Blurts

I have no illusion that this was a personal response, but I thought that offering more than a “thank you for your input” was impressive. This was the reply from Senator Amy Klobuchar to my comment on the nomination of Betsy DeVos. I am a fan of both Minnesota senators.

Dear Dr. Grabe:

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. I continue to be humbled to be your Senator, and one of the most important parts of my job is listening to the people of Minnesota.  I am here in our nation’s capital to do the public’s business. I hope you will contact me again about matters of concern to you.

Sincerely,

Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator

“It’s a strange time to be putting a supplement to the national edtech plan whose policy and priority is about to shift,” he said.

This was EdSurge News comment in responding to Obama’s Education Departments release of the Higher Ed Supplement to the National Technology Plan. Hard to say what will happen now. Given the removal of the past government statement on the climate change, if you are interested, you might want to get copies of the Technology plans while they are still available.

Office of Educational Technology plans are available now.

If you blog using WordPress (e.g., the software running this blog), you may be curious about the addition of Google ads to your site. This post from 3nions does a nice job of explaining what it takes to add ads. I am not a promoter of assuming ads will generate much revenue (the number of ad hits for the number of page displays has been very low for me), but I do enjoy exploring the data Google provides.

This is a bit off-topic for me, but when I really like something I take the time to offer a recommendation.

This is a tea infuser from Global Market. I spend large blocks of time staring at a computer monitor and drinking coffee. Tea was typically some herbal drink for later in the evening when I had to cut off the caffeine. I just could not get into drinking tea on a regular basis. I have large quantities of tea some of which I purchased in China years ago and most of this stuff should probably be thrown out. Now, I can talk about drinking the tea I brought back from China. Since I don’t really know how tea is supposed to taste, this stuff is as good as Lipton.

The gadget is self-explanatory. Put loose tea in the compartment. Close the compartment. Stick in a cup of very hot water. Allow to steep. Push button when removing from cup. Open infuser and dump in garbage.

I am an EverNote Pro user. This means I pay. I am seriously considering moving from EverNote to OneNote. I regard Evernote as a superior product, but the cost is gradually ramping up and OneNote would cost me nothing. I could easily be convinced to stay with EverNote if they offered a paired down version of their product at a paired down price. I just don’t need most of the features EverNote offers. Feature glut and price creep have long been a problem with software (e.g., Word), but it is especially serious with apps. I understand the position of the companies – it costs more t0 offer two products and many will stick with a product despite the increase in price and complexity. Both customers and developers make decisions as to where to draw that line.

I am still having some struggles with OneNote. My workflow involves reading on a tablet and writing on a computer. This is the way I prefer to do things. OneNote would work perfectly for my needs if I did everything on a computer. The phone and tablet apps just give me trouble when I collect information I will eventually use as a basis for what I write.

So, if I capture content using Safari on my tablet (other browsers do not seem to be supported), I get something like this. Contrast this view with the following captured from a computer.

I cannot read the content from the tablet, but the content from the computer is perfect for reading and annotation.

I am easily energized by idealism. I do not in any way see this as a character flaw. The individualization that seemed possible because of personal computers and then the open Internet pretty much gave direction to the last 25 years of my professional career. I participate in the opportunities technology allows, use technology to teach and learn, and write about whatever I see as possible limitations on the potential of learning from interaction. My initial idealism has become more tempered of late. The potential for expression and interaction that seemed to offer such great opportunities have resulted in less engagement than I had hoped. I understand that not all forms of expression require writing (the approach I prefer), but I had hoped that individuals would create content rather than mostly forward the content created by others. I believe you learn in the process of expressing yourself and this process takes effort. I admit I also did not anticipate the issues of privacy, purposefully false content, and hate. I also lament what seems to be a transition between individual expression and big media. I guess we get what we deserve and if we are too passive others will take advantage.

My daughter alerted me to a new source that seems to fit very well with my personal hopes. The service is from NPR and includes a podcast and web site. The service is called 1a as a reference to the first amendment – free speech. The service promotes the value of free speech and intends to encourage public discussion on important topics of the day. Educators and all who value personal awareness – this looks like a great source.