Jay Blackman

If you were to walk up on the street and ask the average Joe the Plumber what they thought when you said the word “Education,” what would they tell you?

“Unions.”

“Teacher strikes.

“Budgets.”

If you were to ask them the same question about what was Education’s biggest brand, they might say…Pearson? Or Houghton Mifflin. (“who?”)

That’s one of education’s inherent problems. Education is not associated with a brand, per se. It’s associated with…dreck. Nobody in the general public gives a toot about teachers’ squabbles or the name of a testing company. That’s a big problem if we are to make education rise above all else. There is one company, however, that’s ever-so slyly making a rise to the top of the eduction sphere.

That company is TED. While TED doesn’t point itself out as an education company, their missions and goals have all of the earmarks of Taking Education Forward. From their About Us page:

Our mission: Spreading ideas.

I don’t know, but that sounds like the mission of a company that’s interested in Education. Let’s also look at the most recent developments of TED, which would be TEDed. If the original version of TED.com is basically giving standard lectures, TEDed would stand to be the evolution of “sit-and-get” lessons by including a teacher-led piece into the mix. One of my biggest annoyances with Kahn Academy was that they have been very bad at involving real teachers who are great at what they do.  With TEDed, a real, honest-to-God teacher is giving the lesson, then it’s being handed off to an animator, then teachers around the world are asked to “flip” that lesson by adding their own questions, and inserting their own curriculum into the mix. That is collaboration.

I’ve been flipping my lessons for 4 years, and TEDed is the first flipped lesson platform that shows real potential.

Watch this lesson from April Gudenrath called Insults by Shakespeare:

Remember how difficult it was to read Shakespeare in high school? Not only was it scary for students to learn, but you, most likely, had a teacher who was more scared about teaching Shakespeare to you, then you were about learning it. What we needed was an introduction to Shakespeare that took the edge off- that made us comfortable with the style. We needed pre-teaching, which is exactly what Ramsey Mussalam makes such a good case of in his YouTube Teacher’s Studio lesson on Flipped Teaching. We needed to give our schema something to grasp on to.

Recognizing the Brand

TED has been educating us for the past few years online- it’s only now that they’re starting to look more and more like their mission is education. TED has something many other education companies never thought of: a brand. They have a recognizable logo, they have a format, a presentation style, something that screams, “I know what that is, and who it comes from.”  They also have something called brand association. When you see the TED logo, when you hear a TED Talk or lesson, you feel something positive.  You also associate the word idea with TED. And you also know what a TED Talk is, versus, just a simple keynote. When you hear the word Pearson, the only thing you probably feel is a sick stomach (test anxiety coming back?).

The question that quickly comes to mind is: why has no other education companies ever cared about branding?

Just a couple weeks ago, this video clip appeared online. It’s from a purported TED Talk from the year 2023. If TED’s mission is to share ideas, and be the biggest brand associated with sharing ideas, then we have a lot to look forward to.

This week on EdGamer we take a look at a great resource a new friend from Down Under passed along to us. After a quick review of the latest happenings we focus on a handout that clearly outlines Blooms Taxonomy for video game usage, learning and design. This week’s show is brief but doesn’t lack any punch. Don’t miss your chance to hears tons of bad Australian accent attempts by Zack…only on EdGamer 53!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Here’s our Show Notes

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

Show Hosts:  Fred Delventhal, Sean Williams, Diane Main, and Chris Betcher!   

Send us your thoughts!  Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

This week on the Keynote Theater: 

Our broadcast today revisits Dan Pink’s TED Talk from 2009 entitled The Surprising Science of  Motivation. To dig deep into this TED Talk, I’ve invited three of Dan Pink’s great supporters, Karl Fisch, Matt Montagne, and Kevin Brookhouser. It’s interesting to see how Dan’s talk holds up over the years. We also touch on what the lens of motivation says in light of teacher evaluations and www.edxonline.org. Let’s discuss!

Join the Show Live every other Wednesday at 10pm EST/ 7pm PST.

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Contact us with any questions or comments- keynotetheater@edreach.us

This week on #EduWin Weekly: Hosts Michael Walker and Dennis Grice visit with Bill Selak about video in the classroom, the growing digital divide between those who are connected and those who aren’t, as well as finding time to use these tools.

