Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis were the dynamic duo behind SKYPE , a small but ingenious program that has flattened the entire world. I have heard it called a “disruptive technology”. This term refers to any technology, which when introduced, either radically transforms markets, creates wholly new markets, or destroys existing markets for other technologies .
The last few years have been quite busy for the telecom industry as it tries to re-invent itself in a rapidly changing market. I can’t wait to see how a product like Joost will shake up the television world and change the way we interact with this medium.

“Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have been talking about the idea behind Joost™ for a long time - even before their last venture, Skype, was born. But to make it work, they needed the right combination of factors - widespread broadband and powerful computers in particular. In early 2006, the time was right. Gathering the world’s best engineers, web gurus and media visionaries, they started work under the code name of The Venice Project™ - and now, after much fretting and polishing, that work is ready for public viewing.

In under a year, we’ve grown from a handful of people to more than 150, establishing offices in five countries. Already, Joost™ is a truly global venture, serving a truly global community. It’s still early days for us, but Joost™ is getting bigger and better every day - and we’re still waiting for it to become self-aware… “

Watch out !

2007 is shaping up to be an interesting year.

Technorati Tags : joost technology telecom

Wow!

Will Richardson’s “What the future holds” post put me onto this video from the 2006 Technology Entertainment and Design conference (TED) . The featured speaker takes the audience through a dizzying showcase of a multi-point interactive display board. While Smartboards only allow for one point of contact this board allows for many. What is even more impressive is that there are no instructions, no interface to be seen, just human intuition to be applied to what the user sees. If you want to move something, then move it. If you want to stretch something then stretch it. The traditional mouse is still a barrier for so many young and old students due to the degree of dexterity needed to operate it. Wouldn’t it be nice to remove that barrier?

Imagine if operating a computer became as easy as finger-painting. How would that impact the way we teach?

I am about to check out a bunch of the past presenters here.

If you see any cool presentation that impact teaching and learning, let me know!

Tags technorati : Jeff Han Will Richardson TED

Part 1 - Removing Barriers

If you are reading this then you are interested in education and more specifically teaching and learning. You are reading this because like similar blogs you are looking for an idea, a spark, or a resource to bring into your own classroom or share with a colleague. You are doing this because you want to improve your own practice and hopefully in some small way, move your school forward.

“Forward” can have many meanings but for this post let equate it to “improved student learning”.

A recent post by Conn McQuinn has had me reflecting on the important factors that contribute to this movement and how you can sustain it.

Conn says….

“When we look at whether or not educational technology is impacting the performance of the student or teacher, we have to look not only at the potential of the technology, but what problems interfere with its use. All the potential in the world is wasted if you don’t understand and deal with the interference. “

He breaks the idea down with this great little equation.

Here P is for Performance, p is for potential, and i is for interference.

Performance equals potential minus interference.

Many teachers are willing to work through bugs, glitches and breakdowns because it is part of who they are. They do it because they love it and enjoy the process. We love these teachers because they are like us. However, not all teachers are like that and it is these teachers that we must be looking out for and supporting the most.

This can be done by reducing the interference.

The interference teachers feel may be real, perceived or even imagined but regardless of its origin it needs to be addressed and removed. Of course this is a work in progress but I think it should the first priority of any school that is providing technology for its teachers to use.

Before we can even attempt to meaningfully integrate technology into the classroom and expect teachers to use it, two things must happen.

1) The technology has to work and work well.

2) Teachers need to feel supported and feel successful when trying to use it.

I think this is where you start. If you can’t support it, don’t buy it until you can. Make what you do have work well and slowly build from there. Great programs are built over time and not over night.

and on that note….
Here is another little equation I like

Procrastination (U) : U = E x V / I x D.

The equation’s factors are the desire to complete the task (U); the expectation of success (E); the value of completion (V); the immediacy of task (I) ; and the personal sensitivity to delay (D).

Tags technorati : education technology integration removing barriers Conn McQuinn

Ian Jukes like so many others in his field often points out that the kids in our classrooms are not at all like the teachers who teach them. They are wired differently and have grown up in a world flatter and more connected than at any other time in history. What does this mean for teaching and learning? It means that these students they need to taught differently.

Alice in Infoland put me on to this little MEDagogy gem this week, one that I know I will be trying to spread around as much as possible. The “Periodic Table of Visualization Methods”   from www.visual-literacy.org is a fantastic interactive diagram that depicts different ways to graphically demonstrate information and concepts. A creative tool that succinctly shows just how many strategies there are for teacher to use to access their visual learners. I love that I just learned TWENTY !! new ones.
Very cool!

Send it down to your curriculum department today.

I’m here, I’m on, I’m In!

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