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This week I have been mostly…

Sorting out my presentation for ALT-C

I’ve never been to ALT-C, mainly because it’s:

• Right at the start of the academic year (a difficult time to get out of schools)
• Focused mainly on further and higher education

This year I’m presenting with a colleague on behalf of JISC Advance. I’m really looking forward to finding out more both to aid the mobile and wireless technologies review I’m currently undertaking and my Ed.D. thesis. Lots of top-notch people are going to be there!

Launching a new blog

I’ve been looking for blogs relating to mobile technologies in education and have found there’s a dearth of them. I contacted Nick Dennis who agreed to start a new tumblr-powered blog with me at http://mobilizingeducation.tumblr.com. I’m sure he’ll get around to writing a post sooner or later…

Getting up early

I’ve been up before 5am twice this week (I’m usually up at 6am) to work on my thesis. I’m much better at thinking clearly in the mornings and need not to be disturbed by a certain 3 year-old! The planned regime until I finish my thesis (which wasn’t quite achieved this week) is:

• Monday, Wednesday, Friday – work 4.30-6.30am on thesis, do weights in evening
• Tuesday, Thursday – go for 3 mile run in morning, work on thesis during lunch break
• Saturday – go for 3 mile run in morning, work on thesis all afternoon

Feeling like I should be on holiday

Working in the education sector during August is like being in a ghost town. There were only two of us in the office yesterday afternoon at JISC infoNet and almost everyone you email is their Out of Office autoreply on…

Posted: August 28th, 2010
Categories: Weeknotes
Tags: ALTC10, blog, holiday, mobile, presentation, weeknote
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Sometimes a simple idea strikes you whilst planning a presentation. This time it was:

Why can’t I embed a live Twitter search in my slides?

Although I never used the functionality, it turns out it was entirely possible to do this in versions of Keynote before Keynote 09 using ‘Web View’.

Gah.

Typical.

Undeterred, I came across this post which provides a Keynote 08 file consisting of a single Web View-enabled slide which, happily, works in Keynote 09.

This means that during my ALT-C 2010 presentation for JISC Advance I can show tweets using the hashtags #altc10 #ja in order to get some live feedback. Note that you if you embed a search from the Twitter homepage you’ll have to replace the %23 with # and %20 with a space in the URL that’s pasted into the Keynote Inspector box.

Here’s the result:

Questions? Ask away in the comments below!

Posted: August 26th, 2010
Categories: Technology
Tags: ALTC10, guide, howto, Keynote, live, presentation, Twitter
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Sometimes you have to push yourself a bit and raise the bar. I spent a good deal of time preparing for the TeachMeet attached to the bMoble Conference last week so that I could use the Lessig Method to talk for 7 minutes on Everything I Know About E-Learning.

Here’s how it went:

OK, so I ran over a bit. But no-one threw James Langley’s ‘Twitter pants’ at me. So that’s alright.

Posted: May 27th, 2010
Categories: Education, Technology
Tags: bmoble, dougbelshaw, elearning, Lessig Method, presentation, TeachMeet
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This week I have been mostly…

Talking to important people
I’m preparing the ground for a review of mobile and wireless technologies at work at the moment. This involves talking to some very important and innovative people so this week, for example, I’ve been talking to (amongst others) John Cook, Mike Ellis and Andy Ramsden. I even bumped into Graham Brown-Martin and his iPad!

Taking 6 hours to put together a 7 minute presentation
I decided a couple of weeks before the bMoble conference that I attended on Thursday that I would try a different method of presentation at the TeachMeet. Having read about the Lessig Method but never actually tried it, I thought I’d give it a go.

So, 6 hours and 124 slides later I was finished. That’s about 2.9 minutes creation time per slide and about and less than 4 seconds per slide in terms of delivery time. Well, you know, sometimes you have to challenge yourself and raise the bar a little…

Deciding to end the ‘Wednesday Wisdom’ series at number 20
I really enjoy putting together the Weekly Wisdom series and I’ve had a couple of people give me positive feedback. However, it takes a while to put together and it’s clear from Google Analytics that it’s not as popular as my other posts.

What’s going to be in its place? I think I’ll use the space for short series of posts. I’m still weighing up the first of these, but it will probably be education-related.

Realising how much I love my iPhone
OK, so it’s only got a 2 megapixel camera, the battery life is shocking and it feels a bit slow sometimes, but I do actually take the functionality of my iPhone for granted.

I’ve realised this through researching in-depth (as I always do) my options in the form of the Google Nexus One and HTC Desire. They’re both great phones, but Apple provide an extremely high-quality ecosystem. And that matters.

