YC EDU 255

Watch the Keynote

2011-05-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

Watch live streaming video from tels at livestream.com

Week Eight is Finally Here!

2011-04-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

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Will Richardson at TEDxNYED

2011-04-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

The author of our text Will Richardson gave a talk a couple weeks ago at the TEDxNYED. These are a spin-off from the TED talks and are centered around education. Here he is.

Whole Class Full'o Posts

2011-03-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

Notice the new link in the right column top: The Whole Classroom. The newest project from one Mr. T. Conaway. A brilliant mechanism for collecting the most recent post from all our blogs in one place. Nice!

Yes. How web video powers global innovation

2011-03-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

TED strikes again, with web video about web video, about creative crowdsourcing in the global community of soon to be 9 billion. From living room youtube dancers to biological chemistry video sharing, Chris Anderson sheds light on the innovations that a video connected world forge. The talk is really about how the world is being educated and educating itself, where the learning cycle takes off exponentially.

He says something very telling about two-thirds of the way through, that reading is actually faster than watching information being talked about. Why do we watch video? Video tells something far more interesting and rich than text. More open to who we are. What do you have to share?

Let's See What Happens with Facebook Page

2011-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Well, after all the discussion this week about social networks and Facebook, I figured I see what a Facebook Page might do for us? So I know they recently changed them, but I have no clue what they were and how they are different now. I am not a Facebook power-user by any means. More of a Twitter guy myself. But lets all like the darn page and post some intelligent thoughts to it and see where it goes. I am going to send out a "broadcast message" to the Ning network of former students and see what happens?

Who knows what these things might do? The page "like" button is to the right of this text. Go ahead, click it, make my day!

The Awesome Ning!

2011-03-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

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Week Three: Wiki Sites

2011-02-21T08:30:00.001-08:00

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Week Two: More Blogging Action

2011-02-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

This week we are going to look a bit more closely at what this web 2.0 world may have to offer and look for a new pedagogy that might be developing as a result of the read/write web. Below we take a look at what is in store for the week in Blackboard and some expectations for blog interaction.

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Welcome to the Spring Session of EDU 255!

2011-01-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to begin to get to know who you are and what you do before our meeting in Prescott on Saturday, February 5th.

The texbook for this class is Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms by Will Richardson. Here is the book on Amazon.

Below is a short five minute introduction to this site and how to create a Disqus account. It tells you about the course and where to find things you will need. It also shows you how to create an account to post to the comments below the video.

Go ahead and click the play button in the video below. In the bottom right hand corner of the video is a thing that looks like a computer monitor. You can click that to see a slightly larger version of the video. To exit that mode, click "Esc" on your keyboard.

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Week 8: Final Reflection

2010-10-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

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Week Seven!

2010-10-22T16:07:00.000-07:00

More on Media and the Digital Native Brain

2010-10-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

This is a great three minute video that explores the value of video as a way to communicate and the digital native.

Week Five: Images in Education and the Online Space

2010-10-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

Sociability

2010-10-06T00:37:00.000-07:00

What is a social network? Is a listserve a social network? a list of emails, a discussion board, a comment on a blog, a dialogue? The heart of the matter is the conversation, some exchange in a shared space, making connections. Sounds like a nice classroom.

We know what it look like today: Facebook. Yet we're not ready to talk about it as teaching tool. I want to keep mine private enough to speak freely , yeahbuddy, but it's easy enough to make another account to use with students only, though still many educators are wary of it. A line not crossed. Too social.

As we delve into social networks, we will look at a social network much like a wiki on steroids: Ning. Encompassing the functions of a wiki, blog, photo sharing, chat, the kit and the kaboodle. Making an avatar and personal pages is where it gets fun; the element of shared space, knowing you might be there at the same time and "dropping in" on each other is possible.

The Wild World of Wiki

2010-09-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick look at the reading we will do this week and the assignments. Please make sure to read each assignment carefully as you are often asked to place content in your blogs and into Blackboard. Also, please make sure that you are in the discussion board before Friday and are responding to classmates in each forum.

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Week Two: How is it going?

2010-09-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Here is a short look at what we are doing this week. So far so good? I think so. The blogs are looking good and we are communicating well in the discussion board and on the blogs.

If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know. Perhaps make a comment below this post and create an account with Discus. You can add an avatar! It does add a different feel to communicating in discussion forums when you can picture who you are commenting to!

