It’s Friday December 18th, 2009 and welcome to episode 103 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom and I’m Judy Barford. That’s right we have a guest in the studio, welcome Judy.
Judy Barford discusses the value of project-based learning and shares the lessons learned from Project WOW that she has led over the past 12 years here at Eastern Illinois University in partnership with 3rd grade classes at the Carl Sandburg School in Charleston, Illinois.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(26 minutes 14 seconds)
Be sure to listen to this weeks podcast as Project WOW is one of the most effective learning environments developed with Carl Sandburg 3rd grade teachers and students, EIU pre-service teachers and Mrs. Barford that incorporates theory-based research into practical learning experiences for all involved.
Project WOW National Parks Website:
Be sure to checkout the dozen projects about our National Parks created by Project WOW 3rd graders.
http://www.eiu.edu/~wow/classes/fa09/
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a free ebook from author Seth Godin called What Matters Now, a link is available in the show notes. You do not need an ebook reader such as the Kindle to read What Matters Now as it is also available for viewing on a webpage or downloadable as an Adobe PDF document for viewing on your computer.
What Matters Now – free ebook in PDF format
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23711234/What-Matters-Now
This is a free ebook that is targeted more toward a business audience however there is much that applies to education. Seth Godin is a leading thinker in the marketing and Web 2.0 world and is also the author of several best selling books over the past decade such as Tribes, Purple Cow, The Dip, Small is the New Big, and many others. Seth has recognized that the world has changed and is giving away What Matters Now as a free ebook. What Matters Now is really a collection of insights from dozens of leading authors of today compiled in an easy to read 82 page ebook format. If you have some time over the holiday break give it a read and let your creative juices flow with new ideas. Seth has recognized the synergy between new technologies and marketing strategies that is making new things possible from individuals on an unprecedented scale. This same synergy is being applied to education by many educators as we strive to change the world by taking advantage of powerful technologies to amplify and share our message. It is truly a wonderful time to be an educator.
That wraps it up for episode 103 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc To leave a comment or suggestion please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. I also want to let listeners/readers know that this will be the last episode of TechTalk4Teachers for 2009. We will be back in mid-January 2010 with another new episode, until next time this is Tom Grissom, Happy Holidays and keep on learning!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Episode 102 - Tipping Point for ebooks?
It’s Friday November 13th, 2009 and welcome to episode 102 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. This week we have a special guest, Dr. James Harden, talks about the recent Diversity Conference held here at Eastern Illinois University.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(19 minutes 35 seconds)
In the world of ed tech this week Amazon released the Kindle for the PC Beta ebook software. I have downloaded and installed Kindle for PC on a laptop computer. The whole process took less than two minutes and once I logged in to my Amazon account I was able to see all the books I had purchased in the Archive section of the software and was able to download them locally to the laptop. The Kindle for the PC interface is very simple and clean. This is beta software so there will be additional changes in the future but it is currently very functional and gives me another option of reading previously purchased content. I really do believe this event is a tipping point for ebook readers because now any of the billion PC users out there now have a way of purchasing and viewing an ebook using free software. Of course you still have to purchase the content from Amazon but the hurdle of accessing ebooks has now diminished with the release of this free software.
On a personal note I recently purchased the new Droid smartphone from Verizon and I am very happy with it so far. My cell phone contract expired a couple of months ago and I have been researching my options. Since I am currently use the Verizon network the new Droid phone was a logical choice. The Droid uses the new Android 2.0 software and comes with free built-in Google Maps navigation and this feature with free turn-by-turn GPS directions closed the deal for me. The App Store has approximately 10,000 apps that will keep me busy for a while as I explore the functionality of the Droid.
A third item of interest this week involves the five Kodak zi8 cameras that the ITC recently ordered. I made the Kodak zi8 video camera my Technology Pick of the Week on the last episode of TechTalk4Teachers and now that I have had a chance to get my hands on one and use it my views have not changed. The zi8 offers HD quality video recording and more importantly the ability to plug-in an external microphone that will allow for higher-quality audio recording. In my initial tests I am quite pleased with both the video quality and the audio quality. My only complaint is that the zi8 does not ship with an SD card which is required to record HD video, I knew this in advance so we ordered 16GB SD cards along with the cameras but I imagine many people purchasing a zi8 will be disappointed to find out they have to go back to the store to purchase a SD card before they can even use the camera out of the box. Now on to our interview for today.
Interview with Dr. James Harden about the Diversity Conference held at Eastern Illinois University
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is the Beta version of the Kindle for PC software. I have provided a link in the show notes where you can download Kindle for PC beta to give it a try.
Kindle for the PC Beta Download
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311
Kindle for PC allows you to read purchased ebooks from the Amazon store on a Personal Computer. Amazon has sold many Kindles but Kindles are dedicated devices for reading ebooks and are expensive for a single use device. The Kindle for the PC will allow you to read purchased ebooks on your computer.
The jury is still out whether most people will find reading an ebook on a Personal Computer enjoyable but it does open the market for ebook readers and it is no longer necessary to spend money on a dedicated reading device such as the Kindle. It also offers the ability to display color, something the Kindle has not offered to date. The Kindle does offer inking technology seems to be easier on your eyes to read so there still may be a place for the Kindle device depending upon your preferences.
That wraps it up for episode 102 of TechTalk4Teachers. I want to thank Dr. James Harden for the interview today and sharing some of his thoughts on the recent diversity conference as well as how he utilizes new technologies in the classroom with preservice teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(19 minutes 35 seconds)
In the world of ed tech this week Amazon released the Kindle for the PC Beta ebook software. I have downloaded and installed Kindle for PC on a laptop computer. The whole process took less than two minutes and once I logged in to my Amazon account I was able to see all the books I had purchased in the Archive section of the software and was able to download them locally to the laptop. The Kindle for the PC interface is very simple and clean. This is beta software so there will be additional changes in the future but it is currently very functional and gives me another option of reading previously purchased content. I really do believe this event is a tipping point for ebook readers because now any of the billion PC users out there now have a way of purchasing and viewing an ebook using free software. Of course you still have to purchase the content from Amazon but the hurdle of accessing ebooks has now diminished with the release of this free software.
On a personal note I recently purchased the new Droid smartphone from Verizon and I am very happy with it so far. My cell phone contract expired a couple of months ago and I have been researching my options. Since I am currently use the Verizon network the new Droid phone was a logical choice. The Droid uses the new Android 2.0 software and comes with free built-in Google Maps navigation and this feature with free turn-by-turn GPS directions closed the deal for me. The App Store has approximately 10,000 apps that will keep me busy for a while as I explore the functionality of the Droid.
A third item of interest this week involves the five Kodak zi8 cameras that the ITC recently ordered. I made the Kodak zi8 video camera my Technology Pick of the Week on the last episode of TechTalk4Teachers and now that I have had a chance to get my hands on one and use it my views have not changed. The zi8 offers HD quality video recording and more importantly the ability to plug-in an external microphone that will allow for higher-quality audio recording. In my initial tests I am quite pleased with both the video quality and the audio quality. My only complaint is that the zi8 does not ship with an SD card which is required to record HD video, I knew this in advance so we ordered 16GB SD cards along with the cameras but I imagine many people purchasing a zi8 will be disappointed to find out they have to go back to the store to purchase a SD card before they can even use the camera out of the box. Now on to our interview for today.
Interview with Dr. James Harden about the Diversity Conference held at Eastern Illinois University
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is the Beta version of the Kindle for PC software. I have provided a link in the show notes where you can download Kindle for PC beta to give it a try.
Kindle for the PC Beta Download
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311
Kindle for PC allows you to read purchased ebooks from the Amazon store on a Personal Computer. Amazon has sold many Kindles but Kindles are dedicated devices for reading ebooks and are expensive for a single use device. The Kindle for the PC will allow you to read purchased ebooks on your computer.
The jury is still out whether most people will find reading an ebook on a Personal Computer enjoyable but it does open the market for ebook readers and it is no longer necessary to spend money on a dedicated reading device such as the Kindle. It also offers the ability to display color, something the Kindle has not offered to date. The Kindle does offer inking technology seems to be easier on your eyes to read so there still may be a place for the Kindle device depending upon your preferences.
That wraps it up for episode 102 of TechTalk4Teachers. I want to thank Dr. James Harden for the interview today and sharing some of his thoughts on the recent diversity conference as well as how he utilizes new technologies in the classroom with preservice teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Episode 101 - Podcasting is Alive and Well, Powered by 3rd Graders
It’s Friday, October 30th, 2009 and welcome to episode 101 of TechTalk4Teachers!
