Required staple if toddlers in the discovery learning phase

Toddlers in the home permanently or for holiday visits? 
Go ahead and pick up the Mr Clean Magic Eraser variety pack

The end of year blogosphere is filled with posts the best of, the top 10, thanks, and I am still honing my time management skills with the toddler. As with many 2 year olds, the discovery of pens, pencils, crayons, and markers is one aspect of discovery learning. For the holiday she received the Step 2 Deluxe Artist Desk to support her creativity and discovery learning. Washable markers and crayons are the tools we would like them to use everyday but every now and then the toddler acquires a pen. For some reason walls are required as one canvas choice during the discovery learning phase of creativity and boundaries. 

As much as you want to encourage wall art using chalkboard paint or IdeaPaint, being a tenant in leased housing does not allow one to do what they would do to walls if they were home owners. As many of us discover ink doesn't always come out of clothes and can be challenging to remove from walls depending on the wall covering. So I thought I would try Mr Clean Magic Eraser Variety Pack.

It worked. The standard canvas is back to the Step 2 Deluxe Artist Desk but I know if the toddler decides to use the wall as her canvas we can recover without major meltdowns.

I am still looking for options to repair the tips of the styluses. Part of her discovery learning is removing the soft tips. Until then, we will work through the bundle of 14 colorful stylus universal capacitive touch screen pen. Any recommendations on replacing the soft tips removed by the discovery learner?

Here is to making it through another day, another week, and enter 2013 with health, happiness, tinkering, practicing platform agnostics, and learning from others as well as our decision making processes.

Comments, +1s, and reaction check boxes are always welcome.

Little Brother - A book with something for everyone

I came across Little Brother while consolidating recommended reading lists from leaders. After taking a break from required reading for school, Little Brother seemed interesting for a few reasons listed below.

Cory Doctorow's article Security Literacy: teaching kids to think critically about security from the May 2008 Tor/Forge Newsletter.

Cory's blog post, June 2012 Students assigned to cheat on exam use doctored Little Brother cover and many other methods featuring James Caroland, US Navy/US Cyber Command and Greg Conti, West Point.

Tracey Hughes shares course materials she developed with her Grade 10 students in Peterborough, Ontario to remix, adapt, and reuse. Cory's post: Remixable Grade 10 course materials for Little Brother. 

You can read about Little Brother on Cory Doctorow's site or Wikipedia. Or the many book reviews published over the last four years.

You can donate the book to educators and librarians in the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Kosovo, Taiwan, United Kingdom and choose to be an acknowledged as a public donor or added to the anonymous count.

You can download Little Brother at no cost based on Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0).

While Little Brother is categorized as Juvenile Fiction or Young Adults (YA), people of all ages can learn from the story, which is interwoven with real issues, real sites, and credible resources.

Whether you are a tinkerer or learning about today's students, your children, and/or grandchildren to the credibility offered in the Afterwords by Bruce Schneier and Andrew "bunnie" Huang and the Bibliography with references to techno-countercultural writings to websites such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Pirate party and Cryptome there is something everyone can connect with in Little Brother.

Little Brother was adapted and directed by Josh Costello into a play/stage version in San Francisco, CA. Josh made a few changes because novels and plays are different. Little Brother is supported by the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Custom Made family of donors.

If you are gifting for your avid reader or your favorite library, Little Brother should be on your list. Homeland, the follow on to Little Brother will be released February 5, 2013. You can read an excerpt from Homeland.

Cory Doctorow Bio

Have you read Little Brother? Gifted the digital or printed book? Received it as a gift? Did you see the play? What do you think?

Pause for the Cause

Like many people this week we celebrated things to be thankful for but part of my reflection was on my withdrawal from my doctoral studies one year ago. While caring for little JJ as a custodial G Parent, my life has changed for the good, the bad, and the fugly. I am just taking a "Pause for the Cause" and will continue to be an autodidact.

• I remember attempting to explain to my Academic Advisor on why she didn't get my reason to withdraw. It was not an easy decision.
• I don't have as much time to blog.
• I read more than interacting with my social media streams.
• I empathize with those dealing with depression in their own families.
• Poopy diapers are still as stinky as one may remember.
• I am thankful that none of us remember our baby teeth coming in.
• I am thankful to my mother for being there during the process.
• I am thankful for the adults in her life who continue to show her love, regardless of what her parents are going through and the adjustments we make since we were not in the same life social circles before she came into the world.
• Prices of diapers and child care have kept up with the times.
• Family counseling only works with those who participate.
• You still need the village to raise the child.
• Glad the National Zoo is still free.
• I love how playgrounds have improved over the years.

