tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72049129568345856312024-03-05T10:30:21.502-08:00On Technology in Higher Education, Colorado, and Geeky ParenthoodAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-52710097669246795052013-09-11T10:11:00.000-07:002013-09-11T10:17:43.247-07:00Meltdown U - the Slate discusses student mental healthToday, I'm listening to this podcast:<br />
http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/the_checkup/2013/09/the_checkup_podcast_on_college_mental_health_issues.html<br />
<br />
Kind of scary how many students are anxious and depressed. I was among them when I was in college.<br />
<br />
At CSU, we try to address this in a multitude of methods including:<br />
<ul>
<li>High engagement activities</li>
<li>Connections with RAs, Advisors, and staff</li>
<li>Messaging and advertising CSU Health services</li>
<li>Checkup in the fourth week of class - Taking Stock at Mid-semester </li>
</ul>
As a tech person, I'm concerned with the logistics of how to advertise, provide service, discover student attitudes, and collect data on success.<br />
<br />
This summer, this was what I was focused upon. I am convinced that if a student is honest on the Taking Stock student strengths inventory and reflects on those results, engages with others to see what that means and how they can approach their weaknesses and leverage their strengths, that the college experience can be SO MUCH EASIER!<br />
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But, it's hard to engage, to confide. Most students think they are the only one with issues, but every one of my friends in college struggled with these issues. How do we cope? Friends and outreach from trusted sources. The inadequate resources of colleges are often an issue. My advice now that it's all in the rear view mirror: find someone who can be your mentor. Talk!<br />
<br />
Any other thoughts on this? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-31236458202106160072012-11-05T22:08:00.002-08:002012-11-05T22:09:11.014-08:00Windows 8 and the move to the cloudSo, on Wednesday, I will be on a panel during the student affairs directors meeting. So, the directors from all the units in Housing, the Career Center, Student Diversity Programs, CASA and others will have the opportunity to ask the Division Tech Committee about anything technical.<br />
<br />
Expected topics:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>The move to VOIP</li>
<li>Contract with HP/Zunesis</li>
<li>Cellular phone contract status</li>
<li>BYOD - Bring your own device (proliferation of devices and challenges of supporting them)</li>
<li>Mac computer support</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Today Matt started discussion, and I'm curious what readers think:</div>
<div>
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<a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple-vs-google-vs-microsoft-a-look-at-the-stacks/61063"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRQG5AiL8kfQi65ttg9D0bfWz8baZIuo5wcCayKcxXVcJhy2c-Y" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
What do you LIKE and what do you DISLIKE about:</div>
<div>
<ol>
<li>Google</li>
<li>Apple</li>
<li>Microsoft</li>
</ol>
<div>
CSU is a highly Microsoft environment. I have macs in my labs, and as you can see, I use Android phone and Google for many documents and such. But I agree that Microsoft makes a superior environment for business.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Case in point. A student group wanted to advertise an event on our lab machine's desktop. On Windows, I change the Group Policy and bam, it's changed on 50+ machines. The macs don't change. The macs would require me to have either pre-configured desktop to point to a specific spot, each individually (or imaged), or go around and change each one.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With powershell, I can make all the windows machines do whatever is necessary, whether it's stop popping up the Java Auto-update, apply a patch, or anything else. Central management is a huge boon to busy domain administrators.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
SO, BYOD is an off-shoot of this. Shiny, happy applications and great new technology doing wonderful connected things. I support this. But to be able to learn, configure, and avoid security incidents with a growing number of devices, well, there are not enough hours in the day.</div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPkZHfF0OT1lm4AI70wUkcfKDrQerke6SuEg4FufUI9CPnZ2g4ww" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPkZHfF0OT1lm4AI70wUkcfKDrQerke6SuEg4FufUI9CPnZ2g4ww" /></a></div>
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And that is why I say, bring it on Microsoft. Give me surface. Make it work, and talk to domains, and be configurable from afar. My favorite thing about Apple and Google? Competition fosters innovation, and microsoft is moving to the cloud. </div>
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CSU will probably join other schools in putting faculty and staff email in the cloud with either microsoft or google. Students have been using google for email for years. And, things will work better.</div>
