Teaching for the Future

Financial Aid Shake Down: How the US Congress is trying to take away your child's financial aid.

Democrats in the Congress have introduced a bill that will force colleges and universities to crack down on file sharing. The bill introduces stiff penalties on colleges who do not fight file sharing in two ways. By reducing federal financial aid and by push schools to subsidize student accounts to music subscription services. Some equate these penalties to pork-barrel legislation designed to help Record Companies to stay in the black. ( HughMcGuire.net) More likely this is a sign of the times and more evidence that the RIAA is loosing direction.

Co-authors of the new legislation:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

I think that this law is overtly classist. It's obvious that the MPAA/RIAA are angry. They're pissed off and want to hit students where it hurts, in their financial aid. It's too hard and costs too much to target/litigate each file-sharer, so targeting schools would put the accountability on universities to enforce MPAA/RIAA policy. By penalizing financial aid benefits, this law would almost completely target low income students. If aid is cut, it will be those students who can't afford school on their own who will be affected the most. Which is unfair because students from all socio-economic classes are file sharing. Part of me thinks it is easier to target poor students because they have less resources and capital to fight back, but I think it has more to do with a lack of forethought.

From News.com: "The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) applauded the proposal"... "We very much support the language in the bill, which requires universities to provide evidence that they have a plan for implementing a technology to address illegal file sharing," said Angela Martinez, a spokeswoman for the MPAA." George.Miller@mail.house.gov
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BUY 2 DONATE 2: Why you don't need to buy an OLPC to your computer collection

LINKS:
OLPC Twitter Feed: http://twitter.com/olpc
Give One Get One Campaign: http://www.laptopgiving.org/en/index.php

This is the bulk of the show, but I don't have the energy to write it all up. I hope you forgive me.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, financial aid podcast, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: dave lamorte, education, financial aid podcast, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, social activisim, teaching, technology

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 11/19/2007 07:57:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

NEWS:
Schools test Edugaming in Classroom from Joystiq: This is not a new issue and we have been talking about the pedagogy of video games. I'm just glad to see the video game industry is taking notice of this gap in the market. I'd love to see some of the innovation in gaming be applied to educational games.

On Hit Lists, Anger Finds an Outlet from the NYTimes.com: Though school violence is down, student created hit lists are on the rise. Though some may consider these harmless many schools are treating these like threats.

Stitched into Memory from the Boston Globe: This is a great art project being done at a local Massachusetts school. Students are stitching small figures to signify each of the fallen American soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not only is this a creative way for students to make connections and honor soldiers who were lost in the war.

TOOLS/RESOURCES:
The Boring Store from Laughing Squid: This strange store is a front for a 826 National Writing Center which were founded by author Dave Eggers. These hidden gems are spread all over.

• Brooklyn - Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.
• Seatle - Greenwood Space Travel Supply Co.
• San Fransicso - The Pirate Store
• Chicago - The Boring Store

USB Drive helps find lost child from Daily Cup of Tech: This is an interesting story about how parents who used a program designed to retrieve lost USB drives to find their three year old son. Though this could have also been done with a dog tag, but I think this is an interesting application of a neat trick.

EDITORIAL:
I was inspired by short film that I found through a blog post at think:lab called "You Were Supposed To Sing and Dance...". The short cartoon created by the team that puts out South Park led by Matt Stone and Trey Parker uses audio from Alan Watts.

Notes:

• Cartoons are "easy to swallow" media.
  
• New Media's Effect on our Culture.
• New Media allows kids to be cultural producers.
• The whole point of Teaching for the Future
• My goals
• Research
• Collaboration
• Filling in Gaps
  
• What I've learned
  
• My upcoming "Podcast-iversary"
• Upcoming Changes to the Show
• What can I do for you?
• More listener participation
• Voice Mails
• Email
• Comments
• Link Backs
  

UPCOMING:
I sat down to talk with Diane Farsetta is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Media & Democracy and PRWatch.org. She explains the current penetration and the potential dangers of Video News Releases.

