Using Open Education Resources (OERs) in Blended Teaching: Is it worth it?

For the CITRENZ Conference in Rotorua, New Zealand ( http://www.citrenz.ac.nz) I prepared a paper "Using Open Education Resources (OERs) in Blended Teaching: Is it worth it?" using wiki researcher ( http://wikiresearcher.org/User:Mverhaart/CITRENZ/2011OER ).  While developing the paper I asked readers to help build the paper by either editing the paper or adding comments. Interestingly apart from two colleagues there was no feedback -there were many views however. One possible issue is the difficulty in adding ad-hoc comments (as a password/userid etc is required before you can edit/add a comment, a need to know wiki-code, etc..), so to provide another way to allow readers to make comments I have created this blog entry. So if you want to comment on the paper and feel more comfortable with adding to a blog entry, do so here.

 

eduMOOC: Introductions

Having tried to read many of the introductions realised that for a group with this number of participants (> 2000) the number of posts (220 at the moment) to read is just too many. An idea would be to ask participants to restrict their posts to just two short sentences. Also google groups lists in the oldest first rather than newest which is the opposite to things like twitter.

eduMOOC

Trying to decide whether to blog here or on http://wikieducator.org/User:Mverhaart/My_2011_eduMOOC_blog . Will see which works out best.

Wi-fi (Wi-5) hotspot rating

Have been to a few hi-fi hotspot places recently and thought it would be good to create a wi-5 hotspot rating system !

So here is my first go. Would really appreciate some comments so we can make this ubiquitous and the ratings need some trendy names. At the moment I am playing around with the rating so expect it to evolve for the time being. Apologies to the few companies mentioned but someone has to start to give an example (If I have got it wrong let me know and I'll upgrade your status)

Version 1 (June 2011)

• Wi☆5(☆☆☆☆☆) (Free)
  
  
  
  • 5+ = Unlimited Wifi
  
  
  • 5 = Free wifi (requires accepting conditions, no password/userid)
  
  
  • 5- = ?
    
    
    
    • Wi☆5 (☆☆☆☆☆+)Wellington free wi-fi: (Covers the area south from Frank
      Kitts Lagoon and along the waterfront side of Te Papa.)
    
    
    • Wi☆5(☆☆☆☆☆-) MacDonalds (There is no time-limit, but there is a data limit of 50MB per customer.)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Wi☆5(☆☆☆☆) = Free Wifi requires a password
  
  
  
  • 4 + = wifi requires passcode but publically viewable (e.g. on a blackboard)
  
  
  • 4 = wifi requires passcode available on a docket
  
  
  • 4 - = wifi requires password but have to ask staff member
    
    
    
    • Wi☆5(☆☆☆☆-) At E's cafe, (Havelock North), Hawthorne’s Coffee Roasters (Havelock North, NZ)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Wi☆5(☆☆☆) = (Pay) 3G access
  
  
  
  • 3+ =
  
  
  • 3 =
  
  
  • 3- =
    
    
    
    • Wi☆5(☆☆☆-) Vodafone $1 / 10MB per day (a minus rating as 10MB is pretty small)
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Wi☆5(☆☆) = (Pay) Buy a ticket with a password
  
  
  
  • 2+ = ?
  
  
  • 2 = ?
  
  
  • 2 - =
    
    
    
    • Wi☆5 (☆☆-): provider: ???: The crossing (Napier, NZ)
    
    
    • Wi☆5 (☆☆-): provider: ???: BJ's cafe & Coffee House
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Wi☆5(☆) = (Pay) Pay with a userid/password
  
  
  
  • 1+ = ?
  
  
  • 1 = ?
  
  
  • 1- = ?
    
    
    
    • Wi☆5(☆-) provider: ???: The crossing (Napier NZ)
    
    
    • Wi☆5 (☆-)provider: ???: BJ's cafe & Coffee House
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• 0 = No access (3G only)

 

Black (Blank) screen on Laptop (Backlight Inverter)

Issue: Have a problem with a laptop when screen went blank.

Quick check: If you shine a strong torch at the screen is there an image?

Possible problem: Backlight inverter

Apparently a common problem is a faulty backlight inverter. One quick test is to shine a torch onto the screen to see if the image is actually still there. On ours we used a Big dolphin torch and the image was still there. So have sourced a backlight inverter from trademe ( bwl http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=512606 ) will update blog to show progress.

For Compaq there is a fix-it video "Replacing the laptop backlight inverter" on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucaJA324hbg

Well that didnt work so back to Dr Google

Possible problem: CCFL lamp

Possible problem is the CCFL lamp. This is much trickier to repair... we may give this a go to.. who knows and we'll learn heaps as well.

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/12/09/replace-laptop-backlight-ccfl-lamp/

Possible problem: Cables

Other resources:

• In DrGoogle type "?laptop name? service manual"


• Compaq repair manual (pdf)  http://www.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00246219.pdf


• How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble a COMPAQ Laptop or Notebook http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_compaq.html

zotero standalone version

From JJ

"An alpha release of standalone Zotero has been announced, part of the larger Zotero Everywhere project. Standalone Zotero Alpha does not require Firefox to run and is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. Alpha plugins to connect standalone Zotero to the Google Chrome and Safari browsers are already available (a plugin for Internet Explorer is planned).

And I didn't know there was a chrome plugin either !!

XP Antivirus (Malware)

This is a real pain.. while surfing for content on a Security class XP Antivirus installed itself. If continuously nags to say you have virus's (which are false) and asks for money. It has a believable interface and looks like an actual Microsoft program.

To remove http://www.myantispyware.com/2010/11/11/how-to-remove-xp-antispyware-2011-virus/

This needs you to create a  registry patch file, then we ran

spybot http://download.cnet.com/Spybot-Search-amp-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

Which finally removed the damn thing!