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I first became aware of this by noticing a tag in Twitter named #CNNfail last Saturday night as it was becoming a trending topic in Twitter. Many people on Twitter that night wanted to see live coverage of the aftermath of the Iranian election and expressed their displeasure with CNN for not broadcasting live coverage by using the #CNNfail tag. CNN instead was broadcasting re-runs, and in the opinion of many on Twitter, were not covering an international event of interest to them. In fact many are still using the #CNNfail tag today one week after the Iranian election is over.
Twitter has in a sense become a new News source for many. Twitter users are experiencing real-time news from fellow Twitter users that completely bypasses the old media. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing can be debated. Journalist are struggling to find a balance with real-time news coverage while at the same time checking sources for validity and trying to provide a rounded view of coverage. Of course this introduces the reporters bias into the reporting but this has always been the case.
I have posted a link in the show notes to an article by Robert Niles titled, Lessons for online journalists from #CNNFail and the Iran uprising, this article explains the conundrum journalists are currently facing as technologies are disrupting expectations of those that consume the news. Why bother with traditional media if you can get real-time tweets from individuals who are directly experiencing the news event?
Lessons for online journalists from #CNNFail and the Iran uprising
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/robert/200906/1752/
If you are interested in this topic this article is worth your time to read and ponder the age we are currently living in and how this episode may impact future News coverage as old media like CNN learn their lesson from the Iranian election coverage, or lack thereof. I must pause a moment and re-read that last sentence as I just called CNN old media, not so long ago CNN was the new kid on the block and established the first 24 hour cable network news (CNN) channel on June 1, 1980. That was 29 years ago and for those of us old enough to remember many were skeptical that the public would be interested in a 24 hour news station covering news from around the world.
Fast forward 29 years to the present #CNNfail debacle and it appears CNN has strayed from its roots at a time when more people than ever are interested in international news. I have also provided a link to an article in the show notes that describes a brief overview of CNN if you are interested in learning more about the history of CNN.
CNN – A brief overview
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2643
As I write this episode today the number one trending topic in Twitter is still #iranelection. Twitter has now reached a critical mass of users and the collective conscious of its users is becoming a very powerful thing. Many people on Twitter have changed their Twitter icon to a green tint to show their support for Iranians protesting the election results. When something is trending on Twitter I am sure that its impact has exceeded the expectations of the original founders of this service. Many times these trends are frivolous but sometimes, as shown by events this past week, a revolution may be in the balance.
I am sure that Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone never expected in their wildest dreams that they would get a call from the United States State Department asking them to delay routine maintenance on Twitter servers because of an election half-way around the world. A link from a Reuters article is provided in the show notes reporting that the US State Department did indeed ask Twitter to delay maintenance because they were concerned that it would disrupt one of the few remaining communication methods that Iranian citizens were using to get the word out about Iranian election protests.
U.S. State Department speaks to Twitter over Iran
http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSWBT01137420090616
Having been in a previous position of life and death responsibilities as a computer systems administrator for a hospital I know first-hand the burden this level of support requires. Raising the bar of expectations that a service may be responsible for a revolution must be most humbling to its founders. Given Twitters track record with the Fail Whale and reliability problems in the past it must be a bit frightening that its services may be becoming mission critical to many users of its service.
People do tend to get upset if the service is not available and most have little understanding of the need for periodic server maintenance. Since Twitter is now a global service there is never a time that will not impact some users of its services so they do their best to minimize maintenance disruptions. The irony is that if they did not do this routine maintenance from time to time the entire service could go down. So here we are in a real-time world where the expectations of always connected services have become the norm.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a reading recommendation called the Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning by George Siemens and Peter Tittenberger. Since many teachers are on or will soon be on summer break this handbook should be put on your summer reading list as it provides an excellent educational perspective on learning technologies and their uses in the classroom and online.
Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning (HETL)
http://umanitoba.ca/learning_technologies/cetl/HETL.pdf
While the target audience is for higher education faculty, teachers in the K-12 environment will also find it equally valuable as it mixes both pedagogy and technology to provide a foundational level of knowledge for transformational learning empowered by technologies.
