First, it was a little curious that the two presentations and mLearning panelists were exclusively from large private institutions. Don’t misunderstand me, I have nothing but respect for the institutions that shared their mLearning projects, which, by the way, were pretty impressive. I also have no ax to grind with the privates. Okay, so maybe I’m a little envious of their resources, but that’s it.

The first presentation was “Walking Ulysses: Joyce’s Dublin Today” from Boston College. Here is the presentation synopsis:

This presentation will explore the uses of collaborative mapping and mobile technologies in the humanities and in particular examine a project in which Joe Nugent, professor of Irish Studies at Boston College, used collaborative mapping as a way for students to explore James Joyce’s famously difficult novel Ulysses. The project demonstrates both the power of social media tools to make students active participants in the creation of knowledge, but it suggests ways that mobile maps can be used in the humanities as a tools for glossing both literary texts and the physical spaces in which they are embedded. The presentation will highlight what we had to learn in order design for multiple platforms while trying not to develop completely separate applications for each. We will also discuss the decision to develop a web application rather than a native application.

The second presentation was about TUSK (Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase),

…a platform that the Medical, Dental, and Veterinary Schools at Tufts and several other international schools use (http://tusk.tufts.edu/about/overview). In addition to the desktop knowledgebase, Tufts has rolled out a TUSK mobile version to facilitate students’ work in the clinics.

So here’s the problem that I see: many of the participants at the conference were from community colleges and 4 year public institutions who have an ever shrinking budget. Staffs are thin with the growing threat of getting thinner. While I enjoy learning about projects like the two at B.C. and Tufts, what would be the most useful to me and the faculty at Keene State College, are examples of creative use of low cost/low barrier technology that enhance teaching and learning. I want to see projects that institutions on a budget can replicate that don’t require devoted attention from a web developer, a programmer, and content expert. I want to see student created projects that are using free social technologies to make a difference in the world. I want to see more constructivism and I want the project to use ubiquitous, free technology. If these kinds of projects were shared at a conference then you would get far more institutions excited about mLearning or any kind of technology for that matter.

So instead of complaining I will submit conference proposals that address constructivism and the use of low cost/low barrier technology. Now, maybe we can get cash strapped college’s talking and sharing work that can be replicated.

I was asked some great questions including one about how we assess our AT events. The answer is that we do individual follow-ups to ask about progress and to answer logistical and technical questions. More often than not, this blossoms into a rich conversation about how to best achieve a curricular objective. One of the MAT students chimed in with a wonderful suggestion: why not connect the participants to a wikki so that the conversation could be ongoing and serve as a resource for them (and others) after the event. By using this “social approach” it reinforces the idea that sharing is a real way to get answers and ideas.

Yes! This idea is easy to implement and potentially very effective. KSC AT is using this technique for our next series of programming.

So, thank you 2010 MAT-ers!

http://www.diigo.com/list/Jdarrow/social-media/

My concern isn’t about the content; I know it and love talking about it. It’s the presentation style that I want to take time to focus on. The problem with so many presentations is that presenters stress over the content and begin by working in a linear fashion; “first I talk about a, now I talk about b, and then transition to c”. This, unfortunately, is transferred to the slide deck in a series of mindless bullet points whose purpose is to serve as a reminder to the presenter. It can be pretty, shall we say, dry stuff to have to sit through. I know, I’ve created and delivered it. So how does one move from being adequate to being great?

In my mind the king of the presentation is Steve Jobs; passionate, energetic, knowledgeable, and did I say passionate? It doesn’t hurt that Apple stages his every move, every mouse click, and every image as a Broadway show but there is something in his delivery and style that any adequate-to-great wannabe can take away.

Here, Carmine Gallo, breaks down a Jobs keynote into simple presentation techniques that anyone can adopt. It seems easy but if it truly were then we would see fewer thoughtless slide decks and hear fewer presentations that drone on….and on.

So I’m going to practice the new art of presenting–ask me after my April gig if I’ve improved or not.

If Facebook had a similar “blogs” feature as MySpace, the study may have read quite differently: “teen blogging soars!” To really determine how popular blogging is as an online activity, it may have been better to differentiate between the standalone sites and the long-form updates found within a social network. Failure to do so confuses the issue and leaves us without the answers a detailed study like this aims to deliver.

It seems pretty obvious to those who spend time using both, doesn’t it.

* though the sample size is a bit small – 800 adolescents between ages 12 and 17 were surveyed between June 26th and September 24th 2009.

I bring this up because I’m trying to understand the slow sputter of Delicious, the self-proclaimed granddaddy of social bookmarking. Founded in 2003 Delicious was purchased two years later by Yahoo which presumably had the resources for upgrading the user interface and making social-bookmarking, well, more social. And yet innovation was slow to come. Finally, Delicious has integrated real-time search and options for sharing links with non-Delicious users. Not exactly cutting edge but it’s a step in the right direction. The problem is that it took so long that users looking to personalize the web and Search are looking elsewhere for a more robust tool. I’m not suggesting that Delicious is going to fold. On the contrary it has the most users in this market but I’m just wondering where the innovation is.

Delicious is a great tool and one that I champion again and again but I have to wonder if I need to switch, entirely, to Diigo, Delicious’ more contemporary, though lesser-known, cousin.  But popularity doesn’t boil down to “better”. Diigo has taken innovation by the horns by addressing collaborative research and knowledge sharing, two fast growing areas on the web. Here’s a quick overview:

“Diigo is two services in one — it is a research and collaborative research tool on the one hand, and a knowledge-sharing community and social content site on the other…. Diigo provides a browser add-on that can really improve your research productivity. As you read on the web, instead of just bookmarking, you can highlight portions of web pages that are of particular interest to you. You can also attach sticky notes to specific parts of web pages…. You can easily share your findings, complete with your highlights and sticky notes, with friends and colleagues.”

