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Linda Lyle, an instructional services specialist where I work, sent me a link to the following video by Wendy Drexler. It is a wonderful multimedia presentation illustrating the definition of a networked student. What I really like about it is the fact that it uses very simple “technology” to accomplish the sophisticated lesson. I believe that making effective use of technology is less about understanding how to use complicated features of presentation software, but rather communicating your idea clearly using the tools you have. Nice job Wendy.

A student of mine inquired why I require a presentation for my capstone class. My answer was twofold.

1. The importance of the ability to communicate to an audience
2. To importance of accurately assessing student achievement

First, every professional needs to be able to express themselves to a professional audience. They need to be able to sell a product, a design idea, bid a proposal, or sell the neighborhood historic commission on a house design you want to build (I actually had to do this). Being able to “pitch” your idea or defend your approach means having to organize your thoughts, anticipate questions (and have reasonable answers), present your ideas concisely and clearly, and support your arguments with examples and varied media.

Second, giving a presentation is way of assessing student learning. Several days ago, the results of a national survey were release that highlighted the increase in student cheating ¹. I teach online. It is well understood by online instructional designers and online instructors, that what a student does in the privacy of their home cannot be controlled. We cannot guarantee that the quiz the student takes was taken by them. We cannot guarantee that the project they turn in was completed by them. That is why my program requires students to take their midterm and final exams in a proctored setting. That is also why I require my advanced standing students to give presentations. You cannot fake a presentation. The student either knows their subject or they don’t.

As an instructor in the industry of higher education, the responsibility falls on me to function as a gatekeeper – ensuring that students exiting my program are ready to add value to an employer. I have a number of stakeholders: the student, the local industry, the administration, the accreditation board, the state higher education commission. I make sure my students understand this. I make sure they know I’m serious about the responsibility I have accepted. I want them to believe that I will guide them to success. I want them to trust that I will not aid their efforts to find jobs unless I think they are ready. My serious students are glad that I take my job seriously. My serious students are ready when they walk out the door.

References

1. Crary, David (2008). Students lie, cheat, steal, but say they’re good. The Associated Press. link to article

My capstone class this semester built a client web site using Wordpress. Design of the site needed to be well under way prior to the client acquisition of a hosting account. To progress with the site design and template construction we opted to create the site on a development server and then move it just before going live on the client’s hosting site. The development server was owned by one of my students and housed through goDaddy.com.

After the site design was completed, it was time to move the site, and corresponding database, to its new location. Moving the site files was easy, simple copy and paste of template files. Since the new site had a fresh installation of Wordpress, we did not need to worry about the configuration file. To copy the database, I exported it to an external text file with the intention of a simple import into the production server. The instructions on how to do this are explained at the following links on the Wordpress Codex:

• Moving Wordpress – http://codex.wordpress.org/Moving_WordPress
• Backup the database – http://codex.wordpress.org/Backing_Up_Your_Database

Oh, if only it were that easy. Over the next several posts, I will describe what I ran into and how I overcame the obstacles. I will split the articles into the obstacles that I had to overcome.

1. Obstacle: The SQL export text file was too big to import
2. Obstacle: The database value pointed to the wrong site URL