This is the 'Droid you are looking for - Sphero in the classroom!

In Star Wars, the Force Awakens, the 'droid BB8 has turned out to be one of the most lovable new characters.  So well liked that there is even a BB8 remote control 'droid made by Sphero 

So, imagine my geeked-out excitement when I found out that Sphero also has a full-fledged, STEM integrated, entry level programming/coding, problem solving educational product called SPRK!  I watched the four minute promo video (below) and was blown away by the possibilities.  You know what... let's save 6 paragraphs and have you just watch the video yourself...

Click here to watch the video

So, if you are like me, the very first thing you want to do is see this product up close and personal and... thanks to the InTELA (www.intela.org) tech day being held here in Los Angeles on August 4th... you can!!

My co-coordinator for the event - Doug Hinko - actually uses this device at this his school!  He has a whole school pack and has volunteered to do an hour long, hands-on, workshop!!  All you need to do is register!  No charge for the day and lunch is supplied by the good folks from CIJE (yes, I convinced my boss to supply lunch! :-)

The event starts at 9am sharp (8am is registration) and here is a quick run down of some of the things that will happening during the day:

• Keynote (9am) "Using Blended Learning to Transform Schools" by Clifford Maxwell (a member of the Cristensen Institute who oversees the Blended Learning Universe website - the definitive source of Blended Learning Resources).
• Expert presentations on Apple's new iOS 9.3, Teaching with Apple, Coding with Apple and school integration of Apple products
• Meraki Wifi and its MDM
• Telecommuting for absent students with Kubi and Zoom
• Sphero in the classroom (with Doug!)
• The 6 lenses of questioning - a classroom methodology to improve critical thinking  and high order thinking skills (HOTS)- presented by internationally renowned speaker Batsheva Frankel.
• and many more!!!

We are sifting through more presentation submissions from InTELA members so we will be announcing the full session schedule shortly!  It is going to be an amazing, jammed-packed day that is perfect for Teachers, Administrators, Tech Coordinators, Ed-Tech specialists and, like me, educational techno geeks!!!

Click THIS LINK to register today as space is limited.

As always, I solicit your comments on the website.

Yossie

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

You say keep, I say throw, I say good-bye and you say hello! (...with apologies to the Beatles!)

I LOVE new tech!  The advanced features, the latest-and-greatest applications, the computing power, the speed, and so on.

Now, that doesn't mean that I think that we should get rid of our "old" tech.  Schools invest significant dollars in technology every single year and they want a return on that investment (ROI).

It used to be that a laptop would last for about five to six years and a tablet would have a life span of about three to four years - a fairly decent ROI.  Not anymore!!  If you get three years out of your laptop, you are doing amazingly well and two years is about it for a tablet!  The ROI numbers are significantly different these days then it was say, three years ago.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/267474/average-life-of-pc-and-tablets

Now, I hear you already... you are saying: "Yossele, I have an iPad and laptop that has been running for over 5 years!!" 

I believe you!! But, you are no longer able to load the latest software/app updates, or run the latest version of the Operating System (OS).  Considering the security vulnerability on the older OS's, that is a huge liability!!

Don't believe me?  Well, then, did you know that the newest copy of iOS for the iPad has been announced - just this week!  It won't run on an iPad version 2, 3 or iPad mini (original).  If you don't have the latest hardware (well, iPad 4 and higher anyway) then you are just out-of-luck!  And that's not all...

The most popular laptops being made are now thinner and lighter than ever before!  A good thing? Yes, but there is no way for a consumer to update components like the battery or RAM memory! When your well used battery won't hold a charge anymore, the only choice is to purchase a whole new laptop! (Yes, you can send it to a tech store to replace the battery, but sometimes the device is trashed during the service attempt.)

I must say that I feel like the harbinger of doom when I tell you that the Access Points (AP's) that run our schools' WiFi Internet will be changing - dramatically - in the next year.  The 802.11ac WAVE 2 is about to hit!!  That means that (sorry about going all techie on you here...) we will have AP's that can handle 5 gig of data!!  Most of our schools are only wired for 1gig!!!  This will require us to have to start replacing our infrastructure and that means big money!!  But, sorry folks, if you are looking for a five year plan, you are out-of-luck!  All of this now works in two to three year cycles.

Oi Vey - What do you do??!!

Well (Jean-Luc), to start, if you are CIJE school, there is no better time than right now to have your IT or EdTech person get in contact with me or my East Coast counterpart, Yitzchak, to schedule a meeting to look at what you are currently doing, discuss where you want to go and how can you get there.  We don't buy you the tech, but we can help you create a plan that will prepare you for the future. 

If you are not a CIJE School - then join us for our free on-line link-ups that we will be running throughout the next school year.  Stay tuned to the blog site and I will announce the events as I schedule them.  (You can catch previous sessions on my YouTube Channel.)

