Wiki vs Blog

Some of you may be wondering why I am using a blog instead of a Wiki for this type of information. Well, the blog and wiki have a lot in common when it comes to posting ideas and information for the world or personal friends to view. In this case, a blog is a easier way for me to have one main idea or topic in a text/image format and I don't have to use and HTML to do it. It is also easy for people to post their comments on my information without messing up the original post.

The wiki format is more like a web page and can be expanded to have many ideas and media that people can visit. The problem with the wiki is that when readers want to comment, they end up changing or adding to the web pages, which isn't something that I am looking for. This would be better for a group or organization to use for keeping things current. You might want to look to this as something that would work really well for families to keep up on what everybody is doing and not require a lot of technological knowledge to do it.

If I were going to apply either of these to education it wouldn't be too hard to find a lot of uses. I would use a Wiki to have a classroom page and allow students to post work and assignments for their parents to see, as well as document their progress. They could put up work examples, pictures and even videos of their classroom assignments. If they wanted to use a blog, then I would have them use that as personal sites to show their own work and personal research on their own ideas. Then other students could see what their peers are up to. This would be a great learning opportunity as well as a good way for teachers to keep on student work.

Summer Time Fun

It has been a wild semester here at Lawrence and I am in the middle of summer school at the moment. Lori is teaching summer school at Woodlawn Elementary and enjoying that. Can't beat a 4 day work week and afternoons off. Hmmm, maybe I am in the wrong line of work. ;)

So far we have married off Eric and Jessi down in Jamaica at the Sandals Resort in Montego Bay, who are now living down in Houston as of this month. Quite an exciting trip with the whole Vahling family attending and going to a foreign country. I had a good time, but really didn't get to spend enough time down there to see any of the country, so don't ask how it was. The resort was really nice and the beaches were very good for lounging, but other than a few Jamaican Smiles (adult beverage) and a tasty dinner or two, I can't comment on anything else.

After that we have made a couple trips out West, picked up our niece Alyson for a week and had a lot of fun with her. It is a real change in pace having a 6 year old around the house, but we got to go to the lake, the pool and even BBQ with the neighbors. I think she had a good time, but was ready to go home and see her little brother.

Lori headed home for a week to help with harvest in July and I started my second class at KU for this summer. Taking a Regression Analysis class and a Educational Media Development course, so I don't have a lot of extra time. Monday and Wednesday I am at work by 7am until class at 1pm which lasts until my next class in Kansas City at the Edwards campus. Here I crunch statistics until 7pm and usually get home around 7:30-8pm. Whew, but it only lasts 3 wks at that pace, so I think I can make it.

In the Ed Media class (C&T870) we are making a lot of online media. Here is a sample of what I have been doing in the class.

Later this month Lori and I will be going out to see our grandpa in Glenwood Springs for a week. He had a house on the Colorado river and a great view of the canyon. It is a really nice area and somewhere that I wouldn't mind spending more than a few days.

We have been out there 3 or 4 years in a row and really look forward to our time playing around the mountains and soaking in the hot springs pool they have in town. The water there is great and really revitalizes you after a hard day of climbing the mountain trails or exploring all the shops in town. If you get bored with all the awesome scenery and rivers, then they also have several caverns to explore as well as a gondola that takes you up to them and a miniature theme park.

You can take the train from Denver out to Glenwood if you want, but you can also fly into Grand Junction. It is an hour west and a car can be rented to head back into town.

There is a lot to do there for sure and if you are a fisherman, it is as close to paradise as you can get. Three of Colorado's top trout rivers flow through this area with many more great ones within an hour of Glenwood Springs. Check out my youtube video I made about fly fishing to see what it is all about.