WordPress makes it really easy to publish pictures & text online. At the same time, for those who are new to WordPress and have little clue of pixel sizes of pictures that they are uploading online…it can be quite easy to get photo embed errors on your website.

The kind of error that I am referring to here specifically is the kind when the pictures uploaded is bigger than the width of the post area in WordPress.

The infographic/tutorial below shows the the relationship between various settings in WordPress users that are using Thesis theme.

I intended to have this as a handout for my students, but decided to share it here to users.

Those who are not new to Thesis may find it useful but I think it will be most useful in a classroom setting.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Click here to download the grey color version.

This handout was made using Simple Diagrams.

Today there is an article at Forbes.com about the 75 USD computer from OLPC (One Laptop Per Child). You can find the link here.

This is how it looks like.

(Photo Source: Forbes.com)

In my classes, I shared with my students about a future when computers will be so cheap that it will be given free with each order of hamburgers at McDonalds or KFC. Admittedly, this is an exaggerated scenario of the future…we are not going to see this happen anytime soon, but this seems to be a step in that direction.

Why is this scenario referred here as a ‘problem’? It is a ‘problem’ today in schools where teachers are often trained in training colleges with instructional methods that is suitable for a world where computers are placed out of the classroom.

As computers becomes cheaper and phones becomes smarter and the distinction between the two becomes blurrier (is this a word?) each day…teachers will need to start adapting new instructional approaches that integrates computers and technology in the learning experience of students.

The OLPC 75 USD tablet/computer may or may not become a reality right away, but teachers need to get ready today for that future.

(Picture source: Mashable; read the original article here)

Are you ready for a One Laptop Per Burger future?

One of the goals of Positive Psychology is to help create organizations that create meaning for its employees.

With that in mind, I came across an interesting game from MolleIndustria called “Everyday the Same Dream.”

What really impressed me about this game is its ability to deliver a message in simple illustrations and game play.

I have taken screenshots of the game. But I encourage everyone to check it out here.

I would like to end with a question: What can we do to create shared meaning in our organizations today?

Screenshots:

This is how the game starts:

Daily breakfast.

Daily traffic congestion.

Daily encounter with the Boss.

Making one’s way to the cubicle.

Zooming out to show context. Lots of other cubicles.

Just another cog in a wheel.

The game starts all over again. Similar to Groundhog Day.

This is where it became darker.

Not a good idea.

While ALEKS is an excellent tool to use for the purpose of learning and practicing math problems, one thing that is missing in ALEKS is helping students use their own problems and showing them the steps to solve it.

ALEKS generate its own problems. This is excellent for the purpose that it is made for but not good enough for integration with local curriculum content.

Wolfram Alpha has just released a feature where a student can input a problem into its search box and it will generate the steps to show to the student on how to solve it.

The original post about it can be found here.

A sneak preview of how the steps looks like:

This is excellent for parents that wants to oversee the math practice sessions that their child spends time in at home.

This is also useful for students to learn on their own. Students today have no excuse to say that they have no one to guide them. We have a lot of tools today that can be used for self directed learning. The habit of independent study and lifelong learning is one of the most important habits that a student can develop in the world today.

How can a teacher integrate ALEKS and Wolfram Alpha together?

They can assign math learning, practice and assessment by using ALEKS. But one of the equally valued skill today is for a student to answer a question in step by step fashion. We as a society still see the value of a student knowing how to write in paper the way how they solve a math problem.

Unfortunately, not all of us are trained to be math teachers at home. Its not easy to find a good math teacher for tutoring at home too. The best way to do this then is probably take advantage of current technology that is offered free to all of us.

I am really happy when I received the announcement about this from Wolfram Alpha as this is one area where ALEKS does not provide.

Steps on How to Use Wolfram Alpha for Local Integration with Math Curriculum

1. List down the type of problems that you would like to assign to your students (if you are already using ALEKS, find topics that your students are currently struggling in)

2. Create 2 versions for each of the problem. One will be for students to view the answers in Wolfram Alpha. Give this as a homework for them to solve at home guided by Wolfram Alpha.

3. The other version should be made into a separate assignment sheet. Our expectation will be for the students to be able to solve the problems in this worksheet in the class itself. This will be for the purpose of collecting student work products related to the standards.

4. If students can show that they are able to solve the problems given in class, then it means that they have mastered the problems in this particular assignment.

I have been a user of Evernote for a couple of months now. It has become part of my life and workflow.

In this post I will be sharing steps to take to update to the latest version of Evernote (it is still in Beta, be warned).

Select All Notebooks

Right click on All Notebooks and select Export Notes

After you click on export, you will the following status bar…

Uninstall your old Evernote program, reboot and install the 3.5 beta version.

Once you are done, you will see this welcome screen.

