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1. MOODLE.... BLACKBOARD..... CANVAS..... Chalk and textbook.... Say what?

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1. According to Edudemic.com's Chris Calimpong, "In 2010, education spent almost 2 billion in computer software for classroom usage." As we have learned there are many learning management systems (LMS) out there, and each of them has a number of benefits. 

In choosing a LMS we must look at a number of factors:

• Your audience
• Your budget
• Your prioritized list of requirements
• Your future plans- does this fit...?      

We know our audience- I hope. We understand our budget constraints, so let us focus on our requirements.  What do we want in an LMS?  What is important to us down the road in the next decade?  Is it customization? Support? Use of 3rd party elements?  Implementation? What do you think?

Technology grows so fast, the platforms are always changing- which platform best suits your classroom, your grade level and your building, or your whole district?

The answer at the college level has become MOODLE (take a look at the Butler University proposa(

Learning Management System Evaluation and Recommendation ...)

. YES MOODLE!  Why you ask- well the basic conclusion is that it is CHEAPER than BLACKBOARD, and many other schools have adopted it as their platform and it is compatible.  So while many of us chastise MOODLE, the universities are adopting it as the industry standard over the once powerful BLACKBOARD.  CANVAS is growing in popularity as well, in many cases, the schools that have transferred to MOODLE from BBoard, are now beginning to move onto CANVAS. Since 2012, a number of universities, who prefer the many nuances of CANVAS and the affordability, comparable to MOODLE, are beginning to make the shift, and experts seemingly prefer CANVAS.

So what do you think? What are your priorities?   Which platform is best suited for you and your students? Why?  

Let the debate begin....

1. Resources:

1. How to Choose a Learning Management (Barrish, 2013) and

Why Use a Learning Management System (2012)

[Claus] Google Glass vs. Privacy

I have only looked at and researched the positive side of Google’s newest creations, Google Glass.  After reading several articles, I have realized there are some major issues that no one is talking about.  There are several fascinating features incorporated into Google Glass that can be scary.  One of the scariest is the thought of being recording and not knowing it.  It is hard enough being a teacher and having the fear of getting your picture taken by of student.  Or even worse a video taken of you and posted to youtube.  At least with smartphones, you typically will see a student with their phone out before they actually record you.  With the new Google Glass you will have no idea if someone even has Google Glass on, let alone recording anything.  Right now it is easy to spot Google Glass but it has been said they look "nerdy," which I agree with. In the future these glasses will look like any other pair of reading glasses. Are you ready for Google Glass to make an appearance in your classroom?

These issues are not just ones that can occur in the classroom, what about outside the classroom?  The thought of possibly being recorded and not being aware is scary enough but then to have that data stored on Google’s cloud is a even scarier.  With all the new technology, things you say and do can be recorded, stored and attached to your name online, without you even knowing.

 Will we have any privacy left?  Do these downfalls outweigh the benefits of Google Glass?

The Future of Technology with Blurred Vision

Try to think of technology 5, 10, 15+ years down the road. No one knows what advances we will truly see in technology - it is a blurry set of details that if you squint, you can almost get a sense of where we will be.

Exhibit A: Envisioning Technology 2011

Some takeaways from the hard to view, squint-and-you-may-get-an-idea image:

Space and the impact our developing technology will have on it will not see real development until around 2030 and beyond. While I somewhat agree with this, I feel like the reason many people don’t see our space endeavors as being possible or on the radar because our space programs are not in the limelight, as opposed to our Internet, Energy, and Artificial Intelligence platforms. I believe we will see vast developments with our space programs sooner than this chart predicts.

Energy is an important and evolving technological field. I see this as being a big focus for the upcoming years. Any way technology can improve the future of our environment by improving how we harvest energy I believe will be a very important and highly debated topic.

Artificial Intelligence will not wait until 2020-25 to start having a bigger impact on our lives. We are already starting to see how we talk to our devices and the devices talk back. I think we are only in the beginning stages of this and soon will look back and not remember when this wasn't a part of our daily lives.

