So I read all the posts about the iPod in education from your perspectives … really great comments, so thanks for posting. There were a lot that I found interesting and it got me thinking … what I did was actually read the first couple lessons of our 110 readings for the week and linked them here (Topic 1 Lesson 1 & Lesson 2). Give it a try and let me know if you like this better than reading and if it would make its way to your personal MP3 player … I’m not sure listening to my voice outside of class is what you want to do. Please give it a try and let me know what you think–>

I saw this article a while back and thought you’d all be interested. It goes on to disucss what I think we all already thought — the movie industry is next! Take a look and let us know what you think. I know that you are all very familiar with the downloading issues on college campuses (and beyond) as it relates to music, but what most of you don’t realize is that it is only the tip of the ice berg. Your problem assignment this semester is going to deal with this topic so you might just want to start getting your head wrapped around it. What can the movie industry, game industry, and software industry in general do to hit this head on and not end up in the download hell the music industry has found itself in?

What if I would have walked in the first day and handed all of you a brand new iPod? All loaded up with lectures for the semester, orientation information, the PSU fight song, and other nifty little “educational” things? Would it make you all feel real warm and fuzzy about the class? IST? Penn State? Would it make you want to learn more, or simply want to erase all that stuff and load it up with 5,000 songs?

As part of the Apple Digital Campus project, one of our partner schools, Duke University did just that — they handed out 1,400 iPods to the incoming freshman class. We knew about this months ago and actually got to see the prototype iPods with the little Blue Devil emblem on the back (they ended up not using it, but it was cool!) and got to listen to some content. Its a cool project, but man did it get some bad press. Here’s a decent little read that says why its good … what do you all think? Good or bad? What would you do with a new piece of technology that is designed to play music, but is delivered in an educational setting? BTW, one of the classes using the iPod at Duke is essentially IST 110. I have my own thoughts, how about you–>

For the last 5 years or so, I’ve been a big user of computer mediated communication for teaching and learning purposes. I’ve always used a message board style discussion area … early on it was a homegrown, open source toolset — in the last couple of years its been ANGEL. I am trying to move away from that for a number of reasons — the number one being that my number one audience, my students, started demanding something different. So, for the first time, its going to be a blog. Take a look at the linked article and see what you think about this perspective on the big differences between the two.

Looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. See you tomorrow–>

I read this interesting article in Educause Review … really a nice overview of the state and origins of blogging in education. As you can see, this is really an early adopter in education trend — one that I hope we can make successful. Take a look at the article and please post your comments. What do you think about the idea? Do you have recommendations for making this work better? Remember, this a grand experiment here, so help me figure it out–>

Welcome to the blog space for IST 110: Introduction to Information Sciences and Technology. Throughout the semester I’ll be posting things here that I’d like you all to read and comment on. This may end up being a big part of your participation score.

I am really interested in how all this will work this semester. I am actually toying with the idea of using this same space everytime I teach 110 and see how it works over the long haul. ANGEL doesn’t really allow me to connect multiple semesters’ worth of thinking, posts, and discussion. This may give me a chance to do just that. I will also be cross posting in my real blog space, Learning & Innovation, so take a look over there as well.

The links in the sidebar will get you to some of my other sites and other resources … please explore and comment on that as well. Looking forward to it–>