For those who care for babies and toddlers, I have no idea how you keep up with your techspertise, social media, and the things you want to do in life every day. Transitioning from an empty nester to a custodial GMama has been enlightening, frustrating, enjoyable, and transformational.

While I will not make my personal goal of completing my doctorate degree in the first five decades of life, I will return and accomplish this goal before the sixth decade of my life. Life isn't over...I am just taking a "Pause for the Cause".

In the meantime, little JJ continues to tinker with techy gadgets although she wants everyone else's gadgets. She uses gadgets for different reasons and different apps. She still likes to write and draw with washable markers on paper and the bathtub (Thanks Crayola). Buy hey maybe this is a restart on my next thesis as a participant researcher in the process?

So as a unique ed techie, I will find time to blog which may consist of books I am reading, compare/contrast the techie differences between lil JJ and her mother's techie experiences, lessons learned but all things digital with Lil JJ are kept more private. She can make the decision about her digital footprint when she is a little older.

As you reflect on another year of giving thanks, what are you really thankful for?

Flashlight app Which one is your favorite?

Which flashlight app is your favorite?

One of those apps that you don't realize you need until you need a flashlight. There are many flashlight apps to choose from and whether you are surviving a power outage, trying to find your keys, looking in dark spaces under furniture, looking for cracks in objects, or trick or treating, a flashlight app on your mobile device can be one of those tools that enables you to use your smartphone for more than everyday tasks.

This image is a simple screenshot from a few flashlight apps available through Google Play, but iTunes and a Google Search for flashlight apps provide many options for the diverse group of mobile device users.

So which flashlight app is your favorite?

Syncing Wii Remotes...again

Sometimes because you don't do something often enough you forget how to do those little tasks. Setting up the Wii again, recabling, updating...I had to resync the Wii remotes. Easy enough, I have done this before but with the 2 year old wanting to play with Elmo in Ready, Set, Grover with Elmo my recall on resyncing the Wii remotes escaped me.

But thanks to the Internet and the image in the article I remembered the sync button on the Wii remote is inside the battery casing.

So whether you are looking for the "How to"s for the Classic Controller, SD Cards, Wii Balance Board, Wii Console, Wii Remote, Wii Motion Plus, Wii Nunchuk, or the Wii Speak, the Wii How To section has everything you need whether you add a Wii remote, relocate, replace, upgrade, or update a used system.

If you had to set everything up again, what is your plan for not forgetting the simple things whether it is a game console, home network, or a mobile device?

Not home to cast your ballot? Check out Google Politics and Elections

Are you away from your home during the election? Whether you are away from home for work, school, personal, or professional reasons you can still vote. Note that the deadlines are based on publicly available information. Please contact your local election office to confirm.

Google Politics and Elections and their partners at TurboVote provide an opportunity for you to register to vote, vote by mail, or sign up for reminders via SMS or email. 

If you are a uniformed service member, family, or citizen living outside the U.S., you may have different deadlines. Visit the Federal Voting Assistance site for more information.

Another site, canIvote.org is maintained by the National Association of Secretaries of State, the nation's oldest, nonpartisan professional association for public officials. Our members are the chief state election officials in 39 states. NASS would like to extend special thanks to Kansas.gov for hosting this site.

In addition to helping you vote when you are not at home, you can find more information than you ever wanted to know about the candidates, issues, Trends, Insights, YouTube Live, Voter Info, Primary Results, Politics on Google+, The Campaign on YouTube, and More Election Resources.

So whether you are an autodidact, community organizer, the family guru, knowledge sharing passionista, the local SME (subject matter expert), a curious lurk and learner, or whatever label you wear today check out Google Politics and Elections where everyone can learn something about Politics and Elections. 

Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are appreciated!

Are public education system employees childless? or Why perpetuate us versus them?

Every year as the legacy public school calendars go into play, so refuels the us versus them with teachers and parents. Why? Are all people in the public education system childless? 

Put yourself in the shoes of the student...what do you see? feel? hear? believe?