That wraps it up for episode 90 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, June 19, 2009
tt4t_090 The revolution is digitized, Twitter, the new News source
Friday, June 12, 2009
tt4t_089 Analog TV says goodbye, hello DTV
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For myself and some of my neighbors in this part of rural Illinois this transition already has impacted the choices of TV channels available. Back in February I helped my grandparents install a new national branded digital TV converter box that allowed them to watch a few local stations. After having this converter box for some time now my grandparents were not satisfied with it and stated that the old way was better. After quizzing them about what they were missing they stated that there were a few channels they used to be able to get but that they could not get anymore.
I recently purchased a more expensive Channel Master converter box and replaced the existing branded version that my grandparents had purchased from Walmart. The new converter box does seem to receive more channels than the old one. There does appear to be some quality differences between different brands and models of converter boxes so you may want to do some additional testing if you are experiencing problems with DTV reception.
The other frustrating factor for my grandparents was that the converter boxes have a separate remote control with smaller buttons. Both my grandparents are near 90 years of age and this change really has personally impacted them as they have little understanding of the technical details. All they want to be able to do is watch a little TV from time to time and they do not understand the need for change because things were working fine before.
I will need to check back on my grandparents this weekend as the DTV.gov website has an Alert today that states that some people may have to “RESCAN” their channels after the switchover is finalized today. My grandparents have no idea what this means yet alone how to do it. I have provided a screenshot of the DTV.gov website in the show notes with the Alert message. Please check-in on your friends and neighbors to make sure that everything is OK after todays digital TV switch-over.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is from the recent E3 gaming conference that features some interesting new ways to interact with your gaming console. Most of us are aware of the Nintendo Wii and you may have had the chance to play some interactive games using the Wii controllers in games like bowling, tennis, baseball, and boxing.
Last week at the E3 conference Microsoft announced Project Natal, pronounced Nah-tall, that completely eliminates the controller all together and in fact makes YOU the controller! This is truly amazing technology and the camera sensors in the system can map movements of your body and interactively incorporate them into a variety of games. A link is available in the show notes.
Project Natal –XBox 360 – where YOU are the controller!
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/
Be sure to check-out this link as it has a video demonstation of what this new system is capable of including a boy playing a game using Karate moves to beat an opponent, a girl playing an auto racing game where her Dad is in the Pit Crew changing tires, and a family playing a Jeopardy-like game using voice recognition. This video may take a bit to download but is certainly worth the wait. To be fair this technology will not be available commercially for at least another year or so but it does give you an inside look into where the Xbox 360 gaming system is headed.
Long time listeners of TechTalk4Teachers may remember way back on Episode 18 that I gave an overview of how Johnny Chung Lee used a Wii remote to build a low-cost interactive white board. A link to Episode 18 is in the show notes.
Episode 18 – Johnny Chung Lee
http://techtalk4teachers.blogspot.com/2007/12/tt4t018-nintendo-wii-with-educational.html
It just so happens that Johnny Chung Lee is now employed by Microsoft and has recently been assigned to the Project Natal team. If you would like to see what Johnny has been up to I have also provided a link to his blog called Procrastineering in the show notes where he explains some of the basics of Project Natal.
Procrastineering
http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2009/06/project-natal.html
That wraps it up for episode 89 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, June 1, 2009
tt4t_088 The netbooks are coming, the netbooks are coming
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This will provide an instant 1 to 1 computing solution for our students. The netbook carts will be placed in two different buildings to serve the needs of our faculty and students. We are very excited to add an additional building on campus that previously did not have this capability so that more of our students have an opportunity to utilize technology resources.
Add in the fact that we saved over 70 percent that a full-sized laptop cart solution would have cost and our business managers are also smiling. When you can equip an entire classroom for 30 cents on the dollar then you have maximized your investment while at the same time impacted more students, a win-win situation. We were able to buy more than twice the number of laptops for the mobile carts for less than half of the cost of the old way of doing business.