Show Hosts: Michael Walker and Dennis Grice 

View our Show Notes 

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

This week on LiTTech: Addie and Emily preview the Virtual 4T Conference. It’s this weekend, it’s free, and it’s a great way to get some Continuing Education Credits in your PJs! (Oh, and Emily’s presenting as well. . . .)

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we talk about “Artsy” websites that we use in and out of our classrooms. Many are interactive or creative websites that engage the arty students to create, compose, and think using the arts.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Tricia Fuglestad, Jen Kolze and Brenda Muench

Show wiki: edreach.us

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- artsroundtable@edreach.us

The Field Report: 

Dave Freeman and Amy Freeman are the leaders/ founders of the Wilderness Classroom. The last year of a three-year paddling/hiking/dogsledding journey begins in a few weeks when they drop in at Lake Superior and journey through the wilderness, down the East coast, and ultimately end up in the Florida Keys. This episode, Wilderness Dave reports from Silver Islet Canada.

Wilderness Classroom Site

Wilderness Classroom on Twitter

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- wildernessclassroom@edreach.us

Singer and musician Liz Smolinski joins us to discuss how she teaches students to listen to music from a fresh perspective – and then create innovative audio tracks for their videos. Liz shares some very cool lesson ideas for  getting students to go way beyond just adding music tracks to a finished video – as they  discover how to hear and then create amazing audio!

Show Host: Jonathan Furst, Jim Crawford

Special Guest: Liz Smolinski

Here’s our Show Notes

Give us some feedback! Email iDigVideo@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

In the 52nd episode of EdGamer, we find ourselves battling the toughest question we have faced: “What is an educational game?” To help us sort out our thoughts on this we contacted a higher power and great friend…no, not Yoda (well, sort of), Lucas Gillispie! Lucas returns to EdGamer to talk about some great new game releases and gives us his professional opinion on what constitutes educational gaming/learning. You do not want to miss his valuable insight…join us for another huge edition of EdGamer!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Guest: Lucas Gillispie

Here’s our Show Notes

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

This week on the MacReach Show

Is Apple Learning to Love the Enterprise? (or is it the other way around?)
What if you had a MacMan at your desk?
The rumor that won’t die!
What is One + One?
App of the Week:  Compare-a-Twist 
Tip of the Week

Show Host(s): Meg Wilson (@ipodsibilities)
Kelly Dumont (@KDumont)
Here’s the Show Notes

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- macreach@edreach.us

The Field Report: 

Dave Freeman and Amy Freeman are the leaders/ founders of the Wilderness Classroom. The last year of a three-year paddling/hiking/dogsledding journey begins in a few weeks when they drop in at Lake Superior and journey through the wilderness, down the East coast, and ultimately end up in the Florida Keys. This episode, Dave and Amy are right about to drop in with their paddles and canoes and start their journey! This is the first of Dave’s “phoned in” podcasts from the field. Exciting! We’ll learn a lot over the next many months as they explore the world for us.

Wilderness Classroom Site

Wilderness Classroom on Twitter

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- wildernessclassroom@edreach.us

I’m almost $80,000 dollars in debt. Now, that’s all from my graduate degree, and I took it on willingly and in full knowledge of what I was getting myself into. Each month, I make my income based repayment, and work my way through the 120 payments.

It’s not so bad, really. I’m lucky enough to be employed in my field, and I have the added bonus of liking my job.

Which I guess is why it bothers me so much when there’s so much talk out there about how students need to focus on getting a college degree for no other purpose than to get them a job. Don’t get me wrong, jobs are good. But they’re not the only reason we should be sending kids to college.

Let’s take an informal poll amongst ourselves: How many of us actually use our undergraduate degrees in a way that we once planned? I say this as a theatre and history double major.  I’m not going to do another “theatre teaches you everything” blog post, someone else did it better than I could here, but the humanities and the arts are getting the short end of the stick in this argument.

I’m tired of it.

Yes, STEM is important. Yes, coding is important. I just don’t see why it has to be an “or.” I had a French major tell me the other day that she could never learn to code. That bothers me because language skills are language skills. If she can converse in French, learning Python should be easy.

Maybe what we need is to start encouraging kids to double major in random diverse ways. Something from the sciencey math side and something from the humanities. Get the engineering students interested in lighting design. Get the art majors learning CSS (Dreamweaver is for wimps anyway). Get the business majors singing in the choir. My sister got her undergraduate degree in biology and studio art. Man, is she ever cool. My biggest regret? I should have taken better science classes than the lame survey courses for non-majors.