I recently joined three Diigo special interest groups: Diigo in Education, Clif’s Notes on EdTech, and Teaching and Learning with Web 2.0. Our academic technology group also uses it to share relevant material. My point is that I’m becoming enamored with Diigo and unless I can find a way to use Delicious differently, I’ll probably abandon it all together. And I’m not sure why I feel sad about that.

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*NL reworked their mission into a ‘business research tool and as such has premium functionality for professional researchers including support for full BOOLEAN queries, as well as saved search and alerting capabilities, and our Market Intelligence Wikis.’ (http://www.nlsearch.com/home.php)

The Atlantic (by Amanda Ripley): http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/201001/good-teaching

With data-driven-decisions driving change, its’ about time to pay close attention to what data is being collected and how that data is being interpreted. It seems like Teach For America is getting it right!

To give you some context: this meeting was on the heels of a hands-on workshop announcement that the faculty member below was unable to attend. Because this person expressed interest I offered to meet with them one-on-one to presumably go over the workshop content. That was my mistake.

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“So, tell me again; how do faculty use this tool “?

Me: “Well, it’s a  great tool for giving feedback to students either one-to-one or to the entire class. There are lots of different ways you can use it. For instance….”

“But I don’t provide feedback to students that way. I generally use office hours for individual feedback. Or I send them written feedback. I find that email is a great tool for that. I actually do use technology you know”.

Me: “Well many faculty are using it to post discussion questions to be answered outside of the scheduled class time. They’ve found that the results transfer into a richer class discussion. If you did this, it would allow you to free up time to do other things during class time. I can show you some examples if you’d like.”

“But I don’t use that tool now and I’m not sure if I could add on something new. My class is crammed full already.”

Me: “Well, how did you envision using this tool?”

“It seems like there has been a lot of talk lately about technology and how we should use it to engage students. I just don’t see how I could possibly add it to what I already do. I was hoping you could tell me how to use it.”

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I have to admit that I left the meeting a little frustrated but in the back of my mind I understood the resistance. I assumed that we were going to be discussing the technology but I should have steered the conversation towards this persons expectations. This would have taken the focus off of the tech/workshop content which ended up hamstringing the conversation.

For most faculty adopting something new (new assignment, new piece of media, new…anything) can’t just happen in a 20 minute exchange (yeah, I know, that’s not revolutionary).  And, the conversation shouldn’t center around the adoption of a particular tool unless the deeper (i.e. – harder and more time consuming) conversation about learning (or efficiency which is always the big carrot) has already occurred. There are those of course who constantly re-work their syllabus and can tighten up an assignment mid-flow but many are so overwhelmed by the unknown that anything new causes panic.

So, I’ve decided to do an about face on the way I conduct one-on-one meetings following a workshop announcement.  I will ask faculty about their ideas for adopting the technology and suggest that they share with me their assignment objectives. Again, not revolutionary. But it did take this exchange to remind me how important it is to take full advantage of the 20 minute face time with faculty who seem mildly interested in adopting technology.

One of the more poignant moments for those interested in media literacy comes when Wesch comments on the assumption that students “get” web 2.0 technology:

“…they (students) may know all about how to navigate these things (YouTube and Facebook) and to entertain themselves but but they know nothing about how to use these things to learn and for critical thought and, more then anything, they rarely know how to use these things to create something interesting and new…..and because there are no natives here we cannot assume that our students are media literate and know how to navigate this world….we need to create platforms for participation that allow students to realize and leverage the emerging media environment…”.

Wesch goes on to to discuss in detail how he embeds bakes media literacy and web 2.0 into his curriculum. He ends up sharing a link to his media literacy portal located here: http://www.netvibes.com/wesch#Social_Media_Research_Resources

It’s fascinating stuff!

That’s how much time has elapsed between my last post on March 6th and today. I’ve felt the pull back to this space but at times it felt like, well, work. Writing isn’t a fluid activity for me so the thought of sitting down to compose my thoughts into a coherent post became more and more of a barrier. The rewards though, when I did hit the “publish” button were tremendous. Blogging is a mental and tactile exercise that forces me to slow down and think a little more deeply about a subject that I would otherwise skate over. There is really something to the link between a tactile activity such as writing, understanding and memory.

So why tweet? I’ll tell you. It’s the 140 characters and the quick interplay between and among *my network. It’s fast, relevant, and oh so rewarding. The gems that are uncovered are rich and have led me to the danah boyd’s (aka zephoria on Twitter) dissertation on social networking and teen behavior, Scott McLeod’s insightful posts about leadership and his work in the trenches, and let’s not forget StephenAtHome ( aka Stephen Colbert) for a little levity.  I’ve even sent out an S.O.S. tweet pleading for assistance with a klugy Word Press plugin. My network didn’t let me down – within 5 minutes I had help and within 10 minutes the problem was solved.

So now that I can say with absolute conviction that Twitter is a powerful and necessary tool, I’ll revisit this blog and the exercise of writing. It seems though that I’m not the only one who’s trending back to their blog. Check out these posts about this very topic:

http://siliconangle.com/ver2/2009/08/12/blogs-are-back

http://redcouch.typepad.com/weblog/2009/07/is-there-a-trend-back-to-blogging-how-will-it-impact-twitter.html

* My network is 90% educational technology and education professionals.