Month: July 2006

KidPix Podcast

One of my favorite software discoveries from NECC was MacKiev’s KidPix 3.x.

We go way back with KidPix. KidPix helped Cindy convince the school board that Macs (the LC) were the way to go when computers were first purchased for Grand Forks elementary classrooms. Our second grade daughter created a Kid Pix project (she colored a line art drawing of a dinosaur, recorded a song about dinosaurs, and typed in the lyrics of the song) as a demonstration. She entered the text as a something to do as the meeting progressed without our suggestion. At the time, it was a very impressive demonstration of multimedia authoring (we still include her “dinosaur project” image in the forward to our book).

We created a slide show before we knew what such things were called and before the feature was added to KidPix. The procedure was a little complicated – it required that KidPix pict files be attached to individual cards of a HyperCard stack, audio had to be extracted from the KidPix files (using Resedit) and added to the HyperCard stack, and the stack had to be activated by a script we hacked together and attached to each card so that stack the entire collection would automatically play. (I still miss HyperCard.)

I think KidPix got kind of buggy and there were some strange things going on with which company was actually upgrading and selling the product (I am still confused because you can purchase two versions).

I am an advocate again. We ran across a new KidPix feature at NECC (the MacKiev update to version 3) that we like. You can now export a KidPix slideshow as a podcast. I find the idea of second graders creating podcasts a little freaky, but why not.

A simple example (turn up the volume). This is playing as a Quicktime file (podcast size) within a web page – I thought this would be easier than sending as a podcast.

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The World of Educational Software is Flat

OK – my title is a derivative. In his book (by a similar name), Tom Friedman describes when he discovered the world was flat. I think this conference represents the time point at which I realize the world of educational software is flat. Now I understand that MacKiev is not a company located somewhere in Idaho. Now I understand that the “international types” do not all attend NECC to learn what folks in the U.S. are doing.

The person who described the feature of KidPix that allows podcasting was a software engineer from the Ukraine (very cool – more on that later – by the way this is MacKiev). The woman showing the best document camera I have seen (Wolf Vision) was from Austria. EducationCity is from England (I have this strange image of these electrons running through a cable across the Atlantic. One electron with an angry look on his face turns to the other and says – “North Dakota, again?”)

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Different faces, different places

We meet some of the students from Fultondale, Alabama, while waiting for the fireworks to being on Tuesday. They were engaging in a little competition to see who could invite the most adults to their Thursday morning showcase session. They were mature and polite and seemed excited about being at the conference to share their technology experiences.

Fultondale

We did attend the student showcase and reintroduced ourselves to the student who had invited us. He then explained the different parts of their exhibit and described their epals projects (check out the link from the web site). I said I would blog their presentation – so here is a “shout out” to the students in Mrs. Ramsey’s class.

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Outside Aisle 2006

Vendor

My reason for posting this image requires an explanation. Over the years in which I have attended NECC, I have become interested in the vendors who populate the outside aisle. Vendors purchase different areas of the arena floor for different prices and the small and lower price spots are around the outside. The vendors who purchase the smaller and less central locations often seem to have a single product and are not well established. I admire these folks. Gaining attention must not be easy, but where do we expect new ideas to come from? So here is to those small companies with big dreams.

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Beyond the Textbook

I attended a session entitled “Beyond the Textbook” because I am interested in the future of books as educational resources in a digital era. It was a panel presentation and as panel presentations go a few interesting things were said, but it was difficult to pick up themes within so many perspectives.

I did pick up on an interesting resource – a special issue of Threshold (Cable in the Classroom) on this topic. I read parts of some of the articles while listening (multitasking) and bookmarked for future review.

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QuestGarden – First Year Review (NECC 06)

A conference is a kind of competitive environment. I tend to be drawn to sessions that I have found beneficial in the past. Because I assume many folks operate in this fashion you have sessions that draw hundreds of people and some that draw much less. The organizers know this and schedule some sessions in very large rooms and others in smaller rooms. I wonder who makes such decisions and if presenters are aware of relative room size.

Bernie Dodge is one of those large room people and an individual I have followed over the years. I have listened to Bernie present on several themes, but the topic that made his reputation (in my opinion) and continues to be a major focus of his work is the WebQuest. Bernie has a sense of humor regarding his “claim to fame” and has titled his personal blog One Trick Pony.

I think I can trace the evolution of the WebQuest phenomenon – first there was the concept, then there was the online WebQuest directory, then there was the attempt to promote design patterns, and finally QuestGarden.

Today’s presentation was a one-year review of the QuestGarden project. I would describe QuestGarden as an example of a more socially-based site – users have accounts, WebQuests are built with the aid of specialized design tools and design guidelines, and participants have the opportunity to repurpose/extend WebQuests developed by others.

Turning an idea free and seeing it grow must be very gratifying. It also seems to lead to some frustration – a kind of “that is not what I meant” feeling. The issue that seems to generate the frustration involves the type of thinking activities promoted through WebQuests. The goal is to encourage analysis and above (Bloom’s taxonomy). Bernie would prefer other tasks based on the general model to be called web exercises.

QuestGarden will require a subscription fee as of Sept. 1. The fee ($20 for two years) is low and intended to defray server and bandwidth costs. Access to WebQuests will continue at no cost and a brief no cost experience will be available to support college courses intended to introduce future teachers to WebQuests.

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NECC 06 – Registration Day

Details! Details! We made it to San Diego for NECC without problems. I paid my ISTE dues. I reserved a hotel room. I even made it to the plane on time. I forgot one small thing. I forget to register. It turns out that early bird registration for ISTE members is $140. On-site registration is $298.

San Diego Convention Center

It is really OK. I do not mind supporting the financial needs of the organization. It is just that I now have provided Cindy another example of my organizational skills and I am likely to hear about this again.

Fireworks

Happy Independence Day (before attending digital photography session)

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