Demonstrations of iPhone and iPod Touch applications for groups can be awkward. The AV cables sold by Apple for the iPhone and iPod Touch support TV out, for playing videos users have saved in iTunes and have available for playback via the iPod functionality of their device, but screensharing for other apps is NOT currently supported with these cables. (Two cable types are available from Apple: A composite video out cable and a component video out cable.) Since neither of these cables can, with Apple supported software and functionality, support screensharing, most presenters must use a document camera to demonstrate applications on either device when using a LCD projector or large format television. This can work, but can be tricky because of iPhone screen lighting and document camera exposure settings.

This disabled iPhone / iPod Touch presentation application situation is not as it should be. The beautiful applications and functions available on the iPhone / iPod Touch deserve a much more professional presentation mode, and thankfully one is available via the applications ScreenSplitr and DemoGod. Both are free, but do require a jailbreak since the functionality requires ScreenSplitr to run in the background. Backgrounder apps are not supported on the iPhone and iPod Touch at present by Apple. For more about jailbreaking, including legal aspects, see my post from earlier this week, "Tethered iPhone Internet Access with iPhoneModem (Jailbreak required.)"

To install ScreenSplitr and DemoGod:

1. Jailbreak your iPhone (if you have not already) using Blackra1n or the iPhone Dev Team's QuickPwn software.
2. Use Cydia to search for and install ScreenSplitr on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
3. Download and install DemoGod on your Apple computer. (Sorry Windows users, DemoGod is currently just available for Mac folks.)
4. Connect both your Mac computer and your iPhone / iPod Touch to the same wifi network.
5. On your iPhone or iPod Touch, launch ScreenSplitr to start screensharing.
6. On your Mac, launch DemoGod. It should detect / find your iPhone or iPod Touch running ScreenSplitr and let you click on the name of your device.
7. On your iPhone or iPod Touch, click ACCEPT to allow screensharing.
8. All iPhone or iPod Touch screen selections should now be "mirrored" on your laptop or desktop computer, with a minimal amount of delay.
9. Press the ScreenSplitr icon again to turn off screensharing, and simply quit the DemoGod application on your Mac laptop/desktop when you are finished using the program.

This screensharing method does NOT require the use of any cables: The iPhone / iPod Touch screen is shared wirelessly over the shared wifi connection. The frame rate of the shared video is only about 15 fps, however, so full-motion games and even videos will seem a bit jerky. For most demos, however, this method works great. If you have either of the Apple video-out cables, you can alternatively use them to share your device's screen. The frame rate for iPhone / iPod Touch screensharing with a cable is the same as it is for the wifi sharing option. If you use a cable, you just need to enable/start ScreenSplitr on your iPhone, DemoGod software is not required.

I've run into some trouble using ScreenSplitr and DemoGod in some locations where the wifi network was setup more securely. I suspect certain ports were blocked on the wifi network for sharing, and that prevented ScreenSplitr and DemoGod from working together. It should be possible to setup sharing with an ad hoc wifi network connection, but I have not tried that successfully. In the future, I may bring my own wifi hotspot to a presentation when I want to use ScreenSplitr and DemoGod, and connect a wired ethernet cable to that access point. By using my own, non-port filtered AP perhaps some problems might be averted. I don't consider ScreenSplitr and DemoGod to be foolproof demonstration options, but they are FANTASTIC when they do work and a personal AP could significantly increase the liklihood they'll work fine. My Airport Express is ideal for this purpose.

Steven Chi's five minute video tutorial on YouTube explains how to install both ScreenSplitr and DemoGod.

Have you had positive or negative experiences using ScreenSplitr and DemoGod for presentations to date? Hopefully we'll see Apple formally approve backgrounder apps like ScreenSplitr in the near term, so this can become an "officially approved" app store download.

Technorati Tags:
apple, iphone, ipod, ipodtouch, share, touch, ScreenSplitr, DemoGod, demo, screen, screenshare, jailbreak, blackra1n, blackrain

If you purchase a netbook computer, don't simply use the pre-installed operating system (OS) which came on it at the time of purchase. A wide variety of alternative operating systems are available which run great on new netbooks, and many of them are free. Reasons to install an alternative OS include:

1. Testing the performance of your netbook's hardware using different operating system environments.
2. Gaining an appreciation for the power and utility of free, Linux-based alternatives to commercial operating systems.
3. Learning how to install software using ONLY a USB thumb drive.

Lots of computer users today don't even realize it is possible to run alternate web browsers on their computers, much less alternative operating systems. The experience of installing and using an alternative operating system on your netbook will almost certainly bring you a wide variety of learning opportunities which you might not otherwise experience. If you've got a netbook, resolve now (if you have not already) to jump with both feet into the world of alternative computer operating systems. With Google Chrome OS still looming on the horizon, anyone who tells you they know EXACTLY what the future of computer operating systems is going to look like is almost certainly smoking something they shouldn't, and should NOT be trusted.

The first big challenge you'll face in installing a different operating system on a netbook is most likely the lack of an optical drive, or CD/DVD drive. When it comes to failure rates on laptop computers, optical drives often figure high on the list as causes for those failures. While this prediction is certainly open to debate, it appears we are heading toward a computing future which will be dominated by flash-based / solid state hard drives (instead of the now-standard, spinning-disk hard drives which are oh-so intolerant of accidents like getting dropped) as well as computers WITHOUT optical drives. While computers with flash-based / solid state hard drives are still on the expensive side, that will be less the case in 1-2 years. If you opt to install a new operating system on your netbook TODAY without the aid of an external optical drive, you'll be getting ready for the solid-state computing future now.

To use a USB flash drive / thumb drive to install an alternative operating system on your netbook, you'll need a software program which can create a bootable version of your operating system CD/DVD or ISO image on a USB flash drive which has sufficient memory space. I have found an 8 GB flash drive, which until recently could readily be found for $25 US (however that price is falling) is more than adequate for this job. If you're installing "skinnier" versions of Linux, an 8 GB flash drive will be overkill. It's needed, however, for larger commercial operating systems like Windows7 or Mac OS 10.6. (Before attempting a Mac OS install on a netbook, be sure to read my guest blog post from yesterday, "What is a hackintosh?" and review the legal details of this carefully.)

You will most likely want to use a second computer to create your bootable USB drive that you'll install from on your netbook. This second computer can be a computer running a variant of Windows, Macintosh, or Linux operating systems.

Recognizing the growing popularity of installing operating systems on netbook computers which lack optical drives, Microsoft has created a "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool." Unfortunately this tool is NOT usable for creating bootable versions of other non-Windows 7 operating systems, but it does work fine for Windows 7.

Novicorp WinToFlash is one option for Windows users needing to create bootable USB drives from ISO images. Options for Linux-based installations include:

1. LinuxLive USB Creator
2. UNetbootin
3. PendriveLinux
4. MultiBoot LiveUSB
5. Ubuntu Live USB Creator
6. Fedora Live USB Creator
7. Free USB Installer

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is a free, Linux-based operating system optimized for netbooks which I have tried and strongly encourage others to use. The Ubuntu community provides an excellent set of tutorials for netbook owners on how to install operating system software from a downloaded disk image, using a USB thumb drive. Instructions are provided for doing this from Windows, Macintosh, and Linux computers.

Sugar on a Stick is another Linux-based operating system which I recommend you try out. Like the Ubuntu Netbook Remix, it can be run entirely from the flash drive without any changes being made to your actual netbook's hard drive.

Open 1 to 1 (a Maine-based non-profit) also has a free, Ubuntu-based image worth trying out.

In creating a hackintosh installation on a netbook, I found the built-in application "Disk Utility" (located on a Macintosh in Applications - Utilities) to be a great solution. The program can create an exact duplicate of a disk image on a USB flash drive. In the case of the OS 10.6 installer DVD, you need to use Disk Utility to FIRST create a disk image of the DVD. Then using that disk image, you can create the bootable USB version with "Disk Utility." Before booting up your netbook, however, you'll need to tweak the USB drive with NetbookInstaller or another hackintosh software program. See the MyDellMini forum post, "MacOSX Snow Leopard / Win7 Dual Boot Success: Dell Mini10v" for a complete list of steps. One of the trickiest things to get a hackintosh installation working is the bootloader software. All the Ubuntu-installations I've tried don't recognize a Mac OS partition. I've used EasyBCD successfully to allow a multi-boot into Windows7 or Mac OS 10.6, but others recommend "the Chameleon bootloader." I am geeky enough to be able to get some of these programs to work for me, but not geeky enough to come close to understanding how they work. I DO know the bootloader is key, and without a bootloader which recognizes / supports Mac OS partitions and installations you can't dual boot to Mac and Windows on the same netbook. I have yet to figure out how to triple boot with Mac, Windows, and Linux on the same netbook, but I haven't tried Chameleon yet. On my next netbook, I most likely will try it.

For any USB software boot and installation, you'll need to change the "boot sequence" for your netbook, saved as part of your computer's BIOS settings. This may be the trickiest part of this process for many folks. The "hot key" to enter the BIOS settings and change the boot sequence varies by computer manufacturer. For Dell netbooks, this can be accomplished by holding down the F2 key at startup. Whatever the hot key, you'll want to tell the netbook to boot FIRST from a USB drive if one is attached that includes a bootable partition.

If you plan to install multiple operating systems on your netbook and keep them permanently, you'll want to PARTITION your hard drive first with separate partitions for each OS. I am certainly not an expert on this, but I was able to use the Mac OS X Disk Utility to partion my netbook hard drive successfully. I created a "journaled" Mac OS partition, and created the Windows partition as FAT32. Later when I installed Win7 on the netbook, the Windows installer changed that partition type to NTFS. I don't think the Mac OS X Disk Utility provided a NTFS partition option.

If you've made it this far in the post, I hope I haven't provided too much confusing information. As I noted yesterday on the topic of hackintoshes, this is a deep rabbit hole! The benefits can be great, however. At a minimum, I hope you'll give an alternative operating system on your netbook a try if you have not already. The easiest ways to do this is to use Ubuntu Netbook Remix or Sugar on a Stick, running directly from the USB thumb drive.

For you Linux and multiple-OS gurus out there, what USB installer-maker options have I left out of this post which should be included, or should be moved to the top of the list from a usability standpoint? What other Linux distributions should go on a "must try" list for newbies to this multiple-OS world?

Good luck!

Technorati Tags:
apple, drive, hack, hackintosh, install, mac, netbook, sugar, usb, thumb, installation, windows7, ubuntu

The word hackintosh (or Hackint0sh) is:

...a portmanteau of the word "hack" and the name of Apple's main brand of computers, Macintosh.

A search on the English WikiPedia for "hackintosh" redirects to the article, "OSx86," defined as:

... a collaborative "hacking" project to run the Mac OS X computer operating system on non-Apple personal computers with x86 architecture and x86-64 compatible processors. The effort started soon after the June 2005 Worldwide Developers Conference announcement that Apple would be transitioning their personal computers from PowerPC to Intel microprocessors.

Interest in creating hackintosh computers has ostensibly risen thanks to the proliferation of inexpensive netbook computers. If a person purchases a netbook computer with hardware supporting required hackintosh installation software, it is possible to now have a functioning laptop computer running the Macintosh OS X operating system on hardware costing just $200 - $300 U.S. As I'll discuss in greater detail in this post, it's important to note while this is TECHNICALLY possible, it is currently not LEGAL.

photo credit: charliekwalker

As an obliquely related aside, I found it interesting reading the Wiktionary definition of "portmanteau" one etymology of the word is traced back to 1872, when it was invented by Lewis Carrol in "Through The Looking Glass" to describe the words he coined in Jabberwocky:

Well, “slithy” means “lithe and slimy.” “Lithe” is the same as “active”. You see it’s like a portmanteau–there are two meanings packed up into one word.

This reference to the Jabberwock has more significance to me after recently seeing Tim Burton's cinematic rendition of "Alice in Wonderland" and reading Kevin Hodgson's post, "Losing the Jabberwock."

Investigating the world of "hackintoshes" may naturally invite comparisons to Alice and rabbit holes. The OSx86 Project homepage (www.osx86project.org) provides two different destination options, referencing Morpheus' choices for Neo in "The Matrix:"

1. Take the blue pill and return to the classic OSx86 Project wiki. Wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
2. Take the red pill and discover our new news and forum portal, InsanelyMac. Stay in Wonderland and see how deep the rabbit-hole goes.

If you'd like to peer a bit down the rabbit hole of "hackintoshes," you've come to the right place-- at least for the next couple of days as I continue to guest-blog here.

photo credit: jpockele

The fact that it's been possible and remains possible to create a "hackintosh" computer is controversial because Apple has made the process illegal. According to the "Legal issues and Apple objections" section of the OSx86 article in the English WikiPedia:

Apple does not authorize the use of the Mac OS on any x86 PC other than the ones it has developed itself. The company used a Trusted Platform Module, or TPM, to tie Mac OS to the systems it distributed to developers after announcing its switch to Intel's chips.

The Mac OS X EULA forbids installations of Mac OS X on "non Apple-labeled computers". On July 3, 2008, Apple filed a lawsuit against Psystar Corporation for violating this restriction, among other claims. Apple claimed Psystar "violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by dodging copy-protection technologies Apple uses to protect Mac OS X. "Apple employs technological protection measures that effectively control access to Apple's copyrighted works [...] Defendant has illegally circumvented Apple's technological copyright-protection measures." Specifically, Apple charged Psystar with acquiring or creating code that "avoids, bypasses, removes, descrambles, decrypts, deactivates or impairs a technological protection measure without Apple's authority for the purpose of gaining unauthorized access to Apple's copyrighted works." This brief revealed that Apple considers the methods that it uses to prevent Mac OS X from being installed on non-Apple hardware to be protected by the DMCA.

In yesterday's post, "Ripping Personally Owned DVDs for iPhone or iPod Viewing: Legal and Technical Perspectives," I reflected on the irony that "legality" when it comes to creating backups or compressed versions of legally purchased DVD movies continues to be defined by geography, rather than the inherent ethics of the act. As far as I know, it is not "legal" to create a hackintosh in any country or territory on our planet. Through their operating system EULA, Apple has decreed it taboo worldwide.

One sign of the sensitivity which surrounds the topic of "hackintoshes" was visible over a year ago in January 2009, when Brian Chen (a writer for Wired's Gadget Lab blog) had his video taken down on the advice of Wired's legal team after they were confronted about it by Apple representatives. In his article for CNET, "Wired takes down Hackintosh video," Tom Krazit noted:

Apple has appeared to gently tolerate the "Hackintosh" community that sprung up after the company decided to adopt Intel's x86 processors for the Mac, so long as the project didn't advance much beyond science fair mode. But it has shown a clear interest in protecting its licensing agreements for Mac OS X this year, through its legal battle against Psystar, a clone maker selling generic desktop PCs with Mac OS X preinstalled.
In its article, Wired admitted that the practice is illegal, requiring the installation of hacked software, linking to well-known torrent site The Pirate Bay to provide a source for the software. It also offered the following disclaimer: "Disclaimer: The following process potentially violates Apple's End User License Agreement for Mac OS X. Please ensure you own a copy of Mac OS X Leopard, if you wish to follow the procedure."

Apple does continue to sell 5-user "family packs" of its latest Mac OS X operating system, but officially a hackintosh installation cannot be made legal through the purchase of a software license. Apple's EULA makes no exceptions for non-Apple hardware running OS X.

If, despite the legal realities, you're still interested in creating your own hackintosh, a number of websites are available with helpful information. Hackintosh.com offers:

...links to everything you need to build your own Hackintosh and get Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" or Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" running on an unsupported computer -- instructions, step-by-step "how to" guides, and tutorials -- as well as installation videos, lists of compatible computers and parts, and communities for support.

Your laptop hardware manufacturer may even provide user forums with helpful tips. The Dell Mini 9 and 10 netbooks support Hackintosh software, and the Dell-sponsored mydellmini.com site includes forum groups specific to hackintoshing, like its Mac OS X forum. Total posts in that forum to date (49,051) far outnumber the total number of posts in all the other forums on the entire site combined. It is fascinating to see how some college students are supplementing their income with periodic hackintosh code development.

The hackintosh rabbit hole is deep indeed.

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apple, howto, install, tutorial, hackintosh, netbook, hack, osx, eula, legal, illegal, mac

The advent of digital encoding technologies has brought a revolution to the entertainment and media industries, and afforded a wealth of new media consumptive options for consumers. In his song and music video, "Welcome to the Future," country singer Brad Paisley reflects on how, in his childhood, he dreamed of watching TV in the car on an eight hour road trip. This dream is a reality today thanks to the proliferation of iPods and other portable media players, as well as the availability of commercial audio and video titles in electronic formats.

