www.aritzhaupt.com

I have recently become very interested in the relationship between school district information technology departments and innovative teachers. What I have observed in the past several years are inherent contradictions between the nature of the information technology department and the vision of 21st century teachers. This contradiction can often lead to many hardships for innovative teachers and misunderstandings for all that are involved. I have thus become interested in systematically investigating this phenomenon by collecting the narratives of teachers who have experienced trials and tribulations in relation to information technology departments.

Specifically, the idea is to make a request for narratives from teachers using a well-designed instrument. The narratives would then be qualitatively analyzed to identify the emergent themes. This information would then be used to build a system of understanding and balance to assist teachers in reaching their goals and to inform other stakeholders in how to support this process. This is not to say that information technology departments are to blame for these problems, but rather, to communicate the interests of each of the stakeholders with the overall goal of improving the relationship.

Is it possible that because one does not fit into a particular “position” that they should be immediately removed and shunned from an association without regard to one’s true intentions? The very thought of such an action would imply one is not understanding and one does not understand the old adage “do not judge a book by its cover”. First impressions are not always what they appear to be. A person’s true intentions cannot be understood in a matter of days, weeks, or months, but rather years of devotion and hard work towards a meaningful cause. If one is to succeed, we must afford one time to accomplish goals - judging a book by its cover is a known path to failure.

To everybody and anybody that is interested in linking learning to gaming, there will be an interesting presentation and demonstration on UNCW’s campus on 9/25/2008. The event is open to all but everyone must RSVP. Please take a look at the attached flyer. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. [DimensionM_Flyer]

Today is the big day. Classes start at my new institution. I have been working like crazy to get all my instructional materials prepared. Alas, I am almost ready. I still have a few assignments to complete, but I have most of the deliverables in my courses squared away.

In other news, I will be restarting my work on e-portfolios here at UNCW. Unlike my previous research, we are going to be looking at both pre-service teachers and first-year teachers to determine whether their e-portfolios are a relevant aspect of their professional careers.

That’s all for now. I have to get ready for class

Sometime in July, my website was hacked and malicious code (specifically a Trojan) was inserted onto my website that would attempt to download malware via Javascript commands (silly uneval command). I identified and removed the malicious code immediately, changed my passwords, and contacted my web hosting company. I have also wrote some code to track my logs. Unfortunately, Google had already detected the malware using its bots and tagged my site as dangerous in their databases.

This concerns me as when my name is searched it is paired with this negative image. Anyway, for anyone that had noticed this, the problem was taken care of, and I am going to more proactively address these threats from hence forth by implementing a few more security procedures. Thankfully, after a month, Google no longer tags my site as malicious. I wonder if anyone else has experienced this. Further, though Google states that it may not be the site owner’s intent, I also wonder how other people feel about Google tagging our online identities as ‘malicious’. This practice, though in the best interest of the online community, can be potentially damaging to our reputations.

Today, I completed the new faculty orientation at UNCW. It was a great 3-day program. The first day, we listened to many different administrators from across the campus, and some spoke in learning workshops. That evening we went to the Chancellor’s Reception, which was also very nice. On the second day, we traveled to Jacksonville, NC (funny that it was Jacksonville) to visit Camp Lejeune and one of the research/community centers. On the third day, we went through the benefits program. I especially enjoyed meeting other new faculty from around the college. Here is what I learned:

1. UNCW takes collaboration among disciplines seriously. They even put their money where their mouth is when it comes to this.

2. UNCW does great scholarship within the region. The scholarship is rigorous, relevant, and regional it meets the needs of the local region and the world at large.

3. There is currently a pot of money for developing high quality online courses. I think this would be an excellent opportunity for the instructional technology program to grow its online offerings to a program level.

4. I also learned that UNCW has rigorous academic programs and has a strong commitment to its strategic plan. This pleases me as many other institutions have plans but act in opposition to those plans. Unity in vision is helpful. Also, UNCW is the third most competitive for admissions in the state of North Carolina (only behind Chapel Hill and NC State).

Anyway, the orientation has reinforced my decision to join the UNCW community. It is going to be a busy year!

I just witnessed something that I almost could not believe. I witnessed my two adult cats and puppy beagle work together to get to a bag of treats. The cats pushed the bag off the table while the puppy ripped apart the bag. Afterwards, they all ate treats! Are we sure that we are the most intelligent species?

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I have gone Mac… well, not really, I am still going to be using Windows/PC machines frequently. I have a Macbook Pro, which was purchased as part of my contract at UNCW. So far, so good. It has a sheik, clean cover with key lights and an excellent display. It has a large hard drive, tons of RAM, and serious processing power, though, I have not put it to the test quite yet I am re-learning basic ICT literacy skills as I haven’t work regularly on a Mac for about 6-years.

Anyway, I am very excited about it. I am going to force myself to use it these next few weeks (aside from statistical processing) to become a proficient user. I will report on my findings.

Well, my move to Wilmington, NC is complete. I moved in on Saturday (7/5). I am still exploring the region. The area is somewhat different than what I am used to. All things equal, I like the area thus far. I am hoping to establish relationships with some of the local schools and educational organizations to pursue some of my professional goals. That’s all for now.

I spent some time this evening updating my list of academic journals in the field of educational/instructional technology. I have included a few more journals, updated whether or not the journals are Social Science Indexed, and included the organization and/or publisher of the journals. I hope this is an improvement. Please take a look: Academic Journals.