OTHER LINKS:

• Puffle Kerfuffle from Wired: An interesting article about discipline in a virtual world.
• Alan Watts Podcast
• Aaron "the Art Guy" Smith
  

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

TAGS: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, Video News Release, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: bostonglobe, dave lamorte, education, financial aid podcast, gaming, interview, media literacy, new media literacy, nytimes, podcast, teaching, technology

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/26/2007 01:45:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Welcome Soft Reset Listeners, I hope you strike podcast gold with Teaching for the Future

News:
Conservapedia is like Wikipedia, but without all of the Liberals from Wired News: The Conservapedia is a new wiki-based encyclopedia that was created to get away from a perceived liberal bias in the Wikipedia. This is an interesting article about the new site and the reaction from the online media.

YouTube for Contract Negotiations from Weblogg-ed: This is an interesting video of a group of teachers from Nashua, NH commenting on recent budget changes and contract negotiations. I think this is just more evidence of the import role new media is going to have on our person and public lives for years to come.

Sky Mall Liberation (Not Safe For Work) from Ni9e.com: Ni9e.com decided to do a visual inventory of the Sky Mall catalog. While on a flight they had decided to dissect the catalog. They removed and collected the faces of the models and then arranged them in different ways outside of the context of the catalog. I was not surprised when they separated the photos by white and non-white.

I think I'm going to steal this idea and use it in a lesson plan. I know we talk about racism and multicultural education, but this is a great way to generate a really important discussion in your class.

Girls Suspended over 'Vagina Monologues' from CTV.ca: From the article:

"A public high school has suspended three students who disobeyed officials by saying the word 'vagina' during a reading from a well-known feminist play."

I am not sure what to make of this article. Part of me is annoyed that three girls were suspended for using the proper medical term. Another part of me is annoyed that if the students were allowed to perform a play about what it is to have a vagina, without saying vagina. Related: The Hoohah Monologues via boingboing

Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job from TechCrunch: Michael Arrington tells the story of a man who has a facebook problem. "Charlie" is a trader at Goldman Sachs who was warned by his company about his time on the facebook at work. From "Charlie's" facebook page:

“It’s a measure of how warped I’ve become that, not only am I surprisingly proud of this, but in addition, the first thing I did was to post it here, and that losing my job worries me far less than losing facebook ever could.”

The Real Cost of Facebook from Storygeek.com: Mark Bell discusses the real cost of Facebook. I think this is an interesting blog post that makes a clear argument for being careful online.

Dan Rather Interviewed by Andy Carvin: Andy is an interesting guy that I met at Beyond Broadcast 2007 and who happens to be the DC Metro correspondent for Rocketboom. This is a great video that he did of an interview with Dan Rather.


Bum Rush The Charts: On March 22nd you can help promote independent music and education at the same time. More information in the podcast and at BumRushtheCharts.com.


Editorial: What is Education?
For centuries artists and art historians have always asked the question, "What is art?" As the years go on it seems that this question is getting increasingly harder to answer. On a recent episode of ABC Radio National's Philosophers Zone host Alan Saunders discusses what art is with Arthur C. Danto, Emeritus Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy at Columbia University. They spent a lot of time explaining how this question has become harder to answer since Marcel Duchamp's The Fountain. Danto makes an interesting point how we never know if we are in the presence of art.

"I was invited to give a talk for some of our history students, and I walked past a classroom that was being redone, and I thought to myself, How do I know that that's not just an installation? How do I know that's not a work of art that happens to consist of ladders and paint buckets and so forth?"

Education is changing in the same way. Teaching and learning is no longer confined to the classroom as there are more opportunities to gain enlightenment. When we watch TV, read the paper, or listen to a podcast we are learning without realizing it. These instances are rich learning experiences that need to be incorporated into our schools. How can we capture these powerful experiences to be able to educate in a way that is both effective and profound?

I'm beginning to realize that that the answer is proper assessment. The way we assess student learning is a direct reflection on our values as educators. To check for understanding and to create a rich learning experience we need to have rich assessment. We live in a world where students get information in many different ways, so we need to check up on them in different ways. Writing in art, singing in health, and crocheting in math.

