theSpoke.net

Substance vs. form
Friday, June 30, 2006 7:22 AM

Is there are relationship between the presentation skill and presentation content? I wonder because some very good speakers and teachers have very shallow skill bases. On the other hand, some people with deep knowledge and practice

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posted by Didith with

Gaming an ITS
Thursday, June 29, 2006 6:26 AM

"Gaming" an Intelligent Tutoring System is defined as the exhibiting of off-task or otherwise undesireable, i.e. non-learning. behaviors while using educational software. I was very interested to learn that there are ways to actually measure

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posted by Didith with

"Shi"
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 9:05 AM

I attended a talk yesterday on the educated brain. The speaker was trying to make the point that there are measurable, physiological changes associated with thinking. Many of the studies he made were on ways in which the brain processes language.

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posted by Didith with

The unregretted life
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 6:56 AM

A life without regrets is a dangerous thing. To live with absolute certainty, bereft of any kind of self-doubt desensitizes us, makes us judgmental and sanctimonious. To look back at one's life and say, "I could have done this better." or "I wish

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posted by Didith with

The Sacrament of Waiting
Sunday, June 25, 2006 8:47 PM

When I was growing up, I used to go to the masses of the late Fr. James Donelan, S.J. He was the priest at the Asian Institute of Management. He always gave the best homilies. One of the homilies that made a real impact on me was entitled

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posted by Didith with

More on our students
Saturday, June 24, 2006 12:20 PM

Thanks, Alfred, for the good wishes. We listened to a couple of interesting talks yesterday that told us about our students. I learned so many things! For example, we have some students who get absolutely no allowance and others who get

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posted by Didith with

Handling the freshmen
Friday, June 23, 2006 8:24 AM

I can't remember the last time I taught a freshman class. It must have been in the early 1990s, when I had just come back from my Master's degree. That means I haven't handled a freshman class in over a decade. For the last few years, certainly

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posted by Didith with

To our "nice" spouses and significant others...
Thursday, June 22, 2006 8:54 AM

Thanks, everyone, for your comments on my previous post. Thanks, Alfred, for all your insight. I learned a few things! I think all our spouses and significant others deserve a standing ovation. My husband is so infinitely patient with

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posted by Didith with

"A nice lady"
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 9:50 AM

An elderly man talked about his wife of four decades. When he decided to marry her, he described her to his relatives as "a nice lady." You can't argue with success, but I found myself cringing at the description. I guess to me "nice"

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posted by Didith with

Selective memory
Tuesday, June 20, 2006 9:04 AM

My father, I notice, has a selective memory. He remembers things very differently from how we do. He has different interpretations of events. He looks for confirmatory evidence of what he thinks or believes. I think this is very human

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posted by Didith with

After a break up
Monday, June 19, 2006 1:09 PM

What are the rules that govern a break up? When a boyfriend and girlfriend decide to move on, can or should they still see each other "as friends"? Is one "allowed" to be jealous when the other starts dating again? My own opinion is that

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posted by Didith with

Be careful with accusations; Thin-skinned
Sunday, June 18, 2006 10:22 AM

Saturday, 9:00 pm. I received a work-related text message that irritated me. A school official gently but pointedly remarked my department made some administrative decisions that advsersely affected a couple of students. In the first

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posted by Didith with

InTACT; Overcommitting
Saturday, June 17, 2006 8:30 AM

To Aids: You can volunteer to be a student assistant??? *** Some people say yes to commitments without being truly ready for the undertaking. They want the benefits associated with a commitment--money, trips abroad, affiliations--but are not prepared

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posted by Didith with

Coincidence?; InTACT
Friday, June 16, 2006 8:20 PM

Is there such a thing as coincidence? Sometimes, things come together in ways that make you think that there just has to be a bigger design. *** A bunch of us from DISCS volunteered to be homeroom advisers for this years Introduction to

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posted by Didith with

Eating the freshmen; Next steps; MBTI
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 10:06 AM

I don't eat the freshmen, Aids! The upperclassmen are so much better seasoned... Kidding. *** I was feeling strangely empty yesterday. I couldn't place my finger on exactly what was missing. It took my very insightful husband all of

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posted by Didith with

Meeting the freshmen
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 1:45 PM

Meeting the freshmen was, well, typical in that they didn't ask a whole lot of questions. I always try to scare them, even just a little, to make sure they don't come in complacent. The first freshman orientation I gave, I made it a point to scare

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posted by Didith with

An exericise in vanity
Sunday, June 11, 2006 4:22 PM

Narcissism is a complete turnoff. Some people are so completely fascinated with themselves, so convinced that they are right, pretty, talented, cute, whatever. Egos like those need government warnings.

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posted by Didith with

National Survey on Student Engagement
Saturday, June 10, 2006 9:18 AM

During a literature search I was doing yesterday, I came across teh National Survey on Student Engagement. It asked some very interesting questions about, among other thing, student work habits and the level of initiative and responsibility that

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posted by Didith with

In the land of the blind...
Friday, June 09, 2006 10:08 AM

...the one-eyed man is king. "Best qualified" is such a loaded term. Sometimes you move up in the world not because you are exceptionally bright or skilled, but because you just happen to be the one-eyed man.

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posted by Didith with

Ending an essay
Thursday, June 08, 2006 2:46 PM

I've finished the first draft of the essay that I am submitting as output of the writer's retreat. I'm still struggling, though, to end it well. It's always good to end with a meaningful thougt so that the reader doesn't ask, "So what?"

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posted by Didith with

Registration already???
Wednesday, June 07, 2006 9:49 AM

Registration is upon us already? How did that happen??

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posted by Didith with

Bad news from the service center...
Tuesday, June 06, 2006 5:49 PM

HP says I have to change my keyboard. Argh... Between what I paid for the replacement of my motherboard a year back and what they are saying they would charge me for the keyboard, I would have spent enough to buy a new, unbranded laptop. There's

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posted by Didith with

Just when I thought...; Taking risks
Tuesday, June 06, 2006 9:04 AM

This is me trying to type numeric keys. Did you see anything? I thought not. Looks like the teleporting tie-wire was not the problem. Off to the service center with my keyboard... *** In his blog entries for today, Bernard quotes

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posted by Didith with

Tablet update
Monday, June 05, 2006 3:48 PM

I asked our technicians to clean my keyboard to eliminate possible sources of the malfunction. They found a small segment of tie-wire between the keys! My keyboard has been behaving since yesterday. I'm sure the cleaning and the removal of

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posted by Didith with

Continuing keyboard problems
Sunday, June 04, 2006 8:49 AM

Thanks, Aids, for that insight about the sea-spray. I kept away from the water while using my machine, but in Bora, everything is close to the water, so it's completely possible that the sea-spray damaged the keyboard. The error is intermittent,

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posted by Didith with

Tablet problems
Saturday, June 03, 2006 10:06 AM

My tablet's keyboard is going nuts. My numeric keys don't work. Neither do my pagedown and end keys. What's happening???

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posted by Didith with

Jonah's shakes
Friday, June 02, 2006 9:24 AM

My student assistant, Max Banson, recommended that I try Jonah's Shakes--reputedly the drinks that made Boracay. Their best-sellers are banana choco and banana peanut. You haven't been to Bora, Max said, until you've had a shake from Jonah's.

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posted by Didith with

"An air of detachment"
Thursday, June 01, 2006 7:27 AM

The characteristic that most struck me in the list that I posted yesterday was that good employees have an air of detachment. This is something I've always believed but I thought that that was just me. I think that it's good to like your work and

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posted by Didith with

June 2006 - Posts

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