StigmergicWeb

We got a new one up - EdTech Posse 3.1. We (Alec, Heather, Dean and me) about Twitter and all sorts of fun stuff.

And a personal note to Apple - thank you for removing the 1 hour and 6 minute limit for podcasts in the new GarageBand, and for direct mp3 exports. You have made my life much easier, and justified the cost for the iLife upgrade.

One advantage of finishing the project is the time to do some audio production! Here is the first result of my labours - a new EdTech Posse podcast. This one is a conversation Alec and I had way back in January about emerging technologies.

Another in the Ten Things to Know podcast series (recorded on occasion by Donna DesRoches and me) is up and ready for your listening pleasure, the one entitled Ten Things to Know about Wikis. It shouldn’t take much mental strain to figure out the topic of this one. And if you care to just subscribe to the podcast directly, give a little clicky on the Ten Things to Know RSS feed. We’re hoping to offer some short, useful and non-technical descriptions of some of the different web and application tools that absolutely rock, but might not be well known by many teachers. Sadly, we don’t always meet the goal of short, but we do aim to meet the goals of useful and non-technical

Donna and I have done a few podcasts we’ve entitled Ten Things to Know. We had a small corner of the school website to show this off, but we thought it was time to set it up as an independent site. If you are interested in some examination of the educational application of various technological tools, take a look at the official site and have a listen to our podcast at Ten Things to Know. I’m releasing some of our old shows at first, since most people probably haven’t heard them yet, then I’ll start adding the new ones.

The EdTech Posse Podcast 2.5 is out. Heather Ross and I had a great conversation about wikipedia and stupidity (not implying any connection, but you can draw your own conclusions).

The latest EdTech Posse podcast is now available. Check it out at edtechposse.ca.

We’ve got another EdTech Posse available. We recorded this on Oct. 25, and it was a mix of topics that emerged during our conversation (which means we didn’t plan a topic - we just wanted to get together and hang out via Skype). I hope you enjoy it!

Rick, Alec, Heather and I were sitting around a table at the SACE conference, and I had a recording device. Here’s the post at the EdTech Posse blog (I apologize in advance for the noise):

EdTech Posse Podcast 2.2 - SACE conference conversation

Duke Digital Initiative

I know this is probably old news, but I’m mentioning it because it seems like one of those things that might have been flared up in the edtechblogosphere (we really need a better name - would the eduborg collective work with everyone else?) at the time it came out but then quickly faded off the radar. Some initiatives deserve repeating periodically. I’m also mentioning it because its part of the research for my Master’s project. I suppose I could add it to del.icio.us or blue dot it, but I’m feeling chatty tonight.

What is it? Here’s the official blurb, straight from the source:

The Duke Digital Initiative (DDI) is a multi-year program of experimentation, development, and implementation of new and emerging technologies to explore their effective use in support of the university’s mission. A growing number of faculty from a variety of departments, programs and schools have explored new technology-assisted approaches to instruction. Faculty and students use portable, personal multimedia technologies and digital course materials contribute to the course experience and to students’ learning.

Sounds fun - looking for an edugeek with a fondness for podcasts? The DDI grew out of Duke’s exploration of educational uses of iPods in 2004-05. Some of the results are impressive, especially for a project that started only two years ago (which is almost as old as the podcasting medium itself). In the spring of 2006, there were approximately 70 iPod courses reaching approximately 1400 students. iPod courses represented a diverse range of academic disciplines including language learning, humanities, social sciences, science, math and engineering.

The real transformative power of the iPod courses comes not when they are used as a medium to deliver lectures, but when they are used as a product for students to demonstrate knowledge. This comes as no surprise to me, but reading that there are real-life experiences that fit with my beliefs is immensely rewarding. Instructors, in fact, report that the quality of student work and level of student engagement increases when students are supported in publishing their work beyond the classroom boundaries.

If you are interested in educational applications of emerging technology, and some of the results that are being reported from the field, you should take a look at the site - Duke Digital Initiative. It kind of reminds me of the tag line on the Muppet Show for muppet labs - “where the future is being made today”.

As if I didn’t have enough to do, I’ve just started a new podcast with teacher-librarian extraordinaire Donna DesRoches (I’d link but her blog is quite torpid - get writing, Donna, and I’ll put in a link). It is called Ten Things To Know, or T3K, as I like to refer to it. Each episode we’ll pick an application or service that is important to our school community, and discuss a list of 10 things we think everyone ought to know. The inaugural episode is Ten Things To Know about the web browser.

The podcast is made with our school’s students and staff in mind, but most of the information will be applicable to anyone interested in learning more about computer technology and web services.