EPISODE6- Moodle Chat: Capturing conversation in a blur

Episode Notes: Is there value in treading on the "kids" territory of IMing? Information overload with so many voices and the same time?

Sites mentioned in the top of the cast:

• LinkedIN (a networking site for business professionals)
• FriendFeed (follow what content your "friends" are generating)
  
• Chess.com (an example of a social networking site done right around the game of chess)
• FLOSS weekly (a TWiT production and I had mention the most recent episode with the inventor of the wiki, Ward Cunningham)

Download the cleaned up version of Episode 6 from Talkshoe.

Note: For some reason, TalkeShoe drops after 10min. intervals during this case. The iTunes Store has the raw recording and you should listen to the edited on from TalkShoe.

Update: iTunes grabbed the cleaned up version; thanks iTunesStoreFolk.

Next Week: EPISODE7 - 21st Century Skills?
Time: 03/30/2008 07:10 PM EDT
Episode Notes: What is the role of learning with technology in the 21st Century? Is it skill-based as the organization suggest? Will technology finally save our schools? Stop by and chat with us.

EPISODE5 - Taking another read of digital literacy

Title: EPISODE5 - Taking another read of digital literacy

Products mentioned at the beginning:

• FlipVideo camera
• Google Reader

Notes: We're still trying to apply older approaches to "digital literacy." Let's explore some more appropriate approaches to reading dynamic content.

Not much conversation from the outside, but we were talking about if there is a need for a different way to approach digital texts. Is there a fundamental difference in how we read print and non-print texts?

In answering that question (which I may or may not have really answered), we can recognize the tension between literacy pedagogy that either encourages reading for fluency (enjoyment) or reading for precision (skill).

One program mentioned in the podcast that addresses digital literacy (and that recognizes the skill-based view of reading) is the Big6. I also mentioned the Big6 Research Paper organizer in the podcast.

Download mp3 of this podcast.

Next Week's TalkShoe:
Episode 6: Moodle Chat: Capturing conversation in a blur.
Episode Notes: Is there value in treading on the "kids" territory of IMing? Information overload with so many voices and the same time?
Start Time (EDT): 03/23/08 07:10 PM EDT

Title: EPISODE4 - The heart of Moodle: the Social Forum

Time: 03/09/2008 07:10 PM EDT
Episode Notes: Using the Social Forum in Moodle is the at the heart of this idea of students constructing texts around other texts to create meaning. If that sounds interesting or confusing, stop by and have a listen.

"Forum" Discussions mentioned in this podcast:

• Journalist becomes the story (SXSW)
• Startups Must Hire The Right People And Watch Every Penny. Or Fail.

Note: I lost connection halfway through and I'll be uploaded an edited version w/o the 5 minute silent gap.

Here's the link to download this week's TalkShoe: EPISODE 4: The heart of Moodle: the SocialForum.

Next week:
Title: EPISODE5 - Taking another read of digital literacyTime: 03/16/2008 07:10 PM EDT
Episode Notes: We're still trying to apply older approaches to "digital literacy." Let's explore some more appropriate approaches to reading dynamic content.

EPISODE3 - Ads or "White Papers": The Selling of techology to schools.

This week's TalkShoe was an elaboration upon the last post. In this episode, the products and their white papers mentioned were:

• Plato Learning Software
  
• Inspiration
  
• CMaps
  

You can listen to this episode via the TalkShoe Badge on the right side of this blog or you can download here or subscribe to the cast on iTunes.

Next Week: The Heart of Moodle: The Social Forum (7:10 pm 9 Mar 08). 

The Marketing of "Educational" Software

Honestly, if I see another software company have the words "standards-based" on their literature, I might just speak in iambic pentameter. 

Besides the obvious question "Is standards-based education the best way to educate students?" (you did think of that, right?), how does one prove that this particular version of standards-based implementation is the best? In fact, my gut feeling is that the "run of the mill" standards-based education that some educational software companies are marketing to is actually an easier route to take than .... well, there are other ways to teacher, aren't there?

In the span of roughly one Presidential Administration, everyone now thinks in terms of "standards-based" education.

Again, name another way to educate...

And I'll make the proposition that to have an exclusive "standards-based" education is detrimental to students. To say, meet these standards or benchmarks, is not pushing all students, it is encouraging the majority of our students to meet the minimum standard. Feel welcome in telling me that the glory of NCLB is that we should be educating all students. Remind me that shouldn't the job of public education be to make sure--at least-- all students should do the bare minimum to be a "productive member of society."

I'll listen, but I am not convinced that I should be asking for the bare minimum. Aren't the better teachers the ones that push you way beyond the minimum requirements? Are we satisfied with graduates that work only up to the point of what is expected, instead of pushing the limits within their own potential? Are you satisfied with a work force (which, btw, I am not convince is the reason why we educate) that is--at best--"standard"?

So, as we look at the marketing of educational software, when you see "standards-based" anywhere in the glossy literature, be cautious; you should try and look beyond the promises and delve deep into the software's "research" white papers. (Another word to watch out for: research or the partnered "research-based" combo). It's in those 40+ pages of justification of a software's existence that we might find something beyond a standard marketing idea.

Next post, I'll give some credence or specifics to this little rant.