) and Wilde getting higher billing. Some quotes are often quite ‘edgy’ to be frank, I quote, quotations that I like, if you dislike them you are more than welcome to stop following me. But please do share any that you like, get them out there, you never know you may have a brief opportunity to inspire someone.

Idiots in education

Had an interesting (aka amusing) email from a centre today, after making an initial offer of help, via a colleague. The recipient decided that the best way to ask was by sending a somewhat abusive request. Those of you who know me, will attest to the fact that Andrew tends to lose interest rapidly when kindness is reciprocated with rudeness. What became apparent, and more entertaining was the way they could not desist from the rant as if I was the party to blame for all their woes. I can't say I know much about this individual, but the tone and candour screams of stress and imminent cardiac arrest, Sorry to say that I feel sadness for the students that get the benefit of professionalism and experience from this head of computing. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad