My roommate is from China, which is totally rad. I’m in the dorm Oberholzer, a 5-10 minute walk from campus. I’m excited and nervous. I’m happy I’m not going to be across the country, I’ll be 3.5 hours away from home, and 2 hours away from New York City. Also, it will be nice to go to school with a few people I know (there are 3 from my high school going to Bard, in addition to a few others).

The one thing I’m upset about, is that Apple hasn’t yet released new MacBook Pro’s. My college technology “situation” will be simple(r), as I’ll only have one computer (my MacBook, and in the future, a MBP). I’ve made a few purchases (hard drives, mouse, keyboard, monitor), but nothing major.

I can’t promise anything, but I hope to keep blogging and podcasting, maybe even more regularly. I’m sure my Twitter stream will be over-active, particularly in the first few days and weeks, and I’m going to take lots of photos. I’m bringing my (new) portable recorder, USB interface, and my microphone, so I’ll be well equipped to podcast. I’ll probably write a blog post a week after I settle in, but if I’m feeling particularly lonely, you may hear from me sooner.

Wish me luck.

PodCamp Boston 3 was amazing. The venue this year was unbelievable, thank you, Harvard! It was easier to run into people this year, which was fun. PodCamp Boston 2 was nice and big, but this year the event was very close knit. I was more social at PCB3, and this year overall - last year I was very reserved. I also knew more people in general, those I had met on Twitter and at various Social Media Breakfasts. (For those interested in the Academic Technology session I led at PodCamp, check the end of the post.)

(Photo Credit: Gradon Tripp)
I won a Junior achievement award this year! Thank you, Adam Zand (I think, at least.) Unfortunately, I was the only teenager (I knew of) at PodCamp Boston 3. Last year, I was 1 of 2, this year, I was 1 of 1. I had hoped more teens would show up. I did know a few who wanted to come, but couldn’t. Next year!

Being social and having fun makes a huge difference. Don’t be afraid, introduce yourself to everyone. We have so much virtual, or digital, contact with each other, it makes such a huge difference to get together and have fun in person. Twitter went down for maintenance on Saturday July 19th, during PodCamp, and I think it actually was for the better - it helped people actually connect with each other. Not to say that Twitter is bad; sometimes, the best part of the session was the conversation taking place on Twitter. Check out the PCB3 tag on Twitter Search.

Steven Sherlock

MY SESSION

I led a session at PodCamp Boston about Academic Technology, mostly outlining the work I did at the Cambridge School of Weston, for my Capstone Project. If you’re interested in the presentation, you can see it on Slideshare, download it as a PDF, and download the audio recording.

ISRAEL

I spent about 3 weeks in Israel, traveling all over the country; Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Amirim, Ein Gedi, and back to Jerusalem. I was in Israel for my cousin’s wedding (his wife is Israeli.) He made the entire trip possible (plus it was great having the entire family in the Holy land.) Being in Israel was a life changing experience for me. I’ve been raised Jewish, Reform Judiasm, but being in Israel, surrounded by so many other Jews, and passionate people in general, made me want to be more religious. We’ll see.


I never felt unsafe in Israel. I got used to having my bag searched each time I entered a resteraunt, and I got used to the constant military/police presence in the country. But I always felt safe. Israel wasn’t like a “police state” either, people appeared to be free.

My cousin’s wedding was unbelievable. The energy at an Israeli wedding is unbelievable; they just kept going and going. This was the first wedding where I took photos semi-professionally; in other words, I wasn’t the official photographer, just doing it on my own. I’ve uploaded a few photos, but I plan on assembling a more professional slideshow in the near future. Taking photos for a wedding is fun, but stressful.

Traveling through out Israel is easy, since it’s such a small country. I’d say my favorite part of Israel was the north, the city of Safed, in particular - it had the piousness of Jerusalem, but isolated in the mountains. Swimming in the Dead Sea was “fun,” but nothing beats watching sunrise atop Masada. Ein Gedi was beautiful, I _think_ I saw a Gazelle in the national park there, but I’m not quite sure. If you go to the Dead Sea, stop by and see the botanical gardens at the Ein Gedi Kibbutz, it’s phenomenal.