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Blogging About Blogger: a Helping Hand

2010-09-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

This blog is all about Blogger, the blogs from Google that we are all using in this course. When you want to learn more or need help with your blog, you might search this blog. It has very up-to-date news and views about it.
The Real Blogger Status

So What Does Your Philosophy Include?

2010-09-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

So in our teaching philosophy, or our educational philosophy, just what are we willing to include? Does all the learning have to happen in the school? No, probably not. Can our teaching take the form of a game? Possibly? Can we include subject matter that is outside of our course content and count it as learning? Yes. What details about teaching/learning might we include in our teaching philosophies that are outside of the mainstream?

Over the years there have been countless “new” educational models created that have now grown old. Most recently the charter school element has created a variety of model schools that may or may not be replicable on a large scale. We have seen schools based using the outdoors as a primary venue; schools that use 1to1 computer strategies, and schools that project based learning methodologies. Montessori, Dewey, Holt and a host of other theorists who, over the years, have altered our perceptions of schooling, learning, and teaching and given us options that may or may not work better in our particular school, in our particular town. There certainly are a lot of options.

The author of our text, Will Richardson, ponders one such option (for some) in his recent blog post on a school in NY that uses gaming, game theory and creation, as well as game playing, as a large part of the schooling of the students. He points to a recent article in the NY Times about this school and ponders the value of such alternatives. Are we ready for a “gaming school?” Is that just too far out there? Does it have a place in our educational philosophy? The Times article contains the video below looking at the school. After the commercial of course.

Welcome to Week One!

2010-09-13T09:48:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for a wonderful Saturday morning. It is always a treat to meet new people and share experiences with teachers. This week you need to do some reading, participate in a discussion about the use of blogs in education, write out your teaching philosophy and add it to your blog, and change your blog up a bit. Nothing too dramatic, you can always change it later too.

Below is a short video showing what is going to happen this week and a couple reminders about using your blog. Thanks again for a really nice Saturday morning.

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K12 Educators Unite

2010-09-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are K12 educators may want to get in on this FREE K12 Online Conference in October. Here's the description:

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. Information about our 2010 conference will be posted here soon! Over 140 presentations from 2009, 2008, 2007, and 2006 are available, along with archived live events.

Life Feast

2010-06-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

Open publication - Free publishing - More webtools

Will Richardson, the Horizon Report, and Education

2010-04-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

The author of our text, Will Richardson, recently posted some thoughts on the reinvention of school, and used data collected in the Horizon K-12 report to highlight his thoughts. Two major points include:

There is increasing interest in just-in-time, alternate, or non-formal avenues of education, such as online learning, mentoring, and independent study.
The way we think of learning environments is changing.

Take a look at his post and download a copy of the Horizon Report.

Some Jing and Some Facebook Anybody

2010-04-06T14:25:00.000-07:00

Would you please blog this?

On 4/6/10 9:34 AM, "Todd Conaway" <Todd.Conaway@yc.edu> wrote:

This is so interesting to me how these many tools are becoming interoperable (that is a big word I do not know how to spell) and how the phone/web devise (not longer sure my phone is a phone. It is a computer…) connects with all these things. And how that mess all connects to the idea of classrooms and teaching/learning. And I wonder in a few years time, what will be the way (ways) to deliver content that will be most used by the student. The textbook in book form? The book on a reader? The classroom on 123 Smith Street? The classroom in a living room? The computer in the living room or the phone in the pocket of the person in the park? Who will know what to do?

http://help.jingproject.com/share/the-facebook-button/

Todd Conaway
Instructional Designer

Prescott    928.771.6184
Verde: 928.634.6580

[web <http://faculty.yc.edu/tconaway/> ] [YouTube <http://www.youtube.com/user/ToddConaway> ] [twitter <http://twitter.com/Todd_conaway> ] [ tels webletter <http://telswebletter.blogspot.com/> ] [Skype: todd.conaway]

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."
      Alvin Toffler

"The scandal of education is that every time you teach something, you deprive a [student] of the pleasure and benefit of discovery."
    Seymour Papert