The ITC has had experience with mobile laptop carts dating back to 2001. Before that time we used what we called the Computers on Wheels model, aka COWS, for a one computer in the classroom approach. Now, with over 8 years of experience with laptop carts for our classrooms we know that the addition of the new netbook carts will provide a beneficial classroom learning environment providing our students with access to 21st Century tools in the classroom.
When we first started using the mobile laptop carts we did not have any wireless access in any of the buildings on campus. Back then we had to take an 802.11 access point along with the mobile cart and find a Local Area Network jack to plug the access point into near the vicinity of the classroom every time the mobile cart was checked out. Since that time our campus has added wireless access in all of our buildings which makes delivering the carts much easier.
Currently the ITC has two mobile carts with full-sized Gateway laptops and one cart with Mac iBooks. The biggest benefit I am looking forward to with the netbooks is the up to nine hour battery life that the new eee PC 1000he models have. Students typically get between 1.5 hours and 3 hours of battery life out of the existing laptops we currently have in the ITC and this short battery life is the biggest hassle we deal with for our existing mobile laptop carts on a daily basis. The current mobile carts are routinely checked out from the ITC and are often are checked out in back-to-back classes. We try our best to rotate the carts so that the batteries will be fully charged but the popularity of the mobile carts with faculty often prevent having adequate time to recharge the batteries. This means that students often need to find an electrical outlet in the classrooms to use them. Having the possibility of full day computing with the new netbooks is something we are looking forward to.
Add in the capability of the eeeasaurus classroom presentation system with the new netbook carts and we truly do have a very powerful learning environment that is powered by technology at much more affordable costs than was previously possible. We are still waiting on the new mobile carts to arrive on campus but as soon as they get here we will be ready setup and deploy the new netbook carts and we are looking forward to providing this opportunity to our students.
LifeHacker has an article on the Five Best Netbooks this week with a poll of their readers. Head on over to the Lifehacker article listed in the show notes to read this article and cast your vote or see the results of the interactive poll. I am happy to report that the eee PC 1000he model we selected made the top five list.
http://lifehacker.com/5273096/five-best-netbooks
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is an online collaborative whiteboard application that allows you to easily create drawings that can be shared with others. Dabbleboard allows you to easily create flowchart-like, as well as freehand drawings. You do not need to sign-up for an account and you can immediately begin to use this tool. Be sure to check out the links that are provided in the show notes for more information about Dabbleboard.
http://dabbleboard.com/
http://dabbleboard.com/tour
Top Ten Reasons to use Dabbleboard"
http://dabbleboard.com/tour#reasons
If you do decide to sign-up for an account Dabbleboard offers both free and paid accounts. With an account you can share your dabbleboard with others and it even offers an embed code that you can use to post to your blog or website. You can even download an image once you have created it so you have a permanent record of your whiteboard drawing. I have used Dabbleboard with a SMART board and it works very well, using your finger to draw freehand shapes is much more natural than with a computer mouse.
That wraps it up for episode 88 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.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
tt4t_087 The power of now learning, adventure style
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Following Astro_Mike has given me a different perspective than I would have had otherwise regarding the latest Space Shuttle mission. Here is one of Astro_Mike’s tweets from the mission “From orbit: We see 16 sunrises and sunsets in 24 hrs, each one spectacular as the sun lights up the atmosphere in a spectrum of colors”
http://twitter.com/astro_mike
Seeing Astro_Mike's tweets throughout the past couple of weeks offered a unique perspective of his life aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis. I was not the only one enjoying his perspective in 140 characters or less these past two weeks as Astro_Mike had 345,767 followers on Twitter the last time I checked.
There was however a bit of a controversy this week as it turns out the Astro_Mike really was not tweeting from Space as was perceived by the general public. I have provided links to a couple of articles in the show notes that explain that Astro_Mike sends an email back to Houston where the tweets are then posted, therefore the tweets are delayed and thus not posted in real-time. I have provided a link to an article in the show notes from the Orlando Sentinel that is titled “Are astronaut's space 'tweets' cheats?”
Are astronaut's space 'tweets' cheats?
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-twitter-from-space-052209,0,3193045.story
I also provide a link to an article titled “HOW DOES NASA'S "ASTRO_MIKE" TWEET FROM SPACE?” If you are interested in learning more.
