Long time, no blog... on Blogspot at least. Thanks to the Chinese Communist Party.

I haven't posted on Blogspot for a long time for a variety of reasons but the main one is that... Blogspot is blocked in China.

Much of my work is now teaching online to students in China. During classes, I would post links to my pages on pbwiki and occasionally posts here. But it took a while before a student finally admitted "we can't see the links".

I did some research and found that both PBwiki and Blogspot are blocked in China: not just specific pages but the whole domains. They are blocked by "the Great Firewall of China", the system created by the current Communist government of mainland China to block ordinary Chinese internet users from seeing webpages with information and opinions the Communist party doesn't want them to see.

As sites like PBwiki and Blogspot allow anyone to post content, and because many have posted content the Communist party wants to block, the Great Firewall (GFW) blocks not just specific pages but everything from these sites.

So I looked into some alternative free website creation/hosting services and found Weebly. I checked that it wasn't blocked in China (it's not... so far). So I created a Weebly site, started migrating my PBwiki stuff over there and also blogging there (posts intended for students, not teachers). And I kind of forgot about Blogspot.

I might continue posting here about issues relevant to teachers and keep Weebly for my students.

So teachers, if you're dealing with China, remember to check that any resources you use are accessible there. Here's some info:

• UPDATE (2011-03-29) GreatFirewall.biz. Found a great website focused on providing info about this issue. You can check if a site is available in China, read news on this issue, find tools to get around the GFW and more.
• WebsitePulse - Website Test behind the Great Firewall of China - input a website address and see if it's available behind the Great Firewall of China (a.k.a. GFW, Golden Shield Project)
• Wikipedia - List of websites blocked in the People's Republic of China
• Some notable sites that are blocked in China: Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Dropbox

Using a headset microphone: how to position it

To have good quality sound when you speak (either in an online class or making a recording), it is important to have the microphone in a good position.

If it is too far away from your mouth, your voice will be too quiet and maybe a lot of other sounds (from your office or home) will be heard.

If it is too close to your mouth (& nose), your breathing will be heard. Even if you think your not making any sound, the microphone will hear a loud sound like a strong wind.

The best position, in my opinion, is to have the mic near the mouth but down a little. That way it hears your voice well but doesn't get hit by your breathing.

The pictures below give an idea of what I think is a good position for a headset boom mic:

Here's a link to another article on this issue: The Correct Position for A Headset Microphone

Xerte - time to give this open-source e-learning authoring tool another try?

I've looked at several tools over the last few years for creating content for online learning: Hot Potatoes, Articulate Quizmaker, eXe Learning, Toolbook, MOS Solo, WBTExpress Moodle Edition etc.

Another one I looked at a while ago was Xerte - open-source authoring software (using Flash and XML) produced at the University of Nottingham. At the time it seemed rather unfinished and to have a strange (for me) workflow.

However today I received a newsletter from Kineo (an e-learning services company) that linked to a review of a more recent version of Xerte, as well as a new product called Xerte Online Toolkits.

The review mentions a few drawbacks but on the whole is positive, and I was impressed by some of the possibilities offered by Xerte Online Toolkits in this demo.

Features like synched audio & text, synched video & text and audio slideshows seem like they could be especially useful for language e-learning.

So I'm going to give Xerte another try, and also have a go with the Xerte Online Toolkits and see how it goes.

After all, free is a price that can't be beat, and freedom (as in open source/free-libre software) is just as precious.

How to stop Gmail blocking important e-mails as spam

• Problem: Gmail blocks/diverts/filters e-mail messages you really need to receive.
• Solution: Create a "Never Send to Spam" filter in Gmail for the source of those e-mails.

Gmail is a free e-mail service from Google that has various benefits. But also, in my experience, one big drawback: it has stopped me from seeing e-mails I needed to see, because it thinks it might be spam or have a virus.

Several times now I have missed crucial messages because:

1. Gmail diverted the messages to the Spam folder, thinking them spam or viruses.
2. Gmail hides the Spam folder. See the picture below of the menu on the Gmail web page.

To even see if there's anything being designated as Spam, first you have to click on "7 more". (I have no idea why!)

Then you'll see a link for "Spam". Click on it and finally you can see if and what e-mails are being blocked as spam.

I received successfully many e-mails from my work with an online teaching company, but several important messages had been diverted as spam or viruses, and I didn't even realize these messages existed.

These messages were not spam or viruses but did have one or more of the following characteristics:

• Sent to multiple recipients (i.e. a group of teachers)
• Contained attachments with software (i.e. the program for giving the online classes)
• Contained links to software (i.e. the program for giving the online classes)

Needless to say, missing important work messages is a very bad thing, and I considered giving up Gmail. But I eventually found a blog post about this issue and I think I've resolved it.

Stop Gmail diverting important messages: Create "Never Send to Spam" Filter

All the blocked messages came from email addresses of the online teaching company, hiknow.com. So here I show how to prevent messages from (xyz)@hiknow.com from being blocked. Do this process with any other domain (e.g. whatever.com) you need.

1. Click on "Settings" at the top of the Gmail page.

2. Click on "Filters".

3. Click on "Create New  Filter".

4. In the "From" box, write the domain you want to be sure to receive messages from. (I put an asterisk in front of @, I think that will include any username based at the domain.) (If you want, you can click test search to see what will be affected). Then click "Next Step".

5. Check "Never Send to Spam". Check "Apply to (x) conversations below" to restore earlier blocked messages. Then click "Create Filter".

That's it. Before,I received some messages but also missed several important messages from xyz@hiknow.com were diverted as spam and I didn't see them. Now I should receive all messages from anyone at that domain.

TED: Jay Walker on the world's English mania

TED is a series of conferences about interesting ideas. (Wikipedia: TED)

In the February 2009 conference, Jay Walker, an inventor and entrepreneur twice called by Time magazine one of the "50 most influential business leaders in the digital age," gave a short talk about what he feels is the world's mania for learning English (with some amazing scenes of English learners in China).

• TED Talks: Jay Walker on the world's English mania

Another great TED talk about creativity, and what education does to harm it, by Sir Ken Robinson.

Sir Ken Robinson | Profile on TED.com via kwout

Practice with different avatars

Avatars are usually an image to represent you online or in a computer program: in a forum, in an instant messenger etc. They help put a "face" to your online presence.

I've been trying some websites that let you create/design avatars. (You could of course just use a photo of yourself, 

Here's one I created at meez.

Here's a speaking one from voki. And a page with lots of info on using these talking avatars in teaching: Voki - Avatars in Education.

eBook - Kaplan TOEFL Paper-and-Pencil

OOPS: I made a mistake; it was not this Kaplan book I was thinking of. It was TOEFL Exam Success.

Been a bit inactive lately, so here's a quick post on an eBook: Kaplan TOEFL Paper-and-Pencil, 3rd Ed

A handy book for my classes as (so far) the only TOEFL option they've had at our university is the Paper-and-Pencil Institutional TOEFL (TOEFL-ITP).

I like how the book doesn't just have an answer key at the back but also explanations on what's correct and incorrect.

Kaplan TOEFL Paper-and-Pencil, 3rd Ed

• View Online (& download) at Scribd
• Download from Dropbox
• Read comments (& buy) at Amazon.com