Wednesday, July 09, 2008
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If you are concerned about your child's future employment, then check out this information:
Computer Jobs Hit Record High
CIO Insight (07/07/08) Chabrow, Eric
U.S. information technology employment is approaching an all-time high as nearly 4 million workers are now employed in IT-related jobs, according to a CIO Insight analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The IT unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point last quarter to reach 2.3 percent, but it is still near historic lows. In fact, at 4.7 percent, overall unemployment in the United States is more than double IT's jobless rate, writes Eric Chabrow. He says IT employment remains strong because IT performs a critical role in business productivity and the efficiencies IT creates are crucial for employers looking to cut costs. Even those looking to reduce payroll are employing IT professionals because better IT systems allow them to eliminate other positions. Furthermore, companies cannot operate without functioning IT systems, so certain business technology skills cannot be eliminated if a company wants to remain competitive. Over the past four quarters, the IT workforce has grown by 10.2 percent. Meanwhile, the number of workers employed by IT services firms, defined by the U.S. government as computer systems design and related services, rose by 56,100 over the past year, a 4.1 percent increase.
Why wouldn't you want your child to study computer science?
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
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Starting in mid July, Microsoft will be selling Office by subscription. Including Office will be a security software program called Live One Care. The costs will be $70 a year.
Even though Google has free web based programs that compete with Office, many students and teachers still prefer to use Office.
This announcement is a win win and you can purchase the product at Circuit City.
Monday, June 30, 2008
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At the Marriott Hotel in San Antonio, TX, there were close to 200 teachers from across the world attending the annual Computer Science Teachers Association Symposium. I have been fortunate to attend this event in the past as an attendee and as a speaker and I always look forward to it every year.
I enjoy meeting new teachers and talking to them about what they are doing in the class. I also enjoy seeing old friends and the opportunity to learn something new at this event.
My presentation was on Web Development using DotNetNuke. I've been using DotNetNuke in my web design class for a couple of years now so I was able to share with teachers how I teach my Web Design class. The room was full and only one person left during my presentation, so I think it was successful.
I was able to attend presentations by John Nordlinger who works for Microsoft Research. John has been involved with Game Programming and shared with us what colleges and universities were doing with game programming. I hope John's presentation will include several high school's that are teaching game programming in his next presentation because there are several of us doing that.
Leigh Ann Sudol who was on the Board at CSTA with me gave an interesting presentation on Teaching Technology with Technology. Leigh Ann does some interesting things with her programming students like having them blog, using a wikki, and a bulletin board in her class.
Chris Stephenson who is the Executive Director for CSTA gave an excellent presentation on the political landscape advocating for CS. Chris is extremely knowledgeable and stays current with state changes.
If you're a computer science teacher, you really should join CSTA and stay current with great periodicals that are mailed to you and you have access to a great website that is full of resources for you to use. Membership is free, so you have nothing to lose.
Friday, June 27, 2008
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Love him or hate him, Bill Gates officially retires from Microsoft Corporation today. It is both a sad day and a happy one as well.
We all know he had a vision of the way technology should be used and we were always interested in learning more. We criticized him and the company when products were not released on time or when they didn't work right.
He started a company that made a big impact in the world. Although he never graduated from college, he was a brilliant man who knew how to run a big company. I'm sure he'll be missed in the technology world but I think it's time he lives his dream with his wife with his non profit work.
Microsoft will continue to make money from the products that we all purchase. Life goes on.
Best wishes and thank you.
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Tuesday, June 24, 2008
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On Saturday, I'll be speaking to a group of teachers about how I use the open source portal DotNetNuke in my class. The event takes place in San Antonio and is sponsored by the Computer Science Teachers Association.
The Computer Science & Information Technology Symposium provides professional development opportunities for high school and middle school computer science and computer applications teachers who need practical, relevant information to help them prepare their students for the future. This event is held in conjunction with a major educational computing conference and is hosted by CSTA.
I have spoken on various topics at this Symposium and I look forward to the event every year.
Here's the outline of my talk:
What does my current Web Design Course look like?
What is DotNetNuke?
Software you'll need to have
Installing DotNetNuke
Creating a web portal
How to create pages and put modules on your page
How to install a container and skin
I look forward to meeting you if you are going to the event.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
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Close to 200 registered for the Sunday DotNetNuke OpenForce 08 event today that took place in between the Tech Ed events held at the Orlando Convention Center. Who ever said Geeks take Sunday off?
