Podfather's podcast

Thursday 3rd February 24 hours before Wales v England at The Millennium Stadium Radio 5 live broadcasts from Pencoed RFC :-)

I have been struck recently while listening to the podcasts recorded by David Noble ( http://booruch.libsyn.com/ ) as part of his Edonis Project ( http://edonis.ning.com/ )about the quality of ICT Professional Development. David has spoken with many of the UK's cutting edge Education IT community and as part of his sequence of questions has asked his participants about their ICT PD experiences. It is hugely revealing and I would hazard not news to report that the vast majority of interviewees report very little directed formal ICT education as part of their intial traing and/or following their qualification. I would also echo that experience as it is very similar to my own. It is telling that David has spoken to a cross section of teachers with a wide range of teaching experience, all of which paints a less than hopeful situation for formal ICT training for teachers as it does not appear at present to be keeping pace. Many of those spoken to have actually achieved their most transformational PD through the power of new technology ( Web2.0)which has enabled these teachers to connect in informal PD networks with like minded professionals globally. It must be time that formal ICT training makes use of the experience of these highly motivated teachers, who have a passion to improve teaching through the use of technology in innovative ways in a more formal environment. I know that I have joined the ranks of this formal educational training, however I would say that I firmaly believe that the online professional development that we at the IB offer our teachers comes from a sound understanding of the use of new technology can be used to build professional networks of teachers who can work collaboratively on the development of subject based wikis and also use of social networking sites such as Ning(http://ning.com/). Both of these tools were used by Julie Lindsay and Barbara Stephanics in their recent online workshop for teachers called - Web 2.0 in the IB Classroom ( http://tripleaworkshops.ibo.org/file.php/1/mar_09/web_20/page_01_summary.html ). I believe that the use of this type of workshop can work in a virally informal way within a formal setting, I look forward to seeing more innovations like this appearing in PD.

On a genuinely sunny summers day a loyal band of supporters from Abergavenny took the 35 mile journey down to the copper domed Millenium Centre to listen to Abergavenny Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society's afternoon concert in the centre foyer - and were justly rewarded. The location in the foyer accounts for the less than perfect acoustic and the noises off in this recording. The recording made using my trusty iPod with its plug in mic. The concert excellently shows off the individual and combined skill of the dedicated songsmiths from AAODS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAODS http://members.lycos.co.uk/AAODS/history.htm as they gave snippets from past and future shows - coming soon will be Fiddler on the Roof, but we hear excerpts from My Fair Lady and most impressive of all the Juniors from the 2008 - Les Miserables which was the triumph of the season with many youngsters in their teenage years fulfilling promise shown through their formative years with the society. We were also entertained with some Abba hits from Mama Mia. All in all the concert was a triumph of dedication, musicality and most of all enjoyment. Thank you to all from an avid fan.

This podcast actually is hopefully the first of many discussions that I hope to promote during my 30 mile journey from home in Gilwern to work at the International Baccalaureate office in Cardiff Gate. This morning was for once bright and sunny and prompted me to consider what makes a blogger blog. In order to air this I decided to hook up the iPod to a microphone and burble on while driving - thanks to Bud Hunt aka Bud the Teacher for the initial vehicular mobcast idea. Do join in the debate on blogging either here on my blog at http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/

I have re-created a walk that I took back in 2007 and used in a Voicethread. We are very lucky where we live I think with such evocative landscape around us, from the valleys and waterfalls to the post industrial landscape from the 18th and 19th Century when this part of Wales was part of the great iron making centre of the world. Maesygwartha is right on the edge of the South Wales coalfield and as such shows the transition from an industrial to a largely farming economy. This video was produced using MS Movie Maker, the photos and audio were taken on my work Blackberry as aprt of an experiment to test how easy it was to use mobile technology to post to the 'net. As it happens it was not a straightforward process. For more information check out http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/

