Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Ep18 - John Spencer: "Carve out time to do something creative"

Episode 18 is all about John Spencer. John is a Professor at George Fox University in Oregon. John has a simple goal - to make something everyday. Some days he makes things, other days he makes a difference, but on really good days he get to do both. John recently co authored a book entitled "LAUNCH: Using Design Thinking to Boost Creativity and Bring out the Maker in Every Student". 


Image result for Launch book


Listen to what John had to say about his current work as a Professor and what he does when he is not "working", the power of asking (a TED talk by Amanda Palmer), his work as a classroom teacher, his "making something" perspective (creative work), projects and the various stages they are in (revision and planning are his favourite), his book - LAUNCH (design thinking, launch cycle), his TEDx talk, his motivation/inspiration, what it's like to work with +Dave Burgess, and what he would tell people to help them become motivated/inspired ("find the outlet that makes you feel alive and then go do that").   


You can listen to the Podcast here.





You can connect with John on Twitter (@spencerideas) and/or via email.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Zencastr is Great

So I used Zencastr yesterday for the first time when I connected with Michael Redfearn for Ep17. Very easy to use on my end and on Michael's end. After we finished recording the site even took care of some simple post-production stuff for me. After post production the audio was sent to my Dropbox and I had the option to download it to my computer. I downloaded it to my computer, did some editing in Audacity, added music, and then uploaded it to Podbean (the audio host that I use) - ready to be pushed out to the world! Looking forward to continued use with Zencastr until the next evolution of my journey.

Ep17 - Michael Redfearn: "Hang in there, you never know what's around the corner"

Image result for michael redfearn


In this episode I chat with Michael Redfearn. Michael is a retired educator who spent 21 years in the classroom and then another 7 years as a Technology Consultant and E-learning contact for the Waterloo Catholic District School Board. Michael is currently the coordinator for the Ontario Catholic eLearning Consortium and is a Digital Literacy Consultant who is 'transforming lives....one footprint at a time'.

Is that Michael J Fox or Michael Redfearn?
Michael and I chatted about his time in the classroom, his work as a Information Technology Consultant and eLearning contact, the work he is doing as the coordinator of the eLearning Consortium, his new business which combines his faith with technology to help students create a positive digital footprint, how and why he ended up becoming a teacher (rich experience as a student at St. Jerome's High School in Kitchener, work as a Garbage man, wanting to work with people), what he would say to someone to try to help them feel motivated/inspired, his post graduate work in the Master of Catholic Though program at St. Jerome's University, and his resemblance to Michael J Fox and Michael Douglas.  

You can listen to the podcast here.

You can connect with Michael on Twitter (@redfearn) and at his website

Thursday, September 22, 2016

And the Learning Continues with Zencastr

Ever since the Blab website went away, I have been using Google Hangouts on Air to connect with my guests. After the hangout I take the audio from the video and then edit it using Audacity. Well, earlier this month Google Hangouts on Air moved over to YouTube. It now lives within the "Live Streaming" section over there. At first I wasn't very happy about this but after some investigation I realized that it is essentially the same thing, just in a different place.

Last night, while I was surfing the net I got a FB message from my Jedi Podcasting Master, +Brian Briggs. He had found a 'new' podcasting option and was letting me know about it. Less than 2 minutes later, we are chatting on this new platform!! Talk about making my day! As Brian and I were chatting and soaking in the features/options on this site I had to wipe the drool from my face before it hit my keyboard. 

Zencastr is the name of the site and you can read about all its amazingness at the site. I just listened to the short audio Brian and I recorded yesterday and it's great! There is no video option with Zencastr but that is ok because video uses up a lot of bandwidth which reduces the quality of the audio when people are using wifi (and even when people are hard wired) to connect. 

Looking forward to using Zencastr right away. Stay tuned. 


Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Ep16 - Jaime Casap: "What's your purpose? What problem do you want to solve?"