I miss Israel, Jerusalem in particular - wandering through the Arab Markets in the Muslim Quarter, bargaining with shop keepers, and stuffing a note in the Western Wall. In Jerusalem, one could see three religious living so close together, yet the difference between the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim quarters is so great. I’ll be going back to Israel, hopefully sooner than later.

VIENNA

I went to Vienna with my mom, mostly to search through records, to learn more about her side of the family, 17 members of which were murdered during the Holocaust. So, as you can imagine, the trip wasn’t really for “pleasure.” Vienna’s a nice city, pleasant and livable. It works - the subways, buses, trams, and it’s safe. Check out my mom’s website for more about her project in Vienna. There was amazing Graffiti in Vienna, best graffiti I’ve ever seen. Lots of photos on Flickr.

BERLIN

Berlin was nice, but tiring. Constantly being surrounded by memories of the Holocaust was tough, as there were memorials and museums everywhere. The city hasn’t forgotten. It’s a good place to visit, and has lots of history.

OVERALL

I had a good trip, if you have specific questions regarding my trip, don’t hesitate to email me.

MY AGENDA:

In Israel, I will be at my cousin’s wedding - almost the whole family is coming - and I will be touring the country (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Golan Heights, etc).

I’m visiting Vienna with my mom, Karen Frostig (check out her new website!), to meet with various people about the Holocaust and Holocaust Education. My mom is a Jewish artist, activist, and author.

In Berlin, I’m just visiting, you know, for fun.

Do you have any recommendations? Places to visit? Good food? Free WiFi? Let me know: kabren@kabrenlevinson.com.

Here are the materials associated with my capstone:

The Video

Capstone Presentation from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Search for Meaning: Final Project from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Background

The event was amazing - I found out how adults observe and understand teenagers’ use of technology and the Internet. At the beginning of the meeting, there was a short presentation by Andrea Flores and John Francis citing research conducted about kids using technology. They talked about identity, privacy, skills and tools for teenagers and adults, and the importance of design. For more about the content of the forum, check out this blog post and my Twitter, I live-blogged most of the meeting.

Silence

I didn’t speak during the entire meeting, only to some people individually during lunch. I wish I had spoken up. I learned, but didn’t teach. It felt like people in the room didn’t understand what kids were about. With the exception of a few, it seemed that people were only beginning to formulate their opinions; it was too early to introduce the young-person’s point of view. Being a teen in the room, it felt like we were being addressed as the problem that needed fixing. Per usual, adults were assigning issues to kids. As the group discussed how some kids feel safer sharing their thoughts online versus offline, I only felt comfortable sharing my thoughts on Twitter. I let the group silence me.

For next time…

The only problem, I can think of, was the lack of primary sources, or “young people,” in the room. Yes, case studies and reports were cited throughout, but as my history teachers tell me, you need primary sources to support your argument. I was the only teen in the room, and I wasn’t even previously involved with the project. It is difficult to discuss teens, or any other group of people, without them present. Not only that, it is undiplomatic to discuss and refer to teens as if they’re not in the room, when in fact, I was sitting right there. My presence was never acknowledged - the adults failed to exploit me as a resource. It felt weird having adults tell me how I used technology.

Video about the event

Digital Navies Forum from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Or on Viddler.

Kabren Levinson
kabren@kabrenlevinson.com
www.kabrenlevinson.com

Click here to watch the stream, or look below. Here’s the Facebook event.

