Edutech — Page 3

Minnesota EduTech Startup KidBlog Now Reaching One Million Users

October 7, 2011 By Graeme Thickins

On Wednesday, I stopped into the EduTech Minnesota conference at the U of M. I wanted to catch up with my friends Matt Hardy and Dan Flies, cofounders of Kidblog.org, and hear about the latest with their startup.

It turns out, of the 10 startups that were selected to present at the event, none even comes close to the level of adoption these guys have achieved to date, which they announced in their presentation at #EduTechMN: 1,000,000 students using the platform, in more than 80,000 classrooms. And all that from a startup that began as just a sideline for Matt to use in his own classroom!

Here’s my interview:

The founders describe their creation this way: Kidblog is a platform that provides students with an authentic, engaging, and interactive learning experience. It’s designed for elementary and middle school teachers who want to provide each student with his or her own, unique blog. It has simple but powerful tools that allow students to publish posts and participate in discussions within a secure classroom blogging community. Teachers maintain complete control over their students’ blogs. And a teacher can set up a class with no student email addresses.

Matt likes to say it’s “built by a teacher, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the blogging process.” He also points out that teachers who’ve tried other blogging platforms (perhaps with limited success), such as Blogger, Edublogs, or WordPress.com, “will notice the Kidblog difference immediately.”

Best of luck to this emerging, homegrown Minnesota edutech company!

[This post first appeared yesterday on Tech~Surf~Blog.]

Something Amazing Happened at #EduTechMN Yesterday – Steve Jobs Was in the Room

October 6, 2011 By Graeme Thickins

[This post was originally published earlier today on Tech~Surf~Blog.]

I felt it. I didn’t know it then, but it may have been at the precise moment Steve was passing. I was sitting in a room of about 100 people, mid-afternoon, listening to a panel of educators at the EduTech MN conference at the University of Minnesota. I was actually finishing a blog post on my MacBook Air, and hadn’t even intended to stay for the panel (the startup pitches were over).

But I was surprisingly drawn in by the discussion. I was blown away by what these people, senior educators, were saying — showing so much passion, speaking from the heart, talking about how kids are learning today. They just lit up as they described how the new tablet and mobile technologies are opening up worlds for these kids like nothing they’d ever seen before. The iPad, the iPod Touch, and all the great software these Apple devices have engendered.

I found myself beaming from ear to ear as I listened to them describe their real-life experiences, with such excitement in their voices. These aren’t boring educators, I thought! These are really dedicated, committed people who work on the front lines, whose worlds revolve around how our children learn, and how they can make that process better for them, every single day. And, thanks to technology and a certain company named Apple, they have more and more amazing tools to help them do that. It was a special experience for me, as someone not involved much in the world of education. I’m so glad I stayed.

I sat there and thought to myself — right at that very moment — “Wow, would Steve Jobs be proud to be hearing this right now.”

I like to think he was.

Steve, you didn’t just change technology, media, music, and retailing forever. You changed education, too — in a big, big way. We thank you. We will greatly miss you.

But we know we’ll see the mark you made on this world for a long, long time to come, in the eyes of children everywhere.

[Left to right on the panel: Jesse Thorstad, technology specialist, Fergus Falls school district; Dave Eisenmann, director of instructional tech, Minnetonka school district; Jennifer Sly, MN Historical Society; and Jay Haugen, Superintendent, Farmington school district. The panel was moderated by State Senator Terri Bonoff.]

U of MN Center for Spirituality & Healing’s Mobile App

September 19, 2011 By Steve Borsch

The U of MN Center for Spirituality and Healing, a world-renowned resource, recently released an iPhone and iPad app called “Wellscapes” (iTunes link).

I’ve known of the Center for quite some time and been interested in what they describes as their mission to, “…enhance health and well-being by educating health professionals, empowering consumers, and fundamentally transforming the delivery of health care through the creation of interdisciplinary academic, research, clinical care, and outreach programs that advance integrative health and healing.”

Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD RN

No question that new models of integrative healthcare are accelerating and what the Center is exploring is proving to be the right path. But an iOS app?

In order to understand a little more about the Center and to understand more about why they delivered an app, I talked with Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer, the founder and director of the Center and someone who brings more than 20 years of leadership and expertise to the field of integrative health and medicine.

