Tech Talk 4 Teachers
It’s Monday May 31st, 2010 and welcome to episode 108 of TechTalk4Teachers, I’m Tom Grissom. Today in the United States it is Memorial Day where Americans pause to recognize and honor those that have made the ultimate sacrifice in serving our country and protecting our freedom. Memorial Day also marks the beginning of summer time activities as schools are wrapping up the school year. Many schools in our local area held graduation ceremonies this past weekend and have dismissed students for the summer.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(9 minutes 20 seconds)
Today is also Quit Facebook Day where some users of the Facebook service have pledged to delete their Facebook accounts today to protest privacy concerns and other recent changes of policies at Facebook. We will see how many actually follow-through and delete their Facebook account after today.
I have provided a link in the show notes to the Quit Facebook Day website and as of the time of this posting only 31,994 people had committed to quitting Facebook at this website so it looks like this campaign may have minimal impact upon Facebook with its 400 million plus membership.
http://www.quitfacebookday.com/
Facebook is used by the large majority of college students at our university and students need to understand the potential use and misuse of social networking services. This past week Mark Zuckerberg announced more changes at Facebook aimed to appease some users of the Facebook service by offering one-click privacy settings to help protect Facebook accounts. A link is provided in the show notes to learn more.
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=391922327130
Previous changes to Facebook privacy settings had over 70 settings that users could change and were very complex to manage. The most recent change provides a much simpler interface for privacy settings. Even with the most recent changes Facebook users should be aware that all it takes is one inappropriately checked Facebook setting to cause your account to become public. If you use the Facebook service you need to be aware of and change your privacy settings to your preferred level of sharing.
http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=196629387130
Summer time is also a great time to catch up on listening to educational podcasts. One of the great things about podcasting is that you have a variety of content to choose from and listen to when it is convenient for you. This time-shifting has been a huge productivity boost for myself as I have been exposed to many podcasts from around the world that I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to listen to.
Another benefit of podcasts is that they can expand your knowledge and perspective if you purposefully choose what you listen to. We all need a little recreational time and there are many entertaining podcast choices out there to choose from. There are also many great educational podcasts that will increase your knowledge on any given subject. A little bit of purposeful searching can yield some treasures for your summer listening pleasure. For example, it has been interesting listening to educational technology podcasts from Australia where they are just beginning the winter season. I have been interested in Australian schools since the mid-1990’s when they pioneered many distance learning delivery methods and pedagogies. Presently some Australian schools are rolling out some massive netbook projects where each child gets a netbook for their learning needs. I will provide a link in the show notes if you are interested in learning what some of our Australian friends are up to.
Australian Netbook Projects:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/management/ictsupportservices/netbooks/default.htm
http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/strategy/37602-nsw-has-handed-out-66000-student-laptops
Since this is the beginning of summer break for many teachers in the US I hope you take some time for relaxing but also realize that this is the perfect time to sharpen your skills by listening to podcasts of interest to you. If you find some great educational podcasts please share your selections with the TechTalk4Teachers audience by sending an email to techtalk@eiu.edu. Appropriate selections will be shared with fellow listeners in a future episode so please contribute your choices.
The month of May also witnessed the Google I/O conference where Google went on a tear of new developments and announced new API’s for developers and updated the developer community with new tools and products.
Here are a few of the many announcements made at Google I/O this month.
Google has thrown its weight behind the developing to the HTML 5 standard and also announced support of Adobe’s Flash player 10.1 for the new Froyo Android 2.2 operating system that includes a host of new features.
All attendees of Google I/O received the HTC Evo Android phone with front facing camera for video chats:
http://phandroid.com/htc-evo-4g/
Android 2.2 will be rolling out in the coming weeks for certain models. Happily the Droid is on the list of phones that will be receiving this 2.2 update. The biggest feature that I have wanted since I purchased my Droid last year, appears to soon be a reality. Version 2.2 of Android will allow tethering. Tethering allows you to connect your phone to a PC to get access to the Internet using 3G and 4G services. This will essentially turn my Droid into a mobile hotspot somewhat like a Mifi so I can connect my laptop to the Internet through my Droid phone. Of course the big questions will be the speed of the connection and how much it will ultimately cost. I hope that there will not be a monthly Gigabyte bandwidth limit as is currently the case with my wireless data modem from Verizon that is capped at 5GB per month. Currently I could easily exceed the allotted 5GB per month if I were not watching my usage closely.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-io-introducing-android-froyo-and-google-tv/34790
One of the most anticipated announcements made at the I/O conference is that Google TV will be rolling out in the fall. I suspect that many network TV executives are re-evaluating business models now that Google TV has thrown their hat into the ring of the TV business. Google TV is where the Web meets TV and TV meets the Web. Google TV will be built into certain new models of Sony TV’s and will also be built as a stand-alone box by Logitech and other manufacturers. Imagine having an overlay on your TV screen that pops up a Google Search box on the TV screen. You can type in your search and Google TV will display the results and you can mark for your programming choices. The big news here is that Google TV is integrated into the viewing experience. Many techies have their PC’s already connected to large screen HDTV’s but Google TV integrates the experience into an easier to use and more consumer friendly approach. It reminded me a lot of Windows Media Center when I watched the demos. Time will tell if Google TV is accepted by consumers but you should be seeing Google TV devices this fall at Best Buy stores in the US.
