An Interview with Jon Corippo

I recently had the pleasure of interview Jon Corippo, the CUE Director of Academic Innovation.  We talked, we laughed, we cried, he told me the secrets of education and the secrets of life.  However, that recording was lost in the digital nethersphere.  Jon was kind enough to give me time for a second interview, and while he didn’t share the secrets of life in this one, he did leave me with many great notions on education. Check out the interview below, and make sure to check Jon Corippo on Twitter at @mistercorippo and his website HERE.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFMGlyucZ4M]

5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1

5 great tools. 4 are free. 3 are production based. 2 are audio. 2 are video. 1 is not like the others.

I teach multi-media production at CSU Fresno, and while many of the tools we use at CSU Fresno are based in Adobe, when it comes to doing my own video production work, these are many of the tools I use.  While they may not be the most full featured or most polished, they are reliable and always get the job done right.  Audacity is a fantastic audio editor that comes with features that many of the expensive 'pro' software lacks.  Soundcloud is best summed up as YouTube for audio.  It is a fantastic source for original music and audio hosting (many podcasters use it as a hosting platform).  Final Cut Pro X!  While many in the professional video industry ditched Final Cut when Apple completely re-wrote the program, I was one of the few who held on and continued to use and learn through the many (and honestly, frustrating changes).  A few years in and Final Cut X is the most polished, simple, and full featured post production video programs available.  Every good video needs pre-production and a story board is usually a must!  Storyboard generator has been put together by the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, and is an amazing tool to teach storyboarding techniques.  Last but not least is Flipboard.  What may be called an advanced RSS reader, Flipboard is much more!  The magazine sharing feature is a great way to share info with fellow educators and students.

Links to all these tools and more can be found HERE

Trigger Warnings: The internet is full of them

A great friend of mine recently sent me this article from The Atlantic.  While the article was published almost a year ago, it still rings true today and more than frightens me.  The article, "The Coddling of the American Mind" speaks of the fact that college students are progressively demanding protection from words and ideas they don't like, "in the name of emotional well-being." As educators is it our responsibility to teach students that the rest of the world is not constantly looking out for their well-being?  By becoming overly vigilant and accepting of this movement are we not perpetuating the problem of a culture that becomes offended by everything and thus demanding more coddling?  As the authors of the article put it, "The thin argument “I’m offended” becomes an unbeatable trump card. This leads to what Jonathan Rauch, a contributing editor at this magazine, calls the “offendedness sweepstakes,” in which opposing parties use claims of offense as cudgels. In the process, the bar for what we consider unacceptable speech is lowered further and further."

In the world of EdTech, this issue has the potential to become an educational nightmare.  At what point do we put an end to this?  Once we can't use Google because it triggers negative emotions from childhood searches? Once the internet is off-limits because it is full of harmful words?  Once schools can't read Huckleberry Finn because learning about the past is too tragic?  Oh, that already happened...

My friend Sara ended our conversation with this fitting quote from Tolkien,

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

Let's please be careful of this slope we are sliding down.  At the very least, could we stop waxing the slide?

Forming a PLN: Personal Learning Network > Post Liturgy Nap

  Over the past few weeks I have been forming my PLN as an educational technology professional.  Most of this has been done through an eyeballed recipe consisting of blogging and Twitter, with a sprinkling of Facebook and Flipboard.  I have to admit, I have never been one to blog, nor have I been a person who spends any significant time on Twitter; so while I was up to the challenge, I was not all that excited about it.

Blogging has always been something that I wanted to do, but honestly, just never have had the time….well that may be stretching the truth a bit.  I'm sure I have the time, I just never had the drive.  I would much rather go out with a camera and shoot a video or hunt down a great photo.  At the very least, I would probably watch the video again or feed my ego with some likes on Instagram!  Nevertheless, I started my sojourn through the world of educational technology blogging.

