Welcome to episode 122 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 23, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed highlights from the recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and a series of articles further highlighting our ongoing “Technology Correction.” These included a new fine for Google because of GDPR, and an excellent podcast interview with Shoshana Zuboff (@shoshanazuboff) about her new book, “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power.” Controversy at the University of Oklahoma over a student-created racist video, the precipitous stock value crash of Apple over the past quarter, and Chinese School use of AI-powered facial recognition to take attendance in classes. Google’s recent purchase of Fossil’s smartwatch division, the possibility that Facebook’s recent ’10 Year Challenge’ is a clever way to build an even greater catalog of surveillance data about people worldwide, and several other articles touching on privacy issues and concerns rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included the 140 character math function visualization platform Dwitter, and the upcoming NCCE Digital Leadership Summit in Seattle. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 121 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 10, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the implications of Apple’s disappointing earnings projection for the first quarter of 2019, Baratunde Thurston’s Tech Manifesto addressing how we should protect data privacy, and the intense technological as well as economic struggles underway between the United States and China, specifically via the Chinese company Huawei. In addition, Jason highlighted a variety of technology announcements and developments from the 2019 Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Geeks of the week included Tiles and the MacOS program Amphetamine. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 120 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 3, 2019, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed 2018 “Tech Report Cards” from the Verge on Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft. The proliferation of bots and fake content online, and the challenges this presents for online media metrics as well as media literacy, was highlighted. The release of thousands of works into the public domain in the United States, thanks to the non-renewal of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, and an instance of ground-breaking brain surgery rounded out topics for the show. Geeks of the week included an article sharing tips for getting the most out of your Amazon Kindle eReader, and the open source software Burn for MacOS. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 119 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 26, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed copyright and intellectual property issues on the Teachers Pay Teachers (@tptdotcom) website, YouTube creator backlash amidst other “trust issues” with Google, and the challenges of radicalization and “outlier content” on YouTube based on its attention-maximizing algorithms. Continuing warnings from U.S. security officials to avoid Huawei smartphones and telecommunications gear because of the Chinese government’s hacking threat, the four variations of recommended 2 step verification for account security, and the promise of podcasting for the “slow democracy movement” were also highlighted and explored. Amazing recent space photos of the planet Jupiter, China’s ongoing space exploration milestones on the moon, disclosure challenges for Instagram creators for paid advertising, and the power of Fortnite as a social media hangout were other topics addressed in the show. The advent of autonomous / AI powered databases by Oracle and the upcoming release of HTML 5 compliant Scratch 3.0 software rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included a wonderful (and inexpensive) sketch journal from Michael’s (via Jason) and the printed photo book service of Motif for Apple Photos users (via Wes). Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 118 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 12, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) co-hosted a special episode titled, the 2018 Technology Shopping Cart! They shared and discussed a variety of different technology and geek oriented gift ideas. Gift categories included smartphone stuff, The Internet of Things (IoT), books, robots, STEM/STEAM lab, miscellaneous gadgets, home networking equipment, photography and videography, software, nerd paper gear, baggage, stocking stuffers, and other ideas. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 117 of the EdTech Situation Room from December 5, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included Microsoft’s embrace of Chromium for their Windows10 web browser, the death of the Edge Browser, best choices on Mac laptops for schools after October’s special Apple event, and the perils of YouTube networks for content creators. The recent unfortunate content filtering / inappropriate content access situation on a Chromebook in Ridgewood Schools, New Jersey, reasons most doctors seem to hate their computer systems at work, Rudy Giuliani’s recent demonstration of Twitter ignorance, and a recent, amazing robot video from Boston Dynamics rounded out the show. We did have some technical glitches for about two minutes in the middle of this show, but that portion has been edited out of the downloadable audio and video versions posted here. Geeks of the week included TechSoup for nonprofits and an excellent podcast series on “The Daily” by the New York Times, “What The West Got Wrong About China.” Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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. Next week’s show will our holiday “Technology Shopping Cart” episode, check our shownotes for a link to our publicly editable Google Doc so you can share your own holiday tech tips for Santa!
