Episode 18: Why edutopia might disappoint you

GLEF magazine "edutopia" bills has the tagline now of "What Works in Public Education" but is the publication headed in the right direction? Some contend that the publication is light on content and heavy on advertising; others say it is a nice resource and is offered free to educators.

Show notes: I think some of us were sort of excited to be getting a magazine from the George Lucas Educational Foundation (and in the summer of 1977, I was introduced to the "creative impulse" George Lucas via Star Wars...which saw in San Francisco at the Cornet theatre). In those early issues four years ago, it look like that Edutopia was going to be a magazine that was technologically savvy for the educator. And it was and it had a great website (especially the staff development section regarding of PBL). Then, about two years ago, I got bored and stopped reading the issue even though I was getting the subscription for free. The content got a bit light (even fashion for the teacher) and it seemed to lose its focus. Now, with the most recent issue, James Daily (editorial director) refocuses the publication to be relevant again.

Most of the discussion is centered on the first 10 pages of the most current of the June/July 2008 issue of Edutopia. Specifically, I make mention of James Daily's editor's note: "What Works in Public Education" (10). I also make a parting pot shot at the article about plagarism (in short, teachers need better writing engagements).

Download this episode (28:07) here, listen via the Talkshoe badge on this site, or download/listen/subscribe via iTunes.

Episode 17: Teach me Moodle, okay?

One approach to staff development as we consider how to teach (not so much train) teachers Moodle.

Show notes:
Most of the information for this podcast is from a outline of a proposal I did about a year ago. It needs to be tweaked and all, so feel welcome in using all or part or none of the ideas for training teachers on using Moodle.

Teaching with Moodle

Day 1: Why teacher with technology?
A four[six]-hour discussion of exploring the reasons for using technology (in this case, Moodle) in the classroom. Participants will be experiencing Moodle as the instructor builds the class in Moodle from scratch. The basis of instruction will come from various readings regarding using technology in the classroom and participant-generated text.

Day 2: How do I teach using Moodle?
Participants will bring existing units of learning (a unit, lessons, etc) transitioning that lesson(s) to Moodle. Participants will be using the ACOT Unit of Practice template (Invitation, Standards, Tasks, Interactions, Situation, Assessment, Tools) to aid in this translation to their class site.

Download episode (36:02) from Talkshoe, listen to it via the sidebar, or download/listen on iTunes.
Next episode: Why edutopia might disappoint you.

Episode 16: How much has technology hurt the classroom?

Top of the show recommendations:
This week, I'm sharing stuff I like around the home

• The Week (best digest of all that is happening in one publication)
• Senseo Coffee maker (no mess and a consistent cup of coffee... every time)
• FlipVideo camera (small, convenient and decent output)
• Roomba (it really works and it's sort of fun)

Episode Notes: A look at if we're even in an education crisis and who says we are and the limitations of a techno-centric view of schooling.

Educational crisis

• In the 80s, it was the DOE publication A Nation at Risk that sparked "crisis" in US education.
• "There seems to be a pattern: when the country feels insecure, let's fix our problems with trying to reform education (let the kids fix it)".
• "NCLB which attempts to judge all things evenly (built on a concept that was the Houston [Texas] Miracle...later found to be a fraud...but not many people will talk about that..."
• "...and I still agree with Harry Wong and other who have said that you can't fix a society's problems with education."
• "Here's the problem: you have to dig really deep below the words and scary headlines and stats to see if there is really merit to how a school or a district or a state or a nation is doing in education."

So what about technology?

• "Well, it gets in the way and probably will continue to cloud the resources and energies and we "prepare our students" for the 21st Century..."
• "And I'm thinking: people are really viewing education as a business and how fast a business should be run..."
• "Instead, learning isn't fast; learning is much like the plateau where "better" learning happens over a long period of time...For who ever said that somehow you needed to know a lot more facts than you did 20 years ago...isn't the better ideal that people, our students, their parents, our colleagues and us...all can think and ponder and wonder and reflect and articulate ..."

Yeah, but...some practical upshot:
Download and participate in a FOSS community

• Firefox
• OpenOffice
• Moodle

Read about community

• Opensource Democracy (Douglas Ruskhoff)
• Open Sources: Voices from the Opensource Revolution (O'Reilly)
• Linux Journal, Linux Format

Show length: 32:33

Download this episode here, listen to this episode using the badge on this page

Episode 15: I went to a text file to live deliberately

Shelf Stuff
GoodReads.com
I noticed at our school corp year-end celebration that many of the retirees said that they'd now have more time to read and it seems as teachers, we like to read more. Nice layout, easy to use and great connection with other readers you know and perhaps meet. You can start your own reading group...students use it and what a wonderful way of making more connections with those whom we see each day in the classroom outside the classroom.

Goosh.org
And this is a bit geeky, but perhaps amusing: interact with most of the Google services through the command line...yeah, that's how I thought you'd respond. Anyway, it is amusing and somewhat useful...I think it continues the tradition of many ways to do one thing and I think that is a positive. So, instead of point and click, you enter commands (think back to the DOS 5.0 days w/o using PowerShell, et al). Hands are on keyboard and with a couple of commands, you are on your way.

Show Notes
What is plain text?
It's a file that doesn't have any other coding...it is only the letters and numbers and punctuation that is readable by humans...or at least normal ones. Basically, it's only the stuff of your keyboard. When you use a programs, to say, type a letter or lesson plan or handout (like MSWord or WP), that programs allows you do format characters and the document itself so that when you open it up again, it'll be consistent. But, you have to basically use that program to read that document and if that program goes through updates (like MS Word) the readable file format may change over the years. Most can import backward, but some formatting may change...no longer looks the same. Even RTF inserts code though many say it's the next best thing to plain text. Plain text will remain the same as long as computers can read plain text files

How can you use it?
Todo.txt (Organizing your life through a text file)

• Some folks like the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach
  
• One way of doing it: (http://todotxt.com)
  

Lesson planning

Arrange the way you plan the according to the way you think.