Image result for Jaime Casap

In this episode I connect with Jaime Casap - the Chief Education Evangelist at Google. Jaime travels the globe talking about the power and potential of technology and the Internet to enable and support learning. When I heard Jaime speak at Google HQ in 2014, he talked about education as a silver bullet. His narrative has always interested me. Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, New York (as a first generation American to a single mother), he experienced poverty first hand and 'beat the odds' to become an influential advocate for the improvement of education through the use of technology. 




Listen in to hear what Jaime has to say about the former Google Teacher Academy (now known as the Google Innovation Academy), the work he has been doing at Google for the last 10 years, the power of education and growing up in poverty, his motivation/inspiration to get himself out of poverty (fear and stubbornness), how he ended up at Google, being contacted by the First Lady for an event at the White House called "Beat the Odds", what exciting to him about the education space, the importance of being who you are, what real collaboration is, what he would say to people who aren't motivated and not sure where to start, how finding your purpose is different than doing what you love, and being resistant to change and what that actually means (it's not the change people are resistant to it's what the change actually is).         

You can listen to the Podcast here.   

You can connect with Jaime on Twitter (@jcasap) and/or on Google +.

Friday, September 16, 2016

Ep15 - Doug Peterson: "Lead them to water and show them what's there"

Image result for Doug Peterson and ontario

In this episode I chat with Doug Peterson. Doug is a retired Ontario educator who taught at the High School level (Computer Science, Data Processing, Mathematics and Business Education teacher and Department Head) and later became a Computers in the Classroom Consultant. Doug has, and continues to be, quite involved with the integration of technology in education. He has extensive experience chairing and co-chairing Edtech conferences in the province, is an avid blogger, and leverages social media to connect with others and share his learning. 

Listen in to hear what Doug has to say about the work he did in his teaching career, what got him interested in "computers in the classroom" - Mr. Cook, what led him to become a teacher, his interest and engagement in social media, how people could get started with blogging, his Follow Friday (#ff) philosophy, how people might get started using social media (Twitter), what he would say to someone to help them get motivated/inspired, the power of Twitter with respect to face to face interactions, and the importance of patience when helping people learn about edtech/social media.


You can hear the Ep here.


You can connect with Doug on Twitter (@dougpete) and/or at his website.

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Ep14 - James Sanders: "Look for the smallest increment of progress"

James Sanders

Episode 14 belongs to James Sanders. James is an educator, innovator, vlogger, and founder (BreakoutEDU - a platform for immerse learning games) who resides in San Francisco, California. James has a passion for trying new things and going after the 'fun' aspects of projects that interest him - and does so with gusto.

Check out what James has to say about the path that has led him to his present day work, his background/history as an educator, being a Presidential Innovation Fellow at the White House, "What if..." questions and the ideas in his head that he wants to test out, the beginnings of BreakoutEDU (Canadian content!!), his vlog, and what he would say to someone to help them find their motivation/inspiration (Austin Kleon book called "Show Your Work").

Podcast Audio: Ep14 James Sanders

You can connect with James on Twitter (@jamestsanders) and/or at his About.me page.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Ep12 - Sam Patterson: "Let the kids lead you"

Sam Patterson

In this episode I connect with Sam Patterson, an educator in California. Sam is currently the Makerspace Coordinator in an independent school (Echo Horizon School) in Culver City, California. Sam wears many hats - he has an EdD in Literacy, has a bunch of Puppets, is a Podcaster, is a Rasberry Pi Certified Educator, Google Certified Innovator, Sphero Ambassador, and an Author!

Listen in to hear what Sam says about his work as a Makerspace Coordinator, design thinking, the Makerspace at Echo Horizon, YouTube tutorials, challenge of the week, what motivates and inspires him to do what he does (he provides a great history of his journey), his book about programming in the primary grades (and how it came to be), his Puppets and how they came to be, his doctorate in Literacy Education, and how to help people become motivated and inspired.  

Sketch Nation: a site that lets you create games by drawing them.

https://rt.podbean.com/mf/web/4m2bzx/Ep12_Sam_Patterson.mp3

Sam has recently written a book entitled "Programming in the Primary Grades: Beyond the Hour of Code", check it out!

You can connect with Sam on Twitter (@SamPatue), at his About.me page, and/or his website.