Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts

Ep 483: Creativity, Code, and Compassion: AI Lessons from Middle School and Beyond

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 25 May 2025 04:30:05 +0000

In this special 20th-anniversary episode of Moving at the Speed of Creativity, Wes Fryer reflects on a dynamic year of teaching and explores how artificial intelligence—especially through the Flint AI platform—has reshaped his middle and high school classrooms. From supporting refugee advocacy with student-created “InfoPics,” to guiding AP Computer Science students through AI-assisted writing practice, Wes shares rich examples of AI’s educational potential. He dives into how students used AI to imagine mythical creatures, develop backstories, and bring them to life in Scratch and Minecraft, and he also introduces the idea of “vibe coding,” where web design students prompt AI to generate functional code. Along the way, Wes discusses tools like Descript, Canva, and Google Vids, and offers updates on his projects like Heal Our Culture and Conspiracies & Culture Wars. It’s a wide-ranging episode that celebrates creative pedagogy, ethical reflection, and the evolving role of AI in education. This episode is available as both a mp3 audio file and audio-only video file on YouTube . (Due to issues with my WordPress podcasting plugin, this episode is not showing up in my podcast feed YET.) https://socpodcasts.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/2025-05-24-speedofcreativity.mp3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1rUnwcGpV0 Show Notes: Wes Fryer’s Main Site ( wesfryer.com ) Wes Fryer's Shared Lessons Website ( lessons.wesfryer.com ) Media Literacy Hub for Wes Fryer ( medialiteracy.wesfryer.com ) Conspiracies and Culture Wars Project ( medialiteracy.wesfryer.com/concw ) Heal Our Culture ( healourculture.org ) Resist and Heal ( resistandheal.com ) EdTech Situation Room ( edtechsr.com ) Media Literacy with Wes (Substack) ( wfryer.substack.com ) EdTechSR Substack ( edtechsr.substack.com ) Heal Our Culture Substack ( healourculture.substack.com ) Resist and Heal Substack ( resistandheal.substack.com ) Refugee Support Services of Charlotte ( refugeesupportservices.org ) InfoPics for Refugee Support Services - RSS ( lessons.wesfryer.com/courses/capstone/rss ) Photos for Class ( storyboardthat.com/photos ) Canva ( canva.com ) Auphonic ( auphonic.com ) Descript ( descript.com ) Flint AI ( flintk12.com ) ChatGPT (OpenAI) ( chatgpt.com ) Claude (Anthropic) ( claude.ai ) Code.org App Lab ( code.org/tools/applab ) Scratch ( scratch.mit.edu ) Minecraft Education ( education.minecraft.net ) MakeCode ( microsoft.com/en-us/makecode ) Google Vids (via Google Workspace) StreamYard ( streamyard.com ) Teachers for an Informed Public ( tipteachers.org ) Kevin Roose NYT Article on Vibe Coding Wes' GitHub for shared AI / vibecode ( github.com/wfryer ) AI Project Hub for Wes Fryer ( ai.wesfryer.com ) Room 208 Podcast (Bob Sprankle - bobtaughtme.com ) All podcast bumpers created by Wes Fryer in Garageband years ago... The last musical bumper is: Summertime by LiQWYD | https://soundcloud.com/liqwyd/ Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ " Ep 483: Creativity, Code, and Compassion " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Ep 482: Moderating Livestreams with Cool Kicks - An Interview with 7th Grader "G"

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 16:53:18 +0000

This podcast features an interview with 7th grader "G," who serves as a volunteer "Livestream moderator" for the website and store "Cool Kicks," based in Los Angeles, California. In the interview, "G" shares the backstory of how he become a moderator for Cool Kicks, how livestreams work, his role as a moderator, and more. Additional show notes from our interview include: www.mynaswap.com twitch.tv/coolkicks kick.com/coolkicks This podcast interview is also shared on YouTube and shared on Spotify / Anchor . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bVsAsreJks More links to connect and learn with me (Wes Fryer) are available on wesfryer.com/after . " Ep 482: Moderating Livestreams with Cool Kicks " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast481: CMC World Student News

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 23:46:13 +0000

This podcast features an October 2022 with middle school student CMC (his public alias) who is the creator of CMC World News ( cmcworldnews.com ). In this 20 minute conversation, CMC shares the origin story of CMC World News and how he came up with the idea, developed the website, and now maintains it with news articles for other kids around the world. He also addresses Internet safety concerns, and how he maintains his own privacy as a middle school student publishing and sharing a website which is publicly accessible for anyone to view and use. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to not only the main CMC World News website , but also the CMC World News YouTube channel . A video screencast version of this interview is also available, showing the different parts of the CMC World News website . That screencast was recorded using Screencastify software for Google Chrome. Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcasts are independently produced by Wesley Fryer of Charlotte, North Carolina, and feature episodes "where media literacy and digital storytelling intersect and change the world." Check out our latest episodes on your favorite podcast service, or directly visit speedofcreativity.org/podcast . Social media channels to follow and learn with Wesley Fryer are available on wesfryer.com/after . Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts are (as of December 2022) powered by Anchor, but also cross-posted to Amazon S3! The podcast subscription feed , however, remains the same via Feedburner. Show Notes: Direct link to this podcast on Anchor (mp3 audio) CMC World News CMC World News: Kids Room (Ages 4-12) CMC World News: World News page CMC World News: Sports page CMC World News: Traveling page CMC World News: COVID-19 page CMC World News on YouTube Video Screencast Version of this Podcast Interview Dr. Fryer's Media Literacy Lessons Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts RSS feed for Moving at the Speed of Creativity (Feedburner) Wes Fryer's Cooking and Recipe website ("Cook with Wes") Connect with Wesley Fryer (social media channel links) Amazon S3 backup of this audio podcast Subscribe to my podcast! Anchor Version Video Screencast Version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SapzcNQhvWs " CMC World Student News (Episode 481) " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast479: Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 04 May 2022 02:57:07 +0000

This podcast features a presentation by Wesley Fryer at the ATLIS (Association of Technology Leaders of Independent Schools) 2022 Conference in Orlando, Florida, on May 3, 2022. The title of the session was, "Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy." The official description was: Conspiracy theories are popular on social media and influence our local as well as national conversations and politics. How we can constructively teach about conspiracy theories and help students develop their media literacy skills to better evaluate information and sources in our digital world? This session will highlight the "Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories" media literacy unit, taught to 6th graders since fall 2020 at Casady School in Oklahoma City. By focusing on the Apollo Moon landings, students learn how to use and apply the "SIFT" web literacy framework (S = Stop, I = Investigate the source, F = Find trusted coverage, T = Trace to the original) analyzing together several online videos. While this unit is designed for middle school students, it an be adapted for other grades / ages / developmental levels. Access the full unit on lessons.wesfryer.com/lessons/conspiracy-theories . Shownotes Ways to follow and connect with Dr. Wesley Fryer: wesfryer.com/after Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts (re-listed!) More FREE subscription options for "Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts" Slides for "Teaching About Conspiracy Theories and Media Literacy" from May 3, 2022 at ATLIS " Teaching About Conspiracy Theories & Media Literacy " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast478: Updates and Classroom Favorites

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 20:30:58 +0000

In this podcast episode, Dr. Wesley Fryer shares a variety of updates about his current and changing teaching situation, geographic location, academic interests (media literacy!) and recent conferences / presentations. This podcast also includes audio from Wes’ recent video, “15 Things I Love About My Classroom (and teaching situation!)” Check out the podcast show notes for all referenced websites and links from the podcast recording, and find multiple ways to follow and connect with Wes on https://www.wesfryer.com/after. Shownotes Ways to follow and connect with Dr. Wesley Fryer: wesfryer.com/after Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcast on Apple Podcasts (re-listed!) More FREE subscription options for "Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts" Summer Institute in Digital Literacy : July 10-15, 2022 Media Literacy Resources by and collected by Wes Fryer: medialiteracy.wesfryer.com #MediaLit resources and links shared on Twitter by @wfryer CNAME a Google Site Playing with Media: Simple Ideas for Powerful Sharing (2011, v 1.0) Wes' Food, Recipe and Cooking blog: food.wesfryer.com The Story of our Family Recipe Sharing WordPress Website (December 2020) @CookWithWes on TikTok The EdTech Situation Room Podcast ( @edtechSR ) Wes' personal YouTube channel: youtube.com/wfryer Wes' old Yukon Public Schools Twitter account: youtube.com/user/coachfryer/videos (linked from stem.wesfryer.com ) Google Takeout: takeout.google.com Lessons by Dr. Wesley Fryer: lessons.wesfryer.com Jason Neiffer on Twitter: @techsavvyteach Wes' "Twitter Moment" of takeaways from NCCE 2022 #ncce22 ATLIS 2022 Conference: May 1-3, 2022 Presentation Handouts by Wes Fryer: wiki.wesfryer.com Froot Loop Conspiracy Theories Unit Pocket Share Jesus: Become a Digital Witness for Christ (almost-completed book on Pressbooks.com by Wes Fryer) Technology Fear Therapy (Wes Fryer's TEDxUCO talk from March 2021) Presentations by Dr. Wesley Fryer (YouTube playlist) Wes Fryer's Media Literacy Substack newsletter: wfryer.substack.com EdTech Situation Room Substack: edtechsr.substack.com VIDEO: 15 Things I Love About My Classroom (and teaching situation!) Feedburner Subscription Link for "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" AirServer software Waldseemüller map (English WikiPedia) "The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name" by Toby Lester https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH4nEEwa5VM " Shelly and Wesley Fryer at Casady School " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast477: Remembering Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane in Deadwood, South Dakota

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 14:26:01 +0000

Welcome to a special episode of "Moving at the Speed of Creativity," recorded from the Mt Moriah cemetery in Deadwood, South Dakota on June 26, 2021. Members of our family went on the "Boot Hill Tours Historical Tour of Deadwood," and I audio recorded the culminating portion at the graveside of both Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane. These real people from the "wild west days" of the late 19th century were mythologized by dimestore novelists and journalists, who used the outlines of their characters to weave wild (and sometimes sordid) tales of conflict, romance, adventure, and violence. Our tour guide, Joe Williams, is a local educator and school administrator who has done extensive historical research about the area of Deadwood and specifically the lives of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane. In his narration, he dispels some of the myths surrounding these two characters and sheds light on their lives and deeds. Check out the podcast shownotes for related links to this tour and area. Shownotes Boot Hill Tours of Deadwood, South Dakota Wes' Flickr photo album from Deadwood (June 2021) History of Deadwood from Deadwood.com Wild Bill Hickock's English WikiPedia article Calamity Jane's English WikiPedia article Mt Moriah Cemetery English WikiPedia article Wes Fryer on Twitter ( @wfryer ) Wes' professional blog: speedofcreativity.org Wes' Media Literacy and Spanish Curriculum / Lessons: mdtech.casady.org Wes' periodic newsletter: "Media Literacy with Wes" Other ways to learn with Wes: wesfryer.com/after/ " Grave of Wild Bill Hickock in Deadwood " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast476: The Power of Choice by Claude Larson

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 21:39:41 +0000

Welcome to a special Spring Break episode of Moving at the Speed of Creativity, for March 16, 2021! This podcast episode features an interview with Claude Larson, the author of "The Power of Choice: A Teen's Guide to Finding Personal Success." The audience for this book is not only teenagers, but also the teachers of teenagers looking for powerful ways to build classroom community and relationships with students to foster learning about character development and life skills which extend beyond the formal academic curriculum. In the description of the book on Amazon, Claude writes to prospective teen readers, "This book was created to help you slow down, sort through the madness and figure out what you actually want in your life. It’s a guidebook and simultaneously, a gold mine of your thoughts, dreams, goals and life direction. The stories and exercises within these pages were designed to help you build habits that support you in reaching your goals. Some of the topics you will examine include what motivates you and why, how to build excellence into your daily routine and how to improve your relationships with those around you. You will also explore problem solving strategies and understanding decision-making options for creating your best outcome. Other subjects include how to deal with criticism, the importance of gratitude and how to change difficult situations into beneficial ones. Everything in these pages allow you to not only see things from your own viewpoint but, to broaden your perspective and see so many more possibilities." I had a chance to interview Claude about her book, the backstory of why she decided to write it, and how it can be used by teachers as well as teens to "find personal success." Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to the book, it's companion journal, and other ways you can connect with Claude Larson and continue learning with her. Find more ways to learn with Dr. Wesley Fryer on www.wesfryer.com/after. Shownotes Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts Claude Larson's website: claudeblarsonllc.com On Amazon: "The Power of Choice: A Teen's Guide to Finding Personal Success" by Claude B. Larson On Amazon: The Power of Choice: Companion Journal" by Claude B. Larson On Amazon: "The Power of Choice: A Teen's Guide to Finding Personal Success Teacher's Edition" by Claude B. Larson Claude Larson on Instagram: @thepowerofchoiceforsuccess Claude's Art Blog: "Random Acts of Piece" Wes Fryer on Twitter ( @wfryer ) Wes' professional blog: speedofcreativity.org Wes' Media Literacy and Spanish Curriculum / Lessons: mdtech.casady.org Wes' periodic newsletter: "Media Literacy with Wes" Other ways to learn with Wes: wesfryer.com/after/ " The Power of Choice: A Teen’s Guide to Finding Personal Success " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast475: Lessons Learned Teaching During the Pandemic

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 00:06:42 +0000

Welcome to the first episode of Moving at the Speed of Creativity for 2021, now starting its 16th year as an educational podcast! This podcast episode features a conversation with Shelly and Wesley Fryer on January 3, 2021, reflecting on some of their lessons learned teaching elementary and middle school students during 2020, the first year of our COVID-19 global pandemic. Shelly is a 3rd grade classroom teacher at Casady School in Oklahoma City. During the fall semester of 2020, Wes has been teaching two sections of Introductory 5th Grade Spanish as well as his "normal" four sections of 5th and 6th Grade Media Literacy classes. At the start of our global pandemic lockdowns and time of "emergency remote learning" in March 2020, Wes was also serving as an instructional coach at our school, which is a role he's resuming in January 2021. Link to referenced resources from this recorded conversation, as well as links you can use to connect with Shelly and Wes, in the podcast shownotes. In 2021, Wes is rebooting his newsletter as "Media Literacy with Wes" on Substack (wfryer.substack.com). Please check it out and sign up! Also please reach out to us on Twitter (@wfryer and @sfryer) to let us know if you listen to the show and anything in particular you found interesting or resonated with you. Let us know if you have questions! You can also kick it old school and leave a comment below! Show Notes: Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts Shelly Fryer on Twitter ( @sfryer ) Shelly's professional blog: www.shellyfryer.com Wes Fryer on Twitter ( @wfryer ) Wes' professional blog: speedofcreativity.org Wes' Media Literacy and Spanish Curriculum / Lessons: mdtech.casady.org Wes' periodic newsletter: "Media Literacy with Wes" Other ways to learn with Wes: wesfryer.com/after/ Amplify Science Curriculum Wes' 5th Grade Introductory Spanish Lessons and Curriculum What is Comprehensible Input? An Introduction for Teachers by @SpanishMamaBlog Spanish Scratch Dialog Project Lesson Plans by Wes Fryer Step-by-Step: Swivl Live Remote Teaching with 2 iPads & Laptop Swivl for Hybrid Learning (students in class face-to-face AND remote at home) The Meeting Owl smart video conferencing camera Wes' battery operated, portable classroom speaker setup: Zoweetek Portable Rechargeable Mini Voice Amplifier with Wired Microphone Headset Instructional Technology "Genius Bar" virtual workshops (recorded videos) at Casady School Casady School Seesaw Skills Project Our adult Sunday School class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science" Our Class Blogs in Media Literacy Class at Casady School Family Oral History Unit (6th Grade Media Literacy) Conspiracy Theory Unit (6th Grade Media Literacy) Wes Fryer' Media Literacy Resources MIT Scratch Conference 2021: July 22-24, 2021 ( @scratch ) Recorded with Ferrite Recording Studio (for iOS) Edited with Audacity Optimized with Apple Music (mp3 export, 32 kbps mono) Shared with WordPress and PodLove Podcast Publisher https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1345839043175739393 " Lessons Learned Teaching During the Pandemic " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast474: Brainstorming "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings" Workshop and Lesson

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 01:16:40 +0000

Our conversations about media literacy, conspiracies, culture wars, and the Apollo Moon landings continue! The current generation of youth has been exposed to more conspiracy theories about the Apollo Moon landings and many other topics than any previous generation. What are we going to do about this as educators and parents? This is a serious media literacy challenge, and the project connected to this audio recording provides some answers to this question. This podcast is a recording of a livestreamed conversation between Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) on July 6, 2020, discussing a proposed workshop at the virtual version of the Summer Institute on Digital Literacy ( digiuri.com ) coming to a screen near you July 19-24, 2020. This is the part two of these shared conversations. Please refer to the shownotes of our podcast on speedofcreativity.org for links to part 1 of this conversation, our Google Doc with our developing resources, and more. The proposed title of this workshop and lesson is now something like, "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings," although this final title is still up for grabs. Wes has been invited to share a keynote based on these ideas at the upcoming virtual "Mountain Moot" July 16, 2020. (Register FREE to attend on mountainmoot.com ) This project continues to be a "work in progress" and is being refined / expanded. We welcome your feedback. All project resources are available on medialiteracy.wesfryer.com/concw . Please use the hashtag #ConCW to share related resources! Thanks to our livestream viewers who shared great ideas and asked good questions in our StreamYard.com powered chat room during this broadcast. Shownotes: Video version on YouTube (1 hour, 24 minutes) Part 1 of this conversation: Podcast473: Brainstorming About “Conspiracies and Culture Wars” with Brian Turnbaugh and Wesley Fryer Brian Turnbaugh ( @wegotwits ) Wes Fryer ( @wfryer ) Our Google Doc of project, workshop and lesson ideas Summer Institute on Digital Literacy (July 19-24, 2020) Mountain Moot July 15-17, 2020 ( @mtmoot ) SIFT Web Literacy Strategy ( @holden ) Noam Chomsky: The five filters of the mass media Project Website: "Conspiracies and Culture Wars" Project Twitter hashtag: #ConCW Lesson website: "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings" (NOTE: This is a lesson under development and is not finalized!!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCO5WNWNpU " Brainstorming "Fact or Fiction? Apollo Moon Landings" " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast472: Remote Learning in Oklahoma #OklaEd

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 18:49:43 +0000

This podcast is a recording of a webinar panel discussion by Oklahoma educators Telannia Norfar, Delilah Rodriguez, Rhonda Schroeder and Wesley Fryer on Saturday, April 25, 2020. Our topic of conversation was "Remote Learning in Oklahoma," as we are now about a month into "learning at home" because of the neo-coronavirus / COVID-19 global pandemic. The questions we discussed included, What is your current role and situation with 'remote learning' in Oklahoma? What is your technology situation like in terms of student devices, teacher devices, and utilized platforms? What are discovering that should be changed about school as a result of this situation? What are some success stories about remote learning at your school / for you? How do you think we can help teachers and schools prepare for ongoing remote learning in the event we don't return face-to-face to school in August, or we do but have to go back to remote learning in the fall? Check out the shownotes for links to Twitter IDs for each of our panelists, as well as other referenced resources and links from the conversation. Shownotes Video version on YouTube Questions (Google Slides) used in this webinar Delilah Rodriguez @AwesomeTeach12 Telannia Norfar @thnorfar Rhonda Schroeder @rhondaschroeder Wes Fryer @wfryer Official Twitter account for the #OklaEd Sunday evening Twitter chat: @oklaed EdCampOKC ( @edcampOKC ) ConnectEd iPad Program at Arthur Elementary (OKCPS info page) Project-Based Learning in the Math Classroom (Grades 6-10) by Talannia Norfar and Chris Fancher (Amazon) STEMseeds.org Remote Learning Instructional Support website of Casady School Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn6yxyzsJw4 " Remote Learning in #OklaEd " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast471: Let’s Talk About Social Identity and FOMO

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 02:39:33 +0000

This podcast is a recording of a digital citizenship presentation for high school students shared by Dr. Wesley Fryer at Casady School in Oklahoma City on February 27, 2020. The goal of this talk was to encourage students to think more deeply and critically about their own identities, how those identities are shaped, and specifically how much power and influence we give other people and social media specifically when it comes to our perceptions of who we are and who we want to be. The Common Sense Media video, "Teen Voices: Who Are You on Social Media?" was shared during this presentation, and the audio from that video is included in this podcast. Please check the podcast shownotes for the link to the original video, as well as other wonderful resources from Common Sense on Digital Citizenship including a robust (and free) curriculum on digital citizenship for teachers and students differentiated by grade level. Also check out more resources we've shared on our school's digital citizenship website, DigCit.us. Shownotes Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts Wesley Fryer on Twitter: @wfryer Slides from this Upper School Chapel Talk, "Let's Talk About Social Identity and FOMO" Common Sense Media Video: "Teen Voices - Who Are You on Social Media?" ( YouTube version ) Miss Americana - The Taylor Swift Documentary Social Comparison Theory from Psychology Today Developing Adolescent Identity from The Center for Parent and Teen Communication Teen 'like' and 'FOMO' anxiety (CNN, 6 Dec 2016) Pope Francis wants you to give up being a jerk online for Lent (Engadget, 26 Feb 2020) Digital Citizenship Curriculum from Common Sense Media Podcast384: Michael Wesch at Heartland eLearning 2011 ( @mwesch ) Our School's Digital Citizenship Resources : For Students , For Teachers , For Parents #BibleVerse tagged photos on Instagram #dw4jc tagged photos on Instagram ("Digital Witness for Jesus Christ") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLFMBT1Ayls " Let’s Talk About FOMO and Social Identity " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by Wesley Fryer

Podcast470: Sharing and Learning About the 2020 U.S. Census - Statistics in Schools

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 01:57:52 +0000

Welcome to Episode 470 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast from February 18, 2020, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features a special interview with the U.S. Census "Statistics in Schools" Manager Victoria Glazer and Teacher Ambassador Emily McMillen, discussing the 2020 Census in the United States and the variety of FREE resources provided for PK-12 teachers to use with students. Disbursement of millions of dollars for our communities from the U.S. Federal Government depends on the Census! All of us as teachers and members of our communities can help both educate students and families about the importance of participating in the census, but also provide real-world, multi-disciplinary learning opportunities using existing census data via the resources shared on the "Statistics in Schools" website. Visit census.gov/schools for more information, and also refer to the podcast shownotes for more direct links. Shownotes Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts US Census Bureau's "Statistics in Schools" website 2020 Census Resources for Teachers and Schools U.S. Census Bureau's YouTube Channel U.S. Census Bureau on Twitter: @uscensusbureau U.S. Census Bureau on Instagram: @uscensusbureau Teachers' Guide to Data Access Tools for Students (U.S. Census Bureau) State Facts for Students : Help students learn about their state as they collect, organize, analyze, map, and graph a variety of information (Recommended for elementary & middle school students - by the U.S. Census Bureau) Census Business Builder : A suite of services that provides selected demographic and economic data from the Census Bureau tailored to specific types of users in a simple to access and use format. (Recommended for high school students - by the U.S. Census Bureau) Statistics in Schools (SIS) Week: March 2-6, 2020 Census Bureau 101 for Students 2020 Census Maps Why Census 2020 Matters for Schools National Center for Educational Statistics: Create a Graph! (free) Wes Fryer ( @wfryer ) - Blog - Middle School Computer Curriculum (Media Literacy and Digital Literacy) https://twitter.com/uscensusbureau/status/1171028338217033728 https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1229607926295384064 https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1229609709667307520 https://twitter.com/WeAreTeachers/status/1227414269458821121 https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1229613368161468418 https://twitter.com/wfryer/status/1229949460085604353 Subscribe to "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" weekly podcasts! All past "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" podcast episodes are archived , dating back to August 2005. " Census 2020 logo lip balm " ( CC BY 2.0 ) by denise-marie1

Podcast469: Reflections on Immersion Day January 2020

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 21:48:43 +0000

Welcome to Episode 469 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast from January 18, 2020, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features a conversation with 3rd grade teacher Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) about the second "Immersion Day" at Casady School in Oklahoma City. Immersion Days are half-days for students which focus on a special theme or topic. On January 17, 2020, the theme for the Casady Lower School students (in grades 1 - 4) focused on Inventions, coinciding with Kid Invention Day (KID). A wealth of fantastic resources about the design process and STEM / engineering for young students are available on nationalinventioncurriculum.org as well as other websites. Check out the podcast shownotes for links. Casady 3rd and 4th graders were able to videoconference LIVE to start the day with Payton Robertson in Florida. Peyton is now a senior in high school, and has been an inventor since elementary school with over six patents to his name. He met President Obama in the Oval Office to share one of his inventions after winning a national contest, was a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, and will be continuing his career and learning journey as an inventor next year as he starts college at Stanford University. In the afternoon, 3rd graders talked with Dr. James W. Long, a local guest speaker physician and engineer who co-created a magnetic heart pump, featured in the new Amplify Science curriculum the students are using this year. One of the parents of Shelly's students is a heart surgeon, and invited him to join in the third grade Kids Invention Day learning! In the podcast, Wes also shares some reflections on the "Animate Your Curiosity" lessons which he co-led for middle school students yesterday, using Scratch to create basic animations. Students watched and discussed several animation focused videos (including "Animator vs. Animation" from 2009 which has over 42 million views on YouTube) to find inspiration for their own animation and coding projects. If you haven't checked out "The Science Behind Pixar" (sciencebehindpixar.org) in person or online yet definitely do! Also check out other resources on the "Animation Inspiration" website Wes created for this week's Middle Division Immersion Day. Follow Shelly Fryer on Twitter @sfryer and Wesley Fryer on @wfryer. Wes' Digital Literacy and Media Literacy Curriculum for Middle School Computer Classes is available free on mdtech.casady.org. Shownotes: Subscribe to Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts Shelly Fryer ( @sfryer ) - Blog Wes Fryer ( @wfryer ) - Blog - Middle School Computer Curriculum (Media Literacy and Digital Literacy) Invention Convention Curriculum for Grades 3-5 Peyton Robertson - Inventor (Forbes.com) The Incredible Peyton Robertson on The Ellen Show (2014) TED Ideas: 3 brilliant inventions from a 12-year-old scientist Be Inspired to Animate Your Curiosity! Malone Schools Online Network (via Stanford University) LifeSize Icon 500 Videoconferencing Unit BlueJeans Videoconferencing in the Cloud Scratch Animation Lesson (for middle schoolers by Wes) Scratch (free Web-based, block-based coding platform by MIT) Constructionism Learning Theory (Seymour Papert) The Science Behind Pixar PBS Scratch Jr Coding Passion Project (by Shelly Fryer, June 2016) Build a Snowman in Scratch Jr (by Shelly Fryer, January 2019) More Scratch related blog posts by Shelly Fryer Code as Poetry in 4th Grade Scratch Club (by Wes Fryer, March 2018) Developing Computational Thinking with Scratch Coding - webinar video (by Wes Fryer, December 2017) Podcast446: Reflections on a PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp for Kids (by Wes Fryer, September 2016) Create a Maze Game in PBS Scratch Jr (by Wes Fryer, S

Podcast468: Reflections on Blended Learning Techniques with Google Sites, Slides and Social Media

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 27 Nov 2019 19:50:13 -0500

Welcome to Episode 468 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode includes a reflection by Wes about some of the techniques he is using in fall 2019 teaching Digital and Media Literacy for 5th and 6th graders at Casady School in Oklahoma City, as well as the adult Sunday School class, "Curiosity and Questions: Jesus and Science" at First Presbyterian Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. These techniques include using Google Sites to share lesson slides, videos, resources and links publicly (mdtech.casady.org and followjesus.wesfryer.com) each week. Refer to the podcast shownotes for referenced links. Feedback on this podcast episode is welcome!

