Welcome to episode 12 of the EdTech Situation Room from June 1, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed spatial computing, an amazing discovery in Kazakhstan from 2015 by a Google Earth user, and the way app designers often intentionally create digital addictions using “intermittent variable rewards” like slot machines in casinos. They also offered predications for Apple announcements at the upcoming WWDC and the first use of a military-grade drone in the continental United States for an agricultural bio-technology mapping project. Geeks of the Week included the retirement (death?) of some much-beloved Google Chrome extensions as well as Adobe’s 2.0 version of the Adobe Voice app: Adobe Spark. Special kudos to our top fan and webcast attendee Peggy George in Phoenix, Arizona! Check out our podcast shownotes and our links page on https://edtechsr.com/links for all referenced resources and websites from our show. Tune in next week on Wednesday night at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific for another exciting, enthralling, amazing and inspiring episode of YOUR new digital addiction: The EdTech Situation Room!
Welcome to episode 11 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 26, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. We’ve been off for a few weeks and we’re glad to be back! This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the evolving role of digital assistants powered by artificial intelligence, Google’s annoucement that the Google Play Store is coming to Chrome OS, and the continuing evolution of machine learning. Other discussion topics included learning experiences which cultivate “grit,” Apple Stock (and Warren Buffett’s response), and the sunset for floppy disks in US Air Force missile silos. Geeks of the week included Google’s Project Aura and the upcoming National Week of Making in the United States, June 17-23, 2016. Check out the podcast shownotes for links to these and other resources, which you can also find on http://edtechSR.com/links. Please follow us on Twitter (@edtechSR) http://twitter.com/edtechSR for updates. We expect to be back on our regular Wednesday night schedule for next week’s show. Hope you can join us live! Whether you listen to us live or in an archived format, we’d love your feedback on the show.
Welcome to episode 10 of the EdTech Situation Room from May 4, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the benefits of using Google Slides for presentation sharing, new updates to Google Classroom, desired updates for Google Apps for Education tools, the relation of maturing genomics & robotics industries to STEM education, the slow adoption dynamics of wearable technologies in the consumer market, and the reported comparative benefits of handwritten class notes over typed versions. Check out our shownotes and discussion links on http://edtechSR.com/links for all referenced resources. Jason shared Slide Carnival for his geek of the week, and Wes shared a couple fitness/nutrition apps as well as a recent slide deck on “Inside and Outside Sharing.” As always your feedback on the show is welcome via Twitter or as a comment on our website. Tune in next Wednesday night at 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain for more insightful analysis of the week’s technology new stories from Jason and Wes!
Welcome to episode 9 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 27, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed artificial intelligence, social media content moderation, cell phone hacking, open educational resources, and the demise of desktop PCs – and how each of these newsworthy developments relate to classrooms and schools. Jason shared The FiveThirtyEight Blog as his Geek of the Week, Wes shared Nuzzel and the “Full Spectrum Entry-Level Laser Cutter” as his Geeks of the Week. Tune in next Wednesday night at 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain for more insightful analysis of the week’s technology new stories from Jason and Wes!
Welcome to episode 8 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 13, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed ransomware and security issues as they apply to both schools and individuals, Microsoft’s recent mis-steps into the world of Twitter chatbots, an encounter with police of a TOR relay volunteer, and Facebook’s move into the video hosting game. Geeks of the week included the screen windows management software program Divy (from Jason) and the book “The Industries of the Future” by Alec Ross (from Wes). Tune in next Wednesday night at 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain for more insightful analysis of the week’s technology new stories from Jason and Wes!
Welcome to episode 7 of the EdTech Situation Room from April 6, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) faced some road warrior bandwidth blues, so the show went on with Jon Samuelson (@jonsamuelson) joining Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) to catch up on the heroic Oregon trek and adventure of Jon’s family in past year along with some of the past week’s technology news. Those topics included the FBI’s decision to drop their lawsuit against Apple over iPhone encryption, the release of the Tesla Model 3 by Elon Musk, Google’s April Fools Day video about Google Plastic, the ethics of 3D printing in veterinary hospitals, and Facebook’s latest foray into video and livestreaming. We also expressed our undying admiration of Tony Vincent and fond memories of the amazing “Mobile Learning Experience” conference he hosted for five years with the Arizona K12 Center. Wes shared JuniorTube as his Geek of the Week link, and Jon shared Twitter user @irvspanish ‘s YouTube channel of Minecraft videos for ESL teachers and students. Check out our full list of shownotes (including Geek of the Week shares) on edtechsr.com/links.
