Google Code for Educators

This website provides tutorials and sample course content so CS students and educators can learn more about current computing technologies and paradigms. In particular, this content is creative commons licensed which makes it easy for CS educators to use in their own classes.

Check it out!
http://code.google.com/edu/

Creating Dynamic Content w/ Ustream

These guys are pretty funny and it made me think how fun video content could be for online courses...

Help keep our schools competitive

Did you know that the Bush Administration is intent on eliminating education technology funding? I find it so surprising that elected officials would want to do such a thing when we're at a critical place as a Nation in terms of how we match up with others in a global economy. I personally don't want to see our country fall behind when it comes to technology and innovation in the classroom – America needs to stay competitive! That's why I went to www.EdTechActionNetwork.org to send a letter to my Members of Congress. It was really easy – just one click and I made my voice heard! I encourage you to do the same and join me to spread the word!

Click on this URL to take action now

http://capwiz.com/edtech/utr/2/?a=10948736&i=80751448&c=

If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.

-------------------------------------
Powered by Capitol Advantage, LLC
http://www.capitoladvantage.com
"Connect and Be Counted"
-------------------------------------

Adobe Education eSeminar Series

This looks like a good one. If you attend, let me know how it went!

eLearning Solutions for K-12
Tuesday, February 26, 2008 2:30 P.M. EST / 11:30 A.M. PST
Adobe Education Leader Dave Forrester will discuss effective uses of Acrobat Connect™ and other Adobe eLearning tools in class and district-wide.

See more and register at:
http://snipurl.com/1zaes

R U cycle?

That means “Are you awake?” in cell phone texting language. Read about textonyms and this new use of words by our texting generation...

The article is called Textonyms give cell phone addicts a new language, and the tinyurl is:
http://tinyurl.com/ypwxxh

:)
~julz

Video and Commentary

I saw the video last week but I really liked this site that has the video and commentary from will.i.am. http://www.dipdive.com/

Rest in Peace Beautiful Grandma

Grandma's Obituary and Online Guestbook

Awesome and Fun Interactive websites

Thanks to my friend, Denise Welsh for this resource :)
~julz

This is really cool! It has stuff all the way to 12th graders.

http://www.learner.org/interactives/ <http://www.learner.org/interactives/>

This site has interactive lessons for Math, Science, English, History, and
even Theater! I personally designed my own roller coaster using the
Amusement Park Physics interactive, participated in a Spelling Bee for 11th
and 12th graders, and calculated the surface area and volumes of geometric
shapes in the Geometry 3D Shapes interactive.

Take a minute or two to explore one of these fun interactive in your content
area. You¹ll be surprised!

FW: Reminder notice for Jan.29,2007 RETA webinar: Engaging Online Learner 4:00pm MST

Dear Educator, Please join us for our new webinar series, eLearning with Emerging Technologies.

Our next webinar is January 29, 2007 with Engaging the Online Learner featuring Bethany Bovard from 4:00-5:00pm.

In this presentation, each type of barrier will be addressed, easy-to implement technology-enhanced strategies for breaking down those barriers will be introduced, and real-life examples of each strategy will be discussed. To join the webinar Please join the webinar at least 20 minutes prior to the start time to configure your computer at: http://nmsu.acrobat.com/engaging

If you have never used Acrobat Connect Professional, please test your connection at: http://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

Tech Assistance We will be available 45 minutes prior to the start of webinars for tech assistance. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Cissy Lujan- Pincomb or Miley Grandjean at webinars@nmsu.edu or call us toll free at: 1.800.821.1574 or 575.646.6143 For more information Please visit us at http://webinars.nmsu.edu

Have a cup of coffee, invite a colleague and raise your eQ* with us! Sincerely, The RETA Webinar Team Time Zones EST: 6:00pm CST: 5:00 pm MST: 4:00 pm PST: 3:00 pm Cissy Lujan-Pincomb RETA Regional Educational Technology Assistance webinars@nmsu.edu http://webinars.nmsu.edu toll free: 1.800.821.1574

utterz v. flixn v. eyejot

Mobile post sent by desertjul using Utterz.  Replies.

Utterz test

Mobile post sent by desertjul using Utterz.  Replies.

freereading.net

Check out http://www.freereading.net/

Thank you world!

Thank you world for your awesome pictures! I did a random flickr search today for purple sunsets and thought I'd share.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

"I Have a Dream" -- Martin Luther King

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Thanks to U.S. Constitution.net for the text.

Frankie the blue-eyed koala

How beautiful is this one-of-a-kind blue-eyed koala? Don't worry, his vision is fine, his eyes simply have reduced pigmentation. If you want to visit him, you'll have to go to his Dreamworld home on the Gold Coast in Australia. I think I shall visit him someday...
What a cutie! ;) ~julz '

Bill Gates' Last Day at Work

Fun video with cool cameo appearances...
Video: Bill Gates Last Day CES Clip

Julia Parra has invited you to join Kiva.org!

Hello!

Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in the developing world using a revolutionary new website called Kiva.

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the business is going. The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Vo Thi Hao in Viet Nam. They still need another $300.00 to complete their loan request of $325.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this business off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Vo Thi Hao too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=29484&_isc=b5e1dc5c-053b-102b-8570-f23b51e27ecd

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

Julia Parra

---------------------------------------------------------

What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'

-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'

-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'

-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'

-- Entrepreneur Magazine

--------------------
Julia Parra has invited you to join Kiva.org!

