Unfortunately, I Can See Myself Doing This

This tends to be a new trend these days and I have posted about something similar in one of my previous blog entries...As some of you know I am a newish dad. My daughter actually turns one today. So when she gets older doing something like this is going to go one of two ways. Either she is going to think I'm the coolest...or she's going to think I'm the lamest.  There's only one way to find out!

Motivated and Inspired

I would do random blogs occasionally for the past few years. After taking this class, it has taught me many new things and gave me the motivation I needed to revamp my blog. I would like to turn it into sharing my advice in my profession and hobbies as well as being a new dad I think I can share some good stories with others. Anyway, I started looking at some new templates and themes and hope to get started after I am done with my classes for the Summer term. Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback throughout.

End of Term Poll

With the end of term approaching, I have just one question for you.

Are you happy that this term is almost over?
	Yes
	No
	Undecided
pollcode.com free polls

Lip Sync Battles with Jimmy Fallon

I am not sure about you but I always enjoy when the new lip sync battles with Jimmy Fallon come out. One of my favorite ones you can see below. This time it is featuring Paul Rudd. Enjoy! Which one is your favorite?

My Embedded Sound - You Stay Classy!

Below is an embedded clip from one of my favorite comedies, Anchorman.  Due to keeping the blog as professional and appropriate as possible, I was able to find a 4 second suitable clip. I have embedded this from a website, moviesoundclips.com. If you would like a to see a tutorial that is also used for embedding sound clips, you can check out this link here.

PAPSA Conference

Yesterday, I was at the PAPSA conference. It was a great time where I learned a lot of new information with my colleagues.  Incase you were wondering, PAPSA stands for Pennsylvania Association of Private School Administrators.  It was especially nice because I got the chance to finally put a face to so many people that I talk with on a regular basis such as other SME's in my field as well as book publishers. You can check out their web page by clicking here.

Examining Generational Differences

Responding to Michael Barbour’s blog, Examining Generational Difference, while there is no valid proof that changed today’s generation students, I can ask my 5 year old nephew to watch a show with me and he will go to the iPad, not the TV. That is just one example that shows the different upbringing. Reeves illustrates that generational differences do matter. Which ever generation that the digital natives are exposed to, young learners have an advantage – rapid succession of information sharing. While Prensky statistics regarding spending hours in front of video games or digitally entertaining oneself, I took away the view that the environment has changed how students interact digitally. The only generational difference is when students who have later adopted the knowledge of digital technology as an immigrant.

Overall, I found the Reeves article to have the most insightful information. I especially appreciated the following sentence, “ Instead of worrying about whether Boomers, GenXers or Millennials will learn more from direct instruction or virtual reality games, instructional designers and educational technology researchers working closely with practitioners and subject matter experts should begin by identifying the needs of any given set of learners, design the best possible prototype learning environments in situ, and then conduct iterative cycles of formative evaluation and refinement to optimize the solution and reveal robust design principles.” We must, as educators, do what is best for our students. This is how they will build the skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.

Is there a gap? Sure. Can we shorten that gap? Of course. I see it everyday. I have 18 year old students that come in with more technical knowledge than 40 year old students in the same class. At the end of the class they 40 year olds are right with the younger ones. It all comes down to finding their way of learning and using that to adapt this new technological information to them.

What 5 Improv Rules Taught Me About Blogging by Mandy Boyle

Over the summer, I took an improv class at The Vintage as a way to help me think on my feet. Call it a step closer towards modeling myself after Liz Lemon. I’ve always admired comedians and improv seemed like a lot of fun (and it was!) so, I gave it a try. It was incredibly rewarding and in the spring, I’m looking to take the next level of the class, taught by the awesome Conor O’Brien of Unorganized Business.
But besides being a great experience that had me laughing and smiling for hours on end, I actually took away some great rules that I can apply to other things, like blogging.

Here are the five core improv rules I learned in my first class – and how they apply to making your blog even better.

