Feeling Good

Sometimes, my love for humanity is reaffirmed. One person who's helpful for this is ze frank.
He recently posted a simple video on a simple song he made:
ze's page :: zefrank.com: songs you already know : scared

And it was made into a fun video, which really captures a lot of what many of us need.

Exploring Online Tools for Teaching

Presentation (Slideshare)

Presentation file for Alexandre Enkerli's workshop on exploring online tools for teaching. Concordia University's Centre for Teaching and Learning Services (CTLS), November 12, 2007.

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Other notes

• Moodle Tools
  
  • "Content" (syllabus, slides, references, media)
    
  • Assignments
    
  • Grades
    
  • Journals
    
  • Forums
    
  • Podcast
    
• Moodle Attempts
  
• RSS Feeds
  
• Wikis
  
• Glossaries
  
• Blogs
• Blogging
• Blogging Use
  • Self-publishing
  • Blogging as low-stakes writing
  • Blogging as sharing
  • Bridge with life, examples
• Blogging Issues
  • Author-based
  • Less than thoughtful comments
  • Keeping up?
  • Writing style?
• YouTube

  Broadcast Yourself

• YouTube Use
  • In-class examples
  • UC Berkeley lectures
  • Advantages
    • Publicly accessible
    • Sharing, comments
    • Self-learning
    • Peer-teaching
• YouTube Issues
• Image quality
• Streaming problems
• Pulled-off content
• Hater
  
• Blog Types
  
  • Course blogs
    
  • Personal blogs
    
  • Academic blogs
    
• Blogging as Publishing
  
  • Public intellectuals
    
  • Geeky version of Collège de France, Université populaire
    
• Broad issues
  
  • Getting help for transcription
    
  • Online textbooks
    
  • Reusing material
    
  • Leapfrog
    
  • Mashup
    
  • Don Hinkelman on cellphones
    
    • We use cellphones for students to input a variety of things into their Moodle course...
      
      • reflections on the class
        
      • attendence in large lecture classes
        
      • quizzes after hours or homework
        
      • periodic email messages with vocabulary practice
        
• "Outside" Tools
  
  • Meant for non-teaching uses
    
  • Students may already be learning
    
  • Thinking about use, not tools
    
  • Focus on personal favourites
    
• Sharing Content
  
  • Quick and easy
    
  • Public display
    
  • Viral (share again, comment, blog)
    
  • Social ("persona" management)
    
  • Bookmarklets and RSS
    
• Sharing Tools in Teaching
  
  • Peer-teaching
    
  • Learning environment
    
  • Self-publishing
    
  • Transmit information
    
• Sharing Tools ("Social Software")
  
  • Flickr "almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world"
    
  • Del.icio.us "Social bookmarking"
    
  • Twitter "What are your friends doing?"
    
• We live in fascinating times
  
• Videos with stats
  
  • Did You Know/Shift Happens
    
  • Pay Attention
    
  • The Machine Is Us/Ing Us
    
  • A Vision of Students Today
    
• Resources in Educational Technology
  
• EdTechLive.com
  
• Moodle Lounge
  

 

Technorati Tags: teaching, learning, online tools, Moodle, Facebook, RefWorks, SlideShare, Flickr, Blogspot, Del.icio.us, presentation, Concordia University, Centre for Teaching and Learning Services, educational technology

Veronic Belmont's Mahalo Prequel

Mahalo Daily: Hello world!

Nice pastiche (in both senses of the term). A hodge-podge imitation/parody of some of the most prominent video podcasts of the last few years.

But:

• Don't we get to vote?


• Where's Tiki Bar TV???

Rude Goldberg Fans: Can Anyone Do More?

Whoa!

Does-Nothing-o-Matic - CollegeHumor video

Timeline Maps: Empires and Religions

Noticed the first chronological map (on empires) in a presentation by Juan Enriquez. Either of these animations could be useful to show in many a course. They have not necessarily been created from a neutral point of view but they both bring together interesting data, making it easy to take a broad perspective on such issues as global interactions, cultural contacts, and human diversity.

Imperial History

History of Religion

Le Café d'Oldelaf et Monsieur D

Pas très réaliste, mais conçu à la Sylvain Chomet (Triplettes de Belleville). Ça me donne soif pour un bon petit espresso bien complexe et pas très caféiné.

Le Café

VUB and ULB Pillow Fight

Perhaps the most efficient form of student activism, a pillow fight between French-speaking and Flemish-speaking universities.

BELGIUM

At the end of the fight, the fighter of the both speaking communities reconcile around campfire having a beer and a barbecue. Let's hope the negotiation about Belgian government could end in the same way. (Reuters)

New Ways to Access Comedy Central Content?