Hmmm...Adults who are supposed to care about me but talk about each other? If I am supposed to be learning from the adults in my life...do I really want to be like them or do I learn from their behavior and grow in spite of them? Why do adults say one thing then do another? If I am learning how to learn what lessons am I learning from them? Oh no those feelings of confliction return.

This time of year the lists make the rounds:
Things Teachers want Parents to know
Things Parents want Teachers to know
Things Schools want Parents to know

So whether your child is off to pre-K or high school...look at your neighborhood and community, what can you learn? Do you perpetuate us versus them or are you one part of the unity in your community? 

Before stereotyping or putting all people under one label, learn your role in the process. Do you know your local school board member, superintendent, or area representative? Do you know the learners who wait for the school buses on the corners of your neighborhood? Do you invest any time in your local schools? Is there a collaboration with the senior citizens in the community? What has the higher population in your area, youth detention or the public school system? How much is spent on youth detention vice public schools in your area? Where are your tax dollars really going? 

OK jumping off the soapbox...just one of those things that sticks in my craw regardless of the solutions available. So students...do your thing and in the circle of life and learning be a part of the change you want to see. Thanks for the things you are doing for the greater good from discovering cures for diseases to connecting with global learners.
TEDxTeen
DoSomething
What Kids Can Do
Google Students
Kids are Heroes
Young Adult Library Services Association

Thoughts for the learning days of life:

• Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, this will mean all your life. Henry L. Doherty
• The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. Robert M. Hutchins
• It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it. Jacob Bronowski
• Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did. Sarah Caldwell
• Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. Douglas Adams
• Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. Mahatma Gandhi
• There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience. Archibald MacLeish
• Learning is what most adults will do for a living in the 21st century. S. J. Perelman 
• Suppose that we are wise enough to learn and know - and yet not wise enough to control our learning and knowledge, so that we use it to destroy ourselves? Even if that is so, knowledge remains better than ignorance. Isaac Asimov
• Learning is about more than simply acquiring new knowledge and insights; it is also crucial to unlearn old knowledge that has outlived its relevance. Thus, forgetting is probably at least as important as learning. Gary Ryan Blair

Just some things that crossed my mind during the transition.

STEM and MONARCH Scholarships for Service Program

Awesome opportunity for people with a Bachelor's Degree who are seeking career opportunity in the Cyber Security field while pursuing a Master's Degree in Computer Science with an emphasis in Information Assurance.

The Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Information Systems Security Studies and Research (CISR) STEM or MONARCH Scholarship for Service (SFS) program provides an opportunity for paid tuition at NPS for a two year Master's Degree in Computer Science, with an emphasis in Information Assurance.

Upon graduation, start your paid CIVILIAN position as a cyber security professional in any of a number of government organizations for a minimum of two years.

Overview

• Paid tuition at NPS for two year Master's Degree in Computer Science, emphasis in Information Assurance
• Approximately $25,000/year salary while enrolled in the program, plus textbook stipend
• Access to state-of-the-art equipment and the opportunity to participate in classified classes and research
• Participate in a summer internship to gain real world experience
• Upon graduation, start your paid CIVILIAN position as a cyber security professional in any of a number of government organizations for a minimum of two years

MONARCH - Cyber Corps Through Metamorphosis - This program is designed for anyone with a Bachelors degree in any undergraduate field that has the aptitude and desire to study Computer Science. The application deadline is September 28, 2012 with student notification on October 12, 2012 for the program beginning in January 2013.
Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree, prior to enrollment, in any undergraduate degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0
• The selection committee is most interested in applications with aptitude, but may have little or no computer science background
• Applicants should highlight their desire to work for the Federal Government in an Information Assurance related position
• Aptitude will be based on the entire package submitted by the applicant

STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math - This program is designed for individuals with a Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, and/or Engineering background.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree, prior to enrollment, in Computer Science or closely related field (Mathematics, Engineering, or Physics) with a minimum GPA of 3.0. The selection committee is most interested in specific computer and math classes completed and might, in certain circumstances, give special consideration to other fields of study.
• Some undergraduate courses recommended as a basis for admittance into the Scholarship for Service program are listed below. The top 5 courses are most important and are listed in order of importance. Our typical SFS applicant has an undergraduate degree in computer science; applications from students who have taken fewer than half of these courses will not be competitive. We expect students to be proficient in a language such as C, C++, Java or Ada.
1. Logic and Discrete Math
2. Computer Architecture
3. Data Structures
4. Operating Systems
5. Networking
6. Algorithm Analysis
7. Automata
8. Programming Paradigms
9. Programming Language Theory

The Scholarship for Service program DOES NOT entail enrollment in the Military. Students receive their Master's Degree and move on to CIVILIAN government jobs in such organizations as the CIA, FBI, NSA, DHS, and others.
FAQs

As with all federally funded programs, programs are based on approved funding. 
What are you waiting for?
MONARCH applications are due by September 28, 2012 for the January 2013 program.
STEM applications are due by January 25, 2013 for the September 2013 program.