This test podcast was recorded using a Medusa Speed Link USB headset and mic together with Audacity on the Asus Eeepc900. Running Audacity on the little Asus is not difficult and only requires a minimal level of Linux programming (blog post http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/2008/07/further-eeepc-developments.html) So I fired up the console and typed "apt-get install audacity." Nothing happened. Actually I got some error message or other. I forget what it was. I wasn't surprised. I figured I'd have to add some repositories. To make a long story short, here is how to install Audacity, and presumably a bunch of other programs on an Eee PC: 1. Open that console window by going to File Manager and clicking Tools/Open Console Window 2. Navigate to //etc/apt 1. You do this by first typing "cd //" 2. Then type "cd etc" 3. And finally "cd apt" 3. Now it's time to edit your source list using the vi text editor 1. Type "sudo vi sources.list" 2. User the arrow keys to put your cursor just below "deb http://update.eeepc.asus.com/p701/en p701 main 3. Hit the "i" key to enter insert mode 4. Type "deb http://http.us.debian.org/debian/ stable main" 5. Hit the "esc" key to exit insert mode 6. Press "ZZ" in order to exit and save 4. Now you should be back at the console 5. Type "sudo apt-get update" to get an updated list of available packages 6. Type "sudo apt-get install audacity" to install audacity. 7. Select yes when it asks if you want to continue 8. When Audacity is done installing, type "audacity" to launch the program. Also the lame encoder will work on the little E with this coding, http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/2008/07/audacity-and-mp3-conversion-on-eeepc.html To compile put the lame file you downloaded in your user folder Right click it and select extract all followed by ok Go into the lame folder you just made Click tools then open console window Type sudo apt-get install build-essential then type su after you enter your password type ./configure then type make then type make install That should be it Audacity should find the file automatically. So simple but it works. Go ahead and get working on your Asus mini notebook.

Wow! The Podfather has finally made it to an event live! After many years of being the virtual voice from 'across the pond' or 'up in the Northern Hemisphere' I have finally made it to the same time zone and indeed city as educational colleagues that I have been talking and collaborating with over the past few years. Coming to my first NECC this year was important, as I knew that a 30 strong delegation of Australian teachers had NECC planned in on an educational tour, and it would possibly be the one and only time to meet members of this active community who have a flourishing 'flashmeeting' lead discussion group of over 30 teachers who meet up virtually every Sunday evening. Also here this year are Dorothy Burt and her husband Russell from Point England School in New Zealand -if you have never seen their KPE video podcasts believe me you are missing out (http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?family=1,449).It was great to meet them at the ISTE's International Visitors reception on Sunday afternoon. I am travelling light this time around without a large 'brick' laptop but with my trusty Asus Eeepc900- the mini MacAir ( ha! sorry Dean and Ewan!) and so far the tiny machine is proving to be well up to the job seeking out free wi-fi with ease and being a good platform to blog and podcast from. I leave you with just a thought where else would it be possible to stroll out from the 'air conditioned hell' of a conference venue, walk along the delightful Riverwalk to lunch with Dean Groom (abstracted Englishman), Ewan McIntosh (Scotsman), Judy O'Connell (Australian) and of course me (slightly confused as a Welsh Aussie( adopted by Oz Group)? Well here of course!!!! (Doh!) Podfather signing off at 6.15am CST San Antonio, Texas - Yee　Ｈａ！

It's great to be back podcasting agin after a long break, during which I have left the classroom. However this now gives me more time to look at how technology is used in education and reflect on its use from outside. This means I don't have the usual distractions that come with a class of 8 year olds!!! This new podcast looks at : Animoto in education (http://biz.animoto.com/education/overview.html) - thanks to Ewan McIntosh ( http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/)for the blog post on this.( http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2008/04/animoto-for-edu.html ) Twitter(http://twitter.com/) using Twitterrific ( http://iconfactory.com/software/twitterrific) and Twhirl (http://www.twhirl.org/) Mentioned also were : Allanah King (http://allanahk.edublogs.org/) an Adobe Educator now as well - congratulations AK and enjoy the USA when you visit. EdTech Roundup ( http://edtechroundup.com/ ) Music for this podcast courtesy of : Webtones Music Royalty Free Music Library & Commissioned Audio Provider email: music@instantroyaltyfreemusic.com web: http://www.instantroyaltyfreemusic.com tel: +44 (0)8456 44 30 89 | fax: +44 (0)870 762 5228 Hey folks it's geat to be back :-)

This is a special IT Ramble recorded for Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's Birthday on Sunday 2nd December. Shery - Happy Birthday from Wales :-)