Podcast467: Reflections on a Gap Year Before College

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 14:50:13 -0500

Welcome to Episode 467 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features interviews with both Shelly Fryer and Sarah Fryer, about Sarah's "gap year" in 2018-19 following high school graduation. Sarah graduated in 2018 from Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City Public Schools, and majored in drama at ClassenSAS. Rather than head directly to college, Sarah took a gap year to work, take dance classes, get more involved in the music ministry of our church, and get a better idea of what she wants to study and do after high school. In the first part of this podcast, Wesley and Shelly reflect on the gap year experience for Sarah, how it came about, what happened, and what lessons were learned. In the second part, recorded earlier, Sarah reflects on her gap year. In both segments, Shelly and Sarah offer advice to other students as well as parents who might be considering a gap year, and encouragement to consider whether or not a gap year is the right choice and "the best fit" for you or your child. Check out the podcast shownotes to referenced resources, including some other blog posts relating to parenting, high school, and helping kids make decisions about college and life. Contact links for Shelly and Wesley Fryer are also included in the shownotes. Feedback on this podcast episode is welcome!

Podcast466: Reflections on Summer 2019 TechyKids Robotics Camp in Oklahoma City

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 11 Aug 2019 23:44:33 -0500

Welcome to Episode 466 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features an interview with Michaela Freeland (@_mfreeland) and Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) about the two summer robotics camps they co-led using Thymio robots and outstanding curriculum provided by TechyKids. TechyKids (www.techykids.com) was founded by Sharon Marzouk (@sharonmarzouk) and focuses on inspiring students through a "blend of robotics, creativity, technology, and invention." In this 35 minute interview, Michaela and Shelly share their experiences and learning from leading two robotics camps with 32 and 28 student participants, respectively, and discuss many of the camp highlights as well as lessoned learned by students, older student mentors, teachers and parents. Students engaged in daily reflections during these summer camps, and both recorded and shared with their parents their learning using the platform Seesaw (@Seesaw). Casady School in Oklahoma City hosted both of these camps, which were part of the summer "Casady by the Lake" enrichment program open to all students in and around Oklahoma City. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to TechyKids as well as other resources mentioned by Michaela and Shelly in this interview. If you are inspired to offer a robotics and invention camp in your local area after listening to this podcast, or have questions, please reach out to Michaela or Shelly and let them know!

Podcast465: Reflections on The 2019 Summer Institute on Digital Literacy

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 20 Jul 2019 23:41:00 -0500

Welcome to Episode 465 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features a reflection by Wes following the 2019 Summer Institute on Digital Literacy. Wes reflects on ten different “ingredients” which made this a powerful and transformative professional development experience, as well as five different lessons and ideas he’s taking into his 5th and 6th grade Digital Literacy classes this upcoming school year. Check the podcast shownotes for a full list of referenced websites and resources mentioned in this episode. This podcast also includes an interview from the conference with Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) discussing the weaponization of social media and recommended resources for learning more about the ways Russia continues to work to subvert the electoral process in the United States. Remember to also subscribe to “The EdTech Situation Room” (@edtechSR), the weekly webshow and podcast Wes co-hosts with Jason Neiffer each week on Wednesday evenings. Also remember to subscribe to Wes’ (almost) weekly newsletter in which he shares a helpful technology tip, tool, text, and tutorial. Sign up on www.speedofcreativity.org/email-updates.

Podcast464: Reflections on Media Literacy & ATLIS 2019

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 16:43:00 -0500

Welcome to Episode 464 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features a reflection by Wes from the ATLIS 2019 Conference in Dallas, Texas, primarily on Media Literacy and his 3 hour workshop, “Filtering the Exoflood: Strategies for Media and Information Literacy.” All resources from the workshop are available on wfryer.me/exoflood. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to the other websites and links referenced in this podcast. Remember to also subscribe to “The EdTech Situation Room” (@edtechSR), the weekly webshow and podcast Wes co-hosts with Jason Neiffer each week on Wednesday evenings. Also remember to subscribe to Wes’ (almost) weekly newsletter in which he shares a helpful technology tip, tool, text, and tutorial. Sign up on www.speedofcreativity.org/email-updates.

Podcast463: Reflections on The Florida Project Movie

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 12:11:42 -0600

Welcome to Episode 463 of the Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcast, a show by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, digital literacy, digital citizenship, instructional technology integration and engaged learning both inside and outside the classroom. This episode features an interview with Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) about the 2017 movie, “The Florida Project” (@floridaproject). The IMDB description of the movie is, “Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.” The Florida Project raises a host of important issues facing every community, including poverty, homelessness, social services, education and schools, non-profit and church outreach programs, and more. As a lifelong educator with extensive experiences working with families in poverty through church ministry, as well as educational and social services for homeless children and families in Oklahoma City, Shelly Fryer has unique and important perspectives on the issues and needs highlighted in “The Florida Project.” Check out the podcast shownotes for links to referenced books, resources, organizations and websites mentioned in the show. Please reach out to Shelly or Wes with feedback and additional resources or ideas this movie or this podcast interview encourages you to share.

Podcast462: Inspired by Tricia Fuglestad and Make Media Camp Lessons Learned

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 14 Jul 2018 23:38:04 -0500

Welcome to Episode 462 of Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcasts, a now-wildly irregular podcast by Dr. Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) focusing on digital creativity, media literacy, educational literacy and instructional technology. This episode includes two segments. The first is an interview with Megan Thompson (@seeingnewshapes), our elementary art teacher at Casady School in Oklahoma City. This past spring, Megan had an opportunity to travel to the Chicago area and spend part of a day with Tricia Fuglestad (@fuglefun). Tricia is an amazing elementary art teacher and utilizes a wide variety of technologies in her classroom to encourage creativity and empower student expression. Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wes interviewed Megan about her experiences, observations and takeaways from her time with Tricia in early June, 2018. The second segment of this podcast is a conversation between Shelly and Wes about their two recent Make Media Camp workshops (@MakeMediaCamp) with teachers in Kansas City and Oklahoma City. They highlight a variety of lessons learned and changes they've made to this one day media experience which introduces teachers to six different media projects and classroom activities: narrated images, photo collages, class radio shows / podcasts, paper-slide videos, Goose Chase mobile media scavenger hunts, and multimedia eBooks. Learn more about Make Media Camps on www.MakeMediaCamp.com, and access all workshop curricula from these workshops on the Archives link under Resources. Check out the shownotes for this podcast for links to additionally referenced resources.

Podcast461: Instructional Coaching, Middle School French Class and Explain Everything for iPad

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 13 May 2018 19:11:23 -0500

Welcome to episode 461 of Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer, from March 18, 2018. This podcast features an introductory overview about instructional coaching and technology integration coaching specifically, drawing on the author's experiences in this role with teachers since the late 1990s. In addition to defining instructional coaching, keys to successful instructional coaching experiences for mentor teachers as well as coaches are highlighted, as well as "lessons learned." The second part of the podcast features an interview with middle school French teacher Blake Pardue, who has been connecting his students to "pen pal" classrooms of French speaking students in Europe and in Africa for several years. The past two years, Blake's students have used the iPad app "Explain Everything" to create media-rich introductions of themselves and practice their French skills with their pen pals. This interview was a reflection with Blake Pardue and Wes Fryer about this year's iteration of the Explain Everything project, which utilized the new "cloud based" and collaborative version. They discuss project procedures and lessons learned. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced apps and resources from the show.

Podcast460: UCO and OCCC Concurrent Classes, GitHub in CompSci, and Elementary Coding Lessons

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 23:08:01 -0500

Welcome to episode 460 of Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer, from March 13, 2018. This podcast features a series of three recent interviews, and opens with a recommendation to try the newly updated Anchor.fm website and Anchor mobile app for podcast creation and publishing. The first interview is with high school senior Sarah Fryer, who shares her experiences and lessons learned taking concurrent classes from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and the Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC) as a student in Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS). Sarah took two classes from UCO in fall 2017, including one online course and one face-to-face course at the UCO campus in downtown Oklahoma City. This spring Sarah is taking two concurrent classes from OCCC, again one online and another face-to-face. The second interview is with Eric Ebert (@biggestmeow), the high school computer science teacher at Casady School. Eric shares a little about the growth of the computer science program at Casady, and how he has been using GitHub and GitHub classroom to help his students manage their coding projects. Eric also shared how he’s used audio podcasts created with Garageband and SoundCloud to encourage student reflection during and at the conclusion of coding projects. The third interview is with Shelly Fryer (@sfryer), a 3rd grade teacher at Casady School who has been integrating coding into her language arts lessons and Maker Studio time using the iPad app PBSkids Scratch Junior. Shelly taught an after-school class for 3rd and 4th graders in fall 2017 on coding with PBSkids Scratch Junior, teaching students how to create animations, tell stories, and create simple games. In spring 2018, Shelly has taught the same after-school class on PBSkids Scratch Junior for first and second graders. She has also co-led an after-school coding class using Scratch software for third and fourth graders. She shares stories and lessons learned from these coding classes, and also highlights her recent experiences at a Code.org workshop in San Antonio as one of three coding Ambassadors from Oklahoma. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources and student projects from this podcast. Share your feedback as a comment on this podcast episode on speedofcreativity.org, or by reaching out on Twitter to Wes Fryer @wfryer.

Podcast459: Highlights from OETC 2018

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 16:01:01 -0600

This podcast features three different recordings from the 2018 Ohio Educational Technology Conference, which was held in Columbus, Ohio, February 12-14, 2018. The first is an interview with high school students who have learned how to create interactive games using Scratch software. They also have created DIY game controllers using the MakeyMakey and supplies like tin foil, cardboard, alligator clips, play dough, and bananas. The second interview is with high school senior Arthur Bodenschatz, who is part of the broadcast journalism team in North Canton City Schools, Ohio. Arthur and his classmates use an amazing “mobile storyteller” converted RV to conduct professional quality interviews at events like the Ohio educational technology conference. The third interview is Arthur's interview of me at OETC, in which he asked me about my reasons for becoming a teacher and technology director, the pace of technological change in our society, and a few other topics. Two of these three recordings are also available as videos on YouTube and Vimeo, which are linked in the podcast shownotes. In addition to these three recordings, a few reflections on some additional highlights of OETC 2018 are included. These focus on Eric Curts' (@ericcurts) 3 hour workshop "Write Right with Google Tools: Improving Writing in all Subjects," Todd Beard's (@teacherbeard) session on Minecraft for Education, and Apple Education's workshop on updates to iOS 11. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources, as well as a raft of Wes' tweets from OETC 2018 sharing additional tips and links from sessions. (Since Storify is going offline and doesn't support the creation of new Twitter archives, this blog post will hopefully serve that function to archive these learning takeaways.

Podcast458: Reflections and Lessons Learned from STEAM Studio Fall 2017

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 03 Dec 2017 08:37:49 -0600

This podcast features a recorded audio reflection by Megan Thompson (@seeingnewshapes) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) on their co-led fall 2017 "STEAM Studio" class for 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders at Casady School in Oklahoma City. This is an eight week after-school program, and this was the second year for Megan and Wes to collaborate on STEAM Studio. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources including "The Creative Learning Spiral" by Mitch Resnik (@mres), the new book "Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play" by Resnik, "The Storymatic Kids!", iOS apps ChatterPix, YakIt Kids and Green Screen by DoInk, and more! Check out more STEAM resources and ideas on Megan's classroom website on http://seeingnewshapes.casady.org/steam

Podcast457: Inspiring Creativity and Curiosity with Media

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 12:20:37 -0600

This podcast features an almost-complete recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's keynote, "Inspiring Creativity and Curiosity with Media," on November 18, 2017, in Cairo, Egypt at the second annual EduForum Conference. The keynote description was: "As automation and the disruptive march of technology continues into virtually every aspect of our lives, it is vital we cultivate both creativity and curiosity in our students. Many jobs and vocations of the future will require teamwork, collaboration, project management, and independent work skills historically lacking in traditional academic classes focusing on isolated, individual performance. In this engaging and challenging session, Dr. Wesley Fryer will present the case for why learners today need to be CREATORS as well as consumers of multimedia, and collaborate regularly in school to acquire the workforce skills of today and tomorrow. By highlighting practical examples as well as available apps and web tools, Dr. Fryer will provide attendees with specific strategies and lesson activities they can apply in their classrooms to more effectively utilize multimedia and encourage students to create multimedia which supports learning goals." Please share feedback on the ideas in this podcast with a comment on this podcast on speedofcreativity.org, or by reaching out to Wes on Twitter @wfryer. Also be sure to subscribe to The EdTech Situation Room on http://edtechSR.com and follow on Twitter @edtechSR for updates.