Looking for Cyber Ops Academic and IA Opportunities

NSA (National Security Agency) provides a list of four new National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Operations for academic years 2012 - 2017:

Dakota State University, South Dakota
Naval Postgraduate School, California
     Military and DoD Civilians Graduate Certificate Program
     U.S. Civilians Scholarship for Service Program
Northeastern University, Massachusetts MA and PhD in IA
University of Tulsa, Oklahoma Cyber Corps

The CAE-Cyber Operations Program is intended to identify institutions offering a curriculum that is deeply technical, interdisciplinary, and firmly grounded in computer science, computer engineering and/or electrical engineering, with extensive opportunities for hands-on applications via labs/exercises. The CAE-Cyber Operations Program complements NSA's existing CAEs in Information Assurance Education and Research Programs, and provides a particular emphasis on technologies and techniques related to specialized cyber operations (e.g., collection, exploitation, and response) to enhance the security posture of our nation. 

National Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Cyber Operations Program. Applications accepted from 4-year colleges and graduate-level universities annually by 15 January each year. Application timeline for CAE applications in Cyber Operations.

CAE-Cyber Ops Timeline
Application Submission: NLT 11:59pm 15 January
Review of Applications: 15 January - 29 February
Notification to Applicants: 1 March
Curriculum Review Visits: March - April
Final Determinations: 15 May
CISSE/Certificate Presentation: mid-June

National Centers of Excellence in Information Assurance (IA) programs by state
High School Work Study Programs

Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are appreciated.

What do you love? and Search Playground Tips and Tricks

What do you love?

Whether you are developing your search skills or showing others, the online no cost classes are available along with the YouTube videos of the Google+ Hangouts with Power Searching Experts.

What if you don't want to watch videos and participate in the activities? Google Search Tips and Tricks has something for everyone's curiosity, search expedition or passion.

Whether you want to know the weather in a destination location, convert currency, calculate anything, find medication information, drop an image in the search bar, track your packages via FedEx, UPS, or USPS, get real time stock quotes, search by file type, search for recipes, search within specific sites, use operators to specify a search, search by Reading levels, or tinker in the Search Playground there is something for everyone.

What is your favorite thing to do in the Search Playground?
Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are appreciated.

Boogie Wipes

One product that was not around when my daughter was younger is Boogie Wipes. Chuckle...but these things make wiping the nose of an infant, toddler, adult or anyone with a runny, stuffy nose easy without leaving a red or sore nose. 

As we used them, people said they had never seen or heard of Boogie Wipes, so I thought I would share it on the blog since the product was first sold in December 2007.

Since it is also back to school time, you can enter the contest Backpacks, Binders, Boogie Wipes, Oh-my! for a chance at cash, Boogie Wipes, pizza party, and other cool things through September 30, 2012. You can enter from their site as it redirects you to Facebook contests.

Save the Sleeve is another aspect of the site, with jokes, facts, a game about boogers, and a tab for teachers. So have some fun, learn something new, and save a few sleeves.

Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are always appreciated.

Online Identity Risk Calculator

Regardless of how you implement network offensive and defensive measures, every time you access the net the risk of online identity theft can occur. There are enough horror stories out there to divert the n00biest of n00bs to avoid the INTERNET.

The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) through StaySafeOnline.org provides an Online Identity Risk Calculator. If you are the family techspert, share this site with your family members so they can conduct a self assessment by answering a few questions. Aside from banning the family from accessing the network, education and awareness are practicable options.

Some of the helpful hints that seem like common sense to the family techspert, may not seem so common to users who never delve into the 5Ws (who, what, where, why, when) of how the Internet works and risks they may be exposing themselves to every day.

