“… a computer glitch slowed the registration to a crawl while hundreds of people waited outside…”

We have no idea what the potential impact of our products are going to be. What caused the glitch that held up the evacuation of New Orleans? It could have been a problem in the registration application or the networking software. It might have been a faulty network cable or an improperly setup network switch. Perhaps it was a faulty motherboard. Lack of proper training is another potential cause. It could have been any combination of problems cause by a lack of quality work along the line from manufacturing to data entry.

The message is clear. We must take care in all of our work. Just imagine your product being used in a worst case scenario and put the care into it that your loved ones deserve. Its the ethical thing to do.

Meanwhile let’s all pray for New Orleans and the people of the Gulf Coast.

CNN is now offering the news as a series of podcasts you can include in your virtual classroom or broadcast in class. The podcasts feature embed code to allow easy inclusion into your course management software or blog. See below.

These podcasts are the same news reports and features as reported on CNN’s television broadcast. These means you can include timely information in your course. How long each podcast will be available is yet to be determined. I’ll see what I can find out and update you on this.

Adding a podcast is straight-forward. First equest the embed code. The CNN server is slow to respond but be patient and it will appear over the podcast. Then simply cut and paste it into your course or blog. I used the keyboard commands [CTRL]-[C] to copy and [CTRL]-[V] to paste. If you are using a Mac simiply replace the apple key for the control key.

CNN’s embedded podcasts produce annoying scrollbars. I did eliminate one by resizing the viewing window. Experimenting with the width and length parameters of the embed code should eliminate them entirely if you have the time and patience to experiment. I suggest living with the scrollbars.

Copyright? CNN is placing its material on the World Wide Web and freely offering the code to use it. I am not a lawyer but they’re behavior does not suggest this is an issue.

Overall I believe this is an important opportunity for educators to include high quality and current information into courses.