Web 2.0 and the Building Administrator

I have been asked to give a presentation on Thursday titled "Web 2.0 and the Building Administrator." While I think the conveners of this event would like me to show them how to use web 2.0 tools I have found that one hour is not sufficient time to plug people into the PLN matrix and I will be presenting two other "How To" sessions for all educators throughout the day. For this session I felt a bit deeper conversation was needed. After all, it is far more important for a school leader to make informed decisions about the direction they take their school given the existence of web 2.0 and social media than it is for me to show them a few tricks and tools they might not ever use themselves. I intend this to largely be a discussion session and I hope to challenge many of them. Below is my slidedeck for this presentation. Is there anything else I should include? I would love your feedback.

In the session I will also be asking my Twitter network what they think school building administrators need to know about web 2.0 and social media.

What School Administrators Need to Know About Web 2.0 & Social Media on Prezi

ISTE 2010 & SEMTEC Techspo 2010

I have been feverishly getting ready for ISTE in Denver later this month. I will be presenting a poster session there on iTeach Mobile and co-presenting a BYOL session with Vivian Johnson, Cara Hagen, and Scott Schwister on Technology Enhanced Active Learning Strategies. We are also lucky enough to get a chance to do a trial run of both these sessions next week at the regional SEMTEC Techspo in Stewartville, MN. This is the third year SEMTEC has held this Techspo and it has quickly turned into a very nice little conference.

Of course there will be some format differences between my iTeach Mobile poster session and a iTeach Mobile discussion session. For example, the discussion session at Techspo will focus more on issues related to using mobile devices in schools while my ISTE poster session will focus more on the model of blended PLC and social networking for professional development we used in Goodhue to explore the use of mobile devices in education. But, these two sessions are largely the same.

If you are going to ISTE I invite you to my iTeach Mobile poster session (our BYOL session is full). If you are going to either of these events, below is a preview of my iTeach Mobile session. Presented for your review and critique:

click here to view this in a new window

Also, for those attending our BYOL session on Technology Enhanced Active Learning Strategies, here is a link to our session wiki (now only partially under construction):

ehanceactivelearntechnology - home via kwout

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses

It has been a long time since I posted to my blog. I have to admit that this spring I have largely neglected this blog. So, here is a rundown of what I have been up to that has taken my time away from writing here:

1. I spent much of the past month putting the finishing touches on a Charter School Planning Year Grant for Wasioja Valley School, presenting to school boards about the idea (if you have been following my blog this year you should know what I am talking about). --I will be writing about this in another post--

2. I have been involved this past year with a great project cosponsored by Hamline University and Northeast Intermediate ISD 916 that concluded June 16th & 17th with a Technology Integration Institute at Hamline University. --I will be writing about this in another post--

New Tools & Schools - Hamline University Technology Integration Institute Closing Video from Carl Anderson on Vimeo.

3. I have been teaching two summer school courses, Digital Photography & Business Systems Technology, for National Connections Academy.

4. I presented two sessions at the SEMTEC Techspo on June 8th

5. I have been meeting with Goodhue teachers periodically over the past month to work on curriculum alignment and technology training.

So, what is on my to do list for the rest of the summer:

1. Hamline University assigned me as instructor of record for the technology integration institute so for the next couple weeks I will keep busy reading reflection papers, action plans, and mini-lessons.

2. I have three different dates with TIES for workshops I will be facilitating:

• July 16th I will present sessions on "web 2.0 photo tools" and "web 2.0 portfolio tools" at their Technology Integration in K-8 Visual and Performing Arts Seminar
• July 20th I will facilitate an all day workshop on "Utilizing Social Media"
• August 7th I will facilitate two workshops: "Build Your Own Custom Search Engine" & "Cloud Computing—A Survey of Free Online Applications"

3. I will continue meeting with Goodhue teachers throughout the summer to work on curriculum alignment and technology training.

4. I need to start work on developing two hybrid courses I will be teaching over ITV in the fall: Digital Media & Web Design.

5. I need to start gearing up for a graduate course I will be offering at Hamline in the fall called, "Digital Fluency."

6. On August 3rd I am presenting a session at Byron Public School's teacher academy on Project-Based Learning. August 2nd David Warlick will be giving their keynote address and I am excited to finally get a chance to meet him in person.

