2014年2月16日日曜日

新婚旅行先の人気ランキング、1位は?

客1万5000人を対象にした新婚旅行先の人気調査を実施、20.3%がイン ド洋に浮かぶモルディブを選んだ。(Agoda.com)


2位はギリシャの島々で7.8%を獲得、3位には7.6%のパリが入った。
調査では20の都市、国やリゾート地などを示し、世界規模のアンケート参加者に選んでもらった。
参加者が別の場所を付け加えることは認められなかった。
調査結果によると4~10位は、インドネシア・バリ(7.1%)、ハワイ(6.6%)、イタリア(6.5%)、カリブ海諸島(5.7%)、タヒチ(5.6%)、ニュージーランド(5.2%)、イスタンブール(3.8%)。


この後は、プーケット、オーストラリア、プラハ、ラスベガス、ニューヨーク、スペイン、カンクン、リオデジャネイロ、クロアチア、モントリオールの順だった。

一概には言えないが、「ハネムーン=常夏の島」という印象が強い。
現実社会から離れた所を求めるのであろう。
人生の大切な時間を大切ね人と大切な場所で……。



10 Pieces Of Technology That Changed My Teaching Practice And Others That Didn’t

It is no mystery that the education world is saturated with technology. There are tools for everything from administering quizzes, to “flipping” the classroom, to facilitating collaboration, to monitoring student productivity. Of course, with this saturation comes overwhelm. 

The new-to-edu-tech teacher is sure to find themselves deep in the trenches of 1) discerning which piece of tech is actually useful, and 2) finding the tech that does not break the bank.


I have found my quest for useful and cost-effective edu-tech tools to be one of ever changing trajectory. Often, as soon as I have mastered one tool, another simply surpasses its value. What follows are what I have found to be the most consistently useful tools. Over a bit of time, each of these tools has remained steadfast in their usability, and nimbly adjusted to the nuances of the tech world. I am sure this list will change in the next year or so, but for now, enjoy.
The “Alpha” List…


1) Twitter
This is the most powerful tool in a teacher’s arsenal these days. The resources, connections, ideas, and inspiration available on this networking tool are unparalleled. Developing and leveraging a Twitter network should be a focus of teacher training, and should be part of a mentor teacher’s work with their student teacher.



2) Google Voice
My first couple of years teaching, I did not have a cell phone and was fine with parents not calling me. Now, I am a coach, afterschool tutor, and many other things that require more after-hour parent contact. Google Voice allows you to select a phone number that is attached to your Gmail account. When that number is called, it rings your cell phone. At any time you can cancel the number, and simply select a new number. You can also simply deactivate your number and reactivate it at any time.



3) Google Earth
This is one of the most fantastic tools for geography since the map. The map overlays are great, the images are great, and the sense of the world that students get when using Google Earth is great. Additionally, the mapping tools in the free version — pin placements, lines, shapes, tour recordings — make the tool extremely powerful and useful for teaching geography.



4) Stormboard
Stormboard is a fairly simple idea: put digital sticky notes on a digital whiteboard — share. With some added features such as voting on notes, and organizing notes, this simple idea is very useful. I use it as a brainstorming tool, and an idea organizer. It is also very useful for my own personal projects.



5) Haiku
Haiku is an extremely powerful and relatively simple LMS. It is cheap — free for teachers with 5 classes or less, and very cheap otherwise — and it leaves tools such as Moodle far behind. It has a quiz builder, exportable gradebook, and easily embeddable sections to organize content. Perfect for teachers working to flip their classrooms, or those trying to maintain a consistent teacher portal.



6) Evernote
Used primarily as an organizational tool, Evernote offers simple and functional features to organize just about any digital content. Using categories or tags, Evernote books can feature varying kinds of media, and can be easily shared. I use Evernote as my virtual rolodex and access it almost exclusively from my phone. It can also be managed from my desktop.



7) Storybird
This free tool allows you to work with students to create beautiful children’s books and to focus on the writing. Artists upload their content to the community, and writers select their art to inspire or illustrate their stories. My students love this tool, and could write stories for days. 



8) Remote Mouse
This tool is all too simple. It turns your iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch into a mouse for your computer. Connect your iDevice to the same network as your computer, and you are good to go. Simply freeing yourself up from standing near your computer when you are delivering information is a liberating experience.



9) Quicktime 11 and Vimeo
Where tools like Jing and ScreencastOMatic fall short, the combination of Quicktime 11 and Vimeo is unparalleled for creating screencasts. These tools allow you to record, edit (some), upload, and share your screencasts fairly easily. My choice for highlighting this combination comes with the quality that Quicktime provides. This quality is far superior to any of its counterparts in screencasting software.



10) iCivics
I have students that have not been on iCivics in more than two years who still rave about how fun it was. The site is funded and developed by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, and features awesome content used to teach Civics and American government. The games are fantastically fun teaching tools.



Merchant Case + Square Reader for iPhone 5


Protective case for iPhone with built-in storage for Square Reader

Co-developed by Griffin and Square, Merchant Case + Square Reader protects your iPhone as you take payments using the new Square Reader.
The silicone case protects your iPhone from bumps and drops. Non-slip sides and corners make the case and your iPhone easier to hold onto when you use it, and when you hand your iPhone over for your customer’s signature.

Includes newer, slimmer Square Reader

The case is custom-molded to secure the included Square Reader when connected, eliminating swivel and excess strain on your iPhone’s headphone jack. A groove in the bottom of the case aligns with the Reader to guide your customer’s card to an easy, consistent swipe time after time.

When the work day is done, simply detach your Square Reader and store it in the back of the case. Your Square Reader will always be with you.
新しいアイディアを生むためには失敗にも報酬を与える!

グーグルは「両極端な企業」だというべきなのでしょう。記念碑的な成功もあれば、世紀の大失敗もあります。
革新的アイデアを生み出すには、成功だけでなく失敗も受け入れねばなりません。それどころか「失敗にも報酬を与えるべきなのだ」と、あるグーグルの開発者は語っていました。

自動走行するグーグルカーやグーグルグラスなど、グーグルが進めるプロジェクトの中でも特にクレイジーな研究開発に取り組んでいる「Google X Lab」のメンバーのひとりが、BBC のインタビューの中で、「失敗に対して、罰ではなく報酬を与えれば、社員たちは自らリスクをとるようになる」と語っています。

失敗した人にも報酬を与えるべきです。そうでなければ誰もリスクを取りたがらず、ブレイクスルーも起きません。失敗には報酬を与えないのだとしたら、社員たちは失敗を恐れるあまり、退屈なアイデアにしがみつくでしょう。それは時間の浪費であり、企業の士気も低下します。
革新的なアイデアを探す行為は、まだ地図に載っていない場所へ探検隊を送り出し、未発見の山を見つけようとするのと同じです

手ぶらで帰った探検隊を非難すればどうなるでしょう。彼らがどれだけ懸命に探し、どれだけ賢く行動したかを考慮せず、ただ山を見つけられなかったというだけで探検隊の名誉を傷つけたとしたら、彼らは企業を出て行ってしまうでしょう。

もちろん、すべての企業が世界を変える必要はありません。しかし、あなたの会社が常に新しいアイデアを生み出さねばならない分野にいるなら、失敗を罰するより、失敗に報酬を与えたほうが、創造性が開花するのだということを覚えておきましょう。