Download Listen in a New Window iTunes Stitcher SoundCloud Leave a Review Clammr It Subscribe via RSS Subscribe on Android Follow @TeacherCast Leave a VoiceMail Jeff sits down with Jon Roepke to discuss the 2015 line up of products from Belkin.  Learn why Teachers and Schools are using Belkin Products to redefine the traditional classroom today!  About Belkin While the majority of companies in the education hardware tech space focus on one particular area, Belkin looks at a classroom trying to integrate technology and asks the question - how could we make this easier for the teachers and students? Our solutions address collaboration (Table stage stands and stage app), protection (AirProtect Sleeve) and connectivity. For more on how our technology enables a next-gen learning environment, click here. Education is near and dear to the heart of Belkin’s Founder and CEO Chet Pipkin.   Chet dedicates several hours of his day on EDU issues. Chet’s extensive nonprofit work revolves around youth, education, and closing the achievement gap. He is a founder of the DaVinci family of charter schools in Hawthorne, CA. The schools include a campus for STEM, Design, Communications, and a new model for K-8 education. He was also instrumental in planning Internet access to all California public schools as a member of the California Education Technology Task Force. Items Mentioned on Todays Show Adapter Kit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6dRDnvFkVs Air Protect Always-On Sleeve for Chromebooks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97EG4BFQBQU Belkin Education Hero Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsWXpft_fJw Links of interest http://www.belkin.com/us/ http://www.Twitter.com/Belkin About my Guest Jon Roepke, Director of Product Management for Belkin’s Education division, leads the creation and fulfillment of Belkin’s Education strategy and award winning product line focused on enabling seamless integration of technology to enhance the learning experience. Jon spends time partnering with schools to better understand the challenges they are facing and uses that knowledge to define and develop solutions for next-gen learning environments. In his role at Belkin, Jon is directly responsible for primary research, roadmap development, and solution delivery for K-12 and secondary education markets around the world.   Thank You For Your Podcast Reviews Are you enjoying Educational Podcasting Today or other shows on the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on iTunes today.  I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week. Ask Me Your Podcasting or WordPress Question Are you interested in starting your own podcast? Do you need help creating an awesome WordPress website?  I am available for 1:1 consulting.  Please visit my homepage and I will help you launch your personal brand today! Contact Me Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Check Out More TeacherCast Programming TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/tcp) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/appspotlight) Educational Podcasting Today (http://www.educationalpodcasting.today) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) View LIVE Professional Development from TeacherCast Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal) TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Need a Presenter? Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!

The face of education is steadily changing. Where it was once restricted to only the classroom or the odd homeschooling instance, the classroom has officially expanded its borders and has not only entered the age of the internet, but has brought new opportunities to students who would have otherwise gone without or experienced substandard education in their area. One thing that the educational system has alays been aware of but mostly unable to address has been the inability of rural students to attend quality educational institutions either as a result of their distance from the school or as a direct result of the district lines that have bound schools for decades. The walls are coming down however, and now videoconferencing, such as that offered by BlueJeans, has made it more than possible co communicate across the state or even across the country if someone desires. An Educational Opportunity As we enter the digital age, videoconferencing becomes more prominent. It has gone from the bulky proprietary software that it once was, and has become something far greater. These days, we can use our videoconferencing technology to communicate not only across the world, but across different platforms. Do you remember how difficult it was to interact with computers that ran different operating systems many years ago? There were many problems, obviously, but now, with the innovations provided to us by cloud software, we are able to beat those incompatibilities and provide a better way of bringing the software to multiple platforms from Android, to Mac OS, and even Windows. The best part about this cross compatibility, is that it stretches to several different devices. So what does this mean exactly? It means that most students will not need to be given devices in order to connect to the conference. In fact, most people keep tablets in their home today, and they have become far less expensive than they were just one year ago. Tablets, however, are not the only mobile devices that the software will work with. Smartphones from all platforms can utilize the necessary application and broadcast the video to any location. It is more inclusive than ever before and far more interactive than it used to be.  Bringing the Students Together What does an interactive video experience mean exactly? How much does it change the educational landscape? Videoconferencing is capable of bringing the worlds together by allowing a live teacher on screen catering to both students in her classroom as well as students outside the classroom simultaneously.  The software available today allows the teacher to not only communicate with the remote students, but also send them homework assignments and even show presentations simultaneously so that they receive the full benefit of the educational instruction. Another welcome feature is the ability to record each and every session so that students will have the opportunity to revisit what the teacher said at any given time. This is the power of videoconferencing and a capability that we have needed for many years. We are living in the future, and it doesn’t stop there. Remote Teaching Taken to the Next Level Imagine a future where a teacher can instruct remote students in a classroom without meeting them in real life. Imagine a classroom where the teacher isn’t even on the same continent as the students. Just let that sink in for a moment. One of the greatest concerns that the educational system has had in the past, is that some student, somewhere, might be the next great inventor or perhaps the one that invents a cure for cancer, but could not afford a proper education. These innovations may seem expensive on the surface, but in reality they drive costs down. Teachers will be able to do more, see more, and impact more lives than ever before. If that’s not a great innovation, then we don’t know what is. Get Prepared This is without a doubt the way of the future and it has already been implemented in some of the greatest institutions around the world, including Harvard School of Business. The question now, is how far it will go and what changes will be made. It’s time for education to become prepared for the next phase and truly launch a program that leaves no child behind. Right now the software is capable of providing a clear image to any environment and it even allows conferences that encompass thousands of users at a time. While it might not be employed in such a way at a school just yet, the future is definitely becoming brighter, and it won’t be long before the face of education is changed entirely. The only question now, is where you will be when the future begins and we leave the past behind. 