Welcome to Episode 6 of the EdTech Situation Room, the almost-weekly webshow and podcast where technology news meets educational analysis! This week co-hosts Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discuss Apple’s March 21st “special event” and several other news items. These include the FBI/Apple faceoff over iPhone encryption, Google’s AI Play Go, and Blendle’s idea for saving journalism on the web.
Welcome to Episode 5 of the EdTech Situation Room, the weekly webshow and podcast where technology news meets educational analysis! This week we had a lively discussion with special guest Ben Wilkoff (@bhwilkoff) along with show hosts Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer). Our conversations touched on the articles “Google Eliminates Right-Side Adds” (discussing the ascendency of mobile computing as well as the implications of our “you are the product” digital social environment,) “Veteran Station Crew Returns to Earth after Historic Mission,” the amazing “State of EdTech from EdSurge” interactive article, and “Touch Screen Laptops Aren’t Just a Gimmick: They’re Actually Useful.” As usual we wrapped up with some “Geek of the Week” links, and Ben totally blew Wes’ mind with his Minecraft Pocket Edition server link. Check our podcast shownotes and http://edtechSR.com/links for all the referenced resources. We’ll take a break next week (no show on March 9, 2016) but return on March 16th as Wes will attempt to host the show from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Viva la revolucion #edtech!
Episode 4 of of our Blab.im powered weekly podcast featured insightful commentary by special guest Mike Agostinelli (@mikegusto), as well as regular hosts Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer). Mike and Jason joined from the NCCE Conference in Seattle, Washington, and had better connectivity during the show than Wes did. Despite bandwidth challenges spiking in central Oklahoma, the show conversations included a refreshingly wide range of topics. These included the Michelle Obama announcement of the “Open eBooks’ App,” the demise of Google’s Picassa web photos service, the possibilities of IFTTT and the programmable Internet of Things (IOT), the announcement of forthcoming 5G cellular data connectivity, the urban/rural connectivity divide, and “The New Colonialism” (potentially) of Facebook and Google. Geek of the Week links included Google History, the Stickbot animation app, a mobile app for rotating videos and the AppleTV “Space Station Live” app. Check out our shownotes on https://edtechsr.com/links for all our referenced resources and more. Remember to tune in next Wednesday night at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific.
We were joined for episode 3 of our Blab.im powered weekly podcast by educational technology guru and noted futurist Miguel Guhlin (@mguhlin) of San Antonio, Texas! Hosts Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) met in “The EdTech Situation Room” on February 10, 2016, and discussed current news and trends in educational technology with Miguel. In this week’s show we discussed our responses to the economic and digital hegemony of Google and Apple (actually we didn’t use those words, but we did talk about that issue). We talked about Google’s online store for ‘books that can’t be printed,’ the importance of OER (Open Educational Resources) for schools, and the role of the printed textbook in an increasingly digital information landscape. Wes ranted a bit about the ascendant power of artificial intelligence, and Miguel revealed his true (and startling) personal views on DRM (digital rights management) as they relate to educational curricula. Jason challenged us to think about the permanency and durability of digital information in formats which, given time, are sure to be eclipsed by newer mediums. As always we wrapped up the show with some practical “Geek of the Week” links and tips. We’ll take a week off and be back for episode 4 on February 24, 2016, when Jason will be broadcasting live from the NCCE Conference in Seattle, Washington. Check edtechSR.com/links for complete shownotes and referenced links. Please subscribe to us on Twitter (@edtechSR), on Blab.im/edtechSR and to our audio podcast channel. Our appeal of the mysterious suspension of our YouTube channel is still pending, but a YouTube playlist of our three episodes-to-date is available for your viewing pleasure. Please share The EdTech Situation Room with all your educator peeps! Please tweet us and share your feedback about and input for the lineup and format of our show. Tune in LIVE to our next show on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific. (We will NOT have a show on February 17, 2015)