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Right Click Here to Download MP3
Show notes for Episode 101:
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Project WOW
http://www.eiu.edu/~wow/
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is the Audacity software for recording and editing podcasts and other audio files. Below are some links to get you started quickly with podcasting using the FREE Audacity software.
Audacity Software Download Site (Source Forge)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
LAME MP3 Encoder - (required to save files to the MP3 format)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3
Audacity Tutorial
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html
Poducate Me - Practical Solutions for Podcasting in Education
http://poducateme.com/
Poducate Me - Guide to Podcasting
http://poducateme.com/guide/
Visit the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at:
http://www.eiu.edu/itc
Do you like the new format? Please send comments and suggestions to techtalk@eiu.edu
Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Right Click Here to Download MP3
Show notes for Episode 101:
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Project WOW
http://www.eiu.edu/~wow/
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is the Audacity software for recording and editing podcasts and other audio files. Below are some links to get you started quickly with podcasting using the FREE Audacity software.
Audacity Software Download Site (Source Forge)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/
LAME MP3 Encoder - (required to save files to the MP3 format)
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3
Audacity Tutorial
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html
Poducate Me - Practical Solutions for Podcasting in Education
http://poducateme.com/
Poducate Me - Guide to Podcasting
http://poducateme.com/guide/
Visit the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at:
http://www.eiu.edu/itc
Do you like the new format? Please send comments and suggestions to techtalk@eiu.edu
Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Episode 100 - Podcasting is Dead
It’s Friday, October 30th, 2009 and welcome to episode 101 of TechTalk4Teachers!
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Right Click Here to Download MP3
Show notes for Episode 100:
Leo LaPorte’s Comment – Podcasting is Dead
http://onlinedesignbureau.com/blog/116-social-media-marketing/498-leo-laporte-declares-podcasting-dead
You can fast forward in the video embedded at this website to the 16 minute and 30 second mark to go directly to the “Podcasting is Dead” comments Leo made at the Online Media Association conference on October 4, 2009.
No More Podcast in The New Media Expo – 2007 Podcasting is Dead Comment
http://mwgblog.com/archives/2007/10/01/no-more-podcast-in-the-new-media-expo/
Also in this episode are the comments from three grad students regarding a recent podcasting assignment where the students gave their thoughts about listening to educational podcasts.
Technology Pick of the Week
Kodak Zi8 flip-style camera
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/productID.156585800
Visit the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at:
http://www.eiu.edu/itc
Please send comments and suggestions to techtalk@eiu.edu
Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
In this episode:
Podcasting with 3rd Graders, an interview with Mrs. Judy Barford, Early Childhood, Elementary, and Middle Level Education Department at Eastern Illinois University
Right Click Here to Download MP3
Show notes for Episode 100:
Leo LaPorte’s Comment – Podcasting is Dead
http://onlinedesignbureau.com/blog/116-social-media-marketing/498-leo-laporte-declares-podcasting-dead
You can fast forward in the video embedded at this website to the 16 minute and 30 second mark to go directly to the “Podcasting is Dead” comments Leo made at the Online Media Association conference on October 4, 2009.
No More Podcast in The New Media Expo – 2007 Podcasting is Dead Comment
http://mwgblog.com/archives/2007/10/01/no-more-podcast-in-the-new-media-expo/
Also in this episode are the comments from three grad students regarding a recent podcasting assignment where the students gave their thoughts about listening to educational podcasts.
Technology Pick of the Week
Kodak Zi8 flip-style camera
http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/en_US/pd/productID.156585800
Visit the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at:
http://www.eiu.edu/itc
Please send comments and suggestions to techtalk@eiu.edu
Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Friday, September 25, 2009
tt4t_099 The journey to episode 100, one more to go
Right Click Here to Download MP3
It’s Friday, September 25th, 2009 and welcome to episode 99 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. We have finally made it to 99 episodes and with only one more show go to reach triple digits. Reaching 100 shows was one my goals when I first started this podcast and if feels good to be so close. Back in the day when podcasting was THE “hot topic” for educators it was rare for a podcast series to last 20 episodes, many shows started and then quickly “podfaded” as time went on.
Podcasting has succumbed to the cycle of technological innovation from being the next big thing to just another tool in the quiver of learning technologies available for teachers and students. It remains however an important tool that has much potential for teachers and students as an instructional tool and to also share their stories with the world.
Reaching 99 episodes of course could not have happened without your support and I would like to thank each and everyone of you who has tuned in over the past two plus years to listen to TechTalk4Teachers . We have had listeners from 98 different countries from around the world and I am still amazed at the geographic diversity this podcast has had. As we enter our third year it is time to re-evaluate where this podcast has been as well determine what direction to head into the future.
Recently I have been thinking about changing the format from a once a week show to an every other week show. One thing we teachers know is that there is not just one learning strategy that works all the time, we need to mix it up. I also do not want to get stuck in a rut as this show is produced from a labor of love. It can be a challenge to produce a show every week while working a regular day job with many duties and responsibilities. Those of you that have produced your own podcasts know what I mean. Episodes just do not magically appear. I want to keep things fresh and useful. The plus side of a weekly show is that we now have 99 Technology Picks of the Week and this has been an excellent way to share tech tools that can be used with an educational purpose in the classroom.
What do you think? Please drop me an email or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. This show is for all of us and your input is greatly valued. Let me know what you like, what you might change, and if you have time let me know what was your favorite episode of TechTalk4Teachers or what is your favorite Tech Pick of the Week. I look forward to hearing from you so please take that extra effort and drop me a short note, it will just take a minute and it means so much to podcasters like myself to hear from you.
Part of the purpose of TechTalk4Teachers is to discuss the issues and trends that are occurring in the world of teaching and learning with technology. We are living in tumultuous times and there are many issues on the table that will directly impact the education of our students for years to come.
K-12 schools are working through filtering issues and finding working methods of accessing Web 2.0 resources while at the same time maintaining a safe learning environment for our children.
Technology is expensive and many schools and universities struggle with finding a balance between accessing modern technologies while at the same time managing the budgets required for sustained technological integration which can be costly and recurring as old equipment is replaced with new.
Unfortunately the digital divide is still alive and well in America and the US government is currently working on a national technology plan, the FCC is studying ways to increase affordable broadband access for ALL Americans. Living in rural Illinois the digital divide issue is one that I have been personally affected by. Broadband access is increasingly becoming the currency for learning and those without high-speed Internet access will be left behind. Schools that do not have ubiquitous Internet access are also being left behind. We are living in a world of global competition and other countries in the world often have better Internet access than is available in many parts of the USA. We must be an advocate for affordable broadband access for our students.
There is also a big movement to e-books that is challenging the traditional dead-tree model of textbooks. We are at the beginning of this adoption curve and as standards evolve e-books will increasingly become an attractive option to traditional textbooks.
One-to-one laptop programs are becoming more common as laptops become more affordable and I believe the new low-cost netbooks will accelerate this trend.
These are just a few of the topics that have been discussed over the past 99 episodes of TechTalk4Teachers and as you can see there is plenty of material to cover for the future.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a Web 2.0 service called Live Binder that allows you to build your own online 3-Ring Binder, a link is available in the show notes.
Live Binder : Online 3–Ring Binder
http://livebinder.com/
Getting started was easy and free and after signing up for an account you add a button called Live Binder It to your favorites in the toolbar of your browser. After signing in to your account any time you find something you would like to add to your binder you just click the Live Binder It link in your browsers toolbar.
You do have an option to make the binder public or private however the real power of this service is the ability to share your binders with others. If you decide to share your binder you are given options to email a link to others, share a web address with others or copy an embed code to place it into a webpage or blog. If you go to the livebinder webpage you will see a link to watch a video about some of the many features live binder has to offer, best of all its free.
That wraps it up for episode 99 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, and the 100th episode, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
tt4t_098 EIU tech fair, netbooks, and the eeeasaurus
Right Click Here to Download MP3
It’s Sunday, September 20th, 2009 and welcome to episode 98 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. This past week was our annual technology fair here at EIU and the Instructional Technology Center had a booth at this years event to share some of the many innovations that we have been working on in the College of Education and Professional Studies.
There was a lot of interest in our netbook project and also in what we call our eeeasaurus classroom presentation system. The netbook project is going very well in our college and we shared what we have been doing with these very affordable alternatives to traditional laptops.
Netbooks are miniature laptops that typically cost between three and four-hundred dollars that offer a viable solution for use by our students in the classroom when lessons require technology integration.
Last year we needed to replace one of our mobile laptop carts and after much research and testing we elected to replace them with a netbook solution. We use technologies extensively throughout all of our programs and we serve a large number of students. Trying to reserve time in the ITC Lab is nearly impossible as we have 13 scheduled courses in our lab every week.