The landscape of consumer media options continues to be fraught with legal battles, however, in large part because of media conglomerates' desires to maintain control over the "intellectual property" they produce, license, and sell. Entertainment artists and industry workers also share a stake in maintaining control and therefore profitability for media file licensing.

When it comes to the legality of making copies of DVD movies a consumer in the United States has legally purchased, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as well as the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) are two fronts from which companies and organizations have challenged the legality of copying, archiving, and compressing DVDs. In her October 2008 article, "DVD Ripping: The Latest on the Legal Front," Julie Jacobson opens with the following statement:

Here's where we stand today on the legality of DVD ripping: We're not quite sure if it's legal.

The English WikiPedia defines "ripping" as:

...the process of copying audio or video content to a hard disk, typically from removable media. The word is used to refer to all forms of media. Despite the name, neither the media nor the data in it is damaged after extraction.

The article further explains in the "legality" section:

On the whole, it is legal for an individual in the United States to make a copy of media he/she owns for his/her own personal use. For instance, making a copy of a personally-owned audio CD for transfer to an MP3 player for that person's personal use would be legal.
In the case where media contents are protected using some effective copy protection scheme, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to circumvent that copy protection scheme. This law makes it illegal to rip most commercial DVDs as they are typically protected by CSS encryption.

The legality of DVD ripping depends on your location, however. Again according to the WikiPedia article:

In countries such as Spain, anyone is allowed to make a private copy of a copyrighted material for oneself, and the source copy does not even have to be legal. Making copies for other people, however, is forbidden if done for profit. This is also true for Sweden. In Australia, copies of any legally purchased music may be made by its owner, as long as it is not distributed to others and its use remains personal. In the United Kingdom, making a private copy of copyrighted media without the copyright owner's consent is illegal: this includes ripping music from a CD to a computer or digital music player. The UK government has made proposals to allow people to make copies of music for personal use.

This is a confusing state of affairs.

The English WikiPedia article for "DVD Ripper" offers the following definition:

A DVD ripper is a software program that facilitates copying the content of a DVD to a hard disk drive. They are mainly used to transfer video on DVDs to different formats, to edit or back up DVD content, and for converting DVD video for playback on media players and mobile devices. Some DVD rippers include additional features, such as the ability to decrypt DVDs, remove copy preventions and make disks unrestricted and region-free.

The article also includes a detailed table listing and comparing different versions of DVD ripping software.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) provides a concise overview of the legal and technical issues at stake in DVD ripping on its page, "Hollywood v. DVD." The page (as of 14 March 2010) states:

With billions sold, the DVD remains the principle way that millions of consumers experience digital video. Yet Hollywood has, from the birth of this format, imposed unprecedented restrictions on what customers can do with the DVDs they own.

Hollywood has argued in lawsuits and before policy-makers around the world that it is always illegal to make a digital copy ("rip") of a DVD. Even if you own it, even if you're trying to make a personal copy so that your children don't scratch the original, even if you want to make a copy to watch on your iPod, even if you want to skip those annoying "unskippable" commercials at the beginning.

Hollywood has also sued companies that try to provide DVD owners with the same kinds of innovations that we take for granted with CDs—such as a "DVD jukebox" that lets you watch your own DVDs around your own house from a central home media server.

The difference between DVDs and previous media formats—like the CD—is the CSS encryption system used to "scramble" the digital bits on the DVD. Thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a federal law passed a the behest of Hollywood, consumers enjoy fewer rights with respect to copyrighted works that are protected by "technical protection measures" (aka DRM) than they did with prior formats. Congress was told that the DMCA was necessary to prevent "digital piracy" online, but the use of anti-consumer DRM has been a total failure at preventing "piracy." Instead, the legacy of the DMCA has been to penalize legitimate consumers and impair competition and innovation. So Hollywood today clings to DRM not because it has any impact on "piracy," but because it allows the movie studios to dictate the features and innovations that legitimate companies can deliver to legitimate consumers.

The bottom line for consumers today in the United States is that intellectual property / copyright law forces the legal REPURCHASE of media which was originally bought in CD and/or DVD formats, and the consumer wants in a computer / mobile media player format. This was affirmed by Greg Sandoval's March 3, 2010, article for CNET, "RealNetworks surrenders in RealDVD case." Greg wrote:

The MPAA filed suit to stop the sale of RealDVD, a software that hands users the ability to copy and store films to a hard drive.
From the outset of Real's struggle, the company appeared to be on shaky ground. Real argued that consumers possessed the right to backup their DVDs, just as they have a right to make a copy of their songs for personal use. Real told the court the company was just trying to offer consumers the means to do that and that they had a fair use right to do that.
But after hearing initial arguments from Real and the studios, Patel [the judge in the case] quickly slapped a preliminary injunction that prevented sales of RealDVD. Things went down hill from there.
Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for tech companies and Internet users, defended Real's pursuit of the case. He said Real could have provided real benefit to consumers, if not with RealDVD, then eventually with a DVD player that would have incorporated some of the software's copying abilities. Real was working on a player, codenamed Facet, which would have created copies of DVDs and stored more than 70 films on its hard drive.

"(Real's testimony) made it clear that Real was out to deliver to consumers a product that people wanted to see," von Lohmann said. "I think the message this sends is if you get into the business of enabling consumers to do with DVDs what they've long done with CDs, you'll get sued out of the business. I think that's bad news for consumers. What that means is that if you want to create a digital back-up of your movies, you have to pay for that a second time on iTunes."

The EFF quoted part of this article in their March 3rd "In The News" post, "RealNetworks surrenders in RealDVD case."

Now that we've explored some of the legal perspectives on DVD ripping, I'd like to highlight two functional solutions for DVD ripping. Bear in mind, as explained above, that the legality of using these software programs depends on your geography.

Handbrake is:

...an open source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded vio trancoder, available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Windows.

Somewhat ironically, I first learned about Handbrake when visiting an Apple Store and asking about software options for encoding DVDs. Of course the Apple Store wasn't and isn't selling Handbrake: as a GPL-licensed program, it is free and legally must remain free: No one can sell it. I've used Handbrake software on my Mac to rip and compress numerous DVD movies. The program allows users to select the target platform for the encoded / compressed MP4 video version. Most of my Handbrake-encoded movies are around 600 MB in size, but some (like the two part disc series in the 2+ hour movie LOTR - ROTK) are over 1 GB.

Handbrake is great, but some DVD movie creators have become more sophisticated in their use of "Content Scramble System" methods in encoding DVDs so Handbrake cannot (at present) properly rip them. One example is the DVD of WALL-E. My initial attempt to rip WAL-E with Handbrake appeared to succeed, but the order of the encoded scenes was mixed up. To remedy this, I used the commercially available RipIt application (sold by the little app factory) to create a full-resolution backup of my purchased DVD. Then, I used Handbrake to create a compressed MP4 version playable on iPhones and iPods.

Hopefully copyright laws in the United States, the UK, and other countries will change to legally permit DVD and CD purchasers to make THEIR OWN archive copies of media files. Until then (and even afterwards) we'll likely see continued legal fights by organizations and media conglomerates to prevent commercial, copy-protected DVD and CD ripping by consumers wanting to avoid the re-purchase of their movies and songs to realize Brad Paisley's vision in, "Welcome to the Future."

For more about these issues, check out The Digital Freedom Campaign's website on www.digitalfreedom.org.

Technorati Tags:
copy, dvd, rip, ripping, ripit, handbrake, eff, dmca, intellectual, property

Digital creativity is a curious thing. People who are creative geeks naturally explore the boundaries of the technologies they use, but some companies today use restrictive user agreements in an attempt to prohibit tinkering, hacking, and repurposed use of their hardware products as well as cellular data networks. Until the release of the iPhone 3.0 firmware, that was the case with "tethering" with the iPhone. Tethering means connecting your mobile phone to your computer, either through a wired connection (like the iPhone's USB cable) or through a wireless connection (WiFi or Bluetooth.) Depending on your wireless carrier and the country in which you live, tethering still may be prohibited today on your iPhone, but there are several ways it can still be done. As with other articles and blog posts about procedures which could involve "jailbreaking" your iPhone, an opening disclaimer is needed. In addition to violating ISP and hardware manufacturer EULAs, jailbreaking can void your hardware warranty. While it is generally possible to simply re-install the provided Apple iPhone firmware using iTunes, using iPhone firmware which has been manipulated/changed by 3rd party software programs is always a risk for which you should assume personal responsibility. There are also financial, BILLING risks if you utilize large amounts of Internet data using an unauthorized, tethered connection. (Generally it's a bad idea to stream lots of video from a home Slingbox or other device over a tethered 3G connection, since you can readily exceed a 5GB monthly bandwidth quota and get the attention of service provider network watchdogs.) If you use any of the ideas or software links mentioned in this blog post, consider yourself duly warned.

On the official Apple.com website, an overview of tethering with the iPhone is available, along with step-by-step directions. Apple's provided directions on how to tether an iPhone to connect your computer through its Internet connection include the following caveat:

NOTE: Additional fees may apply. Contact your carrier for more information.

As of this writing in March 2010 in the United States, AT&T remains the only "official" carrier for iPhone users and has NOT officially approved rate plans for iPhone owners wanting to tether. In other countries with other providers, iPhone tethering IS legal and does not require jailbreaking. Rob Galbraith's June 2009 blog post, "iPhone OS 3.0 introduces Internet Tethering, Find My iPhone," provides a thorough overview of tethering with detailed screenshots and step-by-step instructions. For U.S. iPhone users tied to AT&T, at least for the present, these instructions won't work.

U.S. iPhone users with AT&T can still take advantage of this tethering functionality in several ways, but BEWARE.

OPTION 1: FREE BUT MORE RISKY METHOD (jailbreak not required, but NOT recommended)

Some websites were created after the release of iPhone 3.0 firmware (in both beta and final versions) which run scripts, enabling tethering functionality on an iPhone. These scripts may inadvertently disrupt and mess up your iPhone's voicemail functionality, however. Thomas Ricker wrote about this on Engadget in June 2009. John Herrman's post for Gizmodo in June echos this warning about visual voicemail problems. I have tried one of these websites myself, and indeed the warning about visual voicemail disruption was accurate. My iPhone DID tether wirelessly (via bluetooth) with my Apple laptop, but my visual voicemail never worked again on my iPhone 3GS until I restored my iPhone firmware to the default / factory settings. It was exciting to see tethering work on my iPhone and laptop, but it was NOT worth the hassle and angst caused by the eventual full firmware restore which was needed to "fix" my visual voicemail again.

This option of using website scripts to enable tethering is appealing because it does NOT require jailbreaking your iPhone. I do NOT recommend it, however, because visual voicemail is a core functionality of the iPhone and it's not a feature I think most users are willing to give up-- EVEN if that means readily being able to tether their iPhone to their computer.

OPTION 2: JAILBREAK AND USE $10 IPHONEMODEM SOFTWARE

The option I'm using successfully WITHOUT any apparent bad side effects (like a loss of visual voicemail) and DO recommend to other iPhone users with service providers not currently supporting tethering is jailbreaking your iPhone with blackra1n and running $10 iPhoneModem software. Here are the steps and links you'll need to do this, if you want to give it a go. Bear in mind the risks / warnings I outlined initially!

Step 1: Jailbreak

When people talk about "jailbreaking" their iPhone, there are two different kinds of hacks they may be referencing. The English WikiPedia article for "Jailbreak (iPhone OS)" explains the difference:

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to run any code on their devices, as opposed to only that code authorized by Apple. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia; Icy; and Installous... Jailbreaking is distinct from SIM unlocking, which, once completed, means that the mobile phone will accept any SIM without restriction on, for example, the country or network operator of origin. Jailbreaking, according to Apple, voids Apple's warranty on the device, although this is quickly remedied by restoring the device in iTunes.

"SIM unlocking" is also referred to as just "unlocking" at times. I've never attempted a SIM unlock, and it is NOT required for the iPhone tethering option I'm detailing here. "Jailbreaking" is required, however.

There are several ways to jailbreak an iPhone, and the good news is this process has gotten MUCH easier over time. The iPhone Dev Team is one group which develops and distributes software to both jailbreak and SIM unlock iPhones. The team has their own WikiPedia article where you can learn more about them.

I've used the iPhone Dev Team's jailbreak software several times, and while I've been able to successfully jailbreak my own iPhone as well as iPhones owned by friends, the process has always been LONG and a bit nerve wracking. One reason for this is the process: To use the Dev Team's software, you must download a compatible version of Apple's iPhone firmware to your local hard drive FIRST. SECOND, users run the dev team's "PwnageTool" to modify the downloaded iPhone firmware so it's jailbroken. THIRD, iTunes will run with the PwnageTool software and install the jailbroken firmware on your iPhone, which will now include the Cydia application. Cydia is one of several "app store" applications for jailbroken / non-Apple authorised software programs. A variety of tutorials are available on YouTube and other video sites demonstrating the steps to follow when jailbreaking an iPhone with the Dev Team's free software. Some commercial applications ARE sold through Cydia and other jailbroken iPhone app stores, but the Dev Team jailbreak software tools themselves are free.

As with many other computer / software technologies, it is important to be aware of malware risks as well as scams. Jailbreaking software is no exception. The Dev Team posted about the proliferation of iPhone jailbreak scams several weeks ago. The risks and challenges inherent in jailbreaking also relate to the methods by which PwnageTool software and other jailbreaking software programs are distributed. BitTorrent is used for legal file sharing, but it's also used for lots of illegal sharing. The iPhone Dev Team maintains a link to "official torrent sites" for their software on their main blog/website, but the use of BitTorrent client software is inherently risky.

Given this landscape of jailbreak risks and challenges, the availability of Blackra1n jailbreak software (for both Windows and Macintosh users) comes as an amazing breath of fresh air. You can read more about Blackra1n on WikiPedia, as well as the official Blackra1n blog. Engadget has posted about Blackra1n updates as they become available. Jailbreaking with Blackra1n (as long as your iPhone firmware version is supported) is as easy as downloading the installer for your operating system, running it with your iPhone plugged into your computer, and waiting about 60 seconds. When you've gone through the LONG process of jailbreaking with the Dev Team's QuickPwn software, the speed and ease of the Blackra1n jailbreak seems like a miracle!

If you opt to jailbreak with any method, you want to be careful NOT to immediately install new iPhone firmware updates when they become available. Jailbreak software developers are generally pretty quick to come up with new hacks for new iPhone firmware versions, but the process can take several weeks. Of course there is no guarantee Apple won't develop an uncrackable / unhackable iPhone firmware version SOME day, but so far (as of this writing) that hasn't been the case.

Step 2: Install, Configure, and Buy iPhoneModem

After you jailbreak, you need to run the Cydia installer application. The first time you run it (as well as subsequently, depending on updates) it will connect to the Cydia server and download new "packages" as well as updates. Often you'll have a choice whether to install all updates or just core/required updates. On a WiFi connection these don't take long. After updates are installed and you restart Cydia, choose the SEARCH option and enter "modem." With the latest packages updated in Cydia installer, you should see "iPhoneModem" as an available program. Choose to install it, and it should appear as another application icon on your iPhone.

iPhoneModem requires three things: The iPhone application, a client application which runs on your Apple or Windows-based laptop, and a license key. The client application can be downloaded from the iPhoneModem website. The computer client software does not require a key, but the iPhone application does. Thoughtfully, the program will run in a trial mode so you can verify connectivity / functionality before purchasing. Currently a license key is $9.99, and the iPhoneModem website accepts PayPal. After purchasing a license key, you will receive it via email or you can get it on the iPhoneModem website. You'll use your IMEI "International Mobile Equipment Identity" number when you purchase your license, which is a unique 15 digit code viewable on an iPhone by choosing System Settings - General - About.

After you've installed these software applications on your iPhone and laptop, you're ready to go with tethered Internet browsing! iPhoneModem client software creates an ad-hoc wireless network, which you'll need to join on your iPhone. It then permits your laptop running the client software (as well as other computers within WiFi range, which is a GREAT bonus on car trips!) to also access the connection. The steps are:

1. Run the iPhoneModem software on your laptop.
2. On your iPhone, connect to the default "iPhoneModem" ad-hoc WiFi network created by the client software. (You can customize this with a different SSID and a password if desired.)
3. Run the iPhoneModem software on your iPhone (it is called, "Modem.")