If you'd like to join kiva click the link below
https://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=register&_isc=b5e1dc5c-053b-102b-8570-f23b51e27ecd

We got our XOs!

Some Holiday Fun

Straight No Chaser - 12 Days

Teach Collaborative Revision with Google Docs

Revision is a critical piece of the writing process—and of your classroom curriculum. Now, Google Docs has partnered with Weekly Reader’s Writing for Teens magazine to help you teach it in a meaningful and practical way.

The sharing features of Google Docs enable you and your students to decide exactly who can access and edit documents. You’ll find that Google Docs helps promote group work and peer editing skills, and that it helps to fulfill the stated goal of The National Council of Teachers of English, which espouses writing as a process and encourages multiple revisions and peer editing.

Get the rest of the story including a lesson plan and lots of great resources at:
http://www.google.com/educators/weeklyreader.html

Free online classroom resources

Thank you Susie for this resource!

A very user friendly resource for educators and a little something for everyone! =;->  

Free Web Tools Blog
http://freewebtools.wordpress.com/

Here is a sampling under the Creativity Tools section.
Toondoo- free comic strips and comic books creation tool.
Animoto-free music video creation site for 30 second spots. Then it costs $3.00/video for longer videos/
Flickr-free photo sharing website and online community platform.
Picnik.com-free photo editing online and integrates with Flickr.

Flat Classroom Wiki Project

Thank you Bethany for sharing this cool wiki project 
http://flatclassroomproject2006.wikispaces.com/  
:)
~julz

On-demand webinar: Building better Moodle rooms

Building better Moodle rooms: Online strategies and best practices
Sponsored by: Moodlerooms

Original broadcast date: December 4, 2007
Expiration date: March 3, 2008
Audience link:

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=94646&s=1&k=9B7400E6E6534B9DD4FC267D25E2CF8E&partn
erref=opn24

This event is now available on demand. The archived webinar will be
available for viewing through the expiration date listed above.

To view this Webcast you will need to have Real Player or Windows Media
Player. You may download either of these at
http://webcast.on24.com/clients/help/.

2007 VSS Resources now available

The North American Council for Online Learning is pleased to announce that the 2007 VSS Resources page is now available online at http://www.virtualschoolsymposium.org/resources.php. On this page, you will find links to webcasts, vodcasts, articles, PowerPoint presentations, photos, etc. from many of the presentations offered at last month's Virtual School Symposium.

Don't forget to mark your calendar for next year's VSS: 2008 Virtual School Symposium, October 26-28, 2008 in Phoenix, AZ. It is sure to be even more exciting and innovative than ever!

Video sites make science more accessible

Inspired by YouTube's success, several new science video web sites have sprung up online
From eSchool News staff and wire service reports

Haim Weizman is a chemist by trade and an internet movie maker on the side. In his first video, a telegenic narrator in a lab coat swirls a flask as electronic music plays in the background. Created by four science and film students at the University of California, San Diego, the video shows a typical recrystallization experiment straight out of Chemistry 101.

The six-minute epic, complete with bloopers, got 1,205 views on Google Inc.’s YouTube, but the number increased fourfold when the video was posted to SciVee, one of a number of online video-sharing startups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves toiling in the laboratory or delivering lectures.

Read the rest of the story at http://snipurl.com/1uuxi
:)
~julz

OMG, I'm ROTFLMAO!

MIT adapts free online courses for high schools

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created a new web site
with free online resources that aim to improve science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction at the high school level.
Check out the article at http://snipurl.com/1ukkz

:)
~julz

Learning 2007

I really wanted to go to Elliot Masie's Learning 2007 Conference, but
here's the next best thing - they are wikifying much of the good
stuff. They have added hours of video and
audio content including keynotes from Dan Pink, Jenny Zhu, Bobby Flay,
Wharton Faculty and Ken Blanchard. Check it out at
http://www.learningwiki.com

:)
~julz

I'm in love...

2 Things 2 Know 2day

ONE – National Distance Learning Week http://ndlw.org starts 2day and NMSU College of Extended Learning is working hard to do its part http://nmsu.pbwiki.com

TWO – The XO Laptop, Give 1 Get 1 started 2day http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php I just bought mine; my son, Jon and I, will be having fun with these over Christmas and two children somewhere in the world will have the opportunity to access knowledge and tools in a way they’ve never had before. Here’s a great vodcast featuring the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) team:

It’s a FABULOUS day! ;) ~julz

XO Laptop - 11/12/07 - 4am MST - I'm VERY excited!

The site - http://www.xogiving.org/index.html

Review written by a tech savvy 12-year old: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1206

An informative Google Talk video

Tell them to go On the Record!

I was enjoying a game to fight hunger at http://www.freerice.com/index.php

Then I went on a journey through the site and eventually ended up at http://www.one.org and signed the petition. I urge you to play the game and sign the petition.

with love,

~julz

-----------------

Hi,

I've just signed a petition to the 2008 presidential candidates asking them to go on the record and tell us exactly where they stand on fighting extreme poverty and global disease.

You can take action on this important cause too by visiting http://www.one.org/ontherecord

Thanks!