HOW DOES NASA'S "ASTRO_MIKE" TWEET FROM SPACE?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=how-does-nasas-astromike-tweet-from-2009-05-18
Some people do not consider Astro_Mike to really be tweeting because another human here on Earth is really the one doing the posting therefore claims to the first tweet from space are not true. This has created some controversy and reminds us that there is really no way to verify a virtual digital identity and faking a presence in the digital world can be very easy to do. We need to be careful in qualifying the identity of someone online in order to establish a trusting relationship, given that Astro_Mike was aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis I think we can give him the benefit of the doubt and thank him for sharing his perspective from Space even if they were delayed a bit.
Here is another Twitter story I would like to share with you regarding another NASA Astronaut named Scott Parazynski’s who successfully scaled Mt. Everest this week. Along with Astro_Mike I have also been following the SPOTscott Twitter account for the past couple of weeks. This week I shared in the jubilation that Scott must have felt by successfully standing on top of Mt. Everest on Tuesday of this past week. Here is the Twitter posting from SPOTscott.
“Astronaut Scott Parazynski and his Sherpa Danuru are standing on the summit of Mt. Everest as of 6:15 pm EDT - 4 am Nepal time 5:29 PM May 19th from web”
http://twitter.com/spotscott
I have also placed a link in the show notes to an article from Universe Today that has a picture of Scott standing on the summit of Mt. Everest with him holding up a Moon rock that was placed on the summit of Everest along with remembrances of fallen astronauts.
With Moon Rocks in Hand, Parazynski Reaches Mt. Everest Peak
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/05/21/with-moon-rocks-in-hand-parazynski-reaches-mt-everest-peak/
Another worthwhile Twitter experience I had earlier this year was following a participant in the Iditarod dog race in Alaska that provided me real-time race conditions and updates on the various participants and how their dog teams were holding up. I later was able to watch the Discovery Channels documentary on this years Iditarod race and it was much more meaningful to me because I had the behind the scenes stories as background information that supplemented my viewing experience. We teachers can take a lesson from this layering approach of various media formats and time-shifting to reinforce learning and make connections to provide more meaningful learning opportunities for our students.
Iditarod Race 2009 – Discovery Channel
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/iditarod/iditarod.html
One thing I hope teachers take away from listening to TechTalk4Teachers is the ability to adapt some of the ideas presented here and customize them for your own needs. Teachers can use these adventure style Twitter postings from scientists and explorers to bring real-time and real-world events into the classroom. The power of now learning can be incorporated into any subject area as there are now millions of Twitter users that teachers can work with including scientists, university professors, explorers, community members, and other fascinating people from all walks of life.
Teachers can build classroom lessons that take advantage of instantaneous communications that are now free provided you have Internet access. Internet safety is always a concern and sources need to be vetted but the possibilities of forging appropriate relationships with others is too powerful of a learning opportunity to pass up. If you are currently using technologies in your classroom that incorporate the power of now learning I would love to hear from you so we can share your stories with other teachers.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a pick that is the beginning of what promises to be many new simulations utilizing the Google Earth API. API stands for Application Programming Interface and is used by software developers to access data and programming routines to support the building of new applications. The name of this weeks tech pick is the free Google Earth Simulation Game called Ships by a company called PlanetinAction. A link is provided in the show notes to the Google Earth Blog with information about the new game and a video demo.
Google Earth Blog: Ships V1.01
http://www.gearthblog.com/blog/archives/2009/05/fantastic_free_google_earth_game_sh.html
In this simulation you are given command of a ship and you use the on-screen controls to navigate your ship around the waterways of the world. The game does require a plug-in that must be downloaded before you can begin. Ships uses the Google Earth API, Flash 8.0, and Javascript. This is a version 1.0 product and there are some bugs in the initial release but it is a very promising start that shows the potential that others in the future will be able to take advantage of. When you pilot your ship you are given a Google Earth view of your location and you can change to whatever view you prefer in Google Earth. You can select the type of Ship you would like to Captain from a river barge to the Queen Mary 2! Give the new simulation game Ships a try and let me know what you think.
