Will Richardson

Speaker, consultant, writer, learner, parent

More to Read…

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So now that I can leave tabs open when I shut down Firefox knowing they’ll come up again when I bring it back up, I’ve got about 20 tabs that I don’t want to close. So, I gotta clean house again. Here’s some stuff I’ve been reading and wanting to write about but just don’t think I’ll get the time to post about. (And I mean I’m doing all of my shopping online and everything…oy.)

  • Solving America’s education crisis–Moneyquote: “As a nation, we are facing an education crisis of epic proportions. The statistical trends that support the argument that the nation’s education system is obsolete and that our students’ future is at risk are alarming.”
  • Skype and Podcasting: Disruptive Technologies for Language Learning–Moneyquote: “Skype and podcasting have had a political aspect to their embrace by early adopters — a way of democratizing institutions — but as they reach the mainstream, that is likely to become less important than the low cost and convenience the technologies offer. Both technologies offer intriguing opportunities for language professionals and learners, as they provide additional channels for oral communication.”
  • A Nomad’s Guide to Learning and Social Software–Moneyquote: “While social software can connect learners to new resources and to each other in new ways, I argue that its true potential lies in helping us figure out how to integrate our online and offline social experiences. Thus, social software must live up to its name by relating to the individual’s everyday social practices, which include interacting with people online as well as people without access to these technologies. I conclude that social software can positively impact pedagogy by inculcating a desire to reconnect to the world as a whole, not just the social parts that exist online.”
  • Welcome to the Mixxer: Language Exchanges for Everyone–Description: “The Mixxer is a place for language learners and teachers to find a language partner for a language exchange. The language partner is someone who speaks the language you study as their native language and is studying your native language. Both partners are there to provide practice and support to the other.
    Teachers can also find other classes interested in doing language exchanges with their students. The program most commonly used among Mixxer language partners is Skype. Skype is a program that allows you to call other people using Skype for free. The program is free, provides excellent sound quality and is available for download at www.skype.com. Of course, once you’ve found a language partner, you are free to communicate however you wish. The benefit of this site and its use of Skype, however, is that you can contact your potential partner immediately and directly.

  • Schools, blogs, Xanga, MySpace…What’s it all about, Alfie?–Description: “In Part I, I laid out a brief (and not necessarily completely accurate) view of the universe of student-focused on-line personal sites. In Part II, I reviewed the issue of schools limiting and/or banning student access to such sites. In Part III, I made the case that the fear of “online predators” finding kids from blogs and social networking sites is overblown, and reduces teens’ belief in what adults say about their presence on such sites.” (Parts IV and V to come…)

    • Comments

    1. liz ditz says

      Liz here from the above mentioned Schools, blogs, Xanga, Myspace….

      Dang was I naive! I started the project on Sunday 12/10/05, thinnking I could bang out the whole thing in 2 hours while waiting for my teenaged MySpace-using daughter to wake up. About 14 hours later of composing and posting, I haven’t even gotten to parts V and VI. Sheesh.

      I think though the demonization of MySpace is a very important issue for teens, parents and schools. Something about the social networking software is meeting an intense need in kids–otherwise it would not be so popular.

      One of my concerns is this: the media alarmism over MySpace tends to fall into a default position of blogging = bad thing. My specific concern is that it will block the use of blogging in the academic sphere, at least at the middle school and high school level. My own position is that blogging-as-an-academic-tool will likewise be demonized.

      So have patience with me, who has bitten off more than she knew. The one thing I know from what I’ve researched and written so far is that no one else has taken a global view of these new forms of expression (blogging, social network softwar).

    2. David Muir says

      Slightly off topic I know… but am I missing something? You say, “So now that I can leave tabs open when I shut down Firefox knowing they’ll come up again when I bring it back up, I’ve got about 20 tabs that I don’t want to close.” When I close down Firefox, the tabs close too and don’t re-open when I restart. Is it a version thing? Is there an option I have to set somewhere? Have I just misunderstood what you said?

      Thanks in advance. 🙂