All or nothing rarely works out, just look at Congress. College is supposed to be about growing your intellect and becoming a whole person. It’s not about plodding through a series of classes that will lead to a 9-5 job. Who wants to hire someone who does everything adequately without ever taking a risk or trying something new? Who wants to work with that person? We have two sides of the brain, so let’s get the kids using both of them.

And for the record, my theatre degree taught me improvisation, auditioning/interviewing, poise in front of an audience, working with others, working to a really firm deadline, how to make my own clothes, and how to build my own furniture. Impractical?

Emily Thompson is the host of EdReach’s show LiTTech, a show for the innovative librarian. LiTTech highlights the innovative news, gadgets, and resources for the literary educator. You can follow her on Twitter @librarianofdoom. The photo is from one of her last costume designs: James and the Giant Peach at the University of Guam in 2006.

Show Hosts:  Fred Delventhal, Sean Williams,  Kevin Brookhouser

Send us your thoughts!  Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

This week on the EduNationCast…

How do we prepare our students for the universities of the future?

Videos of the week (link to the segment):

Dan Rezac: Yoda: Feel the Force
James Sanders: Surviving a Robot Apocalypse
Jim Sill: Girl’s First Ski Jump
Rushton Hurley: Next Vista Contest Winners
Kern Kelly: Video Lesson: “More than a sum of its parts”

This week’s contributors: James Sanders, Dan Rezac, Jim Sill, Rushton Hurley, and Kern Kelly.

The complete show notes can be found on the EdReach Wiki.

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- edunationcast@edreach.us

  It’s hard to believe that we are already in May and June is just around the corner.  Surely many of you read this already in a state of reflection on your year,  In my last post I challenged you all to help your teachers celebrate their year of professional development and growth.   In part two of this series we will explore some ways to keep professional learning going for your teachers throughout the summer and truly empower your teachers to keep growing all summer long.

1.  Help your teachers develop a Twitter PLN

Check out this great LiveBinder compiled by Steven Anderson:  http://bit.ly/twitterguideforedu

2.  Start a tailored RSS feed that includes all of the best articles you want your staff to read

Do you use Google Reader to aggregate some of your feeds?  If you do star the articles you want your teachers to be checking into this summer.  Then share the RSS feed for the starred items.

How to share starred items on Google Reader

Or start a Diigo group and simply bookmark the things you want your staff to check out over the summer to your Diigo group.

Diigo: Create a group knowledge repository

3.  Look for regional conferences that your staff can participate in for no cost

One super cool thing going on in Indiana is that districts are holding regional conferences and are recruiting some great local presenters as well as national presenters, check out this great example of a regional conference:

eRevolution — Evansville Vandenburgh Schools – 2012 eLearning Conference

Other Regional Conferences in Indiana

Check your state DOE…is there a regional conference movement going on in your state?

4.  Hold your own mini Ed-Camp

Unfamiliar with the EdCamp movement?  Read more here

5.  Start a book club

Choose three or four books to read this summer and start a Google group to discuss the book.
Book Suggestions:
Embedded Formative Assessment
Total Participation Techniques
Results Now

6.  Attend a summer conference

There are several great national summer conferences.  Here are some that are worth checking out:
ISTE
Learning Forward
ASCD

7.  BLOG!
Post food for thought on a blog.  Try using Blogger, Edublogs, or WordPress

8.  Focus on the big areas of growth

One book that is a must read is Focus by Mike Schhmoker.  Schmoke discusses the importance on focusing on what is essential and not overloading your staff with new initiatives.

9.  Partner with other administrators

What are neighboring administrators doing to promote summer learning?  Team up and work together on what you will do; we know there is power in collaboration!

10.  Tune into EdReach

Need I say more?  EdReach is one of the greatest resources for ongoing learning.

Photo Credit:   Some rights reserved by Klearchos Kapoutsis

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Chris Atkinson is the host of EdReach’s EdAdmin Show, a show for the school leader looking to take educational leadership forward. The EdAdmin Show highlights the ideas and insights from the innovative administrator’s point of view. Hosted by Chris Atkinson and featuring a roundtable of education’s brightest admins.  You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisLAtkinson

This week on LiTTech: Emily is joined by Emily Flynn, cataloger at ProQuest to chat about the code behind the numbers on the spines of the books. Whether it be the Dewey Decimal System or Library of Congress Subject Headings, someone has to classify all the items. That person is the mysterious cataloger.