Choice Choices

2010-04-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

As I reflect upon this edu-techie continuum of change, I am encouraged by the range of choices afforded us. While the word 'frustration' has been a frequent flyer on this airbus of technology, it hasn't been attached exclusively to one thing or another, and that's good news. There are a multitude of ways to accomplish the same goals, many roads to the kingdom.
Take podcasting, the latest grain of sand in our oyster. Worked for some, not so well for others, terribly for a few. Was it the tools that were the problem, or just that podcasts we're the best tool for your teaching? If audacity and teacher tube aren't your cup of tea, there are other ones available and still more coming online, and lest we forget, Jing and YouTube record the audio! Aim the webcam at the sky and start talking. So if it's simply getting sound out there, just expanding your definition of 'podcast', which is simply an audio recording, will get you far down the road.
I hope you leave this course feeling that you can do anything your teaching imagination can dream up. If you're willing to learn, burn a few hours working out the bugs, and keep your eyes on the prize, the possibilities really are there to make just about anything happen.

Miraculous - Auto Captions in YouTube

2010-03-12T09:35:00.000-08:00

We're really close.
The revolution in communication just got juicier with Automatic Captioning in some YouTube videos. It's not perfectly accurate, as the chief engineer at Google will tell you, but golly gosh it's close, if your 'camera roll' turns into 'cassorole' we'll have to let it slide for now, because it's going to get better, and the fact that it does it on the fly, right now, in english and, gulp~, about 100 other languages(!), you're talking huge. You're talking wow. You're talking to anyone who can watch your video on YouTube in their language. My Lithuanian cousins, Hello! I don't think it can translate from Lithuanian to English, but give it a little while...

Thanks in advance to Brenda for the video.

Open Letter to Educators

2010-03-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

The effusive Mr. Brown tells a story we are hearing louder and louder: 1. that the university was interfering with his education and 2. Information is losing it's value. It's a compelling message, provoking commentary pro and con on his youtube channel, as well as many video responses. Boing! =another social network exists, right there on every youtube channel.

Is hearing this message from a student more resonant than hearing it from an educators?

Simple Tips #2

2010-02-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

This is so simple it doesn't require a video: whenever I post a comment, submit a discussion thread, or write even sometimes in email, I will copy what I wrote BEFORE sending, submitting, or posting, JUST IN CASE of error. I had it happen today sending an email from Blackboard, and had to do the dreaded retyping because I forgot my own advice.
Enjoy happier computing.

A Day in the Office, Alone, with Google

2010-02-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

One of our classmates asked me today about her blogs missing comments. Even though some of her posts had comments on them, you could not see them, or even see that the post had any, unless you viewed just that post. From the blogs home page, it did not show that posts had comments. After 10 minutes of looking at settings, changing the template and a few settings, and just getting frustrated, I gave up.

After she left I came up with a brilliant idea. I would ask for help. No one was around, so I remembered my friend, Google. It took about 3.7 seconds for me to find the answer. Apparently her problem was not a new one. Others had experienced the same problem. Hundreds of people. And do you know where they put their worries, concerns and answers to the problems they had? Why on a blog, of course! Here is that blog. It has some information that you may find useful.

As I sit here and write this knowing it will be posted to a blog, I am amazed at the “connectivity” we can choose to have if we only wander into that space called the internet. Sometimes it is a good thing and other times less so. Like shopping trips, political systems, or marriages, action and participation and commitment will usually create better options to choose from. I just needed to reach out to my resources and participate in the conversation. The two of us did not have the knowledge to fix the problem. We needed others.

And you know, I am not even sure this answer I am sending her will even work on her blog. We will find out.

Squint No More

2010-02-15T14:39:00.000-08:00

So How Much Technology is the Right Amount of Technology?

2010-02-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

So how much technology in a classroom is the right amount? Lots of factors to consider I imagine. No good one size fits all. I can compare what may be a decent answer to light bulbs. If you are teaching in a face to face class, you might want to have some control over the light bulbs in the room. When they are on, it is easier to do some things well. An overhead projector can serve a useful purpose too. You can show big pictures to the class rather than walk around the classroom holding a book with the same picture in it. Technology is good when it serves a purpose. Part of the challenge for us is to get to know and understand the available technologies that are already available and see if we can find a useful purpose for them.

The video below is a six minute parody on a Technology in the Classroom course. Note near the end the students share what they “want/need” from the class. A Wired Campus article about the video is here.