That's it! I'm sure to many, the prospect of jailbreaking sounds very scary and formidable, and it is not something that should be undertaken lightly. Still, the availability of Blackra1n is nothing short of a revolution, in my view. Be aware that in its 3.0 software iteration, iPhone Modem software does NOT appear to run in the background. To use it, therefore, you have to have the application open and CANNOT run other applications on your iPhone at the same time unless they run in the background like the Apple-provided iPod player software.

Hopefully AT&T in the United States will officially authorize iPhone tethering sometime soon. I'd like to hope they'll do that WITHOUT adding additional charges for the service, but that's probably analogous to hoping home loan interest and overall inflation rates aren't going to rise in the next year. All are probably inevitable.

Two final notes: Don't be confused by the term "tethered jailbreak" which you may see on some websites. This does NOT refer to Internet tethering, as I've discussed in this post. The Blackra1n blog post from March 8, 2010, explains:

A tethered jailbreak means that once your iPhone is successfully jailbroken with blackra1n, you’ll need to connect your iPhone to your computer and rerun blackra1n* if you ever need to reboot your iPhone or your iPhone loses battery charge.

Last of all, if you're contemplating an iPad purchase soon with 3G connectivity, don't count on Apple officially supporting iPad tethering.

If you've had experiences, good or bad, with tethering your iPhone for Internet access using iPhoneModem or another software program / method, I'd love to hear about it.

Good luck, and happy tethered surfing!

1. Ban on Public Statements [by developers]
2. App Store Only [for distribution]
3. Ban on Reverse Engineering
4. No Tinkering with Any Apple Products
5. Kill Your App Any Time [Apple can]
6. We Never Owe You More than Fifty Bucks [that's Apple of course]

From an ethics standpoint, I think it is both troubling and remarkable that the use of THE SAME application can be a EULA violation one day, and an enthusiastically supported iTunes App Store download the next. Exhibit A in this category would be the UStream Broadcaster iPhone App. At NECC 2009 in Washington DC, the ISTEConnects live blogging / webcasting crew had to purchase a special Nokia phone to provide mobile Ustream coverage of conference interviews and sessions. They couldn't use the Ustream iPhone broadcaster app at that time, because it was "illegal" and required a jailbreak. Wouldn't do to model EULA violations for ISTE educator attendees, would it? This year for ISTE 2010 in Denver, that same application will be available and in use by many I'm sure, since it's been approved in the iTunes App store since December 2009.

When it comes to ethics, generally "right" and "wrong" are not defined by the daily decree of a corporation. That officially IS the case when it comes to apps on the iPhone and iPod Touch, however.

I hope someday, King Steve will smile down on us and approve multi-tasking iPhone apps, so users of ScreenSplitr can finally come out of the shadows and walk in the bright sunlight. Until then, it's probably best to stick to the dark alleys.

photo credit: edbrambley

Hat tip to Digg and Wired for this news item.

Technorati Tags:
apple, iphone, developer, agreement, secret, ustream, broadcaster, iste, isteconnects, iste2010, necc2009, necc

photo credit: mr.l

I'm thankful my son's school and school district utilizes a web-based system for tracking student grades. It's helpful at times like today (the end of a quarter) when we're looking at progress and particularly paying attention to missing assignments not graded yet by a teacher.

photo credit: Jonathan Assink

This term, my son has been writing a LOT more for his English class. He's able to word process most of his assignments, which is a big help to him. I've asked him to publish some of his writing this term to our family learning blog, and to date he's published several things. Today, he published several other past assignments which he had turned in to his teacher, but for some reason aren't yet showing up in the online gradebook. I emailed his teacher inquiring about those missing grades, and was able to include hyperlinks to several of the assignments from the start of the semester which were not graded yet.

It remains to be seen if sharing hyperlinks to past assignments like this will be beneficial to his teacher, and result in a grade for an assignment which otherwise might have gone ungraded or been a zero. It definitely is good, in my view, to archive his writing and be able to share it with others, especially grandparents. Our blog is setup so he can publish his work directly. I'm not proofreading or editing this work after he has finished it for class / turned it in. He has a choice whether or not to publish, and did in fact opt not to publish one of his assignments that is missing today. I think it's very important to give students (and our own children) the decision making power about publishing and sharing their own work. This is an important lesson in intellectual property, and I don't think we can start it too soon. If I share and how I share my work is MY decision as an individual. Certainly my ability or the the utility of sharing work and thoughts naturally is affected by our employment and professional associations, particularly as adults, but ultimately we each remain free agents when it comes to the expression of our ideas. Freedom of expression is someting we each have a right to, regardless of geography, nationality or other factors. Freedom of expression is addressed in article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Platforms for idea sharing are vital. I shared the following quotation from Marta Kagan, via Seth Godin, last July in the post, "What’s your media platform for knowledge sharing?"

The word blog is irrelevant. What's important is that it is now common, and will soon be expected, that every intelligent person (and quite a few unintelligent ones) will have a media platform where they share what they care about with the world."

I'm delighted we have a chance to share our ideas and knowledge products as a family together on our blog. As time marches on, and more people grow saavy to the value and importance of digital portfolios chronicling student work, I predict "platforms for idea sharing" like this will continue to proliferate.

Technorati Tags:
oklahoma, share, writing, portfolio, document, english, teacher, assignment, grade, turn, in

Chad has been using LibSyn since 2006
- really cater to podcasters

had a problem with iTunes where a feed was showing up twice, once with the www. and the other without

BlogOklahoma has a separate site / area for podcasters

There is a popular Judo podcast that is based in Oklahoma City
- we have a ton of churches doing sermons in the area
- but only about 10 people who are podcasting for fun, regularly
- (this does not count people who have streaming radio shows)

NPR specifically does editing and makes changes to their podcasts, so their content is not "just" re-purposed broadcast media

Chad and his wife did "the geek wedding podcast" when they got married, but that podfaded since the event passed....
- he also took that feed down recently from LibSyn (stopped paying $5 per month for it)

Content distribution networks are "the next level" for podcasters
- Akamai is an example
- Amazon S3 is very reasonable as a solution for podcasting hosting now
- Cloudfront is Amazon's S3 distribution service
- other podhosts similar to libsyn

Adam Curry gets credited for podcasting because he made it popular, but Dave Winer was really the person who did it first

"Podcasts" did not exist until the media become SUBSCRIBABLE

Back "in the day," RealPlayer had a technology that would pull content to your device via ftp

Now looking at the Presonus FireBox (about $150 on sale at Guitar Center - Amazon has it for $200)
- plugs as firewire into your mic
- you have two separate mics that show up as separately configurable in software programs like Garageband
- this is HUGE for interviews!!!
- is completely powered by Firewire
- Chad searched for 3 months for the cheapest firewire-rig he could get, this was IT

ON MY M-AUDIO MOBILE PRE IT CAN BRING IN 2 CHANNELS AS LEFT AND RIGHT, I HAVEN'T DONE THIS BEFORE BUT IT IS POSSIBLE. I THINK I PAID ABOUT

Chad's current mic is a MXL 990, with a shock mount and case is about $70 (Chat got one for $50 on sale)
- it really sounds great

An audio compressor is hardware that does the same thing as The Levelator
- new version came out recently, btw

Digidesign MBox2 retails for $500, can get sometimes for $300
- may have to install ProTool drivers tho

When you use a mic, if you can you want to talk (and have your mouth air) move across the microphone, not INTO it

Now we're going to talk about promos for your podcast (commercials) and bumpers
- you can distribute your promos to other podcasts
- Scott Sigler is an author who reads his stories through his podcasts
-- he has a HUGE audience
-- he will play your promo at the end of his show

Keep it 15 to 30 sec
- just as a guideline

LibSyn

Just learned about the Okie Blog Awards

Bumpers
- "when you write something you break it into paragraphs... a bumper is that space between paragraphs"

Chad does recommend you write a script if you're doing an informational podcast
- can use bumpers in between your sections

These are my social bookmarks for podcasting: delicious.com/wfryer/podcasting

There is software that can help you record your show in "1 go" and have all your bumpers go in
- UberCaster is great when it doesn't crash... (it crashes a lot)
- Chad has had some audio sync problems in UberCaster once he's into his show awhile, he thinks that's a firewire driver issue
- UberCaster is Mac-only
- it can publish directly to LibSyn

Castblaster is Windows-based podcasting software, similar to UberCaster, but has changed to StudioRack

Chad uses some bumpers that people who he interviews say, like "This is [name] and you're listening to the Elmocast..."

AscCap - enforces music royalties
- be careful using any 'normal' music in your show

Podsafe music services
- Podsafe Music Network has changed names: MusicAlley for Media (founded by Adam Curry)
- Music Bakery is a great source
- Magnatune is also good but a little different
-- they are actually a record label
-- if you are a podcaster and you credit Magnatune, they give you a fake CC number to use on their site (using their shopping cart)
-- when you buy an album from them, they give you a code to give that album FREE to five of your friends (great viral marketing strategy)
- Jamendo is good (can search by license)
- Garageband.com lets you use music with attribution
- The Funny Music Project (Dr Demento style)
- Incompetech Royalty Free music
- Promonet is another source
- www.thesixtyone.com is an interesting take on music sharing and exploring, not sure what the sharing rights/terms are tho

Glenn Fry, Casey Kasem, Adam Curry, Linda Ronstadt: They all use/used tweaks in their audio recording boxes to give their voices "that sound"

Chad has developed some cool relationships with people, bands, gotten some good interviews, as a result of using/sharing other's music with attribution

Chad likes to record his own sound effects
- Chad loves SoundSnap

THESE ARE THE MUSIC AND AUDIO SOURCE LINKS THAT WE USE FOR CELEBRATE OKLAHOMA VOICES...

Chad recently bought (as part of Nano bundle from MacHeist)
- highly recommend RipIt and Tales of Monkey Island

In a future episode we'll cover BoinxTV

Audio Hijack Pro is highly recommended

Ambrosia Wiretap Studio is another option for getting audio recorded from different sources

Very good idea to use a consistent intro and outro

Pro tip
- at the beginning of the show tell them, in the first 10 seconds, your name, what the show number is, the date, etc.
- this helps people to figure out if they have heard your show before or not

Always listen to your own podcasts to make sure everything sound-wise is good....

How many episodes should you keep in your feed?
- Chad says keep them all in

I RE-CREATED MY PODCAST AFTER 174 EPISODES, SO MY CURRENT FEED DOESN'T INCLUDE ANY OF THOSE SHOWS, JUST EPISODE 175 ON...
- making it 'easy for people to get to your stuff' is the key

Podiobooks does a great job with a "timed subscription" unique to you, SUPER for audio books you buy and want
- like controlled release

I ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT BUILDING A CUSTOM RSS FEED FOR SEPARATE MEDIA FILES, LIKE PODCHAINS.NET USED TO ALLOW...
- For this Chad suggests using a custom tag in your delicious account, and using the automatically generated RSS feed for that tag
- THIS IS A GREAT TIP! I HAVE REALIZED THAT WAS POSSIBLE PREVIOUSLY BUT HAVEN'T DONE IT

Chad has been doing podcasting since 2005

Chad recommends MailChimp as a great email / mailing list, it is free as long as you don't exceed 500 subscribers

I ASKED A QUESTION ABOUT RECORDING IN THE CLOSET TO MINIMIZE AUDIO SOUND...
- Chad says a photo of Scott Sigler podcasting in his closet made the New York Times
- clothes in your closet is a fantastic audio baffle

SEE THE MARCH 2007 NYT ARTICLE: "Authors Find Their Voice, And Audience, in Podcasts"

Chad has seen portable sound baffles that you can
- can use egg crate foam too (maybe not too firesafe...)

Chat highly recommends that you set up your mic so you can hear yourself, because you can modulate yourself much better than a computer can
- you can do this with Audacity, just turn on the monitor
- be sure to change your software to MONO from STEREO
- latency can be an issue with some setups for this
- getting an external rig with it's own headphone jack can fix that
- firewire boxes like the FireBox also help (much faster than USB)
- firewire is more 'ethernet-ish' because there is no latency
- many musicians won't even record without monitors
- you can use one headphone on, one off too...

Great suggestion for USB from Greg Sudderth: There should be a 'light" when your USB 2.0 is messed up and it is going down to USB 1.0 speeds!
- Koss K-1's are fantastic, old-school headphones
- get the "NPR sound" by turning your head down from the mic, make sure you have enough breath to say what you want to say...

Greg highly recommends "Daniel Odio gives tips and tricks for entrepreneurs" podcast
- he always records himself
- he always gets his stuff transcribed (overseas outsourcing)
- follow Daniel on twitter.com/drodio

THIS WAS AN AMAZING MEETING! SO MANY GREAT TIPS... MY #1 TAKEAWAY IS DEFINITELY TRYING MY NEXT PODCASTING RECORDING WITH MONITORING TURNED ON!

Technorati Tags:
podcast, podcasting, tips, okc, okcpodcasting, audio, podsafe, music, record, narrowcast

Hat tip to Berlin Fang for sharing this video. Berlin gave a great presentation yesterday at the Heartland eLearning Conference here in Oklahoma, on the mobile learning and technology integration work of faculty, staff and students at Oklahoma Christian University. My notes from his session with Luke Hartman are available.

I'd like to know more backstory to this video. Certainly the desire (on the part of faculty / teachers) to CONTROL the learning environment so it mirrors a traditional, entirely teacher-directed environment is strong in many classrooms.

photo credit: sidewalk flying

As Yoda explains to Luke in "The Empire Strikes Back," we must "unlearn" some of what we have learned as students.

Complete control over the student in the learning environment is not and should not be considered a hallmark of educational excellence. As educators, we are ultimately working to empower our students to make good choices and become autonomous learners on their own. We are training the next generation of Jedi. Of course classroom control and classroom management are vitally important, we cannot teach amdist chaos. Total control, however, is a myth and should not be held up as the ideal at the university or the K-12 level.

Apparently the teacher in the YouTube video shown above was a Sith Lord. Hopefully there aren't many of these at your school. Trust me, they're are difficult lot to deal with.

Technorati Tags:
1to1, laptop, video, youtube, professor, made, destroy

Susan Ohanian's March 3rd article, "Politics and Parsnips: Obama's Common Core," resonates with my own views on educational reform and transformation. The Obama administration is continuing to follow the same flawed path as the Bush administration for "school reform." We don't need a centralized, mandated curriculum. We don't need more standards. We don't need more high stakes pressure, more high stakes testing, or more homework for kids.

We need to go back to the basics, but these are not just emphasizing reading, writing, and math. The "basics" of a good education is begin with a GOOD TEACHER. We must stop the drive to discredit and devalue teachers and the professional skills we bring to learning inside the classroom.

photo credit: Kenn!

Scripted curriculum which takes the form of mandated pacing guides, where every teacher in each grade level is expected to be on the same page the same day with all students in a particular grade, is THE ENEMY. The education our children need and deserve is an INDIVIDUALIZED education which meets specific, unique needs, not a factory-model system which treats human beings as widgets to be manipulated on a rigid schedule.

Race to the Top is an effort to coerce our state leaders to buy in even further to the administratrion's flawed vision for changing schools. I reject it, and I vehemently oppose the continued efforts of our elected as well as appointed leaders to discredit teachers, de-professionalize teaching, send the message that anyone who breathes can successfully teach by simply paying to take a test and getting a certificate, and that more high-pressure accountability will lead to excellence. Our leaders are continuing to destroy our public education system, and it's high time we changed course.

I hope documentaries like "The Race to Nowhere" can bring more attention to the flawed educational path we're on in many of our schools and communities, and provide specific ideas for local change agents who are fed up with our continuing lack of leadership on educational issues and want to step forward to make a difference. This film appears to point out (I have not seen it yet, but Matt has) that our "problems in education" are not simply political, they are also CULTURAL. We have toxic, unrealistic cultures of pressure in our schools and communities which need to change. These cultural attitudes and behaviors are OURS as parents, teachers, and community members. We don't have to "just wait on politicians" to start making these changes. We can and should start NOW.

For more of my recent thoughts along these lines, see my February 17, 2010 post, "Will Race to the Top Hurt Kids and Make Charter School Entrepreneurs Rich?"

Hat tip to Gary Stager and Will Richardson for tweeting the link to Susan Ohanian's article.

Technorati Tags:
change, education, learning, politics, documentary, race, top, nowhere, schools

The imminent launch of the iPad has galvanized our children's publishing teams to think about how the work they publish can be reinvented for devices where touch and sound and movement can enhance stories and provide a rich engaging experience for children raised as digital natives. The video below doesn't show real working applications, or even prototypes - more they are imaginings of the things we think we might be able to do and perhaps will be doing. Look out for them in an app store near you soon...

