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 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.
Welcome to episode 111 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 17, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Beth Holland (@brholland) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens, as well as a variety of educational issues relating to digital citizenship and digital equity. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week’s show included algorithmic literacy, privacy, digital equity, digital citizenship, media literacy, digital literacy, Internet safety, digital citizenship week, and more. Other topics included the National Educational Technology Plan, the ongoing code wars between nation states, and the power of social networks / human connections in unlocking opportunity and innovation. The digital divide in rural America, the perils of IoT cameras in our homes, the Media Education Lab’s Mind over Media Project, Imagineering in Storytelling, and geomaps of Lewis and Clark’s journey of discovery rounded out the week’s topics. Check out our shownotes on edtechSR.com/links. 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. Note we will be starting earlier than usual occasionally to accommodate guest schedules in upcoming weeks, so please check Twitter for those updates.
Welcome to episode 110 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 10, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Jun Kim (@mpstechnology) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week’s show included the alleged hack of computer hardware by Chinese authorities affecting major tech companies including Apple and Amazon, which is very controversial and has been firmly denied by technology companies as well as government agencies. The dangers of connecting to open WiFi in public spaces, ways to avoid phishing scams in email, and the benefits of using password managers as well as a VPN or cell phone access point / phone tethering were also discussed. Robocalls on the rise, Google’s changes to third party data access for Gmail, the prospect of Google enforcing restrictive limitations on data sharing around the world because of country-specific laws, and Google’s Certification program for IT professionals were also discussed by Jun and Wes. Briefly highlighted articles at the end of the show included the Google Pixel 3 and it’s touted capability to screen phone calls using an AI voice agent and Facebook’s challenges in moderating content worldwide. Geeks of the week included the COSN toolkit on protecting student data and FlowCrypt for sending encrypted email within Gmail. Check out edtechSR.com/links for all shownotes, including those listed below. 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. Note we will be starting earlier than usual occasionally to accommodate guest schedules in upcoming weeks, so please check Twitter for those updates.
Welcome to episode 109 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 3, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) and special guest Tye Campbell (@TyeJCampbell) discussed the past week’s technology news through an educational lens. Co-host Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was on special assignment. Topics highlighted in this week’s show included the recent “Presidential Emergency Text Alert,” paging and alert messaging at school, and Apple’s latest iOS 12 which brings improved performance at the price of faster battery consumption. The new screentime monitoring tools in iOS12, school conversations on digital citizenship relating to character education, and school partnerships with “The Social Institute” helping students, faculty and parents embrace a balanced approach to social media an technology were also discussed. A shout out to ATLIS (The Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools) and their upcoming conference in April 2019 in Dallas, net neutrality in light of new European legislation relating to “the right to be forgotten” and the GDPR, protection of personal information / privacy, and digital identity verification via Yubikey were topics rounding out the show. Geeks of the week included iOS 12 Screen Time Controls (Tye) and recommended actions for scholars who are victims of online trolling (Wes). Check out edtechSR.com/links for all shownotes, including those listed below. 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. Note we will be starting earlier than usual occasionally to accommodate guest schedules in upcoming weeks, so please check Twitter for those updates.
“Suggested Discussion Questions” for our Upper and Middle Division teachers at Casady School addressing our revised Responsible Use Policy with students during advisory time.
Welcome to episode 103 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 15, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed universities deploying smart assistants in student dorms to answer questions, the privacy concerns of smart assistants in educational contexts, and the shortcomings of the latest MacBook Pro laptops relative to Windows-based competitors. Rumors of dual-booting Chromebooks (also booting to Windows), whether or not social media platforms are “publishers,” and strategies to stop or avoid “stalking ads” on social media were also addressed. Social media / fake news controversies over the temporary (7 day) banning of Alex Jones / InfoWars on Twitter, hacker threats to home routers (VPNfilter) and IoT devices, the advent of Fortnite on ALL Android devices (but not via the Google Play Store), and Google’s location tracking of users who turn off location services rounded out the news articles addressed in this show. Geeks of the Week included the Timer Tab app (ad-free), an incredible photo of our sun during a “Coronal Mass Ejection” with the earth shown to scale, and the recent PBS documentary, “Documenting Hate: Charlottesville.” 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.
