HiTech Podcast

We start off the Robin S. Jeffers Learning Taxonomy Series by investigating Bloom's Taxonomy. This foray starts with a few definitions and quickly devolves into our full list of pros and cons. Bloom's is the education standard, and yet there is so much to consider. We introduce a tool called Untools . The irony of Untools is that it provides a tools that help you think and design with handouts and...

Josh and Will wrap the series up solo as they review several LinkedIn Learning courses. Their insights pull from years of experience taking these courses and how they match up against some of the best learning theories. Then, they share a tool called Soundtrap which is designed for all things audio creation and modification. Create songs or podcasts in this full recording platform. The free versio...

Our Learning Designers React series continues with Susannah Simmons joining us to debrief several assignment prompts. This conversation feels like many Josh and Will have had before around the lunch table. We productively critique the structures we commonly see in online courses and hope to encourage folks on ways to improve their assignments with simple practices. Finally, Susannah leaves us with...

Our Learning Designers React series starts off with Will, Josh, and their friend Lynée reacting to this video : a Wendy's cold drinks training video. Listen in for our take on what's good, bad, and maybe somewhat ugly about this video. Definitely suggest giving a listen before the episode or even during it. Lynée leaves us with some of her recommendations in the project management world for an app...

Robin joins us again to talk learning taxonomies: Bloom's, Fink's, Webb's and more! If you're unfamiliar or just like nerding out as much as we do, listen in for the start to our Robin S. Jeffers Series on Learning Taxonomies . More to come soon. Then, Robin shares Dotstorming with us. Dotstorming is an app that crosses functionality of the modern digital whiteboarding space with tools like Padlet...

What is college good for? We open up the conversation on whether college and academia should be for learning or workforce development. The implications are vast, and our opinions are fit to match. Then, our app is a worldwide favorite platform: LinkedIn . We suggest that this might be the best portfolio app that's ever been made. For more on our conversation, check out the episode page here . For...

More house metaphors in this episode - what can we say? We like metaphors! Join us as we learn what about accessibility, why it's important, and the simple steps you can take to improve the accessibility in your courses. This issue is near and dear to both of our hearts: we hope this conversation brings it closer to yours. Our tool this week can help you do just that. Equatio is a digital math too...

Metaphors galore in this episode: we talk about designing content for your students in an affective and clear method. User Experience in a virtual learning environment is much like building a house or giving someone instructions to the grocery store. Tune in to hear how we break it down. Pick up our app this week, Microsoft Office Lens , to get scanning the physical world into your OneDrive. ...

Many elements of the physical classroom translate to the virtual learning environment: but does absence? Can a student be tardy to an online class? Do three missed forums equal an absence? Join us for this wrestling match where we determine what this classroom management method (absences) means in the virtual learning world. For more on our conversation, check out the episode page here . For...

Some strong opinions and hot takes in bound! Josh and Will sink their teeth into the conversation on plagiarism, cheating, and dishonesty. How should we approach this issue? What's the goal for our students? Then we open up a conversation on Turnitin like no other app before it. Will you agree? For more on our conversation, check out the episode page here . For all of our episodes and resources fo...

Continuing the conversation on the LMS. Josh and Will have worked in this field for quite some time, so it's no surprise that their pros and cons list needed a second episode. After our convo, we open up some madness with a deep dive into the Miroverse-- or rather, all things Miro . This tool has been a team favorite for quite some time, so we're thrilled to finally give it a full episode. For mor...

Will makes his best effort to put his tinfoil hat away, but Josh eggs him on. Is anything new? We talk about the impact of the LMS on higher education with all of the data it contains. How do we use this data for pedagogy and not for policing? Our app for the day is Mentimeter : an app for live-classroom engagement or for asynchronous online content. For more on our conversation, check out the epi...

Josh and Will (and their surprise cohost?!) start a conversation off on cognitive dissonance. This topic proves a little fuzzy for them to agree on, but they work through the ideas that might impact your classroom experiences. After, that they gather around for a conversation on... Around . Around is a new video conferencing tool that focuses on the mood and experience of a virtual call. Most impo...

This week we chat with Robin Jeffers, one of Josh's colleagues, about Instructional Design: what is it, why, who, what, and all of the fun info. Robin's newer to the field, so it's a refreshing perspective of someone who transitioned from K-12 instruction to the Higher Education Instructional Design world. Then, she leaves us with some info on the wonderful Gimkit (Gim pronounced like Gimli not gy...

We start a long conversation on a short topic: micro learning! It's a trendy topic and we all engage with it at some level in our lives these days. So, how can we do it better? What's the benefit to this over traditional methods? Tune in for our thoughts and the introduction of a tool to get this job done. EdApp is a learning management system for mobile and micro learning. For more on our convers...

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...