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Image by Foxtongue via Flickr

This is a common statement, especially in the I.T. area that acts as a way to tell a user, “It’s not my fault it works that way.”  If the application is working as designed but is not doing what we perceive it should be then which is at fault:  the design or our perception?  Take it this way, anyone who tells you it’s “working as designed” is blowing you off and doesn’t want to address the issue anymore.

We don’t have control of commercial applications but we do have control over the things we build with them.  Don’t allow yourself to design any solutions and then fall back on the “working as designed” line when you realize you missed the target.  Spend the time in design you should rather than letting people rush you through “on time, on budget” to make themselves look good and “working as designed” will be a compliment, not an excuse.

Ok, I posted a bit ago about how good an idea it was to create quick reference cards to helpful web tools for teachers (since the observation that they never throw out ANYTHING that’s laminated). Here’s the next step. I’ve attached a template I just threw together in Powerpoint (for lack of a more accessible tool) you can fill out and print. It’s sized as a 3″ x 5″ card, so with a single hole punch in the corner and a locking ring through them they should be very helpful.

Wes Fryer over at MSC ran into a problem presenting at COSN:

Apologies for Ustream non-event today » Moving at the Speed of Creativity

My apologies that my scheduled session broadcasts over Ustream did not happen today at COSN. The sessions were held in the basement of the Hyatt hotel, where unfortunately there was not any cell phone data network coverage or service. Wired Internet connections were provided at sessions, but apparently the network at the hotel is configured to block ports used by Ustream for broadcasts. We never could get a computer to actually “connect” to a Ustream channel room for a broadcast.

We did, however, record both sessions with audio, and Steve Hargadon recorded my session on copyright with video as well. It was great to finally meet Steve in person My session on Cell Phones for Learning was well attended but fast: Just a 15 minute demo session. That was probably the fastest conference presentation I’ve shared to date

My son helped me with some audio recording, and he recorded the session “Unleashing the Transformational Power of One-to-One Computing in K-12? with permission from the panelists to share it later as a podcast.

While I do feel bad that Wes ran into this problem (and for those of us who present frequently it is always a lurking danger) there is a silver lining to the happening.

Wes’ son got an “authentic experience” in troubleshooting an unpredictable situation, adapting, and coming up with a solution.  This is the part we seldom proclaim as the victory in educational technology.  Normally it would be touted that he was able to practice audio recording.  While nice, that’s just the smallest thing of value in the instance.  Bring the young man to me in several years for an interview being able to demonstrate the problem solving skills he showed then and I’ll show you someone who will be employed…regardless of the state of technology.

I thought I’d give this a try for a while…

Windows 2000, the Flock 1.09 browser, both running on an old Thinkpad 600E (228MB ram, 366Mhz processor).

Why?

I’m curious as to how effective these older machines can be in the same types of tasks that one would purchase an Asus EEE PC for.  Granted there’s no fancy webcam and I think Skype would laugh at the configuration, but as a basic workhorse of a machine this was state of the art at one time.

I’ll give it about a week of constant work and we’ll see what happens.

Tags: AsusEEE PC, flock, Windows 2000, Thinkpad

Are you a literate teacher? I read this posting from David Warlick over at 2 Cents Worth and said, “Wow…if that’s what the students are expecting their teachers to be able to do, no wonder they don’t have any credibility in the classroom when it comes to technology.

Show this list to other teachers, or better yet administrators. Let’s start learning what they’re expecting so we can meet our students needs or at least not be viewed as the village idiots.

Heppell asked a group of students what a literate teacher should be able to do, and they agreed that teacher should be able to:

• upload to YouTube
• edit a Wikipedia article
• choose a safe online payments site
• subscribe to a podcast and un subscribe
• turn on and off preditive text
• manage a groups Flickr photos (and spell Flickr!)
• look after a community in Facebook

Stephen Heppell Keynote at SuperConference | 2¢ Worth