Wave Goodbye to Email

Last week, I posted my thoughts about Google Chrome here. I had mentioned that Google needed an ace up their sleeve to go toe to toe with Microsoft (too many clichés in one sentence?). Yesterday, I watched the Google Keynote and Demonstration of Google Wave. Google Wave is not just another cool and helpful Google App. Google Wave could possibly be the biggest thing to hit the internet since YouTube. Wave takes the idea of Instant Messaging, Email, Blogging, Wikis, Flickr, Delicious, Twitter, Discussion Boards and RSS Feeds and rolls them into one idea: Waves. The idea is that a conversion can be had across multiple platforms will multiple people. Google Wave allows information to be posted in one spot and shared with everyone you want. It takes the idea behind RSS Feeds is to bring information to you at a centralized location, the idea behind Wave is sharing information from a central location and having it spread out to all of your apps and networks. Check out the video below:



This blows Outlook Exchange Server out of the water! I have seen a trend of schools taking on Google Apps for their communication needs, I hope some consider this for their communication methods over some the other choices.

Google Chrome - Google's World Domination Continues to Expand - With Open Arms

So there has been a lot of buzz on the “internets” about Google’s upcoming OS- Google Chrome and Windows 7 OS. I am a Vista user and had my share of issues with the operating system, but still prefer the OS over XP. I am looking forward to Windows 7 and have already pre-ordered it. However, I am an avid Google fan and feel that Google offers tons of great apps and services. I don’t know if Google can compete with the Microsoft Giant. With Microsoft’s Bing Search engine taking shots at Google, it only seems fitting that Google return the favor. All of Google’s basic applications and services have been free. If Google Chrome (now only a browser) is a free OS it may get a lot of support, perhaps more than Linux. However, I only see the support in the network market and little in the desktop world of business and education. The unlikely support of Microsoft’s Powerhouse Office Suite will ultimately rule Google out.
But what if Google had an ace up its sleeve, I fully expect Google Documents, Calendar, Gmail, Maps, Etc to all have offline counterparts in the new OS with syncing options. However, what if Google did a complete overhaul of its line of products to try to compete with Microsoft head on? What if they did it for free too. Could that unleash the world from the grips of Microsoft domination? How would they make money? Google Ads. When the OS is connected to the internet, Google could have not distracting ads that are on the side of the screen. This would allow for revenue. Additionally, users could pay a small yearly fee to run the OS ad free. This model would be great and probably would be cheaper than other solutions.
Google would need to support some of the big software companies out there. Adobe being one of the big companies they would need support from. Google would also have to offer something that Apple, Microsoft and Linux cannot. Google needs to give users a reason to switch out of their comfort-zone. Lastly, Google needs to be partnered with Dell, HP and the other big companies to provide their OS preloaded. Ultimately, the success will come down to support of software and easy/stability of the product. Price and Unique features will also tip the scales in their favor. How do you think the Google OS will compete against Windows 7?

Having Students Learn Out of the Palm of Their Hand

It’s been a while since I’ve really used an iPod. I prefer the hi-fidelity sound of a CD over an mp3, despite the bulky drawback. However, I’ve spent some time recently using the iPod touch. I was given one to practice with as part of my job. I must say it is a fantastic device. I know that many people reading this will say that, they already know that the iPod Touch is amazing. Others will say that the iPhone is even better. They are probably all right. From using this product it is clear why there are so many apple supporters and fanatics. I am able to check my email quickly and efficiently anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection. I am able to use the “real internet” anywhere with wi-fi. My LG Voyager can do these things too but it is “wonky”. The iPod Touch offers better applications for free that Verizon charges for. Alas, I digress. I was inspired about what could be done with these devices.
Imagine the potential for the iTouch in K-12 Education. Every student has the internet at their fingertips. Every student can sent/receive assignments to the teacher directly from their seat. Laptops were supposed to be the 21st century classroom. Laptops are too big and bulky. Even little netbooks are not the answer. iPod Touches, iPhones, gPhones, handheld devices are the future. Students can use the devices to communicate with the teacher. Schools can track the students where-abouts via the device. Attendance can be taken through the device. If every student had an iTouch in the school, teachers could podcast assignments and students could download them – taking a page out of the ivy league universities. The other advantage is that creating apps for the iTouch is relatively easy, the school could have it’s own app for students to get the lastest news related to the school via RSS Feeds. Practice is cancelled today? No worries, it’s posted on the school iTouch app and RSS feed. Mr. Smith gave the wrong page numbers for the assignment – no worries- its sent out to his students as an alert to their iTouches. Perhaps, textbooks would be available in e-book or even podcast form. Students won’t have to worry about bringing home their big bulky science book or history book. The book is on their device. Included are updates to the books to make sure the students aren’t learning with an outdated book. (Going through history class in the nineties was rough with every map depicting the Soviet Union, when it no longer existed)
Naysayers might complain that this would be bad for education. “Teachers are constantly waging wars against students and their electronic devices; Reliance on audio and video textbooks will destroy students’ abilities to read effectively; These devices would quickly become toys and won’t contribute to the learning and engagement of the students”. All of these concerns are valid. However, today’s students live in the “On-Demand” Generation. They want – No- They expect their media and information to be accessible when they want it, how they want it and for free. This culture is not going away, nor should people try to change it. It’s not a bad culture, it is just different. Students in the classroom however are taught in a closed system. The teacher teaches the lesson one way on a specific day during a specific time. Many students do not want to learn that way. Schools need to educate students on the rules of interaction and behavior. It is rude to listen to your iPod while in a face to face conversation, you shouldn’t take peoples pictures without permission. You should not post photos of yourself on the web. These are all lessons that come with this generation. Lastly, the teachers need to rethink how they teach students in today’s society. Any good educator will tell you: It is not what you teach that students remember, it is how you teach it. Using handheld devices like the iTouch/iPhone or the G-Phone can help reform our educational system and steer it down the path to 21st century learning.