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Emily Flynn

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

The great thing about video and my Professional Learning Network (PLN), is that as much as we may want to reinvent the wheel, there is simply no need to do so. Powerful and useful information is at our fingertips. So as I perused my latest Twitter followers this past week, I found a new site, that upon reflection, has some incredibly great video information for teachers wanting to incorporate video in their classroom. Now although these tips originate from a marketing site, the reality is that our global community is leveraging video in new ways every day, and these helpful basics are applicable for ANY form of video production.

Read the full article here at “Video Content Tips” by Second Screen Marketing.

1. Adopt a style

2. Identify the rationale

3. Craft a compelling message

4. Don’t let the audio suck

5. Use music

6. Use B-roll

7. Use creative metaphors

8. Grab their attention

9. Include a call to action

10. Change the shot

I have found that students retain information much more clearly and for a longer sustained period of time, when they are allowed to create their own content to illustrate comprehension. Video is a tremendous tool to use when allowing students to experience this form of learning.

In fact, if you would like to hear more, EdReach has a great new podcast resource, iDig Video. I had the pleasure of recording two episodes recently, about the positive learning experiences for students when they are allowed to create videos in the classroom. There are many lessons to be learned from media literacy, to the use of social media when publishing their videos, to perimeters and restrictions placed upon school districts as it relates to publishing names, pictures and student videos. I highly recommend you find the time to listen to these podcasts.

iDig Video #001: Using Video in the Classroom

iDig Video #006: Video Apps and Social Media Policies

Stay tuned for my post next month. I put my video students to the test, by asking them to reflect upon an assignment they received this year from a teacher in one of their core classes. Their task? Create a video to show their content comprehension, rather than the initially assigned assessment. I’m looking forward to their results!

This week on #EduWin Weekly: Hosts Michael Walker and Dennis Grice chat with Art Teacher, Tricia Fuglestad, about the Eduwin movement and art education. Tricia shares some of her favorite Apps for art, and how she showcases student work.

Show Host: Michael Walker and Dennis Grice 

View our Show Notes 

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

Tonight we focus on Professional Development. As many of us are preparing to head off into summer shortly we decided to take a look at how we can personally keep up with our own professional/personal development. I fully believe that if you are involved in education that you should be a lifelong learner and willing to learn even on “your own” time

Show Host: Anne Truger (@atruger)

We’re over the hill and headed back to the mines on episode 51 of EdGamer. It has been a year since we last spoke to Joel Levin (AKA Minecraft Teacher) and what a year he has had! On this episode we review all the fascinating things Joel has done with Minecraft in the classroom and talk about some of the amazing people he has worked with along the way. We continue our trend of revisiting with some of our early guests in this week’s can’t-miss EdGamer. Tune-in!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Guest: Joel Levin (The Minecraft Teacher)

Here’s our Show Notes

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

Show Hosts: Diane Main, Fred Delventhal, Sean Williams,

Special Guest: Kevin Brookhouser

Send us your thoughts!  Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

This week on the EduNationCast…

Is a teacher’s perspective on non-education topics valuable?

Videos of the week (link to the segment):

Diane Main: “(notes on) biology”
Dan Rezac: Planets in Perspective 
James Sanders: “Out here Graphing” 
Jim Sill: “Dear 16-year-old Me” 

This week’s contributors: James Sanders, Dan Rezac, Jim Sill, Diane Main, and Adam Bellow.

Join us live on Google Plus every Monday, 6:30 Pacific!

The complete show notes can be found on the EdReach Wiki.

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- edunationcast@edreach.us

Mobile Reach #33 – Google, iPads and Apps…Oh My!  Chad, Judi and Tammy talk more about Google Drive now that it’s been out a week.  We share out some apps for use in the classroom or for school events and Chad shares a project he’s working on with 5th graders using iPads as this week’s #eduwin.

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@taml17)

The Mobile Reach Show Notes

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

As we start the month of May, many special educators are embarking upon what is traditionally referred to as IEP season!  Typically, a student’s Annual Review is done toward the end of the year, in an effort to see their progress and plan for the coming year.  It’s during this delightful season, that many of us sit in a conference room for hours on end and talk!

