Information Sharing is Power #edtech #google #oer #textbooks

On the way in to work recently, I listened to an interview with Vint Cerf, a foremost Internet pioneer turned Google's Chief Internet Evangelist (how great would that job be?).  You can listen to it below.  I was struck by many of the things he said in response to questions from Andrea Seabrook, formerly of NPR and now the creator of her own podcast, DecodeDC. Chief among them was the way he talked about current business models and how they are not accurately monetizing given the current technoscape.  

As an educational technologist, this rings true for me in the arena of digital access to curriculum in the classroom.  The traditional textbook publishers are trying to impose a scheme upon schools and districts that requires an annual fee per student for their content.  In reality, this does not seem feasible for schools when they have been used to purchasing a set of texts and recycling them for a certain period of time among many users.  

If the traditional textbook companies want to remain relevant, they must evolve and adjust, otherwise, the OER movement may gain enough traction to force them out.

 

Embedding #GoogleHangout in @Edmodo Stream for Secure #edtech Webcasting

I had been waiting with much anticipation for Google to finally open up Google+ for K-12 Apps for Education domains.  They finally did so just a few weeks ago and I quickly had our domain administrator open it up for staff (after checking with the CTO of our district, of course).  The main reason I wanted to open it up for staff was to take advantage of Hangouts, the multi-point video conferencing feature that is only available to those with a Google plus account.  My vision for this was to be able to record conversations among our district staff who have been using iPads over the past year, so that teachers who are new to using them this year can watch and learn a thing or two.  I was able to make this vision a reality as you can see here:

It did require quite a bit of planning on my part:  scheduling time with the experienced iPad teachers, making sure they had a webcam, helping them enable their district Google plus account (which is an issue itself as now folks may have two Google Plus accounts) and making sure we were in each others' circles.
All in all it worked well for staff, but it made me think about how this could be used for/with students. When our domain administrator reviewed the settings for Google Plus in the Apps control panel, it was quite clear that there is no way to keep posts private, so at this point we have no intention of opening it up for students.  But that doesn't mean we can't still use Google Hangouts for students.  What I am thinking about here is the feature of Hangouts on Air that allows you to embed a hangout.  When you copy the embed code and paste it in an Edmodo group message stream, the hangout can be watched live or asyncronously right there, and perhpas even more importantly a secure, private chat can occur below the post. Here is an example of en embedded Hangout:

It would also be possible for students using a personal Google Plus account, or one of their parents', to actually join the hangout as well.  But I haven't fully fleshed out the security/legal/ethical ramifications of that yet.  So, what do you think? In lieu of opening up Google Plus for students, might the combination of Edmodo and Google Hangouts be a viable alternative?

#edtech Phone-Casting No Longer a Cinch

This past Saturday, October 20th, was a sad day for me as cinch.fm, one of my favorite phone-casting services, went dark for good.  I had been using cinch (formerly cinchcast and a spin-off of blogtalkradio) since early 2009 as a way to keep my students and parents updated on class happenings.  I would wear a bluetooth headset on my drive home from work and call in to record a brief message, which then automatically posted to a widget on my class website and to the class Edmodo stream via the rss feed.  I've attached an example in case you want to listen.

 In addition, on a personal note, I would sometimes record my two children if I wanted to capture them laughing or reading or just enjoying life.  I would call in, enable the speaker phone and set it down near them to record without them even knowing. Thankfully, I was able to download all of the audio from cinch to iTunes before they shut it down Saturday.

As an alternative to cinch I now use ipadio which offers live phone-casting.  It offers more features the Cinch ever did, the main one being audio transcription.  

Anyway, thanks for a few good years cinch.  It was fun to be on the cutting edge of educational technology together....

 

Justin Talmadge - Posted On 2/12/2010 by Mr. Talmadge

"Flip your Classroom with Edmodo" presented at #OpenBlend ConferenceTacoma #edtech #flipclass

In case you missed it, here is the slide deck and audio from my OpenBlend Conference presentation on September 18th at the Tacoma Convention Center.  Many thanks to the over 50 educators in attendance!  I hope you were able to take away something useful. 