Resources on Privacy Issues for Smart Assistants in the Classroom: Common Sense Media Privacy (@cs_privacy) Bill Fitzgerald (@funnymonkey) and Susan Bearden (@s_bearden)
Welcome to episode 102 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 8, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed an update to this summer’s MacBook Pro Throttling Controversy, the upcoming death of Flash functionality in 2020, and the importance of being wary when you see pop-up ads to “update flash” and other software on your computer. The recent decisions by Apple, YouTube/Google and Facebook to ban / take down websites and media channels of Alex Jones / InfoWars was also addressed, along with Facebook’s takedown of suspected Russian network pages. Jason shared a shout-out to the helpful updating software “Ninite” for Windows, and Wes shared a shout out to his school’s “Digital Citizenship Conversations” website as well. The perils of digital voting was discussed, along with the ongoing controversy over 3D printable guns. Amy Webb’s recent prediction that “smartphones will be gone in 10 years” and other trends identified through her “Future Today Institute.” The recent news that voice-based phone calls are finally in decline in Britain, Logitech’s purchase of Blue Microphones, a cautionary tale for users of free VPN services whose data is sold to advertisers, and an eye opening Guardian article about Russian hacking forums were also highlighted in the show. Google’s required use of physical identity keys for two step verification and the perils of using SMS as well as app-based verification methods for two step authentication was explored as well. Geeks of the week included Promevo (by Jason) and Explorables (by Wes). Please follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date about upcoming shows, and share feedback with us about the show on Twitter or via a comment on our website.
Welcome to episode 101 of the EdTech Situation Room from July 25, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed automation and the technological trajectory of our society, potentially toward dystopia, informed by Douglass Rushkoff’s “Survival of the Richest” article shared in early July. This led to discussions about the weaponization of news via social media, as highlighted by danah boyd in a recent lecture in Detroit available on YouTube, recent revelations about voting machine vulnerabilities to hackers via remote access, and the cautionary tale provided by Ukraine in recent years on Russian hackers’ capabilities to bring a society’s institutions to a standstill via cyberwarfare. On the less depressing technology news front, Jason and Wes discussed the recent hoopla of Apple throttling MacBook Pro laptops revealed by a user on YouTube, and Apple’s release of an iOS version which provides better support for privacy and travelers passing through customs inspections where equipment may be used to copy iPhone data via USB tools. On the Google front, Jason discussed identified speed issues with web browsers and the YouTube website, the recent EU fine of Google for anti-trust legal violations, the opinion that Android has (positively) created more choice in the global smartphone market, and an update on Google’s Chromecast technology which celebrated its 5th birthday. Facebook’s legal challenges and potential fines in Great Britain over Brexit, rumors of a Microsoft-branded smartphone, updates to Microsoft Teams software, slow growth in the PC industry, and the continued revelation of more backdoors in Cisco routers (5 at this point) rounded out this episode’s topics. Geeks of the Week included Loom, a Chrome extension for screencasting, the Apple Magic Pad running on Chrome, Reddit (it’s not just for trolls), DocHub (for PDF annotation and digital signing) and the new documentary “This is AI” by IBM and Discovery. Please follow us on @edtechSR for updates and join us LIVE on Wednesday nights if you can for our show!
Welcome to episode 100 of the EdTech Situation Room from July 11, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed recent announcements from the 2018 ISTE Conference in Chicago, Microsoft’s new Surface Go budget laptop, and the opening of Pandora’s Box for 3D printed guns. Security articles discussed included the worst cybersecurity breaches of 2018 (so far), the importance of never using a USB from an unknown source (including North Korea summit officials), and the potential danger of discarding a used USB flash drive. Google Chrome articles included the launch of the CTL rugged Chromebook, and Neverware’s “Bring Your Old Device” tour, which included an ISTE vendor hall appearance at the Google booth. On the Amazon front, Jason reminded us to look forward to Amazon Prime Day on July 16th, and to consider why Amazon continues to sell lots of tablets in an otherwise lackluster market. Twitter’s recent efforts to delete fake accounts in advance of 2018 midterm elections in the United States was also highlighted. Geeks of the week included a recent episode of the Wired Educator podcast, Wes’ shared podcast subscriptions from PocketCasts, The Scratch Team’s “Getting Unstuck” campaign for 25 days of creative coding, and the recommendation to restart your router to defeat variants of the “VPNfilter” malware outbreak and also optimize your bandwidth performance. Please follow us on Twitter at @edtechSR for updates and for live join links during our Wednesday night shows. Please reach out to us on Twitter if you enjoy the show and let us know you’re listening!
