Interview with a Teacher Blogger

"Cool Cat Teacher" is, like me, both a teacher and a blogger with a major interest in technology's role in our lives and the classroom. You can read more about her blog here.

How do you use new technology for your job?
I take at least 15 minutes 2-3 times a week to "play" with new technology. as a teacher who teaches students how to learn new technology and also how to stay abreast of technology change, it is vital that I "practice what I teach" and DO IT myself.  I'm always playing with new things and sometimes even testing new things for companies as part of my blog (which is very exciting for the students - this is how I found some cool things like ArtRage and my M90z touch computer.)  We have a very limited budget, so often I'm trying free or open source software or websites.  Sometimes students learn as much when we use a website that is in Beta and we have problems than if everything were perfect.  Technology, in order to be profitable, has to meet needs and remain innovative and edgy - I find that I also have to remain innovative and edgy to be excellent in my teaching.

Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you can't live without?

My gmail, wikispaces, elluminate, and timebridge. These are four of the most important sites I use, but I'd also say the Amazon website and my Kindle - although my Kindle isn't a "website" per se - I receive about 8-9 blogs and news sources on my kindle that are vital to my survival as a person as they provide the mental food that keeps me growing and vibrant. I can also read my kindle when I'm away from the hustle and bustle of life and can soak in learning.
Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?

Gosh. I think everything out there has some use or it ceases to exist eventually. I think the only thing that is often useless is negativity. A negative attitude makes us sick, causes us to worry, and makes us unable to perform our jobs. So, I think, if I know of one useless thing it would be a negative attitude. Ban negativity and the word "can't" and I'd be happy and I think we'd get a lot more done. We need constructive criticism but often nowadays because of the pressure of the world in which we live we get obstructive criticism which serves to obstruct us from getting anything done. Now, more than ever, we need the determination and drive to improve our classrooms and world!


What's one thing you wish you could do with technology but can't yet?

I am ready for Augmented Reality and what it will offer us. It is frustrating that Foursquare and Gowalla don't get that we really want an educational overlay of our world that allows ANONYMOUS or private users like our children. Although Foursquare is adding overlays that will allow us to go into a town and see what history is in that town, it won't allow us to take kids on field trips and have them tag the artifacts and things they find with their information without causing privacy concerns. I think that location based apps need to realize that there is a HUGE potential for the educational market of our world that requires a higher quality privacy control than exists today. 

Interview with a Youth Minister

Great sense of humor and understanding. "Youth Ministry" has post-graduate degrees both in Theology and in Making Youth Group Awesome. He has traveled far to bring home a greater sense of purpose and mission.


How do you use new technology at your job?
I am both a Youth Minister and a middle school teacher, and so I find myself using technology often. In YM it's mainly for communication to young people and their parents. Without using Facebook (and texting), I would not reach probably 70-80% of the kids I'm trying to reach. And email just makes it easier to stay in touch with parents. As a teacher, I use different media all the time in the classroom (short downloaded films shown on my projector) & mainly email to communicate with other teachers. 

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you cannot live without?
There are three: my phone, Google calendars, and Dropbox. I recently dropped Outlook like a bad habit (which it is) and switched to Google calendar and my life has never been more seamless. ... (*sweet! Giants just won World Series!!!!*) ... It easily syncs with my phone and iCal on my Mac and updates in just seconds when I add an event. I also like that if I ever lose my phone I haven't lost my schedule for the whole year. Then there is Dropbox. I can access all my files on any computer I'm on...it's a great tool. And being able to use a SmartPhone where I can receive my emails and sync my calendar is priceless. It keeps me from spending 2 straight hours every day sifting through a bunch of email when I get to the office cause I can take them as they come.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
Twitter. I still don't see the point, but obviously someone does since it's so wildly popular. Maybe I'm just not narcissistic enough to appreciate it.

What do you wish you could do with technology that you can't do now?
I'd like to think I'm forward thinking enough to come up with an answer to this question, but for some reason nothing is coming to me. I think I'm just inundated with figuring out how to bring the school into the 21st century with their technology.


[EDIT: Over the phone, "Youth Minister" and I discussed a new answer to this last question: a specific notification that all cars should give, alerting the driver what specific maintenance they should expect and why, including the last time such a maintenance was done and how frequently it should be done. We even pictured the Microsoft Paperclip, only this time it would be a wrench with eyes, popping up onto the windshield. "Did you know that your brake pads are close to needing a change? Would you like me to search for nearby auto repair shops now?" Why, yes I would! Thanks for asking!]

