Welcome to episode 89 of the EdTech Situation Room from March 22, 2018, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week special guest Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the transition of iPadPalooza into LearningFest, Virtual Reality at SxSW 2018 and in the classroom, and the upcoming Apple Education Event in Chicago on March 27th. Additional topics included Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, and the response of Mark Zuckerberg to allegations his social media platform has become “a weapon” posing an existential threat to democracies worldwide. Geeks of the week included the forthcoming movie, “Ready Player One,” and a new Cadillac ad, “Future Cars.” Check our shownotes for links to these and additional referenced articles and websites.
Welcome to episode 59 of the EdTech Situation Room from August 2, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wes Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple’s recent favorable quarterly earnings report, Tim Cook’s alleged statements to President Trump about Apple manufacturing returning (at least in part) to the USA mainland, the relatively low influence of peer-journaled research in most K-12 educational purchasing decisions, and the implications of genetic modification / genomics in recently announced insect eradication campaigns in the US as well as a breakthrough human embryo genetic mutation “edit.” Other topics addressed included solar eclipse sunglasses scams on Amazon (buyer beware!), some excellent explanatory videos and articles about cryptocurrencies and the “blockchain” (including Bitcoin), the announced death of Flash as a supported web technology from Adobe in 2020, and recent hacks to Verizon customers as well as an alarmingly saavy web user whose AT&T iPhone account was compromised in a targeted attacked even though he had 2-step verification turned on as well as an account passcode. (The AT&T call center rep was the weak link and granted account access to the hacker without the required customer pass phrase.) Lastly, an article prediction that SpaceX will become the leading global Internet Service Provider (ISP) when they triple the number of communication satellites in earth orbit, and the current battle of Snopes to raise money and remain financially solvent were discussed. Geeks of the week included ShoutKey, a website for sharing time-limited shortened web links / URLs with plain English words easy to spell (Wes) and an Anker solar charger for digital devices (Jason). Jason also announced the “Chromebook App List” on the NCCE blog, and Wes shared he will be presenting for Classroom 2.0 Live on Saturday, August 12th. (Note: This is a correction from the date shared during this episode). Please check our shownotes below and links on http://edtechsr.com/links for all referenced articles and resources from this episode. Follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date about upcoming shows. Please try to join us LIVE online if you can, normally on Wednesday nights at 10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific.
Welcome to episode 37 of the EdTech Situation Room from January 18, 2017, where technology news meets educational analysis. Visit http://edtechsr.com/links to access all referenced links from our show. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach), Eric Langhorst (@elanghorst) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed LinkedIn privacy policy changes, the major updates to Evernote and the Evernote mobile app, the excellent job prospects for physicists in coding, and the negative role of advertising in the online news landscape. Additional topics included the use of more tricky phishing schemes by hackers, the continuing development of personal assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Home, President Obama’s recent interview with the New York Times discussing his recent favorite books to read, and the ability of AI to predict the mortality of heart disease patients with startling accuracy. Geeks of the week included Bitdefender, the Ancestry Education grant, and SimpleNote. Please refer to our podcast shownotes for links to all referenced articles, videos, and resources from the show, and take a few minutes to complete our listener survey on http://wfryer.me/edtechsr.
Welcome to episode 27 of the EdTech Situation Room from November 2, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed a variety of announcements from both Microsoft and Apple from recent PR events. Topics included Microsoft’s Surface Studio, Apple’s refreshed MacBook Pro, AppleTV updates, and the changing identities as well as customer niche foci of Microsoft and Apple. Jason and Wes discussed the wisdom or folly of Apple going “all in” for the USB-C port in new MacBooks, and the possibility that laptop innovation has plateaued across platforms today. They also talked about the massive and unprecedented cybertattacks from two weeks ago, the role of hacked IoT (Internet of Things) devices in the attack, and the implications of this hostile cyber-environment for consumers as well as schools. Wes gave a big shout out to Brian Krebs, his security blog, and 2014 book “Spam Nation – The Inside Story of Organized Cybercrime-from Global Epidemic to Your Front Door.” Geeks of the week included the WorkFrom App for iOS (from Jason) and political messaging games on GOParcade.com (from Wes). Check out past episode shownotes on http://edtechsr.com/links and be sure to follow @edtechSR for updates on Twitter http://twitter.com/edtechsr as well as on Facebook. If you listen to the show, please submit our listener survey using the shortened link http://wfryer.me/edtechsr which forwards to a Google Form. Your feedback and suggestions on the show are appreciated!
A Seedlings podcast mini-reunion! Welcome to episode 26 of the EdTech Situation Room from October 19, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) was again out on assignment, so Wes Fryer (@wfryer) joined Alice Barr (@alicebarr) and Cheryl Oakes (@cheryloakes50) for a discussion about recent technology news affecting the world of education. Alice and Cheryl have been educational podcasters for MANY years, and are two of Wes’ personal “podparents” (if such a thing is a thing…) “Seedlings Forever!” Alice, Cheryl and Wes talked about new study statistics showing teens significantly prefer Snapchat and Instagram over Facebook for social media interaction, and how many kids (even older ones who are pre-service teachers) have difficulty viewing and using Twitter for professional networking. They discussed the recent name change of “Google Apps” by Google to the “G Suite,” and both Alice and Cheryl shared a few of their takeaways from last summer’s Google Geo Institute in Mountain View, California. Show participants also discussed the recent Vox interview article with Andy Stern (@AndyStern_DC), author of “Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream.” The title of the Vox article was, “Why we need to plan for a future without jobs.” Geeks of the week included Rewordify.com, “Time Saving Tips from GSuite for Education,” TubeBuddy for YouTube, the GAFE Admins Podcast (@gafeadm1ns), and the Providence Day School Digital Citizenship website. Thanks to our live viewers Jamie Camp (@connect2jamie) and Peggy George (@pgeorge) who persevered with us despite some technical difficulties! Cheryl ended up joining via iPhone speakerphone, so that is why there is a sync issue with her video and her audio quality wasn’t stellar. We were and are THRILLED that this YouTube Live Google Hangout could take place, however, and hope you’ll share feedback with all of us if you listen and enjoy the show. Please also take a moment to respond to our listener survey, which is linked in our shownotes. All links from this and past shows are available on http://edtechsr.com/links and you can follow us on Twitter @edtechSR to stay up to date for future shows. Next week we anticipate being back at our “normal time” (10 pm Eastern / 9 pm Central / 8 pm Mountain / 7 pm Pacific) and will feature yet another guest. Thanks for tuning into the EdTech Situation Room!
Welcome to episode 16 of the EdTech Situation Room from July 13, 2016, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed new Android phone security hacks, the viral phenomenon of Pokemon Go, and signs of the continuing disruptive upheaval of worldwide video distribution. We used a Google Hangout this week instead of Blab, but had some bandwidth issues which created some audio skips and interruptions in our webcast and podcast recording. We will continue to work on these connectivity and recording issues to bring you better audio next week! Please follow us on Twitter for updates on shows @edtechSR, and check out our shownotes on http://edtechsr.com/links.
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 http://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 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.
