Concordia Ed Tech Podcast

Description “The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two. And I said, “How I wish we had something to do.”” Does that sound familiar? Is your family weary Of viral contagions and weather quiet dreary? Does schooling online seem unfun and boring? Are you finding at nine you’re still in bed snoring? Wake up! There’s a world of learning to learn! Who knows what awaits us at each learning turn? Today we have students who’ll bring you a smile. Instead of leaning ten feet, they learned a Cyber School mile! Discover that learning’s not something you’re given. Learning to learn is there for the driven. So drive with these students as they speak with some glee On learning to learn Epidemiology! Lessons Learned Dennis - Weiyun Cloud for sharing video in China. $158 RMB for 6TB for 6months Daniel – Google FI – Thank you!  Within 2 months, I have been on 3 di

Description It’s Tuesday so I must be in California.  Or maybe it’s Malaysia.  Or Hong Kong, or Beijing.  If you’re not sure where you are, or when you’re going back, then odds are you’re an international teacher in China trying to navigate what school looks like when you can’t meet in person.  If you are, then we feel your pain.  On today’s podcast we are connecting virtually to talk about virtual school.  How does it work? What are you doing? What works? What doesn’t? And what innovative tools and practices are you implementing? Lessons Learned Dennis -  Handbrake – for video compression https://handbrake.fr/downloads.php Daniel -  worldtimebuddy.com has been so helpful. MS Team is all over the world. Chris -  Zoom works great! Fun Fact ILOVEYOU is one of the most well-known and destructive viruses of all time.  It’s been 20 years since ILOVEYOU was let loose on the internet.  If you got an email today like the one that was sent around in 2000, you’d never open it. The virus came in an email with a subject

Description Worried about catching the Novel Corona Virus? Well, Christopher Walkin’s got a message for you. “Guess what? I got a feva’,  and the only prescription is more cowbell.” Walkin’s character knew instinctively how to apply what the academic community is still struggling to implement: a Growth Mindset. Walkin knew that to make a good song great takes many iterations; that we must not accept just good enough as we work our way to greatness. We, too, embrace learning as an iterative process as we ask, can we really be Growth Mindset oriented if we simply change what we say without also changing what we do? Recently released research reveals radical rethinking results in rapid remediation of Fixed Mindset practices. Lessons Learned Dennis -  Screencastify - full features now free for videos under 5 min. https://www.screencastify.com/buy Daniel -  Reader View Chris - A app that removes all ambiguity and makes everything you say crystal clear … does not exist. Oh, how I want that app. Fun Fact Fun Fact:

Description Xinnian Hao!  Happy New Year.  This is the year of perfect vision, though it does seem strange to say it’s 2020.  It sounds like that should still be in the future. But the FUTURE IS NOW and if you’re wondering what the future will bring, we’ll clarify for you, focusing on the techsperts and what they think the big Ed Tech Trends in 2020 will be.  We might even throw in a few opinions of our own. Lessons Learned Dennis -  That extra 3 inches makes all the difference (Economy Plus Baby!) Daniel -  More of a tip:  Date everything this year using the full 2020. Chris - If you are traveling, set you gadget clocks to the new time zone as soon as possible Fun Fact Fun Fact:  Future predictions for 2020 from long ago https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-30379986 https://www.wired.com/2014/05/victorian-postcards-predict-future/ Notes & Links Articles for discussion: eSchool News EdTech Predictions for 2020 https://www.eschoolnews.com/2020/01/01/k-12-edtech-predictions-for-2020/ ESSA (Every Student Suc

Description It’s that most wonderful time of the year.  Time to don those ugly sweaters, grab a mug of eggnog (or mulled wine),  put on your comfy slippers and gather round the 4K Streaming YouTube virtual fireplace.  If that doesn’t put you in the proper mood for an Ed Tech Christmas just think of these two words - CHRISTMAS BREAK!  (I know WE are.) But before we skip town we’ve got a gift to give to you - we are going to share our FAVORITE Christmas movies - with a little EdTech Twist. Lessons Learned Dennis -  Do you hear that Jingle in my pocket?  It’s Jingle Plus! Daniel -  Bluetooth headphones w/mic connected to Phone for recording presentations. Chris - Sometimes the best thing you can do is not express your idea. Seriously. I am reminded that Judeo-Christian Scripture, “...  tells us that silence can help us avoid sinning (Proverbs 10:19), gain respect (Proverbs 11:12), and is deemed wise and intelligent (Proverbs 17:28). In other words, you may be blessed by holding your tongue … And we know that s

