Moving at the Speed of Creativity

I really miss Jott. Since the service went out of beta I have not used it. I’d probably pay a Flickr-Pro price of $30 per year, but $4 or $13 per month seems a bit too pricey. Jott does offer a free option, but so does EverNote for making short web-accessible voice memos on an iPhone. EverNote doesn’t transcribe your voice memo to text like Jott can (or attempts to do) but I do like having all my notes organized in a single place with EverNote. I found the EverNote iPhone application handy this week to record a voice memo for myself when I was in the car, and later return to it when I was on my laptop. EverNote and Jott are different web-powered applications with different types of functionalities, but there are several similarities that cause me to group them together for comparison sake.

I am using EverNote with three different software platforms, essentially: The EverNote iPhone application, the EverNote Macintosh software application, and the EverNote website. EverNote also has an iPhone web application, but I haven’t used it yet.

I used Jott a bit to update Twitter in the last six months, but several times I found that it misunderstood some words I recorded and sent unexpected text out as a Twitter update. As a result, I’d classify the Jott-to-Twitter functionality as KOFTT (”kind of fun to try”) but NRFDU (”not ready for daily use.”)

I’m using EverNote more and more for taking notes both on my laptop and on my iPhone. I love how it synchronizes all notes to the web, so everything is immediately backed up just in case something happens to my iPhone or laptop. EverNote does permit users to publicly publish notes, but there is not a way for others to collaborate on those notes currently (in a Google Documents way) or to leave comments on them. EverNote is becoming one of the most valuable applications I use each week to take and organize my notes in different contexts. The ability to record voice memos is an added bonus.

This video provides a good overview of EverNote’s functionality. I like the reference to my “external brain.” Moving information, ideas, and to-dos from your brain into a trusted documentation system is a foundational part of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” (GTD) organizational approach. I certainly don’t have that approach mastered, but documentation options like these from EverNote certainly help in these endeavors. I have just started to experiment with the EverNote function of OCR scanning a business card from a PhotoBooth or other iSight camera-captured image. At one time I considered purchasing a Neat-Receipts Scanner for this purpose (and to scan receipts.) It appears EverNote could fill that need much more cost-effectively.

Technorati Tags:
jott, evernote, note, organize, todo, organizer, technology

Welcome to episode 9 of the Technology Shopping Cart Podcast, a podcast (and now live webcast) where educational innovation thrives on the food of creative ideas. This episode features a conversation with Heather Chirtea of ToolFactory, Vicki Allen, Karen Montgomery, and Wesley Fryer about podcasting, digital storytelling, mobile podcasting labs, mobile flip video labs, “ushering” technologies which encourage teachers to extend their journeys of learning with educational technologies further, and “manifest destiny” for educational technology use in our 21st century classrooms. Of course we also include a variety of “geek of the week” websites, resources and tips, which includes a discussion of the superb “Global Nomads” organization which facilitates engaging videoconferences for students on a diverse array of subjects. Check out our podcast shownotes for links. We are tentatively scheduling our next live webcast for Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 10 am US central time to discuss challenges and pitfalls of integrating web 2.0 technologies in school districts. We’re asking some special guests from Missouri to join us who are in the trenches of IT and have some interesting perspectives to share. Whether you joined us live or catch the recorded version, we welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions as always!

 

 Podcast278: TechShoppingCart Podcast09: Digital Wishes, Flip Video Labs, and Manifest Destiny for EdTech [73:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1225)

Show Notes:

1. Tech Shopping Cart Wiki resources for this show
2. Digital Wish
3. Mobile Podcasting Lab (Digital Wish / Toolfactory)
4. Flip Video Mobile Lab (Digital Wish / Toolfactory)
5. Podcasting Grant Program from Olympus and Toolfactory
6. Toolfactory
7. Global Nomads
8. Loopt
9. drop.io - share files to the web by phone, email, web, widget or fax
10. Jog The Web
11. Phonevite
12. Textmarks
13. Amazon Buys Shelfari - 26 August 2008
14. CaseLogic SLR Camera Backpack (Heather’s favorite)
15. Our Ustream text chat for this episode is available, which includes referenced links.
16. Using a Mac, how to webconference using Ustream and skype (thanks Ryan Gordon)
17. VickiWiki: Presentation and Workshop Curriculum of Vicki Mongomery
18. Gomeric Hill: Blog of Karen Montgomery
19. Thinking Machine: Presentation and Workshop Curriculum of Karen Montgomery
20. Vicki Allen on Twitter
21. Karen Montgomery on Twitter
22. Wesley Fryer on Twitter

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Looking for new ways to stay in touch with parents and students this year using voicemail and text messaging? I certainly am as I teach several courses for adults and 5th graders at my church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings this year, and as I lead our youth deacons in our “Stories of Faith” podcasting project. Two free website services I’ve discovered recently and am planning to use this semester are:

TextMarks: Create text-alert groups using cell phone numbers, permit others to subscribe to alerts, facilitate one-to-many and many-to-many text discussions. I’m using this with our youth deacons group, along with a private Facebook group.