What's going on, here? We can't access ComedyCentral.com from Canada? Apparently, that same content is available on TheComedyNetwork.ca, thanks to a special agreement between CTV and Viacom. However, the two comedy television networks' sites work quite differently from one another. In fact, Comedy Network's media player seems to be having problems and I personally haven't been able to watch more than a few seconds of anything on that Canadian site. Worse yet, that site makes my computer (H3070 with 1GB of RAM, running XPSP2) while using IE7 and consistently crashes Flock 0.9.1. Pity.
Meanwhile, Viacom is offering all clips of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 1999. That content is now hosted, in a beta version, on TheDailyShow.com (that site is available in Canada). Unfortunately, some features of ComedyCentral's well-known "Motherload" player are absent from the new site's player. For instance, clips can only be viewed in a single format and there's no playlist feature. On the other hand, the new site does make it easy to rate, share, and comment clips, bringing the show closer to the YouTube crowd Viacom might want to woo.


Funny that TheDailyShow.com should use Google for search... ;-)

Nomination for Best Title for a Podcast Episode

Mothers against Windows Vista (Buzz Out Loud 580)
Literally LOLed!

Redesign of Concordia University's Website

Tour of new Concordia University Website - Concordia University - Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Though I know there are people out there who are certainly complaining loudly about this new design, I think I like it. Granted, I'm no design expert. In fact, I usually don't react very strongly to page designs. But this one has a nice effect on me. I think it strikes an appropriate balance between simplicity and content. It's also a step in the direction of consistency in design, which seems to be a much more effective approach than what was previously available.
I also like some of the new features, including microformats and, more relevant for my use of the site, the new map. I used the new map just today to make sure the GM building was the one I thought it was (it is) and found the mapping system quite efficient. I do like Google Maps.

Vieux média et blogues à Montréal

J'ai plus tellement l'habitude de visionner du contenu formatté aussi clairement télévision que ça, mais c'est amusant à voir, surtout pour ceux qui étaient présents à cette rencontre.
montreal.tv - Blog Montreal, les blogueurs de Montr�al se rencontrent mensuellement au bar La Quincaillerie sur la rue Rachel sur le Plateau
(Piston, piston, piston...)

Zotero as Webware?

More as a reminder to myself that it'd be fun to experiment with some use of Zotero as a Google-type Webware reference manager including the actual texts (indexed PDFs, etc.). Kind of an integration of features from RefWorks, Spurl.net, Plum.net, Google Browser Sync, Del.icio.us, Firefox Scrapbook, Facebook, Moodle, GTD, and Windows Live Writer. Sounds like a weird mix but I see a pattern, there. Kind of like the "optimal bookmark manager" I've been thinking about. It'd take a bit too long to flesh it out just right now. Ah, well...

Dieu du ciel Bottles

Just passed (around 4:30p) by Délires du terroir. They have three Ddc beers: Fumisterie, Route des épices, Corne du diable. Knew Dieu du ciel was going to release bottled beer soon. Apparently, these beers have been there for about two weeks. My Net connection is down so I'm typing this in OneNote to blog it. Still, I mean to send it to the MontreAlers mailing-list.

As you can guess, I'm not thinking of styles and some of my taste associations may seem off. Perception, by definition, is subjective.

 
 

Fumisterie

Surprisingly big bubbles in bottle.

Clear, pumpkin ale orange, in the 11-13 SRM range (comparing to Beer Tools Pro), good head.

Overall profile: regular Qc micro, rather clean.

Normal carbonation in glass, decent to good head retention.

Aromas not overpowering, blended hops/malt/hemp.

Medium-level but somewhat harsh bitterness, probably from hemp combination, lingering

Quite earthy, a bit piney in hops.

Malt backbone, graininess, some chewiness. Not that dissimilar from l'Amère à boire's typical malt profiles. Can even understand the comparison with German ales, though that's pushing it.

Even Scotch ale-ish kind of thing, somewhat caramelly

Some oxidation? If so, less than many other beers. Probably just impression from hops.

Goes well with food. Tried with bagel but would clearly go well with many other things. Good reason to have it in bottles (or growlers). Ddc isn't the best place for food and beer pairings.

Warming improves maltiness, getting closer to Scotch ale.

Route des épices

Copper with red highlights (15-16 SRM?), decent to good head.

Low aroma, vague graininess, subdued spiciness, more hop-like than peppercorn, something of a vague metallic aroma

Explosion of flavours, floral part of pepper, almost vegetable-like, light plum-like fruit, then pepper all of a sudden.

Prickly carbonation intensified by pepper.

Lingering pepperiness.

Malt settles in. Crystal malt, not much rye. Some residual sweetness.

