Dear Google Reader: Tell Grandma I said hello

Like a lot of folks I was disappointed to hear that as of July 1st, 2013 Google Reader will no longer be with us. I'd like to think it will forever reside in digital heaven, rewarded for all it's good (read: free and useful) works and faithful service to the masses. Although Reader will hopefully earn instant sainthood as a result of fighting the good fight, according to the official Google Reader Blog the big G cites a declining readership and a desire to avoid the very fate that befell the Roman Empire, as it looks to focus on fewer endeavors. 

I first saw the news on Ars Technica and was struck by one of the reader comments that said, and I paraphrase, "Hey no worries, I've got Twitter!" As much as I like Twitter and appreciate how it enables the cream to often rise, I'm not completely convinced that the primary way to source information relevant to me is via the Twitterati oligarchy. I would surely miss items of value, that for whatever reason, failed to percolate up into my timeline. Not every meaningful article or link or whatever will trend or be (re)tweeted my way. I would have to put a little more trust in that community than I am willing to as this point. 

And there is even some speculation that Google is going to try to shoehorn a service similar to Reader into Google+. Social media as a major news portal seems like bit of a farce. Do we want to continue allowing the news to get even more TMZ'ed as the line between entertainment and traditional news evaporates? Please Lord, no.

Putting It All Together

At my school I see the students for two rotations of about 36 consecutive class days. The rotations are never back to back so by the time they return for round 2 they have spent some time in other Unified Arts classes such as Music, Art, Health or PE. Instead of starting off with lectures on Newton's laws of motion or the concept of Trade Off's I like to get them back into the Tech Ed swing of things. So for a while now I've had them kick off the rotation by creating PowerPoint's (or more recently Google Presentations) addressing topics such as:

     - Show two things you learned in TE last time.
     - What did you like about your other UA's?
     - What are you looking forward to in TE this rotation?
     - Talk about two hobbies that you have.
 
I have been getting pretty bored with the PowerPoints and I think the kids have too. Especially after I make them take out all the LOLspeak, leet, slang, emoticons, animations and meme's. You would think I was subjecting them to the most unimaginable torture by the way, for requiring them to treat the presentations as "professional". The other funny response I get when explaining the guidelines is:

(say this really fast in a whiny voice)  "Mr. Lord, the only reason we can't use all that stuff is your just an old guy, who's a jealous hater, because you don't understand what any of that stuff means that we kids use!"

I wish I didn't know what any of it was! Please! Where is the undo button in my brain? If I hear or see YOLO  or nyan cat one more time... 93 million view by the way on YouTube for nyan cat. 93 MILLION. I am not sure what they says about us as a species but it can't be good.

So to change things up I had the students create Animoto's about the same topics.  Although I ran into a couple of issues it was a worthwhile project that engaged the students and is something I will do again in the future. Here are a couple of examples:

Just What The Doctor Ordered

I figure that most of the truly worthwhile things in life don't come without a whole heck of a lot of work. And for those things that do come easy, they're either a mirage or we fail to appreciate them. That said, and I feel like I say this about every class in our program, but this one might have been the most work.

A big part of that is that the nature of the work is such that you can keep at it for as long as you want. It's easy to hop on the old computer and while away the hours blogging, reading, tweeting, searching, replying and so forth.. The other half of the equation is that I enjoyed the work, both in class and outside, so that just reinforced the previously mentioned half. I had been looking forward to this class for some time as it ties in with my area more than any of the other classes in the program. And it came at just the right time. For the last year or two my teaching had grown stale and I felt like I was just covering the same old dated ground. This has been just the remedy I needed. Thank you to Prof Arzt and everyone in class!

Story Time

Here is a rough draft of my Digital Story for my Integrating Technology class. I ended up using iMovie on an iPad to to make it. I found the program to be pretty straightforward to use but a little limited in iOS. I based it on an introduction that I normally just tell to the students about a 3D modeling program we use. I am curious what difference, if any, that a multimedia delivery will have.

For educational purposes..

So I finally took the plunge and created a Twitter account for school. I  would like to use it to keep parents/students informed about what's going on in class, when grades are posted and for sharing things of note related to education or technology. Not sure I'll be able to effectively do all those things from the same account (I'm pretty sure the typical 6th grader isn't particularly interested in the latest educational initiative). And of course I have to get the blessings of all interested parties first.

