Webcast on Cultural Insights

Click here to listen to the third Webcast Academy interncast by Pam Shoemaker, Dennis Oliver, and Derrall Garrison (PD²) was broadcast on December 23, 2007 as part of the Winter Soltice Webcastathon.  The topic:  Intercultural Insights.

How long could YOU go without a computer?

I read an article in USA Today about some college students who are creating a documentary about life as a college student without a computer. 

.... is part of a documentary-making course at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn. She and two other students who went on the "computer fast" are the documentary subjects; eight others took turns filming. When the documentary is finished, they plan to screen it on campus and submit it to film festivals.

Students in the research study set goals for how long they could last without using a computer.  3 weeks?  4 weeks?  5 weeks?   I chuckled when reading about the experiences of the students, who are forced to using a dusty typewriter to complete assignments.  I remember those days...

I find it difficult to go even one day without doing something on my computer.  How long could you last without using one?

Technorati Tags: usatoday CarletonCollege

Come to Webcast: Dec 12, 8pm EST

Please consider attending a webcast on Wednesday evening @ 8pm EST.  Click here for a time zone-friendly link.  The topic is "Cool Tools,"  and we will discuss:

• Animoto, a web-based video creation tool


• Voice Thread, a way to create group conversations about images, docs, and videos


• WizIQ, an on-line teaching and learning tool 

A webcast is an on-line audio show with a chat room to ask questions of the hosts.  If interested, go to http://webcastacademy.net/chat a few minutes before 8:00 - you’ll need to double click on the “webcast academy” folder on the right side of the chat window.  There will be a link below the chat window that gets you to the audio; we’ll be broadcasting on Sandbox A.  Please join us!

Dr. Yong Zhao Podcast

Dr. Yong Zhao, from Michigan State University, was the keynote speaker at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston, MA. (July 2007)   The title of his keynote is Digital Citizenship in a Global Economy: the Internet Revolution and its Implications for Education.  The audio from this keynote was published by Alan November this past week.  His message is clear:  we need to rethink how we are preparing our students for the global marketplace.  In the USA, we're making some strides in reading and mathematics, thanks to NCLB.  However, even if we are doing as well as or even a bit better than other countries, it is doubtful that our students will earn a job if competing with students from India or China, because it is cheaper to hire workers from these other countries.  Therefore, we must nourish new talents that involve creativity, and we must use up-and-coming technology tools in the process.  He mentioned the need for educators to read Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind: Information Age in the Conceptual Age. 

This podcast is one that I want to re-listen to in the near future, as it is very thought-provoking.  It certainly worked as a pep talk for me today. 

You can listen to the podcast through iTunes by searching for the November Learning Podcast Series, and then selecting the Nov 21, 2007 episode.  If you prefer to not use iTunes, click here. 

Technorati Tags: YongZhao DanielPink AlanNovember

Audio Recording of Webcast

Last Thursday, I co-facilited a webcast  with Derrall Garrison and Dennis Oliver (fellow Webcast Academy students) on the topic of Second Life, from the point of view of newbies.  Click here to listen to the 18 minute recording.  I was in charge of the streaming and recording the skype call, and missed one setting...  Therefore, nobody could hear our audio live.  Next time will be better!

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