To help meet these needs the ITC utilizes mobile laptop carts for faculty to checkout for classroom use by our students for on-demand computing needs. This essentially makes every classroom in our building a computer lab when needed. We have been using this solution for over eight years now and our faculty and students use the mobile laptop carts regularly. Last year the ITC checked-out our mobile laptop carts 365 times to classrooms for faculty and students to use as part of lessons that required technology-integrated activites.
A mobile laptop cart solution requires a strong wireless access component so if you are considering a netbook solution you also need to address wireless access in your buildings if you plan on using Internet resources with netbooks.
The low-cost of the new netbooks meant that we were able to purchase twice the number of units for less than half the cost of traditional laptops. Because we were able to double the number of units purchased, at less than the price of a conventional solution ,we were able to place an additional set of netbook carts in another building that previously never had the ITC mobile cart service available. We can now serve more students and offer more technology-integrated lessons in our classrooms using this on-demand mobile netbook cart solution and we have done so without breaking the budget.
Here is a table of approximate costs comparing a netbook solution to a laptop solution for our needs.
Netbook Solution A
60 units x $400 per unit = $24,000
Traditional Laptop Solution B
60 units x $1000 per unit = $60,000
Thus in the example above we were able to save $36,000 over a traditional laptop solution. It is true that you can now buy a traditional laptop for much less than $1000 but it is also true that you can spend a lot more than $1000 on a traditional laptop. For schools that are experiencing budget constraints or schools that need to serve a large number of students a netbook solution makes a lot of sense.
Now if this were expanded school-wide or state-wide the savings become even more significant. 1000 units at $1000 each would cost $1,000,000 compared to a netbook solution of 1000 units costing $400 each where the cost would be $400,000, a $600,000 savings. Looking at it in a different way you could supply 2000 netbook units for a total of $800,000 and still have $200,000 savings while serving double the number of students compared to the traditional approach. That $200,000 in savings would go a long way for improving the required wireless access points that are also needed for a campus solution. In these days and times of economic turmoil netbooks are certainly something to be considered. Tax payers will also be appreciative of solutions that save significant amounts of public money that provide similar results to the old way of doing business.
Opponents of netbooks often state that the processing power of a netbook is not great enough for all computing needs and it is true that if you do need to do processor intensive applications like video production the current crop of netbooks would not be a good choice. However, netbooks were not designed for video editing, instead they have evolved to take advantage of Web 2.0 services in the cloud by accessing the Internet and thus the name netbook.
I have been using netbooks since they first became available in 2007 and a netbook easily serves 80 to 90 percent of the computing activities that I do. Most of the TechTalk4Teachers episodes have been produced on a netbook.
The other big advantage of the netbooks that we have discovered is the extended battery life that the netbooks offer. We easily get over 8 hours of battery life out of our netbooks and the latest models offer more than 10 hours. Compare that to the 1.5 to 2 hours of battery life that the old laptops were getting and you can see that we are quite pleased with the new netbooks. We checkout mobile laptop carts to classrooms regularly at the ITC and this advantage in battery life is HUGE, recharging between checkouts has been significantly reduced.
I also had several questions from visitors at the Tech Fair regarding the HDTV and netbook setup we were using in our ITC booth. I have provided a picture of our booth in the show notes.
The eeeasaurus is a very simple system and can be built today for under $1500. Rather than re-count the system here I will point you back to epidodes 82 and 83 of TechTalk4Teachers where I shared in detail how we built the now famous eeeasaurus classroom presentation system. Links to episode 82 and 83 are provided in the show notes.
tt4t_082 Meet the Eeeasaurus an affordable classroom presentation solution
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2009/04/tt4t082-meet-eeeasaurus-affordable.html
tt4t_083 The eeeasaurus netbook project, part 2
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2009/04/tt4t083-eeeasaurus-netbook-project-part.html
I also received several questions about the netbook connected to the eeeasaurus that was running the Windows 7 operating system. For those of you that are a bit more technical you will appreciate the fact that I had the full version of Windows 7 Ultimate Release Candidate OS, Office 2007, and Smart Notebook Version 10 applications running on the netbook in the ITC booth at the Tech Fair and it all ran very well.
The netbook I was using in the booth running Windows 7 had the Intel N280 1.6GHz Atom processor with only 1GB of RAM, it was a stock netbook with no modifications or upgrades, a pretty impressive feat.
So, if your school is experiencing budget cuts, as many are, or if you need to be frugal with technology purchases and get the most bang for the buck to serve more students I would encourage you to purchase a netbook and test it out for the situations you foresee your school using. You may be surprised at just how versatile these little guys are.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a link to an article from Wired magazine from back in February of this year that provides additional background information about the netbook phenomenon. Since I have received many questions about netbooks this article does a nice job in describing the history of netbook development and a glimpse to where netbooks are heading in the future. A link is available in the show notes.
The Netbook Effect: How Cheap Little Laptops Hit the Big Time by Clive Thompson
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/17-03/mf_netbooks?currentPage=1
The computer industry is still reacting to netbooks. Many manufacturers have jumped on the netbook bandwagon but the netbook market is still evolving and time will tell if manufacturers can keep costs low. We are beginning to see a blurring of netbook models with new models sporting screen sizes larger than 10 inches, with increased screen size typically comes increased costs.
For many schools netbooks may offer an affordable solution to meet the computing needs of students. Time will tell if these small devices continue in their rise in popularity. Are you using a netbook? If you are drop me a note and let me know how you and your students are using them in the classroom.
That wraps it up for episode 98 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, September 11, 2009
tt4t_097 Working with a net on the Internet
It’s Friday, September 11th, 2009 and welcome to episode 97 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. On the last episode of TechTalk4Teachers I discussed how we are increasingly seeing stories in the news related to the warning signs regarding Web 2.0 services. Over the past couple of weeks there have been a couple more high-profile cases that give some credence to the dangers of relying solely upon Web 2.0 services in the cloud.
Cloud computing is the general term used where companies host their services on servers connected to the Internet and customers use the Internet to gain access to them. Many Web 2.0 services are free and therefore appeal to educators. As long as the servers are in good working condition and as long as customers have a good connection to the Internet everything works fine. The problems typically come when you do not have access to the Internet and therefore cannot use any Web 2.0 service. Another common problem for schools is that many schools filter and block these Web 2.0 services and therefore cannot be used at school.
This past week Google’s gmail web services experienced an outage lasting approximately 100 minutes. An outage on any of Googles servers is extremely rare so when an outage occurs it is big news. For those relying soley upon gmail for their email services users could not access their accounts through web access. If you were one of these users I suspect you may have panicked to find out that you could not log into gmail to check your email during this brief outage period.
I have provided links in the show notes to a couple of articles related to the Google gmail outage if you would like to learn more including a link to Google’s official blog with an explanation of what happened.
CNN Article on gmail outage
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/01/gmail.outage/index.html
Google’s Official Blog
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-on-todays-gmail-issue.html
There was another Web 2.0 incident that recently occurred involving well known technology blogger Robert Scoble who had his WordPress blog hacked and the hackers deleted some of his content along with some other nefarious activities. Hackers also broke into Scoble’s blog back in May of this year and he thought he had the issue resolved until the incident last week.
I have provided links to a couple of articles related to this incident in the show notes.
Scoble – I don’t feel safe with WordPress
http://scobleizer.com/2009/09/05/i-dont-feel-safe-with-wordpress-hackers-broke-in-and-took-things/
Here is a quote from Robert Scoble from a Venture Beat article regarding the recent hacker attack.
“They broke back in, but this time they did a lot more damage. They deleted about two months of my blog. Yes, I didn’t have a backup. I should learn to do backups (we’re doing them now). Life has a way of beating you if you don’t have backups.”
Venture Beat Article
http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/05/hackers-break-into-robert-scobles-blog-and-delete-older-posts/
This is very sad knowing that someone deleted files from your account and is even worse when you know you did not backup your files.
Web 2.0 services in this regard are becoming their own worst enemy because they have been so reliable in the past that we begin to take them for granted. We get lazy and do not routinely backup files because we rarely have a need to use backup files. However when we do need them we REALLY need them and kick ourselves for not taking a few minutes to protect hundreds of hours of work by simply copying important files to a backup device.
It really is RULE #1 of computing, ALWAYS have a backup of your important data files.
How do you know what’s important? I use the pain theory, if it would be painful for me to re-create something I have done using a computer then it is time for a backup. The seconds and minutes that it takes to make a backup is my insurance policy against disaster.
