Don't let discrimination be written into the Constitution

After weeks of silence on the issue, it was announced today that President Bush has decided to bow to the demands from right-wing extremist groups and hold a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House to reiterate his support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Fred Barnes reported in the conservative Weekly Standard, in newsstands today, that the Rose Garden press conference is scheduled for Monday, June 5th, a day before the Senate is expected to vote on the Constitutional amendment.

Before President Bush announces his renewed support for the FMA, call the White House and let him know that discrimination has no place in the U.S. Constitution. You can reach the White House comment line at (202) 456-1111.

The American people can now officially feel confident that their priorities are not what this President or this Congress are concerned about. Unfortunately, we have leadership in Washington that cares more about writing discrimination into our Constitution than they do about solving the problems of real Americans.

It is a disgrace that President Bush has yet again caved to extremists and continues to push their priorities rather than focusing on the issues that matter to the American people. President Bush will stand in the White House Rose Garden, a place often reserved for occasions of unity and justice in our countrys history, and instead use it as a backdrop to push discrimination against a group of Americans. The President has once again shown that far-right extremists are deciding the agenda for our country.

This news comes after weeks of intense pressure by leading right-wing extremists groups calling on President Bush to immediately speak out on the Federal Marriage Amendment. These groups attacked the White House when the only voices speaking out on the Amendment were First Lady Laura Bush and Mary Cheneys comments against the extremists pushing the FMA for political purposes. Now, President Bush has decided he needs to tell them exactly what they want to hear.

Please, take a moment now to contact the White House and tell the President to stop using the Constitution as a political weapon to appease his radical base. You can reach the White House comment line at (202) 456-1111.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to equality.

Get the facts - Watch the video - http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/ct/67qDHDK14zIf

The End of Web of Nuetrality

No, this isn't a joke. If the current bill being proposed in Congress is passed, your telecomunications carrier can charge you for accessing MySpace, for blogging, and for IM's. Even worse, if they don't like what they see on the internet, they can completely eliminate your access to certain sites. Yup, cut off from MySpace by your local internet provider.

"If Congress abandons Network Neutrality,who will be affected?

Google users--Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.

Innovators with the "next big idea"--Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.

Ipod listeners--A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.

Online purchasers--Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices--distorting your choice as a consumer.

Small businesses and tele-commuters--When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.

Parents and retirees--Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.

Bloggers--Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips--silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets."

(http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html )

Are you willing to have your internet limited and censored in order to prove your voice doesn't matter? If you really care, write your congressman and then register and VOTE!

References: links will open new browser windows

• Save the Internet. Avaialble online at: http://www.myspace.com/savetheinternet. ADD TO YOUR FRIENDS LIST!!!


• Digby. Save the Internet. April 24, 2006. Retrieved on: April 27, 2006. Available Online at: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_digbysblog_archive.html..114590080608689166
  
• Greenwold, Glenn. How Would A Patriot Act the release. Posted on April 26, 2006. Retrieved on April 27, 2006. Avaialable online at: http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/ (Found the original discussions in the comments but don't know how to reference them)
  
• Markey, Ed. Roadblocking the Information Superhighway by Negating Net Neutrality. April 4, 2006. Retrieved: April 27, 2006. Available online at: http://agonist.org/rep_ed_markey/20060404/roadblocking_the_information_superhighway_by_negating_net_neutrality
  
• Markey, Edward.. Featured Issue: Network Neutrality
  April 26, 2006- In Fight to Protect the Internet, House Panel Rejects Net Neutrality. Last updated April 26, 2006. Retrieved on April 27, 2006. Avaialable online at:
  http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/4/24/123726/983
  
• Pelosi, Nancy. Save the Internet Become a citizen co-sponsor of the Markney Net Neutrality Amendment. Retrieved on April 26, 2006. Available online at: http://www.democraticleader.house.gov/issues/net_neutrality_/
  
• Stoller, Matt. The Right-wing Seeks to Take Your Internet. April 4, 2006. Retrieved: April 27, 2006. Available online at: http://mydd.com/story/2006/4/4/135854/0243


• Moveon.org. Civic Action: Save The Intenet. Retrieved April 27, 2006. Available online at: http://civic.moveon.org/alerts/savetheinternet.html . Sign the Petition and then pass it on to everyone you know!!!

Greg Williams
tampabaycreative.com
http://www.MySpace.com/creatively_inspired

Rocket Science, it's only math!

I often wonder why people try and make math so hard. Truth be told, there are 10 digits and 4 functions and you can only work with 2 digits and one function at a time. Everything else is just some type of shorthand for achieving this, whether it is using variables instead of the actual number or drawing graphs to describe relationships.

It can even be argued that there is only one true function, addition, and that everything is just a variation of doing addition. Subtracting is really adding an inverse, multiplication is just a shortcut for adding the same number several times....But simplifying mathematics down to a single function is a little bit of a far stretch for some people.

