Bit of a Gap!

I’m coming out of hibernation after a bit of a respite. We just finished a few faculty development training sessions and we heavily relied on WordPress as our go-to tool for the agenda, for sharing resources, and for comments and homework. It worked well. I find it interesting however, that my two fellow presenters (each living and working in a different part of the state) relied on Google Docs to communicate with each other as we planned and set up the workshop, and then transferred our information to the blog for the final delivery.

So why did we need both a wiki tool and a blog? The differences between tools seems to be blurring more everyday. Is a phone a “smart phone” or it is as an interview on NPR suggested last night,  is it really a mini-computer. Should we be making distinctions between computers and phones, wikis and blogs or allow these tools to just meld and glory in the advantages found with each?

During our workshops we shared with faculty some easy technologies that could be used to present online lectures, such as Adobe’s Presenter and Jing, and Camtasia etc. We also encouraged them to use tools that more easily allows for coherent course materials to be uploaded into elearning course management systems (like Softchalk, Lectora etc.). It has been troubling to me to encourage the use of the use of such tools when the “sage on the stage” model of teaching has been so widely discouraged in recent years. Here, though, is an article showing some research backing the fact that lectures (when done correctly) can indeed hold some educational benefits and value. Phew!  On the Benefits of Lectures

My MindMeister Tools to Enhance Your Personal Learning Space has been updated with a few new tools so feel free to check back and let me know if there’s something I’m missing that I should be adding to this repository of tools.
Kathi

Educause 2009

While I’m a firm believer in doing things at a distance, some experiences are very rich when they are in-person.  Educause 2009 is just one of those experiences.  First, no where in Alaska will you have an opportunity to see and touch technology like the Educause vendor floor.  That alone is incredibly valuable.  To be able to walk from one vendor to the next comparing products, asking for demos on the spot.

Then, come the keynote speakers.  While watching a keynote on your computer screen doesn’t really feel any different from watching the keynote speaker on several large screens surrounded by 5000+ people, listening to people talking about the speaker in the hallways and at lunch does make quite a difference.

The sessions are always hit-and-miss.  Some of them are great and others, you wonder why they were accepted to present.  Some speakers use their hour to show slide after Powerpoint slide.  Others are so interesting that you wished they would continue into the next hour, with examples and ideas.

Of course, ultimately it comes down to the people.  Mingling and talking and questioning people from many different universities.  Hearing what experiences they have had and how they have solved the same problems that you face.   Walking around, living and breathing conference can be exhausting, but ultimately, if you return home with one or two nuggets that you can use, it is well worth it!

I’ll be posting those nuggets very soon.

Facing the Elephant

Came across an excellent slideshare  Facing the Elephant (that is ICT) and Eating it One Bite @ a Time and it seemed really relevant after our ASTE presentation,  Breaking Through the Web (2.0) of Confusion! You can find our PPT slides there as well as the resources that we left for participants.

In truth, we must always remember, it isn’t the tools or the technology, but what we want to accomplish, the learning that we desire to take place, the Elephant Slideshare makes this point quite elegantly.

Maximizing Productivity

Sitka Harbor at night

While I’m a 100% advocate of working at a distance, I have to say that occasional face-to-face meetings really have a way of crystalizing the discussion and maximizing productivity.  This past week we met with content experts from around the globe and after months of working via audio/web conferencing our prior work really came together.  I wonder how much longer it would have taken had we not had this opportunity to meet together?  Something about eating lunch together, working and taking walk breaks, it’s all about the side conversations and personalities mixing together in ways that are difficult to reproduce online.  So, now I’m a 70% advocate for distance, and a 30% advocate for hybrid occasional real time, face-to-face meet-ups.  Very nice change of pace.  Glad we were able to pull it off.

Meanwhile, to catch up, we had a busy week at ASTE too.  You can find the presentation materials that Maureen and I gave at a presession entitled Breaking Through the Web (2.0) of Confusion at http://aste2009.pbwiki.com/ There are notes, resources, and our PPT on this website and it links to last year’s ASTE 08 presentation that Tina (UAA) and I gave.  So enjoy both resource pages.

Just a reminder too, for those asking, my Personal Learning Environment Map is updated and found at:  http://www.mindmeister.com/9002694 Had a few people ask about that again lately, so I thought I’d link it again.

The picture to the right (sadly only taken on a cell phone) has a caption created by bubblesnaps.com Kind of fun!  Check it out.

Work-Arounds

Sometimes I think that far more valuable than knowing the correct solution, or the perfect answer to a question, the work-around is supreme.  Today it seems more important than ever to flex, move on past the problem and just find a workable solution to a glitch or oddity.  Software, browsers,  we’re standing on moving platforms and the answer the worked so perfectly yesterday just doesn’t always seem applicable.  Flexibility, and work-arounds seem to me to be the answer to this new paradigm.

