DanielRezac.com

Media Roundtable: ICE 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:23:00 +0000

At ICE 2012, I hosted a Media Roundtable entitled The Media and Education: Pointing Toward the Positive. It was an eye-opening event, and nothing that we expected.

The promo for it is here:
http://iceberg.org/node/310

The Ustream archive is here:
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Video streaming by Ustream

This Blogger has moved to EdReach.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:18:00 +0000

Well, not totally. But most of my fresh, new content can be read at a new collaborative online magazine, EdReach.us. I will continue to use drezac.com as a place to host my personal thoughts, resources, notes, and presentations. However, my voice- will be housed at EdReach.us from now on.

What is EdReach? Well, it's an idea that together- we can do better. Together- we can have a stronger voice. Education needs a strong voice.

So check out EdReach.us. You are going to love it! It's more than just a blog, it's an education media network full of podcasts, blogs, media, and more.

You can subscribe to EdReach at this link: http://feeds.feedburner.com/edreach

Thanks,

Daniel

Intuition in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:05:00 +0000

The following is my presentation from the Illinois Computing Educators' Conference from February 2011.

Why EdReach?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Today is the official launch of EdReach.us, the educational media network, a collaboration by educators from all over the United States.

So, why EdReach?

Do we really need another Educational blog? There are so many others out there- aren’t there enough?

Well, that is true, there are a lot of voices out there. So many voices. So many, it seems that it’s getting harder and harder to hear them, harder to cut through the volume and rate of information, harder to even keep up with well-known colleagues, and harder to be heard.

EdReach.us aims to cut through this.

The EdReach Educational Media Network (EdReach.us) aims to gather these voices together, and create one stream of educational news, blogs, commentary, and interactive media- that highlights the innovation, highlights the ideas, highlights the cutting-edge best practices that are happening in the world's schools every day.

There is fabulous and innovative teaching happening in American education, happening all over the world- yet we forget. Lately, these moments seem to get lost under the sea of politics, budgets, and policy. Education news is also in a state of disarray. Go to most news sites and look for the education section- it’s likely you won’t find it. Still. Education isn’t getting the place it deserves in the mainstream media outlets.

There are amazing new tools being used in the classroom every day- gadgets, Web tools, innovative pedagogy. There are companies that are leading the charge with innovative Web tools for teachers. There are devices that are transforming the way teachers teach, and learners learn. There are teachers that do amazing things with students every day.

Every day.

EdReach is made up of- not one person- but a network of educators from all over the United States- field reporters- some hosting podcasts in Connecticut, some contributing from San Diego, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan- from all over the country. And it’s expanding.

So, if you want to know what’s happening in innovative Education, if you want to know what innovative education looks like, if you want to see what education can be like for America’s students and students all over the world- keep following and listening to EdReach.us.

EdReach is here to tell those stories.

My Top 1 List for Best Search Tools

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 02:20:00 +0000

For years we dreamed of a day- where you said to your computer:

“Computer- tell me everything there is to know about ______________.”

And the computer would then show you all details, movies, pictures, related stories and text regarding that subject. The first thing I think of is the scene in Star Trek II (or many previous Star Trek episodes), where Kirk needs to get up to speed on some data or planet.

I also think of Wall E, where the Captain asks the computer (voiced by Sigourney Weaver)-

Captain: “Define Earth.”
Computer: “Earth, the surface of the World...”

So this type of computer search engine is light years away right? Well, no, actually. It’s available right now! If you go to www.qwiki.com right now- it’s right there! This is qwiki.com:

Qwiki at TechCrunch Disrupt from Qwiki on Vimeo.

I thought that this might be a fad, but after playing a few of these videos, it becomes quite addictive. I showed a couple of them to my 5 year old daughter, and, what’s remarkable, is she and I stayed at the computer for an hour putting in new search terms.

She said:
“I want to learn about... the heart.”
“I want to learn about... carbon dioxide.”
“I want to learn about... the blood.”
And this just kept going on for about an hour until, finally I had to put the kid to bed.

This really is a remarkable new way to get information. I showed a class of fourth graders last week, and they bombarded me with search requests about the State of Illinois. Funny, but I’ve never heard kids screaming at me to do a Google search for them.

Anyhow, check out www.qwiki.com . It’s in alpha invite phase, but you should get your invite fairly quickly if not immediately. If not, ask me for an invite on Twitter @drezac, and I’ll send one your way. I have unlimited invites.

This is my Top 1 Search Tool for the unforeseeable future.

This post was cross-posted on the Tech and Learning Advisor's Blog

Mathademics, Edublogs, and the Anatomy of a Math Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:16:00 +0000

How cool!

Looks like Mathademics has picked up a nomination for the Edublog Awards in the "Best Use of Educational Video/ Visual" category. How delightful! While we are clearly the "underdog" compared to the Khan Academy, which was also nominated, I think, as well as many teachers who have told me, that there is a marked difference.

While Khan has certainly received a lot of press (and has a three year head start), I hope voters out there will understand the differences between us.

Anatomy of a Math Tutorial

Let's show two similar videos, and let you, the educators, be the judge. Let's compare a video on subtracting decimals from Mathademics with Khan's own decimals video:

Mathademics: Adding and Subtracting Decimals

Khan Academy: Subtracting Decimals:

Okay- you're a sixth grader. Which video was more engaging?
Which video is more concise and to the point?
Which instructor felt more prepared for this lesson: Khan or Mathademics?
Which video do you feel was made for a younger audience?
Which video had the certified professional math teacher?
Which video was... more fun to watch?

Well, I hope you get my point. The Khan Academy is a good thing, a good movement, but we think that Mathademics is the next step in the evolution of math Online.

Mathademics is:
1. Highly trained certified math teachers.
2. Prepared.
3. Colorful and diverse with technology: we use SMART, ENO, other Interactive White Boards, and document cameras.
4. Concise: No video is ever over 5 minutes (for a reason).
5. We know our audience. Our videos are for a K-12 audience. We speak so our audience understands us.

So, if you're going to throw a vote for this Edublogs Awards, I hope you'll throw a vote our way.

Vote Here for Mathademics!

The Battle for the Interactive White Board: The Kids Surrender

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:00:00 +0000

Thanks to Adriano Zanni on Flickr.

Interactive White Boards are here, whether we like them or not. Golly, if your classroom doesn't have one by now, I'd be real surprised. And while tech educators often rail against them (because teachers hog them), I've decided to throw up the white flag of surrender- for the kids. It would seem teachers aren't going to give these things up and let the kids use them. Ever.

So we can either keep on fighting, or we can go with this, and just call this a "teacher" tool. If you're lucky enough to have a laptop cart for the students to use while you're on the IWB- then what is the difference?