Keep a clean machine
Be Web Wise
When in Doubt, Throw it Out
Play an Internet safety game like Are You Smarter than a Fraudster? or have the kids share what they learned with Phineas & Ferb and being cybersmart.

How do you keep the family safe and educated about Internet activities? What lessons learned are shared between the family users?

Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are appreciated.

Why the difference in ballot questions?

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On June 28, 2010 I emailed the GA Board of Elections because I was not satisfied with the response from our local board of elections personnel about registering with Republican or Democrat party affiliation. I wanted to register as an Independent as I did in Florida.

This is the response I received from Rhonda Brown, Operations Coordinator, SOS Elections Division:

Thank you for your email.

The State of Georgia does not register voters with any party affiliation.  During a primary election, a registered voter may cast a ballot in the Republican or Democratic Primary, but not both.  There will be no choice to make for the general election because all candidates will be on one ballot. If I may be of further assistance, please let me know.

So here we are for today's election and there are ballot questions for Republicans and Democrats but they are not the same. I see the question asked in the comments of the Augusta Chronicle article and maybe an email to the local media will provide the real answer but of course only after the election.

Republican ballot questions

1. Should Georgia have casino gambling with funds going to education?

2. Do you support ending the current practice of unlimited gifts from lobbyists to state legislators by imposing a $100 cap on such gifts?

3. Should active duty military personnel who are under the age of 21 be allowed to obtain a Georgia weapons license?

4. Should citizens who wish to vote in a primary election be required to register by their political party affiliation at least 30 days prior to such primary election?

5. Should the Constitution of Georgia be amended so as to provide that the paramount right to life is vested in each innocent human being from his or her earliest biological beginning without regard to age, race, sex, health, function, or condition of dependency?

6. Should the Richmond County School Board members be limited to serve only 2 four year terms?

7. Should the sheriff, solicitor general, coroner, clerk of superior court, probate judge, tax commissioner, and civil court judges elections be non-partisan?

8. Should the Augusta-Richmond County Commission pass an ordinance banning smoking in public places?

9. Should the state of Georgia pass legislation to allow for gambling on horse racing in Georgia?

10. Should the Augusta-Richmond County Commission pay for the moving of families out of Hyde Park subdivision?

Democrat ballot questions

1. Should the Georgia Constitution be amended to allow the state to override locally elected school boards’ decisions when it comes to the creation of charter schools in your county or city?

2. Do you support ending current practice permitting unlimited gifts from lobbyists to state legislators?

3. Should Georgia  adopt an income tax credit for home energy costs to support the economic security of our families?

4. Should Georgia reduce sales taxes on made in Georgia products so as to support the growth of small businesses in our state?

5. Currently, the candidates for mayor and commissioners qualify as non-partisan. Would you like the law changed so that they qualify as partisan (Democrat or Republican)?

Just wondering, Normal Ops or SNAFU?

Other posts/sites you may be interested in:

How to become a poll worker in Augusta, GA

So you want to run for a position on the Richmond County Board of Education

My Voter Page

Comments, +1s, reaction box checks are always welcome.

Funny, Independent Voter Womens Long Sleeve T-Shirt

Power Searching with Google

While completing EDTC 7030 Web Teaching: Design and Development online with ECU, I also took the Power Searching with Google class. If you visit the Power Searching with Google site before July 25, 2012 you will see this message display:

Thank you for your interest in the Power Searching with Google class! The class is now closed. Although you will no longer be able to earn a certificate, you'll still be able to view the videos and do the online activities on your own starting July 25, 2012.

The month of July was full of learning activities, formally and informally. It was cool to revisit some operators that I haven't used in quite awhile and I enjoyed all the classes but my favorite was Class 5 on credibility. Thanks Google!

You can always visit Search Playground or Search Tips and Tricks while you wait on the course to open again for self development purposes. Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks, and +1s are always welcome.

Second Life Virtual Field Trip - Another homework post

For the final assignment this week we have a choice of one of the following projects:
  1. Online Virtual Reality Project using Second Life
  2.  Cloud Computing Projects using Google Docs (now Google Drive)
  3. Blog Project using any blog tool that allows public access.

I am using my blog post to document the Second Life activity. Multi-user virtual environments have a place in the learning environment, although not on the .mil domain. I have participated in conferences and visited NASA and NOAA sites through Second Life but never truly embraced the tool in the learning environment beyond my own educational participation.