Phonevite: Create voicemail reminders for groups, schedule delayed voicemail updates if desired, record Phonevite messages from your mobile phone anywhere, anytime. I’m planning to use this with our 5th grade parents to send out updates and stay in touch.

Both of these tools provide great opportunities to send out reminders and updates. And they are both free!

Thanks to Michael Richards for sharing Phonevite on Bit by Bit Show 34 from 28 August 2008, and Jym Brittain for sharing Textmarks in a comment to a blog post here last month.

Technorati Tags:
mobile, alerts, voicemail, messaging, sms, text, phonevite, textmarks

I love using Google Mail. I made a full transition from Yahoo Mail to GMail for my personal email several months ago and I haven’t looked back– much. Today I found one feature I really like in Yahoo Mail that is evidently missing in GMail, however: Mobile Alerts. Yahoo Mail and GMail let users create email filters for messages and take different actions based on specified criteria. When I receive a large volume of email from a particular mailing list or sender, this comes in very handy. Yahoo Mail, however, has a small checkbox at the bottom of the mail filter edit screen to optionally send a Mobile Alert (a SMS message to your cell phone) when the filter criteria are met:

This feature is either missing entirely in GMail or I’m missing where it can be activated. It’s a powerful feature with many possible uses. I’m wanting to create a mobile alert for a specific email subject that others can use when emailing me about an upcoming presentation or workshop. Anyone know if it is possible to setup this sort of mobile alert with GMail?

Technorati Tags:
gmail, google, mail, mobile, alert

Earlier this year, the New Media Consortium and the Educase Learning Initiative released The New Horizon Report, outlining which current and burgeoning technologies they feel will “impact education over the next five years.“

The report includes several “mega trends” in educational technology, including user-generated video (or “grassroots” video), mobile, collaborative web environments, as well as content mash-ups.

Trend #1: User-Generated Video & Content Mash-Ups

Mash-ups provide a huge amount of flexibility to both the instructor and the user to build new learning situations. A mash-up is “a website or web application that uses content from more than one source to create a completely new service (Wikipedia, 2006).” They combine separate, stand-alone technologies into a new application.

Content sharing tools, or “mash-ups” are providing learners the opportunity to socialize around the context of the content (text, video, images, audio), in terms of subject matter, production and commentary. This opportunity to be engaged socially is generating new content in and of itself. These experiences have become integrated into today’s use of everyday devices in the everyday lives of the students for whom we design.

Students can shoot video with either their mobile phone or camcorder, and then use free editing tools like Jumpcut to easily remix their video. They can also “grab” video created and contributed by someone else in the Jumpcut community that can be repurposed into new content and then posted on a blog, YouTube, Vimeo, Blip.tv or a myriad of other video-hosting sites. The Horizon Report predicts that this type of remix and reuse of video content “will fuel rapid growth among learning-focused organizations who want their content to be where the viewers are.“

Trend #2: Collaboration & Social Networks

Critics of e-learning often characterize online classrooms as neutral spaces devoid of human connection, emotion, or interaction with instructors or peers.

However, effective use of social networking and media technologies provides educators and students with the ability to interject emotion in the online space, thereby providing opportunities for peers to make emotional connections with classmates, and create a community of practice just as they do in the ‘real time’ world of the brick and mortar classroom.

Social networks can also provide an outlet for students who are socially isolated or shy in the traditional classroom, a way connect, share ideas and collaborate with their peers.

Online collaboration, whether in a formal education-centric VLE or social networking environment provide vital avenues for students to build relationships with their peers, while simultaneously meeting the needs of their digital learning styles.

Trend #3: Mobile

The use of mobile technologies continues to grow and represents the next great frontier for learning. Increasingly we will continue to see academic and corporate research invest, design and launch new mobile applications, many of which can be used in a learning context.

The convergence of mobile and social technologies, on-demand content delivery, and early adoption of portable media devices by students provides academia with an opportunity to leverage these tools into learning environments that seem authentic to the digital natives filling the 21^st Century classroom. Clearly, the spread of mobile technologies into both the cognitive and social spheres requires educators to reexamine and redefine our teaching and learning methods.

In order to create a better learning environments designed for the digital learning styles of Generation Y, there is a need to use strategies and instructional methods that support and foster motivation, collaboration and interaction.

Mobile technology plays a vital role in facilitating these mega-trends. Students can use their phones to connect with peers, make, edit and publish both photos and videos. The use of mobile devices are directly connected with the personal experiences and authentic use of technology students bring to the classroom.