Old School

So I love some old school 70's artists like Abba and Neil Diamond. I was watching this SUV commercial and I recognized a Neil Diamond song. Feeling nostalgic and realizing that I had no Neil Diamond in my iTunes, and doing everything but what I'm supposed to be doing - writing dissertation - I started looking to find the best Neil Diamond to download. And, of course, what do you do when you are looking and downloading, don't have anything yet, but want to listen to it right now? Well you go to youtube of course, and I found a gem, something you can only find because of the amazingness of the social web, and here it is, Neil Diamond singing Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show and in the middle, he explains where the song came from, TOO COOL! Enjoy.

National Distance Learning week Nov. 12-16

The NMSU Office of Distance Education and the RETA Project within the College of Extended Learning (CEL) will host webinars, blogs, chats, an online Moodle open house and other events in honor of the 2007 National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) Nov. 12 -16, http://ndlw.org

The NDLW Webinars http://www.ndlw.org/learners.html will be hosted throughout the week from 9 to 10 a.m. and from noon to 1 p.m. in Milton Hall, Room 185, La Academia.

CEL and RETA offerings are viewable BUT still under construction at: http://nmsu.pbwiki.com/

Later in the day (today is Friday, November 9, 2007), we will be extending the invitation to our eLearning friends (RETAzens, OTLOzens, eTeachers, OTLCers, etc.) to join us in a variety of ways. Contributors and attendees will be entered into a drawing at the end of the week.

Online Underwater First! Project SeaCAMEL: Live Broadcasts November 12 - 14

Online Underwater First! Project SeaCAMEL: Live Broadcasts November 12 - 14

Marine Science Classes from the Aquarius Habitat

KEY LARGO, Fla., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Distance learning
goes to the extreme November 12 - 14, when Project SeaCAMEL aquanauts go
live with high tech marine science classes broadcast from Aquarius, the
world's only undersea research station.

Live action coral reef science will be a click away for students and
ocean enthusiasts around the world via satellite and the Internet from
Conch Reef, located 4 miles off Key Largo and 60-feet beneath the sea in
the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The mission is the first in a series of online sea-to-shore educational
programs sponsored by the Maryland-based Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans
Foundation (http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org ), a non-profit
organization focusing on ocean research and conservation.

The university-level science experiments using high-tech undersea tools
to collect data will also have broad appeal to younger audiences. Numerous
schools, museums, and aquariums across the country, in Mexico and Great
Britain are expected to participate. A curriculum for 8th-12th-graders is
also available online from project partner Immersion Presents
    (http://www.immersionpresents.org ).

Support for the live broadcasts will be provided by Media Arts, Inc.
(http://www.mediarts.com).

Six live webcasts begin airing Monday, November 12:
http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org and http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius.

    Class Schedule:
    Monday 12 Nov, 2-3 PM: Intro to the Aquarius Reef Base

    Monday 12 Nov, 7-8 PM: The Reef at Night

    Tuesday 13 Nov, 11-12 Noon: Reefs under Siege

    Tuesday 13 Nov, 2-3 PM: Sponges: the Reef's Filters

    Wednesday 14 Nov, 11-12 Noon: The Boundary Layers of the Reef

    Wednesday 14 Nov, 2-3 PM: Aquarius as an Artificial Reef

In the "Reefs under Siege" class, students will learn about the basic
biology of corals and the threats reefs are facing worldwide from climate
change and human activities. The aquanauts will assess the reef's health by
measuring the percentage of corals covering the sea floor, and will use
sophisticated equipment to evaluate how corals perform under severe storm
conditions.

During the last broadcast, Michael Crockett, a senior from Gloucester
High School in Gloucester, Va., will play a unique role when he sends
online commands to an underwater robotic fish, Fetch1. This will be the
first-ever attempt to control a free-swimming robotic vehicle over the
Internet.

The Project SeaCAMEL aquanaut team includes: Mark Patterson, Virginia
Institute of Marine Science; Living Oceans Executive Director Philip
Renaud, USN (ret); Chief Project Scientist Annelise Hagan; videographer DJ
Roller and Aquarius crewmembers Craig Cooper and Jim Buckley.

Aquarius is owned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and managed by the University of North Carolina,
Wilmington.

    Distribution Details:

    Commodity Internet

    Internet2
    Multicast Address: 233.53.226.224 port 4424
    Satellite 
    Satellite:          AMC-3
    Location:           87 Degrees West
    Receive Polarity:   Vertical
    Receive Frequency:  12,064 MHz
    L-Band:             1,314   MHz
    Symbol Rate:        6.500   MS/s
    FEC:                2/3

English Channel (Service):  34 

Media Contacts: For more information, and to schedule advance and live
underwater interviews with the Aquanauts:
    Terri Taylor
    Project SeaCAMEL
    412-512-9292
    zeolite@verizon.net

    Dr. Ellen Prager
    Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base
    NURC/UNCW
    Ph 305.451.0233 ext 206

    Related Links:
    http://www.vims.edu/events/
    http://www.livingoceansfoundation.org/
    http://www.uncw.edu/aquarius/

    Project SeaCAMEL Goes Live November 12-14!
    http://www.seacamel.livingoceansfoundation.org

Let's help change the world, here's one way...

You are receiving this update because I requested a reminder from One Laptop per Child about the limited-time "Give One Get One" program. Starting Monday, November 12 at 6:00am EST, you will be able to donate one XO laptop to a child in the developing world and also receive a laptop for the child in your life, by visiting www.laptopgiving.org or calling toll-free 1-877-70-LAPTOP.

