Welcome to episode 172 (“Don’t Jack with My Zoom”) of the EdTech Situation Room from April 8, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) continued to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers, students, and parents, but also highlighted some recent technology headlines involving zoomjacking, remote learning, disinformation, YouTube influencers in the neo-coronavirus era, and “the technology correction.” They also brainstormed “Best Tools and Strategies for Live Teaching” and software for “Virtual Backgrounds for Videoconferencing.” If you have any options which should be included on these lists, please reach out to Jason or Wes on Twitter! Access archived MP3 audio and smaller 360P video archives of this and past shows on edtechSR.com. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Thanks to everyone who joined us live and shared comments in our live chat! 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.
Welcome to episode 171 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 1, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) continued to discuss the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers, students, and parents, but also highlighted some recent technology headlines involving security, media literacy, and other issues. Those included the completion of the T-Mobile and Sprint merger, PBS Learning Media Resources for Home Learning integrating with Google Classroom, the recent FBI warning to teachers and school administrators to avoid “Zoom-jacking,” and some helpful articles / tips about videoconferencing from home, including updating your home WiFi access points. (Wes recommends Google Nest!) Access archived MP3 audio and smaller 360P video archives of this and past shows on edtechSR.com. Our show was live streamed and archived simultaneously on YouTube Live as well as our Facebook Live page via StreamYard.com. Thanks to everyone who joined us live and shared comments in our live chat! 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.
Welcome to episode 170 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 25, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) welcomed Eric Langhorst (@elanghorst) back as a special guest. Topics for the show included ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on schools, teachers and students, new product announcements from Apple, a discussion on whether or not home workers should leave smart speakers turned on, and more. Helpful and practical suggestions for remote teaching / online teaching for K-12 as well as university instructors / faculty from Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) and Jose Bowen (@josebowen) were highlighted. Geeks of the Week included Masterclass courses (including an AMAZING one about Space by Commander Chris Hadfield, Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance resources for remote teaching during the COVID-19 crisis, the CloudReady from Neverware ChromeOS operating system (free for home use.) Additional Geeks of the Week were an ongoing blog post series about educational technology and COVID-19 by Wes, Google Nest WiFi, and an upcoming free webinar on “Protecting Yourself and Your Family Online.” Peggy George (@pgeorge) shared some excellent links during our show as well, including a new daily email newsletter with 10 helpful covid19EDU links (nuzzel.com/pgeorge). Access archived MP3 audio and smaller 360P video archives of this and past shows on edtechSR.com. 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.
VLLA Members Provide Assistance to Teachers, Schools, and Districts Looking to Enhance Technology-Driven Remote Teaching. Visit the VLLA website for more information!https://t.co/3Ar8yfM0Tw
— Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (@vllaonline) March 25, 2020
Welcome to episode 169 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 18, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the exceptional week of neo-coronavirus / COVID-19 announcements, closures, and news we’ve experienced globally in the past seven days. We also discussed a few recent technology headlines, which (as usual) are linked in the shownotes, but most of our conversation focused on ways we can adapt and adjust as more people than ever are working from home, teaching from home, and learning from home. Access archived MP3 audio and smaller 360P video archives of this and past shows on edtechSR.com. 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.
Welcome to episode 168 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 11, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the impact of the coronavirus / Covid-19 on schools, resources for teachers and students “learning at home,” media literacy in the age of coronavirus, critical wellness / self-care tips when working and teaching from home, and more. Additional topics included a major security victory for white hat hackers led by Microsoft over botnets created by cybercriminals, the importance of wiping / resetting your computer and other Internet connected devices annually, efforts by technology companies to battle election and coronavirus misinformation, and forthcoming improvements to mouse cursor support in Apple’s iOS 14. Amazon price gouging and efforts to stop it during the Covid19 crisis, the dangers of free VPN services, and poignant issues about educational equity (including digital equity) raised by Google’s chief educational evangelist, Jaime Casap (@jcasap) rounded out the show. Geeks of the Week included instructional technology support / remote learning resources from Casady School, Carl Hooker’s (@mrhooker) collected resources from a #FutureReady chat on coronavirus-mandated home teaching, Seesaw Home Learning resources, and a thoughtful article on Medium exploring, “Why All the Warby Parker Clones Are Now Imploding.” 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.
So all the recommendations I see about how to create virtual learning or online learning for K12 starts with an assumption that no one is bringing up. The recommendations should start with, “if your student is an affluent supported well fed child who lives in a home…1/9
Welcome to episode 167 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 4, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was out on assignment, so special guest Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) joined Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) to discuss the past week’s technology headlines through an educational lens. Topics addressed included the impacts of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) on upcoming conferences and events, special upgrades and extended product trials offered by technology companies to schools to help meet possible online teaching demands brought on by the Coronavirus, as well as ongoing efforts to battle disinformation and information manipulation using social media platforms in the U.S. 2020 election season. Geeks of the week included Wakelet, a recent tweet by Evan Kirstel (@evankirstel) inspiring thoughts about the future of transportation, and an excellent Coronavirus GeoMap from Johns Hopkins using ArcGIS. 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.
Sorry, but this bothers me. If not for presenters, there would be no ISTE.