Conclusion

“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” –Peter Drucker

In light of these socio-cultural changes, educators need to find ways to infuse the curriculum with digital learning styles by designing curriculum which integrates opportunities for student’s to use social media to collaborate and interact with their peers, as well as customize, create, and self-publish their own content as a means to achieve both short and long term learning goals.

Now more than ever, instructors must “keep abreast of change” and learn how to integrate these (and future) technology trends into their curriculum. You can download a complete copy of the 2008 Horizon Report and learn more about these trends via the links listed below.

Related Resources

• Download: 2008 Horizon Report (PDF)
• New Media Consortium
• Educause Learning Initiative
• “Designing Courses and Teaching on the Web: A “How To” Guide to Proven, Innovative Strategies“ Dr. Mercedes Fisher

This podcast is a recorded interview with Nancy Coggins, Marketing and Communications Director for the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, discussing the new cell phone audio tour which museum staff have made available for the past two months. The Memorial and Museum’s video podcast virtual tour has won national recognition in the past and remains available on the official website. As Nancy relates, however, many visitors to the memorial come sponataneously and may not have had a prior opportunity to download a video podcast and sync it to their iPod or iPhone. By providing a cell phone walking tour, memorial and museum staff are facilitating greater access to a richer, guided experience as visitors come to Oklahoma City. This cell phone audio tour was made possible thanks to a generous grant from the AT&T Foundation. I am enthused about the possiblities which new media initiatives like this one present not only for people who come to the memorial and museum face-to-face, but also for students and teachers in other locations who can potentially be empowered to create virtual field trips and cell phone tours about areas of local interest in their community. Many thanks to Nancy for sharing these thoughts and reflections. Links to educational curriculum and resources related to terrorism, violence prevention, and the educational outreach activities of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum are available in the podcast shownotes.

 

 Podcast272: A Conversation about the Cell Phone Audio Tour at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum [29:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3743)

Show Notes:

1. Official website of the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum
2. Oklahoma City National Memorial  and Museum (U.S. National Park Service site)
3. Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum now offering cell phone tour (NewsOK - 25 July 2008)
4. Cell phone can talk visitors through tour (NewsOK - 26 July 2008)
5. Museums receive grants to add technology (NewsOK - 2 April 2008)
6. Podcast241: 100K of New AT&T Foundation Grant Funding for Oklahoma Digital Storytellers, Museums and Memorials
7. OnCellSystems (the company providing the cell phone guided tour service for the OKC Memorial and Museum)
8. Guide by Cell - cell phone audio tours for your institution (another company considered but not selected by the OKC Memorial and Museum)
9. AT&T Foundation
10. Oklahoma City bombing article on WikiPedia

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Technorati Tags: oklahoma, oklahomacity, memorial, museum, national, bombing, murrah, tour, virtualtour, cell, cellphone, mobile

I shared this entry as a new post on the TechLearning blog, but am cross-posting here because of problems we’ve had with the commenting features over there. Feel free to comment on that post (if you can) or here.

I had a conversation this evening with a professor from Oklahoma Christian University (OC) that broke my heart.

As you may know, OC along with Abilene Christian University down in Texas are among the first colleges in the United States to implement initiatives which involve ALL students in entering classes purchasing and using either Apple iPhones or iPod Touches. When I learned this professor taught at OC, I enthusiastically said, “Wow, you’re going to have all your students bring iPhones to class this year!” His response was:

Boy I sure hope not. I have a tough enough time having them keep their laptops closed all the time during class.

I almost passed out on the spot, but I was torn by a simultaneous urge to weep.

This attitude, perhaps more than any other, may explain why we have so few laptop initiatives at both K-12 as well as higher education levels here in the great state of Oklahoma.

Let’s deconstruct this professor’s statement a bit. What exactly was he saying with these two sentences? Here are some possibilities.

1. I don’t know how to use digital technologies to engage my students in meaningful learning tasks, so I prefer to just lecture to them as I was lectured to for years in the 20th century.
2. I believe the student’s only viable role in the classroom is that of passive receiver.
3. I reject all conceptions and theories of active learning being good.
4. I choose to be the only person in my classroom doing any real thinking and providing any real evidence of both hard work and cognitive exertion, therefore I choose to exclusively lecture.
5. As the only person in my classroom with the initials “PhD” after my name, clearly I have the most knowledge and therefore should be the only person speaking once class begins.
6. Students have nothing to offer me as a learner and nothing to offer each other during my classes that could be of value, relative to the infinite value of my ideas and perspectives about our topic of study.
7. I am not interested in the literacies or the skills of the 21st century, my job role is to strictly impart the content from the textbook which I learned in the 20th century to my students.
8. Digital technologies can only be used to distract and entertain, they can never be used to inform, challenge constructively and engage.
9. My favorite metaphor for students in my class is that of a THRALL, or slave.
10. When I speak, I not only expect but DEMAND that all students sit with rapt attention, hanging on with bated breath for my next ideological vocalization.

