For the next 30 hrs. #beach

Masts #iste12 #isteiphoneography

Another gorgeous San Diego morning.

I love the beach

White Rose Cluster

It's a hit!

The next generation of serious ball player.

UCET Presentations 2012

This year I am in charge of the Over the Shoulder area. Our OTS provides 20 minutes sessions that are held in the vendor area. So all of my presentations are OTS sessions this year. My first session on Friday is The Portable Studio in which I will talk about creating photography and video setup that is portable and usable.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1704555/ThePortableStudio.pdf

My second session on Friday is iPhoneography. In this session I will discuss photography using the iPhone and recommend several apps for great and fun iPhoneography.
My first session on Saturday is on iBooks Author. I will show a few examples of iBooks that have been created and then do a brief demo of iA.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1704555/iPhoneography.pdf

My first session on Saturday is on iBooks Author. I will show a few examples of iBooks that have been created and then do a brief demo of iA.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1704555/iBooksAuthor.pdf

My second session on Saturday is on The New iTunesU. In this session I will talk about the changes in the way K12 institutions can set up their own iTunesU  site and show examples of some sites that have already been setup. I hoped to have our district site up by now, but we are kind of in limbo with Apple in the approval process.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1704555/TheNewiTunesU.pdf

This is the course created by ADE's in PA that I shared in the session

https://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/audit/COXQTTJCF5

So that is what I am doing at UCET 2012. It will be a great conference. I am so glad to be part of such a great organization.

Apple on the Horizon

(Originally posted on EdReach.us)

 In the Apple world there have been and will be some fairly major announcements. Some like Mountain Lion were announced last week. Others like the iPad 3, will be forthcoming in the next few weeks or months. Some I am hoping for may not be coming at all. The next few months will tell. 

So, what do we know? Last week Apple announced the next iteration of OS X which will be called Mountain Lion. The most common question I have answered about this in the last week is what other cat names are left. I am having a hard time coming up with anything besides Calico or Tabby. Anyway, back to Mountain Lion. For me the most notable change in this new OS is the dropping of Mac from the title of the OS. This can mean a lot of things, to me, it means the merging or the movement towards one OS is that much closer. I am probably wrong , but that is what this change signals to me.

So that is the takeaway from Mountain Lion, what is added? Basically what is being added is OS X versions of iOS apps to sync better with iCloud. Those apps include, Notes, Messages, Reminders, Sharesheets, Twitter integration and the big one, AIRPLAY.

Airplay on the Mac will be huge. A huge trend in the iOS world, as you can read about here at EdReach,  is the use of the Apple TV and a HDMI-VGA converter (if needed) to mirror the iPad screen through a classroom projector. We have many instances of this running in our district right now. With Airplay on the Mac the same will be possible from a MacBook or iMac. The thing is, you won’t have to have a VGA cable and the appropriate dongle to display the contents of your computer. You will be able to mirror your content through the Apple TV to your projector. This could save the cost of running a VGA cable from the projector to a port on the wall. Of course this is somewhat network dependent, the better your wireless infrastructure, the better it will work.

The other apps are great too, don’t get me wrong. They will sync via iCloud with the same apps on your iOS devices. I look forward to these changes as well, but AIRPLAY is the selling point for me. Mountain Lion will be available sometime this Summer, I would plan on August, but possibly sooner.

So that’s what was announced; what about upcoming announcements? Signs, and by signs I mean internet rumors, are pointing to an iPad 3 announcement coming the first week of March, possibly the 7th. I am not going to indulge in guessing what the new iPad will bring as far as improvements, but it will be better, faster, stronger. Maybe is should be the $6,000,000 iPad. Other rumors point to the fact that supplies of the current Apple TV seem to be constrained. This could mean that there is a new Apple TV (and no not the TV, TV) coming with the iPad 3 or soon after. It could also mean that schools are buying them up faster than Apple can make them right now. If there is a new Apple TV coming, I have no idea what the improvements might be. Given the size reduction between the 1st and 2nd generation it may be the size of a matchbook though.

