The results are in, and iVOTE! ‘08 proved to be a winner! Over 1,500 students voted in early and regular elections. But what I am most excited about its how well they did in defending their reasons why they voted the way they did. They thoughtfully considered the issues that were important to them and delivered great reasons as to why others should select their candidate.
Today, I’ll be giving a short presentation to NUIT staff on Buzzword, Adobe’s online word processor. I’m sure no one thinks a word processor is all that exciting, but I totally heart Buzzword, which is why I was asked to present on it.
With Buzzword, I always have any project I’m working on at hand, because it’s online. And because it’s online, I can also collaborate with other writers on it. When I’m writing, my collaborators can’t edit, until I pass it off to them, allowing for a seamless work-flow. My collaborators can leave comments or edit (if I choose to give them that power). A history is kept, so I can return to earlier drafts if I don’t like certain changes, which means I don’t have to constantly Save As. Inserting pictures and graphs is super easy and what I get on the screen is what I get when I print out, with all the comments listed at the end of the document, being referenced like footnotes.
Also, Buzzword does a great job of organizing documents for me. I can find documents by authors, date created, date last opened, length and my role. I can also make any Buzzword document a PDF.
I also love Buzzword’s price. FREE.
Last, but in no way least, Buzzword is just plain pretty to look at and fun to work with. That might not sound like much, but for those of us who spend way too much time writing out stuff, the expereince should be as pleasurable as possible, not like using a chisel and stone tablet to hash out your ideas. I mean, wasn’t technology supposed to make our lives better? Are you listening Microsoft?! The menus look and move beautifully and are easy to find. They have great fonts available and moving between pages and document is a breeze.
Is everything awesome in Buzzword-land? Nuh-uh. Sometimes it won’t let me use certain key commands, like ctrl+z, which, as you can imagine, is SUPER annoying. So then I’ll use the menu for other commands, and it will scold me for not using the key commands. GRRR. Also, a word count for the whole document is great, but when you’re working on a large document that you have to submit in pieces (like, say, a grant), you need to have word counts for the different sections. It stinks that I have to open up Word to paste segments in there to see how many words they are. Bleargh. Also, Buzzowrd is part of Acrobat.com, which offers cool tools like file storage and sharing and ConnectNow, a net little app that lets you collaborate via live video and chat. You would think you could collaborate on a Buzzwrd document Live on ConnectNow, but you can’t, unless you share your screen. Can’t I just share it with the other two people in my ConnectNow session in the main screen, like where I have my whiteboard?
Other than that, Buzzword is the raddest, and my favorite word processor to date (sorry, Google ... I guess it was just a fling).
Monday night, I drove aaaaaallll the way up to McHenry Community College to do a workshop for McHenry’s Teaching American History grant. TAH is a grant that I think is doing great things, putting the focus on concepts and universal ideas rather than dates and forgettable facts in history. Plus, federal support for a solid educational program that doesn’t just focus on reading and math scores is okay in my book. How about we get kids excited about reading by letting them read cool stories about brave indigeonous people, dudes in wigs and tights, and riveter-weilding women who shaped this country?
McHenry is implementing the money they received for this grant in innovative ways, using the Collaboratory to have teachers exchange lesson plan ideas and reflections based on the speakers they have heard and the field trips they have taken. Their mentors can look at their lesson plans and comment on the different elements they think could use work. It’s a great use of technology for professional developement.
Looking for something to do on a Saturday morning that will give a little pep to your teacher step? Come visit me at the McCormick Freedom Museum 3rd Annual Resource Fair! I’ll be talking about how iVOTE! ‘08 can bridge the gap between civic engagement and democratic participation and how you and your class can be a part of it! I will be joined by a number of excellent exhibitors, including my good friends and partners in iVOTE!, Natalie Brouwer from the Citizen Advocacy Center, and the good people at the Constitutional Rights Foundation of Chicago.
See you there!
Next week, we’ll be celebrating the 3rd birthday of my little cousin, Xavi. Not only is he adorable, but he’s dedicated to saving the world. Or at least, wearing the appropriate outfit (complete with cape). All of the time. His mom decided to throw him a party that celebrates his devotion to saving the planet from evil-doers. So here’s the postcard invite I put together for little Xavi. Happy bday, little one!
Exciting news: On September 24th, I’ll be at the Google offices in downtown Chicago collaborating with a diverse group of teachers at the Google Teacher Academy! I was selected, along with 49 other educators to participate in an an “intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment.”
Part of the application required a one minute video on “Motivation & Learning.” My submission was a minimalist approach using the look of the retro chalkboard.
iVOTE! ‘08 got some press this week in the Daily Northwestern! Read all about it!