EdTech Rewind

The gang is back for Episode 13, Booing Betsy and Google Takeover. The big news from the life of Lee and Clint is that Lee is now Dr. Green, officially! He donned the regalia last week and walked across the stage of the University of West Georgia to gain a new front part of his name. Clint also had a great week due to the end of testing AND he was able to introduce some young folks at Cleveland Road Elementary to the world of Podcasting! Stay tuned to Episode 13S for a short show brought to you from the fine folks at the Cleveland Road Elementary Tech Club. The guys also get into a discussion on Jam Band preference, Chuck Todd, and the amazing Andrew Stillman. Clarke County Schools is switching over to a Stillman creation, Little SIS. Lee was pleasantly surprised to hear it mitigates some of the class creation issues in going from PowerSchool to Google Classroom. Seems like a legit product.

Covering Edtech news, the gang covers the booing of Secretary DeVos at a graduation as well as her speech at ASU-GSV. The guys also cover the opus of an article from Natasha Singer of the New York Times, How Google Took Over the Classroom.

Articles:
Dian Schaffhauser: DeVos: We're Just 'Scratching the Surface' of Ed with Tech, THE Journal, https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/05/10/devos-were-just-scratching-the-surface-of-ed-with-tech.aspx

Natasha Singer: How Google Took Over the Classroom, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/technology/google-education-chromebooks-schools.html?smid=pl-share&_r=1

It’s the dirty dozen! Lee and Clint are excited to welcome the #edupodfather himself, Jeff Bradbury to the show! Jeff, who is the founder of teachercast.net and a host of myriad of podcasts found at the same site. Jeff details his path to getting teachercast.net going strong for over six years with more than 700 podcasts. Given the Microsoft event was heavily discussed in Episode 11, Lee and Clint get Jeff’s take seeing as he was there in the flesh.

After the discussion on Microsoft the guys go into a discussion on the role of leadership in Ed Tech based on an article in Education Week by Benjamin Herold, @BenjaminBHerold. The discourse then goes into different ways to incorporate wrestling into the EdTech conversation. Check us out on Twitter @edtechrewind and find more on Jeff Bradbury from teachercast.net.

Sorry for the later normal drop this week, ladies and gentlemen. Between the combination of illness in the collective Winter/Green households this podcast is going up a little late. That gave the guys enough time to take a look into the latest announcement from #MicrosoftEDU, which happened this past week. Clint and Lee, being two die-hard Google Guys give you their take on the awesomeness. Thank you’s go to #MicrosotEDU and Barb Darrow of Fortune for the inspiration for today’s show.

As per usual, though, the show starts off with the guys going through their week. Clint was able to go to a retirement dinner for one of his favorite middle school teachers. Clint mentioned doing an 8th Grade Moden Lyrics/Poetry assignment for this teacher and that brought up the traumatic memory of when 13 year old Lee thought it would be a good idea to do the same type of assignment with the Sir Mix A Lot gem, Baby Got Back. The show quickly derailed, but the guys came up with a way to bring it back with a book concept called Mix a Lot of Standards. Guaranteed best seller that will show people how to combine cross curricular standards into Project Based Learning. Surely we can get Sir Mix A Lot on board.

Show links
Microsoft EDU Articles
10 Things from Microsoft - https://news.microsoft.com/features/10-things-know-microsoftedu-event/

For episode 11 the guys have a few special guests tonight from the 1980’s and 1990’s. Including Edward James Almos, Mr. T, and the Singles Soundtrack.

Clint and Lee talk about their week which includes, building a shed, testing, seeing Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and soccer. The discussion quickly turns to one of the most important films of all time Mr. T’s After school movie special “The Toughest Man in the World”
The duo discuss Lee’s home school District Floyd County Schools and their recent recognition as a “Google Reference District” Lee talks about what this means and how they received the distinction as a Google Reference District.

Next the conversation moves into some interesting EdTech Articles of the week. The first being the newly released and projected federal budget for Education by Meghan Bogardus Cortez. Clint and Lee discuss the implications of the budget projections and the model of companies bundling professional development with their project. Edward James Olmos makes a brief appearance. This brings up a discussion of the #GoOpen movement and school districts that may look to adopt this. It’s time to Stand and Deliver some quality open source

The discussion goes on to article from Michelle Molnar of EdWeek Marketbrief about how sharing information could save School District monies on purchasing technology.

After another brief appearance from Mr. T and again Edward James Olmos there is a discussion about an article from friend of the show Dian Schaffhauser on what drives Professional
Development. Clint and Lee go on to talk about another article from Dian Schaffhauser on a Tech Incubator that is about to develop A.I apps that are created by 14 year old students.

Finally, the guys talk about education and the Syrian Refugee crisis from an NPR article from Anya Kamenetz. Clint and Lee discuss the possibility of virtual study groups to keep education possible for children in crisis.

Links:
Floyd County Schools receives Google Reference District Recognition - https://goo.gl/Sk2L2U.

Go Open Movement - https://tech.ed.gov/open/

School Leaders Could Do a Better Job at Using Evaluation Systems for PD Guidance - Dian Schaffhauser, - https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/04/18/school-leaders-could-do-better-at-using-evaluation-systems-for-pd-guidance.aspx

Startup Launches 'Built by Students for Students' Tech Incubator - Dian Schaffhauser
https://thejournal.com/articles/2017/04/18/startup-launches-built-by-students-for-students-tech-incubator.aspx

What Does the Proposed Federal Budget Mean for Ed Tech in K–12? - Meghan Bogardus Cortez
http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2017/04/what-does-proposed-federal-budget-mean-ed-tech-k-12

Tech Is Dominating Efforts To Educate Syrian Refugees - Anya Kamenetz , http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/04/18/523611124/tech-is-dominating-efforts-to-educate-syrian-refugees

Sharing EdTech Prices Could Save Schools 3 Billion Annually - Michelle Molnar

Lee and Clint are joined on the podcast this week by www.freetech4teachers.com award winning blogger Richard Byrne. The discussion this week starts about a compare and contrasts of Professional Wrestling in New England and the deep south. Clint reviews and discusses seeing Explosions in the Sky at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA.