Some Reading on "Change" and Education

2010-02-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

I found this blog post earlier today in a conversation in Google's new "Buzz." The conversation was started by Will Richardson, the author of our text book. It has generated lots of discussion there, and in the linked article here, there are some good comments to the post.

The article is about changing our perceptions of the role of education, not about the tools.

"Educators at all levels have not understood that learning is no longer about the past, as Bush’s memex was. It is no longer primarily about what has been said and done and described and proved, but, importantly, is about what is being said, and what is being done, and what is being described and what has not yet been proven."

Part of the reason I am writing this post is because I am working on a presentation tentatively titled, "Just Because it is an Online Class Doesn't Mean We Can't Have Field Trips, Right?" My main point is that we do not often talk about online classes having components that ask students to go somewhere, individually or in small groups, and complete some task. Most often the work is on the computer or out of a book. There was a couple sentences in this article that seem to reflect that need and how it is already happening.

"Almost certainly the shift to the present progressive instead of the past tense explains the growth of “high-impact learning experiences,” such as field work (or lab work), internships, semesters abroad, service learning, collaborative learning, experiential learning, authentic assessment, problem-based learning and many more examples. In all cases, students are acting not as repeaters of known content but as creators of new content."

It is a good read, and I am going to go read As We May Learn tomorrow.

Great First Class and Great Work Thus Far!

2010-02-09T07:49:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick look at a few questions that have come up. The recording below was created using Jing, a free and easy to use tool. So far so good! The blogs look great and judging by many of your teaching philosophies, active learning is a key component to deeper and more meaningful learning.

As always email or call if you have questions or concerns. We will have two students who missed the class on Saturday adding their blog URLs to the wiki page, so please add them to your blog list by the end of the week.

Welcome to EDU 255

2010-01-31T12:28:00.000-08:00

Dear EDU 255 Online Class,

Welcome to Fundamentals of Educational Technology online!
Your instructors for this course will be Thatcher Bohrman, Todd Conaway and Ruth Alsobrook-Hurich. We are thrilled to be teaching EDU 255 online this spring.

Your online course is now available! Blackboard is the name of the online course system we will be using at Yavapai College. Your first assignments and activities will be due on Sunday, February 14th at 10:00 PM. I hope this gives you a head start on getting familiar with the course and navigational structure before jumping into the assignments.

Most importantly, there will be an in-person meeting on Saturday, February 6th from 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM on the Prescott Campus. This first meeting will be held in Building 19, room 207.

Please follow these instructions for accessing EDU 255:
Go to Yavapai College’s web site at: http://my.yc.edu
Enter your username and password to log into the myYC portal.
If you are having problems logging into the myYC portal system, please contact the ITS Help Desk at 928-776-2168. Once you log into the myYC portal system, there will be a Blackboard icon in the upper right hand corner.

Once you enter Blackboard, you should click on the 201010 (Fall) EDU 255 PRE101 FUNDAMENTALS OF EDUCATIONAL TECH (30272) link under “Courses in which you are enrolled.” This will take you directly into the course. You will see an announcement from your instructors on the main page. Please read the first 2 announcements as they are very important in activities that will be discussed at our in-person meeting on February 6th.

Don’t forget to purchase your textbook prior to the start of class. The textbook that is required is:
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, Second Edition by Will Richardson. (ISBN # 978-1-4129-5972-8). Published by Corwin Press. Copyright Year: 2009.
You can call the Yavapai College Bookstore at (928) 776-2213 (Prescott Campus) or (928) 634-6535 (Verde Campus) and order the textbook. The bookstore may be able to send you the textbook via mail, although shipping charges do apply. Please don’t delay in getting your textbook, or you will get behind in your work.

Thanks and we look forward to chatting with you in our online course this semester.
Thatcher Bohrman, Todd Conaway, and Ruth Alsobrook-Hurich

Important News!

2009-11-10T14:15:00.000-08:00

We are going to be putting all of the content from the Blackboard course onto the class Ning site. That may take a week or so, but please come visit the site and share it with friends. We will let you know when the content is there. Thanks again.

The End of Email

2009-11-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

Well, if you use iGoogle as a communications organizer and a way to bring content to you (RSS, mail, and Twitter types of content) you will not be surprised to know that the email as we know it is going to change. Much like the how the post office has been transformed by email, the next generation of "mail" like communication will be closer to a well used iGoogle page than an Outlook interface. Google Wave may or may not work. But is is certain that even now, much of what was done via traditional email, is now being done using Twitter, Google Docs, Zoho, and countless other web 2.0 apps.