DotNetNukers came from all over including Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York and as far as Pakistan to attend this FREE event hosted by the local Orlando DotNetNuke user group. What's even crazy is that these people who traveled this distance weren't going to TECH ED but just coming for the DotNetNuke track that was held as part of the InBetween Microsoft Community Event that was held this weekend.
Thanks go to Joe Healy for getting us the facility to use, Mike Webb for his support as a sponsor and for printing out professional colored programs with a section to take notes on. Brilliant!
Special thanks to the entire DotNetNuke core team for coming and making themselves available during the day to answer user questions and for staying in the end for the panel discussion. Finally to all the sponsors who helped pay for the event. I'm estimating that over $25,000 in prizes were given out at the end of the day. Don't you wish you were here?
The day started with my presentation on Best Resources to Learn DotNetNuke. Many people have this free open source web portal but need lots of help in getting started so I was able to give out resources that I have used to be successful at using DotNetNuke. I also gave a demo on using Open Smart Module from Xepient Solutions.
If you have already built user controls that you now want to port to DNN, or if you simply do not want to deal with the intricacies of building a DNN module, Open-SmartModule will save you all the work.
Open-SmartModule is the equivalent of a SmartPart for Microsoft SharePoint, but built to be completely user friendly and shielding the user from having to do any manual actions.
Built following the latest DNN standards, Open-SmartModule features a wizard that allows you to install your control (and all related files), set the properties of your control and even execute your Sql Scripts without ever leaving the UI interface. In less than 2 minutes you could have your regular ASP.NET user control, work as a perfectly integrated DNN module.
Orlando DotNetNuke User Group member Will Strohl from RezHub.com was next and gave a great session on skinning a DotNetNuke site.
After Will, Raul Rodilla from Arrow Designs spoke about understanding and using settings in your custom modules.
In the afternoon, after lunch, Tracy Wittenkeller from T-Worx, Inc. spoke on the simple features and functions that many users don't use with DotNetNuke.
Darrell Hardy from Hardy Consulting Inc. did his presentation on securing your DotNetNuke data connection strings so that hackers can't get access to your site.
Next up Nik Kalyani from DotNetNuke Corp gave us a great demonstration on the next generation skins with DotNetNuke version 5.0 which is not quite available yet but soon to be released.
Some of the new features includes:
Widgets
Rounded corners
Layout stylesheets
Super stylesheets
2 col
3 column
Wysiwyg design
Finally, the entire DotNetNuke team shared their vision of the direction that they were heading with the DotNetNuke product and the new features that will be in place with the new version. DotNetNuke Users had the opportunity to ask numerous questions and all were answered.
Keep an eye out for future DotNetNuke OpenForce events. It's well worth the time you spend, even if it's a Sunday.
ps all the slides will be on the DotNetNuke Open Force site and on the Orlando DotNetNuke User Group site.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
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The Microsoft Community event had a great opening today at the Orlando Convention Center where Tech Ed has been going on all week. As I arrived and drove past the convention center, I noticed the lack of Microsoft advertising outside the building. In past years, you would see Microsoft plastered all over the place like on busses, light poles, and outside the building. I wasn't sure why.
What was nice about this event was that Joe Healy, the Florida Microsoft evangelist, was all over the place making sure everything was running okay. I saw him at the registration area as he welcomed everyone with his enormous smile and big hand shake.
I attended a session on LINQ and Silverlight. These are newer technologies that I wanted to explore. The speakers were extremely knowledgeable and very patient at answering all questions.
I was invited to attend a luncheon that had all of the Florida user group leaders. It was very informative and Microsoft leaders really want to help us all which was a nice warm fuzzy feeling.
I had the opportunity to see Mike Webb and Dave Dyer from DNNSPIRED.COM. Mike has been very helpful with our local Orlando DotNetNuke user group and went to get sponsors so that the DotNetNuke team could come to this event. I saw Joe Brinkman and Shaun Walker from the DotNetNuke team in the Open Space area and spoke to them about the track that we will be doing on Sunday.
Final numbers for the event is that we'll have almost 200 people coming on a Sunday. Would you believe it, a SUNDAY!
We have some top notch speakers for the track and I look forward to a big day of DOTNETNUKE!
Monday, June 02, 2008
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Joe Healy, the Microsoft genius, who has planned this upcoming weekend In Between Events, asked for a head count from all of us who have planned events for this coming weekend.