Over the past few years the line has become blurred between phones and computers with the introduction of smart phones and now Google is trying to blur the line between TV’s and computers. I have not heard anyone calling it smart TV yet as I believe that term is an oxymoron ;) What I believe is most interesting is that Google TV will have a built-in browser so you will have access to the entire Internet on your TV. Since Google TV is built upon Android and Google Chrome, it will only be a matter of time before we see thousands of apps from the Android Marketplace designed for Google TV in our living rooms.
Regardless of the success of Google TV the digital evolution continues as the Internet and broadband connectivity are producing more options for consumers. As cloud computing becomes more pervasive we will continue to see devices and services merge into the cloud. I have provided a link in the show notes that explains Google TV further, along with a video, if you are interested in learning more.
Google TV
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/announcing-google-tv-tv-meets-web-web.html
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a summary article from TechCrunch that provides a short history of YouTube along with some interesting statistics. Last month I shared a blog entry that featured some interesting statistics about the Internet in general and this weeks pick specifically highlights YouTube. Since YouTube is a Google property I suspect you will be seeing some cross-pollination between YouTube and Google TV in the coming months.
A link is provided in the show notes to a couple of articles on YouTube:
Tech Crunch YouTube Article
http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/16/five-years-in-youtube-is-now-streaming-two-billion-videos-per-day/
YouTube now streams over two billion videos per day and over 70 percent of traffic comes from outside the United States.
Another site from website-monitoring.com has taken some of the statistics provided by YouTube and placed them into an easily readable format.
http://www.website-monitoring.com/blog/2010/05/17/youtube-facts-and-figures-history-statistics/
Take some time and review just how much the world of YouTube has changed in just five years, these stats speak for themselves and should put to rest any of the criticism that YouTube is just a passing fad. Now the challenge for educators is to harness some of this power by providing useful content rather than endless cat playing piano videos ;)
That wraps it up for episode 108 of Tech Talk for 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 To leave a comment or suggestion, please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk for Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
Tom Grissom, Ph.D.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Episode 107 - A Fast and Furious April
Tech Talk 4 Teachers
In this episode the month of April has witnessed some huge announcements that will directly impact Internet users. Apple releases the iPad, Facebook hosts the F8 Conference and Microsoft enters the cloud with docs.com
The ITC serves over 12,000 visitors for the month of April!
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(5 minutes 25 seconds)
Facebook Privacy Changes
http://www.macworld.com/article/150822/2010/04/facebook_privacy.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_crawl
Facebooks Ambition
http://scobleizer.com/2010/04/22/facebook-ambition/
Docs.com
http://docs.com
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a blog posting from Kapp Notes blog on interesting Random Web 2.0 Statistics
Kapp Notes
More Random Web 2.0 Statistics
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-random-web-20-statistics.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Who owns the most servers?
http://geekpedia.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/googles-1-million-servers/
Episode 107 – TechTalk4Teachers Transcript:
It’s Friday April 30th, 2010 and welcome to episode 107 of Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom. It’s been a very busy month in the technology world and I’d like to take a few minutes to cover three of the big stories that I think are going to have an impact on education in the coming months.
The first story involves the ipad. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month, the Ipad device has been released to the public. The reviews are mixed coming in. Some are finding educational uses while others are still trying to find exactly where does the ipad fit in the education world.
One of the big stories this month for college students is the Facebook conference that was held this month. The FA conference made several announcements that will directly impact Facebook users.
First, Facebook is coming out with something they are calling instant personalization, in which they may be sharing user profile data with other services. For example, Pandora and Yelp may be exchanging data with Facebook, so that user profile data may be used by those services to provide a better experience for those users. While that creates instant personalization, it also comes at a cost for privacy. So Facebook users need to be aware to keep their privacy settings where they want so that information is not shared that they do not want to have shared with the world.
The other big announcement involves Microsoft and Facebook, in which they are doing a beta test with something called docs.com. This essentially is Microsoft Office coming to the web for Facebook users. The Office 2010 product will be released later next month for some users and the docs.com website is a web 2.0 cloud service that will allow Facebook users to create very simple documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It will not have the full functionality of the Office 2010. However it does give 400 million Facebook users access to Microsoft Office products. As this rolls out of beta, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this in the future.
Facebook Privacy Changes
http://www.macworld.com/article/150822/2010/04/facebook_privacy.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_crawl
Facebooks Ambition
http://scobleizer.com/2010/04/22/facebook-ambition/
Docs.com
http://docs.com
At the ITC this month, we have also been extremely busy as this is the last month before our final exams. I just looked at some of the student traffic we had coming into the ITC and just yesterday we had just short of 1,000 students in and out of the ITC. That will put us over the 12,000 visitor mark to the ITC this month. With the retirement of Terry Hyder, we are down full-time position here at the ITC and I want to recognize the student workers here at the ITC for doing a great job and handling a lot of the workload. We continue to be extremely busy with students coming in and working on their project-based learning activities and this week we have been having a lot of LiveText questions as students complete their electronic portfolios and lesson plans online.
The other news at the ITC this month is that I started a new blog called Netbook Secrets. Now I only have two entries to date, but I plan on adding more over the summer that will share some of the experiences that we’ve had here at the in successfully implementing a netbook program. So be sure to keep your eye out for Netbook Secrets in the coming months. Be sure to check out the show notes, as I will have links for the articles regarding Facebook, privacy settings, and the docs.com website, if you’re interested in learning more about these services.