PlanetinAction
http://planetinaction.com/ships.php
That wraps it up for episode 87 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.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
tt4t_086 The power of now and a WOW!!!
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Throw in some recent new technology purchases, end of year budget balancing, and the verification of inventories and we have more than enough work to keep us very busy over the entire summer. We have a lot of exciting things happening this summer at the ITC and I will share what we are doing as we rollout several new projects so stay tuned to TechTalk4Teachers for more.
Semester schedules are now compressed and one semester flows to the next with little or no down time between. Learning is often enabled by new technologies that now make possible what was previously viewed as impossible just a few short years ago.
I would like to share with you one experience this week that serves as an example of how access to ubiquitous technologies present serendipitous learning opportunities. We teachers call this, the teachable moment, aka just-in-time learning. This week I received a Twitter message from @spacevidcast that they were streaming a live video feed of the lift-off of Space Shuttle Atlantis. This website is also offering real-time tweets throughout this mission to repair the Hubble Space telescope in the coming days. A couple links are available in the show notes to the spacevidcast website.
http://www.spacevidcast.com/
http://www.spacevidcast.com/live/
When you visit the spacevidcast live site you will see a video window of a live stream if they happen to be broadcasting at that moment. During the live video stream of the Atlantis launch this site had a chat window to the right-hand side that provided a live stream of Twitter postings as they happened. Marrying the live video stream with the live text-based Twitter stream earlier this week provided a viewing experience that was enhanced by the combination of the two. At its height during launch time I saw well over 5000 people viewing the launch of Atlantis and I saw many of my friends on Twitter posting messages regarding the launch. If you addressed your Twitter message to @spacevidcast you were able to see your message next to the live video stream.
I recognized many of the Twitter names making postings to @spacevidcast and many were K12 teachers sharing this event with their class. I always feel a sense of pride in being an American every time I watch a NASA launch. Being able to experience this live with a class and all at the click of a mouse is truly amazing! Because this is a video stream you will need to have adequate broadband bandwidth in order to have an acceptable viewing experience. Students are often motivated to learn about current events and new technologies are offering real-time learning opportunities that provide a teachable moment to learn relevant content in a real-world and real-time context. Students are motivated by this relevancy and teachers can harness the power of now learning at the click of a mouse.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a pick that I believe has the potential to go down in history as a mile marker in the 21st Century regarding the way humans interact with a search engine. I am not easily impressed but if this technology pick of the week can live up to some of the demos I have watched then this could be a game changer in the area of search engines. The name of my pick this week is the WolframAlpha Computational Search Engine and a link is available in the show notes.
WolframAlpha
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
I also have a link to a MUST SEE video about what this new type of search engine is capable of so be sure to check it out. You must watch this video as contextual search may just change the way we use search engines in the future.
Introducing WolframAlpha Screencast (MUST SEE)
http://www.wolframalpha.com/screencast/introducingwolframalpha.html
Last night WolframAlpha went live for the first time to the masses and I had the opportunity to watch the live webcast of this event as it was happening. The WolframAlpha website launch got off to a rocky start as the site was up and down all night as they were doing load balancing and testing. Time will tell if WolframAlpha changes the way we use the Internet but it is a most impressive technology. Click on the link in the show notes to watch a “must see” demo and by the time you are listening to this podcast WolframAlpha will be live for the world to use.
From what I have seen of WolframAlpha, Google, the 900 pound gorilla in the search business definitely has something to worry about. Many think Google is invincible but WolframAlpha uses contextual search to provide search results back that are relevant to the term(s) that you are searching for. For example if you type in gdp of France you get back information related to the Gross Domestic Product for France complete with graphs and summary tables. Type in a mathematical formula and you get the solution, type in a stock symbol and you get the latest stock price, type in the name of a city and you get back a map with the location and statistics about the city, type in a question and WolframAlpha trys its best to provide you with a contextual answer.
Google’s search algorithm is much different and uses a combination of page rank, number of hits (popularity), and their own secret formula to return search results.