Rad Photo Source >> VADS

2009-10-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

Couldn't wait to post this find * V A D S *

Here is their page of educational lessons based around their resources.

The projects where students
display and write about their
work are really well done.

Medieval Education Movie

2009-10-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

HUM101 Instructor Suzanne Waldenberger created this video for her online course, where the students had never actually seen her before. Imagine their surprise at this fun introduction to the "dress like a medieval character" assignment, a real experiential lesson.

It was made in the TELS media studio in 3-107 on the Prescott campus, where we have nice lights and a green screen. With our media savvy and a Suzanne's creative chuzpah, we were able to create this in about an hour.

Whether your videos are elaborate or simple, they can bring an element of personality, presence, and clear communication that written instructions or lecture doesn't always have.

A Million Ways to Share Your Photos

2009-10-13T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here is one of our favorites, Alan Levine, and his 50 Ways to Tell a Story Wiki. You can watch and hear the presentation below! Notice, the 50 Ways link is to a Wikispaces wiki, and if you take a look at the navigation on the right, you’ll find a million tools for photosharing and other web based products that can share ideas, stories, and content of any kind. Alan has done a wonderful job with this site. He lives right over in Strawberry on the rim.

I saw him do a presentation sort of guided by the book/film Being There. I was so inspired, I created one loosely based on Harold and Maude.

Anyway, Alan has given us a great resource with this wiki and we hope you take some time to look around.

50 Web 2,0 Ways to Tell a Story

View more presentations from Alan Levine.

Teen Blogger in Bagdad (Arizona)

2009-10-06T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Daily Courier had this article today about a Bagdad teen selected to write a blog about online high school. Read Article.

Wow, That is Totally Twitterable, Dude!

2009-10-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

This week we take a look at social networks. They are like the Glee Club, only different. As with the Glee Club or Chess Club, some require membership to participate, others are open to all who are willing. Like the Chess Club, there is a purpose. Like the Glee Club there is singing. Ah, well, maybe not singing, but there might be audio clips available?

Anyway, whether we call it a network of friends or an online social network of auto glass installers, the purpose is to share ideas, resources, and time. We will use Ning in our class, but you will be looking at others. Blogs and wikis are potentially social networks. I guess it depends on how each user participates and uses them. A blog could be for family members to communicate with one another. A wiki could be a place for the 4H club to share ideas and pictures.

Microblogging is the newest form of social networking. Twitter is the flagship of the microblogging sphere. Twitter is a group of people. It is just like the grade school playground. There are those kids you associate with, and then there are all the rest. Twitter allows you to hang out and play with the people you want to. I play with other instructional designers, educators, technology junkies, and futurists. Then they post their 140 word insights, it is often in the form of a link to a recent report, a recent article in a trade journal, or a recent blog post by someone. So, what I get in real time are a whole bunch of pretty smart people directing me to recent things they find useful. It is pretty useful for me because I like to try to learn things. Twitter narrows the internet down to a few bite size websites. The media has portrayed Twitter as being full of, “I had oatmeal for breakfast” type of content. While that is certainly true in some cases, it all depends on who you hang out with. But ain’t that the truth with any group?

Let’s Talk

2009-10-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Voice can be refreshing. That's why I really love Skype. Do you Skype? You may have heard about this voice-calling-for-free over the internet service – and does video calls, just like in 2001 A Space Odyssey. Makes keeping in touch with the grandparents that much more fun. And is a viable way to have online office hours, while keeping some of the personal touch of the real version.

A webcam is perfect for this and includes a microphone. I saw them at Walgreens for $25 - they’re easier to find than audio tapes! They’ll come in handy for Week 6, too, when you’ll make YouTube video messages.

So if you have Skype, go ahead and post your Skype name into the wiki with your other addresses and give us a call to say hi, ask a question or just chat.

There’s nothing like hearing the voice –the telephone is more popular than it ever was! And that’s basically 100-year-old technology. Without having to type-write on the web all the time, we can just speak (and/or see each other). It’s so great. It’s really been revelatory for our workspace and personally.