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<br /></div>
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What do YOU think?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
PS, see a <a href="http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apple-vs-google-vs-microsoft-a-look-at-the-stacks/61063">ZDNET article for more discussion/background</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-81308400447487606262012-11-01T22:54:00.002-07:002012-11-01T22:57:56.397-07:00What happened to October?<h2>
Welcome to November. </h2>
After a month hiatus where I have been doing only the necessary, I am kicking into high gear again.<br />
<br />
What happened this last month:<br />
<h3>
Attended <a href="http://www.checoweb.org/">CHECO </a>conference. <br />Many Colorado schools are having similar issues and it was nice to hear discussion.</h3>
<ul>
<li><h4>
BYOD - Bring your own device</h4>
This fall, tablets and smart phones have showed up in force in addition to the laptops. With more students sporting more devices, and increasingly, always trying to stay connected to the network, issues are bound to happen. <br /><br />
Several campuses had issues, specifically with network outages. The ones that did not had a sandbox with authentication enforced before even issuing an IP address, and relatively short time-outs so that IPs could be released to new devices.<br />
<br />
Some campuses do a best-effort on all devices brought either by students or faculty/staff or both. Some refuse to service the devices at all. Many deans and presidents are carrying ipads so the need to support them is there, but these devices don't necessarily play well with the existing network and security infrastructure. Concerns about privacy limit some use, and some universities refuse to setup email access on these devices while others allow access through a secure portal (using http/ssl). Since Java is not available on most devices, existing solutions by Cisco and Juniper are not available. New technologies are coming out, but until they can tie to the security policies and central management, IT staff is reluctantly supporting these, again as a best-effort.<br />
<br />
Personally, I support iPads and Android tablets in a limited capacity. I use the 'education is the best policy' approach and make sure the users are aware when data is going over the network and the circumstances under which the data on their device is not secure. We talk about email and remote desktop connections. Ultimately, it's an issue of portability. This is a painful transition period to cloud accessible data within a secure context - it WILL arrive, but just like phone security, it's an area that has much development needed before it's "safe".</li>
</ul>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
</h4>
<h4>
<ul>
<li>Many IT positions open<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Each college reported at least one IT position they are currently or are soon advertising as open.<br /><br />Recently, there has been a shortage of talented help. There are less people in the pool of applicants and the overall quality of applicants seems to be lower than a few years ago. Some colleges have reported failed searches.<br /><br />This could be a result of the hiring freeze and budget cutbacks that have been in effect the last four years. Well, educational institutions are financially stable and hiring again, but in general, we cannot compete with the salaries offered in the private sector. The large number of jobs available allows individuals familiar with Higher Education IT to really have their pick of schools!<br /><br />Computer Science major numbers are still going up at CSU, but are a smaller proportion of the student body, which means the program is not growing as fast as other programs. At the same time, for the last few years, the students who have worked as programmers or help desk have often had to look a little harder for work, but it's looking like that is changing.</span></li>
<li>The future of learning systems<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">CSU has been trying an electronic textbook system. Texts are purchased for each student (win for the publisher - fewer students have been purchasing texts) at a much lower cost (win for students). It's been limited to a few classes, and the Americans with Disabilities Act watchdogs are crying foul and sending cease and desist to the providing publisher because the electronic texts don't conform to printed text rules of accessibility.<br /><br />My personal reactions and thoughts:<br /><br />That is strange - if it's digital, screen readers should be able to overcome the differences, and even print-on-demand Braille editions are significantly cheaper because you don't need to digitize the book first!<br /><br />Also, the trend of Math and Science courses to have equivalent sections available online for free (MIT and other universities) is providing a push for more digital recording and playback tools in those classes. It may be that one day the lectures are licensed like the texts, maybe even viewed outside of class, and professors handle the class in more of a discussion or recitation format, which would turn the standard resident instruction format on it's head. <br /><br />Already, resources like the <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/">Khan Academy</a> are quite popular among students who are not learning well in standard classrooms.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Those were my big take-aways. Lots of smaller items were discussed as well!</span></li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div>