WolframAlpha has a chance to de-throne Google in the search area if their technology can scale to the heavy usage that will undoubtably follow if their product is successful. At the risk of hyping this too much I really did not think I would ever say that Google might be at risk of losing its dominate market lead of 70 to 80 percent of the search business but the new WolframAlpha search engine may just be that powerful.
WolframAlpha is still very early and in the testing phase. See the show notes for an interesting message I received from the site that said, “I am sorry Dave, I am afraid I cannot do that. WolframAlpha has currently exceeded its current maximum test load.” That of course is a reference to Space Odyssey 2001 and the HAL computer that took over the spaceship.
As I was testing WolframAlpha this morning I was still getting error messages most of the time but when the search engine did return a result it was most impressive. Time will tell if WolframAlpha can overcome the challenges it now faces as it scales this technology to be available to the masses. Give WolframAlpha a try and I bet you will also say WOW!
That wraps it up for episode 86 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, May 8, 2009
tt4t_085 Let the electronic textbook wars begin
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First, the Windows 7 Release Candidate became available for general public download on Tuesday of this week. I was able to get this download early in the morning on Tuesday before Microsoft’s servers slowed down because of the massive amount of downloads anticipated. I have installed the release candidate on four older Dell computers and my eee PC netbook with very few problems. Microsoft has said that the release candidate is free to use until June of 2010 with the caveat that the release candidate will begin to shutdown every 2 hours beginning on March 1st of 2010. That effectively gives the public the chance to use the Windows 7 Release Candidate for free for nine months before you will need to buy the official copy once it is released. That is a pretty generous offering from Microsoft as they try to make amends for some of the past mistakes they have made with the previous rollout of Windows Vista. A link is available in the show notes about what’s new in Windows 7.
What’s New in Windows 7
http://lifehacker.com/5239563/whats-new-in-the-windows-7-release-candidate
I have been using the Windows 7 beta version since October and have been quite impressed with the changes Microsoft is making. Windows 7 is much more streamlined than Vista as evidenced by the fact that I am running the full version of the Windows 7 Ultimate Edition RC on a netbook with a 1.6 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM. This combination is as responsive as the older Windows XP operating system that I previously used on this netbook.
The look and feel of Windows 7 is much more polished than Vista and the snappiness of using Windows 7 is very evident in the release candidate. Microsoft has still not announced an availability date for the official release but I will be testing out the release candidate very hard in the upcoming months. You will be hearing more about Windows 7 in upcoming episodes of TechTalk4Teachers so stay tuned.
The other really big news this week was from Amazon as they held a press conference about a new Kindle device called the Kindle DX that is targeted toward readers of newspapers and textbooks. The new DX model is scheduled for general availability later this summer and looks much like the Kindle 2 that came out earlier this year. The main difference is in the size in that the Kindle DX will have a 9.7 inch screen size compared to the Kindle 2’s screen size of 6 inches. The new DX model also supports PDF files natively. Links are provided in the show notes for more information about the Kindle DX model.
Amazon Kindle DX
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-DX-Amazons-Wireless-Generation/dp/B0015TCML0/
Here is the Kindle Vision Statement from their press conference earlier this week: "Every book ever printed... in any language... all available in less than 60 seconds." Now that is a vision statement!
Listeners/readers of TechTalk4Teachers might remember that I gave a Kindle 2 review back on episode 79 if TechTalk4Teachers so you may want to review that episode if you are interested in learning more about the Kindle 2. The Kindle DX addresses one of my complaints in that the Kindle DX has a larger screen size. My other suggestion for improving the Kindle 2 was that it have a color screen but alas the new Kindle DX does not offer color yet. Color, for me, is a must before I think that this device will really take-off and become a viable competitor for traditional textbooks.
The Kindle DX announcement surprised me this week being that it has been less than four months since the Kindle 2 became available to the general public. I have been a bit skeptical of the ebook readers to date because of the small size and large initial expense but the new Kindle DX is getting closer to a model that I believe finally has a chance to revolutionize book publishing, particularly textbook publishing. The expense is still an issue as Amazon has announced a price of $489 for the larger Kindle DX.