If you can't view this YouTube version in your current location, try the mirrored version on Vimeo.

I can't wait to see what my kids are going to be able to draw on the iPad with Brushes! (I'll just have to figure out how to get a F2F or virtual teacher for them, since I'm a poor artist and don't know how to use Brushes well.... yet!)

Hat tip to Fastcompany via Google Fast Flip.

Technorati Tags:
edtech, technology, video, ipad, children, penguin, imagine

1. One in three (34%) texting teens ages 16-17 say they have texted while driving. That translates into 26% of all American teens ages 16-17.
2. 48% of all teens ages 12-17 say they have been in a car when the driver was texting.
3. 40% say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger.

These statistics should get our attention, but in many cases they don't. Different organizations are attempting to leverage the power of online video to stop this dangerous behavior. Public service announcements (PSAs) which show (in some cases) graphic depictions of violence are controversial and raise questions about the propriety of using shocking images to motivate people to change their unsafe behaviors.

photo credit: indyplanets

In August of 2009, MSNBC published the article, "Is PSA about texting while driving too graphic?" about a video originating out of Gwent, Wales. Some versions of the video have been pulled from YouTube for terms violations. This version, "PSA Texting while Driving U.K. Ad [HD]" is still available. WARNING: This video includes a graphic depiction of a multi-car accident in which several actors are killed.

The state of Utah has launched its "Zero Fatalities" campaign which includes the following fifteen minute video, also aimed at changing teen and other adult drivers' behavior with respect to texting while driving.

Oklahoma librarian Whitney Allen created the Ning project website, "Don't Text and Drive" to focus student attention on the issue of texting and driving. Students from Indiana, Washington, Michigan, and Oklahoma are currently participating, and more are invited to join.

In her K12Online09 presentation, "Digiteens: Digital Citizenship by Digital Teenagers," Georgia teacher and noted edublogger Vicki Davis (CoolCat Teacher) showcased several PSA videos created by her students, including one persuading others not to text and drive.

What do you think of PSAs like the Gwent, Wales, video which are graphic and disturbing? MADD (Mother's Against Drunk Driving) received criticism in the 1980s and 1990s, as I recall, for using graphic images at times to bring attention to the problems associated with mixing alcohol and driving. When you see videos or images like these, it is hard NOT to pay attention. Where do we draw the line when it comes to attention-getting PSAs, however? How is YouTube drawing that line? The stakes are high, so perhaps the line should be at least a bit beyond the range where we are "comfortable" watching a video. We SHOULD be disturbed by the violence and destruction which results from both drinking and driving and texting while driving, and be motivated to change our behavior if we have done these things in the past.

Technorati Tags:
video, youtube, text, texting, driving, violence, psa, gwent, wales, controversy, project

We had a wide assortment of experts writing our Handbook of Blended Learning (HOBLe)

1- models and frameworks
2- problems and solutions

this book is available on the Kindle
- this is pretty expensive though
- I really don't recommend this book
- Randy Garrison and Gary Vaughn: very practical book on blended learning (better one)

Blended Learning in Higher Education: Framework, Principles, and Guidelines by D. Randy Garrison, Norman D. Vaughan

when do these blends make sense

who is demanding fully online and blended learning
- almost everyone in your classroom now expects some kind of blend

Campus Technology: Feb 2010 - Expectations Rising

What can you do?
- everystockphoto.com has images to use to supplement what you are doing
- available for free, to supplement

definitions of blended learning: what is it?

Sloan Foundation is wrong: they say 30 - 80% of a course
- I think any course online 1% or more is blended
- Sloan says that is a "web supplement"

I will give you 10 myths on blended learning

Myth 1: people will know what I am saying when I say "blended learning"
- some are programmatic, some are at the course level, some at the task level

Myth 2: blend is the same as "hybrid"
- corporate like word blended
- military likes word hybrid
- universities like "mixed"

Websters says Hybrid is breeding a mongrel
- I'll stick with blended
- word came about around the same time

Sloan says:
0% traditional
1 to 29% web facilitated
30 - 79% blended/hybrid
80% or more: online

Myth #3: Knowing "how much" to blend is vital

PEW Course Redesign Project
- shows technology DOES make a difference

25 of 30 courses showed a positive impact from the use of technology in the courses, 5 showed no difference

Myth #5: blended learning is hard to define
- events that combine aspects of online and face to face (Rooney, 2003, p 26; others)

Graham, 2006
- has continuum looking at space, time, fidelity, and humanness
- traditional F2F going to computer-mediated

In the future we will just call it "learning environments," we won't talk about blended / elearning

Myth #6: blended learning works everywhere
Where is blended beneficial?
- large classes: spanish, intro psych, algebra, elementary stats, biology)
- classes with working students
- students spread over a distance
- classes with certification
- classes with need for standardization
- new requirements for a profession
- writing intensive classes
- theory classes

In Australia they call helpers "flexible learning consultants"

Correspondence is NOT as good as F2F, but some people don't have that choice to make

today with blogs and wikis, kids are reading thousands of words per week and writing, and they don't even know they are doing it

Examples of blended learning from Margaret Driscoll, eLearning, March 2002
- put assessments/reviews online
- follow-up in community of practice
- put reference materials on the web
- deliver pre-work online
- more

office hours online don't work well

fully online and blended learning advantages
- increased learning (better papers, higher scores)
- course access at one's convenience and flexible completion (multiple ways to meet course objectives)
- increased opportunities for human interaction, communication, and contact among students

also:
- introverts participate more
- more effective pedagogy and interaction
- reduction in physical class or space needs, commuting, parking,

Central Florida Univ: They actually have a ROI calculation

my international / Asian students tend to talk/interact much more online

Myth #7: people learn more in F2F settings

myth #8: faculty can have a logical discussion with administrators about blended learning
- activity level
- course level
- program level
- institution level

instructors are at the top of these options, admins at the bottom
- concerns are different

some instructors blend at the course level

you can do a course-level blend, program-level blending
- Beijing Normal does mix of F2F and blended learning
- Katrina opened up blended learning value

"Snomaggedon" recently on the east coast opened up a lot of faculty / educator minds to the value of blended learning

IBM uses a bookend model, another model is "anchor model" with F2F first

Myth #10: blended learning has exploded at the Univ of Phoenix
- 200K are F2F
- only 2000 are fully online
- Phoenix are trying to convert fully online to blended, because their retention goes up with blended
- Pheonix sees blended as the most powerfulbst model

Brian Linquist, 2006 research

IMB has Four Tier Learning Model (2006)
- from 2006 Hadnbook of Blended Learning, nancy Lewis, VP, and Peter Orton, IBM

THe OUM of Malaysia
Aug 2001: 800 students
2010: over 85,000 students
- just 60 full time instructors
- approx 3000 part-time tutors

Part II: 13 fully online and blended learning problems

Problem 1: you just get students for a week (brief F2F experiences)
- million dollar question: what can you do in 1 week
- do games, simulations, case-studies

list of sample activities for brief meetings
(....too fast to copy or read....)

student problem #2: student absenteeism
- students miss classto attend a conference or event or personal problem arises
- or students ask to watch the class a 2nd time

5 years ago, our university would not record anything for me
- now it is no problem

Berkeley is streaming everything
- I was watching Charles Munger the other day with Warren Buffet, talking about finance

SciVee, Research Channel, doFlick, UC

can alternate online and F2F meetings...

can stream class video for remote students

Problem #4: supplement your class with rich and engaging materials
- I am not teaching a course with a 32 page syllabus, with no books to buy: all articles and resources are on the public web

Khan Academy: videos on math, science, more...

United Nations Digital Library

OpenEd Resources and OpenCourseware: MIT

Problem #5: students want power / want to control the class
- I have students developing WikiBooks

project where students worked in groups to write chapters

Online PD: www.starlinktraining.org

Faculty creating videos about their ideas being commercialized, tech transfer (not sure what Univ that was)

Real-time Cases
- interviewing CIOs, CFOs, etc
- threw away pre-written cases, now has live cases students can stdy
realtime case studies

Collanos (similar to Groove which is gone, similar to SharePoint and Google Docs)

Use expert video for student reflections
- have students watch conferences on the web

recent international conference in the Philippines, keynote speakers came in with pre-packaged videos, then participants asked questions via the web

I hae written an article about 10 ways to build an online community, send me an email and I'll send you that article

MY THOUGHT: WHY ON EARTH WOULDN'T WE JUST GOOGLE THAT OR FIND IT ON HIS SITE? VERY STRANGE REQUEST.....

Problem #10: students need to visualize content
- open simulator

Shared online video demonstrations: Monkey See

Timelines
- HyperHistory
- http://www.simile-widgets.org/timeline/

WOW, THAT TIMELINE TOOL DOES LOOK GREAT!

Have students create an online video, share it, write a reflection paper
- I recommend this as a capstone experience

Explore virtual worlds and online representations

Free podcast shows, language learning like ChinesePod
[WOO HOO, KEN CARROLL!!!!!]

Indexing sounds in cities with Google Maps
- re-enacted Jack Keroac "on the road" as a mashup

Instructor presentation in synchronous sessions
- done as an optional class
- using Breeze / Adobe Connect Pro, Elluminate, others

Archive of Synchronous Session
- I use a grad assistant
- helps with social presence at the

Dr David Perry, Univ of Texas

Trends, implications, challenges
1- faculty and students more mobile
2- students more choices
3- student expectations rise
4- more.....

Again this talk covered....

You can read my book

Chapter 39 on publicationshare.com, last chapter of my book is free...

This talk is on www.trainingshare.com

I WAS ABLE TO THANK DR. BONK AT THE END OF HIS SESSION AND GET A PHOTO

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Presentation is on Prezi

First hearing from Shay Rahm-Barnett

I am all about easy-breezy: I've got kids, a busy life, I need to create things quickly and make a difference

Any time I present audio, I also present text files

I've taught online courses for 9 years, I've helped develop hundreds of courses
- Pink Floyd "leave those kids alone" is SO wrong

I ask kids about online classes they like or did not like
- quotes from students who got lost, found it to be just self-paced
- another said discussions felt like busy work, instructor never interacted with us....
- another said: this was fun, instructor sent related jokes and youtube videos, sent personal emails

get connected through email for starters
- it's cheap and easy

It DOES matter if kids like it
- if we like it and enjoy it, we are going to work harder and learn more
- it is free, easy, most learning management systems have internal mailing systems

I do NOT let my students email me at my "regular" email, only through the LMS
- students can FORWARD their email to their mobile device or someone else
- FORWARD IT!

all students can email!
- I have never had to explain how to email
- I email personal questions

we lecture, we preach, we analyze, we discuss
- everyone likes to "just be talked to"

face to face: we talk to students
- how did the concert go, how is the wedding, etc...
- online courses: you spend hours making it beautiful, and then you pushed the button and went away
- you don't have to be their best friend, but you CAN be nice...

my 6 year old said that's easy: "tell them they are doing good" and my son added "and use their name"
- we all like that carrot at the end of the stick

do the jedi mind trick approach to learning, sneak it in
- approach
- pay it forward

little short email statements

Additional resources will be available online

I'll tell you if you tell me
- check in
- check it out
- check up

this is about how to COMMUNICATE, not just teach
- check in make sure you are still there
- talk to me
- anything you need

Middle of the week: check it out
- send a video clip (last week American Idol video clip on rhetoric)
- usually I use media / video / audio
- I generally ask students to respond, sometimes for points, sometimes not

just before the deadline: I do a check up

"I read the news today, oh boy, about the lucky man who made the grade....:
- didn't we discuss this already?
- drop dead, discussion (last minute to figure something out)
- read it in the news discussion (if you come across something that pertains to OUR world in this class, please share it with us)

I am NOT a fan of weekly discussions
- our discussions are just discussions, not assignments

students don't always like to share / be required to
- I don't believe everyone should have to speak out loud in class
- sometimes people don't want to share

I let students know if you have something to share and you don't want to post it, send it to me and I'll post it

I don't allow anonymous postings to the discussion for a really good reason

SOS / Message in a bottle
- CDQ / SOS texting: I ask students if they want due date reminders (I am trying to get students to keep coming back...)

students are allowed to send me a SOS text
- you can text me in an emergency (you are really confused, something big has gone awry)

I do not do status updates, but I have a good friend at the Univ of North Carolina who does use Facebook / Myspace
- keeps a "school" facebook account
- updates his status there, his students appreciate that

this is simple, but it is about doing what many of us do very readily: TALKING
- I do avatars, it's just talking to them

If you make students feel like you care (and I hope you do) they will work SO hard for you
- I never have to lower the bar
- I keep talking to my kids, telling them they do good, spotlight on them by name
- communicate to motivate

that can take mystified and terrified feeling away
- students are humans, they have humanity
- they are not just "students" and you are not

emotion plays SUCH a big part in our success as a learner

"the day before our papers were due, my professor would send a text reminder. It was really helpful."

How many times do WE need reminders? Why should we get upset about needing to communicate with our students?

Now hearing from Mark McCoy
- have been teaching online since we were teaching online with newsgroups

I'm going to talk about social networks, blogs and Twitter

In 2001, that was WAY back, citing Prensky
- think/process differently
- prefer random access
- prefer graphics before text
- thrive on instant gratification...

I think some of that is still true, but some is not

2009 data from PEW on Internet usage
- teen and young adults converge in enthusiasm for social networking sites

percent of online status using twitter or other status-updating sites: over half

Dec 2007: 24% of 18-29 year olds reported blogging
- by 2009: only 15% reported maintaining a blog (a decline in that same age group)
- this group doesn't blog anymore
- the adults and faculty now blog

THAT IS A STAT I'D NEVER SEEN BEFORE, ABOUT FEWER YOUNG PEOPLE BLOGGING NOW

72% of 18-29 year olds using social networking sites...
- I have aunts and uncles in their 80s who are now on facebook...

my kids: all their emotions are on their sleeves,

Twitter: young adults lead the way
- 1/3 of online 18-29 year olds post or read status updates

instant communication: are you providing a place to discuss?
- can use it as a reminder tool...
- you can keep feeding kids content, and they might not even know they are getting content

Blogs in e-learning
- example: Extreme Biology
- faculty blogs: accounting professor is blogging each day about teaching his accounting course
- really letting himself "out there"

I WONDER WHAT THAT LINK IS?

fstutzman.com/category/teaching: Good blog about social networking

Fred Stutzman post: "Twitter as Courseware"

There are issues with putting content on social networking sites
- we can use these tools to keep communication open
- make it feel like we're in touch with students
- can help motivate

Now hearing from Elaine Bartgis
- course management systems

teach in Criminal Justice
- have been using WebCT since 1997/98: that's when it started
- that was to enhance my courses

I love the tools because they help students
- we all know WebCT is not intuitive, we have to help students

We do have SoftChalk and Wimba Classroom on our campus, plus SitePal
- I have a teaching assistant who is an avatar
- be cautious: you don't want to use too much, too often...

I've had students recognize me F2F and say they recognized me from my avatar!

Instructor to student communications can be done in some cases via Avatars

Soft chalk lets you insert some voice captioning on articles / voice clips

student to student communication important, but also student to student to instructor

I don't use chat very often anymore, partly because now we have Wimba
- I have my office hour in Wimba
- I put students in groups/teams
- student to student interaction is required in my classes: sometimes they don't like it, but it is required

I do chapter reading reviews in Wimba
- test reviews
- breakout sessions: but that tab went away and I don't know why!

Great news: you can Archive it all!
- so everyone does not have to be there live

I NEED TO EXPERIMENT WITH WIMBA FOR ONLINE OFFICE HOURS THIS TERM IN T4T

Story from Shay: used Wimba to connect F2F with a student in the Navy taking a course online (at 3 am!)

Students do like to know what you look like

I have 5 avatars on Sitepal

it is all about keeping students motivated, engaged and active

Shay has story time through Sitepal and the Avatar
- when you text, students don't know if you're being funny or catty

Wimba has voice authoring
- you can record something and then add it to a chapter module
- I was so impressed how easy it was!

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I GOT TO THIS SESSION ABOUT 10 MIN AFTER IT STARTED.... I AM SO THRILLED TO BE ALBE TO HEAR FROM BERLIN, BECAUSE I REALLY HAVEN'T HAD MUCH OF AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN DIRECTLY ABOUT OKLAHOMA CHRISTIAN'S LAPTOP INITIATIVE. ALL STUDENTS THERE HAVE MACBOOK LAPTOPS AND IPHONES / IPOD TOUCHES.