</h4>
<h3>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">Other things I did</span></h3>
<div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Added retention and graduation reports to the Outreach Tracking system</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Presented twice, once on Assessment for Advising and once on the Advising Tools available at CSU</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Installed Windows 8. It's been pretty good thus far</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Enabled java plugins on about 20 machines - Java is required to run Oracle forms, and so it's annoying when it is automatically disabled for security reasons because a proper patch doesn't exist that keeps Java compatible with the systems! Really, I blame Oracle. But since Oracle owns Java, there is no excuse.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Attended Mile-Hi Con. Great seeing Carol Berg and so many of my other favorite authors.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Went trick or treating with the kids. </span></li>
</ul>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-25247553750965593272012-07-24T16:56:00.000-07:002012-07-24T16:56:30.416-07:00... the other half is maintenanceThis morning I arrived at work early - I was hoping to complete a mail-merge before my morning meetings and my afternoon with the kids. But I made the fatal mistake of pulling up my email to make there wasn't anything more important/pressing. Lo, and behold, I needed to finish some edits on the CASA Annual report.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I pulled up the report from the email, added an explanation about why our calculated retention rates for orientation attenders and first year freshmen do not match exactly Institutional Research's numbers (we include some students that begin in the summer and some populations that are excluded for state reporting purposes), moved some graphs around and other minor edits.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Next, I pulled a list of the remaining assignments to an advisor who left the university - a flaw in the current system is that when an advisor is inactivated, other departments can no longer look at his list - I have to use the historical database to pull that information (one of many reasons that assignments are due for a re-write). </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I answer a couple more emails. Time for my 8am meeting with ACNS/the Library. Walk around construction on campus and into the Library.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>8am</b></div>
<div>
Today's topic is the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) on CASA taking over daily management of the laptop checkout program in the Behavioral Sciences Building. For the past year, it's been a joint venture where Undeclared Student Tech Fees have paid for machines and our lab staff have worked equal hours along with Library student staff to checkout the machines. The Library did all the maintenance and setup of machines.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, now we will take over</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>10 Macbooks and 15 Dell laptops paid for by Undeclared Student Tech Fees</li>
<li>18 Macbooks and 20 Dell laptops paid for by University Tech Fees</li>
</ul>
<div>
We'll continue to use the library system to checkout laptops for convenience and to charge students who checkin items late and damage/destroy machines.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We (Undeclared Student Tech Fees) are augmenting the laptops with 18 Macbook Pros.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We are adding printers in the area and two printing kiosks. Students will be able to use the laptops and webprint to print using quota on <a href="http://acnspapercut.colostate.edu:9191/">http://acnspapercut.colostate.edu:9191</a>. Quota can be added by transferring money from <a href="http://ramcash.colostate.edu/">http://ramcash.colostate.edu</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The Library added surveillance cameras over the checkout desk and will continue to handle the study rooms and seating, and the checkout program is still an extension of Library Technology Services.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We'll be extending hours and having two students watch the desk, hopefully filling the student technical needs even better than we did in the just-in-May-closed-Durrell-lab.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>9am</b></div>
<div>