I'm being overly dramatic, but I think we need to be assessing students more often and in ways that allow them to make connections with what they are learning. What's important is that we are giving them chances to check in with us. How we assess makes a clear statement to students what we value as teachers. What does your assessment say about you?

Upcoming:
How can you help with Teaching for the Future? Well that's easy. You could leave a review in iTunes or link to us on your blog or podcast page.
Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: dave lamorte, education, facebook, financial aid podcast, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, technology, texting

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/20/2007 01:27:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

News:
The End is NEAR from TechLearning.com: As an artist the medium is always part of the message, but what if your medium is a Pringle? David Jakes talks about all the new ways we are getting information. He talks about a bunch of interesting online and off-line ways of spreading a message. This could be an interesting article to work into a lesson about different kinds of literacy. It would be interesting to ask your students how the message changes when it is a YouTube video, on a potato chip, or etched into a plant.

Big Brother State by David Scharf and Stephen Taylor: I cannot remember where I originally found this video, but I think we need to share it. It deals with interesting ideas of surveillance. I'm not sure where I fall on this issue, because as a podcaster I live a lot of my life in public, on the web. I'd love to get your comments on this. Related: The Real Cost of Facebook
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New Media Super Heroes by Dave LaMorte: This is not really news that I'm working on my graduate thesis. My work is going to be arts based, which means my paper needs to have a body of artwork to go with it. I put up my first bit of artwork recently in the form of a low-tech web comic. You can follow my thesis work at my personal site at DaveLaMorte.com.

School Without Google? from TechLearning.com: This is an interesting look about how blocking web tools can put teachers and students at a real disadvantage. Wesley Fryer talks about how blocking things like Google is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The comments on this post are also pretty interesting. You should also check out Wesley's podcast on his homepage.

Recently access to YouTube was shut off at Lesley University. Which is another case of not realizing the learning potential of a lot of these new media sites. Related: Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban, Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job

Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use: This is an interesting document that I learned about at Beyond Broadcast 2007. This is a great document that explains the rules of fair use as they stand. Though it is written with filmmakers in mind, this is a valuable resource for content creators who may want to use content from other artists.

Other Links:

• Bum Rush The Charts
  
• Apple iTunes staffers have become music's unlikely power brokers.
• Georgia is to introduce two literature classes on the Bible in public schools.
• Conservapedia is like Wikipedia, but without all of the Liberals.
• Sky Mall Liberation. (Not Safe For Work)
• Girls Suspended over 'Vagina Monologues'
  
• Who Knew People would be upset over White Power?
• The Real Cost of Facebook
• Turkey Lifts YouTube Ban
• Don't Choose Facebook Over Your Job

Thanks:
Thanks to HappyKatie for the image of the TV and to Dan Flannery for all the great music.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: dave lamorte, education, lesley, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, technology, wikis

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 3/12/2007 11:06:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Link to mov file.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy, beyondbroadcast2007

Labels: dave lamorte, davidtames, education, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, stevegarfield, teaching, technology, video

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/28/2007 12:30:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Today's episode was originally going to be my way of prepping myself for Beyond Broadcast 2007. I could not get this show out before my conference, but a lot of my ideas still remain the same. The conference was a way for academics and the media to get together and discuss the changing nature of communication and the role of new media. A lot of the conference dealt with ideas of Participatory Culture and participatory democracy. How can we use new media and social networking as a tool for political activism and social change. I think these issues are really important and I have spent a lot of time talking about them on Teaching for the Future. But how do we harness our new participatory culture and turn that into pedagogy? Well that's what I want to talk about today.

This past week Patty Bode, from the MFA, came to run a workshop in one of my classes. Patty teaches at the MFA's art education department and she had been a classroom teacher for several years. Her presentation was about using important topics and events as a way of getting students to become more involved in the art curriculum. Patty talked about a project she did with a group of 7th graders about Hurricane Katrina. She talked about her motivations and how students used their artwork to explore their ideas. Students were able to discuss issues surrounding Katrina and as a way for raising awareness and advocating for victims of the devastation.

