HiTech Podcast

This week's episode dives deep into discourse development. We highlight the CREATE system created by Dr. Marcela Borge ( Twitter ). This research-based discourse development tool helps learners discuss anything in critical and reflective ways. Finally, we open up another video-based discussion app called ThreadIt that is free and easy to use. For more on our conversation, check out the episode pag...

Wrapping up our three-part series on game-based learning with breakdown and summary. Josh and Will love video games, so we hope that these episodes provide some insights into how the best parts of games can make the best parts of your course even better. We offer up the Construct3 tool as an option for building your own video game whether for academic or personal purposes. For more on our conversa...

Justin is back to chat games and play with us. While he may be less into the video games than we are, he brings an equal or greater measure of research and practice in making education playful to the pod. Keep a notebook handy as you will need it for all of his references and citations. Consider the impact that a little more play might have on your teaching and learning experiences after listening...

Back with another series! This time, game-based learning. We plan to dig into the big areas of games and how they play into teaching and learning. In this episode, we hear from our resident VR Wizard, Chris Morris . Chris walks us through what it takes to design and deliver a video game, helping us to connect some of the dots between instructional design and game design. For more on our conversati...

Our level of meta knows no bounds. Once more, we pick a topic and go deep down the rabbit hole. In this conversation, we discuss the impact of reflection on learning, its value for retention and personal edification, and find both Josh and Will high atop soapboxes. After our bits of repartee, we offer up Reflection. App by Holstee as helpful tool for you and your classroom to start reflecting toda...

We're back with an interview! This time we have Sean Adams, Head of Sales, from iorad. This tool still wows Josh and Will, so we hope that you will enjoy the ride with us as we learn a little more about what came before and what's yet to come. Make sure to listen to the original iorad episode here . For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . Fo...

Breaking down the concept of Cognitive Load can take some effort. Hopefully, Will and Josh make it a little easier for you this week to integrate extraneous, intrinsic, and germane cognitive theories into your course design. After the conversation, we discuss Otter and how it can help you meet all of your transcription needs. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out...

*celebrate* :clapping: Let's go! We are so excited for this episode. Seriously, 50 episodes is no small feat! More importantly, we've joined the Education Podcast Network . The EPN will help us broaden our audience and connect us with other educators, thinkers, and talkers just like us. We hope that you check out the other podcasts on the network and share the love on Twitter. Now, back to the epi...

Josh and Will conclude the Accelerated Learning Series with a debrief and review. Many thanks to Justin, Casey, and Alex for joining us in this conversation. We care about this subject, and we hope that some of our insights can help faculty and designers work better on their content, while we hope that prospective learners learn a thing or two about what to look for in a program. For more on our c...

For our third installment, we catch up with Alex Wissler to talk about what it would take for him to start another degree. This conversation brings out plenty of the nerd in the three of us, while still getting into the details of what it looks like for the modern working professional to decide to continue their education. Master's degree, certifications, and tests are all up for debate in this ep...

Episode two in our series on Accelerated Learning programs finds us chatting with Will's sister-in-law, Casey Bonner, about what it's like to be a student in an Accelerated Learning program. Casey makes a great call-back to HiTech's first episode by talking about how she uses Canva for her work. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . For all of...

This episode starts our series on Accelerated Learning programs. Josh and Will sit down with Justin Harbin, Ed. D. , to talk about what it's like to teach, design, and learn in an Accelerated Learning program. To wrap it up, we talk about Miro and how it can support your socio-collaborative classroom activities. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page h...

Josh and Will discuss whether or not we should use portfolios in education. It's a common practice, but does it have the pedagogical value we think? Then, they take a moment to smash together a bunch of apps that could serve your purpose if you so choose to deliver portfolios. Finally, they end the conversation on a Milanote ... okay, bad pun, but still. This tool serves as a multi-faceted organiz...

We sit down with Chris Morris , Lead 3D Artist at Major Mega , to talk about VR for Education. If you're unfamiliar with this idea, well... tune in. No need to Google it! We talk about Virtual Reality, how some of it gets made, and even what we could dream up for VR in the classroom. Chris leaves us with the awesome tool, SyncSketch , that is a critical tool in the world of digital media. It allow...

All of us use tests; all of us have taken a test at some point in our lives. We beg the question, what would it look like to actually test for learning? Instead of testing for assessment, can we use testing tools to help instigate learning. With our chat behind us, we offer up Socrative as an option for doing this testing for learning methodology. For more information on these tools and our conver...

What should teacher professional development look like? Most of us have had experience the full gamut on this one: bad training sessions, required sessions, great sessions, even life-changing experiences. And yet, there is so much to do in this space for teachers and for professional development creators. After the chat, Josh gives us a deep dive on Calendly and how it can work for your classroom...

Should we standardize online courses? This conversation is a fun ride of ups and downs. Josh and Will have been wrestling with this question for years, and we hope you'll connect with us to share your thoughts . After the wrestling match, we talk about one of our new favorite tools, iorad . This easy-to-use and nearly-automated tutorial building tool is digital gold. Listen in to find out why! For...

We finally tackle the podcasting for education. That is, we discuss how you can use podcasting to create content for your students and how you can get your students to create a podcast as an activity. After the conversation, we talk about the amazing tool we use, Anchor . For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . For all of our episodes and resourc...

Our first interview episode of Season 2 is here. In this episode, Josh and Will connect with Dave Nelson at Equity Maps . If you're not familiar with this tool, head back to Episode 24 and check out our initial scoop on what Equity Maps can do in your classroom. In our conversation, we learn how Equity Maps came to be, what Dave's goals are for the product, and what we can expect in the future. Th...

Will and Josh tackle the tricky idea about proctoring software: is it good or not? Should we use it? This conversation is fun and hopefully challenging for all of us. Then, we open up the conversation about FlipGrid , a completely free-to-use video tool that works wonders for short-form video instruction. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . F...

Episode 2 of Season 2 brings us an exhilarating conversation with our good friend and colleague, Glen Irvin. Glen is a bigger nerd than us only because he's been doing it a bit longer. Our conversation focuses on the relationship between EdTech in K12 and Higher Ed. Glen's insights help us see what's so different on the K12 side, but ultimately how most of us operate on the same rules of EdTech in...

We're back! Season 2 is spinning up with the question, should we use Teachers Pay Teachers? This conversation is a little spicier than normal, so we hope you enjoy the insights. After that, we talk about Wakelet : the tool everyone's told us to use but that we're just figuring out. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . For all of our episodes a...

We did it! Not only did we complete our second episode on how we can create virtual classrooms, but we've concluded the first season of the HiTech Podcast. Thanks for all the listens. We hope this has been helpful to you. Season 2 will start back up with Episode 36 in January, 2021. Until then, enjoy this second part as we open up the virtual conversation a bit more and close it down with the most...

Two-parter incoming! In this first episode, we paint the picture of what a virtual classroom could look like. Specifically, we detail how streaming tools like Twitch can be used for implicit or explicit education. Tune in to see how you could start teaching in the virtual world like a pro. For more information on these tools and our conversation, check out the episode page here . For all of our ep...

We set out to answer the question, "How can a course site enhance learning?" Josh and I have been using Learning Management Systems as students and as professionals for quite some time. We think they work; we see how they benefit the learning process. Listen in to see if you agree. Afterwards, we discuss the Wizer app and how it can change your worksheet experience. For more information on th...