Website where session resources are: ni.oc.edu (blog)

EduCause Quarterly article: From Distraction to Engagement: Wireless Devices in the Classroom By Berlin Fang

very difficult to make the case for using mobile technologies with faculty
- search for YouTube: professors vs gadgets

Big ban theory
- Univ of Memphis Law School cut off Internet access in the dorms
- I don't think this is the answer
- I'm from China, we're familiar with banning technologies
- when you are banning something in the classroom, you are sending very negative messages to students

Messages we hear when restrictive approaches to technology are used:
- Innovator, early adopter, early majory, late majority, my professor"
- I don't rust you can put learning in your own hands"

Contain or channel?
- story: in ancient China there were 2 kings facing flooding problems
- 1 king built a dam, but that never worked
- the 2nd king learned a lesson: he built channels and canals to take the water to where it was needed, and to the sea
- I think this is a very wise strategy
- instead of banning the laptop and technology, we should channel this

Great wall of China:
- didn't start as a tourist attraction
- one of our earliest dynasties built this
- this was one of the shortest lived dynasties in Chinese history
- hopefully we can learn something from this history

lots of faculty members are going to this mobile technology learning concept with lots of screaming and hair pulling
- we've beeen thinking about this and experimenting with it a lot

faculty complain students are distracted, students are not listening to my lectures any more, their device is a wall between them

Jyri Engestrom: Univ of Helsinki: "Historically accumulating ......

standing in front of the blackboard
- movie "Serious Man" screensnap

triangle: message, medium, and method
- most people focus on the medium (laptop, online course)
- actually your teaching METHOD and MESSAGE has to change as well

students should be required to reassemble your content and message in some way

another triangle: subject, object, and community

We encourage faculty to tell students guidelines and rules at the start of class

traditional teaching: teacher is control of EVERYTHING

How NOT to integrate mobile technology
- failing to motivate ("cool" does not motivate faculty)
- creating fear of job security
- having a bad introduction
- taking vendor promises too literally
- leaving tech to take charge
- failing to adapt to change
- having tech dominate teaching

Showing Tom and Jerry cartoon (maid, "sorry to disturb you Master Thomas")
- See WikiPedia article for "Push-Button Kitty"

HQ Tom & Jerry 070 Push Button Kitty

- "that cat must be tenured"
- change comes anyway
- Mechano: The cat of tomorrow
- "progress / the machine age"
- students adapt to the changes

Integration into the classroom:
- motivate learners
- organize content
- be the model
- institute rules
- leverage tools
- evaluate results

Cane's conditions of learning
- 9 instructional events

Iowa State contract with students:
"If your cellular phone is heard by the class, you ar responsible for completing one of two options" (singing a song, etc..)

Enriching the class
- attendance app

Creating opportunities for collaboration
- 3 Amigos analogy

We use wikis for collaboration

Our "InTouch" application on iTunes can be used for students to find each other

Oklahoma Christian instructor who used podcast capture to share his lecture during the blizzard

another example: Extending the classroom, "Food for Thought"
- instructional tech support followed him to the grocery store, to his kitchen
- he has many short videos like this
- I never get paid for extra work like this, but I get good BBQ to eat!

Teach - Listen - Produce --> submit

Mobile rehearsal
- extracts music for different parts, stores it in iTunesU
- students download them, and can listen to them as many times as they want
- students can record their performance using iMovie, and submit it via BlackBoard
- students say they love it, because they are learning at different speeds
- computer tech never tires of playing a song over and over
- mp3 formats: students can also use their mobile devices

I asked Dr Adams why he asked them to record a video instead of

Last example: James Dvorak teaching Elementary Greek

OC iTunesU - 10210SP-REK-5113-01 - Course Video

Now hearing from Luke Hartman

inTouch Native App
- mobile version of MYOC (campus portal)
- converge campus information

Pulls class info from Blackboard
- pulls media, course specific files where instructors can put media files specific to their course

Have LIVE updates from laundry room of available washers and dryers
- menu on demand
- gives access to any type of media
- showing videos plaing within

Used the iPhone simulator to create the video deoms he's using

Feedback app allows for polling
- realtime feedback
- similar to clicker devices

Here app: is attendance taking app
- lets students enter a password that the faculty member gives them
- or faculty members can click on a student's face to take attendance
- easy way to take attendance

WOW: I WANT THIS!

We have 3x5 application: a flashcard app, can create your own flashcards
- can create decks online
- cycles through them

See intouch.oc.edu for iPhone app info

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Kent's presentation resources / links are available on his Ning. He is presenting with Prezi.

Software for Starving Students Project at WOSC

Tech director at WOSC since 1997
- some strange things have happened since then...

There is NOT one single, "killer app" / killer application
- open media
- OER
- Open Courseware

Kent is presenting with Prezi

Who has had this experience: "When I want to learn something why do I go to Google instead of taking the class at the college?"
- Jason Cole, Savannah MoodlleMoot 2004

Unplugging not Unplugged
- there is a difference
- I still like Microsoft...

We ALWAYS ask: is there a free tool equal or better to the commercial product we are interested in?

newspaperdeathwatch.com
- watch which major newspaper is going down the tubes

One slide: this is our strategic plan
- Open aggregation
- Open collaboration
- open software
- open communiation
- open instruction
- open content

WebCT would be $80K if we were not using Moodle
- response to staffing point: we would have to pay for staffing either way

We are likely going to convert our phone system to OpenPBX (now CallWeaver)

Merlot introduced me to OpenContent

Let's discuss open source for a second...
- the hazards of open source are those typically discussed as objections by experts about commercial software....
- I argue: open source projects such as Moodle are perfectly viable from all those perspectives

Good open source projects are written at least as well as commercial products, sometimes the same folks are involved
- enthusiastic communities support them, with developers
- answering questions 24/7
- as opposed to knowledge free call centers for many commercial products
- they are transparency licensed

I argue we have the same staffing now supporting Moodle that we had supporting WebCT
- we ran those in parallel for 3 years

we started to see response times for Moodle come in faster than they would with WebCT
- because we posted questions before bedtime, and generally they were answered by the time we woke up
- that is not necessarily going to happen with every open source tool...

Anyone with enough experience in IT knows that leading, expensive commercial products are often deeply buggy, poorly supported... [legally entangled]

comes down to paid support

The Good, the bad and the Ugly
- there ARE options
- demonstrates a significant user base
- many coders posting regular updates
- backed by VCs, major company, or foundation
- uses one of the standard open source licenses (assuming that the conditions of the license do not preclude your use)

Not thinking that you have an option is the real sad view...

We run DimDim within our Moodle environment

We use OpenOffice

I would rather throw money at an instructor's ability to create and generate content, than spend it on the "content aggregator" (in my world, that's Moodle)

Now discussing the Software for Starving Students project at WOSC (supported out of our IT department)

Mac side is not ready yet
- Kent wants Mac users to contribute more ideas for software programs, so the Mac side of this can be more fully developed!

[KENT: HERE'S MY LIST, EVERYTHING WITH A (F) BY IT IS FREE!]

SitePal avatars can be really effective in eLearning contexts
- we're paying for individual accounts for that particular
- we are going to buy a reseller account so we can manage our subscriptions from a single site

We've integrated TurnItIn into Moodle (I think of that as a content/teaching tool)

From a participant: RapidIntake
- licensed per project, not per user

MY THOUGHT: Sounds similar to Softchalk

We were at the "Textbook Evolution Conference" last week sponsored by TulsaCC

MAN I WISH I HAD KNOWN ABOUT THAT CONFERENCE!!!! SOUNDS GREAT!

Microsoft did a lot to bring consistent "menu-ing" to software applications...

http://gabrielgurley.com is giving away an Open Office textbook

Kent's Ning and website: http://kentbrooks.ning.com

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Curt Bonk's homepage at Indiana University is "Curt Bonk's e-Learning World." His blog is TravelinEdMan (on Blogger) and his wiki project, "Wikis for Research on Intercultural Knowledge and Interactivity" is on WikiSpaces.

Opening comments from the UCO Provost, Dr. William Radke

Great challenge in eLearning is not the technology: It is "engaging" the learners who (as Don Tapscott observes) have "grown up digital"
Tips from Tapscott
1- focus on pedagogy, not technology
2- cut back on lecturing (just as inefficient online as it is in the classroom)
3- empower students to collaborate (online environments have
4- focus on lifelong learning (how to learn)
5- use available technology to get to know students in their classes, and build customized, self-paced courses
6- there should be choice, customization, transparency, collaboration, fun, speed and innovation in the learning experience
7- faculty should consider re-inventing themselves as educators within this new paradigm

These suggestions are difficult to manage in the F2F classroom, as well as online

This is why we're here! To learn what is new in online teaching and learning
- we have the perfect person to set the tone for the day
- Curtis Bonk has had several careers in his short lifetime than most of us will have
- his enthusiasm and intolerance for the mundane must explain this (his diverse background)

Dr Bonk revealed he's recently delivered his 1000th talk around the world on blended learning, elearning, etc.

Keynote address by Dr Bonk:
- several animated GIFs on his opening PPT slide
- he is wearning an Indiana Jones jacket

PDFs for both sessions are available on trainingshare.com

I am currently writing a free book that will have the same chapters as what I'm presenting now, because the publisher I worked with cut out half the book

I was at the Univ of Oklahoma Sunday night about pictures and stories of people who have changed the world

You have to believe in the power of sharing

Is the world flat?
- Vancouver 2005 keynote, I was really thinking about Friedman's book "The World Is Flat"
- first third is really about education
- I wrote to Friedman and corresponded with him, he encouraged me to write the book, "The World is Open"
- we were going to write a book together, but a small publisher convinced me to write alone

Friedman has 3 C's: collaborative technologies
- lets UCO students collaborate with students in the UK, in China, and elsewhere
- this equalized playing field can permit these kinds of collaborations

Friedman talked about the importance of these collaborations
- management processes being flattened

Citing Don Tapscott: person on the shop floor can make a suggestion for changes in personnel and it goes into a wiki or a blog, so the employees have more power
- the same thing is happening in education
- use of technologies give students more power

Tech provides the nature, pedagogy provies the nurture

When I'm in Saudi Arabia, Mexico, then the UK... these all apply

You can learn from Tom Friedman's book, watch videos of his talks at MIT, add comments to his latest book website "Hot, Flat and Crowded"
- I listened to it a 2nd time in my car

The world is not just flat, it is open
- some say it is flat broke

Now showing slide of "The Tne Forces That Flattened the World"

Is the World Curved?

Citing Richard Florida: Is the world spikey?
- cities where people want to go

Or is the world open?
- book: Opening Up Education
- 3 years later this is available via MIT Press, download as PDF
- Yale and MIT are doing this a lot

The world is open wherever I go

We have people like Charles Wedemeyer "Learning at the Back Door" in 1981 speaks to nontraditional learning
- available via Amazon for $1

Through iTunesU and YouTubeU I can learn all kinds of things now

21 Things That Became Obsolute This Decade
- Dec 11, 2009 silicon Alley Insider

15 Gadgets that changed everything this Decade

UCLA Summer Digs Program

You can't take pictures of critical thinking and thought, but you can take photos of kid with technology

People like you and I can go to Chili or Albania, to do archaeology digs

I was an armchair Indiana Jones / Indiana Curt: (put on a hat and got out a whip)
- I can learn things from anyone at any time

Kids from the Philippines can be teaching me something

10 different technology trends have impacted us
- Michael Parham and Zac Sunderland are trying tobe the youngest person to sail solo around the world, blog on it, use skype, youtube, take videos, post pictures
- now Abby Sunderland age 16 and Minoru Saito, age 75, oldest solo sailor

Jason Project: kids can control submarines under the ocean

David Thomas at La Trobe University in Australia, studies Afghanistan and other Middle East areas
- his wife was concerned about him going to Khanddhar
- he studied using Google Earth, finding out about military sites and archeology sites
- Discovery News found out about it

Now showing images from Indiana Jones movies, audio clip playing in the background

Are we all armchair archeologists
- "Their treasure wasn't gold, it was knowledge. Knowledge was their treasure."

Maybe you can't find knowledge online, but you can find bare bones information

WE-ALL-LEARN
- ten forces shaping the world

We have pipes, pages and a participatory learning culture

web 1.0 was about browsing, web 2.0 is about participating in the experience

Now throwing out give-aways and freebees

5% of books in our bookstores now are available online
- this will continue to grow

Ray Kurtzweil reinvents the book as the Blio
- a free platform, run on any device

Free Online Books
- Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi, "Theory and Practice of Online Learning"

Cory Doctorow giving away his eBook
- he dropped out of college 4 times, and became a fellow at USC
- finds many more people buy his book because he is giving it away

Read, Listen, etc to online books ("An International Episode" by Henry James"
- it is on the Internet Archive
- I can download it, comment on it, and listen to that book

The Internet Archive doesn't want Google Books to win
- so Microsoft threw in the white flag

Check out The Open Content Alliance on the topic of open content

Lots of people were reluctant about online learning in China till SARS, in Louisiana till Katrina, in K-12 schools till H1N1

Shaquille O'Neal got his degree online in a blended environment from Phoenix University

Oprah has had thousands of people simultaneously downloading content, using skype, etc

Gates Foundation, Jan 10 letter: will address online learning this year

Indiana Univ High School: 4000 students and 1400 enrolled in diploma programs
- could someday be bigger than Indiana University
- my child will be enrolled this year when we take a boat through the Caribbean for two months later this year

Capella Tower was named for learning, formerly "The Halo" in Minneapolis

iSMART: Integration of Science, Matheatics and Reflective TEaching
- free Masters degree for math and science teachers

UCO: Transformative Learning initiatives
- active learning classrooms
- example at Univ of MN
- Univ of TX: starting new degree completion program for people who have SOME college credits but haven't finished yet

Penn State has a world campus

Universities are rethinking themselves, and the idea of face to face learning and instruction
- this is a healthy thing that is happening

Sloan Foundation: online is growing by 17% per year and more in some places
- some universities
- Central Florida largest university because of online enrollment

some legislature mandates: Michigan requiring some online learning
- Florida mandating K-12 options online

These things make people take notice

Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United Sates (Jan 2010, Sloan-C report)
- if you want validation about online education, look at Stanford and USG meta-analysis

Growth is really at associates and doctoral levels

Data: Univ of Central Florida
- has over 1 million student credits analyzed
- "Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies"

Central Florida has a plan, a vision, for how they will grow

Third opener: availability of open source and free

Linux, Apache, Moodle, Sakai

- Sakai is now a pretty good tool

Blackborg is now buying out everyone....

Moodle: 32+ million registered users in 2008 countries, 3+ million courses, 2/6/2010
- Martin didn't like WebCT so he built his own version and invited others to built it with him

Opener 4: leveraged resources and OpenCourseWare (OCW)
- free courses from MIT, Utah State, CORE, OOPS
- all 1900 courses from MIT are now available free

BUT WHAT DOES "THIS COURSE IS AVAILABLE FREE" REALLY MEAN?

- audio quote from Jack Sparrow

Book "Free" by Chris Anderson
- unabridged version is available free, abridged version is paid

now we call pirating "sharing"...

Examples of profs who teach free online: George Siemens and others

Berkeley professor teaching via her YouTube channel
Stanford on iTunes

The OOPS Project: Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System
- translating MIT content in OOPS network in Chinese worldwide
- he is a celebrity in Taiwan
- he has the largest network of volunteer translators in the world

translated Lord of the Rings into Chinese and became a multi-millionaire

Sample OpenCourseWare Projects
- Tufts, Johns Hopkins
- no instructor behind this, but this is "level 1 knowledge"

Declaration of Open Education is available to sign
- Jimmy Wales one of the original signers (one of 30)

University of the People: Peer2Peer University
- Neeru Paharia is behind it
- hopes to have accreditation some day

Opener #5: open access journals
- Article on move to public access journals in Chronicle

Fora.tv is one of the sites I love for public tv access
- link television too
- TV Lesson has lessons on TONS of stuff

Tracking live internet thawing of biggest squid ever found: a colossal of an idea

Ida: a transitional species
47 million year old Darwinius Masillae Fossil the missing link?
- wowOwow May 20, 2009
- researchers found out about this the same time the public did
- this is a BIG change

Cambridge coming out with Complete Works of Charles of Darwin
- people find out about letters to his wife, works that weren't published, he had a laptop computer [joke - grin]

The Carlyle Letters Exploring Victorian World Through Letters and the Diary of Samuel Pepys

- The Victorian Peeper: Nineteenth-century Britain through the looking glass

these portals of rich, real world content for literature classes, social studies classes, global studies classes: Fantastic

works of Captain Cook, Sir Issac Newton, many others...
- now available for the world to access and see

Sharing repositories and referatories
- Merlot.org
- Connexions
- National Repository of Online Courses, OER Commons

Six years later, lots of sharing

Opener #6: Learner participation in open communities
- we have YouTube.edu, TeacherTube
- academic earth

WikiPedia and YouTube are to thank for much of this

WikiSource has original John Dewey, more
WikiQuotes
WikiBooks: where my students write books with students around the world
- things are free, students can own and share their own knowledge

CoolCatTeacher streamed my talk last year [DIDN'T MENTION VICKI DAVIS' NAME]

We can all create our own TV programs with Ustream
- the power to create a podcast, a blog, a video

I'm having my students do videos on YouTube

The Queen is uploading videos to "The Royal Channel" on YouTube

Individual Produced Videos: African School Dream in CurrentTV

Participatory eBooks: The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It
- published a few years ago
- annotations can be added

Yochai Benkler's book "The Wealth of Networks" free as a wiki

Scribd: Documents on Web
- my qualifying exams are up there
- has free books, free papers
- communities form around documents
- old graded homework assignments are up there
- this is YouTube for text

Opener #7: Collaboration
- collaborate or die

synchronous conferencing presentations
- I gave a keynote over the Internet to China last year

I WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE IN THIS AUDITORIUM ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED AT THIS POINT? I WONDER IF THAT IS THE POINT HE IS MAKING?

