The Adventures of a Digital Sensei
After the late, late party at Miko’s last night, I wasn’t hyped to get up early on a Sunday morning a head off to a technical conference on administering and programming for Drupal. However since I needed to learn more about this open source content management system for a side project that I am working on called Ensideus.com (more on that soon), I dragged my sorry butt out of bed and headed to Brooklyn. Continue reading “Drupal Camp at PolyTech”
As a benefit of my participation in the LaGuardia and Baruch WID faculty colloquium I was able to attend an all day workshop on the process of defining “Academic writing”. The workshop was developed by English professors from Yale and Bard. A number of my colleagues in the WID workshop had attended a similar workshop last year and raved about it. LaGuardia was hosting a version of the same workshop for members of the English department. The leaders of the WID colloquium thought it would benefit the rest of us to have the same experience, so they acquired the funds to enable us to attend.
The workshop was both enlightening and a bit intimidating for me because I was out my academic discipline and the sole professor from outside of the English department. Now while I was an undergraduate Continue reading “LaGuardia & Bard Writing Workshop”
Those of you that have been paying attention to my recent post might have noticed that I have been spending alot of time focusing on my digital audio and video chops. As I result I have been getting nervous that I been letting my web design/development skills start to slip. So to make sure that I didn’t let that happen, I needed to get motivated. The quickest way for me to get motivated is to spend time around other Continue reading “Coldfusion User Group Meeting”
Today was the first meeting of the CIS ePortfolio cohort that is being sponsored by LaGuardia’s Center for Teaching and Learning. The main purpose of the faculty group is to research the best ways in which the CIS department can integrate ePortfolio into the Introduction to Computers course (CIS 100). The CIS 100 course is a required course for many of the academic programs at LaGuardia, and as a result, is a perfect class in which to reinforce the technical principles of ePortfolio.
I was asked to participate in this ongoing seminar because, I had taken a lead in researching ways in which digital portfolios can be used to enhance the performance of students in technical disciplines. Continue reading “CIS and ePortfolio”
Now before you go telling me that I spelled the word “Caesar” incorrectly, let me explain. I woke up this morning to a ringing telephone. The wife and kids had gone to Easter service with my mom so I was actually able to sleep in late for a change. And as much as I love my mom, not even she can make me step inside of a church. But that is a story for another time. Anyway, the ringing phone woke me up. I hate waking up to the phone. Needless to say I was pissed. I was all set to flip out on whatever telemarketer had the balls to wake me up this early in the morning when all of a sudden I hear……
“Rock……what’s up my brother? It’s your boy Ceasor!” Continue reading “Hail Ceasor!!!”
Now before you think that I am involved with something out of the Sopranos I just need to state that that nothing could be further from the truth. In fact I met with a group of faculty members today from LaGuardia and Baruch to discuss issues surrounding the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program that both schools have initiated. Selected faculty members from both schools have been meeting all year long to discuss how WAC, also referred to as Writing in the Disciplines (WID), can impact students and faculty in transformative ways.
The discussions that we have engaged in during the group sessions have honestly been some of most interesting conversations that I have had in while. I had been fighting the flu all week so I was very glad that I was up to attending. The opportunity to directly interact with a faculty cohort from a sister CUNY institution, and to discuss our different approaches to pedagogy, has helped me a great deal in thinking through the restructuring of the curriculum for the LaGuardia New Media Technology degree.
Creating web standards for the implementation and management of web content is a topic that more and more companies are having to face. LaGuardia is current struggling with this issue and is proactively working to address the problem. One of the solutions that the LaGuardia IT department is investigating is establishing a Content Management Systems (CMS) to assist in the management of website updates and presentation. I mention this because today I attended a meeting to look a some of the Content Management Systems (CMS) that LaGuardia is considering. Continue reading “LaGuardia Web Standards Committee”
It is rare that Ski and I get a chance to go out. For better or worse, this is just something that you get used to once you have kids. However, Mike Sorrell, an old friend of mine was in town and invited us to a special dinner concert that Oberlin College was holding at The Birdland Jazz Club. The invitation only event was hosted by the new president of Oberlin, Marvin Krislov, and featured the Oberlin Jazz Septet. Since I hadn’t seen Mike since our graduation from Oberlin almost twenty years ago, I made it a point to ask my moms to watch the kids for a few hours. I wanted to catch up with an old college buddy, and being a cheapskate, I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to take my wife out at the same time. Continue reading “An Oberlin event: Out on the town with old friends”
Michael Dinowitz, head of the NYC Coldfusion Users Group and owner of the House of Fusion (http://www.houseoffusion.com) will be presenting at the LaGuardia 3rd Annual New Media Conference. Outside of Abobe, there are few evangelists as dedicated as Michael to the spread of the Coldfusion language and the strengthening of the community. Michael has co-authored many of the best selling CF web application construction kits and videos. Continue reading “3rd Annual New Media Conference: Coldfusion Guru confirmed”
The Fall II semester is underway and I am already swamped. In addition to the two courses that I am teaching, and planning for the LaGuardia New Media conference in the spring, I also have to redesign the web sites for the New Media program and the CIS Department. Both sites need a serious update and there was no way that I could have completed the job by myself. Luckily I was able to get an intrepid band of interns to volunteer in assisting me to plan, design, and implement the new sites. Continue reading “Interns are a good thing!”