HiTechHall’s Tech Waves

It’s been awhile, but I haven’t been slacking. Sometimes you just have enough time to DO; the writing about it, or writing about anything else for that matter, has to wait. Over the past 3 weeks I’ve been updating my old original Web site, choosing to keep the original structure and graphics that I created back in ‘99 when I first started it. I admit it has an old-school look and feel, but I think it’ll still get the job done in this Web2.0-mad world. And besides, it reminds me of the good-old Web1.0 days.

A lot of the work involved changing the URL from the old “Stevendhall.com” to the new and, well, maybe not too much more excitingly-named “HiTechHall.com.” I hope I never, ever have to change the name again though. It was a major pain. No wonder many people have gone to Content Management System (CMS) type sites lately. In fact the software that powers this site, WordPress, is a CMS. I’ll be spending some time getting to know it, and maybe even spruce up the look and feel of this blog a bit.

In addition to this blog, HiTechhall.com now includes a wiki (Wikispaces), a learning management system (Moodle), a video area, a podcast section, and even an Intranet, which is basically a secure, password-protected part of the site where I can stash things that I don’t want the whole world to see, at least not yet. Many schools have such a restricted area where staff can log-in and access school documents and resources that aren’t desired on the main school Web site. This area can be reached from any Internet-connected machine.

So what I’m aiming at with HiTechHall, if you haven’t noticed, is not only an introduction to who I am and what I do, but what I think are important tools for schools and students to have access to. In a sense, I’m trying to shape HiTechHall into what I believe a modern school’s site should look like, not physically, but in terms of the technology resources and structure that I see all schools needing. I’ve got a long way to go in developing this idea, but hey, at least I’ve started.

And I’ve started this blog again. I’ve read that it takes about a year of consistent writing to develop one’s true writing “voice,” so I’d better get cranking. Be sure to check out my Blogroll links to the right. These are fellow technology educators and thinkers whose voices I feel are worth keeping up with.

Ok, now I’m ready to create the podcast of this entry, using Audacity to create the mp3 file and Listgarden for the RRS feed. Both are free tools, and free is good.