We just got the proof of the typeset version of the book. It looks really great. Steve and I will be scanning it with a fine-toothed comb and then soon we'll see the first physical prototype.

Last night I presented at the 70th NJ Tech Meetup. I had a chance to do a 5-minute pitch about EE and ended up winning the 'audience award.' I created all of the slide using EE, layering sketches one by one. Below is what the final slide (slide 18) looked like,

I enjoyed listening to the stories of creative projects in support of social justice and empathy from Michael, Katherine, Kristin, and Denise.

I had a fun coffee + conversation with Chris Davis, one of the founding members of Journeys in Podcasting. We first connected a few years ago when I was conducting an online presentation as part of the Global Online Education Conference and have been in touch ever since. Click the link in the tweet below to access the audio from the conversation.

A four hour flight with no internet and no TV? This is what I spent time constructing. It was two separate tracks (same key) that I thought sounded interesting when put together, using a cowbell to bridge the transition.

At the end of each chapter, Steve and I have included things to try based on the ideas shared in that chapter. One is an offline thing, one is an online thing, and the other is a blended thing. These can be acts tested/performed by the reader, or perhaps the reader can lead others the tasks as they dive into the concepts we are trying to uncover..

I have previously shared a diagram about observed patterns in K-12 (really K-20) usage of Explain Everything. Here is that image again. Eventually I will split the instruction from feedback but for keeping things simple for now, I'll keep them combined.

I believe that for some types of content, the same project/artifact can be used in support of any of those patterns. Let's take this Human Skull project for example. It's a labeling activity that also has moveable 'puzzle-like' pieces to deconstruct and reconstruct the structure of the skull.

Here is a quick description of how this can be used in each of those observed patterns.

Project this slide in a classroom, annotate it, call out items with the laser pointer, and zoom in to specific areas. No need to record anything. At the end of the instruction, save the marked up file to a folder  in Explain Everything Discover so students can refer to it afterwards. 

Like the example above, but instead the instructor can press record and capture the same annotations, pointers, and zooming in a video that can be shared on Explain Everything Discover.

Using the objects in the Skull project (or by adding or creating new ones), design scaffolded activities for students to manipulate  (with or without recording).

Students can take their own notes on the diagram, even taking a few minutes at the end of the instructional delivery portion to record themselves talking about what stuck with them, what they need to go back and ask about, and what they hope to learn next.

A student can use the project file to record themselves doing an instructional video of the content in the slides. Demonstrating understanding by teaching about something is one of many ways that some students are able to make richer sense of otherwise abstract knowledge.

If an instructor has prepared a project template for a student to interact with (completing a labeling activity, responding to specific prompts, and so on) the students can download the project, interact with it, and then upload the recording/marked up project back to a cloud space.

I was asked to record a short video of myself describing "why I stand for ed tech." To me the questions is kind of funny because I wonder who is out there making videos of 'why I oppose ed tech.'

I can understand, to a degree, ones that might say 'I oppose tech' - but to oppose educational technology - which I'll loosely define as any the integration of tools in both formal and informal learning situations to help people learn in more meaningful and purposeful ways towards their becoming happy, healthy, and considerate human beings - seems to oppose all of education, all of learning, and all of human development. 

Now if I was asked to make a video about why I oppose thoughtless use of technology with people who have no agency in the situation where the technology is being thrust upon them (i.e. young people in schools), then I can also make a video about that.

Here is why I said that I stood for ed tech (I also had a 10-20 second time limit; I went over).

3 guitars, bass, a keyboard track, one drummer track, and one performed percussion track (the cymbal).

Here is an interview Steve and I did for the National Business Officer's Association's Net Assets magazine with Leah Thayer.