12 Terrific Podcasts to Learn Something New Everyday

As lifelong learners, we should always be looking for ways to learn something new everyday. One of my favorite tools for this is podcasts.

This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me well. If there was an "Eric Curts Bingo Game" one of the squares would be:

• Eric says "Speaking of that topic, I was just listening to a podcast recently that talked about that, and I learned…"

For what it's worth, some of the other squares would probably be:

• Eric drinks a Coke Zero.
• Eric tells you about a movie or TV show you JUST HAVE TO SEE.

Back to podcasts though… I have blogged about podcasts before, including 11 of my favorite podcasts that deal specifically with Educational Technology. I would encourage you to check out that post to see that list of recommendations. However, podcasts can be a great way for you, and your students, to learn information from a wider range of topics.

At last count, my podcast app indicates that I am currently subscribed to 155 podcasts. Now I certainly can't listen to all of those, but they provide me with new options everyday to learn something new. In this blog post I would like to share some of my favorite podcasts for learning new information. These can be great for your own personal growth, to bring into class and incorporate into a lesson, or for your students to use for their own learning.

Note: Some of these podcasts can have episodes that deal with more mature topics, but the hosts are always good about mentioning that early in the episode if that is the case.

The Bionic Educator

This year at the Ohio Educational Technology Conference, I had the privilege once again to take part in the FREd Talks. FREd Talks are sort of like our version of TED Talks (FREd stands for "Finding Real Education").

These presentations are usually called Ignite Talks or something along those lines. They are quick 5 minute talks where you have 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds.

In the past I have done FREd Talks or Ignite Talks on "The 4 C's of Education" and "The Big Blank Wall" For my talk this year I did "The Bionic Educator". I have been fascinated with the rise of artificial intelligence and what that means for education, teaching, and learning. This is a topic I expand on in longer sessions and keynotes, but I tried my best to boil it down to just 5 minutes of the most critical ideas.

See below for a recording of the presentation, along with a written version of what I shared.

My 2018 MACUL Sessions

I am excited and honored to be presenting at the 2018 MACUL Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan this March 8th and 9th.

I always look forward to an opportunity to see old friends, make new friends, share some ideas, and learn so many new things from others.

Below is a list of sessions I will be presenting at MACUL 2018, along with any associated resources. Please feel free to join me for any of these sessions. I look forward to sharing, learning, and chatting with you!

3 Ways Google Drive and MS Office Can Live Together in Harmony

- Coke versus Pepsi
- Star Wars versus Star Trek
- Google Drive versus Microsoft Office
These are the timeless struggles of humanity.

So you are using Google Drive and its productivity tools such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides. But you still have Microsoft Office files from years and years before. What can you do with all of those existing Office files? Is there any way for your Microsoft files and your Google Drive to live in harmony?

Although Microsoft Office and Google Drive can often be thought of as competing products, they actually can work together in many ways. Google allows you to store all of your Office files in Drive, and then once they are there you can use them in three main ways:

• You can convert your MS Office files into Google format
• You can leave the files in MS Office format and then do light editing with a helpful extension
• You can leave the files in MS Office format, but then open and edit them locally in Office with the Drive File Stream tool

In this blog post we will take a look at all three of these options and how they work. You may end up using all three, or find just the one that works best for you and your specific needs. See below for all the details.