Tech Stoppers

2009-09-29T07:54:00.000-07:00

Googling the above title returned interesting but unintended links like:
Adding a few more keywords got me no closer; finally I entered "technology setbacks user willingness computers blogs online education" and the fish started biting. Things like Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity blog was really what I was looking for. Technology "stoppers" are failures that cause us to quit trying to get the damn thing to work.

We all have a breaking point, a level of tolerance, a 'click ceiling' above which we just say "enough! I have things to do and I didn't become an english teacher to learn how to program C++!" If you are taking an online course in educational technology, your tolerance is higher or you have committed yourself to tolerating it, so you're different than my friend, the english teacher.

I keep nudging her to blog, "it's writing, after all, and it increases your cool factor." She says she will, but just using Blackboard is difficult enough. When she tried to get the YC Plagiarism Tutorial into Blackboard, it worked the first time, then failed, and that was it. Over. Done deal. Stopper. Was it the machine or the human interface that failed? There's always some collusion, but does it matter? She hit her click ceiling and it was over. What's your level of tech tolerance, and how will you shape your's and your student's use of technology to stretch it?

With So Many Things Not to Do...

2009-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

My favorite book about education and learning, perhaps I should say learning and education to keep them in the proper order of importance, is titled Teaching as a Subversive Activity. With chapters titled Meaning making, Crap Detecting, What’s Worth Knowing, and other catchy things, who would not be interested! The book challenges, and challenged when it was written in 1969, many of the norms in educationland. Looking not only at the individual skirmishes in the classrooms and board rooms across the country, but at the larger battles being fought in the media and social expectations and histories that are intertwined with our current model of schooling.

Will Richardson, The author of our text wrote a great blog post last week about all the things we (or students too) are not supposed to do when using computers. Like Will, I recently gave a talk to some high school educators and had some similar challenges. Often these rules are not of the teachers making, but rather of school boards or magazine articles that either do not really know what the products or services can do, or are just using fear tactics to keep everyone in a straight line.

Postman and Weingartner suggested more than a few things to ponder as “new educators.” From asking yourself how your own background might prevent you from understanding you students, to teaching subjects outside our “content” area. Like much in 1969, it was all so possible. I think Will Richardson asks us to wonder what can be done, rather than what not to do. What can we do, anyway?

PS. There is an amazing resource on Will Richardson's blog that could prove invaluable for this weeks EDU 255 assignments.

Resistance is Futile?

2009-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Here at TELS we love the TED Talks. Short. Smart. No fluff. They are usually very creative.

So I wonder, about creativity in the education field. What are we doing that is being done better than yesterday? How did we come across learning to do it better? Today via our Google Reader, John Morrow posted some thoughts about creativity in education and why it is so hard to move forward, or to better our current environments in the field.

We do not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. That, of course, would be a mistake. But perhaps it is time to at least change the water in the tub.

PS. As we are doing blogs this week and we are to be posting on how they might be used in the classroom, here is one bloggers thoughts. You can Google "blogs in education" and find a million more.

Welcome to the Fall EDU 255 Course!

2009-09-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

Well, if you have been wandering around the Blackboard course you have found yourself here, on our class blog. We will be using blogs as a place to keep our created content and share our experiences with one another.

At the bottom right of this page are links to the work the summer EDU 255 students completed. It will give you an idea of what we are going to be up to in class. On the upper right of this page are links to our class Ning site and our class wiki. You will get more information about those on the first class meeting in Prescott on Saturday, September 12^th.

Please make sure you read the first 13 pages of the Handbook of Emerging Technologies for Learning. The first assignments will be due on September 20^th.

Below here are the posts from the summer class. You do not need to read any of them, but go ahead and take a look as you might find something interesting.

Great Student Story from Lori

2009-08-20T14:36:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to let you know how your efforts to educate teachers on the Web 2.0 has "domino'd" into other great applications. There is a woman in the music ensemble I lead who has a beautiful singing voice, but is visually impaired and not able to see written music. She must learn everything by ear and by rote. Now that I know how to use Audacity, I can record our weekly music and text for her at my convenience from my home and she in turn can put the recordings into her iPod, making it possible for her to be practicing our music while she's doing any number of other things: housework, riding in the car, shopping, exercising, etc., etc. Before I had to record with a cassette recorder,(poor quality), schlep tapes back and forth to her house. She was limited as to where, when and how she could listen - soooo last century! Now she can attend rehearsal fully prepared, and participate in performances at the same level of mastery as all the other musicians. This technology has truly changed her life. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Have a great semester,

Lori - Edu255 Student, SUM09

Tools and the Teaching Trade. Oh, I Mean Learning Trade.