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a blog posting from Kapp Notes. This is from a posting on April 12th regarding more random web 2.0 statistics. I thought I might share just a few of the entries that this blog is offering.
Kapp Notes
More Random Web 2.0 Statistics
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-random-web-20-statistics.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Here are some interesting stats. Facebook has more than 400 million active users. By 2050 the population of the United States is estimated to reach 400 million. It reached 300 million in 2006. The average Facebook user has 130 friends and spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook. The average Twitter user has 27 followers. And one of the more interesting ones is according to YouTube’s fact sheet, for every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. That’s up from 20 hours of video in May of 2009. So just imagine the content that is being added to the YouTube website. Also along with this, I will post a link to another graphic that shows how many servers different companies are using on the Internet and along with the Google YouTube service, Google now has over 1 million servers on the Internet, just to handle the huge traffic that Google must deal with every month.
That wraps it up for episode 107 of Tech Talk for 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 To leave a comment or suggestion, please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk for Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
Tom Grissom, Ph.D.
In this episode the month of April has witnessed some huge announcements that will directly impact Internet users. Apple releases the iPad, Facebook hosts the F8 Conference and Microsoft enters the cloud with docs.com
The ITC serves over 12,000 visitors for the month of April!
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(5 minutes 25 seconds)
Facebook Privacy Changes
http://www.macworld.com/article/150822/2010/04/facebook_privacy.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_crawl
Facebooks Ambition
http://scobleizer.com/2010/04/22/facebook-ambition/
Docs.com
http://docs.com
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a blog posting from Kapp Notes blog on interesting Random Web 2.0 Statistics
Kapp Notes
More Random Web 2.0 Statistics
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-random-web-20-statistics.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Who owns the most servers?
http://geekpedia.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/googles-1-million-servers/
Episode 107 – TechTalk4Teachers Transcript:
It’s Friday April 30th, 2010 and welcome to episode 107 of Tech Talk for Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom. It’s been a very busy month in the technology world and I’d like to take a few minutes to cover three of the big stories that I think are going to have an impact on education in the coming months.
The first story involves the ipad. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past month, the Ipad device has been released to the public. The reviews are mixed coming in. Some are finding educational uses while others are still trying to find exactly where does the ipad fit in the education world.
One of the big stories this month for college students is the Facebook conference that was held this month. The FA conference made several announcements that will directly impact Facebook users.
First, Facebook is coming out with something they are calling instant personalization, in which they may be sharing user profile data with other services. For example, Pandora and Yelp may be exchanging data with Facebook, so that user profile data may be used by those services to provide a better experience for those users. While that creates instant personalization, it also comes at a cost for privacy. So Facebook users need to be aware to keep their privacy settings where they want so that information is not shared that they do not want to have shared with the world.
The other big announcement involves Microsoft and Facebook, in which they are doing a beta test with something called docs.com. This essentially is Microsoft Office coming to the web for Facebook users. The Office 2010 product will be released later next month for some users and the docs.com website is a web 2.0 cloud service that will allow Facebook users to create very simple documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. It will not have the full functionality of the Office 2010. However it does give 400 million Facebook users access to Microsoft Office products. As this rolls out of beta, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this in the future.
Facebook Privacy Changes
http://www.macworld.com/article/150822/2010/04/facebook_privacy.html?lsrc=nl_mwweek_h_crawl
Facebooks Ambition
http://scobleizer.com/2010/04/22/facebook-ambition/
Docs.com
http://docs.com
At the ITC this month, we have also been extremely busy as this is the last month before our final exams. I just looked at some of the student traffic we had coming into the ITC and just yesterday we had just short of 1,000 students in and out of the ITC. That will put us over the 12,000 visitor mark to the ITC this month. With the retirement of Terry Hyder, we are down full-time position here at the ITC and I want to recognize the student workers here at the ITC for doing a great job and handling a lot of the workload. We continue to be extremely busy with students coming in and working on their project-based learning activities and this week we have been having a lot of LiveText questions as students complete their electronic portfolios and lesson plans online.
The other news at the ITC this month is that I started a new blog called Netbook Secrets. Now I only have two entries to date, but I plan on adding more over the summer that will share some of the experiences that we’ve had here at the in successfully implementing a netbook program. So be sure to keep your eye out for Netbook Secrets in the coming months. Be sure to check out the show notes, as I will have links for the articles regarding Facebook, privacy settings, and the docs.com website, if you’re interested in learning more about these services.
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a blog posting from Kapp Notes. This is from a posting on April 12th regarding more random web 2.0 statistics. I thought I might share just a few of the entries that this blog is offering.
Kapp Notes
More Random Web 2.0 Statistics
http://karlkapp.blogspot.com/2010/04/more-random-web-20-statistics.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Here are some interesting stats. Facebook has more than 400 million active users. By 2050 the population of the United States is estimated to reach 400 million. It reached 300 million in 2006. The average Facebook user has 130 friends and spends 55 minutes a day on Facebook. The average Twitter user has 27 followers. And one of the more interesting ones is according to YouTube’s fact sheet, for every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. That’s up from 20 hours of video in May of 2009. So just imagine the content that is being added to the YouTube website. Also along with this, I will post a link to another graphic that shows how many servers different companies are using on the Internet and along with the Google YouTube service, Google now has over 1 million servers on the Internet, just to handle the huge traffic that Google must deal with every month.