Description (domo arigato Mr. Roboto) That’s right we’re talking about the rock band Styx … well, not really. But we are talking about … wait for it … robots! Not really the “Klaatu barada nikto” Gort-style robots of The Day The Earth Stood Still fame, but the less earth-threatening kind. You know, the kind that our kids build, program, and operate right here in school. Lessons Learned Dennis - https://www.classroomscreen.com/ A simple tool to help manage your classroom. Daniel -  Private Channels in Teams - You must create a new channel. Chris - Android phone-controlled robots! “Most robots are run by the Arduino board, and there are wireless Arduino shields which allow the robot to communicate wirelessly by using a Bluetooth or WiFi module.” https://robotsauthority.com 10-ideas-for-school-robot-projects Fun Fact Automatons Radiolab Episode: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/radiolab-clockwork-miracle Want to see the mechanical monk? https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-450-year-old-clockwork-

Description On today’s podcast we’re talking about STUDENT engagement.  What does that mean? Are you paying attention? We hope you are! We also hope that you give us some of your attention as we look at the topic of engagement from three different perspectives. Lessons Learned Chris - Sometimes your dog really does eat your homework. Dennis - New YouTube “Made for Kids” Setting.  New setting for your videos and channels to comply with COPPA https://youtu.be/-JzXiSkoFKw Daniel - Hidden Reader Mode in Chrome https://www.howtogeek.com/423643/how-to-use-google-chromes-hidden-reader-mode/ Fun Fact Clouds A cloud can weigh more than a million pounds. Clouds are not as light and fluffy as they appear. In fact, researchers have found that a single cloud weighs about 1.1 million pounds. How do they know? Well, that number is calculated by taking the water density of a cloud and multiplying it by its volume. Fortunately, the cloud can still "float" at that weight because the air below it is even heavier. https://be

Description Happy Birthday Internet! Or maybe it we should say Happy Birthday ARPAnet.  50 years ago this week the first data transmission was sent from room 3420 at UCLA’s Boelter Hall to another computer at the Stanford Research Institute.  It was the beginning of the ARPAnet which laid the groundwork for what we now know as the Internet. Seriously, imagine what life would be like without the Internet! I can’t. Hey, you wouldn’t even be able to hear us as we share stories about the early days of the Internet so for that reason alone, we are thankful. Lessons Learned Chris - The Eisenhower Decision Matrix: “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.” - Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th POTUS Important and Urgent -  Do it! Important but not urgent - Decide when (schedule it)! Not important but urgent - Delegate it! Not important and not urgent - Delete it! https://blog.trello.com/eisenhower-matrix-productivity-tool-trello-board Dennis - Just text or call me - using Microsoft Teams

Description Hey! Did you ever think we would be asked back to Podcast LIVE at another ACAMIS Tech Conference? I didn’t. Well, Despite their better judgement, we are MAKING IT HAPPEN live, here, at the home of our podcast - Concordia International School Shanghai.  We’ve got a LIVE and lively audience and some amazing guests who will be sharing what THEY made and HOW they made it happen. Lessons Learned Dennis - There are two different Microsoft Forms.  Forms and “Forms for Excel”. If you want your forms to populate a live Excel Online Spreadsheet, you better pick “Forms for Excel” Daniel - Dr. Li Jiang - Stanford professor and co-Chair of SUGAR Network and involved with the Stanford D School design thinking program -Dr. Jiang talks about going beyond Computational Thinking to AI thinking curriculum.  Basic ideas behind deep learning and cognitive computing. https://sugar-network.org/about Chris - “Love people for who they are, and not who you want them to be.” I believe this should be the mantra of all coa

Description One if by land, two if by sea, and three if by dirigible … Just in case you haven’t heard, the ACAMIS Tech Conference is coming! (We might have mentioned it once or twice) In fact, it’s just around the corner.  Today on the podcast we’re going to give a little preview of just one of the awesome ideas being addressed.  Ralph Emmerink from Xiamen International School will be here to give us a preview of his session on how technology can help our students with “the 4C’s” (Critical thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication). Hashtag: nospoilers Lessons Learned Chris - Once again, I am thankful that I always back up my hard drive ... Dennis - Digital Archiving.  Are you able to access and view files from 10 years ago? What should you do so old codecs work with current technology?  SWF Files, but what about old digital video, Hi8, S-VHS, 8mm film.  Will what you want to see be playable when you want to see it? Daniel - iOS 13 - Apple has implemented new “smarter” battery charging, in order to h