1.) Don’t Deny

Denial is what makes a scene go south and that was the first rule I learned in improv. When you refuse an offer made by your scene partner (e.g. the scene is in a Starbucks and you say, “No! We’re on a football field), the scene falls flat and you both look bad – and the scene doesn’t go anywhere. In blogging, don’t deny can work on two levels. First, don’t deny your voice and who you are. Know your brand, what’s important to you, and know that you are always on – and you have to flow with that if you want to be a good blogger. Secondly, don’t deny your readers by not allowing for them to share in a conversation, or by not blogging consistently, or by mistreating them (yes, there are bloggers that do this). Treat your audience with respect and they’ll help you. Finally, always do the “yes, and…?” I read somewhere to ask yourself five times “yes, and…?” to gain more clarity on what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, or what you’re saying. The same rule can be applied in both improv and blogging. Ask yourself, “yes, and…” to keep things going in a post you’re writing, an idea you’re developing, or a scene you’re performing.

2.) Don’t Ask Open Ended Questions

Don’t get me wrong – this is an essential things for interviews, but looking at this idea in the light of improv, keeping questions tight, or rather, keeping blog topics tight, allows for the audience to stay with you. When you start a post with nothing particular in mind, rambling usually tends to spill out. It’s tough for the reader to enjoy rambling, so it helps to know what you’re going to write about going in. I keep a running list of topics in note pads, or if I have a few moments, I start a draft and jot down a quick outline or a few words or sentences that I’ve already thought up. That way, when I sit down, I know where I’m going. How I’m getting there is half the fun.

3.) Don’t Always Go for the Joke

I’m a ham. I really, really am. As a sometimes actor, I tend to gravitate towards comedic roles where I can make people laugh. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed. With improv, I had to flex my muscles to not go for the joke, which was a welcome exercise. When you force yourself to be funny, it so often comes off as not so. I want to be authentic when I’m in a scene for improv and I feel the same way about my blog. If I’m funny, it’s because it’s real. I try really hard to not insert humor on purpose. Anything I write is pretty much exactly what the voice in my head is saying. Sticking to the character, sticking to the scene, and staying present in the moment makes for humor naturally – and that’s what I’d like to go for here, too.

4.) Be a Good Partner

The people I worked with as part of my improv class were fantastic. They were so open, so eager, and so willing to try anything, which made for a great class. When you’re in a scene, you want to support your partner as much as possible so that they look better and as a result, you look great too. The scene works when you both feel comfortable, confident, and totally at ease with each other. For my blog, it’s about not making it too much about me. Yes, I’m a “life” blogger, but I always want to encourage others to share and comment on what I’m saying. I like conversations and I hope that this blog is a place for that. As a blogger, you want to tell a story, but you also want to spark a dialogue and hopefully contribute something meaningful.

5.) Tell a Story

This is what we do as people. We tell stories. In improv, we do it through words, movement, voice, character, and presence. In blogging, we do this by crafting words around topics that we feel compelled to write about. We write or we do scenes because we have something to say and we want to do it in a way that’s interesting – and gives something back to other people. I blog because I want my voice heard, but I also blog because I want people to enjoy what I’m writing. It’s a gift, a challenge, and a joy to be interesting.

If I get a comment, a visitor that stays for awhile, or a smile, or a laugh, or even just a moment of reflection on something I’ve written, I’ve done my job – and it’s just as rewarding as seeing an audience light up or totally engaged.

Mandy Boyle is a writer, marketer, and all-around nice girl with a passion for storytelling. 

She’s the SEO Team Leader at Solid Cactus. If you have no idea what “SEO” means, it’s cool – she can tell you all about it.

When she’s not optimizing websites and making things search-friendly, she’s an active blogger. She slings posts in a few places, including Search Engine People, a search engine community blog. Guest writing is her thing, so if you’d like for her to write for you, send her a note! She’d love it!

She’s also a co-founder (with @mhryvnak, @darlingstewie, and @karla_porter) of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s only blogging and social media conference: NEPA BlogCon. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you most definitely should.

And, as if she doesn’t do enough already, she flexes her creative muscles as a member of The Vintage Theater Ensemble and serves on The Vintage’s Advisory Board as chair.