A lot of the student work centered around the images that were being used in the media. The students would critique photographs that they collected and ask important questions. A lot of the questions looked at who was being depicted and who was not, which related to who was effected most by the hurricane. They began to deal with issues of race and class in their work.

Patty's presentation showed how students can connect to curriculum, but really illustrated how education can be a tool for political activism and social change. Not only was she generating interest in current events in her classroom, she was empowering students to think critically and help others in need.

All of this got me thinking and reflecting on what I've been doing here on the Podcast. I would not categorize Teaching for the Future as a political podcast at first glance, but I think it is fair to say that all education is political. How we structure our schools and our curricula are decisive political acts that can be made to include or exclude certain individuals. The teachers we hire and the books that we choose all serve to frame the debate and influence. Even the way we teach can effect who will struggle to meet state standards and who is able to succeed. (If you want evidence of this you should listen to the LD Podcast)

Some of these ideas are also illustrated in two very interesting articles written by Patty Bode at RethinkingSchools.org: A Letter from Kaeli and The Puerto Rican Vejigante. These articles are really good illustrations of what you leave out is as important as what you leave in.

A Letter from Kaeli deals with how people of color and minorities are often excluded from books. Though this may seem innocent enough, but this can be damaging to a child's education. Under representing minorities implies that they are not important or not worth writing about.

The Puerto Rican Vejigante is an article that deals with issues of multicultural education and how schools will exoticise the other. Exoticising a culture means examining that culture only on it's obvious or basic features, without any real depth. This also deals with issues of equity that I think I should devote a who podcast episode.

Final Thought:
This brings me right back to the whole point of new media. New media is about giving anyone a voice. The goal is to bring equity back to public discourse so that we can better understand each other. If you were tuning in to Beyond Broadcast or PodCamp Toronto, don't forget that the whole point of these events is to get people to have a voice and to participate in the conversation.

Upcoming:
I'm going to talk a little bit about Steve Job's comments about education.

I know that among podcasters there is always a lot of shoptalk. I'm beginning to wonder if we're too geeky for our own good. On an upcoming episode I want to ask... Are we focusing too much on how to communicate to be able to communicate effectively?

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy, beyondbroadcast2007

Labels: dave lamorte, education, media literacy, mobile technology, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, technology

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/26/2007 01:10:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

News:

Does Public Relations Equal Propaganda? from Ed Lee:

Ed blogs over at Blogging Me Blogging You, where he talks about social media and marketing. He points out an interesting YouTube video from a group called PR Watch. It's interesting and really well done and asks a lot of interesting questions.

Americans Devoting More Time to Media from VOA News: from the article:

"This year, the average American will spend 3,518 hours (nearly five months) watching TV, surfing the Internet, listening to the radio and reading. That's a prediction from The Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007. This is the 126th edition of the Statistical Abstract, which is published annually by the U.S. Census Bureau."

• Americans Devoting more time consuming media
  
• More content
• More delivery systems.
• iPods, Podcasts, PVRs allow people to have more control.

Education As Portable As A Pop Song from The Unofficial Mac Blog: This post looks at how portable media is changing how we look at distance learning. As media players become cheaper, this will become more prevalent.

Follow Up:
Chris Penn from the financial aid podcast sent me this link. Thanks Chris!!!
http://www.iveyfiles.com/my_weblog/2007/02/moron_tries_to_.html

Upcoming:
I'm going to be going to the Beyond Broadcast Conference at MIT this weekend. I'm going to try to get some interesting audio and video that I will share with you on the podcast. I hope to see Steve Garfield and meet Henry Jenkins.