Podcast456: Teaching and Learning in an AI First World

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 23:54:23 -0500

This podcast features a recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's breakout session at G Camp OKC on November 4, 2017, titled "Teaching and Learning in an AI First World." Referenced slides are available on http://wfryer.me/aifirst and include all referenced videos, including those mentioned but not shown during the presentation. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for a complete list of referenced articles and videos from the presentation. If you have feedback, please contact Wes via Twitter @wfryer or leave a comment below.

Podcast455: EdTech Struggles and Aspirations

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 23:26:06 -0600

This podcast is a reflection by Dr. Wesley Fryer on some of the educational technology related challenges as well as aspirations he currently has as a school director of technology, technology integration coach, and after-school "STEAM Studio" co-teacher. These challenges include cultivating a school learning culture supportive of creativity, innovation, whimsy, and cross-curricular connections. They also include helping students transition into and succeed within a comparatively open-ended and less structured after-school learning environment, where they are invited to create, play, and express themselves while developing both digital literacy as well as artistic skills. Last of all, the challenges and aspirations include more "geeky" topics like planning for school infrastructure fiber optic line upgrades, managing bandwidth on a network with increasing numbers of IP-based surveillance cameras, learning about traffic and packet analysis tools, and firewall access reporting. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to many of the referenced resources from this podcast including Dr. Mitch Resnik's new book, "Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play" and the upcoming (October 2017) free online class "Learning Creative Learning" by the MIT Lifelong Kindergarten Group.

Podcast454: Inspiring Student Creativity with Media #KVATE2017

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 00:05:29 -0500

This podcast features a recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's opening keynote address at the 2017 KVATE (Kaw Valley Academy of Technology and Education) Conference on July 24, 2017, in St. Marys, Kansas. The title of the keynote was, "Inspiring Student Creativity with Media." In addition to highlighting examples of "WOW work" by students (borrowing a wonderful term from Seesaw professional development coordinator Angela Gadtke @MrsGadtke) the keynote also included a "digital magic trick" demo using the new iOS app by Microsoft, "Seeing AI." Google Slides shared during this keynote, including links to all referenced student examples and other resources, are available in the podcast shownotes or directly using the shortened web link http://wfryer.me/kvate2017. Check out the podcast shownotes for additional KVATE resources and links. If you listen to this podcast, please provide feedback to Wes either with a comment on this post or by sending a Twitter reply to @wfryer. Thanks for listening to Moving at the Speed of Creativity podcasts! Please subscribe using PocketCasts or in your own favorite podcatcher application.

Podcast453: Reflections on ISTE 2017 and iPad Media Camp - Jackson, Wyoming

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 01 Jul 2017 22:49:36 -0600

In this podcast from July 1, 2017, Shelly and Wesley Fryer reflect on takeaways and important learning points from the 2017 ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Conference in San Antonio, Texas. They also reflect on what went well and what was learned at the iPad Media Camp they co-facilitated in Jackson, Wyoming, for 45 area educators. Check out the podcast shownotes on speedofcreativity.org for links to referenced resources and apps mentioned during the podcast. If you have feedback, reach out on Twitter to Shelly @sfryer and Wes @wfryer. Contact information for Wes and Shelly is also provided on their respective websites: www.shellyfryer.com and www.wesfryer.com.

Podcast452: Classroom Wireless Projection Options, Coding, Toy Hacking, CyberSecurity & More from ATLIS 2017

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 13:13:11 -0500

This podcast features an extended reflection by Dr. Wesley Fryer on the multitude of educational technology learning nuggets he gleaned from sessions shared at the ATLIS 2017 Conference in Burbank, California, April 23-26, 2017. All of Wes' shared notes from keynotes, workshops and sessions at ATLIS 2017 are available in a shared Google Drive folder linked from wfryer.me/atlis17. Refer to the podcast shownotes for specific websites, resources, videos, tweets, and other referenced links from this podcast. Some of the topics addressed in this reflection include classroom wireless projection options (for multiple platforms: AirPlay, Windows Surface/Windows10, and Chrome), resources to support student coding, toy hacking, Raspberry Pi, creating accessible (sub-titled) videos with the automated speech-to-text features in Apple's new "Clips" app, and cybersecurity. Within the realm of cybersecurity, topics included 2 step verification, phishing, local tests to measure teacher's awareness of and savvy to phishing, spear fishing, GAFE / GSuite data backup options, the need for school network segmentation, and more. If you find any of the ideas from this podcast insightful or helpful, please reach out by sharing a comment on the podcast post on speedofcreativity.org, or by reaching out on Twitter or Mastodon to Wes (@wfryer or mastodon.cloud/@wfryer).

Podcast451: SeeSaw, Enriched Assessment, Creating and Making with iPads

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Fri, 10 Mar 2017 21:32:58 -0600

This podcast features an interview with Shelly Fryer, discussing the use of SeeSaw to create student portfolios, strategies for enriched assessment using iPads, and her recent experiences leading professional development workshops for Oklahoma A+ Schools. She also discusses her recent experiences at EdCampOKC, a regional "unconference" for area educators, her students' recent eBook projects which culminated their Black History research unit, and reflected on STEM/STEAM lessons her her classroom Maker Studio. Shelly has been an elementary teacher and early childhood educator since 1985, and has been teaching 3rd and 4th grade students for the past four years in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Links to other referenced resources are included in the podcast shownotes. If you listen to and enjoy this podcast, please let Shelly and Wes know by sending a Twitter reply to @sfryer and @wfryer. Also consider subscribing to the "EdTech Situation Room" podcast (www.edtechSR.com) and the "Fuel for Educational Change Agents" podcast (audio.speedofcreativity.org). Your feedback and suggestions are welcome!

Podcast450: Great Classroom iPad Projects and Activities (Nov 2016)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 11:33:27 -0600

This podcast features a recording of Wesley Fryer's breakout session, "Great Classroom iPad Projects and Activities" at the 2016 Interactive Learning Institute (ILI) on November 30, 2016, in Norman, Oklahoma. ILI is sponsored by the K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma, and is an annual event focused on sharing best practices for technology integration in K12 classrooms. Grant recipients for OETT (the Oklahoma Education Technology Trust) administered by the K20 Center are among the participants in the conference, but it is open to educators at all levels from any school. The official session description for this presentation was:

Explore over 20 "media project recipes" which can be used as-is or modified as needed to help facilitate student iPad media projects

Access the iPad project matrix highlighted in this presentation by visiting www.ipadmediacamp.com/matrix and more student iPad media project examples by visiting ShowWithMedia.com. Slides for this presentation as well as links to other referenced resources are included in the podcast shownotes. If you listen to and enjoy this podcast, please let Wes know by sending a Twitter reply to @wfryer. Also consider subscribing to the "EdTech Situation Room" podcast (www.edtechSR.com) and the "Fuel for Educational Change Agents" podcast (audio.speedofcreativity.org). Your feedback and suggestions are welcome!

Podcast449: Innovating with Google Tools - Digital Citizenship in the Security State

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 20 Nov 2016 23:59:35 -0600

Welcome to the November 20, 2016, podcast episode of "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" with Wesley Fryer. This episode includes two recent presentation recordings by Wes from the last two weeks. The first was the opening keynote at the November 12, 2016, Google Summit in Maize, Kansas, titled "Innovating with Google Tools." The second is an audio recording of Wes' TEDx presentation on Saturday, November 19, 2016, at Waller Middle School in Enid, Oklahoma. Wes was one of three adult presenters in this #TEDxYouth event, which is one of only 19 similar events in the United States in 2016. The title of Wes' presentation was, "Digital Citizenship in the Surveillance State." Check the podcast shownotes for links to the presentation slides from both of these sessions, as well as recent podcasts with and by Wes from the past week referenced in the introduction. If you listen to and enjoy this episode, please reach out to Wes with a comment or via a Twitter reply to @wfryer. Thanks for listening to "Moving at the Speed of Creativity!"

Podcast448: Artificial Reality, Free Online Learning Channels & STEAM Studio

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 08:02:00 -0700

Welcome to the November 5, 2016, podcast episode of "Moving at the Speed of Creativity" with Wesley Fryer, which explores topics relating to artificial reality, free online learning channels and a STEAM Studio reflection. Wes discusses Steven Levy's recent article for Backchannel, "The Google Assistant Needs You," and our current "transition era" as artificial intelligence (AI) technologies mature and become normalized in our lives. He also discusses Elon Musk's recent announcement about camouflaged solar roof panels, and a recent video interview with Musk in which he discussed his reasons for starting the OpenAI (@openai) initiative. Musk's concerns about mature AI technologies are not limited to a RoboCop-style malicious AI future, but also include the danger of AI technologies being tightly controlled by a small number of entities. To guard against the dangers latent in that future scenario, Musk wants more groups, individuals and nations to have access to powerful AI algorithms and capabilities through the open source movement. In part two of the podcast, Wes discussed some of his favorite podcast channels and websites which provide fantastic opportunities for free, online learning. This begins with the K12 Online Conference (@k12online) which launched its 2016-17 mini-conference series on October 21st with a 3 part keynote and live panel discussion on YouTube Live with Julie Lindsay (@julielindsay). This first strand of the conference this year focuses on global collaboration. Strand two will focus on "Learning Spaces" and starts November 14th with a keynote by David Jakes (@djakes). Favorite tech podcasts mentioned by Wes in this episode include Clockwise by RelayFM (@clockwisepod), The Committed (@CommittedShow), and Note to Self (@notetoself). Wes also mentioned his weekly podcast and live webshow (on most Wednesday nights) The EdTech Situation Room (@edtechSR). The third part of this podcast features a recorded reflection by elementary art teacher Megan Thompson (@seeingnewshapes) and Wes discussing the "STEAM Studio" after-school enrichment class the co-taught this past semester together. They discuss things that went well, things they would change, and success stories from this STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) collaboration. If you listen to and enjoy this episode, please reach out to Wes with a comment or via a Twitter reply to @wfryer. Thanks for listening to "Moving at the Speed of Creativity!"

Podcast447: Reflections on Screenagers Movie - Growing up in the digital age

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 21 Sep 2016 22:16:00 -0500

This 20 minute podcast features reflections by Sarah Fryer, Rachel Fryer, and Wesley Fryer after watching a screening of the film, "Screenagers: Growing up in the digital age." http://www.screenagersmovie.com This 70 minute movie was shown on September 21, 2016, to an audience of parents, students, and educators at Christ the King School in Oklahoma City. The film raises important issues relating to healthy living, Internet safety, identity, and digital citizenship. It highlights the importance of parents setting boundaries for screen use and access with kids, and the importance of being intentional with our choices when it comes to smartphones and other screens. In this podcast recorded after watching Screenagers together, Sarah, Rachel and Wes offer their takeaways from the film and some of the highlights which stood out as important and valid points. Check the podcast shownotes for links to the Screenagers website and other digital citizenship resources. Follow the film on Twitter @ScreenagerMovie. Many thanks to Christ the King School in Oklahoma City for hosting this event and promoting good conversations about these issues among parents, kids and teachers!

Podcast446: Reflections on a PBS Scratch Jr Coding Camp for Kids

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 17:32:15 -0500

Coding is an important literacy skill we need to introduce to everyone in the 21st century! This podcast features reflections by Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) following a PBS Scratch Jr. Coding Camp for Kids in Edmond, Oklahoma, on September 17, 2016. It also includes some recorded audio from Shelly's lessons during the workshop for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. The coding camp was sponsored by The Div (@thedivorg), a local 501c3 nonprofit "dedicated helping the next generation thrive through access to technology education." According to its official website, "ScratchJr is an introductory programming language that enables young children (ages 5-7) to create their own interactive stories and games. Children snap together graphical programming blocks to make characters move, jump, dance, and sing. Children can modify characters in the paint editor, add their own voices and sounds, even insert photos of themselves -- then use the programming blocks to make their characters come to life.
ScratchJr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language (http://scratch.mit.edu), used by millions of young people (ages 8 and up) around the world. In creating ScratchJr, we redesigned the interface and programming language to make them developmentally appropriate for younger children, carefully designing features to match young children's cognitive, personal, social, and emotional development. ScratchJr is available as a free app for both iPad and Android tablets. For more information about ScratchJr, see http://scratchjr.org." PBS Scratch Jr. was introduced in December 2015 and is an official version of the original app but includes familiar and favorite characters from PBS Kids. Check out our podcast shownotes for referenced links to all the videos and resources used in this Kids Coding Camp and mentioned in our podcast.

Podcast445: Voices from iPadPaloozaOU + the iPad Media Activities & Project Matrix

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 17:17:22 -0500

This podcast features a series of recordings from the first iPadPaloozaOU conference held in Norman, Oklahoma, on August 26 and 27, 2016. The first segment is a series of audio reflections shared by participants in Shelly Fryer's Friday breakout session, "The Room 108 Radio Show." Just like Shelly has her students share in her classroom radio show, iPadPaloozaOU participants shared their first names and answered the question of the day, "What have you learned at iPadPaloozaOU and are taking back to your classroom?" The second segment is Shelly Fryer's five minute closing keynote, shared on Saturday. Five different Oklahoma educators shared a short talk about a subject they are passionate about during the combined keynote. Shelly talked about homelessness in Oklahoma, her school, Positive Tomorrows, and the importance of loving and building relationships with the students in our classrooms. Shelly shared 1 correction via Twitter following her keynote: 1 in 21 Oklahoma students are homeless today, according to recent studies. Check out the podcast shownotes for a link to a recent NewsOK.com article citing this statistic. Finally, the third podcast segment is a recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's breakout session, "iPad Media Activities and Project Matrix." The description of the session was: "Come learn the specific steps teachers and students can use to create over 20 different iPad media projects as well as whole-class, interactive iPad writing activities. The iPad Media Activity and Project Matrix (www.ipadmediacamp.com/matrix) is used in iPad Media Camp workshops to help teachers learn to integrate effective use of iPads into the curriculum. The matrix includes whole-class response activities (interactive digital writing), single-app projects (using a learning journal like SeeSaw), 2 app projects (create + share) and Multi-app projects (app-smash projects)." The matrix is available as a series of linked Google Draw documents on http://www.ipadmediacamp.com/matrix. Check the podcast shownotes for additional referenced links and resources from these presentations. Many thanks to Anne Beck and her organizer team for making the first iPadPaloozaOU a smashing success!

