Podcasting / Video Blogging / Having Fun

Hello Gang,
I put together a little podcast for your viewing enjoyment / amusement. Being a product of the Cardinal Stritch University College of Business and Management, I was always pleasantly surprised by just how much emphasis is placed on Franciscan values in virtually everything we do as students and as people. From working collaboratively with our classmates to completing work to the best of our ability to taking what we have learned out into the community and using it for the better good. So, being gainfully employed by the Sisters and also being a student at this great institution of higher learning, I never miss an opportunity to champion the great accomplishments of this very special group of women.

Twit.Tv with Leo Laporte & Friends

Hello,
I recently added a feed, which you can view and use in the sidebar section of my blog that is exclusively devoted to Twit.Tv. Twit.Tv is a podcast radio network devoted to all things technical. I have listened to several podcasts via this site including my review of Digi[cation]. It is very interesting and the best part of it - I kind of stumbled onto it myself, which of course gives everyone that sense of "Hey, I found this (not really) and I'm actually applying what I've learned so far to check stuff out. Enjoy.

My Reflections

Hello All,
I actually had some spare time recently to catch my breath from the whirlwind that is my life and reflect on all of the goings on of the past.....oh......ah heck,....I've always been busy. It just seems that now more than ever. Sometimes we get things done. Sometimes we spend a lot of physical and mental energy trying to get things done...only to fall a little short in some areas...and not realizing our true potential in other areas. I guess I don't have to tell all of you that. We're all busy. When I think back on this Digital Media class, I can't help but think of all of the cool stuff I learned. Really. And of all of the stuff I may not have been able to devote as much time as I would have liked. I told Louis Loeffler that this class, or me in it, seemed like one of those classes that really could have benefitted from being a just a little bit longer. But, then again, technology does change very rapidly and that extra time going over all of everything we may have missed might just be yesterday's news by the time we make time to familiarize ourselves with it. So, what did I learn? Well, I guess its not a matter of what I learned as much as the fact that as tech educators we have to teach ourselves not only what's out there, but we have to teach ourselves to be tech detectives. "Tech Detectives" I kind of like the ring to that one. We have to be the ones reading, researching, finding, trying, reviewing, recommending, and encouraging our students to use the latest and greatest tech tools that come along and can enhance their learning and our teaching. I know, I know, I'm the king of the run on sentence. And so, as I reflect back, I can't help but be reminded of an old analogy I sometimes use when describing things that have given me difficulty in life - its the one I like to call "The old gas grill assembly project." Before I go into that let me first say that if you ever want to get someone a gift or perhaps a recently wed bride and groom couple a wedding present, that you may not be all that crazy about- get them a disassembled gas grill that they have to put together. Digital Media reminded me of the time I had to put together a gas grill someone had given my wife and I. Very nice gift mind you. However, it will take you the good part of a Sunday afternoon familiarizing yourself with the terms in the instruction booklet and then putting those written words to use by actually assembling the thing. The funny part is that the first grill you actually put together will take you "Oh,.........5 hours." Now, if you were to put together a second gas grill immediately after assembling that first one.........1/2 hour tops. By that time, you'd be an old pro at it. Those are my thoughts on my very first endeavor into the wonderful world of blogging, podcasting, and so on. Thanks for listening. Scott

Digi[Cation]: A powerful Web 2.0 Resource for Teachers and Students

Digi[cation]http://www.digication.com/ is a free learning management / online portfolio service designed by teachers exclusively for teachers and students. I recently listened to a podcast by Leo Laporte of Twit.Tv that discussed all of the neat features and applications available through Digi[cation]. If you'd like to listen to this podcast, I would highly recommend it. http://http://www.twit.tv/itn35. In the feature Leo Laporte interviews the founder, creator, and CEO of Digi[cation] Mr. Jeff Yan. Digi[cation] has a number of tools that would be very useful to schools, teachers, and students. What Digi[cation] does is basically create a virtual school that actually has the feel of a real school. Some of the tools are school calendars, grade books, a built in online educator system. However, the best part of Digi[cation] is that it has the ability to be an virtual portfolio for a student's entire body of work. This serves to motivate the student by validating their work because, after all, they're published in a very reputable and professional format. Students have even gone on to use their Digi[cation] portfolios as part of their college entrance requirements. Pretty neat stuff and it offers much more than a simple blog can. Whereas blogs often have a "time" element to them -"What's the latest and greatest?" The Digi[cation] online portfolios provide a sort of timeline for the student whereby progress can be measured and you can almost see the student grow and learn as their body of work increases. Digi[cation] is free to the first 1000 users to any school, but you do in fact have to be a representative from a school in order to sign up.

GCast Should Stand For Gee, That's Easy

It sure is cool when we struggle with something for a little while and then have that "A ha" moment when we feel as though we've really solved the mysteries of the universe....or at least the little problem of embedding podcasting code into our blogs. That was my cunundrum recently when I failed to take into consideration that previous tutorials on such things as making something work probably change as fast as the templates, formats, and blogs they are supposed to guide us through in the first place. Not to worry. A little head scratching goes a long way in both mentally and physically preparing us for that inevitable instance down the road when we are faced with the same, "How the heck do I do this?" But, moving onto to gCast. It really is a neat little tool and to think only a few weeks back I had given up on actually making this "I'm going to dial my cell phone, record a message, and people are going to be able to listen to ME right from their computers." Once we got the formality of signing up, logging on, and calling your blog out of the way, what you are left with is something that could be of use to a lot of different people in a lot of different applications. Oh, I read the reviews from the hardcore tech people that said the sound quality is only a little better than that of a voice message and how this would only be of use to mom's and dad's recording "Goo goo's and ga gaaa's" of the baby for grandma and grandpa. What I say to that is, "Hogwash." This is a really neat technology even if it doesn't broadcast in Dolby stereophonic sound. Students could use this for presentations or to communicate with teachers or classmates. And, there is no better teacher than a clear, concise, and direct message spoken in a professional manner with all of the inflections and tone easily discernible to the human ear. And, if there's any question as to what that message is - simply replay it. I love gCast.

Are You Too Busy to Get All of That Reading Done?

I read an interesting article recently about a new service offered by a company called text2go that takes the technology of podcasting and video blogging one step further. Have you ever had just way too much reading to do and not enough time to do it? I know I have. This new service by text2go takes internet text material converts it to speech and then makes it playable on your iPod or MP3 players. Amazing. Although the service is not free ($25 one time fee), the potential to not only save time, but also utilize the time we wouldn't necessarily have to devote towards reading or reviewing written material. Text2go uses advanced text to speech technology, or TTS (the same technology currently used to enable hearing impaired folks to access and utilize audio). Text2go names the track and puts it into easily accessible playlists. This is a great tool for teachers and students alike who have way too much to do and not enough time to do it. Although I did not download the free trial version, I did listen to the sample clip of text2go's text translation and was very impressed.

Naturally 7 Video

Check out this group. They opened for Michael Buble tonight. Great concert.

clipped from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5MkNOXSdkA