.NET ADO SQLLite components: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlite-dotnet2/
Great tutorial: http://adodotnetsqlite.sourceforge.net/
SQLLite Browser: http://sourceforge.net/projects/sqlitebrowser/

It not only allows me to share my screen and give control but also let students share their screens and I take control. Just great. It was fast and clear.

I recorded using camtasia since the mikogo recording was in a proprietary format, but I did that anyway.

The only drawback and it is MINOR is a lack of built in audio. I had skype, so we used that. No problem. Thanks Mikogo!

Jane wrote about this today and her list fails to mention join.me which I find to be an easy and outstanding service.

I use this for face-to-face class meetings! I have students in the classroom that I give the link to so that they can better see the screen. The projectors at my school are top of the line, but cannot adequately display a 1440X900 resolution so that a students 20 feet away can see my code. Their physical machine can easily. Also they can screenshot or record from their local machine if they want (and they do!).

I say get join.me. I might even pay for an account I use it so much.

Jane – add join.me to the TOP of your list. Most of the other services you have alphabetically listed are worthless.

I think this is a great point. A 2 minute response time is unreasonable when you are attending an 8-12 week course. What about a 3 day course packed full of information. You probably expect an answer immediately right?

Can we use that sort of thing in technical training? Sure! The grading rubric tells the student what is expected of the in the assignment. Lazy students will use it to figure out the minimum they can do to still get the grade they need, but this isn’t generally a problem with technical training. Our student are very motivated leathers.

So we create a final hands on project and a rubric and add that to the course. The hands on is probably going to be an analysis project. Why had an analysis project in a technical training course? I propose that after troubleshooting skills, analysis is the area where many developers could really use some help.

We shall see:)

I agree and at DeVry I wouldn’t teach something that was not used in the real world by programmers. We are making this same changes elsewhere too.

No big deal?

Normally this would be a bummer because you would need a new laptop or at least an expensive repair, but in his case it is 3 days before senior project. I know these students had placed most of their code into github.com and that this student has already delivered much of the code to the client (he logs into the client server regularly while I am assisting him). So yeah pretty big deal just before senior project.

How does Dropbox help?

Any computer with Office 2007, Visual Studio and Remote Desktop Connection would allow this student to keep working and finish anything he needed for his project. He can just log into dropbox.com and manually upload and download the files he needs. Piece of cake.

I sent him the signup code: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTgxNTA3OQ. I was notified within minutes that my storage was increased because he has signed up.

Good job Jake. Move everything you want saved into your dropbox folder inside of my documents and just let it do the uploading. 2 gigs for free and when you refer friends you get a bit more:

Just a PPT replacement, but think about the uses. Record yourself presenting in front of class then share the prezi and the video. Two for one. You can drill as deep as you want, so share concepts and as you go deeper perhaps you share actual code. You can learn the concept at one level and the code at another.

So I am back on track. I have an obligation to myself to post twice per week to the following places:

http://www.rvgadgets.net – anything rv, anything that is a gadget.
http://www.kidsiphoneappreview.com – apps for kids we review them
http://huberblog.com – personal stuff including stuff about the websites.
http://slxtraining.net – for work
http://www.modifiedpowerwheels.com — mpw needs a new homepage for sure.
http://www.modifiedelectricscooters.com — needs a new homepage too.

So how long does a post take? About an hour each. This means about 8 hours of work per month. How much can a site like that make? a few hundred a month. I guess it CAN make more, but really it will probably pull in a few hundred a month. Is it worth it? Sure. Add it up. How much are you paid per hour? Look it is something that we like to do and it comes easy to us. It just takes time away from the family in front of a computer. If you think I do not have enough time in front of a computer you are mistaken

As you all sit and take the final a few thoughts occurred to me that I thought I would share. I realize you will not get this email until after the final and I do wish I had shared it before. The comments have nothing to do with our final in particular.

When I would take a final at Keller I had several techniques:

1. Never finish first. I always finished first or very regularly finished near the front and this was NEVER intentional. In fact some of the following ideas and tactics came from the desire to not hand in my exam first. Someone has to be first – don’t let it be you. Why? The first exam is either going to be immediately looked at. The Instructor will be checking your work closely to see how his exam panned out. You will become the test case. If not that then at least there is a chance that you will be remembered as the first submitter and perhaps it should have taken you longer or you thought you were something to get it done so fast and all of that. I assure you I do not consciously apply any of those assumptions, but others may.

The following tactics take time and thus help with #1 as well as help you prepare for the first question.

2. Before you answer any question read the first question. On our exam tonight you had a piece of paper with the questions and a bit of room. There wasn’t enough room for an answer, but there was some room. Read the question and write anything that comes to mind in that margin. I wont check this sheet of paper, well I will, but most wont. Write keywords, comments, anything that comes to mind about question 1 before you do anything else. Exhaust the mind of anything that pertains to that question. Then do the same for #2 and so on. Do not answer anything in the answer book at this point. Do this process for each question before you move onto the answers.

#3 Tie your questions together. Some Instructors will grade all of question #1. Then all of #2 and so on. Many do not. In either case tying your questions together helps you with your train of thought and helps the instructor reference your way of thinking and writing. It makes for a much more readable exam in either case and will increase your points. Questions will lead into each other in this way and may give you ideas on other questions. It is a magical thing. Referring to common discussions or a common scenario helps this process as well.

#4 Make sure as you answer each question you refer back to step #2 and check off any keywords or thoughts you had on each question. As you are writing if another thought comes to mind – get it on paper, either on the page now or back on the list in #2. Many times this helps with #3 since you will be thinking of the whole exam rather than each question by itself as a stand alone question.

Take it or leave it. I know these helped me and might help some of you.