Sam pointed out that my software replaced the podcast with the pdf, leaving me with 2 copies of the same thing.  DOH!

So I spent a week trying to get Edublogs to allow the upload. No success, and lots and lots of failure! 

So, here it is, linked from Box.net.  Operations with numbers MP3

Which left me with a week of trying services to figure out a way to share files like this.  I settled on Box.net, simply because it was easy.  The free service gives you 1 Gig to share.  That is a lot of space, unless you are sharing a ton of MP3 files.  We will have to see if I need to upgrade or just get my own server space. I am collecting lots of images, video, and sound, and it is difficult to share this.

So what are the technology needs of the modern teacher?

Let’s look at Dan.  He has HUGE amounts of video available on his site, as well as the new geometry section, constant images, and text.  How much of that is required to be accessible to the teacher every day?

And if your school district is like mine, the firewalls and filtering they have set up keep the teachers out of things like Box.net, but not the learners.

I scanned my hard drive today, and I have over 10 gigs of data on it.  This is just my laptop that I only use for school and my personal classes I am taking. No pictures of family and friends, no CD’s ripped just for fun, only professional stuff on this computer.

10 gigs.

That is a lot of files that I use, have used, or will use.  I carry my laptop with me everywhere, because I can not depend on an internet connection at school (personal computers are not allowed to connect to the district system) and useful sites like Box.net are blocked because of “file sharing”.

It would be so much easier to just upload the whole hard drive to a secure, yet accessible site, and just use the files from that location.

Should teachers have to take on the burden of cost for this too? After all, we already purchase paper, pencils, and other supplies for our rooms. Heck, 15 seconds with Quicken tells me that I have already spent $351.91 this year alone.  The year is not over, not by a long shot. 

Do we need to start bearing the burden of server space and web hosting too?  It can get expensive, and yet the monthly charges for a service like Box.net (I just signed up for the free service though) also can get pricey.  5 Gigs for $95.40 a year ($7.95 per month) or 15 gigs for $239.40 per year ($19.99 per month).

For those prices a domain name from GoDaddy.com is only $8.99 and I could get an unlimited account for only $170.88 per year ($14.24 if you sign up  for a year, it is only $12.74 per month if you sign up for 3 years!)

At what point do teacher stop being just classroom entities and start becoming producers of content.  I think we NEED to be already there.  And if we are, is sharing with just our learners sufficient?  Dan already has shown us how much can be done.  How willing are WE to step up to the plate and start sharing what we do in the classroom with each other?

And if we do share, we must bear the burden of cost on our selves.  I know my district won’t pay for it (although shouldn’t they if it helps me, my learners, and my school?)