Glitches

It is always frustrating to hit a snag in your workspace.  But what do you do when things glitch continuously?  How do you overcome computer crashes that are seemingly unnavoidable?  Hmmm?  I’ve hit a snag with Lectora– the program closes and I lose everything.  Is it me?  Is it the program?  Am I breaking some simple law by trying to copy and paste content from one AWT to another?  If I am, why isn’t it obvious?  So far, I’ve learned,

1. When you copy and paste chapters, often the buttons lose their destination designations (which can cause a crash)
2. On a button, if there is anything (even grayed out) showing, it will crash– clean them all up
3. Sometimes page numbers when copied (automatic page numbers) will cause a crash– remove before saving your work and reinstall the page numbering on the new AWT

That’s the end of my learnings because, in truth, I’m writing out of frustration.  I have just restarted my computer (not just the program) for the 2nd time and I’m not sure I’ll be able to salvage my “lost” work from the last crash.  I’m deconstructing an AWT that had 10 parts, and had successfully done 6 yesterday (with a few minor crashes which I thought I’d figured out), with only 4 more to go today, I thought I was home free.  Sadly, not the case.

Happy New Year

I began this blog talking about the cold, and it seems only fitting that this was our temperature when we walked home from our neighbor’s this morning after harkening in the New Year.  Yes, that says MINUS 21 degrees!  Our neighbor shot of a bundle of fireworks as we stood in the cold cheering.  Then, back inside for one last pig-out and warming up before walking home.  The stars were out, it was a beautiful, beautiful way to start the New Year, great friends, good food and the beauty of nature.

So, just a brief post to hope that everyone reading this had some kind of similar experience with good friends, good food and a connection to their surroundings and we have a more peaceful 2009.

Team Dynamics

Just read an interesting article by Suzy Thompson entitled “The 5 Habits of Highly Effective Project Teams” and I think she has gotten it pretty much right on.  Made me stop and ponder all the dysfunctional teams I’ve been on and which of the 5 ingredients listed below were missing.  Let’s take a look at each:

1.  Establish Structure and Discipline: Without some sense of the project, short term goals and objectives, people have a tendency to drift.  Worse than drifting is the feeling that the project or their individual part of the project, might not be important.  And, without a feeling of self-worth, it is difficult to feel compelled to produce quality.

2.  Act with Urgency: This is interesting.  I can remember many occasion when a team member and I have talked about the missing sense of urgency by managers or other team members.  Why is this important?  Sense of urgency is actually what puts people on the edge, makes them better, more creative and more willing to be innovative.  Sense of urgency means that the project and associated deadlines are actually important, and with importance comes the built-in desire to do your best.  Productivity increases when there is a sense of urgency.  Most people will tell you that they are more productive when their lives are really busy.  When they haven’t much to do, it takes twice as long to accomplish the same task as when you are busy and vibrant.

3.  Cultivate a Sense of Ownership: Without ownership, who cares when something goes wrong?  Without ownership, who cares if deadlines are not met or the end product is sloppy?  It is ownership which gives us pride in the project.  A very necessary ingredient.

4.  Lead: Project managers, and even team members, need to be able to take leadership stances.  This also means that they must know the difference between quality and junk.  Nothing is more demoralizing than when you work really hard but know that, your leader does not know the difference between producing something mediocre versus producing something of substance.  Hard to work for people who have no direction, no leadership skills, or are basically clueless.

5.  Be the Change You Want to See in the Project: Certainly leadership means a lot, but even if you are not the team leader, others will respect you and notice if your behavior is remarkable and your professionalism is evident.  You can really set the tone for the group by displaying and modeling excellent team habits.  Try it and see!

I think she is missing one important ingredient however.  Respect Fellow Team Members.  Finding strengths in all team members, and respecting each other for what each person brings to the project team is also very important.  I call this “not hogging the ball” as you dribble down the court.  One person sometimes can do it all, but the team will be richer for sharing your strengths and encouraging others to share and grow.  When each member has an important role that they feel competent and highly qualified to accomplish, the team really rocks!

So, an interesting article to stumble upon and I think, valuable to think about.

Looking for Small Presentations on the Web?

If you are looking for great speakers or people who have spoken at recent conferences, this site might be just what you are looking for.  Some very interesting people have presentations posted here including:  Daniel Pink, Malcolm Gladwell, just to name a few that might be familiar.  Here’s the website:

http://www.poptech.com/popcasts/

Here’s something else that you might find fun– it’s a website that will check to see if your USERNAME is already taken at zillions of different programs.  Check it out!

http://www.usernamecheck.com/

Professional Development Conference 2008

It was fun talking with many of you at the PDC 2008 today.  Give yourself time to look at my mind map (linked below) and remember, the arrows will take you to the actual websites.  Start slowly, trying just a little at a time.

Mind Map:  Your Personal Learning Environment

The leadership group looked at a different mindmap on Saturday.  That map had more distance education tools.  The interesting thing about distance education tools is that they are also great for face-to-face instructors.  In fact, I think DE, like gifted education, are umbrellas for regular teaching– in other words, if you excel as a gifted instructor or excel as a distance instructor, you are probably using teaching tools and strategies that are good for all children.  Anyway, the map for Saturday can be found here:

Mind Map:  Develop a Distance Education Class