That wraps it up for episode 107 of Tech Talk for 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 To leave a comment or suggestion, please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk for Teachers blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
Tom Grissom, Ph.D.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Episode 106 - Happy Retirement Terry!
Tech Talk 4 Teachers
In this episode we speak with Terry Hyder who is retiring from 14 years of service to the Instructional Technology Center. Terry discusses some of the changes that have occurred over the past few years. Happy Retirement Terry!!!
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(8 minutes 38 seconds)
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a word cloud service called ABCya, a link is available in the show notes.
ABCya Word Clouds
http://abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
ABCya is a lot like Wordle, a previous TechTalk4Teachers pick of the week, in that you can copy and paste text into a text box and then have it converted into a word cloud. One nice feature is the ability to right-click on a word and then delete the word if you do not want to have that particular word in your word cloud.
That wraps it up for episode 106 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at http://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. Happy Retirement Terry! Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Full Transcript for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers:
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Episode 106 - Happy Retirement Terry!
Tech Talk 4 Teachers
Tom Grissom: It’s Wednesday March 31st 2010 and welcome to episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom
Terry Hyder: and I’m Terry Hyder.
Tom: Welcome Terry.
Terry Hyder: Hi!
Tom: Great to have you today. I wanted to invite you in because this is a very special day, bittersweet for me. But I wanted to welcome you and this is going to be your last day here at the ITC. Going to be retiring here, so, I want to wish you well for that and publicly recognize you for all the great work that you’ve done over the years.
Terry: Thanks, I have had a wonderful time. That’s the reason I’ve been here for fourteen years at just one job for campus.
Tom: Yep, fourteen years. One job here at the ITC, so things have changed a little bit in the last fourteen years, haven’t they?
Terry: Just slightly, yes. We’ve gone from, when I first came we had only one set of Ellison dies and they were letter sets and now we have well over 400 and they’re all different patterns and things like that. So that, plus the computer lab has grown immensely and I’ve gone from, was it the 8 inch floppy disk, yeah, type thing? To the little mini flash-drives.
Tom: Yep, the USB flash-drives.
Terry: So, that was something else as well.
Tom: Yeah, and we’ve been keeping data traffic counts and every year we’ve had over 100,000 student visits.
Terry: Oh my gosh.
Tom: So, I was thinking last night, adding that up, fourteen years, that’s 1.4 million student visits.
Terry: Holy cow!
Tom: So no wonder we’re tired in the evening whenever we go home. The building that were in was also renovated.
Terry: That’s right.
Tom: So can you tell a little bit about what that change was like from the older building to the newer building?
Terry: The building is really an elementary school. The hallways were very much narrower than what they are now. There were lockers everywhere, up and down all the hallways. When my husband came, he was head of the Department of Journalism and his office was the principal’s office and had the original principal’s desk and everything, wooden desk. But the ITC is now, was where Special Ed is now and it was very small. Where we are now, present day was a big garage type place. It had a big boat in it, it had boa constrictor in it, self contained, thank you very much. It also had a wheel for ceramics.
Tom: And where we’re at presently, it was the art studio?
Terry: Yes, the art studio and journalism was down here mostly on the first floor. College of Ed was up on the second floor. Dean’s office and everything was up on the second floor. They had two kitchens across the hall for home economics, the stoves and everything were still there and that was journalism’s computer lab. And that’s present day where the Dean’s office is. And so it was quite fun. We had a swimming pool, they filled that in with sand and you can kind of still see that. It was just crazy!
Tom: Okay, we’ve certainly changed over the years and we’ve evolved as the new technologies and things have arrived. One of the things that we do a lot of in the ITC is helping students with their project-based learning and we do a lot of project-based learning activities. I know our students always look to you, especially for like the bulletin boards and doing some of the Ellison dies and things like that. But what else has changed over, you know, the course of the last several years? What do you think was one of the biggest changes between when you started?
Terry: When I first started, we didn’t do any of that. In fact, everything that we had was in one four-drawer filing cabinet and that was it. You pulled the drawer out to get your markers. You pulled the drawer out to get an idea book out. So, we really didn’t have that much space to do anything with. We maybe had two tables versus our ten now. All the space that we have and plus we offer so much more now than they would have ever dreamed of.
Tom: Yeah, it makes a great place for them to come in and work on their projects.
Terry: It is just absolutely wonderful, these kids here do not understand how privileged they are to have this.
Tom: Yeah, it’s certainly a great asset for the college.
Terry: Take advantage, please. Yes, yes!
Tom: Anything else you’d like to share on the podcast here this morning?
Terry: That I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job or I would not have stayed as long as I did.
Tom: Well you’re certainly going to be missed, I can certainly tell you that.
Terry: I love working with the students and I didn’t think I was, because I was a preschool teacher before and I thought, oh this is not going to happen. But, I did. I shifted gears and it was fine. I found that about myself, that I was more creative than what I thought I was. And helping out with the students and hashing it out, talking about what they had to do, and it just makes your day.