"Give One Get One" is the only time they are making the revolutionary XO laptop available to the public. For a donation of just $399 ($200 of which is tax-deductable), you will be giving the gift of education. Additionally, T-Mobile is offering donors one year of complimentary access to T-Mobile HotSpot locations throughout the United States, which can be used from any Wi-Fi-capable device, including the XO laptop.

I will send another update when the program begins on November 12. I hope you'll join the mission to bring education and connection to children in even the most remote regions of the globe.

I'm thinking of doing this myself and sharing a laptop with my teen. The free T-Mobile HotSpot and portable, somewhat indestructible mobile device is totally worth it.

Let's spread the word!
:)
~julz

SLOAN-C International Symposium

Are you using technology in cool ways for teaching and learning (think
blogs, wikis, moodle, audio/video, etc.) - please submit an abstract to the
SLOAN-C International Symposium. SLOAN has traditionally been focused on
higher education but now they have said they'd love to see what K12 folks
are doing. The upcoming conference is May 7-9, 2008 and is close by in
Carefree, Arizona. I'm sure some fun caravanning could be arranged!

Also, check out the social network that SLOAN is working on.

http://www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org/

:)
~julz

A Web Event for K12 eTeachers

Thanks to Bethany for this resource. I have attended a Cider event and they
do an excellent job with the research. K12ers, let's attend.
:)
~julz

CIDER has the following eLuminate presentation coming up. It's free
- all you have to do is become a member of CIDER community (also
free). See

http://cider.athabascau.ca/CIDERSessions/

Research Results from BC¹s Connected Learner¹s Technology Projects
Institution: BCEd Online
Date and time: Nov 16, 2007 11:00 AM

What factors help to create effective online learning environments in
K-12? In this session, Dr. Elizabeth Childs and Lara Jongedijk will
report on the final data from nine provincial Connected Learner¹s
Technology Grant Projects that ran across 18 months and involved 14
school districts in British Columbia. The technologies used in the
projects included: webcasting, web-conferencing, synchronous courses
using Elluminate Live, use of Smartboards, online tutoring and data
archiving. Lessons learned will be discussed and recommendations for
making informed decisions when planning and implementing similar
technology projects will be shared.

Cool vids

Susan Patrick recommended the following youtube videos: Information Revolution

Academia 2.0.

Convergence

It's a convergence of interesting things - NM elearning advocates, the Stevie Ray Blues Club, Second Life, and Ferdi playing the electronic sax. Ferdi was just talking about his bluddhist (blue and Buddhist) Second Life persona named Hojazz. Not sure about the spelling but just enjoying the interesting convegence.

Wish you were here...

Muhammad Ali Center for dinner

NACOL VSS Conference

Hi Everyone,
Reporting live from Louisville, Kentucky and the VSS Conference. I
wanted to let you know that you should visit the NACOL site at
http://nacol.org because a lot of cool NEW stuff is being posted, like
the updated Keeping Pace report by John Watson. AND I'm not sure if
you noticed because I didn't until just now, that some of the events
going on are being webcast LIVE using Elluminate! Also, I noticed that
last year's webcasts are all there now too.

And I have tried emailing all my groups but the Internet has been up
and down so I'm not sure they all went out, so here is my information
again. I am blogging to http://juliaparra.blogspot.com and
microblogging at http://twitter.com/desertjul

My friend, Holly is also blogging and she takes better pictures than I
do, http://technologyadventures.blogspot.com

Enjoy and Have a FABULOUS day!
:)
~julz

Jackie Huba

She said we could take a pic of our neighbor and put it on the web. So we did.

VSS Opening Address by Susan Patrick

In school, we learned from books, our children can learn from the world.

Great first day, lovely reception

You Can Teach Science Online!

Dr. Kemi Jona from Northwestern University shares Americas Lab Report and that new ways of doing science are prime means for providing our online students with science online. The iLab Network shows promise for providing unique and amazing remote online labs. Think MIT nuclear lab.

CoMobloggers in Action!

NM eLearning Roundtable Discussion

Awesome and IMHO an historic event. Gathered are NM legislators, elearning advocates, and national eLearning leaders to discuss NMs plans for statewide elearning.

We have arrived...

...and the view is amazing!

Cool Volunteer Site

My friend, Bethany, was telling us about a wonderful site that helps
people volunteer at the global level. The site is called Global Vision
International:
http://www.gvi.co.uk/

:)
~julz

Teachers can use Lijit

I'm still trying to figure out the coolness of Lijit. My new friend
Kevin, at Lijit told me the following:

--- a good point to remember about Lijit is that we provide a
controllable search engine that lets teachers uniquely build
sites students can search (as I mentioned before), instead of the entire web.

Here is an example educator site using the Lijit Search: Global Learners
http://principianteglobal.blogspot.com/

On Classroom 2.0: Breaking News: Ning announces ad-free networks for K-12 educators

This is very cool!
:)
~julz

From Steve Hargadon:

“Will post more on this at http://www.classroom20.com and http://education.ning.com later today, but for now details at http://www.stevehargadon.com/2007/11/big-news-from-ning-ad-free-student.html.

Have a great day!  Huge thanks to Ning!

Steve

About Classroom 2.0
The social network for educators using collaborative technologies!

Click here to visit Classroom 2.0!
http://classroom20.ning.com”

Cool Links

My friend, the Lone Eagle shared the following links with me and I thought I'd share them with you: Open Educational Resources - OER Commons And within there: EduForge Happy Day Everyone! :) ~julz

Mijito shaved his head to be Mace Windu!

