I’m really ashamed that I didn’t get word out on this sooner (before other edublogging sites picked up on it) because one of our members and Forum Moderators, Tom Woodward, is…….. the Technology Ninja!
With a flair for the dramatics, Tom has creatively blended the ideas of the popular website, Ask a Ninja, with his own beliefs in making technology tutorials more engaging. As a middle school technology integration specialist (did I get that title right Tom?) he is constantly looking for new ways to engage students and staff with more than just your typical movie or tutorial.To spice things up a bit while answering common computer questions, Tom dons a Ninja mask, cracks jokes, and lets us know that it’s alright for us mortals to run into problems with our computers; after all, we’re not Technology Ninjas like he is. The great thing about it though, is that it’s been so well received by the staff and students at his school, that he’s gone on to create an entire blog that allows computer users in his building to send in questions, request topics for new movies, and share their thoughts about troubleshooting computers. Sorry PC folks, the Technology Ninja works in an all Mac school, but it’s still worth a watch to see him in action, answering questions with lightning quick ninja speed.
I highly recommend checking out the first Technology Ninja movie for a few laughs and some really good tips. Congrats on getting so much press Tom, keep up the great work!
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Thanks Ben. I am (and I have to look at my card) an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher. I think most teachers refer to me as either the trainer or the computer guy. The kids are now calling me the techno ninja- which as part of the ninja code I have to deny.
Sadly, the whole ninja site was destroyed yesterday. Odd thing happened. Some time last week about 20 unmoderated comments disappeared. I figured I must have forgotten and moderated them. Then yesterday suddenly I have no posts, zip, zero. I had about 30 posts and 220 or so comments. I started rewriting and put up 10. I heard the movies start playing but they weren’t open in any window. Really weird- I force quit Firefox 2.0 and saved 6 or 10. A few minutes later it happened again and I lost the 6 I had saved. At that point I freaked out and erased the whole installation fearing a hacker. Then I created a completely fresh account with different passwords. It still happened. At that point I began to think rationally. What I’ve decided happened was the new firefox and the new version of cooliris seemed to be causing issues with the wordpress admin panel. All the issues happened with multiple tabs open in Firefox with the WP admin tab open after several minutes. I disabled the plugin and everything is working normally.
Who knows at this point? It is disappointing though. I don’t care about losing my work but I wish I had all the student comments.
I’m going to work this whole deal (including my inexcusable failure to backup) into the next movie which should be coming out pretty soon.