Funny Geek Video

This is hilarious! Also it is a great example of using storytelling to spark motivation.

Sparking Motivation

For twenty plus years I have tried to figure out what makes people tick. Why? Well because being a good teacher is nothing more than being a professional motivator. You have to know your audience and what motivates them in order to propose a path to them that will spark their interest and foster learning. Which brings me to my main topic, online learning. Many of today’s good teachers have difficulty translating these skills to the online world. You see motivation forces determining behaviors that require four main categories, inspiration, incentive, drive, and enthusiasm.

Ask any good teacher who has never taught online how you accomplish this online and many of them will tell you “you can’t”.

            Now let me try to help you understand how to change that attitude. Next time you have to do develop a class online divide each section to a process and answer yourself the following four questions.

1. What is the inspiration behind the lesson?
2. What incentive to learn does the lesson provided?
3. What’s the drive?
4. How do I keep the learner enthusiastic?

The Process

Further Explanations

            Inspiration requires the stimulation of the mind, a story, a movie, or other people’s work. Teachers need to go back to the fundamentals of story telling and find the digital representation of what they want their students to see and be inspired by. Incentive requires something that encourages your student to do something. Hopefully you have inspired them by stimulating their mind and now can propose a situational problem they can relate with. This need to be part of the story telling foundation a good teacher would normally act out in class. Again, spark motivation by using technology story telling and provide an incentive that provides a need for a resolution. The resolution now becomes part of the drive that requires the act of finding something via investigation or research. I propose to you the problem and how we solve it. Last but not least is enthusiasm, requiring your students to get motivated and consume interest in the subject.

Nike Vomero +5

I run on Asphalt and usually run 8-10 miles every other day. Since I am a 195 pound guy, mostly muscle ^_^. I need a shoe that can handle the pounding on the pavement and provide the best cushioning possible. Nike has made this possible with their Vomero brand, in my opinion the most comfortable cushion shoe for daily training. If you get a pair be prepare to change them out every 250 - 300 miles if you are heavy like me and run in hot climate conditions. At $130 a pop they are not cheap for the long distance runner. However, they are worth every penny if you need the protection.

Poem

Summer Heat

Desperate I am suddenly lost

Towards the uninvited laugh wondering blind

Within each throbbing deep pass

Jealous bitter lovesick

My destiny belongs to you

Clouds assemble dance quietly through the wake

Rolling seductive breaking my pace

Heavenly nevermore perfect

            -Frank Long

iPhone OS 4.0

Well... If you have 3G or 3Gs iPhone I am sure you probably downloaded or getting ready to download the new iPhone OS 4.0. The good news is that it does what was promised and does it well. You can now check soccer scores and go to Facebook without closing the application. Not the most intuitive UI for multitasking at first but once you figure it out it works fine. However, keep in mind that multitasking will eventually take a toll on your battery and leave you hanging faster than you can say, “Dead phone”. I am a bit annoyed at the full reset the phone had to do and the need to remember passwords like my phone messages and Pandora. Not a big deal to retrieve but can’t understand why developers can create an environment that retrieves stored info from user’s folders after the upgrade. All in all if you have an iPhone you should be happy with minimal learning curve.

Garming Forerunner 305

Got a new Garming Forerunner 305 for fathers day. This is the tool I have been waiting for to get my running faster and more efficient. It has a GPS receiver and a wireless heart monitor. I usually run 8 - 9 miles every other day and my current pace is 8 - 9 minute mile. I need to get below the eights if I plan to make Boston in the future and also need to train for more serious speed. Stay tune for a future review of this product.

World Cup Fever

Living in a culture that loves Football but hates Futbol is sometimes hard. However like many world competitions I can count on the World Cup to hit the world and everyone around me. I am also lucky enough to work for an employer that knows how people function and allows for events like the World Cup to be shown during work hours in projection TVs. Nothing better than a bunch of non soccer fans enjoying and learning the game for the first time. We even have a Pot-Luck lunch with the theme World Cup as the main dishes this week. Now if only Spain could get their rear in gear and be the team that can win this!

Hope everyone is enjoying their World Cup