Commentary Blog - Textbooks That Know When You Read Them

I was reading this blog the other day and loved the concept for students and teachers. I may not have liked it when I was a student in high school or achieving my undergrad as I am not much of a reader but find this tool very useful for a handful of reasons.

You can read the blog here, http://www.coursehero.com/blog/2012/11/14/textbooks-that-know-you-didnt-read-them-wait-what/.

If this concept was implemented everywhere students would have more motivation to read the textbook and lessons that they are assigned. Knowing that their instructor would be able to see if they read or didn't read what they were supposed to could give them that jump start that they need. I know I feel like I would have been much more inclined to read if this was in use while I was a student. Of course, there would be ways around it so pop quizzes would still be a must!

As an instructor it would help me identify who actually read the text and is perhaps not understanding it as opposed to the student who just didn't read it and either said they did or just doesn't care. For me, I would be more inclined to give the attention to someone who is not comprehending the material as opposed to someone who doesn't put in the effort and time to do their assignments. When asking review questions on the assigned readings I can always use the "well it says you read this so why aren't you participating" statement to engage more participation.

Overall, I think this would be a great idea to use in all classrooms.  What do you think?

Link List Entry - Top iPad Game Apps This Week

At first I was wondering why we were doing this assignment when we already created a list which would be our blogrolls when we added our fellow peers to our blogs but it was clarified for me what the difference is. If anyone else was wondering I was given an analogy by our instructor, Dr. Barbour, that stated a blogroll would be the home team in a program that doesn't change whereas the visiting team always changes so that would be an example of a blog link list.

That definitely clarified things for me so with that being said here are my Top 5 iPad Game Apps this week:

1. Tales of the Adventure Company
2. VVVVVV
3. Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake
4. Battleheart Legacy
5. SkyForce 2014

My List - Top 5 Apps for a Flipped Classroom

I was originally going to have a Widget placed on my sidebar for this but decided to put it in a blog post instead because it made the sidebar scroll down way too much and I didn't like the look of the blog, so with that being said, here is my list:

Top 5 Apps for a Flipped Classroom

• Educreations - A terrific iPad app that is very similar to Ask3 as it turns the iPad into a recordable whiteboard. However, teachers can not only create a guided lessons, but also post them on the web for their students to view at home for flipped learning. 
• BoomWriter - An excellent innovative site that allows students engage their creativity by completing chapters of a book/story and then having other students vote on which one should be included in the finished product. Once a book/story is completed a trade paperback copy can be ordered, turning students into published writers. 
• Ask3 - A fantastic iPad app for turning your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. This allows for a teacher to create guided lessons (by adding text/drawing/narration) that students can view at home. Students can then use the app in class to answer each other questions before asking the teacher, while teachers can use it to assess student's learning. 
• Answer Pad - The ultimate assessment tool for teachers to use with their mobile devices or browser to gauge student's learning. 
• 9Slides - A wonderful way for teachers to create an interactive/guided presentation for their students flipped learning. 

Discussion Entry - Promoting Social Netiquette

I work at a 2 year college where during the students last term they are required to go out on an internship.  This is a very non-traditional technical school with non-traditional students. We try to explain to them anyone can "google" them or attempt to bring up their social networking pages to find out more about the students that are applying for these internships.  We have run across countless times where students have very non professional Facebook pages without having any sort of privacy setting. We need to find a way to teach them what they should and should not be posting as well as having the proper security settings for a multitude of reasons.

I am wondering should there be a class devoted solely to this? When should they learn about this and who should teach it? What have you done in your school to promote this?

Hello Summer 2014 EdTech 537,

My name is Dustin Parulis and this is my first blog post for this class. I have basic blogging experience from previous classes as well as other endeavors and I am excited and look forward to the different possibilities of blogging. By the end of this class I am hoping I will be able to use what I have learned and implement it in my lessons as an IT instructor.  I look forward to reading each other's blogs, posts and learning from both my peers as well as my instructor.