I know that this a isn't really a personal space, more a professional reflection space for me, and yes I do realise that The Podfather hasn't managed a podcast for quite some time .... watch this space. However I have been waiting for a video to process in Blogger for over an hour and I have finally lost patience .... below is my blog post plus hopeful the video to go with it ..... Blogger need to speed up their upload widget ! It may seem a very long time ago to my birthday in June!!! Indeed it is, partly through my own incompetance and lack of organisation, it has taken me 5 months to get around to taking my birthday present - A Ferrari Experience at Silverstone Race Track. So it was on a cold (rainy) November morning at 9.15 that I tip-toed out onto the end of Hangar Straight for my 3 laps around the famous home of The British Grand Prix. There is a dilema in all of this racing lark!!! The faster you go - the quicker it is all over!, however go too slowly and those around believe you are not really trying, even though you are savouring the moment. I suppose then having the excuse of a wet track is an ideal one - that is my excuse for my semi sedate progress :-) At least I didn't spin, and did eventually get used to the up shift and down shift gear paddles on the back of the steering wheel of the Ferrari. I certainly have always had the upmost respect for F1 drivers, indeed any other category of driver - this was brought home as I progressed around the track scanning for physical features on a fairly featureless circuit. A BIG Thank You from me to Debbie, Sian, Emily and Laura for arranging the experience.... Oh yes I did have to drive the 2 1/2 hours home afterwards - through the first snow of the winter

On Tuesday 17th July at 8.30 pm UK time began a web 2.0 Speed Dating style experience for a group oh High School teachers in New York, on a 3 day course with Sheryl Nussbaum Beach discussing the use of New Technologies in Education. Sheryl had in advance gathered together a group of Web 2.0 educationalists from around the world ( and Wales!!!!) - in the firing line were: Jen Wagner - http://www.technospud.com/blog/ Lisa Durff - http://durffsblog.blogspot.com/ Welsey Fryer - http://www.speedofcreativity.org/ John Pederson - http://pedersondesigns.com/ Allanah King - http://allanahk.edublogs.org/ Jane Nicholls - http://ictucan.blogspot.com/ Jason Hando - http://mylearningspace.ning.com/profile/jhando and myself http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/ The idea was that for their first day the teachers had been investigating the new tools and then got to speak to teachers already using them in classes, with kids. ( how I wish this had existed when I started!!). Each of us was on a computer around the room on a 1 to 1 Gizmo call, so that we could have a discussion with the people at the table ( sadly some had to IM due to problems in New York)... it was an excellent experience I certainly enjoyed it ( so apologies for my talking far too much and not letting others geta word in !!!!!). Thanks hugely to the excellent and 'awesome' Sheryl for all of her work in getting this together. http://www.21stcenturycollaborative.com/ I look forward to more of these experiences and maybe just maybe a real Life f2f sometime soon with blogging/ podcasting buddies.... a meet up at NECC next year would be fabulous if we could arrange it guys and girls!!??

This is a short podcast of the skype call I took from Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. Sheryl was presenting at the AET Conference 2007 in Birmingham, Alabama on the use of Web 2.0 tools. She had originally asked Jane Nicholls (ICTUCAN) to skype in with her today. However Jane had a bit of car trouble down in New Zealand - hence I helped out by chatting to the workshop group in Alabama from here in Wales... I still find this stuff to be like magic or alchemy, and quite amazing. http://www.aetc.cc/ Conference Intro Page http://abpc.wikispaces.com/AECT07+Workshop Sheryl's Conference Wiki http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/

Doug Belshaw from NextGen Teachers @ Ning Social Networks organised a Skype Conference on Sunday 13th May @ 6pm GMT. The meeting was well attended from both sides of the Atlantic : Doug Belshaw ( http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/ ) Aaron Smith ( http://www.academicaesthetic.com/ ) as the token American voice. Ollie Bray ( http://www.olliebray.com/ ) from Scotland, Kristian Still ( http://btecnationalsinsport.wikispaces.com/ ) from Southampton, Joe Dale ( http://www.joedale.typepad.com/ ) from The Isle of Wight, Leon Cych ( NAACE) (http://www.l4l.co.uk/ ) and myself from here in South Wales ( http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/ ) The discussion was wide ranging and even though originally billed as 'How we use Web 2.0 tools in Collaboration', we actually covered much more ground teasing out the problem of access, blocking and how we get the work going on in pockets around the UK to a wider audience. It was great to hear Leon from NAACE give some excellent advice and pointers to possible ways forward, even thoughwe perhaps as a group need to develop some 'joined up thinking' as to how we develop the use of Web2.0 and beyond ( Web 3.0 is in the wings waiting to get out!!). A very interesting discussion if a bit long I know at 55 mins, but the quality of the discussion makes it worth a listen - hopefully not too disjointed by our SkypeOuts at various points. I hope you find the points raised thought provoking.