Think of it: how often did teachers let students actually write on the chalk board? The overhead projector? The fact is, there's only one Interactive White Board per classroom, and there may be 25 or more students. There is never going to be enough time in one class period to let everyone have-at-it on the white board. Nobody ever heard of a 1-1 white board environment. That would be awfully expensive. Maybe we're going about this all wrong.

If you're still hogging it- and let's pretend for a second that you do- can we just accept that, and make it a useful classroom tool anyway? I think we can. I've been on a mission to make better use out of them, and I've discovered: they're not as bad as I thought they were.

What is the one of the biggest hindrances to learning when a teacher uses an IWB? Well, yes, they may hog it, but the bigger problem is that they're standing in front of it! Well, the solution to that is- screencasting.

Record your lesson using Jing, upload to a proprietary YouTube channel, like this Mathademics Channel, and your IWB has now become the absolute BEST screencasting tool out there.

When a teacher makes a screencast using an IWB, they know that their students will be able to see everything, so this gives them the opportunity to be:

1. More descriptive (you're recording this for an "at-home" audience, not in in-class one)
2. More colorful in their approach to the IWB tools (it's like you're John Madden on Monday Nights!)
3. More economical in their language. Make the limit 5 minutes, and you have to get to the point.

Take a look at this example:

The 6th grade teacher seems very comfortable to me. I think this is for a couple of reasons. First, she's not teaching to a traditional class, where she would be projecting her voice a lot more. Second, she's not worried about blocking the workspace. Third, she's also using a headset mic, so the learning is very intimate- it's as though the students can hear her thoughts. They're hearing the think-aloud- how powerful a tool when you can stop, pause, and rewind what the teacher is thinking!

The teacher in this example knows this is a screencast, and this gives her the freedom to point things out, highlight a little bit more, maybe draw an arrow or a circle to point something out. She has to do this because the mode of delivery is different than if students were in a classroom. It reads differently at home or on a laptop. I think it frees her up.

It's also visually interesting. It's a really great math lesson.

Here's another example:

This 3rd grade teacher makes use of all of the IWB board tools, making a visually interesting lesson. Now, he involves the students, but they don't actually write on the board. Are we okay with that?

He's engaged them in different ways. Well, first just listen to them- do they sound engaged? If he uploads quickly, the students can access the video almost immediately at the Mathademics Channel, and he can go around the classroom while they are working. He can be in 25 places at one time. Also since he's made it a screencast, they can access the recording at home later when they're doing homework. They can pause the video, rewind, and play it over and over again. This is engagement of a totally different kind, but it does something extremely important. It makes the IWB useful, just not in the way that we've been reaching these past few years.

The chalkboard has always been the teacher's "palette" so to speak. I'm okay with the IWB being the teacher's interactive palette, as long as they:

1. Make their lessons visually interesting.
2. Make them accessible online for students to see and learn outside of the classroom.

I believe that every lesson can be an artifact for student learning, if the teacher approaches their process as such. They can look at lessons as "episodes" or Acts of a large play. Shouldn't students should be able to access those episodes whenever they want to?

Heck, if I can subscribe to all four seasons of Alfred Hitchcock Presents on Hulu, then I think my teacher owes it to me, the student, to make their learning accessible online.

Do it with an Interactive White Board!

This post is cross-posted at the Tech Learning Advisors Blog.

The Social Network: Its Place in our Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:14:00 +0000

This is my presentation about Social Networking in schools. It is meant to be a conversation about the ideas, limits and the boundaries of using SN tools in the classroom. I presented this at IETC in Springfield, IL on November 19th, 2010. Being in Prezi format, it's image heavy, so it's not all "spelled out" for the average reader. If you have questions about it, feel free to comment and let me know! - DR

Adapt and Adopt: Strategies for Teacher Buy-In

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:40:00 +0000

Here's the embed for my presentation about gaining teacher adoption of technology use in schools. Enjoy! It's image heavy, but if you'd like me to explain it to you, leave me a comment! I presented this at IETC in Springfield on November 18th, 2010.
http://prezi.com/bfqwqoghalff/adapt-and-adopt-strategies-for-teacher-buy-in/

Adapt and Adopt: Strategies for Teacher Buy-In on Prezi

Create a Beautiful E-Newspaper with a Google Site and Issuu.com

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Thanks to Wikimedia for the image

About a year and a half ago, I had a teacher ask me:

"Is there a tool out there that will allow us to make a newspaper for a project that I'm doing?"

I thought to myself: newspaper? Newspapers are dead! Why would you have your students do a project based on a platform that is dying and nobody reads anymore? But I looked into it anyway, and I found some interesting tools that allow a user to take an RSS feed and create a PDF-printable newspaper. It looked rather nice. However, it also seemed to me to be a tree-killer. That is until April of 2010. When Apple release a little device called:

iPad

So, of course, in that time new tools have sprung up that allow a user to take a PDF document and make it into an iPad (or tablet friendly) e-newspaper or e-magazine. Do you see where I'm going with this? Ok- so let's make an e-newspaper!

1. Start with any old RSS feed, in this case, I'm going to use the XML feed from one of my teacher's sites. Google Sites has the option to create a simple Announcements page that allows you to put it into a blog reader. You'll see it here at the Free Press. Copy the orange feed link at the top of the Google Site page.

2. Now go to www.feedjournal.com If you don't have an account sign up. Now you can start adding RSS feeds (as many as you like) for your unique e-newspaper. I'm going to add the feed from above, plus a few more from some other teacher sites that I have lying around. You can title the Sections of the newspaper, and in this case I got cute, and tried to invoke Ye Olde News (har har).

3. When you are done creating your newspaper sections and adding your feeds, click "Generate Newspaper." What will happen is still old school: Feed Journal will download a PDF of your newspaper. A year and a half ago- I would have tried to use scribd.com and uploaded there, but now in the age if the iPad:

4. Go to issuu.com Issuu is a great tool that lets you upload PDFs and make them into tablet-friendly e-readable periodicals. You can also embed these on any site. Sign up and upload your new PDF newspaper that FeedJournal sent you. When you're done uploading, hit "share" and copy the embed code to paste into your favorite Website or teacher site. Here is my example below:

Open publication - Free publishing - More teacher

The awesome thing about the above published content is the the links still work (on non-flash based devices)!

Update: Thanks to the tip from my colleague Scott Meech, he has informed me that the "click-throughs" don't work on non-Flash based devices, namely iPad. They should work on the new Samsung Galaxy Tab, however. You can still read the periodicals beautifully on the iPad, but the links don't highlight (at least perhaps not until the next iOS update comes out for iPad). Issuu.com's iPad app is still not approved for the iPad.

When you click on the above e-newspaper you can use you mouse pointer to move around, and you'll notice that the headlines of the stories become highlighted. When you click on them- they'll take you to the original posts!