Need I go on further?

I asked this professor if he had heard of the website PollEverywhere, which permits students to immediately respond to multiple choice or open answer questions using their laptop or cell phone during class. He responded that he had not, but the IT department at UC was working on writing a program that would permit students to respond immediately like that during class. He had asked repeatedly for a set of classroom electronic response systems, but the university had not purchased a set for him. He also stated he was not at all interested in any type of open answer questions during class, he wanted only multiple choice questions and answers to determine if students understood the material he was presenting.

I assured him that PollEverywhere offers this functionality NOW and could be used both with the laptops students have and the iPhones many of them will also likely have in class. I wrote down the website for him, and I hope he’ll check it out.

When it comes to embracing the constructive uses of digital technologies to improve learning, I do not believe that anyone is a “lost cause.” At any time, a teacher or professor can “see the light” and come to understand that digital technologies CAN be used in constructive ways to extend and expand opportunities for learning. I’m afraid, however, based on this brief conversation with this OC professor, that he has a long way to go on the blended learning journey.

How many professors and teachers at the VERY limited number of schools implementing 1:1 laptop learning initiatives today are like this one I talked with tonight? How many educators will insist, despite the fact that EVERY student in their classroom has a laptop computer ready at hand, to continue lecturing with overhead projector slides or a pedagogically equivalent PowerPoint slideshow, and completely miss the opportunities available to ENGAGE rather than merely ENTHRALL students?

My heart goes out to OC students in this professor’s classes this fall. Hopefully his attitude is not representative more generally of faculty attitudes at OC towards student laptops and mobile computing devices.

Technorati Tags:
laptop, oklahoma, oc, oklahomachristianuniversity, christian, university, learning, iphone, ipod, professor, onetoone, 1to1

This podcast is a screencast featuring an explanation of how Macintosh users can keep their iTunes folder on an external hard drive, and periodically update iTunes podcasts. This technique can be helpful if you are using a laptop and do not have enough free hard drive space for all the files in your iTunes library. Be careful, however! Make sure to have iTunes CLOSED when you are renaming the iTunes library folder / directory as explained in this screencast. The use of PodNova to maintain a OPML list of podcasts is also described along with a site for accessing podcasts “live” online with an iPhone or iPod Touch without syncing iTunes. QuickTime player or iTunes is required to play this podcast, links are available in the podcast shownotes.

 

 Podcast271: Podcatching Tips for Mac Users - Using PodNova with iTunes and an External HD for an iTunes Library [13:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4057)

Show Notes:

1. iTunes
2. QuickTime Player
3. OPML defined on WikiPedia
4. PodNova
5. My PodNova OPML
6. Podcaster iPhone/iTouch web application by Soprotech
7. Wesley’s iPhone Applications
8. Wesley’s Macintosh Applications
9. Screenflow by Vara Software

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Technorati Tags: podcast, itunes, podnova, podcatcher, screenflow, iphone, ipod, itouch, tips, tutorial, screencast

I’ve shared a new post on the Infinite Thinking Machine blog titled, “Behold the clash of civilizations.”

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cellphone, school, ban, cell, education, clash, civilization, policy, learning, distruptive, technology

I saw the Nokia video advertisement “The Fourth Screen” yesterday for the first time when I watched Chris Abani’s TED Talk “Telling stories of our shared humanity” on my iPhone at lunch. The ad plays at the end of the TED talk. Here is the 2 minute and 22 second ad by itself on YouTube:

While I want to reflect briefly on the message of this “4th Screen” video in this post, I’ll also link to Chris’ message as it is even more memorable as well as heart wrenching.

Chris’ TED bio states:

Imprisoned three times by the Nigerian government, Chris Abani turned his experience into poems that Harold Pinter called “the most naked, harrowing expression of prison life and political torture imaginable.” His novels include GraceLand (2004) and The Virgin of Flames (2007).

The story which got to me the most was of the 14 year old optimist on death row, who taught other, older men who were hardened criminals how to read with two comic books he had smuggled into the prison. The boy was killed by the Nigerian government in one of most brutal ways imaginable. Stories like this can be jarring but also help me keep my life in perspective.

After seeing this video, I was quite impressed by the “Fourth Screen” ad. My work commute podcast today was Clarence Fisher and Darren Kuropatwa’s BLC08 presentation “Everything New is Old Again,” and I was surprised as well as pleased to hear the audio again of this ad which they shared as a video in their session.

| View | Upload your own

Cheryl Oakes captured video of this session to Ustream, while Bob Sprankle captured and shared the audio version I heard today driving in the car.