Stream:
Broadcast powered by Ustream.TV

Chat:

Recommended Technologies from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

EduTech Conference from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

The “Plan” from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

A Tech Fellow

Working with Martha was a job for a “tech fellow,” a crucial part of my educational technology program. Over the past few days, with the help of the assistant head of the school, I’ve been rethinking the roles of the “tech fellow.” Much of our conversation had to do with the marketing and branding of the “Tech Fellows” program. We used the Geek Squad as an example; they have uniforms, they’re easy to identify; they have phone numbers, they’re easy to contact; they have cars, they come to YOU. A “tech fellow” just doesn’t sound right - if I were a teacher, and was deciding between contactacting a “tech fellow” or the “tech squad,” for example, I’d probably call the “tech squad.” We need to make it known who we are, make sure it’s easy to contact us, and make it clear that we (the student) will come to YOU (the teacher). Of course, since this is high school, we won’t actually have the uniforms and cars (I wish), but metaphorically, we will.

Customer Service

Another aspect of being a “tech fellow” or on a “tech squad” is customer service. Instead of walking into the job with an agenda, we need to make an “ego-less swoop.” A tech fellow neds to make sure the teacher is in control; we ask what the teacher wants to accomplish with technology, before jumping into what we think they should be doing. Even though my school is a progressive school, for teachers, suddenly having students be the “smart ones” will be tough, and perhaps, frightening.

It’s a Brand

A lot of the issues I’m facing right now have to do with marketing and branding - how can I get teachers to use and enjoy an educational implementation of the Geek Squad. As the assistant head of my school said, you’d be more likely to call upon “Mr. Fix-It” than “Boston Electric” because “Mr. Fix-It” contains the word fix - Mr. Fix-It will fix my problem.

Video

Conversation

One of the problems with her use of the forum, was that it wasn’t being used to start a conversation - basically, it was an alternative way for the students to turn in the homework. Even though a discussion forum is a fantastic way to have a group conversation, conversation and response weren’t identified as requirements. On her new blog, students are being graded on their ability to comment and respond on other students’ work.

This mod, each of you will be responsible for writing 1 starter post (about 250 - 500 words) and commenting on other people’s posts 3 times a week.

Right now, a students posted homework assignment has 22 comments! To me, that’s a successful conversation.

Confidence

When Martha first asked students to post their homework assignments to the forum, students started complaining about the use of the forum, on the forum. I saw two major complaints: they didn’t understand why they were posting to the forum and they were uncomfortable with their work being available to other students (they were nervous). First of all, I was amazed that this conversation hating on the forum was happening on the forum - without the forum, the technology, the students would never have shared their ideas in such a way. Martha and I decided that one of the goals for her new blog needed to be about helping them become more confident in themselves and more comfortable sharing their ideas with classmates. I have gotten a lot from blogging; these days, I’m not afraid to write to the world, and my writing skill has improved (practice makes perfect).

Is it working?

So far, I haven’t heard, or seen, any public outcry about the blog on the blog - seems this is working out. There’s one other teacher at the school I know of using a blog to post homework assignments, and hopefully, I will be able to use these two teachers as evidence that installing Wordpress MU (Multi-User) would be a good thing for the school.

Many of your comments got deleted. When I upgraded to Wordpress 2.5, I had a huge wash of spam come in because all my plugins (including spam-prevention ones) got deactivated. I’m sorry! It doesn’t make me happy - some of my comments were deleted, too! Keep commenting in the future, don’t let it discourage you!

-Kabren

Just wanted to let y’all know I’ve upgraded the site to Wordpress 2.5. In the coming weeks, I’ll be doing a formal review here on the blog as well as on my podcast. WP 2.5 looks amazing so far. I’ll be monitoring the site to make sure nothing goes wrong.

-Kabren

Yesterday we purchased a new Apple Airport Express with “N” wireless. It fits in with our “get music into the living room” project, and an even larger overhaul of our living room. If you’ve kept up with my Flickr photos and the videos I’ve been making, you know what I’m talking about.

Setup

The Airport Express is a great device - it’s small, easy to set up, and it works. We’re using it to extend our existing Airport Extreme network and to be able to play music from iTunes wirelessly. Setup was easy: I plugged it in to power (it is it’s own power adapter), opened up the Airport Utility, and followed the simple setup steps which included telling the device what it was going to do (extend a wireless network) and giving it a name. Also, when I told the Airport to extend my existing network, it detected it, asked for the password, and voila, it extended the range. It was easy. Now we have WPA-secured wireless all around the house (even on the front porch), and the ability to play music in the Kitchen, Dining Room, and Living room wirelessly. Open iTunes, and if you are connected to a network with an Airport Express, it’ll show you the available speakers.