So that's it! Google Site---> FeedJournal.com---> issuu.com

Have fun!

Is Wallwisher Dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:02:00 +0000

Just a quick note. Noticing that Wallwisher.com, a tool that teachers have grown to know and love, seems to be slowing down a lot. My teachers have been having trouble getting pages to load, and doing a few Twitter searches, I see this:

Search: Wallwisher

Many of the results show folks having a hard time. If their abandoned Twitter feed is any indication, we may be putting Wallwisher in the Web 2.0 deadpool soon.
Wallwisher (wallwisher) on Twitter

Also, just for fun, I checked the Wallwisher blog. Guess what? Hasn't been updated since February 4th, 2010. Check that here.

Sorry, teachers, but it looks like Wallwisher is dying a slow death.

My Top Ten YouTube Channels for Education

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:07:00 +0000

This post is cross-posted at the Tech Learning Advisor Blog.

Online video is where it is at, in my opinion. I've always believed in the notion of supporting learning in and outside of the classroom. YouTube Channels- whether a personal teacher channel- or one of the many educational organization's channels, really places learning in the 21st Century. As a supplement to my You-Tilizing YouTube in the Classroom post and presentation, I'd like to list my top ten YouTube Channels for Education. Here they are:

10. National Geographic: http://www.youtube.com/nationalgeographic

While this channel does have advertisements, it has entire programs, like this, one of my favorites: Secrets of the Titanic.

9. RSA Animate: 21st Century Enlightenment: http://www.youtube.com/theRSAorg

The Ultimate Mind Map! Taking my favorite thinkers like Dan Pink and Sir Ken Robinson and putting their ideas down in this way really "Drives" home their points.

8. Symphony of Science: http://www.youtube.com/melodysheep

I showed these videos to my students, and they demanded that their science teacher play them for everyone to see. Just listening to Carl Sagan "sing" makes me feel like I'm getting smarter.

7. This Week in Tech: http://www.youtube.com/twit

For an educator who wants to stay up on all the day's and week's tech news, this is the place to be. And, again, these are the full broadcasts.

6. Khan Academy: http://youtube.com/khanacademy

While I do criticize this channel for being less engaging than it could be, I love the idea of getting learning online and in the open where it should be.

5. Woods Hole: http://www.youtube.com/WoodsHoleOceanInst

In another life, I was a marine biologist . My love for the Titanic and for snorkeling has helped me keep a keen eye on Woods Hole and Dr. Robert Ballard's work.

4. NASA: http://www.youtube.com/NASAtelevision

What could be more engaging than watching the Space Shuttle take off from a POV camera in High Definition going into space?

3: NOVA: http://www.youtube.com/NOVAonline

Growing up in the era of the Space Shuttle, watching NOVA was a requirement.

2. The Computer History Museum: http://www.youtube.com/ComputerHistory

I'm in love with technology history, and this channel really feeds that fire.

1. TED Talks: http://www.youtube.com/TEDtalksDirector

The number one channel for the life-long learner. Period.

Click. Enjoy. Learn!

YouTube in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 03:45:00 +0000

This week I presented at ICE- Indiana. I previously shared a screencast of my YouTube in the Classroom video. Here is the full presentation for which that screencast was based. It's been a week full of YouTube! I met a handful of educators eager to push to get YouTube unblocked at their schools, or at least managed with filters a little better. There was a lot of good discussion around the benefits of the educational content available on YouTube and the possibility of creating content and controlling the experience for students. It was all good to hear.

This was also the first time I used Prezi. It was a bit of a learning curve (it takes time!), but I was pleased with the final outcome. I was hoping that the resolution on some of the images was a little better- it seemed Prezi reduces the image quality a bit. Enjoy!

Building Platforms of Integration

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:06:00 +0000

Thanks to Raftertales for the image.

Getting a teacher interested in using technology is always a good thing, but how do you make them a believer? How do you make it stick?

This is the eternal question.

If I showed a non-tech teacher Twitter, and signed them up and said, "use it," do you think they'd be successful? Absolutely not. How does one get those teachers interested in using technology in their classrooms?

Platforms.

Google Apps for Education- is a platform for learning.
A Wordpress installation where any teacher can start their own blog with their student- is a platform for publishing.
A Mathcasting site where math teachers can publish their math lessons - is a platform.
An integration blog, where teachers can access tutorials and read relevant development resources, and comment and interact with their fellow teachers- is a platform. A place to build.

If you build platforms- they will come. I once spoke of Drop Box Collaboration. It was one of my first posts at Adventures in Ed Tech. Some of my colleagues say that any teacher taking a chance with a technology project is a good thing, and should be celebrated. But I kind of disagree. I want teachers to buy-in forever, not simply plan a technology project for the year- then be done with it. That would make a technology integrator a project manager. And while I think there is some aspect of project building in that position, I relate it more to a General Contractor. A Tech Integrator builds the foundation.

Teachers need platforms. And like the tools I described above, a platform doesn't "disappear" like Gabcast or another old Web 2.0 tool. A platform exists, and allows a teacher the freedom for publishing and integrating throughout the year, and throughout a student's career. Google Apps for Education allows a student to collect artifacts of their work for their entire career. It's a platform- it's not a fluke.

A platform is not a dropbox. If a teacher has a technology goal, it is not met at the end of September by using one Wallwisher. It is not met by creating a Glog. It is met by creating a body of work.

So I tell teachers, don't think of integrating technology as a project. Think of it as something you can do a little bit, week-by-week. Or day-by-day. Think of something you can do a little bit at a time, like having students publish to online interactive journals, or creating a weekly podcast, as opposed to one podcast project.

Use the platform. Make it stick.

You-tilizing YouTube in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 19:29:00 +0000

This week I'll be presenting at the Indiana Computing Educators Conference in Indianapolis, IN on 10/15/2010. I'll be presenting a session entitled You-tilizing YouTube in the Classroom. Here is a handy-dandy tutorial I created for that, on how to use YouTube safely with your students. Enjoy!

We teach intuition.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:02:00 +0000

I'm angry. I rarely get angry, but something set me off the other day that really upset me.

You see, my daughter is learning to tie her shoes. I saw this as an opportunity. A chance to learn a new way to tie shoes, perhaps find a different, more intuitive way to tie shoes. This is, after all, the 21st century. Surely we aren't still tying our shoes with the old "rabbit round the tree" method. Surely there was a better way. I looked online and found two videos of a smoother, I think more intuitive way, to tie shoes. Here's the first one. Here's the other one of them:

This is a big moment in a father's life. This is one of those life skills that allows a kid to be more independent, more free in their routine, and actually frees up more time for the kid and the parent. Like Google Instant, I figured I could save a couple thousand hours of time in my child's lifespan by learning this new way. So this was my big chance. Let's learn a new way. And let's learn it together.