Darth Vader seen at NMSU!

Dancing Dudes

So one of my favorite video series is of Matt from the "Where in the Hell is Matt?" series. Please forgive my French, but this is important stuff :) Anyways, thanks to one of my students, I came across an article about the interoperability of virtual worlds and cool stuff like that, but what REALLY caught my attention was the video for "Where in SL is Artilect?" Enjoy the videos! Where in the Hell is Matt? Where in SL is Artilect

Too Lijit to quit...

I don't know why, but Holly and I both LOVE Lijit. You can see my Lijit in the middle column of this blog. So we are now, "Too Lijit to quit" which means a song/video is in order...

ISTE in Second Life

Thanks to my friend Larry Jeffryes for the following notice:

ISTE's Second Life social occurs on Thursdays at 6 PM (Pacific Time). The
ISTE SL docents are very helpful.

Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely created by its Residents.
Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today
is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe. Read more
at http://secondlife.com/whatis/

To explore ISTE's Second Life headquarters, visit
http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/93/83/30
If you don't have an account and avatar in Second Life, you'll be
prompted to create one (they're free!). If you already have an account,
you'll need to log in first. The above link will display a map to
ISTE's Island just select "teleport" and you'll be transported
directly there. (You'll need to download and install SecondLife
software.)

I found SecondLife to have a much bigger world than just ISTE. As I
explored the SecondLife world, I teleported to some very interesting
and some very strange virtual worlds. I'm still learning the interface
and a bit confused by this and that at times.

Larry Jeffryes
Los Alamos, NM

USDLA Launches National Distance Learning Week to Increase the Awareness of Distance Learning

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) September 19, 2007 -- The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) will hold the 2007 National Distance Learning Week (NDLW), November 12 -16, 2007. Read all about it!

And of course, we plan to have some fun activities for you all! :) ~julz

Aww, coolest thing ever!

Well at least the coolest thing for today. Thanks to Rebecca for this bit o' news: If mail it you must, cool stamp of Master Yoda you will have...
Yoda chosen as postage favorite

A Vision of Students Today...

My friends Holly and Bethany shared the following VERY cool video with me...

Is it wrong?

Is it wrong to be excited when you see yourself referred to on someone else's blog? If it's wrong, then I don't want to be right...sing it for us Luther: Anyways, thanks to Duncan from Abcol for posting nice things about me! Oh yeah, I might just be way behind the times, but did you know that you can now log in to youtube with your gmail account? Happy Day my Internet Friends! ~julz

Pepperdine students, faculty honor firefighters

I am a doctoral student at Pepperdine University and grateful to those who kept the people and the campus safe. Here's the story - http://www.yahoo.com/s/716989 A personal thanks to the students and faculty who kept those of us who are not there informed. ~julz

Did You Know 2.0? Join the Conversation!

For when you have time... 8 minutes on the case for web 2.0 education.

Twitter + Second Life = Spontaneous Web Meetspace

Tech Crunch provides an article about using Twitter and SecondLife to conduct web meetings...
Read the article at
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/10/11/twitter-second-life-spontaneous-web-meetspace/
:)
~julz

Musicals @ NMSU directed by Mark Medoff

Memo from Mark... Dear Friends, I have the good fortune to direct Bob Diven's new musical, EXTINCTION: A LOVE STORY. Bob's is the first of two musicals that will premier at NMSU this academic year. WE ARE ENRON will follow in February, 2008. EXTINCTION: A LOVE STORY runs Thursday, October 25 through Sunday, October 28. EXTINCTION features as fine a cast of singer/actors as I've worked with in forty years in Las Cruces and includes three former NMSU students who are now working professionals. Musical Director is NMSU grad Shanelle Jernigan. Choreography is by Debra Knapp, NMSU Director of Dance. The spectacular Set and Costumes are by Theatre Arts resident designer Deb Brunson. Lighting is by DALO resident designer Gerald Kottman. Recent NMSU Music grad Shaun Robinson will conduct the orchestra. Please come! Mark Mark Medoff Artistic Director Creative Media Institute for Film & Digital Arts New Mexico State University

What Are We Saying to Each Other? - Phillip Dodds Passes

Again, thanks to Elliot Masie for the information...

"What are we saying to each other?"

That was a single line, spoken by the sound engineer at the end of Close Encounters of a Third Kind, as he played chords and a friendly alien spaceship played music back.

The role was played by a young sound engineer who was spotted by Steven Spielberg and given the on-screen role to be the interface between these two worlds. That man, Phillip Dodds, was still young and inventing, as he passed this Saturday morning.

Phillip Dodds was the Chief Architect of SCORM and the force behind sharable and reusable content. He was deeply involved in the evolution of interactive multimedia and expanding the possibilities for learning via technology.

If you use a Learning Management System, author an interactive learning module or talk about the future of Web 2.0, take a moment to thank a man who you probably never met. Phillip's work was KEY and CRITICAL to the exciting world of learning, knowledge management and collaboration that we take for granted.

Philip's dreams were to create a global set of standards and specifications that would allow content to be searchable, reusable and expandable.

Philip, we thank you for all that you have done and we'll keep asking that question: "What are we saying to each other?"

With respect and sadness,

Elliott Masie

P.S. wikipedia referecnce at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Dodds

Also see: Phil Dodds Background

Co Moblogging with Holly @ NMTIE

NM TIE Podcasting Workshop

I'm helping Bethany today at the NM TIE conference with her podcasting workshop. We started by investigating iTunes and EPN - http://epnweb.org.