What else will be coming? I don’t know, but would certainly expect a new phone sometime this year. I would also expect updates to current computer hardware. So there will be things going on throughout the year.

Oh yeah… one more thing. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the demise of the white MacBook for even the education channel. We wondered what Apple would consider the replacement for this machine to be. We have the answer now and it is the MacBook Air. Great machine, not sure how great for education. Certainly lightweight, good battery life, but storage for video, photos, etc. not so much. I know Apple will say that is what iCloud is for, but that isn’t enough for schools. Here’s hoping Apple has something else up their sleeve’s for education.

There will certainly be things coming that I haven’t mentioned, and maybe some that I have will not come to fruition, but this is the beginning of the Apple announcement season and that makes it one of my favorite times of the year.

One more thing... One more really big thing!

I offered my opinions on last week's Apple Education announcement on the Macreach podcast. Although I felt the things announced were okay, I saw a lot of holes that needed to be filled. The big thing that I missed was something that was not explicitly stated during the announcement. It was hinted at, but not a lot of detail was given. 

That thing was the change in how content can be provided to and through iTunesU. The change in this process is the earth shaking thing to me. When iTunes U was first opened up to K-12 only state agencies could sign up. If a district or school wanted to publish through iTunesU they had to go through the state LEA. Now with only 13 or so states participating that left a lot of educators with no chance to publish on iTunesU. 

That all changed last week though with the announcements and this is the filler for many of the holes I saw. Now any district can set up their own iTunesU site to publish content and courses. It can serve as an LMS for districts. 

I am very excited about this as we have been struggling to get content onto iTunesU for 3 years. This will make it much simpler to do, and give us more for serving content to and from our schools.

Here are links to the pertinent information. Get your district and school going on iTunesU.

The All New iTunesU

http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/

iTunesU Support

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes-u/

Young Filmmakers

It was really fun watching these guys and gals work on their films today.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Looking over the soup

Glad I was able to get above the inversion for awhile today.

Loving the frosted looks of the mountains.

Thank a Teacher

"Did you have a teacher that inspired, challenged or supported you to look at the world differently? One you can thank for the path of life that you've taken? Give us 5 minutes of your time...create a short thank-you video on 10.11.11 and post it on YouTube with the tag thankateacher. Oh, and pass this along to everyone you know!" Here's mine

9/22/11- Meeting Demand

I have mentioned this before, but Thursdays are our days for team meetings, training meetings, and other meetings. On the plus side it is so good to get together with the team each week and to talk about what is going on. On the minus side, we are all so fried by Thursday that we don't have the energy that I would like to see us have at our meetings. I don't have a solution, but I still enjoy Thursdays immensely. 

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meeting to get to. :)

 

Sept. 21, 2011 - The faster I go the further my behind gets.

Well this daily posting thing is going swell, isn't it. The title pretty much spells it out. But I am determined to get this done as often as possible. 

This has been a great week. All week I have had teachers seek me out for things beyond "it doesn't work." A lot of "how can I do this?..." This morning at Willow Canyon, I had so many questions so quickly I didn't even have time to put my glasses on. Mind you I can't see much of anything on a computer screen or anything up close without my glasses. So it was kind of the blind leading those who need help for about an hour. 

Speaking of glasses. I bought some new reading specs. My prescription lenses are progressive lenses and they kind of worked. They were hard to get used to, and all they really did is make my neck progressively more painful as I wore them. So I gave them up and went back to reading glasses. So now I just have to do the grandpa thing all of the time. 

I was working with a class and a set of iPods yesterday, and I told the kids not to let the glasses bother them. The first time I pulled them down to I could make out kids faces one of them blurted out, "wow, you are old, aren't you?" I nodded, sighed and kept on going. The biggest problem is that I know it's my mind that is going next.

 

9/12/11-Of long times and shortcomings

First, a huge thank you to all of you who have responded with your thoughts and prayers for David Miller, my cousin who is missing. As a small update, his car was found about 20 miles from his home on Saturday, but still no sign of David. We still have hope that he will be found safe. 