2009-07-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Our class has been about tools. Tools that can communicate ideas, tools that can share information, tools that can make you smile, and tools that can help you remember. We have used the tools to meet needs, a grade for example, or as a way to express our opinions. These tools, like the television and the radio before, all send stuff from one place to another. Nothing more, nothing less.

A teacher in a room sends information via a mouth, a picture, a PowerPoint slide into the eyeballs and ears of the students. Tools that send stuff. Is is possible that all these tools are just passing phases, fads? Are these tools just distractions that make us passive or addicted to trivial interests? How shall we know when we have been informed to death, PowerPointed to death, or completely forgotten how to smell the roses? How will we know when the tools have started to wag our tail?

It is a fine line we walk between the use of the tool and the experience of the learner. Finding that place where a learner is listening attentively or working diligently and that instant decision to say something is the art of learning. Our paints and brushes are wikis and books and conversations and experiences. We have to hope what we paint is worth the time of our learners to stop, gaze at, and ponder the possibilities.

This all seems pretty obvious, but it may well be that we are, like Neil Postman said, "amusing ourselves to death." To make an informed judgement on the use of these things, we ourselves must know them well as not to create Orwell's or Huxley's future. We must learn the tools and along with them, wisdom. And that may take a while.

Blogging in Elementary Schools - Classblogmeister

2009-07-21T11:52:00.001-07:00

I found this discussion on the Ning Education 2.0 site about blogging in the lower grades. If you're not already hip to that network, it is a rich rich resource. Unfortunately, it's so rich it almost discourages me from making my own wheel!

It was there that I found classblogmeister, a blog host designed with teaching in mind. May be worth exploring and signing up for. You have to contact the founder, educator David Warlick, to get a school code and such for your blog.

TED again - I can't help it!

2009-07-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

This 4min talk by the founder of "Tinkering School" for kids is inspirational. What's more, though, the comment thread that follows is full of great feedback, suggestions, and commentary by the speaker, Gever Tulley.

Are Ted Talks blocked by K12 firewalls?

TED Talk: Watch This

2009-07-12T09:28:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Chris H. for reminding me about this tremendously exciting video, where Dr. Sugata Mitra describes how children learn for themselves.

Do you think your students would respond similarly when encountering this kind of opportunity?

YouTube Cops Out in Force

2009-07-10T12:33:00.001-07:00

The constabulary is getting better all the time on free-wheeling YouTube. One of your classmates posted a link to an educationally related video that now looks like this. And due to copyright dispute with Warner Music Group, more and more videos are muted, which is the reason for YT's "swap audio" function.

This video is an interesting reaction to what she feels is her right of expression. There are firewalls in schools and walls on the internet.

There are Fair Use issues and the law. YouTube is a free service, so what rights does anyone have regarding the content on it's channel. Actually, none at all. "Free" has raised our expectations in the mental landscape, and the ride between legalese and freedom of expression is going to be bumpier as technologies to express and control continues to evolve.

Of Crap Detecting and Copyright

2009-06-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

With the challenge the music industry has faced, Wikipedia reliability in college classrooms, peer edited journal this and the junk journalism of that, what is true and what is not is a scribbled path to say the least. How the heck do you know what is true on the internet anyway? I want my old Britannica Encyclopedia back! Of course, I would also prefer only one candy bar being sold at grocery stores, as long as it is Snickers. Howard Rheingold addresses “Crap Detecting” and the online environment in this post from yesterday.

This week we explore copyright issues and giving credit where credit is due. Happening as we speak here is the NECC conference and here is a wiki site for one of the presentations on copyright! One of the slideshows is below.

ML, Copyright and Fair Use

View more documents from Renee Hobbs.

The Social Networks

2009-06-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

Visit YC Edu 255

Social Networks, whether a college sorority or a knitting club, a playground group or a monthly book club all have one thing in common: connections. Facebook was started by a college student who wanted to more easily connect with fellow students to prepare for class. Without going into a history of social networks here, I think we all have come a long way in three weeks in using two ways to create networks. We all have our own blogs and wikis that allow interaction between people in this digital world. All without email! Pretty neat. This week we are going to look at Ning. Please take a short tour of the classroom20 site.

