At least

Next Saturday im going to N.Y, and that can only means that this semester is
finally over...

These months passed so fast..I still remember the first day I came here to the States, my first day of my Masters class, everything was so new, is some way it still is. Im taking all the challenges that wait for me ahead, facing front, in a kinda silly optimistic way. This wasn't a perfect year for me, but i learned so many things, so many things changed and so many stayed the same.

Im looking foward to you next year!

Apps review

In this weeks i was asked to use and reviewa couple of internet applications
that share something in common: they are free and easy to use.

In the Online office applications between the three (google docs, zoho writer & show and thinkfree) i choose Zoho, mainly because it shares the facility of use and "online portability" of the google docs app, but much more complete, is has a lot more options, and is as close as MS office as you can get in a online app, but minus the complexity, so is complete but not complex and portable.

Then on the online picture editing app i really think that all of then were pretty useful, and i must give a special mention to the sumo paint, because is massive and amazing while not even requiring sign in up, but for propierly editing pics i was a bit thorn between picnik and fotoflexer, both of them are good, with nice HUDs that are pleasing to the eyes, simple and with style (unlike phixr, which is good btw), but i thin that fofoflexer had much more effects aviable for a first timer without sign in up or haveing a premium edition (picnik), is easy to use, has tons of options, you can save pics in your pc, in the app or even in facebook or other sites. So there two are the ones that i would definitely recommend (and i certainly will) to coworkers or friends, and since you took the time to read this i ll give you the links to them.

Zoho

http://www.zoho.com
fotoflexer

http://fotoflexer.co
sumo paint

http://www.sumopaint.com/home

My Own webpage!, wow!

I have been asked to do a website (not just webpage) in one of my courses, so
i have been working on it, and after a lot of work, changes, and frustration with the edit buttons and options (is not so easy as google says), i did it, and i don't think is half bad.

Maybe it doesn't have a lot of fancy features because of the short time and pressure to do it, but i think it worked out pretty well.

The theme of the site is about education, I used a classroom website template, and some imagination to see how I would do the page if i were working with students in a school, so I tried to keep the language simple and easy to understand, also I tried to implement some gadgets to keep things interesting, like calendars, videos and stuff like that, so i hope you like it.



https://sites.google.com/site/instructionalfun/home

My first screencast!

Hey guys, today im showing you, a video that i myself did, with the help of camstasia studio program.

I was asked to do a screencast, for a lesson or educational purpose, so i did this little video as a way to show students how to create a blog account that would later be used in other lessons in that course.

I tried to do it simple and easy, and i think that for the most part i succeded with that, also, i remind you that this is my first video, so go easy on me.

and sorry for the bad english!

Lesson and maps

Ok guys, i have been asked to use a map in a class lesson, so it can
help the understanding (and the interest) of the students in a class.

So i though about using maps in a class about hurricanes and weather changes.

The idea is that, first we give the students the information about how the hurricanes work, and then the use of the map would be to simulate the trajectory
of a hurricane from it's starting point to it's possibles routes.

This is not really a good example, but is just to give you an idea of how this may work.

Also another possibility is using this one as an example and make the students do their own maps based on real trajectories from past cyclons or hurricanes.

well anyway, here is the example i did:


View Hurricanes in a larger map

hope you like it

My map

Ok i have been fooling around a bit with google maps again, and i made a customized
map with directions of how to get to the near guitar center store from here WMU in
Kalamazoo to Portage.

so, there you go!


View Guitar Center Trip in a larger map

The dreaded Swine Flu

Last weekend i was feeling kind of weird, and then sick, it all seemed like a pre-winter
cold so i went to my local clinic ( the university one) and got diagnosised with H1N1 influenza
or "swine flu", and so i was put in isolation last monday.

Since that two days have passed, and i have been thinking on a lot of different issues in
my own life, different possibilities and choices, things that i failed to do or that i shouldn't have done...., it's interesting that is in times like these that i can reflect on these matters, and i think that it is maybe a situation like mine (an illness) that we stop worrying about our daily concerns and start looking at the big picture.

Podcasts!

Lately in one of my WMU online courses i have been using all kinds of internet based technology and resources, as you have been seeing, pic sites, videos, wikis, even maps!. Anyway, this week is no different and what im bringing to the table are podcasts links!, i found some interesting ones and, im sharing these ones with you!