On Saturday, my daughter and my brother and one of his son-in-laws drove down to Cedar City to help search in that area. We were driving through some pretty rough terrain and it seemed as if he were in there, how would we ever be able to search everywhere. It seemed like it would take a very long time. 

This set me on another course of thinking with regards to that which we do. My primary job function for the past 12 years has been training teachers. There has been a forrest of teachers out there for me to work with and it seems at times that too has been pretty rough terrain. I remember thinking early on that this is going to take a long time. I think I have now defined a long time as forever, or as long as I choose to do this, or others chose to allow me to do it.

By that I mean by that is there will always be something new to learn, or at least there better be. We always seem to talk as if at some point we'll be finished helping teachers to learn what they need to become 21st Century Educator  or whatever it is we want them to be. Too often I think we keep that long term view of what we would like to see them be in 3 yrs., 5 yrs. etc.

This is kind of me in a nutshell, but what I am realizing as a shortcoming for me is that I have to accept all of the wins with teachers as they come. There are small victories everyday and they need to be celebrated as much as saying, "Wow that teacher gets it!" That seems to imply that we are done, and I really don't think we will ever be. I used to think that was a bad thing, but I now realize that as long as it is like that I will continue to have a job I love and work with great people who do great things with kids everyday. 

So I am resolving to do just that, enjoy those daily wins with teachers, because that is a win with 30 kids as well and that is what is most important after all. At least I think it is.

Please Help Spread the Word

Friends,
I've never done anything like this, but would appreciate any help you can give in getting the word out. My cousin's son is missing from the Las Vegas area. The image gives his information.
Thank You,
Kelly

August 31st 2011 - Movin' on Over

I start out on Wednesdays at Willow Canyon. It makes it nice to spend the afternoon then the next morning at a school. It feels like there is a little more continuity. I checked in on a couple of the teachers that were unable to attend the iPad session we did last night. They are set up with email and ready to go. Also helped a teacher with an issue with Smart Response Teacher Tools.

Took a break from WC to go to Crescent to get ready for a College and Career Ready activity with Kindergartners on Friday. Dr. Doty and staff will be visiting the school. I will be working with Kindergartners on iPads. They sure didn't need much training. I showed them where the app was and they dove right in. The will do great on Friday.

Back at WC, got to help Mrs. Kaskimaki get her lunch count straightened out in Skyward thanks to Eric Taylor. Our helpdesk does a great job. Then worked with the resource teacher on a few issues. Need to get back to her to finish up a couple of things next week.

This afternoon I spent the time moving my office space. I have been in an office down the hall from the team for about 2 years. I moved into a space adjacent to where the team is and that we still intend to use as a podcast studio. I hope I can use the move as an impetus for doing that.

 

 

August 30, 2011 - Doc Cam This!

I spent the morning at Oak Hollow Elementary. I helped a Kindergarten teacher with a couple of needs. I really like working with K teachers. It makes me almost feel like I'm helping my wife who teaches K. We set her up with a couple of mailing list for her parents and also worked out an issue with Microsoft Word that wouldn't allow windows bigger than about 1"x2". 

I worked with 1st grade to make sure their projectors and sound systems were working with the in-house A/V system. Simple things but every little bit helps.

The team had payroll meetings with Dr. Draper today. It was nice to see some of them even if only for a few minutes. It seems like we really don't get to spend very much time together anymore.

I worked at Willow Canyon this afternoon. The prime activity was meeting with a few of the teachers who received iPads last week. They set up their email. We talked about management of the devices and we looked at a few apps that they were really interested in.

Today marked the beginning of our Fall professional development offerings. Colleen, Diane and I are teaching the Using Technology Tools and Applications to Enhance the Curriculum and Engage Students  course this fall. Today was all about document cameras. We had 8 teachers in the class and it looked like they had a good time learning new things about their document cameras. They are one of the most popular devices we have introduced in the last few years.