As Director of the ITC I occasionally get a student that comes to me with a flash drive that contains their 25 page report (that is usually due in the next hour) and says that their flash drive will not open their report, somehow the files have become corrupted. Maybe it was that trip through the washing machine. The first thing I ask them is, “Do you have a backup?” You can guess what the answer is most of the time.
Now this can happen to the best of us as illustrated by Robert Scoble’s case. The Scobleizer Blog ranks among the top 500 most popular blogs on Technorati and even a person with his knowledge and abilities has been burned by not adhering to Rule #1. He has paid the price and has lost about two months worth of content.
So the moral of this story is to always have a backup. For Web 2.0 services I call this working with a net on the Internet. When I post an Episode of TechTalk4Teachers to my blog site I also keep a local copy on my computer. That way in the unlikely event that my Google blog account gets deleted or hacked in to I have the original source files in a different location and I can recover if necessary.
It is also why I have a skydrive account where I save selected files to the Internet so I have access to them from anywhere there is an Internet connection. If you would like to learn more about skydrive checkout episode 67 of TechTalk4Teachers, a link is in the show notes.
Episode 67 Crunch Time (Skydrive)
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/12/tt4t067-crunch-time.html
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is from fellow listener Dr. Jake Emmett from our Kinesiology and Sports Studies department here at EIU. Dr. Emmett submitted Evernote to be considered for this weeks tech pick.
Evernote is a great Web 2.0 service especially for people who need a little help with finding things over time. Evernote’s slogan is “Remember Everything”
A link to the Evernote service is also provided in the show notes along with a link to learn more about this innovative service, as usual the basic Evernote account is free.
Evernote
http://evernote.com/
Evernote - Learn More
http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/
Evernote is great service for teachers and students and if you use this service you can place notes, documents, and pictures into your account and they all become searchable. If you need to find something and it is in your Evernote account you just type a search term and Evernote will find everything related to your search. Pretty handy for remembering everything for you.
One of the neatest technologies built into Evernote is the ability to read information stored in picture format (JPG). For example you can take a picture of someones business card and Evernote will recognize the text on the card and the text becomes searchable. Pretty Cool!
Thanks Dr. Emmett for the recommendation. I also invite other listeners of TechTalk4Teachers to submit your favorite tech tools to be considered as a future Tech Pick of the Week. This podcast is all about sharing so let’s share our favorites so we can all become better teachers.
That wraps it up for episode 97 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
Cloud computing is the general term used where companies host their services on servers connected to the Internet and customers use the Internet to gain access to them. Many Web 2.0 services are free and therefore appeal to educators. As long as the servers are in good working condition and as long as customers have a good connection to the Internet everything works fine. The problems typically come when you do not have access to the Internet and therefore cannot use any Web 2.0 service. Another common problem for schools is that many schools filter and block these Web 2.0 services and therefore cannot be used at school.
This past week Google’s gmail web services experienced an outage lasting approximately 100 minutes. An outage on any of Googles servers is extremely rare so when an outage occurs it is big news. For those relying soley upon gmail for their email services users could not access their accounts through web access. If you were one of these users I suspect you may have panicked to find out that you could not log into gmail to check your email during this brief outage period.
I have provided links in the show notes to a couple of articles related to the Google gmail outage if you would like to learn more including a link to Google’s official blog with an explanation of what happened.
CNN Article on gmail outage
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/01/gmail.outage/index.html
Google’s Official Blog
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-on-todays-gmail-issue.html
There was another Web 2.0 incident that recently occurred involving well known technology blogger Robert Scoble who had his WordPress blog hacked and the hackers deleted some of his content along with some other nefarious activities. Hackers also broke into Scoble’s blog back in May of this year and he thought he had the issue resolved until the incident last week.
I have provided links to a couple of articles related to this incident in the show notes.
Scoble – I don’t feel safe with WordPress
http://scobleizer.com/2009/09/05/i-dont-feel-safe-with-wordpress-hackers-broke-in-and-took-things/
Here is a quote from Robert Scoble from a Venture Beat article regarding the recent hacker attack.
“They broke back in, but this time they did a lot more damage. They deleted about two months of my blog. Yes, I didn’t have a backup. I should learn to do backups (we’re doing them now). Life has a way of beating you if you don’t have backups.”
Venture Beat Article
http://venturebeat.com/2009/09/05/hackers-break-into-robert-scobles-blog-and-delete-older-posts/
This is very sad knowing that someone deleted files from your account and is even worse when you know you did not backup your files.
Web 2.0 services in this regard are becoming their own worst enemy because they have been so reliable in the past that we begin to take them for granted. We get lazy and do not routinely backup files because we rarely have a need to use backup files. However when we do need them we REALLY need them and kick ourselves for not taking a few minutes to protect hundreds of hours of work by simply copying important files to a backup device.
It really is RULE #1 of computing, ALWAYS have a backup of your important data files.
How do you know what’s important? I use the pain theory, if it would be painful for me to re-create something I have done using a computer then it is time for a backup. The seconds and minutes that it takes to make a backup is my insurance policy against disaster.
As Director of the ITC I occasionally get a student that comes to me with a flash drive that contains their 25 page report (that is usually due in the next hour) and says that their flash drive will not open their report, somehow the files have become corrupted. Maybe it was that trip through the washing machine. The first thing I ask them is, “Do you have a backup?” You can guess what the answer is most of the time.
Now this can happen to the best of us as illustrated by Robert Scoble’s case. The Scobleizer Blog ranks among the top 500 most popular blogs on Technorati and even a person with his knowledge and abilities has been burned by not adhering to Rule #1. He has paid the price and has lost about two months worth of content.
So the moral of this story is to always have a backup. For Web 2.0 services I call this working with a net on the Internet. When I post an Episode of TechTalk4Teachers to my blog site I also keep a local copy on my computer. That way in the unlikely event that my Google blog account gets deleted or hacked in to I have the original source files in a different location and I can recover if necessary.
It is also why I have a skydrive account where I save selected files to the Internet so I have access to them from anywhere there is an Internet connection. If you would like to learn more about skydrive checkout episode 67 of TechTalk4Teachers, a link is in the show notes.
Episode 67 Crunch Time (Skydrive)
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/12/tt4t067-crunch-time.html
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is from fellow listener Dr. Jake Emmett from our Kinesiology and Sports Studies department here at EIU. Dr. Emmett submitted Evernote to be considered for this weeks tech pick.
Evernote is a great Web 2.0 service especially for people who need a little help with finding things over time. Evernote’s slogan is “Remember Everything”
A link to the Evernote service is also provided in the show notes along with a link to learn more about this innovative service, as usual the basic Evernote account is free.
Evernote
http://evernote.com/
Evernote - Learn More
http://www.evernote.com/about/learn_more/
Evernote is great service for teachers and students and if you use this service you can place notes, documents, and pictures into your account and they all become searchable. If you need to find something and it is in your Evernote account you just type a search term and Evernote will find everything related to your search. Pretty handy for remembering everything for you.
One of the neatest technologies built into Evernote is the ability to read information stored in picture format (JPG). For example you can take a picture of someones business card and Evernote will recognize the text on the card and the text becomes searchable. Pretty Cool!
Thanks Dr. Emmett for the recommendation. I also invite other listeners of TechTalk4Teachers to submit your favorite tech tools to be considered as a future Tech Pick of the Week. This podcast is all about sharing so let’s share our favorites so we can all become better teachers.
That wraps it up for episode 97 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, August 28, 2009
tt4t_096 Vanishing bits and warning signs in the cloud
It’s Friday, August 28th, 2009 and welcome to episode 96 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. It is now officially the first week of fall semester classes and we have met all the deadlines for having the technology infrastructure in place for a successful start to the school year. This summer has been particularly busy with a large number of new faculty and staff computers as well as the new netbook project we are implementing this fall.
It is always interesting getting ready for the first day of school as there is literally a tidal wave of faculty, staff, and students that show up all at once ready to hit the ground running. We survived the first week of school and can breathe a sigh of relief as all the hard work over the summer has paid off with a smooth launch to the school year.
We are still in orientation mode as there have been many meetings this week and I will be meeting with several departments to give updates and provide professional development for new additions in the coming weeks. One thing you can say about technology is that you never get bored because it is constantly changing.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
It is always interesting getting ready for the first day of school as there is literally a tidal wave of faculty, staff, and students that show up all at once ready to hit the ground running. We survived the first week of school and can breathe a sigh of relief as all the hard work over the summer has paid off with a smooth launch to the school year.
We are still in orientation mode as there have been many meetings this week and I will be meeting with several departments to give updates and provide professional development for new additions in the coming weeks. One thing you can say about technology is that you never get bored because it is constantly changing.