Not doing enough work on my thesis
I’ve got a deadline to produce a journal article by the end of the month. I should be writing that instead of this…

Posted: May 22nd, 2010
Categories: Weeknotes
Tags: bmoble, iPhone, Lessig Method, presentation, Thesis, Wednesday Wisdom, weeknote
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Last week my wife successfully interviewed for a new teaching job. She had to teach a lesson and asked me for advice as to how to make sure she would definitely have the interactive whiteboard resources to hand. That made me think about the lengths I’ve heard some people go to in order to ensure they have the slidedeck for their presentation…

I give you: The Ultra-Paranoid Guide to Ensuring You’ve Got Your Presentation Slides

Slightly paranoid

• Export slides to images
• Email to self
• Put on USB flash drive

Very paranoid

• Export slides to images and PDF
• Email to self
• Put on two USB flash drives

Ultra paranoid

• Export slides to images, PDF, and every version of PowerPoint/Keynote/OpenOffice.org Impress
• Email to self (two separate accounts)
• Add to Dropbox
• Put on two USB flash drives (in separate places)
• Print out large copies to stick to wall if all else fails

What have I missed?

Image CC BY Rennett Stowe

Posted: April 9th, 2010
Categories: Technology
Tags: interview, job, paranoia, Powerpoint, preparation, presentation, slidedeck, teaching, Technology
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Introduction

I don’t often post about conferences at which I’m not a presenter or workshop leader. Whilst it’s useful to share the resources I produce for such events, reporting the content or organization of a conference as a mere participant can be, well… a bit boring.

I’m making an exception, though, with #BectaX for three reasons:

1. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 150 people invited to attend.
2. There were massively high hopes regarding the outcomes of the conference.
3. It was a very ‘open’ event.

Some caveats:

• My experience is likely to have been shifted towards the positive due to the fact that many of the people I interact with regularly on Twitter.
• I had to leave an hour early to catch a flight back from Stansted to Newcastle and so missed the feedback session.
• I’m can be a bit over-analytical (and critical) at times, especially when the opening session was on the subject of my Ed.D. thesis.

The Good

The conference was set up expertly by a team including Ewan McIntosh and Josie Fraser. As you’d expect from such finger-on-the-pulse luminaries, there was as much – if not more – stuff happening in the ether as there was physically in front of us. The ‘speed networking’ event, whilst ultimately a bit frustrating due to the length of time allocated and the resultant din, was a fun way to meet new folks with similar interests.

There was also an attempt to get students involved. In fact, 14 schools were invited to take part via a video link (not live two-way, unfortunately) and Twitter hashtag (#BectaX). There was a cool Flash-powered map that appeared on the screen every so often showing tweets from the schools.

The Bad

It’s difficult organizing a conference. Not that I’ve ever tried to (yet!) but I can imagine that there’s no way you can please everyone. Here’s the things that I thought could have been better:

1. A clear announcement at the start about the potential self-censorship of tweets. It’s hard to put something damning – or even slightly negative on Twitter – when you know it’s going to be flashed on the screen in a few seconds’ time. As it is Ewan cleared it up nicely, but it could have gone the other way.
2. A more engaging first session. I found that the presentation on digital literacy conflated several issues, wasn’t very interesting, and was by someone who either doesn’t present very often or doesn’t present well very often (lots of text on-screen and bumbling)
3. Hands-on activities in the morning session. Something to get your teeth into before lunch and the desire to nap kicks in.
4. Power sockets available at seats. If you expect people to be tweeting, provide them with some power – especially if we’re going to sit there on-and-off for 3 hours or so.
5. Find a way to get students more involved – perhaps by them actually being there?

The Ugly

Whilst I’m willing to hear from all parties involved in education, I really do take exception to representatives of companies mentioning their products in every breath. I also had no sympathy for said man from Sony when he complained that there was no mechanism to sell to all UK schools at once. He moaned that Sony would have to “literally go and knock on every school’s door”. Boo hoo.

Conclusion

#BectaX was by far the most unconferencey conference I’ve ever been to. The digital and physical really were blended and it was great to see the debate ranging across international boundaries, never mind leaking out of the hall. Ewan and Josie prompted and probed participants in the discussion sessions and led the event well.

But… will it change anything? The cynic in me noted that it was organized on the last day of the financial year by a government organization that is, by all accounts, under threat after the next election. However, I’d like to think it will mix things up a bit. If nothing else, just getting some of the finest educators and grassroots educational thinkers in the country together in one place can’t help but spark something…

All photos CC BY-NC-SA Mr Ush

Posted: April 6th, 2010
Categories: Education, Technology
Tags: BectaX, Conference, Education, Ewan McIntosh, Ian Usher, Josie Fraser, policy, presentation
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I can see now that it takes more than having passed through school as a student to understand the education system.* After all, it looks something like the diagram below, right?

Of course those who have worked in educational institutions know that the above is far from the truth. Instead of, for example, research being the bedrock of all that goes on, it is marginalized and distorted. The issues** along the lines linking the elements together show how it’s a messy picture – not in itself a bad thing – and it’s distorted by politics (which is a bad thing)

* Not that you’d know that from talking to your average member of the general public!

** N.B. The reason I didn’t add ‘time’ as a factor in the second diagram is because, as I’ve said to a few people this week, time itself isn’t an issue. It’s priorities – which is a different matter.

Posted: April 3rd, 2010
Categories: Education, infographics
Tags: diagram, Education, politics, presentation, schools, visualization
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Photos from my trip to the UAE

I’ve reflected before on my difficulty in answering the question, “So… what do you do?”. From that post, however, the answer I’m increasingly keen on giving is:

• I tell stories about how learning can be.