Dear reader,      I should have been the first one out there with this review, please accept my apology for the lateness of this review. In August my favorite robot maker relaunched Sphero SPRK, with a new app and a special SPRK edition robot, optimized for education. Let’s take a look. The Robot:     This is the good old Sphero 2 with an "invisible jet" makeover. The clear shell allows you to see the see all the inner workings of the robot. There is also an animation in the app called "Inside Spero" that labels and identifies each piece of the robot. This transparent makeover is great for STEAM learning as students and teachers can talk about all the components that had to be assembled and designed to make this possible. The toy editions and the BB-8 robots certainly capitalize on the mystery of the "self-guided" ball, but in the classroom we need to be able to show how the machine is responding to the commands. And then we teach our kids to talk to machines, they become the machine whisperers.     The robot ships with a ruler and a protractor, awesome tools for robot whispering. The Interface:     The SPRK interface is a welcome update from the former combination of the Drive app with all of the distractions and Macro Lab. The SPRK interface is a very capable programming interface that works like other block-based interfaces. The language does not cascade across the screen, but confine itself to a narrow column. This is very tablet-friendly design.     With access to the accelerometer outputs and the ability to create variables, this platform significantly extends the Sphero into upper grades math and science applications. I can’t imagine doing a force or acceleration lesson without putting this new functionality to the test.     Clicking the data field on each block, from heading, to brightness, to color, launches a tool to help the user make the right choice. The raw motor block informs the user that "4095" is the largest acceptable number. The app is full of these meaning rich contexts that give the user the information needed at the time it is needed.     In addition to the sophisticated yet simple programming interface, there is a no-distractions drive utility within the programming interface. I love this because it means I can ask my students to drive their robots back when they are done instead of running after them like a puppy at a tennis match.     I am looking forward to using a few of the lessons and STEM challenges published on the SPRK website. So far this year, the first grade has painted with Spheros, but we have not programmed with them yet. The SPRK app successfully makes advanced programming more accessible for younger students and adds functionality that makes the robot relevant to learning through high school math and science.

  "I hate writing, I love having written" Dorothy Parker Writing is an endless re-association with my own limits and shortcomings; the things I can’t explain become the things I don’t yet understand. In college I thought that as I got better at writing I would get faster, perhaps make fewer mistakes. Neither of these things really happened. I write more slowly than I am comfortable with, and I make mistakes, large and small. Writing a dissertation was maddening because I hardly knew if I was making sense most of the time.  So when I decided to write a book about programming to learn in the elementary grades, I was excited about the challenge. In this case, the excitement tasted a bit of fear and dread. When I started writing I really struggled with the difference between blog-voice and book-voice. I had to stop writing small informal pieces, but those are how I stay connected to my audience. My responsive audience helps me make sense, and I can write to their needs and questions. So at the beginning of the project I felt like I was writing alone and in the dark. I had read about Grammarly on Alice Keeler’s blog and got in touch with them to see what a premium Grammarly account could do to help me with this project. Works With Chrome Grammarly works as a Chrome extension (correcting my writing as I work in Evernote), an add-on for Microsoft Word, and as a web interface. My writing process shows my age and early training. I write out my thoughts in my illegible longhand in a journal.  The second step is to redraft the ideas into a word processor. Generally I add at least 20% to the text as it moves from paper to screen. Often this is when I try to more fully explain and connect ideas. This is where my process grinds to a confused halt. I am really bad at proofing my own work, I can do it but it is something I basically dread. Grammarly was the perfect tool for this point in the process. Grammarly helped me fix issues and taught me about avoiding them moving forward. The contextual explanations within the suggestions help users make informed decisions about how to edit the problem area. Click To Tweet Improving Your Writing Grammarly can operate as unobtrusively as a spellcheck, but the full proofing interface is much more capable and complex than a red squiggly line. Grammarly has a robust selection of writing styles to fine tune the feedback. As a writing teacher, I love this feature because it makes it easy for kids to see the different demands that different styles require. Even though there are a million options in this program, I didn’t get distracted by how cool this platform was, I dialed it into my audience and got to work improving my writing. My biggest surprise was the plagiarism check, it busted me! Don’t worry, it didn’t figure out that I get all my ideas from Jen Roberts and Vicky Sedgwick. The plagiarism checker busted me for lazy cliche writing. I happened 3 times at the beginning of apragraphs. My intros were really poorly written and the program found more than 7 words in the same order.  Each time the "source" reported was a post from a facebook group. I was confused at first because I had never visited these groups. Then I realized I had been busted for lazy writing. I had to laugh, and then rewrite. Free Advice . . .  Writing is hard, and for me putting the text in front of the first readers is especially tough. The response of the first readers can decide if I burnish a piece, or simple burn it. As a writer, I need that response to be on the idea level. A bunch of notes on grammar just kills me. Grammarly helps by taking small, distracting grammar issues out of the document before I share it with my first reader.