So in an effort to help fellow special educators with this process, here are some resources, tools, or just plain fun things to help during this hectic time.

Sean Sweeney’s post in the AHSA Leader is a great place to start – App-titude:  Tech to Ease IEP pain.  Sean talks about several great tools like Doodle – set up a free account and schedule meetings by having all your attendees fill in their free time!  Beside those mentioned in the article, another great app is the Common Core Standards app (iOS or Android), which gives all the standards in a handy little app.

An effective way to share information between IEP team members or parents is Goalbook.  This website allows you to add IEP goals for individual students, collect data, share the data, and much more.  Information can be shared via the website or a mobile app!  You can share progress with team members or parents as it is happening!

Another way to keep down the stress is to use Google Docs.  Create agenda’s, documents for meetings and so much more.  No more emailing off a report and have it be included in the IEP only to find a typo!  Now your entire team can have the most up-to-date version, and anyone can suggest changes right in the doc!  It’s a great way to have parents provide information for meetings to you.  Create a document for parent input and share it with them!  No more waiting for the form to come back in the backpack.

As long as we are talking about stress relief, let’s take a look at some great ways to blow off some steam!  Obviously, there are tons of iOS games for you to check out but here are a few the EdCeptional Crew use to relax:

Draw Something

Words with Friends

Zombie Gunship

Temple Run

Where’s my Water?

If you are interested in some of the other apps we enjoy, check out the latest episode of EdCeptional – #032 - Surviving the IEP Blues.

Patrick

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we talk about Photo Apps. There is a thin line between art and music, the crossover is apparent in the apps we use for art and music. Photography apps have transformed how we take pictures and create new photos.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Jen Kolze and Brenda Muench

Show wiki: edreach.us

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- artsroundtable@edreach.us

This week on LiTTech: Emily and Addie are joined by Elena Azadbakht from the University of Southern Mississippi to talk about something we all encounter every day: the librarian stereotype. Whether she’s mousy or sexy or a detective, the stereotypical librarian never ceases to arouse curiosity. Or to be completely correct about anyone in the field (starting with the fact that the stereotypical librarian is usually a “she”!)

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson, Elena Azadbakht

Leave us some feedback!

Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

The Field Report: 

Dave Freeman and Amy Freeman are the leaders/ founders of the Wilderness Classroom. The last year of a three-year paddling/hiking/dogsledding journey begins in a few weeks when they drop in at Lake Superior and journey through the wilderness, down the East coast, and ultimately end up in the Florida Keys. This episode, Dave and Amy share some of the questions that students ask them when they visit schools. They describe what it’s like to live in the woods, and to be married and working together.

Wilderness Classroom Site

Wilderness Classroom on Twitter

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- wildernessclassroom@edreach.us

Don Goble from St. Louis re-joins us for the second part of our podcast on Video in the Classroom.  Don is a real pioneer in changing antiquated social media policies that are holding students  and teachers back in many school districts. Also an overview of some of the best Video Apps you can use in k-12 classrooms. What video apps are you using? What kind of innovative stuff are you doing with them? Hear how to share your ideas with us!

Show Host: Jonathan Furst, Jim Crawford

Special Guest: Don Goble

Here’s our Show Notes

Give us some feedback! Email iDigVideo@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

Change is hard. The process involves taking everything you once considered true, questioning it, and then making a decision that some or all of it was, in fact, false. It doesn’t stop there, either. Once we decide that our information was wrong, we have to choose to act differently. After all, if we don’t act differently, then we must not believe that the old information was wrong.

Stove doesn’t look hot.

Touch stove.

Hand burns. Reassess state of the stove.

If we don’t remove our hand, we’re either stupid or we don’t believe that the stove is hot. This is akin to a certain black knight describing the loss of a limb as a “scratch.” Unfortunately, we have found ourselves in quite the predicament regarding education. We all seem to understand that standardized testing isn’t the best form of assessment. We know that we are only measuring the lowest forms of understanding and presenting students with a horrendous environment that will never be replicated in their careers, with the possible exception of some low-skill, low-wage jobs.