Last week we read about RSS feeds and we really did not address them in the discussion boards or assignments. You have a Google account and Google Reader is available to you for free. Here is a link to an introduction to Reader. Below is the RSS feed from our TELS reader that we use for YC faculty. It can be placed in almost any HTML environment. It is a great professional development tool and we strongly encourage you to use it in that capacity, if not for you classes as well.

It's Nice to See You

2009-06-15T15:14:00.001-07:00

I can't decide on an avatar (aka. profile photo). I keep making new ones in the vain hope that it will express just the right sense of who I am, only to left with another feeling of what I call "uploader's remorse". Narcissism aside, choosing an avatar is an important aspect of your online life.

In the practical realm, a headshot is positive ID: searching for your old friend Jimmy Smith on Facebook is a long slog without a visual to go on. Even remotely common names are tough to distinguish on Fb, as my friend Aaron Norris was amazed to find out. Skype is a good example of this, where you may get an contact invitation from "jdriahh" who? without an avatar (or clear message) it's hard to distinguish friend from spammer.

Many people use photos of their kids. I don't, but my identity is already so intermingled with my family's that I'm craving ways to distinguish myself from them instead of pouring myself further into the personality blender.

Cartoons, flowers, pets, bumper stickers and the like are all popular and appropriate in the right situation. Indeed, central to my own facination with avatars is their expressive potential, and, being a visual artist, I have fun with them. Sometimes way too much fun. What I've come to realize is that there are some social networks where showing your pretty face is the best choice, and this course is probably one of them.

This site from Pima County Library takes a good look at avatars, privacy and identity issues, with links to avatar making and free photo cropping help sites like this.
- Thatcher

George in Milan and Teaching Philosophies

2009-06-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

Our teaching philosophies can go farther than our blogs. Take a look at these teaching philosophies that are posted, and published by a reputable company in higher education. The third, from author Maryellen Weimer is a great example of a blogger gone published author! Or visa-versa. Also, check out the "topics" section on the right side of the webpage, there is some great information there!

The author of the Emerging Technologies Handbook spoke last week in Milan about knowledge management. This 23 minute long presentation covers a lot of ground around the use and management of information. He addresses the implications web 2.0 products may have on institutions that use knowledge as a resource or product. Like a school for example. Anyway, here is what he looks like and sounds like if you were wondering.

f2f IMHO a good start

2009-06-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

If you don't know the title's acronyms, don't feel bad, they're 2 of the only 3 I know (LOL)! It means I thought the face-to-face meeting last night was great. It felt so normal to meet as a class, and I was looking forward to seeing everyone every week this way - then it hit me: we would never, ever meet in this way again.

Online learning can leave one in a strange state of disconnection, like the old B.C. comic strip hero who waits for the reply from his message in a bottle, only to be perpetually disappointed. The solution is staying engaged. Blog, comment, post, seek and share. We'll have ever expanding channels of communication in this course, which should teach us about what works and what doesn't.

For my money, nothing is as easy, fast and clear as talking, which is what we'll use Skype to do. Please download it, get set up and send me a contact request. My handle is thatcherman.

The Day After...

2009-06-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've embedded a PDF of the survey results using Scribd. You can use the zoom feature to get a better look at the data.

EDU 255 Initial Survey
EDU 255 Initial Survey toddconaway

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Welcome to EDU 255!

2009-05-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Fundamentals of Educational Technology

We are extremely excited to have you in class this semester. We sent a welcome email to everyone enrolled in the course on Thursday, May 28th. If you didn't receive the email, please click on the "Syllabus" link located on the left hand side navigation. You can read a copy of the "EDU 255 Welcome Letter" that was sent out to everyone.

To get started in the course, please use the left hand navigation buttons. You will want to print off your syllabus and course calendar located under the "Syllabus" button. Use the course calendar as your road map to the course. You can view and complete your assignments by clicking the "Assignments" button. It is recommend getting yourself familiar with Blackboard and your course before jumping into any assignments. If you have any questions, please contact your instructors right away and we'll be more than happy to help you out.

So, let's get started! We have a very interesting semester lined up! We will meeting in person on Wednesday, June 3rd from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM. The class session will be held on the Prescott Campus, Building 19, Room 224. Best of luck and stay tuned as all the announcements will be posted in this area! We hope you enjoy the course!