Currently our youngest son is going through the Autism evaluation process. With our oldest, this took months between appointments with a State psychologist. This time around we are going through the school district. The process is basically the same, though the financial impact is less (the school is evaluating our son for free). This is important, as Autism is still not a covered diagnosis for our health insurance in Utah.

This last week, on Tuesday (yes, Valentines Day), the school psychologist came out and evaluated our son in preschool. The report they sent back was that his speech is delayed by a year (of which we were well aware). The rest of the findings will continue on to his final evaluation in a couple of weeks. The process seems to be taking a long time for us, though I’m sure the school district is working as quickly as they can. It’s not surprising they are busy, as the current estimates of children with Autism in Utah is 1 in 77 (that’s almost 25%!). That’s a lot of children to get evaluated, tested, and placed in school.

Luckily for us, we have gone through this process, and know what to expect. Our first son, though not diagnosed through the school initially, was the real shocker for us. The impact was quite high, sending us through bouts of anger and depression while trying all we could to get our son started on the right path. It’s not something I would want to go through again, and so far this process with our youngest son has had less of an emotional impact.

And yet, it seems the school is unwilling to give him the Autism diagnosis, let alone mention the term. Perhaps they are fearful of scaring us with the prospect of having a child on the Spectrum. After all, I’m sure most parents would be devastated when they hear those words. I know we were the first time. But as we already have one child with Autism, it runs through my family (or rather gallops, it seems), we would be more relieved to know that our son is in a program that can best teach to his needs.

That being said, I have to say I am very impressed with our school district. They provide this service free of charge to make sure our son is best placed to succeed in his learning experiences. I can’t speak for other school districts, but from the horror stories I have heard from friends of family in other school districts both here in Utah and in other States, our school district is pretty impressive. I’m very grateful these services are provided, and think they should be more wide spread.

Downloading

Once I got my voucher from the Apple Developer’s website, I was taken to the Mac App Store to download and install the OS.  This isn’t surprising, as Apple started this process with OS 10.7.  It took about 30 minutes to an hour to download, it being a large file in and of itself.  I then quickly backed up some critical files on my computer (always a good idea before upgrading!), and started the install.

Installation

Nothing changed much from the Lion install here.  It was pretty straightforward in upgrading.  Once installed I did get one update (which surprised me), but the update was for an HP printer driver.  Within 40 minutes I was looking at my new Mountain Lion Mac.

Changes

The first major change that I saw was the Notifications button in the top right hand corner.  This is something that has been sorely needed on the Mac, though Growl has done a decent job with notifications to date.  But I like the iOS feel of notifications, and how they are accessed.

Next, Messages.  I have to say, I’m glad that Apple has opted to add their iMessages into iChat.  It’s a move I hope will be seen in iOS soon, because I’m all about centralized communications.  It helps me keep connected when I need to be, and that’s a good thing.  There is a potential to be too connected, but I think that’s more of an issue with how you use your messages.

Then I needed an update, and instead of opening Software Update, it opened up the Mac App Store!  It seems that all system updates will now be coming through the Mac App Store, as clicking on Software Update from the Apple menu launched the App Store as well.  It was a surprise, but seems logical given the installation process.  Of course, this begs the question: will you need to authenticate to an Admin account AND to the App Store to update your computer?  If so, it looks like mass deployments of updates may need to be rethought.  I might have a better idea once I get a chance to play around with Mountain Lion Server.

Contacts surprised me a little bit, as it took the place of the Address Book.  Though, technically, nothing changed really that I can see other than the name.  It took me a little while to find the Contacts app, as it is not in alphabetical order in Launchpad. But, the new search tool in Launchpad helped narrow that down.  That, by the way, is very much welcome.  I tend to have more than three pages worth of apps on my Mac, and the search tool in Launchpad definitely helps me find the app when I’m thinking about it.  Technically I can use Spotlight to find it as well, but if I’m in Launchpad already, it’s nice to be able to search at that point.

I’m excited about Reminders and Notes being their own apps in OS X 10.8.  Previous to this, Notes was in Mail, and Reminders in iCal.  Not that it’s bad to have them in there, but separating them out makes it easier for me to focus on that aspect.  It’s another feature of iOS that is very welcome on the Mac.

The minor change in Safari that I didn’t notice until today is definitely a welcome change!  Now, there is no longer a separate search box.  It seems Safari has finally updated to take the same feature of both Chrome and IE 9 and integrated the search box into the address box.  Not a critical, game-changer when it comes to browsing the web, but it’s a nice change.  Here’s hoping in the new iOS release the same will come to the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch.

