Thanks Christian Long for a great blog. It continues to bring inspiring things to my life. Like the story about Emerald Russell, who shows that one person can indeed change the world. Or the Billy Joel mashup that shows that YouTube and popular music can be used to teach history. Oh, and yes Christian, I do want an iPhone too although I don’t want to give up the camera in this Nokia N95.
Christian’s blog on future of education inspires
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Scobleizer 
Christian´s blog is really great! An inspiration to everyone who loves learning.
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Christian´s blog is really great! An inspiration to everyone who loves learning.
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“Or the Billy Joel mashup that shows that YouTube and popular music can be used to teach history.”
Or they could have just watched the original video.
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“Or the Billy Joel mashup that shows that YouTube and popular music can be used to teach history.”
Or they could have just watched the original video.
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The blog may well be awesome but subscribing to it is a huge pain.
The link to subscribe is hidden half way down the page in unadorned 5pt (or it seems so) type on a page that is so cluttered with crap you can hardly find it. The feed validates (with many warnings) but appears not to work in IE7 (or Google Reader– but I am not sure).
Why do people do this? Subscription links should be above the fold prominently displayed and should work don’t you think? Am I missing something obvious?
Just not worth the effort!
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The blog may well be awesome but subscribing to it is a huge pain.
The link to subscribe is hidden half way down the page in unadorned 5pt (or it seems so) type on a page that is so cluttered with crap you can hardly find it. The feed validates (with many warnings) but appears not to work in IE7 (or Google Reader– but I am not sure).
Why do people do this? Subscription links should be above the fold prominently displayed and should work don’t you think? Am I missing something obvious?
Just not worth the effort!
LikeLike
LayZ — From a purely ‘content’ POV, simply watching the original video works fine. No need to create one’s own. Especially if you’re just watching TV. But the point of re-mashing it for a classroom is to move the kids from passive reception to something more collaborative, more dynamic, more productive. The final quality of the video itself (vs. the Mtv counterpart) is never the point. It’s just a premise to make learning active. Plus, something tells me its about something bigger than just studying for the proverbial test, so to speak.
Brian — I’m flattered by the feedback on “think:lab” and also take your point about the subscription link location seriously (although I’m not game to raise the font size). It used to be ‘above the fold’ (as you said), but figured that most folks were no longer subscribing to individual feeds but were gathering large quantities of blogs via a RSS net. I keep it up only for my mother who still is trying to figure out how to get it delivered, but otherwise would rather dump it altogether. I’m not a geek nor do I have much in the way of HTML (et al) talents, so the page is a luddite’s attempt to use what TypePad offers. Cluttered? Perhaps. Your point well taken? Yes. But more importantly, my blog (side bars, etc) pales in comparison to the real point — stories like Emerald’s efforts to put a little good back into the world. I’m fully comfortable receiving criticism for the subscription issue or blog clutter, but sadly think that it is a distraction from something more vital. Much rather have you fire out a great thought about Emerald in a comment here or on your own blog. My blog template is minor at best. At best.
Robert — Much appreciated. Truly. BTW, have you bought your copy of AlternaDad yet? A good read for the new baby world you’re about ready to step into (although certainly Patrick has given you chops for a # of years!).
Cheers, Christian
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LayZ — From a purely ‘content’ POV, simply watching the original video works fine. No need to create one’s own. Especially if you’re just watching TV. But the point of re-mashing it for a classroom is to move the kids from passive reception to something more collaborative, more dynamic, more productive. The final quality of the video itself (vs. the Mtv counterpart) is never the point. It’s just a premise to make learning active. Plus, something tells me its about something bigger than just studying for the proverbial test, so to speak.
Brian — I’m flattered by the feedback on “think:lab” and also take your point about the subscription link location seriously (although I’m not game to raise the font size). It used to be ‘above the fold’ (as you said), but figured that most folks were no longer subscribing to individual feeds but were gathering large quantities of blogs via a RSS net. I keep it up only for my mother who still is trying to figure out how to get it delivered, but otherwise would rather dump it altogether. I’m not a geek nor do I have much in the way of HTML (et al) talents, so the page is a luddite’s attempt to use what TypePad offers. Cluttered? Perhaps. Your point well taken? Yes. But more importantly, my blog (side bars, etc) pales in comparison to the real point — stories like Emerald’s efforts to put a little good back into the world. I’m fully comfortable receiving criticism for the subscription issue or blog clutter, but sadly think that it is a distraction from something more vital. Much rather have you fire out a great thought about Emerald in a comment here or on your own blog. My blog template is minor at best. At best.
Robert — Much appreciated. Truly. BTW, have you bought your copy of AlternaDad yet? A good read for the new baby world you’re about ready to step into (although certainly Patrick has given you chops for a # of years!).
Cheers, Christian
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@4. “From a purely ‘content’ POV, simply watching the original video works fine. No need to create one’s own. Especially if you’re just watching TV. But the point of re-mashing it for a classroom is to move the kids from passive reception to something more collaborative, more dynamic, more productive. The final quality of the video itself (vs. the Mtv counterpart) is never the point. It’s just a premise to make learning active. Plus, something tells me its about something bigger than just studying for the proverbial test, so to speak.”
Oh, I understand the point of the exercise. My point is, it didn’t seem like it required much original thinking on the part of the students. Anyone can repackage something. How hard is that? (but then again, that’s what most bloggers do) Wouldn’t it have been more effective to have them make something original?
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@4. “From a purely ‘content’ POV, simply watching the original video works fine. No need to create one’s own. Especially if you’re just watching TV. But the point of re-mashing it for a classroom is to move the kids from passive reception to something more collaborative, more dynamic, more productive. The final quality of the video itself (vs. the Mtv counterpart) is never the point. It’s just a premise to make learning active. Plus, something tells me its about something bigger than just studying for the proverbial test, so to speak.”
Oh, I understand the point of the exercise. My point is, it didn’t seem like it required much original thinking on the part of the students. Anyone can repackage something. How hard is that? (but then again, that’s what most bloggers do) Wouldn’t it have been more effective to have them make something original?
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