The next major event will be the InTELA (www.InTELA.org) Tech Day, being held in Los Angeles on Thursday August 4th at the Shalhevet High School.  It is free (CIJE is a co-sponsor for lunch!!) and we will be having presentations on the new Apple Classroom, iOS 10, Meraki's Mobile Device, Manager (MDM), Telepresence from Revolve Robotics, 3D printer demos, maker spaces, and much, much more.  Oh yes, we will also be having a vendor area!

The Silver lining to this cloud is...

... that by us being prepared, we can give our students the edge that they will need to succeed and thrive in the 21st Century.

As always, I solicit your comments on the blog site.

Yossie

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

And now, the end is near... and I did it with GradGopher! (Sorry Frankie)

One of my favorite hobbies is just sitting back and observing people - especially at the end of the school year. 

Have you ever noticed... students are running around in circles trying to get that last assignment in, teachers are panic mode trying to finish their grades... Ah, the smell of fear, panic, and - depending on who you are - anticipatory glee!!

During this time of controlled chaos and mayhem, one of the items that many overlook is the closing out of their school Google Apps For Education (GAFE) email, calendars and docs.  It might seem like a small thing, but in reality it can destroy a person's life... seriously!!  Imagine the student who has spent four years in high school, organizing their life, contacts, calendars and so on with the easy to use GAFE suite of tools.  They have graduated and It is now mid-summer and... suddenly... on the student's smartphone, the calendar disappears and all of their contacts are gone.  When they open their email - nothing there!!  Or, how about the teacher who used that same student to collaborate on a project of epic proportions that was going to be the cornerstone of a brand new curriculum for next year, and all of the shared Google Docs are gone!!  DISASTER!!!

So, my dear reader, I implore you to do a few minutes of planning - right now - to save you hours of hassle, not to mention a week's worth of pay on bottles of Tums antacids!!

Step one:  Remind all outgoing students and teachers that their GAFE accounts will be closed shortly after the school year!  Not just once or twice - but at least three times!

Step two:  Have students who have shared documents with you to change the ownership over to you!  (This is done by THE STUDENT right-clicking on the document, select share, advanced and then change "can edit" to "is owner.")

Step three: Use the new GRAD GOPHER.... www.gradgopher.com to move all of the student's or teacher's files to their personal Gmail account.  It costs $20.00 ($15 if you give GradGopher a shout out on Facebook) but it is worth every single penny!  This program will move ALL OF YOUR DATA from your school account to your personal account.  INCLUDING SHARED FILES!!!  

Here is a quick video from GradGopher:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0BjSC7uoV79akdZemJpM0xnNXM/view?usp=sharing

Yes, you can use takeout.google.com for free but, after archiving your data, it can take hours and hours to transfer everything to your personal Gmail account.  Even then, it does not transfer docs shared with you!  (Also, you may need the assistance of a CompSci major to reload the emails!!)

Well there you have it... Dode Yossie's (dode means uncle in Hebrew) advice for a smooth year end transition.  Now, let's sit back together and... pass me another donut to eat as I sip my coffee.

As always, I solicit your comments on the blogsite.

Yossie

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

Are you in your mind... or is your mind in you??

I just love the field of Cognitive Science!  It tackles questions like how do our perceptions influence who we are and, just to throw some Quantum Mechanics into things, how our perceptions actually shape the universe.  Real mind bending stuff!!

The disciplines involved in Cognitive Science:  source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_science

Speaking of the mind, did you know that we all perceive reality in different ways?  

Yes, really!!  

Something that I call Blue in Color may actually look different to you!  Remember the picture of the dress that went viral on the Internet?

The argument was what color was it?  Was it white and gold or blue and black?  Well, it depends on how you PERCEIVE things! (Do you want to find out what the real colors were... check out this Wikipedia article.)

Understanding how our brains work, how we remember and how we perceive things is the cornerstone to creating a great educational experience.  I have been studying this stuff for decades now and it never ceases to fascinate me. So imagine my interest when my ten year old son Tuvia starts telling me about this great TV series from National Geographic that explains how the brain works and how we perceive reality. (Shout to to Tuvia's friend Ami who showed him the video!)

This program has it all... it gives you the science behind how the brain works AND it has you actively participate with on-screen challenges!  I highly recommend that every single educator watches this series (available on NetFlix and Nat Geo channel).  Actually, EVERYONE should watch it - students and parents included.  It really gives the viewer a deep understanding of how the brain works which, of course, can then lead to a deeper understanding of how to structure education.

As you binge watch, I would suggest a nice red wine and some cheese and crackers.  Oh, if you are doing that, please send some my way!!

As always, I solicit your comments on the blogsite.

Yossie

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

Email to the left, email to right - here I am, stuck in the middle!! (With apologies to Stealers Wheels!!)

On any given day, I get 200 or so emails in my inbox.  Some days more, but seldom less.

While there is the occasional spam, most of my emails are requests from my schools for advice or tech support, followed by blogs and journals that I subscribe to. Over the years, I have become very particular about which emails I open first. Support requests always take priority but the very next thing I look at is my feed from eSchool News.  There is ALWAYS something from them that is new, fresh and informative.