Podcast444: Reflections on iPad Media Camp (July 2016)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 23 Jul 2016 10:24:13 -0500

Welcome to a recorded podcast from the road with Wesley and Shelly Fryer, reflecting on the past week of iPad Media Camp workshops in Stilwell and Tulsa Oklahoma in July 2016. This is the fourth summer of iPad Media Camp workshops, which are multi-day, hands-on experiences for educators focused on using iPads to create and share media projects. For summer 2016, the curriculum for iPad Media Camps (wiki.ipadmediacamp.com) includes an "iPad Media Activity and Project Matrix" (www.ipadmediacamp.com/matrix). In this podcast reflection, Shelly and Wes discuss aspects of the workshops which went well and were different this year, including the use of the matrix to introduce teachers to whole-class, digital, interactive writing activities, "single-app" student projects using the SeeSaw Learning Journal, two-app projects, and more complex app smashing projects. During both iPad Media Camp workshops this week, Shelly taught other teachers how to create classroom radio shows (podcasts) using the free iOS app Opinion. Shelly facilitated a workshop participant podcast using the Opinion app after lunch in Tulsa on the first day of the workshop, and that 5 minute audio reflection is included in this podcast. Other portions of this episode were recorded using the free iOS app "Voice Record Pro." Shelly was able to "air drop" the M4A audio audio file from the Opinion app to Wes' iPhone, where he opened it in Voice Record Pro. All portions of the podcast were combined in the Voice Record Pro app and then saved as a video to the iOS Camera Roll. Wes uploaded the video to YouTube from the middle of rural Kansas (just south of Buffalo on US 75) thanks to available LTE cellular data coverage. The next day, Wes added some post-production audio bumpers to the podcast using Audacity on a Mac laptop, normalized the final FLAC format exported audio file using Auphonic.com, and published it to Amazon S3. Check the podcast shownotes for more links to iPad Media Camp curriculum and resources. If you listen to the podcast and find it useful, please reach out to Shelly (@sfryer) or Wes (@wfryer) on Twitter to let them know!

Podcast443: Preparing for the 2016 iPadPalooza and ISTE Conferences

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 23:35:43 -0500

This podcast includes a practice mini-keynote as well a preparatory conversation between Shelly Fryer (@sfryer) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) in advance of the 2016 iPadPalooza Conference (in Austin, Texas) as well as ISTE Conference (in Denver, Colorado) in upcoming weeks. Shelly and Wes discuss several new ideas related to "The Digital Sharing Project" and the "Inside Outside Sharing" book they are currently working on. These included a proposed lesson cycle for the classroom (Make, Create and Share) and a possible digital badge workflow for ShowWithMedia.com media products in Shelly's classroom and in upcoming iPad Media Camp workshops in July. They also shared some "Geeks of the Week" in this episode. Wes' was the magnetized OKRA iPhone car holder, and Shelly's was the Netflix series, "Reign." Please share your thoughts and feedback via Twitter by replying to @sfryer or @wfryer, or by leaving a comment below. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to all referenced links and resources from the show.

Podcast442: Classroom Passion Projects, Maker Studio & Digital Citizenship with Shelly Fryer

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 30 May 2016 10:47:13 -0500

This Speed of Creativity podcast features an extended interview with 3rd and 4th grade teacher Shelly Fryer, who shares about her students' classroom passion projects, learning in "Maker Studio," and learning about digital citizenship via the class chat feature of the iPad app News-O-Matic. Shelly has been teaching for over twenty years, and this was her third year to teach at Positive Tomorrows School in Oklahoma City. Positive Tomorrows is a special K-5 school which exclusively serves homeless children and their families. Shelly has taught in a 1:1 iPad classroom at Positive Tomorrows for the past 2.5 years, and continues to find multiple ways to integrate iPad use meaningfully into her curriculum through engaging student activities. As Shelly explains in the interview, PT truly is "the school she loves" for so many reasons. The curricular autonomy which she enjoys as a teacher empowers her to differentiate her curriculum to the learning needs and interests of her students, and bring a variety of STEM and Maker Education (MakerEd) learning activities to students as well. Shelly explains in the interview why this year's classroom "passion projects" were likely the best student projects she's ever facilitated as a classroom teacher. From learning to sew a dress, to how to code on an iPad, to learning how to dance, to learning how to play the guitar, her students each selected a topic of interest and then explored that topic for several weeks. Each student shared a culminating presentation with other members of the class, after becoming the local "expert" on their topic of inquiry. In the second part of the interview, Shelly shares how the "Create, Make and Learn" MakerED Institute in Burlington, Vermont, in the summer of 2013 was pivotal in her journey as a Maker and elementary teacher integrating STEM activities into classroom learning. Shelly tells the story of how her students enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to create, make, collaborate and share in her Maker Studio in the closing weeks of the school year. She also describes how she worked to build a kind, respectful, and collaborative classroom culture in which students could safely thrive as learners and problem solvers. Last of all in the interview, Shelly shares how she and her students used the "class chat" feature of the iPad app to have important conversations about digital citizenship, internet safety, and digital ethics. If you listen to this podcast, please share feedback with Shelly by reaching out to her on Twitter (@sfryer). Visit her classroom website at http://classroom.shellyfryer.com and her professional blog on http://www.shellyfryer.com. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to resources and tools Shelly mentioned in the interview, including her presentation for Global Maker Day on May 17, 2016, "iPads in Maker Studio."

Podcast441: iPads in Maker Studio by Shelly Fryer (May 2016)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 17 May 2016 11:49:04 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Shelly Fryer's presentation "iPads in Maker Studio" via a Google Hangout for the 2016 Global Maker Day Conference. The session description was: "Learn how our third and fourth grade students use their iPads in our maker studio to document their learning and share both inside and outside our classroom. See how apps for photo collages, green screen videos, making ebooks, coding apps, and Lego Stopmotion are essential digital tools in our classroom maker studio for creating and sharing." Access the slides and referenced resources from this presentation on Shelly's website: http://classroom.shellyfryer.com/workshops/ipads-maker-studio. Connect with her on Twitter @sfryer. Refer to the podcast shownotes for additional links and resources about this presentation as well as Global Maker Day!

Podcast433: Sharing Student Work Online (October 2015)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 07:06:57 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's presentation "Sharing Student Work Online" on October 7, 2015, at the Oklahoma Technology Association (OTA) / Encyclo-Media Conference in Oklahoma City. The session description was: When students at school use media to “show what they know and can do,” they need safe, adult-moderated, online spaces to share their digital work with others and receive thoughtful feedback. Learn how to to use free websites like KidBlog and Blogger, along with apps like Easy Blogger Jr., to share student work online and moderate feedback. Discuss how to help students “compose quality comments” for others. Explore workflows to safely use a classroom YouTube channel to publish and share student work, also with moderated feedback. See examples of school and classroom permission forms for publishing student work. Get practical ideas for “normalizing” the regular, open publication of student work at your school for moderated feedback from peers, parents, and others around the world. Check the podcast shownotes for links to session slides (shared as a Google Presentation) as well as other referenced resources.

Podcast432: Dan Straughan Shares About the Oklahoma City Homeless Alliance

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 21:15:41 -0500

This podcast is a presentation by Dan Straughan, executive director of the Oklahoma City Homeless Alliance, shared on Friday, September 25, 2015, at the Friday Morning Mens Group of First Presbyterian Church of Edmond, Oklahoma. For several months, our men's group has been reading and studying the wonderful book, "Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together" by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. This is an amazing and powerful book, relating the transformational story of how God worked in the lives of a homeless man (Denver) and Ron Hall to give second chances and teach unforgettable life lessons about love, caring, and the value of all human beings. With interest in local homeless issues raised by this book, Dan Straughan was invited to present at our men's group meeting. The OKC Homeless Alliance is "a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the system of care for the homeless in Oklahoma City through collaboration with government, faith-based and nonprofit service providers. The ultimate goal of the Homeless Alliance is to rally our community to end long-term homelessness in Oklahoma City by both preventing homelessness and increasing the supply of affordable and permanent supportive housing to move those who are currently homeless back into housing." This 45 minute presentation by Dan provides an important window into the ways outreach ministries and social service groups are seeking to help meet the needs of homeless individuals and families in Oklahoma City. Check the podcast shownotes for links to referenced organizations and other resources including the book, "Same Kind of Different As Me." Read this powerful book, and get involved in assisting organizations in your community reaching out to the homeless.

Podcast431: Encouraging Digital Sharing by Early Majority Teachers

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 19:44:20 -0500

This podcast from the road by Wesley Fryer focuses primarily on ideas about encouraging "early majority" teachers (using Everett Rogers' Technology Adoption Curve terminology) to digitally share ideas, lessons, and student work. This includes planning for the November 2016 Digital Sharing Conference, to be held in Oklahoma City and hosted by Casady School. Reflections on conversations with Ben Wilkoff yesterday in Denver, Colorado, about digital sharing by teachers are also included. This podcast was entirely produced on an iPhone using the iRig Recorder, Dropbox, and Bossjock iOS apps. Check the podcast shownotes for extensive links to referenced apps, videos, and other resources in this episode.

Podcast430: Minecraft Summer Camp with Connected Camps

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 23:17:06 -0500

This podcast is an interview with 12 year old Rachel, who participated in the July 2015 Minecraft Summer Camp sponsored by Connected Camps of California. Rachel shares some stories about things that happened in Minecraft Camp and what she enjoyed about the camp. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to the official Connected Camps Minecraft Camp website and Twitter channel, as well as Rachel's Minecraft channel on YouTube and a couple screenshots of her Minecraft builds from camp. Connected Camps is continuing to offer after-school Coding Camps during the school year, so check them out! Connect Camps rocks!

Podcast429: Creating to Learn - Videoconference Keynote to Bangalore, India

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 00:29:34 -0500

This podcast is an audio recording of Dr. Wesley Fryer's closing keynote address at the School of Tomorrow Conference in Bangalore, India, on August 1, 2015. This presentation was shared via videoconference from Dr. Fryer's home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, so there was a time difference of 10 hours and 30 minutes between the sites. Over 400 Indian educators and educational stakeholders attended the conference and this closing session. The School of Tomorrow Conference was sponsored by the XSEED Foundation for Life. Their Twitter profile (@XSEEDEducation) explains they are "On a mission to transform elementary education globally from rote to learning. About children who can think, solve, create, speak-up, and are unafraid." The recorded audio from the keynote has been slightly edited to remove silent portions when questions were asked by audience members, but that audio was not recorded locally. In addition, the original audio from the three video clips shared by Dr. Fryer have been amplified and inserted into this podcast. Check the shownotes for a link to the Google Presentation slides Dr. Fryer used in the keynote, a YouTube playlist of shared videos, and additional referenced resources.

Podcast428: Student News Media Project Ideas

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 11 Jul 2015 14:50:27 -0500

This podcast was created on July 11, 2015, in a Storychasers workshop in Oklahoma City focusing on Student News Clubs and Classes at school. Wes, Rebecca, Kristi, Jolene, and Sarah created a "podcast show lineup" following the example provided by Bob Sprankle in his video from 2005, "Room 208 Vodcast." They discussed the Lakeview Elementary Storychasers project from a few years ago in Yukon, Oklahoma, experiences with Tablet PCs in the classroom, and project ideas for using Storychasers and radio shows with students in the classroom. Check our podcast shownotes for links to referenced websites from our workshop and this radio show.

Podcast427: Battlecode Coding Competition at MIT with Jonah Casebeer

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 04 Jul 2015 14:35:51 -0400

This podcast features an interview with Jonah Casebeer, a 17 year old family friend and rising senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Alexandria, Virginia. Jonah and three of his classmates entered the annual "Battlecode" Artificial Intelligence Programming Competition at MIT along with about 400 other teams in the fall of 2014. Their team was selected among 16 finalists to fly to MIT for the live, final competition, which was livestreamed on Twitch.TV. They were the only team comprised of high school students in the 2015 competition. All the other teams (ranging from 1 to 4 members) included undergraduate and graduate students, along with adults out of college. According to the Battlecode.org website, "The 6.370 Battlecode programming competition (also 6.147) is a unique challenge that combines battle strategy, software engineering and artificial intelligence. In short, the objective is to write the best player program for the computer game Battlecode. Battlecode, developed for 6.370, is a real-time strategy game. Two teams of robots roam the screen managing resources and attacking each other with different kinds of weapons. However, in Battlecode each robot functions autonomously; under the hood it runs a Java virtual machine loaded up with its team's player program. Robots in the game communicate by radio and must work together to accomplish their goals. Teams of one to four students enter 6.370 and are given the Battlecode software and a specification of the game rules in early January. Each team develops a player program, which will be run by each of their robots during Battlecode matches. Contestants often use artificial intelligence, pathfinding, distributed algorithms, and/or network communications to write their player. At the final tournaments, the autonomous players are pitted against each other in a dramatic head-to-head tournament. The final rounds of the MIT tournament are played out in front of a live audience, with the top teams receiving cash prizes. The total prize pool is over $50,000." In this podcast interview, Jonah tells about his experiences in the 2015 Battlecode competition as well as about the preparatory courses he took at TJ which prepared him and his teammates for this extremely fun and challenging activity. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to referenced sites, videos and resources. In the 3.5 hour video of the 2015 Battlecode Tournament, Jonah's team "Puzzle" takes the stage at 26:05.