Other Links:

• Ads Made By You, In a Click from the NYTimes
• Iraqi-American Rapper Timz on YouTube
• Armed Forces Welcome Suicidal Teens? from Neatorama
• Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping
• Intellagirl's take on why Teachers Need to Understand Computers Or Risk Prison
• Bum Rush the Charts

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, financial aid podcast, media literacy, new media literacy, beyondbroadcast

Labels: dave lamorte, education, financial aid, financial aid pocast, gaming, lesley, media literacy, mobile technology, new media literacy, podcast, stevegarfield, teaching, texting, video

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/21/2007 10:59:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Disclaimer: This podcast reflects my impressions and my opinions based on my own research. If you disagree I urge you to leave a comment and tell me what I missed. I don't want to edit anything out, but it's my name all over this website and anything offensive is subject to removal. Anything offensive can be emailed to me at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com.

We are all very aware that the media is an important part of our everyday lives. In our face or in our ears the media is everywhere. As the media becomes more invasive, it becomes a large part of how we interpret our world. Even for those of us whole pride themselves to think for themselves, are influence by the media constantly. The media is a powerful not only for its reach, but for how it sets the agenda for information and frames the discussion. The key to being a free and critical thinker is not tuning out the media, it's tuning in. We need to take the message head on and look at it carefully and critically.

There is a great deal of debate surrounding the Iraq War. Most recently this debate has dealt with the recent video of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. What I want to do is take a step away from the debate over the execution, and look more closely at the video. There are many people talking about the brutality of the video, and the copycat effect that has claimed the life of dozens. We could try to ignore the video because of it's brutal depiction, but I think we are responsible to look at this issue carefully.

In an effort to be fair to all sides of this issue I want to take an analytical approach. I'm going to be looking at the video using the Five Key Questions that were developed by the Center for Media Literacy. The questions were developed as an easy way to break down media messages based on Five Key Concepts. These concepts are important assumptions that can be made about any message.

Five Core Concepts

1. All media messages are ‘constructed.’
Media messages are not plucked from the ether. They are ideas and concepts that come from people who formulate or construct them. Even a message that contains nothing but facts was put together by someone before you received it.

2. Media messages are constructed using a creative language with its own rules.
Like any language the media has it's own vocabulary and syntax. This language allows the media to communicate ideas. Just as with English, the language of the media can carry multiple layers of meaning that is not always evident at first listen. The more we pay attention, the better we can understand the media and all of the layers of meaning.

3. Different people experience the same media message differently.
The same message can be understood in dozens of ways because everyone has a different perspective. Their perspective can create a completely separate context for these messages. Context is an important part of how people interpret the media. Any message is always interpreted twice, by the author and by the audience. A person's life experience, background, and ideals are in important part of context.

4. Media have embedded values and points of view.
Media messages are like any idea and have to be formulated by people. These ideas are created by people and are a product of their biases and experience. This is not to say that all messages from the media are deliberately misleading, but many are slanted by the people who create or interpret them. Even the most impartial observation will be peppered with a person's experience and personal knowledge.

5. Most media messages are organized to gain profit and/or power.
There are laws, ethical guidelines, and policies in place that weigh in on how a news outlet reports. However, the end of the day the media is a business like any other business and need to produce a profit to survive. The media is in the business of delivering information and a lot of this information is paid for. Even if a media entity does not profit directly from their message, information can be used to gain and leverage power.

Five Key Questions

1. Who created this message?
There is little information on who the person was who took this video. What we do know is that they were present at the execution and were probably some sort of government official or state employee. There does not seem to be an explicit point of view, but I think there are a few possibilities of which group this person may be from.

Depending on who this person is can greatly effect the intended meaning of the video. Some people speculate that this was taken by a Shiite who wanted to document Saddam's execution for posterity or as evidence.

Because Saddam was a Sunni himself, this could make sense. Groups in Iraq will often tap executions and attacks for propaganda. This video maybe a way to sent a message or a warning to their enemy groups. There is still a possibility that the person behind the camera is a Sunni. If that is the case this video might be used to give Saddam a final platform. The video includes Saddam's last words and a person who was more hostile to Saddam may have edited this out. This may have also been taken to memorialize the former Iraqi dictator. Just as suicide bombers will record videos of themselves before dying, this may be a way to create a similar video on Sadam's behalf. This is probably an effort to cast Hussein as a martyr.

2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?