During my research on my educational game development process, I found this entertaining and informative video:



Do you think educational games have potential in the classroom?

The Celebration of Technology in Education

After months of planning and organization, the Celebration of Technology in Education was held today at Stony Brook University.

The event was a huge success thanks to the wonderful support of my colleagues and business friends.

Senator Brian Foley was in attendance. He helped deliver raffles and gave a brief speech to students, teachers and administrators.


UPDATE: http://www.esboces.org/globalnews.cfm?uNewsArtID=869 for pictures and more information.

This is a great video

This video was sent to me by a colleague.



What do you think the future will hold for the members of the Net Generation (People born between 1980-1995)?

Follow Up: Star Trek Movie

I saw the new Star Trek Movie last night in IMAX. The IMAX experience really makes a big difference. I feel that IMAX and 3D will be the savior of the movie industry.

Anyway, this post is a follow-up to my previous post about the technology in the new Star Trek movie. Click to read my original post.

First off, let me say that I thought the movie was excellent. I was afraid that some aspects would be done wrong or feel completely out of place. Overall the movie was very entertaining and was true to the mythos of Star Trek.

As for the technology, it seemed to be a mix of modern technology and a mix of the 1960s vision of Star Trek. I almost feel as if they kept the technology for the 1960s and then just made it look better. Almost as if they were just blaming the look of the 1960s Star Trek as a small budget and bad set design. Perhaps, that's a fair cop out, but in the opening scene an engineer is clearly talking on a handheld communicator. I didn't see any references to internet or modern technology as we see it. This may have been a style choice, but I was dissappointed and reilived that these avenues were not explored. As a vintage fan, I'm glad they did not touch these aspects of the lore, yet the curious tech-euthaist would have loved to see their vision of a bright future.

What did you think of the new Star Trek?

The Machine is Us/ing Us

This video makes you think about the nature of the internet and how we are learning different.

In what ways will information be used in the future?

CommonCraft Show

I've been a huge fan of the Commoncraft Show. If anyone has not seen some of these videos you need to stop reading this blog and check them out immediately.

http://commoncraft.com/

If you've these videos you know the potential and power they hold in education. The more recent video for explaining the US election process was extremely helpful to one of colleagues in a social studies class.

What have you used this videos for? or how do you plan to use these videos?

Suffolk ASSET

I attended Suffolk ASSET today. The keynote delivered my David Pogue of the New York Times was outstanding. It is clear that he clearly is excited by technology, a feeling I can clearly relate to. In addition to several interesting workshops, I was able to give another Web 2.0 workshop for administrators and supers with my colleagues.

What tools are your administrators using in your schools? or perhaps more important what tools should they be using?

Did you know 3.0?

This video is a must see. It's been updated and adapted for a recent conference in Rome.



How are you preparing your students for the 21st Century?

Celebration of Teaching and Learning

Today I was able to attend the annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning in New York City. The day was packed with workshops and demonstrations. I was able to deliver a workshop to administrators and superintendents on the power and potential of Web 2.0 communications.

twitter

Follow my tweets.

@dheberer

Rushton Hurley

I just came back from an amazing workshop with Rushton Hurley.

He showed my colleagues and I, some wonderful Web 2.0 tools that can really benefit classroom teachers.

I've posted them to my delicious account:

Check them out:
http://www.delicious.com/Don.Heberer

use the tag Rushton_Hurley to find them.

