thomas leverett weblog: i wish i could write about

Friday, February 12, 2010

i wish i could write about

Times are busy here, so I've neglected this blog a little. My computer time at night is limited; in the day, it's all I can do to prepare and make sure my classes have productive things to do. So, some of these are being neglected. In some cases, I'm thinking about them but not writing about them. In other cases, I'm just wishing I could even think about them.

CESL web reorganization is coming. CESL's web will be cleaner; no more dead links or holes. CESL is going out of the directory business. More on this later.

Voxopop and voice tools...come to the workshop (above) and see what's the latest, if you like using computer tools to record voice. The presentation will cover VoiceThreads also.

CESL Moodle...I'm slow to learn this, having gotten a little behind, by teaching extra classes and having family situations. But it's a new way to put everything on the web, yet hopefully save a modicum of privacy for those students who don't want their grades out there like so much dirty laundry.

Elluminate...more and more, my webheads friends, rather than merely chatting, get into this virtual room where they can chat, tour the web, draw on the board, talk and be heard, and pass the mike around. I found an article that called this "your grandchildren's classroom" and felt that it was probably right. SIUC just saved $3 billion by changing the lightbulbs...they could probably save another $200 billion by just putting people in electronic rooms. So why wouldn't they? Not until someone else does it first, I guess.

Movies...I'm making some, but I'm not good at it yet. I'll keep you posted.

TESOL...gosh, I wish I had something to report.

My current Newstalk class, which watches movies that interest me very much, sometimes, including one on the iPad, and another on Super Bowl commercials. I'll link you to these as soon as possible.

More later; I've got to fly. The Lunar New Year falls on Valentine's Day this year; I have a son turning 18; another graduating from university; a daughter having a baby, and aging parents from whom I would like to learn about the Leverett line, quick, before I'm off to Boston to see the old gravestone of the guy I was named after.