Right away, some folks found a couple of very cool things:

• Tamara found Willow Web, an elementary podcast show at EPN and she said she listened to elementary students expressing their knowledge about the constitution in authentic way to an audience of their peers (and a global audience).
• Jim noted that the second language podcasts, specifically the French ones, at EPN were just like taking a class.
• Gail noted that in the general topics of EPN, there were 137 podcasts for English and 9 for math...

Then they came up with some great ideas for uses of podcasts!

• Have students record and edit movies and broadcast via podcast - moviecasting!
• Creating tech instructional podcast on how to do various tasks like email
• Opportunities for training on district-wide systems
• Have students do podcast presentations, thereby addressing the issues of time where you can't get everyone up in front of the class. An immediate win is that students don't often get the opportunity to hear themselves and self-critique until college.
• Virtual campus/school tours
• Audio quiz/audio answers
• Library could do weekly/monthly podcast on new or featured books, bibliographic or library use
• Enhancement to lessons
• Students in the hospital never gets the full class experience, could get more of an experience with a vodcast
• This workshop could have been podcast
• Coaches created podcasts of the team plays and the team listened and learned on the bus

Some advantages were brought up:

• Focused, what you want when you want, just-in-time learning, segmenting, smaller files
• Addressing different learners
• Reaching more students
• Achieving hard to achieve educational goals
• 21st Century Skills addressed

Next everyone is going to use the following to create podcasts right here, right now.

• Gcast - http://www.gcast.com/
• PodcastPeople - http://www.podcastpeople.com/

Lots of fun was had. Wish you'd been here ;)
~julz

My Voki for NM TIE

Webinar

Register Now to Attend: Beyond the Collaborative Project: Student-Created Content

On October 3 at 11am Eastern, Alan November, a long-time leader and visionary in the area of Education Technology, joins Jan Zanetis, Market Manager for Education at TANDBERG, to discuss the power of students as content creators. To read more about it and register, <a href=”http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=206&e=72FBE03CD79946349970D367FEB837D1&elq=2F”>click here</a>

New Mexico becomes an ISTE Affiliate :)

Today, New Mexico got up and running with an ISTE affiliate. For further information check out http://nmste.org/

:)
~julia

FW: A Last Lecture of a Lifetime - Moving, Smiles and Inspiring

I subscribe to Elliot Masie's newsletter. To subscribe go to
http://www.masie.com/list/

His most recent newsletter spotlights an awesome lecture by Randy Pausch
that I'm watching right now. Yes, I'm both laughing and crying.
~julz

A Last Lecture: Randy Pausch Video Game Professor - Carnegie Mellon.

Here is a touching, moving and bittersweet item for us in the learning
field:

http://www.masieweb.com/lasttalk

There is a trend to ask thought leaders to present a "Last Lecture" at
colleges, delivering the presentation they would do, if it were the last
one in their lives.

However, Randy Pausch's was quite different. Randy is one of the pioneers
in Video Game Education and a professor at Carnegie Mellon. He was asked
to present a "Last Lecture" Here is the report from the Wall Street
Journal about this talk:

"Dr. Pausch's speech was more than just an academic exercise. The
46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and expects to live for
just a few months. His lecture, using images on a giant screen, turned out
to be a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life.

He began by showing his CT scans, revealing 10 tumors on his liver. But
after that, he talked about living. If anyone expected him to be morose,
he said, "I'm sorry to disappoint you." He then dropped to the floor and
did one-handed pushups."

"He paid tribute to his techie background. "I've experienced a deathbed
conversion," he said, smiling. "I just bought a Macintosh." Flashing his
rejection letters on the screen, he talked about setbacks in his career,
repeating: "Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how
badly we want things." He encouraged us to be patient with others. "Wait
long enough, and people will surprise and impress you." After showing
photos of his childhood bedroom, decorated with mathematical notations
he'd drawn on the walls, he said: "If your kids want to paint their
bedrooms, as a favor to me, let 'em do it."

"While displaying photos of his bosses and students over the years, he
said that helping others fulfill their dreams is even more fun than
achieving your own. He talked of requiring his students to create
videogames without sex and violence. "You'd be surprised how many
19-year-old boys run out of ideas when you take those possibilities away,
but they all rose to the challenge."

"He then spoke about his legacy. Considered one of the nation's foremost
teachers of videogame and virtual-reality technology, he helped develop
"Alice," a Carnegie Mellon software project that allows people to easily
create 3-D animations. It had one million downloads in the past year, and
usage is expected to soar."

A short video report on the speech is available at:
http://www.masieweb.com/lasttalk

The complete speech is available here:
http://www.etc.cmu.edu/global_news/?q=node/42

If you were to give your Last Talk, what would it be? I'd love to hear
from you about this at emasie@maasie.

Thanks to John Abele, our colleague and MASIE Learning Fellow, for passing
this on to us.

Recent PodCasts and Demonstrations:
Dan Pink PodCast: http://www.learning2007.com/danpink
Learning Changes Video: http://www.learning2007.com/changes
Social Networking Demo: http://www.learning2007.com/social

Interwrite Learning & TeacherTube Classroom Makeover Contest

TeacherTube \"Teach the World\"®

We at TeacherTube wanted to make sure our community members were aware of a great opportunity to win an interactive classroom makeover worth over $15,000.00. That\'s right-- $15,000.00! Interwrite Learning and TeacherTube are partnering to bring this contest to classroom teachers.

