Dear Readers,

I created a podcast that reviews that concerts that I have been to lately




Enjoy,

Jason McCoy

Cookie Testing!

Dear Readers,

Todays post is pretty simple. It's all about testing cookies for quality

This is what I expect in a chocolate chip cookie.

- It needs to be fresh

I really don't like cookies that have had time to harden for several days after they have been baked. They don't taste very good and have the same calorie content.

- It needs to be chocolaty

You can't really skimp on the chocolate. More is better to a certain point.

- It needs to be warm

Warm cookies are always better than cold ones.

Those are really my only expectations. I'm pretty easy to please as far as cookies go. I will analyse this cookie from the perspectives of taste, smell, texture, appearance, and temperature. I will also rate it on a 1 to 5 scale.

Now for the cookie

I rode my bike to Salsarittas to get my cookie. I walked up to the counter and asked for a chocolate chip cookie. I payed 1.05 in Flex Points and the cookies were sealed in a container on the counter.


The cashier took the cookie out of the sealed plexiglass display, put it in a sort of sandwich bag with the Salsarittas logo printed on it.



I went to my table and ate the cookie. This is what I thought about it.



Taste - The cookie tasted much like the pre-made dough cookies that I make at home. To be honest, the cookie was probably made this way. I have quite a bit of experience working in the food and catering businesses. Typically, cookies in the food business are slabs of chocolate chip cookie dough that are cut into circles and thrown into the oven. It was not particularly chocolaty.

Smell - It really had no significant smell. However, I don't think that cookies typically do. Also, my sense of smell is not really that good.

Texture - It had a kind of mix between soft and crumbly. The center was still soft but the outer edges were more crumbly. I would have to guess that the cookie was made two days ago. I would say it was made today but I believe that Salsarittas makes their cookies and puts time in there sealed plexiglass display. A cookie looses freshness slower when it is sealed from outside air.

Appearance - It was very circular. This supports my above theory that it was a pre-fab cookie. It had blocks of chocolate in it.

Temperature - It was room temperature.

I give this cookie a 1 out of 5

It was not really fresh although it was kind of soft, it's chocolatyness was sub-par, and it wasn't warm at all.

The cookies at Salaserittas could do with some improvement.

Best,

Jason McCoy
.

Information Literacy

The Internet is designed to be easy to use for all people. However, just becouse it's easy to use doesn't mean that you can access what you want to access. The shear amount of information that is on the Internet is hard to realize. Intelligent searching of the Internet is more important than ever.

One of the most important search engine skills is Boolean Operators. Using AND, OR, and NOT are very useful in cutting a search down to a manageable size.

However, this is just a basic skill. There are many other skills that are necessary to acquire information literacy.

Database Literacy

If students intend to write scholarly articles it is vital that they know how to use Internet databases. Using a database is similar to using a search engine but requires a much higher level of search skills than is acquired by most internet users.

Website Evaluation

Most of the information on the Internet is created by users of the Internet and not accredited experts. This requires a healthy amount of skepticism about information found on the Internet.

Information Literacy is not just an important topic for students but for everyone because information is vital to everyone.

Wii Mote "Smartboard"

Dear People,

One of the main concerns with educational technology is that it's expensive and thus won't be implemented in lower income areas.

Consider the Smartboard. A Smartboard usually cost's more than two grand these days. However, there are many people who are making much cheaper, do-it-yourself alternatives.

One of those people is Johnny Lee. He has created a low cost Wiimote interface. He outlines it in the following video.



I can understand how this might be complicated. But it's also groundbreaking because people of all income brackets can enjoy the same Smartboard technology that was once reserved for the higher brackets.

For a full tutorial on how to do this click HERE for a In-Depth Wiimote Whiteboard How-to.

- Jason McCoy

Textbooks

Oh.......textbooks.

This is something I really, really, really have a bone to pick with.

On my previous post I talked about a video called A Vision of Students Today

In this video one of the signs held up by the students says

"I pay hundreds of dollars for textbooks I never open"

1) WHY DON'T YOU OPEN YOUR TEXTBOOKS?
2) WHY DO YOU PAY HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS?

During my freshman year of college I spent $600 dollars on textbooks

I never let that happen again.

These days I usually pay $100 dollars per semester

This magic trick is all due to a site called half.com.

How to pay less than $100 dollars per semester on Textbooks

1) NEVER GO TO THE BOOKSTORE
- I really mean it. They are there to rip you off and the money they pay you for your used books is a joke
2) BUY YOUR BOOKS USED
- Go to Half.com or one of it's many look-a-likes
3) BUY YOUR BOOKS OUTDATED
- Guess what, you can pay 10% or less of the sticker price if you buy outdated books. Most of the time they just get new pictures and some up to date information that you already knew anyway.
4) SELL YOUR BOOKS TO OTHER PEOPLE
- First check your friends and then branch outwards to Half.com and it's look-a-likes
- Sell them at below the lowest price or they will never leave your bookshelf

Re: A Vision of Students Today

So, what do we gain from the plethora of gadgets that fill our pockets and backpacks?

1) Universal connectivity to everyone
2) The ability to organize large events
3) Access to a expansive digital marketplace
4) Access to a vast database of humanities ideas and written works
5) Distraction from what is happening in the real world

This video, along with many others condemns technology as a needless distraction from important material that we could be learning in our classrooms. This is actually not the problem at all. The problem is that methods of teaching are ignoring the positive uses of such technology and magnifying the problems. If teachers were to start learning how to use technology instead of wishing for the good old days when students had less distractions from class.

However, I don't think those good old days ever existed. Students have always been distracted by something. First the Blues were alienating the youth, then rock n' roll, then alternative, then rap. Culture rolls on regardless of what teachers try to do to control children.

Instead of talking about the negatives when using technology. Why don't we talk about the positives

Smartboard

One thing I've never understood is why are there no Smartboards at SLU? Don't we pay enough money for them. There was at least one smart board in my High School. I wonder why support for this piece of technology has fallen in College?

Podcasts



Ever since I downloaded and listened to my first podcast I was hooked. I'll be the first to admit that there is a lot of crap out there. One of the most educational podcasts that I have listened to is Stuff You Should Know from How Stuff Works

Project Gutenberg



This database is what the Internet was made for in the first place. Most important books that are old enough to be in creative commons are here.


There are many more projects on the Internet and devices that can be helpful to eduction. They just have to be found and put to good use.

Blogger



It would be strange if I didn't mention the tool that I am using right now. Blogger is a brilliant site that can be used for teaching. Many teachers have a blog created for their classes. This can provide a place for everyone to have an equal voice and it's an excellent place to post multimedia to enrich a learning experience. In my Youth Literature class we have already created a blog called The Less Dusty Shelves.

-Jason McCoy

p.s.

This video must be popular because I watched it in my Growth and Development class