The courses, the camera and the crash
Preamble: So many things to write about, and never enough time. Especially if I want to see my family and sleep. I also find that I let all the trivial thoughts that pass through the noggin find their way out via Twitter instead of blogging as I once did. But not all ideas are easily expressed 140 characters at a time.
I’ve been spending a lot of time this week working on a couple of different online courses. One is Education Curriculum and Instruction 831 which is being taught by Alec Couros. Alec has been kind enough to bring me along for the ride as a teaching assistant/social capital philanthropist. Kyle Lichtenwald is also assisting with the course, and I’m looking forward to working more with him. Tonight was the second of two live sessions via Adobe Connect. Problems with technology aside, I’m so impressed with the enthusiasm, talent and intelligence of the people in the class. Some students are hesitant with the technology and describe themselves as technophobic, but I admire their willingness to try. As teachers, that’s what we ask students to do. Sometimes we forget (or are somewhat scared) to do that as well. The first step is getting past the moment of hesitation – to feel the fear, but do it anyway.
The other online course is the upcoming Computer Science 20 course that I will be teaching in the shiny new NBCHS Online Learning Centre. I don’t know of any other high schools that are taking the initiative to start offering online schools – all the K-12 online schools/courses have been initiated by at the school division level. I think it is an interesting initiative for us to do it at the high school in order to offer programming flexibility to our own students. Specialized programs can be tough to work into a student’s timetable. We’ll be able to provide access to more students in our own school to Computer Science and Calculus, and we’ll also be providing these courses to students outside our school. Finding groups of geographically dispersed students creates a critical mass that make it justifiable to create a class where numbers at each school might not.
It will be interesting to compare the experience of online teaching in a post-secondary course and a secondary course at the same time.
I’ve also been trying my best to take at least one picture per day for all of 2008 having been inspired, as may others have, at D’Arcy Norman’s picture per day project in 2007. D’Arcy wrote today about the mindful seeing of photography. If you’ve ever picked up a camera or been momentarily captivated by the pure aesthetic joy of something you saw, you owe it to yourself to read the post. I was telling a friend of mine the other day about the 366 photos project, and the way that I liked photography because if you are really serious about taking a great (or even pretty good) photo, you have to be very much in the moment as you are photographing. “Wow – the Zen of Photography” was his response and the more I think about it, the more I think he is on to something. If you want to see some of the stuff that the 366 photos crowd is up to, check out the 366 photos group on Flickr (or just check out my stuff if you like). Membership in the Flickr group is purely voluntary and there may be many who are doing the 366 photo thing without sharing the photos at all, keeping the entire portfolio entirely on their hard drives.
So far I have been diligent in taking photos daily. If you like at my set so far, you will see that I have only put 3 online. I am hoping to put more of them up once the new hard drive arrives. This afternoon, the hard drive on the MacBook started giving me the click of death. I checked with Disk Utilities on my installation disk (word of advice – always keep these) and the drive is indeed completely pooched. But I am not worried. My brow is not furrowed. My heart is not pounding. My skin is not soaked in sweat.
How have I achieved this state of enlightened calm, you may ask. One simple reason – I installed Mac OS Leopard in November, and my entire drive was automagically backed up ever since then (including last night) by Time Machine. Thank you, Steve Jobs and all other Mac designers/engineers/coders. Thanks to you, I have entered a state of nerd-vana. And all shall be restored as it was once the new hard drive gets here. (And I’ll get some more photos up once that happens!)
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Rob, The Tao of Photography was a very powerful read for me. http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Photography-Seeing-Beyond/dp/1580081940
D'Arcy Norman - 2008/01/09 at 23:07
Rob, The Tao of Photography was a very powerful read for me. http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Photography-Seeing-Beyond/dp/1580081940
D'Arcy Norman - 2008/01/09 at 23:07
Thx. for checking out my blog. It is the second one I have started and I may put a link to my original one as well. I can see by your blog that I can add many more features to mine, so I’ll just keep it a work in progress.
Can I change the “header” portion of my page. i was looking arounf and could not change anything. I wanted to get rid of the “just another WordPress blog” etc.
Thx. Rob
Dave - 2008/01/09 at 23:56
Thx. for checking out my blog. It is the second one I have started and I may put a link to my original one as well. I can see by your blog that I can add many more features to mine, so I’ll just keep it a work in progress.
Can I change the “header” portion of my page. i was looking arounf and could not change anything. I wanted to get rid of the “just another WordPress blog” etc.
Thx. Rob
Dave - 2008/01/09 at 23:56
Thanks for the book recommendation, D’Arcy. I was just taking a look at it on Amazon and it looks like a better articulation and extension about some of the things I was thinking about. Thanks for starting the 366 photos meme – it is giving me the opportunity to look at things (literally) from a different mindset.