I setup a new Orientation Graduate Assistant whose first day is today. I talk about technology at CSU, what we provide, and an overview of how technology supports the CASA units. We provision his account meaning I give him access to:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>A CASA account and ability to login to machines on the CASA domain</li>
<li>Access to install programs on his assigned office machine</li>
<li>An exception so that he can have an exchange account on mail.colostate.edu</li>
<li>Access to edit portions of the Orientation and Transition Programs website</li>
<li>Access to Lighthouse, Leave, Timesheets, and the Orientation Reservation system</li>
<li>Access to InvolveNet, the tracking system for First Year Mentor Programs</li>
<li>Membership in the appropriate Exchange groups for Calendar management and Distribution Lists</li>
<li>The ability to remotely login to his office machine</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>10:15am</b></div>
</div>
<div>
Head over from Aylesworth to TILT. Finish moving a few items between rooms. The computer staff moved across the hall from our former office into the former resource room. Yesterday, the computer staff moved a fridge out and a bunch of desks, computers, monitors, etc into the new space.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
*Found the door to our office unlocked. Old habits die hard - someone unlocked it in the morning, but now there is no reason for it to be unlocked when no one is there. So, I updated the sticky note on the door. We'll see if people read.*</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Move a bunch of stuff around. Pulled the black crates and laptops that need to be moved back to Aylesworth. Promptly forgot them for the rest of the day.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>11am</b></div>
<div>
Met with TILT staff about the Great Hall - we have added printers up there and a single machine for printing. Worked out lots of logistics, and attempted to add the printers to the machines already in place. Determined I'll need to work with their IT folks to install Papercut Client on laptops. Lots of documentation needs to be written!!! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The printers will work just like the BSB printers - purchasable quota can be used to print at any of the locations - Library, BSB, TILT Great Hall. Housing is also adding printers in several of the residence hall main offices. *Note to self - order the test printer for housing*</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>12pm</b></div>
<div>
Rush home to spend the afternoon with my wonderful kids. It's library day!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, here I am during quiet time - Tristin is sleeping, Collin is watching Spiderman on TV, Marcia has been learning Photoshop drawing using a Bamboo drawing tablet (and is now starting dinner), and I am adding way too much detail to this blog.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Gotta go back to work after the kids go to bed. Still didn't get that mail-merge done.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Just another typical (a-typical?) day in the life of a University IT Geek Father.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-48874864702803191202012-07-23T23:44:00.002-07:002012-07-27T06:20:56.067-07:00Smooth OperatorCreating a scrolling box is harder than you might think. <br />
<br />
Matt did most of the work on this, but I thought I would write it up in case anyone else finds it handy. Final Game Maker Studio code will be included at the bottom.<br />
<br />
So, scrolling.<br />
<br />
When you click on a series of items, you expect a certain behavior when you move your finger or mouse. <i>You are clicking and dragging a set of items</i>. Here's the diagram:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuiIO07I4wL4_0NLXtoVSaF6VctkW9PYi1oEmY8TsSHpAqXMDtbi3Qwut5kqCY-CZr8QsETahhVEx4M6S4u2Y_67ogRHnBidOpOa2RGHKAzkzPAIgB6y-do9SZhoUuVt5FgAPGXibmpI/s1600/List+Measurements.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieuiIO07I4wL4_0NLXtoVSaF6VctkW9PYi1oEmY8TsSHpAqXMDtbi3Qwut5kqCY-CZr8QsETahhVEx4M6S4u2Y_67ogRHnBidOpOa2RGHKAzkzPAIgB6y-do9SZhoUuVt5FgAPGXibmpI/s1600/List+Measurements.png" /></a></div>
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The measurements given are arbitrary, but useful because they are concrete and can be generalized later. The red regions indicate where the list item should be hiding behind the border (not quite possible with GMS - you can draw a portion of a sprite [the list item background], but not part of text).</div>
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You touch somewhere (<b>hit</b>) and drag to another location (<b>drag</b>), which creates a distance to travel (<b><u>trav</u></b>).</div>
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The list of items should follow <i>proportional to how far you moved</i>, and stop according to the velocity when you lift your finger. That is, if you click and continue to hold the finger at the end, it should move proportionally <i>and then stop</i>. If you end with a flick, <i>it should keep scrolling</i>.</div>
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Still with me?</div>