I have been thinking and talking about this for a while now and after being encouraged from Prof Arzt  as well as being reminded of a fellow West Hartford teacher who happened to be featured in yesterday's Hartford Courant I went for it. One of the hardest parts was coming up with a name, or at least one that wasn't taken. I still need to add some details but I hope this will positively impact my teaching and student learning!

Needles and Hay and all that

I do not need more information. I need an efficient way to find the tools that will do, or help do, what I need done. I think (theoretically) it’s great that a significant portion of all recorded human knowledge has by now been cataloged somewhere on the internet. As someone that has resisted the social piece of the web I am starting to realize the power of a like minded community, particularly one you have grown to trust and know, in helping you find that digital needle. 

Thanks to this post by my indomitable cohort-mate Mari Beth I was able to quickly make a decision about whether to go with Instagram or Flicker as my go to mobile (mostly) photo app. I know Mari Beth. I trust her judgment...well, before that third glass of wine. And because we are both laboring towards a common goal - leveraging tech in our classrooms, I know she is trying answer the same questions that I am. Not only that she has taken the time to do some research and has found a source she finds valuable. All that is more than enough to tip the scales in my mind even if it doesn't guarantee that Flickr is the right solution for me. Now if I could just easily set up my account the way I want to without using another email address/password/login/account name/etc. haha oh well. 

Plugged/Unplugged

Disclaimer – The title of this post does not refer to making a decision about what to do, or not to do, about my hairline.

My attempts to plug into the web this past weekend were thwarted in two ways:

                1. 18,000,000,000 inches of snow (sorry if I rounded down too much)

                2. Internet/Cell service that was so slow and intermittent it made dial up look like Usain Bolt at the Summer Olympics

After sweating throught the initial DT’s due to not being able to listen to any podcasts while shoveling, I started to really enjoy being unplugged. I pretty much soak in some form of media for the better part of every day of my life. Music, podcasts, web, print, smart phone and so on. As much as i like it I wonder if it's really a good thing. Forget sunscreen, someone needs to invent MediaScreen. I would pick up some SPF 120 minutes and that way I could browse the web for a couple of hours and afterwards just go to sleep instead of having my brain race around jumping from thought to thought.

I find myself craving media. Looking forward to that semi-zoned out state of mind where time tends to slide away. Music and the web tend to be a particularly potent cocktail. These days after the kids are asleep I head downstairs with my laptop (craptop as I not so affectionately call it), sign into Chrome, open Gmail, open my Google Drive, sign into Diigo, open the class syllabus, go to the Integrating Technology blog, open my blog, open Google Reader, open a word doc where I can pre-type and fall into the interweb. An idea pops in my mind? I open a new tab and down the rabbit hole I go. A question comes up? Goodbye 20 minutes!

This is one of those times where I don’t need to go to the web (there I go again) and see if there is a study where researchers have found that the human body releases a chemical, or that the brain behaves in a way, that mimics some kind of drug when someone is surfing the web.

And it’s not just the internet, it’s the devices themselves. I see it when my wife an I have our faces buried in our phone while we are sitting on the same couch. I see it in my kids when they’re playing with the iPad with that deer in the headlights look, not responding as I yell their name through a bullhorn. I guess it’s great that they‘ll know their numbers and letters before preschool but I’m not so sure when they are miserable for an hour after it's been taken it away. What's next? Are they going to start taking old stereo’s and TV’s to the local Pawn Shop to scrape together enough dough to buy a used iPad and get their fix? And hey, I didn't have an iPad and I learned my letters and number easily by the fourth grade. 

I remember when social networking really started to take off and there was this debate about the value and authenticity of digital relationships and connections. One side proclaimed it as the future and superior to anything we had previously known while the detractors lamented the end of true human interaction. As usual it seems like the extreme arguments were just that – extreme arguments dressed up in slippery slope logic adorned with “protecting the children” or “don’t be a luddite” language, neither of which unsurprisingly ended up not reflecting reality to a great degree. I go back and forth as to which side I lean a little more towards and I think that like anything in life there has to be some balance with a dollop of moderation mixed in.

On the one hand as a result of the storm I had actual human interactions and conversations (live! real time!) with people that I would not have had otherwise. Whatever it is about adversity or tragedy that brings people together had me helping neighbors and being helped by them. Starting conversations with strangers I would have not otherwise started.

On the other hand social media positively impacted people’s recovery efforts. One site, SeeClickFix, allows users to report things that need to be fixed facilitating volunteers and local governments to pitch in and help. After Winter Storm Nemo the local New Haven community pitched in to help each other out in an effective and targeted way. Sounds like there's room at the table for both. 

Happy early Valentine's Day: