[ED-TECH] Restart now?

After some Windows Updates, the system wants to restart. If I don't restart immediately, it keeps asking me, over and over, whether I want to restart now. This interrupts my ability to finish what I am doing and I don't like it.

There is a way to alter the length of time between the requests to reboot. I changed mine so that, rather than the nag screen every 10 minutes, it pops up once an hour, now. For your personal computer at home, you might want to apply this change. It is done using a standard feature of Windows to define the time delay, so it isn't doing anything tricky.

You will not be able to make this change if you do not have administrator rights to your computer. If you have administrative rights but someone managers or supports your computer, check with that person before doing this, or anything else, to your PC. Follow the advice from that person, not me. He or she supports your machine, not me.

Here are the somewhat cryptic instructions.

Start / Run / gpedit.msc / Local Computer Policy / Computer Configuration / Administrative Templates / Windows Components / Windows Update / Re-prompt for restart with scheduled installations / choose "Enable" / type in how many minutes you want to wait

From: http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/002339.html?tk=nl_wbxblg

After applying System Updates, you should remember to reboot, if requested. You may remain vulnerable until you reboot, so don't set this reminder so long that you never get around to rebooting, OK?

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

[ED-TECH] 104 Ways of Learning (or Teaching) Anything...

Ed-Tech list members,

For many of you, summer is a time to reflect on last year's teaching-learning and consider changes for the coming year (while performing your research and other duties). If you are looking for something to trigger ideas for changes in your courses, you might take a look at "Multiple Ways to Motivate Students: An Introduction to the Imaginative use of Multiple Intelligences" by Alice Macpherson of Kwantlen University College. It is also known as "104 Ways of Learning (or Teaching) Anything Using Gardner's Multiple Intelligences." It is available at http://www.miami.edu/bb/104ways.doc . If you have trouble getting it, let me know and I will send you a copy.

I encourage you to read through this list twice. The first time, mark the items that you are currently using in your courses. Then count up the number of techniques you are using in each of the categories, such as verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, etc. Note which categories dominate and which, if any, are not part of your learning system. Your discipline controls some of that. Clearly a course in mathematics will have many logical/mathematical activates. So there is no expectation that the categories be balanced. This step simply assesses where you are now.

The second time mark the items that you could be using. These are items that you can see a way to include in your course. Not that you are going to include them, just that you can see how they could be included as part of the student's learning activities in your particular courses.

If your goal is to come up with new ideas, particularly ideas that allow your students to experience a wider variety of learning experiences, you might find this list helpful.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

[ED-TECH] Virtual classroom/IM/chat guidelines

Ed-Tech list members,

If you use the virtual classroom function of Blackboard, instant messaging, or chat in your learning system, you might be interested in reading Craig W. Smith's article "Synchronous Discussion in Online Courses: A Pedagogical Strategy for Taming the Chat Beast" at http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=246.

There will be a moderated discussion about this article on-line Tuesday, July 11, 3:00 PM EDT. You can go to http://www.uliveandlearn.com/PortalInnovate/, register, and use the "Event Registration" menu item to sign up and obtain further details about this session.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944

[ED-TECH] A Wikipedia Research Policy

Ed-Tech list members,

In our efforts to teach students "original writing" we focus on a number of issues. One new issue being faced by teachers is: when can students appropriately use Wikipedia as a source? Wikipedia seems to have replaced Google as the first search location for many students. If you have never used Wikipedia, go there now (www.wikipedia.com) and search for information on your discipline. If you don't have anything to search for, take a look at the "2006 FIFA World Cup" pages, or the "University of Miami" pages.

The presentation is very effective, there are extensive links to related information, and current topics are updated almost instantly. Of course, on the down side, all the information could be wrong, and the author may be unattributed. So, when, if ever, should students use Wikipedia for research, and when, if ever, should they cite material from Wikipedia as their source?

Kaironews: A Weblog for Discussing Rhetoric, Technology and Pedagogy, has one persons statement on Appropriate Uses of Wikipedia. It does a great job of differentiating between primary/original sources and general information. You might find it interesting reading, and useful as you are creating your new syllabi and assignments for the Fall. You might even want to include the link below in your course web site or syllabus.

http://kairosnews.org/developing-a-wikipedia-research-policy

Knowledge is changing and how we access it is also changing. We need to help our students as they go through the normal development of a college student and the unique development of a student growing up in today's world.

Bill Vilberg

Assoc. Dir. of Instructional Advancement

305-284-3944