Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

The general consensus among educators using technology is that IT are the enemies. Obviously this is a generalization but when you listen to teachers, read weblogs, this is a clear message.

Not for me. I’ve touched on this before and am currently working with our IT manager on a presentation at Tlt in a few weeks that deals with how we work together.

Today I was trying to access the chat portion in ustream. I had mentioned it casually with our IT staff and they said since it uses port 666 which is generally used for IRC, it could be potentially a threat. Makes sense. That’s their job, to protect and insure our network is stable and safe. But I persist. Since we all use Gtalk, it’s a quick IM conversation and here it is:

me: how hard is it to open port 666? Is it like a click of a button or some weirdly involved coding? temporarily I mean
stinndler: i have to log into the firewall console
find the right access-list then add the exception to it
all so you can use IRC
me: It’s part of Ustream…lots of online presenters use it.
stinndler: how many is lots?
me: I could join one everyday
stinndler: ustream.tv?
me: yep
I’m watching this right now http://www.ustream.tv/channel/weblogg-ed-tv
It’s basically over but just curious to see if we can do it.
stinndler: so it allows you to ask questions of the presenter?
me: that and chat with participants
stinndler: checking my firewall logs it looks like it’s always going to the same server
i could potentially open up port 6667 to just that server
that would remove the risk
me: that would be cool
you rock….you knew that right?
stinndler is typing…

That’s all it took. Conversation, relationships and common sense. Unfortunately, there are not that many school districts that operate this way. We need more stories and examples of effective relationships. I’ll be sure to post our presentation and materials on May 15th.

Our first live podcast featured D’arcy Norman. Here are the show notes. Have a listen. It’s raw and it’s real.

 

 EdTech Posse 4.1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Besides trying to see how long a permalink I can make, I used a phrase offered to me by John Pederson a short time before I met David Jakes in person. John told me that David loves people to announce his presence in public places which I’ve done a few times much to his dismay. David and I have since become quite good friends who natter at each other and in general try to harass and throw each other under as many buses as we can. I think I’m up about 3 buses and a video.

I asked David back in November to join the Posse for a podcast. He agreed, received his honorary mug and the recording found its home on Rob Wall’s hard drive lo these many days. Apparently Rob has a life outside his computer and wasn’t able to edit and upload….until today. Not that this podcast is all about David but it’s just fun to lead him towards another bus.

So without further ado……just listen.

 

 EdTech Posse 3.3: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dean:

• Flip Video Camera (leads me to think about the changing nature of hardware. With the advent of youtube, small digital cameras and devices are taking over from larger more traditional video cameras….good or bad?)
• Selfish teachers Reminds me of something Rick said about a year ago in one of our podcasts about taking a class (can’t remember what it was…something obscure) that had no relevance to his classes at the time but he really enjoyed the experience

Dave:

• 15 minutes: I’m tired and bored with the time excuse, why not devote 15 minutes every day to personal professional development? What would that look like? What activities would you participate in? Would it be beneficial? See Carolyn Foote’s post about the idea.
  • Konrad Glogowski
  • Clarence Fisher
  • Darren Kuropatwa
• Relentless Schools: a phrase that absolutely caught my attention when reading the U.S. News and World Report article on America’s Best High Schools. What are the characteristics of a “relentless” school?

Heather:

• SIAST has just bought into using Turnitin. I heard Alec speaking about this once and this topic deserves some more discussion time. (Heather: we’ve used Turnitin in my school district for 5 years, so I have a good deal of experience with it. Dave)
• As for my wish list, I’m with David Warlick in that I’d like a tech free holiday.
• I mentioned LibriVox for free audio books (classics that are out of copyright protection) and ThinkingRock (free, cross-platform, open source, GTD software).

Rob:

• I might have picked the Flip Camera as well. Another thing on my mind is a Nintendo Wii, but I’m not sure that qualifies as a gadget. I think I’ll go with an iPod Touch (or an iPhone, if ever available in Canada and the data plan rates are realistic). Aside from the obvious uber-geeky joy, I think that the Apple has set a standard for a portable online interface. This is how the upcoming learners will want to get their info and how they be connecting.
• Ed Reform? Hmmm - I’m not sure if this is a large scale reform, but I think it is a local one. My school is offering online courses next semester and I’m hoping that it goes well for students and we (teaching team) learn a lot from the experience. Also hoping for a successful first run-through for ECI 831 with Alec. It will be very open, connected and social.
• Discussion topic - based on a chat Dean and I were just having. Is OLPC missing the boat. Will laptops be the next generation digital learning platform, or is it condemned to become old school as cell phones, iPhone-like devices, digital cameras etc. gain more computer-like functionality with (arguably) a better user interface?