Almost hot pepper with some smoke and roastiness. Chipotle!

Some fruitiness coming back. Not exactly apricot-like but… What's that fruit? Nectarine? Passion fruit??

Every sip, the pepper comes late in the taste but lingers.

As it warms up, more of a syrupy malt aroma. Similar to the Fumisterie profile earlier. Caramelly as in long wort boil (more than decoction or specialty malts). It probably does come from specialty malts but it tastes more like what wort smells like when you caramelise it.

Corne du diable

A bit lighter in colour than Fumisterie, maybe closer to 10-11 SRM. Thick pillowy head, some big bubbles, average head retention.

Prominent hop aroma, earthy, minty, something reminiscent of old or high alpha hops?

Balanced flavours, some maltiness, not that much bitterness, some residual sweetness.

Hop profile more prominent in aroma than flavour, still present. A bit less earthy, a bit more piney.

Vague notion of candied pineapple.

Surprisingly low body, something almost watery/aqueous.

Sharply dropping flavours, not really lingering. Maybe some candied lemon zest.

As it warms up, some flavours are separating, blending less. Maltiness similar to others but hop earthiness more prominent. Maybe a bit of alcohol taste. Rounder aroma. Bit more malt in the aroma, hop profile closer to floral. Increasing caramel. Something sweet but balanced by the earthy hops. Malts fused in a way similar to several Benelux British ales.

Lost mint aroma and older hops, gaining slight spicy.

The earthiness is about as strong as Aaron's Plywood the Adler overhopped beer but the bitterness level is surprisingly low.

Got a fruit in there again that is difficult to pinpoint. Something sweet but subtle. Dried out grapefruit?

That's not grapefruit: it's grapefruit skin! Pithy!

There might be some Cascade-like grapefruit hops but the hop profile is really focused on the earthiness. Almost mossy.

Medium mineral content. Think slick granite (not really dissolving in the beer, just an impression of mineralness).

Eventually something vaguely soapy.

 
 

I've tried them all at the pub in the past but I can't really compare the bottled versions with what I remember from the pub. They all feel similar to yet quite different from the pub originals. As enjoyable if not more. Of course, the pepper in Route and the Corne's hops are unmistakable and directly reminiscent of the tap versions. But there are things in these beers that I don't remember from the pub's batches. Maybe I was never careful enough to think about differences as the beers warm up but the effect is quite striking, in all three cases. They seem to merge on a kind of flavour which reminds me of a scotch ale, a smoked porter, or an oak-aged barleywine. Something in the malty-caramelly range.

All of these would compare favourably to a lot of bottled beers available in Qc. In fact, they would fit in U.S. flavour ranges, especially in the Northeast. Of course, these three are pretty much in the British palette (especially in Corne's earthiness but also in the other two's overall profiles). Not really estery or heavy in diacetyl, but kind of like clean yet tasty versions of British Ales. AFAICT, the next bottled beers will tap Ddc's Belgian expertise.

 
 

Though elaborate and wordy, my descriptions are probably way off if compared with standards. But that's the beauty of a complex creation: it can have different effects on different people!

In this case, I'm guessing I'm hungry for a thick grilled steak because I keep thinking steak would go well with any of these. Very obvious with Route.

 
 

I'd encourage anyone to try these beers. I'd say my favourite is Route with Corne a close second and Fumiste a not too distant third.

Beer Ecology: Getting It Right

A nice thing about today's world is that comments to newspaper articles are often more insightful than those articles themselves.

globeandmail.com: Will going for a cold one give the planet a hangover? - Comments

Genetics and (National) Culture

A look at the interaction between genetics and social environment in the gregariousness associated with Williams Syndrome. It could be useful to define the concept of culture more carefully.

read more | digg story

The Future Is In The Past

Saw this one on Sivacracy. I like the fact that most of the computers we saw are Macs.

Embedded Video

Blogged with Flock

Nostalgie

Je suis déjà nostalgique. Pas tant du grand Boris que d'une certaine femme qui me hante et qui quitte pour une aventure catalane...

The Slashdot Model (Spoof)

College Humor is achieving Onion-like insight with some of their videos. (A bit vulgar, though.)
This one is about business meetings using the Slashdot/Digg model for interactions.

It Was a Different Time, You Understand

Classic!

Embedded Video

Blogged with Flock

Schools and Social Networking

The news item itself is somewhat confusing, seems rather one-sided, and over-uses statistical frequencies. But the issue at stake is quite interesting. It seems that, in the United States, many school administrations are greatly restricting the use of social networking and other online tools out of unfounded fears about the dangers of online communication. At the same time, educators and technology enthusiasts alike are finding ways to integrate social networking and other online tools in learning or teaching strategies.

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