July 30, 2009
Last post of the month and a bummer it has been - what with being cut off and all.
My e-Learning course has started and I'm supposed to keep an education blog for it - I don't know if I'll keep it here or in one of the google saas things the university favours these days. Meantime, in research methods, everyone assumes I'm using MS Office - which is depressing. The staff are pushing an app called EndNote for the bibliography ... interestingly OOo has an advanced bibliography tool much like endnote, rumored to be better. I'll probably not use that either - I use LaTeX, so the bibtool will be bibtex. It will be interesting to see if I can import from the faculty literature searches to something bibtex can handle.
Everyone is acting as if citations are difficult to get right - though LaTeX documentation tells me that different journals have different standards. Some people (Simon 2009) have observed that this is a load of dingo's kidneys.
So I have to do a literature review. This is a bit of a worry ... I have to come up with 3000 words or so and I'm the only one who thinks this is a lot. Mind you, my topics don't seem to have all that much literature associated with them. Lets see ... I have:
- How paradigm changes in practical science delivery affect student attitudes to science through the curriculum levels.
- How adoption of free software in high schools affects ITC-centric curriculum delivery.
Lots have been written about practical science approaches at each curriculum level, but nobody appears to have looked at how students are affected when they move between levels where the teaching paradigm is different. On the other hand, most of the literature thrown up about software freedom in education is about the legal aspects of copyright. Though I see that Gov Arnie (California) supports the release of open-copyright text books. There's a wierd association.
The e-Learning course is online using moodle - collaborative learning environment ... which means that I will have to log on to it much more regularly than I have been. Find out what the first assignment is.
Meantime - the website stats for this month suck bigtime. The 13th saw a spike in attention but the couple of weeks downtime and the World has forgotten me. I'll have to come up with something provocative ... again.
July 23, 2009
Website is back! Woo hoo... well I guess the stats for this month are going to bottom out bigtime.
Now for some up to the minute shock news - I have returned to teachers college. I need to refresh my diploma so I figured: lets go one further and angle for an MEd - enrolled to a post-grad diploma as the first year of a Masters - aiming for PhD. So far lots of fun. Two papers this semester: Research methods and e-learning. Well. Next semester should be a science related paper and a curriculum policy one. That way, if I mess up, I can still claim updated curriculum experience.
In the next months there will likely be a host of entries on various aspects of the NZ education system, theory and practise. These are likely to center on ITC and Science as you'd expect, but there are broader issues that have recently taken my attention.
Meantime, hang in there.
On TV: Dexter is back :))) This is a great show, I love the way it messes with my mind. Something that is actually quite hard to do these days - I'm such a jaded, cynical, old man.
At the Movies: took wifey to Harry Potter at Sylvia Park. This installment was unrelentingly dark and menacing. At this stage, the prodecers are having trouble coming up with a new take on the books - they've been so over-exposed now to be a bit of a yawn. But this movie was engaging enough.
At the Doctors: my wonderful doctor has told me that I'm old and fat. I'm still trying to ficure out how to take the news - chocolate is my freind in these troubled times. Anyway, I ended up with a bunch of tests, and a flu jab.
I am a total wimp when it comes to needles - the flu jab is the tinyest of things yet it felt like it went through my arm. Technically, I've had bee stings that hurt more - but this isn't about pain. OTOH: the bloodwork was really well done - I did not notice it. I swear - I normally feel needles coming from across the room and there was nothing!
Now Winter is in it's final stages, this is the time we get sloppy. We are tired, it's cold and wet, nothing too bad has happened yet (I hope). This is when the risks of burns are high. Be vigilent!
July 19, 2009
This website has been down for a while. This is because domains4less accounting software do not seem to have noticed that I paid my account. I have no idea when it will be back, so I shifted the link to my personal page so at least I cas get word out to some.
July 14, 2009
Two weeks in and things are happening: I've enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma in Education - preperatory to doing a masters in the same, and I'm not sure that was smart. Still - nothing ventured.
There is news about s92a - remember that? Not as bad as many people expected - the penalties are still one-sided though. Needs to have a penalty for bringing a charge too, so rights-industries cannot use this law for intimidation. At least there is a nod at due process now. For those who don't fancy the legalese, there is a review here.
Curiously, Labour is releasing a critique which concentrates on aspects of the bill, such as termination, which were originally proposed by Labour. That's politics.
Meantime, I have been making more spaceships.