I wonder what this graph would look like if it were rewritten today. I think the overall view might still look the same with a lot of variances in the details. The major subjects may stay in the same relative places but the smaller branches would be moved around based on what we know today.

The bottom line is technology is advancing and having a profound impact in multiple areas. That new device that talks back and gives you the information you were looking for before you asked it will not only benefit you in your daily life, but also others in various fields. In some way or another, technology impacts nearly everything we do, either for the good or the bad. 

" Technology should do the hard work so that people can get on with the things that make them happiest in life. "

- Larry Page, Co-Founder, Google

Learning Management Systems:

Learning Management Systems:

In looking at Universities, Colleges often provide an open forum for experimentation and broad learning horizons.  However, online learning managements systems have been slow to catch on.  Many universities use the “one size fits all” format, that hinders the academic flexibility and creativity that is often encouraged in a campus setting.  

The learning management system of Blackboard often dominates the University setting.  However, administrators and students alike, find the system dated and cumbersome to use.  Many are experimenting with alternatives such as Schoology, Canvas, Moodle, and Saiki.   

According to The Journal of Educational Technology Systems, drawbacks of BlackBoard include.  

• Software that is difficult to learn
• restricted options on some operating systems
• excess downloading leads to insufficiencies in bandwidth
• cost

Looking through the case studies,  it is evident that most of the individuals see benefits of LMS, but that each course, or professor has their own needs.  Many of the LMS’s are becoming very innovative and producing systems that fit certain courses better than others.  Frustrations set in with LMS’s when limitations appear.  Some teachers expressed disappointment in how their presentations appeared in the LMS.  Regardless, most all saw benefits to the students and their learning as a direct result of the LMS.  

Benefits of LMS from Study

• Increased communication with students through post and discussion boards
• Helps students become “professional Thinkers”
• Increased availability and resources for students.
• Could be cost and administrative efficiencies
• Can be altered to meet a range of diverse learning styles

Drawbacks of LMS from Study

• Lack of face to face interaction and relationship building
• Limited discussion capabilities
• Lack of ability to see students hinders ability to see if they are truly learning
• Tough to replace hands on/interactive lab based experience (science)
• In-flexible Navigation
• Difficult to display complex concepts
• Students expectation that teachers were “online constantly”  
• Lack of audio/video features to present lectures

As the teachers reflected on their personal pedagogical beliefs, many found that the LMS restrict their teaching styles in some way.  Although most acknowledged benefits, nearly all saw restrictions.  Some restrictions were content based, some were software based, while others were limited by the teacher’s personal capabilities.

RESOURCES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Blended Learning in Higher Education by. D. Randy Garrison, Norman D. Vaughan

Deep Learning for the Digital Age, by Van B. Weigel

Student Test Scores are Improved in a Virtual Learning Environment by Harry R. Goldberg, Guy M. McKhann

The Bionic Man (Coming soon to a body near you!)

How many of us feel as though we have left a part of ourselves when we leave our smartphone behind?  Or that we are disconnected from the world when we don’t have our device with us?  

How To Cope With Cell Phone Withdrawal

While I know that there are some out there who do not feel this way and still believe in the “old fashioned” way of things, most of us have moved forward to where technology has become an essential part of our lives.   We live in times where technology is becoming not only something that we use on a daily basis but something that is becoming a part of us.  

With the evolution of the smartphones and tablets we are more connected to information than we have ever been.  We are quickly moving in a direction where we feel as though we cannot live without our devices. Technology is evolving so quickly that it is actually becoming a physical part of us.  With how fast technology is moving they are quickly finding ways for technology to actually improve the human body.  In fact, Ray Kurzweil in Futurist: We’ll Someday Accept Humans as Computers talked about how in the future it will be possible to see, “...nanotechnology -- microscopic computers -- that will be 1,000 times more powerful than human blood cells and injected in people's bloodstreams to give them superhuman endurance.”  While this looks to be our future we do have some things coming our way that could be the next step in making technology a bigger part of our lives.

CHECK OUT THE ACTUAL BIONIC MAN!