The message of this “4 screens” ad is compelling, but is it accurate? Are mobile devices permitting us as a society to connect in more personal ways that foster a greater sense of community and togetherness?

I think the answer to this question is a qualified yes, because our new senses of community are different from the historical version. While historical communities were geographically defined as well as limited, the extended learning community of which I am a part is ideologically defined (defined by ideas) and geographically untethered. I have worked with Darren a TON as a fellow K-12 Online Conference convener the past two years, so there is a lot of shared time together and shared history which undergirds my feeling that “I know Darren” and he’s a friend of mine. I really don’t know Clarence Fisher that well personally from face to face contact, although we did meet briefly at NECC this year. Despite that lack of F2F time together or synchronous skype audio time together (which is what I’ve experienced with Darren) I really do feel like I “know” Clarence at an idea level. Perhaps ironically, I’ve never met Darren F2F as I have Clarence, but I know him better. From reading Clarence’s blog, to his keynote presentation last year for K12Online07, to comments I read that he’s made from time to time on other blogs and in other learning communities, I feel much more connected to Clarence than I do to 90% of the people in my own neighborhood.

I was so glad, incidentally, to learn via Darren and Clarence a word to describe much of my learning and social interactive behavior over the past several years: Hyperconnected. There is a glaring digital divide of both knowledge as well as perceptions between the hyperconnected, the moderately connected and the unconnected in our society today. This term alone provided me with a great deal of food for thought and reflection today.

I definitely think our information landscape, which is pregnant with hyperconnected potential, offers great promise for connecting individuals and groups together more closely than we’ve ever been connected before. I don’t think the “picture” of that community togetherness is necessarily captured perfectly in this Nokia advertisement, however. It’s hard to picture it in a video, I think, because people are in different places at different times, doing different things, but yet they/we are connected. That LOOKS different than images of traditional communities, or just F2F community meet-ups.

I don’t think anything is inevitable when it comes to human relationships, but there certainly are trends and tendencies to which we should pay attention. While author and futurist John Naisbitt predicted in his 2001 book “High Tech/High Touch. Technology and our Accelerated Search for Meaning” that technology would increasingly encourage us to live our lives “distanced and distracted” from one another, I think there IS great potential for digital technologies to bring us closer together. The dynamics vary considerably, however.

On a personal note, my wife registered for a Jott account today and actually got on my Twitter account to see what I was up to. Hyperconnected people provide multiple avenues for connectedness, but that same potential can also lead to distraction and a tendency to under-prioritize the time we need to spend in F2F conversations and relationships. As Brian Crosby says, it’s messy! But that’s ok. Amidst these messy interactions and choices, there is GREAT potential for community, connectedness, and action toward shared purposes. The 4th screen IS bringing us together. For me at least, and I suspect many others, however, it’s not just the 4th screen. It’s the 3rd screen too. And the 2nd screen is becoming the 3rd screen which is becoming the 4th screen. I guess this is a hyperconnected person’s dream, and the neo-Luddite’s nightmare. At least each of these conclusions is an option and a choice!

Technorati Tags:
convergence, cell, phone, mobile, nokia, tedtalk, nigeria, clarencefisher, darrenkuropatwa, blc08

Ever since Dean Shareski showed me his Sony GC1 Net-Sharing Cam (along with some other, similarly priced cameras) at NECC 2008 several weeks ago I’ve aspired to add a camera like this to my digital backpack. Yesterday at our local Ultimate Electronics store in Oklahoma City, I found a Sony GC1 display model for sale without a box, manual, cables or charger, for just $50. This was too good of a bargain to pass up.

Much to my delight, I’ve found the GC1 to be a joy to use today, and am only disappointed that this model has been discontinued by Sony and is no longer available for purchase. (Unless you buy one used or happen upon a remaining demo model, as I did yesterday.) I thought I would have to buy an AC charger from Sony or Radio Shack, but it turns out the same standard USB cable which is used to transfer photos and video from the camera can also be used to charge it. Sweet! Since I had a USB cable already, along with a 4 GB Sony memory card I picked up on sale in March at a ridiculously low price, I really don’t need anything else to fully utilize and enjoy the GC1.

Dean wrote the the post “Sony Net-Sharing Camcorder Review” back in January, and more recently (in June right before NECC) the post “Comparing little video cameras.” Generally cameras in this category cost $150 to $200, so picking one up for $50 really was a great deal. In his most recent post, Dean observed “The Sony definitely does not play nice with the Mac,” but this was not my impression. I wasn’t able to use the GC1 as a webcam with QuickTime Pro or Ustream, but it did mount fine on my Macbook’s desktop and allowed me to drag both 5 megapixel images as well as 320×240 MP4 videos right onto my hard drive where I uploaded them readily. This is the first “little video camera” I’ve ever used like this before, however, so my frame of comparison reference is admittedly more limited than Dean’s. If what I’ve experienced today is limited functionality, however, I can’t wait to see what a more fully featured camera will offer!