Second Life (SL) has a place in education and by the resources available one may be surprised at the educational organizations using Second Life to collaborate. From the Second Life Education Destination Guide to the Second Life Education Wiki.

The image of my teleport visit to ECU (required).

EdTech Island

Bloom's taxonomy steps

Underwater after stepping off of the submarine in NOAA's virtual island

This was another fast and fun exercise in EDTC 7030. I believe the activity benefits the participants who work in the CP32 career field as they discover a variety of tools that may not be familiar or available to them.

These activities support these course goals:

1. Explore and use Internet tools used to deliver web‐based instruction.
2. Apply instructional design components in developing web‐based instruction
3. Identify and demonstrate knowledge of selected Internet technologies and apply them to course development

Thanks to everyone who supported my participation in EDTC 7030. Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks and +1s are always welcome.

Paper Rater

I came across Paper Rater after one of Richard Byrne's posts on plagiarism tools from August 2010. He recently ran an updated post on eight resources for detecting and preventing plagiarism in June 2012 and Paper Rater is still on his list.

From Paper Rater's About page:

PaperRater.com is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help students improve their writing. PaperRater.com combines the power of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, information retrieval (IR), computational linguistics, data mining, and advanced pattern matching (APM). We offer the most powerful writing tool available on the internet today.

Since I am taking a short course and creating Lab Reports in APAv6 I thought I would give Paper Rater a try. Enter the title of your paper, copy and paste the text of your paper in the text box, copy and paste your references, bibliography, and works cited in the Reference box. Then select the education level of this paper's author, the type of paper you are submitting, originality detection (optional), and read and agree to the terms of service.

Depending on the amount of text inserted, report type selected, and your network connection the results will display. You have the option to print a summary of your results or step through the recommendations.

Paper Rater will check your submission for plagiarism, spelling, grammar, style, vocabulary and give you an opportunity to like them on Facebook. I would put them in a circle if they were on Google+. Depending on the type of paper you submit there is an option to view a grade. Selecting Lab Reports does not produce a grade but I can select Research Paper and the Grade option is available.

The additional components that I like about Paper Rater are:
Bad Phrase Score which is based on the number and quality of trite or inappropriate words, phrases, and cliches found in your paper.

The Style section includes the transitional words score, sentence length, and word usage.
Transitional Words Score based on quality of transitional phrases used within your paper.

The Sentence Length section provides a summary that includes sentence info includes character count, number of words, average length, characters=syllables, number of sentences, average length, percent and number of short sentences, percent and number of long sentences, number of paragraphs, average sentence length, number of questions, and percent and number of passive sentences, and the number of the words in the longest and shortest sentence.

The Word Usage section provides a summary of verb types which include: to be and auxiliary then calculates the percentage of conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions, and nominalizations and sentence beginnings which include the number of pronouns, interrogative pronouns, articles, subordinating conjunctions, conjunctions, and prepositions.

The Vocabulary Score section provides a vocabulary score, vocabulary word count, percentage of vocabulary words, and a list of vocabulary words used. They recommend their vocabulary builder to improve just one word a day in your vocabulary to encourage you to improve your vocabulary score to 60, which will make your paper stand out.

So if you have a paper that you want analyzed, give Paper Rater a try. The site provides a different perspective of your writing. 

Paper Rater has a user suggestion improvement site, a blog and a Facebook page. I would like to add Paper Rater to a Google+ circle if they were there.

What is your favorite part of Paper Rater? Are you using it with thesis/dissertation assignments, blog posts, biography, correspondence, book reports, movie or book reviews? Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks, and +1s are always welcome.

Top and Bottom 10 Posts - Another homework post

Many popular blogs publish their "Top 10" or "Top Posts Visited" and while I have never done one I thought I would do one for this homework blog post. 

Top 10 visited blog posts
What is milSuite? June 2010
DoD Computers for Learning Program September 2010
Coke Rewards for Schools August 2010
Readability Indices, Google Docs, MS Word, Outlook, & Twitter Stream February 2012
Heart Graph, Google search features and geeks are cool February 2012
Do You Qurify? Are you using QR Codes? July 2012
APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, Turabian, Vancouver  April 2010
How are you using the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE)? May 2012
Docusign Ink App March 2012
GAEE - Oregon, IS339, and PGCPS June 2010

Bottom 10 visited blog posts
Wii Fit June 2008
Reflection and Perspectives August 2009
3 References Do Your Students Have Them? October 2009
From Past to Present August 2009
Have some fun with Binary and Text March 2009
The DD (Digital Divide) in Augusta December 2008
Trust but verify October 2008
Ultimate Parent Guide October 2008
National Writing Project and Google August 2008
Reflection and Transformative Learning March 2009

This activity allows me to reflect and assess the blog activity, my writing skills, links and the relevancy of topics in the blog. Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks, and +1s are always welcome.

