About a week or two ago, I picked up a cable to convert my old VHS tapes to digital format on my laptizzle. Most of my tapes that I’m converting are pretty old. I guess when I have time, I will also convert my cassette tapes via audacity and share them on sound cloud; and my videos on either vimeo or youtube. I’ve scanned as many old pictures that I’ve run across from cleaning out my old house I grew up in. Now I just need to burn them to DVD or continue my quest to move my digital memories online.
My actions of converting ALL of my dusty artifacts to digital format are due to the need of safely archiving (and sharing my treasures with family and friends) and the fear of magnetic media degradation which I’ve experienced with an old 8mm reel-to-reel that I paid Wolf camera to do for me. (Also, I am not getting any younger). As we get deeper in the new millennium, the urgency to duplicate magnetic tape media becomes more critical due to limitations of magnetic media shelf life. I guess it really depends on how you store the contents of your stuff whether or not if the need to convert is necessary. So, how many generations can your media survive?
May we have a moment of silence for paper publishing (books & magazines), photo processing, DVDs, CD, flea markets, pawn shops, bootleggers and other pre-millennium stuff.
Digital downloads is replacing what my generation has acquired and traded for years. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person that actually rents CDs from Netflix? Will Red Box be around in 2017? Will bootleggers upgrade to blu-ray by then? Will my iPad 3, iPhone, and laptizzle be obsolete in less than five years? Who knows. As things evolve, so shall we.
Yes, I’ve really been hungry for an iPad. I guess this want is logical since I am a proud owner of an iPhone 4. In order to be a pioneer in using this tablet technology in the classroom, I must be prepared to be a model for my fellow educators, right? The iPad 3 was released yesterday (3/16) and I was able to stop by an Apple store to witness the madness and get my hands on this device.
Anyway, My school district has an innovation for transformation grant that will supply me with an iPad 3 and an additional ten iPads for my students. My school has until the end of the month to get the paper work together. I participated in a workshop on Thursday that gave participants grant writing ideas which was useful. I will share further details on my quest to integrate this new technology in my classroom or other educational endeavor.
What’s up? This is what’s up…. this link will take you to a TI-73/83/84 FREE emulator called WabbitStudio Z80 Software tools!
It is not as good as TI SmartView, but if you are on a budget, this will do. Here are the directions to create your ROM image for your emulator after downloading the program. Try it out and may you have a great school year!
When purchasing equipment for education, you have to look at the “long haul.” Since district money is tight and purchasing technology equipment is considered as an academic investment in our children, there is no room for waste.
When equipment needs to be repaired, technicians are available on hand to troubleshoot or maintain laptops, but tablets? Hmmm… Let’s look at my main two issues with tablets.
1. Battery replacement
After a few years of recharging over and over again, I’m sure the battery life will take a turn for the worse just like any other battery dependent device.
2. Screen replacement (heaven forbid!)
Students drop stuff – Yes, it’s inevitable. Following video shows how fragile the iPad screen really is. (Please excuse the choice of words after the last drop in the video.)
I was asked this question the other day by a college student interviewing me as a Technology Coach. Believe it or not, I actually struggled with this question. I know so much “stuff” about technology, what do I actually “know” the best?! I have many projects that I work on, but in my opinion to know something the best, you must have mastered it, right? I know and love Moodle, but can I say I know it best? I am still learning how to use it in a non-hybrid classroom structure.
Could I be a whiz with using the TI-84 calculator with the TI-Navigator system? Not sure, especially I can confess that I don’t use it everyday to get the official guru hat with that system. Hmmm… Could I be the master Smartboard ninja? I can say I know and shared some advanced techniques using this IWB, but there are other electronic IWB that I haven’t even touched. I can go on and on about my lack of mastery of technology, but as I concluded with answering this question. I stated that…
The lesson that I have learned that technology is evolving so fast, what you may “know” the best today; you have become master of an archaic/obsolete piece of equipment the next day.
I am sharing three resources that I use daily to stay on top of my game. What game? Keeping on top of the latest tech trends and other info with minimal effort. Two of these resource are great for building your own PLN (personal learning network). I’ll let you figure which one’s I’m referring to.
1. Twitter.com- If you are on Facebook, but not on Twitter, IMHO you are really missing on some really great information. Twitter is really what you make out of it. If you are new to twitter, or never tried it before, I challenge you to try it for a month. But you have to figure out how to get the most out if it. If you need coaching, please follow me and hit me with a DM (direct message) for some guidance!
2. Delicious.com- People usally bookmark website that are important, right. Having that said, there are many social bookmarking sites, but this one IMHO is the most resourceful (and not blocked at my school) The power of this resource is when you build your NETWORK and see what your friends, colleagues, or anyone is bookmarking. Also, it is very important in how you tag your links. Especially if you need to retrieve a website that you need but don’t remember the specific web address. If you are curious in seeing my bookmarks or even my network, just click here.
3. Popurls.com - I use this aggregator to keep up with the latest and greatest info whether it is national or tech related news. There are other aggregators just as good as this one, but I guess I’ve used this the longest and it serves my needs.
Please comment and share any of your resources that you use to keep your head above the sea of information…
Finally picked up a copy of Todd Oppenheimer’s book, The Flickering Mind. I was introduced to this book at a NCTM math workshop last year. So far it’s a good read. I am going to try and get through with it this month.
With my personal integration of technology in the classroom I can identify with the author’s point of the student’s disconnect in learning. I will further reflect on my reading as I get more saturated with Todd’s thoughts.
Can you actually believe that they are updating the TI-Nspire already? I don’t think that its worth going to Baltimore for NCTM to see it.
Well, maybe so… Looks like they just seperated the numeric and alpha keypad. Unfortunately the keypad is not in the QWERTY format. I wonder if the upgrade is only the keypad upgrade, not the whole kit and kaboodle. Also, I wonder when they will update the TI-84 OS on the TI-Nspire that will allow the cool features of version 2.53MP?!
on my laptizzle. Most of my tapes that I’m converting are pretty old. I guess when I have time, I will also convert my cassette tapes via audacity and share them on sound cloud; and my videos on either vimeo or youtube. I’ve scanned as many old pictures that I’ve run across from cleaning out my old house I grew up in. Now I just need to burn them to DVD or continue my quest to move my digital memories online.
tech trends and other info with 
Finally picked up a copy of Todd Oppenheimer’s book, The Flickering Mind. I was introduced to this book at a NCTM math workshop last year. So far it’s a good read. I am going to try and get through with it this month.
Can you actually believe that they are updating the 