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So, the coordinate system is expressed as <u>y increases as you go down the screen</u>. Standard for graphics work. In the diagram, the boundary box that will contain the list items is from (50, 113) to (350, 377). To simplify the diagram, I left the x coordinates out and will leave them out from now on. So the box where the list items are shown is from y = <b>113</b> to y = 113 + 264 = <b>377</b>.</div>
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The list itself might be any size, but in this diagram is 318 tall, and trying to fit into 264 space. So, some things will be hidden. That's the easy part.</div>
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The hard part is controlling <i>when the list should move, how much, and when it should stop</i>.</div>
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When you touch the screen and move, your movement is being sampled 60 times per second, so 60 times per second, <b>trav</b> is calculated. If you touch on the screen within the list box, say at y=300 and drag up to y=210 in a half second, this results in an <i>average speed</i> of -90 (distance) / 30 (samples in .5 seconds) = <b><u>-3</u></b>. So, each list item should move that distance per step as well.</div>
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Anytime your finger is moving, <b>trav</b> is being recalculated. When you lift your finger, <b>trav</b> stops being recalculated. One of the cool things is that if you keep <b>trav</b> as it last was, that is, you keep moving all the list items at the same rate as was last calculated as <b>trav</b>, "fling" magically works. Greater distance travelled in less time and those list items can really move!</div>
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So, here's where the problems begin.</div>
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There is no deceleration yet. So you "fling" and the list items <i><b>just keep moving</b></i>. And, while it's fun to watch a to do list disappear off the screen, and then fling in the other direction and seconds later watch it disappear the other way, it's not practical. Additionally, it takes one step to establish the initial speed, so it will be laggy and appear to "jump" at times. The first solution is to add acceleration and deceleration.</div>
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(Pictures to be added)</div>
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<b>Ideal movement accelerates and decelerates</b>: </div>
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Slower movements move the list items much more slowly and quick movements move the list items very fast, and then they <b>slowly come to a stand still</b>. There are several ways to do this. I think the solution settled on was to <b>multiply the current moving speed of the list items by .92 per step</b>. So after 0.5 seconds, the list items are traveling <span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-spacing: 2px; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif;">.92^30 = 0.0819662036 </span>times their original speed. Fairly fast deceleration. When the items are traveling less than 1px per step, the speed is set to 0 and they stop moving. Acceleration can be applied similarly, but I think the solution in this case was to judge the magnitude of trav and set the speed of the list items to ratios according to pre-defined regions.</div>
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<b>Boundaries should keep list items filling the box:</b></div>
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When you fling up, the list items should stop moving when the last one is fully displaying at the bottom of the box. Similarly, fling down and it will stop when the first list item is fully displayed at the top of the box. It should 'stick' until moved by the finger again.</div>
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This is where calculations come in. You can calculate from the first list item, the last list item, or both.</div>
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<i>Both approach:</i></div>
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If the first list item's y value > surrounding boxes top y, then all the list items need to travel back to the surrounding boxes y. If ( (y-27) > 113 ) then <b>trav</b> = 113 - y + 27. Funny thing though. Applying just this equation causes the list to become a slingshot as you use your finger to draw the first list item down below the top of the box, because <b>trav</b> can become HUGE!</div>
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So you apply damping when the list is within, say, 5 pixels of where it's supposed to be and just set the <b>trav</b> to 0. If (abs( y - 27 - 113) < 5) then <b>trav</b> = 0.</div>
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<i>And you would think you could do the same thing for the bottom item...</i></div>
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If the last list item's y value < surrounding boxes bottom y, then all the list items need to travel back. So, If ( (y+28) < 377 ) then <b>trav </b>= 377 - y - 28. Again, dampen it within 5 pixels. If (abs( y + 27 - 337) < 5) then <b>trav</b> = 0.</div>
