Phonecasting to the Internet

This evening I had the unique experience of trying out my very first phonecast using iPadio. With iPadio you can register a phone number(s) then use one of the registered numbers to create an audio recording that is posted directly to your online iPadio account. The audio files ('phlogs') are available as mp3 files and can easily be downloaded, embedded in a webpage or blog, or you can create an RSS feed of your phonecasts. The whole recording process was a breeze!

Combining RSS Feeds

Lately I have found it very challenging to read all the RSS feeds that collect in Google Reader. A lot of the feeds I receive often repeat information making it a lot of extra work to weed through the list. I stumbled across Yahoo Pipes recently. Yahoo Pipes allows users to 'mashup' multiple RSS feeds into one feed. The cool part is that you can filter, sort, and display the final feed any way you like.

This would be great to use with students who are studying specific topics across the curriculum. They could filter their RSS feeds based on the specific information they are researching. Teachers could also use this to 'mashup' their students' blog feeds into just one RSS feed instead of several different ones.

Yahoo Pipes Example

Introduction Podcast

Today I decided to create a podcast to share more about myself and my role as an educator.

Notetaking is easy in the cloud

Over the past few months I have been using Evernote. This cloud application has changed the way I take notes as well as organize all my notes. I tested the value of this application when I attended the BLC10 conference earlier this summer. Evernote made it easy to organize all my notes from the sessions I attended. I also had the ability to tag my notes and reorganize them into new notebooks as needed. The user interface is intuitive and it is available from my Android phone, the web, as well as local installation on my laptop. I can "sync" my notes from pretty much anywhere! I recently told my sister about Evernote and she is using it to organize all her notes for her college courses.

A caveat with all cloud applications is that we trust others to keep much of our data safe. Earlier this month Evernote acknowledged that there was a hardware fault that resulted in 6,323 users losing some of their cloud-stored data. Luckily most users were able to restore their data but for some it remains lost.

A challenge for many of us is figuring out how to protect all our data as more and more of our professional and personal information is stored in the cloud. What steps will we need to take to ensure that our data is safeguarded? For me the benefits far outweigh the risks and I will continue accessing my cloud-based content from wherever life takes me!

Lifelong Learner

What does it mean to be a lifelong learner? Is it something we can teach? Is it something innate? Learning takes on all shapes and sizes. Discovering what motivates us as teachers to learn will help us better tailor the learning experiences for the students we work with.

This summer I am continuing my own learning journey as I prepare to take on a new role as a Technology Integration Coordinator. For me everyday is a new learning opportunity and I look forward to continuing my journey in the days and weeks ahead.

What's in a name?

The task of choosing the right name for a blog can be daunting. Do you choose a catchy name? funny name? clever name? your name? These days it is also difficult to find a name that isn’t already taken. After brainstorming an exhaustive list I chose a blog name that reflects both the work I do and my commitment to invest in my own learning. 

My goal is to use this blog to share thoughts about educational technology as well as resources for both students and teachers.