Take a look:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/coffeebreakspanish

this one is for a spanish learning broadcast, like a radio show with chapters and all
that.

http://www.japanesepod101.com/feed.xml

this one is similiar to the first one, but for japanise.

and finnaly:
http://feeds2.feedburner.com/iruk

this one is a british indie radio station

Hope you like it.

Dominican Republic

OK this is a map of the Dominican Republic, my home country, it's an island located in the caribeean sea, near Central America, our closests neighbours are Haiti, Puerto Rico and Cuba.

Take a look, my city is Santo Domingo, see if you can find it:


View Larger Map

Summer Parade!

This is a Live Version of a song that i love from a japanise duo,
of guitar players, hope u like it.

Weather Changes

I woke up this morning, and realized that we had light snow, and 30 something F, outside, so just to remember the good times (and non depresing weather) im putting this picture, so if any of you look outside your window and only see gray sky and freezing people, then this will just work for ya.

New Pic Site!

OK, so the photo service i used earlier (Picnik) was very good, but not for sharing so, i switched to gud ol' picasa for that, and the link is this one:

http://picasaweb.google.com/david.lazala/NewPics#

a will keep checking if gives any problems.

Photo Sharing Link

Last week i started to use an internet picture sharing site, it's called picnik, i still haven't uploaded many photos, but there are some good ones there.

anyway, here's the link:



http://www.picnik.com/app#/in/history

Cometario a las Lecturas de este viernes 09 de Octubre

Este es un comentario que me llego por correo de las lecturas de este viernes, me parecio muy interesante asi que lo comparto con ustedes:

Una de las mayores dificultades que afrontó Jesús en su ministerio fue el descrédito de sus obras. Sus adversarios no perdían oportunidad para calumniarlo o atribuir lo que él hacía a alguna intriga del Maligno. Tras esta actitud se ocultaba un gran pecado: no reconocer la acción de Dios. El afán de tener prestigio y ser reconocidos los hacía olvidar que la finalidad última de cualquier discurso religioso es reconocer a Dios allí donde él se quiere manifestar, y no, como hacían los fariseos, publicitar al propio partido o movimiento. La frase con la que concluye el primer episodio (v.20) nos ayuda a comprender la dinámica del bien, la bondad y el amor. Las obras buenas, la misericordia, la caridad eficaz se deben reconocer más allá de cualquier frontera. Nuestro deber como cristianos es colocarnos de parte de las personas que transforman positivamente este mundo de miseria y de dolor, aunque ellas no compartan nuestras convicciones religiosas.

Social Bookmaking Part One

Hey i started usin a service for online (and social) bookmarking and it sot it's advantages, anyway im posting the link for my page in there, the service is called delicious, and a very interesting video for how and why use it.

The link for may page is this one: http://delicious.com/David_Lazala

The link for the video is this one: href="http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english">

Seguimiento del Camino y Religion

Les pongo este articulo que me parecio muy interesante, es una relfexion a las lecturas correspondientes a este domingo 27 de septiembre, la reflexion es de un servicio llamado lectura del dia, que envia las lecturas de cada dia con una reflexion al correo personal de uno, bueno ahi les dejo la reflexion:

«Nadie puede ser excluido del servicio que se realiza en nombre de Dios».
El capítulo 11 del libro de los Números nos da cuenta de las etapas de la marcha por el desierto; la narración se centra en una dificultad que tiene el pueblo: llevan varios meses comiendo maná y ya se encuentran hastiados: «tenemos el alma seca» (v. 6), «no vemos más que maná» (v. 6b), y con esto viene la tentación de añorar el tiempo de abundancia de comida en Egipto. Por aquí podemos intuir la grave dificultad en que se halla Moisés, ¿cómo hacer para que el pueblo no siga pensando en Egipto? El desierto es el gran desafío. Detrás está Egipto, con su abundancia, pero también con su esclavitud. Hacia delante está la promesa de una tierra, una libertad, una vida digna, pero que hay que conquistar a precio de privaciones, sacrificios, esfuerzos. El relato causa admiración porque Yavé monta en cólera... Es un recurso literario para introducir la preocupación de Moisés, que se expresa en una bella oración de intercesión por el pueblo. La solución que plantea Yavé es la adecuada: reunir setenta representantes del pueblo para repartir entre ellos el espíritu que estaba en Moisés; de esa manera la dirección, orientación y concientización del pueblo sería obligación de muchos y no sólo de Moisés.
El espíritu que se dona a todas estas personas viene a ser, entonces, profético; es decir, está en función de profetizar. Hay que asumir que esta actividad profética está orientada a ayudar al pueblo a tomar más y más conciencia del plan de Dios con ellos, a entender lo que hay realmente detrás: Egipto y su abundancia de comida pero con su esclavitud que es lo contrario al plan divino, y lo que está por delante: un desierto inevitable, desafiante, mortal, pero al fin y al cabo, un medio que es necesario asumir para poder llegar a la tierra de la libertad, tierra de promisión. A cualquier persona del pueblo que, entendiendo las cosas así, «catequizara» a sus hermanos en este sentido había que verlo como profeta «autorizado» no porque hubiera estado necesariamente en la tienda del encuentro, sino por estar en comunión con el ideal de Yavé.
Ese parece ser el caso de Eldad y Medad. Ellos no estuvieron en el momento del reparto del espíritu y sin embargo estaban profetizando. Viene la reacción de Josué, el mismo que más tarde se encargará de guiar a su pueblo en los trabajos de conquista y ocupación de la tierra prometida. Josué no entiende todavía que todo el que influya de manera positiva en la conciencia del ser hermano, debe ser considerado profeta, y por eso aconseja a Moisés que lo prohíba (v. 28). Por su parte, Moisés ha captado muy bien que en el trabajo de liberación del pueblo, todos y todas tienen una gran tarea, y responde a Josué con palabras aparentemente duras, pero que en definitiva buscan también abrir la conciencia de su ayudante: «ojalá todo el pueblo fuera profeta» (v. 29); ojalá cada uno asumiera con verdadero empeño la tarea de concientizarse y concientizar a su semejante, a su prójimo, ¿no es eso justamente lo que Dios quiere y espera? A Josué pues, no le preocupaba mucho la necesidad de que cada miembro del pueblo tuviera una conciencia bien formada para continuar hacia adelante por el desierto; le preocupaba más defender lo «oficial», lo «autorizado» por Dios en la tienda del encuentro, es decir lo «instituido», la defensa de «los derechos de Dios».
En la misma línea, nos presenta el evangelio de Marcos para este domingo, una situación semejante con los discípulos de Jesús. Apenas transmitida por Jesús la lección sobre quién es el mayor (Mc 9,33- 37), se produce un incidente que tiene que ver con la exclusividad de los miembros del grupo seguidor de Jesús. Juan le cuenta a Jesús que le han impedido a un hombre expulsar demonios en su nombre porque no se trataba de uno de los miembros del grupo (v. 38). No hay una pregunta, cómo hacer en casos semejantes, qué posición asumir, etc. La respuesta de Jesús es sabia, «nadie que obre un milagro en mi nombre puede después hablar mal de mí» (v. 39), y «el que no está contra nosotros, está con nosotros». En la tarea de construcción del reino nadie tiene la exclusiva. Tal vez los discípulos no tenían claro o no recordaban que su pertenencia al grupo de Jesús fue un don de pura gratuidad; ninguno de ellos presentó ante Jesús un concurso de méritos para ser elegido; fue Jesús quien se presentó ante ellos, se les atravesó a cada uno por su camino y los llamó, aun a sabiendas de que no eran ni los mejores ni lo más representativo de su sociedad. En ese sentido también otros y otras pueden seguir siendo llamados. En cada hombre y en cada mujer Dios ha sembrado las semillas del bien; cómo y cuándo esas semillas comienzan a germinar y dar frutos, eso es decisión de cada uno. A veces nos parecemos a Juan y al resto de discípulos, nos ponemos celosos de quienes sin pertenecer a la institución hacen obras mejores que las nuestras. Y sale inevitablemente la frase: «pero ése o ésa es de tal o cual religión o de tal o cual grupo.». Anteponemos a la vocación universal de hacer el bien y a la práctica del amor, unos intereses mezquinos y unos criterios de autoridad y de exclusividad absolutamente rechazados por Jesús (cf. Mc 9,39) El diálogo de Jesús con sus discípulos refleja la situación de la comunidad para la cual Marcos escribe su evangelio. Una comunidad quizás muy consciente de lo que eran las exclusiones, pero al mismo tiempo en peligro de ser exclusivista, con una excusa quizás aparentemente sana: «ser o no ser de los nuestros», «ser o no ser del camino», «estar o no estar en el proceso.», y en fin otras talanqueras que pretendidamente intentan justificarse con la excusa de defender la «pureza» de la fe o del «credo» o del «orden» o, en definitiva, de «defender los derechos» de Dios. Pues bien, cuando se cae en el extremo de «defender» a Dios, o los «derechos» de Dios, lo que se logra en definitiva es minimizar a Dios, ponerlo en ridículo ante el mundo, y la consecuencia más inmediata, la que previó Jesús y quizás la que ya se veía en la primera comunidad, era la del escándalo a los más pequeños. A Jesús le preocupan los «pequeños», no sólo los menores de edad, sino los que apenas empiezan a intuir la dinámica del reino con la subsiguiente imagen de Dios que él propone. Con todo, a través de los siglos, los peligros de la comunidad primitiva se convierten en hechos reales: cuántos creyentes promotores del bien, de la justicia y de la paz excluidos o en entredicho sólo porque «no eran de los nuestros», cuántos Josués y Juanes empeñados todavía en «defender» una pretendida exclusividad que, por supuesto, nadie posee, con lo cual lo único que logran es escandalizar cada vez más a muchos, haciéndoles creer que Dios es tan pequeño, que puede reducirse a los estrechos límites de un grupo o de una institución, aunque sus adeptos se cuenten por millares. Si logramos tomar conciencia de que Dios es más grande que un grupo o una institución y que en ningún momento nuestra vocación es la de defender unos supuestos derechos de Dios, sino simplemente servir, ponernos en función de construir el Reino con y desde las múltiples posibilidades que ello implica dada la insondable riqueza del mismo espíritu, entonces jamás se nos ocurrirá pensar si éste o aquél es o no es «de los nuestros», sino mejor. ¡como cooperar más y mejor con aquél o aquélla que tan bien están luchando por construir aquí el Reino!