Tom: Thinking back, because I came to Eastern 98-99, and we were doing the computers on wheels and then we moved to the new building. And Pat Fuel, the former director here, we were doing all those checkouts and now then we have all the netbook carts and laptop carts and flip cameras and digital cameras. We just do a ton of checkouts.
Terry: We certainly do.
Tom: And the students are certainly doing those digital projects all over the place and that’s a big change. Every classroom is what we call a Technology Enhanced Classroom. We were the first college on campus to have that and it’s just really interesting seeing all the resources that the internet has to offer.
Terry: That’s the reason it is so good for these students to have a place like this to come to work. They just don’t realize that when they get out into the schools system, that they’re going to have to fight to get what they want as far as stuff. They’ll know how to use it.
Tom: Yeah, and that’s the big thing that we want to expose them to all the different technologies and things so that’s certainly what we try and do here. Well, I want to thank you very much and wish you the very best of retirements and enjoy those grandkids out there.
Terry: Oh, I am!
Tom: And some trips back home. So, thank you very much for all your service over these years.
Terry: Thank you for having me.
Tom: You’re very welcome.
Technology pick of the week
Tom: My technology pick of the week this week is ABCYa word clouds. ABCYa is a very simple word cloud creator and it’s very easy to use. It’s very similar to the wordle program which was a former technology pick of the week.
Technology pick of the week
Tom: My technology pick of the week this week is ABCYa word clouds. ABCYa is a very simple word cloud creator and it’s very easy to use. It’s very similar to the wordle program which was a former technology pick of the week.
http://abcya.com
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning!
In this episode we speak with Terry Hyder who is retiring from 14 years of service to the Instructional Technology Center. Terry discusses some of the changes that have occurred over the past few years. Happy Retirement Terry!!!
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(8 minutes 38 seconds)
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a word cloud service called ABCya, a link is available in the show notes.
ABCya Word Clouds
http://abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
ABCya is a lot like Wordle, a previous TechTalk4Teachers pick of the week, in that you can copy and paste text into a text box and then have it converted into a word cloud. One nice feature is the ability to right-click on a word and then delete the word if you do not want to have that particular word in your word cloud.
That wraps it up for episode 106 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at http://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. Happy Retirement Terry! Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Full Transcript for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers:
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Episode 106 - Happy Retirement Terry!
Tech Talk 4 Teachers
Tom Grissom: It’s Wednesday March 31st 2010 and welcome to episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom
Terry Hyder: and I’m Terry Hyder.
Tom: Welcome Terry.
Terry Hyder: Hi!
Tom: Great to have you today. I wanted to invite you in because this is a very special day, bittersweet for me. But I wanted to welcome you and this is going to be your last day here at the ITC. Going to be retiring here, so, I want to wish you well for that and publicly recognize you for all the great work that you’ve done over the years.
Terry: Thanks, I have had a wonderful time. That’s the reason I’ve been here for fourteen years at just one job for campus.
Tom: Yep, fourteen years. One job here at the ITC, so things have changed a little bit in the last fourteen years, haven’t they?
Terry: Just slightly, yes. We’ve gone from, when I first came we had only one set of Ellison dies and they were letter sets and now we have well over 400 and they’re all different patterns and things like that. So that, plus the computer lab has grown immensely and I’ve gone from, was it the 8 inch floppy disk, yeah, type thing? To the little mini flash-drives.
Tom: Yep, the USB flash-drives.
Terry: So, that was something else as well.
Tom: Yeah, and we’ve been keeping data traffic counts and every year we’ve had over 100,000 student visits.
Terry: Oh my gosh.
Tom: So, I was thinking last night, adding that up, fourteen years, that’s 1.4 million student visits.
Terry: Holy cow!
Tom: So no wonder we’re tired in the evening whenever we go home. The building that were in was also renovated.
Terry: That’s right.
Tom: So can you tell a little bit about what that change was like from the older building to the newer building?
Terry: The building is really an elementary school. The hallways were very much narrower than what they are now. There were lockers everywhere, up and down all the hallways. When my husband came, he was head of the Department of Journalism and his office was the principal’s office and had the original principal’s desk and everything, wooden desk. But the ITC is now, was where Special Ed is now and it was very small. Where we are now, present day was a big garage type place. It had a big boat in it, it had boa constrictor in it, self contained, thank you very much. It also had a wheel for ceramics.
Tom: And where we’re at presently, it was the art studio?
Terry: Yes, the art studio and journalism was down here mostly on the first floor. College of Ed was up on the second floor. Dean’s office and everything was up on the second floor. They had two kitchens across the hall for home economics, the stoves and everything were still there and that was journalism’s computer lab. And that’s present day where the Dean’s office is. And so it was quite fun. We had a swimming pool, they filled that in with sand and you can kind of still see that. It was just crazy!
Tom: Okay, we’ve certainly changed over the years and we’ve evolved as the new technologies and things have arrived. One of the things that we do a lot of in the ITC is helping students with their project-based learning and we do a lot of project-based learning activities. I know our students always look to you, especially for like the bulletin boards and doing some of the Ellison dies and things like that. But what else has changed over, you know, the course of the last several years? What do you think was one of the biggest changes between when you started?
Terry: When I first started, we didn’t do any of that. In fact, everything that we had was in one four-drawer filing cabinet and that was it. You pulled the drawer out to get your markers. You pulled the drawer out to get an idea book out. So, we really didn’t have that much space to do anything with. We maybe had two tables versus our ten now. All the space that we have and plus we offer so much more now than they would have ever dreamed of.
Tom: Yeah, it makes a great place for them to come in and work on their projects.
Terry: It is just absolutely wonderful, these kids here do not understand how privileged they are to have this.
Tom: Yeah, it’s certainly a great asset for the college.
Terry: Take advantage, please. Yes, yes!
Tom: Anything else you’d like to share on the podcast here this morning?
Terry: That I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job or I would not have stayed as long as I did.
Tom: Well you’re certainly going to be missed, I can certainly tell you that.
Terry: I love working with the students and I didn’t think I was, because I was a preschool teacher before and I thought, oh this is not going to happen. But, I did. I shifted gears and it was fine. I found that about myself, that I was more creative than what I thought I was. And helping out with the students and hashing it out, talking about what they had to do, and it just makes your day.
Tom: Thinking back, because I came to Eastern 98-99, and we were doing the computers on wheels and then we moved to the new building. And Pat Fuel, the former director here, we were doing all those checkouts and now then we have all the netbook carts and laptop carts and flip cameras and digital cameras. We just do a ton of checkouts.
Terry: We certainly do.
Tom: And the students are certainly doing those digital projects all over the place and that’s a big change. Every classroom is what we call a Technology Enhanced Classroom. We were the first college on campus to have that and it’s just really interesting seeing all the resources that the internet has to offer.
Terry: That’s the reason it is so good for these students to have a place like this to come to work. They just don’t realize that when they get out into the schools system, that they’re going to have to fight to get what they want as far as stuff. They’ll know how to use it.
Tom: Yeah, and that’s the big thing that we want to expose them to all the different technologies and things so that’s certainly what we try and do here. Well, I want to thank you very much and wish you the very best of retirements and enjoy those grandkids out there.
Terry: Oh, I am!
Tom: And some trips back home. So, thank you very much for all your service over these years.
Terry: Thank you for having me.
Tom: You’re very welcome.
Technology pick of the week
Tom: My technology pick of the week this week is ABCYa word clouds. ABCYa is a very simple word cloud creator and it’s very easy to use. It’s very similar to the wordle program which was a former technology pick of the week.
Technology pick of the week
Tom: My technology pick of the week this week is ABCYa word clouds. ABCYa is a very simple word cloud creator and it’s very easy to use. It’s very similar to the wordle program which was a former technology pick of the week.
http://abcya.com
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning…
You just simply copy and paste text into a text box and click on the arrow and it will automatically generate a very simple word cloud. Now, this one to me, is a little bit easier to use than wordle and one of the nice features is that you can also right click on a word and then delete the word. So, if you have a series of words that you paste in and there’s one word that you don’t want to appear on your word cloud, you can just simply right click, and then chose the delete option. And it does give you the option to save, which it will be a public save, and then also to print. But, ABCYa is one of those very simple word cloud editors out there. You can change the colors, you can change the font and layout and it also has a randomize feature if you don’t like the way the words are laid out the first time that you hit the next button. So, I’ll provide a link for that in the show notes it’s ABCYa word clouds. That wraps it up for Episode 106 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, show notes for this episode and archive episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center’s website at www.eiu.edu/itc . Leave a comment or suggestion or send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teachers blog. I want to thank Terry Hyder for doing the interview today and certainly wish her the very best of retirements. Happy retirement Terry! Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Episode 105 - A fast February with some research
Welcome to Episode 105 of TechTalk4Teachers, I'm Tom Grissom.
In this episode I share some of the research findings regarding a college-level student technology use survey.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(7 minutes 30 seconds)
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a visual presentation tool called Prezi, a link is available in the show notes.
Prezi
http://prezi.com
I have also included a link to my first Prezi with information about some of the research findings I shared earlier in this podcast in a visual form. Be sure to check it out at:
Student Technology Use (College-Level) Prezi Presentation
http://prezi.com/hmqyr-j_zju3/
That wraps it up for episode 105 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at http://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. Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Full Transcript Episode 105 Tech Talk 4 Teachers:
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Episode 105 - A fast February with some research
It’s Thursday February 25th 2010 and welcome to Episode 105 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom. Welcome to an abbreviated edition of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, as I wanted to get one quick podcast in before the month of February slipped away from us. I do have a little bit of cleanup work to do, as last episode, I have asked if anyone from India was listening. I didn’t receive an email from India, however, I did receive an email from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from someone who used to live in India. And Teeshen wanted to make sure she said hello and let you know she appreciated your email comment.
Now onto this week’s content. At the beginning of this week, we had a research fair here in our college and we recently completed a survey and we had 451 people respond, out of a little over 500. It works out to about an 83% participation rate. So, we did have a large number of students complete the survey and it was well represented.
To give you an idea, this is student college technology use. So we did have pretty good representation from all levels of college. Of the respondents, 12% identified themselves as freshman, 20% as sophomores, 30% as juniors, 23% as seniors, and 15% as graduate students. So pretty good representation across the board of the different levels. We of course ask about computer use and we’ve been at 90% plus computer ownership for awhile. But in this survey 98.4% of respondents reported owning a computer. To further break that down, we asked about the type of computer that they had and 12.7% reported having a desktop computer, 65.9% having a laptop, 19.8% said both a desktop and a laptop, and as I said 1.6% reported not owning a computer.