The updates to the Mail, Contacts and Calendars preference pane were great, but I started to see some bugs at this point.  It appears that selecting an account doesn’t necessarily select that Account:  it may still have a previous or next account selected and you are editing preferences for it instead of the intended account.  Again, this is a Preview release of OS X 10.8, so bugs like this are expected (hence why I didn’t install it on my main production computers).

The one thing that I was disappointed with was AirPlay Mirroring, if only because I couldn’t get it to work.  When I got home, I looked for the AirPlay Mirroring display option to show up, just to see how it worked.  But it never did.  Now, it could be that I have my Apple TV wired to my router and the computer is wireless, but they were on the same network so it shouldn’t have been a problem.  I’ll keep playing with it and see if I can get it to work.  To date I’m not sure what use I would have for it at home where I have an Apple TV, but I could see a benefit in the workplace for a quick and easy remote monitor solution without needing dongles for VGA or DVI. Assuming, of course, you have an Apple TV box hooked up to your projector/HDTV.

Anyway, those are the features that I had a chance to play around with.  Notifications, I’m sure, will start to grow up as more apps start to utilize the process.  Game Center is nice, but doesn’t interest me a lot right now, though I do like the connection between the Mac and iOS for similar titles.  To me it shows a level of growth and maturity in the Mac App Store to parallel the iOS App Store, and that’s a good thing for the Apple ecosystem.  Gatekeeper, at least for now, doesn’t seem to have a lot of application for me.  I can definitely see the benefits of it, and for anyone concerned about security in a fairly public arena (Office computers, family computer at home), it’s definitely a good idea, though I can see one option missing: only identified developers (no Mac App Store).  I’m not sure that’s going to happen, as all the updates come from the App Store, but we shall see.

Has anyone else had a chance to play around with Mountain Lion?  What are your thoughts?

My class size was larger than usual, and the students were extremely bright.  All of them caught on quickly and easily, making it possible to cover a lot of topics faster than usual.  We even had time to run a certification exam that afternoon (the student passed!).  

For those who have not taken the class before, we cover the necessary essentials in managing an OS X Lion computer.  We cover installation, configuration, accounts, file systems, Directory binding, providing network services, printing and the boot process.  There’s more and if you are interested in learning, feel free to register!  I call this certification the phone support cert, as it prepares someone to work at the help desk for Mac computers.  If you pass the certification exam then you receive your Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) certification, which is an accomplishment.  Ask anyone that had to take the exam, and I’m sure they would agree.  

I really enjoyed the class today, and I’m looking forward to this April for our Server Essentials class.  That will be a blast as well, particularly since I got to contribute to the Workbook on that one!  

Website

The website is very well put together, even though there is a feeling of “start-up” on the site. The feeling comes from the three badges (as of this writing) that are incomplete (JavaScript Foundations, Photoshop Foundations, and Ruby Foundations). Also, there is generally a delay in getting to certain pages (like the Profile and Dashboard). When you take the quizzes to get your badge, occasionally some will blank out for no obvious reason, meaning you need to go through the questions again.

But the organization is very well done. It’s easy to navigate through the course materials, from one badge to another, and the Dashboard makes it easy to follow up on what your next badges would be. Over all, I really like the website.

Learning Method

The badges are organized by topic, which build upon each other to show which skills you have accomplished. You know you have accomplished the skills, because most badges have challenges and final challenges that require you to show your knowledge by accomplishing a task. It’s well built, and equates to a classroom Topic then Quiz learning method to establish skills. I’ve mentioned the incredible motivating factor that comes from earning a badge.

Straight video lectures with demos are not for everyone. They are great for those who learn in a visual and/or auditory, but those who are tactile in their learning (needing to get hands-on) will find the speed of the videos a little frustrating. Another frustration I experienced was the number of videos or length of videos that will precede a quiz. It requires the student to retain a lot of information. Without more practice for each video, quizzes can get frustrating. In particular I’m thinking about the Introduction to Programming badge and the iOS 4 badge.  Both badges had videos that lasted 11+ minutes, and had several in succession, making it harder to retain information for the quiz.  And I find that it’s the test that helps you learn more than just the lecture.

Overall, I think this is a great way to learn. Video lectures can work well when quizzes are appropriately spaced, and most of these badges do really well.

Delivery

I found the most effective learning experiences with Treehouse were those that had videos lasting no more than 7 minutes, badges (modules) that had no more than 4 or 5 videos, and challenges that preceded a small selection of modules. From there the retention was optimal, while also giving me plenty of content on which to work.