Yet the test reigns supreme. We question it, but only behind closed doors. We mutter under our breath, but don’t take action. We are, in all reality, afraid of the test. Not the paper and pencil, of course, but what the test represents. The test has become our security blanket. Politicians use it to get themselves reelected. Principals use it for promotions. Teachers use it as a curricular guide and indicator of their own success as an educator. Parents use it to determine whether or not their child is successful.

It’s time to stop. There is more fear and propaganda surrounding standardized testing than all of World War 2. We look at posters warning that “loose lips sink ships” while signing confidentiality agreements promising, on threat of loss of licensure, that we will not discuss or talk about in any way, The Test. 11,000,000 people were lied to, herded onto cattle cars, and sent to concentration camps from which they would never return. How many students and teachers are being lied to, herded into portables, and sent to concentration camps of a different sort? When we will see that we are mortgaging our future for a multiple-choice document that doesn’t even accurately reflect the success of our students and teachers?

I’m calling on everyone from coast to coast to stand up and say, “Enough is enough!” Parents, please don’t make your children take The Test. It doesn’t help them, it doesn’t help the school, and it doesn’t help you. Students, your teachers can’t make you take it, though I’d like to see that (I have my suspicions as to how that would play out…) Educators and administrators, you don’t really believe in The Test, do you? My guess is that you’re afraid. The Test Nazis will have no choice but declare you a bad teacher and remove you from the educational setting. Does that really mean you’re a bad teacher? When did we give them that power? My proposal isn’t new or even all that daring, but it does come at a price. Everything worth fighting for always does… like our children’s education.

Has the interactive whiteboard technology run its course? Is it worth the time, money and effort to install? This week on the Razor’s Ed, I look at interactive whiteboard technology and riff on if it is the right time to buy.

Update: Word is the Reflection app is almost ready for PC beta testing. Stay tuned to their website for details

It’s all about surviving the push to the end of the year, also known as IEP season for most special educators. First, we talk about some of the great recommendations for keeping organized from Sean Sweeney’s post in ASHA. Then, we have some fun discussing our favorite stress relievers! Make sure to check out the show notes for links to all our suggestions.

Show Host: Anne Truger (@atruger)

This week on the EduNationCast…

Are we too focused on the technology? Are we undermining the importance of conversation? (link to segment)

Videos of the week (link to the segment):

Diane Main: Scale of the Universe
Dan Rezac: TED 2030
James Sanders: Body Systems
Adam Bellow: Photosynthesis
Mark Hammons: The Eight Billion Dollar iPod

Demo Dance: (link to segment)

This week’s contributors: James Sanders, Dan Rezac, Jim Sill, Diane Main, Adam Bellow, and special guest Mark Hammons.

Join us live on Google Plus every Monday, 6:30 Pacific!

The complete show notes can be found on the EdReach Wiki.

Leave us some feedback! 

Contact us with any questions or comments- edunationcast@edreach.us

Last week was Zack’s birthday and this week it’s our birthday…our 50th! That’s right, it’s the 50th episode of EdGamer. We take a look back at all the great shows we have had and highlight a few of our favorite memories. If you are new to EdGamer check this out for some recommendations on can’t-miss past episodes. We are proud of our first 50 and we can’t wait to bring you 50 more…thanks to all for tuning in!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Here’s our Show Notes

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

EdGamer artwork by Tricia Fuglestad

Show Hosts: Diane Main, Chris Betcher , Fred Delventhal

Special Guest:Kern Kelley

Send us your thoughts!  Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

This week on the MacReach Show:

Meg’s Back and Mark Hammons joins us.
iPad2 Unlocking Education Demand
More Clouds – Google Drive and Microsoft SkyDrive
What does the cloud mean?
The Benefits of Apps for Parents and Teachers
The First Ever MacReach App Draft (MAD)
Tip of the Week

Show Host(s): Meg Wilson (@ipodsibilities)
Kelly Dumont (@KDumont)
Cohost:               Mark Hammons (@mhammons)

App of the Week: The First MacReach App Draft

Round 1 Picks:  Mark – Explain Everything, Meg – Pocket, Kelly – Zite

Round 2 Picks:  Mark – Skitch, Meg – Blogsy, Kelly – Evernote

Round 3 Picks:  Mark – Paper by FiftyThree, Meg – App Advice, Kelly – Tweetbot

Here’s the Show Notes 

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Contact us with any questions or comments- macreach@edreach.us

Mobile Reach #32 – Google Drive: Into the Wild  Chad and Judi joined by friend and colleague Sue Gorman (Racine, WI).  We discuss some articles we found related to mobile learning in the classroom and dive into Google Drive which was just released this week.   Chad shares a way that he garnered some movie tickets using Google Voice.  We also share out some Mobile Apps and Sue shares an #eduwin.