I have heard that approximately 40 to 50 percent of the cost of a textbook is in the actual paper and transportation costs of getting the textbook to the end user. With the electronic delivery system that Amazon is providing the opportunity for a 50 percent price reduction is there. Anyone that has purchased a college textbook knows that they are expensive averaging well over $100 per textbook. So the opportunity is there to provide some savings and transition from the dead tree model of publishing to the digital distribution model.
Will this catch on? We will have to wait and see but I do believe that momentum is beginning to build within the publishing industry to move to a digital distribution model and right now Amazon is leading the way.
Another big development this week in the electronic textbook movement was an announcement from the Gov. Schwarzenegger of California. This week Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that California would be the first state in the US to initiate a free open-source electronic textbook distribution model at the high school level. A link is provided in the show notes to the press release and is a sign that electronic textbooks are beginning to be considered as a viable alternative to traditional textbooks and this press release is definitely worth reading. The California Governor has instructed his Secretary of Education to ensure that these resources are available to high school Math and Science classes for the Fall 2009 semester. It will be interesting watching the free open-source proponents of electronic textbooks interact with the for-profit Amazon model that is now developing.
Gov. Schwarzenegger Launches First-in-Nation Initiative to Develop Free Digital Textbooks for High School Students
http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/12225/
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is related to cell phone technologies as I have been working with college students on using available technologies that many students already have. Most students already have a cell phone and are using cell phone texting services daily. This weeks pick has been around for a while and when I looked back through previous episodes of TechTalk4Teachers I had not mentioned this service before, so here it is. The name of the website is TexttheMob and a link is available in the show notes.
TexttheMob
http://textthemob.com/
The TexttheMob website allows you to collect audience feedback via cell phone texting or using mobile web browsers for up to 100 participants per question and is currently free. Signup is very easy and in less than 30 seconds you can be on your way to using this service. There are concerns for allowing text messaging services with students so be sure to work with your administration if you plan to use this service with K12 students. This service is also a great addition to meetings where you are trying to gather information from others and can be beneficial for understanding your audience’s knowledge or opinions about a particular topic. If you are using this service please let me know so we can share your story with other TechTalk4Teachers listeners/readers.
That wraps it up for episode 85 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at http://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.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
tt4t_084 Anytime, anywhere, any path, and any pace
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This cycle however is not as strict as it once was for universities as new technologies now make it possible for anytime and anywhere learning that can completely disregard the old-guard academic calendar cycles. This transition has been going on now for more than a decade for many universities and today the learning never ends. Whether you are taking a formal college-level course, pursuing work related training, or just updating your knowledge and skills in an area that interests you the possibilities for learning new things have never been greater. There is NO EXCUSE for not learning something new EVERYDAY. In fact in todays global economy it is absolutely necessary to be a continual learner otherwise you are falling behind. The days of getting a college degree and being set for life are long gone.
Now the other pieces to this story besides the anytime and anywhere learning opportunities are the any path and any pace possibilities. In the age of the Internet data is scattered everywhere, turning this data into knowledge that can be acted upon and learned from is a highly valued skill in this age of information overload.
We are just beginning to harness the power of any path and any pace learning. This new model presents significant challenges to traditional organizations that still use the agrarian calendar as the basis of grading periods. People are however harnessing this power for themselves as they pursue their own interests in the quest for continually improving themselves. Some seem better equipped than others to gain new knowledge and skills on their own and at their own pace and path.
It will be interesting watching the any path and any pace possibilities develop over the coming decade. Teaching is hard work, many teachers struggle to manage the learning of individuals that are grouped (we call these groups classrooms), the complexities become infinite when considering individual learning plans for each student for an any path and any pace model. I believe it can be, and indeed is being done, but it does represent significant challenges to traditional systems that have been organized around the classroom model of sit and get for the past 100 years.
The only way that I see that this any path and any pace model working is with the significant introduction of new technologies to assist teachers and students with developing, delivering, and managing their own learning goals. Many teachers do an admirable job with individualizing instruction even in a classroom environment by using project-based learning activities and other methods that draw upon student interests and knowledge levels. Taking the any path and any pace learning model to the next level however will require the development of new systems to assist with the individualization of learning goals and to assist with determining prerequisite knowledge so that previous knowledge can be built upon.