Of course the hope is that this change is for the better, at least it should be, otherwise why bother? We have been making our way into the Web 2.0 world over the past five years or so and there have been many growing pains along the way. Over the past month or so I have been thinking a lot about these changes and the consequences for educators.
This past month has had several items in the news that we need to address before we can move forward with confidence in this brave new and changing world.
About a month ago there was an article about how Amazon had deleted a couple of select books from their customers Kindle account without customer consent. A Kindle is Amazon’s version of an electronic book reader. Customers were however refunded the purchase price. This was all done in advance before any customer consent with the reason stated as a copyright issue with the purchased content.
I have provided a link in the show notes that describes this incident in greater detail. Ironically enough the books erased were from author George Orwell and included the books 1984 and Animal Farm. Amazon initially erased the e-books from the customers Kindle because of a copyright issue and has since back-tracked and has stated it will not erase e-books from customers Kindles in the future.
Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html
AMAZON SAYS IT WILL STOP DELETING KINDLE BOOKS
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/drm/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218501227
This whole incident appears to be very 1984ish where Big Brother can control everything, including taking away previously purchased reading material. That should give us all pause to be concerned about this over-reaching of protecting content. It is also a reminder that we are living in times of transition from the analog to the digital world where things are now possible because of digitization that were previously impossible in the analog world.
In the analog world of books Amazon would not have even considered going into a customers home and removing a previously purchased hard copy book from the customers coffee table because of a copyright issue. When things are digitized new possibilities are created, in this case for the worse.
These issues need to be worked through as we increasingly move our lives into the digital world now made possible by Web 2.0 technologies. I believe e-books have a bright future, however the transition that is occurring and digital rights management and terms of use need to be worked out before we will see wide-spread adoption.
Another Big Brotherish incident occurred over the past month that resulted in Apple not approving the Google voice application for their iPhone App Store. This incident is currently under investigation by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
This situation is a tangled weave of competing interests between Apple, Google, and AT&T. AT&T currently subsidizes pricing for the iPhone based upon customers signing an extended data contract. Google’s voice application has some negative implications for AT&T in that it provides Voice over IP and texting capabilities that could possibly cut into the revenues of AT&T. AT&T pays Apple to reduce the cost of the iPhone and these subsidies are based on AT&T projections of future profits tied to customer data contracts. If AT&T starts to lose revenue then this may affect subsidies to Apple in the future.
Apple has said that Google Voice duplicates services already existing on the iPhone and other existing apps and that it also interferes with the customers iPhone experience. I have provided links in the show notes to a couple of articles related to this story if you are interested.
Apple Rejects Google Voice App, Invites Regulation
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/07/apple-rejects-google-voice/
FCC Opens Inquiry of Apple's Ban of Google Voice
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124908121794098073.html
There was also some collateral damage to other apps in the App Store in that Apple is wanting to remove GV Mobile’s previously approve app from the app store. This incident is similar to the Amazon Kindle incident in that a company can decide to take away something that was previously approved for purchase and then refunding the customer whether or not the customer gives their permission.
Apple Yanks The Cord On GV Mobile. Is It Trying To Kill Google Voice On The iPhone?
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/apple-yanks-the-cord-on-gv-mobile-is-it-trying-to-kill-google-voice-on-the-iphone/
This will be an interesting case to watch as these three Titans in Tech battle their way through the legalities of co-dependent terms and services with competing interests.
I guess the concerning thing for me as a consumer and as an educator is that a company may make a decision to reverse an application or service at their whim. Take this to the next level of a company controlling the actual content and then it becomes even more concerning and can easily lead to censorship and dictatorial control. This changing of terms happens rather routinely to Web 2.0 companies as they are purchased by bigger companies and are often shutdown, customers are then left without services.
Of course many of the Web 2.0 services are currently free and some say you get what you pay for but remember that the companies are often displaying ads for revenue and working out a business plan to make their service profitable.
We are definitely going through some growing pains as we work our way through this analog to digital transition of content delivery. This conversation needs to have all voices heard and not just the corporations as we develop the policies and laws over the use and sharing of digital creations.
We have been undergoing this transition for some time now but recently the capabilities of content delivery have increased due to increasing bandwidth availability. As broadband becomes more common so does the acceleration to digital delivery models of many things that were previously analog.
As people put more and more of their everyday life onto the Internet and as we educators move our curriculum online we need to pause and realize that we need to keep control of our own content including our digital pictures, writings, and videos. It is us that should be controlling the technology and not the other way around. We must not lose control to Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, the App Store, Flikr, Black Board or any of the other thousands of Web 2.0 services as we make this transition.
In my opinion we need to have a dual approach where we keep control of our original works and share a digital copy to the Internet. We may keep rights to the originals if we so choose, that way if a service goes out of business, changes the Terms of Service, or if a company starts charging for previously free services we have the option of deciding what we would like to do with our own content. This is just good computing practice. One of the rules I have followed for years is separating data from the application. Doing so provides you with the safety and control of the data (the thing that is valuable to you) and leaves your options open should you face a situation of changing application providers.
As for the actual software and services, in my opinion, the Terms of Services agreement should not be changed to retroactively take away previously purchased digital products and services without end user consent. That becomes a slippery slope.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is from my Personal Learning Network where I asked for recommendations this week.
My pick this week is called Posterous and comes to you from Twitter user @bookminder A link is available in the show notes to the Posterous website.
http://posterous.com/
The Posterous tagline is “the dead simple place to post everything, just email us.”
This service can be used to very easily post things to the web, as always, remember that things you post are public so do not share anything private, confidential, or sensitive in nature and abibe by your organizations policies.
It can’t get much simpler to post things to the Internet than emailing an attachment that creates a website for you.
When I clicked on their “email link” here is the message that I received.
“Replace the subject line and body with your first blog post and hit send! Include pictures, an mp3, or anything else you want to share. It's just that simple.”
Here is a link to my first Posterous link where I shared a picture of Washington, DC back from this summer while I was attending the National Educational Computing Conference.
My first Posterous posting:
http://gtgrissom.posterous.com/
Sharing does not get much easier than that!
I have also provided a link to the FAQ section for you to learn more about the Posterous service.
That wraps it up for episode 96 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Monday, August 17, 2009
tt4t_095 Countdown, T-7 days to first day back to school
It’s Monday, August 17th, 2009 and welcome to episode 95 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. We are fast approaching the first day of fall semester classes and there still remains much to do in schools all across America. Technology support staff are making that final push toward the first day of school. Many schools have already started, at EIU our official first day back to school is now one week away, we begin on August 24th.
Summertime is a time when technological equipment gets updated with the installation of new purchases and is also a time for installing program patches and upgrading programs to the latest versions. In addition, there are often many moves that occur as faculty and staff change offices and computer labs are deconstructed for waxing of floors and then reconstructed again. All of this takes time and effort and before we know it it is again time for the first day of school.
The ITC has been very busy this summer with the day-to-day operations assisting faculty, staff, and students with summer school activities but we have also been working hard on a number of other projects. We have installed approximately 70 new computers for College of Education and Professional Studies faculty and staff over the summer. We have added 60 new netbooks that are housed in mobile carts and are available for faculty checkout for classroom use with students.
In addition we have updated the approximately 90 other ITC Lab computers including our main ITC Lab, BUZ 2445 Lab, and two mobile gateway carts. The good news is that all but a few of the faculty and staff new computers are installed and ready to go. The bad news is that we now have approximately 70 older computers to deal with that require the removal of data by wiping the hard drives and getting the older equipment ready for re-deployment or surplusing, so there remains a significant amount of work to be done.
One thing that I think surprises many people is the amount of time it can take to install a new computer. While I can make an image of a computer and have it in working order with all standard programs in less than 15 minutes of getting it out of the box the real time comes with transferring the data from the old system and customizing the computer to suit the needs of the end user.
Setting up a time with faculty and staff over the summer is also a challenge. A new installation involves the user backing up data, restoring the data, and installing any additional software that is not part of the standard application package. ITS and ITC staff help assist with this process. In addition this year we have had to deal with some email changes and conversions that add additional installation time. It is not unusual for this to take two or three hours per computer. With 70 new installations this summer the time really adds up. Add this to the other updates and changes we have completed and you can see that it has indeed been a busy summer at the ITC.
I always appreciate faculty and staff that backup their computers regularly and keep their computers up-to-date with the latest patches. Just like your car performing routine maintenance and care greatly improves your experience. You have heard me talk before about the importance of backing up data but I am still amazed that many do not have a regularly scheduled backup procedure and system.
I talked about the way I organize my files for backup way back on episode 61 of TechTalk4Teachers and you can refer to this episode if you would like to learn more about the backup system I have used over the years that has served me well. A link is available in the show notes.
tt4t_061 Its Halloween do you know where your backup is?
