Instructure Canvas is the new hotness in the LMS market, but for many it remains out of reach. For many schools who need an LMS on a shoestring budget, their best option is to contract for an open source Moodle install from a 3rd party hosting company. This is a common service available from many...
Pingendo is a free, visual page builder site, letting you use Twitter Bootstrap design elements to build professional‐looking pages. You construct a page using prebuilt sections and elements in the visual editor, then replacing the placeholder text and images with your own work. You can preview y...
So after reading this guy’s rant about how terrible his experience with iTunes is, it reminded me of a big “I told you so” that I want to share. While your apps would like you to think of your music, movies, and documents as being theirs, they’re really yours, and you should always know where...
I don’t know if this is actually a good idea or not, but hear me out (and please comment below!):
Can a URL be used as a strong password?
Laziness is the Mother of Invention
This morning I was walking the dog, futzing with my phone, and trying to sign up for a new social network. The app a...
I was just discussing free screencasting tools with some fellow Instructional Designers, and realizing how many of the most commonly‐used apps like Screencast‐O‐Matic are based on Java technology. Java’s recent plague of security breaches has earned it the title of the biggest vulnerability fo...
I wanted to drop in a quick plug for familiarizing ourselves with the Mozilla Web Literacy Standards and 21st Century Skills. Though edtechies have lots of great tools that are focused on education, it’s also good to have a more fundamental understanding of basic web skills. These are skills a...
I attended my second hackathon this weekend, and my teammates were noticing all my keystroke magic tricks that help me quickly prototype professional‐looking app mockups with remarkable speed. A teammate asked me what my secrets are, and so I decided to share it as a post.
My keystroke magic is...
Warning: Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife. This article uses the F‑word.
Every so often, I go visit this website for inspiration: MotherFuckingWebsite.com
It starts with the text
This is a motherfucking website. And it’s fucking perfect. Seriously, what the fuck else do you want?
I...
Comment on What’s Really to Blame for the Failures of Our Learning‐Management Systems by Michael Feldstein.
This post does a great job of summarizing the absurd challenges surrounding the LMS procurement process. It explains (without casting blame) why so many LMSes have such a similar set of...
The Blockchain in Education: Research Questions
Audrey Watters recently posted a great set of research questions for thinking through the ways blockchain technology might potentially interact with edtech.
I have been keenly watching blockchain technology for a few years now, especially int...