We recorded some short videos in the “Tinkering Garage” at the Oklahoma City Science museum today. I posted several to Flickr, since videos less than 90 seconds can be posted and shared there, and was very pleased with how fast and relatively painless this process was.

I also attempted to email a video up to a .Mac gallery I setup previously with iPhoto, but apparently that video is still being processed as it hasn’t shown up for me yet in the gallery.

Some of the initial reviews of the Sony GC1 were less than enthusiastic last fall when this pocket camcorder first came out, and perhaps that is the reason Sony has discontinued it. I think the functionality and ease-of-use of this type of digital camera and camcorder is amazing, however, and I look forward to both using it more in the future as well as learning about other camera / pocket camcorder options like this which we may be able to start utilizing as standard equipment in the digital backpacks provided to participants in our Celebrate Oklahoma Voices oral history / digital storytelling project.

Of course, many cell phones now offer photo and video recording functionality which can rival pocket camcorders like the GC1. I do like the fact that the native recording format is MP4, and that I can record in 640×480 video resolution at 30 fps if desired. (The default setting is 320×240 at 30 fps.) Pocket camcorders like these are sure to provide continuing challenges for the ethical and responsible uses of digital technologies in our schools and communities. We need to be talking about digital citizenship much more than we currently are in many schools and classrooms.

Have you had positive or negative experiences with pocket camcorders? Do you have a model you recommend?

Technorati Tags:
video, camcorder, record, pocket, sony, gc1, school, citizenship

Welcome to episode seven of the Technology Shopping Cart podcast where educational innovation thrives on the food of creative ideas! This episode was recorded on July 1, 2008, in San Antonio, Texas, at the National Educational Computing Conference. Karen Montgomery and Wesley Fryer were joined by Brad Gessler of Poll Everywhere to discuss mobile applications for learning: Specifically Poll Everywhere and iPhone Web Apps. This is part two in our Cell Phones and Mobile Devices for Learning podcast series. (We apologize it has taken so long to get this second part recorded and posted!) Refer to our podcast shownotes for links to the resources and websites we discuss in this show.

 

 Podcast263: Technology Shopping Cart Podcast07 - iPhone Web Apps and Poll Everywhere in Education (Part 2 of 3 in our Cell Phones and Mobile Devices for Learning series) [41:33m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (933)

Show Notes:

1. Referenced links from this episode on our wiki
2. Poll Everywhere: Easy Audience Polling (via cell phone text messaging / SMS)
3. Poll Everywhere Mobile
4. HomeWork Web App
5. JustUpdate Web App
6. Phishing (WikiPedia)
7. AntiPhishing Working Group
8. iWeather Web App
9. Google Reader for the iPhone version 2
10. LatLong iPhone for GeoCaching
11. iGeoCacher Web App
12. Podcaster 2.0 Web App
13. Posterous (the place to post everything)
14. Mobile pics posted from the top of Eagle’s Peak (Colorado) by Wesley in 2005
15. iPhone Web Apps
16. Podcast248: Technology Shopping Cart Podcast06 - Cell Phones and Mobile Devices for Learning (Part 1 of 3)
17. Homepage of Brad Gessler (co-founder of Poll Everywhere)
18. Informatics (WikiPedia)
19. Gomeric Hill: Blog of Karen Montgomery
20. Thinking Machine: Presentation and Workshop Curriculum of Karen Montgomery
21. Follow Karen Montgomery on Twitter
22. Follow Wesley Fryer on Twitter
23. Top 25 Web Apps for iPhone (Rev2)
24. Top 10 iPhone Web-Apps (IntoMobile)
25. Wesley’s iPhone webapp links on del.icio.us
26. Karen’s iPhone links on del.icio.us

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The iPhone 2.0 software is available now on Apple’s servers, but evidently the volume of requests is overwhelming and iTunes is not automatically updating the iPhone software for some folks. I updated my iTunes to version 7.7 this afternoon but still couldn’t get my iPhone software to update. I used the direct software link posted on MacWorld’s article from yesterday, “iPhone software 2.0 on Apple’s servers” to download the software to my MacBook, but then couldn’t figure out what to do with the downloaded and unzipped file to update my iPhone.

What to do? Reach out to someone in my personal learning network, of course!