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There are more potential problems! </div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>The list items can stop too early, off screen. The solution? add another condition so the abs() functions only check on one side. That is, If (y > 113 && abs( y - 27 - 113) < 5) then <b>trav</b> = 0.</li>
<li>The list might 'bounce' back and forth if <b>trav</b> is much greater than your tolerance. This shouldn't happen with the out of bounds correction and the buffer, but if you choose to not move the list items the full distance to the end when the first item goes past the top, smooth acceleration can cause bouncing.</li>
<li>Rounding errors!</li>
<li>The list might 'get stuck' depending on the order of the statements.</li>
</ul>
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Anyone else care to venture a guess at the methods based just on the first element or just on the last element?</div>
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CODE:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgot3rgijtnworihqZFIjgrhZMzmr2aTxJQqGr7cZhv3UumvMIaEaOGGMPXCU6V2wkE-le3KcLFuqYQI2jy-gq2ejq15bVZpHEM1FG_BwIlEH3tuVqGP6aaVETBXilfGeBRhawzDtvT000/s1600/dropdownitem.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgot3rgijtnworihqZFIjgrhZMzmr2aTxJQqGr7cZhv3UumvMIaEaOGGMPXCU6V2wkE-le3KcLFuqYQI2jy-gq2ejq15bVZpHEM1FG_BwIlEH3tuVqGP6aaVETBXilfGeBRhawzDtvT000/s1600/dropdownitem.png" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />
s = ds_list_size(lone.lil);<br />
<br />
if dropdown.shift != 0<br />
{<br />
hoverbox = false;<br />
fade = 0;<br />
}<br />
<br />
if hoverbox = true<br />
{<br />
if fade < 1<br />
{<br />
fade += 0.05;<br />
}<br />
}<br />
else<br />
{<br />
fade = 0;<br />
}<br />
<br />
<br />
if itemnumber = (s-1) //checking to see if last item in list<br />
{<br />
global.bottom = y; //get grabbed by scroll bar<br />
<br />
if dropdown.shift > 0 && abs(distance_to_point(x,dropdown.y+400-34)) < 5 //<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = 0;<br />
}<br />
<br />
if y+17 < (dropdown.y+400)<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = ((dropdown.y+400)-(y+17)); <br />
}<br />
<br />
if abs(dropdown.shift) > 1<br />
{<br />
if room_speed > 30 //deceleration based on room speed<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = ((dropdown.shift * 0.98)); //deceleration<br />
}<br />
else<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = ((dropdown.shift * 0.96)); //deceleration<br />
}<br />
}<br />
else<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = (0);<br />
}<br />
<br />
}<br />
<br />
else<br />
<br />
if itemnumber = 1<br />
{<br />
<br />
if dropdown.shift > 0 && abs(distance_to_point(x,dropdown.y+18)) < 100-70<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = 5;<br />
}<br />
<br />
if dropdown.shift > 0 && abs(distance_to_point(x,dropdown.y+16+35)) < 5<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = 0;<br />
}<br />
<br />
if (y-17) > (dropdown.y+18)<br />
{<br />
dropdown.shift = ((dropdown.y+18)-(y-17)+0); ///////<br />
} <br />
<br />
<br />
}<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-60314760291326771172012-07-23T22:32:00.001-07:002012-07-23T22:35:00.005-07:00On Teaching... without any students<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRX_S5o1lImmqLAjBSy_6JBb8yYtdfYlm8FFlxUkadSX2pVxYV9QE1YngG0AWmVBjX6F34VL1_lAFxmc_qMvk7LbV9f-TPfWDJn4ohI1Ncow3RpYIvdwhT5FpT2fx9_OsI2VCwHTsTYc/s1600/IMAG0015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRRX_S5o1lImmqLAjBSy_6JBb8yYtdfYlm8FFlxUkadSX2pVxYV9QE1YngG0AWmVBjX6F34VL1_lAFxmc_qMvk7LbV9f-TPfWDJn4ohI1Ncow3RpYIvdwhT5FpT2fx9_OsI2VCwHTsTYc/s320/IMAG0015.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
So, I've been attending Okinawan Karate Club for over a year. <br />
<br />
I started at Chung Fu Do about 10 years ago, got my yellow, orange, and green belts there. CFD was headed by Sensei Wilkewitz, and was one of three sister schools along the front range of the same lineage teaching Shudokan Karatedo. Sempai Fussman went from brown to black belt. Class was held above the Rio downtown and we had about 25 regular attendees. I started attending because my mom and sister were having fun with it. I kept going because of the incredible amount of fun and fellowship. Every class, I said, "I was having trouble getting motivated to go work out, but I am so glad I went. I learned so much! The people are fantastic."<br />
<br />
Then about five years ago, Sempai Fussman had been leading almost every class and Sensei Wilkewitz was unable to participate as much. So Sempai Fussman started Warrior Gate and became Sensei Fussman. I followed and obtained my purple belt after a couple prolonged breaks. Class at Warrior Gate was excellent as well. I watched Sensei Fussman become a true leader and skilled teacher. We studied Chi Sao and I learned to connect all my movements to my center and through that manipulate my opponent/partner's center.<br />
<br />