There does not seem like a lot of work production wise was done to this video. Despite that there are many elements that were used to commmunicate a message. The quality of the video is grainy, probably due to the lack of light and the low quality of the camera. (More in the Podcast)

3. How might different people understand this message differently than me?
This question is posed to push people to look for bias in the media. It asks you to step out from your point of view and try to see how this message would effect someone of a different race, ethnicity, nationality, or perspective than your own. (More in the Podcast)

4. What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message?
This question is also used to searching for bias in the media. This question is posed to allow the audience to try to to figure out what the message is trying to sell them. In main stream American media this could be products, lifestyles, or political perspectives. (More in the Podcast)

5. Why is this message being sent?
Well I think this may be the 64 million dollar question. With out know who sent this video it is really hard to understand their motives.

I hoped this may have helped you to better understand how to breakdown the media piece by piece. More information can be found at the Center for Media Literacy's website. There you can find a treasure trove of information and ideas on teaching and learning more about Media Literacy.

"If you have an emotional reaction, you need to question the information."
-David Warlick (Connect Learning Episode 79)

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy, warlick

Labels: dave lamorte, david warlick, education, iraq, media literacy, mobile technology, new media literacy, podcast, teaching

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/17/2007 06:29:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

This episode is an interview I did with Brian Connelly of Alive in Baghdad. We talked about the impact of the Saddam execution video, iraqslogger.com, and what's in store for the future for Alive in Baghdad and Small World News.

Upcoming:
I'll be talking with media literacy educator and author Frank W. Baker. Frank runs the Media Literacy Clearing House, which is one of the best online media literacy resources for K-12 educators.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com or send me an audio message through Odeo

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, Alive in Baghdad, media literacy, visual literacy

Labels: alive in baghdad, dave lamorte, education, interview, media literacy, podcast, teaching, video

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Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/07/2007 02:35:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What is Media Literacy?
Media literacy is the process of thinking critically about the media and looking for clues to putting the information into a wider context. This means giving students the tools they need to spot ambiguity and misleading information to allow them to better understand their world. The goal is to allow students to be more aware of the messages they are given so that they can produce their own content.

Media literacy is a skill that we need to develop in young people. As they become more media savvy they can become more information savvy and can make better decisions. These skills will also allow students to become better communicators (like Dylan).

What is Old Media?
When I refer to the old media, I'm referring to the mass media organizations that make up the major media outlets. The mass media industry is in the business of delivering information. These companies are the major cable news channels, radio stations, and TV networks.

These companies influence the way we see the world. This can be very dangerous and can influence how we understand what is going on. This is because these organizations have become our eyes and our ears in the wider world. This allows these organizations to edit what we see and frame the debate.

What is New Media?
The fundamental difference between new media and old media is how the information is exchanged. In his book We the Media, Dan Gilmor explains that the old media pushed information and advertising out to the consumer where new media everyone involved is exchanging information.

New media's exchange of information allows everyone to become part of the conversation. This allows individuals with separate viewpoints to expose and be exposed to new ideas. Blogs, podcasts, video podcasts, and other social networking services lower the barrier of entry and allow anyone to join the wider conversation.

What is New Media Literacy?
New Media Literacy is applying the skills and techniques of media literacy to new media sources. We need to go beyond the tools and find ways to use these new forms of communication to expand the conversation. We also need to challenge our practices. (What are Blogs Used for in the Classroom?)

Why is this so important?
As the same few media companies expand their coverage they are slowly producing a mono-culture. By becoming involved in the media we can add more voices and more points of view and make the media more nuanced.

But in the words of Stan Lee "with great power comes great responsibility."

Upcoming:
I'll be putting out the audio of the interview I did with Brian Connelly who runs the Alive in Baghdad video podcast.

Don't forget to Digg me on Digg.com's new Podcast section! It is a great way to get the word out about the show.

Thanks to Dan Flannery for the great music, Skareski for the great photo, as well as C.C. Chapman, Chris Brogan, Brian Connelly and Chris Penn for all of the inspiration.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture (at) gmail (dot) com or send me an audio message through Odeo.