I like big grids and I cannot lie. The great thing about grids is they help students understand the space they are navigating robots through. I set up a small group to work with the bee bots. This grid had 15 cm squares and was 20 squares by 20 squares. The construction took about an hour. Bee Bot When building a tape grid you want to do a good enough job that it works. But that’s about it. You can only leave these on the floor for about a week. After that time, the tape becomes really difficult to lift. So don’t kill yourself over making it absolutely perfect. Aim for serviceable. The next grid I constructed was for the wonder workshop robot competition. If you have a Dash and Dot  robot or you’ve been thinking about getting one, you should look at this contest. The grid allows everyone to program for the same challenges. So the programs my students write ought to be able to be used by students at other schools. WonderWorkshop Competition Grid 6 Protips for Tape Grids: 1. Use a straight line on the floor to start 2. Set up top and bottom lines first, and then set up left and right side 3. Mark measurements on the side and a ruler in the middle 4. if you cut the edges instead or ripping them they last longer 5. Don’t leave tape on the floor longer than a week 6. Let the kids pull the tape up  

In The Beginning…. After 8 wonderful years in our home, we have decided to move closer to my new school district.  This couldn’t be more exciting a time for my family and I.  One of the great things about this is that I will be able to create a brand new podcast studio for TeacherCast and have the opportunity to create even more content for you to enjoy. Video 1 In this first of several videos on creating a podcast studio, we examine how the TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Studio looked before the move.  In later videos, I will be walking you through the process of transforming a basic spare bedroom and turning it into a broadcasting studio.  If you are reading this post and it does NOT have the links and product descriptions yet… please check back later.  I will be adding these as we progress through the video series. Thanks for watching … Please share with your podcasting friends!   Thank You For Your Podcast Reviews Are you enjoying Educational Podcasting Today or other shows on the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on iTunes today.  I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week. Ask Me Your Podcasting or WordPress Question Are you interested in starting your own podcast? Do you need help creating an awesome WordPress website?  I am available for 1:1 consulting.  Please visit my homepage and I will help you launch your personal brand today! Contact Me Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast Email: info@teachercast.net Voice Mail: http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail YouTube: http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube iTunes: http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes Check Out More TeacherCast Programming TeacherCast Podcast (http://www.teachercast.net/tcp) TeacherCast App Spotlight (http://www.teachercast.net/appspotlight) Educational Podcasting Today (http://www.educationalpodcasting.today) The TechEducator Podcast (http://www.techeducatorpodcast.com) View LIVE Professional Development from TeacherCast Watch LIVE: http://www.TeacherCast.tv | Broadcasting Schedule (http://www.teachercast.net/showcal) TeacherCast Broadcasting Community: http://www.TeacherCast.net/broadcastingcommunity Need a Presenter? Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!

This morning as the week got underway I asked Megan, STEM coordinator, what the second graders were learning. When she told me Pangaea, I immediately started thinking about how to get the continent shapes into a programming environment the students were comfortable with that could accommodate rotating and moving the piece around. ScratchJR is the open studio app the students have worked with the most, and it is one of the best choices currently available on the iPad. Once I decided to use Scratch Jr the challenge became importing the shapes. I tried taking a picture against a white background, but it wouldn’t work. Eventually, I decided to DRAW them by hand, and this also was not easy. Scratch Jr smooths out the lines drawn in the character studio. I discovered I had to draw small sections to keep the shapes correct. The shapes! this was a real challenge. I am not a talented artist, but I found a good solution. I placed the paper model I had on an iPad open to the character studio in ScartchJr and used the grid to hand copy the shape on another iPad. Once the shapes were set I used the camera import to take a picture of the name of each continent. This made it possible the label each piece. In class, we watched a couple pangaea animations and films from this playlist my favorite was this video with the solid 1985 educational broadcast production values. We asked the students to work in pairs and gave them the challenge of programming the continents out of Pangea mode and into their own position. We had a world map at the front of the room, but it was a map with countries labeled, not continents. Students worked to get it right and many made several revisions. Programming Pangaea with @scratchjr pic.twitter.com/laacxTtgcl — Sam Patterson (@SamPatue) October 26, 2015

