The Tech Curve

Friday, February 06, 2015

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #61 Making Sure You're Signed Out!

This host this week are Jake and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #60 - Google Books Bookshelf

This host this week are Jake and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #59 We chat with Mrs. Mageria's Student Innovation Team

This host this week are Austin and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show Episode #58: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?

This host this week are Jake, Austin and Britney.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Monday, December 08, 2014

The Infinite Thinking Machine

The Tech Sherpas made it on The Infinite Thinking Machine! It's an introduction to some of the work the students do helping educators around the world.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #57 Maps Engine Lite and the Global Education Conference

This host this week are Jake and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Friday, November 07, 2014

The Art of Deliberate Patience

It was the first snow day of the year on Monday, (November 3rd, by the way, the earliest in my recollection but who's counting) and we did all the typical snow-man-day things, but one of the unexpected benefits was that we lost power and the Internet for the day. Usually that's an imposition of course, but we had a generator and nowhere to be so we came up with our own entertainment.

I remember one of my favorite past-times as a child was building card houses. We had drawers full of partial decks that were never thrown out and I would transform them into impossible towers and forts. I hadn't thought about them until (after a cut throat family tournament of UNO) my son and I started new construction!

I would build, build, build and watch half a tower fall down just to build, build, build again. What I realized is that learning how the tower falls became an integral aspect of the final product itself. And most importantly, I learned a kind of patience in this iteration process. Deliberate patience is something our kids don't experience much these days. (A friend of mine said, "Try watching your T-Ball player wait for a hit in deep right and you'll appreciate patience." ) Developing a practiced patience that comes from stacking cards I was encouraged how long my boys were willing to stick with it.

(My personal record as a child was nine tiers high and something I'm still proud of.)

Friday, October 24, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #56 YouTube Editor and Private Recordings

This host this week are Jake and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show: Episode #55

This host this week are Jake and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

The Tech Sherpas go International!!

The Tech Sherpas had an amazing time this weekend at the first Student Summit and the largest Google in Education Summit to date.

Friday, the Tech Sherpas participated in the Student Summit with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. We had a couple hundred students from various schools where high school students were teaching sessions on Google tools to younger grades. What a fantastic model for learning!

The kids were excited to be there and of course, the Sherpas were happy to help out. These students asked questions, dove into the tools and kept us busy!

Next up was the largest Google in Education Summit to date! Ottawa, where the Tech Sherpas presented, helped out and rocked the demo slam!

All said, we want to thank the OCSB for inviting us to the Student Summit and EdTechTeam for inviting us to participate in an amazing opportunity!

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show #54 - The Sherpas discuss the Ottawa Google in Education Student Summit

This host this week are Matt and Zach.
Watch the Channel 5 News Story on the Tech Sherpas

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Tech Sherpa Show Episode #53 - Interview with Ethan Porter about Project Login

This host this week are Matt and Kern.

We will be back next Tuesday at 3:00 EST

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

West Coast Tour

It's been a terrific trip to California! In a single week my son and I hit two Google Summits, attended a team building day

and keynoted the kick off event for the Burton School District school year.

(We made it to some fun places too!)

My favorite part of the trip, however, came before we even got started. I said to Kaiden, "We're headed to California, is there anything you'd like to see while we're there?" I assumed he want to see the huge sequoia trees (we did) but he thought for a second and said, "Caine's Arcade." Now, if you don't know about Caine's Arcade watch this video . . .

. . . and you understand why I was so excited that of all places, he wanted to go there. Two things came to mind, first how did he even know about Caine's Arcade, and second was it still even around?

He told me he learned about it from his teacher last year (kudos to Mrs. Maxium) and then we researched to see how to get there. We used all the typical online tools you'd guess, Google Maps, Search and Facebook and found directions.

We got to meet Caine's dad (and get a Fun Pass of course) and I realized that his rockstars - are not the rockstars I had at 9 years old, but other kids his age making things he can relate to and sharing them online. Enter Minecraft video walkthroughs. The reason why a kid from Maine would even know to trek to east L.A. and search him down was the video, so as the school year begins, imagine ways to promote the work you do and connect your students with those around the world.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Alan November's Building Learning Communities Conference

Another amazing year at +Alan November's Building Learning Communities. This years began with sessions on creating Digital Portfolios in the Classroom and was followed up with the Tech Sherpas teaching and learning from educators from around the world!

One of the highlights of the trip is getting to spend time with +Darren Kuropatwa. He was generous enough to join the Tech Sherpa Show after his terrific keynote.