I thought that I would try and record in the great outdoors today - as the weather has been so good. I apologise if the audio quality is a bit quiet - I still can't get over the inherent embarrassment of sitting in the garden talking to myself !!!!!!!!! Sites mentioned : http://sargentparkmathzone.blogspot.com/ http://spfractions.wikispaces.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4s2wRFldyA&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fspfractions%2Ewikispaces%2Ecom%2FunprojectInstructions Enjoy...

Following a discussion with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and a chat with Allanah King my ramble is about the possibility of opening up a new area of study i.e. K-8

On the evening of the 3rd march 2007 in the UK there was a complete lunar eclipse. It started at around 9.15pm. A Lunar Eclipse is when the Earth gets between Sun and the Moon causing the Earth's shadow to obscure the Moon. What you can't see from the video is the reddish glow that remains, as the Sun's rays still give a very slight reflection off the surface.

Sitting at home in Wales on Thursday evening at about 9.15pm I had a skype message from my pal Allanah King. Allanah is at an e-learning conference in Rotorua New Zealand, where one of their keynote speakers is David Warlick. Allanah was sitting in on David's talk on RSS, Aggregators and Social Networking here is what David had to say to his audience - until either the link or the power went from New Zealand... enjoy hopefully with David's permission - it was such a one off that I couldn't resist the opportunity to podcast this piece.

This was a recorded conversation with Allanah King as she spoke to a group of teachers at a conference in Rotorua New Zealand.

On Tuesday 6th February at 6pm UK time and 7pm in Italy, I had my first 'face to face' video skype conversation with Daniela Lucci Cordisco in Lazio, Rome. It was great to actually speak, we had tried on Monday while I was in school however the line was bad and the echo unfortunately stopped too much discussion. However everything worked perfectly on Tuesday and we were able to swap information about the twinning project which Daniela has set up with many schools around Europe. Take a look on http://playtolearn-daniela.blogspot.com , it is good to see the range of work being co-ordinated on the site and at http://etwinning.net (a Europe wide e-twinning organisation). Enjoy the discussion...

On a cold winter evening in South Wales I had a brilliant 3 way conversation with Allanah King ( Nelson, New Zealand) and Jane Nicholls (ICTucan - Dunedin, New Zealand). The discussion ranged over how each of us got into Web 2.0 technology to the change in pedagogy needed to implement these programs into the Primary School classroom - enough chat enjoy the skypecast. ** Picture of a very proud Grandfather with Grandson Jacob born January 17th 2007 weighing 7lb 3oz - well done Emily and Jay**

Cuddly Kiwi spent New Year's Eve 2006/7 at Llangynidr Village Hall with the Harrington family and many friends, he had a fine time enjoying the dancing and chat. A big thank you for the brilliant band Morris Ponk and the Ticker Fixers with their excellent caller who looked after Kiwi for some of the evening. A Happy New Year to all listeners from The Podfather

I think that the Rant is developing more into a Ramble as I get deeper into web 2.0 work. I don't want to shout anymore, I think that more is to be achieved by being less looouuud !!! To this end the IT Ramble ( part borrowed from Miss K ) is born. This Ramble is largely a collection of what has been happening to me in and out of school over the past week or so. Here are some of the links to sites that are metioned in this programme : Appleby Airwaves vodcast : http://allanah.podomatic.com/ Joe Dale's Blog. http://joedale.typepad.com/integrating_ict_into_the_/ Richard Peace ( Take the weather with you ) http://nodehillenvironmental.typepad.com/ Tom Barrett's Artrage2.http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/2006/11/14/artrage-2-inset-today/ ArtRage2 website. http://www.ambientdesign.com/artrage.html Tux Paint ( worth a look). http://www.tuxpaint.org/ More next time. Keep on Blogging...

