• Twitterrific: I am not that avid user of Twitter, but iphone make it a great way to kill some commute time.

• Posterous: a quick way to post photos took with iphone online by sending emails to post@posterous.com. As simple as that. Here is a test page I sent. You can also make posterous to automatically sent stuff to your blogging accounts like twitter, wordpress.

• Instapaper: it has a free version, a great way to save web pages for offline reading.

• Younote: take notes in text or audio form. Can be simply used as a recorder.

Mishra, P., & Koehler, M. (2006). Technological pedagogical content knowledge: A framework for teacher knowledge. The Teachers College Record, 108(6), 1017-1054.

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Dr. Mishra came to HKU and had a seminar on TPCK, (now they call it T-PACK). He was a great speaker and the seminar was engaging. He also touched upon this issue of what drives what that brought echoes in me. His attitude towards this is that what really matter is not which drives which, but the WHY question. The big “WHY” question is really the key. As long as it is appropriately tackled, the matter of which one among TPC serve as the motivator becomes a not-so-significant issue.

This book by Salomon is the dirtiest book I have ever read. Not dirty in that sense, but in the literal sense. I was really reluctant to bring it back at the library the other day. I am glad I did since it turned out to be quite a nice book. It sheds some lights on the distinction of technology and media. Salomon pointed out each media had four types of attributes: content, symbol systems, technologies and social settings.

A medium is closely related to a particular technology, but the medium is not to be equated with that technology, …. A medium of communication entails all four classes of components, but not all of them are equally critical in defining a medium (p. 19)

In this sense, medium is broader concept with technology as one the its attribute.

The book centers on the use of media for educational purposes. Will post more as I read more….

Kozma (1991) also defines media as  “its technology, symbol systems, and processing capabilities”. Technology might influence learning process by enabling or constraining symbol systems and processing capabilities. But of course, technology is not the only factor.

Whether or not a medium’s capabilities make a difference in learning depends on how they correspond to the particular learning situation – the tasks and learners involved – and the way the medium’s capabilities are used by the instructional design.