EdTech Situation Room by Jason Neiffer and Wes Fryer

Welcome to episode 199 ("Fake Selfies Everywhere") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 25, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Black Friday technological temptations, China's robotic rocket launch this week to bring back moon rocks to earth, and a remarkable New York Times multimedia article o...

Welcome to episode 198 ("We Loved Thee, Google Expeditions''") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 18, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed FCC changes to United States bandwidth spectrum affecting WiFi and automotive emergency communication, faster Google Chromebook chips and Google Product Bl...

Welcome to episode 197 ("Bring Forth Thy M1 Chip''") of the EdTech Situation Room from November 11, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed ongoing information pollution relating to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, the new Apple M1 chip and other announcements from the November 10th Apple Event. Educ...

Welcome to episode 196 ("Election Disinformation Brewin''") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 28, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed election disinformation and countermeasures, deepfake threats, amplification of divisive issues by foreign and domestic actors, battles over WikiPedia facts, p...

Welcome to episode 195 ("Search History Overreach'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 21, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed privacy-violating subpoenas Google is now complying with, which provide identifying information about ALL people in a certain context who are searching for particular...

Welcome to episode 194 ("Yes Another New iPhone'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 14, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Apple's new announcements about iPhone12 and HomePod Mini, actions taken by social media companies to curb election-related misinformation and malinformation, and some...

Welcome to episode 193 ("Oops Google Did It Again'") of the EdTech Situation Room from October 7, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed monopolistic behavior of big tech companies, rebranding of Google' GSuite as "Google Workspace," updates to Google/Nest WiFi, availability of Google Drive File Stream...

Welcome to episode 192 ("Delete All Your Idle Smartphone Apps'") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 30, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the marathon nature of the COVID-19 pandemic for society and schools, the challenges of rural broadband connectivity, and the biggest announcements from...

Welcome to episode 191 ("COVID-19 and Our New Educational 'Normal'") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 23, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the likelihood of long term COVID-19 impacts on education and our society, new Apple Watch and iPad announcements from the September 15th Apple Even...

Welcome to episode 190 ("Jason on the Apple Edge") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 9, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed forthcoming announcements by Apple for the Apple Watch and iPad ecosystems, the return of Google Maps to the Apple Watch, and Apple's compelling arguments in litigatio...

Welcome to episode 189 ("Hack the Nook") of the EdTech Situation Room from September 2, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed COVID-19 impacts and predicted impacts on schools in 2020-21 and beyond, and Apple's App store fights with Epic Games (over Fortnite) and WordPress, New Android updates for late...

Welcome to episode 188 ("Hong Kong in Crisis") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 26, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed surveillance, privacy and security force crackdowns in Hong Kong, a Kansas teacher's crowdsourced use of Google Sheets to track COVID-19 school closures, and Google's recent...

Welcome to episode 187 ("Embrace CloudReady in Our Pandemic") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 12, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Russia's announcement to skip phases 2 and 3 in rushed vaccine trial, Chromebook and device shipment delays for schools and individuals, and the wonders of Ne...

Welcome to episode 186 ("Don't TINKER with Students' Free Speech Rights") of the EdTech Situation Room from August 5, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed teenage Twitter hackers and zoombombing, tips for remote workers, and illegal school restrictions on student social media use in Georgia amidst pan...

Welcome to episode 185 ("The Speed You Need") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 29, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed home Internet speeds and connectivity best practices for remote learners and workers. Coronavirus planning and announcements for the fall 2020 academic term, Congressional test...

Welcome to episode 184 ("Remote Learning Looms Large") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 22, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed announcements by many school districts nationwide starting the 2020-21 academic year at home in "remote learning" mode. The "Vaccine Trust Problem," Twitter's crackdow...

Welcome to episode 183 ("Back To School Planning During COVID-19") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 8, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the upcoming Mountain Moot virtual conference, and the enormous challenges facing school administrators planning for safe K-12 learning in schools this fall...

Welcome to episode 182 ("Awash in Digital News") of the EdTech Situation Room from July 1, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed our need for media literacy and information filtering strategies, and our ongoing "technology correction" reflected in advertiser protest pressure on Facebook for content mod...

Welcome to episode 181 ("Starlink Dreaming") of the EdTech Situation Room from June 17, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed virtual and face-to-face summer camps for students and teachers during our present pandemic, ChromeOS news, the "technology correction" and social media developments involving p...

Welcome to episode 180 ("Read Before You ReTweet") of the EdTech Situation Room from June 10, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the intersection of privacy and smartphones during civic protests, the spread of false rumors and doctored images during the D.C. protests, and our societal need for media...

Welcome to episode 179 ("Harbinger of the Tech Correction") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 27, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed the intersection of safety, security, medical needs and privacy when it comes to COVID-19 contact tracing. Developments around Twitter's attempts to counter U.S. P...

Welcome to episode 178 ("Anticipating a Fluid Future") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 20, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed Microsoft's revolutionary "Fluid" Office document format, privacy and surveillance in the COVID-19 era, and a new Mozilla VPN service. Passwords for sale on the dark we...

Welcome to episode 177 ("COVID-19 May Change Colleges and Schools Forever") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 13, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed predictions for how the COVID-19 pandemic may significantly disrupt higher education to the benefit of "top tier" universities, the glaring inequit...

Welcome to episode 176 ("Choose Your Digital Platform Investments Carefully") of the EdTech Situation Room from May 7, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed updates from Apple including more predicted "opening" to third party platforms on iOS and MacOS, FaceID and masks, and prescient words from Tim Co...

Welcome to episode 175 ("Don't Close Your Streamyard Tab") of the EdTech Situation Room from April 29, 2020, where technology news meets educational analysis. This week Jason Neiffer (@techsavvyteach) and Wesley Fryer (@wfryer) discussed several Google Updates: the availability of Google's Hangouts Meet videoconferencing platform for consumer Google accounts, a way to extend the life of your Chrom...