Interview with an Engineer

Intelligent, well spoken, and the father of a newborn baby, this engineer lets us know how technology has become a staple of his daily job--although from time to time it does let him down.


How do you use new technology at your job?
For my job, almost every piece of documentation can be found on a shared drive or "intranet" system. Also, equipment and power station manuals that would take up an entire wall of bookshelves can now fit on two DVDs and be accessed through Adobe pdf files. We also use internet/email/blackberries to communicate quickly and efficiently among industry and company peers. This helps us collaborate on issues while we may be working geographically far from one another.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you cannot live without?
Email is a must for my job. A lot of times the people within my work group are traveling to various power stations and some times even traveling over seas. Email is one way we can all colaborate quickly and efficiently on an issue. It alows us to have a record of our conversation as well as be able to share documents. 

Using BlackBerries helps us utilize email even more. I can take a photo of something while on a construction site, email it to a colleague and get a reply within minutes.

Videoscopes are a must for our job. A videoscope is a camera on the end of a long thin tube that you can "snake" into a machine. This allows us to check the condition of the unit during regularly scheduled maintenance or to check out potential problems without unnecessarily disassembling the machine. Unnecessary dissassembly can cost the company 100s of thousands of dollars.

Is there any new technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
Hmmm, good question. I am not that technologically savvy or up to date so I am not sure. I can think of things that never really took off like the "lazer video disc" or beta video tapes but besides that, no.

What do you wish you could do with technology that you can't do now?
Yes, I'd like good cell phone and mobile internet coverage EVERYWHERE! Right now I commute to rural [county name] everyday and it is almost impossible to make a phone call during the drive due to bad cell coverage.

Interview with a Game Designer

A graduate of a major Virginian college, he packed his stuff to begin his new job at a major video game developer out on the West Coast. A few years later, he is recently married and has begun a new job at a software developing firm for social media.

How do you use new technology for your job?
We use Google to sync all of our emails, calendars, documents, and spreadsheets. It makes collaboration very easy at a fast moving company.

We use technology in many other ways as well to make our games, but I can't talk about it. :-)

Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that you can't live without?
Facebook. Cotton may have trademarked "the fabric of our lives," but that honor actually goes to facebook. Not just for time wasting antics; it has fundamentally changed how the entire modern world population interacts with the people closest to them on a regular basis. If you magically removed facebook from the world now you would remove a great deal of friendship and family interactions that carry enormous value and wouldn't happen otherwise. That's only going to become even more true in the next few years.

Is there any technology/website made in the last 5-7 years that seems useless to you?
This is a hard question, because technologies that disappear are quickly forgotten. Yahoo Answers and Hunch are equally useless; how often do they come up in search result answers to questions, only to act as a depository for hundreds of people who don't know what they're talking about?

What's one thing you wish you could do with technology but can't yet?
I wish that every application I interacted with was aware of all the data that I use in my entire life and then decide ahead of time what information I'd probably like to access. This is coming in the next 5-10 years through cloud computing and the social web but it's not here yet.
Some examples:
- When I look for dinner recommendations my phone, it should automatically tell me if any of my friends are eating nearby, or which ones nearby my friends recommend, and also know that I like variety and so I probably won't want Mexican tonight, since I had that last night
- When I'm shopping at the mall for something, I should be able to browse the shelf by what things my friends have bought and what products are recommended to me based on my past purchases in every store I go to. This should also happen on the mall directory, suggested stores for me to visit
- My mom should get notifications of websites that me and my brother have visited recently and tagged as interesting that are cross-referenced with her own interests and demographic, presented in "These are sites your sons were looking at that you might like" form
- When I wake up in the morning to get breakfast, my mobile device/computer/fridge from the future should be aware that I have recently become interested in longevity and nutrition because of books I've looked at online or at the store, and also aware of the fact that I normally eat breakfast at 10:30am, and print out a suggested grocery list for me to pick up. Better yet, my favorite grocer already has the list and all I need to do is go to the store and get it.
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You can read more about this game designer at his very own blog, seen here: http://thegameprodigy.com/