As my classroom studio gets finalized, I am figuring out how to set up and film for demonstration and instruction. Here are 2 videos that document how I make my one-live-hand style puppets.  These puppets are great to film with and I find their hands make them very expressive and engaging. Please reach out to me with questions about puppet building in general or this build specifically. How to Pattern and Sew a Live Hand Puppet How To Finish A Live Hand Puppet  

The educational market is a challenging sales target because the users are not the buyers. School administrators make decisions about which checks get cut to whom. This is where the Apple versus PC debate happens. This is where Chromebooks or iPads happens, and these are decisions that can shape education.  Teachers rarely have the input needed to direct the conversation and when the time comes to spend our own money for a device to use at home, the menu is often limited by what we have used at school.  Linux operating systems are more accessible than ever and most are available for very little money. There was a time when Linux was only used by super geeks and hardware hackers, but modern versions of the software run well on less powerful computers. Why Linux? At my school, we are slowly decommissioning our circa 1995 distributed computing pc intranet and windows server. We have eliminated our 2 computer labs and have an amazing Makerspace. We have a bunch of older PC’s that are not ready to upgrade to windows 10. We don’t know how much they will be used and the idea of licensing software for all of them to have them site is not going to fly. Installing Linux on these machines will allow us to get the machines ready for almost all the use he students demand. Even if we never used the resident software available, the computers work well as a desktop Chromebook. My current favorite build is ElementaryOs. I installed it on my Lenovo Thinkpad x140e. The machine came with windows 7, and I originally installed Ubuntu. Most of my use of this machine is writing with Google docs online or offline with Libre Office Writer. There are multiple desktops and I can switch between them easily, like a Mac os. Although I wouldn’t use this option on a student device, there is good encryption built in. The Software center gives users access to many of the Linux programs available including Gimp, a photoshop-style photo editor. For less that the price of an iPad, this machine has all of the functionality of a laptop with built-in camera and microphone. The Linux platform supports programming completely, and occasionally requires it. With Google all things are possible. Sometimes when I am working on a Linux machine and I discover I need to run a JDK file from the command line. This is usually because I need to start the Minecraft Edu server. Without fail, I open Google and type "How to launch a JDK file in Linux." I read the 3rd or 4th post down and follow the directions. This is the only uncomfortable point for me, but I think if I play more of Terminal quest on the Kano computer I will become more comfortable with working at the command prompt. Stick With Me For My Journey Does this sound like something worth exploring? Do you have an old computer? Here is a page that explains how to make a boot-stick that will allow you to run or install Linux on an existing machine. Give it a try and drop me a note to share your progress. I am going to try for a server next, I am dreaming of an intranet of Pi computers, and that is going to take a good deal of Linux. I will post my progress as I go and hope that you will share your own learning adventures with me.  

I have an hour before class and the trash can is already full of tape. The first thing I did was take up the full floor tape grid from last week’s offline programming and dance lesson. That grid was just about a roll and a half of tape. And took about 15 minutes, it was fast because I used the existing tile lines. As soon as the old grid is off the floor I start planning 9 robot golf holes. As the teacher in a makerspace I am responsible for setting the stage for learning and exploration. With the furniture out of the way, I can transform the classroom into a game board, a soccer field, or a golf course. All learning starts on the floor, and a well-constructed learning context can keep the students focused and engaged with each other. When we ask students to solve physical challenges in real space we encourage active learning and communication. All spaces can be transformed with intention and tape. Learning is temporal, it exists between people, intangible. Blue tape honors the shifting nature of learning by not leaving the adhesive behind. Respect is a 2-way street and blue tape requires you change it up and keep learning fresh, or it will become sticky and difficult to work with. I think I spent an hour and a half stripping the old tape off the floor and putting down the new golf course. The lesson went great. The fourth-grade students used the SPRK app to program the balls from the "tee" to the "hole." I used short pieces of tape as tees, the students discovered how important it was to return to the same start point each time. For a few of the holes I used 4 ramps to make a raised cup, but on most holes I just outlined the hole with tape. This did make the hole more challenging because the students had to account for the momentum of the robot. By the end of the second class, the Spheros were beginning to flash red, and their speed and handling performance does decrease as the battery is about to die. The students worked in pairs and had much success. Some of the holes were much more difficult than I anticipated, so I adjusted them as the kids played. I invite you to apply to become Blue Tape Certified educator by commenting on this post with your own awesome uses of the next best thing to Harold’s purple crayon. Please feel free to reach out with questions and ideas.