The next Generation of Videoconferencing: Chronicle of HE, 21 Oct 2009
- North Carolina working on holographic videoconferencing

Adventure Learning: GeoThentic, GoNOrth (National Geographic)
- Aaron Doering, Univ of Minnesota

[WHAT A THRILL AND PRIVILEGE IT WAS TO MEET AARON IN CHINA LAST NOVEMBER. HE REALLY IS AN AMAZING PERSON AND PROFESSOR!]

Opener #8: Alternate Reality Learning
- online massive gaming, simulations, and virtual worlds (Second Life)

Medical simulations in SL, lots possible in virtual worlds
- University of Texas

Opener #9: Real-Time Mobility and Portability
- iPhone, low cost mobile devices

4 years ago I was upset at my son for playing Halo
- now: social networking gaming: Farmville
- 90 million people raising goats and pigs, corn crops, etc.

What has happened to Grand Theft Auto, we don't hear anything about this
- violence

maybe we're finally at the age of edu-tainment

Now there are initiatives about ebooks every day

Announcements about mobile learning coming out every day
- $2 app lets you play your iPhone as a flute or a horn
- people becoming flutists at dinner that night after someone who heard my talk downloaded the App

Pocket School Project from Stanford
- your teacher is in your pocket
- as a migrant worker in Mexico or Honduras, you can rent to own for $1 per month

[I THINK MIGRANT WORKERS FROM THOSE NATIONS WOULD BE IN THE U.S.]

40,000 new mobile subscribers a week in Rwanda
- Africa is the continent with the fastest growth
- this is where LOTS of things are happening fast

Terabyte thumb drives and magic pens: The Pulsepen from Livescribe: $130

WikiReader, TwitterPeek: people want to use these tools

Opener #10: Personalized learning
- podcasts
- shakespearecast.com

Facebook: we should be thinking about academic uses of these social networking platforms
- Harriett Schwartz Chronicle of higher ed: Facebook: The New Classroom Commons

[IRONICALLY THAT ARTICLE IS LOCKED UP BEHIND A SUBSCRIPTION LOGIN.... SO MUCH FOR OPEN CONTENT, CHRONICLE OF HE]

At Purdue Univ: They have the "twitter hot seat"
- twitter posts in the background
- I'm not sure if I'd want this as a keynote speaker....

ChinesePod
- videos with podcasts
- sell premium content around free content

Livemocha: sign up to learn or teach a language
- founder left Blackberry to create Livemocha
- 29 languages, 160 hours of lessons....

Predictions for the future
- audio quotation from Darth Vader: "Indeed you are powerful as the emperor has foreseen."

[THAT IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIE QUOTES!]

1- five billion "have nots" have at it!
2- emergence of lifelong super ementors/coaches
3- quarter century learning clubs
4- terabyte learning access points
5- veneration of learning
6- personalization+ portfolios
7- selection of global learning partners
8- shared learning era
9- teaching-learning perpetuities
10- teachers, teachers
11- rise of the super blends
12- more....

We're going to have laptops that cost $10, fold out screens, lots of great stuff

everyone wants to teach someting to someone...

lots of options available, choose widely

All notes and more on:

slides: www.traininghshare.com
papers: www.publicationshare.com
book: www.worldisopen.com

Technorati Tags:
education, heartlandconf10, uco, distance, distributed

If you had 2 minutes to convince your State Board of Education that library and information literacy standards needed to be passed, what would you say?

Please chime in with your own thoughts and suggestions.

I think part of your persuasion strategy can focus on the exemplary work of other states in this regard. Point out states that have adopted these kinds of standards and their reasons for doing so. I would push for adoption of existing national standards already endorsed / blessed by professional organizations rather than advocating for new standards you write yourselves. Find out what issues have the attention of the governing board members who will make this decision. Are they focused on reducing dropouts? Securing RTTT funds? A workforce / competitiveness agenda? Tailor your strategy to make sure it addresses those perspectives and goals you know are important to the decisionmakers.

Good luck!

photo credit: tantek

According to the article:

Last year a San Francisco Superior Court judge dismissed 600 potential jurors after several acknowledged going online to research the criminal case before them.

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon challenged her misdemeanor embezzlement conviction after discovering five jurors "friended" one another on Facebook during the trial.

And a federal judge in Florida declared a mistrial after eight jurors admitted Web surfing about a drug case.

Twitter and social media use guidelines have been adopted by some federal courts to address these issues:

"You may not use any electronic device or media" in connection with the case, the recommended federal instructions admonish. They also bar visits to "any Internet chat room, blog, or website such as Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, YouTube or Twitter."

The guidelines were developed "to address the increasing incidence of juror use of such devices as cellular telephones or computers to conduct research on the Internet or communicate with others about cases," according to a memo to federal judges from the committee's chief, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson of Topeka, Kan.

"Such use," the judge noted, "has resulted in mistrials, exclusion of jurors, and imposition of fines."

Just as judges in our courts are recognizing the need for "social media guidelines," some educational leaders are recognizing the need for these guidelines in our schools as well. Social media guidelines go beyond acceptable use policies (AUPs) and rules. They are guidelines designed to catalyze CONVERSATIONS about appropriate and inappropriate uses of digital technologies in various contexts, and to GUIDE individuals as they make decisions about when to use or not use available technology tools.

While it may be appropriate for courts to ban mobile technologies, this is NOT the correct choice for our schools and centers of learning. If educators as well as parents continue to abdicate the responsibility to help students learn "digital discipline," who is going to meet this dire societal need? We each need to step up to the plate.

Karen Montgomery and I presented a session at the 2009 National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) on social media guidelines for schools, and created a Facebook group with the same focus / theme. In our Powerful Ingredients 4 Blended Learning (PI4BL) workshops, we encourage schools to adopt social media guidelines as part of ongoing efforts to proactively leverage the constructive power of social media and other digital technologies.

The Social Media Guidelines wiki project is a great place to start to find examples of social media guidelines adopted by different schools. Cell phones, text messaging, and the issues which arise when learners of ANY age choose to use (or mis-use) these tools are NOT going away. We all need to discuss and practice digital discipline. Next time you have jury duty, remember to leave your smartphone behind and take a printed book to read while you wait!

photo credit: Cayusa

For an excellent window into current trends with social media and digital technologies, see the PBS Frontline special and website, "Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier." This documentary aired in February 2010, and is available in its entirety online.

Technorati Tags:
education, facebook, school, twitter, myspace, court, juror, jury, ban, socialmedia, media, policy, guideline

photo credit: dmpop

Whether or not students and teachers are presently part of a 1 to 1 learning initiative, the focus of activities which involve computers should regularly extend beyond MEDIA CONSUMPTION. There can be no creativity without content creation. Students should regularly create, communicate, and collaborate with their digital technologies as a part of the formal curriculum both inside and outside the traditional classroom. On this topic, Bender notes:

Netbooks today all look the same, and all do the same thing, and the innovation is really happening on smartphones. So I challenged [2009 attendees at the netbook World Summit] the netbook community to wrestle back their innovative lead, and to frame it in terms of what you can do with a netbook that you can’t do with a phone. At some level, they are all just computers. But a netbook has a bigger screen, it has a keyboard, and there is a certain level of expression and creativity that those affordances give you that you are going to be hard pressed to do on a phone. A lot of people shoot video on a phone, but not many edit video on a phone. On phones, a lot of people type text messages, but very few people write essays. On a phone a lot of people will play a game, but very few will write a game.

This echos the advice of Nicholas Negroponte in the March 2010 issue of The Rotarian magazine.

On the subject of creativity and how to perceive a netbook, Bender discourages us from getting "...caught up in thinking about netbooks as doing everything that [laptop and desktop] computers do, only less expensive[ly]." These are key ideas. In his January 2010 presentation announcing the iPad, Apple CEO Steve Jobs talked about it as "a third category device." One of the biggest things the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch have going for them at this point is the iTunes App Store. Google is expected to launch its own app store for its Android operating system this week. As educators and advocates for engaged digital learning, we need to remember the core focus of these "app stores" is the consumer market, not the educational market and our needs as learners. Certainly there are numerous iPhone / iPod Touch applications which DO have direct and powerful uses for traditional as well as non-traditional learning, but the primary focus of the app stores is high volume, consumer sales. Bender advocates not simply embracing a consumer focus on mobile apps" and doing stuff we've always done with laptops, but instead REINVENTING operating systems (like his group continues to do with Sugar) which specifically address the unique needs of education, students and teachers. Bender explains:

I like to describe Sugar as an example of bucking the status quo. We’ve got a problem to solve around learning and education, and rather than bringing our problem to the existing tools, we said we’re going to make tools to deal with our problem. And there are lots of other problems out there that aren’t education, where people are going to say “we can build x, y, or z for our problem,” and that is where the innovation is going to happen. That’s very different from what you see happening in the smartphone world, where there are a phenomenal number of apps, but most of them are pretty trivial. The netbook industry is talking about doing that—Intel is doing their Moblin app store, for example. I’m not sure an app store is the right way to do it, but it will at least get people excited about the kinds of innovation that Litl did and that Sugar did at OLPC and continues to do.

Intel's AppUp Center is currently available as a Windows-OS download only, but Intel promises it will soon also support MobLin (Mobile Linux) platforms. I have experimented with early versions of Sugar on my XO Laptop, but have not played with the "Blueberry" version yet. Mark Ahlness, a 4th grade teacher in Seattle and avid XO Laptop user, recommends using Xtra Ordinary 2010 as an alternative desktop environment to Sugar. Yesterday Mark tweeted me a link to the January 2010 OLPC News article, "Xtra Ordinary 2010: the XO Laptop OS Evolved," which gives more background on the environment. I need to play with both these desktop environment options for the XO laptop and other netbooks, and hope to carve out some time to do so in the weeks ahead.

The enhanced eBook reading AND creating tools in the Blueberry version of Sugar are one of the most significant features which grab my attention. I'm a big advocate of helping students not only develop their individual identities as avid READERS, but also as avid writers, illustrators, and AUTHORS. On the subject of eBooks, Bender states:

Yes, we’ve always had an e-book in Sugar, but it was never really more than a placeholder. We basically put a wrapper around a technology called Evince, a PDF viewer, and we didn’t do much with it until Blueberry, when we really had an all-out push. The other thing we have done is to put a text-to-speech engine into the reader so that kids can have books read to them.

We also continue to put an emphasis on the notion of writing to read—that one way you learn to read is by writing and having some incentive to read because you’re communicating with other people. So we’ve been trying to expose some pretty neat tools for making multimedia books that were always built into Sugar but were buried or hidden. There is a technology in Sugar called E-toys that was originally done by Alan Kay and his team, and it’s got built into it a very nice multimedia document system. There is a teacher in New York who has been doing a lot of work having kids using E-toys to make documents for a science class. It’s a really rich environment for doing science—it’s the whole idea of a lab notebook and communicating what you’re doing and engaging in critical dialogue.

I'm eager to give these multimedia book authoring tools a virtual spin!

Whatever desktop environment and operating system we happen to be running, it's reasonable to assert computing the cloud is a BIG deal and we're going to continue to see more computer use "migrate" into the cloud. In this interview, Bender calls the forthcoming Google Chrome Operating System (OS) an elephant in the room of all netbook conversations:

... But the big question is where things are going with Chrome OS, and what is a Chrome OS computer going to look like. There is an elephant in that room.

The next version of Sugar from SugarLabs is due out later this month or in April, and is going to be called "Cloudberry." Bender explains:

Well, one teaser I’ll give you is that the working name for the next release of Sugar on a Stick is “Cloudberry.” It’s a wonderful berry that grows in the Lapland region of Finland—a little orange-colored raspberry that they use to make a really nice liqueur. But as the name suggests, we’re really going to try to beef up a lot of the cloud features in the next release. Part of it would be things like using the cloud for storage, and part of it flips the other way, having the cloud locally on your machine, using Google Gears-like stuff. We have a bunch of extensions to Sugar already that we haven’t put into the main release that allow you to move your work offline and then redistribute it–so for example a teacher could go find something online at home, then bring it into the classroom, and have the kids work on it, even though it was originally a Web app. I had a Google Summer of Code student working on that last summer, and its been getting closer to being ready.

These developments sound exciting, and bode well for educators as well as students. As we continue to use digital devices to power our own learning and (hopefully) facilitate student learning, let's remember Walter Bender's exhortations to CREATE and SHARE with our devices. Let's find more ways to help students CREATE music on their computers, not simply listen to and consume music made by others. The same goes for written texts and videos. We need more student Storychasers!

There can be no creativity without content creation. What are you creating today?

Technorati Tags:
author, book, olpc, literacy, writing, sugar, sugarlabs, xolaptop, 1to1, cloudberry, cloud, computing, blueberry, authoring

Our workshop agenda and all our resource links for today are available on our PI4BL wiki. This is the Google Presentation we'll start with today: An Invitation to Move Your Learning!

photo credit: One Laptop per Child

We need to be helping our own children and the children in our schools learn to write and create computer programs with free software like Scratch and Squeak. I don't care that this activity isn't in the "state standards" in Oklahoma or most likely the rest of the states in our nation. We need to do it not because a committee legislated it as a mandate, but because this is the RIGHT thing to do. Negroponte addressed this need in this March 2010 article, stating:

OLPC was officially created in 2005, but we didn’t wake up in 2005 and decide to build a $100 laptop. Seymour Papert’s theories about children and learning were developed after he worked with Jean Piaget in Geneva. Papert came to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and started to work at what he called “teaching children how to think.” He realized that if children could write computer programs, the act of writing a program was the closest they could come to learning about learning itself. That’s true, because when you write a program, it never works the first time. You have to debug it. Papert’s position was that the act of debugging was learning about the learning process.

Later this month in Oklahoma, we're expecting around ten schools to be awarded a portion of the $6.5 million in ARRA TitleIID funding given to our state by the deficit-loving Obama administration and our complicit Congress. I'm very glad to see some of our state leaders recognizing the IMPERATIVE for 1:1 learning in our schools. We do NOT need to put $1000 devices in the hands of all the schoolchildren in our state, however. We need to put $200 devices in their hands, because $200 devices can be used in remarkably constructive, creative, and transformative ways AND those costs can be sustained EVEN in a time of ridiculously low funding levels for public education. On this topic in the article, Negroponte stated:

Whether teachers have paper and pencils or books is a secondary issue. By all means, train teachers and build schools, but it’s going to take years. In the meantime, is there a way to leverage the children themselves? There are roughly a billion children in the world. You can go to the countries where we go and find half the kids not in school. In exceptional cases – girls in Afghanistan, for example – it is often too dangerous. Children are so good; they learn so much by interacting with the world. In 2003, my son, Dimitri, went to Cambodia and started a school. I sent him Panasonic Toughbooks. The kids were bringing the laptops home. That changed the whole fabric of the village. I asked, looking at a cute picture of the kids holding up their laptops, what in this picture is not going to happen by normal market forces? In the background of the picture was a satellite dish, but to me it was the laptop that was important. Normal market forces were not going to lower the cost, because every time the cost goes down, the industry adds more features... I’ll give you an example: Learning English in the rest of the world is an issue because the people who teach English can’t speak it. If you sit in the back of an English class at our school in Cambodia, you wouldn’t even know they were teaching English. It’s not intelligible. But now kids can do short text messaging or go to the Web site and download English and hear it. They can do things that just couldn’t happen before. Books? We could put 100 books on a laptop and just fractionally touch the memory. Then you ship 100 laptops into a village. Each laptop can have 100 different books. Now, in a small village in the middle of Africa, you can have 10,000 books. Talk about the economics of books – this is the most economical way to get them to an entire village. You go to Ethiopia today, and there are kids who write computer programs in the Squeak language. You don’t find kids in this country writing computer programs in first and second grade. When a country does not have an established telecom infrastructure, in a sense they can leapfrog with some of the pieces.

