TTIX Conference

I am attending the TTIX conference today, (Teaching with Technology Idea Exchange). Yesterday I attended the pre-conference workshop on Personal Learning Environments (PLE). So far so good, I am excited to learn some more today. I'm doing most of my notes on Twitter, so if you want to see my notes you can go to Twitter -bneiswender- and see what I've posted so far. 

It is refreshing to interact with people who do the same things that I do, and are trying to figure out the things I'm trying to figure out. What is really great is that this conference is only about 35 minutes from home- so I don't have to leave my family.

My New favorite Internet Comedians: Rhett and Link

Ok, so this isn't very edu-tech heavy, but I have enjoyed their goofy music videos I just had to post a couple.

Blackboard this is ANGEL, ANGEL this is Blackboard

My world just got rocked!

I just found out that Blackboard will be acquiring ANGEL. If you have no idea what I am talking about- then you probably do not work in the education technology industry. Blackboard is the "Microsoft" of learning management systems (LMS). ANGEL is the "Apple" of LMS's. A learning management system makes it easy for faculty to create online learning experiences for their learners with tools such as discussion boards, live chats, document sharing, assessments, surveys and online grade-books.

A few years ago Westminster was a user of WebCT which was at the time only slightly smaller in market share than Blackboard. Blackboard purchased WebCT- thus becoming the largest LMS provider by a long shot. There were only a few small companies- that basically had to compete with Blackboard.

You would think these other small companies wouldn't stand a chance. We began to shop around and came across ANGEL and were blown away by the simplicity of their system, their customer service and their vision for where on-line-learning was heading. There were two factors that were very important to us:

1-Modern. ANGEL doesn't look like it was built in some dude's basement in 1997. Because of it being built with better technology it has stayed current better than WebCT/Blackboard.

2- Flexibility. ANGEL only had a small handful of clients. We liked that because we were a small school but got treated like we were a big school. We could make product recommendations and they actually listened to us. What made it even better was they could actually change their product every year and make it better. WebCT rarely made big changes that improved the product because there were too many big schools who couldn't deal with big changes every year.

It was an easy choice to drop WebCT/Blackboard and move to ANGEL- and although our transition wasn't perfect- it was surprisingly smooth. ANGEL is sooooo much easier for faculty to understand and use. I have been proud that I played a big role in moving Westminster to ANGEL.

I'm not sure how to react to the news of the merger- but I am certainly shocked. I feel like I did when Blackboard bought WebCT- "oh no- how can I get out of this?!?" My guess is that there is going to be at least 1-2 years before anything drastic happens with our version of ANGEL, but I would anticipate higher prices, a name change, and being asked lots of questions that I don't know the answer to yet.

It is clear to me that it is time to start looking at new solutions for LMS's- there are so many tools that do similar things but are much less expensive, more flexible, and easier to use. For example, I've found it very easy to do many of the same curriculum type things using a free wiki tool such as http://wik.is. Why pay for an LMS when a wiki does many of the same things, but better? If you are looking for an online gradebook/assessment tool- why not use a tool like Foliotek (http://foliotek.com). In fact- there are even some great open source LMS's available such as Moodle and Sakai.

Interesting enough- yesterday I already started my investigation into Moodle. I also signed up for a webinar from Blackboard on what they plan to do to support smaller institutions better.

I look forward to finding out more details and geek-ing out even more over the changes that are going to come.

Screen Casting

Screen casting is when you capture your computer screen in a video format to share with others at a later time. This is a fantastic way to instruct others on how to do things on a computer. I've been using screen casting for years now to show people how to do things on their computer so I don't have to re-demonstrate that particular task over and over. Screen casting is nothing new, it has been happening for a while- what is new is how easy it is and the vast amount of content that has been created. For a more technical explanation check out the wikipedia page about screen casting.

There is a screen cast for almost everything now. If you know where to find the screen casts- you can teach yourself how to do almost anything on the computer without paying for an instructor. Some of my favorite sites for screen casts (and many other instructional videos) are ehow.com and howcast.com

I recently found two great tools for free screen casting: CamStudio and ScreenCastle. CamStudio is a program that has been around for a while and has been used a lot. I've encouraged my students in the MED class I've been teaching to use it. Screencastle is my new favorite free tool. It is very easy to use and requires almost no technical skill to do it- and as soon as you are finished using it- it is live on the net. There are a few drawbacks such as it makes every screencast available to the world. It also does not have the ability to delete the junky stuff you upload. Below is a video of how to use it from the Screencastle website.

