Minnov8

Showcasing Minnesota Technology Innovation

Minnov8 Gang 318 – BuzzFeed, Marty & the iPhaser

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buzz-iphaser-marty_mainWe covered several important stories this week but were pleased that Marty Wetherall, Director of Innovation at Fallon & leader of StarterKit, could join us as our guest. Marty is a guy who is involved in lots of entrepreneurial, community and mentoring activities, two of which we talk about on this show.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott, Graeme Thickins and Phil Wilson.
Music: Mustang Sally by James Friday under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:01:12 — 36.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
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Guest: Marty Wetherall – Director of Innovation, Fallon
Other Top Tech Stories
Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
Cool Thing of the Week
Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 312 – Sure Wish They Delivered

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wish-they-delivered_mainYep…we now have not one, not two, but three liquor delivery startups in the Twin Cities. Looks like anyone who wants to can get their thirst quenched easily, quickly, while still in their jammies.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).
Music: Jugo Blues by Jano Gonzålez under a Creative Commons License.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:06:04 — 39.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Download or listen link

Story Links
Past Week’s Biggest MN Stories
Other Top Stories

Steve’s Security Tip of the Week

Cool Thing of the Week

Upcoming Events

Minnov8 Gang 285 – Phil’s Free Hugs

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phils-free-hugs-mainJust in time for Halloween: Phil’s Free Hugs.

Hosts: Steve Borsch, Tim Elliott and Phil Wilson (Graeme Thickins is off).
Music: We’re in Hell by Boo Boo Davis. Brought to us by the podsafe Music Alley.

The Podcast

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:01 — 37.0MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More

Discussed During the Show
Minnesota’s Top Stories
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Other Links Discussed During the Show
spacer-m8Steve’s Security Tip of the Week
  • Learn “Surveillance Self Defense” with this Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) guide
    • Go here to see the guide’s “playlists” of topics geared for specific roles
    • Go here to see the guide’s full menu of all topics
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Upcoming Events

EduTech 2014 Showcase & Forum

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ust-mainLearn about the future of education technology and the Twin Cities regional edutech cluster during EduTech 2014 Showcase & Forum: Engagement & Creative Opportunity Abounding! Through showcases, keynotes and case studies, EduTech will identify needs and potential as education and learning are disrupted by technology. The event includes Minnesota edutech sector recognition, a case study with Venture Academy of Minneapolis, networking and a dinner and keynote addressing a global view of technology and learning.

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WHEN IS IT? The event runs from noon-7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 2nd, at Woulfe Alumni Hall in the Anderson Student Center at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul campus. (MAP)

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:  education technology focused businesses and entrepreneurs, investors, educators, administrators, corporate education technology executives, researchers and those who care about learning, innovation and education.

REGISTRATION: For more information, complete events schedule or to register, visit http://edutech2014.eventbrite.com/

APPLICATIONS TO SHOWCASE a new education technology at EduTech are open through March 19th.  Nominations for the “Celebrated EduTech Entrepreneur/Technology Award” will be accepted through March 19th.  For application and nomination forms please contact: edutechmn2@gmail.com.

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EduTech 2014 Program

12:00:  Registration and EduTech Company Exhibits

12:50:  Opening – Dr. Mark W. Salisbury, Dean, University of St. Thomas – College of Education, Leadership & Counseling, Author and EduTech Company Founder

1:30:    Minnesota EduTech Sector Recognition and Showcase – Michael Langley , CEO Greater MSP and Katharine Grayson, Minneapolis & St. Paul Business Journal

2:30:    Featured Comments and Special Announcements – Victor Ahmed – Innovation Pavilion, Founder & Investor; Steven Wellvang – Educelerate MN

3:15:    Break and Networking

3:30:    Featured Comments –Moderator, John Moravec, Education Futures

4:00:    Case Study of Venture Academy, a Gates Next Generation Learning Challenges (NGLC) Wave IIIa School – Jon Bacal, Co-founder, colleagues and students

5:15:    Reception & EduTech Company Exhibits

5:45:    Dinner and Keynote Address, “Technology & Learning – A Global View” by Dr. Cristobal Cobo, Research Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford University

7:30:    Conclusion

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Share the opportunity! https://edutech2014.eventbrite.com and hashtag #edutechmn

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Sponsors

Risdall Marketing Group 

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Winthrop & Weinstine, P.A.    

Sponsors to support attendance by New Teacher Candidate Students are most welcomed and interest is strong! Please contact edutechmn2@gmail.com

Walden U’s Doctor of I.T.