Conclusion

Overall, I would definitely recommend using Treehouse, or any similar badge-based learning method. The motivation you get from earning badges that build into more badges is intense, the ability to show your knowledge in such a clear cut form is refreshing, and the knowledge that you know what you know is even better. Overall, badges are looking like a very viable new way to qualify learning at an incremental level.

As the days and months passed, I never could seem to find the time.  Then, just recently, I finally tried to make it.  But, instead of making it with the recipe as written, I made some changes.  You see, I had some extra sharp white Irish cheddar and some Blue Stilton left over from a New Year’s party, and I wanted to use it up, so I ended up making Blue Stilton cookies instead.

Here is the recipe: 

• 100g of butter, cut into cubes
• 150g all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 60g crumbled Blue Stilton cheese
• 60g grated white cheddar

1. I pulled out the old Food Processor and threw the ingredients in together, and gave it a good pulse until it could be pressed together by itself.  It was a little drier than pie dough, if you are going by texture.  It took about 3 minutes of pulsing to get it where I wanted it.  
2. Next, I put the dough into a ziplock bag and chilled it into the refrigerator for a good 30 minutes.
3. I then preheated the oven to 350 degrees, and pulled out the now chilled dough.
4. I rolled it out into a snake shape (like with Play-Doh), and cut off about 1/4 inch rounds.
5. I pressed the rounds onto the cookie sheet, and baked for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until they were just starting to get golden brown.

I call them shortbread beacuse the texture once done was very much like shortbread.  It crumbles easily, and melts in your mouth.  The flavor of the cheese was muted when they were warm, but as they cooled the flavor got stronger.  To date I have very little left. They go very well with soups.

If you do try to make some, let me know how it went!  

The state of Autism support is daunting. More children are being diagnosed with Autism then ever before, schools are running low on funds and are unable to provide necessary services. Parents are running low on funds to provide services for their children personally. Insurance companies are reluctant to pay for services at the risk of raising premiums for their customers. The government is already running in the red in most States and at the Federal level. The financial situation is daunting when it comes to paying for specialists and therapists to work with children on the Spectrum.

But there is one group of people who are wiling to do the job for free, if they could only find out how: parents and caregivers. They consult with websites, books, and their children’s therapists and teachers. They do their research in trying to understand what they need to do. But we as parents are, quite frankly, not prepared. It’s not because we don’t care, it’s because we just don’t know. We need training, we need consultation, and we need help.

Luckily, at least in the Granite School District, the school system has had the insight to set up a parental training class on how to help their children with Autism. They have specialists come and talk to each parent about each part of Autism. Last night was the first night my wife and I attended, and we loved it. From what we learned, we are better able to understand the behaviors of both our children, and therefore better understand what they are trying to communicate.

It was also a good opportunity to get to know other parents who have children on the Spectrum. We can talk about shared experiences, goals, and get ideas from each other. It’s a social relationship that we can’t get any other way, as few others seem to understand our experiences. They don’t understand that when your child is yelling “No!” at you and trying to get you to say what they want, even if they are wrong, it’s progress.

This type of program is definitely something we need to continue for our schools. In the end, with the help of a few specialists, they are training a legion of special needs aides that will all work for free. That, in my mind, makes for a sustainable way forward in teaching children with Autism.

Badges are, essentially, minor accomplishment trophies, showing a mastery of a skill.  Unlike the old “Gold Star on Forehead” methods used by teachers to reward correct answers, badges can be linked directly to a single skill (or series of skills). Video games use them as a way to modivate the player to continue to play the game by giving them something to work toward that takes perhaps less than 15 to 30 minutes.  Before long, you have a player that has spent hours playing a game just to get a virtual award and feel accomplished.  While many parents have seen these accomplishments as hollow, educators have seen them as a way to keep students interested in learning. 

I have to admit, I was skeptical at first when I saw a number of institutions that apply them.  How can you be sure they show a level of accomplishment?  What is the standard of measurement?  How is the badge a sign of a quality of education, and show a quantative, measured result?  Well, the only way to know for sure would be to test it out.  I found a website, TeamTreeHouse.com, that provided training videos that built the student up with a number of badges.  The rates were reasonable for registration, so I signed up to see what it was like.  

They (currently) have three main badges:  Web Design, Web Development, and iOS 4 Programming.  Looking at the number of videos, the length of each video, I figured if I booked through them I might be able to finish the whole training regime within a month, so I selected every badge path they had.  Then I started on the first badge, which was an Introduction to HTML.  As a learner, you watch a series of short videos (the longest was almost 20 minutes, the shortest was less then 2), and then at the end take a quiz to see how much you learned.  After answering five consecutive questions correctly, you are awarded the “minor” badge, and move on to the next.  After accomplishing all the minor badges in the HTML badge set, you are awarded the HTML badge, and so move on to the next set.  After completing all the Web Design badges, you are awarded the Web Design “super” badge.  