What is happening to the technology classroom?

As some of you know, I teach as an adjunct professor at Westminster College in the School of Education. I teach the "Teaching with Technology" and/or the "Instructional Technology" courses. It isn't something that I do all the time but usually once or twice a year I get to teach a course. I love doing this! It helps me to keep current, and gives me the satisfaction of passing along some of the lessons I've learned.

Yesterday I was told that there is a good chance that the technology classes in the Westminster School of Education will be going away. There is a big push at Westminster (and many other schools) to help students be able to graduate in 4 years. This is particularly hard in the Westminster School of Education- there is a lot of "fat". I applaud the administration for making the choice to trim the fat.

I'm not happy that the technology classes are the first thing that the School of Education administration thought of slashing. This is a crushing blow to me personally, just because I enjoy teaching these classes, but mostly it makes me sad for the state of teaching. I think this shows a mentality that many educators have about technology. Typically decisions like this are made by people who don't understand technology. I think we should cut out all classes that I don't understand- let's cut all chemistry classes because I don't understand it- so it must not help anybody (I'm being sarcastic).

A colleague of mine has a mother who teaches in Arizona as a computer teacher. She has recently lost her job because the school district decided to integrate technology into the classroom- thus not needing the computer class anymore. While I find it fantastic that a school district would encourage technology integration into the classroom- it saddens me to think of removing these important classes from the school.

Here are some of the reasons why I am concerned by the trend of removing technology courses and the technology teacher from the classroom:

1. Technology needs an advocate. Without the technology teacher, there are very few faculty who will be innovative and push for technology integration in the classroom.

2. Faculty won't integrate unless they are given the resources. Obviously this is not true of all educators, but most of the faculty I know do not see the value of integrating technology in their courses. There is a reason why they teach and are not computer programmers.

3. Administrators often assume that students know technology "We don't need to teach them technology, they already know it". These students are often more technologically skilled; however, it isn't focused. Just because a kid knows how to use a cell phone, play video games and surf the internet does not mean they know how to use technology appropriately. Students need to be taught information literacy, ethical use of technology, and technology application relating to careers not just entertainment. Faculty need to be taught to be more like their students and explore and implement technology without fear.

4. The schools and teachers who turn their head at technology are the ones who are going to struggle in the years ahead. To those administrators who think technology can be cut- you clearly are out of touch with your profession. If you don't embrace it, you are going to be beaten by it.

I hope that Westminster does not cut the education technology classes, I hope I can still make a difference!

I'm Tweeting Now

So, I've decided to try out Twitter. For those of you who aren't familiar with it- it is micro-blogging, which basically means that I post 1-2 sentences throughout the day describing what I am doing.

I know what many of you are thinking, "why?!?!". I'll tell you why, because everybody else is. I know that sounds like a terrible reason- but I am very curious to see why it has become such a big thing. I know it is really big in the tech community- so it is time I started to participate.

I can't imagine that anybody out there really wants to follow my daily thoughts and activities beyond what this blog does, but if you are so inclined to do this with me, sign up at http://twitter.com or just follow me at: http://twitter.com/bneiswender

On Friday March 27th, I'll be attending "PodCampSLC" and I'll try to "tweet" my activities and anything interesting that I come across.

Top Ten Education Technology Innovations

I thought it would be interesting to give my list of the innovations that I believe have changed education the most in the last few years. In other words- these are being used by almost everybody and have had a direct relation to engaged learning.

10. Wireless Networking
9. Blogs
8. Classroom control systems/Smart Boards/Star Boards
7. Online Discussions and Chat Rooms
6. E-Portfolios
5. Web Conferencing and Lecture Capture
4. Podcasting
3. Email
2. Wikis
1. Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Honorable Mention: Online Exams and Surveys, Clickers (polling devices), Virtual Learning Environments (second life).


Here is my list of the top 5 innovations that will change education in the near future. In other words, if your school is not utilizing these technologies in the next two years you will be behind!

5. Cloud Computing
4. Personal Learning Environments
3. Social Networks
2. E-Book Readers
1. Mobile Devices

Honorable mentions: Netbooks, Mashups, Faculty Robots, Hover desks, and gym socks that don't get dirty.

If you think I've missed something, or disagree with something, leave a comment and in a week or two I'll give an updated version of my list.