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@newsfromtengrrl for 2010-07-08

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | news | No Comments

• Teachers’ Corner: Michigan librarian loves WrestleMania Reading Challenge | WWE.com » http://bit.ly/bHSnzn #
• Flash on College Web Sites Poses Security Risk for Students, Study Says – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/c0SHjc #
• More students use high-tech gadgets to cheat on exams | Calgary Herald » http://bit.ly/aMT61W #
• Study: 73 Percent Of Canadian College Frosh Cheated In High School | AHN http://bit.ly/bOuFEX #
• Print v iPads: books win! | guardian.co.uk http://bit.ly/9faAeN #
• Lessons in parenting from Atticus Finch – dnaindia.com http://bit.ly/cKToo0 #
• Studies question Arizona’s policy on English learners | Washington Post » http://bit.ly/9b450W #
• Pew: 60 Pct of Americans Use Wireless Internet http://bit.ly/bViEj5 #
• How to Test Writing – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/b1mpRv #
• Six Ways to Avoid Letting Your Computer Distract You – ProfHacker – The Chronicle of Higher Education http://bit.ly/czJaGI #
• Officially a Geek Now | Tengrrl.com » http://bit.ly/cxrIjr (Would you participate in a real-time teacher chat? R/T and Let me know.) #
• Avatars to Teach the Teachers – Inside Higher Ed http://bit.ly/dnjdFd #
• Jodi Beggs: How Video Will Likely Create Rather Than Kill the Classroom "Star" | Huffington Post » http://huff.to/d9PVk5 #
• Stanford Ushers In The Age Of Bookless Libraries : NPR http://n.pr/dA6Y6k #
• Learning English The Mickey Mouse Way : NPR http://n.pr/95exiQ #
• Blacks, Hispanics among biggest users of wireless Web, according to Pew Study | Washington Post » http://bit.ly/bwcgpz #
• Computer-savvy students cheating more, getting caught less – The Globe and Mail http://bit.ly/cThhA1 #
• Billy Collins: A Poet's Affection For Emily Dickinson : NPR http://n.pr/bcebFP #
• Many English speakers cannot understand basic grammar | Science Daily » http://bit.ly/9xRwou #
• Student study says games are too complicated for girls, News from GamePro http://bit.ly/bUA2pq #
• 'To Kill a Mockingbird': Endearing, enduring at 50 years – USATODAY.com http://bit.ly/bwJOjr #

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Officially a Geek Now

Thursday, July 8th, 2010 | IRC, community building | 1 Comment

So I was bumbling along last week, doing a pretty good job of keeping up with everything. I was even working on blogs ahead of time and had a series of entries on using Twitter in the classroom underway. And then something happened.

Last Thursday, I was invited to join the staff on the Geekshed IRC Network. If you’ve been around since the MBU days of Computers and Writing, you probably remember IRC as the place where the Netoric Project (which you may remember as the Tuesday Cafe) started off, before moving on to using MOOs.

If you weren’t around back then—or if your memory is sketchy, you’ll need a little more detail. IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. You can think of an IRC network as a collection of chatrooms, where people can use fairly simple commands to communicate. For the most part, the benefits of IRC conversations are quite similar to the benefits of chatting at the Tuesday Cafe.

I’ve been known the folks who run the Geekshed network since May of 2005. That’s when John Walter showed me BlogShares, a fantasy stock market for weblogs. Blogshares had a chatroom, which was hosted on IRC. Accustomed to hanging out on MOOs, I naturally logged right in, and I’ve been on the network ever since.

So I hope you’ll understand that thing got a little derailed during this last week. To go from plain old network regular to network staff is a bit of a change. I suddenly found myself reading documentation, searching for a Mac client that doesn’t suck, and trying not to break anything.

I still don’t have all the answers, but it’s time to get back to the blog writing I’m supposed to be doing every day. And who knows, maybe before too long I’ll finally be able to connect teachers back to IRC. I’ve been thinking for quite some time that we need to set up a regular online chat meeting. I miss Tuesday Cafe, TechRhet Barn, and chatting with the Talkies in the MOO on Friday nights. If you’re an educator and you’d be interested too, let me know by email or in the comments below!

[Barbie Photo © Mattel]

Tags: blogshares, geekshed, netoric, tuesday cafe