So, we studied our videos together. We got out our shoes to practice. We struggled a bit. And then....

We got distracted.

I can't remember exactly what happened, but before I knew it, I was in the kitchen and the kid was outside with our elderly neighbor. Oh no! Our neighbor was showing her....how to tie her shoes! Surely, our old neighbor was not going to teach her the new, streamlined method that we have just been studying! This is a total fail!

So, before she came back inside, I practiced our new method a whole bunch. I wanted to make sure she saw how simple and easy my method was. When she came in, she sat down, and showed me what she had learned. This is the result:

She tied her shoes! She had learned how to tie her shoes!

But she did it... the "old way."

Intuitive #Fail
She succeeded, but the opportunity to learn my new method fell on deaf ears. I tried to show her the new method, but she said she was "getting confused" between the two, and wanted to keep doing it her way. Game over. When I look back at this episode, I'm actually angry. I'm angry because I this is what I teach- intuitiveness. I use technology, yes, but the reason I gravitate towards technology, is the same reason I moved my clothes dryer to the right of my clothes washer. Some things just make more sense. And when you're drying clothes, one shouldn't have to climb over the dirty clothes to get the clean clothes. It just makes sense. Home decorators call this feng shui, but it means the same thing.

My goal as a teacher, and many of teachers that gravitate to technology, is to teach kids and teachers the methods that make sense, that help them save time. This isn't about doing things the easy way. It's about doing things- the right way. I'm Google Certified, and I do praise Google a lot for the tools that they put out. Because they're intuitive. They have digital "feng shui." Google tools, among many other Web 2.0 tools, know what I want to do- before I do it- and that's the key.

So, I think I have a reason to be angry. I don't blame my neighbor. It's not really their fault. Should I really be complaining- my kid knows how to tie her shoes! But the opportunity to teach a new skill, in a new way, to a young child, can sometimes be fleeting.

I don't like when they pass me by.

The Price for Sharing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:29:00 +0000

Sometimes I get so caught up in my technology-filled world, something brings me back and reminds me that- most of America isn't listening to podcasts every morning. Most of America isn't checking their "Reader" and sharing their resources on Twitter. While I do know this, sometimes I come across something that hits me like a ton of bricks. It tells me: we're not there yet. We have a long way to go.

This weekend, at a breakfast stop during my camping trip, I saw this little sentence at the bottom of my menu: "Sharers will be charged $2.00 extra." I sat hard with that sentence as my old friend and I gobbled up our waffles. How do you approach a mindset like that? How do you make one a believer in the possibility of collaboration, of innovation, when their mindset is to punish those who try?

At the end of the meal, I was curious about how the bacon tasted, and I thought I might actually get in trouble for asking my friend for a bite of his.

It makes me think about the early adopters vs. the holdouts. On the drive home I was listening to Clay Shirky's book Cognitive Surplus, and, sure enough in chapter seven, he talks very much about those committed to the old system. He states:

"...those deeply committed to old solutions cannot see how society would benefit from an approach incompatible with older models."

Two sentences later he remarks:

"We can't ask people running traditional systems to evaluate a new technology for its radical benefits. People committed to keeping the current system will tend, as a group, to have trouble seeing value in anything disruptive."

In both sentences, I'm not sure by accident, the key word is: see (or seeing). Very often the people holding us back from progress, literally, have trouble with vision- in the broader sense of the word. Those who have "found" salvation, have no need for vision, as they need not "look" any further. The man who owns the restaurant lacks the vision for seeing how allowing two people to share a meal, might actually improve business. Maybe by allowing it, he creates a new business model, maybe he goes to a family style menu, or maybe folks, seeing his values, decide to frequent there more often.

As I think about education in a broader sense, this year, I'll try to keep in mind- I cannot make people see like I do. But I can provide a vision- of education- enhanced by technology, and streamlining the process of learning.

I'll just keep trying to ease folks into it- one bite at a time.

Adding your profile picture to Google Apps for Ed.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:01:00 +0000

I created this handy video for teachers that are new to Google Apps for Education. I notice that many teachers don't have a profile picture in our district email account. With a district as large as ours, I think that adding a profile pic could be fun, but also could help all of us in the district get to know each other a little bit better. You know- put a name to a face.

Anyhow, hope this is helpful to those who use Google Apps for Ed!

Honey- have you seen the Education section?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:11:00 +0000

Maybe I've said it before, but education needs its Hollywood moment. Maybe the movie Waiting for Superman will help, but I don't know. When you talk to folks these days, most people have something to say about education- whether it is about the public schools in their town, or how it needs more funding. So that seems like a welcome conversation, and I seem to be having them more and more with the everyday people I meet.

Yet, I still find it terribly frustrating that the largest newspapers and websites barely cover education. Is it that there is no education news? Is their no public interest? I can't believe that, what with Race to the Top, and President Obama ramping up his education speeches in the past few months.

If I'm reading the rhetoric from the politicians and the public correct, purely based on my own research, it's that: Education is at a Crossroads! And: Race to the Top has Winners! And: America Needs to Lead!. And There's a War on Education! So when I read one of these, I quickly go to my local news site, like Chicago Sun-Times, or a national news site like Huffington Post and-

nothing.

There's no education headline.

They didn't cover the same story! In fact, it's really starting to frustrate me that not one of the national or local news sites has any Education header. Just look:

Here's the Washington Post. Where's the Ed section?

Here's the Chicago Tribune, one of my local news sites:

Still looking for that Education section...

How about the Huffington Post? They're pretty progressive. I'm sure they-

Nope. And "College" doesn't count. Let's go the other way. Maybe Fox News is tapping into the Ed market-

How does "Sci-Tech" trump Education, Fox News? No Ed header here.

How about those liberals at NBC? Surely they'll have an Education section!

I still can't find it! One more, maybe CNN will appease me with their "appeal to everyone" ways:

And...no.

In the New York Times' defense, they did have a sub-section on their site. If you blink, you might miss their education section:

See? There's an Ed section right between the Crossword and the First Look section!

I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but...I am. Education has been getting stressed a lot more lately in the MSM, certainly in the blogs, and rightfully with the White House. I just think that it's time that education got bumped up from between the crossword section- to having its very own header. Don't you too, New York Times? NBC? Reader of this post? I don't understand how the media outlets can reflect that education is "important," and then, ironically, have their own Ed headlines impossible to even Google search. I shouldn't have to go to my edu-blogger friends' websites for the most relevant news on education (though that's often where it's at).

"Education is ready for its close-up, Mr. DeMille."