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/10/tt4t061-its-halloween-do-you-know-where.html
By using this system I can literally change to a new computer in the time it takes to copy the backup files to the new system, usually less than 10 minutes.
Our ITS department is still working to expand network storage options and this expansion will be a big improvement that is long overdue. Faculty and staff will be able to save work to a network drive that will be routinely backed up by our ITS department. This will also cut down the time for installing new computers in the future as the end user data will be available on networked drives and will greatly reduce the amount of data transfer required by the current localized system.
We have worked very hard over the summer to provide the technological tools necessary for teaching and learning in the modern era. Now it is time to put them to good use by providing the best teaching and learning experience possible for our students. I now look forward to helping faculty and students with the integration of these fabulous tools into the curriculum.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a flash-based application that can tell you what time it is anywhere in the world. As I work more and more with other people from all around the world I find myself needing a quick way to know the exact time it is somewhere else on Planet Earth.
This link came courtesy of my Personal Learning Network and I find it useful for converting Central Time in the United States to the time anywhere in the world. A link is available in the show notes.
World Clock and Time Conversion
http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks2.htm
To use this website just click on the World Time link on the left-side of the graphic and choose your time zone. To select a different city in the world click on the appropriate button, for example click on AU for Australia and then select the city in Australia you would like to know what time it is there. The World Clock will display the current time for the selected city.
The site also provides other dynamic clocks including, population, illness, death, environment, energy, US crimes, food, and more so it may have other teaching uses in your classroom as well.
While I can make educated guesses about what time it is anywhere in the world this site gives me confirmation with the exact local time anywhere in the world. If you are using other world clock programs that you like please drop me a line and let me know what you are using.
That wraps it up for episode 95 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
Summertime is a time when technological equipment gets updated with the installation of new purchases and is also a time for installing program patches and upgrading programs to the latest versions. In addition, there are often many moves that occur as faculty and staff change offices and computer labs are deconstructed for waxing of floors and then reconstructed again. All of this takes time and effort and before we know it it is again time for the first day of school.
The ITC has been very busy this summer with the day-to-day operations assisting faculty, staff, and students with summer school activities but we have also been working hard on a number of other projects. We have installed approximately 70 new computers for College of Education and Professional Studies faculty and staff over the summer. We have added 60 new netbooks that are housed in mobile carts and are available for faculty checkout for classroom use with students.
In addition we have updated the approximately 90 other ITC Lab computers including our main ITC Lab, BUZ 2445 Lab, and two mobile gateway carts. The good news is that all but a few of the faculty and staff new computers are installed and ready to go. The bad news is that we now have approximately 70 older computers to deal with that require the removal of data by wiping the hard drives and getting the older equipment ready for re-deployment or surplusing, so there remains a significant amount of work to be done.
One thing that I think surprises many people is the amount of time it can take to install a new computer. While I can make an image of a computer and have it in working order with all standard programs in less than 15 minutes of getting it out of the box the real time comes with transferring the data from the old system and customizing the computer to suit the needs of the end user.
Setting up a time with faculty and staff over the summer is also a challenge. A new installation involves the user backing up data, restoring the data, and installing any additional software that is not part of the standard application package. ITS and ITC staff help assist with this process. In addition this year we have had to deal with some email changes and conversions that add additional installation time. It is not unusual for this to take two or three hours per computer. With 70 new installations this summer the time really adds up. Add this to the other updates and changes we have completed and you can see that it has indeed been a busy summer at the ITC.
I always appreciate faculty and staff that backup their computers regularly and keep their computers up-to-date with the latest patches. Just like your car performing routine maintenance and care greatly improves your experience. You have heard me talk before about the importance of backing up data but I am still amazed that many do not have a regularly scheduled backup procedure and system.
I talked about the way I organize my files for backup way back on episode 61 of TechTalk4Teachers and you can refer to this episode if you would like to learn more about the backup system I have used over the years that has served me well. A link is available in the show notes.
tt4t_061 Its Halloween do you know where your backup is?
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2008/10/tt4t061-its-halloween-do-you-know-where.html
By using this system I can literally change to a new computer in the time it takes to copy the backup files to the new system, usually less than 10 minutes.
Our ITS department is still working to expand network storage options and this expansion will be a big improvement that is long overdue. Faculty and staff will be able to save work to a network drive that will be routinely backed up by our ITS department. This will also cut down the time for installing new computers in the future as the end user data will be available on networked drives and will greatly reduce the amount of data transfer required by the current localized system.
We have worked very hard over the summer to provide the technological tools necessary for teaching and learning in the modern era. Now it is time to put them to good use by providing the best teaching and learning experience possible for our students. I now look forward to helping faculty and students with the integration of these fabulous tools into the curriculum.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a flash-based application that can tell you what time it is anywhere in the world. As I work more and more with other people from all around the world I find myself needing a quick way to know the exact time it is somewhere else on Planet Earth.
This link came courtesy of my Personal Learning Network and I find it useful for converting Central Time in the United States to the time anywhere in the world. A link is available in the show notes.
World Clock and Time Conversion
http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks2.htm
To use this website just click on the World Time link on the left-side of the graphic and choose your time zone. To select a different city in the world click on the appropriate button, for example click on AU for Australia and then select the city in Australia you would like to know what time it is there. The World Clock will display the current time for the selected city.
The site also provides other dynamic clocks including, population, illness, death, environment, energy, US crimes, food, and more so it may have other teaching uses in your classroom as well.
While I can make educated guesses about what time it is anywhere in the world this site gives me confirmation with the exact local time anywhere in the world. If you are using other world clock programs that you like please drop me a line and let me know what you are using.
That wraps it up for episode 95 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, July 31, 2009
tt4t_094 Teaching Naked, No Thanks
It’s Friday, July 31st, 2009 and welcome to episode 94 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. It is the last day of July and you know what that means. Tomorrow marks the beginning of August and that means that the first day of school cannot be far away. For those of us in the northern hemisphere and particularly the United States many of us will be heading back to school for that first day of the fall term in August.
Upgrading T-1, DS-3, and other network connections is becoming a necessity for schools across the nation. As we rely more upon technology the underlying infrastructure must be updated to keep up with the demand. This work often is invisible, that is until something goes wrong with the network! Be sure to thank your technology staff that work very hard at providing the networking infrastructure that makes possible all of the magical learning technologies that we enjoy today without giving it a second thought. When we click on a link we expect it to work, to work fast, and thankfully the large majority of the time it does.
Of course things do not always work as planned or work as fast as we would like. In that case all good teachers have that Plan B in their back pocket. If the technology is not working the show must go on. This flexibility is a must for anyone teaching today. At our university every one of our classrooms is what we call a Technology Enhanced Classroom. All classrooms are equipped with a high-speed Internet connection, computer, projector, and most have document cameras and Smart Boards. Our college started this TEC project back in 1999 and ten years later this equipment is an expected part of our classrooms just as much as student seating.
From time to time a projector bulb does burn out or we experience network connection or computer problems but for the most part out TEC’s function as designed. We do have work arounds for most common problems like loaning a projector or laptop to a classroom if some of the equipment is not working properly. This is an inconvenience but certainly not the end of the world.
Some faculty seem to be more adept at rolling with the punches than others when things do go wrong. What type of faculty member are you? Do you have a Plan B? I have witnessed some faculty pack up their bags and stop teaching when something technological goes wrong. What kind of message does that send to our students? Can you teach without the crutch of technology?
Speaking of technological crutches there is a recent article that has been going around teaching circles the past couple of weeks from the Chronicle of Higher Education called Teach Naked, a link is provided in the show notes.
Teach Naked Article - When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom
http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/
By Teach Naked the author advocates taking all of the technology out of the classroom. It seems his real issue is with PowerPoint. It is an interesting article and worth a read and a discussion with teaching staff.
I have also provided a link to an article over at AcademicHack that is a counter-point that is also worth reading.
On what would it really mean to teach naked.
http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2009/on-what-it-would-mean-to-really-teach-naked/
My viewpoint coming from a teacher preparation institution is that we are long past the PowerPoint argument. Many teaching programs have adopted constructivist teaching practices long ago (two decades) that makes the non-interactive PowerPoint model of delivery look like the horse and buggy days. In fact I would argue that we are now at a time in the teaching and learning evolution where digital technologies are such a part of todays student learning that adding a fourth type of learning modality called digital is needed in addition to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
The end lesson however remains that teachers must mix it up and use ALL of the different learning styles to be most effective in producing learning results. What is the best way to teach? There are many!
