Dan Schmidt (from Lincoln, NE) is the author of the book “KidCast: Podcasting in the Classroom” (an outstanding reference for classroom podcasters) and is dschmit on Twitter. I heard Dan share fantastic presentations on classroom podcasting in 2006 twice, in September in Oklahoma City and in November in Carrollton, Texas. His main podcast, KidCast, is superb and I highly recommend it.

Although he now lives and teaches in Liberty, Missouri, 8th grade US History teacher Eric Langhorst originally hails from Nebraska. Eric is one of the most innovative and prolific classroom teacher-podcasters in the nation. He was also the 2007-2008 Missouri State Teacher of the Year. His podcast and blog is “Speaking of History.” Eric was the lead blogger on the PBS blog “Media Infusion” in April, where he shared the post “We Shall Remain: Teaching Native American Culture within American History.” If you have not yet watched this fantastic series on PBS, check it out on cable TV or watch it online for free. This is the first national film series created about Native Americans / Indians since “Dances with Wolves” in 1990. Eric is ELanghorst on Twitter.

Tony Vincent, the original creator of Radio WillowWeb, continues to be an inspiration to many educators around the world interested in effectively using podcasting to support learning inside and outside the classroom. Two days ago, Tony hosted and taught a free workshop over Ustream.tv titled, “Picks from the App Store.” He shared eleven different applications for the iTouch and iPhone ideally suited for students and classrooms, which are all linked from his blog post about the virtual workshop. (He is tonyvincent on Twitter.)

It’s known in some parts that I’m not a big fan of Nebraska football, but I can’t sing praises loud enough to recognize and thank Dan, Eric, and Tony for the many ways they have and continue to teach me about educational technology and its learning potential via podcasting!

One additional Nebraskan I can’t leave out of this post is Dr. Paul Clark, although he’s not a podcaster. (pclark448 on Twitter.) Paul is one of the most prolific educational geo-cachers I’ve met to date! To hear a bit more about Paul and geo-caching, give a listen to the podcast “Voices of NECC07 Part 1: Geocaching, Imbee and Technology Integration Coaching.”

Is there something in the water up in Nebraska that makes many of their educators so creative?

Check out the podcast channel from the Nebraska Educational Technology Association’s 2009 conference which took place last week for additional ideas from Nebraska educators!