It has been a bit of a challenge to create interesting topics, but more of a challenge finding ways to grab the attention of other connected educators.  Most of us are using similar tools, have similar thoughts, have read the same books, own a smartphone, work on a computer, put our pants on one leg at time, etc etc…SO HOW DO I GET PEOPLE TO KEEP ON READING!   I do not want my blog to consist only of tech reviews or my thoughts on daily news stories, I also want to provide original insights into how or why I think a certain way.  I regress...finding unique topics to write about is challenging!  If EdTech was the only thing that I did perhaps it wouldn’t be such a challenge, however I am currently teaching my courses at CSU Fresno, running a business, managing a startup, directing shows, acting, and my cat is currently attacking my hand as I type.  My mind is more than a bit cluttered.  Though, I must say, a posts in and a few encouraging and pleasant comments about my blog gave me some insight.  I do not necessarily need to go searching for stories that have never been written about before, I just need to talk about them and expose my frame of mind around those stories.  Using this cluttered mind of mine may just give me enough unique insight to keep people coming back.

And then there is Twitter.  Look, there is no denying that Twitter is the worst possible way for a group of individuals to interact about a single subject together in any sort of organized manner.  Did people somehow forget about forums, Google Groups, chat rooms, dedicated online community sites?  It truly is a mess of a social network.  However, after spending some quality time with Twitter, I discovered it is also incredible for sharing such a vast amount of knowledge between various people.  In a dedicated group or forum, there would be a complete lack of cross knowledge like there is on Twitter.  I have discovered a plethora of insight from peoples re-tweets that I never would have seen inside an EdTech forum.  Communities are strong within the Twitter platform, and it amazes me how quickly even the most followed Twitter user will reply to a message.  Slowly but surely I am making a Twitter name for myself, and hoping that personality may win some followers.

If I have any advice on growing a PLN it's this: express your character.  Be the quirky, whimsical individual you are, and just share what is one your mind.  And if you are not a quirky, whimsical individual, then be the person who shares all the great tech tips for the other guys to retweet!

peace

-m

Mr. Microchip Dishes on VR: A Guest Post by @mrmicrochip90

Virtual Reality has finally hit the mainstream market, this tech that once only occupied the realms of science fiction is finally cheap enough to be accessible to consumers. One of the least expensive VR solutions is Google Cardboard, which is literally a piece of cardboard with some lenses attached to it. There is plenty of content to explore on the Cardboard platform, but the equipment needed for the creation of VR content has largely been cost prohibitive to the average VR Connoisseur. Maxwell I know you touched on both the cardboard and the Theta 360 Cam but LG just came out with their own recently and it’s pretty sweet!

The LG 360 camera is priced at 200 bucks, its capable of capturing 2k 360 video that can be uploaded to YouTube and then viewed through Cardboard. The camera works with both android and iOS and couldn’t be easier to operate! Just hit record and the software handles the rest stitching the images captured by the dual lenses into an interactive 360 video.

What use does an educator have for such a device in the classroom?  Teachers can record their lectures and then upload it for a virtual classroom experience. Another use case for a 360 camera is capturing school plays and productions, so that family members that can’t be there physically can still watch the magic of a child’s first performance.

Have some of your own ideas for what VR in the classroom looks like? Book a flight over to Kansas City and check out the Virtual Reality Hackathon that is being put on by Oculus, the Pulse Design Group, and Google. This event is challenging developers to create Virtual/ Augmented Reality experiences that can benefit educators and students.

Below are the links for the LG 360 Cam and the event being held in Kansas

http://www.lg.com/us/lg-friends/lg-LGR105.AVRZTS-360-cam

https://youtu.be/9tvg3_BydDs?list=PLsIdAtesSJZ4IduY2Vn9lct05sS9nKsEG

http://www.startlandnews.com/2016/07/virtual-reality-hackathon-visualize-next-generation-ed-tech-tools/

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Make sure check out @mrmicrochip90 HERE and on his blog Teaching with Microchips