Dave – All blogs are (or should be) a work in progress. If you feel like you have come to an end, it’s time to shut the blog down. I speak from experience. As for the header portion, go to the “Options” tab in your dashboard/admin panel, then select “General”. From there you can change the title and the tagline (which is set to “Just Another WordPress Blog” by default).
Good luck with the blogging journey.
Rob Wall - 2008/01/10 at 09:31
Thanks for the book recommendation, D’Arcy. I was just taking a look at it on Amazon and it looks like a better articulation and extension about some of the things I was thinking about. Thanks for starting the 366 photos meme – it is giving me the opportunity to look at things (literally) from a different mindset.
Dave – All blogs are (or should be) a work in progress. If you feel like you have come to an end, it’s time to shut the blog down. I speak from experience. As for the header portion, go to the “Options” tab in your dashboard/admin panel, then select “General”. From there you can change the title and the tagline (which is set to “Just Another WordPress Blog” by default).
Good luck with the blogging journey.
Rob Wall - 2008/01/10 at 09:31
Um, Rob, isn’t that the second time your drive has died since you got that computer?
Heather Ross - 2008/01/10 at 10:01
Um, Rob, isn’t that the second time your drive has died since you got that computer?
Heather Ross - 2008/01/10 at 10:01
Yes it is, and I’m kind of suspicious about that. To my thinking, it could be one of three things:
1. I just happened to get two bad drives. Not very likely, but it is possible. If this is the case, I’ll just get a new hard drive and carry on.
2. The hard drive controller on the machine is crap. If this is the case, I’ll need to get a new MacBook (or whatever yummy goodies Steve offers us next week).
3. Power surges or static. Both times I was at the school. It tends to be very static-y around here, and the outlets have been known to be prone to fluctuating voltage. If this is the case, I’ll need a new hard drive *and* a surge protector. This might be a good event in any case, and the tech crew at the school say that small portable ones suitable for laptops are available.
I suppose 1 and 3 are the easy fixes, but I’m sort of hoping for 2. The Wife seems to be suggesting that a new computer might be the way to go. My dilemma – go with the reasonable response (new drive and surge protector) or imply, in a very subtle way, that it’s time to replace the MacBook. Hmmm…?
Rob - 2008/01/10 at 10:40
Yes it is, and I’m kind of suspicious about that. To my thinking, it could be one of three things:
1. I just happened to get two bad drives. Not very likely, but it is possible. If this is the case, I’ll just get a new hard drive and carry on.
2. The hard drive controller on the machine is crap. If this is the case, I’ll need to get a new MacBook (or whatever yummy goodies Steve offers us next week).
3. Power surges or static. Both times I was at the school. It tends to be very static-y around here, and the outlets have been known to be prone to fluctuating voltage. If this is the case, I’ll need a new hard drive *and* a surge protector. This might be a good event in any case, and the tech crew at the school say that small portable ones suitable for laptops are available.
I suppose 1 and 3 are the easy fixes, but I’m sort of hoping for 2. The Wife seems to be suggesting that a new computer might be the way to go. My dilemma – go with the reasonable response (new drive and surge protector) or imply, in a very subtle way, that it’s time to replace the MacBook. Hmmm…?
Rob - 2008/01/10 at 10:40
Hey Rob, I am looking forward to working with and learning from you as well. I have been following you with this blog and the Posse Podcasts for a while. I think the course will be a great learning experience.
I love these wise words Rob, I am glad you shared. “The first step is getting past the moment of hesitation – to feel the fear, but do it anyway.” This can be true of most things that we are not familiar with.
Kyle Lichtenwald - 2008/01/13 at 21:24
Hey Rob, I am looking forward to working with and learning from you as well. I have been following you with this blog and the Posse Podcasts for a while. I think the course will be a great learning experience.
I love these wise words Rob, I am glad you shared. “The first step is getting past the moment of hesitation – to feel the fear, but do it anyway.” This can be true of most things that we are not familiar with.
Kyle Lichtenwald - 2008/01/13 at 21:24
[...] external drive while I work. The inconvenience means that I am not constantly backing up (luckily the one time I needed it I had backed up the previous night). Time Capsule is the perfect solution and the Apple markup [...]
Open Monologue » Hot Air and the Mac Tablet - 2008/01/18 at 16:05
[...] external drive while I work. The inconvenience means that I am not constantly backing up (luckily the one time I needed it I had backed up the previous night). Time Capsule is the perfect solution and the Apple markup [...]
Open Monologue » Hot Air and the Mac Tablet - 2008/01/18 at 16:05