But life happens, and Warrior Gate closed, so I joined my third Shudokan line school with Master Shafer. And it has been an excellent move - we think very similarly and he has spent over 25 years analyzing every aspect of the art. I find my desire to learn met, and have picked up more history and the why it all works than I thought I ever would. I know why he is a Master - he demonstrates a well planned and executed curriculum for all levels. There's only one problem. Right now, I am a brown belt and that is primarily a teaching rank. There are no students of lower rank actively participating right now. I need someone to teach!<br />
<br />
[Shameless plug] - come learn from me and from Master Shafer and Sankyu Deb Shafer (Master Shafer's wife, and the dojo Sempai - head student)<br />
<br />
Here's the card:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitiR8-Fy2KTvs4F_nutkmFpswNerdURrDl7VSBaaNALzyUy4VFDRfJwTFsbRXRvP0-1vbVwqEzQFzOQZ7vHwXVZ56H_8unDQuul6cKCtp6A7HMC36pmzkYJXpsOMStsftYgu7txldXSA/s1600/2011-08-04+07.14.26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiitiR8-Fy2KTvs4F_nutkmFpswNerdURrDl7VSBaaNALzyUy4VFDRfJwTFsbRXRvP0-1vbVwqEzQFzOQZ7vHwXVZ56H_8unDQuul6cKCtp6A7HMC36pmzkYJXpsOMStsftYgu7txldXSA/s320/2011-08-04+07.14.26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.okcway.com/">http://www.okcway.com</a></div>
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Tonights class discussed the Regulatory Path, the areas we study to establish finer awareness and therefore finer control as we progress through the ranks, starting with body (balance, coordination, speed, force, etc...), breath, mind and so on. Great discussion. We are a pretty geeky school at heart.</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So, no students, but we (Sempai Shafer and I) are learning about the logic behind each of the drills, and the sequencing and order that is used to mutually reinforce growth so that a brown belt is attainable in 2-3 years and a black belt within four years. I personally still prefer a slower pace, but it is really cool to see all the pieces fit together. And I believe I have learned more about pedagogy and teaching through karate than through my time working for CSU in assessment.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-45732472908640105152012-07-18T06:37:00.000-07:002012-07-18T06:37:26.150-07:00Dev time?So, writing apps really isn't my full-time day job. It's my passion.<br />
<br />
We started using Game Maker Studio to try something that produces android and iOS native apps so we can have a snazzy check-in app for student coming into CASA for an advising appointment. Get them engaged, ask some basic questions, and invite them to start exploring majors and creating their story, interactively, before their appointment, so they come to the advisor excited and ready to discuss options.<br />
<br />
Today I found this article:<br />
<a href="http://moacube.com/blog/professional-developers-look-at-gamemaker/">http://moacube.com/blog/professional-developers-look-at-gamemaker/</a>
<br />
<br />
So, it looks like GMS isn't ready for prime time (something we already knew from issues with the http_get method failing). But the developers seem to be working on it at a quick rate. And it IS an excellent rapid prototyping system. If we need to re-write apps for release, so be it. All the resources will be ready, as well as a lot of the logic.<br />
<br />
Besides, I'm quite enjoying this.<br />
<br />
BUT! Today I won't have a chance to work on it. Today, working on a mail-merge, lots of meetings, and completing the Student Advising Notebook application written in C# MVC 3.0 - want to release that as soon as possible so that advisors have a chance to try it and provide feedback.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-46889239990872799962012-07-17T06:37:00.000-07:002012-07-17T06:37:11.023-07:00RecoveryThis weekend was obnoxious. I caught something from Collin, and it was not fun. Had to miss a BBQ and doing much away from the house. At least I didn't throw up like Collin did.<br />
<br />
The worst part about being sick is how you feel like you are missing everything and that life will pass you by while you are recuperating. Then you realize, hey, my body is probably telling me something (I haven't been getting enough sleep), and to enjoy everything else, I first need to be in good health.<br />
<br />
So I polled my facebook friends, and apparently they only want to hear about unicorn poop and rainbows. Which is retarded. It's what my almost three year old would ask for. Well, he'd ask just for the poop part and then I'd remind him again that people don't like it when he talks about poop all the time and could he talk about rainbows instead? So where do the unicorns come in? I don't know.<br />
<br />
Speaking of, Collin is very clever. He can make up stories now. He told one last night about spiders he found out in the garden. They climbed up their web, up and up, until they were at the top. Then (according to mr. almost-three) they pooped and it went on everything and everything turned into poop. And Collin should have ended up in time-out for that one.<br />
<br />
So, ummm, technology?<br />
<br />