As far as operating systems, 91.2% reported owning a PC running Windows and 8.8% running a Mac with OS 10. We ask a general question, do you know how to burn a CD? And 92.4% of respondents said yes. Regarding social networking, we ask about Myspace and Facebook accounts. To break it down further, 51% reported only Facebook, 2% reported only Myspace, 33% reported both Myspace and Facebook, and 14% said neither Facebook or Myspace. In the question, do you own an MP3 player, 83% of respondents said yes, they own an MP3 player. Do you own a cell phone? 99.8% of respondents, so it looks like approximately one person out of the 451 did not own a cell phone. That one surprised me a little bit. I didn’t think it would be nearly 100%. Of those, of course, 95% reported having a texting service.
We ask a question about how often do you backup your data and this one surprised me and is probably a little frightening for the IT folks out there. 44.3% said I never backup. The question regarding listening to audio podcasts, 66% had reported that they had listened to an audio podcast. When we asked how they listened to an audio podcast, this is a little surprising. 90% said they listened on a computer and only 10% reported listening on an MP3 player. We asked if the students had iTunes installed on their computer and 77% reported yes, they did have iTunes installed. But going back to the podcast question, only 13.4% had ever subscribed to a podcast. Then we ask several questions about frequency of use of just some of the common technology tools. I won’t bother to sit here and read all of the different things. I will have a little bit more information coming up in my technology pick of the week however. It was an interesting survey. We had 83% participation rate and it’s interesting to see how the college use, or the technology use by college students has evolved over the years.
In general tech news, since our last episode, two big developments have occurred. Apple announced a new iPad device, which is going to be targeting use as a Ebook reader/audio-video consumption device. It’s not out yet. They just made the announcement late last month and the other thing that’s been in the news a lot lately is Google Buzz. If you have a Gmail account, you may have seen some information about this. This is something that Google kind of surprised users with and it’s not been getting very good reviews due to some privacy concerns. On my Droid phone, I do have Google maps and there is a new function that allows you to layer Google Buzz on top of your map. There are a lot of privacy concerns, because on the map you can literally see everybody that has made a status update and what Google is calling a buzz, similar to like Twitter or a Facebook status update. And not only does it give you the information on what the user said, it gives the username and also the location on the map, sometimes down to the street level. So there are some privacy concerns with that and Google has made several adjustments, but users are still getting accustomed to what it is and if it’s going to be useful as a tool.
If you’re receiving this in your feed today and if you happen to be attending the East Central Technology Conference tomorrow, I will be there. I will be presenting on podcasting some professional development opportunities there. So if you happen to attend tomorrow, make sure you stop by and give a shout out and say hello. My technology pick of the week this week, is a service called Prezi. I have several friends in my Twitter network that have been using Prezi and what it is, is a visual representation and it’s kind of like a PowerPoint that you can zoom in and zoom out of objects. It’s really kind of hard to describe. The best way is to experience it. So what I’ve done is I’ve attempted my first Prezi and it contains some of the research that I reported on earlier. So, if you’re interested, I’ll provide a link in the show notes as well as a link to the general Prezi.com website. Several presenters are using this now. It provides a lot of motion and it really can keep the audience attention, if it’s not overdone.
That wraps it up for episode 105 of Tech Talk 4 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. To leave a comment or suggestion, please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teacher’s blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning!
In this episode I share some of the research findings regarding a college-level student technology use survey.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(7 minutes 30 seconds)
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a visual presentation tool called Prezi, a link is available in the show notes.
Prezi
http://prezi.com
I have also included a link to my first Prezi with information about some of the research findings I shared earlier in this podcast in a visual form. Be sure to check it out at:
Student Technology Use (College-Level) Prezi Presentation
http://prezi.com/hmqyr-j_zju3/
That wraps it up for episode 105 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at http://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. Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Full Transcript Episode 105 Tech Talk 4 Teachers:
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Episode 105 - A fast February with some research
It’s Thursday February 25th 2010 and welcome to Episode 105 of Tech Talk 4 Teachers. I’m Tom Grissom. Welcome to an abbreviated edition of Tech Talk 4 Teachers, as I wanted to get one quick podcast in before the month of February slipped away from us. I do have a little bit of cleanup work to do, as last episode, I have asked if anyone from India was listening. I didn’t receive an email from India, however, I did receive an email from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from someone who used to live in India. And Teeshen wanted to make sure she said hello and let you know she appreciated your email comment.
Now onto this week’s content. At the beginning of this week, we had a research fair here in our college and we recently completed a survey and we had 451 people respond, out of a little over 500. It works out to about an 83% participation rate. So, we did have a large number of students complete the survey and it was well represented.
To give you an idea, this is student college technology use. So we did have pretty good representation from all levels of college. Of the respondents, 12% identified themselves as freshman, 20% as sophomores, 30% as juniors, 23% as seniors, and 15% as graduate students. So pretty good representation across the board of the different levels. We of course ask about computer use and we’ve been at 90% plus computer ownership for awhile. But in this survey 98.4% of respondents reported owning a computer. To further break that down, we asked about the type of computer that they had and 12.7% reported having a desktop computer, 65.9% having a laptop, 19.8% said both a desktop and a laptop, and as I said 1.6% reported not owning a computer.