This evolution will be difficult as the current system is setup with a structured curriculum and is often monitored with standardized testing. This structure has often caused lock-step instructional methods and a teaching to the test mentality. I believe the technologies are already present and that the greater challenges will be the political and societal forces that are often satisfied with the status quo despite the rhetoric. This model will turn the current system upside down by working with individual students that will drive their own personalized curriculum rather than a top-down approach.
Another barrier is that computer-based instruction has left a bitter taste with many teachers as many of these systems have not fulfilled their early promises. In fact I myself have been a victim of computer-based instruction as a student where the curriculum was delivered via a computer with poor results so therefore I am both sensitive and skeptical of these systems when they are promoted. A combination of the teacher in the lead as the expert with carefully selected technologies will be needed to make this a reality and finding the right balance will be the key if this model is to become more prominent in the future. Going from the unknown to the desired known will require a combination of the teacher and the student working together on an appropriate learning plan to get there.
Technology Pick of the Week
My Technology Pick of the Week this week is a fun site that will predict where you would end up if you were able to dig a hole through the center of the earth. A link is available in the show notes.
Dig a hole through the Earth
http://www.livephysics.com/ptools/dig-hole-through-earth.php
Of course there are all kinds of caveats to this imaginary journey such as gravity pulling you back to the center of the earth once you past the center point and it would be unbearably hot and the molten magma might prove a problem as you would never be able to survive the journey. Even given the impossibility it is interesting to note exactly where you would end up if this were possible. At this website you are presented with a Google Map and you are to click on your location on the map and then click the Start Digging link. When I selected my location in Illinois and clicked the Start Digging link I ended up in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia.
I grew up hearing the phrase digging a hole to China and that cliché has stuck with me all of these years, I believe the first time I heard this was from a Bugs Bunny cartoon from my childhood. After playing around with this website for a little while it was interesting to note that I actually had to be in the proximity of Argentina and Chile if I wanted to dig a hole through the center of the earth and end up in China. I guess Bugs Bunny lives in South America, who knew?
On a more serious note my second Technology Pick of the Week is a new service from Mogulus called Procaster that looks very promising for teachers wanting to produce television type streaming webcasts complete with picture-in-picture and screenshot capability.
Currently Procaster is free and available only for the Windows platform, a link is available in the show notes.
Procaster – Live Streaming and Broadcast Production Tool
http://www.procaster.com/
Mogulus – streaming service
http://www.mogulus.com/
The Mogulus service is similar to Ustream in that it allows you to stream live content over the Internet. It is now possible for everyone to have their own broadcast channel. I have not had a chance to try this new offering of Procaster out yet but it is on my short list for promising new apps to be used to benefit teaching and learning. I only hope that some quality content is offered and that this service does not become a wasteland of inappropriate content. Of course this new technology provides yet another example for the need for organizations to update their policies of Internet use in the classroom and further refine acceptable use policies but the possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
The one weakness to this type of video deployment is bandwidth availability. Using streaming video services requires massive amounts of bandwidth and a broadband connection is a must to use these types of services. The other factor that will limit the popularity of video streaming is that of bandwidth caps that some Internet providers now place on their services. I worry about both of these requirements being that I am from rural Illinois where broadband access choices are limited and my wireless data service is capped at 5GB per month. Trying to be innovative with these restrictions is difficult.
If you are very comfortable with using technology and interested in creating your own video content I would encourage you to give the free Procaster a try as I believe we are finally at a point where the technology has matured to a point of ease-of-use that anyone now has the opportunity to be a producer of quality content. The technical details are getting easier, the bigger challenge is coming up with the content. Just make sure you get approval if needed and always observe your organizations policies on Internet use. Now combine the anytime, anywhere, any path, and any pace learning possibilities with teachers creating their very own personalized video content then new opportunities become quite intriguing.
Let’s do something good with this technology and use it to improve the human condition, are you up to the challenge?
That wraps it up for episode 84 of TechTalk4Teachers. Transcripts and show notes for this episode and archived episodes are available at the Eastern Illinois University Instructional Technology Center website at http://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.
