Controlling my TV with my Android Phone

It might be old news, as I just located an article from last February about the launch of the FIOS remote for Android, but this morning I had no choice but to search the market and find it out of frustration (you know, the missing remote that I of course later found in buried in the couch). I will say that I was excited to download it and see it install on my phone. As I got ready to use it, however, it prompted me to first click the menu key on my actual FIOS remote. This was a little frustrating as I was hoping to bypass my need for the missing remote. Well, I found the remote and got my phone set up. It seems to work through my home wireless network. Now that I'm set up, I imagine I am in business the next time the remote goes missing.

The remote allows you to control the DVR functions, access the guide (on the TV), change channels, volume, etc. I believe it has almost all of the functionality of the larger, bulky, remote that likes to hide in the couch. In addition to the standard features, the first additional feature that I found and really appreciated, was the ability to display images from my phone on the TV. I will explore it some more as I am sure there are more features to play with, but all in all, it's a nice little app. Now, I just have to hope that my phone doesn't take a dive for the couch cushions!

The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators

Wow! Recently, I decided that I wanted to develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN). I knew there were many educators out there worth following on twitter, but am continuing to be amazed at the contributions these folks make to the learning / sharing community.

I only wish I had more time to visit all of the great resources that are being shared. I guess that's what the rest of my life is for... I'm trying to add some of the resources to my Web 2.0 Best Practices diigo group. Feel free to request membership and contribute to the group.

One resource that I feel compelled to share is The Super Book of Web Tools for Educators. The free e-book can be found on the Award Winning Free Technology for Teachers blog. The site is maintained by @rmbyrne, who I have been following on twitter. He spearheaded the free e-book project with the help of many other fine educators.

I hope you enjoy exploring the many tools in the book . You can view it online with the embedded e-book reader or download the entire book to your computer. It's a keeper for sure!

Steve

STEM video game challenge Q&A today!

Are you interested in the STEM video game challenge for middle school students? My game design and development students are participating. If you are looking for more information, they are hosting a live call this afternoon to address any questions.

The STEM video game challenge encourages students to use their choice of video game creation tools including Gamestar Mechanic, Game Maker, Game Salad, Scratch, Kodu Game Lab, or other tools to create original video games.

LIVE Q & A Call
Questions about the Challenge? Join us for a live Q & A call, open to parents, teachers and students.

Date: Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Time: 4:30PM-5:30 Eastern Standard Time

How: Call Toll Free 1-866-213-1863 code: 4029345

on developing my PLN

Image from: http://www.onlinedegrees.org/building-your-personal-learning-network/



When I attended Graduate School online (to receive my degree in Online Teaching and Learning), I became very interested in the idea of creating sustainable online learning communities. The idea of such communities to keep people together to continue to collaborate and learn together beyond the timeframe of a class, professional development opportunity, etc. has stayed with me. In fact, I keep thinking that if I go back to school for my doctorate, my thesis would be based on this topic.

The interest came from the idea that we often get excited about a topic, but without fail, the collaboration tends to fizzle if not nurtured appropriately. My goal was to find a way to nurture this sense of community. But, how?

Perhaps my research has already been done and I can let it rest as people are developing and maintaining Personal Learning Networks. The technology may already be in place. I still think there is merit in further research and development, but for now, I believe I will embrace the work that others have done to encourage Learning Communities.

One of the challenges, as I see it, is to effectively link the various PLN puzzle pieces. Just today, I found 'The Educator's PLN' ning. I applied to the ning and look forward to exploring what it has to offer. I like the fact that part of the application asked for links to a number of my PLN sites.

To date, I am using a number of tools as part of my PLN. I will share them briefly here and in some of my upcoming blog posts. Feel free to comment on ideas you are using to create or develop your PLN.

Twitter - Twitter may be the easiest way to follow people as part of your PLN. I especially love that I receive tweets right to my phone. This makes it very easy to browse the tweets from people I am following as well as post something myself. It has taken me a while to warm up to twitter for some reason. Originally, I didn't see the point when I was using facebook, which seemed to satisfy all of my social networking needs. I now vouch for the fact that they serve very different purposes.

Blogger - I created a blog a couple of years ago. My initial goal of the blog was to provide support to the teachers in my school district. I posted responses to common tech questions and shared worthwhile tools (generally with a tutorial on how to use them). Since I began, I have been teaching a number of online Web 2.0 courses, so my blog has evolved to share Web 2.0 tools as well.

As I was searching for an image to include in the post, I found a great resource (http://www.onlinedegrees.org/building-your-personal-learning-network/)describing otner PLN tools. Enjoy :)

Shift Happens...revisited!

Greetings. I facilitate a staff development course called "Shift Happens: Globalization and Preparing our Students for the 21st Century". A session of the course just ended this week. The final project asks participants to share the message of the "Did You Know" videos with a group of colleagues, friends, politicians, or others that may find the content relevant.

One of the particiants created a blog to share the discussion. I wanted to post a link to the blog here in the hopes that you will visit her blog, view the videos and engage in the discussion based on the thought provoking questions provided in the blog.

Please take a moment to visit Cassy's Blog.

Student Showcase: Images of Peace project

Please enjoy this video created by a student in my Communication Technology class using Animoto. The project involved finding images and quotes that represented peace. Students created a digital photo essay by modifying their images using art software and then creating a video to display their work. Hope you like it!

Embedding a YouTube video in your blog

Recently, I have been asked how to embed a video into a blog. The example I will provide will show you how to embed a YouTube video in an edublogs blog, but the general idea should work for most blogs.

Step 1: Retrieve the embed code from the YouTube video that you plan to include in your blog



As you can see in the image above, there is a button for embed (embed). This will open a dialog box with the code in the box. Click in that box (see above where it says


Step 2: Embedding the HTML code (using the HTML editor)

The above image probably looks a bit daunting. You need to first click on the HTML tab (next to the Visual tab above). This gets you into the pure HTML editor. Once there, all you need to do is paste the code in the work space. If you have other text and want the video to show below that, you can paste this code at the bottom. Essentially, the video will show up based on where you paste the code (relative to the rest of the blog entry).

Hope that helps!

Here's an example of the video embedded in the blog...