I participated in my first "tweetchat" last night

I participated in my first "Twitter/Tweet-chat," and I'm still decompressing.  Twitter and TweetDeck were the tools.  It was a gathering of Lutheran Educators talking about "Digital Citizenship."

Information about the group that gathers is at:

• Research in Lutheran Education
• LutheranTech 
• https://twitter.com/LuthEd

Here is what the most recent conversation looked like.  It is in reverse order: oldest messages at the bottom.   On Monday the 18th, the event should be

11/18/2013

Leveraging technology in faith development projects and curriculum

What are some ways we can model effective faith development in the digital world? What tools have you used to leverage faith building activities with your students? What do you see as the strengths of digital technology in faith dev? Draw backs?

Rob Jacklin @rjacklin

I have to admit that my "Fuddy Duddy" side is definitely showing.  I felt like I was at a really loud and crowded cocktail party where every one was trying to be heard over everyone else.  Since Twitter only allows 140 characters per Tweet AND some of those characters have to be used for the tag #LuthEd, complex ideas do not come across well. After my first adventure in TweetChatting, I sort of fell like I needed about 30 minutes in a sensory-deprivation tank to decompress from the chaos. I will be at tomorrow's event, DV…

Fun with Latin

Most of you know that I have been playing with learning Latin again.  I like it, but it is frustrating.  I don't particularly enjoy conjugating verbs, but it is cool when I begin to understand what it is going on.  Declining nouns makes my hair fall out, though.  It really makes the language powerful and clear, but learning it is so repetitive!  Declining nouns still has not found a slot in my brain, yet.
I do enjoy translating stories, though.  It's fun.  I also enjoy things like LOLCats in Latin.  Here is an example:

nolite fieri servi hominum = Do Not become slaves of men 
Ha!  I can so hear a cat saying that!



Here is another one:
Non parvum est seipum noscere = It is no small thing to know one's self. 

SkillfulSenior.com Computer Tutorials

SkillfulSenior.com (and other links) may also help With Mother's computer-related frustrations.  Don't get me wrong, she is far from computer-illiterate.  She can search the web and do e-mail with the best of us.  She uses an iPhone far better than I would, but then, I don't even want a cell phone of any flavor.

Still, there probably are gaps in her new knowledge of computers.  Uploading and downloading work best with me alongside prompting her.  Saving and retrieving documents work best the same way.

One of my friends pointed out that I'm not quite as patient as I could be when it comes to helping Mother with the computer.  She's right.  I'm trying to remedy that by learning about different tools to help Seniors master the intricacies of technology.  I'm also trying to learn how *I*  can present things more clearly, simply and patiently.

• The first on this is SkillfulSenior.com  -It Starts with some pretty basic tutorials.  How to sit comfortably at the computer…  What the different mouse buttons do -and why.  Returning to the basics and having that information on hand is an important tool for helping folks retain information.
• If she decides to stay with Microsoft Word, maybe this tutorial will be useful  http://www.gcflearnfree.org/word2010

Helping Mother with her computer?

The Mother hates her word processor.  Granted, she is using the free version of Microsoft Word that came with windows seven when she updated.  If that was what I had to use, I would hate it, too.    I replaced it with OpenOffice because it does the kinds of things I need it to do.  As a writer, I use several bells and whistles.
 
I think that OpenOffice would be even more annoying for Her than the one she has.  It needs to be simpler and less cluttered.  I suggested wordpad, but it still doesn't meet her needs.
 
I will be testing various Word Processors for Her.
 
This is the one I am testing this week.  http://www.jarte.com/   it is based on Microsoft's Wordpad engine and retains some of that simplicity.  It has a little bit more to it, though.  I will slowly review it over the next few weeks and let you know what I think.