Tags: Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, Alive in Baghdad, Julien Smith, financial aid podcast, media literacy, visual literacy, new media literacy

Labels: alive in baghdad, education, financial aid pocast, media literacy, new media literacy, podcast, teaching, wikis, wikiversity

Stumble It!

Posted by Dave LaMorte at 2/02/2007 01:38:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Part 2 of 2. I was one of the student panelists at Lesley University's Technology Institute. We discussed social networking and it's role in the lives of students. The beginning explanation is being done by Rebecca Petersen who is the head of the Center of Academic Technology at Lesley University.

Don't forget to Digg me on Digg.com's new Podcast section! It is a great way to get the word out about the show.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com, make me your friend on MySpace, or send me an audio message through Odeo

Tags:
Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, social networking, myspace, facebook

Labels: dave lamorte, education, lesley, media literacy, mobile technology, podcast, teaching

Stumble It!

Posted by Dave LaMorte at 1/31/2007 08:55:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I was one of the student panelists at Lesley University's Technology Institute. We discussed social networking and it's role in the lives of students. The beginning explanation is being done by Rebecca Petersen who is the head of the Center of Academic Technology at Lesley University. This is first part of two podcasts of this event.

Don't forget to Digg me on Digg.com's new Podcast section! It is a great way to get the word out about the show.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com, make me your friend on MySpace, or send me an audio message through Odeo

Tags:
Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, media literacy, social networking, myspace, facebook

Labels: dave lamorte, education, lesley, media literacy, mobile technology, podcast, teaching

Stumble It!

Posted by Dave LaMorte at 1/29/2007 10:00:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

News:
The Daily Show - Guns in School: I found this wonderful clip on YouTube and I wanted to share it with you. We talked about messures and legislation being developed to allow teachers to carry guns in schools during Episode 48. This clip deals with some of what we were talking about and brings up a new "innovation" that uses textbooks as sheilds. David Truss left an interesting comment on Episode 48 that I do not think the Daily Show chose not to focus on.

"An angry kid that brings a weapon to school has probably had issues with police or authoritative family members already, why should teachers try to take the same 'broken' approach with these kids?"

You can find David at his elgg blog by clicking the link here.


Visual Literacy Periodic Table via the Financial Aid Podcast: Chris Penn has a nack for creating and finding neat things on the web. In Episode 452 Chris put a link to the Visual Literacy Periodic Table. This is a neat website that has a large gathering of techniques of displaying and organizing information. This is a good tool for those of you who are trying to explain concepts to the visual and mathematical learners in your classroom. This could also be a good reference for students who need to make presentations or want to better organize their ideas. I'd like to know what you think of this site, leave me a comment or email me and let me know what you think. Or better yet if you use this in a lesson or with a project, let me know how it turned out.


State of the Union Smackdown from Pluggd: Pluggd has made the state of the union available on their site. This isn't so interesting, until you see how they have allowed you to search through both the state of the union and the response. Using a simple text search bar you can search for any topic in the speeches. This is a great way to look at both sides side by side and issue by issue. This could be a real educational tool that could allow you and your students to find portions and discuss them.

Listen to Your Kids Gets Going: Julien Smith's new project, Listen to your Kids is starting to get some recognition and is having a good response. As of this episode, there have already been two "kids" who have left messages. You can listen to my interview with Julien about this project here.

Children's Songs from Afghanistan: One of my professors at Lesley University, Louise Pascale, has created an album and song book of Afghan children's music.

"After decades of political upheaval in Afghanistan, this moving collection of
16 children's folk songs is being returned to a new generation of Afghan children to be sung and passed down for generations to come. Originally collected by Peace Corp volunteer, Louise Pascale, and published by Kabul Press in 1968, the songs have all but disappeared from the culture. They have now been recorded by well-known and respected Afghan musician, Vaheed Kaacemy, and a group of Afghan children. A new, colorful version of the songbook includes lyrics in Farsi, Pushto, Uzbeki and Hazara, musical notation and a 60 minute CD. With support from the National Geographic Society, Ayenda: Afghan Children Initiative, and many generous individuals, 3,000 copies are being distributed for free to children at 100 schools across Afghanistan. Additional printings are planned to return this cultural heritage to thousands more children in Afghanistan and in Afghan communities around the world."