Invariably, given my predilections, this involves the use of technology. No matter where I go in Europe, in Turkey or the Middle East, there are three barriers that educators see as almost insurmountable:

1. I don’t have the time – I’m working flat-out as it is!
2. The curriculum doesn’t allow it.
3. We haven’t got the hardware/software/internet connection speed.

My responses to these?

1. Whilst there may a learning curve involved, you will invariably save time by making learning more available to students.
2. I ask them what the curriculum prescribes. More often than not it’s based on a false assumption – or, more dangerously, a textbook.
3. There has to be a reason for the school/local authority to upgrade the hardware/software/internet connection speed. Are you providing them with that reason?

And this is where the storytelling comes in. Because I’m not actually that interested in the technology itself. I’m interested in students reaching their potential, social justice and transforming education so it has some semblance of relevance by the time my son ends up in secondary school (2018 if you’re wondering).

So I came across the same issues when I visited the two schools my Dad works in near Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. But what I came across there was the willingness of teachers to learn. They really wanted to improve and get better – so much so that they availed themselves of every opportunity to ask me questions, quiz me about practicalities, and pick my brains.

I didn’t present anything groundbreaking or revolutionary whilst I was in the UAE. In fact, it was pretty tame stuff. What I did do, however, was tell a story. And that’s a whole lot more powerful than pointing educators toward a rag-tag bunch of loosely-related technologies we refer to as ‘Web 2.0′…

Slides and presentation video available here.

Posted: March 26th, 2010
Categories: Education
Tags: edte.ch, Education, presentation, SSAT, UAE, video
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Image CC BY-NC-SA Samuel Stroube @ Flickr

I don’t usually get involved with things explicitly concerned with education in the USA. But there’s been one issue recently that prompted me to reflect on a wider concern: the difference between ‘crowd-sourcing’ and just being lazy.*

In fact, it’s more than being lazy. It’s taking a concept and twisting it for your own ends to look like you’re doing something you’re not. It’s an attempted shortcut to being seen as ‘innovative’. It’s bandwagon-jumping instead of hitchhiking.

The current Wikipedia definition of ‘crowdsourcing’:

Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production model. Problems are broadcast to an unknown group of solvers in the form of an open call for solutions. Users—also known as the crowd—typically form into online communities, and the crowd submits solutions. The crowd also sorts through the solutions, finding the best ones.

When done well, the results can be outstanding. Take, for example, The Guardian‘s decision to open up and make available the 700,000 documents involved in the UK MP expenses scandal. They received over 20,000 responses highlighting irregularities.

However, crowdsourcing is something that can be done very badly and for the wrong reasons. Take, for example ISTE’s decision to ‘crowdsource’ the Keynote speech for its 2010 conference. On the face of it, and for those involved with ISTE, the idea must look cutting-edge and innovative. It’s got a Digg-like voting system for proposals and has created a buzz about the conference on Twitter and blogs. However, although it looks as if it’s ‘empowering’ people, it’s actually doing the opposite.

As Miguel Guhlin points out,

…I’m tired of hitching my carriage behind some writer’s idea of what could be in business but is designed for education since they’re the chosen keynoter. While research may say something, the fact is, research has been speaking up for years in school change and reform…and you know what? People aren’t listening.

Go and read Miguel’s post in full, but to summarize it briefly here, he says that expecting a keynote to change things at the coalface means putting faith in the following process:

1. Educators go away and learn how to use a tool to the extent that it becomes part of their practice.
2. The tool is appropriate to use within the context of their school and educators are free to use it as they wish.
3. Educators are able to get their school leadership onboard and stay at the institution long enough to make a difference.
4. Parents offer little or no resistence to flattening the walls of the classroom through the use of Web 2.0 tools.

Put in that way, it’s clear that ISTE’s decision is far from revolutionary. As Miguel states, it’s time for a ‘radical reboot’ in national and interational approaches to innovation in education. Isn’t it ironic that we use a lecture format to encourage teachers to be innovative and move away from such a format?

So if you’re a leader and are looking to be innovative, please do look about you to see what others are doing. But once you’ve done that, go back and think about what the objectives of your organization/business/conference/whatever actually are. Then see if the process/innovation/tool that you’ve come across is appropriate. Ask yourself if you’re going through the process/using the tool for the right reasons.

Do you know of any other examples of thinly-disguised laziness?

* That thinking was started by reading Charles Leadbeater’s We-Think: mass innovation, not mass production (my review forthcoming)

Posted: October 24th, 2009
Categories: Education, Everything Else
Tags: Charles Leadbeater, Conference, Education, ISTE, Keynote, Miguel Guhlin, presentation, quotation, reform, USA, Wikipedia
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I’ve recently finished reading Clay Shirky‘s excellent book Here Comes Everybody. If you’re new to social media it explains why it’s important; if you’re not, it equips you to explain its importance to others. A must read!

Below are some quotations from the book in a Flickr set that will eventually grow to include quotations from other authors…

Posted: July 9th, 2009
Categories: Technology
Tags: Clay Shirky, Flickr, Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, presentation, quotations, slides, social media
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