My Wiki Page!

Hey guys!, I have been trying to get my Wiki page working, and finally it is!,
so I just wanted to share that with you, and feel free to modify it or to add
something of interest to you.

This is the Link: http://davidlazala.pbworks.com/

D. L

About Computer imagination, RSS and Tech tools for learning

This week we where asked to set up an RSS feed and check out, blogs
and web pages trough the use of this technology...
I have been using this blog for a while, even though i really don't
update as much as i should, so using blogs isn't really new for me,
but RSS is, i (like Anna West said in her blog) was kind of confused
at first as how to set up the RSS "feed", but the first day was good
having the feed to CNN working fine.

On the next I day wasn't that lucky, because most of the feed from
blogs just don't work, and some from the pages too, and I'm not quite
sure why is that, It could be because the explorer saves the feeds in a
folder and then my google reader don't find them... anyway the thing is
that i get an " error, empty feed" when I try so, I went back to look for
the blogs manually. Well even though all the difficulties i think is a good
tool, a good way to check on things you are interested saving your precious
time for something else.

About the Readings I will start with Edgar Dale and his "Cone of Experience".

I really liked the theories of knowledge and the various ways of learning that the proposed in his article, to be honest I was surprised of how useful it is taking into account it's 40 years old age.

The proposal of using different types of approaches to teach something depending
on what fits best each student and situation gives more options on how to give
an specific class, it helps too that the author is not pushy, he is not forcing
you to use the cone method, and even specifies it's limitations, it's flexibility
what can help you do and what don't, some of the things expressed are kind of obvious, but even so more is good to remind them, so we don't let them pass by.

If i where to take these technologies Blogs and RSS feeds and put them into the
Cone of Experience, I will probably had to make another ring, right between the
direct experience and the iconic knowledge, and call it "interactive iconic and
symbolic experience", interactive because is triggered by the student who is the
one who have to activate the feeds, create his blogs, etc.., iconic, because of the now iconic nature of Internet in which we don't issue commands by writing them,
but by "pressing" or "clicking" a button, an icon and because a lot of icons have
their own meaning which the user has to know in order to use them, finally symbolic
because what you read in a RSS feed and what you write in a blog are symbols, words
things of the highest symbolic meaning which represents other realities, and experiences.