After signing in it will ask you if you want to synchronize with your old database…

Select ‘Copy Database’

After doing this, I had to wait for a while as it handles this process (I am using a Samsung Netbook)

For a while it shows this message:

But in the end, I was taken to the following panel view:

What I like about this version:

I have always been waiting for a better email facility with Evernote. The previous version was really bad at handling the formatting of email and relied on local email application to send email. This new version has fixed this weakness.

I tried sending one, and went along just fine.

Success…

I also see a button that I haven’t seen before:

Anyway…that is my initial impression about this new release.

So, far I think it is a great improvement.

There are a number of apps that can be used to upload pictrures to Flickr from your blackberry. The problem with this is that the apps are really sluggish. I found that it is easier for me to email my pictures than using Flickr uploader apps for the Blackberry Storm.

Today, I just found out that I can email my pictures to my Flickr account.

What this means is that, Flickr will provide an email address that you can send your pictures to, for uploading purposes.

One also have the option of adding a tag each time this service is used. In my case, I decided to use the tag shown above, ‘blackberry.’

Just add the email given by Flickr to your contacts list in Blackberry.

Anytime you have a photo that you want to upload to your Flickr account, just attach it to an email and send it with your Blackberry device of choice.

That is how simple it is.

This is my Google Wave invite.

This is how it looks like inside. Looks cleaner and better than the sandbox version.

Can’t wait to try it out. Unfortunately, like before (during the sandbox phase) I don’t have anyone within my personal circle to try it with.

Just a short post to share what I am grateful for.

1. Insert File Plugin

2. Polaroid Plugin

If you are an expat working in Thailand and want to  go abroad for a short while (intending to come back to Thailand), make sure that you get a re-entry permit before you leave the country.

Since Oct 1, 2009- you will need to go to the new immigration office at Chaeng Wattana to get your permit.

Here are some tips for anyone that needs to get this particular task done.

The following are items that you need to have in hand:

1. Passport photo (one 4×6 cm photo)

2. Money (1000 for single re-entry & 3800 for multiple re-entry)

3. TM 8 form (you can get this at the counter)

The process is not complicated and you should be able to get your permit in about 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Here are 2 files that might be helpful for you:

TM8 Form (This is not a perfect copy)

Brochure from the Immigration Office to get to the new office at Chaeng Wattana.

This is how the permit stamp looks like on a particular passport:

This is how the receipt looks like after you pay the fee.

I have also took a few pictures of the building where the  new immigration office is housed.

1. The entrance of the new immigration office.

2. The new office is situated in a new government office complex.

3. Re-Entry permits costs 1000 baht (single re-entry) and 3800 baht (multiple re-entry). If you are short of cash, there are lots of ATM machines in the complex. Please take the escalator down to the lower floor to find them.

4. Take this escalator to find the ATM machines. It is situated near the immigration office entrance.

5. There are several places where you can get food at the complex. This is just one of them. I couldn’t really take pictures of the other food venues. There are at least 2 food courts that I saw over there alongside other restaurants, coffee shops and fast food joints.

That’s all for now.

Additional links:

Tengmoh posted a detailed review of his experience at the new immigration building over here at the Thaivisa forum.

As I mentioned in my previous post, one can create blog posts offline using a desktop app called Windows Live Writer. There are a lot of alternatives to this, but so far I have found Live Writer to suit my blogging needs.

If you haven’t downloaded the Windows Live Writer app, you can do so at this link.

When you have completed the download process, proceed to install the application on your computer.

But the installation of the app alone will not enable you to immediately publish to your blog with it.

Before that, you will need to do a few things to prepare your blog for remote publishing. Let me share with you the steps to do just that.

First things first, please go to your WordPress Admin panel (if you are using WordPress) and do the 2 following steps.

Pre-Step 1: Go to the ‘Writing’ page. You can find this under the ‘Settings’ menu.

Pre-Step 2: Activate the following options…to enable your blog for remote publishing.

XML-RPC

Now let’s proceed to link Windows LiveWriter with your blog.

Step 1: Go to Blogs, and click on ‘Add blog account…’

Step 2: Select ‘Other blog service’ and click Next…

Step 3: Enter login information for your blog.

For BuddyPress & WordPress MU users at Wells International School, you will need to enter your blog address in the following format.

yourblogname.wells-school.com/blogs

You can get this information at your browser address bar:

For example:

Step 4: Sit back and relax and watch this on your screen.

Step 5: Click yes when you see this dialog box. But, wait there is an exception unique to Wells.

As long as you are using a simple, standard looking WordPress theme, you should click on ‘Yes.’ If you are using WordPress themes that are styled with the magazine look on the front page, please click on the ‘No’ button.

(Note: Unfortunately, for www.wells-school.com this feature is not compatible with our theme from WooThemes. So, for school admins at Wells who are reading this, just say no if you want to link your www.wells-school.com account to Live Writer)

Step 6: When you reached this step, please pick a memorable nickname for your blog. After that, just click on the ‘Finish’ button.

(Note: This blog post was made using Windows Live Writer. All pictures and text was formatted using this app.)

Sourced from: r&d@wells