Check out all the details at http://www.teachertube.com/makeover. Your video submission could be the big winner!

Bethany

NACOL Standards of Quality for Online Courses

Here it is friends, hot off the press!

The North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) has released a new publication, the National Standards of Quality for Online Courses. NACOL adopted the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Standards for Quality Online Courses and included a standard to include 21st Century Skills.

The National Standards of Quality for Online Courses can be found at the NACOL website at:
http://www.nacol.org/nationalstandards/

:)
~julz

The Map of Online Communities

An article in the Techlearning blog called The Art of Building Virtual Communities linked to a very cool graphic from Craig Bellamy's site, who credits xkcd for the image, what the heck is xkcd, I guess I'm gonna find out momentarily? Anyways, I don't understand why I don't see Julia Island in the BLOGIPELIGO...

For my Skype users

Though we love Skype, you should be aware that like everything else, there are security issues. Do not accept strange messages, files, etc. Remember to set those preference that I told you about.

On PC
1. Go to the Menu bar, select Tools > Options > Privacy.
2. Select Show Advanced Options
3. Make sure all of the right things are selected, i.e. Allow calls from: Only people in my Contacts list.

On Mac
1.Go to the Menu bar, select Skype > Preferences > Privacy.
2. Make sure all of the right things are selected, i.e. Allow calls from: Only people whom I have authorized, or Allow SkypeIn calls from Only people from my Contacts.

Here is an article about the current Skype security issue:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2181764,00.asp

Safe Computing!
:)
~julz

NM eTeachers' Workshop

This pic sent from my blackberry

NM eTeachers' Workshop

This pic sent from my blackberry

My iLife

My iLife would of course inlude a brand new 24 inch iMac ; an iPhone or the new iTouch iPod; then the new 160GB Classic is killer for storage and the baby Nano with video is simply adorable; but I've always thought that an iCar would be the ultimate iLife accessory; and then of course I'd need the iRing to rule them all... Was that the longest sentence ever? ;) ~ijulz dreaming of an iLife

Online Identity

This was a post I created for the students in our Online Teaching and Learning Graduate Certificate program: Branding vs. Pseudonymity When you decide to take your courses and your presence online, you start developing an online identity and an online persona. Some people don't mind a public or even branded online identity/persona. In fact, they foster it: See http://juliaparra.com It's important to have an online presence and an online persona in order to develop a thriving learning community and feel successful as a student and as a teacher.However, many people do not feel comfortable with their pictures and real identity being freely available on the web. Thus, it's a good time to reflect on how public you want your online identity/persona to be. My friend, Bethany is fostering a near-pseudo identity with her TekTrekker moniker. I say near-pseudo because her first name is scattered throughout the blog. So, depending on your attitude about the Internet, we recommend that you consider your online identity. If you want to brand yourself, use your real name. If you do not trust the Internet, consider a pseudo-identity, a way to interact with us and each other online yet remain somewhat anonymous. Creating Your Pseudo-Identity First, ponder a fake name that is unique and doesn't identify you. For example, a pseudo-identity that I might have considered is desertjewel. Second, set up your pseudonym email account. Gmail is our recommendation as you no longer need a secondary account. Hopefully, your pseudonym idea hasn't been used by someone else. This is where you might have to make adjustments to your chosen pseudonym. Third, create an avatar for your online picture. Yahoo Avatars is a fun still image avatar. Voki is great for your audio/video avatar. If you have a Second Life character, you can take a picture of yourself in Second Life and use that. More about avatars - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(virtual_reality) Last, use your pseudonym and avatar image whenever you are asked to post something online. Resources for Further Exploration Why You May Need an Online Persona Your Online Persona Developing Your Online Persona Taking Care of Your Internet Persona Managing Your Online Persona Becomes a Key Career Skill Online Identity The Brand Called You Personal Branding What do you think about your online identity?

My reflection on online identity, persona, and presence

There is one legal me, I have an online presence (that includes teacher, social, cognitive, and maybe more), I have many identities due to all the things I belong to and I can foster a variety of personas based on the situation I find myself in....all of this, hopefully leads to Julia the Brand, where you might recognize/realize my faves, my values, my academic and personal interests, etc. Just wanted this somewhere... ;) ~julz

Zink

Have you heard of Zink? I want one. :) ~julz

Scoble interviews Fab Young Man

Robert Scoble interviewed an impressive young man named David Brusilovsky. You have to see it to believe it, is all I gotta say: By the way, in the interview, Scoble jokingly talks about donations being made to get Daniel a Mac; read Daniel's response here: http://dbrusilovsky.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/thank-you-for-the-support/

Who's on 1st...

We have so much going on with our online programs right now that we have been double-booking ourselves and feeling rather confused. I found this oldie but goodie for a bit of comedy relief...

Saving the Earth

I enjoyed some Live Earth concerts on Saturday. Nunatek, the scientist band in Antarctica was just so cool. Check out more on being green - http://liveearth.msn.com/green and take the pledge to do your part to save the earth. I took the pledge and for this week I need to go pick up some of those light bulbs for my house and I plan to bike to work on Friday. Be Green My Friends! :) ~julz p.s. Here's a special performance by my favorite green friend...

