Archive for September, 2008

The UCalgaryBlogs.ca publishing platform has really only been active for the last month, with real faculty and students using it. In that month, it’s already seen more activity, in terms of blog posts written, than weblogs.ucalgary.ca has seen in over 3.5 years of activity. 1600 posts. In one month. 30 days. And it really hasn’t been launched very... »

Some off the cuff (on the bike) rambling about some thoughts about what open education is – open content, open access and open accreditation. This is hopefully rock bottom with respect to video production quality – but at least you get to come along for some of my ride home… »

A follow-up on my last rant on openness in universities, wherin I improperly aim the camera and showcase my multitude of chin-related tissue. »

I’ve always loved Heritage Park. I worked there for a few summers in the early 90’s, and met my wife on the job. The Park always has a magical timeless quality that seems so comfortable to me. I took Evan there for a couple of hours this afternoon, and he really enjoyed seeing (and... »

I’ve been planning to reboot this blog with a simplified theme, perhaps a magazine-type layout. I’ve decided to start with this Blue Zinfandel theme, and have started hacking on it. No more banner images. No more heavy design. Mandigo has served me well (as K2 did before that). But it’s time for change. There may be... »

I stopped to record a quick stream-of-thought rant about openness and the institution. My opinions are my own, not my employers, etc… Please don’t fire me. And, yes, I know that I said “thousands of years” – I meant “hundreds…” or “a long time”. Whatever. »

One of the use-cases for UCalgaryBlogs.ca is for a class to integrate external resources such as OpenLearn courses, or potentially anything that has an RSS feed, to be ingested into the class blogsite. Currently, there are 2 scenarios possible for doing this, each with their own specific benefits, but neither quite matching what I... »

I wasn’t convinced that we needed a “campus blogging platform” here at UCalgary. I’d tried to set up one before, at weblogs.ucalgary.ca , and watched it basically wither on the vine for 3 years. Little activity, except in small bursts when used in a class. Almost no individual involvement or ownership. Not interesting or... »

I’d guess that the applications, and their arrangement on the menu screens, tells a fair bit about a person. I’ve been slowly gathering a frighteningly long list of apps – games, utilities… My current favorite add-on apps? Twinkle. Wurdle. X-Plane. Cube Runner. Asphalt. Countdown. Line Rider. Seismometer. And the shortcut to Google Reader. »

Oh, man does this take me back! I spent hour after hour playing the original handheld LED football game – working on my offensive fake-out and hammering the arrow keys into dust. Now, I can play the game on my iPod Touch. Sure hope I don’t put my finger through the touch screen… »