Welcome to episode 184 (“Remote Learning Looms Large”) of the EdTech Situation Room from July 22, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed announcements by many school districts nationwide starting the 2020-21 academic year at home in “remote learning” mode. The “Vaccine Trust Problem,” Twitter’s crackdown on conspiracy / disinformation QAnon accounts, Eric Schmidt’s advice about government regulation of social media companies, and news articles about Internet trolls stoking the fires of political polarization were also discussed. A looming ban of the TikTok app by U.S. government officials, the new GMail experience for GSuite users, and updates in ChromeOS version 84 were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the Week included the “Mote” extension for voice comments in Google Docs via the Chrome browser, the new Google Certified Coach program, and the upcoming NCCE/TeacherCast “Beyond the Bootcamp” free webinar. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights (normally) if you can at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC. All shownotes are available on http://edtechSR.com/links.
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- Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) – blog: blog.ncce.org
- Wes Fryer (@wfryer) – blog: speedofcreativity.org – Media Literacy resources: medialiteracy.wesfryer.com
- Seattle schools should be all-online in the fall, district says, reversing earlier decision (Seattle Times; 22 July 2020)
- Nashville schools to start academic year remotely for all students as coronavirus cases mount (Tennessean; 9 July 2020)
- San Diego Unified will start school this fall with online learning (San Diego Union Tribune; 13 July 2020)
- L.A. Unified will not reopen campuses for start of school year amid coronavirus spike (LA Times; 13 July 2020)
- Portland students will not attend in-person classes full-time this fall, if at all (The Oregonian; 14 July 2020)
- Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 (16 million students need technology access, AZ Technology in Education, 22 July 2020
- Oklahoma City Public Schools delays start of school year; classes to be online for ‘at least 9 weeks’ (Oklahoma News 4, 21 July 2020)
- The Vaccine Trust Problem (NYT The Daily Podcast, 21 July 2020)
- Twitter cracks down on QAnon conspiracy group, including a ban on 7,000 accounts (The Verge; 21 July 2020)
- Twitter Safety Post on QAnon crackdown (21 July 2020)
- Insightful comments about potential technology company regulations by Eric Schmidt (@teddyschleifer on Twitter, 17 July 2020)
- The troll who staged a fake flag burning at Gettysburg: ’People will believe the most unrealistic nonsense’ (Washington Post, 17 July 2020)
- The World According to Q (Center for Human Technology “Your Undivided Attention” podcast, 8 July 2020)
- Disinformation about ‘antifa’ provides fodder for foreign propagandists (AtlanticCouncil’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, 17 July 2020)
- Wells Fargo wants employees to delete TikTok from company phones (Engadget; 11 July 2020)
- U.S. is ‘looking at’ banning TikTok and Chinese social media apps, Pompeo says (CNBC; 7 July 2020)
- Using GSuite on a Chromebook? Get ready for a new Gmail experience (About Chromebooks; 15 July 2020)
- Chrome OS 84: Easy split screening, more emoji & new ‘Explore’ app (9 to 5 Google; 20 July 2020)
- Media Literacy Conversations About Conspiracies and Culture Wars (archived videos of Wes’ #mtmoot & #digiURI presentations on the #ConCW media literacy project)
- Wes’ Geeks of the Week: Mote (voice comments in Google Docs) – Google Certified Coach Program
- Jason’s Geek of the Week: NCCE/TeacherCast “Beyond the Bootcamp”