Once I saw how it worked, I was impressed.  Evaluation of student knowledge is critical to learning, both before they start to learn, and after.  By using this method of taking a quiz at any time during the badge sessions, the student can evaluate how much they already know about a given topic, and how much more they need to know.  For online learning, this is great, because students have a way to self-evaluate when they need more instruction, how much instruction, and get instruction on targeted skills they seek. Also, as an added bonus, badges show everyone involved in the person’s education from the teacher, to the parent, to the student, and even to a potential employer, what skills they truly have beyond having “taken a class”.  They may be minor accomplishments, but they represent real skills that have been acquired. 

There is a caveat to this though:  with the automated testing on TeamTreeHouse.com it is possible to continue to try answering questions until you get them right, as the questions repeat from a relatively small subset of questions.  Of course that can be easily remedied by having either a larger question set, a limited amount of time to take the quiz, or both.  Personally I don’t think it’s too terrible, as even by answering a question wrong it forces you to rethink the answer, and that in and of itself is learning.  

So what about our guilded halls of learning in education, both K-12 and Higher Ed?  How can this be implemented?  Well, it would be both very easy (at least in concept), and extremely complex (in execution).  Most educators have already built a well-ordered lesson plan that breaks down into topics, skills, knowledge, etc. that would directly relate to badges, both minor and regular badges.  Continue to collect them, and you get a certificate with all your accomplishment badges, detailing the skills you have learned while studying.  The real problem would be keeping track of these badges.  An easy way would be to offer quizzes and assign them as each quiz is passed.  But someone would need to manage the badge accomplishments, and provide a way to make them “puiblic”, either by having physical badges or digital badges.  

The logistics of the badge question can be worked out, but it will take time to apply it to traditional education.  In the mean time, to illustrate just how addicting learning by badges can be, I started the task of completing all 66 available badges on the site (as of this writing) on Monday and I have just 10 more to go.  It is definitely taking less than the month I thought it would take, and that for me is reason enough to take education with badges seriously.  If you would like to see what these badges look like, you can view my profile.  This is just one very exciting thing I can see coming up for educating a connected generation.  What do you think?

iBooks 2 is essentially the same as iBooks 1, but allows for interactive elements like video media, testing, etc. that have not been available in previous ebook readers. Prior to iBooks 2, these types of interactive books had to be separate apps, though the Yellow Submarine book released by the Beatles and Subfilms, Limited offered a glimpse at what could happen. But other than a significant backend update, the interface and general feel of iBooks 2 is pretty much the same.

The real news, at least in my mind, is iBooks Author. Prior to this app, creating any kind of ebook could be a tedious process. It required a lot of skills that many authors would not have, such as HTML or XML experience, layout skills, etc. And while those skills are still very important for most publishing works, iBooks Author takes a lot of that guesswork out.

The Mac App, free from the Mac App Store, looks a lot like any of the iWork apps. As mentioned in Gadgetbox’s review, it’s like a hybrid between Keynote and Pages, though I would probably take it a step further and say that it looks a lot like Apple’s now retired iWeb app, both in organization and interface.

You are presented with several pre-made templates from which you can select, and add your elements as drag and drop tools. You can add new pages, chapters, prefaces, etc. from the Add Pages tool (top left-hand corner). You can change the view and orientation of the book to see what it would look like in portrait or landscape mode on the iPad, and even preview the book on your iPad when you are done (either with the book or the section.

Once done, you will then be able to publish your book. To publish to the iBookstore, you need to first create an iBookstore seller account. Once you have your account created, you can then download iTunes Producer to submit your packaged book as provided by the Publish tool in iBooks Author.

The really cool thing is that this doesn’t have to be limited to just textbook publishers, or even instructors who create their own textbooks. Anyone can use these same tools to create and distribute their own works for self-publication. That means professional-looking ebooks are now easier to create for the iBookstore at least, and all with free tools. This will have a huge impact on the self-publication industry that is starting to grow.

As an educator, I think this is a great tool. I look forward to creating some sample textbooks to see how the process works, and whether or not it will be something I will be using in the future for my training courses. As a potential author, even of fiction, I think it’s brilliant! The idea that I can take my current work and publish it without the stress of trying to get it noticed by the right agent and going through the publisher’s timeline. Of course there is an argument of quality that would come into play as has been with the self publication market as a whole, but the ease of the process as introduced by iBooks Author takes a lot of the fear out of it.