Now on to the second Article, "Falling asleep and computer imagination" by
Martin Siegel.

I really don't know if what I am going to say is an answer for a problem, but if I where to use these tools (RSS and blogs) to help me during a course, I could use them
in this way:

1) I would put all the students into create a blog (sorry for stole you idea Mr. Horvitz) or update the ones that already got them and put them specific assignments for the class, so everyone could see them, and that would make them interested in writing meaningful things because their classmates would have to see them too.

2) I would find good articles, web-pages or magazines that talked about good themes
for reflection, recommend to subscribes to theses pages with RSS feeds and include that as a part of my class dynamic.

Some reflections regarding the use of technology in education.

Sometimes I have asked myself about the usefulness or the meaning of discussing about some matters that seemed like, it doesn't matter how much you ramble on them you just don't get anywhere, and I really got that same feeling wondering about the use of technology in education, nonetheless I still need the urge of expressing my own ideas, my own opinions regarding this matter, mostly when I see that it approaches, or confirm or challenge my own ideas about it.

To do that I will use two articles that are in very opposite directions regarding the use of technology for educational purposes, the first one is Beyond Technology Integration: the case of technology transformation (by Roberto Joseph, Educational Technology, July-August 2002), and the other one is Of Luddites, Learning and Life (By Neil Postman, Technos Quarterly, Winter 1993, Vol.2, No.4), first I will explain briefly, addressing their main statements, and ideas, and basically what are they all about, after that I will express my own points of agreement and disagreement with both articles, and then I will offer a brief conclusion that can reveal my own reflections while gathering from the previously mentioned articles.

On Beyond Technology Integration, Mr Joseph starts citing Kuhn by saying that “When a new technology enter any field of practice it is to help the current methods in those fields” and that “with time, resources and investment people discover new methods thanks to those new technologies, resulting in a quantum improvement in those same fields”, then talks about how technology haven't been strong in k-12 education in the States, that there has been a push from the Department of Education (we are in 2002 here) to integrate technology in education and mainly focusing how technology can support the way teaching is currently done in schools.

Then it comes one the main premises of the article, pointing out what he calls “key markers”, which are characteristic trends that represent different times, making an example between the industrial age and it's key markers (standardization, compliance, conformity, parts oriented, bureaucratic organization, etc.) against the information age key markers (customization, initiative, diversity, process oriented,team based organization, etc.), saying that our current educational system reflects most of the industrial age key markers, taking them into the school system and life. Markers like standardization, conformity and lack of initiative, where important before but, now we have new educational needs and he asks if technology can help us transform our teaching and learning methods to meet those new needs.

But how can we transform a system like this one?, well, Joseph puts here different things that must be done in order to achieve that goal, things like for example, change the intention of integrating technology in our current methods, and instead, transform and create new methods through the use of technology; a focus into a more individual type of learning, less standardized, using the latest improvements in technology, like portability, wireless networks, more space and processing power, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, electronic performance support systems and voice and optical recognition; that along the help from: fellow learners, parents, the community and organizations, a more guide like teacher – student relationship and the concept of “on the job” training and learning for certain matters.

The Second Article: Of Luddites, Learning and Life, by Neil Postman is definitely more lined towards a less enthusiastic view of technology in general and specially in education, claiming that “computer are distractions that are captured the imagination of many educators”.

The main points of his article are that: with all kinds of technology is that they give something but they also take something, they are a “Faustian deal”, also that the problem of education in the States it's not related to computers, technology or faster ways to get information, and cites the thousands of billboards, newspapers, periodicals, radio stations and video tape (now dvd and blue ray) rental stores, the hundreds of TV stations (and I may add the millions of web sites available), Postman says that “Information has become a form of garbage. It comes indiscriminately, directed at no one in particular, disconnected from usefulness. We are swamped by information, have no control over it, and don't know what to do with it.” and because of the persistence in faster ways of information some educators are forgetting the real purpose of the schools.

