Ideas and Thoughts from an EdTech

I always like the question on the Did You Know video that asks, “to whom were these questions (the 2.7 billion searches per month) asked Before Google?” Turns out Google has been answering our questions for at least 200 years.

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Kathy Cassidy’s grade one students tell what they are thankful for on this Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Warning: cuteness alert!

If you’ve never used or heard of flixn, it enables you to record directly to the website and provides a embed code for you to place on your blog. No need to register just click record, stop and paste the code. I’d be thankful if you left a comment on her blog.

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So these three edubloggers go into a bar with a laptop and camera and begin to broadcast around the world…..

Trust it to Will, Jakes and Dembo to cook up some fun and learning at the same time. The three met in alocal establishment in Chicago tonight and tested out UstreamTV. This free, live streaming site allows anyone to broadcast live to the world. I used it a few weeks ago to watch my daughter’s new puppy when we aren’t home. Easy to set up. The potential of a tool such as this is obviously much more powerful than watching puppies. Remember when people used to (they still do but let’s presume some progress) categorize blogs as cat diaries? I think we’re better at understanding the power of these new tools as learning tools.

I had a conversation today with a principal asking how to make the next steps in using technology. I mentioned Ustream TV as a connecting tool. Her eyes lit up. Mine did too.

As I read a couple of posts today about blocking content I realize I’m blessed to work with an IT department that understands its role very well. They want to provide a great service for teachers and students. This means considering these tools in the light of both security, performance but more importantly quality learning. As a rather brash advocate of these tools, I work with them and they with me on understanding the issues. Not matter what the issue it usually comes down to, “How can we make it work?” But I digress…

So back to the streaming video. Many are going to look at this and say, “big deal”. I look at this and my mind is whirling with possibilities. Classroom presentations, personal tv stations, unconference learning….you fill in the blank. Will, David and Steve asked the same question, “How can we make it work?” The 30+ participants asked similar questions. Mixed with some good fun, this was a good way to spend part of an evening. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach claimed it was better than anything on TV. You can watch it all here.

I captured a couple of minutes of this. The fun part anyway. If you want to know the awkward way I did this, leave a comment and I’ll reveal my secret.

Technorati Tags: willrichardson, davidjakes, teach42, streamingvideo, ustreamtv

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Our school division has been focusing on Assessment for Learning for a number of years. In 2004 I created a video that was intended to illustrate how assessment is used in every day life. We found 3 teacher/student relationships and used the principles outlined by Rick Stiggins and applied them to an air force pilot, a potter and professional football player.

Our intention was to help teachers see the connection between the value of assessment and the involvement of students in the process. I’m particularly drawn to Claude’s perspectives on learning. Claude is a teacher by trade and reflects on how his experience learning pottery might be applied in the classroom. The final interview with Saskatchewan Roughrider, Scott Schultz also has some interesting insights about the value of assessment.

Feel free to use this as you wish…..you might enjoy the bloopers at the end.

Technorati Tags: assessment, students

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The ability to add video in Google Earth is one feature I’ve been waiting for for quite some time. This takes the idea of location based learning one step further. My first attempt in using this was to take 10 of my youtube videos and place them on the exact locations of their filming.

Have a look in Google Earth. Or view them in Google Maps which is embedded below.  The wheels of every teacher should be turning.

Technorati Tags: googleearth, googlemaps, video, youtube, shareski

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Every high school English teacher should show this to their class and they’ll never have to justify why students need to learn to write, read and give speeches. Yikes!

Technorati Tags: missusa, speech

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First we “googled”things, now we “youtube” videos. Youtube is now a recognized verb. From the urban dictionary:

Will has been advocating that blog be considered a verb for a while. (the hyperlink is over 3 years old). Recently I’ve learned to twitter. I’ve “youtubed” for a while. Many others have been youtubing as well. All these verbs make me feel more active than I really am (as I “blog” this from my couch). I wonder what new verb I’ll learn next?

Image: Youtube vs. Cicarelli
http://flickr.com/photos/pigatto/350600021/

Technorati Tags: youtube, verb, language, twitter

Google is putting together an interesting, fun project demonstrating the power of connection.

A few of us on the Gmail team came up with an idea to stitch together a bunch of video clips that all share one element: someone hands the Gmail M-velope in from the left of the screen, and hands it off to the right. Put them all together, and they form one long chain of hand-offs. We thought it would be fun to let everyone in on the action. Just go to http://mail.google.com/mvideo, where you’ll find directions on how to submit your clip (including a PDF of the Gmail M-velope you can use in your video). We’ll be accepting clips until August 13th. We’ll then take a selection of the submitted clips and edit them together into one final video, which we’ll release to the world on August 20th.

Wouldn’t this be a great idea to piggy back on in the classroom? We could get very creative here. Simple and yet creative.

Technorati Tags: gmail, video, connection