157 – Synapse

This week on the WELSTech Podcast we return to our Leading 21st Century Schools book discussion and interview Synapse game developer, Carol Laitinen.

The discussion:

Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom – Martin and Sallie talk through chapter 3 of Leading 21st Century Schools, the current book discussion.  You can catch up on previous chapters in the podcast archive. In this chapter the book transitions from a theoretical look at the education environment of today to a practical look at some of the leading software resources that students can use for collaboration, communication and creation.

• Wikispaces
• Edublogs
• KidBlog
• Delicious
• Backflip is dead
  • Consider Backupify
• Google Earth
  • Get the WELS KML file for Google Earth

The interview:

(17:40) Teamwork at the Speed of Laughter – Carol Laitinen from St. John’s in New Ulm, MN joins Martin and Sallie to share the story of the development of her party game, Synapse.

• SynapseTheGame.com
• Synapse Party Game iPod App

News in tech:

• (44:23) Drop.io is dead
• Facebook Places – now for Android

Picks of the week:

• (47:40) OpenClipArt.org
• Xobni – Outlook plug-in

Of interest:

(52:20) View the live video stream of WELS Regional Choral Fest from Manitowoc Lutheran High School at wels.net/streams/live

• Pops Concert – Friday, November 12 at 7 p.m. CST
• Sacred Concert – Sunday, November 14 at 2 p.m. CST

Community feedback:

• (53:22) Debbie Spriggs from Peace in Hartford, WI shared a link to online tutorials for PowerPoint in the Classroom
• Pastor Aaron Frey added a link on the WELSTech Wiki Bible Software Page to a blog post comparing Bible software packages titled The Status Quo Has Lost Its Status
• Tim Puhlmann, a member of Mountain View in Calgary, Alberta, asked about resources for developing online education, and we shared three possible platforms –
  • Moodle
  • Schoology
  • Edmodo
• Jason Schmidt from Gethsemane in Omaha, NE shared a link to MailVu.com video e-mail service

Coming up on WELSTech:

(57:49) Episode 158 – It’s “Office Administrator’s Week” again on WELSTech as we look at all things related to church newsletters and e-news.  (Release date 11/17/10)

The featured artist:

(58:50) This week we feature the music of  Koine (www.koinemusic.com | Facebook) – Built on the Rock from their CD titled ”Koine II”

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