And what is the “real purpose of schools?, is not so much about teaching factual matters to kids, as Postman says “Schools are not now and in fact have never been largely about getting information to children. That has been on the schools' agenda, of course, but has always been way down on the list.” Al least not as to teach kids how to behave in groups, it's not really about individualized learning, it's about been part of the community, how and when to talk, to eat, to flush even. But it's not just that, it has another purpose and it's to give sense and meaning to the past, present and future through what he call narrative, such as the origins of the United States from a revolution, the view of the States as a place where people who wanted to be free went and they found peace and sustenance, or how hard work is the path to a fulfilled life. The problem says Postman is that since neither the teachers, the children or their parents believes in that anymore, the school becomes a place of detention instead of a place of attention.

So can technology or faster information solve that kind of problems, well.., not, for Postman, there is something else that the entire society is lacking, and that is reflected in the schools, “If a nuclear holocaust should occur some place in the world, it will not happen because of insufficient information; if children are starving in Somalia, it's not because of insufficient information; if crime terrorizes our cities, marriages are breaking up, mental disorders are increasing, and children are being abused, none of this happens because of a lack of information. These things happen because we lack something else. It is the “something else” that is now the business of schools.”

Alright, after these not so short explanations of the aforementioned articles, I think I can honestly say that I agreed with both and disagreed with both, but in which parts?, well of the first article I can identify with the idea of a school as a place that is lacking the sense of what are the students needing in the “real world”, more and more, workplaces, companies, even industries are looking for people who can have initiative, reflexes, multitasking abilities, that knows how to work in groups, and are creative and critic, that knows how to deal with unforeseen troubles and manage people.

And are our schools teaching that to the kids?, definitely not, usually our kids are costumed to listen, be quiet, shut up and do what they are told. I for the most part agree with the key markers comparison and also how can technology help in transforming that situation.

What I really don't buy is that technology is the path to reach that transformation, also for me is very difficult to see that much investment in educational technology in a country who is not from the first world, like mine for example, there we are struggling to get the government to give the annual amount the constitution orders for education, and to aspire that they will give portable and powerful technology systems with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and voice & optical recognition is hard to believe, and I really aspire a educational transformation with the help of technology and with rational budgets.

Another thing is that a more detailed explanation of a more individualized school is needed, I think that the fellow learners (peer to peer), parent and community help in the learning process is viable but only to a certain degree, even though I do support the idea of on the job like training and a different type of student- teacher relationship.

Now on the second article, first, I noticed that while both articles are on extremely different sides of the spectrum, somehow both agreed on the standardization nature of the current school system, and even though the “protect our children” motto from Postman wasn't very convincing for me, I agreed in that not all problems are going to be solved with computers or technology in general, those (I think) are tools that can help us to achieve a specific goal, or to reduce the time needed to do something, while at the same time it can just not help us much at all, I can even mention the case of some “High school” students I had while imparting the Moral & Civics course in my home country who, could easily use computers, chat, use social networks, and Wikipedia but most weren't able to critically and logically organize a simple paper of 5 or 6 pages and if they did it where poorly constructed.

Regarding the use of narrative as a way to inspire children, um, well, I can agree with that to a certain degree, as I have seen the “who cares” attitude of most kids towards the stories that forged our nation (I'm talking about my own country here, but I think it applies to U.S too), or any sense of Patriotism, also I'm not so sure about if that (the lack of narrative) is the “something else” that Postman says we are lacking, I think that part needs some more explanation from the author.

To conclude this post I have to say that these articles put me in “reflection mode” for a quite while, and looking back to what I said in the beginning about the sense of discussing these matters, I think now that, is worth it, because this will put teachers in a critical position about it and, this only benefits their students, and while the main theme is the use of technology in education, this also help us rethink the way we teach, how much are our students learning, and what can we do to improve it.

ISORP!

This past week, we international students at Western Michigan University
attended at the International Students Orientation Program or (ISORP) for
short.

It was a very overwhelming but fun week in which we did all kind of different activities, both in the form of lectures, information stands or social activities
that aimed to get the students involved in the life of the college, in a better understanding of the university campus and to know, appreciate and share with students from all aver the world.

it was a pretty fun (but tiring) week , i meet a lot of friends, and that's all i wanted to share with you for now.