Richard discusses the release of Google Earth for Chrome and the implications that it can have in the classroom. You can find his www.freetech4teachers.com Blog post and screencast tutorial of Google Earth.

This leads into a roundtable discussion on the future of virtual reality in the classroom. Richard talks about how important it is to have meaningful content paired with virtual reality. Just like anything else in learning, one must have context

This leads into a discussion about what is new with the #Microsoft EDU and the answer is no one knows. . . Microsoft designed a really nice flyer, but it is hard to tell what the session is about. Lee was hopeful that Microsoft is ready to make a real move into providing some creative content that can be used by students.

Then the gang moves on to discussion of the Electronic Freedom Foundation's recent report on Student Privacy. Data mining, FERPA, and student privacy concerns are something the edtech field have to face on a daily basis. Who/what programs can you trust, if anyone?

Finally the guys break down a new startup, GigEd. The startup is designed to connect educators with companies that create educational software or need general advice from those in the classroom. Mark Phillips, the founder of GigEd, states the service is set to launch on March 8.

Big thanks to Richard Byrne, @rmbyrne, for taking the time! See you next week!

Relevant Posts:

Richard Byrne, www.freetech4teachers.com - Blog post and screencast tutorial of Google Earth.
Twitter: @rmbyrne

MicrosoftEdu Event Information

Electronic Freedom Foundation's recent report on Student Privacy.

Richard Chang, Report: Tech Companies Are Spying on Children Through Devices and Software Used in Classroom, THE Journal
Twitter, @ricardo77

Wyatt Kash, Debut of GigEd aims to match edtech firms with educators looking for part-time gigs, EdScoop
Twitter: @wyattkash

Lee and Clint are back again for Episode 8, E-Holsters and Fanny Packs. The show starts with a discussion on keeping our children alive and healthy followed by a discussion on tech incubators in our respective communities (www.fourathens.com, www.makervillage.org). Apologies to Makervillage for referring to you as the other Makerspace in Rome.

Then Lee and Clint pivot into a discussion on e-holsters (eholsters.com). Basically, they are holsters for your electronic devices that are way cooler than putting your devices in a bag. Almost a tech related fanny pack. This seems like an amazing device and we’d love to talk to the people involved behind this master plan.

Getting into the news of the week, there is a discussion on the announcement of new Google for Education Innovator applications. Lee tells the story of how he found out he was accepted and the guys talk about the networking opportunities present through Google Trainer and Innovator status.

In discussing some other stories, the guys bring up Richard Chang of THE Journal and his article on California’s top superintendent heading towards EdTech startup, AltSchool, (www.altschool.com). In another Richard Chang story, Clint and Lee break down Virtual School Growth and how it is expected to increase due to reaching the demand of students. Finally, the close of the show brings up a discussion of an article by Chris Liang-Vergara and Kerry Gallagher from Edsurge (www.edsurge.com) discussing 5 ways implementations of tech fail and how to get around them.

Useful Links:
http://www.fourathens.com/
https://www.makervillage.org/
www.eholster.com
edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification_innovator - Innovator Application
Richard Chang’s Articles from THE Journal, @Ricardo77
thejournal.com/articles/2017/04/10/cas-top-superintendent-leaves-for-ed-tech-startup-altschool.aspx
thejournal.com/articles/2017/04/03/virtual-schools-market-in-north-america-expected-to-grow-12.8-percent-by-2021.aspx

Alaska Virtual Schools - @OrionHS

5 Ways Implementations Fail From EdSurge by Chris Liang-Vergara and Kerry Gallagher
@LiangVergara @KerryHawk02 ‏
www.edsurge.com/news/2017-04-06-5-all-too-common-ways-edtech-implementations-fail

On this week's edition of EdTech Rewind Lee and Clint discuss the the previous live episode from Excite EDU, Clint's massive work schedule as of late, and Lee's upcoming work going on with the Floyd County School's system wide production, Crazy for You. Lee and Clint also discuss their feelings on the time we take to test students, and break down several articles. Links to the articles can be found below. Also, if you know anyone from Finland, or are anyone from Finland, the guys are interested in doing a remote to learn more about your Finnish ways!

Edsurge - Mary Jo Madda's article on the most popular jobs in EdTech. - https://goo.gl/hP8n1l
The Journal - Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway on 4 Education Technology Trends That Are Redefining K–12 - https://goo.gl/bBMbFv
The Journal - Dian Schaffhauser's article Finland's Phenomenon-Based Learning Subject of Motivis Learning Award Recipient - https://goo.gl/gJyFRf

Thanks for downloading!

This is a live podcast! That's right, the first one! Clint and Lee were able to get together in front of a group at the ExCiteEDU event held in Athens, GA! They go over the ins and outs of podcasting and share some ideas with the audience.

In this episode Lee chat's with Clint, Dana Siegmund, Cat Flippen, Ashley Maher, TJ Kopcha, and Carrie Siegmund while participating in the first annual ExciteEDU Conference in Athens, GA. It was a great experience to work with some amazing folks for the day.

In this episode, Clint and Lee break down EdCamp Rome 2017, the coming ExciteEDU festival, as well as conversational Dothraki. Then we round things out with a discussion of SAMR. Tune in! Follow @edtechrewind, @itsleegreen, and @clintwinter