Getting back to the normal format of an IT Rant this week. Apologies for sounding very tired in this rant, I guess the week is starting to catch up with me!!! this is more of a ramble than a rant. Sites mentioned this week include http://booruch.libsyn.com/ David Noble's Booruch Podcast #29 http://moturoa.blogspot.com/ Moturoa's Class Blog http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/index.php Terry Freedman's site It has been a really exciting week with our link school really taking off and with other exciting developments - it's just my age getting to me- Hopefully I will be more awake next time - until then good podcasting!

Thanks to all of those who made the K12 online conference happen - also thanks to all those online over the weekend. I think that it worked because of the 'flakiness' of skype - enabling us to switch to IM through http://tappedin.org ( where there is a K12 online community - do come and join in ). Look forward to meeting up again soon. Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

This is just a short podcast by way of a thank you to all of those I 'met' during the 'As Night Falls' 24 hour skypecast over the weekend. Thanks Guys and Gals Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

A short piece recorded as I left school on Tuesday 24th October...

IT Rant #12 A really busy week in IT this week, with our link to AllanahK's podcasts from Appleby School in South Island New Zealand, and the growing number of quality educational podcasts coming from the Southern Hemisphere : ITUcan, Russley Radio, Room5 and Room 1 podcasts shows how there are important pockets of technology around the world. Also included in this Rant is a further report on K12 online and the pre-conference podcast from US Podcast Guru David Warlick. I hope that you enjoy this podcast.

The K12online event is getting ever closer, take a look at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=3 which is the main portal for the virtual conference. The pre-conference keynote by David warlick is already viewable by linking to http://k12online.wm.edu/k12online2006_optz.mp4 David has also set up a wiki to which he is asking 'educators' to post and amend as part of the conference, that can be found at http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.K12online2006 It has been long trailed and eagerly awaited but if the keynote sets the tone for what is to come, we are certainly in for a real treat and a great experience which will go on long after the conference has ended... the short podcast are my thoughts on the keynote. Technorati Tags: k12online06 k12online

A short apology podcast, following an e-mail from Mr H The Storyteller from Texas, I realised that my podcast volumes have been quite erratic due to lack of knowledge of using Audacity from me - hence sorry to you the audience. Links to Tom Barrett's site http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/ and Papajo's site http://papajo.edublogs.org/ good listening

IT Rant #9 In IT Rant #9 I ramble about what I am planning to do in school over the next few weeks. http://kmi4schools.e2bn.net/wales_cefnfforestprimary/index.htm our school Making The News site - link to MTN UK . Also link to Judy O'Connell to be found on Podomatic. Tom Barrett UK Teacher site http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/ Enjoy.

IT Rant #8 - It's Friday - I apologise for not sounding as happy as I should on this podcast when I know that the weekend is sooo close !!!! links http://aquaculturepda.podomatic.com (Sue Walters podcast) http://nswlearnscope.podomatic.com ( use of new technology in education) Booruch is David Noble's weekly -ish podcast from Scotland

IT Rant #7, this rant is mainly a digest of what has been happening to a Primary School IT Co-ordinator in the past week.

it Rant #6 is a mobile podcast recorded on an mp3 player during my commute home from school on Monday 25th September. When I arrived home and logged on I found a message about blogging in Scotland from Ewan McIntosh, it is now posted on the blog at http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com - my the world is a small place isn't it ?

I went for a walk down to the village near my home this morning listening to a podcast from Geek-ed about a site called Smelly Monkeys http://smellymonkeys.blogspot.com/2006/05/smelly-monkeys-45.html Give it alisten if you haven't already it's an interesting and fun way to use the technology well done guys.Geek-ed itself is guite a listen never have I heard people having more fun while still giving out up to the minute information and checking out new 'stuff'. On returning from my stroll I found that my recent plea to David Warlick at '2 cents worth' had drawn a reply from a UK Edu-Blogger Tom Barrett - a link to his site is on my Ddraig Goch Blog at http://ddraig-goch.blogspot.com/ ( Ddraig Goch is Red Dragon - from Wales of course!!) Good Listening Podfather