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Open_Blend_Audio.mp3

Featured in Tom Vander Ark #edtech Innovation Blog published in @educationweek

I was honored to be featured in an EdWeek blog yesterday.  And am most proud to work in a district where I have been allowed to thrive.  See  below if you want to read the article.

Every district needs a Mr. T. Not the enforcer from the 80s TV show, more like Justin Talmadge (@mrtalmadge), a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) in the Snoqualmie Valley Public Schools in the Cascade foothills.

Talmadge was a seventh grade English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher for 11 years. He was an early Edmodo adopter, leveraging the technology he and his students had and turning his classroom into a collaborative project-based workspace.

"Crowdsourcing," said Talmadge, "is the real genius of Edmodo." In a blog post he explained that Edmodo provides "a forum where students can easily be a source of information for each other."

Talmadge uses the example of an absent student stating, "He could get onto the class social network and make a post asking what the assignment was that day. Another student could respond with his or her interpretation of what the teacher wanted." The teacher can monitor and contribute to the ensuing threaded discussion.

Talmadge said, "I found that the drawback of having to spend time monitoring posts was far outweighed by the beauty of a tool that allowed me to have a controlled environment in which to help my students be responsible digital citizens." Watch his Last Lesson if you want a better sense of the kind of innovation he brought to his classroom.

As a TOSA, Talmadge focuses on instructional technology and supports teachers with professional development, modeling and coaching. There are two other tech TOSAs in Snoqualmie Valley as well as a cadre of 20 classroom teachers who deliver professional development before school starts and on early release Fridays.

The TOSAs support the Tech Department vision to "to enable 21st century learning environments where students and staff collaborate, communicate, and create with digital tools while developing critical thinking skills and becoming positive digital citizens." The district has an extensive tech integration and training plan that supports several compensated learning pathways for teachers.

Snoqualmie Valley benefits from a tech levy yielding about $400 annually for 6,000 students. Tech Director Jeff Hogan leads a PC district but leads a Mobile Learning Initiative that allows teachers to apply for classroom sets of iPads. Talmadge has been training teachers in his district and speaking regionally about introducing iPads in PC districts.

When he was a teacher, Talmadge used his blog to communicate with students and parents. These days his Change Course Blog informs his district and the field. He uses Edmodo to teach tech classes. Participants join the group and access a folder with class resources. They take polls and post reflections. Assistant superintendent Don McConkey uses Edmodo for book studies including Marzano's "Becoming a Reflective Teacher ." Edmodo will be used to track teacher completion of assignments so that clock hours can be provided.

As districts implement the Common Core and shift from print to digital, individual practice to differentiated teams, and from time to competency, TOSAs can be an critical part of change capacity. LIke Mr. T, TOSA should be:

• Early adopters and creative users of effective tools and strategies
• Collaborating networkers that use social media tools to leverage impact
• Skilled coaches that model, encourage, and support; and
• Change facilitators managed phased implementations.

Talmadge will be leading a flipped classroom session at the OpenBlend conference in Tacoma on September 18. The conference will also feature Khan Academy, blended school models, and adaptive learning tools.

Edmodo is a portfolio company of Learn Capital where Tom Vander Ark is a partner.

via blogs.edweek.org

 

Great Video on #flipclass #edchat #edtech #ipadchat #svsdtech

Here is a unique video from researcher Deb Wykoff that shows a group of middle school teachers as they learn for the first time about flipping the classroom. Interspersed throughout their conversation are clips of Ramsay Musallam, flipped classroom guru, sharing his thoughts about the benefits and reasoning behind this simple yet radical shift in the way we do school. You can learn more at his website flipteaching.com.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe09tcNjJx0?wmode=transparent]

Beyond Email: Redefine Your District PLC with @Edmodo #edchat #ncce2012

My colleague Seth Deniston (@mrdeniston) and I recently gave a presentation at the Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE) conference in Seattle. We had about 50 educators in attendance as we shared our vision for more effectively engaging teachers in the work of a professional learning community.  Here is the slide deck and I've also attached the audio.  We'd love to hear your comments on the idea of taking your PLC to the cloud in general and what tools would best enable this in particular.

 

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NCCE_2012_Beyond_Email.mp3