The Drezac Fall Movie Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:35:00 +0000

Every year I have a ritual. It’s changed a bit since I stopped reading the newspaper, but here in Chicago, there are (and I supposed still are, somewhere) two authoritative newspapers- the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times. These are, of course, the respective newspapers of the late Gene Siskel and still-alive, Roger Ebert. Now if you are a movie buff, Chicago was a great place to grow up because reading these guys took movie loving to an art form. A scholarly form. It’s one of the reasons I studied film production for two years. Not only did I read their columns and learn a whole heck of a lot about movies, but it was always fun watching Sneak Previews and then later, At the Movies, holding film festivals with my friends, and getting lost in video stores (best video store in the world, Waterfront Video, Burlington, VT- the only video store to have a copy of Saul Bass’ Phase IV).

So, surely before school started every year, I’d hunker down a buck for a Sunday Sun-Times and a buck fifty for a Sunday Chicago Tribune, and make sure to pull out the Fall Movie Previews of both sides. Fall movie time was not a time to take sides, but to be purely democratic in my lust for a good movie-going experience.

Now that I’m an educator, though, I tend to look and see things with a different eye. There’s a couple of things happening this year in film and on TV, that I think educators need to check out. Here's the Drezac Fall Movie Preview:

Waiting for Superman
From IMDB.com :

Poster from impawards.com

Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim reminds us that education "statistics" have names: Anthony, Francisco, Bianca, Daisy, and Emily, whose stories make up the engrossing foundation of WAITING FOR SUPERMAN. As he follows a handful of promising kids through a system that inhibits, rather than encourages, academic growth, Guggenheim undertakes an exhaustive review of public education, surveying "drop-out factories" and "academic sinkholes," methodically dissecting the system and its seemingly intractable problems. Written by Sundance Film Festival.

Release Date: September 24, 2010

One thing I enjoy more than anything is talking film. And talking education. This film has a couple of things going for it: 1. It was created by the folks who brought us An Inconvenient Truth. 2. It comes out an extremely vital time, with Race to the Top money being passed out, and teachers and school systems cutting teacher jobs. Education is under a microscope, and although it looks as though this movie is on the Michelle Rhee bandwagon, I’ll wait and see before I make my final calculation.

Movies have the great opportunity to get folks talking, and education needs more people talking. Hopefully this movie has an impact. I doubt it will have a global impact like Inconvenient Truth, but mostly because our education issues are so- local. There's never really been anything like this movie, so I hope for its success. On this film's heels are some more documentaries that are worth checking out this fall:

Teached from Loudspeakerfilms.com

In America today, thousands of urban, mostly minority, students attend school year after year — sometimes even graduate — without acquiring basic skills. Teached, takes you into the communities, schools and classrooms where the problems are most severe to examine how so many children can go to school…but not get taught.

The Lottery
From thelotteryfilm.com :

In a country where 58% of African American 4th graders are functionally illiterate, The Lottery uncovers the failures of the traditional public school system and reveals that hundreds of thousands of parents attempt to flee the system every year. The Lottery follows four of these families from Harlem and the Bronx who have entered their children in a charter school lottery. Out of thousands of hopefuls, only a small minority will win the chance of a better future. Directed by Madeleine Sackler and shot by award-winning cinematographer Wolfgang Held,The Lottery uncovers a ferocious debate surrounding the education reform movement. Interviews with politicians and educators explain not only the crisis in public education, but also why it is fixable. A call to action to avert a catastrophe in the education of American children, The Lottery makes the case that any child can succeed.

The Cartel
From www.thecartelmovie.com :

The Cartel shows us our educational system like we've never seen it before. Behind every dropout factory, we discover, lurks a powerful, entrenched, and self-serving cartel. But The Cartel doesn't just describe the problem. Balancing local storylines against interviews with education experts such as Clint Bolick (former president of Alliance for School Choice), Gerard Robinson (president of Black Alliance for Educational Options), and Chester Finn (president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute), The Cartel explores what dedicated parents, committed teachers, clear-eyed officials, and tireless reformers are doing to make our schools better for our kids.

There’s also a TV show that I think ought to get a watch. It’s from A and E, and it stars Tony Danza, as a real life teacher!

Teach: Tony Danza
From www.aandetv.com:

Image from projo.com

A and E announced today the series premiere of "Teach: Tony Danza" on Friday, October 1 at 10PM ET/PT. The seven-episode one-hour series chronicles the experience of the veteran film, television and stage star as he steps into the toughest role yet, as a first-year teacher at Philadelphia's largest urban high school.

Long before his iconic acting career, which includes roles in "Taxi" and "Who's The Boss," Tony Danza received a degree in History Education. During the 2009-2010 school year, he took on his most challenging and rewarding role yet as he stepped into the classroom as a full-time teacher at Philadelphia's Northeast High School. "Teach: Tony Danza" follows the first year-teacher as he instructs a 10th-grade English class with 26 students in back-to-back 45-minute periods.

In this 7 part series, audiences get to see Tony as he teaches high school English. Although, I’ve heard and read much controversy surrounding Tony in the classroom (he’s not certified, but is shadowed by a teaching expert). I think that a show like this does have the power to shed light on the education system. I’ve read comments on websites that proclaim that Mr. Danza is taking a job away from a real teacher, and this is a real, let’s say, sensitive time for a celebrity to pretend he can be a teacher. All that said, if you watch Today Show spot for this program, I think that one might be surprised at how moving it could be.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Let’s hope that this is a good fall for the Education Movie, and that education finally gets its Hollywood moment. In the meantime, save me a seat in the balcony!

Waiting for Superman trailer

Teached trailer

TEACHED 3-min trailer May 2010 from Loudspeaker Films on Vimeo.

The Lottery trailer

The Cartel trailer

Chicago's Sneak Previews Intro:

Learning for Relevancy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:52:00 +0000

Is using technology necessary to be an effective teacher?

Image from Flickr

If you don't use technology in your classroom, what does this question mean to you? Does it make one defensive? Does it put too much importance on technology? This essential question is at the heart of a debate that has been raging since the Internet became an intuitive tool (let's say 2006), but others, say David Jonassen, might say that the debate over whether technology was important in schools began 20-25 years ago. I agree with him when he said in Computers as Mindtools for Schools, that technology shouldn't drive instruction, and that it should be the other way around. I do not dispute that learning can happen without technology, and I believe that technology should be used in context with what is happening in the classroom, as opposed to using it as a "fad" tool. Perhaps we should be looking at this question from the student's point of view: is a student's education relevant in the 21st century if they don't use technology?

I cannot believe that it is. And I will outline a handful of reasons why, from the point of view of every domain, and how they have progressed with technology.

