January 22, 2014

2014 is NASA’s “The Year of Earth”

From the NASA Earth Right Now website: With the launch of five Earth-observing missions in 2014 — more Earth-focused launches in a single year in more than a decade — NASA will be able to deliver even more crucial data to scientists trying to understand our changing planet. Since the agency’s inception in 1958, NASA has established itself as a world leader in Earth science and climate studies. It is …

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January 19, 2014

Hashtagr – aggregating hashtags over multiple platforms

As usual, this technology tidbit that came to me via Twitter caught my eye: This website allows you to monitor a hashtag over multiple platforms. Have a play! http://t.co/JosvVTbWfA — Tweet your Science (@tweetyoursci) January 19, 2014 I certainly don’t use all of the available social media channels available, but I knew I wanted to explore this more.  Because I am not on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, I’ve often wondered …

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January 6, 2014

Can/Should Tweets Become Advertisements?

So here’s a tweet that made me do a double-take… “Journalists active on Twitter have to be hyper-aware that what they write may be used in ways they never imagined” http://t.co/vX7krGBhOQ — Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) January 6, 2014 Can you imagine, even for those of us that are not journalists, having your tweet appear in a full-page ad in The New York Times without your permission, and even after you …

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January 3, 2014

A review of Google Earth in 2013

The Google Earth Blog has a month-by-month breakdown of notable discoveries and innovative uses of Google Earth during the past year.  This post is worth scanning through – I didn’t realize how much I had missed! I am now going to play with setting up the Powers of Ten in Google Earth… Visit: http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2014/01/year-2013-google-earth.html  

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January 1, 2014

Flowchart: Can I use this photo/video/music in my project?

I saw this image in a tweet from @jasonrobertshaw, and thought it would be a great one to share with students as they complete their multimedia projects in my courses.  I like how the flowchart includes a checkpoint for faces and voices – something that especially needs to be paid attention to if minor children are captured and identifiable.  Also, the image is a great reminder to all of us …

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A wise edtech observation to kick off 2014…

I recently learned about the LOL my thesis website (see my blog post describing the site), and have been eagerly awaiting my one-sentence submission to appear.  As I scrolled through the other entries – some entertaining, some intriguing, I came across this submission from 12/31/13: I had to pause when I read this posting.  This has been one of my largest concerns with educational technology and classroom teaching.  Whether it …

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December 30, 2013

“Science” is the word of the year (2013)

Merriam Webster says “science” looked up 176% more in 2013 than 2012. Turns out it’s relevant. http://t.co/on5x2e9jl6 — NRDC Science (@NRDCscience) December 3, 2013 NOTE: Link in the above tweet is no longer valid. This link will take you to the article in SF Gate. The dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster determined that “science” is the word of the year for 2013, beating out other contenders such as “communication,” “ethic,” and “integrity” …

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December 29, 2013

iPads for addressing astronomy misconceptions in scale

Many individuals and even entire schools and school districts are quick to jump on technology bandwagons when a new piece of technology is released.  The excitement and the hype of bringing new technology in to the classroom at time will override the more important questions – will this technology improve student learning?  Or could the technology actually hurt student learning? Apple products are commonly found in schools, especially the K-12 …

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December 28, 2013

Lol My Thesis

After seeing “lolmythesis.com” come through my Twitter feed twice in one day, I knew this was a site I had to check out.  The website is very simple, “summing up years of work in one sentence.”  The About page states that the site was started by an undergraduate student looking for a way to distract herself from her own thesis.  The site contains a collection of one-sentence summaries from undergraduate …

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December 17, 2013

Scientists are…

Google search “scientists are…” and get upset. Scientists need a better rep. http://t.co/A0wawJbeVT via @Slate — NRDC Science (@NRDCscience) December 6, 2013 On December 4, Phil Plait, the author of Slate Magazine’s Bad Astronomy blog, published a post that really sent some seismic waves through the science world.  Someone alerted him that if you type “scientists are” in a Google search box, Google with automatically suggest the following words to …

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