Rick:

• Pay it forward gifts. We’re starting a new tradition in my family this year by giving our kids sheep, pigs and goats for families somewhere else on the planet through PLAN International (http://www.plan-international.org/ ). There are also books, teaching kits, etc. available for this kind of gifting, and we may move to those in the future (the educational reform part), but we thought we’d start with four-legged technology first. Our kids will do the same, and the idea is to find a miniature/toy animal figurine of whatever you’re giving and send it to the person you’re sending it for. Over time, our family will see how big our herds have grown. When it comes to educational reform, it could be that it has to start in the belly. (our family, Dean that is, is doing this as well…a few grumbles were heard but pretty well received)
• Water Buffalo Movie
• And despite my growing irritation with consumption and consumerism, I would love to get/give an iTouch, just like Alec’s!

Alec:

• Gadgets: I have ordered an XO, want the April 2008 version of the Asus Eee and would like one of the LiveScribe Pens (although not sure it will work with my Mac). I am really interesting in seeing the potential for adoption of tools like this (or even the iTouch) where the goal is 1:1. Would love to get a chance to sponsor, collaborate or research this learning environment.
• XO article by John Dvorak why he doesn’t like the project>
• I’m hoping the proposed Canadian DMCA act does not go through, it’s touted as being even worse than the American DMCA. I’d love to see our laws go toward more openness and copyleft than to supporting corporate greed. When talking about kids and creativity,
• Lessig hit the nail on the head when he said: “We can’t kill the instinct that technology produces, you can only criminalize it. We can’t stop kids from using it, we can only drive it underground. We can’t make our kids passive again, we can only make them “pirates”. And is that good? We live in this weird time, an age of prohibitions, where in many areas of our life, we live life constantly against the law. Ordinary people live life against the law. And that’s what we are doing to our kids. They live life knowing they live it against the law. That realization is extraordinarily corrosive, extraordinarily corrupting, and in a democracy, we ought to be able to do better, do better at least for them.”

Discussion - TurnItIn

http://myskitch.com/courosa/dock-20071211-193640/ (from Alec)

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MicroTrends
The Dip
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Dark Age Ahead

[tags]edtechposse,robwall,davidjakes,richardschwier,aleccouros,heatherross[/tags]

Stupid title but that’s what is for me…pure fun.

By chance I happened to be Winnipeg at another conference and was able to invade the MB BloggerCon. The event was casually put together and turned out to be a blast. About 60 people showed up and Andy Mckneil the president of their provincial technology group, organized and paid for the event. (The gave us full use of the bar, free wireless, snacks) Andy also did a great job filming and recording the entire event.  There were 5 unpresentations. I had to stick my big nose into the mix and show off my network. Alec, Jeff and Brian were able to skype in and talk very quickly but clearly, how the network works for them.

I would have liked to connect more with the others but as a guest, I felt the need to lay low. Very cool to meet for the first time Clarence, John and Chris. Nice to see Darren again. It felt like meeting old friends…oh yeah they are.

At any rate, it was great experience and pure fun. Paul Hamilton has remarked a few times about the fun I have with my job. Brian says learning is messy. I say it’s fun.

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Bud the Teacher was our guest last month since he was the winner of our previous contest. Fortunate to have such an astute winner, Bud, although in Nashville, sat down with us for a great chat about a bunch of stuff.

Rob put together our podcast so have a listen and there will be a chance for you to win a coveted EdTech Posse mug.

 

 EdTech Posse 3.2: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Dr. Rick Schwier talks about instructional design for the third in my series of talking with design experts for the K12 Online Conference. Rick was my advisor for my Masters Program and really knows his stuff.

[tags]design,richardschwier,edtechposse,k12online07[/tags]

 

 Instructional Design with Rick Schwier: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Trying to podcast while on the road, I wanted to add some points to Ian Jukes’ talk at NECC 2007. Overall, his ideas are good but there are some things that I felt should be clarified.

Show notes:

• PodPress
• Wes Fryer’s issues
• Steve Dembo’s take on why podcast when you have a blog
• Bud the Teacher
• Kevin Honeycutt
• Original Presentation by Jukes

I’d didn’t say but would also include Ewan’s comment on my blog that address the digital native issue.

[tags]ianjukes,wesfryer,stevedembo,budhunt,kevinhoneycutt,ewanmcintosh,digitalnatives,digitalimmigrants,podpress[/tags]

 

 Podcast 29 What Ian Jukes Didn't say: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We’ve begun our third season of podcasting and I’m thinking this might be our best season ever.  In this episode  Rob Wall, Alec Couros, Heather Ross and I talk about twitter, moodle and more. There’s even a prize for listening!

There’s more detail over at the posse site, or you can just listen here.

[tags]twitter,moodle, uofregina, digitalinterns, couros, mctoonish, robwall, shareski, backchannelling[/tags]

 

 EdTech Posse 3.1: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download