Author: SocialXYZ

For those not introduced to it yet, let me be the first to introduce you to Google Music. The service, found at music.google.com, is simply amazing for a number of reasons.

The first reason being the amount of space Google allows you. Unlike other services from Apple and Amazon, which allow a sparse 5 gigabytes-worth, Google grants you space for 20k songs. That’s 20,000 or roughly 60 gigabytes, assuming 3-minute songs at 1-meg a minute (which is pretty poor quality, I know).

A second reason is access to the Android Market for music. While I have seen a disturbing trend that publishing companies do not want to play nice with Google, Google still has access to thousands of great songs and albums. More so, the music you purchase in iTunes, is easily uploaded to Google Music.

A third reason, and a second favorite (next to the library-space) to someone who rides the NYC subways is the streaming capabilities. Anyone familiar with the NYC underground, knows that there is zero Internet / WiFi access underground. However, and to my amazement, while streaming only for 5-minutes before entering the subway, my music continued for the duration of my ride, which was 15-20 minutes. I don’t have a clue how it works, but it does, even when I don’t expect it too (no, the music is not downloaded to my phone). And this may or may not be related to Google Music and may be better attributed to my Samsung Nexus Android phone. But does it matter? After all, I still believe in magic.

So what are the possibilities here? I am hoping for some Google+ integration to be able to share playlists and music with friends. I guess we should just stay tuned…

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I just concluded the posttest for my Fall semester courses. The response rate was about what I expected with a little over 40 valid surveys. I haven’t touched the data as of yet, but I did a quick perusal (can you peruse something quickly?) and found the responses to be complete, which is a relief.

I am still yet to link pretest and posttest data for confidentiality purposes, but I aim to do that this Spring. I have been told that coming up with a simple coding scheme is efficient enough, but I am just so skeptical about it, since I am sure I can figure out who is who when I rely on a portion of their phone number / middle initial / town they grew up in. And what is more important, ensuring anonymity, or ensuring privacy? Some would say the former, others the later. We’ll see how I figure this one out in the Spring.

A good thing is that I am still able to tie system usage with grades. And I have the feeling my results will be surprising this go around. For starters, one of the sections using my software is an online course, while the other is not. This will make for interesting comparisons for sure. But aside from that, I am much more interested in seeing if Twitter had any impact for facilitating interaction among my students. I can’t help but feel it did, but I won’t know for sure until I analyze the data.

With the deadline for AMCIS fast approaching (Feb 1), I am hoping to crank out a paper next week. Actually, make that two papers, since I still need to resubmit my journal paper for JISE.

But first…. Let’s finish grading before Christmas, shall we…

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Came across this article last week: http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/pearson-and-google-jump-into-learning-management-systems/33636, which discusses a budding partnership for Google, the Internet search giant, and Pearson, a publishing company. Up until a few years ago, I thought publishing companies simply published books.

I’m not going hide the fact that I never liked the ‘new edition’ model, where students looking to return books at the end of the term end up receiving pennies on the dollar. Oftentimes, as is the case with a recent textbook I am using, the upgrade to the later edition is largely to correct flaws and inconsistencies in the previous version. In software development, we call these bug fixes, not new versions.

That said, only since teaching have I realized the wealth of supplemental information that comes bundled with certain textbooks, including electronic versions, quizzes and study guides. And in some cases, publishing companies provide entire online environments for students and faculty to interact.

Where I teach, we rely predominantly on Angel, a low-cost alternative to, yet subsidiary of, Blackboard. This fact means that it becomes more difficult to synchronize material from the publisher with the course management system, since they seem to be competing with each other on some level.

Regarding this new alignment with Google and Pearson, I am curious to see where it goes and how, if at all, it will impact institutions as a whole.

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In the technology world, we often use the term RIP anthropomorphically when we refer to older, obsolete versions of operating systems, browsers, compilers and just about any antiquated technology. Just name the device and there is probably a blog, or an article with RIP in front of the name. Here’s an article from Wired on the death of the Floppy Disk: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/sony-announces-the-death-of-the-floppy-disk/.

On October 5, 2011 we place RIP in front of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, and the reason Forrest Gump didn’t have to worry about money anymore, was an amazing icon in the computer world. Rottenly discarded from Apple in 1985, he returned a decade later and rejuvenated the company with innovations such as the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. His visions have set the path, not only for how we use computers today, but how we will use them in the future.

Personally, I have only owned a couple Apple devices. In 2001, I purchased an iPod and I was happy that I could store all my music on one portable device. I still have that iPod, although it lasts about 2 minutes without being plugged into my car adapter. And in 2007 I purchased an iPhone, which allowed me to browse the web and talk on the phone while camping on the beach (entirely unnecessary, I know). While I have shifted my appetite from Apple to Android, I respect the quality of Apple products. Under Steve Jobs, Apple pursued perfection and in many instances succeeding in producing flawless products. Until his recent passing, the technology world waited in anticipation, and some in trepidation, for each new product Apple produced (pun intended).

I remember, not that long ago when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad. The world laughed and said it was just a bigger iPhone. 20 million or-so iPad sales later….

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs… RIP.

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Now I feel I am beating HICSS 45 to death… And I have another HICSS post in draft… And it is over three months away… But I just got the statistics on this year’s Advances in Teaching and Learning Technologies track. The total number of paper submissions was 32, of which 13 (or 40%) were accepted for inclusion in HICSS 45. That’s not a bad acceptance rate for a conference and makes it more competitive than a lot of journal publications out there.

Here is a link to this year’s overview of the Advances in Teaching and Learning Track: hicss45-overview.

 

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