Archive for September, 2009
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-27
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 27th, 2009
- @davemcquaid wow thanks Dave! Let's do lunch. Next week? in reply to davemcquaid #
- Discussed how URL shortners are like C++ pointers. Great CT (computational thinking) example! #
- God is not willing that any should perish. God has given man a free will. But every action in his universe has consequences! #
- Up up and away off to speak at KCEA via Philly, Harrisburg then Lancaster. Looking forward to weekend with Sara and Caleb! #
- Frustrations – the distractions in life meant to cause us to turn our heart toward the Gospel! #
- @bgodwin for both parties in reply to bgodwin #
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KCEA ‘09 To Twitter or Not To Twitter
I am pleased to be heading to the great Keystone State (PA for those who are a bit weak on their American history) for the annual Keystone Christian Education Association (KCEA) annual conference held at the lovely Willow Valley Resort located in the Amish lands of Lancaster PA. I am giving my Web 2.0 presentation in which I provide instruction to what Web 2.0 is all about and share some ideas on how they can incorporate some of these technologies into their classroom and relationships with their students. We look at things like – blogging, twitter, facebook, wikis, podcasting, social bookmarking, etc.
KCEA Web 2.0 Presentation – pdf format
KCEA ‘09 Computational Thinking
I am pleased to be heading to the great Keystone State (PA for those who are a bit weak on their American history) for the annual Keystone Christian Education Association (KCEA) annual conference held at the lovely Willow Valley Resort located in the Amish lands of Lancaster PA. I am giving my Computational Thinking presentation in which I provide instruction to teachers on 1) what is computational thinking 2) why it needs to be taught in K-12 3) how to teach it.
Here is past blog posting on this topic.
KCEA Computation Thinking Presentation – pdf format
KCEA ‘09 Parenting by the BIT
I am pleased to be heading to the great Keystone State (PA for those who are a bit weak on their American history) for the annual Keystone Christian Education Association (KCEA) annual conference held at the lovely Willow Valley Resort located in the Amish lands of Lancaster PA. I am giving my Parenting by the BIT presentation in which I provide information and recommendations to parents on how to safely integrate Internet technologies into their children’s lives in a way that brings glory to God.
Here is past blog posting from a presentation on this topic I gave to the teen parents at my local church.
KCEA Parenting by the Bit Presentation – pdf format
KCEA ‘09 Robotics Workshop
Posted by admin in BJU, Education, Robotics4Kids on September 23rd, 2009
I am pleased to be heading to the great Keystone State (PA for those who are a bit weak on their American history) for the annual Keystone Christian Education Association (KCEA) annual conference held at the lovely Willow Valley Resort located in the Amish lands of Lancaster PA. I am presenting 2 robotics workshops in which the teachers will work in teams of 3 to build and program a Lego Mindstorm NXT robot. This is a great exercise for students as it gives them exposure to computer technology, computational thinking skills, team work, communication, problem solving – all the stuff they need to secure a job in the 21st century of the Information Age.
Here are some past blog postings about the robotics teams I’ve taken out to various high schools around the USA.
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-20
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 20th, 2009
- Gr8 class 2nite w/senior computer science guys discussing resumes, interviewing, grad school, local church involvement-life after graduation #
- Surrounded by 3 pickups hauling huge trailors with lawn equipment – business looks good! #
- Delivered a lecture/demo 2 my freshmen bit builders on differences tween c-strings& STL strings-great example of the power of abstractions. #
- Discussed microprocessor decoding & how 2c the patterns in order 2 most efficiently simulate the process in code. Lots of computer science! #
- Crossfire SRT6 – a sweet set of wheels! http://twitpic.com/i5ukr #
- One of the many keys to teaching college students: he who laughs, lasts. ☺ #
- If you drive a fast, sporty lookin car be prepared to control the power! U will b challenged often! Feel the power. #
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Can’t See the BITS!
Posted by admin in CpS 111, Education, Internship, MBA, Worthwhile on September 18th, 2009
We all get frustrated when things don’t work. Personally I believe this frustration is meant to point us toward our Creator and His amazing solution – the Gospel! But the results of living in a broken world is very evident. Even in the BIT world. The world of ones and zeroes. Information. Computers. Websites. Logins. Security. All of the stuff of which the bit business consists. My life is very involved in both the teaching and application of bit business concepts to my students and my clients.
This morning I hit yet another frustration which got me thinking about how my company (Worthwhile) can help our customers and their customers avoid these frustrations. I am a member of ACM, a professional group of people interested in advancing computing as a science and profession. They have a very extensive online book store. There was a new book called The Twitter Book which I wanted to order for The Worthwhile gang. We’ve had lots of great discussions recently about the value of social media and how to bring real business and personal value using it.