Podcast426: Civil War History at Harpers Ferry

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 23:23:29 -0400

This podcast features an audio recording of a presentation by U.S. Park Ranger Creighton Waters on July 1, 2015, at the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Creighton mainly tells the story of the brief capture of Harpers Ferry in 1862 by Confederate forces led by General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. 12,419 Federal troops surrendered to Jackson, which made this the largest surrender of US forces in history until the Battle of Bataan in World War II. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to photos of Harpers Ferry on July 1st as well as other historical links pertaining to the area.

Podcast425: Reflections on the 2015 Mobile Learning Experience

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:21:08 -0500

This podcast is a recorded reflection by Shelly and Wesley Fryer (@sfryer and @wfryer) on the June 2015 Mobile Learning Experience. Mobile Learning (@mobile2015) is a fantastic, annual conference in Tucson, Arizona, organized by the Arizona K-12 Center and Tony Vincent. This podcast also includes an interview with Ryan Read (@Ryan7Read) about his successful Kickstarter campaign to fund illustrations for his first graphic novel, working with a high school age illustrator he found via Fiverr.com. Check the podcast shownotes for referenced links and resources.

Podcast424: Lessons Learned Coaching PreK Teachers in iPad 1 to 1 Classrooms with Gail Lovely

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 28 May 2015 11:22:53 -0500

This podcast is a recorded conversation from May 26, 2015, between Gail Lovely and Wesley Fryer. Gail and Wes have been part of a team from Storychasers serving as instructional coaches for PreK teachers at Maryetta School in Stilwell, Oklahoma, who are part of a new grant-funded iPad 1 to 1 learning initiative. The grant is called Literacy3 because it focuses on traditional literacy, digital literacy, and Cherokee literacy. Many of the students who attend Maryetta School are members of the Cherokee Nation. Gail and Wes discuss many of the lessons learned from the first five months of this instructional coaching and technology integration adventure. Check the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources and more information about the Literacy3 project, funded by a four year grant.

Podcast423: Mystery Skype, Minecraft, iPad Digital Portfolios, & More with Shelly Fryer

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 13 May 2015 21:56:47 -0700

This podcast is an interview with 3rd and 4th grade teacher Shelly Fryer, discussing mystery skype, Minecraft in the classroom, iPad digital portfolios with Seesaw, and more. Check out the podcast shownotes for referenced apps, links and resources. Thanks to Adam Jones for sharing his podcasting inspiration!

Podcast422: Snow Day Podcast - Student iPad Projects, Forum with Joy Hofmeister & Makerspace Dreams

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 18:44:12 -0600

This is a snow day radio show / podcast from March 4, 2015, with Shelly and Wesley Fryer. We discuss recent projects Shelly's students have been doing in their 1:1 iPad 3rd and 4th grade classroom, some lessons learned from the "iPad Books and Videos" workshop we co-facilitated last week with elementary teachers, last night's Education Forum with Joy Hofmeister, and our dreams for creating Makerspaces in our classrooms. We recorded this as a "1 take" radio show on an iPad using the free app, Voice Recorder Pro, saved it as a video to the photo roll, and published it directly to YouTube with the YouTube Capture app. We downloaded the video on a laptop with http://en.savefrom.net, and converted it to a mp3 audio file with podcast meta-tags using Auphonic.com. Check the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources from the show.

Podcast421: The 2014 EdTech Year in Review

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:59:32 -0600

This is an audio podcast version of the December 28, 2014 "2014 EdTech Year in Review" educational technology Google Hangout including Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Eric Langhorst (@elanghorst), and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer). Participants discussed the digital tools, trends, workflows, conferences, and interactions which stood out in 2014 for educators and media publishers/sharers, as well as some of the news stories from 2014 which will impact schools the most in the coming year. Refer to the Google Document linked in the shownotes for links to many of the referenced apps, websites, and resources discussed in the show. In addition, a video archive of the show is available on YouTube. This was the second annual "end of year" educational technology podcast. Also check the shownotes for a link to the December 2013 version which included Jennie Magiera as well as Jason and Wes. More podcasts from this crew may be forthcoming in 2015! Thanks to everyone who tuned in live and shared feedback as well as questions.

Podcast420: eBook Projects & Publishing Workflow Options

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 07 Dec 2014 20:16:07 -0600

In this podcast from the road, Wesley Fryer discusses recent and current eBook projects using the iPad app "Book Creator" by Red Jumper in his STEM classroom and in the library of his elementary school in Yukon, Oklahoma. The five different publishing workflow options he explores in detail are: 1 - Open in iBooks locally, 2- Save to Cloud Storage like DropBox or Google Drive, 3- Email to Posthaven, 4- Export to Video and Publish to YouTube, and 5- Export to PDF and print-on-demand (a hard copy) with Lulu.com. He also discusses workflow options in which the classroom teacher posts eBook videos to YouTube after students transfer them to the teacher's iOS device using the free app InstaShare, and the option of directly posting to YouTube from student iPads using the free app YouTube Capture. Refer to the podcast shownotes for referenced links and resources. Please share comments or feedback as Twitter replies to @wfryer or as comments to this podcast post.

Podcast418: Jennie Magiera's Inspirational Keynote From EdTechTeacher Summit July 2014

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:32:30 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Jennie Magiera's opening keynote on the second day of EdTechTeacher's Summit in Chicago on Navy Pier on July 29, 2014. Jennie is a teacher and educational leader in the Chicago Public Schools, and has taught in a 1:1 iPad classroom. Check the podcast shownotes for some of the referenced links and resources from her keynote, especially the letter from CPS students which was just published in the Chicago Tribune. Jennie and the other teachers in her team (primarily from Burley Elementary and the National Teacher's Academy in CPS) are passionate about not only engaging students in the learning process, but also using social media to help students discover and share their own voices with those in their neighborhood, community, city, and nation. You will be inspired, touched, and encouraged to hear the stories Jennie shared in this keynote. Many thanks to her for sharing these thoughts and experiences, and giving permission for her words to be shared again here as an audio podcast.

Podcast417: Mobile Digital Ethnography, Place-Based Learning and Inquiry

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 23:06:16 -0500

This podcast is an interview with Thomas Steele-Maley, the Director of Academic Technology and Innovation for GEMS World Academy – Chicago, discussing mobile digital ethnography, place-based learning, and inquiry learning. GEMS World Academy is launching now (in fall 2014) and this summer elementary students (in grades 5-6) have been participating in inquiry-based ethnographic activities as urban explorers. Students are using a mobile app on iPad Air tablets (Fulcrum) to collect field notes which include text, images, and video. These media artifacts are uploaded to the cloud via the native Fulcrum iOS app with geo-location information. Later, those artifacts can be accessed and shared via KML files opened in Google Earth.

Podcast416: Reflections on Create, Make & Learn 2014

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 08:20:01 -0400

This podcast from the road is an audio reflection by Shelly and Wesley Fryer about their experiences at the 2014 Create, Make & Learn Professional Development Institute in Burlington, Vermont. Shelly and Wes discuss how CML14 was setup differently from typical conferences and PD events, letting participants self-select workshops and sessions which best matched their individual learning goals. They discuss different Maker Education (MakerEd) projects they completed and learned about during the week, including jitterbug robots, green-screen videos, MinecraftEDU lessons, and more. Check the podcast shownotes for referenced website resources.

Podcast415: Igniting Create, Make & Learn and iPad Media Camp

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 16 Jul 2014 22:47:47 -0400

This audio podcast is a recording of two "Ignite" presentations by Wesley Fryer in July 2014. Ignite presentations are five minutes long, with presenters using 15 slides shown for 15 seconds each. The first Ignite in this podcast is Wes' opening Ignite presentation on July 15, 2014, at the Create, Make and Learn (CML) Institute in Burlington, Vermont. Create, Make and Learn is a five day professional development institute for educators organized by Lucie deLaBruere. The second Ignite was shared on July 9, 2014, at iPad Media Camp in Manhattan, Kansas. This was originally planned as a practice run for the CML Institute, but Wes ended up not using this new Ignite in Vermont and using slides from his ISTE 2013 Ignite presentation ("Open the Door") instead. Check the podcast shownotes for referenced links and resources.

Podcast414: June 2014 Educational Technology Conference Updates

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 17:20:08 -0500

This audio podcast is a "recording from the road" by Wesley Fryer on June 22, 2014. Wes shares some updates about podcasting software, apps and resources, as well as several recent educational technology conferences. These include the first Texas Google Summit, iPad Media Camp, iPadPalooza, and the Iowa Project Based Learning (PBL) Academy.

Podcast413: Post-Workshop Reflections on Improving Student Writing with iPads

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 18:33:51 -0600

This audio podcast is a reflection by Wesley and Shelly Fryer following a series of workshops on "Improving Student Writing with iPads" shared in Lewisville, Texas, January 23 and 24, 2014. We reflected on the tools and apps shared during the workshop, including TodaysMeet, KidBlog, and AudioBoo, and also discussed how different teachers (with different levels of experience using iPads and teaching students) can start implementing these ideas with students. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced resources mentioned in the podcast.

Podcast412: Reflections on Prisons, Schools, Poverty and Families in Oklahoma

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 13:23:18 -0600

This Christmas Eve 2013 audio podcast is a recorded conversation with Shelly and Wesley Fryer, reflecting on their recent experiences on December 9th with the "Redeeming the Family" outreach ministry at Mable Bassett Women's Prison in McCloud, Oklahoma. Redeeming the Family is an organization serving the innocent children of incarcerated parents in Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Messages Project. The Oklahoma Messages Project provides opportunities for mothers and fathers in prison to choose a free book for their child/children and read the book (or an excerpt) for them as part of a DVD message. These DVDs are delivered to the child/children's caregivers before holidays like Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day. Research shows that increased communication between incarcerated parents and their children can reduce the chances those children will become incarcerated themselves. Redeeming the Family (redeemingthefamily.org) provides opportunities for volunteers to serve in the Oklahoma Messages Project multiple times each year at different Oklahoma prisons around the state.

Podcast411: Going 1:1 – Planning for Success by Jake Heister

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 14 Dec 2013 16:03:33 -0600

This audio podcast is a recording of Jake Heister’s presentation on December 4, 2013, at the Interactive Learning Institute in Norman, Oklahoma, titled, “Going 1:1 – Planning for Success.” The ILI Conference is sponsored each year by the K-20 Center at the University of Oklahoma. The official session description was “Many well-intended 1:1 initiatives fall short of their potential due to lack of planning in a few key areas. This session will detail the planning process for our current implementation of a 1:1 Chromebook environment, tips for success, and lessons learned.” Although this description mentions Chromebooks specifically, Jake addresses planning issues for 1:1 projects applicable to all platforms and devices. This was an outstanding presentation, and one of the best the publisher (Wesley Fryer) has heard in the past five years about 1:1 computing initiatives. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for links to Jake’s slides as well as selective, republished tweets shared by @wfryer during Jake’s presentation. Follow Jake on Twitter: @jakeheister.

Podcast410: Powerful Listening - Powerful Influence: A Conversation with Tim Hast

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 12:48:34 -0500

Listening is a vital skill we all need to intentionally practice for both personal and professional success in life, but many of us don't. This podcast is a recorded interview with Tim Hast, a friend and the author of the book "Powerful Listening. Powerful Influence. Work Better. Live Better. Love Better: by Mastering the Art of Skillful Listening." In our 25 minute audio interview together Tim discusses four key elements of "active listening" which can make a tremendous difference in the relationships we have at work and at home. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to Tim's book (available in paperback or for $4.99 on Amazon Kindle) as well as Tim's website. The description of Tim's book is: Want to win friends and really influence people? This book was written for you. Listening is the most powerful tool for success in business and in life. So if it’s that important, why don’t we listen better? Because life moves way too fast, we’re busy, and we don’t know how. Discover what active listening is and what it is not. Learn four simple actions that will train your brain to listen, and see for yourself the difference these steps make in your life. People need to be heard. If you understand this simple principle you’re well on your way along the road to success. Nothing you can say will be nearly as important as what you need to hear the other person say. Practice skillful listening and discover the principle key to effective communication and having a powerful influence with others. Tim was trained as a psychotherapist. His specialty, working with couples. He discovered people got better when he quit trying to tell them what to do and simply focused on hearing their story and helped them listen to each other. He observed if he taught a couple to really listen to each other, their relationship improved. One couple saw how it improved their relationship and used those same skills with their teenagers. It worked. The husband, a CEO, used the same listening techniques in his office and found it really worked there as well! Skillful active listening works for everybody. If you read this book and begin to practice the four simple steps you will increase your odds of success in your career, have deeper richer relationships, and enjoy a more satisfying life.