I started off asking Dr. Kreitzer to give me some background on the Center and we took it from there…

Podcast (m8-audio): Download (Duration: 22:00 — 20.2MB)

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 22:00 — 12.9MB)

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English Books for Thai School – Can You Help?

September 19, 2011 By Steve Borsch

A few weeks ago I received a contact from the Minnov8 site. The woman who wrote it (Lynn Brown) teaches at a school in Thailand in a program featuring English as a second language. They desperately need books in English for their tiny library and they have no funds for the books or for shipping.

Can you help with books?

I’ve never been to Thailand, but because my wife has put on workshops for Thailand’s Department of Export Promotion three different times, I’ve met many of her contacts from Thailand (and their kids) and they are incredibly delightful people. My bride has also told me so many stories about the country, its people, and how she loves them so much she’d move there, I was very receptive to Lynn’s request to help gather books for her students.

Map of Thailand showing Roi Et (click image for larger view)

The Thailand school Strisuksa (Stree-suk-sah) is located in a province called Roi Et. It is relatively far from Bangkok—which means they are internet-challenged as you’ll read about below—but they have a student group who will be visiting MN in October (arriving late in the week of October 3rd) and will be at Cambridge-Isanti High School in Cambridge, MN . Each student will be allowed 2 pieces of checked luggage. They hope to make the most of that luggage allowance by returning with books for their library.

If you have any ideas (or books!) that might help them gather up English books suitable for 7-9th graders and then upper secondary (10th-12th grade)—and let me know where we can pick them up—that would be terrific! Contact me, Steve Borsch, by email or by phone at 952.232.5040. I will compile a list of those who have helped and publish it here on Minnov8.

Below I go through more information about the school, student learning in English there, and what Minnov8 is doing to help.

… [Read More…]

Good Resources from Rasmussen College

July 14, 2011 By Steve Borsch

Here’s a resource that was brought to our attention and is one you might find useful.

Founded in 1900, Rasmussen College is a premier provider of educational experiences, dedicated to the growth and development of its students, employees, and the communities it serves. Accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, Rasmussen College offers Bachelor’s and Associate’s degrees in fields with the greatest occupation opportunities to more than 15,000 students both online and through its network of 21 campuses. By partnering with leading universities, Rasmussen offers opportunities to students beyond the Bachelor’s level. The Rasmussen Partner Network gives students the opportunity to earn Master’s and Doctoral degrees completely online, at their own convenience, from prominent universities around the country.

Rasmussen frequently publishes valuable posts on their business blog such as 50 Useful Open Lectures for Business People, Tips for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs, 25 Necessities Entrepreneurs Can Get for Free, 10 Common Mistakes Made by Internet Marketers and the Best Entrepreneur Blogs to name a few.

Check ’em out. Pretty good stuff here.

UofMN Digital Tech Center Events

October 4, 2010 By Steve Borsch

For five years I’ve been on the mailing list for the U of MN Digital Technology Center (DTC) and have received notice of their events. Most are too granular for even a geek like me, many require significant background in various computer science areas (I’ve attended some that turned out to be WAY over my head), but a continuing number of these events are general enough that I find myself drawn to them quarter after quarter.

What is the DTC? They say it is, “…a hub of innovation and excellence at the University of Minnesota in the digital technologies serving the industrial, educational, and public needs of the state of Minnesota and the nation. The DTC integrates research, education, and outreach in digital design, computer graphics and visualization, telecommunications, intelligent data storage and retrieval systems, multimedia, datamining, scientific computation, and other digital technologies.“

If you’d like to get on their emailing list you can do so here.


UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, October 5, 2010 3:30 p.m. reception 4:00 p.m. seminar 401/402 Walter Library	Mark Ahlstrom, CEO, WindLogic, “Integrating Renewable Energy into the North American Power Grid: Realities, Challenges and Opportunities”

Wednesday, October 13, 2010 3:30 p.m. reception 4:00 p.m. seminar 401/402 Walter Library	Frank Schilder, Thomson Reuters, “Automatic Summarization”

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 4:30 p.m. reception 5:00 p.m. seminar 401/402 Walter Library	John Day, “What Went Wrong? How the Internet Stagnated, or The 30 Years War of the Bellheads and the Bitheads”

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 3:00 p.m. 402 Walter Library	John Day, “Things They Never Taught You About Naming and Addressing”

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 3:30 p.m. reception 4:00 p.m. seminar 401/402 Walter Library	Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, “Using a Kinetic Model of Human Gait in Personal Navigation Systems”

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 4:30 p.m. reception 5:00 p.m. seminar 401/402 Walter Library	Vijay Kumar, UPS Foundation Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Pennsylvania, “Autonomous 3-D Flight and Cooperative Control of Multiple Micro Aerial Vehicles”

Classroom of the Future?

December 7, 2009 By Steve Borsch

classroom-future Reinventing education in a time of accelerating change is more important than ever before, especially if you’re at all interested in your kids and our future workforce being technologically savvy and possibly more so than any other workforce in the world.

Normally I wouldn’t do a story on an interesting initiative with a marginally innovative technology perspective, but I’ve been writing for nearly six months for Scholastic, Inc. and their Administrator area online with a blog called “Accelerating Change.” As a consequence, I’ve been deeply involved in K-12 education technology study which has given me a unique perspective and I remain focused on uncovering true innovation or even incremental steps along the way toward true reinvention of education.

The PR gang over at Padilla Spears Beardsley, a group of folks whose quality public relations I’m continually impressed by, sent over some information on a Classroom of the Future initiative and their client, Tierney Bros, whose involvement in this worthwhile endeavor is worthy of note:

“People entering the workforce today are expected to have stronger technology experience and capabilities than ever before. Teachers today face the challenge of keeping pace with the latest technological advances – such as interactive presentation and conferencing technologies – with often limited resources.

For the fourth year in a row, Tierney Brothers is helping prepare the next generation of workers by offering a Tierney Brothers “Classroom of the Future” Technology Grant in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. This unique opportunity gives every school in Minnesota and Wisconsin the chance to receive $15,000 worth of technology, integration and training for their school. Students taught in these classrooms will learn using AV technology similar to systems Tierney Brothers, a leading provider of digital projectors, flat panel displays, systems integration, large format printers, graphic and engineering supplies, and audio and visual communication solutions has integrated into John Deere, Land O’Lakes, Wells Fargo and other businesses.”

Certainly a laudable initiative (especially with our State budget shortfalls) and an obviously smart thing for Tierney Bros to do since they’re in the business of selling this sort of gear in to K-12 education, but I’m doubtful these technologies are truly making classrooms future-ready and instead are putting a shiny new cover on a musty old book.

… [Read More…]

Minnov8 Gang Podcast 55: The Connected & Social Library

October 17, 2009 By Steve Borsch

Libraries used to be places to go solely to find information and knowledge in containers called “books” that were comprised of “atoms” and organized by Melvil Dewey’s cool Decimal System, but increasingly library systems are morphing in to places to get connected online where patrons can find their information and knowledge in “bits” while interacting with the library in an increasingly virtual and — most intriguingly in today’s participation culture — in an online and interactively social way.

The Gang had a chance to invite Meg Canada on the podcast to talk about the 21st century library, what our biggest Minnesota library system is doing (and what she’s driving within it) to embrace new realities that are internet-centric and deliver a surprising array of services you may not know even exist. Meg has long impressed us with how much she “gets it” with respect to new media and social technologies, but have been quite delighted to see how much of her energy is invested in the social and internet community in Minnesota and the role she plays in nurturing it along with good humor and an eagerness to serve others.

Meg is a senior librarian for Web Services and Training at Hennepin County Library and currently coordinates public training and social media efforts for the library. She volunteers helping with the Unsummit, recently presented at MinneWebCon, and is a regular contributor to Social Media Breakfast. Had we known beforehand that she also sings regularly with the Twin Cities chapter of TechKaraoke, we would’ve had her croak out an Etta James tune or something. We’ll get her on another podcast soon and have her sing.

This Week’s Show Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Opening & closing music is “38 Special” by Charlie Musselwhite (iTunes link) from Music Alley, purveyor of podsafe tunes.