So, after dealing with a dozen small issues (switches down, DLS lines not working properly as well as a few "Kubi" sessions) I had a chance to grab a coffee and read a great article from eSchool on: Do one-to-one laptop programs work.

The short answer to this question is: yes... but as those of you who regularly read my blog know, I constantly advocate that it requires great planning and always, always, always the teachers must have great technical support and professional development.  Oh yes, and the program must NOT be created for the sake of adding technology!  It MUST be for the sake of enhancing the learning experience! 

So, if you are "newbie" to my blog site, here are some relevant blog posts that I have written on  that topic over the last while:

• Professional Development, the food for life-long Learners
• Microlearning and Professional Development – a Match made in Heaven!
• Video Based Teacher Assessment (An unabashed plug for Swivl)
• If you think it's coding, but it's not! It's... really a Lifetime of Problem Solving! (Sorry Mother Nature...)

Give them a read and let me know what you think!

As always, your comments are solicited on the blogsite.

Yossie

P.S.  Here is the link to song I referenced in the title...

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

What's a flight got to do with it? (with apologies to Tina Turner)

I hate "red-eye" flights - with a passion!!

I will do everything that I can to avoid them but with a packed schedule, sometimes there is just no choice - Ya gotta fly at night.  When that happens, the reason for the journey had better be worth it.  Well, as I write this post at 3 AM on a Jet Blue flight back to Los Angeles from New York, I am happy to say that it really, really was.

I was at a CIJE sponsored training session on an amazing educational app called Ji Tap. Made by the folks over at Jewish Interactive (http://jewishinteractive.org), teaming up with the people at Tiny Tap (http://www.tinytap.it) Jewish Educators and students can now create quality interactive games, digital story books, puzzles, quizzes and interactive presentations - all with Jewish graphics and fonts.  The part that absolutely blew me away was how amazingly easy it was to use. On my first use of the app, I had created my very own Jewish themed, fully interactive e-Book in under 3 minutes!!! - REALLY!!

Rather than spend a bunch of words to explain, you just need to watch this short, one minute video.

Click to play video

Now, wait.... THERE IS MORE!!! (I feel like a TV-Infomercial announcer!!)

Not only can you create amazing content!  Not only can you have your students create content!!  Not only can use other people's created content (when they share it) but the folks at Jewish Interactive have added a platform to push out these creations and track the answers/data for FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS!!!  Yes, you heard right - it tracks individual's responses as they play each game, read each book, answer each quiz and match each answer.  And if that weren't enough, it reports the data back to the teacher on a well designed student achievement dashboard!

So, if you are a Jewish Day School teacher or a Congregational Supplementary/Complementary teacher, you need to stop what you are doing and download this app!  

I have to sign off now as there is turbulence and the pilot has turned on the fasten seat belts light. Did I mention how much I hate turbulence?  Sigh...

As always, I solicit your comments on the blogsite.

Yossie

P.S. For CIJE schools, if you would like more information, please contact Faigy Ravitz, Technology Integration Specialist, at fr@thecije.org

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel

From Godzilla to YouTube - Reality may not be what you think!!

When I was a kid, I loved to watch the original Godzilla movies.  Not the new CGI stuff mind you, but the character (pictured below) from the 50's and 60's.

What I used to giggle at the most were the horrid audio dubs... you know, where the actor's mouth moves and the words that come out just don't match the movements. Ultimately, this mismatch of visual and audio drove me to an appreciation for watching foreign movies with subtitles rather than dubbing.

Well, now there is a technology - developed by folks from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg - that allows a face actor "take over" the face of someone on film and control all mouth and facial movements.  It is called "Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment."  The first time I saw this demonstrated I though "cool - no more bad dubs!!" but then a weird feeling began to settle in the pit of my stomach.

What if this technology was used on YouTube Videos where politicians, or other public figures, had their faces hijacked - or maybe better said as "face-jacked" - and people started falsifying statements made by these celebrities. 

Imagine, a video where Senator Sanders seemingly endorses the US presidential campaign of Donald Trump and you can't tell that it is false!  Imagine terrorist groups "face-jacking" world leaders and then using those faces to spread their terrorist propaganda.  Now, more than ever, we really need to teach our students to be critical thinkers and examine everything that they see - especially on TV or on the web - through a critical, cautious lens.  (In the case of Mr. Putin above, we know it is fabricated as he never smiles!!)

Here is a link to the demo video put out by the  Erlangen-Nuremberg university.

https://youtu.be/ohmajJTcpNk

So, what do you think?  Are you as concerned about this as I am?  Let me know your thoughts in the comment section on the blog site.

Regards...

Yossie

Yossie Frankel

Tech Specialist - CIJE

Checkout my blog: www.technorebbe.com

Twitter @yossiefrankel

YouTube Channel: YossieFrankelChannel
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/yossiefrankel