My cousin, Devin Henley, provided me with some live, just-in-time phone support (literally) and now I’m up and running with iPhone 2.0 software! Here’s what he had me do on my Macbook running Mac OS X 10.5.4:

1. Backup your iPhone data and settings first. I did this by holding down the CONTROL key and clicking on my iPhone in iTunes, and choosing BACKUP.
2. Download the iPhone 2.0 firmware file. If your web browser (I used Safari) unzips the file automatically, delete the “unzipped” version and find the original in your computer’s trash can.
3. Drag the zip file to the desktop, and rename it by removing the “.zip” extension at the end. (The filename for me was “iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw” after I removed “.zip” from the end.)
4. Open iTunes, plug in your iPhone, and when it mounts hold down the OPTION key when clicking CHECK FOR UPDATE in iTunes.
5. A popup window will open prompting you to find the firmware file. Navigate to the desktop and select the file you downloaded and renamed: iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw.
6. Wait and watch as your iPhone software is updated to version 2.0. (It takes awhile, at least 10 min.)
7. The iPhone will reboot several times. After it is updated, you’ll need to select RESTORE to put all your old settings back on the iPhone. Then click SYNC to copy all your videos, music, photos, and other data back from iTunes onto the iPhone. (The sync may happen automatically for you depending on how you had your iPhone preferences set up. I have my iPhone setup to not sync automatically, so I had to manually click “sync.”)
8. Now you should be all set! Off to the iTunes App Store!

Oh joy! My first download from the iTunes App Store? Something directly related to my work productivity to be sure… PhoneSaber!

The application description makes it clear my personal productivity is going to skyrocket with this tool at my fingertips:

Ever wished you could swing your iPhone around like a lightsaber? Well, now you can, with PhoneSaber.

As you swing your phone, a range of lightsaber sound effects will be emitted from your phone’s speaker (or connected audio output). Not only that, but you can also withdraw and put away your saber.

I know mobile technology is powerful, but this allows me to both experience and demonstrate the power of mobile computing in a memorable new way.
Thanks to Karen Montgomery for this iPhone web app recommendation, and developer Alex Price for creating it!

Now who’s the Mac Jedi?!

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These are my notes from Tim Gore and Jim Sturm’s presentation at MODLA 2008 titled “RoundTrips: Interactive Video Conferencing from Anywhere.” I am recording this session with their permission and will post it subsequently as a podcast here. MY THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS ARE IN ALL CAPS. Their website is roundtrips.org.

The official conference program description for this session was:

The project directors of RoundTrips, two teachers from the School District of Clayton, describe the wide curricular variety of their videoconferencing programs and show how their portable satellite transmitter and videoconferencing/webcasting studio helps students explore a wide range of topics as they connect live to people and places across the country. Distance education, in a live format, has usually been regulated to an inside wired environment. However, we know that much of what occurs of interest for students and teachers in real time happens where wires don’t exist. Because of satellite technology, wires no longer limit us. The goal of RoundTrips is to extend classroom curriculum for students and teachers to places they could not normally go and on that journey to create an interactive environment coupled with sound educational pedagogy. The presentation will include both demonstration and discussion. Demonstrations will focus on how teachers with video conferencing equipment or web access can take advantage of the wide range of RoundTrips adventures. Examples of these adventures from science to social studies and arts to literature can be found on the project’s website at http://www.roundtrips.org. Featured discussion topics will focus on the educational value, creative use, and best practices of video conferencing. Brainstorming and discussion will also consider participants’ interest in curricular applications utilizing the satellite transmitter and other non-satellite RoundTrips offerings.

We do live streaming of all videoconferences and also archive them

The last 3 years of our teaching life was quite different from the 20+
Our classroom became the Lewis and Clark Trail
- grant from the National Park Service
- got the satellite transmitter as a result of that grant

In the course of those years we did 130 programs

we had never done videoconferencing in a classroom environment before deciding to do this project
- originally we
- Bob Dixon at Ohio State was building these mobile trailers (fall of 2003)
- Aug 31, 2003 was our first program, we received our equipment on Aug 25, 2003

lesson: don’t tell people the date when you REALLY need things, tell them at least a week in advance

our trailer
- at optimal speeds, our trailer is 512 up, 1.5 MB down
- the satellite company, Tacheon, has been great for 4 years but now they are oversubscribing and starting to cache

transmitter lets us videoconference and webstream from anywhere
- our idea is that kids should really be able to go places that bring the curriculum to live, LIFE
- story of a project they just did in the badlands
- mules had to pull the transmitter the final mile to the dig where archeologists were excavating part of a t-rex skeleton

Jim talked about programs being authentic, I (Tim) also see them as ripe for disaster
- after all this is LIVE TV!

story of deer camp
- lessons all about inquiry, scientific method, etc.
- deer were supposed to be tranquilized
- ended up wrestling a deer who wasn’t responding to

situation taught the students how experiments don’t always work, things can go wrong
- you have to think on your feet
- students learned a lot about scientific inquiry

Univ of Missouri Ag Dept got an NSF grant to create a solid-state mobile web cam to mount it on a deer, to have a live deer cam

