Version 7.0ish. Digital Humanities. Running. Linux.

After my initial panel proposal was accepted, I ran this panel on working with students who have low technology skills as the opening panel for ThatCamp Philadelphia. I wanted to run this panel because this is an issue I deal with on a day to day basis and I am always trying to find new ways to initiate learning for my students. Technology skills are extremely important in this job market, so I really stress them in my classes.

Janine Utell took notes for this panel as well.

• Digital citizenship is important. Not just for student work, but also for the job force (applications, etc)
• Many participants noted that their students had a hard time interpreting what they found online. An example given a lot was clicking on “sponsored links” on a Google search.
• Some schools offer a one credit technology course (that can be tested out of by students)
• Library sessions are helpful, but more time needs to be spent on evaluating sources
• This whole “digital natives” thing is nonsense. Many students don’t even know how to use ctrl-f!
• Solutions to this need to come from the curriculum side, not just the classroom
• An issue brought up, and I have heard this from students, is going from high tech classes back to really analog ones
• A list needs to be made, on a school by school basis, of what students need to know for composition level technology skills
• A big requirement that should be built into school handbooks is mandating that they check their email
• There should be “technology across the curriculum” ala writing across the curriculum
• An idea Sherri Block and I have talked about here at BCC is doing workshops for students on a monthly basis.
• There was a large concern in the room to not just outsource all of this to the library
• I require my students to send me an email from their BCC email to prove they can open it and that it works. I use this for their first quiz grade
• Another great idea that happens in my classes anyway is to have high tech students team up with low tech students
• Walmart has computer only applications now. If you can’t figure it out, you can’t apply
• New Jersey does have a K-12 information literary requirement according to Deb Gussman
• There needs to be outreach to local principals/superintendents
• Have students do a tech survey on their way into college
• Gussman gives her online students a list of what they need to know before taking the class
• I’ve introduced Zotero to my sophomores in the past
• An idea I had was to have to students put programs like Zotero, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc on a flash drive using Portable Apps
• Students absolutely need to learn how to cite before being allowed to use Easybib, Zotero, Moodle, etc
• As Deb Gussman points out, Easybib, Zotero, Evernote and others output errors sometimes
• An idea Utell had was to do coffee sessions with faculty who could be allies

Ubuntu users who want to try Google Chrome can now do so by installing Chromium, an open source project based on the Chrome code. Ubuntu Geek has all the details, which will install the browser and also add the nightly build to your repositories. Some things don’t work yet like flash (although they are getting closer in nightly builds) and the ability to print.

Nevertheless, the browser itself is very nice and extremely fast. I find it is as fast, if not more, than Firefox. That said, this is before it gets boggled down with plugins, themes, and extensions like Firefox can become if you aren’t careful. I look forward to what comes next for Chromium and appreciate an open source port of another web browser.

I like the new visual notifications in Ubuntu 9.04′s panel. However, this only works for selected processes and programs.  An Ubuntu user has created an extension to add Firefox notifications to Jaunty’s panel. This is very useful and will hopefully lead to other programs adapting similar extensions.

(Or do they already? Is there an easier way to get my programs to use Jaunty’s notifications in the panel?)

A nice productivity tool I have been using lately in Firefox is the Greasemonkey script which adds a del.icio.us button to Google Reader. This allows me to quickly bookmark items to read later when I have more time. Using Greasemonkey I have been able to make all of Google products I use much better for my daily use.

I don’t know what other users of Ubuntu do, but I know I prefer to have no windows sitting open on my desktop. Most programs I use on a daily basis allow, by default, moving programs to the system tray. Firefox, however, does not in either Windows or Ubuntu. The solution for this is the same in Ubuntu as it is in Windows: the Firetray extension. Make sure you are downloading the version for Linux (which I linked).

If you don’t use the Forecast Fox plugin for Firefox (which I did up until a few years ago) a simple tweak to your Ubuntu desktop can get the weather posted in your tray. Ubuntu Tutorials has the quick and easy details for doing this. The only problem I can see is that it doesn’t localize very well. The closest I can get is Atlantic City, which as anyone who lives in south Jersey knows probably won’t have exactly the same weather as we do in Manahawkin. Otherwise, this is a good option for the Ubuntu desktop.

• Scott Esposito reviews Adolfo Bioy Casares’ The Invention Of Morel over at Boldtype.

• The New Yorker profiled Harold Pinter last winter.

Meanwhile…

• Jacket Copy covers Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, which just had a new book come out recently. I didn’t even know this series existed until recently but a lot of people seem to think it will be the heir to the Harry Potter series. But, seriously, a seventeen year old girl moves to a new town and falls in love with a vampire? I think I have seen this before. Hmm…

• Delicious (minus the dots) 2.0 has finally launched in the past few days. Ever since Firefox added tagging to their bookmarks I haven’t had a lot of use for it anymore, but I will check it out.

• George Orwell’s diaries are going to be blogged starting this week.

• Pinter’s Nobel lecture from 2005 is pretty righteous.