Description Picture this: it’s the middle of the night and you are thinking about how to make tomorrow’s lesson more engaging.  You turn to the internet and search through endless lesson ideas and you find that perfect gem, that perfect idea. All you need to do is download  a new application that can be downloaded from the internet or the App store. You download it and start using it with your kids. Kids have to go in and create an account.  It took two minutes because they used their Google or Office365 authentication credentials and they are off and running. Awesome, right? Well … today’s episode is all about all those little apps, software downloads and hardware that make your IT department’s blood pressure rise.  It is called Shadow IT. Lessons Learned Dennis - I will make the world’s worst Secret Santa Daniel - VLC for Mobile is awesome - Share video files over IP address and create playlists. Chris - Recording feedback is faster than writing feedback, and the kids actually listen! Fun Fact A stand

Description Can you imagine a world without Google?  Our students just can’t even. For those of us who remember the days when you actually had to go to a library to do research, or remember how to use a card catalog or an ERIC search, we think kids these days have it so easy.  But is it? Is Google the savior it is purported to be? Or has it just made us lazy? Lessons Learned Dennis - Google “Wizard of Oz” Click the shoes then click the tornado Chris - Google “Thanos,” click on the cartoon glove, and watch what happens. Daniel - ctrl+two finger scroll - (Mac) You can zoom closer on your screen wherever you put the mouse. Fun Fact (From our Corrections & Retractions department) Our fun fact from last week was not accurate.  The 7% we quoted from John Borg, is a misinterpretation  of the “7-38-55 rule” postulated by Albert Mehrabian https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/misinterpretation-7-38-55-rule-pedja-jovanovic/ It is more accurate to say the 60-70% is body language, and that “What we say is less importan

Description In our last episode we debated the advantages of Face to Face versus Online Professional Development.  Here to continue that discussion, we are bringing in an expert or should we say tech-spert?. One who sees the value in Face to Face learning, Matt Kelsey is an Educational Technology Director and Chair of the ACAMIS Technology Conference and he will be here to share his thoughts with us as well as inspire us with his tech wisdom. Lessons Learned Chris - Creativity happens more often with an unstructured environment that includes beverage, brains, and bratwurst than in a strictly structured environment with a pre-set agenda. Daniel - MS Teams > CMD+G Dennis - New SeeSaw features. Multipage and Chrome Reflection Extension Fun Fact An authority on body language, James Borg says that human communication consists of 93% body language and paralinguistic cues, while just 7% consists of words. Notes & Links SPECIAL GUEST: Matt Kelsey (Information gleaned from trolling his Linked-In profile

Description You step up to the counter to order your Professional Development.  “Will your learning be here or take-away? Would you like a hot apple pie with that?”  On Today’s Podcast we tackle the persistent question: What is better professional development - Online or Face to Face?  Do you have an opinion? I know some of us do. Join us as we argue the finer points of each and see which one comes out on top when the dust settles. Lessons Learned Chris - Empathy and compassion are not synonymous, at least not in the realm of psychology. Having empathy means having a kindred emotional reaction to another person’s emotional state. Compassion is a choice, not an emotion. Compassion is choosing to take positive action in order to assist another person. It comes very close to the concept of “agape” love. Daniel - We default to what we know - Spreadsheets example Dennis - iPhone Camera Setting - If you’ve updated your iOS recently, know that “High Efficiency” is not as efficient as “Most Compatible”. Fun Fact Ic

Description Does the institution we know as “modern education” encourage and celebrate the outliers? How do you think a young Albert Einstein, Mozart, or Nikola Tesla would do as students in your school? Would their curiosity be celebrated or scolded?  Would they be encouraged to pursue their passions, or forced to conform to the curriculum? And, provocatively, should education be trying to adapt itself to myriad, diverse learners? Join us today for a lively discussion about ways to tweak what we do for those potential geniuses who are just “wired differently”. Lessons Learned Chris - “...education is what others do to you and learning is what you do for yourself.” - Joi Ito, The Educational Tyranny of the NeruroTypical <https://www.wired.com/story/tyranny-neurotypicals-unschooling-education/> Daniel - cmd-return - Dennis - Locking Notes on your iPhone. http://sciencenotebooking.blogspot.com/2019/08/password-protect-iphone-notes.html Fun Fact Nicolaus Copernicus - Polish astronomer who first postulated

