Larry Soule

Microsoft products for students.

2009-09-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

Office 2007 Ultimate for $59.95!!!

Just need a valid .edu email address for either one.

New semester

2009-09-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well, a new semester has started. 1st week is now complete. It feels good to be back in the classroom actually. Besides the fact that I had no money, I actually do enjoy teaching. Kind of strange, since I always hated public speaking, and now I do it for a living :P

Anyway, did the extra credit, following instructions quiz again. As expected, in the "intro to computers" class, about 15% of my students actually got it correct. The funny part was, one of the students that got it correct was working ahead (they are allowed to) a couple days later, and refused to follow the instructions in the book. Even though I stressed the fact that the reason for the quiz was to make sure people followed the instructions.

I was impressed with the intro to web programming (aka intro to dreamweaver) class. More then 1/2 of them actually did it correctly. Now we just wait and see if they can continue to follow instructions the rest of the semester.

Semester End

2009-08-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Why is it, that some people seem to think that if they are doing well in a class, they don't have to submit the final project? Even when they were told (about 15 times) that if they do not submit the final project, they will fail the class?

At the same time, why is it that other people seem to think that the only thing they need to turn in is the final project? Even though they are told (multiple times) that the project is only worth 25% of their grade?

There has been a recent, drastic reduction in the quality of work being done by students. I thought it was me at first, but other instructors are seeing the same thing. 5 years ago, less then 10% of students failed most classes. Last semester, over 60% of my students failed the same classes. And the sad thing is, many classes have actually gotten easier.

The biggest difference is how much work the students actually do. Instead of working on their assignments in the computer lab, they would rather be looking at myspace or facebook. This is college level, so if that is what they want to do, so be it. But at the same time, don't expect to pass the class if you were to busy posting comments on your best friends new shoes instead of taking the test.

I must say I am really pleased with my summer semester though. Already, over 60% of my class has turned in their project, and it isn't even due for another 1.5 hours. I think only 3 people out of 25 (as opposed to 14 of 25 in the spring), will not turn in the final project. It has been a long time since I have seen this good of a turn out.

Firefox and Adsence

2009-07-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

I read something funny today. It was one of these people that promotes how to make 50,000,000 a minute with google adsense. (okay, slight exageration). Anyway, he was talking about web browsers. Apparantly he is one of these people that just rewrites articles without having a clue about what he is saying. Basically, the article said that for "security reasons" you should use firefox with noscript and adblock...

Wait, whats wrong with that? Okay, I'll give you that it is currently the most "secure" way to browse the web. But he is promoting making money using adsense.. Does he not realize that Adblock will block the adsence banners? If a user is using adblock and noscript, it basically illeminates any chance of making money from the "standard" advertising methods that are being promoted all over the web. Yes, you can still make money on the web, but not from hosting ad's from adsense.

Go Firefox

2009-07-15T07:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so people are always talking about how great Firefox is. Don't get me wrong, I use it about 95% of the time. But I get annoyed when people talk about how Firefox can do anything any other browser can do, and do it better... Example:

See the error? This only happens in firefox. It is trying to upload a plain text file to a CMS. I have tested it with no problems in IE, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Only Firefox has the problem. I am not sure what is causing it, but it just goes to show that if you limit yourself to only using Firefox, that not everything will work.

Note: this was with a "clean" firefox install. No additional plugins like noscript, adblock, etc. I originally thought a plugin was causing the problems, so I installed it fresh, and still have the problem.

Open Platform pt2

2009-07-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

Looks like twitter has an open API for allowing twitter access..

http://apiwiki.twitter.com/

That can allow things like the list on the right side of this page. Though being an API, it will be a lot more work to acually do anything with it, unlike the myspace/facebook/google programs. But on the bright side, twittercounter has made a cool little program.

Open Platform

2009-07-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months, some of the big hitters of social networking have been working on open platform API's... errr what??? Basically, they are setting it up so website/application developers can easily connect to their sites user information.

Myspace uses Myspace Data Availability. http://developer.myspace.com/community/

Facebook uses Facebook Connect. http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php

Google uses Google Friend Connect. http://www.google.com/friendconnect/home/overview?hl=en_US

(note that blogger has Google Friend Connect built in. That is what it uses to allow comments and following blogs).

In each case, the end user has to grant permission for the site to access your information on the "parent" site (ie, you have to connect someones site to your facebook account for that site to use any of your facebook information).

From a quick look, they all seem basically the same. For a developer, these can be great. Compare puttin 2 files on your webserver, add a couple lines of code to your html, and bam, anyone with a google account can now post comments on your site. Or you could either code your own system (and database), or use someone elses. Then people need to create accounts on your site also. And a lot of people are hesitant, because that means a possibility of more spam email, no matter what you say your policies are (I personally use a new fake email address every time I sign up for a new site).

There may be more benefits to one over another in some ways. Having your site connected to facebook can actually give your site free advertising on facebook through the friend activity. Depending on your site and target audience, this can be good or bad. If you are doing a site for the AARP, and you get a bunch of advertising on myspace (with an average user age being late teens/early 20's), then the traffic that may come to your site may either post things being "funny" or at least waste a bunch of bandwidth.

Hopefully in the next couple weeks, I'll get a chance to take a much deeper look into the 3 systems and give a better comparison. Comparing exactly what each offers to your site and what they should offer but don't. Also hoping ot get a better look at the security involved.

Frustrations

2009-07-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am curently an Adjunct Instructor (ie, part time). Finally, a full time faculty position opened up at the school. So of course, I applied for it (with recomendations from almost every full time faculty in the department). But then it comes to Human Resources. We are sorry, you don't have enough full time experience in the last 5 years (I've been working there for 5 years and do consulting on the side when I can find a job). So basically, I can't become full time, because I have been working part time for them for too long. If I had a full time job someplace else, I wouldn't have applied for the full time position.

On the other hand, when I apply for a job in the industry, they say we are sorry, you haven't been in the industry for to long. Because teaching and "real world" are different.

So I can't get a full time job teaching, because I have been teaching too long. And I can't get a full time job outside of teaching, because I've been teaching too long.

Google Sites

2009-06-30T06:48:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I am currently trying to set up a wiki on google sites for the classes I teach. The interface doesn't seem as user friendly as I had hoped. If it used Friend Connect, then it would be rather simple to set up (or so I would think), but I don't see that as being possible right now. So it appears that the only way to allow other people to contribute to the site is to invite them explicitly. Well, when you are dealing with 25 to 200 (depending on semester) people at a time, and have to enter in all their email addresses, it seems like more work then it needs to be.

So now I am thinking about changing the focus of the site. Instead of using it for my current classes, I may set it up to design a new class (kind of). One of the other instructors sometimes offers a class on Social Networking. I am thinking that a 1-stop site for the students would be a good thing. Not just saying, hey look a twitter link. But actually showing how twitter can be used in a productive way. Facebook can be more then a way to see that your friend from high school that you haven't talked to in 7 years just woke up and had to clean up the poop the dog left in the living room. Myspace isn't just a place to find pictures of 1/2 naked teenagers that are not smart enough to know better.