Podcast409: All My Lesson Plans are in Google Docs! (An Interview with Shelly Fryer)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 03 Sep 2013 22:38:08 -0500

This podcast is a 17 minute interview with Shelly Fryer, who is teaching third, fourth, and fifth grade students in a self-contained classroom this year in Oklahoma City. Shelly has been out of the classroom for over a decade, and in returning has committed to teaching as a twenty-first century educator. One of her top priorities was to find a way to digitally create and share her lesson plans. In this interview she explains how she’s using Google Docs for lesson planning, how she’s directly linking to YouTube videos she’s using in lessons, how she’s utilized some paid YouTube videos for “brain breaks” with students as well as commercially sold lesson plan resources on “Teachers Pay Teachers.” She also shares some of her other newly developed technology skills including creating shorter PDF file “excerpts” of longer files, using her Smartboard for digital writing, dabbling a bit with Twitter, and using the Augmented Reality app CoLAR with students. Technology skills Shelly wants to develop in upcoming weeks include using her YouTube channel to create playlists of videos, using a classroom KidBlog site with her students for interactive writing, using a classroom Twitter account to connect her students to a wider audience for their writing, learning how to differentiate math lessons for her students using the Khan Academy “coaching” option, finding free lessons plan resources on Curriki, and introducing her students to programming and problem solving on the iPad using the free CargoBot app. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to these referenced resources and tools. Please contact Shelly on Twitter @sfryer to share words of encouragement as well as feedback and ideas.

Podcast408: Redefining the Science Classroom by Autumn Laidler

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 22:56:49 -0500

This podcast is an audio recording of Autumn Laidler’s fantastic presentation, “Redefining the Science Classroom,” on August 16, 2013, at the iPad Academy of Chicago Public Schools. As an elementary teacher in a 1 to 1 iPad classrom, Autumn is a practical advocate for the SAMR model of technology integration and strives to help her students reach the transformative level of technology integration. The official session description was: In this session, participants will explore the use of multimedia science journals, blogs in the content area, and creation applications like iMovie. Learn how to create collaborative partnerships and projects with other classrooms and how to engage students in video creation and multimedia journaling in all subject areas, with specific examples for transforming science workshop.

Podcast407: Educreations in Your Classroom: Use Narrated Slideshows to Enhance Learning by Jamie Reynolds and Amy Paden

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 23:50:25 -0600

This podcast is an audio recording of Jamie Reynolds and Amy Paden's "Learning Walk" presentation "Educreations in Your Classroom: Use Narrated Slideshows to Enhance Learning" on August 7, 2013, at the TechKnowledgey 2013 Conference in Missoula, Montana. Jamie is the Library Media Specialist at Twin Bridges School, and Amy is a 1st grade teacher at Twin Bridges. They both were participants in the Spring 2013 "Mapping Media to the Common Core" course taught by Wesley Fryer via videoconference through the University of Montana. On their handout, Jamie and Amy wrote: Sharing these [student] presentations can be very powerful because parents and others have the opportunity to see and hear the work, ideas, and creativity of the students. Parents, grandparents and others will truly appreciate being able to connect with their kiddos in this way. Find someone on your staff or in a professional learning network you can collaborate with. This professional relationship will enable you to offer deeper educational experiences for you and your students. Subscribe to blogs, use twitter and seek out opportunities to enrich your knowledge base. These global forums offer great inspiration and ideas for your classroom and school.

Podcast405: Game Changing Apps with Brad Waid and Drew Minock

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 01:24:17 -0500

This podcast is an audio recording of Brad Waid and Drew Minock’s presentation, “Game Changing Apps” at the Podstock Conference in Wichita, Kansas, on July 19, 2013. The official conference session description was: Game Changing Apps with Brad Waid, Drew Minock. We will be presenting game changing apps for student engagement, teacher productivity, and augmented reality. We will show you how we are using these apps to change the culture and engagement in our classroom and our school. This session will benefit all grade levels and administrators. This is happening now! Come see how we are changing the game!

Podcast404: Learning About the Textile Industry Through Object-Based Global Exchange

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 09:56:09 -0400

This podcast is an interview with Branson Skinner and Liz Ricketts, founders of theOR.org and a global exchange framework which helps students learn about the textile industry, sustainable textile production, and a host of global literacy issues through the object-based curriculum TheseThingsTakeTime. This interview was recorded in Washington D.C. on June 15, 2013, at the Connections Conference hosted by the Sidwell Friends School. At Sidwell Friends, this initiative has been the focus of 6th grade “service learning” projects the past two years. According to Branson and Liz’ website, “Our object exchange project creates a microcosm of global trade for education. Participants begin by designing and creating an item for someone else, somewhere else. Each person is partnered with a peer across borders through the exchange of their items. Not only does the exchange serve as a creative outlet to foster empathy, but it also represents a gateway to building relationships. ‘Those people’ found in textbooks and news reports become ‘the person I know.’ This shows the incomplete nature of stereotypes and encourages participants to consider global perspectives. In addition to fostering relationships, participants examine the resources they use in creating the objects they exchange. Working with natural dyes made from school lunches, organic cotton and fabric scraps from local designers, participants can examine the full lifecycle of the things they use everyday. Different ways that resources are used in each location add to what participants can learn from one another.” This project presents wonderful opportunities for students and teachers to engage in interdisciplinary studies. It also provides concrete ways to learn about the complexities involved in the textile industry as well as our globalized economic supply chains. By connecting students in the United States to students in Ghana, and exchanging textile products the students have created for each other (scarves) the project provides powerful opportunities for students to learn about global issues in individual, personal ways which impacts the perceptions and pre-existing stereotypes which students from different cultures have of each other. Visit theor.org for more information and ideas about getting your own students involved in this object-based global exchange project.

Podcast403: Radio Shows & iOS Audio Podcasting with Joe Dale

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:38:30 -0500

This podcast is an "over the pond and through the fiber" audio recording of a Skype conversation between UK educator Joe Dale and US educator Wes Fryer on May 7, 2013. The topic of conversation was radio shows and audio podcasting, and specifically highlighted different apps and techniques for creating radio shows with mobile iOS devices like the iPad and iPhone. Publication of this podcast was delayed by the migration of Wes' blog to a new web host and his podcast files to Amazon S3. Please check the podcast shownotes for referenced links and resources.

Podcast402: Montana Teachers Share "Why We Teach"

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:27:35 -0500

This podcast features twenty-five Montana teachers and one Oklahoma teacher answering the question, "Why We Teach?" Many of these teachers share stories about the teacher or teachers who inspired them to join the profession, and why they have persevered as education professionals. These recordings were originally made using the free AudioBoo (Classic) app on iPads, and then imported into the free software program Audacity. A twenty minute video tutorial about this process is available and linked in the podcast shownotes, along with other referenced sites.

Podcast401: Why Club Penguin Is Awesome

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 23:14:04 -0500

This podcast is an interview with 9 year old Rachel, who has been playing Club Penguin on and off for the past three years. Rachel discusses what she enjoys doing in a Club Penguin, password issues she has learned about, safety issues, and some suggestions for kids who are new to the game. This podcast was entirely recorded, edited and published on an iPad using Voice Record Pro, DropBox, GoodReader, iTransfer, WordPress for iOS, a self-hosted WordPress blog, and an iRig microphone.

Podcast400: Lessons Learned After Two Days of Scratch Camp (March 2013)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 23:16:24 -0500

This podcast is a recorded conversation between Chris Simon and Wesley Fryer after day two of the Spring Break 2013 Scratch Camp at Skyview Elementary School in Yukon, Oklahoma. Scratch is a wonderful, FREE software program from MIT which allows students to create games, tell stories, create animations, and make many other kinds of interactive projects. Scratch is ideal for helping students develop computational thinking and problem solving skills, tied to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills. Chris and Wesley are co-facilitating a 5 day Scratch Camp over Spring Break for students in grades 2 through 6, sponsored by “The Div.” The Div is a local OKC non-profit based in Edmond, focused on empowering youth to gain digital literacy skills and learn about job opportunities in technology-related fields. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to the Oklahoma Scratch Camp curriculum, Scratch Club website, and other resources.

Podcast399: Cell Phone Digital Storytelling with Narrable - An Interview with Dustin Curzon

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:17:54 -0600

This podcast is an audio recording of an interview with Dustin Curzon, one of the co-founders of Narrable. According to Dustin, "Narrable is for intergenerational stories that matter." Dustin is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Together with Narrable co-founders in Phoenix, Arizona, and the development team in Bangalore, India, Narrable is growing into a platform which empowers people of all ages and generations to share their stories with photos using their phones and web browsers. Narrable is currently a browser-based digital storytelling service, and allows users to record audio with both computer microphones as well as phones (cell phones and land line phones.) Narrable works GREAT on the iPad now! In this interview, Dustin previews some upcoming Narrable features including an iOS app to be announced in March at SXSW in Austin, and "Group Narrables" to be announced later this spring. Next week on Tuesday, February 26, at 4 pm CST, Narrable will be hosting a "Teacher Roundtable" Google Hangout On-Air to discuss Narrable for the classroom and the features teachers would like to see in future versions of the platform. Check the podcast shownotes for links to resources referenced in this interview, including the upcoming Teacher Roundtable.

Podcast398: A Student’s Experiences in Oklahoma City Public Schools Virtual School

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:23:56 -0600

This first podcast of 2013 on “Moving at the Speed of Creativity Podcasts” features an interview with Jackson, an 11th grader in Oklahoma City Public Schools, who took a virtual course in fall 2012 through the OKCPS Innovations K-12 Virtual Institute. The Innovations K-12 Virtual Institute is Oklahoma City Public Schools’ virtual school, provided at no cost to current students in the district. OKCPS has contracted with Connections Academy to provide a variety of virtual course options for students. In this 18 minute interview, Jackson shares his experiences taking an English class online last semester including a discussion of the benefits as well as challenges of taking the class online. Jackson is a student at Classen School of Advanced Studies in OKCPS, and took the English course for “course recovery” since he did not get an English credit last year when he was an AFS exchange student in France. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to iOKCPS and other referenced resources.

Podcast397: Takeaways from and Reflections on the 2012 EDUCAUSE Conference

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 22:27:42 -0600

This is a “podcast from the road” by Wesley Fryer reflecting on the 2012 EDUCAUSE conference. In the podcast Wesley discusses learning management systems including the free/beta LMS OpenClass from Pearson, Kuali open source solutions for higher education, badge-based learning initiatives and tools, open journals / open academic publishing, Wolfram Alpha, MOOCs and native mobile apps vs mobile websites. Check out the podcast shownotes for referenced links / resources.

Podcast396: Six Iowa Teachers & Librarians Share Their Digital Learning Journeys

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:27:35 -0500

A select group of 19 K-12 teachers and teacher/librarians in the College Community School District in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has been participating in a series of professional development workshops to further develop their skills with and understanding of digital literacy. As a culminating activity for a two day workshop on “Mapping Media to the Curriculum” with Wesley Fryer, teachers collaboratively interviewed six of their colleagues about their “digital learning journeys” and the ways they are reflecting their learning about digital literacy in the online digital portfolios they have been creating in the past several months. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to the individual posts which teachers created to accompany each interview at the close of the workshop. Learn more on maps.playingwithmedia.com.

Podcast395: Iowa Teachers & Librarians Discuss Mapping Media to the Curriculum (Lessons Learned)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:30:08 -0500

This audio podcast is a combined series of six, three minute “radio shows” created by teachers and teacher/librarians in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the College Community School District on October 3, 2012. Participants in this two day workshop on “Mapping Media to the Common Core” with Wesley Fryer learned to facilitate lessons with student created-media including interactive writing, narrated art, 5 photo stories, and radio shows. Hat tip to Marco Torres for the term “quick victories” in the context of edtech professional development, used by some of the radio show participants in this combined podcast. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to the collaborative Google Docs, “sandbox” professional development blog, AudioBoo recordings, and other products created by teachers in this workshop. Learn more on maps.playingwithmedia.com.

Podcast394: Rachel Teaches about Scratch and eBook Writing in Fort Worth

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 23:32:35 -0500

This edited podcast includes a 25 minute excerpt of the keynote address at the TechnoPalooza 2012 educational technology conference in Northwest ISD, held on July 24, 2012. In this excerpt, 8 year old Rachel Fryer shares about her experiences with Scratch software this summer in Scratch Camp. In addition, she tells some stories about how she co-created the eBook "Snowflake Gets Lost" last year in second grade, and demonstrates how she created an enhanced/multimedia eBook during "iPad Media Camp" this summer using the apps Story Patch and Book Creator. This is the first audio podcast I've attempted to create entirely on an iPad, using the free Hokusai Audio Editor along with other apps. Refer to the podcast shownotes for more information about other apps used, as well as websites Rachel referenced in her presentation. I'll write a post soon detailing my lessons learned trying to create a multi-track audio podcast entirely on an iPad.

Podcast393: Reflections on UnPlug’d 2012 with David Truss & Gail Lovely

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 23:35:09 -0500

This podcast includes reflections with David Truss and Gail Lovely at the close of the UnPlug’d 2012 Conference at Northern Edge Algonquin in Ontario, Canada. Refer to the podcast shownotes for referenced and related links to UnPlug’d.

Podcast392: Lessons Learned from June 2012 iPad Media Camp

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 23:44:01 -0500

This podcast includes a recording of June 2012 iPad Media Camp participant “takeaways” as well as reflections by facilitator Wesley Fryer about lessons learned from this three day workshop. Refer to podcast shownotes for referenced links and resources. If you are interested in hosting an iPad Media Camp workshop for teachers at your school or in your organization, please contact Wesley Fryer! Spots are still available for the July 11-13 iPad Media Camp in Oklahoma City.

Podcast391: Voices from Mobile Learning 2012

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 23:45:41 -0500

This podcast is a combined series of recordings created by participants in Wesley Fryer's "Simple Ideas for Powerful Sharing" media scavenger hunt session at the Mobile Learning 2012 conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on April 12, 2012. These reflections were submitted as audio and video reflections in response to several questions provided in the media scavenger hunt instructions. Access these instructions from the podcast shownotes on a mobile-friendly website, as an ePUB ebook, a Kindle .MOBI eBook, or a PDF file. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for additional links, including the Posterous blog where all these responses were posted by participants. Many thanks to all participants, and to Peggy George whose encouragement led to this "voices from the conference" podcast. Lots of great ideas and important perceptions were shared here which school leaders should consider as we continue to explore what it can mean to be "21st century learners" in mobile computing environments.