What do you think? I would love to hear your position in this discussion so please leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog, remember, we have the technology and we can use it! ;)
The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, relying solely on technology in the classroom is just as extreme as relying on no technology in the classroom. The author of the Teach Naked article is no Luddite and does promote the use of technology outside the classroom by advocating those boring PowerPoint lectures be podcasted and consumed outside of classtime and keeping classrooms as low-tech zones. So we are going to take the boring stuff and turn it into a podcast? Hmmm.
Funny how we in education have long been criticized for teaching in 19th Century classrooms and now there is criticism for teaching in high-tech classrooms. Welcome to public education where there are many opinions and often no one right answer that pleases opposing views. Nothing like a provocative title to capture peoples interest.
The technology available today is here to stay and is being used to benefit the learning experience, the argument is not as simple as removing technology from the classroom but rather in the methods employed during the learning experience, both inside and outside the classroom.
One last comment about the article, what happens when there is no classroom? Many are already there and have been for some time.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is for the elementary level and can be used with or without a Smart Board but it works great with an interactive white board (IWB). The name of this weeks pick is called Stop the Clock and is an excellent interactive site where the goal is to match the correct digital time to each analog clock. It is interesting to note that we are living in times where many elementary level students may not have ever seen an analog clock. A link is in the show notes.
Stop the Clock
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec3.html
This is an excellent example of where interactivity engages the student in learning the content with immediate feedback and also encourages the student to do the activity quickly as there is a competition component for the student that can solve the clock matching activity the fastest.
If you teach elementary level students and are doing a unit on time this year give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
That wraps it up for episode 94 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
Upgrading T-1, DS-3, and other network connections is becoming a necessity for schools across the nation. As we rely more upon technology the underlying infrastructure must be updated to keep up with the demand. This work often is invisible, that is until something goes wrong with the network! Be sure to thank your technology staff that work very hard at providing the networking infrastructure that makes possible all of the magical learning technologies that we enjoy today without giving it a second thought. When we click on a link we expect it to work, to work fast, and thankfully the large majority of the time it does.
Of course things do not always work as planned or work as fast as we would like. In that case all good teachers have that Plan B in their back pocket. If the technology is not working the show must go on. This flexibility is a must for anyone teaching today. At our university every one of our classrooms is what we call a Technology Enhanced Classroom. All classrooms are equipped with a high-speed Internet connection, computer, projector, and most have document cameras and Smart Boards. Our college started this TEC project back in 1999 and ten years later this equipment is an expected part of our classrooms just as much as student seating.
From time to time a projector bulb does burn out or we experience network connection or computer problems but for the most part out TEC’s function as designed. We do have work arounds for most common problems like loaning a projector or laptop to a classroom if some of the equipment is not working properly. This is an inconvenience but certainly not the end of the world.
Some faculty seem to be more adept at rolling with the punches than others when things do go wrong. What type of faculty member are you? Do you have a Plan B? I have witnessed some faculty pack up their bags and stop teaching when something technological goes wrong. What kind of message does that send to our students? Can you teach without the crutch of technology?
Speaking of technological crutches there is a recent article that has been going around teaching circles the past couple of weeks from the Chronicle of Higher Education called Teach Naked, a link is provided in the show notes.
Teach Naked Article - When Computers Leave Classrooms, So Does Boredom
http://chronicle.com/article/Teach-Naked-Effort-Strips/47398/
By Teach Naked the author advocates taking all of the technology out of the classroom. It seems his real issue is with PowerPoint. It is an interesting article and worth a read and a discussion with teaching staff.
I have also provided a link to an article over at AcademicHack that is a counter-point that is also worth reading.
On what would it really mean to teach naked.
http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/2009/on-what-it-would-mean-to-really-teach-naked/
My viewpoint coming from a teacher preparation institution is that we are long past the PowerPoint argument. Many teaching programs have adopted constructivist teaching practices long ago (two decades) that makes the non-interactive PowerPoint model of delivery look like the horse and buggy days. In fact I would argue that we are now at a time in the teaching and learning evolution where digital technologies are such a part of todays student learning that adding a fourth type of learning modality called digital is needed in addition to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
The end lesson however remains that teachers must mix it up and use ALL of the different learning styles to be most effective in producing learning results. What is the best way to teach? There are many!
What do you think? I would love to hear your position in this discussion so please leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog, remember, we have the technology and we can use it! ;)
The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, relying solely on technology in the classroom is just as extreme as relying on no technology in the classroom. The author of the Teach Naked article is no Luddite and does promote the use of technology outside the classroom by advocating those boring PowerPoint lectures be podcasted and consumed outside of classtime and keeping classrooms as low-tech zones. So we are going to take the boring stuff and turn it into a podcast? Hmmm.
Funny how we in education have long been criticized for teaching in 19th Century classrooms and now there is criticism for teaching in high-tech classrooms. Welcome to public education where there are many opinions and often no one right answer that pleases opposing views. Nothing like a provocative title to capture peoples interest.
The technology available today is here to stay and is being used to benefit the learning experience, the argument is not as simple as removing technology from the classroom but rather in the methods employed during the learning experience, both inside and outside the classroom.
One last comment about the article, what happens when there is no classroom? Many are already there and have been for some time.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is for the elementary level and can be used with or without a Smart Board but it works great with an interactive white board (IWB). The name of this weeks pick is called Stop the Clock and is an excellent interactive site where the goal is to match the correct digital time to each analog clock. It is interesting to note that we are living in times where many elementary level students may not have ever seen an analog clock. A link is in the show notes.
Stop the Clock
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec3.html
This is an excellent example of where interactivity engages the student in learning the content with immediate feedback and also encourages the student to do the activity quickly as there is a competition component for the student that can solve the clock matching activity the fastest.
If you teach elementary level students and are doing a unit on time this year give it a try and let me know how it works for you.
That wraps it up for episode 94 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Monday, July 20, 2009
tt4t_093 We Choose the Moon
It’s Monday, July 20th, 2009 and welcome to episode 93 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. Today is the 40th Anniversary of man landing and walking on the Moon. I have provided some links in the show notes related to this anniversary and its importance to the United States and the world.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
I grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s and remember the Space race well. It had a profound impact on me. One of the iconic images I have is the TV shot of the Saturn V rocket clearing the tower. I remember seeing the big red U S A letters streaming vertically upward reaching for the stars as the rocket lifted-off. I also remember watching live TV coverage of that first step that Neil Armstrong took for all of mankind 40 years ago today.
NASA at 50
http://discoveryeducation.com/NasaAt50/
The Space race is also probably one of the reasons I ended up in the teaching profession and definitely why I pursued a science degree. It was as though America propelled itself into the 21st Century four decades prematurely and stands as a testament to what a nation can do when it commits itself to a common goal.
Nearly every kid has looked upward to the moon and wondered what it would be like to go there. It took a lot of science, an extreme amount of dedication, and the focus of a nation to make it there. It was not easy but we did it.
This 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11 reminds me of how ancient that event is compared to the children we teach today. If you are teaching freshmen at the college level then your students most likely were born in 1990, are now 18 to 19 years old, and will graduate in 2012. They were born 21 years AFTER Man first walked upon the Moon, an event that is ancient history to them occurring well before they were born. In fact, many of their parents may not have been born when Man first walked on the Moon, ouch, that reflection hurt. How can we make the Apollo 11 mission come alive if it is ancient history for them? Stay tuned for my Technology Pick of the Week for the answer.
How do we teach new generations that have no history as a reference point? That is one of the great mysteries of teaching and learning. How do we go from the unknown to the known? Finding relevance is the key and we must relate to the mental framework and mindset that is present in todays student and build upon it.
A link is in the show notes to the Beloit Mindset List for the Class of 2012 that provides an interesting reflection point to the lives of those freshmen that many of us teach. If you teach a younger grade level then your task is even more difficult as younger students have even less of a framework to build upon. Finding teaching methods appropriate for the mindset of our students is necessary in order for students to find relevance to link their new learning to.
Mindset List for the Class of 2012
http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2012.php
In instructional design terms this is called defining prerequisite knowledge and too often we teachers make assumptions about what our students know, or are suppose to know.
In Vygotskian terms this is the search for the Zone of Proximal Development that we teachers aim for in guiding our students from the unknown to the known. Start at too basic of a level and we lose them to boredom, start at too advanced level and we lose them to difficulty. It is in the social interaction that this zone is negotiated and found. When we get it right magic happens and students can take quantum leaps in their level of knowledge and ability and can truly reach deep understanding of a subject area.
