While there is a public perception that cyclists are usually the cause of accidents between cars and bikes, an analysis of Toronto police collision reports shows otherwise: The most common type of crash in this study involved a motorist entering an intersection and either failing to stop properly or proceeding before it was safe to do so. The second most common crash type involved a motorist overtaking unsafely. The third involved a motorist opening a door onto an oncoming cyclist. The study concluded that cyclists are the cause of less than 10 per cent of bike-car accidents in this study.
I was really excited that a TEDx event was being planned for Calgary. I was looking forward to TEDxYYC, and was planning to attend and help out in any way that I could. The website for the event went live today, so I went to register.
I got to the registration form. Except it’s not a registration form. It’s an application-to-register form. okaaaaaay… That’s unusual…
trying to figure out how to describe various options to faculty members. this diagram’s been flashing in my head for awhile now. it’s rough, but it’s a start.
In setting up WPMU sites for classes, I often wind up using the Text widget to add a bunch of important links - login, Dashboard, Add Post, Add Page, etc… to each site. Manually. I finally decided to save some time and just write a plugin that provides a generic widget to give the links on any site that uses it.
If you’re not logged in, it provides a link to login:
I wrote this for an assignment in the Conceptualizing Educational Technology grad course I’m taking. I figure it’s worth planting my flag publicly as well…
“Educational Technology” is one of those terms that makes me squirm. I’m not comfortable with any of the definitions of it, primarily because they posit that “educational technology” is a separate, different thing that somehow needs to be integrated (somehow) into the “real” education. It positions technology as being “hard” and needing “experts” and “support” in order to be used by mere mortals. It raises the anxiety to a level that scares many people away. They don’t have time for “educational technology.” Or they don’t have the training. Or the budget. Or the support. Or the infrastructure. Or any of a long list of things that are suggested (explicitly and implicitly) by defining something like “educational technology.” It also aligns with the notion of a consumer-based society - educational technology is something to be produced in a laboratory somewhere, to be consumed in the classroom.
I’m trying the rating features baked into the latest version of the PollDaddy plugin. It looks pretty cool - you can set it to allow rating of posts, pages, and even comments. Not sure how it’ll be used, or if it will be useful at all, but there it is. Rate away. If you have nothing better to do…
Technology doesn’t make learning any more relevant or effective. Good teaching does that. Treating everyone in the class as fully fledged human beings does that. Respecting the contributions, backgrounds, and interests of all learners does that. Relevant and effective teaching and learning can occur without any technology at all, if given a creative enough environment in which to work. Technology may help to extend and enhance, but there are critical pieces that need to be in place before any technology will make a difference.
I have embraced photojournalism as a means to communicate, provoke, and inspire, as well as to document history. I have employed the camera as a voice with which I can shout out about injustice while affirming what is beautiful and good. My body and soul have been exposed to many dimensions of the human condition, from its most glorious to its most wretched.
