Philip Kay mentioned an online seminar that we had taken as an ITS team in his blog. The presentation was hosted by the CCCU and presented by Paul Dupree of Asbury College. It focused on a scale they used to help measure the quality of the IT Department. The presentation was very informative and we hope to implement this scale for us here at Tyndale.

As I was reviewing the presentation and thinking about how I can quickly measure where I/we are in this scale I decided I needed a 1 page graphical representation of this scale – I am quite a visual person/learner myself and this would be a great tool for me to stay on top of this information.

So I decided to pull out Cmap Tools and draw out the concept – now Cmap tools would be a post unto itself but very quickly it is a great free tool to help you build concept maps real easy. Poke around the web site to see for yourself.

If you are interested in what makes up this scale then feel free to download the 1 sheet wonder (PDF) or go grab the presentation from the NetCCCU web site

Do you work at Tyndale? Where would you put the ITS department on this scale – leave a comment!

I have mentioned Stewart Mader in the past – he writes a blog on using wikis in education. He posted an artile today on using a wiki to work collaborative group projects. Here is a quote from his post;

Often groups collaborate on a document by “pushingâ€? it out to each member – emailing a file that each person edits on his or her computer, and some attempt is made to coordinate the edits so everyone’s work is equally represented. But what happens when two people think of the same idea and include it in different ways in their respective copies of the file, or when one group member misses an agreed upon time to finish their changes and pass on the file to the next member? Who decides what to do? Using a wiki “pullsâ€? the group members together to build and edit the document on a wiki page, which strengthens the community within the group, allows group members with overlapping or similar ideas to see and collaboratively build on each other’s work. It also allows all group members immediate, equal access to the most recent version of the document.

Well that all sounds fine and dandy Andy but I don’t have a wiki! So what do I do?

There are some great free services on the web that can help you here. Let’s look at one…

http://pbwiki.com/

At pbwiki you can create your own wiki in seconds – really… Just add your site name (example: tyndaletry) and tell them your email address – done – well they do want you to confirm your email address. Once you confirm you are asked to supply a password (only those who know the password can edit the site), whether or not the wiki should be publicly viewable (or only with password) and then to agree to their terms of service. After you answer these 3 questions you are done!

Here is a tip – in the drop down box labeled “what is this wiki for?” choose education. They will then give you 3 templates to work from – one being “Create a Group Project”

At this point you can create new pages and start working on your project! Editing your wiki is really quite easy and there is a full tutorial online for you to look at.

Just want to play? Well I have actually added the wiki we used as an example above. You can go to:

http://tyndaletry.pbwiki.com/

and poke around… If you want to edit anything or setup a new page feel free! The password is “tyndale”

Last week I bought a MAC – just a used G4 but a MAC non-the-less. I have always wanted to have one for testing and playing purposes and when I found a good deal on this used one it was hard to resist. I set it up over the weekend and began my adventure. I have played a bit on MACs before but not a whole lot and not much on OS X. I found it to be quite the treat.

Yesterday was the first day of school and our two kids were now going to two different schools. I stayed home in the morning to help get my oldest to her new school. I got up early and worked for about an hour before having to leave. I realized that everything I needed to do – including some development – could be done with what I have installed on the MAC. So I worked in the morning on the G4. I came in soon after and started working in my typical – proven way – on a Windows PC. I wasn’t doing much different then in the morning and all worked well. I then decided I needed to do some work on out online courses and strolled over to the linux thin client computer I have in my office. Most of this was online but the application could handle working without Internet Explorer just fine (which I never really use on the PC any ways)

So yesterday I was able to work with all of the big boys – MAC – Windows – and Linux using cross platform tools and web based applications. It seems it doesn’t really matter what you use as long as you choose smart cross platform tools

I know Christmas is a long time from now but I already know that spammers and hackers are getting coal this Christmas!

I am going to be honest with all you spammers – I don’t need any stock tips – I don’t need anything enlarged or enhanced – I have a watch (several in fact) – I don’t want to start a home business and fire my boss – well ok I don’t want to start a home business

It is bad enough that I get 100+ a day that get caught by SpamAssassin but I am now getting 50+ a day that are making it through for whatever reason???

On top of that I am having to spend way more time making online forms more secure against hackers and now spammers – time that I could be spending on other useful development.

I haven’t got all the answers at this point – I just know that these “Spackers” are getting coal this Christmas!

I absolutely love my watch. I know what your thinking… I don’t love it like I love my wife or kids but I really like it as a watch. It has some sentimental value. It also has some great features — it is solar powered, has a 30 page data-bank, 5 day counters, world time in 29 time zones, auto daylight savings time, stopwatch, 5 alarms — one with a snooze, it supports 16 languages (of which I speak one) and the list goes on and on. But the thing I like most about this watch is the usability.

Okay — now how usable does a watch really need to be you ask — you put it on and look at the time — switch features on occasion — set the alarm — done! Whats the big deal?

» Continue reading “I Love My Watch – Lessons in Usability”