Eric Hoefler

Managing Your Facebook Privacy

Thursday, August 19, 2010

I developed a document for my work to provide an overview of the privacy options in Facebook. I’ve modified it a bit for personal use and thought that others might find it helpful. Of course, this will likely be out-of-date within a month, given the way Facebook’s privacy settings and offerings continue to evolve, but [...]

So Much Wrong

Monday, April 7, 2008

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I don’t even know where to begin with this recent article from New York Magazine, “Testing Horace Mann,” about the fallout (or lack thereof) from offensive student postings on Facebook. It’s at the center of the current technology-related problems schools face. Part of this has to do with new problems the technology makes possible, but [...]

Volunteer Ed-Tech-ing

Saturday, September 1, 2007

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School starts in Prince William County next week. Even though I’m not teaching at Woodbridge High this year, I’ll still be helping my former colleagues with their online needs, which means I’ve been spending time thinking about what the students will need this year in their courses and how best to meet those needs. What [...]

Maybe They Don’t Need It

Friday, August 24, 2007

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As I make (and re-make) plans for some extended travel, I’ve found myself thinking about the web presence I’ve built for the Northern Virginia Writing Project that will soon pass into the hands of someone else. However, before I let go, some changes need to happen to better address three goals: simplicity, collaboration, and reality. [...]

The Killer EdApp

Saturday, February 24, 2007

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This Wednesday (Feb. 28th, 2007), I’ll be talking with Paul Allison and others on TeachersTeachingTeachers.org about various CMS (Community Management System) solutions for schools. Specifically, I’ll be talking about Joomla. I’ve written some notes on Joomla before, and have been talking to a few teachers in other districts about its potential for the classroom. For [...]

Watching LibraryFriends

Saturday, February 24, 2007

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I recently figured out how LibraryThing handles “friends,” and it makes the site even cooler. LibraryThing doesn’t call friends “friends” (because maybe they’re not really your “friends”) and doesn’t make the list two-way (so you can follow someone’s library without letting everyone else know whose library you’re following). Instead, LibraryThing uses a “watch list.” When [...]

Freedom and Safety for All

Saturday, January 20, 2007

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Last week, my creative writing students pulled out their laptops and headed over to the eStudio that I setup on ELGGSpaces (which is designed specifically with education in mind, and for which I had just spend $99 out-of-pocket to make the space ad-free.) They were going to upload some new drafts, write some blog posts [...]

Making Connections

Thursday, December 7, 2006

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I had a great time listening in (and adding a few words) to the Skypecast tonight on EdTechTalk.com. (You can read background information and grab podcasts from TeachersTeachingTeachers.org). I was greatful to be invited into the conversation and my head’s still swimming with ideas from tonight’s talk. The subject for the evening revolved around best [...]

MySpace and Parental Guidance

Friday, May 12, 2006

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Not long ago, I posted an entry in which I supported maintaining the freedom to access and share information, tools, and resources. I still agree with that. I also understand the dangers that some of the information, tools, and resources bring with them. However, I don’t believe that the right response to those dangers is [...]

YouTube & MySpace: Letting People Do Stuff

Friday, April 28, 2006

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I’ve always been a big fan of "letting people do stuff" … assuming that stuff doesn’t include anything that hurts other people. Of course, there will always be people who hurt other people, and we call them "mean people," and–as t-shirts have been telling us for years–mean people suck. But you don’t put the entire [...]