Not only do most of these educators (who are underpaid) have to pay for flights, hotels, & meals, but then they have to pay to provide the sole reason for attending the conference? #edtech#edtechchatpic.twitter.com/6GpTu4L2sb
— Eric Patnoudes, M.Ed. (@NoApp4Pedagogy) March 3, 2020
Welcome to episode 166 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 26, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was out on assignment, so special guest Susan Bearden (@s_bearden) joined Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) to discuss the past week’s technology headlines through an educational lens. Topics addressed included the victory for Google Forms as a reliable information technology tool the Democratic Caucuses in Nevada and the malware dangers in “typosquatting,” On the Google front, the expansion of Google Translate to include 108 languages, a lawsuit from the New Mexico Attorney General arguing Google is violating COPPA privacy laws by web-tracking minors, and the Linux app potential of Chromebooks via Flatpak were also discussed. In miscellaneous tech news, Apple’s purported ban on movie villains using iPhones (they are reserved only for heroines and heroes, don’t you know,) reports of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas now regretting his opinion regarding the classification off Internet Services for FCC regulatory purposes, and update on the Chinese robotic moon rover, and Pope Francis’ exhortation to people around the world to take a Lenten screentime fast rounded out the show. Geeks of the Week (available in our shownotes) included great articles on security and data privacy, web-based video annotation tool options, and the PowerCert PowerCert Animated Videos on YouTube. 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.
Welcome to episode 165 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 13, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed changes to “backup files” in Google Drive and the demise of Andy Rubin’s “Essential” Android phone hardware company. After another consecutive week of shout outs to the “EdTech Takeout Episode 71,” we discussed the requirement for YouTube creators to mark all videos “made for kids” which fit Google’s guidelines, and provided some analysis on the demise of “branded accounts” on YouTube for GSuite for Education (GSFE) domains. On the topic of media literacy, the recent podcast episode “Breaking the Truth: A Conversation with Samuel Woolley” on the show “Power 3.0 Podcast: Authoritarian Resurgence, Democratic Resilience” was discussed, along with hesitation (on the part of some elementary teachers) to “turn students loose on Google” to research topics in school. On the Apple front, Siri’s new ability to answer Election 2020 questions, the rise of more adware / malware on MacOS computers, Apple’s release of “Swift Playgrounds” for MacOS, and the rise of Apple Pay were highlighted. On the ChromeOS front, forthcoming updates to ChromeOS storage, “hot corners” customization options for ChromeOS like MacOS, and geeky steps to install the “Brave” browser on a ChromeOS device were shared. Geeks of the Week included the PixilArt website and mobile apps, episode 58 of the podcast Darknet Diaries, and the Chrome extension “FakeSpot” to identify fake reviews on Amazon and other sites. 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 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.
Welcome to episode 164 of the EdTech Situation Room from February 6, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed technology and mobile app woes in this week’s Iowa Primary party caucuses and election, a case study of ‘what not to do” with regard to copyright and Disney movies shown for a school fundraiser in California, and the 15 year birthday of Google Maps. The largest article collection in this week’s shownotes concern the distressing and horrific exponential growth in child sexual abuse media as documented by a four part New York Times article series from late 2019, as well as the related political debate today regarding impending encryption of Facebook owned mobile apps which accounted for 90 percent of all reported child sexual abuse cases in 2018 (according to the NY Times). In our show Wes explained how this article series, along with related EFF articles, are encouraging him to rethink an “absolutist position” when it comes to digital encryption on Facebook specifically. Additional topics discussed in the show included reflections on the viability of the iPad as a profitable platform for Apple, the predictable end-of-life / end of software support for all smart devices in our homes, and YouTube policy changes affecting creators of kids content as well as policy changes for election related content violating published community standards. Geeks of the Week included Digital Learning Day coming up on February 27, 2020, Wes’ updated “Digital Citizenship” Twitter list, and the “Planes Live!” mobile app for iOS and Android. 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 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.
Welcome to episode 163 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 29, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed recent revelations that the Avast Antivirus software program is a dragnet for user browser history sold to interested buyers, Google’s announced extensions to ChromeOS support updates, and Google’s forthcoming AirDrop clone, “Fast Share.” A bizarre but newly validated story of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince (MBS) hacking Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ cellphone via a video link shared privately with him through WhatsApp, controversy over Sonos legacy products and available security patches / software updates, and a variety of Election 2020 resources from a Paul Allison webcast (via Peggy George) were also highlighted. Quick headline shares included the new “Star Trek like” logo of the U.S. military’s newest branch, Space Force, the release of more than 150,000 different art images from the Paris Museum into the public domain, and a New York Times feature article on Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri who is working to “take away the likes” (or at least partial visibility of them in certain cases) on the platform to purportedly help user wellness. Geeks of the Week included Rebble for Pebble (a crowdsourced operating system for the discontinued Pebble smartwatch) and a recent Today Explained podcast about new security researcher reports concerning the alleged Saudi Arabia initiated hack of Jeff Bezos’ smartphone. NOTE NEXT WEEK’S SHOW WILL BE ON THURSDAY NIGHT INSTEAD OF WEDNESDAY! 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 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.
After consultation with our Great Military Leaders, designers, and others, I am pleased to present the new logo for the United States Space Force, the Sixth Branch of our Magnificent Military! pic.twitter.com/TC8pT4yHFT