Some advocate all of your planning stuff, important stuff, in one file.
You could have the entire docs for a class in one file and then copy and paste for formatting. Or, if you are really daring, put everything in one file.
Sites referenced:

• Lifehacker
• 43 Folders

And can you make a convenient little metaphor for something bigger?
Thoreau for some reason went to Waldon pond to figure out life...or as had been quoted: "I went to the woods to live deliberately...to suck out the marrow of life" etc. Take a plain-text look at your classroom, strip away the extra modifiers and requirements and see the magic again.


Download this episode here, visit the TalkShoe badge on this page or subscribe on iTunes.

Next week: How much has technology hurt the classroom?
A look at if we're even in an education crisis and who says we are...and the limitations of a techno-centric view of schooling. Tuesday, 10 June 2008, 5:05 p.m.

Episode 10: How do we know that they know? Moodle and assessment

It's _the_ bottom-line question for a teacher: "How do I know that my student has learned?" Moodle has a wide-variety of ways to assess student learning and we'll take a look at a few of those ways.

Show Notes:
Tools for memory work:

• jMemorize (an opensource, java-based flashcard system based on timed-intervals)
• StudyStack (a free flashcard building site with additional activites; here's some of mine)

Books for developing and conducting classrooms online

• Teaching with Technology (ACOT put together this book in 1997 and it is still an amazingly relevant book...buy this book!)
• Theory and Practice of Online Learning (From Athabasca University, an incredible source from higher education, but still applicable to all online learning environments; offered free through CC license).

In this episode, I touch on ways that we assess in the classroom and how those types of assessments are handled in Moodle.

• Quizzes
• Short Responses
• Polls
• Workshops

I will deal directly with Moodle's current Workshop module in a week or two as many folk have given up on it because of some UI and bug issues.

Download this episode here, listen to the episode from the TalkShoe web badge on the right, or subscribe on iTunes.

Next episode: Web Docs: But I like to upgrade
Time: 04/29/2008 05:05 PM EDT
Episode Notes: Is there long-term value to using web apps such as Google Docs and Buzzword? Is there a web app that will tie my shoes? This week we'll look at the growing list of standard desktop activities that are now available on the web (mostly free of charge).

TS:EPISODE9 -- But can a computer dance?

This week, we talked about the idea of should a computer be merely a tool or can it actually teach our students? I got to talk with "Central Florida" about her experience with educational software with her special needs student. I also relate a conversation that I had with someone who works with a popular educational software company.

Show notes:
Things to share:
*Starbucks to offer free iTunes download of the week cards (again) from TUAW.

*iPhone envy but don't want to pay for the phone nor the data plan?You may take a peek at VirginWireless' Wild Card phone and their reasonable plans so you can text and send pix.

Video of Pearson's newer Math curriculum that I referred to in the show.

You can listen to this episode by using the TalkShoe badge to the right or download this episode here or from iTunes.

Next Week: EPISODE10 -- How do we know that they know? Moodle and assessment

Time: 04/22/2008 05:05 PM EDT Episode Notes: It's _the_ bottom-line question for a teacher: "How do I know that my student has learned?" Moodle has a wide-variety of ways to assess student learning and we'll take a look at a few of those ways.

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.

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.

EPISODE2 - Don't Blame Wikipedia for bad papers

Some educators blame Wikipedia (and often use it as a curse word) for bad student writing. Maybe we should look at why Wikipedia is good and perhaps we should assign better papers.

Opening quote:

The education world has pursued new technology with an almost evangelical zeal and it is time to take a step back and give proper consideration of how we use it.

Too many students don’t use their own brains enough. We need to bring back the important values of research and analysis.
Lecturer Bans Students From Using Google And Wikipedia (from The Argus)

Some ideas about alternative assignments: I-Search papers, Multigenre papers, Reflective Annotated Bibliography.

Listen to TalkShoe Episode 2

Or Subscribe via iTunes

EPISODE1 - Those Who Can't Moodle

Episode Notes: First podcast about a talk I gave to 6 people in Indianapolis: "Those Who Can't, Moodle." (Here's the post I based the talk on: http://www.bashinged.com/2008/01/those-who-cant-moodle-avoiding-napoleon.html


Listen

Next Week's Podcast info:
Title: EPISODE2 - Don't Blame Wikipedia for bad papers
Time: 02/24/2008 07:20 PM EST
Episode Notes: Some educators blame Wikipedia (and often use it as a curse word) for bad student writing. Maybe we should look at why Wikipedia is good and perhaps we should assign better papers.

Use the TalkShoe badge to the right to listen to past shows or to upcoming shows.

bashingED site creation and population

Welcome to the site for bashingED and all things surrounding technology for learning (at least in my little world). I've transferred some previous posted material from my other site that has relevance to the goal of this site (really anything written before this post was originally posted at Vergil's Coffee).

I wanted to separate out my conversations about technology and learning to another site and honestly grew tired of having to get a new plug-in to make WordPress do simple things like adding a simple code for embedding something. And that's the reason I decided to come back to Blogger and give it a spin.

This will be a place for giving feedback regarding the weekly TalkShoe casts and other posts as they come up. If anything, I'd like to continue the conversation of using technology for learning, which IMHO is lacking (and had been lacking) in our K-12 schools.