Some Star Wars Love

I'm looking forward to the Episode II with Darth Vader. Thanks to Random Fun Stuff for this fun feature. :) ~julz

My iPhone Comment

Get a Voki now!

Elliot Masie's iPhone & Learning: Early Report

Web 2.0 Adventures

A few cool things have come my way recently.

1. Josh Catone at Read/Write Web pulled together a Web 2.0 Backpack which is great list of Web 2.0 resources for students (and teachers).
2. I'm enjoying a cool elearning resource called edu2.0.
3. And I'm having too much fun creating yet another group space at grou.ps.
4. Oh yeah, scroll all the way to the bottom of this blog to play in a Meebo Chat room.

Have Fun! :) ~julz

Plantable Packaging

I was reading a magazine called Natural Health and came across a really cool concept that I hope companies and consumers will take seriously - plantable packaging. Plantable packaging is made of 100 percent recycled post-consumer fiberboard, which begins to decompose within a few days of being placed in wet dirt. Plantable packages are embedded with seeds such as sweet basil, amaranth, and wildflowers that sprout after just a few weeks. According to the article, we could save 90 million trees a year in the United States if just 10 percent of American companies switched to post-consumer fiberboard not to mention the transformation of landfills that could occur. Check out Pangea Organics and Cargo Cosmetics for companies that support this concept.

Ning

K, I am having way too much fun with Ning. I had no idea it had come so far as a do it yourself social networking tool. Thanks to Classroom 2.o and Steve Hargadon for showing me the light. Anyways, I have started my own private social network for friends and family called JulzWorld. I think I will use this for the Fostering Online Learning Communities course I teach as well. It really is very fun times at Ning... :) ~julz

RETAzen PD Workshop

We had about 30 teachers from New Mexico here at NMSU for RETA Professional Development 2007. I enjoyed providing a workshop that was requested called Web 2.0 for Learning 2.0. Of course since my mom is The Chocolate Lady in Old Mesilla, I had chocolate incentives. One of the more important things to come out of the workshop was the discussion on technology and ethics we had and an activity we did - RETAzen Blog Norms. To see the list of our norms, go to the RETAzens Blog. The list is on the left. I plan to see if there might be a more fun way, like with Flash to display them... :) Happy Blogging! :) ~julz

Thiagi, Moodle, and eLearning

Thiagi is one of my favorite educators though his focus is more about business training. I received one of his newsletters today and did a bit of exploring of his resources because I had the vague memory that he uses Moodle and I will be a serious Moodle user soon along with some of New Mexico's eteachers. I found it and one of his courses is called The Four-Door Approach to Elearning. To check it out:

• Go to http://4d-elearning.com/, I like the Wikipedia widget on the entry page :)
• Click on The Four-Door Approach to Elearning
• That’s it, explore and enjoy!

Want More Thiagi Thiagi site - http://thiagi.com Thiagi June Newsletter - http://thiagi.com/pfp/IE4H/june2007.html TGIF! :) ~julz

I Love Widgets!

As you can tell by my blog, I LOVE Widgets! I just added a couple of widgets recommended by Read/Write Web. I'm also working on an explanation and widget resources for my RETAzens at the current RETA Wiki.

Happy Birthday Star Wars!

Star Wars came out when I was 7 (yes, I'm 37) and my dad was a huge fan. Those were exciting times waiting for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I was quite saddened when Han Solo was put into deep freeze, repulsed by Jaba the Hut, and of course, loved the Ewoks. So it's all things Star Wars for a while. CNN story, Thirty years later, 'Star Wars' force still being felt, provides a nice historical perspective and some upcoming events. TheForce.net has tons of great links to stories about Star Wars turning 30. I'll be keeping an eye on the Star Wars site to see if anything special goes on there. The TechRepublic has some fun videos and trivia. I wonder if there's going to be anything going on in Second Life?

Waste a Few Minutes w/ Guess the Google

Two cool things to waste a few minutes on: Guess-the-Google Montage-a-Google Have Fun!

Second Life Update

Recently we started a Second Life initiative here at NMSU, currently referred to as NMSU Aggie Island. So you'll be seeing my SL updates. To see all SL updates that I post, there's a nice feature in new Blogger that allows you to label/tag your posts, so find my "blog topics" and click on "second life". My SL update for today is a two-part special: 1. My Pepperdine CadreX-Mate Cheryl is a rockin' SL specialist. I had the opportunity to attend her NACOL presentation, Social Networking and Second Life: Uses for E-learning. You'll want to check out ED Tech Island in Second Life, 3D Learn, emilychang.com, nicenet.org, SL Conferenc 2007, and CXKnowledge.com. I've also added an SL VodPod with some cool SL vids, I'm going to try and add them to this post. 2. Robert Scoble and James Au converse and present us with Second Life 101 videos. That's it for now. May your first and second lives by happy ones! :) ~julz

Mobile devices in Second Life

Bethany and I were chatting the other day about streaming video and wondering if there are mobile media devices in Second Life. And now I just came across a Cruxy, a cool portable music player widget for Second Life.

NY Children

Danny Goldfield is working on his project NY Children. He plans to photograph a child from every country on earth with the criteria that they must all live in New York. He has photographed 148 with 46 to go. It's quite beautiful and a refreshing look at beauty in the world.

Adding Avatar and Video

We've been playing with some fun tools. My Voki (avatar video) is added on the right, my BubbleGuru should pop, and for this post I am doing a wee demo of Flixn. These tools post easily into my WebCT course as well...