If you’re a big tech nerd like myself, or even if you are not, you may have heard of the next “BIG” thing that is coming our way.  It is called Google Glasses.  Google Glasses might be the next piece of technology that you will be wearing that you can simply not live without.  

As talked about in, Project Glass: An Extension of Self, Google Glasses is closing the gap between us simply using technology and it becoming an extension of us.  In a class that I was in, we had talked about how looking at your cell phone while out at dinner is rude and there were various points of view on the topic.  Google Glass sets out to help this and many other situations by keeping the user aware of what is going on around them and even have the glasses become a part of the conversation or task.  In fact, Google Glass has already been used to show students in one part of the world an completely other place in the world in real time.  The implications for this kind of technology is amazing. 

Story of Professor Giving Class

GOOGLE GLASS

As we look to the future, we don’t know exactly how technology will become a part of us but we do know that it will become a part of us.  For someone like me, and hopefully someone like you, this is very exciting and I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

P.S. - One of the places that I get a lot of my technology news is www.endgadget.com.  Feel free to follow them on Twitter or go to their website!

BYOD Is Hard For Parents Too!

When talking about BYOD we typically talk about how challenging it is for teachers to implement and solve the problems that they will encounter.  We have also talked about the issues that students will face, like having more responsibility for their things.  However, what we haven’t talked about is the challenges that parents will face as we ask them to embrace BYOD.

We are not only asking parents to pay for new devices that their students will want because “everyone is using them at school” but we will be asking them to become a deeper part of our community.  That poses the question, “What tips should we suggest to parents to help them with some of the challenges that they will face with BYOD?”

There are several answers to this question that Griffin Technology has suggested in 7 Tips for Parents About BYOD - Bring Your Own Device.  

Some of the main points that I thought were really important are:

1. BUY PROTECTION FOR YOUR DEVICE!  This includes a case and a screen protector.  Spend a little extra money to make sure you protect your investment. You can watch the video below to see some of the interesting ways a student can destroy their phone by accident or on purpose!

http://youtu.be/nmamCkqoQDc - How To Destroy An iPhone

2. BACK UP YOUR DEVICE! The great thing about the times that we live in is that there are many cloud based tools that you can use for free. This will help make sure that you don't loose your data. Examples of cloud based storage include but are not limited to Google Docs, Dropbox and iCloud.

3.  TEACH THEM HOW TO USE A CALENDAR ON THEIR DEVICE!  One of the things that is quickly becoming obsolete, is the agenda.  We know students don't use them.  However, we need to teach them how to use some sort of organizational tool, as they will have to later in life.  Teaching them how to use a calendar on their device can benefit them by keeping them organized.  It can also help you by having them share their calendar with you so that you know what they are doing and what they have due in class.  

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST CALENDAR APPS FOR iDEVICES

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST CALENDAR APPS FOR ANDROID

These are just three of many ways that parents can help their students with BYOD.  Do you have any suggestions?

The BYOD Struggle

The struggle begins with the fact that most teachers grew up in an age that classrooms were structured around paper and pencil.  Today’s teachers are struggling to break that mold.  It seems like more and more teachers FEAR change, they have been conditioned to do the same thing year after year.  I say, the heck with that!  Those teachers need to open their eyes and see that the world around them is changing day after day due to the effects of technology.  

We are always asking the teachers of their opinions of BYOD but have we ever asked the students?  Remember it is all about the STUDENTS, that is why we teach in the first place.  According to Zak Hawkins, the use of his cellphone in class has actually made him less tempted to use his device at inappropriate times.  I can’t wait to have my students write up a reflection on how they truly feel about BYOD in the classroom, sounds like a great end of the year activity.

Along with the reluctant teacher you get some frightened parents in regards to BYOD.  To those parents I would say, educate yourself.  BYOD has huge benefits to your child.  BYOD encourages students to learn the 21st century skills that are necessary to be successful in today’s age.  

None of us really know what the world will be like in 10 years, one thing I do know for sure is that technology willl be part of it.  Although there are many uncertainties, as educators it is our job to prepare our students for whatever the future hold.  So to that I say, embrace change, take a risk and BYOD!