We seek funding from other sources in addition to the Clayton school district
- because of that funding we get to provide these programs free
- we are scheduled for many trips in 2008-2008
- we also schedule trips that are requested by teachers, in Clayton but also in other locations

One of the coolest things about our job now is cold calling people and see
- 9 out 10 times the people we are talking with have never done videoconferencing before

can buy the trailer we have for about $48,000
- has its own build-in, quiet generater
- can go 60 hours or so
- 8 hours of battery built-in
- has big switch to plug in multiple computers
- came with wireless links, can transmit several thousand feet

$400-$500 per month is being charged by Tacheon now for the satellite connectivity
- easily gets to $5000 per year

once we are up and running from a particular location

we limit to no more than 3 or 4 remote sites
- 4 is pushing it

We started wtih 75 minute shows and 6 schools per session
- we realized 75 minutes was way too long
- 6 schools was too long

Our timeframe is 60 min at max
- sometimes 30
- only 1 or 2 schools is best, they really get to be interactive
- you get to see those inter

We provide prep materials for every program we do
- basic info about the program and the setting
- many times those materials come from the hosting organization
- we also think as teachers, what do I want to have as a teacher before my kids do this activity

example: hydroelectric dam where the turbans had been pulled out
- kids in the classroom had been making their own engines with coils, generators
- kids had really developed good background knowledge with their hands-on projects which pre-ceeded the videoconference

MOREnet does the bridging for these videoconferences

Have worked with CSD and their own channel, HECtv, haven’t done live broadcast
- TV stations have Polycom units and signal runs out the composite video signals and audio into their systems
- in St Louis metro region all our programs run live on tv, so students and teachers can either watch on TV and email in questions

Used Marratech in the past with a live chatroom for some programs
- Marratech works very well through school district firewalls
- client side software is free, point to point is free
- Marratech has worked well with us

some of programs work where kids come ready to present about a topic (we’re sharing research about topic X and then learn more things about experts about that)
- we also request that if kids have advance questions that have popped into their minds based on background materials, email those to us with the name of the child you’d like us to prompt to ask that question
- that works well for questions
- we also have spontaneous questions, as moderator I have to keep that balanced
- we keep a rotation, same order of schools
- sometimes do 2 questions per school in the rotation
- on the student side, it works well if the teacher sets up a place for the students to go

we send advance materials discussing protocols
- there is a lag
- we say some things to buy some time

we realized: stop thinking about this as being the “be all end all” on this topic
- this may be a starting activity, a culminating activity, an enrichment activity
- hopefully there will be more learning that continues after the session
- there needs to be a strong sense of organization from the agenda perspective for the classroom teacher (obviously event schedule modifications happen)

Archived past sessions are available online

The moderator does have a wireless earpiece
- inexpensive, camcorder mic stuff
- lets moderator

we have evaluations after each program
- we tend to get much more evaluations back than other people report getting
- teacher and student evals (both are equally important)

what do kids like best?
- fascinating that they can do the experience
- to talk to someone in another area is great
- lots of comments about interactivity with REAL people, REAL experts who are in the know
- the opportunity to share what they have done (as students) is also very engaging

structure of each program vary based on content

example this year for Constitution day
- kids get materials
- very discussion and Q&A orientation

Fine Arts / Artists at work
- students will be interacting with artists who are actually creating

We use Azden mics like you use with a camcorder, have a 16 channel mixer we put our inputs into

we have 280 feet of cable to the trailer (used to be 300′)

work with Truman library

Have 100′ of S video cable to roam with at events
- our wireless connectivity options didn’t work as well, so we stay wired when roaming at events

Have done multiple shows in Monroeville, Alabama where “To Kill a Mockingbird” was set, program is “Of Monroeville and Mockingbirds”
- Greatest part of our videoconferences was the people who grew up with Harper Lee and told about stories of her growing up

Can mail you a DVD

record now to DV tape because of high quality, we didn’t like the quality of the compressed recorded video

other units are in
- ESC10 Abilene TX
- Broward, FL
- Bering Straits, Alaska

We had a phenomenal experience just connecting 3rd graders in Clayton, Missouri, to 3rd graders in Kenya

Most audiences have been grades 4-8
- nature of the school day for middle school and elementary is more conducive for this
- high school bell schedules are not as conducive for programs like this

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Several months ago, during an iChat text exchange with Marco Torres he suggested I record a short video outlining the 21st century literacy skills I believe our students need to have as they enter the workforce. This afternoon (at long last) I recorded a 14 minute video and posted it to Google Video on this subject. The keys, in my view, are helping learners of all ages regularly create, communicate, and collaborate with digital technologies as they further develop their higher order thinking skills.

In addition to my own blog, I referenced The Partnership for 21st Century Skills and the FREE K-12 Online Conference as outstanding resources for community and school advocates.

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