Please join us on Wed, December 12th for our special "Technology Shopping Cart" edition of the EdTech Situation Room! Add holiday gift ideas & suggestions to our collaborative Google Doc in advance (whether or not you can join live!): https://t.co/eYoTF2yTsk#edtechSR#edtechpic.twitter.com/XU8qx0zCAY
Nightmare for school officials in any 1:1 laptop or device take-home initiative: “Outcry For Alleged Sexual-Murder Video On Ridgewood School Laptop” #edtech via @KevinCTofel cc #edtechSRhttps://t.co/Db4QJuTkn6
Welcome to episode 116 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 29, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included the continued growth of mobile broadband connectivity worldwide, the expanded availability of Google Fi, and varying opinions about Google’s new Pixel Slate tablet. The milestone last week of Microsoft surpassing Apple as the world’s most valuable company, Microsoft’s HoloLens AR goggle contract with the U.S. Army, and the scientist who defied the international community by using CRISPR to genetically engineer a human baby were also discussed. OpEds about the unpredictability of Internet effects as shown by the popularity of chess as an online spectator sport, and the rise of “surveillance capitalism” via targeted advertising were also highlighted. The successful landing of the Insight space probe on Mars this week and Europe’s threat to shut down Google News by charging for linking to 3rd party news websites were topics rounding out the show. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 115 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 21, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included the recent outages of cloud services including Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory and LastPass Password Manager, and multiple signs of “The Technology Correction.” These included calls for regulating Facebook, surveys showing many young computer scientists do not want to work for Facebook, and Facebook’s apparent inability to regulate / fix itself. Processor upgrades to the Samsung Chromebook Plus, the enduring value of Google Pixelbooks, and Black Friday week deals on Pixelbooks were also discussed. On the security front, a new, stealthy Russian hacking tool, a phishing test tool, the first amendment and Facebook, and student protests over Facebook’s sponsored learning management system “Summit Learning” were also discussed. The use of streetlight concealed cameras by US security agencies and the viability of the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the week included T-Mobile’s One Plus Plan (great for international travel) and a technique for bypassing news website free article limits with browser incognito mode. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) 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 114 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 14, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included college students at UC Berkeley developing browser extensions to identify political bot accounts on social media, prospects for liberal democracy portrayed in PBS Frontline’s recent series “The Facebook Dilemma,” and issues of both trust and due process involving Facebook, content takedowns and smart assistants like Alexa and Google Home. Microsoft’s problems with recent Windows10 updates and its new crowdsourced feedback process for updates, and new research on the value of doodling for learning and retention were also discussed with a shout out to Sylvia Duckworth’s (@sylviaduckworth) new book on sketchnoting. The “Shift Happens” video series 10 years later, problems with drone videos and wildlife harassment, Google’s pleas to content creators to help oppose new copyright legislation in Europe, and a Mozilla report identifying the “creepiest” tech gifts this holiday season from a privacy / surveillance standpoint rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included FFWorks / FFMpeg for video encoding, Thankful Bot from the Noun Project, a funny U.S. election meme on Twitter, and the virtual keyboard project CopyChar. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC.
Welcome to episode 113 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 7, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jason Kern (@jasonmkern) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Topics for the show included virtual reality in the classroom, the use of social media worldwide to radicalize politics, hardware updates from Apple’s special event last week, and our need for media literacy everywhere. Anya Kamenetz’ excellent response article, “What the Times got wrong about kids and phones” was also highlighted. Professional courtesy with cell phones at meetings and in the classroom, the NetFlix documentary “The Eighties,” and Flickr’s important announcement about free and pro accounts rounded out the show. Geeks of the week included free “Unity” software licenses for schools, Raspberry Pi projects, the browser extension “OneTab,” and the “Pulse” SMS app on Android. Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR for updates, and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can (normally) at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific or 3 am UTC.