Airport Utility

I’m familiar with the Airport Utility - we’re long-time airport users (had the old Airport Extreme before the new one.) I really like the utility. It shows you all the airport networks in your range, and gives you the ability to edit any of those networks, as long as you know the password. I have one complaint with the utility; there is no web interface to log onto the router over the Internet. The only way to edit the network is if you’re local.

Conclusion

A major complaint I have is that it will only play audio from iTunes, not from the computer in general. I have needed to restart the device a couple times, but that may be due to outdated firmware. I’ll let you know. I’ve heard some complaints about Airport Expresses not extending networks correctly and such, but for me (so far, I’ve had it 24 hours) it’s been excellent. A lot of traveling business people have found the device useful to quickly create a wireless network in WiFi-less hotel rooms. If you want wireless music (iTunes only), or want to extend your existing Airport network, get an Airpot Express.

On Viddler:

Enjoy!

Design

The browser looks a lot better - it actually looks good in OS X. In previous versions, as soon as the browser was opened, it just didn’t feel right.

The Mozilla team also made the “back” button significantly larger than the “forward” button. This doesn’t affect me so much since I either use a button on my mouse or keyboard, but for the average user, it’s easier use and understand - the back button is used much more than the forward button in my experience.

Bookmarks

Mozilla has also changed the way we use bookmarks. Firefox 3 now supports SQLite for offline storage. To my knowledge, bookmarks are no longer stored in an .html file - they now have their own little directory system, called “Places.” This will make bookmarks a lot faster, and hopefully allow us to do more with our bookmarks, I mean places. Also, you can now add tags to

Conclusion

Overall, I’m impressed with Firefox 3 Beta. I’ve always supported Firefox, but especially on the mac, Firefox has historically been clunky, ugly, and not as good as Safari 3. FF 3 Beta still has some minor bugs, but for me, it has been stable. You can download the beta here.

To start this off, spring is right around the corner. I love spring, it’s my favorite season, fall comes next, and summer and winter can fight it out. Everything just feels fresh in spring, metaphorically and literally. But spring isn’t all new beginnings, because, as a student, you’ve still got about a quarter of the year to finish up. So, spring is the earth refreshing itself, but it doesn’t forget what went on. Damn.

My technology program has been going well. I successfully deployed my technology survey around the school - now I am beginning the process of evaluation, going through each one and extracting the data we want right now. What we’re most interested in is laptop ownership around the school, and whether students thought computers were a vital educational resource. The main aspect of my project I’m focusing on now, is a Student Tech Fellows program, which would allow for students to work one-on-one with faculty and staff members on technology, whether it be designing course curricula that employs technology successfully, or simply learning how to set up a projector. Students would be able to get School Service credit for participating in the program, and they’d also have an official title, “Technology Fellow,” they could put on resumes and college applications. I’m designing the “rigorous” selection process for the program, because if it’s too easy to get in, or become a member, it won’t be as successful - we need to make sure people feel like they need to work to accomplish the title of “Technology Fellow.” Things have been going well, I think.

I got accepted to the beta of Aviary, “a suite of web-based applications (RIAs) for people who create. From image editing to typography to music to 3D to video, we have a tool for artists of all genres.” So far I’m impressed that this is all happening on the web. A few weeks ago, when I applied for the beta, I thought that this was like Adobe Creative Suite. So far, these seem to be amazing web applications that are taking the web in another direction. Expect a full review soon. The one bad thing: it seems to be based off M$ .NET ASP architecture junk. Eek.

I’ve missed blogging. I’ll do more.

