Category: CUE2006

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CUE 2006 Retrospective… the “and Life” side of the Conference

CUE 2006 (Via Steven Glyer’s Podcast.) I caught up on sleep today, got settled back into the house, and did some balance bringing things. Consequently I had little time for blogging, though of course I read my feeds, as I did each day at the CUE conference. I have over 40 new drafts in the queue (not counting my Kurt Squire posts) and almost 50 flagged emails (not counting work email), but tonight I’ll simply leave you with Steve Glyer’s retrospective on the “and Life” side of the conference… a two and a half minute slide show podcast for your viewing pleasure. :)

The team I work with is a big part of why I enjoy this job. In this podcast you’ll see all five of us, Robert Craven, Stacy Deeble-Reynolds, Mike Guerena, Ranjit Mayadas, and myself enjoying the time we had together after hours at the conference. We’re out with several of my former teammates from Newport-Mesa (including Steve Glyer and Lainie McGann) and several of their colleagues. (Noteably absent was Jenith Mishne, who is recovering from a difficult surgery.) We were also joined by my AB 75 co-presenter, Christine Olmstead, and her colleague from Brea-Olinda, blogger and 2005 showcase winner, Sheri Bithell. And of course my wife Eva, who was also presenting two sessions at CUE, was with us, too. :)

Naturally there will be more on the conference in my coming posts.

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Take it to the Next Level: Video Games in Education

This was the final presentation I gave at CUE. It was the second to last presentation of the conference, but (thankfully) the room was still packed… and the participants contributed a lot to the presentation. I was amazed what some of them were already doing, particularly when it came to having students create their own video games. Many others seemed to leave the session motivated to put games to work in their classrooms… and to tap into their students expertise when they felt as if their own experience was lacking.

Here is the one page (front and back) handout.
And here are the slides. (18.1 MB)

I look forward to seeing what fruit this session bears.

Also, I look forward to CUE 2007… in the same way that there were literally a dozen sessions on blogs, wikis, and podcasting this year, I expect there will be a dozen sessions on games in education next year. ;)

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Blogs are the New Crayons: The Read/Write Web in Education

In a few moments I will be begin my next presentation at the CUE conference, Blogs are the New Crayons: The Read/Write Web in Education. This post is just a quick and dirty link to the slides and handouts.

Slides.
Handout.

UPDATE 03/11/06: There’s been problems uploading these files from the conference center… check back again tomorrow, after I’ve returned to a more reliable internet connection. :)

UPDATE 03/12/06: All should be well now. Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading these files. I should also mention that the room was absolutely packed! The conversation was exceptional, and despite the short time frame (only 1 hour), most participants were able to set up a blog in addition to exploring the resources I discussed. As is often the case, the interactions I had with them on their way out were the most inspiring.

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Free as in Freedom: An Introduction to Open Source Software

So far at CUE 2006, I’ve been supporting sessions in the iBook lab in Mesquite H all day yesterday and today. Yesterday was a CSI science session with probeware, an iPod in Education session, and a beginning blogging session. Today is all iPod and podcasting classes.

This morning I finally give my first presentation at 10am. This is Free as in Freedom: An Introduction to Open Source Software in Mesquite C.

Here is a pdf of the slides and a one page handout.

UPDATE 03/11/06: There’s been problems uploading these files from the conference center… check back again tomorrow, after I’ve returned to a more reliable internet connection. :)

UPDATE 03/12/06: All should be well now. Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading these files.

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Favorite Open Source Software?

There is much in my queue to post, as usual, but tonight belongs to networking at the CUE conference… except for a few quick questions.

I am still finishing up my “Free as in Freedom” presentation – an introduction to open source software in education. I’ll begin with a quick demo of course, followed by an introduction to the history and philosophy of open source software. Then I’ll demo specific applications. Of course I’m covering all the big names: Firefox, GAIM, GIMP, and Open Office. I’ll also cover some open source web platforms like WordPress.

I want to include lots of the little gems, too, and am reviewing my own harddrive and asking my colleagues what else they are using. So I thought I’d pass that question on here… for a mention in my Friday morning presentation… what’s your favorite opens source software (that I haven’t already mentioned)?

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The Changing Shape of Information

The Changing Shape of Information (Via 2 Cents Worth.) David Warlick: “Their were a large number of librarians in the audience, and I entertained several long and passionate pleas of preference for the dependable information that can be found in books.”

It’s funny.. I thought Warlick would go somewhere else entirely with his response to this. When this comes up in my workshops, I ask participants if they ever take issue with the information put forth in their text books. Every teacher I’ve ever known has shared “well the book says this, but” moments with their students. I suggest that we should consider out text books as suspect as the Wikipedia in terms of errors and agendas. Also, I ask what process is that we use to verify the quality of information in academia… and they are quick to come up with “peer review.” Wikipedia is the ultimate in peer review with nearly a million users. This is something of a simplification, but we discuss the differences, and most people seem to get it.

Warlick also mentions that he will be at the CUE conference in Palm Springs later this week, and though his stay will be short, I’m hoping I’ll get the chance to meet him. :)

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Linux Solutions for Schools & Businesses

Linux Solutions for Schools & Businesses This is a link to Steve Hargadon’s Technology Rescue program for schools, based on the K12 Linux Terminal Server Project (K12LTSP), including Open Office and Firefox. Steve is running a k12ltsp Linux lab at the CUE conference next week. On Thursday afternoon, he and I will also be interviewed by CUE’s Chris Walsh for the live webcast of the event and a later podcast. The following day, I will lead a session called “Free as in Freedom: An Introduction to Open Source Software in Education.” My passion for Open Source in Education rarely has such an outlet, so I’m excited about all of these things. Check out Steve’s service… it seems a noble way to make money in the education market. Also, Check out his blog, and another he keeps on k12 open source. (Like most blogger blogs, both have a hidden ATOM feed… amend /atom.xml to either URL to subscribe.)