I'm just as excited as anyone you'll find on the street or in your school about the iPad and Apple Technology. But you know what? I say, "Bring on the netbooks." Because they don't just run "junk software." They CAN run amazing software like Sugar, and incredibly powerful as well as collaborative software like Google Apps for Education. The learning revolution of which you and I are a part ain't just for the rich kids and parents. It's for everyone. This is one of the reasons Negroponte's work inspires me so strongly. Our advocacy for better learning opportunities shouldn't be limited to the wealthy schools in the rich, white suburbs. It should be for ALL the urban kids living in the cities, and for all the rural kids living out in the sticks too. Sure, I'll buy an iPad and I'm sure I'll love it. But I'll be even more excited when ALL the kids in our state, poor as well as rich, have a laptop computer from which they can access and collaborate with the world.

photo credit: curiouslee

Do we care about our kids and their learning, or are we still willing to believe the hypnotic swan song of ignorant and ill-informed politicians who are driving our public education system off a cliff to oblivion? For those who continue to make the ridiculous claim, "We can afford it," I point them to Negroponte's words in this article:

... Here [in the United States] we spend thousands of dollars per child per year on primary education. When you spend that amount and you add or subtract a laptop, it’s economically insignificant. It’s also sort of an accessory to a big educational machine, whether you think it’s working well or not. When you go to a country that is only spending $100 a year per child, to spend $20 or $30 of that on a connected laptop on a prorated, yearly basis is a huge difference. Rwanda this year alone is spending 20 percent of its education budget on laptops – OLPC computers, it turns out.

Bring on the learning revolution, and bring on the laptops. Can we please elect some state and national leaders who clearly understand these needs, and have the courage to ACT in the interests of our children?

photo credit: curiouslee

Hat tip to my Dad for sharing this article with me.

Technorati Tags:
edtech, education, laptop, school, technology, olpc, inspire, inspiration, change, leadership, politics, nclb, obama

Celebrate Kansas Voices is a statewide digital storytelling project empowering learners to become digital witnesses, archiving local oral history and sharing that history safely on the global stage of the Internet. Our project is starting in 2010, based on the successful Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project which started in 2006.

Visit Celebrate Kansas Voices

Cyndi Danner-Kuhn (K-State College of Education) and Dean Mantz (director of technology, Sterling, Kansas) presented this week at the Mid-America Association for Computers in Education (MACE) conference in Manhattan, Kansas, with me about CKV. The start of this pilot project, following the model of our successful (and ongoing) Celebrate Oklahoma Voices project, is well timed. In 2011, Kansas will celebrate its Sesquicentennial for 150 years of statehood. At MACE this year we were able to connect with Mary Madden, Director of Education and Outreach for the Kansas Historical Society, along with other staff members. Yesterday I heard KSHS staff member Michael Church present on "Kansas Memory: Real Stories, Real People" about their phenomenal Kansas Memory website.

The presentation we shared yesterday and today here at MACE is available as a Google presentation.

Dean also put together a great collection of digital storytelling links and resources using Livebinders, which is a free tool similar to ShareTabs.

We are tentatively (with 95% certainly) planning on conducting a 2.5 day Celebrate Kansas Voices workshop at the KSU College of Education in Manhattan this summer on August 4, 5 and 6, 2010. To stay updated about available workshops and the continuing development of this pilot initiative, please join our Celebrate Kansas Voices learning community.

Sharing the launch of this project at MACE has been wonderful not only to share this idea and opportunity with Kansas teachers, but also to learn about other oral history / community history champions in Kansas. Personal networking is SO important for facilitating projects like this. If you know of others interested in Kansas history, Kansas oral history, community history, etc. please share Celebrate Kansas Voices with them and encourage them to also join our learning community. This project is open to anyone, not just Kansas teachers.

It's going to be exciting to share and extend the successful COV model we've developed in Oklahoma over the past three years here in Kansas!

Technorati Tags:
kansas, celebrate, voices, ckv, storychaser, storychasers, sesquicentennial

Bob Lee is the district technology director in Pratt, Kansas. Was a former band director for 10 years.

Got selected as an ADE recently, was a real thrill. There are 12 of us around the state of Kansas, about a thousand around the world.

Last year I attended the ADE Institute at Full Sail University, created this presentation using "The Challenge-Based Learning Framework"
- this idea of remix was part of our institute this summer
- our projects at ADE camp are usually content for the Apple Learning Interchange

Apple has introduced a new framework for classroom learning called "Challenge-Based Learning"

REALLY THIS IS A PROPRIETARY NAME THAT APPLE HAS COME UP WITH FOR PBL, WHICH HAS BEEN AROUND A LONG TIME

Our definition for remix: A framework / workflow that enables students to .... [TOO FAST, COULDN'T COPY THAT]

Big idea: personalize learning

Apple took all 150 of us at the institute, and brainstormed the ways to make learning personal
- mashups really intrigued the six people in my group
- there were 20 different groups

Our essential question: How can we, as teachers, promote an environmetn where students can freely safely remix content to personalize their learning?

A few guiding questions:
- what is personal learning?
- how and why do students create?
- what is appropriate, valid information?
- where would content come from?
- how do we educate students about "proper" remixing
- are kids doing remix already?
- aren't term papers an example of a remix?
- what 21st centiury skills are tied to remixing
- how do we evaluate content
- how do we create opportunities....

big takeaway: it is not a collage: you must insert new meaning

guiding activities:
- full sail student interviews
- searched for remix examples
- researched and discussed remix
- researched creative commons

respecting copyright is a big deal and very important in this context

At Full Sail you can get a bachelor's degree in 31 months (just over 2 years)

THIS MAKES ME THINK IT WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE A REMIX ACADEMY THROUGH STORYCHASERS: A MULTI-DAY EVENT FOCUSING ON CREATIVE CONTENT SHARING

Guiding Resources
- examples of Remix Projects

mD-KS7NtBM

vch-Z9ccHTk

remixitade2010

Britney Spears - Oops (cover song)

http://twitter.com/eebsofresh
http://myspace.com/eebmusic
http://facebook.com/eebmusic

INTERESTING PUSHBACK HERE FROM A PARTICIPANT, QUESTIONING HOW THIS COULD POSSIBLY BE LEGAL UNDER COPYRIGHT
- I MENTIONED THE WORK OF TEMPLE UNIVERSITY'S MEDIA EDUCATION LAB ON "TRANSFORMATIVENESS" IN REMIXING AND COPYRIGHT

Kutiman-Thru-you - 07 - Just a Lady

A PARTICIPANT MENTIONED THE SITE www.teachingcopyright.org
- SOME PARTICIPANTS HERE ARE VOCALLY DISTURBED AT THE IDEA OF DOING THIS KIND OF REMIX AT SCHOOL, WHICH THEY PERCEIVE AS ILLEGAL

Solution: create a framework / workflow that enables students to remix content to construct relevant, personalized learning experiences

R = reflect
- pre-planning
- who is my audience, what is my purpose, what is my message, what did I take away from last time that can improve my project this time?

R = Research
- what sources are there
- how will I mreix
- what's been done before
- what was the message
- how do I evaluate the quality of the message?

We had lots of copyright discussions
- Creative Commons has given us a great way to use other people's works

THE CC RESTRICTION AGAINST DERIVATIVE WORKS IS KEY TO DISCUSS HERE. IN COV WORKSHOPS WE SHOULD HIGHLIGHT THIS MORE. OF COURSE IT'S A CRITICAL FIRST STEP TO JUST GET EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS AWARE OF CC

P = Personalize
- how do my explorations affect my message
- have my ideas been improved by others?
- how will my message be expressed in an original form using the creative works of others?
- have I assigned teh proper credit?
- am I creating a new, original work with a personalized message?

THAT LAST QUESTION IS CRITICAL / KEY IN TERMS OF TRANSFORMATIVENESS

I = Invent and Incorporate
- Create
- what tools am I using to create this?

X = Exhibit and Share
- Publich
- how will I make components of my creations available for others to incorporate in their work?
- How will content be tagged and shared so the individual image,sounds, photos, etc can be used by others?
- what if authors of content are worried about people changing their meaning
- what if I don't want someone misrepresenting me or my work?
- can you remix a remix?

teachers get really nervous when students want to do this type of project
- teachers are not use to living in this world of media

we wanted this workflow to help teachers, as a framework
- we created a video

We are presenting this session at ISTE in Denver this summer
- we hope to have a lot of student work examples by then

Flo TV superbowl ad

The Who My Generation FloTV Super Bowl 44 Will.I.Am - Moments

Stand By Me by Playing for Change

Another educational example, remixed by ADE Marco Torres in 24 hours
- asked for other ADEs to record Kipling's "If" poem
- got 89 different sound files
- this is an entirely new work, for an existing poemn

All resources for this session are on http://pratt.usd382.com/teachpages/blee/blog/?page_id=156

MY QUESTION: DO YOU HAVE A SITE IN YORU DISTRICT TO SHOWCASE THESE TYPES OF EXAMPLES?
- BOB SAID THEY ARE WORKING ON IT

Technorati Tags:
#mace2010, apple, kansas, mace2010, remix, video, ade, full, sail, fullsail, ade2009, youtube, creativity, framework

Edmodo is online at www.edmodo.com

Edmodo has made me rethink how I give assignments. It has made my classroom close to paperless, given my students access to their assignments 24/7, and made my grading much more efficient since it can be done online. I cannot imagine my classroom without it now. (a Salina English teacher who works with Janet Sauber)

This has also caused the teacher to rethink how she grades student work. Assignments go back to kids via Edmodo. She still "bleeds" on larger / longer student work, but keeping everything electronic makes it so much more convenient to grade at home

Edmodo provides a way for students to collaborate with each other outside of school.

Anyone can sign up as a teacher on Edmodo
- students could theoretically sign up for their own Edmodo area/account
- you do want to monitor their account, you can contact Edmodo support
- Mr O'Hara is the owner and creator of Edmodo and he will delete those accounts for you if you want

When you sign up, Edmodo does ask how you would like to be addressed. Email is not required for teachers or students, but highly recommended for teachers especially
- once you setup a class you get a "group code" as a key to get into your class

I serve 800 students and about 200 teachers
- my goal is every student would have an account, and each teacher would use their account
- to join another teacher's account, the students don't need to create another account, they just need the GROUP code

For student usernames
- say "only put in your real name if you want credit for the work you do"
- this is important

For passwords in our school, we are trying to get kids to use the same password that is associated with their student ID

Teachers who sign up can join other teachers' groups using that group code

I recommend you also create a "fake" student account, so you can go in and check what the students see (the student view)
- you can use that as a demo account to use with students
- also I recommend you setup a test class

When you create a class, click the pencil icon beside the class icon and change the color for that entire class
- THIS LOOKS VERY SIMILAR TO THE WAY YOU CHANGE THE COLOR

Be aware: kids CAN/COULD join this class with different accounts, and sabotage the class.... posting as an anonymous user
- after you give that code to students, I recommend you reset the code so kids can't join with different IDs

THIS IS A GREAT TIP

Edmodo has setup some nice FAQs and tutorials on edmodo.pbworks.com
- Edmodo just changed the opening screen, so things have changed a bit

Edmodo Video Tutorial

How to create your own Avatar image to use online

Under settings you can change your Avatar: can be symbol, doesn't have to be their face, there are available options provided too if they don't want to upload an Avatar

Big issue: You cannot moderate what students post
- you can delete something but not

I have found, esp with Seniors, they tend to really monitor themselves
- you as the teacher tell them they'll be grounded from Edmodo for a week
- because there are individual accounts, there is accountability

Students CANNOT message each other privately in Edmodo, everything either goes into everyone in the class, a group a student is a member of,

Give kids time for some chatty socializing
- the teacher I work with just has 1 class of sophomores that are still doing that mindless chatting
- the more content you have, the further it moves down and harder it is to 'mine' for it

There are different filters you can apply
- an ALERT just has a color flag

Teachers can create groups, student accounts can't
- again if a student creates an Edmodo account as a teacher, they could create groups from that account

INTERESTING DISCSUSSION HERE AMONG PARTICIPANTS, CONCERNED ABOUT STUDENTS BEING ABLE TO CREATE 'NON-SANCTIONED' GROUPS... SOMEONE SAID, IF THEY DO THIS THEY "JUST CREATED ANOTHER FACEBOOK...."
- THIS RAISES THE SANDBOX ISSUE: WE NEED TO HAVE SPACES LIKE THIS FOR STUDENTS TO USE AND CREATE / INTERACT IN
- MY THOUGHT: WITHOUT CONTENT CREATION, THERE IS NO CREATIVITY

You can create a Note or a Link, or send a File - create assignments and send polls too!

I AM THINKING IT WOULD BE GREAT TO CREATE AN EDMODO CLASS FOR MY "TECHNOLOGY 4 TEACHERS" CLASS NEXT WEEK! WHAT A GREAT SANDBOX TO USE AND EXPERIENCE WITHIN A CLASS

There is a 100 MB file size limit for Edmodo currently
- you can upload videos

Making an assignment is a GREAT feature, you can also put a date that goes onto their calendar

For a smaller response, it is better to NOT upload files as an assignment, but instead just have them reply

We have "ELO" (extended learning opportunity) twice per week
- the teacher I work with has a "stall" for her "computer on wheels" (COW)

When you grade the assignment, you specify how many points out of how many, and can share a comment

I AM WONDERING ABOUT THE DYNAMICS OF USING EDMODO VERSUS A MORE ROBUST LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM LIKE MOODLE? CERTAINLY THIS IS MUCH EASIER TO GET INTO...
- I AM ALSO WONDERING ABOUT THE GROWTH OF THIS SITE, THE SPEED OF THE SERVER, THEIR PLANS FOR MONETIZATION, HOW LIKELY IT IS THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE AVAILABLE, ETC....

When you create an assignment, it shows red bars for students who have not turned it in, green bars for those who have
- you can have this on your screen when students come in for class, it does not disclose grades or confidential information

There is no interface to automatically put these scores into your student information system
- you can view all your grades in a tabular format
- also permits downloading as a CSV

Participant noted there is a new state requirement to teach students social networking and ethics, it looks like this dovetails with that mandate well

Remember all session links are on: mace2010edmodo.pbworks.com

GREAT SESSION!

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#mace2010, edtech, learning, mace2010, school, edmodo, social, networking, collaborate

Brion observes the textbooks now give topics greater or lesser amounts of importance by the people who write the textbooks.
- one current textbook he cites discusses George Washington much less than older books (he is given comparative short shrift)
-- one book had more to say about how George Washington dressed than what his accomplishments were
-- things like this always bother me (our presenter tonight) because I fear for our country's future, if what we are teaching in history classes today is based on textbooks like this one
-- there is a chance for things to get changed incrementally.... our government today is radically changed, from the form our founding fathers

textbook he's discussing is David Goldfield's "The American Journey" by Prentice Hall
- just two paragraphs in it about George Washington's achievements in the Revolutionary war, but several pages talking about how he dressed
- 1966 edition of "American Pageant" textbook had 37 pages about George Washington

Book is organized in part around "myths" surrounding the founding fathers
- the founding fathers didn't create a democratic government
- founding fathers were very concerned about the tyranny of the majority
- if you had democracy, feared it could devolve into mob rule

Today's politics: how are we going to cover more people and spend less money, as is being promised now?

There were SO many things that happened between 1770 and 1820: so many changes!
- big changes in the "players in the political mix"
- at that time Senators were appointed by state representatives
- very interested how things developed and people allied themselves... confusing also because of the terms used

1 party: generally referred to as the Democratic Republicans, or the Republicans with a "little r"

James Madison wrote some of the Federalist papers, but he was not part of the later "Federalist Party"
- at different times, views changed over times
- all of these founding fathers favored states rights initially

At one time Jefferson wrote about the United States with a "little u"
- Jefferson considered Virginia his country
- he served terms in the federalist system, but was really a champion for states rights
- my modern perspective makes it hard to understand that, given his tenures as Vice President, President, and Sec of State

I WONDER AT WHAT POINT IN OUR HISTORY SECESSION BECOME UNIMAGINABLE / UNACCEPTABLE? SURELY THIS HAPPENED AT SOME POINT BEFORE 1860 AND THE ONSET OF OUR CIVIL WAR...