It had been a while since I had logged into Safari Books Online, so after digging out the keys to store I attempted to login, but to no avail. No errors, no warnings, no entry, NOTHING! I simply couldn’t get into the store. Now, I teach an e-commerce class to MBA students and one of the “big ideas” we discuss says “when there’s a person who wants to give you money MAKE IT AS EASY AS POSSIBLE!”. We’ll it wasn’t easy for this this morning! I got to thinking about the parallel in the atom world (brick and mortar). If I hopped in my car, and you should see my new Crossfire SRT6 sometime – wow is it sweet, and drove down the street to Barnes and Nobles, I could see right away if there was something keeping me from getting into the store – could be the crowds, the roads closed for construction, traffic lights could be out, the store could be closed, the store could be out of business, a vast number of things would serve as visual aids to tell me why I couldn’t get in.
But things are often not so simple in the bit world. Though if enough creative thought and energy went into it, I believe they could be! I have absolutely no idea why I couldn’t get into the Sarafi store. Was it out of business? Was my car out of gas? Was it too crowded? Where they closed for inventory? I have no idea. I find that to be very frustrating.
The lesson – when building interfaces and websites and plug ins and apps and you name it, for the bit business, you need to have a team with experience and dedication to think about how to present interfaces in such a way as to minimize or even eliminate user frustrations.
I’m confident that our dedicated team of bit builders and bit designers at Worthwhile will continue to create great user experiences that will make our customers and their customers ENJOY rather than simply ENDURE our creations! 
Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-13
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 13th, 2009
- @joefeser just passed oklcity! car is very sweet and FAST! in reply to joefeser #
- @daveruse just passed oklcity! car is very sweet and FAST! #
- Why does the nearest burger king have to be 170 miles when the stomach growls for one of those amazing chicken biscuits? #
- America, in spite of her cuurent issues is still the benefactor of God’s amazing grace. Let’s do all we can to appropriate that grace. #
- @joefeser great idea on the jerky. What brand? #
- Justified in Christ oh blessed thot! #
- Just passed Wooster, Arkansas-gotta come back to check it out sometime! #
- Time is like bananas; use it or lose it; you cannot preserve it. #
- A picture speaks 1000 words-help I need an interpreter!This image is on the inside of my trunk lid.What meaneth it? http://twitpic.com/gu4hv #
- Great session this afternoon with my freshmen bit builders as we explored the benefits of include files in creating worthwhile software. #
- Headin up to Detroit for a tigers game and to see if the motor is still running in the motor city! #
- Signs of Detroit. http://twitpic.com/hd16h #
- Go tigers! Still strong in first place! Bringing energy back to the motor city! http://twitpic.com/hd89a #
- GM offers 60 day money back guarentee on new car purchases. Will it start a new trend? #
- If u r offered a deal to fly a private jet, beware for the next time u fly commercial it will seem like torcher! http://twitpic.com/hfq1u #
- Make that torture – thanks mike! #
- Automotive industry was a prime example of industrial age. Detroit was king. Does information age have any major cities leading the way? #
- @mhamann blackboard is a top classroom mgt software. I have never seen it. BJU signed contract with a more recent competitor-scholar 360. in reply to mhamann #
- @thescottsb if it’s not @worthwhile, it is worthless! in reply to thescottsb #
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Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-09-06
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on September 6th, 2009
- Goopling-a poweful problem solving technique!Thx 2 all who helped me search all of craigslist.Ck out the google site: command.Very powerful #
- @harrisjosh-love stop dating church book so much I give a copy 2all my church teens & college seniors @ BJU where I teach computer science! #
- @digitalpixistix great timing my computer girl!was just thinking about this very problem today!will share w/my students on 1st day of class! in reply to digitalpixistix #
- Taking tacos to Mom’s for lunch. What a blessing! #
- @joefeser outstanding view, food and friendship! Thanks Joe! We must take our wives there soon. in reply to joefeser #
- Leaving Phoenix toward flagstaff in my new toy! http://yfrog.us/18girz #
- Arizona is so sweet. They just took my photo in my new crossfire srt-6! Hope I can order prints. #
- Snow just north of flagstaff! On to Albuquerque …. #
- Red Mercedes runs highway patrol interference for me in new Mexico! Thank you fella! #
- Rain and roadsters don’t mix well! Just passed petrified national park. #
- Knock knock New Mexico. No one’s answering! #
- That was a first-got gas at an unmanned station totally in nowhereville NM. Followed by a blue light special! #
- Now that was totally a first-refueled at an unmanned gas station in nowhereville NM. Followed by a friendly blue light special! #
- Amarillo wins the prize for having the most distractions along an interstate-where did I put my sunglasses at 3am? #
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BJU CpS 479: Stop Dating the Church
To all my senior CS and IT majors:
As we get together this final year of your undergraduate career, the purpose of this seminar is to discuss “life after graduation”. What will it look like? What else can you do to prepare for it? Where will you live? What will you do? More schooling? Get a job? Start a business? All of these (and more) are legitimate questions to consider this final year of college. But in my mind, the question that will determine the direction of your life from here is “Where will I go to church?”.
I find this such an important issue that I am giving all my seniors the book “Stop Dating the Church“. The purpose of this blog is to give you a place to report on what you read in this book. Share 3 things you found in this book which you believe are the most important for you to seek to apply after graduation. Then share 1 thing that you disagreed with. Be sure to give your biblical basis for both – the things you agree with and the thing you disagree with.