Upcoming:
In the next few weeks look out for an interview with Brian Connelly from Alive In Baghdad. I will also put out the panel discussion I was in at the Lesley University Technology Institute in two parts.

Don't forget to Digg me on Digg.com's new Podcast section! It is a great way to get the word out about the show.

If you want to help out or participate with Teaching for the Future you can leave a comment on the homepage or link to us on your blog or podcast. If you want to get in touch, feel free to email at teachingforthefuture@gmail.com or send me an audio message through Odeo

Tags:

Dave LaMorte, teaching for the future, technology, education, podcast, teaching, Alive in Baghdad, Julien Smith,
financial aid podcast, media literacy, visual literacy

Labels: alive in baghdad, dave lamorte, education, financial aid pocast, interview, julien smith, lesley, media literacy, mobile technology, podcast, teaching, video

Stumble It!

Posted by Dave LaMorte at 1/25/2007 10:51:00 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

News:
Google Opens Dialog with Book Publishers from CNET News: Google hosts their "Unbound" event to convince book publishers that they are not their enemy. Though there has been a lot of debate over Google's efforts to digitize text and create a printed text search engine, I think that ebooks make a lot of sense. During the resent episode of Boing Boing Boing editors Cory Doctorow and Mark Faurenfelder discussed ebooks as both readers and content creators. Faurenfelder talked about the use of ebooks as the publisher of Make Magazine and how easy it is to distribute the pdf versions. Doctorow believes that a lot of the success of his print books are due to the buzz created by releasing his works electronically under a Creative Commons liscence.

The Camera Phone from Slate: This is an interesting article looking at the camera phone and how it has changed the way we communicate. The article focuses on many of the negative effects of the almost ubiquitous device in spying on our neighbors, invading other's privacy, and catching others at their worst. I think their is a great deal of truth in the quote of camera phone inventor Phillpe Khan who said in a 2000 Wired interview "With this kind of device, you're going to see the best and the worst of things." There is also a link to an Mp3 of this article available on the article page.

Gaming advances as a learning tool from eSchool News: As you are already aware there are a great deal of teachers who are beginning to integrate video games into their classroom practice. The article discusses how video games can help reach the digital natives in their classrooms. In my mind this seems that teachers are just trying to meet their students halfway and trying to address the interests of their students.

National Slowdown Week from Adbusters: Did you miss National Slowdown Week? Well so did I. This is another campaign from the folks at Adbusters. I think the video is really cute, but I'm not sure if slowing down is an option for most of us. This is a nice reminder to slow down.

Seven Reasons You Should Text Your Teen from Totally Wired: I found this post particularly interesting after sitting on the Student panel for Lesley University's Technology Institute. I was one of seven students who was on the panel that served as an introduction to social networking. Of the panel there were five undergraduate students who spoke about how they used social networking sites like MySpace and the Facebook. I could tell that a lot of the faculty were surprised by the role these sites played in their lives. It was not that they were dismissive of the technology or dismissive of it's usefullness, but they had no idea how these students were invested in social networking.

Though schools and universities are starting to examine social networking, this has been a long time coming. One technology that I think many teachers and adults do not understand the role of text messaging in the lives of teens. Where many adults use email, it does not have the convenience or the immediacy of text messaging or instant messaging. This blog post tries to explain to adults why they need to pay attention to this important moblie technology.

Anastasia Goodstein writes on teens and preteens and their relationships with technolgy. While most adults are not interested in text messaging, she gives 7 good reasons parents should be texting their teens.

1. Parents get a quick answer to their questions.
2. Kids are more apt to respond to text messages when they are with their friends.
3. You, or they, don't have to worry about tone of voice.
4. Texting allows you to enter your child's world.
5. Text messaging allows parents to compose and edit a message before pressing send.
6. Texting vs. calling gives kid