Description When talking about teaching and technology, terrific teachers tell tales of transformative teamwork.  Today on the podcast we’ll talk with the talented Rushton Hurley who is back in Shanghai and joining us once again to share ways to bring excellence to our schools and classrooms. Lessons Learned Daniel - If you buy an iphone X(R or S) from China, Hong Kong or Macau you can get a Dual Sim Card phone.  Something I have been requesting from the Apple smartphone lineup for years.  Android users have a lot of options. Dennis - Unsplash.com Rushton - 7000 islands in The Philippines Fun Fact Our students do a lot of writing. How do they compare to the Daily word count of famous writers? https://wordcounter.net/blog/2017/12/04/103207_the-daily-word-counts-of-19-famous-writers.html   Notes & Links SPECIAL GUEST HOST:  Rushton Hurley Just got back from two weeks working with teachers in the Philippines. New book coming soon titled “Technology, Teamwork, and Excellence”   NBA player Kyle Korver can writ

Description So many topics. So Little time.  On today’s show we couldn’t decide on a single topic so we’ve decided to leave it up to … fate? Chance?  Dumb luck?  Rest assured no matter what topic comes up you  - our loyal listener - are going to be a winner.  Join us today as we spin the “Wheel of AWESOME TOPICS” Lessons Learned Chris - Our reactions to our problems and challenges can often make them worse. We have to practice self-control and thoughtfulness when confronted with a situation. Remain calm in crisis, seek healing in offense, always assume the best from your friends and colleagues. Daniel - The new OneDrive app for Mac in Mojave OS allows for entire Sharepoint folders to be sync but stay in the cloud.  The folder looks like a OneDrive folder on your computer. Dennis - iPhone Photos - use Pano to mimic a wide angle lens Fun Fact The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two Miller’s Law by George A. Miller of Harvard University's Department of Psychology -  It is often interpreted to argue that the

Description It’s late at night.  You’ve just settled down to sleep.  Then you hear a vibration from the smartphone on your nightstand.  Can you resist the urge to check it? Smartphones and now smart watches are - or at least seem to be - an essential part of our life. We look at them frequently to check facebook, instagram, news, sports, weather, or to see what our best friend is eating right now.  But do the benefits of these devices outweigh the distractions?  If we as adults have a trouble resisting the temptation to be on our devices, should we be concerned about our students as well? We’ll share what we think  along with the thoughts of some amazing educators here in Asia. Lessons Learned Chris - “Fine” is not an acceptable answer if you are asking how someone is doing. If you are going to ask how someone is feeling, then really mean it. Really meaning it, don’t let a casual “Fine” end it, especially if you suspect that not everything is fine. If you are really interested in how a person is fairing then

Description Learning is all about relationships.  If this is the first time you’ve heard us say that then you are new around here. Welcome to our podcast! Today we take that mantra and apply it to Professional Development (PD) because, as educators, if we are not connecting with others we are missing out on an essential (THE essential?) component of professional growth.  Join us as we welcome - all the way from the land of Nebraska - Brent Dieckhoff who will share his journey to help teachers CONNECT, GROW, and SHARE what they learn. Lessons Learned Chris - Write it down! I had a serendipitous conversation with one of our Middle School counselors yesterday in which she informed me of a wonderful gift she once gave to her daughter. She wrote down specific, significant moments in her daughter’s high school life that made her proud of her daughter. She gave her daughter the journal of proud moments as a graduation gift. Wow! What an idea! So, I started a journal for my own daughter, who is a sophomore. I know th

Description Virtual Reality.  Augmented Reality.  Global Online Collaboration.  Smart Phones. Smart TV’s.  Smart Watches.  Smart Cars. Artificial Intelligence.  Does trying to keep up with today’s technology make your head spin?  How did we get here?  What’s next?  Today we bring in an expert on the technology of education past, and the digital tech that’s going to take us into the future (no pressure there) Hall Davidson. Lessons Learned Chris - Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good (attributed to Voltaire, paraphrasing an early Italian dictionary). Daniel - Google Doodle - Celebrating Bach - AI Dennis - Where in Google Earth is Carmen Sandiego Fun Fact Original Oregon Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Trail_(series) Notes & Links Last week we celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the World Wide Web. This week we’ve brought in a special guest who’s been helping teachers use the power of the web since its inception and also is on the forefront of how internet connectivity can impact stu