March 12, 2006
open source science curriculum
I think there should be an open source science curriculum development program. What software would be most appropriate? Something like Wikipedia, where contributers could constantly fact check and improve lessons. A review mechanism, similar to that used by Amazon, could help the best lessons rise to the top and the losers to sink out of sight. Reviewing the reviews could limit damage to the system by vandals.
Moodle and Blackboard are two top software packages for on line education. I am trying out Moodle to see how it works. It is open source and free hosting for teachers is being offered by http://www.ninehub.com/. I also found a form of wiki called pbwiki that can be tried out with free hosting at http://pbwiki.com/. A WordPress blog with free hosting for professional educators is also available at http://edublogs.org/.
In thinking through how to teach online, I have concluded that video snippets and audio capability would make the lessons more accessable and easier to create. Fortunately there are plenty of offers to host video snippets for free.
October 31, 2004
Gifting quilts
The main reason we went to Nashville is that we were given a weeks stay at Larry and Mariannes timeshare. This happenned right after Ann gave them one of her quilts for a 25th anniversary gift She also gave a quilt to their daughter Delcie
as a graduation present.
The Great Smokeys
Last Sunday we were returning from our visit to Nashville and the Smokey mountains in North Carolina. Ann was a back woods ranger there just before we got married. Another beautiful setting with many waterfalls was Falls Creek Falls Park.(check out the guy in the red shirt)
Millpond music festival 2004
Millpond photo popup
Millpond is always the third weekend of September. It is music festival. This year was the thirteenth annual and about our seventh. It was also the coldest. Usually it is close to 100 degrees during the day, although at night it drops into the 50s quickly. The other couple are Tom and Rosanne Higley who generously host our visit each year.The setting is surround by mountains.
California big trees
This photo is a test to see if a 400 px will fit in this templates container. We walked about a mile to see the sequoias while on our annual September visit to Bishop, California.
