Podcast episode 61 – Should homework go? – April 11, 2013

This episode is so good, I can’t believe we’re giving this podcast away for free. At any rate check out the agenda, subscribe to us on iTunes or PodOmatic. If you want to, just listen to the episode right here!

1. How was everyone’s spring break?
2. 6 tech skills expected of all incoming freshmen – Doug Johnson at the Blue Skunk Blog – What do you think, anything missing here? Which is most important?
   1. Word processing
      1. Word, Google Docs, OpenOffice (etc.)
   2. Spreadsheet use and graphing
      1. Word, Google Docs, OpenOffice (etc.)
   3. Multimedia presentation software
      1. PowerPoint, Keynote, Prezi, etc.
      2. Does iMovie fall in this category?
      3. Basic image editing
      4. Using royalty free images
   4. Online communications
      1. email, chat,  learning management systems, etc.
   5. Internet enabled researched
      1. Not just Google/Wikipedia!
      2. Organizing the information using Evernote, Delicious, Diigo, Simplenote, etc.
   6. Managing one’s online presence
      1. Managing and understanding privacy settings
   7. Backing Up Data and Syncing Data
      1. Basic external hard drive backups
      2. Cloud storage backups
      3. Dropbox, Google Drive, Sugarsync, etc.
         1. This stuff needs to be explicitly taught
   8. Managing files
3. Parent/Teacher conferences
   1. How to use tech to make them better
      1. Edmodo/Evernote/Moodle/etc.
      2. Digital Portfolios – Whose conference is it anyhow? by Kathy Cassidy
   2. Why do parents come?
   3. Should we open this up to online meetings (Skype/Hangout)
4. Could the End of Homework be on the Horizon? by Tina Baresghian & New Recruit in Homework Revolt: The Principal by Winnie Hu
   1. Why do teachers assign it?
   2. If homework goes, what does this do to a classroom structure
   3. How does technology facilitate this change

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Listen to this week’s episode right here.