Matt and I have been working on GMS - list maker application. Friday we got GMS to run a game on iPad, and over the weekend Matt and Mike got scroll working more nicely and the ability to dynamically create lists and add new items to lists. Yesterday we figured out how to restrict the width of a field so that text typed in does not overflow the box but instead hides text. Some progress. Marcia created her first seamless tile, which we will probably use in the list program.<br />
<br />
Restricting text basic methodology:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">A user types on their keyboard and as they type a string buffer is filling.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">The string buffer is drawn on the screen in the location of the focused text box, offset a tiny bit to center it. Naturally, since the 'text box' is just a sprite on the screen, when the text being drawn on top of it overflows, it just keeps going</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Instead, check the length of the string. If the string length is larger than the box, set the string to be displayed to cut off the first character. Keep cutting characters until the text fits. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: white;">Viola! The text stays in the box</span></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-5909977830943288422012-07-12T23:03:00.004-07:002012-07-12T23:04:40.434-07:00Apparently, I love to workToday's list of completed tasks:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Pull a list of currently enrolled students</li>
<li>Attend Coordinating Council where we interviewed a candidate for Business Manager and Data Analysis</li>
<li>Reviewed annual reports from other CASA units</li>
<li>Fixed Pidgin not connecting on two computers</li>
<li>Worked with Matt on scrolling with acceleration in GMS</li>
<li>Answered 22 emails and deleted over 100</li>
<li>Added advisors to Animal Sciences advisor list</li>
<li>Fixed Reisher Scholars Committee app to display all students that applied</li>
<li>Pulled lists of Transfer Students in particular classes for targeted recruitment into Transfer Mentor groups</li>
<li>Dropped of projector with all cords located in the bag, picked up kids toy workbench</li>
<li>Attended karate class</li>
<li>Fixed orientation housing rate breakdown to reflect new tax distribution - adapted reports to have multiple rates per program per year, differentiated by date. We can make deposits again!</li>
</ul>
<div>
Today I discussed:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Genetically modified crops</li>
<li>Physics</li>
<li>Quantum Physics</li>
<li>Teaching Multiple to Orange belts</li>
<li>Tai Chi Soft-Hands vs. Wing Chun</li>
<ul>
<li>These are both "soft" arts which focus on relaxation, compared to Karate which is a "hard" art and driven by tension. Of course, all styles use both relaxation and tension, so perhaps it's better to consider as "more yin" or "more yang". Tai Chi soft hands has as a goal to connect and continue/redirect the motion where Wing Chun is more spring-board using their energy to strike.</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7204912956834585631.post-40445406756245245532012-07-12T07:32:00.002-07:002012-07-12T07:32:53.971-07:00Foothills of Technology<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwdHCZd5VTPLN_Tc0hKH84TzfBFmgln08mUK4u33hyphenhyphenIwsvBrWp188yfWESBflYDemFOEznxWdmdFDWkF9tDVA-cXjpaAoQf4LqSyuw1upEX_MinNS5spoHob4nqOHRJwiHSiW0obTuag/s1600/IMAG0024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBwdHCZd5VTPLN_Tc0hKH84TzfBFmgln08mUK4u33hyphenhyphenIwsvBrWp188yfWESBflYDemFOEznxWdmdFDWkF9tDVA-cXjpaAoQf4LqSyuw1upEX_MinNS5spoHob4nqOHRJwiHSiW0obTuag/s640/IMAG0024.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rainbows after much needed rains - the High Park fire was about 12 miles outside of Fort Collins. The Poudre has black-water rapids today.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
It was not the beginning, but it was a beginning...<br />
<br />
I am beginning this blog to chronicle my development process and anything I happen to be thinking about as I begin a new project.<br />
<br />
The project: learn to create mobile applications. Make things I want to use. Kinda like Jim Butcher writes the kinds of books he would like to read.<br />
<br />
About a week ago, I started learning Game Maker Studio. I followed the basic tutorial and had that clown running all over the place. Collaborating now with several others on two projects that are still in their infancy:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>list management</li>
<li>clockwork faeries story/game</li>
</ul>
<div>
Because I really want them both, I am going to share details throughout the design process. This transparency might enable others to "steal" the ideas, but we all might benefit from that as well. Of course, not sure that my collaborators would feel the same way...</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So, as I have time throughout the day, I'm going to write this stuff down. Make it a habit, several times a day and I hope the habit sticks!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Now, off to finish 89 emails for my job here at CSU.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18038544806557055002noreply@blogger.com2