At one point the author contends he can't imagine any of the founding fathers imagining a welfare system or state-provided health care

"We are living in interesting times, and I hope it's not a Chinese curse..."

When we elect people we often say we want them to represent us," but we often expect them to have a bigger picture and not JUST think / act in parochial ways

Would the founding fathers have supported term limits?
- if so, would they have put those in place?

Alexander Hamilton was a nationalist and in favor of a strong central government

John Adams proposed George Washington as commander for the Union Army
- Adams and John Hancock were other leading contenders
- his belief was that southern states were more likely to follow Washington (Hancock was a northerner from Massachusetts)

In the book the author talks about how historians rate Presidents
- story of George Washington questioning a corporal who had been barking orders and not assisting his men, pitching in to help

The desertion rate went down during the encampment at Valley Forge

I FOUND THE FOLLOWING ONLINE VIA THE INTERNET ARCHIVE:
- 1918 "The story of young George Washington"

Hamilton was Washington's aide-to-camp, helped him write his final inaugural address

Many of the founding fathers were third or fourth generation Americans
- most were schooled at home or by tutors
- they read classics, Roman and Greek literature

Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indes
- his story is really remarkable
- mother died of fever when he was 11
- he was orphaned at that point

I didn't realize Hamilton wrote about half of the Federalist papers, I thought James Madison was the primary author of most of them
- John Jay and James Madison wrote many as well

In the 1990s George Will wrote a short article about Alexander Hamilton (1992)

Full quotation is:

There is an elegant memorial in Washington to Jefferson, but none to Hamilton. However, if you seek Hamilton's monument, look around. You are living in it. We honor Jefferson, but live in Hamilton's country, a mighty industrial nation with a strong central government.
George Will, Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy (1992)

Hamilton got to orgqnize and systemize the correspondence of George Washington
- had a falling out in 1781, Hamilton thought Washington was a blasphemer because he swore
- he was given a light infantry battalion by Washington

After the war Hamilton studied law for 5 months and was admitted to the New York Bar
- served with Continental Congress

After Articles of the Confederation, Hamilton had proposed a popularly elected chief executive with a lifetime office

The following is linked on the Wikiquote article for Hamilton:

Alexander Hamilton on the Web: This site holds more than 200 resources about Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804), founding father, first Secretary of the Treasury, part-author of the Federalist Papers and advocate of a strong central government.

Not too long ago, everyone who was elected and served in Washington DC lived in DC and kids went to schools there
- now over half of our elected officials don't live in DC
- example many of us would remember was Tip O'Neil: public criticisms but he would have people over / go out for dinner together

This is a factor in Kansas politics now: some claiming their opponent is never in the state so doesn't understand the state

idea expressed that writing out your ideas / letters helps you process your thoughts more, so messages are sent that are not as emotional

discussing race recently in Texas where Kay Bailey Hutchinson lost to Rick Perry, in part because she was branded as a Washington insider who didn't know / understand Texas
- WikiPedia article for Senator Hutchinson

Hamilton was very enamored with the British system, and the "corruption" of that government (those who were "in" with gov't leaders would get gov't contracts)

It's amazing to read about the conflicts and controversies which happened in the early 1800s... all the in-fighting...

McClanahan claims none of the other founding fathers really liked John Adams

Judiciary Act of 1801 (a.k.a. "Midnight Judges Act")
- according to WikiPedia:

The Midnight Judges Act (also known as the Judiciary Act of 1801; 2 Stat. 89) represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century. There was concern, beginning in 1789, about the system that required the justices of the Supreme Court to “ride circuit” and reiterate decisions made in the appellate level courts.[1] The Supreme Court justices often took advantage of opportunities to voice concern and to suggest that the judges of the Supreme and circuit courts be divide.

Ultimately this led to Marbury v Madison
- John Marshall (his court) established judicial review with this decision

Jefferson first thought he was retired from public life at 51

McClanahan points out we had a war that had as a major issue, taxation without representation
- now we have LOTS of representation, but almost half the people who don't pay income taxes

I AM NOT SURE ABOUT THIS... BUT WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE. THIS WAS AN INTERESTING PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION TONIGHT.

Technorati Tags:
book, mcclanahan, founding, fathers, history, textbook

In case you can't read the above text on this Flickr image, here it is as text:

In a move that has stunned technology fear-mongers and edtech vendors statewide, the internet service provider "Two Flowers" has decided to unblock the website Ning.com on school networks for which it provides content filtering services.

James Scaryman, CEO of Two Flowers, issued a written statement which has been picked up by the AP and other wire services: "We decided to just scrap the fear mongering game with schools. Sure there is objectionable content online, and we're still providing a basic level of content filtering. We were scaring people to death telling them they would all die if they opened Ning on their network, and the truth is we were lying. Lots of kids are already bypassing the content filter at school with proxies, so effectively the main people we were keeping off sites like Ning were teachers."

James went on to endorse the work of digital storytelling groups like Story Chasers Inc., based in Oklahoma, who use Ning networks to demonstrate the power of safe, collaborative publishing online which educators moderate and gatekeep. "Storychasers really is the bomb," James said. We're so excited they are extending the "Celebrate Oklahoma Voices" project now into Kansas. "Celebrate Kansas Voices" is going to rock the house.

Technorati Tags:
kansas, unblock, ning, humor

Kim will first talk about our blogging in the library project
- our student blogs on Kidblog:

http://kidblog.org/nflibrary/student-blogs/

UNFORTUNATELY THE PRIVACY SETTINGS ON THEIR SITE CURRENTLY ARE SET WHERE OUTSIDE FOLKS / PUBLIC CANNOT VIEW ANY OF THE POSTS

Going to talk about Kid Blogs
- Class Blogs at NF Library
- currently this is just a 4th grade project
kidblog.org is a great spot to use in schools: no ads and it's completely free

you can blog about anything you can have a classroom discussion about, or assign a writing prompt

I ask students to talk about the William Allen White books, and their favorite books
- this has just taken off, kids have talked more than I ever thought they would

Everything that goes on this site is teacher-reviewed

We went thorugh lots of rules first, no bullying, no bashing other's opinions

When you setup the usernames, if you are in a classroom that is not a big deal but in a library situation I wish I would not have JUST used first names
- you can sort by groups

I ASKED HER WHY SHE DOESN'T LET THE PUBLIC VIEW THE POSTS, SHE RESPONDED IT IS BECAUSE SHE IS JUST STARTING, WANTS TO KEEP IT SAFE FOR THE KIDS
- ANOTHER PARTICIPANT SAID "WOULDN'T ANYONE BE ABLE TO COMMENT THEN AND SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT?"
- OF COURSE ALL THE COMMENTS ARE MODERATED, SO THAT IS NOT AN ISSUE
- IT'S GREAT TO SEE THIS TOOL IN ACTION AND KIM IS GETTING STARTED WITH THIS.

Kids are so excited that they can post things on the blog from home
- so many kids are now talking about books that I don't think would be talking about them otherwise

Laura is the instructional coach
- these are not all my ideas! I am a great thief!

I am a believer in not putting everything in the handout (otherwise, why attend the session?!)

Now showing an example of a 2nd grade class VoiceThread, kids doing dinosaur reports

Did a weekly activity with a teacher with an extended maternity leave

One of our high school business teachers is using Edmodo
- kids upload documents for assignments
- teacher posts a regular blog there for students
- when students post,

Jog The Web
- I use this a lot as a teacher
- here is an example of a student "Jog the Web" as a bibliography: Guesswork after the Moon

Now showing Animoto, here is an example of our Corn Maze Field Trip pictures

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Make sure you are using images and audio, be sure to use Creative Commons
- If you've heard about copyright and want a way to get around it, use Creative Commons

ACTUALLY THE MORE ACCURATE WAY TO SAY THAT IS: CREATIVE COMMONS PROVIDES A GREAT WAY TO COMPLY WITH COPYRIGHT LAW AND RESPECT THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF OTHERS, BECAUSE PERMISSION HAS ALREADY BEEN GRANTED TO RE-USE THOSE MEDIA MATERIALS

Now showing Voki as a tool to add a speaking avatar to a website
- kids get such a kick out of designing Avatars, reading their own stories, etc.

You can have kids create their own character as an Avatar
- could be Little Red Riding Hood, could be a historical character
- can do different points of view for a familiar story, like Little Red Riding Hood
- there is a limit to text to speech, may be 60 seconds

If you have heard of goanimate.com, Domo Animate is a more educationally-focused version

Example of a first grade project, "Favorite Character"

DomoNation.com: Favorite Character by lsadler
Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It's free and fun!

Wikis

Here is an example of student-created wiki sites, responding to this wiki assignment

Zoho is a great space to upload documents

I WOULD ALSO MENTION THIS IS SIMILAR TO GOOGLE DOCUMENTS, BUT AN ALTERNATIVE TO IT

We have used the same userid and password to work with a common/shared Zoho account
- example project: Students super-imposed themselves on a landmark in Egypt, and wrote about what they learned about it

Same 6th grade classroom: wrote a poem, draw a picture of themselves, and then wrote their poem below it

You could use Blabberize to animate this!

Using TeacherTube to publish student video
- had students that wanted to sing a Veteran's Day song
- you can make TeacherTube videos private and safe for posting student work online

Slide.com - MixBook - BigHugeLabs has lots of options

can make a visual timeline with Slide.com!

So many great educational podcasts out there!
- The Education Podcast Network

Lots of great kid podcasts too: News from the Grapevine

I used to use Podiomatic with my principal, who would share recordings that we would publish for the school community

WHAT A GREAT ROLE FOR THE TECH FACILITATOR TO HELP THE ADMINISTRATOR WITH!

The Newspaper Clipping Generator is great! HERE IS ONE I CREATED FOLLOWING OUR SESSION TODAY:

Kevin Honeycutt's words: give kids a choice to share what they know in a "tra-digital" format (versus "traditional")

TokBox is similar to Skype, but no registration required, all online

Great article: Web 2.0 Backpack: Web Apps for Students

PodOmatic

Technorati Tags:
#mace2010, education, kansas, learning, mace, school, technology, web2, web20

I worked at the Challenger Learning Center before it closed because of lack of funding

years ago all 40 of my students had Palm Tungsten handhelds
- we discussed what learning with a Palm looks like...
- I let students sync their Palms to their home computers at home
- I was so amazed by what my students did with their Palms
- they loved working with their Palms
- I had a student who had MAJOR behavior disorder issues: when he had that Palm in his hand and was doing his science lesson, spelling, etc he was a whole different person

Favorite story: that student was doing a game instead of his spelling
- I said, "you know the rules, you all made them, I didn't..." and that was all it took

cell phones are so much like that now...

Palms had old technology called a "tri-beam"
- let the Palm go out to the internet, that was 7 years ago, there were VERY few sites that were mobile compatible

Today there are a pletheora of mobile sites
- are even some sites that let you change YOUR site to be mobile-compatible

My district does not YET let our students use cell phones during the day, but I am working on that with our administration
- I have some supportive teachers, and some teachers who are absolutely, positively against it
- I want to open it up so those teachers who WANT to allow the use of cell phones for learning

Cell phone as an organizing tool
- calendar: assignments are due
- appointments with counselor
- calendars can take the place of the agendas

The other day I asked someone in our 1600 student district how much we spend on agendas: almost $7000 per year now
- that is a LOT of money, that is just for the middle and high school (that $7K is for just those 900 students)

98% of our kids, even in 5th grade, have a cell phone now

no one is modeling the use of this cell phone / mobile technology for students
- you don't have to add anything to your curriculum
- just start using them in respectful ways, and ask the students to use them in respectful ways

I can guarantee you high school students don't lose their cell phone
- make sure kids pay for the insurance for their cell phone, so they can get a new one if it goes swimming

taking notes
- even the cheapest cell phones have a notes section
- notes are time stamped: so you can use them as a hall pass time/date stamped

Also task lists
- what is due and coming up

store passwords

my cell phone has a password keeper

Voice notes: record homework instructions, parent questions and quick reminders

most phones have a voice notes feature, I don't know of a phone (even the cheapest ones like Jitterbug) have a voice note feature

calculator
- basic calculator comes on most cell phones

Erate helps pay for telecommunication devices, including CELL PHONES

THAT IS A GREAT POINT. INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW: WHAT SCHOOLS ARE USING ERATE NOW TO PAY FOR STUDENT CELL PHONE USE PLANS

Website access

I AM WONDERING ABOUT CIPA COMPLIANCE FOR STUDENT-BROUGHT CELL PHONES?

Digital Disconnect
- studies show economic status does not seem to be a factor in ownership of cell phones among students
- the digital divide is no longer between economically advantaged and disadvantaged, it's between digital natives (students) and digital immigrants (teachers)
- cell phones are essential tools students use to communicate with the world around them, inside of school learning is isolated from students' everyday technology culture
- cell phones are not going away! Let's plan for their use as a learning tool
- we need to demonstrate good digital citizenship

If you would take my cell phone away, that would be like taking me off of life support

Countering what we heard in Janet's preso this morning, studies show students do NOT know how to use technologies responsibly and how to learn with
- we need to embrace these technologies, like laptops these devices are NOT going away

now some cell phone companies are MAKING consumers buy data service
- our kids are bringing these devices with unfiltered access now

FCC is not about to block cell phones in schools: they do not block them in movie theaters

Polleverywhere.com is one of my favorite websites
- lets you create instant polls for cell phones and allows up to 100 votes for free

[I THINK THAT IS NOW LIMITED TO 30 FREE VOTES PER POLL]

You can see the results of polls immediately, use this as a student response system

Drop.io
- free, you don't have to give your students YOUR cell phone number to have students send you voice messages, pictures, and text messages
- audio can be downloaded as a mp3

Google Voice
- I love this! It transcribes my phone messages to text
- does a pretty good job of transcribing

We will use Google Voice for today's scavenger hunt
- you will text me first so I'll have your cell number (students don't have to have a GV number, just the teacher does)

Liz Kolb's book "Toys to Tools" has a great example letter that you can use to send home to parents

Cell phone Scavenger Hunt
1- Text your name to my Google Voice number
2- Answer the question on the screen (with PollEverywhere)
3- With your table/group make a list of ways you could use drop.io (or any digtial dropbox) with your students
4- Text or call my drop.io # with your group's ideas

I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING THAT MAY BE OBVIOUS TO EVERYONE ELSE, BUT NOT ME..... WHEN PEOPLE SEND A TEXT MESSAGE TO YOUR GOOGLE VOICE ACCOUNT, IT'S FREE... THERE IS NO CHARGE/FEE FOR THOSE TEXT MESSAGES! (FOR THE RECIPIENT) WOW!!!

One of the most important things I learned when using Palms with students was that I didn't have to know everything!
- this can be very empowering for your students

Technorati Tags:
#mace2010, mace, mace2010, cell, phone, mobile

MACE 2010 DEN w/ Jenn Dorman

Puzzle Maker
- Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, criss-cross, math puzzles, and more—using your own word lists.

Lesson Plan Library
- can drill down by level and subject

Siemens We Can Change The World Challenge
- now open for elementary and middle school students
- in Fall 2010 it will open to high school
- wants students to identify a challenge in their local community

It's 21. Just Pass.
- digital storytelling contest highlighting risks of drinking alcohol
- public service announcements (PSAs) published online

Great Web 2.0 tools and resources from Discovery Education
- also good media literacy resources

Siemens STEM Academy:

A premier online community designed exclusively to foster achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) through the collaboration of STEM educators, and sharing of "best practices"

Ready for the Classroom: partnership with US Homeland Security for emergency preparedness

OK, I WOULD LOVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS NEXT PROGRAM (OF COURSE IT IS NOT FREE)

Student Discovery Adventures

On a Discovery Student Adventure, curiosity is all you really need. Because traveling with Discovery is not about sightseeing (although you’ll certainly see the sites.) It’s about experiencing the world through the eyes of Discovery. It's about doing. Getting involved. Sure you’ll learn new facts along the way. Fascinating stuff. Things you couldn’t possibly have imagined. But more importantly, a Discovery Student Adventure will empower you to make the most of every single second. To enjoy this rich experience in ways you never thought possible - as an explorer, scientist, adventurer. And by the time you get home, you’ll have changed. It’s the reason a Discovery Student Adventure is like no other. And precisely why they last forever.

WOW.

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#mace2010, education, kansas, mace, discovery, conference