7. I fully intend on posting to my blog at least once a week for the rest of the summer. I have also let my aggregator overflow and have not devoted my usual time to participating there. I also believe I promised Clay Burell at least a couple more posts on Change.org in my series about charter schools.

SEMTEC - Techspo - Podcasting Basics - Bryan Berg

Notes from Bryan Berg's Podcasting Basics Presentation

rSchool gives districts only 750mb of storage space - $10/mo for every extra gig. Gabcast gives you 200mb for free and 1gb for $12/mo.

http://learninginhand.com/

Audacity has a program you can download and install on mobile devices.

Acid Xpress - Like Garage Band but for PC

Podcast Feed Generator

This was a very basic how-to session good for those who have never recorded a podcast before. I was hoping to hear some pedagogical stuff. Application examples were minimal. I would have blogged more but found it unnecessary.

SEMTEC - Techspo - Using Signage/Distributed Video in Your School

This was a vendor presentation so some bias definitely present. My thoughts are in italics.

With streaming video with AlphaVideo:

• faster load time
• greater control over media distribution
• limited by avialable network bandwidth
• allows for live broadcasts
• requires a streaming server
• need - video/audio source, encoder, network connection, and a streaming server

Digital cable comes to your house in MPEG format (i did not know this).

To multi stream in a building you need Windows 2003 Enterprise Server, to stream on the web you just need a standard Windows 2003 Server.

Podcasting is not streaming. Files are transferred from server to client. Users can subscribe through syndication methods (RSS). A streaming server is not necessary, only a web server is needed.

DRM:

• Digital Rights Management
• Controls who can view content
• Controls how they can view content
• Easy to implement, but can be expensive

Unicast vs. Multicast

• Refers to the connection made between client and server
• Unicast: every client has an individual connection
• Multicast: data stays in a single stream until splitting is absolutely necessary
• Multicast is not possible over the internet
• Multicast must be properly implemented on any network, or multicast "storms" can disrupt the network.
• Implementing multicast requires the cooperation of I.T.

LAN vs Internet

• Multicast
• Security
• Bandwidth/Bitrates

Belvidere - kind of like TiVo but on the PC. Connects PC to video monitor and integrates United Streaming.

"Technology does no good if you spend the money on it and no one uses it. "

Contact Mayo clinic and see if I can get a tour of their training simulations.

The reasons these guys are giving for implementing their product seem to stem around two different main ideas: 1. Ease of use and 2. Bandwidth. I can't argue with their first point but is the first point really worth the dollars when there are free services that do the same things and don't eat up bandwidth: YouTube, Ustreamtv, etc. These services allow you to get your message out there, either prerecorded or live, without eating up your own bandwidth. It seems the big issue is ease of use.

SEMTEC - Techspo - Video Conferencing witin SEMNET

Today I am attending the first annual SEMTEC Techspo at Stewartville HS in Stewartville, MN. Today I will be posting 5-6 entries about this event. The following are my notes from the first session I attended on Video Conferencing within SEMNET by Jen Hegna (tech coordinator) from Byron, MN (my own comments in italics):

• This technology allows classrooms to connect with other classrooms via digital video.
• It allows you to share not only video from a camera but also computer or video screens.
• It appears you connect via phone calls much like Skype
• ASL so far has been the fastest growing and most popular video classes.
• Professional development - teachers can take classes from UofM or St. Cloud State in the evenings
• Socrates started in 1984 - Socrates is a network of video conferencing schools that began in northern MN.
• 4 schools can share an account
• They are looking at integrating streaming technology so it can be used on screen in a lab setting.
• SEMNET has not yet started offering classes
• Could be hooked up to LCD projector and viewed on the SMARTboard. Very mobile, unlike ITV.
• Contact OET to hook up.
• I don't see the advantage to this as opposed to using a free service like Skype other than the ability to share VHS or DVD.
• I think this technology is best left to other districts to develop before Goodhue jumps on board. I don't think it is cost effective for us right now.
• More info: http://www.mnet.state.mn.us/
• The advantage to this over Skype is quality of service. Skype can be slow if the network bandwidth is bogged down.
• The technology is the easy part - the hard part is making the connections and establishing the collaborations.