As far as operating systems, 91.2% reported owning a PC running Windows and 8.8% running a Mac with OS 10. We ask a general question, do you know how to burn a CD? And 92.4% of respondents said yes. Regarding social networking, we ask about Myspace and Facebook accounts. To break it down further, 51% reported only Facebook, 2% reported only Myspace, 33% reported both Myspace and Facebook, and 14% said neither Facebook or Myspace. In the question, do you own an MP3 player, 83% of respondents said yes, they own an MP3 player. Do you own a cell phone? 99.8% of respondents, so it looks like approximately one person out of the 451 did not own a cell phone. That one surprised me a little bit. I didn’t think it would be nearly 100%. Of those, of course, 95% reported having a texting service.
We ask a question about how often do you backup your data and this one surprised me and is probably a little frightening for the IT folks out there. 44.3% said I never backup. The question regarding listening to audio podcasts, 66% had reported that they had listened to an audio podcast. When we asked how they listened to an audio podcast, this is a little surprising. 90% said they listened on a computer and only 10% reported listening on an MP3 player. We asked if the students had iTunes installed on their computer and 77% reported yes, they did have iTunes installed. But going back to the podcast question, only 13.4% had ever subscribed to a podcast. Then we ask several questions about frequency of use of just some of the common technology tools. I won’t bother to sit here and read all of the different things. I will have a little bit more information coming up in my technology pick of the week however. It was an interesting survey. We had 83% participation rate and it’s interesting to see how the college use, or the technology use by college students has evolved over the years.
In general tech news, since our last episode, two big developments have occurred. Apple announced a new iPad device, which is going to be targeting use as a Ebook reader/audio-video consumption device. It’s not out yet. They just made the announcement late last month and the other thing that’s been in the news a lot lately is Google Buzz. If you have a Gmail account, you may have seen some information about this. This is something that Google kind of surprised users with and it’s not been getting very good reviews due to some privacy concerns. On my Droid phone, I do have Google maps and there is a new function that allows you to layer Google Buzz on top of your map. There are a lot of privacy concerns, because on the map you can literally see everybody that has made a status update and what Google is calling a buzz, similar to like Twitter or a Facebook status update. And not only does it give you the information on what the user said, it gives the username and also the location on the map, sometimes down to the street level. So there are some privacy concerns with that and Google has made several adjustments, but users are still getting accustomed to what it is and if it’s going to be useful as a tool.
If you’re receiving this in your feed today and if you happen to be attending the East Central Technology Conference tomorrow, I will be there. I will be presenting on podcasting some professional development opportunities there. So if you happen to attend tomorrow, make sure you stop by and give a shout out and say hello. My technology pick of the week this week, is a service called Prezi. I have several friends in my Twitter network that have been using Prezi and what it is, is a visual representation and it’s kind of like a PowerPoint that you can zoom in and zoom out of objects. It’s really kind of hard to describe. The best way is to experience it. So what I’ve done is I’ve attempted my first Prezi and it contains some of the research that I reported on earlier. So, if you’re interested, I’ll provide a link in the show notes as well as a link to the general Prezi.com website. Several presenters are using this now. It provides a lot of motion and it really can keep the audience attention, if it’s not overdone.
That wraps it up for episode 105 of Tech Talk 4 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. To leave a comment or suggestion, please send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu or leave a comment on the Tech Talk 4 Teacher’s blog. Until next time, this is Tom Grissom. Keep on learning!
Friday, January 22, 2010
Episode 104 – Happy New Year and a guest from Mumbai, India
Welcome to Episode 105 of TechTalk4Teachers, I'm Tom Grissom.
In this episode I talk with my graduate assistant, Tehseen, about her recent trip back to India.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(15 minutes 31 seconds)
Tehseen discusses her experiences with technology and how it has helped her stay in contact with friends and family back home while attending school here at Eastern Illinois University.
In this episode I talk with my graduate assistant, Tehseen, about her recent trip back to India.
Right Click Here to Download MP3
(15 minutes 31 seconds)
Tehseen discusses her experiences with technology and how it has helped her stay in contact with friends and family back home while attending school here at Eastern Illinois University.
Drop us a note and tell us where you are from, you may send an email to techtalk@eiu.edu
WolframAlpha Query comparing Charleston, Illinois and Mumbai, India
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+far+is+it+from+Charleston%2C+Illinois+to+Mumbai%2C+India
Technology Pick of the Week
My technology pick of the week this week is a report that is hot off the presses and I always assign this report to my preservice teachers as required reading. The name of this report is the Horizon Report 2010 and a link is available in the show notes.
Horizon Report 2010
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2010-horizon-report
This free report was released last week by the New Media Consortium and the Educause Learning Initiative provides a look into the future by projecting current technology trends out to five years and discusses their relevance to learning. The report discusses mobile computing, open content, ebooks, simple augmented reality, gesture based computing, and visual data analysis. This report has many examples of how up-and-coming technologies are being used inside and outside the classroom to benefit the learning experience. The report is only 40 pages long and is well worth the read so be sure to check it out.
That wraps it up for episode 104 of TechTalk4Teachers. Show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available on the web at the EIU Instructional Technology Center website at http://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. Until next time this is Tom Grissom, keep on learning!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Episode 103 – Learning by Design - Project WOW
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!
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, 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.
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