I believe that a large part of why in our society we have so many people with "math" phobias is we have in place a system where prejudices about math are replicated. If we can change the way that math is taught at the very beginning and instead of making believe fractions are something more than division or that multiplication is anything more than addition, and instead inform our children at an early age that math is a very simple series of processes if they master what they can do with those 10 digits. Imagine the possibilities when our first and second graders, and their teachers, lose their fear of math and instead start exploring its implications and uses. I think we can then eliminate FCAT's and standardized tests and start focusing on learning instead of how to score well on tests that have no real world application.

Anyway, as I tutor math students, I find that once you can help a student understand that math really isn't complicated, they then open themselves up to the possibility of really learning how to apply it and the limits that they have lived under for years, simply disappear.

Greg

Picasso, Quotes, and Creativity.

“Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.” Pablo Picasso

Great quotes are too good to pass up. I actually keep a file of them and when I am in the mood to create or need to create, I pull out a quote and off I go. If something said is worth being written down and remembereded and passed along to future generations, then certainly there must be beauty and truth in it worthy of exploring. I got in the habit of collecting quotes somewhere back in high school but quit for several years. It was when I joined Toastmasters International (which I highly recommend to everyone) that I started thinking about and collecting quotes again. Although at the time I knew that there was creative inspiration in words, I did not really appreciate the power of a well-spoken phrase untiI I began designing.

Another Picasso Quote is "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." I wonder what he would say today.


Art is...

Although I don't have much recent stuff online these days, I do have some miscellaneous experiments over at my web site http://www.tampabaycreative.com and a little on my MySpace account: creatively_inspired.

The Use of Blogs in a Course on the Accessibility of Online Content

Blogs are one of a number of collaborative tools that are available for enhancing students’ learning experiences. With a blog, an author posts an article and then others have the option of replying. The reasons that blogs have become so popular are that they provide a means of immediately publishing thought, research or ideas, they are easy to setup and maintain, they provide a chronological summary of the thoughts or learning process of the author, and they provide a method of receiving feedback from peers, colleagues, and from outside sources.

.

In developing a course on the Accessibility of Online Content, it is my intention to use blogs as one of a number of online collaborative tools. The intended audience for this course is college freshmen and sophomores at a technical college and the scope of the course is 6 weeks. For these reasons, some of the potential uses of blogs will not be explored during this course.

The first assignment in which students will be required to use blogs is to maintain a personal journal. Each student will be required to set up a blog and to write two to three entries a week discussing his or her understanding of content accessibility as it applies to the online environment. These entries can be as short as a paragraph or as long as a student feels is needed to express his or her views. Students will be encouraged to include new ideas, perspectives, or insights that they have discovered.

The purposes of this assignment are to help the student reflect upon the experience of acquiring knowledge, to assist the student in developing the habit of communicating his or her understanding, and to expose the student to feedback from others. This process will help the student refine and further explore his or her understanding of the subject.

The next several assignments will be to read posts where I will offer articles and information about different aspects of web accessibility. The students will be required to comment on specific questions asked in the post and to justify their positions. Although I have not identified all the resources that I will use on these projects, nor settled into the frequency of these assignments, I have collected numerous resources I believe will be useful. (http://del.icio.us/ABCDGreg/accessibility)

There are several purposes for this assignment. Students will benefit from a directed scaffolding of learning about the subject to assist them in the process of acquiring and assimilating the knowledge. Students will benefit from modeling by the instructor on the proper way to present and to cite information. Students will practice communicating their ideas and justifying their rationale. Finally, students will learn from reading and considering the points of view of peers. This will help each student to more fully recognize the scope of his or her own understanding,
In the third assignment, each student will be given a specific aspect on the issue of content accessibility and will be required to create a post based upon that research. Because of the time-constraints of this course, every student will not become an expert on every aspect of the issue; however, each student will become familiar with the many issues pertaining to web accessibility and become a subject area expert on at least one of the topics. Further, each student will be required to read and to post comments on at least four other students’ blogs.

The first part of this assignment is designed to benefit the student by helping him or her acquire knowledge in a particular subject area, to experience from publishing a research project online, and to learn from the feedback received from others. The second part of the assignment is designed to familiarize each student with several important issues concerning the accessibility of online content, to help the student learn to give proper feedback, and to encourage each student to continue to further explore the subject.

Blogs are becoming a more popular and practical part of the online learning process. Through their appropriate use in developing this course, students will become more familiar with the use of these tools, discover the vast amount of timely information that these tools provide, and gain practical experience in acquiring, sharing and reflecting upon their own knowledge.

---

Resources:

Ferdig, Richard, E., Trammell, Kaye D. Content Delivery in the Blogoshphere. THE Journal. February 2004. Retrieved on: March 27, 2006. Available online at:
http://www.thejournal.com/artcles/16626/

Glenn, David. Scholars Who Blog. The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 6, 2003. Retrieved on: March 27, 2003. Available online at:
http://chronicle.com/free/v49/139/i39/39a01401.htm

Lamb, Annette. Blog Basics. E-Scrapbooking. December 2004. Last Updated: March 2005. Retrieved on: March 27, 2006. Available online at: http://escrapbooking.com/blogging/basics.htm

Weckstrom, Celia. Things I Wish I Knew When Starting a Blog. Digital Digressions. Posted: March 27, 2006. Retrieved: March 30, 2006. Available online at:
http://www.digitaldigressions.net/blog/2006/03/things_i_wish_i.html
.

