Ep 21 - Dee Lanier: "Start with questions, hear their story, build context"

In this episode I connect with Dee Lanier (Lin-ee-er). Dee is a STEM specialist (Technology 2nd-5th grade) with a team called QUEST at Charlotte Lab School, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Listen in to what Dee has to say about his work in education, what a QUEST class is, his start in High School (and a special guest appearance by Ken Shelton!!) and how it led to some great opportunities, how he became a teacher (deep interest in College), his work with UNCOMMEN, and what he would say to someone to help them find motivation. 

You can see Dee's TEDx Talk:

You can listen to the Podcast here.

You can connect with Dee via Twitter - @deelanier 

Ep 20 - Dave Guymon: "Talk about their concerns and find their wins"

In this episode I chat with Dave Guymon, an Instructional Technology Coach in Idaho. Dave started his teaching career as a 3rd and 6th grade teacher, moved into the role of an online middle school teacher, then became a Digital Innovation Coordinator, and now is an instructional tech coach role. He has written a book called "If You Can't Fail, It Doesn't Count", holds a Master's Degree in Educational/Instructional Technology, and has a little family that keeps him busy and upbeat. 

Listen in to what Dave had to say about Idaho potatoes, how he got into education, what he is currently doing as an educator, the role of tech in the classroom, taking risks, how he got into his current role as a technology coach, the book he wrote years ago, thinking about writing another book (about the changes he has recently made in his life), his journey to becoming healthier (eating and running), what kept him going as he changed his lifestyle, his growing family, and what he would say to someone to help them find their motivation.  

You can listen to the Podcast here.

You can connect with Dave via Twitter - @DaveGuymon. 

Ep19 - Rusul Alrubail: "Find out why you feel that way and take a step back"

In this episode I chat with Rusul Alrubail. Rusul is an education writer, consultant, and blogger who is currently working on The Writing Project, a platform that fosters and nurtures student literacy and voice. Prior to her work with the Writing Project Rusul was a Professor at Seneca College who taught English and literature courses to first year college and undergraduate students. Rusul is a big believer in the power of student voice to create positive changes in people's lives. 

Listen in to what Rusul had to say about her current work - going from being a college Professor to working with #Educolour and Edutopia (building communities at the Writing Project), pronouncing her name properly and the importance of addressing people by their proper names, her story and the motivation/inspiration to do a TED talk, #EduColor (inclusive collective that focuses on issues of race and culture in education), the positives and negatives of her work with EduColor, her experiences/perspectives with racism (via gender), the importance of hearing diverse stories (getting to know different cultures and who people really are), her blog site, and what she would say to someone to help them get motivated/inspired (become aware of why you don't feel motivated and then take a step back). 

You can listen to the Podcast here. 

You can connect with Rusul via Twitter (@RusulAlrubail) and her blog site. 

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". 

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.

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"

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. 

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.