Podcast390: Why Play With Media?

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 23:48:38 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Wesley Fryer's keynote address on March 16, 2012, at the district professional development day of Yarmouth Public Schools in Yarmouth, Maine. The guiding question for the entire day of learning was: How can we inspire and empower ourselves as learners to create, play and share? The three "subquestions" which framed the day of professional development were: How will student demonstrations of learning be more innovative in my classroom? How will I as a teacher move toward more choices for students to demonstrate learning? How can I share or celebrate my students’ work? How do I balance learning the tool and using the tool for learning? [end of questions] This keynote kicked off the day, which included three panels of breakout sessions led by Yarmouth teachers, a work/play/practice time, and a group sharing time in the high school auditorium to round out the day's learning. Please refer to the podcast shownotes not only for a link to the PD day wiki (which includes digital handouts for all sessions) but also to the websites I've setup for sharing eBooks as well as student media project examples.

Podcast389: Improving Literacy with Media in Higher Education

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:48:54 -0600

This podcast is a recording of Wesley Fryer's keynote address on March 3, 2012, at the Enhancing Teaching & Learning Conference hosted by the Kansas City Professional Development Council in Kansas City, Missouri. The session description was: Interested in helping students become better readers, writers, and critical thinkers? We need to "play with media" to become more effective communicators and improve our media literacy skills as both learners and citizens. As you learn to play with digital text, images, audio and video, you will communicate more creatively and flexibly with a wider variety of options. Author and educator Wesley Fryer will inspire and empower you, as a creative person, to expand your personal senses of digital literacy and digital agency as a multimedia communicator! Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced videos and resources, as well as the presentation slides on SlideShare.

Podcast388: Oklahoma CCSS, TLE & Virtual School & Education Reform Update (Feb 2012)

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 22:51:24 -0600

This podcast by Wesley Fryer is an attempted synthesis of a variety of issues and updates mentioned in conference presentations, workshops, and news articles from the past several weeks regarding Oklahoma "educational reform" efforts. These include our state's transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Teacher Leader Evaluation (TLE) system, proposed legislative changes for K-12 schools regarding virtual schools and other issues involving mandated, highs takes testing and teacher evaluation. As is the case with ALL the content on my blog, these opinions are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of my past, present, or future employers. Please share feedback or questions as comments to this post. Lots is happening in our state with respect to "school reform," and we need to remain informed as voters as well as advocates for our children.

Podcast387:TechShoppingCart Episode 11 – Christmas 2011 Apps and Gadgets

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:42:21 -0600

The Technology Shopping Cart podcast has been digitally resurrected after a 3 year hiatus of podfading! In this recorded call from December 23, 2011, Alice Barr, Karen Montgomery, and Wesley Fryer discussed a variety of iOS applications and technology gadgets on our wish lists for Christmas 2011. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to all the items we discussed in the podcast!

Podcast386: Implementing 1:1 Classrooms in Grand View Schools, Oklahoma

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:50:49 -0600

This podcast is a a recording of Cheryl Beaman and Michelle Barnes' presentation, "Implementing 1:1 Classrooms" at the 2011 Innovative Learning Institute in Norman, Oklahoma, on November 10th. This annual conference is hosted by the K-20 Center at the University of Oklahoma. Cheryl Beaman is the director of technology for Grandview Public Schools, and Michelle Barnes is a 6th grade reading teacher as well as technology integration specialist in Grandview Schools. Grandview school leaders not only have the RIGHT vision and focus for their 1:1 program, they also have the RIGHT policies (driven by administrative vision for learning) when it comes to school Internet content filtering and professional development. This was a fantastic session and you don't want to miss it! If only ALL our school leaders in Oklahoma could have the vision, passion, and understanding of digital learning like leaders of Grandview Public Schools do! The official session description was: "Our school has gone from two computer labs to interactive whiteboards to a 1:1 laptop project in a little over a year. What it takes... what to watch out for... what you can prepare for... and what you can expect." As you'll hear in their presentation, the network infrastructure and Internet bandwidth are key parts of the successful foundation built for digital learning in Grandview Schools. NewNet 66 has been and continues to be a key partner for the district when it comes to networking, connectivity, infrastructure, etc. Last year at the ILI Cheryl and Michelle's presentation was absolutely the BEST and most inspiring presentation I was able to attend. This year I was not able to attend in person because of my scheduled presentation, but Dawn Pearce DID make it and recorded this session with permission. MANY thanks to Cheryl, Michelle, and Dawn. Enjoy and be inspired by some of Oklahoma's finest, most creative and passionate educators! Please refer to the podcast shownotes for links to additional information and ways to connect further with Cheryl and Michelle.

Podcast384: Michael Wesch at Heartland eLearning 2011

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:44:04 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Michael Wesch's keynote presentation at the Heartland eLearning Conference in Edmond, Oklahoma, on March 8, 2011. This was a superb and provocative presentation about teaching, learning, lecturing, engagement, student interests, meaning, identity, recognition, and many other issues. In his keynote he suggested we need to move from simply getting our students to be "knowledgeable" to being "knowledge-ABLE." This is a shift from students being good knowledge regurgitators to saavy knowledge filters, sharers and creators. He suggests we need to go "beyond critical thinking" and "beyond information literacy" in our classes today to successfully prepare students for our present and future. In the keynote he also shared stories from his doctoral research in New Guinea and what true culture shock is: a total loss of personal identity. Dr. Wesch is an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, and has co-created several viral videos on YouTube with his undergraduate students. Refer to the podcast shownotes for related links to this presentation.

Podcast383: Creating eBook Yearbooks of Student Work

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:15:01 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Wesley Fryer’s 12 minute presentation on the panel, “Navigating the Road Ahead: A Guided Discussion of Ebooks in K-12 Libraries,” for the October 12, 2012 webinar “EBOOKS The New Normal: how libraries are leveraging the eBook opportunity.” This full-day webinar was sponsored by Library Journal and School Library Journal. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to presentation slides and referenced resources from this presentation.

Podcast382: A Digital Witness in Tahrir Square, Egypt in January 2011

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:13:32 -0500

This podcast is an audio interview with Rawond, a student originally from Alexandria, Egypt, who was in Tahrir Square (Cairo, Egypt) for the Arab Spring uprising and revolution. In this short interview, she describes her experiences as well as her pessimism for the lack of real political change in Egypt as of today. For more information about Arab Spring, please check out the collaborative project on arabspring.wikispaces.com.

Podcast381: Reach for the Stars Using Media in Your Classroom

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:40:26 -0500

This podcast is an audio recording of Wesley Fryer's keynote address, “Reach for the Stars Using Media in Your Classroom,” on September 28, 2011, in Concord, New Hampshire. This presentation was shared for a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of NHSTE (New Hampshire’s Affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education) at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord. The presentation focused on our obligations to be multimedia communicators as educators, the basics of “Playing with Media,” and examples of outstanding student media projects from New Hampshire students. Amidst a continuing barrage of exciting new technologies like the Apple iPad, Amazon Fire and Google Chromebook, the right question to ask is NOT, “Should we buy X device for our students?” The right question to ask is, “What do we want our students to DO with the tool we buy?” Check out the podcast shownotes for links to the presentation slides as well as referenced links and videos from the presentation.

Podcast380: The Summer of Podfading is OVER: Let's Talk eBooks!

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:48:52 -0500

My summer of podfading (not podcasting) is over! (Hat tip to Dan Schmidt for the term, "podfading.") In this episode I discusss eBooks and many of the things I learned this summer writing the eBook, "Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing." These include ideas about different eBook formats, software which can be used for creating and converting eBooks, and different websites for selling and distributing eBooks. I also share some advice for classroom teachers interested in creating eBooks for student work at the end of the academic year. Be sure to check out the podcast shownotes for links! It's great to be podcasting again!

Podcast379: Discussing Education Reform & High Stakes Testing in Oklahoma on the Studio46 Podcast

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 28 May 2011 22:35:35 -0500

This podcast includes a twenty-three minute excerpt of the Studio46 Podcast from May 16, 2011, published by the Edmond Sun newspaper and Oklahoma Christian University. Dr. Brian Bush, Executive Director of Oklahoma Christian's Academy of Leadership & Liberty in Edmond, is the host of the Studio46 podcast and interviewed Wesley Fryer for the final portion of the May 16th show. Following a panel discussion about recent education reform legislation signed into law in Oklahoma in May 2011, Brian asked Wesley the following questions: How did you get interested in educational technology? Are standardized tests the right measure for student learning in our schools? How is the development of Smartboards affecting learning in our schools? Tell us about one to one laptop learning programs in Oklahoma schools. What do you think of Oklahoma superintendent Janet Barresi's 3R's agenda for school reform? What is a better way to provide accountability and good learning outcomes in our schools rather than high stakes testing? Is the law ending social promotion at 3rd grade in Oklahoma schools a good thing? Is the new law providing a letter grade for each Oklahoma school, measuring their performance, good for educational reform in our state? Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to the Studio46 podcast and other referenced websites. Many thanks to the Edmond Sun and Brian Bush for this opportunity to discuss educational politics and school reform issues in this public venue.

Podcast378: The EdReach Media Network - Empowering Educator Voices Worldwide

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sun, 08 May 2011 10:43:19 -0500

This podcast is an interview with EdReach Media Network Founders Scott Meech, Daniel Rezac, Jay Blackman, and Judith Epcke on May 6, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The mission of EdReach is "to take education forward, by bringing voices together." The vision of EdReach is to provide "...a platform for passionate, outspoken educators- aiming to strengthen their voices by highlighting innovation in the field of education, through reporting critical educational news and providing commentary and criticism of the educational issues of the day." Admist the negative barrage of news amplified by mainstream media outlets today, we need EdReach and the educator voices it seeks to amplify more than ever. Check out the podcast shownotes for more links to follow and subscribe to EdReach. Consider not only becoming an EdReach Network follower, but also a contributor!

Podcast377: iPad Stylus Recommendations from Kevin Helmer

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 22:57:02 -0500

This podcast is an interview with Kevin Helmer, iPad artist and digital road warrior, at the Celebrate Texas Voices digital storytelling workshop in Lubbock, Texas, on April 19, 2011. Kevin discusses four different "capacitive" stylus pens he uses with his iPad and their relative merits. He also discusses several apps he's used and likes for annotated note taking on the iPad. Check the podcast shownotes for product links.

Podcast376: Reflections on the 2011 Intellectual Warrior's Conference

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:39:51 -0500

This podcast is a reflection from the road by Wesley Fryer following the morning sessions of the 2011 Intellectual Warrior's Conference held at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on April 12th. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to Wesley's presentation slides (on SlideShare) for his opening address, "Effective Uses of Educational Technology: Blended, Continuous Learning in the 21st Century Military" as well as text notes from other morning presenters.

Podcast375: Technology Leadership Advice for 60 New Oklahoma Superintendents

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 23:17:47 -0500

This podcast is a recording of Wesley Fryer's presentation on April 6, 2011, for sixty new Oklahoma superintendents discussing technology leadership, blended learning, and ideas for successfully leading both teachers and students in our twenty-first century classrooms. Superintendents in the audience for this presentation were attending the tenth meeting of their first year superintendents academy, organized by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Special thanks to Shelly Hickman of the Oklahoma SDE for extending this invitation to share ideas with these state educational leaders. Please refer to the podcast shownotes for links to presentation slides as well as other referenced resources.

Podcast374: iPads for Differentiation in a Primary Classroom

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 18:13:24 -0500

This podcast is an audio recording of Jessica Asbury and Daniel Wessel's presentation, "iPad: A Tool for Differentiation" at the MACE Conference on March 4, 2011. The recording is initially a little hard to listen to because the audio from played videos in the session compete with the presenters, but STICK WITH IT! This was a FANTASTIC session and you'll want to hear everything Jessica and Daniel had to share. Jessica is a 1st grade teacher at Lansing Elementary School, and Daniel is the technology director for Lansing Public Schools. Refer to the podcast shownotes for links to referenced apps, a link to my text notes from this session, and (coming soon when I find it) a link to an iPhone-recorded version of the video shared at the start of this presentation.

Podcast373: Innovation, Creativity and Future Schools

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 23:25:07 -0600

This podcast from the road is a reflection on Steven Johnson's book, "Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" and the ways ideas from this book can be applied to our personal learning as educators as well as the future schools we may aspire to build.

Podcast372: Sharing the Power of Digital Storytelling in Hangzhou, China with Joe Lambert and Wesley Fryer

podcast@speedofcreativity.org (Wesley A. Fryer) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 17:49:51 -0600

This is a podcast recording of a presentation by Joe Lambert and Wesley Fryer on digital storytelling at the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hongzhou, China on November 2, 2009. Our English presentations were translated as we spoke into Mandarin Chinese. Joe Lambert is the executive director of the Center for Digital Storytelling, based in Berkeley, California. Wesley Fryer is the executive director of Story Chasers Inc. based in Edmond, Oklahoma. The title of Wesley's presentation, which came first in the presentation, was CCC in the 21C: Creating, Communicating, and Collaborating. The title of Joe's presentation was The Place of Story, and it begins at the 40:30 point of this recording. A question and answer period was provided after the presentations. Links are provided in the podcast shownotes to additional resources related to these presentations and topics.