Technology integration approaches that do not reflect disciplinary knowledge differences, and the corresponding processes for developing such knowledge, ultimately are of limited utility and significance, ignoring as they do the full complexity of the dynamic realities of teaching effectively with technology. Understanding that introducing new educational technologies into the learning process changes more than the tools used—and that this has deep implications for the nature of content-area learning, as well as the pedagogical approaches which teachers can select among–is an important and often-overlooked aspect of technology integration approaches to date.

– TPCK: Curriculum-based Technology Integration Reframed

(via Steve Hargadon):

Word has it David Thornburg used this video to help break the ice at a conference, speaking about reluctance to embrace open-source software.

In this video tutorial, I explore how (easy it is) to use drop.io a free “storage locker” for your media. Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication), it allows you to easily publish podcasts or documents to your friends, students, or colleagues.

drop.io and RSS from John Hendron on Vimeo.

While perusing Lifehacker before going to bed, I ran across this article with hundreds of comments.

In case you don’t want to read:

• person uses BitTorrent to download movies
• her ISP sends her a letter stating that what she did was illegal and for now she wouldn’t be sued.
• she asks for advice about downloading movies via BitTorrent…

I found the comments hilarious, but ultimately sad. A wide range of advice was proffered to the original poster. But what was funny/sad were the justifications folks had for being allowed or having rights to download movies or music for free.

I mean, you were sent a letter saying “We know you did this. It’s wrong. Don’t repeat!” –and then you’re going to do it again? Litigation, etc., is expensive. Yeah, maybe it was a “scare tactic,” but copyright/DMCA is the law. You might not like it, but that’s what it is.

You’ll run into advice like this:

A friend of mine ran into this kind of trouble. Try buying a copy of the DVD in question (PAY CASH!!!) and then if you need to you can claim you already owned the DVD and you were acquiring a digital backup.

Ha! Why not just buy what you want in the first place? Or rent it?

One guy claims he does his downloading at work:

consider that the reason why I now do 90%+ of my downloading through my job’s T1 line behind several secure firewalls…

And finally, yes, there are some wiser folks too that understand:

if you choose to break the law, be prepared to pay the price

I mean, isn’t this pretty clear?

The customer service representative stated that if my account was found to be transmitting and receiving copyright-infringing material in the future, then my connection would be terminated.

I am not sure why folks have such a hard time dealing with copyright. Yes, making digital copies of things at no cost then charging full price for each copy does feel like a scam. But that’s the reality of applying an old-world business model on the face of modern technology.

Tonight I bought three albums online. It took seconds to grab all three; I payed between $.89-.99 per track (average) between two online stores (namely Amazon and Apple). I payed for the privilege of hearing the music, and at any time I want, on any device I want. Do I wish the tracks were cheaper? Yes.

That’s me. I think I get it. But there are teachers and students I have interactions with that do not get it. Some of it might be economic differences between us. Some of it might be blantant disregard for the economic model that allows the music/movie business to work.

Or is it just me who wouldn’t risk their job by downloading this content from work? Where I work, it’s pretty clear. We make you sign paper work that says we reserve the right to fire you if you do x, y, or z, yet it’s happening elsewhere. Where people do get fired.

Amazing. That’s what it’s come to, the inabiity to resist getting something for free.

After writing my book, I was so focused because of ISTE’s suggestion, to aim the book at a particular reader/market, that I never once again thought about the super-advanced user/educator.

Even with RSS, was it possible to suffer from too much information coming out you, full, head on, in an aggregator?

I suspect if it’s student work, no. But if it’s news and blogs and podcasts and more of the above, then… maybe so. This blog post gives some sage advice.

• Make two “buckets” (i.e., what I call groups in the book)
• One bucket is for “must read,” the other is for “interesting fluff.”

Casually read the fluff like your significant other’s magazines when left in the bathroom; focus more attention on the first group. Not bad advice, at all.