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Sue Gorman (@sjgorman)

The Mobile Reach Show Notes

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Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

The year is coming to a close for most schools across the United States.   Principals need to digest the success of the year and organize ways to celebrate those successes, while empowering their staff to finish strong.

First it is important that you analyze your data and your school improvement plan.  What successes can you pinpoint?  What school goals have been met?  Can you replicate your successes?  It is vital that schools examine themselves constantly, and especially as they wrap up their year.  I personally like to look through the lens that Douglas Reeves so graciously provides leaders in his Leadership and Learning Matrix:

I hope that your school can fall under “leading” or “learning”.  Once you have your sucsesses pinpointed think about celebrating at a staff meeting in some of the following ways:

• Create a photo collage focused around the work your staff has done over the past year, and give a picture to each staff member.  Try using the cool new photo web app Loupe.
• Mix up a celebration video including pictures and examples from your professional development you have implemented this year.  Include examples of teachers applying techniques covered in professional development. Try using Animoto for this one!
• Gather feedback from teachers anonymously using Google Forms, and then use that feedback to create a Wordle or Tagxedo.
• Have a faculty share, provide guidelines to allow for a positive empowering time; videotape the share and share it via Google Docs to your staff

Photo Credit:  Some rights reserved by michellerlee

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Chris Atkinson is the host of EdReach’s EdAdmin Show, a show for the school leader looking to take educational leadership forward. The EdAdmin Show highlights the ideas and insights from the innovative administrator’s point of view. Hosted by Chris Atkinson and featuring a roundtable of education’s brightest admins.  You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisLAtkinson

This week on #EduWin Weekly: Host Michael Walker introduces new co-host Dennis Grice, and they discuss similar “EduWins” surrounding student showcases.

Show Host: Michael Walker and Dennis Grice 

View our Show Notes 

Give us some feedback! Email eduwin@edreach.us to send us a note. Or leave a comment below. 

I received a message recently over Facebook asking when there would be more Razor’s Ed podcasts. I was flattered that someone was actually listening to my words. I realize that I have not been attentive to developing my show more. I will remedy that next week with a new show at 6PM Tuesday night.

It is a very difficult concept to pull off, this show. To be critical of educational topics on a weekly basis can change the mind of a person. While I was at the Illinois Computing Educator conference back in late February, I discovered that I was being very critical of even great ideas educators were sharing. I was worried that what I was becoming was the Statler and Waldorf of EdReach. As constructive as I could attempt to be, I could not help but feel that my style was not being well received. I certainly do not reach for low hanging fruits such as top 5 lists, or vamp about iPad apps. I try to raise the level of discourse, much like how I try to do in my own school district, in my college classes and with my colleagues. And to do this show solo without commercial breaks put my adrenaline up well after recording.

But I have developed a plan for the show that I think will make this concept still work. Shows will be 30 minutes. Tops. If I cannot take a topic, break it down and build it back up in 30 minutes, then I will carry over to another show. Hopefully your feedback will help with the guidance and reflection from the previous show. Somehow, someway, I will also broadcast the show. Most likely I will broadcast the show via Google+ hangout to add a level of interactivity.

I have a list of topics in my back pocket (actually stored on my iPhone thanks to Siri). I am rested and ready.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012 – Razor’s Ed relaunches.

This week on the aRTs Roundtable we talk about Photo Apps. There is a thin line between art and music, the crossover is apparent in the apps we use for art and music. Photography apps have transformed how we take pictures and create new photos.

Show Host: Carol Broos

Show contributors:   Tricia Fuglestad and Brenda Muench

Show wiki: edreach.us

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Contact us with any questions or comments- artsroundtable@edreach.us

This week on LiTTech: A show for all the freshly minted librarians out on the job circuit for the first time. Emily and Addie are joined by Mover and Shaker Stephen Flynn to cover everything from what classes to take to where to find job postings to what your resume and cover letter should look like, and most importantly: how to keep your sanity during this stressful time.