Why Blog?

I am taking a 5 week course with East Carolina University and the course funded by my employer for my particular career field, CP 32, Training, Capability, and Doctrine Warfighting Developers.  I am never one to turn down learning opportunities particularly if they have value added to my career field and my cost is more in my time than currency. I consider my time extremely valuable and learning something new everyday is great, but every now and then you need to be the formal documented student.

For subscribers to the blog, you are aware of my extremely painful decision to put my doctoral studies on hold for the sake of family issues. If this is the first time visiting the blog based on the class assignment, "Welcome!".

For the final assignment, one option is to blog. The blog can be on any topic and must contain at least three entries. This has been a class full of web based experiments and writing. We hit the ground running and will not stop until July 26.

So one of the three posts required for the assignment is this one. If you have not seen my blog posts come through the stream lately it is because the days and hours are filled with work, school, and family.

So whether you are new to blogging, given up on blogging, or a seasoned blogger, like those in the blog list on the right that I subscribe to..."Why blog?" For those that know me, the better question is "Why not blog?"

Here are a few links from my knowledge sharing passionistas that I connect with by reading their blogs, following them on Twitter, Google+, or Linkedin, or maybe all of them. Thanks to my personal and professional learning network (PLN) there is not one day that I do not learn something from, because, or in spite of you. It is not possible to list and describe every blog that impacts my digital footprint. In no particular order:

Principal Eric Sheninger's blog, A Principal's Reflections (2012), Why Blog?
Steven Downes, Half an Hour (2009), Blogging in Education
Will Richardson, Weblogg-ed (2004), The Blogging in Schools Question
OEDb, Top 100 Education Blogs (n.d.)
Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher
Richard Byrne, Free Technology For Teachers
US Army Combined Arms Center

I could probably write a blog post once a week on how blogging (individual and collaborative) has impacted my life, fulfilled my autodidactism needs, improved my writing, reading, comprehension, connected me with people and information that I would not have a chance to in the F2F environment, share good and bad news, provide an outlet for those who do not have another method to "just get it out", provide a personal audit trail of information, share lessons learned...and many more reasons. Hmmm...maybe an idea for the next homework blog post.

Thanks again to those people supporting my web experiments during this short, fun, and productive class.
Comments, recommendations, reaction box checks, and +1s are appreciated.

What I discovered about Kindle DX keyboard commands

I learned a couple of keyboard commands with the Kindle DX this weekend. Not by design but working with the Amazon support team via online chat in support of my mom's Kindle DX. The Kindle DX has a keyboard and the 4 keyboard commands that I learned about are:

From the Settings screen (Menu key > Settings):
Alt+311 or Alt+EQQ Switch wireless provider
Alt+411 or Alt+RQQ Show diagnostics data
Alt+511 or Alt+TQQ Run loopback call test
Alt+611 or Alt+YQQ Diagnostic data service call

I knew this online support timeline was way beyond an acceptable time limit and eventually he dropped off. The next one, Roxie took over and I pasted our last diagnosis in our chat that referenced all of the servers being down, down, down, down.

She came back with this isn't normal but the radio transmitter was not activated in the replacement Kindle. She asked for a few minutes and poof all of a sudden we have bars after another reboot. Since we reset the Kindle back to factory defaults, I asked if she could help us so I didn't have to download all archived items and she did. I told my mom to give Roxie 5 stars and bars and to have her share her lessons learned. If the previous Amazon support team would have known what Roxie knew there would be less frustration in the world.

During this excursion, I came across some great references for other Kindle DX users:
Amazon's Kindle support
Best Kindle DX Tips - A blog post on the site a site about nothing by Andy
A Kindle World Blog If Wireless Never Connects

Back to the world of tinkering with the likes of a Kindle Fire, Toshiba Thrive, iPad, and other digital devices. Comments, recommendations, +1s, and reaction box checks are always appreciated.