I was asked some time ago to head up the DotNetNuke Events for the day and we have 173 coming to that event. The room sits 210 so we have room for more! There will be over 1200 coming for the Saturday and Sunday events. Check out the inbetween site to see what's going on.
This event is free and the only thing you need to pay for is parking and lunch.
I plan on blogging about the event which happens to be in between the 2 major Tech Ed events held this week and next in Orlando, FL.
It should be a great one!
Monday, May 19, 2008
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So, if you happen to be in town (Orlando,FL) for pleasure, business or for the Tech Ed event, you must put the DotNetNuke Open Force Event on your calendar for Sunday, June 8th at the Orlando Convention Center.
There will be sessions on how to learn DotNetNuke, how to install, how to skin, how to secure your site and on the newest version of DotNetNuke aka Cambrian. Finally, get your questions answered by the developers of DotNetNuke.
Yes, Shaun Walker, Nik Kalyani, Scott Willhite and Joe Brinkman will be there!
Make sure that you register to attend. This event is sponsored by the:
There is still time to sponsor the event and you can do that on the site. Hope to see you there!
Friday, May 16, 2008
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No, it's not another product or a new sales figure or them buying out another company. More importantly, the company has joined OLPC.
OLPC is the one laptop per child program that Nicholas Negroponte started in 2005. The mission of One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.
Kudos to Microsoft for making Windows run on these low cost laptops. Now, the laptop will have dual boot to Windows or Linux. Both Microsoft and OLPC promised to work with governments and nongovernmental organizations to ensure that the pilot program will be a success, and furthermore, they announced their intention to give users the possibility to run either Windows or Linux operating systems on their XO laptop.
Microsoft has been working for over a year with several partners to develop customized drivers able to run Windows operating system on XO laptops, the company said, adding that Windows supports the laptop’s e-book reading mode, standard Wi-Fi networking, camera, writing pad and custom keys, as well as power-saving and other features.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
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Microsoft has released sales figures on the XBOX 360 and they have reached the 10 million sold mark. The Wii is close behind with 8.8 million sold.
Great opportunity for game developers!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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If you liked Virtual Earth, then you'll also like the World Wide Telescope that Microsoft Research has for all of us to star gaze. WorldWide Telescope is a rich Web application that brings together imagery from the best ground- and space-based observatories across the world to allow people to easily explore the night sky through their computers. WorldWide Telescope has been eagerly anticipated by the astronomical and educational communities as a compelling astronomical resource for students and lifelong learners, and as a way to make science fun for children.
You can explore the Constellations, Solar System, Hubble Images, Chandra Image, and Spitzer Images.
You can also change the view from several major world cities as well.
The views are incredible! What a great tool for educators to use in class with their students.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
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Monday, May 12, 2008
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Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Next week is the last week of teaching XNA Game Development to my students. My year long planning for the course has really paid off and I'm proud of the 2D games that my students created. All of the games were deployed on the XBOX 360 to show the game play.
I've posted some of the games that they created and I hope you like them too.
Here are some DO's and Don'ts when teaching XNA.
Do's
Stick with one version of XNA and use it for the Semester.
Teach your students the art of game design.
Prepare by learning XNA- Take the online class by called XNA Xtreme 101 by 3dbuzz or purchase their DVD. They do an excellent job explaining the concepts.
Use the XNA lessons that Microsoft MVP, Bill Reiss has on his site. MVP George Clingerman has some good tutorials on his site as well.
Tell your students to look up things on their own. You as a teacher, won't have all the answers. The Creators Club is a good place to go.
Use the Beginner's Guide to XNA Game Studio Express lessons that are online. Granted the bandwidth is slow but well worth it.
Take a look at all of the XNA books that are currently available. All have something to offer.
Have patience with your students because they will ask a lot of questions and you won't have all the answers.
Get an XBOX 360 for your class so your students can deploy the game to it.
Set time limits on phases of projects so you that students can meet deadlines.
Have fun!
Don'ts
Don't underestimate the knowledge of your students. I spent a great deal of time teaching students C# and there really was no need to spend all that time because the students had JAVA knowledge and much have that knowledge transferred over to XNA.
Plus, I thought I'd have a hard time teaching collision to my students and we just used BoundingBox collision and all was fine.
Don't spend a great deal of time trying to get sprites. Use free sprites. It takes away from class time. The same goes for music as well.
Don't forget to promote what your students have accomplished in class. Blog about it and post videos for all to see.
Don't get frustrated.
Friday, May 09, 2008
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Thursday, May 08, 2008
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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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