Vygotsky
http://tip.psychology.org/vygotsky.html
Determining prerequisite knowledge is one of the first steps in teaching any topic yet so many times we get it wrong before we even begin. We are driven by “covering” the material in the curriculum come heck or high water. Who cares about teaching for understanding when we have so much to cover. For me this is a fatal mistake in the learners development for there is much to be said for scope and sequence in order to reach a deep level of understanding. Skipping steps in the learning process often results in gaps that cannot be overcome.
Many are guilty of teaching the curriculum and not the student. This is where we lose many students, frustration sets in and students turn to mechanical methods of solving problems in an effort to get by rather than seeking understanding. How do we grab the students attention and make learning relevant? The wonders of technology can assist us and make even ancient history come alive for todays students.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a website that showcases the Apollo 11 mission and is called We Choose the Moon, a link is available in the show notes. Many of our students were not around 40 years ago but there is not a reason that they too cannot experience this event in an authentic way.
We Choose the Moon
http://wechoosethemoon.org/
The We Choose the Moon website has minute by minute mission coverage and is currently running in real-time as things happened on the Apollo 11 mission 40 years ago. It is an interesting approach offering a historic recreation of the events in real-time that is very well done. If one did not know any different the transmissions could pass as happening today. I have been listening to the real-time transmissions today in the background and it is just like being there all over again.
This site will remain up after today and has a wealth of information about the Apollo 11 mission. Too bad many school children are out of school for the summer as this site has some excellent animations of the mission. This site has original video footage and original NASA transmissions that make it feel like it is happening now. You might want to bookmark this site and revisit it again when school is back in session to have as a resource for a unit on Space exploration.
That wraps it up for episode 93 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
Friday, July 10, 2009
tt4t_092 Reflections from NECC09
It’s Friday, July 10th, 2009 and welcome to episode 92 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. I am back from the National Educational Computing Conference held last week and I am trying to find my “techlegs” and get caught up with work that was left undone while attending this conference. I heard estimates of over 18,000 people attending NECC this year, by the size of the crowds in Washington DC this was probably not far off. Despite the workload piling up back home, this conference was certainly worth the trip.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
Record attendance at NECC 2009
http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=23923
For those of us that are relied upon as frontline technology support taking time away from work is difficult to schedule and we tend to pay for this time away with a full in-box and stacks of to-do’s that were neglected when we were away.
Despite this cost getting away to conferences such as NECC is very valuable to me as it allows me to see what others are doing and to gauge where our programs are at compared to others across the nation. I am pleased that we seem to be holding our own and are very progressive with our implementations of technologies to support teaching and learning at our university.
I do get tired of the “getting ready for the 21st Century” refrain from many speakers as we are well into this century and it is time to move on past the rhetoric. Many are still trying to brow-beat teachers into technological submission with the 21st Century argument. Get over it, the 21st Century is here.
In order to change ones teaching practice, teachers must see AND experience value in order to utilize learning technologies. We must demonstrate the practical and avoid the preaching if we are to be successful with encouraging others to gain benefit from what technologies offer for learning. To this end modeling appropriate behavior is the best method for gaining converts.
I did not find any earth-shattering technologies at NECC this year. It felt like we are in a holding pattern now that Web 2.0 technologies are maturing. I did make it to many vendor booths but there was nothing that really grabbed me as being the next big thing.
I did spend quite a bit of time in the Smart Technologies booth and learned more about their new dual touch Smart Boards as well as getting my hands on a multitouch overlay for an HDTV that used some cool multitouch applications. As the cost of this technology comes down I believe we will be seeing a lot more classroom presentation systems with multitouch technologies at next years conference.
Smart Technologies also had their multitouch table at their booth and Microsoft had a Microsoft Surface multitouch table in their booth. With Windows 7 coming out in October we will start seeing a lot more PC apps that support multitouch as multitouch is built into Windows 7 natively for devices with proper hardware.
There were also a ton of netbooks at this years event as many teachers seem to have jumped on the low-cost netbook bandwagon. There were also several sessions on the iPhone and iTouch apps for educational use.
I did make it to the Asus booth where I was able to actually get my hands on the soon to be released eee PC keyboard with built-in LCD screen and a prototype eee PC t91 tablet that supports multitouch in a netbook form factor. Both of these devices fit niche markets but if they are priced competitively they will offer value. A link is available in the show notes to these two innovative devices soon to be released.
Asus eee Keyboard
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10241052-1.html
Asus eee t91 tablet netbook
http://gizmodo.com/5310791/asus-t91-eee-tablet-hits-online-stores-for-500
The best part of the conference for me however was meeting the many people from my personal learning network in person. I met many people that I had met virtually via Twitter and it was great putting a face with their name. Rather than list them here I will just give a shout-out to my new friends from NECC for fear I might leave someone out. You are all very valuable members of my PLN and it was great meeting you in person. I also met many of the bloggers whose blogs I read regularly and had many productive conversations with what they were doing while comparing notes with each other.
Two more big things happened at this years NECC conference. First the name for next years conference has been changed from NECC to ISTE 2010 and will be held in Colorado. After 30 years of the NECC name tradition I am not sure how I feel about the name change but it was presented as a way to focus on a more international audience.
ISTE 2010
http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/2010/
The second big event was the unveiling of the new National Educational Technology Standards for Administrators. Last year the NETS Teachers Standards were revamped and this year the new Administrator Standards were premiered. A link is available in the show notes to the new ISTE NETS Administrator Standards.
ISTE NETS Administrator Standards
http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS
PDF File for the NETS Administrator Standards and Performance Indicators
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForAdministrators/2009Standards/NETS-A_2009.pdf
One thing ISTE might consider in the future would be to license the NETS standards with a Creative Commons license. The NETS standards are currently copyrighted using the old 20th Century model. Thousands of educators across the nation have provided input to the ISTE standards over the years and this is something that might be considered in the future now that we are living in a Web 2.0 world in the 21st Century :)
Technology Pick of the Week
Speaking of Creative Commons licensing my technology pick of the week this week is a new feature that was added to Google that allows you to search for Creative Commons licensed pictures.
This is great news for educators that want to find images that are not copyrighted and search for images that can be used for classroom projects legally. This new image search option is a tool that educators can use to teach about copyright issues and provides a solution to a long standing problem for online projects.
I have provided links in the show notes to the creativecommons.org blog with this announcement that explains how you use this new feature when searching for images using Google. You will need to click on the Advanced Search link on Google’s homepage and then click on the Date, usage rights, numeric range, and more link to see this option to filter the search for only Creative Commons licensed images.
Google Image Search Implements CC License Filtering
http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15691
This is definitely a step in the right direction and I applaud Google for providing a useful tool for a long standing problem. It is one thing to identify a problem and quite another to provide a useful solution, thank you Google.
That wraps it up for episode 92 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at http://www.eiu.edu/itcjust click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
#NECC09
Friday, June 26, 2009
tt4t_091 NECC bound and loaded for learning
It’s Friday, June 26th, 2009 and welcome to episode 91 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. This weeks episode is a short one as I am in the process of heading out to the National Educational Computing Conference in Washington, DC better known as NECC that will be taking place next week.
To listen click on the Play button >
Download MP3
NECC is one of those conferences that I try to make it to at least every other year as it is focused on educational technology at the K-12 level. Since EIU is a teacher preparation institution this conference allows me the chance to connect with others from all around the world in person and share our experiences with one another. The conference has a huge vendor area as well as a large number of sessions provided by practicing K-12 teachers.
If you would like to experience some of the conference with me and other attendees you can follow me on my Twitter account, twitter.com/tomgrissom, you can also search for the #NECC09 hash tag as many people attending this conference will mark their tweets with this tag. I spend as much time outside of sessions as I do sitting in sessions as there are always informal meet-ups that occur at this conference. Twitter allows me and others to get instant updates that often lead to informal sharing of ed tech experiences. If you are attending NECC and would like to meet in person send me a Direct Message (DM) and we will see if we can get together in DC.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a fun photoediting website that allows you to easily produce creative effects in your photos using Web 2.0 technology. The name of the site is befunky and a link is available in the show notes.
befunky – creative photo effects
http://www.befunky.com/
This site is very easy to use and you do not need an account to begin using it. You can browse photos on your computer and upload them to befunky and then it as easy as selecting the special effect you would like applied to your photo. Special effects include cartoonizer, inkify, charcoal, scribbler, and sunburst to name a few.
Checkout the befunky special effects at:
http://www.befunky.com/photoApps.php#
This site makes it easy to be creative and produce some nice looking artwork all at the click of a mouse. Even folks like myself that are not that artistic can produce some amazing artwork. Give befunky a try and let me know what you think.
That wraps it up for episode 91 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at www.eiu.edu/itc just click on the Techtalk4Teachers Podcast link. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the TechTalk4Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning.
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