PLN, no holiday homework, please

Over the past couple days, I've noticed a lovely lack of e-mail and blog postings. OK, the Tweeters are still as rabid as ever, but there's been a lessening of "must-reads" coming over my PLN.

Is it time to call a moritorium on holiday posts, e-mail and blogs related to all things education? Will Pininterest or Linked-In or Google+ really miss us for a couple of weeks? Might a break be good for everyone's mental and physical health?

Homework and especially holiday homework is facing criticism. I've been hearing some discussion about a novel solution to the digital divide - just stop assigning homework, making sure all kids can get any tech-required assignments done in class. As a student, I diligently practiced SHA - selective homework attention - doing those assignements that I enjoyed and blowing off the rest. Hey, and as I tell my kids, I still managed to graduate in the upper 95% of my class!

I'm not necessarily against homework per se, but I am certainly no fan of meaningless homework.

So how about us adult learners? Can we get dispensation from our "homework" until January 7th, please? My valued peers who write must-read posts, cut me a little slack. Thanks.

Signing off for the holidays - lucky you!

Seasons greetings

Happy holidays to all Blue Skunk readers.

My next few days involve large numbers of relatives in the house including some rather small, very special ones. Reading stories, playing games, and eating will take priority over blogging. Enjoy the break.

Hope everyone comes back rested and motivated in January.

The smartphone as a travel tool, redux

A man's gotta know his limitations.
Dirty Harry

I've written about how I use my iPhone as a travel tool before, but I've begun using it as an assistive device even when the travel involves much shorter trips. An assistive device for my memory, that is.

So what do these things have in common?

A.

B.

C.

D.

These are all ways I compensate for a memory that sometimes needs help.

A is a car reservation confirmation. That, along with air, hotel and parking reservations, go in Evernote accesible on the phone, just in case the printouts get forgotten at home or misplaced along the way. B is a copy of theater tickets. Evernoted again for the same reason as the car reservation.

But it is C and D for which I feel particularly clever. I now snap a photo of my hotel room number and my parking ramp level when I go out. It's pretty embarassing having to go to the registration desk at a hotel to admit one does not remember one's room number. And who has the time to spend walking several levels of a parking ramp pushing the unlock button on the key fob hoping to see the lights of one's car flashing?* 

My next photo safari will include the Christmas dinner shopping list to take with me into town today. 

I guess if one is going to be senile, one had better be clever about it.

Any assistive/travel tips you'd like to share related to your phone?

* Oh, I've seen phone-tography (I think I just made that up!) increasingly take the place of note taking in education. Why write down what's on a presenter's slide when you can just take a picture? Ditto for information in a print reference source. Or your classmate's notes.