Photo Credits:
Kabren Levinson
Aviary
visbeek

-Kabren

Crash from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Microsoft has historically had success based on engineering innovation, not usability for the user or the design of the product. I don’t enjoy the way engineers think - they only seem to care about the machine, not the person. Their products are clunky (for evidence, just look at the 1st Gen Zune). For years now, Microsoft has been trying to create a vibrant online community, dubbed “Live.” They’ve failed - it’s costing them more money than they’re getting from it. Their “Live” service can’t compete with Google. I’m happy to report I don’t use any Microsoft products!

Yahoo! has been in a touch place, also competing with Google. They too seem to be based on engineering. Their designs are also cumbersome, search pages blast the viewer with information and too many options. Yahoo! has had success with their Mail and their search, but they’ve yet to develop a suite of original web services. The only two Yahoo! services I use are Flickr and del.icio.us, neither of which are designed by Yahoo!. I love both of these services.

The Two United

Together, I don’t think Microsoft and Yahoo will be able to “hit it big” - their philosophies are fundamentally flawed.

Microsoft and Yahoo may do things differently, but the cultural DNA, as seen from the outside, leads me to suspect everything will be more of the same, middle of the road, “good enough” products, but nothing that will surprise and delight. And that’s really too bad for both companies in the end. (Whitney Hoffman)

All I care about right now, what I’ll be watching closely, is the development/demise of Flickr and del.icio.us.

Tell me what you think.

Let me know what you think.

tech@csw from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Sometime in the next two weeks, I will be leading a 1.5 hour faculty seminar at my school, the Cambridge School of Weston, about podcasting. I spoke for about 5 minutes at the faculty meeting on Thursday about my project, they seemed impressed. My hope is to get some of the faculty/staff to sign up for my course which will be offered in Mod 5 (starting February 11th and lasts approximately 5 weeks). The course title is “New Social Media: Podcasting, Blogging, and Internet Journalism”. I can only fit 10 people in the class, so far, I have three or four faculty/staff members interested (I have 10 interested in my seminar so far). This is really exciting for me. Right now, I’m designing what the seminar will look like and creating a Keynote presentation.

(photo credit: taylorkoa22)

I realize now that my program is less about technology and learning/teaching technical skills and more about radically shifting the power paradigm in education. I need some help. I need resources on education, teaching, and technology. What do you think of the course? Would you take it, as a student or a teacher?

Feel free to email me.

Head on over and add me as a fan, or whatever. Click here.

-Kabren

Thank you! from Kabren Levinson on Vimeo.

Late last month, Dan Coleman, the assistant head of the school, approached me asking if we wanted to talk about technology in the school. Before Dan and I spoke, a teacher had said “Hey, has Dan talked to you yet?,” and a good friend said that Dan would be talking to me to create a technology committee. Well, we started talking. I spoke about how the school is falling behind - it’s so progressive in its academics and the arts, but what happened to technology? I came to the idea that there should be a student-led/created curriculum and a student technology committee. And that’s where it started.

So, this mod, I started working with him in “School Service” on these courses and the committee. But I realized, this should be a whole program, not just a few courses, but an entire program. Since I started working with him, I’ve turned this venture into my Capstone senior project. I am now creating a technology program at my school.

The program is called “tech@csw” . This program will have four components; a Student Information Technology Strategy Team (the ITST), a student-led and created curriculum on technology, partnerships, and special student technology initiatives. Right now I am writing a main proposal (vision, mission, and description) for the project, and several “mini proposals” for the components. The ITST has already met twice and has a Facebook group. Right now I’m designing a website for the program and the team.

Since I began writing this post about a week ago, new things have happened. Instead of overplanning the program, I want to jump into action and get things moving. One of the teachers at the last ITST meeting (yesterday), gave me the idea of leading a faculty seminar on something about technology (probably recording a podcast or setting up a blog, or both). That will (hopefully) happen within the next few weeks. After that, starting sometime in February, I will (hopefully) be teaching my first course, giving the program more credibility and momentum.

I want to hear what you all think. I want your input. This is huge for me. I never thought I’d be doing something like this… Here’s my email address: kabren@kabrenlevinson.com. Please don’t hesitate.