1. Science

I once took a chemistry class in high school without any labs. It was completely all formulas. It was the most boring science class of my life. Now I ask you: was learning science in this way engaging? Was it relevant? Well, perhaps this teacher thought it was relevant (scientists DO use formulas), but who was I, a lowly student, to question the relevancy of her methods? I just thought she was terribly ineffective at reaching me. I find it impossible to believe that a science teacher can be effective in the 21st century without harnessing technology in their room. Can you imaging a science classroom without:

microscopes?
at least one computer to do formulas or calculations?
labs?
a digital projector or television to display slideshows of animals, plants, etc?

Now, I know there are digital equity issues here, but that's not what this question is about. I am a science teacher, and worked in poor schools for a couple years. It's very possible to obtain the above as bare essentials and still create a relevant environment for students to thrive in. Even if they don't have technology, they can still learn science, that's not in dispute. I believe you are more likely to engage and create a future scientist when you use the tools of the period and you make their learning authentic with what's happening in the world at present. No one delights in admitting that students will be "left behind," but science students who are accessing knowledge via the Internet and using computers to create apps for learning, such as Sam Kaplan of the University of Chicago Lab Schools, with his iChalkboard app, are using technology for authentic purposes, and could not have accomplished this feat without teachers who used technology tools. So can you learn science without technology? Yes, but will it be relevant to today? If a tree falls in the forest...

2. English/Language Arts

Ahh- that dreaded five paragraph essay. I've had a this conversation a handful of times over the past couple of years. Is teaching the five-paragraph essay still necessary? It goes back and forth. I'm not going to take a side on the five-paragraphs- how a teacher engages their writing students is up to them, but isn't it a writing teacher's responsibility to teach their students how to properly write for the 21st century? In our time, we don't really have newspapers anymore, we have blogs. We text. We comment. These are, after all, relevant to student's writing today. I believe it's a teacher's responsibility to teach their students using the relevant platforms of the modern era. I'm sure this can include five paragraphs somewhere; just don't forget the where.

How many of us have heard the writing teachers complain about how text emoticons and abbreviations are blending in to students' formal writing? This is not happening because students are suddenly becoming dumber via technology. It's happening because writing teachers aren't embracing how students are writing when they're away from the classroom. Can one honestly say that if a writing teacher embraced how students wrote in their off-time (texting, Facebook, etc.) and taught relevant uses and methods for each, that students' writing wouldn't improve? I believe integrating relevant writing platforms (blogs, social networks) into writing classes would improve student communication overall.

3. Math

We've embraced the calculator; that seems a misnomer. Is it possible to teach math without them? Of course! But take this scenario:

A student is struggling with a math topic at home. Where do they go for help? 20 years ago, they might ask their parents, but today, what if their parents don't know the answer?

Obviously, they are going to go to the Internet. Or they might give up (but why -when help is only a click away?) They still have to write out all their work, but you might see them go to a site like The Kahn Academy to watch a tutorial about integers. Or they might access one of the hundreds of math help sites. Or their savvy teacher may have created their own tutorial site. The accessing of knowledge is a skill- a relevant skill. How to independently access resources is a skill that students should be working on from birth. Students will truly be "left behind" if they cannot perform this task. I believe that teaching a student how to access information from the Internet is relevant to living in the 21st century.

So here we are again. If you are a math teacher, I believe it is your responsibility to use the tools of today: calculators, spreadsheets, Wolfram Alpha, engaging students with your own tutorials (do you really think that you can help all 25 students in 43 minutes?). Students are going to use technology whether you engage them or not. The question then becomes, if a teacher is not using tech, will a student still find authenticity and relevancy without it? Why take that chance? Are they going to become an engineer in the modern world by using only a paper and pencil? Check out these jobs on Crunchboard. No way.

4. Music, Art, and Film

We've tackled the big three, but what about music and the arts? Can you teach a student to be a good musician without technology? Very much so, but think about how technology has changed the music industry. Think about how the audience for music and art has grown so wide. From even the most barebones ideas like an electronic pitch tuner, to Facebook auto-tune apps and online painting tools and Photoshop- teaching an art student to be relevant in the face of social media is another question altogether. A student can learn how to play the oboe, but couldn't they enrich their musical experience by creating a youtube symphony or by using Garageband to mix their own music? Isn't teaching them to be actual producers of their music more empowering than simply just being a player of music? It's the same with film. Why just teach a kid to be an actor, when you can teach them how to create an entire production? Technology is now at the point, with free tools like Aviary.com or Audacity- isn't it a music teacher's responsibility to teach a student how to shape and produce an entire whole, rather than just filling a piece of that whole? I believe that art and music teachers have the responsibility to empower student artists with technology to be creators and sharers of their works, and to responsibly show them how to share those works with an online audience.

Digital citizenship comes into question here as well. To have the know-how to be a responsible sharer of their art- why not learn that from the art teacher or music teacher?

5. Inclusion

You have two middle school teachers. One group of ESL students go to both teachers during the day. A student in this group speaks absolutely no English and has no interpreter. One teacher puts their lessons online and uses a translation software to accommodate the student. While it's not a perfect translation, the student is still able to follow along. The other teacher asks one of the students to interpret for the Spanish-speaking student during the class, but this is disruptive to the other students and puts attention on the student's non-English issue. Which is the more effective method? The tech or the non-tech method?

It pains me when I see students suffering in a classroom, when sometimes simple technological tools can solve a problem. For one student with cerebral palsy, perhaps the answer is a simple as using two mice so that a student can interact with a curriculum piece with their functioning hand. For another student, perhaps using a free tool such as EnglishCentral.com to help them practice their English is all that is needed.

The question arises again- relevancy. Can these students succeed without technology? Well, sure, but then we'll have to change the definition of success. As a teacher, we strive to have our students to all have an equitable experience, and I think that is the larger goal with inclusion. But, to be honest, with many students with accommodations, technology has become the definition of relevance for them. Some students, like the Spanish speaking girl, or the boy with cerebral palsy, simply couldn't be included without the help of technology. I believe it is the responsibility of every teacher to use all means necessary, including technology, to reach all learners, whether joined by diversity, ethnicity, or special needs.

Relevancy and Progress

What is relevant? What does it mean to be relavant in the 21st century? Since my philosophy is built around learning for relevancy, that means learning and teaching using the tools of today. Just as a pencil was the tool of the 1950s, the computer is the tool of 2010. It is teacher's responsibility to use our modern tools to engage their students. It is also a college's responsibility to prepare new teachers for using technology with their students- something that, sadly, isn't happening enough.

I believe a 21st century teacher:

should know how to communicate using email.
should know how to use collaborative online tools.
should know how to do research (access information) using the Internet.
should know how to create a "learning stream" for themselves using Online tools to keep themselves abreast of new strategies and tools in their field.

What is relevant in the 21st century? Technology is transforming the way that we communicate, the way we learn, and if teachers aren't harnessing that, then they aren't preparing their students for living in this society. That teaching isn't relevant.