Show Host: Emily Thompson

Show contributors: Adrienne Matteson, Stephen Flynn

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Contact us with any questions or comments- littech@edreach.us

The Field Report: 

Dave Freeman and Amy Freeman are the leaders/ founders of the Wilderness Classroom. The last year of a three-year paddling/hiking/dogsledding journey begins in a few weeks when they drop in at Lake Superior and journey through the wilderness, down the East coast, and ultimately end up in the Florida Keys. This episode we get a walk through of what a day in the life of a Wilderness Classroom explorer is like, and the tough choices they sometimes have to make. Do they hunt? What do they eat? Let’s find out!

Wilderness Classroom Site

Wilderness Classroom on Twitter

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Contact us with any questions or comments- wildernessclassroom@edreach.us

Show Hosts: Diane Main, Chris Betcher , and Sean Williams  

Send us your thoughts!  Leave us an email at googleeducast@Edreach.us

“Everything I have ever done is an obsession.” – Dr. James Paul Gee

The ‘Geenius’ is back! Its EdGamer 49 and Zack gets a very special birthday gift…another conversation with Dr. James Paul Gee. There are few words that could sufficiently sum up the the amazing and intense conversation we have with Dr. Gee. His thoughts and insights in the field of gaming and learning are unparalleled. Dr. Gee runs us through his current work, identifies some recent successful examples in the field of gaming, and finally gives us a glimpse into what he considers the future of gaming and learning. Don’t ruin Zack’s birthday by missing this episode of EdGamer…you would regret it!

Show Host: Zack Gilbert

Show Contributor: Gerry James

Special Guests: Dr. James Paul Gee

Here’s our Show Notes

Contact us with any questions or comments- edgamer@edreach.us

This week on the Keynote Theater: 

Our broadcast today dissects the Salman Khan TED Talk from last year, Let’s Use Video to Re-invent Education. For this talk, I’ve invited some expert Flipped Classroom folks, the original Flipped Classroom guys, Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams. To top it off we are also joined by YouTube EDU consultant James Sanders. We dive deep into Khan’s ownership of the Flipped Classroom idea, and his unwillingness to give so many teachers credit for the millions of tutorials already online. However, we give him kudos for taking the message to a mass crowd. Let’s discuss!

New Time for the live broadcast: Wednesdays at 10pm EST/ 7pm PST.

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Contact us with any questions or comments- keynotetheater@edreach.us

Mobile Reach #31 – Shiny-New-Google-Toy-SQUIRREL!  The group shares some recent feedback we’ve received on past episodes. We share out a some great ideas for teachers texting for school purposes.  The new Google Glasses (Squirrel!) prototype was rumored to be out in public.  And of course, we share out a few apps we’ve been trying out.  All this and more on this week’s MOBILE REACH!

Show Host: Chad Kafka (@chadkafka)

Co-Hosts: Judi Epcke (@jepcke), Tammy Lind (@TamL17)

The Mobile Reach Show Notes

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Contact us with any questions or comments- mobilereach@edreach.us

This week on the MacReach Show:

Apples for the Teacher, Apples for the Classroom/Lab
iPad Mini Rumors
More on AppleTV
Recovering from the Floods in Minot, ND

Show Host(s): Kelly Dumont (@KDumont)
Cohost: Craig Nansen (@cnansen)

App of the Week:  Paper by FiftyThree

Craig’s Pick for those of us advancing in years: aMagnifier

Here’s the Show Notes 

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Contact us with any questions or comments- macreach@edreach.us

This week on the EduNationCast…

Is there still need to teach students handwriting or will writing with pencil and paper die off completely? (link to segment)

Should holograms play a role in the classroom or is the digital undermining the analog? (link to segment)

Newly minted Google Certified Teacher Dom Breadmore joins us all the way from Conventry, UK!

Videos of the week (link to segment):

Dan Shares: TED Ed’s “How Small is an Atom?”
Diane Shares: “Caine’s Arcade” (Donate to Caine’s college fund!)
Jim Shares: “A Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square”
Adam Shares: “Education Evolution”
Dom Shares: “One Second Per Day”

Join us live on Google Plus every Monday, 6:30 Pacific!

The complete show notes can be found on the EdReach Wiki.

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Contact us with any questions or comments- edunationcast@edreach.us