Relay for Life

click the pic to make a difference.

Support American Cancer Society's
Relay For Life!

 

---

This year, cancer will strike more than 1.3 million Americans and take more than half a million lives. As friends and family, we can do something to save lives and help those already fighting this disease. That's why I'm taking action against cancer by supporting the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in Lakeland.

Relay is an overnight event that unites our community in a common effort to support the American Cancer Society's lifesaving mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. The Society works every day to prevent cancer and save lives by supporting groundbreaking research, affecting public policies that protect us from cancer, and educating people on how to prevent or detect cancer early. The Society helps people in our community who have cancer through its many programs and services. Together, we can help the American Cancer Society accelerate the progress toward a cancer-free future.

I hope you'll be able to join us for this year's event. Please click on the link below for more information, including details on the inspirational Survivors' Lap and the moving Luminaria Ceremony. If you can't join us, will you please visit the site and make a donation to support our efforts? Either way, you will make a real difference in the lives of people facing cancer, and in the lives of the people who love them. Thank you!

For state fundraising notices and the American Cancer Society's privacy policy, please paste this link into your browser: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/SU/su_0.asp

Follow This Link to visit my personal web page and help me in my efforts to support Relay For Life of Lakeland



******************************************************************************

Some email systems do not support the use of links and therefore this link may not appear to work. If so, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.acsevents.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=124936&u=124936-117585707&e=501632387

******************************************************************************



Greg Williams

---

Using Technology to support and enhance face to face classroom teaching

Four weeks ago I began a course in Developing and Delivering Online Content. My motivations for registering for this course were 1) I wanted to begin taking graduate courses, 2) I am fascinated by the potential for educational improvement through the effective integration of technology, and 3) I wanted to learn new methods for improving the courses which I teach. So far the course has been both much more work and much more useful than I ever had imagined.

Currently I am teaching a course in 3D animation. One of the group projects is a collaborative group activity in which the students will develop from storyline through post-production, a 5-7 minute animated movie. The idea that students who have no experience in animation can pull this off in 8 weeks is a little far-fetched; however, it is a project that has been successfully completed by the last 4 animation classes I have taught, so it is possible. My current group of students is possibly, from a technical standpoint and from a creative standpoint, the most talented group with which I have had the opportunity of working. The downside is that they are aware of this and a number of them have strong personalities, which makes it difficult at times for them to come together as a group.

As we entered into the brainstorming stage of this assignment, the less vocal students started getting "rail-roaded" into accepting the first idea that came up in discussion by some of our more vocal students. Although on the surface, the group presented a unified front, it was amazing to me how many memebers of the group were not pleased with the direction the group was headed. In order to facilitate more input, I instituted an online discussion group as a means of insuring that each member had an opportunity to fully express their ideas and to ask questions and offer feedback on the ideas of their peers. For me, it was an interesting learning experience.

The posts seemed to come in waves as different students embraced the idea with enthusiasm and them waned on the idea because they were not getting the feedback which they expected. A few of the quieter students were among the first to post and offered some interesting thoughts. The more vocal students tended to hesitate on the idea but several of them finally offered input. There were a few students how offered feedback only when I threatened to include this assignment as part of the mid-term exam. Although this discussion group did not yield the results which I had hoped, I will, in future courses, continue to use this method and include more details in the syllabus and grading structure to encourage this idea.

I also learned that moderating this group was a more time-consuming project than I had imagined. I have found that in order to offer feedback, monitor the posts, and encourage participation, I needed to spend an hour or two a day outside of class on the discussion board. I beleieve this is partly because my students and I are both new to the concept. As this method of collaborative learning beomes more familiar, I can envision needing to monitor and coach a little less vigorously. I will definately do a lot more planning in the future, providing more information on my expectations, and guidelines to the students.

As an aside, a very positive outcome of this first attempt is that another class doing a group project has set up their own discussion board to collaborate on the magazine which they are creating. This was initiated by the students when they heard how I was attempting to use discussion groups in my class. Both discussion groups were set up on MySpace since most of my students, and the students in the other course, spend so much time there anyway. This was an attempt to meet the students on their own ground and then to use the tools with which they were familiar to faciliate learning.

The next step of our project is to use a wiki (http://www.pkwiki.com) to write the storyline. I set this up yesterday and will be interested to see how this goes. Wiki are useful tools for group collaborative writing projects since each member can edit or add to the entries of the previous members. I have set up a password so that only members of the group can edit the wiki; however, this wiki does allow non-members to watch the progess and to offer comments. http://3dproject.pbwiki.com/Scene%201

There are numerous ways that technology can improve and enhance the learning process of our students. Many of these I am just discovering, many have not been discovered yet. I am not sure where all of this will lead; however, I do know that I will never be able to teach the same again with the knowledge which I have already aquired.

Greg