Nobody wants to tell a teacher: "you're not relavant." No teacher wants to be faced with the reality that all of the good work they have done over the years is not having an effect anymore because they refuse or are unwilling to embrace technology in their classroom. They may need a helping hand. I believe it's the responsibility of a school district to offer an environment that allows veteran teachers to improve their teaching skills, to embrace the modern tools of the classroom.

Lifelong Learning

I do believe that you can't "make" a lifelong learner. It's been tried and done. Even in this era of instant access to technology, I think we'd all be surprised to find out how much learning actually isn't happening Online versus those who can't get enough. I believe that it should be a university's goal to prepare new teachers with a lifelong learning philosophy. Scott Meech has an interesting graphic related to a Lifelong Learning approach that I think is helpful in representing the different facets of that approach. You can promote lifelong learning in university, in school Districts, at home, but you can't force learning- even on teachers. And you don't want to- you want it to come intrinsically. I believe an excellent teacher seeks out new knowledge and prepares themselves for their students with the most up-to-date methods, strategies, and information related to their domain.

The Innovative Educator: Preparing the Future Teacher

Is it naive or egotistical to define what is relavant in the 21st century? What if we experience some sort of global depression and suddenly none of us can afford technology anymore? What if some massive EMP or solar flare disrupts our computers and wipes all of our hard drives? Will technology then- go away? Should we be preparing our students for a "non-tech" future as well? Absolutely not. If we somehow enter some parallel dimension where Amish ideals are the norm, then this philosophy can change, and we can all prepare to be farmers and carriage drivers. Until then, I'm going to prepare for a tech-filled future, and prepare my students accordingly.

Universities that claim to offer education degrees have a responsibility to shape lifelong learners. I believe my Technology in Education program at National-Louis University addressed that. With a wide variety of courses that prepared me to make decisions based on school data, to using problem-based philosophies that ignite student inquiry, to taking the Understanding by Design model and adapting it for a technology based curriculum- this philosophy was shaped by the journey that I incurred over the past two years in that program. Here are some defining beliefs that have come from this program:

I believe in freedom

I believe that freedom comes with choices.

I believe that everyone deserves choices.

I believe that education can provide choices.

I believe in communication.

I believe that everyone deserves a voice.

I believe that technology has the power to give people a voice.

This statement is the heart of offering a relavant teaching experience for the students of the 21st century. Before the open Internet- students had no voice, they had very little rights, and when they wrote, they wrote for one person- the teacher. We owe it to students- to teach them how to speak with a voice that can be heard by millions. We owe it to students to prepare them for a world where they can contribute now- not 20 years from now. We owe it to teachers to prepare them to teach with the tools necessary to engage students, that will make their teaching authentic, that will drive their inquiry and knowledge, and this includes the technology of today- not yesterday.

We are striving toward an equitable society, one where everyone has the same access to knowledge and technological tools and skills as the other person. The progress we've made up until today has been because of people, not technology; that's true. People drive innovation, ideas, and progress, let there be no mistake about that. The technological tools that we've created will help us create a society that is more productive, makes the best use of our natural resources, creates less waste, sparks and shares innovative ideas with each other (collaborates), and makes the best use of our time and money- a society, that is, in a sense, streamlined. But to get there, society needs students that can help get us toward that future, and those students need teachers that can empower them with the tools that give them a voice. In this future, it's more than just a pencil and paper.

That is relevant.

PLN- (P)erhaps a (L)ittle (N)ovelty?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Cool MRI pic, huh? Thanks alles-schlumpf

You have to admit, there's a lot of acronyms in education. One of the biggest jokes in my training as a teacher was learning the plethora of abbreviations for initiatives and acts and organizations. We used to joke that we were going to SKOOL (or Some Knowledgeable Old Officiate of Learning) or that we were not that excited about LIFE (Lazy Inept Feeble Educators). Did you go to UCLA (or the University Closest to the Lakeland Area)? Think of all the acronyms that you've been acquainted with over the years. These are a few I know of just off the top of my head:

NCLB
ELL
RTI
ESL
EETT
RTTT
IDEA
IEP
SAT
ACT
PEP

There's a great list of education acronyms at this link. The fact that education needs all these acronyms is a testament to all the moving and shaking done in the name of education over the past 100 years. So we need acronyms, yes, but we need better acronyms and terms. The intuitive nature of our professions could be sabotaged by these unintuitive terms.

So PLN? P-L-N: Personal Learning Network ? This is the best we can do?

This is an acronym that sounds like it belongs in a marketing seminar, not education. A marketing seminar for insurance salesman.

Don't get me wrong, I love my "learning network", but I also love intuitive acronyms like SCUBA or TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). And this Personal Learning term is something that we all have to live and like every day because it's now a part of many educators' daily lives. Seeing that- shouldn't this acronym be one that we are in LOVE with (as in Lots Of Voracious Engagement). Shouldn't it be just as intuitive as the tools that we use, and the processes we transform using technology in education? I think it should.

When I reference my network of educators I call them my "brain trust" before I roll out the PLN term. This group of educators I engage with every day are a living, organic, knowledge base. They are real people with real experiences, and a wealth of knowledge. The letters PLN don't do them justice. They're too smart for that. However my BRAIN trust, my

(B)rilliant
(R)esources
(A)t
(I)nstant
(N)otice,

sounds to me much better than PLN. These people are part of my BRAIN, they've become part of my RAM, and without them I wouldn't be in the position I am today. I'd be SOL.

Educational technology is supposed to be all about being on the cutting edge- with tools, with pedagogy, and with implementation. But apparently not with acronyms. I mean SCUBA is an intuitive and innovative acronym, and we all know what that means. We all know what ACORN is, and although you may not like the organization, they had a really good name.

Can we think of something better? Here's a few that I came up with. Choose your favorite or add your own in the comments.

Brilliant Resources At Instant Notice (BRAIN)
Personal Education Network (PEN). (seen this one used before)
Brain Trust Online (BTO). or Online Brain Trust (OBT)
Educational Knowledge Base (EKB) -blecch.
Educational Online War Chest (EOWC)

Are you satisfied with "PLN," or would you characterize your group in a more innovative and intuitive way? What would you choose?

After completing this post, my Google Social Search came up with this post by Dean Shareski, so apparently I'm not alone in my disdain for this term.

SCUBA: See? Intuitive. Thanks Wikimedia

Google Clears the Roadblocks with Google App Inventor: What Will Apple Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Thanks for the Image

You can blame me for drinking the Google juice all you want, but since last year I've been clamoring to help my Tech Club students learn App development.

Unfortunately, we've run into some snags. First thing we did is watch the free iPhone App class from Stanford University. Free class from Stanford? Super! To actually participate in the class, this required downloading the iPhone SDK, which also required giving Apple $99.