What do you think of Apple’s announcement?

I’m very lucky. I live in the boundaries of one of the largest school districts (if not the largest) in the State of Utah. That means this school district is well funded as it covers the more affluent East side of the valley, as well as the less affluent West side. And because it is well funded, the school district has been able to build a special school for special needs students, like my son. He has an occupational therapist that works with him and his sensory needs, a speech therapist that is assisting him in learning to talk, a fabulous teacher that coordinates the effort, and a supportive environment that helps all the students that are in need.

And there are quite a few. As Autism becomes more recognized, more children are entering our public school system with needs that many schools across the country are finding difficult to meet due to funding issues. Many districts do not offer special programs for Autism, because they just can’t offer any special programs. Having spoken with many other parents in Utah, I’ve found that our school district tends to be an exception, rather than the rule. This is a problem, as in the State of Utah, Autism is not recognized as a diagnosis by insurance companies, and therefore they do not cover the cost of doctors visits, therapies, etc. But my school district has psychologists on staff that are trained to identify Autism, and cover it as part of the school experience. Once your child is signed up for pre-school, if you or the teacher has a concern about Autism, they are tested for free.

There has been a lot of talk about who should bear the brunt of the costs of Autism therapy. Currently, it is generally the parents of the children, registering their children for expensive therapy sessions that tend to cost between $30,000 to $50,000 a year. But for many less wealthy families, that can be more than they bring in for a year, so their children go untreated or are left to an ill-equipped public school system to try an manage. Insurance companies are concerned, because ABA therapy is a long-term committment, meaning regular pay-outs and a lot less money to build up their companies and pay their investors. If they are stuck with the bill, they say they will have to raise insurance rates for everyone, and as only 1% of the child population is diagnosed with Autism, the families of the other 99% feel like they are having to pay money for someone else. Another call is for the government to step up and increase their spending for Autism support services, as is done in the United Kingdom, among other countries. But with the current global economic state, many countries are calling on more austerity measures that tend to cut benefits like Autism therapy. And with many States seriously in the red on their budgets, spending for Autism services isn’t very appealing.

The bottom line is if no solution is found, then ultimately we all will pay country-wide, as these children with Autism start to move into the Welfare State because they were not given the proper intervention needed to help them contribute to society. And that can be a very long period of public funds paying for someone who would otherwise have been successful. It’s a problem that has no easy answer, to tell you the truth.

Personally, I’m grateful for the benefits I get through my school district. The Granite School District is one that I well respect, having been part of it my whole life (or at least K-12). The fact that they have services for my son, and soon my other son, is a comfort. But even as well funded as they are, they can’t be expected to keep up the pace they have for long without another answer. Classrooms are filling in quickly, and even my son was moved at last minute to a new class with a new teacher that was hired a week before school started. That tells you at which pace that the school district has had to move to keep up with all the new students on the Spectrum. If I had my way, I would like to see a conglomeration of funding come in to our public school systems, with proper and rigorous oversight, and build up programs for Autism across the State (or nation), and as part of that program, have lessons for parents with children on the Spectrum, so they know what they can and need to do to help their children. Because we as parents represent the largest unpaid teaching force in America.. I think it’s about time we were taught how to do it.

Perhaps that’s the answer, and perhaps not. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I do know what has worked for my child. What solution would you propose?

But how does that work into Search engine optimization?  It seems that Mozilla is working on a way to provide any website with the ability to display badges earned for resume pages.  But taking it a bit further, suppose badges are awarded experts and content for their helpfulness?  Enter the Google +1 and Facebook Like buttons, but that is not very telling beyond it being liked.  Why was the content of the page liked?  That is where badges come in.  

If a badge system were developed for websites, it would allow visitors (i.e., consumers) to communicate what about the page that they liked.  Was it informative, funny, designed well, or helpful?  Do they like the services, the company, or just the picture?  This information can then translate back to the company’s design team to find out what works on their site, and therefore they can increase their focus on better badges.  

So is this system likely?  I think so.  Google already provides badges for articles read in the Google News site based on content.  It would just be another logical step to provide badges for sites based on what the user likes about the article/web page/site.  Perhaps it would be too much work for the user to add a reason, though by clicking on a +1 they would just need to tick a prefilled reason why.  Or, should eye tracking software mature enough to see what someone is reading, perhaps it could be automatically assigned.  

The concept is there, the proof has been established.  It just comes down to the wide-spread implementation.  Though if Academia is moving in that direction, I don’t imagine Google will be far behind.  After all, the whole Page Rank system was based on academic reviews of papers.