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School administrators anxiously await weather developments and usually err on the side of caution when dangerous weather threatens road conditions. Safety is a primary concern and these decisions are not easy for school administrators. Many schools offer updated websites to keep the public informed of changing conditions as well as alerting local news media. In addition some schools offer a call tree or an automated calling center that will automatically dial the numbers of parents and relatives to inform them of school closings or for emergency use. With the recent tragedy at Northern Illinois University and similar events in the recent past many schools are more seriously investigating a calling center as a method for emergency response to keep the public and students informed. This technology allows officials to add phone numbers to a database that will automatically dial and deliver a customizable pre-recorded message to a call list on demand. Technology is used in many ways by educators from instructional technologies in the classroom to administrative data systems at the central office level. Technology touches every aspect of modern life and we are becoming more and more dependent upon it.
Here in Charleston all schools are open so it is just another day at work. It was a bit of a busy morning at the ITC as we had a visit from our new President of EIU, Dr. Perry, and we also had fifty third graders here for a new semester of Project WOW. Check out Episode 9 of TechTalk4Teachers for an overview of the Podcasting with Third Graders project we helped with last semester. A link to the Fall 2007 edition of Project WOW is in our show notes.
Project WOW – Fall 2007
http://www.eiu.edu/~ilheroes/index.html
Tom’s Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology pick of the week this week is the Horizon 2008 Report published annually by the New Media Consortium. This years report marks the fifth year anniversary of this report and was just released last month. The Horizon Report profiles emerging technologies as they relate to learning and education. I always assign a reading from this report to all the technology-related university teacher education classes that I teach. It is the best up-to-date resource that I have found for learning about emerging technologies and their application to teaching and learning environments. This is also an excellent resource for Principals and other school administrators for keeping up with the latest trends in technology use by students. The Horizon Report looks at technology trends that are out one year or less, two to three years away, and four to five years away and discusses educational technology trends and implications for educators. The report is approximately 36 pages and is well worth a read. This years report features six emerging technologies from cell phones to collaborative Web 2.0 technologies. Since this is the fifth year for this report it also looks back over the past five years and discusses the Megatrends that have occurred. Another thing that I really like about the Horizon Report is that it is licensed under the Creative Commons license. Here is a quote from the Horizon website about the report, “All Horizon Reports are released with a Creative Commons License and may be freely replicated and distributed for noncommercial purposes provided that each is distributed only in its entirety.“ This site practices what it preaches by sharing in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that Web 2.0 technologies make possible.
The past five years have seen a shift to increased broadband Internet access that has led the way for the development of many Web 2.0 technologies. Think back about the past five years, companies like YouTube, My Space, and Facebook did not even exist and today have permeated our everyday culture. One reason they did not exist is because most Americans did not have the bandwidth required to use Web 2.0 technologies. In rural Illinois not having adequate bandwidth is still a problem in most communities and does inhibit the use of web-based applications.
Be sure to check out the show notes for three links that I have posted related to the 2008 Horizon Report.
Horizon Project Website
http://www.nmc.org/horizon
Horizon Report Wiki
http://horizon.nmc.org/wiki/Main_Page
Horizon Report 2008
http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2008-Horizon-Report.pdf
Show notes for Episode 26 of TechTalk4Teachers are available on the web at techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com that’s techtalk the number 4 teachers.blogspot.com
That wraps it up for this episode of TechTalk4Teachers. Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, February 22, 2008
tt4t_026 Horizon Report 2008 and a snowy day in Illinois
Friday, February 15, 2008
tt4t_025 Flip Video Camera a Winner
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We are beginning to develop an audience despite the fact that I have not yet listed TechTalk4Teachers in the iTunes, Zune Marketplace, or other podcast directory. People are finding us and I would be interested in how you first learned about the TechTalk4Teachers podcast. According to the website statistics we have had 433 unique visitors from 32 states and 13 different countries since we began this podcast.
The easiest way for people to find us is to type in TechTalk4Teachers in Google or your search engine of choice. Because this show is about technology and education you can help shape the content of future episodes. If you have an idea or a suggestion for a future show please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu Let us know what you like and/or offer your suggestions for improvements.
I would like to ask a favor by having you help spread the word by telling at least one other person about this podcast so we can grow our numbers and get new listeners. The more listeners we have the more we can build a community of practicing educators that can share effective strategies for integrating technology into the curriculum.