Roadblock: No money. My sixth graders seemed to have a problem coming up with the cash. I can't blame them. So, even without the SDK, my kids wanted to watch the iPhone class anyway. Okay...

Roadblock: Pre-requisite. Although this class is free, there's obviously some prior programming knowledge required. My students were lost after the second episode. Their programming knowledge from Scratch didn't cut it.

They've been bugging and asking how to make iPhone apps since the beginning of the year. Using Scratch has definitely helped develop their interest in programming, hands down. For app development, the Stanford class looked like a possible road, but it's clear that this free class was not designed for middle schoolers.

Create your own app?
I've seen "create your own app" tools online, but I also heard that Apple was not allowing these apps into the App Store. That would have seemed like a neat solution, but it also required... more money. Wouldn't it be cool if there was an app program like Scratch, that allowed anyone to be a developer- anyone to write their own app?

Well now there is! But it's not for the iPhone. It's for the Android phone.

Yesterday, Google announced the roll-out of App Inventor, a web-based program that lets you create your own apps with a computer and your own Android phone.

This. Is. Awesome. For so many reasons.

Google is putting App development tools in the hands of students. And teachers. And anyone who wants to make a simple, functioning app for their own or public use. This is a profound gesture for the world of creativity. I'm sure Sir Ken Robinson would be ecstatic.

A couple of cool tidbits:
1. it's VERY close to Scratch with its visual-block programming, and
2. (this is very Googly): it runs in the browser!!!
3. Of course it's free.

It's Open vs. Closed.
This really throws an arrow across the bow of Apple. Apple has claimed to be open in that they are "free from porn" and free from lots of spam apps, but there's a reason that the iPhone and the iPad is so sanitary; they're very closed.
To be honest, the open world is a little... messy. I'm okay with that. I think that the junk Apps will find their way to the junk pile once Google opens up the Market to other vendors (allowing them to create their own "stores" inside the Android Market), or Google uses Pagerank or something similar for the Android Market to clear the clutter.

I like the Apple user experience, but if Apple doesn't respond to this somehow, they will be sending many clear messages that say:

"Leave it to the professionals."
"You have to pay to play."
"We don't want just anybody to make Apple apps."
"We are closed."

There's just no way around this. They can pretend that they're open, but we all know that's just a fallacy.

Apple and Google vs. Education
Apple once built it's core business on education, and every day, Google seems to be taking that mantle. I hear more and more schools ditching Apple products for netbooks, whether for budget reasons, customer service reasons, and now there's rumblings that Apple is going to charge schools for every app downloaded to iPod and iPads (currently, one can image a handful of iPod touches with only one purchased app).

Does Apple give a hoot about education anymore?

Google seems to. Almost every time I have a need for a classroom tool, a browser function, or app, Google responds before I think of it. Already, my Google Certified Teachers' group received a message about getting App Inventor out to students- pronto. This Google Juice tastes so good right now; I can't wait to see what Google conjures up next.

This Apple Juice, on the other hand, is starting to taste a little sour.

Thanks for the Image

Audible for Android App- Learn on the Fly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:42:00 +0000

I have to say- I love my Android phone. Sure, it doesn't have the best user interface, but that is changing. I bought it with integration and productivity in mind, and I love to listen to podcasts and audio books on it. Recently, I found a gem of an app- the Audible.com beta app. Why is this significant? Because in the name of streamlining the learning process, listening to books is the next evolutionary step in content consumption. With audio books, you can simply consume more. I know that there are other audio book apps in the iPhone App Store, but there's really one name in audio books right now, and that's Audible, so I don't know why anyone would go anywhere else.

Image from: Android and Me

Now, this app is in Beta, so it's not totally ready for prime time yet, but it's close enough in my estimation. You can download the app for your Android (off Market) here: http://groups.google.com/group/audible-for-android-beta?msg=subscribe

I'll tell you 5 reasons you'll love it:

1. Streaming: It streams books, duh. Okay, it's not real streaming, but it does start playing audio as soon as you start downloading.
And you can download and then "remove from device" at your heart's content." That way you can save room on your device. For students who are forced to learn dry, heavy content this could be a Godsend. How often have you had to slog through a textbook wondering, "does this come in audio format? Ugh!" Let's hope they start making more textbooks in audio format.

2. Syncing: It synced up all of my previous purchases on Audible.com. I've been a member for a few months, and it remembered my purchases so I can listen to any of them at any time- on the go. This is great for folks like me who don't like having to sync my iPod up to my computer before I go anywhere that I'm going to listen. Just make it available to me. And make it easy.

3. No iTunes: No offense to Apple, but iTunes is not in the cloud. You don't need iTunes or some other forced download media player to play your books like other book apps, or, as also found on Barnes and Noble.com.

4. No more burnin' CDs! The app downloads them to your Android, and if you have a car with an AUX jack (like my Prius) you can listen to your books on some sweet speakers.

5. Take notes: there's a neat feature that lets you take a note during a particular point in the book. Take as many as you like- then at a later time, you can check your notes and it will take you back to that exact point in the book. This is super for students who are doing research and want to use a quote. If you use APA style to cite, you're definitely not going to use page numbers (which is okay by me), so this helps solve that problem of citing audio formats. There's also a button (not working yet) that will let you "share" that note through Twitter or other social media outlet. I'm sure this feature is disabled until it's finally released, but I wonder if Audible will also share the snippet of the audio as well. That would be very cool.

Anyhow- I like my apps simple and intuitive, plus I like apps that streamline my productivity. For a life-long learner like myself, having an Audible app goes perfectly next to my Google Listen app (review coming soon). Listen on!

This was cross-posted at the Tech and Learning Advisors blog.

Is Facebook a Learning Tool?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 17:09:00 +0000

Photo from Franco Bouly

So far at ISTE10, I've been hearing a lot about social networking in education. It started at Edubloggercon on Saturday, where there were multiple discussions about learning spaces, PLNs, and then Web 3.0, which is a term I'm sure Ben Grey dislikes.

Here's my takeaway so far:

If you ask Jeff Utecht, we should be integrating Facebook via the marketing departments at our schools to gain some leverage. His experience is that students asked to use Facebook as a user group tool. Whether his experience in an international school translates to American public schools remains to be seen.

If you ask David Jakes, students say that they don't want Facebook at school. He says student's say, "stay out of my space."

If you ask Will Richardson, inspiring students to leverage students to use Facebook, whether it's as group or fan pages, might be the most effective way to incorporate Facebook into learning at this point. He says, "we're in a disruptive phase right now," where everything is basically being sorted out.

I think social networking does have a place in education. But I think the biggest question is, should we be using Facebook? Or should we be staying out of their space, using alternative tools like Buddy Press or Ning, to inform or shape student uses of Facebook?

What do you think?