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WaldenUWalden University is offering a new online Doctor of Information Technology (D.I.T.) program which is, “…designed to enhance students’ technical expertise while developing the leadership skills they need to guide their organization in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

According to their press release here on Minnov8, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment in the computer and information systems management field is expected to grow 18% by 2020. The D.I.T. program prepares students for senior-level positions in industry and academia, such as chief information officer, chief technology officer, IS manager, IT strategist, and higher education faculty and administrator positions.

With the accelerating growth of massive open online courses (MOOCs) from leading universities — coupled with the growing demand for information technology and systems professionals — this new program from the 40 year old Walden University holds the promise for higher credentialing in I.T. but also for them as an institution to provide a degree like this one.

Again, read the full press release here on Minnov8.

 

WordPress Launches Classroom Sites

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wp-education

Educators have another option for classroom sites and blogs, “WordPress is an elegant solution for education professionals looking to create a website for their class, and today we’re excited to announce the launch of WordPress.com Classrooms. Whether you need a group blog for your high school history project, or to keep your 3rd grade students’ parents up to date about the next field trip, you’ll find the solution here at WordPress.com.”

There really isn’t any excuse anymore for districts, schools and classroom teachers to not embrace online publishing!

Though the WordPress offering looks like a solid initiative, not everyone is happy about the launch or think it’s worthy. James Farmer, the founder & CEO of Edublogs (1.6 million+ teacher/classroom blogs) wrote a pretty scathing post (Why WordPress.com for education (and portfolios, restaurants & musicians) is a big fat fail) about WordPress’ offering calling it, “…shallow, insincere, cynical, lacking in focus and flimsy” and that’s just for starters! It’s quite a rant and uncalled for in my opinion.

While I also view WordPress.com’s various vertical initiatives as middle-of-the-road and not feature rich, there’s something to be said for legitimizing various verticals: it makes the category more viable and investors sit up and take notice. Going after the education space is being driven by those who should know best about viable verticals for WordPress, Automattic (WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg’s company that manages the open source WordPress software, runs WordPress.com along with many other initiatives & technologies). That alone is good news in my book.

kidblog-logoThe other good news? Minnesota has a fabulous solution, accelerating nationwide, right here in our own backyard: Kidblog. The Kidblog team is quite passionate about their mission too, “Kidblog is built by teachers, for teachers, so students can get the most out of the writing process. Our mission is to empower teachers to embrace the benefits of the coming digital revolution in education. As students become creators – not just consumers – of information, we recognize the crucial role of teachers as discussion moderators and content curators in the classroom. With Kidblog, teachers monitor and control all activity within their classroom blogging community.”

Bottom line? Having WordPress.com enter the education is great news for schools and sharpens the competitive differentiators of Kidblog and Edublogs. If you’re in education, or know someone who is, give them a heads-up that this is available and that they have options with Kidblog and Edublogs too.

SOPHIA Partners With ‘New Classrooms’

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sophia-logoSOPHIA.org, the online education platform offering a unique Many Ways to Learn™ learning model with more than 28,000 free academic multimedia tutorials taught by a multitude of teachers, has partnered with New Classrooms – a nonprofit organization that gives students a targeted, individualized learning experience based on their unique learning needs – to provide a free resource for students focused on middle school math concepts.

As you are undoubtedly well aware, visibility of learning organizations disrupting education is growing rapidly. It is my belief that this increased awareness is only helping SOPHIA: Khan Academy is on everyone’s radar screen in K12 education (Bill Gates famously said Sal Khan is his favorite teacher); Lynda.com just raised $103M from Accel Partners; Coursera boasts 200 courses and 1.3M students; and the open courseware initiative is growing quickly in both participating colleges and universities along with the number of courses being offered.

This morning The Verge posted, “Forty public universities will offer free online courses with full credit starting this spring” and saying in part:

Forty public universities, including Arizona State, Cleveland State, and the University of Arkansas, are planning to offer free online courses that carry full credit in an effort to entice potential students to sign up for a full degree program. The new initiative, know as MOOC2Degree (MOOC stands for massive open online course), is being run in a partnership between the universities and Academic Partnerships, a commercial company that helps universities move their courses online. 

Again, this only validates SOPHIA’s approach since they already offer college credit through Capella University.

For more read the press release here.

Minnesota EduTech Startup KidBlog Now Reaching One Million Users

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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

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[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.]

Classroom of the Future?

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classroom-futureReinventing 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…]