Polleverywhere

I was recently exposed to another free and great teaching tool.

http://www.polleverywhere.com

Polleverwhere allows for real-time polls to be conducted anywhere. Users can vote via email, web voting or even text message. This allows for the person conducting the poll to gain instant feedback from their audience. Imagine harnessing the power of cell phones as an educational tool in the classroom. This could be an alternative to student response systems, perhaps at the college level instructors could use this as a way to quickly take an anonymous poll.

The website also has a feature that allows messages to be sent to a wall. This could be potential beneficial in the classroom. However, all messages are unfiltered and unmoderated opening the door for a digital public stoning. With all web 2.0 tools the there are some struggles with striking a balance between collaboration and privacy.

Johnny Chung Lee

I've been following this guy for a while now, but as my blog is gaining some followers, I figured it was necessary to share for thoose that have not seen it yet.

The first video shows how finger tracking is possible with the Nintendo Wii remote. Manipulation of objects in 3d space is becoming a reality. Despite the amazing games that could be created with this technology, the education field could benefit extremely from this kind of technology. Imagine students interacting with objects on a screen or TV just by moving their fingers.



Besides Microsoft Outlook, the most common professional development training I deliver is on Interactive Whiteboards(IWB). Many schools are begining to implement 1:1 IWBs in their districts. hundreds of teachers now have a huge IWB in their class taking up space on their traditional chalkboard. Teachers need to be trained on how to use this new piece of technology. Districts are spending thousands of dollars on boards and projectors. Johnny Chung Lee has a solution.



Lastly, this video shows the power of interactive foldable displays. Because Johnny's IWB solution does not need a board and can be projected on any surface foldable displays offer a solution for the inexpensive and interactive classroom.



What are your thoughts?

A babysitter should not cost 4000 Microsoft points a year.

Being an educator and a technology specialist, I have a unique standpoint on the use of technology. I can see the benefits and I can also see the hindrances it may cause. Enter the online gaming community. I see great potential in the online gaming community and social networking community eventually merging into a conglomerate over the next five years, a la Second Life or Sony’s Home. The integration of gaming and learning is inevitable. However, I was recently startled to find the current online gaming environment an unwelcoming community plagued with sexism, racism, vulgarities and a downright lack of respect.
I had recently purchased a Microsoft XBOX 360 console and XBOX Live account. XBOX LIVE allows the gamer to play against other players competitively in an online environment. Every XBOX360 comes with a headset microphone that allows players to chat during the game. This works very well for team based games and tasks. Coordination is a key to success in the game. In the particular game I was playing, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare I found that more often than not verbal communication was used to berate the other team or the teammates during the game. Being of a veteran of online games, it is expected to be “hazed” when you are a n00b (newcomer to the game). However in the past, these comments were less frequent and only at the end of the game. The main reason was that players had to stop their game in order to type to the other players. Communication was limited, so only vital text was sent. Now with headsets and verbal communication is it very easy to bully another player in a game with constant verbal assaults. I fear that these types of communication are the next form of cyber-bullying.
I particularly find this form of bullying interesting, because I am proponent of the iSafe program and a certified instructor. Perhaps, what was more startling than the topics and the use of language on the XBOX Live system was the ages of the people on it. The game I was playing was a game that required the purchaser to be 17+ years old. Microsoft also limits XBOX Live to users that are 18 or older. However, most of the players on Xbox live were much younger. One of the users claimed to be an eight year old, and based on his vocabulary and voice I do not doubt it. How are children playing these games? A few things could be happening: 1) the gamer lied about his/her age when signing up 2) The child uses another family member’s account that does not have the age restriction 3) The Parents let their child play online regardless of the restrictions.
Not even considering the game content, the material from the verbal conversions that these preteens are exposed to is scary. In just an hour of listening to the conversation, the topics ranged from sex, racist hate groups, drug use, back to sex, Antisemitism, hate against people in other countries or States, and back to sex again. Throughout the conversation, arguing, yelling, and bullying occurred most of the time. In fact it was difficult to play the game with all the bickering and name calling. Luckily you can selectively mute other players. Either way, children are being exposed to a community that is geared towards adults at a very young age. Some parents think that kids are just playing games and it is harmless fun. Xbox Live is not a babysitter, that can be paid merely 4000 Microsoft points ($50 USD) a year. The things that kids are learning in these online gaming communities might be harming them socially and emotionally.
To be fair, Xbox Live is not the only community and Call of Duty 4 is not the only game with this problem. In addition, there are some positive qualities to online gaming. It allows people to learn the value of cooperation and competition, working towards a common goal. It also helps foster problem solving skills and decision making. However, I find that the gaming community is not mature enough to merge with the learning community just yet.

TeqSmart Best of 2008.

TeqSmart has recently posted their best of 2008 blog.
I am very proud to say that my review game Trivia Hero has received specific mention in their best of 2008 list here. Thanks guys!