If you are visiting techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com website please answer the survey on the right-side of the page. The current poll asks if you had ever listened to a podcast before visiting TechTalk4Teachers. Right now results indicate that approximately two-thirds of our listeners had never listened to a podcast before visiting TechTalk4Teachers.
Tom’s Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology pick of the week this week is the Flip Video Camera. I recently purchased a Flip Video Ultra Camera and so far I give it two thumbs up. A link is provided in the show notes to the Flip Video Camera website.
http://www.theflip.com/products_flip_ultra.shtml
That wraps it up for episode 25 of TechTalk4Teachers. Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
tt4t_024 Open ID – Picking up speed
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Click on the player link above (triangle) to hear this weeks episode using your computers speakers, or subscribe to this podcast using the RSS feed located on the right side of this page, or download this episode to your MP3 player for later listening.
As stated before on TechTalk4Teachers one big barrier of using services of Web 2.0 companies is the problem that users have of managing multiple userids and passwords. Everytime you visit a website you must create a new account that is unique to that site. The OpenID Foundation hopes to change that by providing a common userid and password that could be shared and used by multiple websites. Thus if you already have an OpenID userid, and if the Web 2.0 service you would like to use supports OpenID, you would no longer have to create a new userid and password for each Web 2.0 website you would like to use. I have provided a link in the show notes to two news articles that explain the importance of this news as well as a link to the OpenID Foundation website.
Tech Leaders Support OpenID
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-07MSOpenIDPR.mspx?rss_fdn=Press%20Releases
Yahoo to support OpenID
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141463-c,yahoo/article.html
OpenID Foundation
http://openid.net/
While all this is good news for users who have long wanted a standardized method for logging in to websites via a common userid and password I would suggest that the OpenID Foundation also look at the needs of educators. Right now MySpace allows users as young as 14 according to the MySpace Terms of Service. Yet in reality this is difficult to enforce as the Internet can provide anonymity to its users and the possibility of creating many fake accounts without parental permission. Having children access websites without parental consent is a constant worry. It would be interesting to see if a special category of OpenID could be created that would allow parental supervision if necessary and tag OpenID accounts of underage Internet users. The Internet can be a scary place and supervision is a must for children that use the Internet. Perhaps the OpenID might also provide some type of level control that governs usage. I have not yet heard of any such considerations by OpenID but it is something worthy of consideration at this early stage of development. Leave a comment in my blog and let me know what you think about the OpenID initiative.
Tom’s Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology pick of the week this week is a website that is not yet even one year old. TeacherTube went online March 6, 2007 and provides an alternative to YouTube. The founders of TeacherTube wanted a place that would provide educationally focused videos for teachers, students and home learners. Modeled after YouTube the TeacherTube website also provides a rating system for users to rate their favorite videos. Support files such as lesson plans and activities can also be uploaded and shared. Users have the ability to mark videos as private or public. I have provided a couple of links in the show notes if you would like to learn more.
TeacherTube
http://www.teachertube.com/index.php
About TeacherTube
http://www.teachertube.com/about.php
That wraps it up for episode 24 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this weeks episode are available on the web at techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com that’s techtalk the number 4 teachers.blogspot.com Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, February 1, 2008
tt4t_023 TechTalk4Teachers – Our First Interview
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Click on the player link above (triangle) to hear this weeks episode using your computers speakers, or subscribe to this podcast using the RSS feed located on the right side of this page, or download this episode to your MP3 player for later listening.
Tom’s Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology pick of the week this week is the funbrain.com website. A link is provided in the show notes. The funbrain website features lots of interactive educational games that can be utilized with the Smart Board. Choose between math and reading exercises targeted mainly to elementary students. Since you can use your finger as a mouse with the Smart Board the interactive games and lessons at the funbrain website are a natural fit to be used in combination with the Smart Board. If you are looking for some supplemental lessons or material for reviews be sure to checkout the funbrain website.
http://www.funbrain.com/
Show notes for this weeks episode are available on the web at techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com that’s techtalk the number 4 teachers.blogspot.com For comments and suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu. That wraps it up for episode 23 of TechTalk4Teachers so until next time this is Tom Grissom and this is Gail Grissom, keep on learning.
