Over the past couple of weeks, everything has been a flurry. Tons has been going on in school, including the beginning of a redesign of my school’s site. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to actually write down some intelligent, thought out posts. Fortunately, I have been keeping track of everything in my del.icio.us. Instead of writing out all my ideas, here are some of the highlights and summaries:
- OpenDNS - I recently switched my home network to using OpenDNS for dns. The speed improvement has been very noticeable. This service would be a very viable solution for schools to filter sites - particularly in small schools where filtering software is expensive and hard to maintain.
- Snipr - Quite simply, this is yet another url shortening service. However, unlike TinyURL the interface is usable and attractive. In addition, there’s an api. Most importantly of all, it isn’t yet blocked in schools!
- Sing Song - Let them sing it for you. Simple as typing in lyrics and hitting play. Words are tagged in songs and used to piece together your song.
- Speak Up about education and our schools. Very nice use of the internet to give people a voice.
- What the Web Is For - This is a great article about the web, togetherness and humanity. Have anyone skeptical of the power of the web to anybody skeptical of the power of the web. Every administrator, teacher, student, developer, and citizen should listen to this. Very powerful without being technical!
- Dylan - Share your message in a custom homesick blues music video.
- VirtualBox - An open source virtualizer for the rest of us.
- Disqus - A free comment and conversation tracker which integrates very well with all kinds of blog platforms. Supports threaded commenting and all that jazz without being intrusive to your design.
- Pibb - A powerful and free conversation/communication tool. I’ll probably be using it to track the backchannel at my presentation.
- The Superest - Give the kid in all of us a pencil (and an RSS feed).
- Outsourcing Tutoring - Yet another article about the outsourcing of education, this time from the New York Times.
- ICT Across the Pond - A nice article summarizing a variety of great education technology projects which have been happening in the United Kingdom. I love the idea of designing a learning center like a coffee shop - what a way to encourage informal discussion and interactivity!
- OpenSocial - Google has unveiled a decentralized social networking plan. I’d love to see how this could be used to pull social networking into school’s systems, bring the good parts from the outside but keep the bad out while maintaining control.
- Ning ad-free for ed - Confirmed K12 student networks will get an ad-free version of Ning for free. This helped to save the flat classroom project. Even better, Ning will be supporting OpenSocial so there’s no reason not to give it a spin.
*phew* Hopefully that should keep you satisfied while I defy gravity for a couple of days by dropping off the face of the Earth. Oh wait, I’ve still got an article about how awesome Leopard is to write. *purrs* (In addition to posts about social technology and building a WordPress MU install for my school)
-Your Loyal Astronaut
Glad you’re liking OpenDNS. Thanks for the mention.
Allison Rhodes
Community Manager
OpenDNS
Thanks for providing such a good service for absolutely nothing. I might be speaking to our IT department about using OpenDNS for the school.
Great post. I’m sending this through my feed tonight. One correction, I think you mean Ning WILL give ad free sites to K12 schools. Not will NOT.
Thanks. I honestly didn’t do much besides sharing some links… I’d have liked to connect them a little more but also really wanted to get my thoughts out.
Thanks for catching that! Fixed it.
I’ve used OpenDNS and ScrubIT for home network filtering, and think these are great solutions. OpenDNS is allowing for customizations in ways that are just amazing. I’ve never understood why filtering routers didn’t catch on, since they were so much easier than installing software on individual pcs.
@Steve Yes, I definitely agree that OpenDNS has some pretty amazing functionality. All for free! Makes you wonder why schools bother to spend so much money on inefficient systems when there is a speedy, free one slapping them in the face. Well, some schools have noticed this free, easily manageable alternative…
sing song is a useful tool for out of touch people like me, disqus would be useful for the project i’m doing in class right now
@november52007 Haha, yes sing song is a fun tool that also is useful.
Please tell us how Disqus goes if you end up using it in class! I’d love to hear a first hand perspective about a successful implementation.
I really liked the link for what the web is really for. It was a very interesting article.
Yes, that article is definitely very interesting. The best part is that it has almost universal appeal - it doesn’t use technical language and can be applied to any website.
The holidays are bound to keep the crazy meter on high. Don’t forget that Dec. 15 is the deadline to for the 2007 Speak Up survey. Change can only happen when end users - like ourselves - engage and give honest feedback on what needs to change to improve education.
Right, make sure that you check to see if your school is registed. If so, weigh in. Otherwise, get somebody to register for you. When we’re given a voice, it’s best to shout.